Our 3rd Annual Holiday Trip to DL in November - November 22nd - 25th, 2013 Post #3416

[tksbaskets]

The last day of any trip is bitter sweet. You sure are making the most of your day. My DH rides BLAB first think in the morning at DL too. While I usually ride Star Tours. Your score was again awesome.

The picture of the roses was just stunning. What a beautiful morning. I think you are right about the crowds starting to build.

Thanks for sharing. It's always fun to see your trip report posts

 

[mvf-m11c]

The last day of any trip is bitter sweet. You sure are making the most of your day. My DH rides BLAB first think in the morning at DL too. While I usually ride Star Tours. Your score was again awesome.

The picture of the roses was just stunning. What a beautiful morning. I think you are right about the crowds starting to build.

Thanks for sharing. It's always fun to see your trip report posts

It was sad on the last day, but I was happy to go back home and see all the videos and pics that I took during the CL & BVS preview. You know me well TK that I always ride BLAB first thing in the morning. I could have rode a lot of rides in the morning, but I like to get some pics of the park while it is empty. Thank you.

I really like the one at the RoA where I got a picture of Tom Sawyer Island. It was a great day to go to DL in the morning while it was cloudy that morning. It did seem crowded that day because it was a Grad Nite and all the kids were there that day.

My pleasure and thank you for checking my trip reports.


I will have the next post later tonight so stay tune.

 

[kmedina]

I remember you mentioning that you rode Mona. Did you ride her right after you get off Mandy? Only asking because you said it is in the next update. Mandy was nice. I want to ride Manny too. You got excellent shots that day. Sometimes it is nicer to roam around and enjoy things rather than jumping from ride to ride, so I understand what you mean. If we took more trips, I would definitely slow down and smell the roses. Of course, I would get pictures of them too. I am not sure if my favorite shot this segment is the waterfall or the phone with Many approaching with the unobstructed Matterhorn view in the back. They are both excellent.

Do you still know where the empty park thread is at Kim? I will be looking forward to seeing that thread. Some parts at different lands are not that busy while some are busy in the morning. The lands that are busy in the morning are TL & FL while Adventureland, NOS, & CC are so empty the first hour when the park opens at 8am. You can look on youtube about the Rainbow Cavern Mine Train which was part of DL in the early days. Then it was changed into the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland in the 60s. The Matterhorn is one of the must do rides on my next trip. It will be really disappointing if I don't ride the Matterhorn as well the other things I have for this trip. Some of family members and my friends think I go way too much and in there eyes it doesn't seem like it is worth it. I like to go there not only for the rides shows, restaurants, etc. but to relax since it is the Happiest Place on Earth. Good thing I do have an AP or it would cost me thousands of dollars just to go in the park. If it weren't for the AP, I would only go about once a year.

You should consider getting a AP in the future as long as you go at least three trips to DL and the AP will pay for all those days. I really wanted to renew my Premier AP, but I wasn't planning on going to WDW this year and it did make sense to go back to the Premium again. I really missed the Skyway so much. The people do look like little ants when you are up in the air. You are correct that the Peoplemover was never the same when they took it offline and add that ride called Rocket Rodds which was a huge disaster. It would be nice if they can make it into the Peoplemover again, but the track are set up for the Rocket Rodds so it was going to be expensive and time to convert the track back into the Peoplemover tracks. Hopefully they will do something about it in the future. Thank you Kim. There are not too many pics of the submarines in that color since they were transforming the old Navy gray colors to the yellow colors back in the 80s. The FNSV is a nice ride and I like that they have the subs again ever since they took them offline in the mid 90s and had to wait 10 years for it to return.

The croissant was great that morning which I had a butter croissant. I did get to ride Mona on my last trip and it is on the next update to my TR. In order to see everything, 5 days is enough. But on a slow season, you will have no problem seeing it in 3 days. You should try to go to more rope drops so you can see the empty parks. It is fun to go to a park where there is barely any people. Remember during my early March trip this year about how there were no people at DL that morning due to the esplanade being evacuated.

I was looking at a lot of the pictures on the thread and thought they were neat. I even plan on getting to a park very early next trip, so I can add my own photo. Here it is Empty Park Photos

I do not believe there is such a thing as too much Disney. If I went in everyday, I do not think I would get tired of it. It is nice that you get to go as often as you do. When I finally get to go more than once a year again, I will buy an AP. With a three day hopper costing $250, and all the discounts you get, I could probably break even on the premium pass with two long or three short trips. Like you, I would only get the premier if we were going to WDW that year. We do not go to WDW every year. Although we did go the past two years, it is highly unlikely we will go this year. I doubt we will even get to go next year unless everything works out nicely.

I missed the subs when they were gone too. You and I are close in age (with you being about two years younger), so we probably have a lot of the same early park memories. I do not remember many trips from the 80s though and am impressed that you do.

I still think I am going to book the pre-park opening breakfasts as often as possible. You're right about making rope drop for the mornings I do not have breakfast booked. We will do that from here on out. At WDW last trip, we had a pre-park opening breakfast every park day! It is easy to do that with the dining plan. The dining plan at DLR is a joke and does not even save you money.

I do remember your March trip being so empty that morning. The people who were in there got pretty lucky. Goes to show you that rope drop is the way to go.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I remember you mentioning that you rode Mona. Did you ride her right after you get off Mandy? Only asking because you said it is in the next update. Mandy was nice. I want to ride Manny too. You got excellent shots that day. Sometimes it is nicer to roam around and enjoy things rather than jumping from ride to ride, so I understand what you mean. If we took more trips, I would definitely slow down and smell the roses. Of course, I would get pictures of them too. I am not sure if my favorite shot this segment is the waterfall or the phone with Many approaching with the unobstructed Matterhorn view in the back. They are both excellent.

Yes, we rode Mona (Monorail Orange) on Sunday before it was our time to go to CL for the preview. We rode Mona first on Sunday and got to ride Mandy (Monorail Blue) on Tuesday morning. I did mixed up the words on the names of the monorails which I rode Mandy that Tuesday morning. These last two years when I am in the park by myself, I just roam around the park getting a lot of different pictures while I could use that time to go on rides. It is fun to get empty shots of DL in the morning. I also can't wait to get empty park shots of DCA next month during the APEE. It is always fun to slow down and relax at the park. Thank you Kim.

I was looking at a lot of the pictures on the thread and thought they were neat. I even plan on getting to a park very early next trip, so I can add my own photo. Here it is Empty Park Photos

I do not believe there is such a thing as too much Disney. If I went in everyday, I do not think I would get tired of it. It is nice that you get to go as often as you do. When I finally get to go more than once a year again, I will buy an AP. With a three day hopper costing $250, and all the discounts you get, I could probably break even on the premium pass with two long or three short trips. Like you, I would only get the premier if we were going to WDW that year. We do not go to WDW every year. Although we did go the past two years, it is highly unlikely we will go this year. I doubt we will even get to go next year unless everything works out nicely.

I missed the subs when they were gone too. You and I are close in age (with you being about two years younger), so we probably have a lot of the same early park memories. I do not remember many trips from the 80s though and am impressed that you do.

I still think I am going to book the pre-park opening breakfasts as often as possible. You're right about making rope drop for the mornings I do not have breakfast booked. We will do that from here on out. At WDW last trip, we had a pre-park opening breakfast every park day! It is easy to do that with the dining plan. The dining plan at DLR is a joke and does not even save you money.

I do remember your March trip being so empty that morning. The people who were in there got pretty lucky. Goes to show you that rope drop is the way to go.

Thank you Kim for sending the link to the Empty Park Photos.

I would have no problem going to DL or DCA everyday since I would be there for the special events and of course the nighttime shows so I can take pictures and videotape them (I just can't get tired of those events). It is nice to go to the DLR that many times. I know that you will get a AP one day and get to go on many trips to the DLR. At least you are closer to SoCal than me just by 3 hours. It was nice to have the Premier AP the last two years, but this year wasn't worth paying another $400 just to renew the Premier. Hopefully you and your family will be able to go back to WDW for another trip.

Those were the great days at DL when the original Submarine Voyage was a great ride. Plus all those rides that are not there today (Skyway, PeopleMover, Motor Boat Cruise, FL Autopia, & the old ST which was so popular back in the 80s and 90s). We are close of age which you are older then me. Most of my great memories at DL was in the 90s. Today and the last 5 years have been great, but those memories in the early days are special. I still have a lot of my old photos of me, my family and friends at DL during those days. I still have videos back in the 80s and 90s at the park as well as the 30th and 35th Anniversary of DL plus 15th Anniversary of WDW. I still watch them today. I have the 35th Anniversary of DL on youtube if you haven't seen it yet.

It does make sense to do the pre-park opening breakfasts since you have the kids and it would make it even more special with the characters. Rope Drop in the morning is fun so you can go on rides with barely any wait time. WDW dining package can save you a lot of money while DL doesn't have that package like WDW. It will be a long time until I do a WDW dining package since I am not staying on-site.

That was a bizarre day when the DLR didn't let any guests in until 10:30am until it was clear to walk through the esplanade.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 4 – June 12, 2012– Part 5​

Now I am in Monorail Blue or Mandy at the TL heading on over to the DTD station. But I am just going to make a round trip and come back to the TL station. Mandy was running that day along with Mona (Monorail Orange) The monorails have the faces on the monorails due to Cars Land promotion which has a face of the cabin window. I have no problem with the monorails being decorated for the CL promotion.

I was in the back on Mandy (Car 5) and on my way to the DTD station. Here are some pics on the way including pics of BVS while it was closed that day. When I rode Mandy and heard her voice, I really like her voice better then Mona. My DA would say the same thing if we rode Mandy and she would like her better then Mona.

Leaving the TL station in Mandy

Just about to leave the TL station, Mona was approaching TL.

An empty car which was great

Passing Harbor Blvd. There were quite a number people on the other side to get over to the DLR.

Now passing DCA. It was quiet that morning since the park wasn't officially open at the time when I passed DCA. Mad T Party at Hollywood Pictures Backot looked empty that morning.

Now passing through BVS. There were some CM's out on the street working and cleaning out there. It was completely different after seeing the first three days of our trip filled with AP holders, D23 members, Club 33 members and Disney CM's during the preview on Saturday to Monday.

Passing through Condor Flats which is open to the DLR hotel guests.

Passing through the GCH hotel

I was at the DTD monorail station and there were a lot of people that were waiting at the station to board the monorail. So I stayed in the back of Car 5 of Mandy and was on my way back to the TL monorail station as our final stop. You have to get off no matter what at the TL monorail station.

On the way back, DL turnstiles started to pick up that morning as the day wasn't crowded enough that morning. It was already 9:30am so I need to get off the monorail and go over to DCA before I go back to the hotel and meet up with my DA.

Now back at TL and over the FNSV Lagoon

Now passing the Matterhorn.

A look at the loading station on the TL side of the Matterhorn looks like they are working on it.

Now going around TL until Mandy gets to the TL station.

Now passign through the Matterhorn through the FL side.

Mandy arrived at the TL monorail station and I got off. After hearing Mandy all the way around the DLR, I really like Mandy voice better then Mona from both ways. I was hoping that Manny (Monorail Red) would be running that week when we were there, but it didn't made it out on the track. Hopefully we will be able to ride Manny on our upcoming trip.

This trip report is almost coming to an end and I can get started on my PTR for my next month trip report.

I will have the next update tomorrow.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I remember skyways. It was my first trip to DL and I remember just thinking "I can't believe I'm here" when we got in the car.

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Seems like you spent the entire morning shooting!

 

[kmedina]

I love the pictures you got from Mandy. It was night time when I rode her, so I did not really attempt many pictures other than of Xander and inside Mandy. The flash was going off, since it was so dark. I did not want to bother anyone more than that already did.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I remember skyways. It was my first trip to DL and I remember just thinking "I can't believe I'm here" when we got in the car.

Thanks for sharing your pictures. Seems like you spent the entire morning shooting!

It is so exciting when you are about to go to a Disney park the first time and just can't imagine later on how great it was to go that first time.

Your welcome PiO. I mostly spent all my morning taking pictures except for riding BLAB and the monorail.

I love the pictures you got from Mandy. It was night time when I rode her, so I did not really attempt many pictures other than of Xander and inside Mandy. The flash was going off, since it was so dark. I did not want to bother anyone more than that already did.

Thank you Kim. The pictures turned out really well that morning on Monorail Blue. It is very difficult to get nighttime pictures while riding the monorail. Every time I ride the monorail at night, I use my video camera while riding. We didn't ride up front or back the whole trip which was kind of surprising.

 

[Lil' Grumpy]

sorry, i got tangled up without evening trying to.

anyhoo, first things first, ..i saw i hit the wrong key, not
"fear friend" but dear friend-sorry.

but since i couldn't give you feedback, i took the time to
catch up & follow your journeys. & because it wasn't opened
when we were there, i am really enjoying your adventures!
and the pictures-liked always- are a real treat!

fyi~that's my favorite icon~

...as you might recalled my old computer got burn by an
electric storm. now i am going have to do some new/major
uploading.

you have a god memory -too bad we never got those
pictures~ because there were some really neat pictures of
the cast members...being themselves. well they are
human after all? ~.

" a long time ago", i wrote to dcl to praised their efforts having
the shows stars "mingle" with the guests. after all, if they
do become "big stars", this will help them to handle their
success....in a professional manner. ( my work is in the
people business too, just in a "different type" of setting.)

human dynamics are our bread & butter..but the fringe benefit
is how well they preform " in the real world." even wdw, imagine
that?

....the actress preforming as ariel, was not the same one on the
ship. i don't know why she decided to seek my daughter out,
but it was a sunny day. & when it's sunny, her hair shimmer.
( i think it is from her mother having snow white's hair color.)
so underneath the red, there's also a few dark high lights.
and she is tall! 5-10 & she just turned 15. funny, they are
selling a wig of from brave. ahhhhh, one of my favorites
thing @ wdw, was when all the little girls that used to have
their parents to "meet" our lil' ginger. boy-oh girl, did she grew
up too fast! thanks for reminding me.

can't remember if i shared this or not, but if you ever get on the
wonder, & meet a cm by the name of " chele-"sea" , she is
also the "twin" of the lil' mermaid.

i really like the m.rails pictures, . that used to be one
of our favorites things to do @ wdw..riding in the front &
doing the "loops".

....i didn't tell my wife about them changing the ariel snow cone
hair do. she noticed. i told it was to make it more believable &
she reminded me how jordan did the same hair do. we saw
the movie brave, & she changed again.

have you ever had a disney experience outside the parks?
on the plane back to california, the guy in our row......had a
friend that used to be walt's gardener. he said the company
wanted to retired him but walt refused. he also worked
@ the hospital where roy was treated. he stated the
family were big supporters, all the time. oh, he mentioned
the gardener had the goal to be the oldest person on
earth. it was ironic, because we had a pt. back in the
late 80's that was...136. i think if i keep going to
disneyland...i might make it.

speaking of, next year we're back on dcl..to europe. i haven't
been there...since i was @ the af academy & did a back~
packing tour. but we are also going to do a fourth disney
land trip back to "grand".....& we want to do a whole
week. so either...a halloween or xmas trip.

until then, your stories & pictures are the next best thing!

 

[mvf-m11c]

sorry, i got tangled up without evening trying to.

anyhoo, first things first, ..i saw i hit the wrong key, not
"fear friend" but dear friend-sorry.

but since i couldn't give you feedback, i took the time to
catch up & follow your journeys. & because it wasn't opened
when we were there, i am really enjoying your adventures!
and the pictures-liked always- are a real treat!

fyi~that's my favorite icon~

...as you might recalled my old computer got burn by an
electric storm. now i am going have to do some new/major
uploading.

you have a god memory -too bad we never got those
pictures~ because there were some really neat pictures of
the cast members...being themselves. well they are
human after all? ~.

" a long time ago", i wrote to dcl to praised their efforts having
the shows stars "mingle" with the guests. after all, if they
do become "big stars", this will help them to handle their
success....in a professional manner. ( my work is in the
people business too, just in a "different type" of setting.)

human dynamics are our bread & butter..but the fringe benefit
is how well they preform " in the real world." even wdw, imagine
that?

....the actress preforming as ariel, was not the same one on the
ship. i don't know why she decided to seek my daughter out,
but it was a sunny day. & when it's sunny, her hair shimmer.
( i think it is from her mother having snow white's hair color.)
so underneath the red, there's also a few dark high lights.
and she is tall! 5-10 & she just turned 15. funny, they are
selling a wig of from brave. ahhhhh, one of my favorites
thing @ wdw, was when all the little girls that used to have
their parents to "meet" our lil' ginger. boy-oh girl, did she grew
up too fast! thanks for reminding me.

can't remember if i shared this or not, but if you ever get on the
wonder, & meet a cm by the name of " chele-"sea" , she is
also the "twin" of the lil' mermaid.

i really like the m.rails pictures, . that used to be one
of our favorites things to do @ wdw..riding in the front &
doing the "loops".

....i didn't tell my wife about them changing the ariel snow cone
hair do. she noticed. i told it was to make it more believable &
she reminded me how jordan did the same hair do. we saw
the movie brave, & she changed again.

have you ever had a disney experience outside the parks?
on the plane back to california, the guy in our row......had a
friend that used to be walt's gardener. he said the company
wanted to retired him but walt refused. he also worked
@ the hospital where roy was treated. he stated the
family were big supporters, all the time. oh, he mentioned
the gardener had the goal to be the oldest person on
earth. it was ironic, because we had a pt. back in the
late 80's that was...136. i think if i keep going to
disneyland...i might make it.

speaking of, next year we're back on dcl..to europe. i haven't
been there...since i was @ the af academy & did a back~
packing tour. but we are also going to do a fourth disney
land trip back to "grand".....& we want to do a whole
week. so either...a halloween or xmas trip.

until then, your stories & pictures are the next best thing!

No problem Lil Grumpy. It's nice to see you back.

It's fine. After I saw the "fear friend", I knew it was suppose to be dear. We always do mistypes all the time.

I'm glad that you are enjoying my TR. This has been a long TR. I must have done over 60 posts just for this TR alone with all those pictures.

My memory is fine and I am glad that I do take all those pictures where ever I go since I can tell the story of my trip. It is really difficult after over a month to remember everything and write it up.

That is a very nice story with Ariel and your daughter.

The pictures turned out fine while some of them were bright due to the sun. I always have to ride the monorail during any of my trips. It would be really nice if WDW will allow guests to ride up front with the monorail pilot. But after that 2009 accident and after these last three years, they still aren't letting guests ride up front.

The newly revamped Little Mermaid ride is very nice with Ariel new hair in the "Under the Sea" scene.

The Disney experience that doesn't involve the park was the Disney on Ice & D23 Expo. I have never done a DCL which some people would say that I should consider one day. I am just a Disney park guy.

That was a nice story that you met a person on the plane that knew a friend who used to be Walt's gardener.

Nice to hear that you will be going back on the DCL to Europe next year. That is great that you will be heading back to the GCH and possibly go during the Halloween or Holiday season at the DLR. If I were you, I would go during the Holiday season where the whole DLR is all decorated for the Holiday season. You should go after Thanksgiving since the hotels will be decorated at that time while before the hotels will not be decorated.

Thank you Lil Grumpy.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 4 – June 12, 2012– Part 6​

After I got off the monorail from the TL station, it was already past 9:30am since I was in the monorail heading back to the TL station. So it was time to head on out of the park and head on over to DCA that morning. The clouds started to clear up finally that morning and it looks nice with a few clouds in the sky.

When I left the station, TL started to pick up with more and more guests that morning. I went past Pixie Hollow and the Matterhorn towards the Hub since I wanted to get out of the park so I can head on over to DCA.

Now I was back at the Hub and as always in the morning, more and more people started to enter the park. Every time in the morning around 9:30am at DL, the crowds start to come in so it was time to high tail it out of DL and over to DCA.

At least it wasn't where the park was so full where I couldn't even walk an inch out of the park.

It was already past 9:35am that morning.

Now there were more crowds around Main Street Town Square.

The Hub looks very nice with all those flowers.

Meeting Goofy right by the fire house was really long that morning.

Now I was at the esplanadeand I was heading on over to DCA. It didn't look that bad that morning while there were few people heading on over to DCA while most of the people were heading on over to DL.

I did get a picture of the stage out at the esplanade and it was highly likely for the DCA grand re-opening on Friday the 15th.

Now heading on in towards DCA turnstiles. This will be the last time to head through the side entrance to DCA. It has been less than a year since the side entrance on the back side of Soarin was used since the former land Sunshine Plaza is now BVS with the Golden Gate bridge as the entrance to DCA. This will be the last time in a very long time when we go on the back side of Soarin as the entrance to DCA.

The side building was the Guest Relations for DCA.

When I got inside DCA, I head on over to GRR for a WoC Showpass (you would call them showpass than FP Matt). It was semi busy that morning but it wasn't that bad at all. I got to GRR and the showpass I got was of course blue for the 9pm time. There were a lot of people heading on over to PP like always every morning. But when I first entered DCA at Condor Flats there were quite a number of people heading on over towards BVS so I decided to head in that direction instead of going through PP.

Over at Condor Flats, the rope drop right by the Pilot's Taste-In restaurant was past it so it was inside BVS. This was the first time to see the rope drop by Condor Flats at BVS. So I head in that direction to see the rope drop in that area.

When I was over at BVS, the rope drop was right in between the Carthay Circle Theater and the information center. I knew that this was going to be the rope drop area for DCA in order to head on over to CL.

Also around BVS, the front of the Carthay Circle Theater is getting ready for media day and the opening day on Friday the 15th. You can see the stage and containers around the fountain.

The other rope drop was heading on over to Hollywood Land right by the Disney Junior Live on Stage! building.

After looking around, I decided it was time to head on out of the park and go back to the hotel. It was early that day and we didn't need to leave Anaheim around 11am, but I wanted to get a head start on out of SoCal and back to NorCal. So I head on out of the park just before DCA opened at 10am.

Now this was the last time I will be going through the back side of Soarin during the construction of DCA. It might be a long time until I go on the back side of Soarin to enter or exit DCA. There were a lot of people entering DCA that morning while I was exiting.

I was out at the esplanade just before 10am which DCA opened and I head on back to BWAI to meet up with my DA and pack out things.

It was around 10:10am when I got back to the room and we started to pack all of our stuff in our car. We didn't leave the hotel around 11am since I wanted to get a little break until we left that afternoon and back to NorCal.

When it was 11am, we got in our car and I drove out of Anaheim which I usually do every time. The day was nice with more and more people heading on in the park so it was a good time to leave and go back to Sacramento.

On the way up towards I-5, we did got stuck in LA traffic for awhile, but we got out of SoCal in just 2 hours which is 30 minutes longer then we usually get out. I thought if we left SoCal around 11am there wouldn't be too many people on the highway. But there were way more people on I-5 going north than I expected. Maybe it was a weekday where people are working that day and there were more people on the road than on a Sunday going back home which we usually do.

My DA took over part way when we were up in the grapevine where we stopped at our regular Carl's Jr. restaurant up on the hills.

She drove most of the way until we got to Livingston where we check on my grandmother. We stayed for awhile and have dinner until it was time for us to head on back to Sacramento. It was about 1 1/2 hour drive from Livingston to Sacramento. So I drove the rest of the way back home after she drove for about 3 hours straight. I did offer to switch, but she was fine.

We left Livingston around 8pm since we stayed in Livingston to watch the NBA Finals between the Thunder and Heat for Game 1. The Thunder won the game which made us happy, but in the end the Heat won the NBA championship which I am not happy about.

It was around 10pm when we got home, since it took another 30 minutes to get home since there was road construction at night. But overall we got home safely and that concludes our Cars Land and Buena Vista Street Sneak peek trip.


This is one of our best trips that we have ever been to the DLR. Not only were we there for the preview of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street before the public, but also for my DA birthday meals which we don't usually eat at two sit down restaurants in one day. This is one that we will never forget in a long time.

We got to go on all the rides at CL during the preview which we rode Radiator Springs Racers 5 times (2 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday), Luigi's Flying Tires twice and one time on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. RSR surpassed our expectations when we rode it the first time. It is way better then Test Track at EPCOT. The only thing about both TT and RSR is that TT is faster than RSR. But everything else for RSR is better than TT. LFT was something that I wanted to ride ever since I saw vintage clips of the Flying Saucers at DL in the 60s. It was not as bumpy as I thought when we saw clips of Disney testing it out. MJJ is just like Francis' Ladybug Boogie where the ride vehicles goes on another track but it does swing you left and right a lot where you can easily hurt your other rider if you are a big person. So you have to hold on the bar so you don't crush them.

Also during the preview on Saturday, I got to see Alison (franandaj), Fran and Arline right at Ramone's House of Body Art. It was nice to talk to them for a short time at the preview. I also got to read her TR which was great. Here is a link to her post during their preview. [post=45144333]PTR-F&W 2012 & Cheating on Mickey w/Harry!...Carsland Preview! [/post]

The rides that we usually do all the time (DLRR, monorail, BLAB and MFW) we got done on all four days. Most of the rides during the whole trip did look quite busy before the summertime at the DLR. The wait times were about average and the longest wait for a ride to get on was RSR during the preview. But overall we didn’t wait too long for any of the rides. We could have done more rides during that trip in the morning, but I always like to walk around the park while it is quiet and get some pics while DL is empty. It will be very interesting to go through DCA at 8am then DL in the morning.

We got to try some different food at the Cozy Cone Motel which was great but the only thing I didn't like about it too much was waiting in that long line just to get popcorn. Even though we didn't try everything at the Cozy Cone, I really like the sweet and spicy popcorn. The pretzel bites were good, but the one that I really wanted to try was the churro bites at Cozy Cone 1. But that might be a possibility during my next month trip. The one thing that also was disappointing is that we didn't eat at Flo's V8 Cafe. We were hoping to eat at Flo's V8 but when the restaurant was full and I wanted to use my time wisely at other parts of CL, we just couldn't fit it in our time. But this is another must do thing for me when I go next month.

Buena Vista Street was amazing with all the details of each one. Even though the Red Car Trolley wasn’t running that day during the preview, we still got a chance to go inside and see what it is like. Riding the Red Car Trolley is one of the must do things for my trip next month. We got to go inside the Elias & Company store which is the biggest store at DCA. The store was well themed and had a lot of choices to buy merchandise. Not only around DCA, Elias & Company also sold some CL merchandise. But most of the merchandise that we wanted was at Ramone’s House of Body Art. There were some great shops that we could easily stay in there for a long time.

We got to eat at two sit down restaurants during our trip at the ESPN Zone (twice) and Storyteller’s Café. Those two restaurants we mostly eat all the time at the DLR. She was kind of surprise to hear that we are eating at the ESPN Zone during her birthday. The main thing is that we got in so we can watch the Stanley Cup Finals where the LA Kings won that night. I wanted to eat at the Carthay Circle Restaurant during the preview, but it was closed that day unless you buy the $500 ticket in order to eat at the restaurant. My DA didn’t think it was worth paying another $900 or $850 for dinner tickets. But after hearing what you get in it, she still thinks even today that it was way too much money.

I must have took over 1500 pics of CL & BVS alone on this trip since I wanted to get every little detail of CL and BVS. Good thing that it was during a preview so there wasn't that many people. This was the most pictures I have ever taken on any trip and it was way more than the WDW trip last year. I had to switch the lens every time I got the closer shots as well as the longer shots. The ones that were great were the sign details of Cars Land which are my favorite pics.

Also with all those pics that trip, I got to try the firework trail setting for the fireworks. I want to thank PrincessInOz the most for helping setting up the settings for my DSLR when I took the pictures of the firework trails those nights. Some of them were good for the first time while some of them could have used some work. But I will try to do more firework trail pictures on my upcoming trip. So PiO, you need to remind me if you read this of what setting I should try when I take the pictures of the fireworks. Last time I set shutter speed at 4 to 6 seconds while the aperture was at f/9.0. This time I will try to set it up at 2 seconds and the aperture at 11.0 to 16.0

As always when I go to the Disney parks, we got to see Magical fireworks twice on Saturday and Monday. I also got to do Fantasmic! which I haven’t done for quite some time which is always fun to watch. The only shows that we didn’t get to see were WoC and MMY. I was disappointed that the 11:15pm private of viewing of WoC during our preview on Sunday night was canceled and moved towards the 10:15pm 2nd show of WoC. There was no way we were going to see WoC at 10:15pm while we could use that time to enjoy CL & BVS during the preview. I was also considering watching MMY after the Magical on Saturday, but I was tired that night after driving to LA, the preview at DCA and waiting for Magical that night. I was not happy that I didn’t get to see it, but that will be another show that I will see that night.

This concludes our Sneak Peek at Cars Land and Buena Vista Street on June 9th to 12th, 2012. Now I am about to work on my next post trip report will be next month with my DB and his GF. The dates will be August 13th to 15th, 2012. We will be staying at BWAI. I was hoping to get BWPPI, but the prices were just way too high. When my DB planned the dates, it was after Destination D weekend which also made me sad that I wanted to go to Destination D. I really wanted to go to Destination D since seeing the last few Destination D's at DL and WDW the last few years. I know that Alison (franandaj) is going that weekend and hope to see her there. But these were the only times that my DB and his GF available that day. The main reason for the trip is for my DB and his GF where they want to see Cars Land. They are really looking forward to the trip that I will be working on our plans for this trip. We have one reservation at Wine Country Trattoria on Tuesday at 6:30pm. We won’t be doing the WoC dining since we know that I can get the blue FPs for the 9pm show. So we are cutting it close for dining and WoC. They also want to see Radiator Springs light up at night around 8pm so everything will be close.

I’m going to start on my PTR and I could always use some ideas for my trip next month. The title for the upcoming TR was though up by PrincessInOz which is called I'm Racing Back to Cars Land with 'Bro and his Girl' in Tow Thank you for reading along DISers.

 

[kmedina]

Excellent morning and recap, Bret. You are right about where the ropes are placed for the drop. The rope blocking Hollywood land has a small opening for people to line up for RSR. CMs were allowing people through. It must have been roped off again around ToT to prevent people from sneaking into Cars Land, but we never went that far before rope drop.

You got so much done. It was an excellent trip. I am looking forward to reading about your next trip, which will be here before you know it.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Day 4 – June 12, 2012– Part 6​

Also with all those pics that trip, I got to try the firework trail setting for the fireworks. I want to thank PrincessInOz the most for helping setting up the settings for my DSLR when I took the pictures of the firework trails those nights. Some of them were good for the first time while some of them could have used some work. But I will try to do more firework trail pictures on my upcoming trip. So PiO, you need to remind me if you read this of what setting I should try when I take the pictures of the fireworks. Last time I set shutter speed at 4 to 6 seconds while the aperture was at f/9.0. This time I will try to set it up at 2 seconds and the aperture at 11.0 to 16.0

I’m going to start on my PTR and I could always use some ideas for my trip next month. The title for the upcoming TR was though up by PrincessInOz which is called I'm Racing Back to Cars Land with 'Bro and his Girl' in Tow Thank you for reading along DISers.

Bret - I might have given you some pointers on the settings but those shots were all yours! You did great with them.

If you are going to increase your aperture from f/9 to f/16, this will actually make the aperture smaller, which means less light hitting the sensor. If you then reduce the time to 2 seconds, you will be letting even less light in to hit the sensor.

I would go with f/16 and keep the shutter speed anywhere between 4 - 8 seconds. With the smaller aperture, you should be able to increase the time. Hope this makes sense. As you get to the dark/quiet sections of the show, take the time down towards 4 - 8 seconds. As you get towards the brighter sections, take the time down to 2 - 4 seconds (or less, depending on how bright it will get).


And WOW! You're going with my suggestion! Thanks for the honour.

 

[tksbaskets]

Excellent TR and I felt almost like I was at the Carsland preview with you! I love the title for your next TR!

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Excellent morning and recap, Bret. You are right about where the ropes are placed for the drop. The rope blocking Hollywood land has a small opening for people to line up for RSR. CMs were allowing people through. It must have been roped off again around ToT to prevent people from sneaking into Cars Land, but we never went that far before rope drop.

You got so much done. It was an excellent trip. I am looking forward to reading about your next trip, which will be here before you know it.

Thank you Kim. It will be very interesting when we do the rope drop at DCA that Tuesday morning next month. After reading through all these different threads, sides and your TR as well. But with my DB and his GF at the rope drop while I am inside at CL, I will meet up with them at the rope off area while I go in the queue for RSR FP. It was smart for the rope off by ToT so people won't sneak over to CL from the backside.

Thanks. We did get to ride everything at CL. There are a lot of things that I didn't do during the trip (ride Red Car Trolley & Storyteller's statue) which I will do on this upcoming trip. Just less then one month until the trip and I am getting excited.

Bret - I might have given you some pointers on the settings but those shots were all yours! You did great with them.

If you are going to increase your aperture from f/9 to f/16, this will actually make the aperture smaller, which means less light hitting the sensor. If you then reduce the time to 2 seconds, you will be letting even less light in to hit the sensor.

I would go with f/16 and keep the shutter speed anywhere between 4 - 8 seconds. With the smaller aperture, you should be able to increase the time. Hope this makes sense. As you get to the dark/quiet sections of the show, take the time down towards 4 - 8 seconds. As you get towards the brighter sections, take the time down to 2 - 4 seconds (or less, depending on how bright it will get).


And WOW! You're going with my suggestion! Thanks for the honour.

You did give me great pointers for the settings and I do appreciate you helping me with it. The firework trails turned out really well for the first time. Thank you PiO.

I will be going with the settings that you mention with the aperture set at f/16 and the shutter speed at 4-8 seconds. I will be going back through my videos of Magical from the last trip and try to time out all the firework trails so I can get some good pics.

You are a big help and I do appreciate it. Your welcome.

Excellent TR and I felt almost like I was at the Carsland preview with you! I love the title for your next TR!

TK

Thank you TK. You should tell that to PiO (PrincessInOz) since she came up with the title and the other DISers like it too.


I am working on the PTR so it will be a few days when it is ready.

 

[tksbaskets]

Hey Princess - good job with the title for Bret's upcoming trip report I may have to call on your word-smything for my next trip TBD.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Hey Princess - good job with the title for Bret's upcoming trip report I may have to call on your word-smything for my next trip TBD.

Thank you.

 

[mvf-m11c]

After a long day today with looking for DSLR accessories, I finally finished the PTR.

I just completed the [post=45177437]Sneak Peek of Cars Land & Buena Vista Street June 9 -12, 2012[/post] Trip Report and now I am working on my upcoming trip back to Anaheim with my DB and his GF. We will get to the PTR shortly about my upcoming trip next month until I do a quick recap of my last trip.



This last trip was the most anticipated trip that my DA and I have ever done going to the DLR. It was mostly to see Cars Land and Buena Vista Street during the AP/D23/Club 33/CM preview. Not only we were there for the preview, it was also my DA birthday which was on the 11th. This was a great birthday trip for her as well since we get to see Cars Land and Buena Vista Street before it was open to the public in a few days. We have been waiting for almost 4 years for Cars Land to be completed and it finally is completed. Cars Land was even better than we expected when we see it up close. The details of each building were just like in the movie. The best part at Cars Land when it was nighttime and the lights lit up at night just like in the movie cars which played “Life Could be Dream”.

We got to do most of the rides (Radiator Springs Racers 5 times, Luigi’s Flying Tires 2 times, & Mater Junkyard Jamboree once). RSR surpassed our expectations, not just the ride, but it was the AA where they looked really real. The ones that looked real were Mater, Sheriff, Sarge, Fillmore, & Doc Hudson the most while the others use projection mouths. LFT was something that I wanted to ride ever since I saw vintage clips of the Flying Saucers at DL in the 60s. It was not as bumpy as I thought when we saw clips of Disney testing it out. MJJ is a combination of Francis' Ladybug Boogie where the tractor goes to another track and it moves you left and right.

The food at Cozy Cone Motel was great which we got a souvenir cone cup and Lightning McQueen popcorn. We didn’t eat at Flo’s V8 Café which that will be another must do on my upcoming trip. We also got to have three sit down restaurants (ESPN Zone twice and Storyteller’s Café) during the trip.

Buena Vista Street was a great entrance to DCA and we got to walk through BVS during the preview which we have done a lot in the short time we had at BVS. We were hoping that Storyteller’s statue would be revealed during the preview, but it was all boxed up that week.
I have taken over 2,500 pics on this last trip is the most I have ever done on any trip. Most of the pics were from Cars Land and Buena Vista Street.



Now I am planning my trip with my brother and his girlfriend. This was an unexpected trip until after my trip was over last month. After seeing pics and videos of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street during the preview my DA and I went, they want to go see it in person instead of seeing it on the CPU screens. I was surprise to hear that the dates were after Destination D which I wanted to go, but I was working that week. So this was the next best time to go with them.


Cast: Me Bret 30, my DB Matt 24 and his GF which will be known at V since they told me not to say her name on the thread.

This will be my fourth trip to DL this year (Mar. 2 - 4, Mar. 23 – 25, & June 9 - 12) while this will be Matt & V first trip to DL this year. This will be the first time they been to the DLR since when they attended MHP on Halloween day in 2010.

The title of the trip is called "I'm Racing Back to Cars Land with Bro and his Girl in Tow!". Thanks to PrincessInOz for the name of the title.

This trip is mostly for my DB and his GF since this is the only time they could get away from Sacramento and go on a trip. They wanted to go to the DLR in order to see Cars Land after seeing all my pictures and videos. At first, I wasn’t planning on going back to the DLR in November where my DA and I go during the Holiday season. Then they asked me if I want to join them to go back to DL to see Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. I thought this was a great opportunity to go back to DCA and see Buena Vista Street with everything unveiled and opened since BVS wasn’t fully opened when I was their during the preview. I could take advantage of the APEE at DCA and DL since the APEE is only good till mid September. The APEE days during our days are DCA on Tuesday while DL is on Wednesday. They wanted to go on RSR and LFT as the main rides at Cars Land. They are planning on only getting one day PH tickets which at first I was surprise. I was trying to convince them to get multiple days on their PH tickets so they can enjoy the DLR all three days. I didn’t know exactly why they would want to come to SoCal and only go to the Disney parks for one day.

Also during this trip, I just bought a AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX Lens for my DSLR camera. After reading through a lot of sites and from other DISers, I decided it was time for another lens to use for the trips. I mostly bought this lens for the dark rides and take pictures at night. I can't wait to try it out next month.

We will be driving down from Sacramento to Anaheim like I usually do with my DA or anyone that is going down to Anaheim with me. I always say this over and over on my pre-trip plans but I just like driving then flying. Since I bring a lot of bags with me (DSLR bag and video camera bag) it does make sense to drive down to SoCal instead of paying for a rental car and possibly pay extra money to check bags on a flight. This time I will be driving my Acura TSX to Anaheim. I was about drive the Honda Civic Hybrid to SoCal, but with my DB and his GF coming along, the back trunk would not be enough to fit all the bags. We were able to make it to Anaheim with one stop of gas and I this time I will be driving down with my vehicle. We will stop at Livingston (close to Merced) that is always on my way to Anaheim to see my grandmother. Than after we stop at my grandmother’s house, we will head on over to Anaheim. We will be leaving on Monday morning instead of getting a head start to Livingston where I always do all the time when I go to Anaheim.

We will be staying at Best Westerns Anaheim Inn. Last time my DA and I stayed at BWA, so this time the three of us will stay at BWAI. They wanted to stay somewhere far away from the DLR, but I told them about the facts of staying right across the street so we don’t have to drive to the parking structures and lose a lot of time going to the esplanade from the parking lots. So they agreed to staying somewhere across the street from the DLR. I was about to pick BW Stovall’s as our hotel since the rate was better than BWAI. If we picked BW Stovall’s we had to pay for the parking fees which would be about the same price per night as BWAI. So we decided to stay at BWAI cause of the location and the great history I have been staying there. On the last trip BWAI room was updated with a LCD TV which is nice to have in a room after using those old TVs from past trips.

I am planning on being in the park for all three days during our trip and hope that my DB and his GF change their minds and go with two or three days at the parks instead of one day. But right now, they are still stuck at one day. They told me that they will try to find activities to do at DTD, GardenWalk and possibly just drive somewhere. We will be leaving Wednesday afternoon so we can get back home to Sacramento around nighttime.

Our goals for this trip are for my DB and his GF to enjoy Cars Land and Buena Vista Street. They also want to enjoy the new DCA where they haven’t been to DCA for quite some time. My goals are to enjoy the rest of Buena Vista Street that I didn’t see or do during my preview last month. I need to ride the Red Car Trolley and see Storyteller’s statue at BVS. I also was going to ride the newly revamped Matterhorn with the new bobsleds. I was hoping the Matterhorn would do a soft opening during my trip but it didn’t happen. So that is another thing I am planning on doing. Also eat at Flo’s V8 Café which I didn’t on my last trip. So I have a lot of things to do that trip. We plan on seeing WoC that Tuesday night where we will get FPs.


Here is my plan for each day for now until we get closer to the dates.

August 13th to 15th Trip

Monday
Right now for Monday, we have nothing plan except for getting to Anaheim before traffic. I don’t know what my DB and his GF will do that night since I am planning on going to DL that night to take pictures or videotape Magical. I possibly will be taking pictures of the fireworks trails after a great first try last trip. I hope that they get multiple day PH tickets so we can enjoy DL on Monday night. But they said they will go on over to DTD or GardenWalk to do shopping. They also might take the car and go to UC Irvine where his GF went to school.

Tuesday
I plan on getting to DCA early for APEE. I will also try to get in the queue for RSR FP while they go to Cars Land and go on RSR. I also plan on getting FPs for WoC for the 9pm show at the blue section. But if we don’t get the blue section, we will settle for the yellow section. They will try to get on RSR as well as LFT and MJJ. We also will be eating at DCA which will be at WCT at 6:30pm. I was originally thinking of moving the dinner back so we can head on over to Cars Land to see it light up at night. It was going to be close since we need to be at Paradise Park for the 9pm WoC show. We will decide that day of what we will ride and what park to go. But we plan on going to both parks that day and hope to get a lot done in one day. They also told me that they will go on over to DL to go on some rides that day. I am hoping that we will be able to spend a whole day at both parks and do as much as we can. It will be difficult for me since I haven’t stayed at the parks a whole day without going back to the room to rest up. I am young which should be no problem for me , but I am not the same like I was years ago.

Wednesday
I will be going to DL in the morning for the APEE. I will possibly go on some rides that morning which will depend in what mood I am to go on rides. Do my usual walk around DL & DCA in the morning. Then we head on home to Sacramento in the afternoon.

The only sit down restaurant that we will be doing as of now will be the Wine Country Trattoria on Tuesday at 6:30pm. Since my DB and his GF are going to the park for one day, this is the only restaurant that they want to eat. I did mention to them about the Carthay Circle Restaurant, but they didn’t want to pay the extra money to eat at CCR. We are also not doing the WoC dining since we plan on getting WoC FP’s for the 9pm show that day. After reading from Kim (kmedina) TR about having lunch at the WCT, I thought it would be neat to eat at WCT since I haven’t ate at that restaurant in years. We also plan on eating at Flo’s V8 Café where I didn’t get to eat during my last trip. We will be eating at a lot of quick counter restaurants during this trip. The one that I am still torn of not eating these last few trips has been White Water Snacks where they have great nachos. So I got to remember to eat there on the upcoming trip. But I don't like to go out of the park and then back through the security check-in and open my backpack. But I am willing to do that in order to eat at WWS.

I will write more about my TR and ask for any advice of what I should do for our upcoming trip next month.

Thank you

 

[kmedina]

I'm here for your next trip. I cannot wait to hear how things are going two months post opening. My FIL is coming back from there now, and I plan on getting details from him. Sounds like you have excellent plans so far. With only one park day, I think one sit down restaurant is enough. That is the one I would most like to hear about dinner reviews anyway. If I had more money, I would have booked the dinner for Connor's birthday.

Your recap says you only rode RSR 3 times, so you need to correct that to the 5 times you actually rode.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I'm here for your next trip. I cannot wait to hear how things are going two months post opening. My FIL is coming back from there now, and I plan on getting details from him. Sounds like you have excellent plans so far. With only one park day, I think one sit down restaurant is enough. That is the one I would most like to hear about dinner reviews anyway. If I had more money, I would have booked the dinner for Connor's birthday.

Your recap says you only rode RSR 3 times, so you need to correct that to the 5 times you actually rode.

Hi Kim. I really like your latest update during Connor's birthday lunch at WCT. It will be interesting to see what DCA is like with the crowds while my DA and I didn't see too much of it during the preview. Glad that he got back safely. My pre-plans for these trips that I have done are always nice and plan out. But they always don't go well and have to be altered. They were considering going to a sit down restaurant on Monday when we get there, but they will stay with WCT that Tuesday. They could always change their minds and eat at one of the restaurants at DTD. I am looking forward to eat at WCT for dinner. It would have been nice if we ate at CCR. But there wasn't any times available that day since I called late.

Thank you Kim for looking at the error when we rode RSR.