Going to Disney Worl - eh? LAND??? Updated ... and it's DONE!!

[Dolce27]

Alright people… you don’t know me because I haven’t been on the Disneyland boards overly much (well, actually, the people on the boards that I do frequent a lot don’t really know me either. :rolleyes: ) So, allow me to introduce myself:

I’m a thread-killing, self-admitted dork who happens to love Disney.
Hi! :wave2:

My first trip to Walt Disney World was when I was two years old and my last trip being September 2006. Nowhere between my first WDW trip in 1981 to my most recent in 2006 does a Disneyland trip appear. In fact, I’d never even been to California. I’ve been close: I’ve made it to Arizona and … uh… Arizona. :rolleyes1

So, one day, several months ago, I was at work and I had this great epiphany: I should go to Disneyland. Never before had I desired to go and see Disneyland, I mean, I always go to Walt Disney World which is so much larger and therefore, more things to do. Plus, I’m a former CP (college program) from WDW so I’m a bit partial (and a lot biased) about that resort so I was a bit surprised by my sudden desire to travel west.

(No, you're not allowed to throw things at me just b/c I admitted that I'm partial to WDW!!!)

The realization that I should go and discover what charms and magic were held at Disneyland occurred to me at 10:00am (or within that approximate timeframe). The ticket (non-refundable by the way) was booked by 6:30pm that night. I was going; no backing out now or have to deal with the wrath of lost money.

So, I’m going to Disneyland! :banana:

Ummmm…. I can tell you anything and *almost* everything about WDW but Disneyland is entirely a foreign concept to me. Time to start planning: what I do best. :thumbsup2

Hotel: I find out it’s actually ok to stay in a non-Disney hotel at Disneyland. *gasp!* *shock!* :faint: I wouldn’t dream of staying off property at WDW but then WDW offers a few cheaper options in their hotels than what Disneyland offers. So, after some research I decide to stay at the Carousel Inn. At my time of booking everyone on this board was saying great things about the place…. Then, of course, within the few weeks leading up to my trip everyone on this board was saying negative things about this place. Oh well. Booked. Moving on.

Tickets: I buy a 3-day park hopper so that I can have one early entry into the park.

Date: I decided months ago that I’d go in November - mainly because at work I’m not allowed to take any vacation from February to May or from September to November and it was already summer when I began planning this. I decided that the week-end before Thanksgiving looked great. My logic was this: I wanted to use the least amount of vacation days so I’d fly out to LA early Friday (Nov 16) morning and spend that afternoon/evening, Saturday and Sunday at the parks and then fly back to Dallas on Monday morning. I’d then only have two days of work before I had a four day Thanksgiving week-end.

Alright: everything booked and I just needed to learn everything about Disneyland and wait. Simple, right? Wrong.

Well, plans then began changing some. First off, I’m one of those people that everyone always bails out on at the last minute. I tried planning a WDW trip a few years ago with friend #1 to only have her bail out after I made the reservation and paid the deposit. Friend #2 steps in to take friend #1’s place only to have friend #2 bail out on me the week before final payment for the trip is due. So... as this occurs in other aspects of my life too, I’ve learned the hard way to expect to do things solo... which is fine. I’m a big girl and I’ve now done two WDW trips solo. A week-end at Disneyland alone – no big deal.

Then, here is where the plan changes begin, my co-worker, Tiff, tells me one day. “You know, Disneyland sounds like fun. I think that I’ll go with you.”

That was a first – someone inviting themselves on my trip instead of bailing out on me? After picking my jaw up off the floor and clearing the stunned expression off my face I was like: ‘Sure! But you need to know that …..’

Then I went on and on about no sleep – just a quick week-end trip, I’m a serious planner and I do park commando mode (aka: no rest) and no sleep (stressing that part) until the plane touches down in Dallas, at the park for gate opening until gate closing, and food cost lots and lots of $$$ and it’ll be expensive.

I was excited that she actually wanted to go (she knows next to nothing about Disney) but I wanted to give her all the hard facts about the trip before she booked anything. I didn’t scare her off with my lecture (yea! :teeth:) so I expected her to book her airfare that week-end and I gave her my flight number. I didn’t want to change the hotel reservation until I was certain that she was really going and booking her flight.

I didn’t hear from her all week-end and I came into work Monday morning expecting her to bail out on the trip. Nope, instead she asked me why I booked the flight I did (a United flight) and I told her it was the cheapest that I was able to find. She then told me that she found an American flight that was direct (mine had a lay-over) that arrived earlier in LAX than my flight did and was $100.00 cheaper. :headache:

Alright… I’m a big girl. I can handle that she got a better flight deal than I did. (it doesn’t mean that I have to like it one bit! ) So, lesson #1 learned: Don’t be in such a hurry to book airfare and learn how to search for it better!

Moving on now….

I began learning all I can about the parks and then I discover that Friday, November 16 is the official start of Disneyland’s Christmas season so it might get a bit crowded. Not good. I want to be certain that I have the opportunity to see and do all I want while there so I come up with another brilliant idea, arrive on Thursday morning. So, after convincing Tiff that we need to go a day early and forking over more money to both the airline and the hotel, I’m scheduled to arrive a day early. Now it’s back to reading the boards to learn what I can and waiting… and waiting… and waiting…. subscribe to Ridemax and make out my own highly detailed and color coded spreadsheet with ride times down to the minute...waiting some more and more... freak out Tiff with informing her of my highly detailed and color coded spreadsheet with ride times down to the minute... waiting once again and waiting.. waiting.. waiting.. why is November taking so long to get here?? :confused3

Up Next: My very first day at Disneyland. Ever.

[garate55]

Well you were there the same time we were........So did you stay the 3days?
Friday and Saturday were really busy, but I think all weekends are really busy anyways because of the locals.
Hope you had fun. Disneyland is a great place.

[Hound 109]

I'm in. :thumbsup2

I love funny, stream of consciousness trippies. :cool1:

So we Disers highly recommended the Candy Cane & then started trashing it. That's classic. :rotfl:

Good to hear that nice smartypants friend got a cheaper flight. (Did she secure a cheap room at the GCH, too?? :))

Looking forward to your first day at Walt's park. :goodvibes

[Dolce27]

Woo-hoo! Two people are actually reading this thing! :cool1: I may have to find treats or something to send you guys if you make it to the end. :teeth:

[BillyFan]

I'm in. I was there the same weekend you were. I can't wait to hear your impressions of my happy place!

[Keli]

Come on now, where's part II? LOL

I've enjoyed your start and I'm eager to hear the rest!

[Dolce27]

I'm in. I was there the same weekend you were. I can't wait to hear your impressions of my happy place!

It was the promise of treats (that I don't really have) that lured you in - wasn't it?? :teeth:

[Dolce27]

Come on now, where's part II? LOL

I've enjoyed your start and I'm eager to hear the rest!

Sorry. Last night was Monday night tv (no, not football) Chuck, Heroes, and Journeyman. My must watch. :thumbsup2 I didn't have time to write anything.

[samkj]

You reeled me in too. Waiting for part 2, although I have to admit I am a bit nervous what you will say about my beloved Disneyland. I have much the same feelings about WDW as you did about DL.....

[Hound 109]

:bored:


hound - ;)

[Dolce27]

Alright you all... I will give you fair warning: If you are looking for a short, sweet, and to the point trip report - this ain't it! I talk too much, therefore, I type too much.

Allow me to re-introduce the cast - incase any of you forgot either one of us.

Me: The self admitted dork who loves Disney.

Tiff: My co-worker friend who knows nothing (at all) about Disney (well, she has admitted to buying some of the movies) but thought it would be a fun trip to come along on.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/TR.jpg
I'm the one on the left. I have no idea who the people are in the background - they just showed up. Oh well.. the more the merrier I say. :teeth:
(edited: the right half of this picture has now been removed. Therefore, I'm also on the right as well as the left :teeth:)

Alright…the day is finally here. I have a 6:30 am flight to Denver and at 11:00 the night before guess what I’m doing? I need to get up at 3:30 am in order to be at the airport by 5 am and am I finishing my packing? Nope. Am I sleeping since I have a long day the next day? Nope.

I’m on the DIS boards reading posts and thinking.. ‘tomorrow I’ll see that.. and tomorrow I’ll be doing that…’ and no where was there a ‘I better get to sleep so that tomorrow I’ll actually be awake to see and do that’ thought in my head.

So, needless to say, when my alarm went off at 3:30 am – I was not a very happy person. I managed to drag myself out of bed and made it to the airport by the time I wanted. (after getting lost three times trying to find the express terminal parking) One thing I had decided to do (which turned out to be a very wise plan) was to only take carry-on luggage. With all the current flight delays and with my *only* one hour lay-over, I had nightmares of my luggage not making it with me to LAX. So, I hit up Target for all of their cute miniature travel sized items and found that I could stuff a lot of liquid in a quart sized bag.

So, again, this turned out to be a very wise decision and not because I had a flight delay (which I thankfully had none) but because I stepped into the United Airlines terminal at DFW and came to an abrupt halt. Before me, in the check-in line, stood approximately 100 high school orchestra students on their way to China. The check-in line looked to be at least 1 hour long and never mind how long it was going to take all of them to get through security, especially since they all were high school kids and not seasoned travelers. Thankfully, I only had to give them a glance as I bypassed them and walked over the self check-in (that you can’t do if you have check-in luggage) :woohoo: and was through security before the first student had even finished their check-in.

Security was a breeze – I’m too innocent looking so I never get pulled over. I find my way to the nearest Starbucks and sat and waited for my flight. I’m beyond petrified of flying – like to the point that I really ought to take something to help me for the flight but I won’t do that because if there is an emergency I need to be coherent. So, at the first sign of turbulence, I’m gripping my seat and praying ‘please don’t let me die… please don’t let me die’ and I’m always checking my watch and figuring out approximately what time we should be beginning our decent – and counting down the minutes until that time!

Flight was good from DFW to Denver with Denver being noticeably colder as Dallas was upper 70’s/ lower 80’s when I left and Denver…. wasn’t. After a short lay-over in Denver I make my way to LA and turned on my phone as we reach the gate. I had to find Tiff, who should have arrived at least an hour before me. I have two text messages on my phone; the first from an unknown number telling me to have fun on my trip and bring them back a shot glass. :confused3 The second message is from Tiff stating that she’s in the luggage claim area for American Airlines. So I go to navigate my way around an airport that I’ve never been to before to locate her. Fortunately I don’t have any qualms about stopping every airport employee/TSA/cop that I see to ask directions and be certain that I’m heading in the right way.

I finally find her and we take the Disneyland Resort Express to the hotel in Anaheim. The driver told us that it would take 45 minutes to an hour to get there… I’m not even certain that it took 30 minutes. :banana: He was a great driver and it only costs $19.00 one way ($28.00 if you purchase round trip) and they pick up from the airports every 30 minutes starting at 10:30 (on the hour before 10:30).

We quickly check-in at the hotel and find our room and I’m ready to go … and Tiff’s not. I’m almost to the point of laughing as I wait on her to get ready to go to a theme park. First of all, Tiff is a very fashion conscientious person and I’m sooo not. So, I bit my tongue and try not to let her catch me glancing at my watch as I wait for about 30 minutes for her to finish getting ready. Oh, I guess I should mention that I’m not a very patient person. :rolleyes:

Finally – she’s ready! :banana: I’d decided that we wouldn’t activate the 3 day park hopper pass until the next day (since I had ordered the park hoppers online before we added on the extra day) so we have to make a quick stop at the ticket booth to get a one day ticket for Disneyland and then we make another stop over at Guest Relations as I had reserved tickets for the Fantasmic! dessert package that night and we needed to pick up those tickets as well.

Finally, I enter the gates to Disneyland and go through the very short tunnels under the train station and brace myself as I was told to expect everything to be so much smaller than what I’m accustomed to at WDW. Honestly, the size of everything (such as the castle) didn’t phase me one bit but what did give me pause was when first coming out of the train station I couldn’t look strait down Main Street and see the castle like you can at WDW. But other than that, I was excited to be there and happy to be at a very magical place. Everything was beautiful, all decked out in Christmas décor.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1221.jpg
(I couldn't wait to have my own picture of that!)

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1224.jpg http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1222.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1223.jpg

The first thing on my agenda was to grab a fast pass to Space Mountain and then head over to Toon Town to grab one for Roger Rabbit. I had 1:30 lunch reservations at Carnation Café. We’d actually arrived a little earlier than I planned so I didn’t feel a rush as we headed over to Tomorrowland. We were both starving so I promised Tiff that we’d grab our FP’s and then see if we could get into eat earlier. Approaching Space Mountain we find that there is only a 5 minute stand-by line. What? :eek: I’d been lead to believe that the only time the line is that short is first thing in the morning. … NOT that I’m complaining by any means! :yay:

OK… I reallllly wanted to ride Space and see what it is like as everyone says that it’s so much better than the one at WDW. So, I turn to Tiff…

“Uh… Tiff… do you want to grab a FP for later and ride it once now… I know you’re starving, I mean, if you have to eat now (because I knew that eating was currently first on her agenda) we can eat now and come back later….” I give my best pleading to ‘go on the ride now’ look.

She assures me that she won’t pass out or become hostel from lack of food and we can go on right the. Woo-hoo! :cool1: We fly through the empty line and don’t have to stop until we are almost to boarding and yes, I will join the WDW vet bandwagon that will admit – this ride rocks! Sooooo much better than WDW’s current version! But, like many of the other WDW vets, I missed not walking through the star tunnel – I love the music in there.

We leave Tomorrowland and make our way towards Toon Town, passing It’s a Small World in the processes.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1233.jpg

I’d seen pictures of this before but this is really a cool looking building. Even Tiff stops and stares at it, quite impressed. The clock has struck something (I know it wasn’t on the hour – maybe 15 after?) and we watch all the little dolls come out and go around. And as I’m typing this, ‘It’s a Small World’ comes on Sorcerer Radio so now I’m singing along with typing this.

OK. I was impressed by the It’s a Small World Building but I was totally blown away by Toon Town. (I had a feeling that I would be.) This place is just full of whimsical fun. I love it! We grab our FP’s for Roger Rabbit and look around a bit.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1237.jpg http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1241.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1242.jpg http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1252.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1250.jpg
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We head back to Main Street to the Carnation Café and there is a line that we don’t really have to wait in as I have a Priority Seating. Woo-hoo! We were seated within a couple of minutes after checking in. We both had sandwiches and they were good. Actually, I think cardboard would have tasted good to me by that point as the Starbucks blueberry muffin I’d had at 5:00 that morning was long gone from my stomach.

From here on out – ummm…that schedule that I had spent hours and hours working on.. that I had color coordinated… uh, yeah. That schedule ceased to exist and I guess it became more of a guideline to go by– or really just several sheets of paper that took up space in my bag. I think that part of the reason for this, ok – the main reason - is the lines for everything were much shorter and everything was moving a lot quicker than I’d planned on.

First up, after our yummy sandwiches, was Indiana Jones. One of Tiff’s favorite movies so I knew she’d want to see this ride and I was curious as everyone says it’s much better than Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom (which is a ride I’m not very keen on.) Honestly. The ride was alright. Going through the queue I tried to find all the hidden stuff to do. A CM told me that the bamboo pole was temporarily removed as they were ‘improving’ it to do more things. (I’m not certain what it does originally). I snapped a few pictures (in the queue only! Not on the ride) – but limited myself as I didn’t want to blind people as it is a bit dark in there.
As for the ride itself, it was fun but neither Tiff nor I had any desire to ride it more than that one time. Yes, the theme is a lot better than Dinosaur but I felt once was enough.
We worked our way back over to Toon Town and took a spin on Roger Rabbit. I let Tiff drive – or rather, spin- on our wacky ride. I love that movie, which was a good movie and one that I want to buy – I meant to buy it while at Disneyland. Oh well. Onward to Fantasyland to discover that Peter Pan has a twenty minute line – not too bad for Peter Pan…so we jump in that line as this is Tiff’s first time I’m trying to see everything and I’m glad that we did.

Onward to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Yeah, obviously I don’t believe to sticking to one land/location… we were moving. Come on people, or rather Tiff, keep up!

Does anyone know if WDW’s BTMR has the cute little turtle and skunks like DL’s does? I don’t recall seeing them at WDW last year.

After getting off we spot the McDonald’s French fry wagon. You know, I think seeing that was the most enthusiasm Tiff showed that day. :rotfl2: So, of course, we had to stop for some fries and we made our way over to the Haunted Mansion.

I planned to get a FP but, of course, we didn’t need one. So, we stood outside the gate stuffing the rest of our fries (geeze! That’s a lot of fries they give!) so that we can go on the ride. I’d asked the CM at greeter what the wait time was and he pointed to the (then) non-existent line at the door and said ‘that’ was the line… about 5 minutes and we couldn’t take the French fries with us. So, as we stood there, stuffing our faces, more and more people passed us to get into the line and the CM kept looking over me and shouting ‘6 minutes’ ‘8 minutes’ ’10 minutes’ as more and more people joined the line. I kept shoving fries into my mouth thinking ‘Ok! Ok!’

Finally, fries consumed, we made our way into the mansion. I wished that Tiff had seen the original HM before but I was glad to see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. I saw the movie in 3-D at the theater the week-end before my trip. I hadn’t seen it since, well, since it came out originally, so I need to refresh my Jack and Sally storyline. It was really cute (the ride). We were stopped briefly while passing the ballroom scene (just at the end of it) and I got to watch the two pictures duel it out. I probably would have never noticed that had we not stopped there.

After HM, it was Pirates time! Oh my gosh, DL’s Pirate’s is soooooo much better than WDW’s. Why did they shorten up WDW’s version? That was stupid on Disney’s part. It was so calm and relaxing at the beginning while drifting past the Blue Bayou – I almost fell asleep. I love the talking skull and bones before you go down the first drop.

Back over to Space Mountain... I told ya... we’re moving people... Come on! Keep up!

See, we still had that FP that we grabbed earlier that day… and we still didn’t need it as the queue was only 15 minutes. So, after, I decided that I had to try out the Matterhorn as we passed by walking back to the hub to go back to New Orleans Square. The Matterhorn proved to not be a wise choice for either of us. I liked it… but I banged up my knee pretty bad as it was really rough. Tiff just didn’t like it and flat out told me so. So, that was my one and only time on the Matterhorn. I wanted to try it again but I was weary due to the pain in my knee.

[Dolce27]

I think, while passing back through the hub, this was when they were filming Jennie Garth and the Dancing with the Stars segment that she was doing. We passed by as she was on stage with Mickey and asked the audience if they would like to see her dance with him. Needless to say, neither Tiff nor I were a part of that audience.

(I can't recall the exact order some things happend.

Like: I know at some point we passed by these guys as I was feeling pretty bummed that the Alice in Wonderland ride was closed:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1270.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1272.jpg

And I took this pic after killing my knee on the Matterhorn - but I never went on it:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1305.jpg )

Reaching New Orleans Square, Tiff found a spot over by the Haunted Mansion, sat down, pulled out her cell and told me that she wasn’t moving anymore. So, off I went to explore by myself while waiting for the Fantasmic time (we’d already checked-in for our seats earlier). I briefly spoke to the HM CM again, he was still at greeter. I told him to keep an eye on my friend and I left to take a few pictures and explore the gift shops filled with stuff that I can’t afford. I’m a sucker for the Arribas Brothers crystal figurines. I bought a Steamboat Willie one last year at WDW and I had to physically force myself out of the store there before I added to my collection.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1329.jpg

I wondered back over to the Haunted Mansion and found another CM had come out to join the original CM greeter that I’d been chatting with. You know, I’ve read threads on this board about how the DL CM’s are not very friendly – especially in comparison to WDW’s CM. Well, my main complaint with these two CM’s was that they were too darn friendly and happy. I mean, come on! It’s the Haunted Mansion. You are not supposed to be happy at the Haunted Mansion… you are supposed to be serious and a bit scary. So, of course, I had to ask them why they were so darn happy when a third HM CM came out to join the other two. The third CM began questioning me about why I looked so happy and who died….

Anyways… those three guys were fun to talk to and I’m glad that they are having so much fun working at the Haunted Mansion… even if they aren’t supposed to look like they are having so much fun…

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/HMCM.jpg

Finally, it was time for Fantasmic. Our seats were pretty center. We’d apparently been one of the first ones to check-in and got to pick some of the best seats that they reserve. We got our boxes of treats (which was a lot of food – but oh-so yummy!) and we met a wonderful family from Washington state that we were sitting by. I was hoping that they were a DIS family – but they weren’t. However, I did give the mom this website so maybe they are a future DIS family. :teeth:

As I previously said, I worked the College Program (back in 1999…. Gosh I’m getting old!) and I was at MGM and I did work Fantasmic many, many nights. I love the show. I was curious to see Disneyland’s version (yes, I’m quite aware that DL’s version is the original version). I did love the Peter Pan scene and thought that was really nice but I didn’t like the Dumbo and Pinocchio scenes. My idea of a perfect Fantasmic show: Do MGM’s version but replace the Pocahontas scene with the Peter Pan scene. Also, at MGM they are able to set the ending fireworks off higher than they apparently allowed to do at DL so the fireworks are more impressive at MGM. But overall, great, great show. I love that show.

The night is finally to an end. I have no idea how Tiff likes her first time to experience anything Disney. Except for the French fries, she just doesn’t give a lot of reaction to things. :confused3 So we join the small crowd and work our way out of the park, across Harbor Blvd, and down the couple of blocks to our hotel. Tomorrow’s the one and only chance I’m giving myself to ride Nemo because I refuse to wait in a long line for it.

Up next: I do something that some people will probably perceive as rude – but I perceived as desperate – and do I make it to Nemo?

[Dolce27]

:bored:


hound - ;)

Hey! :mad: I'll have you know that it takes awhile to write such a masterful, suspenseful, and intriguing trip report.
:rolleyes:
OK. It just takes awhile to type the report and fight with photobucket to download all your photos and then fight to get the size you want. :teeth:

[Hound 109]

Truly a masterpiece Dolce. :thumbsup2

Random stories that had me cracking up:


- Stuffing french fries while watching the line at HM grow. :lmao:

- 5 min. line at SM :woohoo: (but why not ride it twice ;) )

- Waiting ''patiently" while buddy takes 30 minutes to "primp". (Man....all Dis Comandos can relate. :rotfl: )

- Working (walking) the park like a child traces a star. (Good thing Trish didn't look at a map. :laughing: ) We'll call you Trace n Retrace Dolce. :hippie:


I love reports from first timers to Walt's park....especially when they write like Mark Twain or Erma Bombeck.

I look forward to more great stories & more great pics.

(sorry Alice was down. :sad1: ....but glad you rode Pirates. pirate: )


Thanks for the masterful storytelling, Dolce. :thumbsup2

Looking forward to the next installment. popcorn::


hound - :3dglasses

[garate55]

Hey I think we were walking by the "Dancing with the Stars" thingy at the same time and thought oh Jenny Garth? stopped for a split second and BAM on our way to do more important things. I believe we were walking into Adventureland at the time.

[Dolce27]

Truly a masterpiece Dolce. :thumbsup2

Random stories that had me cracking up:


- Stuffing french fries while watching the line at HM grow. :lmao:

- 5 min. line at SM :woohoo: (but why not ride it twice ;) )

- Waiting ''patiently" while buddy takes 30 minutes to "primp". (Man....all Dis Comandos can relate. :rotfl: )

- Working (walking) the park like a child traces a star. (Good thing Trish didn't look at a map. :laughing: ) We'll call you Trace n Retrace Dolce. :hippie:


I love reports from first timers to Walt's park....especially when they write like Mark Twain or Erma Bombeck.

I look forward to more great stories & more great pics.

(sorry Alice was down. :sad1: ....but glad you rode Pirates. pirate: )


Thanks for the masterful storytelling, Dolce. :thumbsup2

Looking forward to the next installment. popcorn::


hound - :3dglasses

Thanks! :goodvibes And no, I didn't provide Tiff with a map. She was totally dependent on following me around to wherever I went. Oh, and to answer your question about SM: we were too hungry to ride twice and I was happy that she let me go the once as I knew she was starving. I wasn't about to push my luck. She said that she didn't get hostile when hungry... but I wasn't chancing it. :rolleyes:

[Dolce27]

The next morning I was up just before 6 am and ready to go.

As I said, I was up before 6 am and ready to go. :rolleyes:

On my way out the door I told Tiff to call my cell when she was ready to meet up. The hotel had free breakfast… from 7 – 9 am. There wasn’t any way that I was giving up my valuable waiting in line for the parks to open time for what I read is a less than stellar breakfast. (did you understand all that?) I grabbed an Egg McMuffin from McDonalds and was to the plaza by 6:40 am. The place was deserted except for a woman sitting on a concrete wall reading a book, a family that walked up just before me and whose picture I took of them so that they could all be in it, several CM’s flying around heading in various directions and the fork lift driver guy.

At least I was able to take a couple of pictures without other people starring in them.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1333.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1332.jpg

About 7:00 a few more families had shown up – not many - when we were all kicked out of the plaza and forced to line up outside of the baggage check tents. Now, I would have, and should have, been first in the line outside of baggage check. I was well ahead of the others… until two kids decided to ignore the CM’s yelling ‘No running!’ and raced ahead of me.

Not that it was a big deal that I wasn’t first in the line, even though I’d arrived before that family had, but it just wasn’t fair that I couldn’t get away with running like kids were. If I’m going to have to have a complaint (because everyone has at least one complaint per trip – right? :rolleyes: ) then that is going to be my complaint: running kids costs me my first in line every time because they’d race ahead while I’m being the responsible adult and walking and they arrive at my destination first, then I’d arrive, then 5 minutes later their parents arrive and join the kids. (No, this isn’t a serious complaint :rotfl: … but if I had to have a complaint – that’d be it. Those darn kids! :teeth: ).

What was funny about these two kids (boys; both looked to be under 12) was that when they arrived at the bag check they began arguing because one boy (I think the one who lost the race) began yelling at the other that a CM had told them to not run and the other boy argued back that it hadn’t been a CM. Then the little sister (looked to be 5 or 6) walked up and told them that the CM said not to run so then the argument continued about whither it was an actual CM or not. As I walked up I stated: “That was a Cast Member.” Both boys looked at me, their eyes got wide, and they shut-up. :rotfl2:

I almost began laughing. I don’t feel like an ‘adult’ (probably because I don’t have my own kids to boss around) so I wasn’t expecting the kids to stop arguing and behave just because I, an adult, spoke up. The parents finally caught up and joined them. Surprisingly, a line was quickly forming now that it was just after 7am. I observed the family in front me for awhile, and spoke briefly with them. They seemed to be a nice family and purely based upon my observations, no facts given, I’m assuming that they are a new family. I think the parents just married and one boy and the girl was hers and the other boy was his. Just the way they were interacting - they seemed to still be trying to get to know one another. So, no particular reason why I mention that – just my observations and how I spent my time waiting for them to let us back into the plaza. By this time the line was getting pretty long. I heard a couple of different stories from CM’s as to why we had to wait outside of bag check but I think the reason was back to the fork lift driver. He was trying to remove stuff from the plaza area and they didn’t want guests in that area until he was finished and gone – I guess for liability reasons.

Finally, we were allowed through bag check and I rushed towards a gate. I got into the line behind two women and waited. I wasn’t sure if that gate was going to open, and quite frankly, neither were they but they said that one of the CM’s had pointed at that gate.

It was almost 8:00am. This was my one shot at Nemo. If I didn’t make it with opening – so that I didn’t have much of a wait – then I was just going to skip the attraction. I’d read HydroGuy’s tips: I was one of the first people there that morning, I was at the front of a now massive line and I was ready to go. :cool1: CM’s began to unlock the gates and move into position to collect tickets… all except for my gate. What?!?! :eek: Wait a minute. I was here before alllllll of these people save for 5 (the family of four and the one lady with the book) and, looking back at the long, long, long lines alllll the way back to the DCA signs, this just wasn’t fair. :mad: (Yes, I’m stomping my foot and pouting right now.) So, I did what any normal and desperate person did – I jumped into the line next to me.

Yes people, I was a line-cutter. The two women in front of me did the same. I know, if it wasn’t Nemo day then I wouldn’t have done it but I’d put in my time that morning and gosh darn it – I’m riding Nemo!

Fortunately, for me, I was not lynched and strung up by my toes from the top of the gate – although there were probably some pretty nasty glares directed at my backside by people who weren’t aware that I was at the park before them. I happened to jump in front of an older couple (I think from Arizona?) I did profusely apologize (because I’ve never cut in a line before and I felt horrible – but it was Nemo day! I’m not normally a bad person – really I’m not! :flower3: ) and I explained that I’d been there since 6:40 and it was my first time at Disneyland. They were actually very sweet about it all. (Thank goodness!!) Just as everyone was moving up to begin going through the turnstiles… a tardy CM shows up to open the gate that I’d originally been standing in front of. Now I feel really horrible. :guilty: The two women that had been in front of me at the first gate moved back over to the previous gate but the older couple told me to stay where I was, that it was fine. They were very sweet and I again thanked them for not killing me… actually, I think I literally did say those words: Thank you for not killing me.

So, at a brisk walk, remember, no running! (apparently line cutting: yes – running: no. I’ve got to have my priorities people! :thumbsup2 ) I made my way to Nemo and the helpful CM’s showed me the way – which I understand to be the long way around. By the time I reached Nemo they weren’t allowing anyone into the actual queue yet. A CM was standing in front allowing a line to form and then he walked us through the entire queue. I was either in the first or second sub – not certain but I never really had to stop before boarding the sub so I think I may have been on the first sub. The ride was really cute and I enjoyed it. I was glad that I was able to see this. So, I get off and check my phone – Tiff’s still in bed apparently so I decided to head over to Autopia. They actually gave me a license. They’re going to let me drive! Really, they probably should have given me a driving test first but since they didn’t….

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1339.jpg
(See? Proof that they are letting me drive! :thumbsup2 )

Yeah, darn, that car didn’t go very fast –
My ride:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1345.jpg
(not exactly my dream car - bit it'll do.)

but I almost did rear-end the car in front of me once. See, I told you they should have given me a driving test first! At least I didn’t have to parallel park because I can’t do that for the life of me. Seriously, the last time I parallel parked I was 15 and taking the driving portion of the test for my learner’s permit. I haven’t had to take a driving test since and I prefer to park ten blocks away and walk rather than attempt to parallel park in that one open spot directly in front of the door.

So, after my leisurely drive around… wherever I was driving around…

Hey! Cute sign :teeth:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1349.jpg
I finally get the phone call from Tiff that she’s arrived. I go back up to meet her and then stop off at the Main Street Bakery for food. (You know, now that I think about it... McDonalds was the next day. They yummy sugery carbs was this day.) Tiff confirms that the free breakfast at the hotel is less than stellar and I devour a very tasty cinnamon twist and pumpkin spice latte. I left my diet back in Texas – I’m on vacation people – no healthy food for me!

At some point we make a stop by the castle. I don't think these two little guys are at WDW:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1359.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1357.jpg
( I love statues. :goodvibes )

We take off to Tomorrowland to find that Space Mountain was down and so we check out Innoventions. The Innoventions at EPCOT at WDW isn’t very good and there is so much potential for it if only Disney would do something about it. I was keeping my fingers crossed that this one was better – because it sounded fabulous on the Disneyland website. Yeah, I sadly have to say – EPCOT’s is much better and I’m not overly impressed with EPCOT’s. Really, Disney needs to hire me to oversee some of this stuff. I have considered submitting my resume for an Imagineering position before – but yeah, good luck to me for ever scoring one of those coveted jobs!

Off to Adventureland with the intentions of going to the Tikki Room. I don’t even remember the original version of this – I’m used to the new version (which I happen to like!) at the Magic Kingdom so I wanted to see this – and hoped that it didn’t put me to sleep. I don’t do very well in shows. Alas, they’d just let a group in and it was another 16 minute wait and the Jungle Cruise beckoned to us so… no Tikki Room. The Jungle Cruise was a walk on and I sat down next to the skipper.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1368.jpg
(This was carved on our boat)
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1370.jpg
(It's waaaay to cold for him to be having too much fun. I think he's faking that smile!)
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1373.jpg
(Ummm.... are monkeys required to get a gun permit before owning a gun?)

[Dolce27]

After a nice cruise though, where were we? Africia? We returned to Disneyland. She was one of the better skippers that I’ve seen and I enjoyed my cruise.

Next was a quick stop at Tarzan's treehouse:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1378.jpg
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I attempted to convince Tiff to go on Splash Mountain – but she was having none of that. She has issues of being wet… truthfully, so do I but I was curious to see the difference between the two Splash Mountains. This is one ride that is reported to be better at WDW. Even offering to buy her a poncho couldn’t bribe her on the ride so instead off we went to Winnie the Poo. This was another ride that is better at WDW but I wasn’t nearly as disappointed in DL’s version as I expected to be after reading everyone’s thoughts about the ride. I do miss the bouncing Tigger section that the WDW version has – that’s my favorite part of the ride. The things you ride in are cute and I liked how they were all named.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1390.jpg

I grabbed a Tigger Tail after and we explored the gift shop. Man, do all of those treats look yummy. I could never work in there… I’d eat it all.

We hopped the boat over to Pirate’s Liar pirate: (aka Tom Sawyer Island) just in time for the show to begin. It was a cute show. We’d actually ridden the raft over with one of the pirates.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1391.jpg
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Off to explore the island. How many caves are there? I know at WDW there are at least two but I only went through one at Disneyland. There were cute little birds hopping around the island. So yes, they required a picture.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1413.jpg

Easley amused – aren’t we? :teeth:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1415.jpg

We made our way back to Tomorrowland and Space Mountain was back up. Yea! :banana: Tiff did admit to liking this ride, so another yea! :banana: We grab a FP for later and work our way to New Orleans Square. You know, never once did Tiff question why we zigzagged all over the park – which is a good thing as I didn’t actually have an answer for that question. I think it was that I just thought of something we should do, regardless where it was located, and went with it. My detailed, color-coded itinerary was still buried in the bottom of my bag.

We detoured by the Big Thunder Ranch on our way back to see the reindeer.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1418.jpg

Mrs. Clause was there but what I really became excited about was this guy:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/MeDale.jpg

Dale is my absolute favorite Disney character. I don’t know why. I just love him. It was a free for all to get autographs or pictures with him. Line? What line? Apparently no one there had ever heard of a line. A CM approached Dale and told him it was time for him to go do something – I forget what but I know that he was leaving. I asked if there was a line because I wanted my picture and she said no. Dale began to walk off but the CM stopped him and told him to be certain to get a picture with me. :teeth: Thank you nice CM. Thank you Dale.

[Dolce27]

We eventually make our way back to New Orleans Square where I have a priority seating for Café Orleans. Once again – a long line of people wanting to eat at the restaurant. I’m too accustomed to going to WDW to not have made reservations and I’m so thankful that I had. You do not go to WDW without reservations – especially since they began the Disney Dining Plan a couple of years go. If you don’t have reservations there – even if you are on the Dining Plan – 9 times out of 10 you’re out of luck. Most restaurants there will not take walk-ups.

So, we were seated and I ordered the Monte Cristo. It looked wonderful in the pictures I’d seen of it. Then I got it. You know, I really should have taken into consideration that I do not normally eat high-fat greasy food (except for doughnuts :teeth: ). I managed to eat one slice of my sandwich and that was all my stomach could take –it was way too much for me. Tiff had ordered a Salmon Salad that looked wonderful! I probably should have ordered that. I did order the beignets and was ok to eat those – so that was basically my lunch.

We went over to the train station and hopped the train back around to Main Street where we saw the fireman band playing. Goofy joined them and boy can he dance for a dog.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1423.jpg
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They were fun to watch for a bit. As we walked up Main Street the crowds were already forming for the parade. As this was November 16, it was the first day for the Christmas parade and fireworks. We made our way through the masses as I silently laughed to myself about all of the poor suckers stuck sitting there for awhile. I’d purchased RideMax and it gives a tip where you should watch the parade from. (Can’t tell you… it’s a secret.) So, onward to Fantasyland and Mr. Toads Wild Ride. I really wanted to ride this. As some of you may or may not know, WDW got rid of theirs back in 1998 despite the angry protest from Toad fans all across the nation. So, I hadn’t been on this since I was a child and was eagerly looking forward to another wild ride… but that was not meant to be. Approaching the building, we ran into a solemn looking CM that stood before the door turning away guests as the ride would be down for ‘some time… but probably around 45 minutes (the 45 minutes part he really wasn’t supposed to tell me) so I decided that we’d go to the parade spot to sit and wait for the parade – like almost everyone else seemed to be currently doing. Yeah, suddenly I didn’t consider everyone else a ‘sucker’. Man, a person’s perspective can change pretty darn fast. :rolleyes1

I arrive to the spot – which was sooo not crowded – to decide that I really didn’t like the spot very much. So, I decided that we’d find another spot. So off I go with Tiff following – I’m not certain that I even told her that we were waiting for the parade. I think she was just following; expecting to end back up at Pirates or Space Mountain or something.

I see a spot on the curb of the hub that could almost fit two people if someone moved over just a little bit. So I walk up to two women to the right of the spot and ask if they were reserving that for anyone and they said no. I turn to the people on the left, a young mother and father and their toddler, and ask if they are saving that spot for anyone and they said no and the mother moved over a little bit more. Score! Curb side seating.

Poor Tiff – she’s so tall (like model height) and she looked down at the short curb and asked me if I expected her to sit all the way down there. Me, being short and no where near model height, was already seated and getting comfy for the short wait until parade time looked up at her and was like: Yes! Sit. Now.

It really wasn’t too long of a wait for the parade and they sent out Giselle from the movie Enchanted in a horse drawn carriage before the start of the parade to introduce her as Disney’s ‘newest family member’ as the movie was releasing that week.
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1451.jpg

So, without further ado… a photo montage of the parade for your viewing enjoyment:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1453.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1458.jpg
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http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1490.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1502.jpg
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http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1508.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1513.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1515.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1518.jpg
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http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1532.jpg

[Dolce27]

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1538.jpg http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1542.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1544.jpg
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After the parade we made it over to a showing of Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. I was rather amused by them and they are wonderful fiddle players. I’ve been attempting to learn the violin but as I had to fire my instructor – I’m currently not making much progress but they inspired me to try to get back with it. I think that Tiff could have done without them. She received a phone call from her boyfriend (I think) just as the show ended and she explained that we saw a performance. There was a pause and then she said ‘banjo music’ in a tone that made me think she would not be joining me if I opted to see another performance. Well, I thought that they were funny. :teeth:

Earlier that day we'd stopped at a few stores on Main Street. Why are hats so darn alluring? So, what do ya think:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1438.jpg
(I'm a serious pirate... hand over your goods)

or

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1440.jpg
(Huh? I do look rather smart in this - don't I?)

Onward to Space Mountain – and this time we did have to use our Fast Passes. Then it was a trip to the Endor Moon, well, it was supposed to be a trip to the Endor Moon – stupid droid! Do I get my money back? Honey I Shrunk the Audience was next... it has been years since I last saw that one.
Onward to Buzz Lightyear using a Fast Pass! Now, I was a bit concerned about this. This one is a little different than WDW’s version. The WDW version is focused on spinning your car and the guns are secured down on the console. I really am not good at Buzz Lightyear. At all. Last year at WDW I tried it and the 6 year old kid three cars in front of me had a score quadruple what mine was. It wasn’t a pretty sight.

So, we blast our way through and neither one of us were that great – but I did do better than what I did last year at WDW. So, my bruised ego is finally beginning to heal some.

I finally get to ride Mr. Toad’s and I know we went to hell but it was actually getting pretty cold outside. I thought it was supposed to be hot?

Big Thunder Mountain was next – I wanted to ride it at night. It’s great with all the Christmas lights up in the park – a very pretty sight. After, we caught another cruise around the African jungles as I also wanted to ride this at night for the atmosphere.

Tiff was a bit cold – ok, quite cold as were I, and I was honestly was having trouble telling if she was enjoying her trip or not. I did snap this pic:

(picture removed)
(picture was of a person not looking as if they were having a good time)

Honestly, I think that picture sums up her trip. I don’t think she was hating it per sae.. but she’s so not going to be joining these boards to discuss all things Disney.. at least not in this life time. We browse through all the shops – trying to stay out of the cold. We saw the 50 years exhibit but skipped out on the movie.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1568.jpg

Main Street was beautiful all lit up:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1572.jpg
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We even saw the carolers:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1559.jpg

Finally, it was fireworks time.

To be truthful, I was a bit disappointed in the holiday fireworks. The last Disney fireworks I saw was Hallowishes last year at the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and it was so awesome – they even shoot off a 180 degree arc at one point.

Being Disney – I think I was expecting more. But part of my attitude may have been due to that I was concerned that Tiff was really miserable. She was freezing cold and honestly did not look to be having much fun. I’m not blaming my friend for my lack of awe at the fireworks but it did put a serious damper on my mood… that and the fact that the guy in front of me would not shut-up for anything during the fireworks. He basically had his back to the fireworks and chatted with his friend the entire time and it was rather distracting.

So, as everyone stuck around to watch the ‘snow’ come down on Main Street, we fought our way back to the gate to go back to the hotel.

Next Up: Early morning entry and does Tiff enjoy DCA more than Disneyland?

[Dolce27]

Darn. I scared of Hound 109 didn't I? It was because I admitted to being a line-cutter wasn't it? :confused3 I knew that impulsive decision would come back to haunt me!

[HelenePA]

Okay I'm in.. I dont think I'll ever make it to disneyland but ya got me hooked on your report!

[Hound 109]

The next morning I was up just before 6 am and ready to go.

As I said, I was up before 6 am and ready to go. :rolleyes:


:scared1:




........long, long lines alllll the way back to the DCA signs, this just wasn’t fair. :mad: (Yes, I’m stomping my foot and pouting right now.) So, I did what any normal and desperate person did – I jumped into the line next to me.

Yes people, I was a line-cutter.

:faint:


::cop: UH.....DOLCE.....WE DLR DIS POLICE WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU. PACK A LIGHT BAG....IT'S ALWAYS WARM IN GUATANAMO.....ER...SOCAL.


:teeth:



Fortunately, for me, I was not lynched and strung up by my toes from the top of the gate –

NOT YET. ;)




They were very sweet and I again thanked them for not killing me… actually, I think I literally did say those words: Thank you for not killing me.

:rotfl:




At some point we make a stop by the castle. I don't think these two little guys are at WDW:
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1359.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1357.jpg
( I love statues. :goodvibes )

ME TOO. :thumbsup2




We take off to Tomorrowland to find that Space Mountain was down and so we check out Innoventions. The Innoventions at EPCOT at WDW isn’t very good and there is so much potential for it if only Disney would do something about it. I was keeping my fingers crossed that this one was better – because it sounded fabulous on the Disneyland website. Yeah, I sadly have to say – EPCOT’s is much better and I’m not overly impressed with EPCOT’s.

YEAH.....I HEARD THAT TWO PEOPLE FINALLY VISITED INNOVENTIONS LAST MONTH. :lmao:




Alas, they’d just let a group in and it was another 16 minute wait and the Jungle Cruise beckoned to us so… no Tikki Room.

NO DOLE WHIP???? :scared: SAY IT AIN'T SO!!! ;)





NO PROBLEM WITH THE LINE CUTTING, DOLCE.....AS LONG AS YOU THANKED THE NICE PEOPLE FOR NOT STRINGING YOU UP OVER THE RAILROAD OVERPASS. :rotfl:



GREAT REPORT, DOLCE....I HAD TO SMOOZE WITH DD's (future in-laws).


Hound <------ done smoozing & now trying to catch up on Dolce's most excellent trippie (while preparing for his own next week. :)

[Dolce27]

:scared1:






:faint:


::cop: UH.....DOLCE.....WE DLR DIS POLICE WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU. PACK A LIGHT BAG....IT'S ALWAYS WARM IN GUATANAMO.....ER...SOCAL.


:teeth:





NOT YET. ;)






:rotfl:






ME TOO. :thumbsup2






YEAH.....I HEARD THAT TWO PEOPLE FINALLY VISITED INNOVENTIONS LAST MONTH. :lmao:






NO DOLE WHIP???? :scared: SAY IT AIN'T SO!!! ;)





NO PROBLEM WITH THE LINE CUTTING, DOLCE.....AS LONG AS YOU THANKED THE NICE PEOPLE FOR NOT STRINGING YOU UP OVER THE RAILROAD OVERPASS. :rotfl:



GREAT REPORT, DOLCE....I HAD TO SMOOZE WITH DD's (future in-laws).


Hound <------ done smoozing & now trying to catch up on Dolce's most excellent trippie (while preparing for his own next week. :)

Well, I'm glad that you had an excellent time smoozing and glad to have you back! I promise, there is no more line cutting in my TR.

[Dolce27]

Okay I'm in.. I dont think I'll ever make it to disneyland but ya got me hooked on your report!

Woo-hoo! I'm glad that you joined! :goodvibes
I think that I promised you on the other thread Day 3 tonight... uh, that's not happening...:rolleyes1

I should have Day 3 up sometime tomorrow.

[lulubelle]

Can't wait Dulce!
Your report is awesome so far. I do hope Tiff has a great day at DCA:goodvibes

[MainStMandy]

I never wander over to "these" boards, but am loving your tr!!!

[Dolce27]

Can't wait Dulce!
Your report is awesome so far. I do hope Tiff has a great day at DCA:goodvibes

Hey! Glad that you joined! :goodvibes

[Dolce27]

I never wander over to "these" boards, but am loving your tr!!!

Yea! Amanda's in!! :banana: Another WDW vet!! :teeth:

[Dolce27]

Alright, I'm going to have to do Saturday ..aka: Day 3.. in two parts because I really want to go to bed now.

... and I don't know why because the only thing I have to look forward to upon waking is work. :scared:

So, without further ado...

Today, November 17, was the day I went over to McDonalds for breakfast (not yesterday – I’ve slept since then… how am I supposed to remember the order of everything I did?? :confused3 ). It was a early entry day and since I had a 3 day park hopper I planned to take advantage of that. Of course, Tiff wasn’t going to breakfast with me nor was she standing outside the gates at 6:00 am like I was waiting for the gates to open at 7:00. :teeth:

This time I was first in line at both bag check and at the gate. No line cutting occurred upon this day. :rolleyes: However, as I walked (very quickly) to the gate from bag check I glanced over and saw a father breaking all the rules and running! *gasp!* Even I don’t run.
However, watching him run while holding a full cup of coffee was quite amusing….. from the expression on his face to the stance of his body as he attempted to not spill hot coffee all over himself....:rotfl:
I guess it was a good thing for him that they ran – they were the family chosen that morning to open the park.

The gates opened and everyone took off running/walking – towards Nemo I assumed. I planned to take a few quick pics of the castle sans people in front of it – but alas that was not to be as they were once again setting a stage and everything up for an event. I asked 3 CM’s what the event (which was to take place the next day, actually) was.

CM #1: thinks Hanna Montana (Great. The current Disney *it* girl. If it’s her than the park was going to be insane the next day!)

CM #2: I don’t know.

CM #3: The Christmas taping tomorrow.

<<<<so, I think everyone knows that both CM #1 and #3 were correct. The next morning they had the Hanna Montana (aka Molly Cyrus) taping of the Christmas show. >>>>>>

Off to Fantasyland for me, without my castle pictures. :sad2: I actually stopped off at the Mad Hatter first and bought a hat that I was admiring the day before and I then went over to Dumbo. It was deserted so I decided to ride. I had the entire ride to myself – in fact; I basically had Fantasyland to myself. Everyone else must have been at Nemo. They apparently didn’t ready HydroGuy’s tip about avoiding Nemo on an EE day… but I read it. :thumbsup2

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1600.jpg
(A deserted Dumbo. I'm not certain that this ever occurs at WDW.)

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1604.jpg
(My view while riding Dumbo because I know you wanted to see that.:teeth:)


I walked over the carousel next. I absolutely love carousels. I tried to get Tiff to go on it with me the day before but she informed me that she hated them. How can a person hate a carousel? That baffles my mind. I just don’t understand. I had to wait a turn as a father with his little girl were currently riding so I chatted with the CM instead and found out a couple of interesting facts:

1) All of the horses have names (he, the CM, didn’t know all of them)
2) Jingles is one of the horses and it has a hidden Mickey on it. Also, it is the horse that Marry Poppins rides if she rides the carousel.

The CM had pointed out that to the little girl and she was currently riding Jingles because of that. When it was my turn – and I was the only one to get on after the father and daughter left – I chose not to ride Jingles. I felt bad for the other horses so I rode a horse whose name I do not know.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1608.jpg

Fantasyland was still pretty deserted but I left to go over to Tomorrowland, which was a bit more populated. Although, I didn't leave before spotting the Evil Queen glaring down at me from the Snow White ride. :eek: She's pretty scary.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1615.jpg

I took a quick ride on Space Mountain without much of a wait and then on to Buzzlightyear. I’m still not doing that great at that ride, but much better than what I can score on the one at Disney World.

I made my way over to ‘It’s a Small World’ to check out the holiday addition.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1620.jpg

Please note: the following two picture were taken without flash and without anyone being the the boats before or behind me to be distracted by the backlight of a digital camera. Just wanted to make myself clear there. :rolleyes1

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1622.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1625.jpg

Storybook land was up next as it was now 8:00 and the park was officially open. I didn't know what to expect from this ride but it was short and very cute:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1642.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1646.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1649.jpg

[Dolce27]

I had to ride Pirates once again after. That whole Blue Bayou area is so relaxing. For those of you who’ve yet to make it east to Disney World – you will be disappointed (because I know with you all being Disney lovers you will go at least once – I mean, I finally made it to Disneyland didn’t I?). Disneyland’s Pirates far outshines Disney World’s condensed version I must admit.

It was funny, the first time I rode it, the Thursday before with Tiff, I recalled the recent thread that one guy (I think it was a guy) started because he wanted to take pictures in the dark rides, such as Pirates, without regard to how annoying and disruptive it could be to other guests. Yes – at Pirates – the do specifically tell you no flash photography. In fact, it wasn’t even a overhead type announcement – the CM, after we were all in the boat – told us no flash photography. Not a second after the words were out of his mouth a guy in the boat in front of ours took a flash picture. I couldn’t resist – I gestured towards the other boat and asked ‘You mean, like that?’

The CM gave me a look and sarcastically said ‘Well, except for him.’
So, my Saturday ride was rather uneventful – no flash photography occurred - and I did briefly wonder what would happen should I try to grab some of that gold as we passed by. Do you think they’d know if any of it went missing? :rolleyes1

It was back to Toontown after and I decided to check out Mickey’s house. I didn’t realize that is where you have your picture with Mickey taken… not that I was complaining…. just being another WDW vet noticing the differences in the parks… nothing wrong with that. I chatted with a nice woman behind me who was there with her two children. Not having any children of my own, I still felt a bit sympathetic as I watched her struggle to keep her 2 yr old boy (being a typical 2 yr old boy) from running off. I was certain that if she looked away for too long he’d have made it to the front gates before she noticed.

Just as I approached the front of the line I heard the CM tell Mickey that the next person (meaning me) would be the last for pictures before Mickey got a break. Hearing that I let the woman and her children cut in front of me as I didn’t mind waiting a bit longer for my turn. I didn’t know how much longer she was going to be able to keep her son in place.

When she went up for the pictures she apparently told both Mickey and the CM what I had done and asked Mickey to stay for a picture with me – which he did – so that was really nice of her to make that request for me.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1670.jpg

I explored Mickey’s house a bit

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1671.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1672.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1673.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1674.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1675.jpg

Which is just as nice, if not a little nicer, than his house at WDW. A quick tour of Minnie’s house revealed that it was not at all nicer than her WDW house.

Chip and Dale’s tree house was next. Being a serious chipmunk fan (mainly Dale) I was excited that they had their own digs… then I saw their digs.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1676.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1678.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1679.jpg

This was it.

Well, I guess being chipmunks and living in a tree, they don’t need much but I think there was a reason that I was the only person exploring their tree that morning.

A quick look at Goofy’s house – minus Goofy who’d been out front just moments before- and off I was in search of a snack. It was all this trekking back and forth between different lands that was causing my hunger – I know it.

So, where did I go to from Toontown? Why, all the way around and up to Critter Country of course. :teeth:

I’d already seen what yummy stuff they sold in the gift shop next to the Winnie the Poo ride. As I’d already had ‘breakfast’ I could eat whatever I wanted with a clear conscious… so I had a peanut butter ‘sandwich’. Trust me… this was no lunch sandwich but chocolate and peanut butter (and something else) goodness.

I went over to Frontierland and caught a comedic skit with a sheriff and two outlaws. I’d planned to spend more time watching them but their skits were too short and too far apart. By this time it was 10-something and I still hadn’t heard from Tiff. I’d previously mentioned meeting for lunch and then spending the afternoon at DCA.

I decided that I couldn’t wait until that afternoon to see DCA so I went ahead and popped over to figure out the lay of the park. I found where Soarin’ is located and then walked around the Hollywood Backlot for a bit. As they were doing the Snow White anniversary, they had either Snow White or Dopey out front of the Animation building for meet and greets.

I found Tower of Terror and couldn’t believe how short the line was! :scared1: This is not an attraction at MGM that has short lines – unless it’s first thing in the morning. I decided a quick ride – I did feel a little guilty that I was riding it before Tiff joined me – but not too guilty.

It was fun; I still prefer MGM’s Tower – in which you actually move out of one elevator shaft and into another before the drops begin - but there are enough differences between the two Towers that I appreciate Disneyland’s version also and really loved it.

By this point it is almost lunch time and I’m starving. Tiff still hadn’t called and I didn’t want to eat until I heard from her as I mentioned the day before about meeting for lunch. I tried calling her – several times actually – and she wouldn’t answer. :confused3 :sad2:

Up next: Day 3 part 2 ... Does Tiff ever answer her cellphone and join me at DCA?

[Hound 109]

CLIFFHANGER!! :hyper:

I should have known someone from Dallas would leave us in suspense like "who killed JR". :teeth:

Very cool Karma at Mickey's house. You & the Boss Mouse make a cute couple. :thumbsup2

Gotta love a trip report from a Comando Girl who's first on Dumbo. :cool1:

hound - popcorn::

[Hound 109]

Off to Fantasyland for me, without my castle pictures. :sad2: I actually stopped off at the Mad Hatter first and bought a hat that I was admiring the day before and I then went over to Dumbo

Peter Pan first.....PP ALWAYS first. ;) (at least at DLR)

But i do like that Mad Hatter headgear you sported....no fashion risk taken by the Dolce. :thumbsup2


1) All of the horses have names (he, the CM, didn’t know all of them)
2) Jingles is one of the horses and it has a hidden Mickey on it. Also, it is the horse that Marry Poppins rides if she rides the carousel.

The CM had pointed out that to the little girl and she was currently riding Jingles because of that. When it was my turn – and I was the only one to get on after the father and daughter left – I chose not to ride Jingles. I felt bad for the other horses so I rode a horse whose name I do not know.

That is very sweet & very funny. :goodvibes


Fantasyland was still pretty deserted but I left to go over to Tomorrowland, which was a bit more populated. Although, I didn't leave before spotting the Evil Queen glaring down at me from the Snow White ride. :eek: She's pretty scary.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1615.jpg


Isn't it great to do FL w/o crowds. :cool1:

& you're right......that witch is mean. (& watch out for those apples.)


Please note: the following two picture were taken without flash and without anyone being the the boats before or behind me to be distracted by the backlight of a digital camera. Just wanted to make myself clear there. :rolleyes1

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1622.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1625.jpg

Wow, those new cameras really take great pics w/o flashes. I'm impressed. :rotfl:

:rolleyes1


Great pics & great storytelling, Dolce. We're all still in. :thumbsup2


hound - :3dglasses

[Dolce27]

CLIFFHANGER!! :hyper:

I should have known someone from Dallas would leave us in suspense like "who killed JR". :teeth:

Very cool Karma at Mickey's house. You & the Boss Mouse make a cute couple. :thumbsup2

Gotta love a trip report from a Comando Girl who's first on Dumbo. :cool1:

hound - popcorn::

You mean that you don't know who killed JR?? :confused3 Oh wait, you must be a Texan in order to have that privileged information. Well, move on over to Texas and apply for citizenship and then that mystery can be solved for you. :teeth:

[Dolce27]

Peter Pan first.....PP ALWAYS first. ;) (at least at DLR)

But i do like that Mad Hatter headgear you sported....no fashion risk taken by the Dolce. :thumbsup2

Hey, that was one stylin hat. ;)


That is very sweet & very funny. :goodvibes




Isn't it great to do FL w/o crowds. :cool1:

& you're right......that witch is mean. (& watch out for those apples.)

I avoided all apples. Apples are way too healthy and I avoided anything healthy. It was all chocolate, sugar, and carbs for me! :thumbsup2


Wow, those new cameras really take great pics w/o flashes. I'm impressed. :rotfl:

:rolleyes1

Actually, I was a bit impressed with those. That was just a point and shoot and all my night time photos I could take without a flash - as I preferred to do because the light from the flash is too harsh in the photos. Now, if I had my professional 35mm camera I could have taken some great shots... especially in the dark rides like IASW. With my digital 35mm I could have changed my ISO setting. I'm too scared to bring a nice camera to a theme park however.

Great pics & great storytelling, Dolce. We're all still in. :thumbsup2

Awesome! :goodvibes

hound - :3dglasses

Response above in the quote. In red.

[tinkermell]

What a wonderful TR!!! I have been without my computer for awhile, so I'm trying to catch up.

Now I am in suspense about Tiff.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. .....??:rolleyes1

[Dolce27]

I was a bit annoyed by my unsuccessful attempts to contact Tiff (more so because I was hungry and I’m not a happy person when I am hungry) But I knew that girl’s cell phone was within 6 inches of her at all times. She was constantly receiving calls from her family/boyfriend/friends and that phone was never far from her reach.

Giving up for the time being, I wound up walking into the Grand Californian –via DCA- and finding a comfy seat I sat down, pulled out a book I had tucked into my bag, and proceeded to spend the next 20-30 minutes reading.

Yes people, I went to Disneyland and read a book. Or part of a book....More like a couple of chapters.

After awhile, my stomach began to loudly demand food so I left the comfort of my chair and made my way out of the hotel and into Downtown Disney. I grabbed the yummiest chocolate chip cookie (ever!) at Le Brea Café to tide me over and began browsing in the World of Disney while my attempts to contact Tiff resumed.

Finally, about a minute after my last attempt to call her she sends me a text message stating that she’s eating lunch and will meet me in a few minutes. ?!? :eek:

So, I could have eaten lunch already? :eek:

See? This is me hungry and me not being in a very happy mood :mad: (because I was hungry) :mad: :mad: :mad: . I text her back telling her not to bother hurrying as I’d been waiting for her to meet up for lunch and I now needed to find food because I was HUNGRY.

So I walked back over to Le Brea Café and was seated immediately. I had a yummy Panini and finally began to feel my good mood restore itself as my tummy was once again filled. :teeth:

FYI: I consider most food yummy. I’m not very picky and enjoy most food that I eat; therefore, the majority of food that I consume is described as ‘yummy’ by me. :teeth:

After eating I found Tiff walking through the bag check from the plaza into Downtown Disney and turned her back around as we went back through bag check and made our way over to DCA. I first went over to Soarin’ and we grabbed some FP’s and then we made our way over to the Hollywood Backlot.

I’d read on here that Muppets was closed … but that was false information! :woohoo: Woo-hoo! :woohoo: So, pleasantly surprised we went to see that as both Tiff and I are big Muppet fans.

This was the only time in the entire trip that Tiff requested that I take her picture.

(picture removed)
(picture was of a person posing beside one of the posters at Muppets)

OK... the pre-show was funny as usual but when was the time clock put in – that was hysterical! I don’t think that they have that at the Muppets at MGM – unless it’s a recent addition. Is it the same every time – programmed to read the same things over and over as it counts down until the show time or do the CM’s there actually get to type things in so it reads off different comments every time?

We managed to catch a musical show with a few of the Disney Animators (or at least they claim to be animators) after Muppets. It was cute and brief.

I liked the brief part.

Cinderella, Woody, and Sorcerer Mickey were part of the show and after they stuck around for pictures after. No pictures for us so we made our way over to the Tower of Terror.

The wait time read 40 minutes (ok, that’s more the wait time I’m accustomed to for Tower) so we grabbed FP’s for later. And I must remark here, like the Haunted Mansion, the CM’s were uncharacteristically friendly and happy. THEY’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HAPPY!!! They are supposed to be eerie and scary and very grim. :mad:

I mean, I’ve read so many posts here, for months, about how rude and unfriendly the Disneyland CM’s were (especially in comparison to WDW’s) and what happens when I go? Every CM is friendly and happy – even the one’s that aren’t supposed to be! :mad:

:rolleyes:

We checked out a few stores and then went over to Soarin’ – which the FP line was just about as long as the stand-by line. :scared1: What was up with that? Fortunately, the line moved pretty quickly. I tired to gage Tiff’s reaction to Soarin’ but I just couldn’t. I guess she liked it because she didn’t say ‘never again’ like she did about the Matterhorn…. so, I’ll just go with that.

When planning this trip she did say, after much prodding from me, that she liked shows and parades. I’m not a big show person at all – like the shows offered at WDW that all WDW vets love (Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, ect…) I’ve never seen them. I think I’ve made it through the first song of Beauty and the Beast and when they had the Hunchback of Notre Dame, I think I made it through the first 3 words of the first song before leaving. I just can’t sit still long enough for the shows.

Ironically, I do love the theater and when I’m in London I’m at musicals and plays constantly. I just don’t do theater at Disney apparently…

So, we were going to see Aladdin. I was going to suffer through a show because I wanted to do stuff that she would like.

Notice I said ‘were’.

Apparently she didn’t like Aladdin. Or she didn’t like the line that was still queued up outside the theater as they hadn’t let anyone in yet. I don’t know which. It may have been the line as she said ‘I’m not standing in that line’

I explained to her that they just hadn’t opened up for seating yet to no avail. She wasn’t going to see Aladdin but she told me to go ahead and she’d sit outside and wait for me.

OK…..I tell her that I’m not going unless she’s going. She tries to make me go. I won’t. She gets irked at me. I get irked at her. We go back to do more shopping.

We stop off at the Animation building and she refuses to go and see Turtle Talk with Crush so we wonder around a bit and wind up in the Beast’s library. I watched a teenaged girl take the quiz to find out the Disney character she was most like. I could tell, based upon what it said before it gave her the reveal, which character she was – she was Ariel.

My turn next, I happily sat down and answered the questions as honestly as I could. It was getting ready to announce to me which character I was and based upon what it was saying I knew that I was going to be Sleeping Beauty.

Oh yea! I love Princess Aurora.


… except when it did announce who I was – it wasn’t Princess Aurora.

I was Maleficent! :scared1: :scared1: :scared1: :scared:

I’m not a villain! Why is the magic mirror saying that I’m a villain?!? I’m nothing like Maleficent.

I don’t like this magic mirror very much. At all.

Moving on now.

Back to shopping; apparently both Tiff and I can agree on shopping. I was really trying to kill time as I had a Priority Seating soon at Goofy’s Kitchen at the Disneyland Hotel. It was going to be my treat to Tiff and she knew nothing about it. When planning this trip I decided to ensure that she was able to meet a Disney character or two since she was, after all, going to Disneyland.
… and I really liked the pictures of the cupcakes from there that I saw on the internet.

We went into one store near the front of the park and I found a picture frame that I just had to have. The problem? The display frame was out (ragged and chipped looking) but there weren’t any boxes of new ones located behind the display frame.

I went up and spoke with the CM behind the register and she called back to inventory. After a brief phone call, the CM said that they had some in the back and another CM would bring one up to me. The CM then proceeded to ring up the purchase for me. A couple of minutes later the inventory CM came up front – empty handed. So, the original CM had to give me a refund as they were out. She told me to stop by the World of Disney to see if they had any in stock.

The Block Party Bash was going on as we exited the store, me empty handed, Tiff with yummy looking fudge – despite the fact that I told her we were about to eat. We made our way out of DCA and onward towards the Disneyland Hotel.

We found Goofy’s Kitchen pretty easily upon arriving at the hotel. It was night so I couldn’t see the resort very well. The restaurant seemed to be hopping… lots of people everywhere. I quickly checked in and we had our photo taken with Pluto.

I turned to Tiff and told her that I had one request to make from her: Smile and be happy.

And she seemed to be doing so for the meal.

We met the big guy of the Kitchen, Goofy, right off.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1690.jpg

We then headed to the buffet and loaded up. I can’t recall what all I had – so much food. I remember potatoes, kids mac and cheese, some kind of meat, adult pasta, and a roll.

Both Chip and Dale stopped by our table (separately). At one point they were both there and I tried to have my picture taken with them both but Dale ignored me and walked off. Chip just shrugged. Oh well…. You may not be my favorite chipmunk for too much longer Dale! :mad:

Minnie Mouse and Cinderella both made an appearance. Jasmine flew by without even a glance in our direction. :snooty:

On to dessert – my favorite part. While they had cupcakes, they didn’t have the yummy looking cupcakes that I’ve seen before in photos. So, I skipped the cupcakes and tried a few other things. The chocolate chip cookie cake was yummy.

There’s that word again: yummy.

But it was! I could have eaten the entire thing myself but I was good and restrained myself.

We attempted to walk around the resort a bit after dinner to see it – and to walk off that food! But being so dark and not really being able to see much – we gave up on that quickly.

This was the only photo that I took.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1698.jpg

I thought it looked pretty cool and I’m disappointed that I didn’t have an opportunity to go back during the day to see exactly what was where and how the grounds were set up.

Making our way back through Downtown Disney, we stopped off at the World of Disney to see if they had my picture frame in stock – they didn’t.

So, back to the hotel we went. It was still pretty early but I curled up in bed with a book and Tiff watched HBO.

Hearing the fireworks go off freaked me out a bit until I understood what they were. Poor Anaheim residents having to listen to all the ‘booms!’ several nights a week.

Next up: Our last day :sad1:

[Hound 109]

You mean that you don't know who killed JR?? :confused3 Oh wait, you must be a Texan in order to have that privileged information. Well, move on over to Texas and apply for citizenship and then that mystery can be solved for you. :teeth:

psst. Dolce.....I taught Larry Hagman all of his moves (i'm a hound from austin ;)). So you see, I not only have Texas citizenship....I'm a resident of Moscow on the Colorado. :hippie:

But i bet we BOTH know who JR's (Larry Hagman's) mommy was & what wonderful character she portrayed. popcorn::

& I see there's a new chapter of the most excellent trip report. :yay: Gotta go read.


hound - :cool2:

[Dolce27]

psst. Dolce.....I taught Larry Hagman all of his moves (i'm a hound from austin ;)). So you see, I not only have Texas citizenship....I'm a resident of Moscow on the Colorado. :hippie:

But i bet we BOTH know who JR's (Larry Hagman's) mommy was & what wonderful character she portrayed. popcorn::

& I see there's a new chapter of the most excellent trip report. :yay: Gotta go read.


hound - :cool2:

OK... and THIS is why I actually need to read what people have posted about themeslves before I open my big mouth. :rolleyes1 :headache:

OK... so you have your Texas citizenship.
:teeth:

[Hound 109]

Giving up for the time being, I wound up walking into the Grand Californian –via DCA- and finding a comfy seat I sat down, pulled out a book I had tucked into my bag, and proceeded to spend the next 20-30 minutes reading.

Yes people, I went to Disneyland and read a book.

:faint:


After awhile, my stomach began to loudly demand food so I left the comfort of my chair and made my way out of the hotel and into Downtown Disney. I grabbed the yummiest chocolate chip cookie (ever!)

Unless of course, you had grabbed a macadamia nut, white chocolate with coconut (the size of a small frisbee) cookie from Pooh Corner Bakery! :cool1:


I’d read on here that Muppets was closed … but that was false information! :woohoo: Woo-hoo! :woohoo: So, pleasantly surprised we went to see that as both Tiff and I are big Muppet fans.

Never trust anyone who isn't a Muppet fan. ::yes::



I watched a teenaged girl take the quiz to find out the Disney character she was most like. I could tell, based upon what it said before it gave her the reveal, which character she was – she was Ariel.

My turn next, I happily sat down and answered the questions as honestly as I could. It was getting ready to announce to me which character I was and based upon what it was saying I knew that I was going to be Sleeping Beauty.

Oh yea! I love Princess Aurora.


… except when it did announce who I was – it wasn’t Princess Aurora.

I was Maleficent! :scared1: :scared1: :scared1: :scared:

I’m not a villain! Why is the magic mirror saying that I’m a villain?!? I’m nothing like Maleficent.

I don’t like this magic mirror very much. At all.

:lmao: :rotfl: :rotfl2:


Glad you found Tish.....well rested & fed. :laughing:

One more day. :sad1: I'm sure it will end with a bang. :thumbsup2

[nunzia]

The CM gave me a look and sarcastically said ‘Well, except for him.’
So, my Saturday ride was rather uneventful – no flash photography occurred - and I did briefly wonder what would happen should I try to grab some of that gold as we passed by. Do you think they’d know if any of it went missing? >>

My husband had a friend who tried this years ago. Well..that gold is glued down pretty good, and he fell out of the boat and was then kicked out of the park by DL security..good thing you didn't try :)

[Dolce27]

The CM gave me a look and sarcastically said ‘Well, except for him.’
So, my Saturday ride was rather uneventful – no flash photography occurred - and I did briefly wonder what would happen should I try to grab some of that gold as we passed by. Do you think they’d know if any of it went missing? >>

My husband had a friend who tried this years ago. Well..that gold is glued down pretty good, and he fell out of the boat and was then kicked out of the park by DL security..good thing you didn't try :)

Oh darn. I was already making my plans for how I could nab some and figuring out my escape route on my next trip to Disneyland. :rolleyes1

[Hound 109]

"Next up....our last day."

:bored:

:teeth:


hound - <----back from mine, but want to read the last day of yours, Dolce. :)

[Dolce27]

"Next up....our last day."

:bored:

:teeth:


hound - <----back from mine, but want to read the last day of yours, Dolce. :)

Glad you're back! :) Are you going to write about?
Sorry but I've been mega busy this week and I will try to complete it Sunday. (I'm at work right now.) We are having our "Christmas" this week-end. My brother in-law is English and he and my sister are spending the holidays in England with his family this year.

[Hound 109]

Glad you're back! :) Are you going to write about?
Sorry but I've been mega busy this week and I will try to complete it Sunday. (I'm at work right now.) We are having our "Christmas" this week-end. My brother in-law is English and he and my sister are spending the holidays in England with his family this year.

I may do a Trip Report.....it was a quickie though.

Recap is here:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1660025


Looking forward to a most excellent ending to your Walt's park visit, Dolce. :thumbsup2


hound - :3dglasses

[Dolce27]

If anyone is still reading this TR - I'm still here... I promise! I should have this completed within the next couple of days. Sorry for the delay, I've been crazy busy the last several days.

[ctamama]

Yep, still with ya. I just keep checking for an update! I'm patient!;) Love your writing style!

[Hound 109]

Yep, still with ya. I just keep checking for an update! I'm patient!;) Love your writing style!

I agree with ctamama....& i got some new colored pens for Christmas...I've used them to track your movements through the park. I ran out of purple on your second day of touring....but by drawing red on top of blue, i can finish that day (& others)....if you keep it under 7 miles per day. :rotfl:

hound - :3dglasses

[Dolce27]

I agree with ctamama....& i got some new colored pens for Christmas...I've used them to track your movements through the park. I ran out of purple on your second day of touring....but by drawing red on top of blue, i can finish that day (& others)....if you keep it under 7 miles per day. :rotfl:

hound - :3dglasses

:rotfl2: OK. That made me laugh.

Aren't you glad that I was there for only 4 days? What if I'd decided to spend 2 weeks there?


I thank all of you who are still with me. I was a bit busy these last couple of weeks but I thought I would have this report completed Monday. They made me go to work on Christmas Eve. :sad2: I work for a CPA firm. None of our clients were at work on Monday to call and bother us... uh, I mean.. ask us questions about their taxes. So why did we have to show up? :confused3 There were only 4 of us that were there. So, I did what any normal person would do that had to go to work on Christmas Eve ... I wrote 1/2 of my trip report. :rolleyes1

It was all for you guys. Then they actually let us (it was down to two people by this point: me and the receptionist) go home just before 1:00. (Oh, don't worry, 'they' were already at home) so I didn't complete the TR on Monday...

BUT

I did tonight. :banana:

So, without further ado.....

[Dolce27]

Sunday, November 18 – my last day at Disneyland and my plans were to spend it all at DCA. Since DCA didn’t open until 10:00am, my specific plans were to sleep in and show up for opening.

Yeah, guess who was standing outside of the Disneyland gates before opening?? :rolleyes1

… since when do I sleep past 6:00am may I ask? :confused3

So, I found myself up and ready by 7:00am and, after leaving a note for Tiff that if I didn’t hear from her by 11:00am, I was doing my own thing for lunch (I didn’t want a repeat of the day before), I made my way upstairs for the “free breakfast” that the Carousel Inn does. This was the first morning that I was still at the hotel at 7:00 am when the breakfast started. The selection was less than stellar, I must admit, but it was “free” (with the price of the room) and so I was fine with the selections.

I made my way to the park and found a pretty good spot in line despite not being the first one (or almost first one) there that morning. Gates open – mad dash either for Nemo or to line up for the Hanna Montana event began for everyone except me. I went to Space Mountain. There were actually a few people that had beat me there (how did that happen?!?!) and as I was walking down the ramp I thought I’d get a coaster to myself as they should have gone … but the CM’s held them up and I was in the same car with them – which was the first coaster out that morning.

One last shot at Buzz Lightyear was next… and I did pretty darn good. Ok... ok… I still suck at the game and did beyond horrible in comparison to people that don’t suck… but I scored 30,000 points higher than what I had been scoring so I was pretty darn proud of myself.

I decided to leave Tomorrowland and head east. Well, according to the map, I was heading east. What direction I was heading in reality – I have no idea. At all. I need a compass to figure out direction… or I need to at least pay attention to the sun (as long as it's not 12:00 noon) to figure out my direction.

When I was 15 and learning how to drive, my dad and I were out one night (I think that he was picking me up from somewhere) and he was letting me drive. At one point we were on a traffic-less (yes, that is a word ;) ) residential street and had approached a stop sign. My dad told me to wait (before going through the intersection) and he asked me what direction we were facing. How in the heck was I supposed to know that?? :confused3 It was nighttime! How is a person supposed to know which direction is what a night???? *sigh* Some parents…. :sad2: no, I never did figure out what direction we were facing that night.

So, back on topic now after a small trip down memory lane… for all purposes: I headed east to go to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Along the way I passed the hordes of people in Frontierland standing in the line to see Hanna Montana perform. Oh, and somewhere in that mass chaos was one of my managers, Shawn, who is originally from California and had flown in to spend the week with his family for Thanksgiving. I didn’t know if he had made it to Disneyland that day as planned but I found out after we both returned home that he was being the Daddy of the year and had agreed to be a squished sardine for who knows how many hours of wait and then have his eardrums blown into pieces by screaming kids just so his daughter could see Hanna Montana.

So…. HI SHAWN!!! You have fun! I’m heading on east now, far, far, away from all the people and screaming pre-teen girls. See you at work next week! :teeth:

Much to my dismay Pirates was closed when I approached. All right then… on to the Haunted Mansion and another quick ride to see Jack Skeleton’s messed up version of Christmas.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1700.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1702.jpg

Oh, and by the way, did I mention that I still had yet to figure out how I was returning to the airport for my 7:00am flight back to Dallas the next morning? Yeah….. LAX is a bit far to walk to isn’t it? The Disneyland Express that I took to the hotel wouldn’t pick-up early enough for my flight. Hmmmmm…… Fortunately, I had the foresight to jot down the Super Shuttle phone number from a passing van upon my arrival at LAX. A quick call and I was given another number for the main office and told to call that and set up a reservation through them – oh, and they take credit card over the phone… did I also mention that upon leaving Space Mountain that morning and spying a ATM machine I went over to withdraw more cash knowing that I’d need it to pay for transportation back to the airport the next morning only to discover that I left my debit card back in Texas and only had my credit card on me?

No cash for me. Only credit. So, hearing that I could pay everything over the phone was a very good thing. :thumbsup2

Tucking that new phone number away for later, I noticed that pirates was up and running again.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1704.jpg

So, off I went on another adventure sitting in the first row by myself. I still resisted the temptation of stealing some of that gold. I was being a very good girl – I don’t understand why Santa didn’t bring me lots of gifts this year. I was a good girl darn it! :mad:

After Pirates, it was bye-bye Disneyland and hello DCA. I walked out into the plaza to see a massive line formed outside one of the gates. Hmmmm….. not liking that long of a line. Then I began to notice that other gates had a light lit up on them – did that mean that those gates would also open at opening? Hmmmmm…. liking that idea so I sneaked over to stand in front of one of the empty gates. A few minutes later I turned to look behind me.

:scared1:

A massive line had formed behind me… this gate better be opening… I was beginning to have the suspicion that should I be mistaken in my assumption - the assumption that the lit light indicated that the gate I stood in front of would open- at opening we all would still be standing behind a closed gate while everyone else poured into the park… then I may not be leaving in one piece. :sad2:

Finally, the gate opened. Thankfully I lucked out and didn’t have to deal with an angry mob of people. :banana: I was the first person in the park at 9:30. The only thing open at 9:30 was Soarin’. So… I went to Soarin’ and sat first row center.

Now, I am not one of those people that terrorize the CM’s for the first row experience – I honestly could care less where I sit. Even the third row is fine for me – once that thing starts I’m way too busy enjoying the attraction to pay attention to dangling feet. Feet – what feet? I only see beautiful scenery of California.

But I must say to all of you who are always desperate for what is perceived as the ‘best’ seats on Soarin’…..

:woohoo: I got front row center….. I got front row center….:woohoo:

Alright… I’m finished with my bragging now.

After my wonderful front row center :rolleyes: experience, I went off for fudge (it had looked darn good the night before and it tasted darn good for a mid-morning snack) and off I went to the rope to wait for the rest of the park to open.

[Dolce27]

Now, here is where I discovered that either the DIS was completely uninformed (and therefore unreliable) or I just hadn’t paid close enough attention to threads containing important information (It’s all that drama on the Community Board that keeps luring me back over there and taking me away from important trip planning time – I tell ya! I need a 12 step program to rid myself of my CB addiction!)

So, rope dropped and people are running and plowing others over in their haste to get somewhere. Now I’m curious… what would grown adults, tramping small kids into the size of ants in their haste, be rushing to? According to the DIS boards….(note the ‘according to’) California Screamin’ isn’t opening until 1:00pm because of ToyStory Mania construction. Right? Right? I read that right here folks – California Screamin’ closed until 1:00. I made my RideMax plans around it being closed until 1:00.

I finally decided to ask someone and looking over to my left I see a man trotting – almost into a run – towards whatever it was he was heading to. Fortunately for me, his trotting – almost into a run- was my normal speed of pace so I was easily able to walk beside him to ask:

‘Where is everyone rushing too?’

‘California Screamin’’ was the response.

Hmmmmmm….. well, either the DIS boards let me down as apparently the rollercoaster was open at opening this morning or it was the darn CB board addiction that kept me from reading updated posts stating the California Screamin was back to being open at opening.

Oh well. I’d FP it later. Off to Mullhinder Madness. I actually liked this one. A lot. Very cute and very fun; they just need to add in one or two more drops.

I went over and joined the surprisingly short line for Screamin’ to see what all the fuss is about. It was fun. I enjoyed it enough to grab a FP for later. I liked DL’s Space Mountain better.

The Ferris Wheel was next on the agenda… not that I had a agenda or itinerary anymore… remember? – I gave up on my fully planned out customized Ridemax spread sheet that took me two-months to work out back on day one. :rolleyes:

I was going to ride in the stationary gondola. Please note: ‘I was going to ride in the stationary gondola.’

What I found myself doing was going through the non-existent line for the sliding gondola. Climbing in, I settle back to get comfy and pull out my cell phone to give a call to my mother.

Oh look – barf bags. Swell.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1715.jpg

Going up… and all is good. End my discussion with my mom and just put away my cell phone when suddenly the skyline isn’t level any longer. :eek:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1713.jpg
(no, the camera was not tilted at an angle for that photo)

And why do I suddenly see the ground instead of the floor of the gondola???

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1711.jpg

As soon as it starts, all stops and is calm again. Pass by the CM’s calling out if all is good. All is good. Second time around all is calm. Wait! Calm? That’s not good. Scary.. frightening … terrorizing is what it should have been.

I get off a bit disappointed. I read horror stories on this board of how terrifying the sliding gondolas are and it just didn’t slide or terrify me so… off I go… un-terrified…

I should have gone again. But I didn’t. Oh well….

Orange Stinger was up next… I love things like that. I kicked back and flew around in a circle. Highly fun and amusing I thought. I wish that I could have one of those at home.

I get off and Tiff texts me that she’s doing her own thing that day and won’t meet up with me. You know, I’m beginning to think that girl doesn’t want to speak to me – will only text – will never call.

:rolleyes:

I roll my eyes because back when she first said she wanted to come I told her that I planned to be there from park opening until closing, that I didn’t expect to get a lot of sleep until returning to Dallas, that if she wanted she could sleep in and call me when she woke up and meet up with me every day.

No… no… no… she’d be there from opening until closing with me everyday. She was fine with that. She wanted to see and do it all.

:rotfl2:

I decide lunch was up next. Why do I do so much eating when I’m at Disney – I’ll never know. I don’t do that at home but I think that my stomach associates Disney with food and I can’t convince it of anything other.

On my way to the Pacific Warf Café (clam chowder sounded pretty good as the morning was pretty cold) I keep a look-out for Albort. I don’t understand this whole 'Where’s Albort' game people have going on. How in the world do they know it’s Albort? I mean, being a person who has never seen High School Musical, I used to think that the girl (what’s her name?) in his sig was pictures of him…. Thinking ‘he’ was a ‘she’. I’ve now come to the realization that ‘he’ is a ‘he’ and I decided to see if I could spot him and join the ‘I saw Albort’ club. I think that he’s the only DISSER with his own fan club.

So, churro cart after churro cart - ok.. any ODF cart’s that I pass on my way to the Pacific Warf Café – all women CM’s. Since we’ve established that he’s not a woman – not him.

Food was yummy, clam chowder in a sourdough bowl, eating under a heat lamp, and I forget all about searching for Albort.

Back to Screamin’ with my FP – still fun. I didn’t scream. Then again, it takes a lot to get me to scream. I don’t scream on the Tower of Terror drops either.

Bugsland was up next…

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1729.jpg

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1730.jpg

cute area. I remembered about Albort once again… I have no clue as to what area of the park he works but all the CM’s working any ODF cart was female in this area also – so no Albort.

[Dolce27]

So it’s off to ‘It’s tough to be a bug’ instead…with lots of silly posters. I love all the posters. I also love the show.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1728.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1727.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1726.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1725.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1723.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1722.jpg

After the show I made my way back over to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and walked onto Tower of Terror. After getting off, I find an out of the way building front close by the Hyperion Theater and sit down on the steps to make the necessary calls to schedule a pick-up to the airport for the next morning. I’d finished scheduling everything, had hung-up the phone, and was jotting something down when I realized that someone was standing directly in front of me. I look up and there is one of the Incredibles (I think that it was Frozone, but since I’ve only seen that movie once… a long, long time ago.. I don’t know for certain.) So, Frozone stood there for awhile attempting to figure out what I was doing. I wasn’t being so nice right then... I kept letting him try to figure out why I was sitting there alone. Finally some CM’s and another character came out and he had to leave to do a meet & greet.

Wondering back towards the Tower of Terror I made a decision: I was going to see Aladdin. No, I do not normally stop for shows such as these while at Walt Disney World but I was still peeved at Tiff for refusing to see it the day before, preferring to sit outside and do nothing while I watched, so I decided to see if it was good enough that she should feel bad enough that she skipped out on it.

I’m happy to say: It was good enough that she should feel bad that she skipped out on it. I spoke with people in line that have seen the show – A LOT. And I sat with them up in the mezzanine for the performance. It was hilarious and I’ve been told that the Genie’s lines will change a bit to keep up with current events. There was one scene where Aladdin was standing alone on stage and the Genie came out behind him. Aladdin just stood there, saying nothing, not looking up to acknowledge Genie. Genie says nothing… just stares at the audience. And stares. And stares. It is at the point that you, the audience, knows that someone is supposed to be saying something (and people are beginning to snicker) but no one is. Finally Genie says: I’m supposed to say something really funny here but all my writers are on strike.

:rotfl2:

The show was great and I’m glad that I went to see it. But I still have zero intentions to sit through Beauty and the Beast or Nemo at WDW. (And I say that now…..we'll see in next years WDW trip report if I hold to that one.)

I went over to explore the Grizzly trail but was very disappointed in it. They could add zip lines and stuff for adults too – you know?

I had planned to do the bakery and the tortilla place – oh , and the wine tasting… but my stomach was currently too full. (gasp! :eek: Is that even possible?!?)

I’d completely given up on finding Albort by this point – I’ve come to the conclusion that he really doesn’t exist. He’s a made up person on the DL boards. :rolleyes1

But despite the fact that I had a full stomach, I somehow managed to eat a ice cream sundae while passing by the Burrbank Express. :teeth:

Now for random photos for your viewing pleasure:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1734.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1737.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1745.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1748.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1733.jpg

Calling it a day at DCA, I headed out – in some direction of which I don’t know. I decided to shop in Downtown Disney… well, I guess window shop as I actually didn’t purchase anything right then. Instead, I found myself standing in front of the AMC.

Then I found myself purchasing a movie ticket.

Finally, I found myself watching Fred Clause.

:teeth:

(I go to Disneyland to read books and watch movies. :rolleyes1 )

When I left the AMC it was dark outside. Going back through the plaza I decided to stop back by Disneyland to purchase some gifts. Can you believe that there were lines at this time of night to go in??? I arrived just in time to watch the parade. It was better at night to see – the atmosphere is better.

I bought my purchases, took one last look around


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1759.jpg
bye bye little guy...


and then left Disneyland for the last time. Arriving back at the hotel I found Tiff in the room and we left to walk back to Downtown Disney to find dinner. Despite the food poisoning caution threads I’ve read – we ate chicken tacos from the Tortilla Joe’s express window and listened to a man play the saxophone.

I was up at 3 am the next morning and to the airport just after 4:00. I did self check-in as I didn’t have any check-in luggage and it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Economy Plus for $40.00. Since I had already spent so much money …. What’s another $40.00??? This later turned out to be the best decision.

I’ve decided that I don’t care much for the LAX airport. I wanted food. Now.:mad: Remember, I’m grumpy when I’m hungry. The only food places in my terminal area were a Starbucks and a California Pizza Kitchen. Starbucks was closed so I hiked a mile back to check out a McDonalds that I’d previously noticed. However, as that was the only food place open, the line was out the door and I just went back to my area to wait for Starbucks to open. By the time I noticed the Starbucks open, the line there was out the door as it was the only food place in that part of the terminal.

They really need more food places in that airport. There are starving people here! Starving!!!

I finally get food only to discover that my flight is delayed. Seriously delayed. As in for some crazy reason the towers are down at DFW and flights aren’t going anywhere to or from Dallas.


*sigh*

Two hours after my scheduled flight time I finally get to board my flight. I did manage to keep myself amused in the airport by watching a young couple that were on my flight attempting to keep both their less than a year old baby and their dog entertained for the wait. Both baby and dog behaved quite well – I was actually quite impressed. Both baby and dog behaved well on the flight too - they were seated a few rows in front of me.

So… back to the upgrade that I gave myself? My plane was a CRJ. Now, my last job was in the aviation industry but none of my customers had CRJ’s. I mainly worked with customers that had Boeings 777 or 747’s or Airbus A320, A330, A380's. But never a CRJ. I thought it odd how they kept stressing before we boarded that if you need to check a carry-on to bring it up then… they had tags… ect..ect..

My carry-on fit fine on both the Airbus and Boeing airplanes I was on to get to LA – I wasn’t checking anything. I hadn’t planned to check anything.

Then I board the CRJ. Uh… yeah…. my carry-on doesn’t fit in that tiny overhead compartment. So, improvise is what I must do. I have the window seat. I stick my big carry-on under the seat in front of me. I stuff my little carry-on between me and the window and throw my jacket over it so that it looks like a pillow. Every time the flight attendant draws near, I’m busy lounging against my (not-so)comfy pillow. :rolleyes1 But guess what? I had upgraded and guess what? No one had the seat beside me. Woo-hoo! So small carry-on goes under the other seat and I have a tiny row to myself for the flight back to Dallas.

Finally we are in the air and heading towards Dallas. My return flight was direct. :banana:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1760.jpg


Final thoughts:

I did enjoy Disneyland (that includes DCA) but I will admit, Tiff's attitude did put a damper on my trip. Honestly, when she refused to speak or help make plans for the trip - that should have been my heads-up. I hope that she did enjoy the trip more than I think she did - I still wonder a bit why she decided to go. :confused3

I probably will not be going back to Disneyland for another 5 years or so ... I'll wait until they redo all of DCA and then go back. Next year I have a 10 day trip planned out to WDW for my 30th birthday that I'm getting excited about.

I thank all of you who took the time to read my TR. I hope that you enjoyed it.

[vendell]

loved your TR- sorry to hear about your friend.

[trodrigue]

I have not written before, but have been reading. Great report. Love the attitude. I hate people that rain on my Disney parade. This last trip I even swore to myself that I was not bringing my husband back again! That will be somewhat difficult and I will probably have to figure out some sort of a compromise!

I also have been trying to figure out the Albort thing. I am with you that it is a DIS board gag of some sort! All in good fun, I'm sure:) But I wanted to find her, (him) too!

I really do envy you your solo trips. I made many of those before hubby and kids. It is indeed different. I really do love watching my kids experience Disney though. Even if they do slow me down a bit and mess up all my well layed plans.

Hope your 30th trip is just fabulous. Be careful who you bring along!

[ctamama]

Really enjoyed your report, Dolce! Can't imagine DCA and DL alone. I think it would be a blast! I usually have the full entourage.....including toddlers and stroller!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us--and your wonderful pics!!! There were things I missed (and I was JUST there) that I saw and enjoyed in your photos!!:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2

[Disney-Kim]

I am really curious now that you are home how your friend said she liked the trip...the fact her pictures are deleted says a lot.:rolleyes1

I am glad you a great trip anyway !!!!;)

[Dolce27]

I am really curious now that you are home how your friend said she liked the trip...the fact her pictures are deleted says a lot.:rolleyes1

I am glad you a great trip anyway !!!!;)

Ummmm... yeah. Sadly there is a reason her pic's are deleted. :sad2:
Honestly, I don't know what her honest thoughts were of the trip. She did send me a e-mail stating the 'I had fun' comments but I'm not sure that they were sincere - she never brought up or gave me her honest thoughts on the topic.

[Hound 109]

Now, here is where I discovered that either the DIS was completely uninformed (and therefore unreliable) or I just hadn’t paid close enough attention to threads containing important information (It’s all that drama on the Community Board that keeps luring me back over there and taking me away from important trip planning time – I tell ya! I need a 12 step program to rid myself of my CB addiction!)

So, rope dropped and people are running and plowing others over in their haste to get somewhere. Now I’m curious… what would grown adults, tramping small kids into the size of ants in their haste, be rushing to? According to the DIS boards….(note the ‘according to’) California Screamin’ isn’t opening until 1:00pm because of ToyStory Mania construction. Right? Right? I read that right here folks – California Screamin’ closed until 1:00. I made my RideMax plans around it being closed until 1:00.

I finally decided to ask someone and looking over to my left I see a man trotting – almost into a run – towards whatever it was he was heading to. Fortunately for me, his trotting – almost into a run- was my normal speed of pace so I was easily able to walk beside him to ask:

‘Where is everyone rushing too?’

‘California Screamin’’ was the response.

Hmmmmmm….. well, either the DIS boards let me down as apparently the rollercoaster was open at opening this morning or it was the darn CB board addiction that kept me from reading updated posts stating the California Screamin was back to being open at opening.

IT WAS THE COMMUNITY BOARD. THE DIS BOARD NEVER LETS PEOPLE DOWN.....EVEN WDWers. :rotfl:

Oh well. I’d FP it later. Off to Mullhinder Madness. I actually liked this one. A lot. Very cute and very fun; they just need to add in one or two more drops.

I went over and joined the surprisingly short line for Screamin’ to see what all the fuss is about. It was fun. I enjoyed it enough to grab a FP for later. I liked DL’s Space Mountain better.

PSSST......SINGLE RIDER LINE. :cool2:

The Ferris Wheel was next on the agenda… not that I had a agenda or itinerary anymore… remember? – I gave up on my fully planned out customized Ridemax spread sheet that took me two-months to work out back on day one. :rolleyes:

MAYBE YOU LEFT IN THE GCH WHILE YOU READ A BOOK.....OR IN THE MOVIE THEATRE. :3dglasses

I was going to ride in the stationary gondola. Please note: ‘I was going to ride in the stationary gondola.’

What I found myself doing was going through the non-existent line for the sliding gondola. Climbing in, I settle back to get comfy and pull out my cell phone to give a call to my mother.

Oh look – barf bags. Swell.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1715.jpg

Going up… and all is good. End my discussion with my mom and just put away my cell phone when suddenly the skyline isn’t level any longer. :eek:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1713.jpg
(no, the camera was not tilted at an angle for that photo)

And why do I suddenly see the ground instead of the floor of the gondola???

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1711.jpg

As soon as it starts, all stops and is calm again. Pass by the CM’s calling out if all is good. All is good. Second time around all is calm. Wait! Calm? That’s not good. Scary.. frightening … terrorizing is what it should have been.

I get off a bit disappointed. I read horror stories on this board of how terrifying the sliding gondolas are and it just didn’t slide or terrify me so… off I go… un-terrified…

ALOT OF DLR DISers AREN'T VETS OF MISSION SPACE, DOLCE.

I should have gone again. But I didn’t. Oh well….

Orange Stinger was up next… I love things like that. I kicked back and flew around in a circle. Highly fun and amusing I thought. I wish that I could have one of those at home.

I get off and Tiff texts me that she’s doing her own thing that day and won’t meet up with me. You know, I’m beginning to think that girl doesn’t want to speak to me – will only text – will never call.

:rolleyes:

I roll my eyes because back when she first said she wanted to come I told her that I planned to be there from park opening until closing, that I didn’t expect to get a lot of sleep until returning to Dallas, that if she wanted she could sleep in and call me when she woke up and meet up with me every day.

No… no… no… she’d be there from opening until closing with me everyday. She was fine with that. She wanted to see and do it all.

:rotfl2:

DO WE HAVE AN ICON FOR "DIVA"? HOW ABOUT :snooty: ... ;)

I decide lunch was up next. Why do I do so much eating when I’m at Disney – I’ll never know. I don’t do that at home but I think that my stomach associates Disney with food and I can’t convince it of anything other.

On my way to the Pacific Warf Café (clam chowder sounded pretty good as the morning was pretty cold) I keep a look-out for Albort. I don’t understand this whole 'Where’s Albort' game people have going on. How in the world do they know it’s Albort? I mean, being a person who has never seen High School Musical, I used to think that the girl (what’s her name?) in his sig was pictures of him…. Thinking ‘he’ was a ‘she’. I’ve now come to the realization that ‘he’ is a ‘he’ and I decided to see if I could spot him and join the ‘I saw Albort’ club. I think that he’s the only DISSER with his own fan club.

So, churro cart after churro cart - ok.. any ODF cart’s that I pass on my way to the Pacific Warf Café – all women CM’s. Since we’ve established that he’s not a woman – not him.

Food was yummy, clam chowder in a sourdough bowl, eating under a heat lamp, and I forget all about searching for Albort.

Back to Screamin’ with my FP – still fun. I didn’t scream. Then again, it takes a lot to get me to scream. I don’t scream on the Tower of Terror drops either.


LOVIN' IT. :hippie:

[Hound 109]

So it’s off to ‘It’s tough to be a bug’ instead…with lots of silly posters. I love all the posters. I also love the show.

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1728.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1727.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1726.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1725.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1723.jpghttp://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1722.jpg


I LOVE THOSE POSTERS. :yay:


After the show I made my way back over to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and walked onto Tower of Terror. After getting off, I find an out of the way building front close by the Hyperion Theater and sit down on the steps to make the necessary calls to schedule a pick-up to the airport for the next morning. I’d finished scheduling everything, had hung-up the phone, and was jotting something down when I realized that someone was standing directly in front of me. I look up and there is one of the Incredibles (I think that it was Frozone, but since I’ve only seen that movie once… a long, long time ago.. I don’t know for certain.) So, Frozone stood there for awhile attempting to figure out what I was doing. I wasn’t being so nice right then... I kept letting him try to figure out why I was sitting there alone. Finally some CM’s and another character came out and he had to leave to do a meet & greet.

Wondering back towards the Tower of Terror I made a decision: I was going to see Aladdin. No, I do not normally stop for shows such as these while at Walt Disney World but I was still peeved at Tiff for refusing to see it the day before, preferring to sit outside and do nothing while I watched, so I decided to see if it was good enough that she should feel bad enough that she skipped out on it.

I’m happy to say: It was good enough that she should feel bad that she skipped out on it.


:laughing: THIS IS BRILLIANT LOGIC. :thumbsup2


I spoke with people in line that have seen the show – A LOT. And I sat with them up in the mezzanine for the performance. It was hilarious and I’ve been told that the Genie’s lines will change a bit to keep up with current events. There was one scene where Aladdin was standing alone on stage and the Genie came out behind him. Aladdin just stood there, saying nothing, not looking up to acknowledge Genie. Genie says nothing… just stares at the audience. And stares. And stares. It is at the point that you, the audience, knows that someone is supposed to be saying something (and people are beginning to snicker) but no one is. Finally Genie says: I’m supposed to say something really funny here but all my writers are on strike.

:rotfl2:

The show was great and I’m glad that I went to see it. But I still have zero intentions to sit through Beauty and the Beast or Nemo at WDW. (And I say that now…..we'll see in next years WDW trip report if I hold to that one.)

I went over to explore the Grizzly trail but was very disappointed in it. They could add zip lines and stuff for adults too – you know?


YEAH, BUT YOU CAN RACE THE KIDS ON THE ROPE CHUTES & LADDERS...THEN DO A TOUCHDOWN DANCE WHEN YOU BEAT THEM. :rolleyes1


I had planned to do the bakery and the tortilla place – oh , and the wine tasting… but my stomach was currently too full. (gasp! :eek: Is that even possible?!?)

I’d completely given up on finding Albort by this point – I’ve come to the conclusion that he really doesn’t exist. He’s a made up person on the DL boards. :rolleyes1

But despite the fact that I had a full stomach, I somehow managed to eat a ice cream sundae while passing by the Burrbank Express. :teeth:

Calling it a day at DCA, I headed out – in some direction of which I don’t know.


MEMO FOR WDW TRIP.....GET A COMPASS FOR ACCURATE TRIP REPORTING. :)


I decided to shop in Downtown Disney… well, I guess window shop as I actually didn’t purchase anything right then. Instead, I found myself standing in front of the AMC.

Then I found myself purchasing a movie ticket.

Finally, I found myself watching Fred Clause.

:teeth:

(I go to Disneyland to read books and watch movies. :rolleyes1 )

When I left the AMC it was dark outside. Going back through the plaza I decided to stop back by Disneyland to purchase some gifts. Can you believe that there were lines at this time of night to go in??? I arrived just in time to watch the parade. It was better at night to see – the atmosphere is better.

I bought my purchases, took one last look around


http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1759.jpg
bye bye little guy...


and then left Disneyland for the last time. Arriving back at the hotel I found Tiff in the room and we left to walk back to Downtown Disney to find dinner. Despite the food poisoning caution threads I’ve read – we ate chicken tacos from the Tortilla Joe’s express window and listened to a man play the saxophone.


CHICKEN TACOS ARE NO MATCH FOR A TEXAN.


I was up at 3 am the next morning and to the airport just after 4:00. I did self check-in as I didn’t have any check-in luggage and it asked me if I wanted to upgrade to Economy Plus for $40.00. Since I had already spent so much money …. What’s another $40.00??? This later turned out to be the best decision.

I’ve decided that I don’t care much for the LAX airport. I wanted food. Now.:mad: Remember, I’m grumpy when I’m hungry. The only food places in my terminal area were a Starbucks and a California Pizza Kitchen. Starbucks was closed so I hiked a mile back to check out a McDonalds that I’d previously noticed. However, as that was the only food place open, the line was out the door and I just went back to my area to wait for Starbucks to open. By the time I noticed the Starbucks open, the line there was out the door as it was the only food place in that part of the terminal.

They really need more food places in that airport. There are starving people here! Starving!!!

I finally get food only to discover that my flight is delayed. Seriously delayed. As in for some crazy reason the towers are down at DFW and flights aren’t going anywhere to or from Dallas.


*sigh*

Two hours after my scheduled flight time I finally get to board my flight. I did manage to keep myself amused in the airport by watching a young couple that were on my flight attempting to keep both their less than a year old baby and their dog entertained for the wait. Both baby and dog behaved quite well – I was actually quite impressed. Both baby and dog behaved well on the flight too - they were seated a few rows in front of me.

So… back to the upgrade that I gave myself? My plane was a CRJ. Now, my last job was in the aviation industry but none of my customers had CRJ’s. I mainly worked with customers that had Boeings 777 or 747’s or Airbus A320, A330, A380's. But never a CRJ. I thought it odd how they kept stressing before we boarded that if you need to check a carry-on to bring it up then… they had tags… ect..ect..

My carry-on fit fine on both the Airbus and Boeing airplanes I was on to get to LA – I wasn’t checking anything. I hadn’t planned to check anything.

Then I board the CRJ. Uh… yeah…. my carry-on doesn’t fit in that tiny overhead compartment. So, improvise is what I must do. I have the window seat. I stick my big carry-on under the seat in front of me. I stuff my little carry-on between me and the window and throw my jacket over it so that it looks like a pillow. Every time the flight attendant draws near, I’m busy lounging against my (not-so)comfy pillow. :rolleyes1 But guess what? I had upgraded and guess what? No one had the seat beside me. Woo-hoo! So small carry-on goes under the other seat and I have a tiny row to myself for the flight back to Dallas.

Finally we are in the air and heading towards Dallas. My return flight was direct. :banana:

http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i28/Dolce27/Disneyland/CIMG1760.jpg


Final thoughts:

I did enjoy Disneyland (that includes DCA) but I will admit, Tiff's attitude did put a damper on my trip. Honestly, when she refused to speak or help make plans for the trip - that should have been my heads-up. I hope that she did enjoy the trip more than I think she did - I still wonder a bit why she decided to go. :confused3

I probably will not be going back to Disneyland for another 5 years or so ... I'll wait until they redo all of DCA and then go back. Next year I have a 10 day trip planned out to WDW for my 30th birthday that I'm getting excited about.

I thank all of you who took the time to read my TR. I hope that you enjoyed it.


I SURE DID, DOLCE. :hippie:

PLEASE POST OVER HERE & LET US KNOW WHEN YOU GO TO WDW (& DO A TRIP REPORT)....YOU'VE GOT ALOT FANS ON THE DLR BOARD. :dance3:

[kellymom]

That was fun to read. Glad you made the best of your trip having to work around your friend.

[Dolce27]

I have not written before, but have been reading. Great report. Love the attitude. I hate people that rain on my Disney parade. This last trip I even swore to myself that I was not bringing my husband back again! That will be somewhat difficult and I will probably have to figure out some sort of a compromise!

:rotfl2:

Thanks for reading!
I am spoiled with my solo trips and should I get married and have kids, I think that I'll tell my husband that I'm still taking the occasional solo trip and he's staying at home with the kids. :teeth:

I'm soooo excited for my 30th b-day trip and it will be half solo/half not. I have some family coming down to spend my b-day and a few days with me.

[Dolce27]

Really enjoyed your report, Dolce! Can't imagine DCA and DL alone. I think it would be a blast! I usually have the full entourage.....including toddlers and stroller!

Thanks for sharing your trip with us--and your wonderful pics!!! There were things I missed (and I was JUST there) that I saw and enjoyed in your photos!!:thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2 :thumbsup2


Thanks for reading. I'm glad that you enjoyed the TR. :goodvibes

[Dolce27]

IT WAS THE COMMUNITY BOARD. THE DIS BOARD NEVER LETS PEOPLE DOWN.....EVEN WDWers.

How did I know that you would place the blame on the CB?
:rolleyes1

Maybe you were the one that had the coveted information while I was planning my trip and failed to post it on the DL boards. Hmmmm???

PSSST......SINGLE RIDER LINE.

I didn't want to have to figure out where the entrance to the Single Rider Line was (aka: reading signs). I didn't need a FP for anything else that morning so FP it was.

ALOT OF DLR DISers AREN'T VETS OF MISSION SPACE, DOLCE.

And you all need to be... that ride is awesome! (Unless, of course, you have health problems and then please stay safe and don't ride the orange side of Mission Space at WDW as two people with health problems have died on that ride)

But seriously, the orange side of Mission Space rocks and I'm spoiled for anything else now. :teeth:


DO WE HAVE AN ICON FOR "DIVA"?

:rolleyes:

:teeth:

Some people just don't get Disney or know how to relax and have fun at places such as that. :sad2: That's fine. Disney's not for everyone.

(Now if lots more people would stop liking Disney by next December while I'm at WDW Christmas week ......:rolleyes1 )

[QUOTE=Hound 109;22395538]LOVIN' IT. :hippie:

:teeth:

[Dolce27]

MEMO FOR WDW TRIP.....GET A COMPASS FOR ACCURATE TRIP REPORTING.

But that takes all the fun out of trying to describe where I'm headed without knowing what I'm talking about.

CHICKEN TACOS ARE NO MATCH FOR A TEXAN.

Ain't that the truth.

I SURE DID, DOLCE. :hippie:

:thumbsup2 Glad you liked it.

PLEASE POST OVER HERE & LET US KNOW WHEN YOU GO TO WDW (& DO A TRIP REPORT)....YOU'VE GOT ALOT FANS ON THE DLR BOARD. :dance3:

Thank you. I'm sure that I'll do a WDW TR but my trip isn't until the end of the year - Dec 23 - Jan 1.

I'm taking my good camera for this trip and will be focusing on photography.

Now, just FYI: I'm heading to your neck of the woods tomorrow morning. You might want to stay off the roads... you Austinites can't handle my crazy Dallas driving skills. :teeth:



Thank you for being a fan of my TR.

[Lovin' Lorne]

Great report! I just stumbled across it this evening, so it was nice to have the whole thing completed and not have to wait. I'm not real good at waiting. I'd also like to thank you for not automatically dissing DL because it's smaller than the behemoth that is the MK. Great things CAN and DO come in small packages. :cloud9:

I also enjoyed seeing "my" park through another's eyes. As an Annual Passholder, I have to admit to being one of those go down to the park for a couple of hours, have lunch, knock out Pirates and the Haunted Mansion, oh crap, forget these lines, I'm not waiting more than 20 minutes for anything, back in the parking lot and home all within about four hours kinda person, so reading your TR made me remember the days when I used to open and close the place. I think I might need to recapture the wonder of Walt's dream. :lovestruc


Oh, and hubby and I will be at "your" park for the 10th time in 14 years at the end of this month, so have no fear, I do love me some WDW too. :banana:

[Disney-Kim]

Ummmm... yeah. Sadly there is a reason her pic's are deleted. :sad2:
Honestly, I don't know what her honest thoughts were of the trip. She did send me a e-mail stating the 'I had fun' comments but I'm not sure that they were sincere - she never brought up or gave me her honest thoughts on the topic.

Well...it sounds like you still had a FANTASTIC trip and its great that you did your own thing and didn't let her bring you down.

HER LOSS;) ;) ;) ;)

[KimAshton]

Thank you for writing this. I am going to disneyland in March and it is nice to see things I haven't seen before.

[bumbershoot]

I am spoiled with my solo trips and should I get married and have kids, I think that I'll tell my husband that I'm still taking the occasional solo trip and he's staying at home with the kids. :teeth:

Hmm, I resemble that! :) Never EVER thought I'd be doing it, but in 2 weeks I'm abandoning my hubby and 3 year old and running away for just short of 48 hours. Only for Disneyland...only for Disneyland...:upsidedow



Loved your trip report. Glad you kept your good humor about it all. Perhaps I should write up my week-long trip to Ireland with a friend who is no longer a friend...:scared1: But I think I'd be happier to just re-read your trip report.

[DisDancerina]

I remember reading this TR :) It was good! :)

[Dolce27]

Hmm, I resemble that! :) Never EVER thought I'd be doing it, but in 2 weeks I'm abandoning my hubby and 3 year old and running away for just short of 48 hours. Only for Disneyland...only for Disneyland...:upsidedow



Loved your trip report. Glad you kept your good humor about it all. Perhaps I should write up my week-long trip to Ireland with a friend who is no longer a friend...:scared1: But I think I'd be happier to just re-read your trip report.

:laughing: Have a wonderful 48 hours! Hey... when Disney calls.. you gotta go.

Thanks for reading and I guess that we all have to learn the hard way at some point in our lives to be picky about who we vacation with. It wasn't that bad with Tiff - but there was a damper on the trip. I hope that your friend that you went to Ireland with didn't ruin yours. I've always wanted to see Ireland. I went to school in London for a couple of semesters but living in London + no job = renting videos and hogging the tv in the common room on week-ends instead of traveling to places like Dublin or Madrid. Now I need to go back just to travel. :teeth:

[Dolce27]

I remember reading this TR :) It was good! :)

Thanks for reading. I'm glad that you liked it. :goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

I hope that your friend that you went to Ireland with didn't ruin yours. I've always wanted to see Ireland. I went to school in London for a couple of semesters but living in London + no job = renting videos and hogging the tv in the common room on week-ends instead of traveling to places like Dublin or Madrid. Now I need to go back just to travel. :teeth:

She didn't ruin it, b/c she took quite a bit of my fun from me. My mom was going to let us use a week of their timeshare, but then couldn't find anything over a year out, so she PAID for our B&B plan through Aer Lingus. All my friend needed to do was get herself there and pay for food and souvies; my mom even paid for the rental car. And my friend complained about money the whole time. Funny thing is that I was the over-packing, hair-dryer-bringing, primping queen on the trip, and so neither of us was ever happy with each other...but it was my birthday trip and I was determined to meet my Irish LOVE and stay there forever (didn't work out, LOL) so I needed to look cute, so she went the other direction, staying in her hiking clothes and boots when we were going to a disco...:confused3

Took a few more years for us to end our friendship, but the end started with that trip!


I hope you get to travel again internationally soon!

[Ferry Joy]

Just signing up so I read everything - i just can't right now!
Thanks for this report!

[PinCrazed]

We are going to WDW March 13-21. We will be going to the Contemporary Pin Trading Event. Is anyone else planning on being there at the same time?

[Dolce27]

Just signing up so I read everything - i just can't right now!
Thanks for this report!


Thanks for reading. :goodvibes

We are going to WDW March 13-21. We will be going to the Contemporary Pin Trading Event. Is anyone else planning on being there at the same time?

I wont be back at WDW until this December but I bet if you go over the WDW theme parks board you will be able to find othere that are.

[Shock13]

Dolce, I loved reading your TR! Living in AZ, my family went on Disneyland trips a lot growing up! But now, I'm usually the only one left that is seriously still obsessed and like you it's just me!! :)
I'm so glad you saw Aladdin! I'm not much into shows either but never miss seeing it. The Genie is the best.
I'm going again this April but haven't made it to WDW yet. I'm looking into a Christmas trip this year. Maybe you can give me some tips?? ;)
And sorry about your friend. My best friend and I would spend a week at DL for our birthdays every year and by the 3rd day we were ready to kill each other.
But still...good times.

[Dolce27]

Dolce, I loved reading your TR! Living in AZ, my family went on Disneyland trips a lot growing up! But now, I'm usually the only one left that is seriously still obsessed and like you it's just me!! :)
I'm so glad you saw Aladdin! I'm not much into shows either but never miss seeing it. The Genie is the best.
I'm going again this April but haven't made it to WDW yet. I'm looking into a Christmas trip this year. Maybe you can give me some tips?? ;)
And sorry about your friend. My best friend and I would spend a week at DL for our birthdays every year and by the 3rd day we were ready to kill each other.
But still...good times.

Yup, I'm glad that I was smart enough to watch Aladdin - that was a well spent hour.

Am I understanding corretly that you want to go to WDW for a Christmas trip? :woohoo: I loved going to DL but like most of you DL vets who feel 'at home' at Disneyland ... WDW is 'home' to me. My parents first took me there when I was 2 yrs old (it was just the Magic Kingdom at that time) and I know that I fell in love with it then, even though I was only 2. :rolleyes: I also worked at WDW the summer of 1999 on the college program.

If you go at Christmas - are you meaning Christmas week? If so, you will need serious planning. My ticker below indicates that I'm going back to WDW for my 30th b-day... but my 30th b-day is December 30 (right between Christmas and New Years). If it wasn't for my b-day, I'd avoid WDW during Christmas week at all costs. I think that the 1st week of December is supposed to be the 'best' week in Dec to go (crowd wise). The 2nd week Pop Warner will be there and most DIS vets try to avoid them like the plague.

If you have to go Christmas week, it will still be wonderful.. you’ll just have to be certain that you know all tips and stuff in order to make the most of your visit. There will be park closures on Christmas Day and NY’s Eve (as I’m sure occurs at DL) and sometimes a couple of other days during that week.

Unlike what I found when I began researching my DL trip, staying on property is important at WDW. (At least in my opinion) They have many resorts to choose from (off the top of my head, I want to say 13 – 14 different Disney hotels) at all price levels. You don’t have to stay at the pricier hotels that are equivalent to The Grand Californian or the Disneyland Hotel - there are much cheaper options. Just note that WDW property is the size of San Francisco. There are 4 theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT, two water parks, then you have Down Town Disney and Pleasure Island. There’s so much to do…. you’ll want to stay for at least a week.

But yes, PM me for any questions that you have about WDW, I will give you every tip and piece of advise that I have. Plus there are the WDW boards on the DIS that you can post questions on.

I hope that you get to go! :goodvibes

[blue_river]

I've been following along (lurking) and wanted to thank you for sharing your trip :goodvibes


I especially enjoyed your pictures from the pirates lair :thumbsup2

[Hound 109]

Yup, I'm glad that I was smart enough to watch Aladdin - that was a well spent hour.

Am I understanding corretly that you want to go to WDW for a Christmas trip? :woohoo: I loved going to DL but like most of you DL vets who feel 'at home' at Disneyland ... WDW is 'home' to me. My parents first took me there when I was 2 yrs old (it was just the Magic Kingdom at that time) and I know that I fell in love with it then, even though I was only 2. :rolleyes: I also worked at WDW the summer of 1999 on the college program.

If you go at Christmas - are you meaning Christmas week? If so, you will need serious planning. My ticker below indicates that I'm going back to WDW for my 30th b-day... but my 30th b-day is December 30 (right between Christmas and New Years). If it wasn't for my b-day, I'd avoid WDW during Christmas week at all costs. I think that the 1st week of December is supposed to be the 'best' week in Dec to go (crowd wise). The 2nd week Pop Warner will be there and most DIS vets try to avoid them like the plague.

If you have to go Christmas week, it will still be wonderful.. you’ll just have to be certain that you know all tips and stuff in order to make the most of your visit. There will be park closures on Christmas Day and NY’s Eve (as I’m sure occurs at DL) and sometimes a couple of other days during that week.

Unlike what I found when I began researching my DL trip, staying on property is important at WDW. (At least in my opinion) They have many resorts to choose from (off the top of my head, I want to say 13 – 14 different Disney hotels) at all price levels. You don’t have to stay at the pricier hotels that are equivalent to The Grand Californian or the Disneyland Hotel - there are much cheaper options. Just note that WDW property is the size of San Francisco. There are 4 theme parks: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and EPCOT, two water parks, then you have Down Town Disney and Pleasure Island. There’s so much to do…. you’ll want to stay for at least a week.

But yes, PM me for any questions that you have about WDW, I will give you every tip and piece of advise that I have. Plus there are the WDW boards on the DIS that you can post questions on.

I hope that you get to go! :goodvibes

Turning 30 in December? :scared1:


Aren't you a little old to be obsessing so much .... on all things Disney?

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:lmao:

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;)


I'm going to have to check out your WDW trippie, Dolce.....but i'm a little fearful of visiting the "dark side" board. :darth:


hound :duck:

[Dolce27]

I've been following along (lurking) and wanted to thank you for sharing your trip :goodvibes


I especially enjoyed your pictures from the pirates lair :thumbsup2

Thank you so much for reading.


Turning 30 in December? :scared1:


Aren't you a little old to be obsessing so much .... on all things Disney?

Too old for Disney? :snooty: Never. Disney is something that you appreciate more with age.
… or is it just because the more you age the more senile you become and that’s why old people like Disney so much?

I’m new to being ‘old’ Hound, your going to have to give me advise on how to handle it…. :rolleyes1


I'm going to have to check out your WDW trippie, Dolce.....but i'm a little fearful of visiting the "dark side" board. :darth:


hound :duck:

:rotfl2: That's exactly how I felt when I first checked out the DL boards to prepare for my trip. Everything was so different from the WDW boards.. I was a bit scared.

Don't worry... whenever I post my TR after my trip I'll PM you the link. I wouldn't want you to spend so much time on the WDW boards waiting for me to post that you find you actually like it over there. Before you know it, all of your money will be spent heading east instead of west for your Disney fix.

[AURORA73]

I just finished your TR and loved it. I started late so I got to read it all. I'm glad you enjoyed DLR for your first time.

Happy planning for your 30th in WDW. I am planning my 35th bday in DLR in December this year. My bday is the 22nd of Dec but I am going the first week of December, there is no way I will go to DLR 3 days before Christmas. Happy December Birthday!

I am off to read your WDW solo TR now.

[quest4dl]

I loved reading your trip report - it was hilarious and so honest! You took us right there with you! 'Tiff' sounds unbelievable - I was kinda hoping she was a fictional character after all!

[Dolce27]

I just finished your TR and loved it. I started late so I got to read it all. I'm glad you enjoyed DLR for your first time.

Happy planning for your 30th in WDW. I am planning my 35th bday in DLR in December this year. My bday is the 22nd of Dec but I am going the first week of December, there is no way I will go to DLR 3 days before Christmas. Happy December Birthday!

I am off to read your WDW solo TR now.

Happy December Birthday to you too! Have a blast on your DL B-day trip!

Yeah, I'm going to face the Christmas WDW crowds for my b-day. :scared1: Let's hope that I make it out alive! And if you went over to see my WDR TR, you're going to see how spoiled that I was by the low crowd levels on my last WDW vacation.

Since I'm such a park commando person and am next going during the busiest week of the year... my next TR may be written from the confinements of a padded cell. :rotfl:



I loved reading your trip report - it was hilarious and so honest! You took us right there with you! 'Tiff' sounds unbelievable - I was kinda hoping she was a fictional character after all!

I'm glad you enjoyed my trip report. Yeah, sadly, Tiff is not fictional. :rolleyes:
We are no longer on speaking terms as we had a huge fall-out between my writing of the next-to-the-last-day and the last day of the TR. I learned the hard way to only let good friends come with you on a vacation such as that. Tiff and I were just 'work friends' and not 'friends friends' but I thought her to be a pretty cool person and was excited when she showed interest to go. Oh well, lesson learned.

[quest4dl]

With travel companions I've realized it's not so much about wanting to see the same things as having the same style of travel. Take my dh for example - he's not going on our DL trip with the kids and me in June :rolleyes1

I also have really good friends that I would never travel with. I get annoyed when the rest of my party can't get going in the mornings, then I get annoyed with myself for becoming annoyed. And when it comes to Disney....well, I dream of the day I can make a solo trip! :banana:

[phisigprincess]

Thanks for sharing your TR! I always tell people that much like there are some people you can be friends with, but not ever want to live with, Disney is very similar. Some people just don't do Disney like those who love it and that can be a tough situation. I'm glad you still managed to have a great time!