“This place better not burn down before I get my entrée!" – A DLR Feb16 TR (8/25 Wrap-up & new TR)

[ALEXandFAB]

Next we headed through the back entrance of Cars Land. This has to be one of the most beautiful spots in all the Disney Parks.

Oh, this photo is beautiful!

What a great morning at DCA so far

 

[skier_pete]

Oh, this photo is beautiful!

What a great morning at DCA so far

They told us the story on our Backstage Magic tour at Imagineering how they design these lands in the DISH (a simulator room kind of like the holodeck) and when they realized the view that would set up through the right side of the park, they knew they had to set up an entrance arch that people could come in that way. It's actually my favorite way to enter Carsland - just stunning.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I missed this entrance last time. How do I get there? From the Pier area?

 

[skier_pete]

I missed this entrance last time. How do I get there? From the Pier area?

Yes - basically you walk through where the bread factory tour and that food court area with the Mexican and Chinese food there next to Paradise Pier. It's not a super obvious. It brings you through next to RSR and then out onto the Main Street next to Flo's.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thank you!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

first off, love your wife's "E-Ticket" shirt!

Yeah, I can see that with a couple big headliners down for weather and a few others just closed, not a ton of options at DCA

Glad you got on California Screamin' though - it was probably the ride that most exceeded my expectations during our visit

Radiator Springs really is cool. And the ride is great (only small complaint is that I wish it went even slower during the inside parts - some scenes seemed a bit rushed and I wanted to take in the details more)

I really liked the model! I thought it was kinda random but I guess small towns sometimes will have a model or map of the town displayed in city hall

 

[Tinker326]

Ok - cracking up at A's facial expressions in pics! Sarah does the same now and has forbidden me to stop taking 'stupid pictures!'. So I take more, of course, and then threaten to post them if she doesn't shape up her act!

Love DW's shirt - super cool! I actually have an old ticket packet from Disneyland from around 1966... my mom gave it to me... she hung on to it for whatever reason. It's not fully intact (meaning she used several of the tickets) but there are still a surprisingly large amount in there she didn't use.

 

[DLFan123]

Loving all of your Disneyland pictures. How awesome that you got to hang out in Club 33! (That wide-eyed woman might as well have been me lol.) I'm needing a DL fix so hopped over here to the DL board for a bit. Thanks for sharing.

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad that the rain let up for you that day. Glad you were able to get on TSMM & RSR. I love the Cozy Cones for a snack. My favorite is the Chicken Green Chile Verde.

Luigi's new ride doesn't look all that exciting. I haven't been out there to try it. I did Heimlich's Chew Chew train for the first time a year or two ago. I think I'm good.

 

[khertz]

That's a bummer so many things were closed first thing in the morning! But TSM is a great start to the day. I love Ulana's E Ticket shirt!!

I LOVE the back entrance to Cars Land! We ended up walking that way a lot on our trip last year. It's especially beautiful at night all lit up!

 

[Kindermouse]

And on the subject of the Cozy Cone food - the idea is that it is NAME puns, not shape puns. Chili Cone-Queso. Ice Cream Cone, Pop-Cone. Cone-coctions. The shape of the food doesn't matter. Of course - churros don't really fit in this either way.

Gotcha! I kept thinking that, like the bread cones, all the food was supposed to be cone shaped and they just failed and ended up with pyramids. This is a big pet peeve for me right now since my textbooks this year had inaccuracies with shapes and I found myself trying to teach around them and then combat confusion when we got to combining plane shapes to create solid shapes. Ugh, kindergarten used to be less stressful I tell ya.

Funny thing about the churro I guess if it is a popular money maker it gets a pass on theming. Actually its one of very few snacks we buy in the park. We always get a dole whip on the last day, a churro to much on while watching world of color, and a 3 pack of Micky beignet's on our first early morning. Lol we are ridiculously predictable.

 

[skier_pete]

Few - I've been so busy - I apologize for the lack of updates. It's coming hopefully today.

first off, love your wife's "E-Ticket" shirt!

Yeah, I can see that with a couple big headliners down for weather and a few others just closed, not a ton of options at DCA

Glad you got on California Screamin' though - it was probably the ride that most exceeded my expectations during our visit

Radiator Springs really is cool. And the ride is great (only small complaint is that I wish it went even slower during the inside parts - some scenes seemed a bit rushed and I wanted to take in the details more)

I really liked the model! I thought it was kinda random but I guess small towns sometimes will have a model or map of the town displayed in city hall

Radiator Springs is so great - it seems like forever (4 years now) we've been waiting for something of this level in Florida. Hopefully avatar pulls it off.

I agree that California Screamin' is a great coaster, probably the best USA Disney Coaster. Too bad the theming is so blah. (If I want to see a theme park that it themed as a amusement park, I'll go to Darien Lake thank you.

Ok - cracking up at A's facial expressions in pics! Sarah does the same now and has forbidden me to stop taking 'stupid pictures!'. So I take more, of course, and then threaten to post them if she doesn't shape up her act!

Love DW's shirt - super cool! I actually have an old ticket packet from Disneyland from around 1966... my mom gave it to me... she hung on to it for whatever reason. It's not fully intact (meaning she used several of the tickets) but there are still a surprisingly large amount in there she didn't use.

DD seems to avoid pictures whenever she can. Funny she had a birthday party and one of friends was just the opposite. Pose for a photo every chance she gets, and when my camera wasn't out, she was taking selfies. kids!

Unused ticket packs are worth a LOT of money. Used ticket packs - not so much. Might as well keep it as a souvenir. I actually remember going with tickets. It was not a better world...spent the whole day wishing we had more of certain rides.

Loving all of your Disneyland pictures. How awesome that you got to hang out in Club 33! (That wide-eyed woman might as well have been me lol.) I'm needing a DL fix so hopped over here to the DL board for a bit. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for joining in. We know our good fortune at being able to get into the club. I mentioned to my wife I would probably be a terrible club member, because I'd be constantly inviting strangers in off the street to join me. That's probably a big no-no.

I'm glad that the rain let up for you that day. Glad you were able to get on TSMM & RSR. I love the Cozy Cones for a snack. My favorite is the Chicken Green Chile Verde.

Luigi's new ride doesn't look all that exciting. I haven't been out there to try it. I did Heimlich's Chew Chew train for the first time a year or two ago. I think I'm good.

Yes - though the rain did dampen our evening, at least it was only the one evening.

I think when Walt envisioned "rides the whole family could enjoy" he wasn't thinking about Heimlich's Chew-Chew Train - though walt DID like his trains! It makes Dumbo seem like a mile-a-minute thriller. I think we're at a point where Bugsland is merely a short cut to that side of the park.

That's a bummer so many things were closed first thing in the morning! But TSM is a great start to the day. I love Ulana's E Ticket shirt!!

I LOVE the back entrance to Cars Land! We ended up walking that way a lot on our trip last year. It's especially beautiful at night all lit up!

YES! It is awesome at night. That whole part of the park even better at night. There was nothing wrong with doing TSM first thing - we just weren't expecting the crowds. We always do TSM at DHS first thing, and usually we are walking on within 5-10 minutes. Of course we didn't QUITE catch rope drop here.

Gotcha! I kept thinking that, like the bread cones, all the food was supposed to be cone shaped and they just failed and ended up with pyramids. This is a big pet peeve for me right now since my textbooks this year had inaccuracies with shapes and I found myself trying to teach around them and then combat confusion when we got to combining plane shapes to create solid shapes. Ugh, kindergarten used to be less stressful I tell ya.

Funny thing about the churro I guess if it is a popular money maker it gets a pass on theming. Actually its one of very few snacks we buy in the park. We always get a dole whip on the last day, a churro to much on while watching world of color, and a 3 pack of Micky beignet's on our first early morning. Lol we are ridiculously predictable.

Not huge churro fans per se, but we are like "When in DLR - gotta get a Churro!" I still don't want a dole whip though! I hate pineapple. YuK!

The beignet's though? Coming up soon!

 

[skier_pete]

Next we headed round the bend. The plan was for DW, DD, and DM to all do the Animation Academy drawing class while I rode ToT, but we got there it was about 5 minutes too late, so we decided to shift gears slightly and ride Monster’s Inc Mike and Sully to the Rescue.





We got to the entrance and they were handing out passes for “single rider” line. This was something I had never seen, but basically they let you go in through the exit and you handed your pass to a CM there and they took you to the front of the line. Much like Test Track, Monster’s Inc holds 6 to a car. We ended up being split up, with DD and I in 1 car and DW and DM in the other, but we only waited about 5 minutes instead of the 15-20 that the wait time indicated.

I think my camera really showed it’s indoor ability on this ride. The ride doesn’t jerk around too badly, so I was able to get some reasonable non-blurry shots.











OK – mostly non-blurry:




We timed things much better on the way out of the ride. There was about 10 minutes until the next drawing class, so I left them at the Animation Academy and I headed to the Tower or Terror. While this is one of my favorite rides at WDW, this was actually the first time I ever rode it here in California.

For those that haven’t been to the one in California, there’s some pretty significant differences. The design is obviously a lot smaller, but especially the fact that there is no forward movement of the elevator. In other words, the elevator starts and finishes in the same shaft.

Let me start at the beginning, much like in Florida, you start in the lobby of the Hollywood Tower Hotel:







You then enter a room for the pre-show:





Rod Serling gives you the background to your story.





The you enter the boiler room. This part definitely looks different than the Florida one:







You board your elevator – and it’s here where the differences are quite drastic. There is only the single shaft for the ride. So instead of in the Florida one you go up, make two stops on the way, and then the elevator moves forward – here you just go up, make two stops, and then go up further and they drop you. There are maybe 4 or 5 drops on the ride, but the ride is always the same.



There aren’t many rides that are BETTER in Florida, most seem to be either roughly the same (BTMRR, Soarin’, HM) or better in California (Pirates, Space Mountain) – but this one Florida trumps the California version by a long-shot. I was glad I didn’t wait in a long line for it.

I returned to the animation courtyard, and they still weren’t out, so I looked around the store with the artwork – ugh these stores are too tough – I actually got DD an “art of Disney” book that shows character sketches from history of Disney movies. It was $55.

Afterwards – DW wanted to do another drawing class – so the rest of us went to Award Wieners for a bite to eat. wanted to do some shopping. I guess I didn’t get pictures of our hot dogs, but they were serviceable, certainly nothing great. Afterwards, DM and DW went shopping, so DD and I went back to the room for a rest – we had more plans for the evening.

Next up: May the Force Be With us - always.

 

[rteetz]

The monsters inc ride looks great. I've always wished WDW had a monsters inc ride especially that door coaster.

The original is usually the best and ToT is fantastic in WDW. I find it strange that DCAs isn't the same but whatever.

I wish DHS still had the drawing class that was one of my favorite things to do there.

 

[franandaj]

Your photos on the both the Monsters ride and ToT were really good!

We never do the Animation Academy, and I feel like I should! Award Wieners is OK. Serviceable at best. I would rather go on over to the corn dog palace.

WDW's ToT is far superior to the one in DCA. I always try to ride it if I can when I'm there, I often skip it while in DCA.

 

[skier_pete]

The monsters inc ride looks great. I've always wished WDW had a monsters inc ride especially that door coaster.

The original is usually the best and ToT is fantastic in WDW. I find it strange that DCAs isn't the same but whatever.

I wish DHS still had the drawing class that was one of my favorite things to do there.

I thought I replied to this! I agree the drawing class is missed at DHS. I get why it's gone, but they should really consider finding a place for it. Such a simple, simple activity that a lot of people really enjoyed. It would not be expensive and was actually a draw to many. The Monster's Inc ride is a very nice traditional dark ride - probably the best of the non fantasyland dark rides.

Yeah - I don't I would bother with ToT in Cailfornia if we go again - though I suppose if the rumors about a Gaurdians of the Galaxy makeover are true, I'll want to check it out. (Not that we have plans to go back to California, but we kind of feel like an every 3-4 year timeline is appropriate.)

Your photos on the both the Monsters ride and ToT were really good!

We never do the Animation Academy, and I feel like I should! Award Wieners is OK. Serviceable at best. I would rather go on over to the corn dog palace.

WDW's ToT is far superior to the one in DCA. I always try to ride it if I can when I'm there, I often skip it while in DCA.

If you are a closet artist - then Animation Academy is lots of fun. I don't like it that much because I'm a terrible artist and my characters always come out looking like they've been hit in the head with a brick.

Serviceable is a good way to describe Award Wieners. It was handy to the location and we couldn't think of somewhere else we wanted to try nearby.

 

[skier_pete]

Oops – forgot to include this picture in the last update:

When I last left off we were taking a mid-day break in the room. DM returned from shopping and then DW. We had decided we would go and take another quick ride on RSR with our Fastpasses. Ah the convenience of staying at the Grand.


We returned to the room to collect DM and DD. The plan for tonight was simple – I wanted to check out the Star Wars Launch Bay, use some of our Fastpasses, dinner, and then the parade and fireworks.
Since we were heading to Tomorrowland from the Grand – it actually made a LOT of sense to take the monorail. DD was in an ornery mood tonight – I don’t know if it is not enough sleep, but this is the point where she was telling us she was sick of Disney and she just wanted to stay in the room. Another year or two I would just do it, but feel she is a little too young to stay by herself all night. So she was throwing a fit as we went to the monorail about how she didn’t want to go. Oh what a joy of a teenager.



The line for the monorail was short. However, we just missed one, and had to wait about 5 minutes for the next one.




The monorail is quite smaller than the one in WDW, and it is more of a ride than a form of transport. Once you enter DL, you loop around Tomorrowland a few times, especially around Autotopia and the Matterhorn. Autotopia was down for an extensive refurb (the theme of our tri p – I should’ve titled it “Disneyland will be down for extensive refurb – pardon the inconvenience”). So I tried to take some pictures for the news thread. The monorail was moving too quickly for me to get anything good.







The Launch Bay here in DLR is in the old Carousel of Progress / Innoventions building.


I guess it’s kind of neat to see the models and stuff from the movies. It’s no substitute for ACTUAL Star Wars experiences though. It just feels kind of cheap.





What I DID want to check out was the special VISA Meet and Greet – which is why we came at this time. There was essentially no wait for this, and we got to meet Kylo Ren. It felt kind of an awkward M&G, because if the guy is in character he is basically a psychopath. I mentioned to him that it wasn’t very nice of him to kill his ******** (still a spoiler?). He said something to me about watching what I say lest I face his wrath or something. But then he still posed for a photo, so I couldn’t have been too mad.




We then decided to go to the rebel side and see who else we could meet. Who was available but CHEWIE! Who can resist that? Especially the wait was only 5 minutes. In line they had some helmet and lightsaber displays.



I thought it was really neat that they had REAL props for characters from the animated series “REBELS”. DD and I have slowly been watching the show on DVR. The first season was good, but the second is even better. This here is Sabine’s helmet.



Ezra Bridger is another character from “REBELS”. He has this home-made hybrid blaster /light saber.



Finally we were ushered in to Chewbacca. He is apparently greeting new members of the resistance. We were happy to join the fight against the Empire/First Order/whatever they call themselves today.





It was a pretty neat character meet - I was expecting Chewbacca to be smellier than he was. Probably all the references in the movies. Nope - didn't smell bad.




We then stopped upstairs to check out the Marvel stuff. Thor was greeting, but there was this whole pre-show with the bi-frost and stuff and they said it would take like 40 minutes, so forget it. Spiderman similarly was greeting, but the line was huge. We just took a look around at Iron Mans’ suits.




DD is a bit into the Marvel Movies – and so this diagram of the Infinity Gauntlet and all the stones was fascinating to us. (Several of the infinity stones have appeared in the Marvel Movies – as a set-up to the eventual “Infinity War” movies that will involve Thanos and this Gauntlet. Now you know too much about the Marvel Movies.)

We decided to use some Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear – we got in line and were ushered through – but there was some awful vomit-like smell, and the ride had been stopped for some sort of medical emergency. DD was mugging with me in line while we waited – not letting me take her picture.



Eventually, they shut the line down. Standby was like 40 minutes, so I felt bad for those people outside. We never got our fastpasses back, but we knew we probably wouldn’t end up using all the ones we had.
We had decided to make a dinner reservation at Café Orleans, but thinking back I am not sure why we bothered. The wait and service ended up being a bit slow, and with how little park time we’ve actually had over the last few days it was a tad frustrating, but DD didn’t want to DO anything anyways, so I suppose it was fine.

For dinner, DW and I both got the friend Monte Cristo. This is both really really good, and really, really bad (for you). I had the 4 cheese one 4 years ago, and didn’t like that one that much, but this with the ham and cheese was quite good, if I still left the tips as being too fried.

DM had the Salmon which was quite good.

DD had the chicken and spaghetti

We had to get an order of beignets for dessert of course! Sharing this was just right.


Next time - it's PAINT THE NIGHT! Finally!

 

[rteetz]

Great update! It must've been a huge plus to just walk right into DCA from the Grand.

Thanks again for your posts in the news thread.

I have met Chewie and I really enjoyed that meet. He doesn't smell bad in Florida either. Kyle Ren wasn't there yet when I went to launch bay in January at DHS. Glad they were good meets though.

Cafe Orleans looks good despite the slow service. I've heard so much about the beignets at Disneyland.

 

[kelmac284]

Just found your report. Loving it all and esp the Club 33. How cool to get to go twice in one day!! Look forward to the next update!

 

[Kindermouse]

Staying in the Grand sounds so nice. We stayed at the Tropicana last time since I know the value of staying close to the park when you value your break time but the Grand is too pricey for our budget.

We never made it to the launch bay on our last trip since my son was mad that they changed it from innoventions which he loved. Fun un to see the stuff but I agree that it needs to be more than just a meet and great spot with memorabilia here and there.

Im loving the food shots. I was trying to figure out if there was something That all my munchkins will eat on our next trip at cafe Orleans and seeing the plates helps. Looks yummy.