Coast-to-Coast 2011 - From Disneyland to WDW for Destination D! (UPDATE: Club 33)

WDWFigment

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Preface:

Welcome back to another Bricker trip report. This time, we’re telling the tale of our April/May 2011 Coast-to-Coast Walt Disney World and Disneyland trip! In these pages, we will share laughs, spin yarns, suspend disbelief, and perform miracles! Well, maybe not the last item on that list, unless you count convincing people to read this report as a miracle! Join us as we travel from Indianapolis to California to Indianapolis to Florida (and possibly back to Indianapolis!) as we share our experiences: dining in Club 33, Napa Rose, California Grill, and Flying Fish; competing in D23’s Great Disney Scavenger Hunt; conducting research; experiencing D23’s Destination D Celebration of WDW’s 40th; and, of course, taking a ridiculous amount of photos!

This trip report will be cross-posted from DisneyTouristBlog.com ("DTB"). I will most likely post updates a little earlier over there and they'll be easier to browse without comments in between my posts, so if you want to read ahead or without comments between posts, check out the DTB! If you enjoy the comments of others, read here!

In any case we hope you enjoy reading this trip report - on with the show!

The Cast:

Starring - Tom and Sarah Bricker, lifelong Walt Disney World fans; engaged at the Polynesian in 2007, married in 2010 and honeymooned at BoardWalk thereafter. In addition to their day jobs, Tom works for TouringPlans.com and is a photographer for the Unofficial Guide travel series, while Sarah works on their fledgling DisneyTouristBlog.com and generally keeps Tom in line and on task. They recently discovered Walt’s original park, and are now committed to exploring the other worldwide Disney parks. “2012: Tokyo or Bust!”




Guest Appearances - The Works and Work-to-be (Henry Work and his parents, and his fiancee, Kate), Nick B., J.L. Knopp, and many others!


The Trips:


Dates:
Disneyland Resort - Late April & Early May, 2011
Walt Disney World Resort - Early/Mid May, 2011

Accommodations
Desert Inn & Suites, Anaheim
The Luxurious All Star Movies Resort, Walt Disney World

Disneyland Dining

Hungry Bear Restaurant - Critter Country
Napa Rose - Grand Californian Resort
Celebration Roundup & BBQ - Frontierland
Club 33 - New Orleans Square
Rancho del Zocalo - Frontierland
Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port - Tomorrowland
Tomorrowland Terrace - Tomorrowland
Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream - Paradise Pier
Wine Country Trattoria - Golden State
The Cove Bar - Paradise Pier

Walt Disney World Dining
Sunshine Seasons - The Land Pavilion
Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe - Tomorrowland
Sanaa - Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge (Kidani Village)
California Grill - Disney’s Contemporary Resort
Mizner's Lounge - Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa
Tortuga Tavern - Adventureland
Flying Fish Cafe - Disney’s BoardWalk Inn
- Disney’s Yacht Club Resort
Kringla Bakeri og Cafe - Norway
La Cantina de San Angel - Mexico
Studios Catering Company - Backlot


Exciting Links!

Disney Tourist Blog - Our personal website where we post trip reports, Disney dining reviews, Disney product reviews, special/private event reviews, and a whole host of other random Disney musings!

Tom's Blogging on TouringPlans.com - An index of Tom's weekly blog posts for TouringPlans.com; get a further glimpse into his thoughts regarding all things Disney...if you dare!

Where to Buy Sarah's Attire - If you've ever wondered where Sarah purchases her dresses and other attire (and apparently, a lot of readers have), this is the link for you!

Tom's Twitter - Don't believe the incredibly verbose Tom can limit his thoughts to 140 characters? Then check out his Twitter stream!

Tom's Flickr - Tom posts a Disney photo here at least 5 days per week. Some of them are sort of neat.

Like Tom's Photography on Facebook!
- Just in case you can't get enough of dat "social media" stuff...

Sarah's Favorite Dachshund Breeder - Sarah says we can't link to this one, because she doesn't want you all stealing the "choice" puppies. Oops, sorry!

Past Trip Reports:

Engagement Report
August 2008
November/December 2008
August 2009
October 2009
Disneymoon 2010
Christmas 2010
 
Spending the day working is never a good thing to do while on vacation. Unfortunately, the Disneyland “leg” of our Coast to Coast vacation began with a day at the office. It really was unavoidable, given our goal of taking as many trips as possible this year, and apparently, sine vacation days are finite. News to me, and quite the contrast to being a student, when we had all summer off, and could elect to take time off from school without any serious repercussions.

04272011002.jpg


Normally, our Disney vacations start off early in the morning as we try to maximize our time in the parks without the extra expense of added nights at a resort. This trip similarly started early, but only because we typically get to work at 7 a.m. For me, the work day was fairly mild; it was administrative assistant’s day (or something with a similar politically correct name), which meant that our office was going out to lunch! Because of this, I had only a few hours of productivity before heading off to Fogo de Chao, where we spent a couple hours. Upon returning to the office, it was almost immediately time to leave for the airport. Not too rigorous of a day at the office!

04272011003.jpg


Arriving at the airport, we checked our bags and headed towards the food court. There, I sadly did not participate in my storied tradition of enjoying two Sausage McMuffins with Egg at McDonald’s. For some reason, McDonald’s wasn’t serving them at 4 p.m. in the afternoon. I pleaded and stomped my feet in outrage, demanding satisfaction from the clerk at McDonald’s over this egregious menu change, but she was unreceptive. Well, not really, but I imagine this is how the exchange might have gone if I weren’t still absolutely stuffed from lunch. Being a bit superstitous about my McDonald’s habits, I was a bit concerned that not having my traditional Disney meal before our trip would put an ancient Mayan curse over the trip.

04272011004.jpg


04272011007.jpg


This potential curse looming heavy on my mind, I wandered the airport taking photos while Sarah ordered some odd burrito or something. While taking a photo with my fisheye of the flight tip board, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Crap, I thought, my odd photography had raised a red flag with TSA. To the contrary, and to my relief, it was actually a travel blogger who wanted to know whether I was also a blogger. She said she figured I was, given all of the odd angles from which she saw me taking photos. Realizing that I dodged a bullet by this being another passenger rather than TSA, I decided to stop taking photos at the airport, at that point. It wasn’t as if any of the photos were any good, anyway, so the risk far outweighed any reward.

04272011005.jpg


04272011006.jpg


I noticed Sarah’s food was ready, so I got a table, and began one of my favorite Disney trip traditions: taking awkward photos of Sarah while she eats. This may seem cruel, but Sarah certainly reciprocates. Taking any awkward photo she can of me. Far too many of the photos we take each trip make us appear like goons. Maybe someday we’ll post all of these “outtakes.” For now, we’ll stick with the normal stuff.

04272011008.jpg


Once Sarah was done eating, we heading towards the TSA screening area. Sarah had a wonderful streak going here of being selected for advanced TSA screening every time we had flown for (at least) the past 6 flights prior to this. During this same period, I hadn’t been selected at all. Obviously Sarah more closely resembles a terrorist than me. Perhaps it’s the “Viva Bin Laden” shirt she wears to the airport--who knows? We had made much ado about this to our family members, wondering if the streak would continue. Sure enough, we jinxed it, and she wasn’t selected. ***SPOILER ALERT*** She wasn’t selected for additional screening on any of our flights during the coast-to-coast trip.

From here, we went through our typical airport traditions of taking odd photos of one another, drawing questioning looks from other travelers. It’s often said that Indiana is the place fun goes to die (well, I think I’m the only one to say this), and it’s definitely true. You think people would be elated to fly as far as possible from this state, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Maybe it’s just the photos people don’t like, because otherwise people seem pretty happy at the airport.

04272011010.jpg


04272011011.jpg


04272011012.jpg


As usual, we were flying Southwest. Southwest is my favorite airline, not because I particularly like lining up for my seat or their planes, but because I love their wry advertising and brilliant business model. Plus, we’ve been flying Southwest for so long that it’s become inextricably Disney despite not actually being Disney-owned. It’s just something that we associate with Disney trips due to past practice and tradition.

04272011013.jpg


When we boarded the plane, we had one of our most fundamental debates: aisle or window. Sarah wanted to go with the aisle in case she needed to get up during the flight. I wanted a window seat so I could look out the window, but more importantly, so I didn’t nod off and accidentally rest my head on a stranger. Sarah won out, we ended up going with the aisle seat, and I did, in fact, end up resting my head on some random dude a couple of times. In my defense, he had it coming.

04272011014.jpg


04272011015.jpg


The plane departed on time, which was the first of what needed to be a few small victories in order for us to get to the parks that evening. Our flight from Phoenix to John Wayne Airport was set to arrive at 8:20 pm, and Disneyland closed at midnight. While this seems like plenty of time, we had to take get our bags from baggage claim (which took 45 minutes last time), check-in to our hotel, and purchase our APs all before entering the park. Plus, I’m betting they don’t allow guests to enter at 11:50 pm, so we wanted to get there as early as possible.
04272011016.jpg


04272011017.jpg


The trip out to John Wayne Airport was a glorious voyage fraught with adventure and peril. Actually, it was more like a long and boring flight with a layover in Phoenix. It would have been nice if they spiced things up with some adventure and peril.

04272011018.jpg


04272011019.jpg


04272011020.jpg


04272011021.jpg


The Phoenix airport is much nicer than the Indianapolis airport, if only for one reason: it’s in Phoenix. The airport is situated amongst the mountains, which make for a beautiful backdrop. It didn’t hurt that we were there right around sunset. Again, our flight took off on time, which was victory #2 on the “Small Victories” list.

04272011023.jpg


The flight from Phoenix to John Wayne Airport was fairly short. It seemed like an eternity given our desire to get to Disneyland; I felt like a child going to bed on Christmas Eve, waking up every couple of hours to see if Santa had arrived yet, only to find out I had just closed my eyes a couple minutes earlier. This excitement pretty well undermined my goal of getting some rest on the flight (I probably had my eyes closed for a total of 10 minutes, and slept for a whopping 0 minutes).

We arrived on time and our flight promptly taxied and left us de-board immediately. Victory #3 on the “Small Victories” list. Now began the more concerning of the small victories. What if our luggage got lost and we had to file some paperwork? That alone could eat up an hour! My thought on this was that we just say “luggage be damned, we’re going to Disneyland!” at that point, but in fairness, I packed everything I needed except a tripod head cover and some toiletries in my carry-on bag. This was a non-issue, though, as our luggage arrived 8 minutes after we got to baggage claim.

04272011024.jpg


04272011025.jpg


04272011026.jpg


Next was the shuttle. We have heard a lot of positive things about SuperShuttle, but we’ve also heard some stories of long delays. This worried me. Within 10 minutes of getting to the shuttle, we were on our way to our hotel, the Desert Inn & Suites. It was around 9 pm and at this point, I was thinking there was no way that we wouldn’t get to Disneyland before it closed. Right? RIGHT?!

Then things began to go downhill. There were 4 other parties in the SuperShuttle van with us and we weren’t told a drop-off order. We knew we certainly wouldn’t be first; our luck just isn’t that good. Then, we weren’t second. After 35 minutes, we found out we weren’t third, either. As we approached the fourth stop, we saw the Remember...Dreams Come True fireworks going off. Then we pulled into our hotel, which was, in fact, the fourth stop.

04272011027.jpg


Check-in was another concern. What if we weren’t on file? What if they over-booked? However, at this point, I figured we’d just take out luggage with us to Disneyland if there were a problem. (That probably wasn’t a viable strategy, but I was so hungry for Disneyland at this point that I was thinking straight. I’m surprised I didn’t bite anyone along the way!) Luckily enough, our reservation was on file, and within a matter of minutes, we were in our room. Sarah freshened up, and I made sure my gear was ready.

By now, it was around 10, and we were already heading to the parks. We were making excellent time (at least compared to Walt Disney World, where Disney’s Magical Express makes it take a bare minimum of 2 hours from airplane touch-down to first step in the parks), even despite the long shuttle ride. It seemed nothing could go wrong to foil our plan of seeing Disneyland that evening at this point...
 
When we arrived at Disneyland, we had a problem. The ticket kiosks...were...all...closed. We raced around, looking for an open one. Finally, we asked a security guard. He motioned us to the ones nearest Downtown Disney, saying that they were open. The ones visible to us over there appeared closed, but we headed that direction, anyway. Sure enough, when we went all the way around to the other side of the kiosks, we found two that were open!

04272011028.jpg


We bought our Annual Passes and headed towards the turnstiles. Before the trip, we did a lot of research to determine what type of tickets we should buy. Since we tentatively plan on returning at Christmas, we decided to buy APs. Surprisingly, it was cheaper for us to get the Deluxe Disneyland AP rather than the Premier Passport (AP good at both DLR and WDW) because the Premier Passport doesn’t have a DVC discount and the individual passes do on each cost. Plus, we were only traveling on one of the Deluxe APs block out dates, and we had a free ticket for that day, so the Deluxe AP made the most sense.

We arrived at the turnstiles and discovered that our tickets worked! It was around 10:10 pm, and we were in Disneyland. Admittedly, I added in a bit of an ominous tone above to make things a bit more dramatic. I really was surprised that our plans went off so smoothly. I figured somewhere along the way we’d encounter a problem. I guess the McDonald’s curse didn’t come to fruition after all (or did it?!).

The one thing we hadn’t thought of was which attraction to do first. Our nighttime standby in the Magic Kingdom, the TTA-Peoplemover, was out, as Disneyland doesn’t have one. We opted for the next best thing, and rode Pirates of the Caribbean.

04272011030.jpg


04272011031.jpg


04272011033.jpg


That morning, I had woken up early, as I always do on the mornings of our trips, to find news that the day before, Disneyland had started construction of the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides viewing area. Even though we didn’t experience the Sailing Ship Columbia, Davey Crockett Canoes, or Mark Twain Riverboat on our previous visit, nor have we ever ridden the Liberty Belle at Walt Disney World, I was really upset by this news, which would put all of those attractions out of commission. Part of it was from a photos perspective, as I just didn’t want the mammoth seating area in any of my shots. Part of it was because I actually thought “this might be the trip” for those attractions. Of course, you always appreciate things more once they’re gone.

04272011034.jpg


04272011036.jpg


04272011037.jpg


When we walked past the construction for the first time, I realized it would interfere substantially with photography, and also thought of a new problem it would pose: traffic flow. It wasn’t so bad at that point, since it was late at night, but it was pretty clear that it’d be worse during the day when crowds were at their peak.

04272011038.jpg


04272011039.jpg


04272011040.jpg


04272011041.jpg


04272011042.jpg


We took advantage of the low crowds that evening and hit some other big attractions: Indiana Jones Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Storybook Land Canal, and Space Mountain. We accomplished quite a lot in under 2 hours, I think!

04272011043.jpg


While in the Haunted Mansion stretching room, I pointed out to Sarah that this room stretched more than its Florida counterpart. She looked at me with one of those, “well no ****, Sherlock” looks implying she had noticed that a while ago. For whatever reason, I had either missed this last time, or forgot about it. Although we do seem to have far too many, “wow I just noticed that for the first time,” there’s also a running joke between us that there are probably a couple things about which we say this every trip, and just forget that we noticed it--and said that same line--on the past trip. I think this probably falls into the “forgot I noticed it” category. It stinks that I am already becoming absent-minded, but I guess there is some upside: there are plenty of things I’ve experienced before that will suddenly become “new” again!

I was a little nervous that night about taking photos. I practice very little at home, and due to that, the first day of our trips I often have a lot of creative rust that I have to overcome before getting good shots. Because of this, last August I wandered Tomorrowland somewhat aimlessly, taking half-hearted shot after half-hearted shot on our first night. On this evening, I was torn between attempting to redeem myself by getting some good shots in Tomorrowland or shooting New Orleans Square for the first time at night. Both options had their pitfalls: if I attempted to conquer Tomorrowland and failed yet again, it could be an insurmountable blow to my confidence; if I committed to New Orleans Square and found nothing worth photographing, it would be a waste of valuable shooting time.

04272011046.jpg

04272011044.jpg


04272011045.jpg


Eternally game for a challenge, I opted for both. Well, sort of. I snapped a couple of shots in Tomorrowland that I found sufficiently satisfying to yell, “IN YOUR FACE, TOMORROWLAND!” and then we headed to New Orleans Square for more shooting.

04282011047.jpg


04282011049.jpg


04282011055.jpg


5750834305_a0b4c12096_z.jpg
[/url]





I discovered that New Orleans Square was definitely better for daytime shooting due to its myriad of impressive details, but managed to grab a few good shots in the area. We then headed to Adventureland.







After Adventureland, it was off to Main Street, where we took in the ambience, background music, and general leisure of Main Street, USA in Walt’s original Magic Kingdom.
 
5687289998_a24bd3e296_z.jpg


04282011057.jpg


Sarah's photo of me setting up for the shot immediately above this one.

04282011058.jpg


04282011059.jpg


04282011062.jpg


04282011063.jpg


04282011064.jpg


04282011066.jpg


04282011067.jpg


04282011068.jpg


04282011069.jpg


As you can tell, we grabbed a few more photos on Main Street before heading out. All in all it was probably my best night for photos of the trip, and that’s probably because I put so much pressure on myself. Although I was tired from being awake for nearly 24 straight hours (thanks to the unfavorable time change), I still wanted to play, imploring Sarah for a few more shots on the Esplanade.

04282011070.jpg


04282011071.jpg


She reminded me that every minute we were out then meant another minute of the park being open the next morning because we’d be sleeping longer. She sort of killed the fun there, but I’ve got to admit that she was right. We walked the short distance to our hotel and I snapped some photos and video of our room for TouringPlans.com and the Unofficial Guide. Nearly twenty-four consecutive hours of being awake will certainly wear you out!
 


Five hours later, my body was so gracious to wake me up. It was only 6:30 on the west coast. My internal clock, however, probably thought it had hit the snooze a button a few too many times, and was over 3 hours late in waking me up. I laid there, trying to outwit my body and force myself back to sleep, but it was too cunning. Regardless of its inability to discern time zones, it did know we were minutes away from Disneyland, and it would not stand for me sleeping when there were parks to explore.

I took way too much time getting ready, finally making it to Main Street shortly before rope drop. This is one thing I regret. I planned on taking photos of the Disney hotels during this trip, but upon waking up early that morning, I told myself I’d do it later in the trip. For whatever reason, this always happens. I am up early or late one of the first days of the trip (and not tired), and in contemplation of whether I should photograph something (usually the resort at which we’re staying), I elect not to because I can do it later. I never do it later. As the trip wears on, I become progressively more tired, until I’m running on fumes by the time we get back to our resort (and not waking up early at all, let alone early enough to go out and take photos).

0206111068.jpg


Not having experienced rope drop before, I didn’t realize I’d be so far back in the crowd by only arriving 10 minutes early to the park, another mistake. I thought Disneyland was the antithesis of Walt Disney World in that regard: a “locals only” park where the lax attitude of the SoCal crowd means no one shows up until 11 a.m. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but I certainly didn’t think the crowds would be that heavy (the ‘locals only’ part is the exaggeration--obviously I know tourists visit DLR, too--if it really were locals only, it would be dead until after 11 am. Lazy Californians!).

0206111069.jpg


We knew by the time we arrived in Fantasyland, Peter Pan’s Flight would already have a long line, so Sarah headed over to Space Mountain to get FastPasses while I took some photos around the hub with my new toy: my infrared camera.

0206111070.jpg


Before each trip, I invariably make one photo purchase. This time, it was a Nikon D70 that had been converted to an infrared camera. I was really excited to use it at Disneyland, especially after seeing all of the great greenery and flowers in Disneyland Spring photos. As you can see in the shots here, infrared photos give plant life a very unique white look.

5685462518_877ba4178b_z.jpg


0206111071.jpg


I'm not much on the science behind this, but essentially, the camera I used to take this sees only the near infrared spectrum of light (light beyond that which humans see). Some cameras can see this light by either having their IR blocking filter removed or by adding a filter to the lens.

Besides the conversion to black and white and some added contrast, these photos are basically straight out of camera. (Near infrared photos--at least the good ones--are achieved as a result of the camera, not because of wacky Photoshop filters.)

0206111072.jpg


Since infrared photos are very divisive--people either love them or hate them (I happen to love them whereas my wife hates them)--I tried to avoid taking too many photos with the infrared camera. I took a total of around 450, and all of these were bracketed (the exposure is difficult to get right, so I bracket for speed when shooting them, and just use the best of the three files once I get home), which means that I only took around 133 unique shots with the camera. Not much considering the cost of the thing! I told Sarah that I would sell the camera after this coast-to-coast trip, but I think between Disneyland and Walt Disney World, I only took 200 photos with the camera. So I definitely need to take it on at least one more trip to get my money’s worth. Right?!

First stop after all of this was the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. The standby queue was really short, although I was disappointed we didn’t get to go through any of the outdoor switchbacks. Although I’m sure I wouldn’t have been too happy if the wait times necessitated this, it would have been fun to at least walk them!

0206111073.jpg


I’ve often commented in my Walt Disney World trip reports that Jungle Cruise survives as an attraction that we still do if only because it has classic status. Neither of us are really all that wild about it, and that seems like it’s because our skipper always phones it in. However, this wasn’t the case at Disneyland last summer, nor was it the case at Disneyland this trip. I am reluctant to say Disneyland skippers care more, as my experience is anecdotal, but in my anecdotal experience, we’ve had better skippers at Disneyland. Plus, I think the attraction is better at Disneyland. The piranhas, for whatever reason, really impress me (I am easily impressed, I suppose) and the attraction seems like it’s in better shape, overall. That’s the story of Disneyland v. Walt Disney World, overall, though.

04282011072.jpg


04282011073.jpg


0206111074.jpg


04282011075.jpg


0206111075.jpg


04282011076.jpg


Following this, we did Haunted Mansion, which really needs no further explanation. I suppose I could add that we saw more of the grounds during the daytime, and I think the exterior of the Mansion is really impressive. It reminds me a bit, unsurprisingly, of Port Orleans French Quarter at Walt Disney World. If the Haunted Mansion had a dancing alligator band and a big serpentine in its pool, I probably couldn’t distinguish the two. I’m not suggesting the Haunted Mansion should have those things, as they might be a bit awkward thematically.

04282011077.jpg


04282011078.jpg


04282011079.jpg


04282011080.jpg


04282011081.jpg


04282011082.jpg


Pirates of the Caribbean was next on the agenda, but only because we determined that Hungry Bear wouldn’t be open quite yet (our timing was a little off), and rather than wait, we backtracked to Pirates.

04282011085.jpg


Most people who have been to Walt Disney World and Disneyland think that Walt Disney World’s Pirates is better in two regards: its queue and its show building. The first one of these is a no-brainer. Disneyland’s queue is very uninteresting, with the exception of the interior portion where ships pass, and even that is nothing to write home about. The pirate and the treasure sitting there seem almost like an awkward afterthought. Something about it just rubs me the wrong way.

04282011086.jpg


04282011087.jpg


However, on the second point, that concerning the show building facade, I think there might be some room for disagreeing. While Disneyland’s facade fits the architecture of New Orleans Square perfectly, WDW’s just looks awesome. With its large pirate ship mast out front, it does completely sync with the architectural style of the land. Then again, the architectural style could be described as a mishmash, so maybe it fits perfectly. In any case, I prefer WDW’s building just because I think it’s interesting and has more character than its bland DLR counterpart, but I see how the argument could be made that DLR’s is better.

Following Pirates, we wandered around, taking our time getting to Hungry Bear while we explored the details in New Orleans Square.

04282011088.jpg


04282011089.jpg


04282011090.jpg
 
Hungry Bear was next. After hearing of the extensive refurbishment and reading of the new menu, this was one of our most anticipated meals of the trip. We really enjoyed Hungry Bear on our last trip because of its tranquil location, and its theming to one of my favorite Walt Disney World attractions, the Country Bears. I was a little worried that some of this theming would be eliminated during the refurbishment, but my fears were allayed once we arrived at the pick-up window and the bears were still right behind the counter. A minor detail about which most guests may not care, but for me, it’s the little things that matter.

04282011091.jpg


In advance of the trip, Sarah had her mind dead-set on one of the Lemon “Bumblebee” Cupcake; she was actually reasonably excited about it. Once we saw it in person, there was good cause for this. It was huge, and looked very well prepared. It actually looked like it would be worth the $4.99 price tag (but honestly, we would have bought that sucker if it were $29.99, given the hype we built for it in our heads).

0506111077.jpg


0506111078.jpg


Although I thought the cupcake was large-enough for us to split, I think Sarah had other plans, asking why I didn’t get my own. I said I would just eat any of it that she didn’t want, if she didn’t want any. She didn’t up not eating a fair portion, even though she said it was absolutely delicious. And it was absolutely delicious. Moist, rich but not to the point that you can only eat small portions, and most importantly, balanced in flavor. This last one was big for me. All too often lemon flavors are too strong, and are overbearing on any supposed complimentary tastes. Here, the lemon was understated with a honey-vanilla taste, and was a perfect pairing with the chocolate of the cupcake itself. This cupcake is the stuff legends are made of.
0506111079.jpg


04282011092.jpg


Backtracking a bit (sorry, that cupcake gets me worked up!), we had a delicious meal at Hungry Bear. I decided in advance that I was going to go way out on a limb there, and try the Fried Green Tomato Sandwich, which was a huge departure from my normal fare. It didn’t contain meat. While I will experiment with my food, I am an unabashed carnivore, and will not try a vegetarian plate, no matter how good it may otherwise sound. In fact, I was so confused as to what one of these “vegetables” things might look like, that when I initially received a chicken sandwich by mistake, it actually took me biting into the sandwich to realize that it was not what I had ordered.

0506111080.jpg


The Fried Green Tomato Sandwich was okay. A little disappointing, but better than a lot of Disney counter service dishes; I think part of the problem was that I had set my expectations for it a bit unreasonably high. Plus, it was a bit odd biting into a sandwich and not tasting a delicious animal in there. The fried green tomato itself was a bit too small, there was too little dressing, and the multi-grain bread a bit too dry. Otherwise, the condiments and vegetables on the sandwich were abundant and seemingly fresh.

0506111081.jpg


Sarah got the Turkey and Provolone Sandwich, which was good, but is not the type of thing I order at Disney. I’d rather have something a bit more complex, and I think if you can’t make a decent turkey sandwich, something is wrong.

0506111083.jpg


My other disappointment is the sweet potato fries. Thematically, I think they work well here, but Disney is introducing them everything, so it’s not a matter of theme, it’s a matter of them being trendy. Sweet potato fries are marginally better for you than regular fries. However, to offer them as the only fry-like option is a bit disappointing, given that they don’t have broad appeal. I think if Disney is going to offer unique menu items--and it absolutely should--it needs to offer balance. That said, if it’s a matter of offering only conventional foods or a bit more unique options, I would much rather have the unique options. I think a mixture of the two is the best business model, and I have to believe the kitchens at issue here are large enough to accommodate both, but what do I know.

0506111084.jpg


Overall, it was a good first visit to Hungry Bear, and we knew we’d have to come back to sample the rest of the menu!

04282011094.jpg


04282011095.jpg


After Hungry Bear, it was time for Pooh. (Like that clever word play there?) Pooh became one of Sarah’s attractions out west. I think this is because of the quaint, wooded outdoor queue and for the fact that it’s not in Fantasyland with a thousand screaming kids and strollers bouncing all around, but she says she likes the attraction itself far better, too. To me, they are just slight variations of one another, and if anything, I think Florida’s is slightly longer.
04282011097.jpg


Although, to be fair, I haven’t really made an effort to study the differences, so I could be wrong. If anything, I think it’s like comparing the two Haunted Mansions, not like comparing the two Pirates of the Caribbeans. The difference in the former case is minor, the difference in the latter case is substantial.

04282011084.jpg


04282011096.jpg


When we exited the ride, we saw Tigger! It has only been since last summer that we last got our photos with the Pooh gang, but the line was pretty much non-existent, and we had never gotten our photos taken with the characters in Critter Country, so we figured why not.

04282011098.jpg


04282011099.jpg


04282011100.jpg


04282011101.jpg


04282011102.jpg


The little area set up for these photos worked well, and had good flow. You waited in one line, then once you met one character, you moved along immediately to the next, and so on. I believe EPCOT’s Character Spot uses a similar system, but it has been years since we’ve done that.

04282011103.jpg


04282011104.jpg


Since Splash Mountain was closed, and I wouldn’t be able to get “real” photos of it, I wanted to get some shots of the Splash Mountain area. What a beautiful and tranquil area of the park without the hectic pace of Splash Mountain crowds!

04282011105.jpg


04282011106.jpg


04282011107.jpg
 
Great story and beautiful pictures!!!! I'm enjoying your trip report popcorn:: I would love to see Disneyland some day.

I went back and read your engagement story and it brought me to tears. :hug:
 


I am curious . . . What kind of Nikon do you have. Mine is the 5000D. I love it but looking to upgrade soon. Nikon is the best IMO. Also, where did you get your fun camera strap. Too cute.
 
Great story and beautiful pictures!!!! I'm enjoying your trip report popcorn:: I would love to see Disneyland some day.

I went back and read your engagement story and it brought me to tears. :hug:

Thanks - glad you enjoyed the engagement story! It's (obviously) one of our favorites, too! ;)

Wow love the pictures. Yall are a cute couple.

I am curious . . . What kind of Nikon do you have. Mine is the 5000D. I love it but looking to upgrade soon. Nikon is the best IMO. Also, where did you get your fun camera strap. Too cute.

We use the following cameras: Nikon D3100 (lower model than yours), Nikon D7000 (higher than yours), and an infrared Nikon D70 (wait until you see these photos--this model is way older than yours, though).

Disney currently has a similar camera strap that is "Mickey Body Parts." I love the way the Disney straps look, but the downside is that they are INCREDIBLY uncomfortable. Wearing a collared shirt with them is a must!
 
It’s a small world was up next. To give you an idea of how much we love the Disneyland version of this attraction, last August we rode it, around six times, which in retrospect was a mistake because we ended up missing things like Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, but it really is that good--and that superior to its WDW counterpart. I cannot wait to ride at Christmas. I think you won’t be able to pull us out of the place at night.

Much ado has been made about the Disney characters, and I think, for better or for worse, you’ve probably already formed an opinion on them by now. Beyond these characters, I think the number one thing that makes the attraction for us is the exterior load area and portions of the ride. The clock facade within the building just doesn’t do it at WDW, and the presence of all those gorgeous topiaries, the queue curving over the bright blue water, and the crisp white facade behind it all really set the whimsical tone for what’s to come. It’s all brilliantly executed, and much better than the “attraction court” generic facade and queue at WDW.

04282011112.jpg


It’s somewhat ironic that in WDW, where space is so plentiful, WED elected to design Fantasyland in a tight corridor with bland store-fronts for the attraction, when Disneyland, where space is not plentiful, was designed (or rather, has evolved to allow) Fantasyland (and iasw) attractions to have unique facades, and breathing room among one another. Hopefully WDI solves some of the congestion with the Fantasyland Expansion, but short of a stroller parking garage, I don’t see how they can remedy the existing traffic flow problems.

04282011108.jpg


04282011109.jpg


This is one of the big reasons I support the decision to tear down the old Skyway building. Reading the sentiment expressed in online threads livid over its removal makes me understand why Disney largely disregards the desires of fervent fans.

People seriously want old, vacant buildings that clearly are remnants of former attractions just sticking around indefinitely? That seems more than a little ridiculous to me. Did they honestly expect the Skyway to come back or something? I know the building is far from the eyesore that River Country (a WDW water park that has been slowly rotting away in the public view) is, but people seem to be clamoring for RC's removal because it no longer has a purpose and doesn't fit the area. Likewise, a Skyway building with a large opening in it, while pretty, no doubt, doesn't fit.

04282011110.jpg


04282011111.jpg


There are ways to embrace the past without having relics of it around that obstruct future progress. The Skyway buildings (are and) will be missed, no doubt, but does anyone honestly think that the best use of the limited Fantasyland real estate in this area is for an old attraction building that serves no purpose beyond that of an aesthetic reminder of days past? These changes will open up this area, allow for much needed expansion of the Peter Pan’s Flight queue, and allow for a better use of the space. Saying that the Skyway is being replaced with a bathroom, and that's disgusting, is reducing this to overly simple and misleading terms. The Skyway is being removed to allow for important infrastructure changes to Fantasyland that will allow for PPF to have a better queue, will facilitate traffic flow in this area, and will also bring newer restrooms to the area. To me, it’s a no-brainer.

After it’s a small world, I convinced Sarah that we should give the monorail try. This is another attraction we hadn’t done last trip. It was something I really wanted to do then, and it was still something I really wanted to do. I absolutely love the monorail trip through EPCOT (on the monorail trip from the TTC at WDW) so I figured this would be equally fun. Plus, those new Mark VII trains?! Phew! They are slick!

04282011114.jpg


5690498350_6e2d3741c8_z.jpg


The initial views were pretty cool. Then, and I knew we would do this since I saw the monorail pass overhead when we were on Harbor, we went over Harbor Blvd and could see all the crappy outside world from the car. All the Disneyland regulars reading this may not think twice about being pulled back from the suspended reality when they walk through the tunnel and leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy, but as primarily WDW regulars, this is huge for us. Once we begin a trip down there, we usually see very little of the real world until the end of the trip. We take it so far as to not watch the news, avoid checking email, and avoid driving a rental car.

In a pros and cons list of each coast, this is one substantial advantage WDW has over DLR. I realize that most Disneyland guests are locals coming only for a few hours on a weekend or after work, so it isn’t really practical or possible to suspend reality like this, so maybe my position on this isn’t relatable for these folks. For this reason, however, I think at least one on-property WDW vacation is necessary for all DLR fans. Just as WDW fans should not buy the ridiculous hype that Disneyland is small and doesn’t offer all of the experiences WDW does, DLR fans should not buy the ridiculous hype that WDW is a broken resort, falling apart in every conceivable location.

04282011115.jpg


Sorry, back to the monorail ride. Beyond that view of Harbor, the trip was cool. It was neat seeing inside DCA and seeing the entwined nature of all of the transportation in Tomorrowland is extremely cool. I can only imagine how cool the PeopleMover would have been out there. Although I’m sure there would need to be substantial work to bring it back to contemporary safety standards, it seems well worth it given the kinetic energy it would bring to Tomorrowland.

Following our monorail ride, Sarah went to use the restroom while I snapped more photos in the area. Not to beat on a dead horse, as I already covered this at length in my last report, but that kinetic energy is desperately missing from Tomorrowland. I think the look of Tomorrowland is on the right track with the recent refurbishment of the exterior of Star Tours, but there are still plenty of those garish golds left from the Tomorrowland reboot of the late 1990s. And, for crying out loud, do something with the Orbitron. It just sits there now, lifelessly, as if it was the former site of a mad scientist’s experiments gone terribly wrong. Okay, I think that’s enough on Tomorrowland for now. I could probably fill an entire trip report with things wrong with Innoventions, alone!

The Tomorrowland Speedway is typically an attraction we avoid doing because as adults who don’t really revel the idea of driving, and also don’t really revel the idea of waiting in long lines or bland rides. From the monorail, by contrast, Autopia appeared to be mildly better, with some roadway signs and some nice landscaping to make the attraction a little more interesting. Plus, since it was a Disneyland classic, we figured we at least owed it to ourselves to try the attraction.

The posted wait was 20 minutes. Not bad, but longer than we’d ideally like to wait. Thirty minutes, a time that felt like an eternity in the sun, after waiting, we finally stepped into our vehicles.

04282011116.jpg


I will grant it this: Autopia is better than the Tomorrowland Speedway. That’s really about all I can say. Some of the scenery was pretty cool, and the drive itself was fairly scenic, considering the circumstances, which was nice. I could see it as a nice diversion on a future trip if it had a 10 minute or less wait time. I won’t go as far as to say I think it wastes valuable real estate, because, although it does have a sizable footprint, I realize not everything in the parks should be about me or my demographic. I think there is great importance in these simple ‘childhood’ attractions, and things like this and Tom Sawyer Island should exist and should continue to entertain inquisitive children for years to come.

04282011117.jpg


With the advent of smart phones and more advanced video game systems, and the permeation of both deeper into society and into the hands of children at younger and younger ages, I fear that soon attractions like these that allow free reign of the imagination may not be as popular because they’re not as compelling with children, but I really hope I’m wrong on that. Not every piece of entertainment should be produced for easy consumption or for today’s shortened attention spans. But this is a Disneyland trip report, not my soapbox for the world’s problems.

Following that, we headed over to a land with which we fell in love last trip: Mickey’s Toontown. I think there is a huge divide concerning Toontown. A lot of Disneland fundamentalists (ha, I make it sound as if it’s an extremist religious group) don’t like it because it’s not in keeping with the other themed lands, whereas frequenters of Walt Disney World love it because it’s so much better than our (now defunct) version of Toontown. So much better.

More on this later. For now, our only purpose back here was to grab FastPasses and catch the Disneyland Railroad to Main Street.

The Disneyland Railroad is another attraction we hadn’t done last time, and it’s one we rarely do at the Magic Kingdom. I find myself almost ashamed to say this, as I know the railroads are held in high esteem by so many, given their special place to Walt, but they’re one of those attractions that we always find ourselves saying, “oh, we’ll just catch the train when it’s actually at the station and we’re nearby” and we never end up in such a position.

This would actually be the first of two trips aboard the Disneyland Railroad, with the second definitely being the more special of the two. On this one we got to see a lot more of the scenery, which, I had learned after our first trip, includes dinosaurs! I love dinosaurs!!!

The trip around the park was very peaceful and largely uneventful, save for the Grand Canyon Diorama and Primeval World.

Even though I had heard about it prior to the trip, I never expected Primeval World to be so awesome. I expected it to be more like the opening portion of the diorama, a ride-through of an area filled with static dinosaurs in the style of the taxidermy regular animals. When I saw that the dinosaurs were Universe of Energy-style AAs that were battling it out, I was nothing short of impressed!

04282011118.jpg


04282011119.jpg


04282011120.jpg


After getting off at our stop on Main Street, USA, we headed for the First Aid Station, so that Sarah could get some bandages. Sarah’s feet had been hurting her from her new sandals, so these would hopefully assist with the pain. Oddly enough, a shop in Tomorrowland told her she could purchase bandages from them. We knew First Aid gave them out (and was a short walk from Tomorrowland) so we headed there.

04282011123.jpg


04282011124.jpg


Then, it was off again for Indy! While in the queue, my head spun with photo ideas. I couldn’t execute any of them at that time due to the lines, but I was hopeful that some of them would be possible later at night. After another trip to the fountain of youth in the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, we headed to the front of the park.

04282011121.jpg


04282011122.jpg


Once at the front of the park, Sarah stopped the Dapper Dans for a photo. They asked her for her name, and immediately began serenading her with a song about her. I don’t know if this is some normal ragtime tune about the name “Sarah” and I am just inept when it comes to music, but it was very cool. I fumbled with my camera trying to videotape it, and got all but about 30 seconds of the performance. It’s these little touches that make Disney, Disney and make us keep coming back.

We then left for California Adventure. We would be meeting up with Henry Work that evening for dinner at Napa Rose, and he was getting closer, so we headed over to California Adventure so that we’d be closer to the Grand Californian, which was our meeting place.
 
I am having SO much fun reading your TR and enjoying your pics immensely! I have been a fan of both of you for a long time now :love:

I haven't been to Disneyland since 1983 and am hoping to visit there sometime next year (I'm planning to move to Los Angeles area in 2012 with my 2 youngest sons to be closer to my DS28 and also possibly accept a position at Disney corporate offices. I had an interview this past May but couldn't fly out to finalize move so the gal I spoke with said she is keeping me in mind for next position that opens next June & that (to put it in her own words) "I better already be moved out there and ready to start work" then.) I'm SO excited and nervous but it would be a dream come true plus I get to live close to DLR.

Your pics are always so amazing - I hope you don't mind if I borrow one for my computer background :love: You are so lucky to be so gifted in not only photography but writing skills. I have been trying for 2 years to get my Disney book published but no takers yet :confused3 But I did start a blog myself last year but never take the time like I should to devote to it...

Can't wait to read more of your adventures!
 
Good luck with the Disney job--sounds exciting! Someday, we think we might end up in roles with the company, too, but nothing quite yet.

You're more than welcome to use my photos as wallpapers!
 
Disney California Adventure just sounds odd after hearing it as Disney’s California Adventure for so long, and given that it’s inconsistent with the other properties (Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Disney’s Polynesian Resort, etc.) in Florida. When the name first changed, I recall reading a multi-page thread on WDWMagic concerning the grammar of the new name. Most posters contended that the new name was grammatically incorrect, as “California Adventure” belongs to Disney, in which case the possessive, “Disney’s” would be necessary. However, this assumes that Disney’s intent is for California Adventure to belong to Disney. If the entire proper name is now meant to be Disney California Adventure, that is no different than my name being Thomas Brandon Bricker. It’s confusing, because the previous intent was to establish Disney’s ownership of California Adventure by attaching the “Disney” name to the park’s title, but just because that was the previous intent doesn’t mean it’s the present intent. As a stylistic matter, the new name sounds awkward, and as a practical matter it certainly seems like a waste of money to change over signage and promotional materials to the new name for no cognizable financial benefit, but perhaps there is some justifiable rationale for the change.

In any case, I’ll bet you didn’t expect grammar lessons in a trip report. Hopefully this one isn’t a snooze-fest already! Once made our way through the labyrinth of construction walls around DCA’s main entrance, we jumped through what was left of the California post-card in the entrance-way plaza. As I begin my reminiscing about California Adventure and the good ole days (go ahead and laugh out loud as I “reminisce” about my one trip to the garish California Adventure), the first thing that comes to mind is this entrance.

04282011125.jpg


I liked the CALIFORNIA letters on the promenade. I thought the mountain mosaic was gorgeous, I think the Golden Gate monorail track is a neat touch, and I really like the neon signs above the gift shops in this atmosphere. Most of all, I love the atmosphere here at night, when the neon comes alive with color, the monorail passes, and you can hear the mellow tunes of the Beach Boys. Don’t get me wrong, I think the new theming will be much more befitting of a Disney theme park, and will look much better (I’ve already seen a lot of it at the Disney-MGM Studios (or Disney’s Hollywood Studios for the youngsters reading), and it does look better!), but I will always think back to the current/slightly past entrance-way with fond memories.

04282011126.jpg


My reminiscing over, we then headed towards two of the top attractions in DCA: Monsters, Inc Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

04282011127.jpg


0706111110.jpg


For the life of me, I cannot understand why the Monsters, Inc. dark ride is not more popular. Seriously, especially with the lack of attractions in DCA, the attraction, even with its greater capacity, should have Peter Pan’s Flight-like lines.

0706111111.jpg


0706111112.jpg


Yeah, a lot of it has been repurposed from Superstar Taxi. Yeah, it’s no Monsters Inc. Ride and Go Seek. So what? It’s a really fun family style dark ride, and it’s pretty well executed. Perhaps we’re just partial to the movie Monsters, Inc., but Sarah and I think this is a dark ride stand-out.

0706111113.jpg


0706111114.jpg


From there, we wandered a little further to the Hollywood Tower Hotel. This is an attraction I love, but far prefer at Walt Disney World. It’s not even that the attraction is that much better there (although it is), there’s just something about it. I actually couldn’t quite put my finger on it until Destination D, when Imagineer Jason Surrell described the storytelling process for the Tower of Terror beginning as you first step foot on Sunset Boulevard and see the HTH in the distance. There, it fits the theming perfectly. Sunset Blvd is, by and large, Old Hollywood.



By contrast, the Hollywood Pictures Backlot is a hodge podge. It features Aladdin the Musical alongside Monsters, Inc., with the beats elecTRONica bouncing throughout at night. Nothing about it is cohesive, and while most of the attractions are wonderful individually, they aren’t tied together especially well into the land. This seems like it has started to improve with some of the facades (I think so, at least), but the elecTRONica infrastructure all over the place is a step in the wrong direction, even if elecTRONica is wildly fun and successful. Hopefully all of this is rectified when the land becomes Hollywood Land.

0706111115.jpg


The ride itself was enjoyable, and I find myself still spotting little details (unique to the DCA version) in the queue and gift shop each time we ride. Overall, I’m not as wild about the substance of the attraction itself at DCA, nor do I like the look of the Tower as well, but it’s quite possibly my favorite attraction at Walt Disney World, and it easily ranks up there at DCA, too.

0706111116.jpg


Next we wandered through a bug’s land. After our last trip, we realized the one attraction that we had done here was...the restroom. We figured we should probably give something else a chance, and noted the short line for Flik’s Flyers. These were fairly entertaining, relaxing, and gave a nice view of the park. They were definitely not something for which I’d wait in line 60 minutes, but for a 5 minute wait, they were worth it.

04282011128.jpg


0806111184.jpg


0806111185.jpg


As we meandered our way to the back of the Pier, we noticed everything that had changed since our last trip. Maliboomer was no more. Pizza Om Mow Mow and Burger Invasion were under the knife. The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel’s Undersea Adventure’s show building was pretty much complete, and was looking great. Mulholland Madness was gone and Goofy’s Sky School was making tremendous strides.

During our last visit, all of the aforementioned that are either now gone or are under the knife (and thus will be gone or known by different names) were still operational. As a bit of a theme park historian, I regret that we experienced only Pizza Om Mow Mow of that lot. The rest didn’t seem like anything special, so perhaps that’s why we passed on them, but had we known they’d be gone, we would have experienced them just for the sake of having experienced them. I really wish I would have followed Disneyland news prior to our last trip like I follow it now. However, I didn’t want to see or read too much, thus ruining the surprise of actually being surprised by the attractions the first time I experienced them. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, and in the regard that Disneyland was a wholly new experience to me when we visited, I know I made the right decision not reading more about the parks then. Had I read and seen more, the first visit wouldn’t have been the same.

Because I didn’t read more, though, I think I overly cherish Pizza Om Mow Mow, which I now jokingly describe as the “heart” of Disney California Adventure and the “greatest restaurant in California ever!” While these are obviously nothing more than sarcastic remarks, I did think Pizza Om Mow Mow’s theme was fairly neat, and its food okay, it just didn’t belong in the Victorian-themed Paradise Pier.

0706111117.jpg


Also due to the historian in me, you might read comments in which I express surprisingly positive sentiment towards things a lot of Disneyland fans might think are garish. For example, the neon signs in Sunshine Plaza. There are a few possible reasons for this: A) I am a tacky and eclectic person without much eye for style, B) I value the idea of the thing more than the thing, and since it is disappearing soon/has disappeared, I place too high of a premium on it, or C) as a photographer, I partially gauge things based on their photogenic qualities, and neon and vibrant colors are decidedly photogenic--at least for my style of photography.

That said, I really wish we could have seen circa 2001 (or even circa 2006) DCA. Personally, I think the Sun Wheel looked cooler than the Fun Wheel, I think the CALIFORNIA letters were cool, I liked the entrance plaza mural, and the Orange Stinger looked pretty cool, although I think overall the Silly Symphony Swings are probably a big improvement there. Come 2013 when the dust finally settles, I have no doubt that the park will be far superior to the park as it existed in 2007, but it still would be cool to have visited back then. Plus, it’s only human nature to long for that which no longer exists. Anyway, as we passed the former home of Pizza Om Mow Mow on the way to Toy Story Mania, I poured some Coke on the curb, in honor of my fallen homie.

04282011129.jpg


We arrived at Toy Story Mania with approximately 30 minutes until Henry would be arriving at the Grand Californian, and Toy Story Mania had a 30 minute wait. What the heck, we figured, and queued up. “Thirty Minute Wait” wasn’t even something in the vernacular for Toy Story Mania in our usual stomping grounds, so we had to avail ourselves of the opportunity!

0806111186.jpg


After we had been in line for 5 minutes, Henry messaged us indicating that he’d be leaving for the Grand Californian, a 10 minute walk from his hotel, in a couple of minutes. We debated just heading over there right then, as both of us were starving, but we resisted. The prospect of beating the other at anything was just too much.

0806111187.jpg


I am pleased to say that I won, thus making standing in line for the attraction while we were so hungry well worth it! After the ride, we headed directly to the Grand Californian, where Napa Rose was calling our name.

0706111118.jpg


0706111119.jpg


0706111120.jpg


There, we met up with Henry. I keep mentioning him offhand, assuming his celebrity has permeated the Disney landscape in such a manner that everyone knows who he is. For those who don't, he is the developer for TouringPlans.com (online home to the Unofficial Guide travel guide series), where he and I both work, and the host of BetaMouse podcast. I started out by exploring the bar, taking some photos. The coolest thing, by far, in the room was a series of Pixar wine bottles that some dude had scribbled on. I’m hardly a handwriting expert, but I suspect those scribblings were the signatures of John Lassetter. Some people view hollywood bimbos and drunken country music singers like celebrities, I view Imagineers and animators as celebrities. To each his own.

0506111085.jpg


For its impressive wine collection (every server is a sommelier), Napa Rose has a disappointing beer selection. Incredibly disappointing. There are a few decent beers on tap, but overall, nothing special. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if this were your garden variety Disney restaurant, but as one of the top restaurants in Anaheim, this beer list was unacceptable. It’s annoying that restaurants fail to realize that there are beer snobs out there just like there are wine snobs. Sorry, but Corona is not even comparable to a craft beer.

0506111086.jpg


“Reluctantly” I ordered a Franziskaner Hefe-Weisses, a beer I had never tried. It was pretty good. Creamy and moderately thick, it had a nutty flavor, but more surprisingly, a pretty strong banana undertone to it. After a long day in the sun, one of these really hit the spot, and definitely “relaxed me” a little more than it typically might have.

The truncated beer list is about the only negative thing that could conceivably be said about the dinner.

The positives, and there are many positives, I could extol for quite some time. This restaurant was a last minute addition to our plans (3 days before the trip we decided to go) and even then, we only did our meal at the bar. We could have easily sat anywhere in the restaurant, because at this early hour (it was around 5 pm), the place was still pretty dead.

The I saw it on the menu, I instantly knew what I must order: the Grilled Filet of Angus Beef. Other things may have looked good, but it was like a spotlight from on high shined down on the menu when I first opened it, illuminating that item. Duck, salmon, sea bass--forget about it. I was ordering the Filet. Wait was the hardest part.

The dinner started out with our server bringing out a basket of breads, which included ciabatta, sourdough, olive, and cracker bread covered with parmesan cheese. While I fiddled with the camera trying to properly capture a photo of the bread, the wolves--I mean Sarah and Henry--menacingly growled in my ear as if to signify that they wouldn’t have much more patience, and would be gnawing on my shoulder or the bread in the immediate future. I cut the photo-session short, and let them begin devouring the breads. We were all fairly hungry at this point.

The bread was delicious, and that and conversing helped us pass the time until our food arrived. And arrived it did, quite quickly.

The light that shined on the Filet before became a beacon now. I don’t know how I mustered the ability to take photos of the steak rather than stab my steak into it and tear it apart like a madman, but I did. Bathed in Fire Roasted Chestnut Puree, Parsnip, Brussel Sprouts, and Cabernet Essence, I could tell by the presentation and aroma alone that I was in for a real treat.

0506111087.jpg


Then I took my knife to it, and it glide through like it was cutting through butter. Cooked to perfection, it was thinly seared on the outside and gradually turned more and more pink towards the center. Thick cut, flavorful, and juicy, the Filet was pure perfection. The puree and cabernet essence were the perfect compliments to the steak, and even the sprouts, something I probably wouldn’t give much thought to eating, were excellent. It was the best Filet I’ve had at any Disney restaurant, and probably one of the very best I’ve had in my life.

0506111088.jpg
 
Sarah had the Salmon, which was pretty good, at least from the taste I got. While I love fish, salmon is one of those things that can be colossally screwed up, but is difficult to truly prepare as a “wow” dish. It’s like a baseball player who bats second in the lineup and consistently hits singles and doubles, and has a .335 batting average. He may be more valuable to the team than the home run hitter batting clean-up who only sports a .225 average, but when that home run hitter smacks a 450 foot bomb, jaws drop throughout the stadium. The filet hit that home run (oh, and the bases were loaded), whereas the salmon “merely” stretched a double into a triple. Triples are great and all, but just aren’t the same. Perhaps all of the salmon aficionados out there will lambaste my unrefined “salmon-palate,” but that’s my take on it. I think Henry enjoyed whatever he had, too. It looked good, and I’m sure I asked him whether he liked it at one point (you know, to be polite), but I have no clue what he said now. Unquestionably, the star of the dinner was the Filet.

0506111089.jpg


We elected to skip dessert (Totally my fault--I am STILL kicking myself over this terrible decision, but I guess it gives us a reason to go back!), and took our drinks to the outdoor area to sit around a fire pit before finishing them.

0706111121.jpg


0706111122.jpg


Once done, we decided to head up to the Disney Vacation Club observation deck to take a look at Paradise Pier. Sarah and I are DVC members, and we brought our DVC membership cards with us specifically with the goal of getting up there in mind. After flashing our cards and some sweet-talking, we accomplished our goal.

I wasn’t expecting much of a view up there, and we neither planned much time up there nor were we appropriately dressed for the deck (the sun was beginning to go down, it was windy, and all we had were short sleeves), so we didn’t stay up there too long. It really was a shame, because it offered a view of our land of perfect ambiance, Paradise Pier, during the most beautiful time of the day. The icing on the cake was that the Zephyr was actually operational (seriously, why build an attraction that seems to be able to run about 2% of the time?!), which made for some cool photos.

5793113665_b60deb86e0_z.jpg
[/url]

Next, we made a brief stop over at the Hearthstone Lounge, in the Grand Californian. Henry said this place had terrific ambiance, and he wasn’t lying. Beautifully done and grandiose, it fit well with the arts and crafts design of the rest of the Grand Californian. This design, generally, is something over which I’m a bit torn. I love the Wilderness Lodge at WDW, and I think the design here certainly kicks it up a notch, but for the flagship resort (in name and location, and certainly in price) to have the look of a rustic National Parks lodge doesn’t sit entirely well. For the price, I would think the California equivalent to the Grand Floridian would make sense. Then again, I love Wilderness Lodge and am not such a huge fan of the Grand Floridian, so who knows. I think maybe I just can’t get past my pre-conceived notion that a resort of this status just shouldn’t look rustic, for some odd reason.

0506111090.jpg


Anyway, Henry and I each sipped on a beer, while Sarah enjoyed some weird drink that reminded me of an Ecto-Cooler, at the Hearthstone Lounge as we soaked in more of the incredible ambiance of the Grand Californian. Regardless of whether the theming is appropriate for flagship resort, it certainly is well-done. I know we’d love to stay there someday. Unfortunately, that day is fairly far off given the price of the place!

0506111091.jpg


About this time, we realized we only had about 45 minutes until Remember...Dreams Come True, a highly anticipated fireworks show for us. Normally, we don’t camp out early for fireworks, and that wouldn’t be changing this evening, but we did want to head back to Desert Inn so Sarah could get her coat. When we finally got back to Disneyland, we had 15 minutes until the show. I darted my way up Main Street with a specific spot in mind. While there is typically nothing left this close to showtime, the spot I wanted--an obstructed view--had some room! I set up my tripod and prepared myself, mentally, for what I heard would be an amazing show.

Last summer, I was pretty impressed with Disneyland’s Summer Nightastic fireworks show, “Magical.” I assumed that, much like at Walt Disney World, the Summer Nightastic show was better than the normal fireworks show, forgetting that Team Disney Anaheim actually goes above and beyond year-round. When I returned home, I told tales of this majestical show, and how it was one of the greatest fireworks shows I’ve seen. My tales were quickly met with scorn, as true Disneyland aficionados weaved a yarn about a great show called, “Remember… Dreams Come True.” Although I trusted the judgment of many of these folks, I assumed they were embellishing the greatness of “Remember…” at least a tad. After all, no show can be as good as they made it sound.

Then, we had a life-changing experience (okay, perhaps now I’m the one embellishing). We saw “Remember…”

Words cannot describe the excellence that is “Remember…” Originally premiering for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary Celebration, the show begins with a moving narration by 50th Anniversary Ambassador and Disney Legend, Dame Julie Andrews. This sets the stage for something special. You can just feel it. However, your high expectations are quickly deflated, as from her introduction, the fireworks cut into a portion of Wishes! Oh well, you think, it turns out Magical was actually better. Just as your expectations have worn off, and you’ve resolved yourself to enjoy the show (after all, Wishes! is still a good show in its own right), boom, you’re hit with more Andrews narration and Tinkerbell’s flight around the Castle (yes, AROUND—view the photo large and you can faintly see it here). Then, it hits you.

Walt Disney’s original opening day dedication speech for Disneyland. The audience, many of whom have probably seen this show dozens, if not hundreds, of times, experiences a collective wave of goose bumps and chills. The emotive experience is so strong that some tear up. Just as the audience is lulled into this state of relaxation and emotion, it's hit with a train. From the Disneyland Railroad. The Railroad spiel plays, followed by Main Street, USA music and the Baroque Hoedown from the Main Street Electrical Parade.



This is followed by a short appearance from the tiki birds, who fly away after raising the ire of the tiki gods from too much celebratin’. Next, Sallah warns guests not to look into the eye of the idol at the start of the Indiana Jones section. The fireworks then enter the Haunted Mansion, and all of Main Street is brightly illuminated with enveloping bursts as the ‘room’ stretches.



The fireworks continue on, with other stops in New Orleans Square, Critter Country, Fantasyland, Towntoon, Frontierland, and Tomorrowland before Andrews and Tinkerbell conclude the show. The audience stands, dumbfounded and in awe, if only for a few seconds, before hurrying about as the hustle and bustle of Main Street resumes.



Simply put, “Remember…” is a spectacular 17 minute show that, alone, is worth the price of admission to see.

When the sense of astonishment finally wore off, we headed towards it’s a small world to see the Magic, the Memories, and You, for the first time. I will admit, I was a bit skeptical of this when it was first announced. Not vocally skeptical like those who proclaimed, “IT WOULD RUIN THE CASTLE, I’LL NEVER VISIT WDW AGAIN!,” as I had experienced and actually liked the Great Castle Cake Blunder of ‘96 (hey, can ya blame me, I was 11!). I thought it might be a bit gimmicky, and I didn’t really care to see others’ photos on the Castle (at Walt Disney World), but it wasn’t the end of the world. I was just a bit annoyed that the grand promotion for the year centered around some, most likely, pointless Castle show.



When I actually saw it, I was blown away. And it’s not even that impressive on it’s a small world as compared to Cinderella Castle. I’m sure a lot of the Disneyland diehards hate it. Judging by the crowds on the respective coasts, it’s not NEARLY as popular in Disneyland as it is Walt Disney World. Part of this could be due to its location, but not all of it.



The show uses incredible technology--it’s not just as if the facade of IASW is the projection surface, it’s as if it’s a canvas. (Distinction without a difference? I don’t think so!) The projections come alive, and at various points, it almost seems as if someone is drawing on the facade, as if vines are growing on it, etc. I was really impressed. I was much more impressed with the show at Walt Disney World (one of the few things at WDW that’s markedly better!), but I’ll discuss that more later. It wasn’t especially moving or anything, and I still could do without the photos of people, but I am hopeful that this technology will be used in the future for great effect. It has so much potential.



After the show, we were in the neighborhood anyway, so we decided to take a ride aboard it’s a small world. Sarah and Henry attempted to count all of the Disney characters (there are a lot more than I thought!) while I attempted to take an “artistic” long exposure photo while we were moving in the boat. We both failed at our attempts, with them missing at least 4 characters, and with me ending up with about 10 blurry frames of streaking colors (cool in premise, poor in execution).





Next up was the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through. Walk-through exhibits normally aren’t my cup of tea, but after hearing the history of this particular walk-through and some positive comments about it from Henry, we decided to give it a try. I’m really glad we did.





The little vignettes themselves were pretty cool, but whatever the technology used to animate these vignettes was really cool. I found myself deeply studying the scenes, captivated by the vibrant animation and wonderful depth. I don’t know why I was somewhat dismissive of this at first, as I love the Emporium window displays (especially the Magic Kingdom’s at Christmas!), and this is like an evolution of those. All in all, a really cool little experience, and just another great detail showcasing why Disney is at the top of its game.



Next up was Haunted Mansion. Nothing new to add here, besides how much better the grounds here look at night. The lighting is really interesting, although I’m not sure I’m sold on the false shadows on the building. I suppose they work in that they give it more of an ominous look, but the discerning guest must realize they’re projections, right? Maybe that doesn’t matter.







Sarah was still tired from the previous day, and the early morning, so she decided to call it an early night. Heresy, I said, and continued on! The night was drawing to a close, so I figured I would take a couple photos in Tomorrowland and outside it’s a small world before calling it a night, too. When I arrived at it’s a small world, a security guard immediately approached me.

Without belaboring the details, because just thinking about them gets me worked up, at this point I had an encounter with an over-zealous security guard on an ego trip who claimed he told me earlier in the day not to use my tripod (I had never seen this man in my life before, and he most certainly hadn’t told me anything about using my tripod earlier) and the ultimate result was that I had to stop using my tripod that night. Suffice to say, it was quite an ordeal and was incredibly aggravating and embarassing, especially since I was incredibly polite and understanding (contrasted with the guard’s air of superiority) and because no one at City Hall seemed to know or acknowledge their own policy on tripods, which was clearly stated on their website. Oh well, I thought, there would always be the next day.

When I got back, I relayed the story to Sarah, who went into a frenzy. I am pretty adept at thinking on my feet and I have a pretty sharp tongue when the need arises, but Sarah still feels the need to defend me when she feels someone has insulted my honor. I think it has to do with her maternal instinct, but it’s cute.

Just the same, I needed the sleep so that I'd be energized for the next morning!
 
The next morning, we called Henry and told him of our intention of doing an Ultimate Touring Plan (or at least a half day of one). We really didn’t want to adhere to the breakneck pace of one of the plans the entire day, so we figured doing it until we had a late-lunch would be a good option.

042920110199.jpg


Well, apparently when you do an Ultimate Touring Plan, you need to be at the rope, waiting for it to drop before anyone else. We didn’t mosey our way onto Main Street until 10 minutes before rope drop, and as such, we were pretty far back in the crowd.

On top of that, as we did rush our way to Fantasyland, I decided to make a couple of “quick” stops for photos. I don’t think Henry and Sarah were amused by this, as it pretty much crippled our changes of doing Peter Pan’s Flight while it was still a walk-on. Instead of building a second Dumbo, maybe they need to build a second Flight for Pan!

043020110295.jpg


In lieu of PPF, we hit Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. In our last trip report, I really lambasted this attraction, but I think it’s slowly growing on me. I’m sort of torn, actually. the facade of the building is beautiful, the ride vehicles are really cool, and the story of the attraction is unique, but the execution is sub-par, and that's putting it lightly. The substance of the attraction is moving cut outs. That's it. I am not one who demands cutting edge technology in every new attraction. In fact, I think the tech-first, story later approach often actually works to the detriment of attractions. However, that works in the other direction, too. Toad is dated to the point that it detracts from the story. In my mind, it's the antithesis of “Disney Details” we all foam over.

Although the ride has grown on me since the first time we rode it together last August (after exiting, I asked: "That's the attraction so many Walt Disney World fans mourn so loudly? That sucked!" (I do realize the WDW version was quite different, but certainly not different-enough to be so highly regarded in retrospect)), I still think it's an example of an attraction that is overrated because of the nostalgia people hold for the attraction. Nostalgia for treasured and departed high quality attractions, like Journey into Imagination and the other rich and lengthy EPCOT Center omnimovers, is one thing. Nostalgia for cheaply constructed or state fair caliber productions is another. At least to the extent that we expect said nostalgia to be enough to keep the attraction in the ever-changing and progressing theme parks.

Still, Toad is an undeniable classic, and a ride that would never be built today. I love a good irreverent attraction, and what’s more irreverent than a bartender and hell in Fantasyland?! Isn’t that worth something? I think so, and maybe the compromise here is taking Toad under the knife and giving it the kind of plussing Disneyland’s Snow White recently received: some new effects, new details, and some TLC. I’m not talking about totally re-imagineering the attraction, or adding ridiculous touch-screens, but just doing a few little things. I really think they might go a long way.

After Toad, we quickly rolled on to Alice in Wonderland. It may utilize little technical advances over Toad, but for whatever reason, I think Alice in Wonderland is far superior. It seems most of the scenes have more depth, and this makes a huge difference to me. It could all be in my head, but I definitely prefer it, and I’m far from a fan of Alice in Wonderland. One thing I didn’t even realize about this attraction until Henry pointed it out was the concrete added to the outside area recently due to safety issues. I found some photos online upon returning, and I must say, this area of the attraction definitely looked far better before the concrete!

042920110201.jpg


Next up was the Matterhorn. This attraction is just plain good fun. When thinking about it, then thinking about Expedition Everest, I often wonder why Disney didn’t just bring the Matterhorn to Animal Kingdom, add a highly themed queue, and area where the ride slows down, and a couple of projections and used the rest of the money to fix other problems in AK. That park is in desperate need of additional attractions, and yet WDI spent tens of millions of dollars on an AA yeti figure that, even if it worked, would only be seen for a few seconds. That money would have been better spent elsewhere. Maybe I’m just saying this because I find the Matterhorn extremely enjoyable, but it’s one instance where I think low-tech works just fine (and would have worked at Animal Kingdom with a few modernizations to differentiate the attractions).

042920110204.jpg


042920110203.jpg


042920110202.jpg


Setting up for the shot, taking the shot, and the shot itself. The photo capturing the ball spinning was too blown to use, unfortunately.

It was fast approaching 10 am, so we grabbed some Space Mountain FastPasses for later so we could get over to DCA in time for its opening. Disneyland was already getting crowded, so we decided to just cut our losses there.

042920110205.jpg


Even though we got there right at opening, we decided to get some food before doing anything else. Probably not the most logical use of touring time, but we (and by we I mean Sarah and Henry) were hungry. I was fine with this decision, because I had discovered that I was “in the zone” with my photography earlier that morning, so I was looking forward to the opportunity to grabbing some shots before I left the zone and started taking a bunch of crappy photos.

043020110299.jpg


042920110207.jpg


042920110208.jpg


042920110211.jpg


042920110210.jpg


043020110300.jpg


043020110301.jpg


Since I knew I had some time before we’d be riding any attractions, I got out my infrared camera and carried it in my other hand. With a camera in each hand, I could feel some stares from people who wondered what I was doing. Usually I only get these looks with one of my larger lenses mounted, but I guess using two DSLRs raises the question, “is he photographing someone famous?!” too. How sad they would be if they realized I was just photographing palm trees and stuff!

043020110297.jpg


042920110212.jpg


042920110213.jpg


043020110298.jpg


042920110214.jpg


043020110302.jpg


043020110303.jpg


Obviously, since I had a camera in each hand, I took a lot of similar shots with each of the cameras. Each, however, do have subtle differences that you can spot.

After making some progress in the Golden State area, specifically Condor Flats, I headed back to the California Zephyr where, I thought, Sarah and Henry had ordered some ice cream. I was quite pleased with this development, as I recognize any time as a good time to eat ice cream. Much to my dismay, they had ordered non-ice cream food stuffs from the bakery inside the Zephyr. All of that thinking about ice cream got me in the mood for ice cream, so I decided to order some. Come to find out, Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream wasn’t open yet! Heresy! My opinion of California Adventure instantly plummeted with that little misstep.

Somehow, I endured. I ordered a large Coke, and we made our way onward, first picking up Tower of Terror FastPasses, and taking a couple of photos outside the Tower. One of the biggest benefits of having someone else along with us is that we can actually get photos with both of us in the shot. Normally, for daytime shots at least, it’s just one or the other of us.

042920110215.jpg


042920110216.jpg


We then headed over to a bug’s land, where we rode Heimlech’s Chew Chew Train. Henry insisted that we do this attraction, saying that we should give it a chance, and that it was neat.

042920110217.jpg


042920110218.jpg
 
We shouldn’t have. It wasn’t. I almost feel bad putting it out there in public that he admitted to liking this attraction, because it should be embarrassing for him, but I feel compelled to report it. I may be overly optimistic about a lot of things in DCA, but that attraction is not one of them. It’s just odd.

042920110219.jpg


The face of pure bliss, as he enjoys his favorite attraction!

042920110220.jpg


After that traumatizing experience, we dismissed anything else in a bug’s land out of hand. It’s a neat land, I suppose, but it seems everything follows the formula of the least complicated Fantasyland attractions (and that’s really saying something, since Fantasyland attractions as a whole aren’t complex at all). On top of that, while Fantasyland attractions like Casey Jr. and Storybook Land Canals have an endearing quality about them, it seems like a bug’s land attractions are missing that.

042920110221.jpg


042920110222.jpg


042920110223.jpg


043020110304.jpg


We then strolled over to Paradise Pier. When we visited last year, I attempted to convince Sarah to try the Silly Symphony Swings, California Golden Zephyr, and perhaps the Maliboomer. It might have been the last one that really made her skittish about the three attractions, but I’m not really sure. Ultimately, our decision to see Aladdin twice really hindered our ability to do a lot of other attractions, so we didn’t end up making an effort to hit these. Even if I were to have made this effort, however, Sarah wouldn’t have done it. Even on this trip, Sarah initially said no to the idea of the Zephyr and the Swings. Henry, in his infinite wisdom, was able to convince Sarah to take a spin on both.

Perhaps he used a better strategy. Perhaps she wanted to appear brave. I will never know. Rather than suggesting the most thrilling attraction first (as I may have done with the Maliboomer), he suggested the more tame of the two, the Zephyr. It’s a good thing we experienced it then, as I only saw it operational for another half-hour, then never again on our trip.

042920110224.jpg


The Zephyr was cool. Tame for the most part and mostly interesting for the view. I really wish we would have ridden it at night to see all of the lights on the attraction. I respect Disney for going out to get something historically accurate to the period, but I can never understand the sense in building attractions that are operationally dependent upon the weather.

She was brave for us, so we let Sarah pick the next attraction. Much to no one’s surprise, she chose Jumpin’ Jellyfish. This was something she wanted me to do last year, and I scoffed at the idea. Now I know why. Jumpin’ Jellyfish probably wouldn’t be exciting to many 4 year olds. I will grant it this, though: it has a nice, vibrant color palette and offers great views of the Pier. Plus, it was a walk-on.

042920110225.jpg


042920110226.jpg


After we endured the Slow-Motion-Upward-Movin’ Jellyfish (as the attraction should be called), Sarah owed it to us to do Silly Symphony Swings. This would prove a more difficult sell for Henry. The free hanging nature of the attraction did not appeal to Sarah, but she begrudgingly agreed to ride, anyway.



Guess what? She loved it! From the outset, I thought it was a pretty shallow attraction, and I wasn’t sure that the change from the Orange Stinger to the Swings was that substantial. Ostensibly, both are amusement park attractions, one is just dressed in a slightly different manner. Silly Symphony Swings may be an amusement park attraction, but it’s an incredibly well-done one. The narration is wonderful, the art scenes on the top of the gazebo roof are captivating, and the gazebo itself is ornate. Oh, and the music, well, the music is absolutely fantastic. For what it is, Silly Symphony Swings is a 5 star attraction in my book. No, it’s not a brilliant E-Ticket with an amazing queue and post-show, but not everything needs to be. Dumbo is a highly regarded Disneyland classic, and Silly Symphony Swings is certainly more “advanced” than Dumbo. In sum, I did a 180 with regard to my stance on Silly Symphony Swings. I love it now.

042920110228.jpg


042920110229.jpg


042920110230.jpg


042920110231.jpg


Carsland what?! Bayside Brews is the next big DCA E-Ticket.

After the Swings, we started discussing lunch, and decided to head to Taste Pilot’s Grill, which was previously my favorite DLR Quick Service restaurant, for a meal there. Unfortunately, the amazing Aviator Chicken sandwich that I had loved so much on our last trip was gone! Ditto the waffle fries! The two things that appealed to me on the menu last time had both been removed. It was as if Disney was specifically punishing me for some reason. Luckily, the menu didn’t appeal to Sarah or Henry either, so I wasn’t forced to eat at the place I so adamantly recommended.

042920110233.jpg


042920110234.jpg


Instead, we picked up FastPasses for California Screamin’, and then headed over to Disneyland where we decided to eat at the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ. Maybe it’s just because I was starving since I never got my ice cream, but this meal was nothing short of excellent. Well, I should say the meats were excellent.

042920110235.jpg


042920110236.jpg


042920110237.jpg


In the fast-paced world of competitive all you can eat (or as Disney marketing spins it so as to carefully avoid advocating glutiny, “all you care to enjoy”) dining, I have learned one thing if I’ve learned anything: only eat the delicious meats. Don’t fill up on breads, salads, potatoes, or even cola. Just stick to the basic food group: meat. Within the meat food group, cow-based meats take precedence, pigs are second-priority, then fish, and finally poultry.

042920110238.jpg


042920110239.jpg


042920110240.jpg


Oddly enough, the chicken here actually was better than the ribs! It was slightly more tender and moist, and the herb-based seasoning used was an excellent choice. Because of this, I deviated from my own rules, consuming as much of it as I could, while still respecting the fact that Sarah and Henry wanted to eat meat, too. Our service was fairly prompt, with only one delay in bringing us a new bucket of meat.
 
042920110241.jpg


042920110242.jpg


042920110243.jpg


042920110244.jpg


We stuck around here for a decent amount of time, but not to the point where we overstayed our welcome or tried to stretch two meals out of it. We were seated near the back of the restaurant, and because of that, didn’t pay too much attention to the performers near the front. From what I could surmise, their performances were more aimed at families and little kids, so I’m not too upset that we missed it. It was still nice “background music,” for lack of a better term, while we conversed with one another.

042920110245.jpg


042920110246.jpg


042920110247.jpg


042920110248.jpg


As we were leaving, Henry pointed out some areas in Frontierland that were the remnants of Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland. While I love Big Thunder, I really wish Mine Train were still around. The photos I’ve seen of it in the Disneyland books I’ve purchased all make it look really cool, and it’s nice to have attractions that are different between Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom. It's nice that the remnants of Mine Train aren't eyesores like the remnants from past attractions often found at the other stateside Magic Kingdom. Just enough to give a nod and a tip of the cap to the past. Plus, they add intrigue.

042920110249.jpg


042920110250.jpg


Our next stop was this goat farm within Big Thunder Ranch as Sarah has this odd fascination with goats. Don’t ask me why. I think the things are ugly and stinky. Plus I’m skeptical of anything that tries to eat my clothing. Luckily we only spent a few minutes there. I must admit that it is neat that Disneyland is still able to have goats in the park.

042920110251.jpg


042920110252.jpg


As we made our way to the front of the park to use our Space Mountain FastPasses, we decided to cut through Fantasyland to visit a couple of shops and see the Wishing Well. The name of the shop escapes me now, but the shop nearest the Castle with armor outside that sells odd expensive non-Disney items. I was a bit surprised that this shop still existed. When we went inside, it was absolutely dead, and I can’t imagine the shop sells much. You would think this would be valuable retail real estate given its location in Fantasyland. Again, it’s very cool that Disney leaves this as a unique shop, though!

042920110253.jpg


042920110255.jpg


Next up was Snow White Grotto and the Wishing Well. This was another thing we didn’t see last time, and although it seems insignificant, after learning some of its history (Snow White is roughly the same size as the Dwarfs, so forced perspective is used, they were a gift to Walt from Italy, etc.) I was really excited to see them. Hearing the singing in the Well completed the experience. Disney should send TDO executives out to Disneyland for a day, and just have the walk the park taking notes.

042920110256.jpg


042920110257.jpg


I grabbed a few photos of the Castle as this was a perspective I hadn’t shot before, and we then headed to Space Mountain and rode that.

042920110259.jpg


042920110260.jpg


I asked Henry about the escalators to the second floor, and whether those used to be outside (I had a lot of questions like this after seeing photos from the 70s and 80s in the books I purchased), he wasn’t sure, so I would continue my quest for this information later. It was interesting to snoop around looking at how Disneyland had evolved and changed over the years. I think Tomorrowland is a prime example of how Disneyland has changed without properly removing remnants of the past. Junk from past attractions and retail space just sits around, completely unnecessarily, and in plain view.

042920110261.jpg


After Space Mountain, we headed towards Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. Along the way, Henry noticed the Star Tours mural had been updated since yesterday. Since we were working on a site tracking the Star Tours 2 updates and progress called StarTours2Live.com, we stopped and got some photos, and transmitted them on for someone to post online.
The Cast Member at Astro Blasters told us the wait was about 15 minutes. Not too bad. At least, not too bad for an indoor queue. Unfortunately, it was midday, sunny, and about 10 minutes of the wait was in direct sunlight. Oh well.

042920110263.jpg


The attraction is worth it; it’s something we love at Walt Disney World, and is without a doubt better at Disneyland. Having free reign with the laser gun is a big plus, and the targets just look nicer. Additionally, I haven’t learned all of the secret high point targets at Disneyland, so the attraction is still quite challenging. At WDW, I can max out my gun about every other time we ride.

042920110264.jpg


It was then back to DCA where we started with some Monsters, Inc.. As I was carrying on about the excellence of this attraction and stating that it’s underrated, I learned something that shocked and disgusted me: Henry does not like the ride. This coming from the same man who enjoys the Chew Chew Train. He explained that he thought the attraction was weak because the characters don’t have articulated mouths and because they’re fairly simply AAs. This coming from the same man who enjoys the Chew Chew Train. (I feel I should add this a couple more times for emphasis.)

I don’t get it. I think Randall is fairly advanced, and the Mike and Sulley AAs look good for the most part. Yeah, maybe these aren’t as advanced as the Pirate Auctioneer in POTC, but they’re not too shabby. And the ride is leagues above the Chew Chew Train.

042920110265.jpg


After that, we noticed almost no line at the Cars Meet & Greet, and even though we “met” them last year, it was against a different backdrop. Although meeting these stationary cars isn’t as satisfying as meeting a living character, it’s still fun, especially without a line. This is one of the huge benefits of Disneyland. People seem to be indifferent to meet and greet characters. I wish more people were “too cool” for meet and greets in Florida! I will gladly concede that I’m an uncool dork if it means having to spend less time in line to meet my favorite characters!

042920110266.jpg


After this, we headed onto the Pier where I spotted some ice cream! Although it was nothing more than regular swirl soft-serve ice cream, this was a huge victory. I don’t normally eat ice cream when we’re not on vacation, so it was a great treat. Much like I never have Coke when we’re not on vacation, so I can justify drinking 32 ounces of the stuff at 10 am in the morning. Yeah, odd to consider these things “special vacation treats,” I know.

042920110267.jpg


Obviously the most pragmatic thing to do after eating a large ice cream cone is to ride California Screamin’, so that’s what we did next. We came this close to convincing Sarah to ride, but she figured she would be sick the rest of the day, so it just wasn’t worth it. While in the queue, we noticed a patch of sand behind the coaster. Henry assumed it was just leftover dirt from construction. Given a half broken fence and some wild beach grass also back in the area, I think it’s intentional theming. Quite possibly the most half-hearted theming I’ve ever seen, but theming nonetheless.

042920110268.jpg


Most would probably view the new barker lines recorded by Neil Patrick Harris as only minor gains. I am a huge fan of his work (it’s legen-wait for it-DARY!) so I was quite impressed by the new lines. Again, it’s the little things like this that makes a huge difference. Screamin’ remains one of my favorite coasters, and for a simple coaster, it works surprisingly well. I think I might be a little too high on Paradise Pier, but I really love the place.
 
042920110269.jpg


Yes, I took a photo of myself while riding on Cali Screamin'. I'm just that cool/stupid.

It was mid-afternoon, and at this point, I think the heat had gotten to us all a bit, although I’m going to claim that it was partially the tranquil ambiance of Paradise Pier lulling us into a deep state of relaxation. Relaxed and hot, there was but one place for us to hit: the Cove Bar.

Sarah and I have done the drinking around the world thing at EPCOT a couple of times now, and I see it as sort of a double-edged sword. It’s a lot of fun, and vacationing is about fun. Conversely, when we’re doing it, it seems we spend less time hitting attractions, and don’t do things as efficiently. Plus, it seems we could always go to a bar at home (although I’ve never had as much fun at a bar as I have drinking around the world). Another advantage, I think, is that it gives you a chance to soak up the ambiance of the park as you stroll around enjoying your drink, rather than running from attraction to attraction with blinders on.

In any case, California Adventure doesn’t have anything comparable to World Showcase, but the Cove Bar was still a nice diversion. Like I’ve said multiple times, Paradise Pier has quickly become our favorite area of DCA. Sitting there at the Cove Bar really reinforced this. We could watch as everyone passed by, and gazing off at the Fun Wheel and other attractions over the Pier just put me in a good mood (as if being in Disneyland didn’t already have me there!).

Much like just about everywhere else, the beer selection here was subpar, so I decided to get a mixed drink. Since we were at the Pier and it felt like summer-time, I got something to fit the mood: a Zombie. The drink was excellent, not too feminine but it didn’t taste as if my breath could catch fire.

042920110270.jpg


We also ordered some Lobster Nachos. These nachos were great at first, with the flavors of the lobster really adding a nice extra punch. Unfortunately, it was really windy, and by the time we finished half of the nachos, they were cold. (This was not the fault of the Cove Bar or its staff, obviously; they did a great job preparing the nachos.)

042920110272.jpg


After ordering another drink, I borrowed Sarah’s camera from her to take some photos of the drinks. While taking the photos, I noticed I was never getting the rim of the glass in crisp focus. I took about 10 frames before realizing that it wasn’t me missing the focus. I took the lens off the camera to discover that one of the aperture blades of the lens had gotten stuck! This really stunk, because Sarah’s camera and this lens (Sigma 30mm f/1.4) were what we had been using for most of the photos of us, and it was now unusable.

042920110271.jpg


I heckled her about breaking the lens (after reviewing the photos and determining the problem first occurred a couple of hours prior but just wasn’t as noticeable except on the extreme closeup photos, I realized it wasn’t actually her fault) until reality set in that I had now had around $400 worth of photo gear broken on this trip (I don’t think I mentioned it, but I dropped and broke my expensive ND filter after Remember... the previous night). Hopefully the photos are worth it!

042920110273.jpg


After spending a while at the Cove Bar, we headed over to Wine Country Trattoria. Like I said, this was to be a relaxed day. We had a couple of drinks there as we gazed off at the Carsland construction in the distance. We discussed Carsland for a while, wondering if it could become Lassetter’s folly as Disneyland Paris was Eisner’s. While I think it’s going to be a great addition to California Adventure, I think it could. It seems Lassetter has a personal interest in the project, and I wonder if those within Pixar connected to the project are letting their personal interest cloud their business judgment. It will have to generate a lot of revenue to recoup the investment, and it’s questionable as to one land in the park can do that. Conversely, I said, it might be what pushes Disneyland over the top to make it a tourist destination on par with Walt Disney World. In that case, it’s a brilliant move. Either way, it’s good to see someone finally taking risks again instead of just playing it safe because “safe” is the best way to protect their jobs. I have a respect for Eisner (mostly in his early years) for being ambitious and taking on projects based on his intuition rather than the artificially “vetted” numbers provided to him by the bean counters that now seem to dictate when projects get done.

042920110274.jpg

The view from up here was great, and I can see this place being a hidden gem of California Adventure (for us at least) as it offers great views, no crowds, and a great relaxed ambiance. California Adventure may not be the World Showcase, but I can see these relaxed afternoon strolls around the various restaurants becoming a staple of our trips. We had a great time doing this.

042920110277.jpg


042920110275.jpg


042920110276.jpg


042920110278.jpg


When we finished enjoying the view from the Terrace, we headed, where else, but to Silly Symphony Swings again. This time, at Sarah’s insistence. By this time, we each had consumed a few drinks over the course of the past couple hours at the Cove Bar and Wine Country Trattoria, so we had that gleeful, “strollin’ along the boardwalk on a California sunny day”

042920110279.jpg


042920110281.jpg


042920110282.jpg


042920110284.jpg


042920110285.jpg


042920110286.jpg


042920110287.jpg


After that, we did some more wandering, heading over to Golden State to see what the standby wait for Grizzly River Run was. Too long for our liking, so we continued wandering, through Condor Flats, where the wait for Soarin’ was also too long, until we finally arrived at the Hollywood Pictures Backlot.

042920110289.jpg


For reasons that are beyond me, the thing about which Sarah was anticipating the most on this trip was elecTRONica. So excited, that the night before, she wanted to skip the fireworks for it. While I was loath to skip Remember... or World of Color, I reluctantly gave in, and agreed that this night could be elecTRONica night. I can’t really stand techno music, the loud club atmosphere, or dancing, so this seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Sarah wanted to experience this event from the time the portal opened to the time it closed, so we arrived plenty early. About an hour before it began, it fact. To kill some time, we went in the Animation building, where we saw some pretty cool little exhibits. I don’t know its proper name, but by far the coolest thing there was this spinning Toy Story claymation-type thing that combined strobe lights, spinning, and multiple variations of the same characters to create moving animation. It was absolutely awesome. I was enamored with this thing for at least 15 minutes. If not for Sarah and Henry wanting to move on, I probably would have stayed there even longer.

042920110290.jpg


042920110291.jpg


042920110292.jpg


042920110293.jpg


After playing around in here for a little while, we went back outside to the streets of the Hollywood Backlot. Some elecTRONica preview show was about to start, so we waited for that. Maybe this is because I’ve seen neither Tron nor Tron: Legacy, but this show was messed up. It was fun, and very entertaining, but it was ridiculously odd.

042920110294.jpg


elecTRONica proceeded in pretty much the same fashion. Really odd, but really fun. At this point, elecTRONica isn’t really doing anything to promote the film; would Disney be better suited reverting to GlowFest? It seems that if you haven’t seen one of the Tron films, you might respond to elecTRONica the same way I did (except perhaps you’d dismiss it out of hand after seeing the initial oddness). I know Disney is all about synergy these days, but I don’t think the Tron movies have been the box office smashes necessary to make semi-permanent attractions out of them. From my experience, they don’t have accessible characters like more obscure films such as Song of the South to justify the films’ usage on the parks on that ground, either. (Stated differently: If you haven’t seen a Tron film, you probably think the Tron shtick is odd; if you haven’t seen Song of the South, you still probably will enjoy that film’s characters.)

All of that said, I thought Laserman was awesome. As were the ridiculously overpriced drinks. Looking around at everyone with the $11 drinks in their hands, it’s no wonder that Disney keeps these shows going! Unfortunately, I kept my camera in the bag for the duration of the evening so I could enjoy myself at the show. I wish I would have at least grabbed a couple photos of Laserman, but it sounds like I’ll have the chance the next time we’re out there with elecTRONica extended once again.

After elecTRONica was over, we headed to the California Zephyr to get some food, took our time eating there, and then headed out. We could have gone over to Disneyland for about 20 minutes before it would close, but we were pretty tired, buzzed, and not too keen on a repeat of the previous night’s encounter with security. Instead, we called it an “early” night.
 
The next morning was an 8 am park opening, and Sarah and Henry weren’t down for rope drop. I wasn’t going to miss it, though, so I got up bright and early. I was also a bit nervous about our Club 33 reservations having gotten “lost” or something, so the sooner I could verify them, the sooner I could rest easier.

Finding these reservations was easier said than done.

I knew I had to pick up tickets (and we absolutely needed these as our Deluxe APs were blocked out on this day and we did not want to spend $30 to purchase tickets), and figured this wasn’t at a ticketing window, so I started on the right side of Disneyland’s entrance, at what I thought was
Guest Relations. It turned out it either wasn’t, or it was, and still wasn’t the correct location. The Cast Member on that side directed me to the left side of the entrance, so I went over there. I noticed a sign said something about Club 33, so I figured I was in the right location.

When it was finally my turn, I informed the Cast Member that I had Club 33 reservations (or at least I hoped that I did!) and she told me that I needed to go over to California Adventure. At this point, I looked at the sign by the window, and it said the same thing about Club 33. I really wish I would have read that sign, as doing so would have saved me 10 minutes in line.

I went over to California Adventure’s Guest Services window, and fortunately, there was no line. I inquired about our reservations, and my heart sank.

I immediately sent messages to Sarah and Henry via Beluga, telling them news that we didn’t have Club 33 restaurants. Henry, almost instantaneously responded expressing his disappointment. A couple of minutes later, Sarah sent a message, that was nothing short of “freaking out.” I responded with a photo of the back of our complimentary Club 33 tickets. They were relived, to say the least.

Obviously we did have reservations. Perhaps I should have clarified above why my heart sank (it was a sinking of relief! ;) ) and that the news I told Henry and Sarah wasn’t true. But hey, I’ve got to keep the suspense and entertainment value high in this thing somehow or another. If I don’t, I’m sure a lot of you will just scroll down to the Club 33 details! (Sorry, not in today’s update!)

Despite my aimless wandering from Guest Services location to Guests Services location, I still made it into the park prior to rope drop. We still had yet to do Peter Pan’s Flight at Disneyland, and I had a pretty good rope drop spot (plus there were no Magic Mornings!), so I figured I’d make that my first stop.

043020110306.jpg


Of course, once I finally did start briskly walking up Main Street, I could help but stop at Partners for a couple of quick photos. That set me back at least 2 minutes, which in rope drop time, is an eternity. By the time I got to Peter Pan’s Flight, I had to wait 10 minutes. I probably should have taken the photos after PPF. Oh well.

Peter Pan’s Flight was interesting, but not altogether that much better than WDW’s. At first, I was blown away by it, and even when we left Disneyland I was still touting it as the superior of the two Peter Pan’s Flights. However, after riding WDW’s the next week, I realized that Disneyland’s was missing certain effects (the moving cars in London) and some scenes were different, so ultimately I deemed it a bit of a wash, with Disneyland perhaps having the slight edge. With how popular this attraction is, I am shocked that Disney doesn’t do a little to plus it on each coast. I think it could be substantially better with some minor changes. These changes might help justify the crazy wait a bit, too. Of course, there’s the mantra, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it, to counter that.

043020110307.jpg


Ironically, given all of my belly-aching about it, I rode Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride next. Like I said above, it is definitely growing on me. Maybe by next trip, I’ll be making shirts that read, “Toad 4 Prez.” I guess anything is possible.

After this was a pretty weird experience, to be perfectly frank. I queued up for the Teacups when I saw the sun peaking over the trees and lighting up the attraction. I knew it would give me the perfect opportunity to capture a photo I had envisioned prior to the trip, so I got in line. Once I got the photo, I figured what the heck, and decided to ride.

043020110309.jpg


As a male by myself with a camera in Fantasyland, I was already a little concerned about how I might “appear.” That was magnified exponentially when I spontaneously decided to start taking photos of myself as I spun the teacup around. Can you imagine being in line for the attraction and seeing some guy spinning a teacup with one hand and holding a DSLR as far away from his body as possible as he tried to take a picture of just himself? It feels a bit odd when I try to do self-portraits of Sarah and me with the unwieldy DSLR, now imagine adding a spinning teacup and being by myself to the equation. It was extremely awkward, to say the least.

043020110310.jpg


Luckily, I survived. And, the memory the experience, as well as (what I think are) some cool photos will endure. So overall, it was well worth the embarrassment. I’ve seen other people do far odder things at Disney, so I’m not too concerned.

043020110312.jpg


Since no one else had arrived yet, I decided to head over to Mermaid Lagoon (I don’t know if it was ever actually known as this, but it used to have mermaids in it, and I like the name, so...) and take some photos of the Finding Nemo subs and “Mine!” seagulls. I lucked out and managed to capture the monorail while I was in the area. Not bad given that I wasn’t really expecting it!

043020110313.jpg


We then decided to make our way to Toontown, where Henry was telling me about all of the little easter eggs hidden in Tomorrowland. I was so amused by these (which are largely just sound effects and little sight gags), that we went all around Toontown trying to spot them all. This made me appreciate the land all the more, and made me question WDW’s now-defunct Toontown even more.

043020110315.jpg


043020110316.jpg


043020110317.jpg


043020110318.jpg


We only did one attraction while in the neighborhood, and that was Gadget’s Go Coaster. It was very underwhelming for us as twenty-something men, but when we got off, we saw the pure elation of a small boy who was told by a Cast Member that he could ride again without having to go back through the queue. This clearly made his day. It’s moments like these, seeing the parks through the eyes of children rather than the surly and jaded eyes some of us tend to develop by fixating on often insignificant problems that are magnified by their over-discussion online, that help to reinforce one’s appreciation for the parks. Society today is so egocentric that it’s easy to forget that not everything in the parks is made to appeal to our demographic.

043020110319.jpg


043020110320.jpg


I started taking photos by it’s a small world on our way out when I got a Beluga message from Sarah that she was on her way. Since I had her Club 33 ticket, Henry and I headed to Main Street and waited for her.

043020110321.jpg


043020110322.jpg


043020110323.jpg


043020110325.jpg


When we met up with her, we decided to go seek adventure. California Adventure! We grabbed some FastPasses at Soarin’, then met up with a couple of Henry’s friends who host the Mousetalgia podcast. Their names elude me right now, but they were nice folks.

043020110326.jpg


We chatted with them for a bit, then headed over the the Redwood Trails. A few days before our trip, it had been rumored that the Brother Bear theming here was getting nixed in favor of Up over the weekend prior to our visit. Unfortunately, that was not the case (although it has since been officially announced and should happen soon). For what it is, I was fairly impressed by the trails.

043020110327.jpg


043020110328.jpg


They’re pretty and offer great vistas of the park. I think it would be nice if it were simply themed like Redwood National Park rather than with characters, but I guess the ability to play outside and explore isn’t enticing-enough to today’s lazy and obese children. Maybe soon Disney will incorporate Mountain Dew and Pixie Stick stops every so often in the area so kids don’t have too much uninterrupted healthy physical activity.

043020110329.jpg


I may be a bit old for it, but I had a blast in the Redwood Trails! No one else wanted to go up in the elevated rope areas, and I ended up getting lost from the group for a bit when I did, but I had a great time! The only thing I hope they don’t remove of the Brother Bear-inspired theming is the little palm-spirit-thing that tells you what animal’s spirit you embody. That thing is awesome.

043020110330.jpg


043020110331.jpg
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts







Top