This Land is MY Land!!! A July 4th PTR ~ Updated 7/2: When is the fun gonna start??

[Eight]

I LOVE the trolley show. It's so cute and fun. I even have a recording of it on my running playlist, it's surprisingly fun to run to.

Probably a good thing you changed your Kona reservation. I've had reservations at 8AM there twice, and both times, I just missed the opening show.

Here's my thoughts on your planning questions.
1) I would think about the 11:45 one because I wonder if it would be cutting it too close to get to Epcot if you did the 12:30 one? Plus, that's $50 you can put toward breakfast or Mickey dominoes!

2) I'm confused, are you saying you can convert WDW into DL tickets? Because if you can, I would probably keep the tickets, but that's because I probably wouldn't want to use a day just for breakfast. So I would go with Ohana, because a) there's no such thing as too much breakfast at the Polynesian, and b) Mickey in a Hawaiian shirt and Stitch? Come on. How can you pass that up?

That being said, I think the breakfast food was a little better at CP, since it's a buffet and there was a lot more variety. And if you like Winnie the Pooh, it's great. If you can't convert the tickets, I would go with CP.

3) Yes! I love that parade, it's definitely my favorite too, but that will probably be there next time, but who knows if the next you'll be there will be around July 4?

P.S. I vote for December 2011 pics!

 

[emilyindisney]

Finally caught up! I've been subbed in for a few days and just needed some time off work to read

I love all your Disneyland pictures! I've never visited but you can bet I want to!

Those Mickey Mouse ice cream treats look so tasty! Growing up, my sister and I loved those cupcake ice cream cone 'things' but my mom hated baking them. She said they were such a pain because they always tip over in the oven

I'm excited to see SoG through your eyes. I'm not eligible to stay there but from the pictures I've seen it looks fantastic!

I'm can't wait to hear about all your ADRs. I love Le Cellier and haven't visited in a few years so I'm eager to hear about a recent experience. Additionally, I cannot wait to see Kona Cafe and Ohana! I'm dying to try both of these. Of course, I'm interested in seeing your BoG lunch experience.

 

[VBsHustla]

Great DL pics! I really enjoy the one of the view from the treehouse and that "mind thy head" sign haha. That's awesome! I also just love those pink trees! I guess I'll have to come in March some time. I wish I'd purchased that trolley shirt! I adore my patriotic one, but that one is just so cute. Love the rally monkey pic. My monkey aka bear would be proud to brag away at Helen's monkey this season!

My suggestion about the ADRs was going to be to attempt to get a CP ADR Friday (it's then really easy to make it into Fantasyland right at rope drop) and switch Kona to Saturday. However, once I read that the CP costs $60, I changed my mind. What in the world?! I'm certainly never going there again for a $60 bowl of oatmeal! It's cute, but nothing particularly special.

I would just skip DTD (I feel like you can buy the same stuff in the parks anyway!) and use the extra park passes depending on what time you have to go to the airport. If you leave at like 12 or 12:30, then I feel like you could do a ton of stuff if you get there at rope drop. In December, we had to leave the MK at 1 and we had an awesome day! Although I'd much rather spend a full free day in Cars Land than spend it on like 3 hours, so on the other hand, it might be good to save them! If you don't use the passes, then I think Ohana would be great! Especially since it's so easy to get to the Poly and then you could finish off the trip with a Dole Whip! I think I've also heard the GF Cafe has good breakfast food, and it is always nice to visit the GF as a tribute to Uncle Jesse.

 

[magichusky]

I LOVE the trolley show. It's so cute and fun. I even have a recording of it on my running playlist, it's surprisingly fun to run to.

HAHA what an excellent running song!

Here's my thoughts on your planning questions.
1) I would think about the 11:45 one because I wonder if it would be cutting it too close to get to Epcot if you did the 12:30 one? Plus, that's $50 you can put toward breakfast or Mickey dominoes!

I was sincerely considering it, but I think it would just be too darn hot to embark on a 3 hr trek at noon. I think the 12:30pm trek would be pushing it, too. I hope Epcot doesn't reach capacity!

2) I'm confused, are you saying you can convert WDW into DL tickets? Because if you can, I would probably keep the tickets, but that's because I probably wouldn't want to use a day just for breakfast. So I would go with Ohana, because a) there's no such thing as too much breakfast at the Polynesian, and b) Mickey in a Hawaiian shirt and Stitch? Come on. How can you pass that up?

Yes, you can totally convert WDW tix straight to DL tix at the turnstiles, no questions asked! It's really quite awesome. I think it would be a little nuts to use an entire 1-day park hopper for like 4 hrs at the MK, so the Crystal Palace will just have to wait! I truly can't imagine being sick of 'Ohana! Mickey usually isn't particularly my favorite, but when he's in a Hawaiian shirt he's just so fabulous!!

Yes! I love that parade, it's definitely my favorite too, but that will probably be there next time, but who knows if the next you'll be there will be around July 4?

Oh dear, you're probably right. But I just love that JJP! However I definitely prefer the holiday version.

P.S. I vote for December 2011 pics!

Your wish has been granted!!

Finally caught up! I've been subbed in for a few days and just needed some time off work to read

I love all your Disneyland pictures! I've never visited but you can bet I want to!

Hi Emily- thanks for visiting!! DL is really a must, especially now that Cars Land has arrived!

Those Mickey Mouse ice cream treats look so tasty! Growing up, my sister and I loved those cupcake ice cream cone 'things' but my mom hated baking them. She said they were such a pain because they always tip over in the oven

HAHA that would be so frustrating! Now I'm of course sort of wishing that I had tried one of those things!

I'm excited to see SoG through your eyes. I'm not eligible to stay there but from the pictures I've seen it looks fantastic!

SoG is actually such a great place! We're so happy that it's available to us. Plus, it's adjacent to the Poly!

I can't wait to hear about all your ADRs. I love Le Cellier and haven't visited in a few years so I'm eager to hear about a recent experience. Additionally, I cannot wait to see Kona Cafe and Ohana! I'm dying to try both of these. Of course, I'm interested in seeing your BoG lunch experience.

Le Cellier is one of our favorites! It's a lot easier to get ADRs there now, since they raised the prices. We were deciding between Le Cellier and Coral Reef (another favorite), and the deciding factor was the Chocolate Moose!

Great DL pics! I really enjoy the one of the view from the treehouse and that "mind thy head" sign haha. That's awesome! I also just love those pink trees! I guess I'll have to come in March some time. I wish I'd purchased that trolley shirt! I adore my patriotic one, but that one is just so cute. Love the rally monkey pic. My monkey aka bear would be proud to brag away at Helen's monkey this season!

Haha oh no! I didn't know that you were considering the trolley shirt! I can always pick one up for you if you still need one. Poor Helen (and me too probably haha) needs to pick a new team, especially after that ridiculous display the other night when like 6 people were thrown out of the Dodger-Diamondback game. Hooligans!

My suggestion about the ADRs was going to be to attempt to get a CP ADR Friday (it's then really easy to make it into Fantasyland right at rope drop) and switch Kona to Saturday. However, once I read that the CP costs $60, I changed my mind. What in the world?! I'm certainly never going there again for a $60 bowl of oatmeal! It's cute, but nothing particularly special.

Totally- that's the same cost as a CRT breakfast! I really need those chocolate Mickey Mouse waffles though.

I would just skip DTD (I feel like you can buy the same stuff in the parks anyway!) and use the extra park passes depending on what time you have to go to the airport. If you leave at like 12 or 12:30, then I feel like you could do a ton of stuff if you get there at rope drop. In December, we had to leave the MK at 1 and we had an awesome day! Although I'd much rather spend a full free day in Cars Land than spend it on like 3 hours, so on the other hand, it might be good to save them! If you don't use the passes, then I think Ohana would be great! Especially since it's so easy to get to the Poly and then you could finish off the trip with a Dole Whip! I think I've also heard the GF Cafe has good breakfast food, and it is always nice to visit the GF as a tribute to Uncle Jesse.

Omg my Mom and I will absolutely have to check out the GF! I can't wait until the construction is finished over there- it really ruins the ambience. I believe we're going to save that 4th day on our tix so we can have a DL day! I think I'd rather listen to Sh-boom! at sunset than go to the MK for 3 hrs haha.

...

 

[magichusky]

June 13, 2013: Final Draft of the Itinerary & MK Christmas Parade Pics!



Greetings everyone! OMG as I'm posting this, "Johnny Tsunami" just appeared on the Disney Channel!!! WHOO-HOO for classic Disney Channel Original Movies! They just don't make 'em like they used to. Anyway...

After thinking about it and considering everyone's excellent opinions, I have decided to leave our Wild Africa Trek scheduled for 9:30am. I went to an online weather almanac and looked up the difference in Orlando temperature between 9am and 2pm and there's an average 7 degree difference! I decided that 7 degrees was indeed worth $50, plus the animals probably won't even be out in the afternoon anyway due to the heat. Plus, there's got to be something really bad about those afternoon treks for Disney to offer a $50 discount!

However, we'll probably skip the Jammin' Jungle Parade in order to reach Epcot in time for the day's final performances of the Fife & Drum Corps and Voices of Liberty. After all, it is July 4th! Additionally, we have 7:15pm Le Cellier reservations that evening, and I don't want to get locked out of Epcot if it somehow reaches capacity in anticipation of the special patriotic Illuminations celebration at 10pm. This is supposed to be a stress-free escape trip for us, so we don't need any "situations."

Finally, a resolution has been reached regarding our Saturday breakfast conundrum! First of all, I can't believe that it took me several months to realize that I had missed an opportunity for a WDW breakfast ADR! We wanted to save the last day on our 4-day military park hoppers to use at home at DL, so that ruled out the Crystal Palace. For those of you who are unaware, you can convert a WDW park hopper into a DL hopper at the DL turnstiles! Anyway, my Mom was interested in breakfasting at the WL but the Whispering Canyon did NOT sound like our kind of place, so… we're going to one of our favorite places instead, the old standby… 'Ohana!!! We now have an 8:05am ADR for the 'Ohana Best Friends Breakfast on Saturday morning. We're so excited!

Here's our updated itinerary (and hopefully the final version, since my Mom has just printed them out and is laminating them at school tomorrow- it's her last day of the school year!):



So, mooooving on- I've been looking forward to posting these photos for quite some time! My parents and I went to WDW in December 2011 but I never got around to posting a TR for it. However, I got the awesomest, most fabulous MK Christmas parade photos ever, and they need to be shared!

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade PART 1/3

So let's take the time rover back to December 20, 2011. My Mom and I had had a very productive morning in the MK, as we had FINALLY found a paintbrush on Tom Sawyer Island!!! We had looked for quite some time on previous occasions but had always come up empty handed. That day, we were in direct competition w/ a father and his ~10 yr old son. They were combing through shrubbery and bushes and practically turned the windmill upside down looking for this thing. They were only a few yards away from us when we discovered the brush near the entrance to the mine, and they were semi-dejected. I told my Mom that I felt just a little bad for them, and she triumphantly declared "I don't!" The photos of us at the beginning of this PTR are from the massive photo shoot we had w/ our brush after finding it (my Mom actually noticed it a split second before I did, so I guess it's her paintbrush!).

A major item on our agenda that day was to nab a superior viewing location for the Christmas parade. We had missed it the year before, when we also visited in December, so we wanted to be sure to catch it this time. We sat down on the curb in the hub, right next to the roped off wheelchair area, and confirmed w/ a nearby CM that it would be okay to sit there during the parade (I always sit somewhere and then once the parade starts, get shooed away by a CM!). The parade wasn't to start for about 50 min, so we had agreed that I would run to the Tomorrowland Terrace to bring back lunch for us, since we didn't want to waste almost an hour just sitting around. The hub was turning into an absolute madhouse w/ people getting into parade position- I guess everyone was all in a dither since it was the special Christmas parade.

I returned w/ our lunches and my Mom regaled me of a rather stressful incident that went down while I was away. Apparently, some crazy woman had emerged from the woodwork and tried to steal the tiny bit of curb I had been sitting on. My Mom told her that I was sitting there but had just left for a moment to get food, but this woman launched into a massive argument and refused to move, claiming that I didn't need that much space anyway! My Mom is definitely faaar from being a push-over and demanded that this woman relinquish the stolen curb. Thankfully, the CM we had been speaking w/ earlier came over and just told the woman that she couldn't sit there b/c it was right up against the wheelchair zone. I don't know what it is about Christmas that brings out the grinch in people!

Anyway, we had a great lunch and were glad that we made the best use of our time that way. If we had arrived a minute later, then there's no way we would've been enjoying front row seats! And who wants a bunch of random peoples' heads in their parade photos anyway?

This is where we were sitting:



And so it begins!





















These guys were having a grand old time racing around on their rollerblade/ski thingamabobs:











Cinderella's carriage!





So disappointing that Cinderella didn't happen to glance in our direction!







CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!

 

[magichusky]

June 13, 2013 cont: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade PART 2/3









And here are my THREE favoritest photos out of the whole group of 'em:



STEVE! Over here!!



















These guys were another favorite! I remember watching the Samantha Brown Disney Holiday Magic special before our first trip in 2010, and I loved how she pointed out that the gingerbread men were flat on the back since they had just come off the cookie sheet!

















CONTINUED IN NEXT POST!

 

[magichusky]

June 13, 2013 cont: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmastime Parade PART 3/3



This guy loved speeding around in circles w/ his mini Christmas race car (I think he had the best job in the entire parade!):









I of course zoomed in on the doggie stuffed animals:





And of course everyone's favorite, the toy soldiers!

















One of the crazy Christmas moose characters ran straight over and skidded to a stop directly in front of me! I was so surprised that I barely had time to snap this unfocused picture:





Santa Claus was the grand finale:





Here's my Mom just after the parade was finished. By that point, we had been sitting on the curb for practically an hour and a half, so she was pretty excited that she was able to make it back up again! She's holding her MK map that she had been using as a seat cushion:



Everyone was so jovial after Santa rolled past, and I was wondering where that combative woman had finally wound up after her failed attempt at stealing my spot!





NEXT TIME: Cars Land pics and last minute preparations!

 

[emilyindisney]

Old school D-Coms are the best, right?! Smart House and Motocross are two of my favorites! All this High School Musical and Teen Beach Movie crap just isn't doing it for me

You're meeting Lilo and Stitch!!! They're my favorites so I'm super jealous!! Can't wait to hear about Ohana breakfast. I'm sure its great because I've heard only great things about dinner.

The Christmas parade looks awesome- thanks for sharing your pictures!

 

[Eight]

I'm shocked, how can Mickey not be a favorite? And if not Mickey, then who is a favorite?

Good point about the animals not being as active in the afternoon!

And that's so cool that you can covert tickets! That's really useful. And yay, Ohana! I love that breakfast because of Lilo and Stitch. It would be embarrassing to admit to how many photos I've taken with Stitch over the years...

The Christmas parade looks fun! I'm generally not a parade person, so we didn't see when we went in December. Although we saw part of it on Splash Mountain where we attempted to wave to the characters. I think only Aladdin noticed us. I love the gingerbread men, and now I have an urge to watch Samantha Brown's Disney holiday episode, even though it's the middle of June. It's not too early to get in the Christmas spirit, is it?

 

[magichusky]

Old school D-Coms are the best, right?! Smart House and Motocross are two of my favorites! All this High School Musical and Teen Beach Movie crap just isn't doing it for me

Totally!! I love Smart House! I randomly found it on DVD a few years ago, but I wish I had Zenon, too. Also, The Ultimate Christmas Present on DVD would be nice. The children on the Disney Channel these days just wear way too much make-up and are far too excitable.

You're meeting Lilo and Stitch!!! They're my favorites so I'm super jealous!! Can't wait to hear about Ohana breakfast. I'm sure its great because I've heard only great things about dinner.

You definitely need to check out 'Ohana in some capacity next time. My Mom and I are eating dinner there pretty much specifically so we can have the banana/caramel bread pudding for dessert! And the breakfast is so cheerful!

The Christmas parade looks awesome- thanks for sharing your pictures!

Most certainly! I'm so glad we were able to see it.

I'm shocked, how can Mickey not be a favorite? And if not Mickey, then who is a favorite?

Donald of course!! Donald is my favorite b/c he reminds me of myself haha. I really hope we can get a photo w/ American Donald in Epcot on July 4th!

Good point about the animals not being as active in the afternoon!

And that's so cool that you can covert tickets! That's really useful. And yay, Ohana! I love that breakfast because of Lilo and Stitch. It would be embarrassing to admit to how many photos I've taken with Stitch over the years...

Definitely! We LOVE the 'Ohana breakfast! We've eaten there twice and it's always so quiet and pleasant w/ the castle outside the window...

The Christmas parade looks fun! I'm generally not a parade person, so we didn't see when we went in December. Although we saw part of it on Splash Mountain where we attempted to wave to the characters. I think only Aladdin noticed us. I love the gingerbread men, and now I have an urge to watch Samantha Brown's Disney holiday episode, even though it's the middle of June. It's not too early to get in the Christmas spirit, is it?

Yeah we don't go out of our way for parades either, except for the Jammin' Jungle Parade! The MK parades are always pretty stressful b/c people get so territorial. Isn't Aladdin the best? The Samantha Brown special is how I learned about the Jingle Jungle Parade, the sleigh ride, and the hidden purple cat in the Osborne lights. We looked for that purple cat for such a long time and couldn't find it!!

...

 

[magichusky]

June 21, 2013: A Schnauzer in Disneyland



Today is my favorite day of the year- the Summer Solstice! Happy Summer Solstice! My Mom and I are planning on celebrating the longest day of the year by having a beach walk later today! I wish Loki could go but he'd probably be too hot w/ his big husky fur coat, plus he still has stitches in his eyelid from last week when he had to have a weird skin tag removed and his teeth cleaned.

Anyway, July 4th is getting closer and closer!! My Mom has been a little stressed lately since the end of the school year is rather busy, but now that she's officially on summer vacation she can scheme along w/ me! While we're busy putting the finishing touches on our trip, I'll post this tangential update. I think the only thing we have left to do is reserve transportation to and from the airport; SoG doesn't participate in the ME. The one and only time I did stay at an official Disney resort, the WL, I had a rental car but left my luggage w/ the ME and it was SO much fun to leave my suitcase at the hotel and show up at MCO w/ simply my backpack!!

So let's spend another day at Disneyland! Actually, how about another 2 days?? My good friend, Laura, finally came to visit in May and we wound up spending 2 entire days gallivanting through DL and CA Adv. We became obsessed w/ Cars Land and wound up spending quite a bit of time there, perhaps even more time than we spent in DL, which seems crazy, but Cars Land is just that awesome. Laura and I used to go to college together and we would hang out in DL basically every Friday night. We visited so frequently that eventually we were on a first name basis w/ multiple Tower CMs. Being friendly w/ CMs can in some cases lead to a private elevator ride (or two, or three, or maybe four… or five???):



I think everyone should have the honor of a personal elevator ride at some point- it's really a rather hilarious scenario.

Anyway, Laura was finally here and had never been to Cars Land, so we were both super excited. The night before our first Disney day we decided to stay up until 3am rewriting Laura's resume, so I felt rather strange the next morning when I woke up at 8am (have I mentioned that I've been going to sleep at 5am and waking up around 1pm lately?). I packed up my new Puma Faas backpack (this is the "new park bag" I've been meaning to write an update about) and was looking forward to trying it out at DL since I bought it to use at WDW in July.

DAY 1: Thursday - May 2, 2013

We parked in Mickey & Friends and trammed it to the parks. Laura had already purchased her student discounted park hopper at school but I had to renew my AP at the ticket kiosks. That didn't take too long and we finally made it into CA Adv around 10:30am (it had opened at 10am). We were hot footing it over there b/c Laura was freaking out about getting Radiator Springs FPs before they ran out. I was in denial and channeling my inner Californian surfer and scoffed that dude, this wasn't WDW so how could FPs run out before 11am? Impossible! Laura said that she had been researching the Radiator Springs FP availability on the DIS and that indeed, they were almost always sold out quite early. We acquired FPs successfully, but I was horrified to see that they were already for like 5pm (the park closed at 9pm that evening) and it was still only 10:35am! The RS FPs actually said that we could get another FP immediately w/out having to wait the usual 2 hr minimum, so we ran over to the Tower and picked up more FPs, then went on stand-by which was the minimum 13 min. We rode in Shaft 1 of course (yes, we've been on the Tower so many times that we have a favorite shaft).

After the Tower, we cut through Bugs Land and arrived in Cars Land. I wanted to go on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and/or Luigi's Flying Tires but they were 15-30 min waits so we continued to RS Racers. The stand-by was something ridiculous, like 70 min or so, however the single rider line was advertised as 20 min long. We got in that line and wound up waiting exactly 20 min. We both really love RS Racers!!!! In particular, we love it when you can see the silhouette of Mater jumping over the moon.

After our race, we had a photo shoot in front of the Sheriff's station:



We passed by Luigi's Flying Tires and I made Laura take this picture:



During the time that we had been racing, the Luigi's line had gone down to 5 min, so we ran inside! Luigi's is such a weird attraction so I love it. You climb onto a gigantic tire that sort of floats around on this frictionless surface that pumps air continuously. You have to shift your weight in different directions to get the tire to travel in the direction you want. There are a bunch of tires floating around together and it's sort of like bumper cars only more fabulous. I enjoyed this Tokyo poster inside the queue:



Then we had a photo shoot in front of this great mirror:



We were getting closer:



We reached this topiary and I didn't really notice it at first, but then I took a closer look and realized that it was a car!



Suddenly the tires broke down. We waited for a few minutes to see if the CMs could rectify the problem. Most people just left, but the few guests who waited were given re-ride passes! It was disappointing that we couldn't go on the flying tires right then, but we really do love using re-ride passes, plus we could bring our friend Kendra along w/ us later that evening once she arrived to meet us after work.

We exited Cars Land for the time being but had a photo shoot before we left:



We made a quick loop past Soarin' but we still couldn't get new FPs and decided we'd come back for them later. We continued our loop and picked up World of Color passes and got the blue section. That area of the park is so nice. I liked this sign:



We stopped at a spot overlooking Grizzly Rapids and we contemplated jumping over the railing and doing cannonballs into the cold, blue foaming water. It was SO hot! Unfortunately the 2 days we wound up going to Disney corresponded w/ the 2 days out of the entire past year that it's been over 85 degrees (and it still hasn't gotten that hot here since!). I took this pic of the COLD ICY CHILLY FREEZING bubbling water (I was so hot!):



We passed Ariel and decided to get CA Screamin' FPs and then double back to Ariel. Just as we were passing the nautical gazebo adjacent to the Ariel's Grotto dining experience, Sailor Donald sauntered out! I insisted we pause for a moment to have a quick photo shoot since there was no line and I LOVE Donald- especially SAILOR Donald!



However I have to say that the Frontier Donald I had a photo shoot w/ in the MK along w/ my stuffed Frontier Pluto (yeah, I have a problem w/ saying no to stuffed animals, but Frontier Pluto is wearing a coonskin cap and moccasins for goodness sake) is my favorite so far:



Sailor Donald was great and was so exasperated w/ the CM who tried to take our photo w/ my camera while the power was off. We continued on to CA Screamin' and picked up FPs. We then had another photo shoot w/ our FPs b/c we were so proud of ourselves for still being able to find a way to hoard FPs even w/ the new FP policy (no late arrivals are allowed!):



I for one need to say this loud and clear:

I HATE THE NEW DISNEY FAST PASS POLICY. In particular: "late arrivals will not be accommodated." How rude!

We realized that it was time to use our Tower FP so:



We were walking back to Ariel and I spotted Trolley Goofy! I liked his pants, so I made Laura come w/ me for a photo shoot- the line was short:



We were just about to walk into the Ariel queue when Maestro Goofy appeared to conduct a water symphony! I had seen this on the DL website and was telling Laura about it in the car; we decided that it sounded fabulous and we would be sure to stop and see one of the symphonies at some point (there are several during the day, and each one is different!). This particular symphony was crazy and was like a big molten combination of several well known melodies, including "Jingle Bells" and "When The Saints Go Marching In." Later when we were waiting to blast off on CA Screamin' there was another symphony underway that included chickens clucking. Yup:



After the symphony, we walked right onto Ariel:



After Ariel, it was already 1 or 2pm and we still hadn't had lunch and needed to get to DL! We needed to eat and do a DL loop before our RS Racers FPs expired at 6:20pm. So we hot footed it over there:



When we arrived on Main Street, a horse drawn omnibus was just pulling up in front of the train station. I absolutely insisted that we get on and take it down to the castle. I was so honored when I saw that we would be traveling courtesy of Eddie that afternoon:







Snapped this pic right before that small blonde boy ran in front of Eddie. I know that Eddie's awesome and the kid was just excited, but I really hate it when I see children pestering animals:



CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

 

[magichusky]

June 21, 2013 cont: A Schnauzer in Disneyland



We walked through Adventure Land and picked up some Indiana Jones FPs, then went in search of lunch. Laura is vegan so was sure to research beforehand all of the CS places where she could actually eat something. We stopped at this tiny CS location in front of Splash Mtn and near the Columbia's dock and Laura ordered a plain baked potato.





I continued on into Critter Country and got lunch at Hungry Bear, where Laura followed w/ the potato and got us a table while I was waiting in line. I got a chicken sandwich, sweet potato fries, and a chocolate milk (the only place I ever drink chocolate milk is Disney for some reason).

I really adore this saying painted onto one of the beams at Hungry Bear:



After lunch, I believe we went on Winnie the Pooh and POTC. We started walking towards Frontier Land and passed a snack cart selling Minute Maid strawberry frozen lemonades! This is another thing that I eat only at Disney. I purchased one and was so excited b/c I hadn't had one for such a long time and it was SO stinkin' hot! We were annoyed b/c our usual quiet path that we take behind BTMR to Fantasy Land was completely fenced off due to the extensive BTMR construction, so we went through the Rancho del Zocalo passage and found ourselves in the new Fantasy Land. I was inhaling the frozen lemonade so stopped for a few minutes to watch the B&theB stage show that had just started. I was really curious as to what it would be like. It turned out to be two corny guys and Belle retelling the story of B&theB, but they kept stopping in the middle and telling bad jokes and making commentary. Neither of us liked it so we only stayed for a few minutes and continued on through the castle and into real Fantasy Land.

The Dumbo queue didn't look too bad so we got in line and I finished my frozen lemonade. After Dumbo we proceeded to Alice, Storybook Canal, and IASW, but all of the queues were just way too long in that heat. On our way to IASW we passed a popcorn cart w/ these completely amazing Dumbo popcorn buckets that Laura had seen on the DIS and had to have. She decided that she didn't want to carry it around for the rest of the day so we would come back for it the next day. We walked over to Tomorrow Land and suddenly my two hours of sleep from the night before caught up to me. I needed to sit down in air conditioning and do some chilling out to reenergize! We went into Pizza Port and I sat down at a table and half went to sleep while Laura found an outlet and recharged her phone.

After around 15 minutes or so, I reapplied a second layer of sunscreen, popped some super minty gum, and slapped myself a few times, then apologized for my moment of weakness. Onward! We went to the Tomorrow Land train station and took the train to Main Street, then decided that we better position ourselves in Cars Land asap so our coveted RS Racers FPs didn't expire. Why do I look like a line backer in this photo???



We then used our CA Screamin' and Tower FPs. When the sun began to set, Laura explained that she had read on the DIS that there was a special something that happened in Cars Land at dusk. She wasn't quite sure what it was but really wanted to see it. We decided to get dinner and eat it on a bench in Cars Land at sunset in order to be be perfectly positioned for observing this mysterious event. There are no vegan options at the Cozy Cone Motel or Flo's V8 Cafe, so we skedaddled over to Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta on the other side of the park, got our food, and skedaddled back to Cars Land. We really liked our Boardwalk dinners, however the woman behind the pasta counter looked at us like we were crazy when Laura explained her nut allergies and veganism and I requested pasta without chicken. I'm not a big meat eater and had already had a chicken sandwich earlier. I think DL and CA Adv need more vegetarian options. I don't know why the pasta dishes in CA Adv come w/ either meat or meat sauce- I always have to request plain marinara sauce and make a nuisance out of myself. The pasta people were really nice and instead of giving us our dinners on regular plates, they loaded them up in plastic take-out containers so we could take them back to Cars Land.

I felt bad for the woman behind the counter though b/c this cranky man came up and instead of taking one of the ready made plates waiting on the heated counter, insisted that someone load up a fresh plate for him personally so he could see that it was fresh w/ his own eyes. He was being quite combative about it actually. I mean, it's sort of silly to be a jerk about the food quality at a CS place in CA Adv. It's CS food- what do you expect?

Laura and I power walked back to Cars Land w/ our food and found a great bench in the middle of everything, right next to where a Photo Pass photographer was set up. It was really excellent people watching, seeing all of the different families and groups stop by to have their photos taken. There was one family w/ a delightful baby who was smiling so sweetly at the camera, which I found incredible since most tiny babies like that have absolutely no idea what's going on and just stare vacantly.

Suddenly, a loud song came on and all of the people teeming in the area stopped and looked up. In a rather grand fashion, all of the lights in Cars Land started flickering on sequentially, starting at the Sheriff's Station and continuing on down the street towards the Land's entrance. It was adorable! And we loved the song! Laura later googled it and it's called "Sh-boom!". Sometimes I play it in my apartment at sunset and turn all of my lights on. I'm serious. You can get it from the Cars soundtrack in the iTunes store!

We were having such a great time on our dinner bench that we hung out there until Kendra arrived. Kendra was supposed to meet us at WDW when we went 2 yrs ago but had to cancel at the last minute, so she hadn't seen Laura since she moved away in 2009! After we used our re-ride pass for Luigi's flying tires, we went under the sea to celebrate:



Isn't that great how Kendra looks so fabulous and Laura and I look a little crazy?

Laura had never seen World of Color so we headed over there since the show was about to start. Prior to that evening, I had only seen WOC twice b/c it's not like the fireworks where you can just walk up at the last minute and watch. You need to get a pass early in the day before they run out, and then line up in your designated viewing zone like 30 min before the show. Way too complicated for me usually! Laura and I had gotten WOC passes earlier, but Kendra didn't have one. We thought we'd give it a shot and ask a CM to have mercy. When entering our designated viewing area, Laura and I gave our passes to a CM and then we said that Kendra had "lost" her pass. Thankfully it wasn't extraordinarily crowded and the CM was pretty nice about it and let Kendra join us! We were so relieved! The CMs warned us that sometimes people get soaked in our viewing section, which was right up against the water. Thankfully it wasn't that windy that evening and it was still pretty warm and humid so we didn't have any problems, although my backpack was super damp (but not my clothing! weird) afterwards. We were so close to the action that when the balls of fire started spewing all over the place, my face felt SO hot! During the fiery POTC segment I was actually like uuh, should we move or something?

I didn't take any photos during the actual show b/c I was afraid my camera would get wet, but I took these after all of the fire balls and waterworks had died down:





After we exited CA Adv for the evening, DL was already closed, so we walked over to the Enchanted Tiki Bar adjacent to the DL Hotel. Kendra and I are obsessed w/ that place and we wanted to show it to Laura. Unfortunately, it was crowded inside and there was nowhere to sit, plus Laura and I were pretty tired from not getting much sleep the night before, so we left. But we would be back tomorrow for more fun to be had by everyone!

DAY 2: Friday - May 3, 2013

The next day, I did my best to roll out of bed early enough for us to make rope drop, but we wound up arriving at CA Adv by almost 11am. We power walked over to the RS Racers FP distribution but they were all gone! We were extremely offended, but went to the Tower instead, which was a splendid alternative. We rode twice in a row as there was no wait and then picked up some FPs for later. Cars Land was exploding so we decided that we'd go down to the Paradise Pier area and double back to Cars Land during lunch when it tends to clear out a little.

CA Screamin' was broken (that darn thing is always broken!) but they were sending out trains for test drives, which meant that it would probably reopen fairly soon. We got in line since there was hardly anyone there but it was SO SO HOT so we decided to move out and check the TSM queue. TSM wound up being a 45 min wait, which was unacceptable for us, plus the single rider line was closed, so we decided to get into a swinging gondola on Mickey's Fun Wheel!!!



We had been in a swinging gondola once before, so we thought "hey, no big deal!" but good grief, that thing wound up feeling extremely precarious! We were actually sort of concerned! At some point, I was practically staring straight down at the water below. It was lovely however because there were some children in a nearby gondola with whom we had a pretty lengthy discussion with! We told each other which Disney characters were on the other's gondola, since you can't tell which character is displayed on your own gondola. We had a pink Minnie gondola!

After we survived Mickey's Fun Wheel, we ran back over to CA Screamin' which had of course reopened the very second we got to the top of the Fun Wheel. Then, we made a grand return to Cars Land and rode Mater's Junkyard Jamboree:



Then we rode single rider RS Racers as the regular stand-by queue was 70 min!



We headed back to DL a little earlier this day, since we had missed out on so many things the day before. We made sure to take a spin on Indiana Jones, then headed back to Hungry Bear for lunch after Laura had picked up her baked potato. We may have eaten the exact same lunches as the day before in the exact same place, but our dining experience was completely different! The reason for this was that we were joined by some friendly ducks:



After the mallard hung out on the adjacent table for awhile, he flew back over to Tom Sawyer Island. Then, another duck came waddling over and I gave her a fragment of a sweet potato fry. She seemed to enjoy it immensely, so I tried an experiment and threw another fragment into the air and Ms. Duck caught it so easily! I did this about 20 more times and Ms. Duck swiftly caught each piece w/ a flick of her beak. Laura and I were mesmerized! This duck had better accuracy than my dog!

After lunch, we headed over to Fantasy Land and stopped at the castle:



Laura picked up her special Dumbo popcorn bucket and we noticed that the IASW queue was super short, so we ran right over. Somehow I was able to take our photo w/ the moose topiary exactly between us:









Once we disembarked the happiest cruise that ever sailed, we saw that the parade had just started and the surrounding area was an absolute madhouse:



We made a quick about face and ran to the Fantasy Land train station so that we could escape that way. We found a woman and her husband having an argument about whether or not to get into the train queue. The woman was purposely blocking the turnstile so no one else could enter the waiting area, and the argument actually lasted for sort of awhile- long enough that we looked at each other and were like really?

We eventually made it onto the train and rode all the way to Main Street. We arrived just as the last few parade floats were rolling by, so we hung around and waited for the flag retreat ceremony to begin (we love the patriotic nature of Disney!):









After the ceremony, we headed into Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln. It was funny b/c pretty much everyone who had attended the flag retreat ceremony migrated w/ us to visit Abe. After the show, we of course ran back over to CA Adv and had a photo shoot w/ Walt. In this photo you can see Laura's Dumbo popcorn bucket:



Next, we went a few rounds on the Tower and Ariel, saw Soarin', and picked up some take out from our new favorite, Boardwalk Pizza & Pasta. We took our dinner to a Cars Land bench once again so we could wait for the grand Sh-Boom! lighting. Afterwards, we ran back over to DL so we could get into position for the special summer fireworks show, "Magical." But first, we took a spin on King Arthur's Carousel:



I noticed the absolute sweetest thing occur here- a man and his service dog were able to ride the carousel w/ us! Before the gates were open to allow everyone to stream out of the waiting area and select their horses, the man and his miniature schnauzer were given a special ramp with which to walk onto the carousel. They sat on one of the benches. The schnauzer was actually so well behaved, and very matter of factly strode up the ramp. After the ride was over and we exited, I turned back and peered over the fence so I could film the pair disembarking the carousel w/ their ramp. Check it out on YouTube:

Miniature Schnauzer Rides Disneyland King Arthur's Carousel- YouTube

We walked around a little but the park had become extremely crowded. That night was actually the first night that "Magical" would be playing for the season, so I think that a lot of the locals came over after dinner to check it out. There were people camping out all over the hub w/ huge blankets. We found a spot on Main Street close to the square, so we could exit the park easily after the fireworks were over. I didn't take any pictures since I had never seen this particular show before and just wanted to enjoy it, plus my fireworks photos always turn out terribly. We actually loved this show!! For some reason, neither Tinkerbell nor Dumbo flew, but it was still fabulous. We particularly liked how the entire show was light and happy, as opposed to the usual "Remember… Dreams Come True" show, which features a villain segment that includes a Haunted Mansion portion w/ green fireballs that shoot up from Main Street! We hate it!

Anyway, we still had some Tower FPs to burn, but we wanted to get on RS Racers one last time before the park closed at 11pm. We wanted to see how it would be to race in the dark of night! The Tower queue was like an hour or something ridiculous, but Laura somehow talked the CMs into letting us get in line 5 min before our FP window started. While we were waiting in the boiler room, we were stressing out about the time since we really needed to get out of there by 10:55pm at the VERY latest in order to sprint to RS Racers and squeak into the queue by 10:59pm. Right before we began loading into the elevator, Laura consulted her phone and it was 10:46pm! We had a blast, but once our elevator landed and we unbuckled our seat belts, we blasted down the stairs, through the gift shop, and into Bugs Land! But somehow it was only 10:51pm at that point and we realized that we had plenty of time. We coasted into the RS Racers single rider queue w/ 5 whole min to spare, where we met our friend Kendra! Laura and I wound up riding in the same car and we raced against Kendra's car! We won of course.

After the race, we all traveled back to DL and journeyed to Neverland. The queue was 30 min, which we would normally scoff at, but for Peter Pan 30 min is actually pretty good! At DL, there are no PP FPs available and the stand-by is almost always a constant 45 min throughout the entire day. It's great that the WDW version has FPs, but I actually like the DL version much much better. In the beginning of the ride, you fly out the window and into the stars, fly over London, and then make a circle around the island of Neverland. The stars and island are not included in the WDW version.

Anyway, we had a perfectly SPLENDID time during our two amazing days in the LAND!! Even though we can't hang out in the land every weekend these days like we used to, I was so very glad that we were able to have a special Disney "weekend" (well, a Thursday and Friday) this time!

NEXT TIME: A Disney-related interview w/ Maureen, a new outfit for 'Ohana, what should I entitle the TR?

 

[conan]

Joining in!

I love that Dumbo popcorn bucket! If I were 8, that would be the perfect place to store my crayons!

The schnauzer riding the carousel is adorable! It looks like he possibly has done that before??

Looking forward to reading more- and reading the TR!

 

[emmysmommy]

I love following along with your DL/DCA adventures! You sure fit a lot in your day! LOVED the ToT ride photo with only the two of you! I've NEVER seen that and it is so cool! That's awesome to get such special attention!

The characters in the Christmas parade are fabulous - especially the gingerbread men and the "skiers". What a great parade.

You may know the answer to this question... I've only seen the flag retreat ceremony a couple times (it is definitely worth seeing) but they gave the flag to a veteran. Do they always do that?? (I think it is a wonderful practice.)

I didn't know about the Carsland sunset happenings. I'll have to keep that in mind. You are a wealth of information.

Your trip is so close now, how exciting!

 

[emilyindisney]

The fact that you guys got a SOLO ( ) ride on ToT is awesome! So glad you got the picture because that is too fun.

Thank you for sharing all your Carsland pics! It looks just like its out of the movie. Hopefully I'll visit for myself one day!

 

[VBsHustla]

Excellent parade pics! I love the gingerbread men and the toy soldiers! I'm now very much in the mood to watch The Santa Clause. Seems perfectly appropriate in 95 degree weather!

What gorgeous Disneyland photos! Nothing flatters me/my hair more than a 300 degree windstorm and three hours of sleep haha. I still really just adore that talented duck (which btw, apparently I set my phone to not download my Vine videos, so it's only watchable via that stupid app!!) and that carouseling puppy!

Also, the "Sh-Boom" Cars Land lighting is just the most charming thing ever. Watching that part of the Cars movie makes it even better! I frequently play that song at sunset as well and am now wishing that NYC had a nightly building lighting song and ceremony haha. I forgot about that baby who was posing so patiently and adorably! So cute. I need to be in Cars Land again immediately!

I am also loving that we rode the Tower like 12 times in two days. And imagine if we weren't being stifled by that ridiculous FP policy? That could have been two pretty legendary days at the Tower. I also certainly love your flag retreat photos. The Dapper Dans plus full Disneyland band look as glorious as ever. Great way to gear up for the 4th!

 

[magichusky]

Joining in!



I love that Dumbo popcorn bucket! If I were 8, that would be the perfect place to store my crayons!

It really would be! I saw some women carrying them around in Hungry Bear and I was like umm, WHERE did you get those??!

The schnauzer riding the carousel is adorable! It looks like he possibly has done that before??

He did look rather confident w/ that whole process! I think my dog would be super stressed out if he was directed to ride on a carousel!

Looking forward to reading more- and reading the TR!

Thanks! I can't wait to post our Wild Africa Trek updates especially!

I love following along with your DL/DCA adventures! You sure fit a lot in your day! LOVED the ToT ride photo with only the two of you! I've NEVER seen that and it is so cool! That's awesome to get such special attention!

Thanks! We would've accomplished even more if the new "no late arrivals" FP policy hadn't taken effect. I don't know why they did that, as the FP queues have always been just fine. We used to be practically the only ones in the tower queue after 9pm, but I think the parks have become generally more crowded over the past few years b/c that NEVER happens anymore.

The characters in the Christmas parade are fabulous - especially the gingerbread men and the "skiers". What a great parade.

It was a spectacular parade! We're really glad that we put in the extra effort to see it. Usually we stay away from most parades (except the Jammin' Jungle!) b/c the people get so combative.

You may know the answer to this question... I've only seen the flag retreat ceremony a couple times (it is definitely worth seeing) but they gave the flag to a veteran. Do they always do that?? (I think it is a wonderful practice.)

I don't recall seeing that- that's so lovely! I always just see the veterans from all the different branches come up while the band plays each branch's anthem. This last time I was spying on a CM nearby who had an earpiece and was obviously in charge of coordinating the flag retreat. What an amusing job that would be! So anyway, I was watching her out of curiosity so may have missed the flag being presented to someone.

I didn't know about the Carsland sunset happenings. I'll have to keep that in mind. You are a wealth of information.

I didn't either until Laura discovered it! It makes Cars Land even more awesome!

Your trip is so close now, how exciting!

We can't even believe it's finally here!

The fact that you guys got a SOLO ( ) ride on ToT is awesome! So glad you got the picture because that is too fun.

Totally! It was SO much fun!! And yes, we absolutely refuse to pay $15 for those ride photos in general but we really had to make exceptions for the solo elevator pics.

Thank you for sharing all your Carsland pics! It looks just like its out of the movie. Hopefully I'll visit for myself one day!

It's sort of crazy how extensive the Radiator Springs rock work is- they were working on that for such a long time! Super impressive, especially in person. And so much more fabulous than Test Track!

Excellent parade pics! I love the gingerbread men and the toy soldiers! I'm now very much in the mood to watch The Santa Clause. Seems perfectly appropriate in 95 degree weather!

That excellent film!! I actually always associate July w/ Christmas b/c we have this "Christmas in July" festival at the mission near our house where a bunch of people set up booths and sell pies and crafts and things. It's marvelous!

What gorgeous Disneyland photos! Nothing flatters me/my hair more than a 300 degree windstorm and three hours of sleep haha. I still really just adore that talented duck (which btw, apparently I set my phone to not download my Vine videos, so it's only watchable via that stupid app!!) and that carouseling puppy!

Darn it about the duck video! Oh well, I'll have to try it out w/ the next duck I encounter. Well my hair sticks up in the air regardless of how much sleep I get! I don't know what I'll do every day when I get a real job haha.

Also, the "Sh-Boom" Cars Land lighting is just the most charming thing ever. Watching that part of the Cars movie makes it even better! I frequently play that song at sunset as well and am now wishing that NYC had a nightly building lighting song and ceremony haha. I forgot about that baby who was posing so patiently and adorably! So cute. I need to be in Cars Land again immediately!

HAHA NYC would be so classy like that. The "Sh-Boom!" lighting was one of my favorite things we did! Followed up by "Magical" made for the perfect evening!

I am also loving that we rode the Tower like 12 times in two days. And imagine if we weren't being stifled by that ridiculous FP policy? That could have been two pretty legendary days at the Tower. I also certainly love your flag retreat photos. The Dapper Dans plus full Disneyland band look as glorious as ever. Great way to gear up for the 4th!

We OWN that tower!!! Stinkin' FP ridiculousness. WHY did they DO that????

...

 

[Eight]

You're leaving next Wednesday!

Love the private ToT picture! I was able to ride it once with just one other person, except.... it was some guy I didn't even know. Haha, it was kind of odd.

Wait, they have sweet potato fries at Hungry Bear? I think I'll have to try those.

And I definitely need to see the lighting of the lights in Cars Land!

Agreed, World of Color viewing is too complicated. I love it, but yeah, I always stress about the viewing. I'm glad the CM let Kendra even without a pass!

That little schnauzer is adorable! He acts like riding a carousel is no big deal, I wonder if he's been on it before? So cute.

 

[magichusky]

You're leaving next Wednesday!

I knoooow!!! I don't even believe it!

Love the private ToT picture! I was able to ride it once with just one other person, except.... it was some guy I didn't even know. Haha, it was kind of odd.

HAHA that must've been so very strange!

Wait, they have sweet potato fries at Hungry Bear? I think I'll have to try those.

Totally- I think they appeared for the first time around a year ago actually. I was so pleased b/c I just love sweet potato fries!

And I definitely need to see the lighting of the lights in Cars Land!

Definitely! It's such an adorable extra touch.

Agreed, World of Color viewing is too complicated. I love it, but yeah, I always stress about the viewing. I'm glad the CM let Kendra even without a pass!

Ugh it's rather annoying! I of course prefer to just waltz up at the last moment.

That little schnauzer is adorable! He acts like riding a carousel is no big deal, I wonder if he's been on it before? So cute.

It really seemed like he had! I don't think Loki would've appreciated that at all!

...

 

[VBsHustla]

Hope you have a great flight tomorrow! You'll be enjoying the MK and those beautifully patriotic fireworks in no time!!