Sharing the Disney Magic with Family & Friends-DL Diamond Anniversary-DCA F&W Fest Kiosks & The End!

[mvf-m11c]

Actually, I decided against the Canon lens. I wish the new one would get here!

I definitely like our telephoto, it just doesn't work well enough for dark rides.

I will probably miss you on that trip, but who knows we might be by in November. Who I am kidding? Marathon weekend. Probably going to avoid the place like the plague. We didn't even sign up to play there that weekend. I think it was our last choice.

555 is a steakhouse in Long Beach. You should convince DAF to go there, although as I remember she doesn't eat red meat. They did have these Vegan Ratatouille meatballs that many people at my party really liked.

I sure hope we get some relaxation on the cruise!

Which lens did you decided on?

I know what you mean by the telephoto lens for the dark rides since it is hard to auto focus on the ride. There were a lot of misses with it when I used the f/4 & 2.8.

No problem. DAW and I are planning on having a great time during the CP weekend in which it will be busy. We also made a ressie for the Carthay Circle Restaurant on Friday. I don't think you will want to go during the Avengers Marathon Weekend. Last year was crazy when DAF and I went and I would guess that it will be the same next month.

When I looked on google map and saw where the restaurant was located, I remember that restaurant which is close to the Long Beach Convention Center. When I was at the LBCC for an event a few years ago and tried to look for any good restaurants in the area, this was one of them. But the restaurant was full that night. If there are some non meat food at 555 East American Steakhouse then DAF will might want to try it. They do have seafood, pasta and chicken which is good.

You and Fran will. I will have to try a DCL one day.

 

[franandaj]

We left off with a full day at the park on Monday. It took me the rest of the week to recover from that, well not really. In fact I think I spent Wednesday and Thursday that week cleaning the vacant apartment. But Friday was the opening day of the D23 Expo. As many of you know in the past, Fran and I went every day, all day, and in 2013 we had Sorcerer passes which got us exclusive access into all kinds of seminars, shopping and other special activities. You can bet we weren’t all that happy about not being able to purchase those tickets for 2015, in fact we were almost going to boycott the Expo. However at the last moment, we got a great deal on some tickets, and decided that it couldn’t hurt her immune system to go for one day, provided we stay out of the enclosed sessions where you are stuck in a room with hundreds of people carrying who knows what germs.

We also decided that we were not going to get ‘too invested” in this thing, meaning we were not going to have high hopes and expectations of what we could do. There were going to be long long lines and we didn’t want to worry about whether or not we would get in somewhere, we were just going to go with the flow. That being said, we didn’t even wake up that morning until well after 8AM, in fact it might have even been 9AM before we got out of bed. There were people already inside the show and some had been waiting for over 11 hours at that point!

We took our time heading over to Anaheim, and sure enough all the lots at the Convention Center were full, but there is an overflow Disney parking lot off Harbor just in front of the street to the Convention Center and with our APs, we were able to park for free. Soon we were on our way to find the line to get into the convention center. That took some doing! The line stretched almost all the way to Katella Blvd, and this was at 11:15AM 2 hours after they started letting in D23 members. Our first stop was the Dream Store. There was a pretty big line to get in, so we got in line and it was about half an hour before we were inside the store.





I should have taken more pictures inside. This is where Fran got the cat picture (from the house thread) that features all the Disney cats. It’s hanging on the wall with the Aristocats pictures. I got a couple T-shirts and this really cool phone case.



I don’t remember what all else that we purchased, oh yeah, Fran bought another one of those jackets that lights up. When we were talking to the guy who makes them, it turns out he totally remembers us, and shared a touching story with us about how, he has just recently beaten cancer. It’s amazing how many nice people there are out there in the Disney family.

While Fran was checking out, I saw this interesting costume.



We met up with Bret after leaving the store and I wanted to head to the Imagineering pavilion where they were showing the plans for Shanghai Disney. But on our way, we found the exhibit of the shirts of John Lasseter. Fran was enthralled, in fact I think she took pictures of each one her cell phone.



While she admired the shirts, I looked at these Star Wars costumes that were on display.







I never did get to this Pixar Display.



Waiting in line to get into the Shanghai exhibit.





From what I remember, instead of Main Street you will enter the park to find Mickey Avenue.



This display was showing some of the eatery options that there would be on Mickey Avenue. You have Chip and Dale’s Treehouse Treats. There will also be a Barber shop.



I believe this will be the sign over the Treehouse Treats.



This is a maquette of Gusteau whose head will appear over Remy’s Pastisserie



Adventure Isle sounds like a really cool area, this is also where the new Soaring ride will be.



Treasure Cove is another land where there is a very heavy Pirates theme going on.







They have a Pirates ride, but it’s going to be somewhat interactive. I don’t remember all the details, but I remember thinking it sounded really really cool.



Fantasyland will have some familiar favorite rides as well as some new ones.











Here is a model of the castle that will be the gateway to Fantasyland.



And some examples of the Cast Member Costumes.



There is going to be a ride based on the movie Tangled. Which may be the Crystal Grotto Ride.



I imagine that these mosaics will be in the castle similar to WDW, but I could be mistaken.





The Gardens of Imagination will explore the joy of imagination.





Tomorrowland is going to have a heavy Tron influence.



And that wrapped our viewing of the pavilion. They had another section about the DTD like area and hotels, but I didn’t take any pictures of that.

 

[PrincessInOz]

How cool to score tickets late!
WOW! You captured a lot of the planned Shanghai rides. I wanna go just for Pirate Cove. I think that sounds real cool.
I wonder what the Tangled ride would be like.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Just catching up! Bit behind. Sending hugs for your poor nephew. Oh they are such a worry. Hope he will be ok.

Very impressed with photos. Love the photo of the pirate ship! Lunch at Flo's looked just the ticket.

As many others have stated we enjoyed Frozen but the Disney imagineers are as out of control as Elsa herself covering the parks in ice! Aladdin is one of my fav movies and the show top notch by the look of it. Another one bites the dust...

But you know you can now pay more for your annual pass to see all these changes woohoo! Holy moly did you see the price increase? Plus block out dates. And Tables in Wonderland 50% increase what!

The Expo looks good. I love the Star Wars displays. Too cool. Nice you picked up the all cats picture. Cute. Careful you don't get it home , unwrap it and see it is actually multiple photos of Elsa and Anna dresses as cats lol..

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Btw loved the little girl ewok plushy at the expo!

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I'm loving the expo photos! I'm glad I'll probably never go to one as I could see that being super mean to my bank accounts as I would want so much. The Disneyland plans for their new park look so awesome!

 

[jedijill]

I need to go to Shanghai now! Those attractions are going to be amazing! Anyone want to go with me?

Jill in CO

 

[mvf-m11c]

It was very nice to see both of you at the D23 Expo that Friday with the late tickets you got. I know that you wanted to get the Sorcerer tickets a lot where I was trying to get them as well but they went by so quickly on the first day of sale. I remember that Friday morning where it was busy even though DAF and I were there since 5am in Hall E queue but I was told by a friend that came late that morning was outside right next to the Arena which was crazy. They had those snake lines outside which was crazy. Glad that we were able to walk around the show floor that Friday and Fran bought a lot of stuff at the Dream Store.

The John Lasseter Reyn Spooner Hawaiian shirts were very neat to see all the different ones based on a different movie.

The Shanghai Disney Resort pavilion was very nice as weell to see art work, props, models of the new Disney park coming to Shanghai next year.

 

[Flossbolna]

Great to see a picture of inside a store! We were far too impatient to get in line for that!

But on our way, we found the exhibit of the shirts of John Lasseter. Fran was enthralled, in fact I think she took pictures of each one her cell phone.

I remember Fran and one of our friends talking quite a bit about these shirts. He claims to have everyone of them. But Michael and I looked at all the shirts and there were plenty of them which had never seen him wear. So we doubt that he really has every single one. And some really were not that pretty. Did Fran get the one they sold at D23. I was not a huge fan of that pattern. However, the Inside Out one is absolutely wonderful!

There is going to be a ride based on the movie Tangled. Which may be the Crystal Grotto Ride.

Actually, it is not just Tangled. It is all different fairytale movies. I think it is kind of a combination of It's a Small World and Storybook Land. I actually talked with an imagineer working on this and he said that the figures would be animatronics. Sounds really like a wonderful ride. It will be inside the castle.

I need to go to Shanghai now! Those attractions are going to be amazing! Anyone want to go with me?

My boyfriend is totally keen on going there and I was always hesitant. After seeing the exhibit at D23, I am totally sold. It is going to be an amazing park. Once it is finished. Rumors seem to indicate that they are horribly behind schedule and that's why they still haven't announced an opening date... But I think some of our future travel plans will bring us to Shanghai! And if you want to see more pictures, I will have quite a few in my current trip report at some point! (Can't leave out this wonderful opportunity for a shameless plug!! ).

 

[skier_pete]

Very cool. I want to get out to D23 someday. Currently thinking maybe 2019. We'll see. Looks like you got to see a lot of stuff even if you didn't show up first thing.

 

[dhorner233]

Sounds like you had an easier time of it than Bret did but still! So many lines! Lines to get into the Convention Center. Lines to get into the store!

This sounds like something I would love: It is all different fairytale movies. I think it is kind of a combination of It's a Small World and Storybook Land. I actually talked with an imagineer working on this and he said that the figures would be animatronics. Sounds really like a wonderful ride. It will be inside the castle.

But I'll never go to Shanghai. And I'm not happy about all the Star Wars stuff. Not happy about how they are cutting up Rivers of America, Tom Sawyer's Island and the Disneyland Railroad for the new Star Wars land

 

[PrincessInOz]

I need to go to Shanghai now! Those attractions are going to be amazing! Anyone want to go with me?

Jill in CO

Me!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Rumors seem to indicate that they are horribly behind schedule and that's why they still haven't announced an opening date... But I think some of our future travel plans will bring us to Shanghai!

They are behind. I believe they were originally supposed to open late 2015 because I remember a bunch of Aussies looking at that date to go.

 

[franandaj]

How cool to score tickets late!
WOW! You captured a lot of the planned Shanghai rides. I wanna go just for Pirate Cove. I think that sounds real cool.
I wonder what the Tangled ride would be like.

I know! The Pirate Cove was one of the ones that got us, but there were many others as well!

Just catching up! Bit behind. Sending hugs for your poor nephew. Oh they are such a worry. Hope he will be ok.

I'm guessing my nephew is OK, I haven't heard any adverse news.

Very impressed with photos. Love the photo of the pirate ship! Lunch at Flo's looked just the ticket.

Thanks! I liked the way the pictures came out, kind of. And lunch at Flo's was very good!

As many others have stated we enjoyed Frozen but the Disney imagineers are as out of control as Elsa herself covering the parks in ice! Aladdin is one of my fav movies and the show top notch by the look of it. Another one bites the dust...

I love Aladdin, in fact "Friend Like Me" is my default ring tone on my phone. I am not looking forward to Frozen taking over. When we come back from the cruise, I plan on a date night which includes Aladdin, dinner at Thunder Ranch and a VIP seating at Fantasmic.

But you know you can now pay more for your annual pass to see all these changes woohoo! Holy moly did you see the price increase? Plus block out dates. And Tables in Wonderland 50% increase what!

I can't wait to find out what our price increase will be!

The Expo looks good. I love the Star Wars displays. Too cool. Nice you picked up the all cats picture. Cute. Careful you don't get it home , unwrap it and see it is actually multiple photos of Elsa and Anna dresses as cats lol..

The Expo is always a great time. I'm sorry we missed the big shows, it's the first time since it started that we did, but we just couldn't justify the wait time and we were too miffed at not getting the passes we wanted. We were also really tired that day after the first one and slept most of the next two days!

But you know you can now pay more for your annual pass to see all these changes woohoo! Holy moly did you see the price increase? Plus block out dates. And Tables in Wonderland 50% increase what!

Yeah, it was pretty incredible. I'm waiting to see what is in store for us as far as price increase!

The Expo looks good. I love the Star Wars displays. Too cool. Nice you picked up the all cats picture. Cute. Careful you don't get it home , unwrap it and see it is actually multiple photos of Elsa and Anna dresses as cats lol..

Oh we already have it on the wall. No worries about Anna and Elsa!

Btw loved the little girl ewok plushy at the expo!

Glad you liked it!

I'm loving the expo photos! I'm glad I'll probably never go to one as I could see that being super mean to my bank accounts as I would want so much. The Disneyland plans for their new park look so awesome!

The Expo is definitely a bank account drain. In addition to the great Disney store offerings, they have so many vendors with stuff you want it's hard to walk away empty handed!

I need to go to Shanghai now! Those attractions are going to be amazing! Anyone want to go with me?

Jill in CO

I know! We will go with you to Shanghai! I never wanted to go to China, but with this park, I can't resist, it sounds so cool!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Premier Pass will be $1439 please madam... Cha ching.... That's a little bit more of the Frozen attraction paid for...

 

[jedijill]

Me!

I know! We will go with you to Shanghai! I never wanted to go to China, but with this park, I can't resist, it sounds so cool!

I'm seeing a China Dis-trip forming! I'm in!

Jill in CO

 

[DnA2010]

Caught up again.
I so wish we were able to meet up with you guys on our upcoming trip, but so happy to hear about your relaxing cruise coming up- sleeping in, drink and spa sounds fabulous.
Enjoyed the Expo update, we look forward someday to visiting the other Disney parks- DLP would be exciting for sure, nice that you have it on the horizon.

Any "must do" tips for our upcoming trip? it's been 5 years since we've been to DL so going to be a busy week for sure!

 

[Pinkocto]

I'll meet you guys in Shanghai Disney! Let's start planning!!!

Great updates Alison. I enjoyed seeing more of the parade and fireworks. But I understand seeing it 5 times you were getting ready for a break.

The Expo looks too cool as always. Glad you were able to do some things even though you didn't get the tickets you wanted. I'm super excited about Shanghai Disney, loved seeing all the details.

Looking forward to seeing you next week!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Sorry I've been MIA for so long! I've been swamped at work lately.

I have to say, I'm fascinated by the displays for Shanghai DL. The Pirate-themed land and new ride looks so cool! I can't wait to see what they actually do with it. And the idea of the Tron-cycle coaster is really intriguing, too. What's the cheapest way to get to China? Swimming?

 

[PrincessInOz]

What's the cheapest way to get to China? Swimming?

I always thought it was a slow boat to China.
But there's always the long detour via Australia to get there.