Can We Move Here and Be Pancho’s Handlers? A Sept '11 Throwback TR (Complete)

[disneyismyheart247]

Woohoo, keep the updates coming! Your pictures are really nice

 

[tayalltheway]

Woohoo, keep the updates coming! Your pictures are really nice

I'll keep them coming as long as someone is reading haha. Glad you like the pictures. I'm the epitome of "point and shoot" when in the parks. I don't want to spend time looking at the camera viewfinder and miss what's around me, so I usually just point it willy nilly and hope that I end up with some good pictures.

 

[oypoodles]

Great pics

 

[tayalltheway]

Great pics

Thanks!!

 

[tayalltheway]

Chapter 10
A Nightmarish Painting by Currier and Ives

This mansion was teeming with Halloween and Christmas decorations!

We were SO EXCITED for the Haunted Mansion’s Nightmare Before Christmas overlay.

We kept ourselves totally in the dark in terms of spoilers so we would be completely surprised. We just knew that the Haunted Mansion has always been a favorite ride for both of us, and we had finally watched The Nightmare Before Christmas for the first time a couple years before after hearing people rave about it for years.

It was like a geek overload combining this new-to-us mansion with all holiday decorations. There were so many places to look!

I love the architecture of the Disneyland mansion.

I also think it’s really clever that they figured out an overlay that could satisfy both Halloween and Christmas so that it could be so thorough.

We always love the ghost horses.

Something about the front door to this mansion is just inviting. No fear here!

I also loved that the pet cemetery is level with you here so that you can read all the gravestones. In WDW it’s up on a hill, so it’s harder to see them.

Hey, skunk.

This line was actually relatively long compared to anything we’d waited in thus far. Luckily we were well entertained by the whole queue area.

I want someone to count how many pumpkins are in Disneyland at Halloween time.

Finally, we made it into the mansion itself, and we were immediately struck by the completely different tone of the holiday mansion experience. It starts when those voices sing the ethereal chorus of “la la la’s” while you enter the stretching room. This version of the Haunted Mansion never tries to be scary (though the traditional mansion isn’t ever exactly scary either); it just aims more for quirky, mirroring the tone of the movie. Going down in the stretching room, this was our first experience with it being an actual elevator. I could definitely feel it moving a little. When we came out into the load area, I snapped one last picture before flash photography became prohibited.

And we were off! It was almost surreal how entirely the mansion is transformed in this overlay. Knowing the original so well, we were able to picture everything in its usual form and see how they were able to make this entirely new attraction using the framework of the mansion. Zero is our favorite character from Nightmare Before Christmas, so we were really excited whenever he factored into the attraction. In general, it was just a lot of fun. We really enjoyed the overlay on the whole and were keen to ride again as soon as possible! Personally, I’m glad that the overlay seems like it will remain unique to Disneyland at least for the foreseeable future. This is one of those things that I think makes it essential for every WDW fan to visit Disneyland. I don’t ever want them to be mirror images of each other, and this takes it a step further so that I think every Disney fan needs to visit Disneyland between September and December at least once because this experience is really worth it.

Upon exiting the Haunted Mansion, we were spat back out into a basically dead New Orleans Square.

Between Pirates being closed and the restaurants not being open for business yet, there wasn’t much happening in this corner of the park. We decided to start retracing our steps back toward Frontierland.

We had to stop and take pictures with the petrified tree. Speaking of quirky, does it get more quirky than this tree? I just can’t imagine why Lily Disney didn’t want this gift at their house…

Now it really WAS time for Tracy to get her wish. We made our way toward her favorite attraction in Walt Disney World—so how would the Disneyland version hold up??

Continued in Next Post​

 

[tayalltheway]

Chapter 11
Thunder Mountain, Hear Our Cry

With a ten minute wait time posted, we hopped into the standby line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

The queue of the Disneyland version is much more straightforward and much less deceitful than in WDW. Im always shocked how long the queue area is at Disney World. Between the ramps and the huge switchback section before you go downstairs, the line can look short but be really long. Here, however, we could see our destination clearly up ahead.

We enjoyed looking at the town.

The queue is well-done on the whole.

And its fun to get to see trains go by as you wait.

Almost there!

And here we go. We hung on to our hats and glasses, because this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness!

Up through the caves we went, and down all the out of control hills. This ride was really fun as always. The uphill parts were a little tough on my neck as they are EXTREMELY bumpy, but we enjoyed ourselves. After the ride, Tracy posed with her favorite mountain and a Hidden Mickey.

Then someone volunteered to take a picture of the two of us.

As we exited Frontierland past the still-closed Big Thunder Ranch, we noticed this fellow had come out for the day. The happiest turkey on earth!

We made our way back to the hub. Of course, it was time for a few more Photo Pass pictures. Walt, Mickey, the castle, and us made the perfect group photo.

We loved the Halloween borders available on the Photo Pass site, so we went a little crazy with them on some of our pictures.

These pumpkins around the hub were just so cool. We loved looking at themone for each land.

Tracy always has to pose with her favorite Disney dog.

And of course, a nose-to-nose shot with Pluto. (Disclaimer: Tracy didnt actually touch noses with the statue as she didnt want to catch some terrible disease&)

Partners!

Now we decided to head down Main Street U.S.A. The park was starting to fill upthis would be the day of our trip with the heaviest crowdsand we had ridden quite a few rides already, so we decided to take it slow for a while and just enjoy some of the great Halloween decorations. Plus, you cant beat the charm of Main Street.

As much as I love the Main Street at the Magic Kingdom, this one at Disneyland may have it beat for me. Its just the epitome of quaint.

And back in Town Square, we finally got a good look at this Mickey pumpkin.

Then suddenly, the main mouse himself appeared!!

We grabbed a couple pictures as he walked by, but we werent ready to wait to meet Mickey just yet.

Instead, we had our eye on one of the simplest attractions in Disneyland, but one that we were really excited to climb aboard!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[tayalltheway]

Chapter 12
Animals

When we saw this gal pull up with her trolley, we had to hop on!

I think the Main Street Vehicles are one of the best easily-overlooked attractions both at WDW and Disneyland. There was absolutely no reason we couldnt have just walked to the hub, but this is so much more fun! We got seats in the front row of the carriage. As we started moving, we passed by Cruella de Vil coming out for a meet and greet.

She was our first indication of the prominent role the villains would play during this trip. Theyre everywhere for Halloween! Our horse moved slowly around Town Square before starting down Main Street.

In case you havent noticed from my other trip report, Tracy and I LOVE animals, so we mostly just liked watching the horse as we got pulled toward the castle. The ride doesnt take too long, so before we knew it, our one-way trip had come to an end.

The horse paused for a while before making the trip back, so we got to take a few pictures together.

Once the trolley was all loaded up again, our new friend started trotting back toward Main Street.

We decided to make our way toward one of the lands we hadnt yet visited, seeing what kind of adventures we could find.

We decided to head toward one of our favorite classic rides, the world-famous Jungle Cruise.

The line didnt seem too bad, so we queued up. Like in Disney World, this Jungle Cruise had a great queue full of details to look at while you wait.

There arent supposed to be any live animals on the Jungle Cruise, but apparently these ducks hadnt gotten that memo.

While we were doing a pretty good job navigating Disneyland based purely on instinct, its different enough from the Magic Kingdom that it was worthwhile to look at the map for a few minutes while waiting to make sure we werent going to miss anything.

As we got close to the front of the line, I snapped a picture of this random boat having no idea that it would end up being ours!

Reaching the front of the line after only waiting about five minutes, we climbed aboard.

I wish I could remember much of anything about our cruise or our skipper, but this is one of those memories that has faded a little over the last year. I think I remember him being good though!

The actual cruise is the same old ride we know and love.

The elephants are probably my favorite part.

Luckily our skipper did a grand job steering the boat, so we didnt get wet. Phew!

I love the trashin the camp Tarzan connection with the gorillas.

I always feel bad for/am a little disturbed by the zebra getting eaten&

I dont feel as bad, however, for the people getting chased up the tree by rhinos.

I think this may have been the first time Ive ever been on the side of the boat with a good view of the piranhas.

We pulled into dock after our cruise having thoroughly enjoyed another of the original versions of one of our favorite classic attractions. So, where to next? Well, Tracy had a purchase she was itching to make and didnt want to wait any longer!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[Linda67]

Suck lovely photos, you are really helping to build the excitement for my forthcoming trip

 

[tayalltheway]

Suck lovely photos, you are really helping to build the excitement for my forthcoming trip

Thanks! I just went and read your DLP trip report and now I want to take a trip there really badly. So thanks for that!

 

[tayalltheway]

Chapter 13
Our Very Own Space Helmets

We headed back down Main Street and got back to Town Square right as the big cheese was walking by yet again.

We just loved all of the characters Halloween costumes that we saw on this trip. I think its great that they dress up for Halloween! Rather than follow Mickeywe didnt know whether he was going out for a meet and greet or going back for a breakwe decided to get a few Photo Pass pictures with the Mickey-head pumpkin.

Then, as we were done with that photo op, our favorite Disney canine came out for a meet and greet!! Tracy raced over toward him.

We love Pluto!

We were surprised how few of the Disneyland characters had Photo Pass photographers who traveled with them and way more surprised how many characters dont even have handlers. I think there must be a union rule at WDW that requires all the characters there to have a handler responsible for crowd control and regulating their break schedule. At Disneyland, however, characters would appear on their own and have to hope that people would form orderly lines without being corralled. Pluto was one of the characters without a handler or a photographer, so we had to ask the people in line behind us to take our picture.

We told Pluto we liked his Halloween collar. It was a VERY spooky costume&

Since we were right in the area for our meet with Pluto, we headed into The Mad Hatter next so that we could make the headwear purchases requisite to any Disney trip. I bought a Pluto hat.

Heres a better view.

And Tracy got a Minnie ears headband.

Neither of these purchases was spur of the moment. We take our ear hat planning seriously and had picked out which ones we wanted to get before arriving in Disneyland.

Our heads successfully covered, we decided to head back to Tomorrowland to use the Star Tours Fastpasses we had gotten first thing that morning. Im sure we were well-past the time window, but these were the glory days of Disneyland Fastpasses when return times werent enforced. From what Ive read in todays rumours, those days are coming to an end next month when Fastpass times are going to be stringently followed like they already are at WDW. Boo.

This ride on Star Tours was one that we were really excited for as it was our first experience with Star Tours 2.0! Wed always enjoyed the original version of the ride but had heard such great things about the 3D refurbishment with its multiple destinations that we were psyched for our first ride.

The queue looks great. At least at WDW, the queue for the old Star Tours was looking pretty rough right before it closed. Now its all bright and shiny as it should be.

We liked the TSA-style security droid. His spiels are pretty funny if you stop to listen.

Quickly getting to the front of the Fastpass line, we were ushered toward Gate B.

We were very excited!

As I explained in my other trip report, when on Star Tours as a young kid, I had to make sure to hang onto my hat so it wouldnt fly off and into outer space. We recreated the moment here as we do on every trip.

Our ship was ready for boarding. We got into our seats, passed the preflight systems checks, and were off! Now, I cant imagine anyone, whether theyre a Star Wars fan or not, riding this version of Star Tours for the first time and not being impressed. The ride is so much fun! The 3D effects are better than anywhere else in the parks, the motion simulators are in top form, and everything about the attraction makes it one of Disneys best. That being said, I am a Star Wars fan, so I also enjoyed the new storylines and content. On our first journey we went to Hoth and then to the Death Star. The first trip to both of these locations was very exciting! Zooming around all the AT-AT walkers and coming face to face with Boba Fett made for a thrilling experience. Plus the ride had all the tongue-in-cheek sci-fi charm of the Star Wars movies. On the whole, we were very impressed and excited to ride several more times on this trip.

After exiting from Star Tours, we decided to stick with the space theme and take a ride on the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

We always enjoy the WDW version of this ride, and we were excited to learn that in the Disneyland version you get to hold your blaster rather than having it be connected to your vehicle. In addition, we found out that these blasters light up when you hit a target to let you know when youre successful. As someone whos generally not very good at this ride in WDW, I hoped this would improve my chances of actually being able to hit anything.

The queue was a little long, but we enjoyed noticing some aspects of Tomorrowland around us.

We were excited to try out the Finding Nemo Submarines.

Once we made it inside, the line was pretty short. Luckily with Buzz, the line never stops moving.

The Buzz animatronic was equally impressive here.

We made one final push through the queue and were ready to aid Star Command.

Now I didnt make any sort of note how Tracy or I did on any of our specific rides on Buzz Lightyear. The overarching theme of the ride as I remember it, however, is that Tracy usually kicked my butt. I was not aided at all by being able to hold my blaster, and the fact that it lit up when I hit a target resulted in me wondering whether the light was broken or I just wasn't hitting much of anything. Still, it was really fun! I dont know whether I enjoy the WDW version or this one more; I just know that while I may be terrible at it, Ill always have a lot of fun on this attraction!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[disneyismyheart247]

Great updates! A lot of people find the no character handler/photopass a big shocker when they first visit Disneyland.

 

[Linda67]

Great update, love the photos and love the hats

 

[oypoodles]

Haunted Mansion looks so cool

 

[tayalltheway]

Great updates! A lot of people find the no character handler/photopass a big shocker when they first visit Disneyland.

On the one hand, I wish there had at least been Photo Pass photographers with all the characters because I love having as many character pictures on our CD as possible. On the other hand, however, I liked the feeling of spontaneity that it afforded having the characters just be able to appear and be on their own. So I'm torn about it all haha...

Great update, love the photos and love the hats

Thanks! Tracy was glad to be able to get the headband in Disneyland because the sun/heat was nowhere near as intense as when we go to WDW. There, we always needs the hat with a brim to block the sun. And I just like my Pluto hat. It's probably one of the most ridiculous headwear options they sell, which I enjoyed.

Haunted Mansion looks so cool

It was awesome! As you'll see, I think we rode it more than ten times on this trip haha. We just didn't know when we'd ever be back to experience the overlay again, and we never really got sick of it.

On an unrelated note, is your username a Gilmore Girls reference? I like it!

 

[tayalltheway]

Chapter 14
Inside the House of Mouse

Exiting Tomorrowland after our multiple journeys into space, we started walking back to Fantasyland. We caught our first good look at the majestic Matterhorn.

We saw the submarines going by in their lagoon.

And we walked past the phenomenal outdoor façade of It’s a Small World.

But our real destination was another of Dinseyland’s unique lands—Mickey’s Toontown!

When Mickey’s Toontown Fair was open at the Magic Kingdom, Tracy and I totally ignored it on our first trip. Then, when we found out it would be closing, we made sure to explore the whole area thoroughly on our honeymoon. We ended up being totally enamored by all the houses and all the great touches. I think we had been worried that this would be the one area in WDW that felt too “young” for us, but in reality, it was a lot of fun! I’m sad that the fair is gone from Florida, but really glad that we can visit Mickey’s Toontown in Disneyland. Simply walking in, the entire landscape of the land is very impressive.

We’ve played Epic Mickey on the Wii, and I wasn’t really prepared how entirely this land matches the Toontown that you visit in that game (with the caveat that this version isn’t in shambles). Right when we walked in, we saw Pluto meeting and greeting in the gazebo. Even though we’d met him earlier in the day, we went up to get a picture with him in his “standard” collar.

Next, we wandered around a little admiring some of the shops and restaurants in Toontown. I liked Pluto’s Dog House.

I fit right in with my Pluto hat!

This is one of those lands that feels purely Disney. It’s like you’ve walked straight into a cartoon!

And because of forced perspective it feels really big.

We saw Minnie signing autographs outside her house.

We were interested in meeting the main mouse himself, however, so we entered Mickey’s House.

We liked Pluto’s doggy door.

All of the wacky architecture and bright colors just made the whole house a fun place to explore.

I liked this Mickey metronome on top of the piano.

I took a seat on Pluto’s dog bed.

Some of these pun brands are so clever.

I found Pluto’s dog house—the one that isn’t a quick service restaurant!

Now we were getting close to the end of the house where we would get to meet Mickey.

We tried to take a picture of ourselves in the mirror, but the flash didn’t make it work out too well…

I liked Donald’s attempt at painting as we got up toward Mickey’s meeting area.

When we got to the front, we watched the movie playing some Mickey cartoons with some narrated interruptions by Donald and Goofy, then we were led back to meet Mickey himself!

He was glad to see us, as always.

Having met Mickey, we exited Toontown. Our stomachs were grumbling, so we started making our way toward lunch!

Continued in Next Post​

 

[tayalltheway]

Real Life Update
BIG NEWS
October 23, 2012

Hello dear readers. I hope you’ve all been enjoying reading along and reliving this trip with me. Hopefully you’ll pardon this brief interruption from the regular trip reporting as I wanted to again provide you with an update on what’s happening in the present day.

We’re going to Disneyland! Actually it’s a lot more complicated than that. As you know, Tracy and I have been crashing at her parents’ house here in Colorado for the last two and a half months as we tried to transition out of New York life and into our next adventure. I’ve been trying everything modern medicine can do to try to make me feel better in my constant struggle with autonomic dysfunction. We dreamed of my finding the perfect medicine, having our lives go back to normal, and moving to California where we both find perfect jobs that would make us happy. It turned out to be messier than that (as it often is), so we’ve had to revise our plan.

We’re moving to California anyway. Next week, in fact! Our pod storage container is in transit as we speak, and at the end of next week Tracy and I are packing up the car and making this move. Where exactly to? Well, originally our plan was to go to L.A. We thought it would be fun to try to get jobs at one of the movie studios (preferably Disney) and see where our lives went from there. But then we had a change of heart. I’d be lying if I said that being close to Disneyland wasn’t at least 50% of the reason we decided to move to California to begin with. The Disney parks make us happy, which is one of the big things we’re looking for in a move. But it was Tracy who took it a step further in putting forth the idea that we move to the Anaheim area and try to work at Disneyland.

So we’ll soon be off to the suburbs of Anaheim to find a place to live. Tracy is going to apply at Disneyland when we get there. Her dream jobs would be either to be a “friend of” a face character (her height falls within the range of Alice, Wendy, and the fairies) or to work at one of the resorts. Since we’re missing a round of character auditions by a week or so, she’ll have to wait till the next ones come up. In the meantime, she keeps hoping Disney posts a listing looking for Front Desk or Concierge at any of the resorts. Right now, however, I have a question for you, the reader. If DISboards page viewer count is correct, there are hundreds of you out there. If any of you happen to be past/current Disneyland cast members and would be willing to answer a few questions we have about working in the parks, please send me a private message!

As for me, I probably can’t work at Disneyland at this point in time as much as I’d like to. I still can’t stand for very long without feeling dizzy, and it seems like every job there requires a lot of standing. The best option for me would be to find a job where I can work from home as I continue to try to find some sort of treatment that gets my symptoms under control. That way I could set my hours based around when I feel okay. I know that kind of job exists but am having the hardest time finding anything advertised online that isn’t a get rich quick scam. I don’t expect to “make $500 for 5 minutes of work,” I just want to find a job that I can physically do. So again, I’m asking you, readers, if you currently work from home and have any advice, or if any of you happen to know of any work-at-home job openings for which I could apply, please send me a private message.

Anyway, for those of you wondering what our being close to Disneyland will mean for you, the trip report reader, here’s what I’m excited to tell you. I will, of course, be starting a new trip report as soon as we are underway. “Trip report” is a bit of a misnomer as it will actually be more of a “life report.” Once we’re living in CA, we will be getting annual passes (or hopefully cast member admission in Tracy’s case) and will be at Disneyland as often as humanly possible. So I can promise you that we’ll have all kinds of photos and stories to share with you. I’ll let you know on this trip report as soon as I’ve started the new one. In the meantime, please feel free to follow us on Twitter or Instagram (or both) as we’ll begin posting Disney-related content on both of those as soon as possible. I’m @tayalltheway on Twitter, and @tayalltheway87 on Instagram. Tracy is @troberts8 on both. We’d love to share our adventures with you.

Thank you all for reading. I love having this outlet to share our Disney travels with all of you!​

 

[Velvetia]

That is such exciting news - I wish you both the best of luck and I hope you manage to sort out your health condition. What an exciting time for you both. Best of luck to your wife in becoming a 'friend' to a character!

 

[tayalltheway]

Hello all! In case you missed it, be sure to click here to read about our BIG NEWS in my most recent real-life update. And now back to the trip report...

Chapter 15
Pancho

Leaving Toontown, we headed back toward Frontierland. Now there was a Photo Pass photographer at the Halloween photo spot, so we paused to pose.

Suddenly, we spotted this guy waiting outside the entrance to Big Thunder Ranch!

Now Tracy and I are total suckers for farm animals and for animals in costume. This pleasant fellow fit both bills, so we were overjoyed to see him.

As we continued on into Frontierland, we came to our first true Disney restaurant of the tripRancho del Zocalo.

Having very little knowledge about Disneyland dining as of when we booked the trip, we quickly had set to work trying to figure out what restaurants we needed to hit. I had originally heard about Rancho del Zocalo on one of Lous podcasts when he mentioned it in passing, and once we looked it up online, we knew it would be a must do.

We love good Mexican food. Having gone from Colorado, where there are several great Mexican restaurants in every city, to New York, where there seems to be an abundance of every cuisine EXCEPT Mexican, we were craving a good meal. We ordered the Carne Asada & Red Chile Enchilada Platter to split, and some chips and salsa. It sounded quite delicious. One of the funniest things about Disneyland quick service dining as compared to WDW is that all of the meals come on real plates with real silverware. I feel like no one is ever prepared for it! It felt so fancy. Once we got our food, we sat down at a table on the nice patio.

The food was all really good. I dont know that it QUITE held up to the more-authentic Mexican fare weve been spoiled with in Colorado, but it was CERTAINLY better than anything we ever found in NYC. The meat was tender, the enchilada was good, and the sides were really tasty. We decimated the whole plate and bag of chips in no time flat.

Our stomachs full, it was finally time for the moment we had been waiting fora visit to Big Thunder Ranch. As Ive said, we absolutely love animals, and any opportunity to visit a petting zoo is one that we dont pass up. So when we heard there was a petting zoo at Disneyland, we knew this minor attraction had to make our list.

Upon entering the Ranch, we met, and subsequently fell in love. Meet Pancho.

Hes an adorable donkey. And he loved getting attention.

We paused at his enclosure for a solid ten minutes because he was just so sweet. He really liked getting his ears scratched, so of course we obliged.

Pulling ourselves away from Pancho, we wandered around the rest of the Ranch. They had a pumpkin-carver doing various Disney designs. She was amazing! Here were some of our favorites.

And here she was in action.

DUMBO!

What a bizarre art form to have such talent in. We were thoroughly impressed.

After looking at the pumpkins for a while, we found ourselves missing Pancho. So we went back to see him for a while.

Next, we noticed that Woody was doing meet and greets and helping kids do their crafts over at the craft area.

Interested in what the kids were making, we went over to check out their art projects. In honor of Halloween, they were coloring bat finger puppets. We were tempted to join in and make one of our own, and a cast member said we were welcome to. Instead, however, we just decided to take one as a keepsake because these were very cute bats.

Our bat in hand, we went to the other section of the Big Thunder Ranch petting zoothe goat enclosure.

Now, Ive been to many a petting zoo in my time. Usually the goats, while cute, are extremely obnoxious because they all fight to the front hoping to get fed. What we were surprised to learn here, however, is that this must be a learned behavior. In Disneyland, they explicitly ask you not to feed the animals, so these goats arent used to being fed by guests. As a result, they all still swarm you when you venture into their enclosure, but its because theyre fighting for affection rather than food! These goats just love being pet.

It was so much fun hanging around with the goats. They were playful and affectionate and just funny. This one did try to munch my hat a little while I pet him.

Thats the spot&

I also just love the setup of this enclosure. The goats can sit on barrels or venture up little hills depending on what theyre in the mood for.

We found it hard to pull away from our new friends.

In the end, we decided to bid farewell to the Ranch for now lest we spend too much of our day enjoying the farm friends. We decided wed have to come back to visit again on our trip, and we were so glad we took the time out to venture in.

Continued in Next Post​

 

[tayalltheway]

That is such exciting news - I wish you both the best of luck and I hope you manage to sort out your health condition. What an exciting time for you both. Best of luck to your wife in becoming a 'friend' to a character!

Thanks for the well-wishes! We're very excited (and a little scared haha).

 

[disneyismyheart247]

Another great update. Those goats and Mr. Pancho, the donkey, are all very cute! I love that Disneyland has a petting zoo in the park.