Tour Day Five (Saturday 4/17):
Theme: Behind the Orange Grove
Word of the Day: Forced Perspective
We met at 7:00 a.m. again in the Grand Californian and walked through Downtown Disney to have a character breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen in the Disneyland Hotel. This was a really good buffet breakfast and the characters were bountiful!
After breakfast, we entered Disney’s California Adventure before it officially opened and headed straight for Soarin’ over California (as the ride is known here – where it originated).
Isn't the Disneyland monorail just so much neater in a retro sort of way than the WDW one?
Once again, we were divided into two groups, although we had no idea why.
The group Phillip and I were in was loaded onto the ride – everyone on the top row! No dangling feet! We love this ride anyway, but we really enjoyed our private ride very much. Once it was over, everyone was cheering “Again! Again!” They had us sit back down and ride a second time – and we actually thought it had been because of our pleading.
As we exited the ride, we met the other group coming up some steps. They were very psyched. Pete was saying that he had experienced the most awesome thing he’d ever experienced. The group was raving, but they wouldn’t tell us why.
We then turned down those same steps and found ourselves behind and below the screen of Soarin’. The screen is actually perforated metal, so you can see through it from the back. We watched our counterparts being loaded onto the ride and they hollered at us, the difference being that they knew we were watching them, where we had not known.
It was an amazing vantage point. We could see the pictures on the screen, hear the music, and see how HIGH OUR FRIENDS WERE REALLY BEING LIFTED on that contraption! Holy cow! (I almost wish I hadn’t seen that part.) The "cars" really move around quite a bit, side to side, up and down, tilting. More than you realize when you're on the ride. It was funny to watch everyone lift their feet at the same times too. It’s one of those things that you have to experience to appreciate probably, but I’ll just say that most in our group were as impressed by this experience as they had been by anything else on the trip.
Oh – and it ended up that our group had gotten the second ride NOT because of our persuasiveness, but because a door had been locked, preventing the other group from getting down the steps in time to witness our first ride.
Once reunited, we made our way together to Turtle Talk with Crush. Phillip and I have never done this in Epcot, so it was interesting to experience. We then had an animation experience where we all learned to draw Mickey Mouse.
We were assigned cardboard tubes to save our “artwork.” These tubes would become even more important later that night.
We were each given five fast passes for use for the rest of the day and told that the day was ours, but, if we liked, we could have an optional group ride on the Tower of Terror. Most in our group chose to do this, although some did not. I was in the “did not” category, but went with the group to experience the pre-ride and queue. The interesting consensus of most who rode was, although it was fun of course, this was the first attraction they’d experienced that was actually better at WDW than at Disneyland. The line area was not nearly as detailed and “boiler-room-like” as the one at WDW for instance. And the effects weren’t the same on the actual ride.
Some of us then made our way to the California Screamin’ rollercoaster to use a fast pass.
Tonya’s mom Carol and I sat this one out, but we got pictures of those who rode, just before their “launch.”
After that, Tonya remembered that the Aladdin show is nearing the end of its run. Everyone had heard such good things about it (including seeing it on one of Samantha Brown’s shows), that we decided it would be worth the wait for the 1:00 show. We made our way back to the Hollywood area of DCA and found our place in line. I think we waited about 30 minutes before they seated us.
It was well-worth the wait. Broadway caliber show for sure. It was a very entertaining hour. I can see how, by fleshing the story out a bit, this could be Disney’s next Broadway offering.
Starving, we decided to sample some of the Food & Wine offerings from the main area.
You’ll find more information about the Food & Wine offerings in other places. I just know that what I had was good (cheese soup and a wonderful pear salad) and Phillip had some sliced beef sliders and a cheese plate. He played with the interactive Coke machine and I had a small glass of beer. The best part of this meal was that we met up with Don (SFBayDon) and had a nice chat while we ate.
Inadvertant post-meal hidden Mickey, captured by Phillip...
After this, Phillip and I were just completely wiped out. We returned to the Grand Californian for a much-needed nap. It wasn’t that this particular day had been so taxing. It was more that we had just reached our limit for a bit.
Our farewell dinner was scheduled for that evening. We all met in the lobby once more and made our way to a lovely conference room in the Grand Californian Conference Center where tables had been set for a rather formal meal. Wine was offered for this meal as well and there was a buffet serving line set up just outside in a small courtyard area. This meal was truly very good, especially for “conference center/convention” food.
Pete stood up and made some comments about the trip and the fact that we were celebrating Walter’s birthday, even though Walter had conveniently slipped out of the room at this point. Seems Walter is not much for a “fuss.” Pete quite eloquently expressed what most of us had been feeling about the trip, the people, the guides, ABD, and how our expectations had been surpassed.
Pete also told us then that
Dreams Unlimited would be picking up the tab so that we could each receive the 1000+ Photopass CD of all of the photographs the guides had taken throughout the trip at no charge to us. Classy and unexpected!
When Walter returned to the room, the group presented him with the special birthday gift to which we had all contributed. I’m going to borrow Karen’s (klam_chowder) words to explain what he received, since she was the one who coordinated the gift (with help from Katherine and John).
klam_chowder said:
Walter's mother is a full status Lumbee tribe member and Walter is interested in his heritage. The pinecone patchwork design is recognized by those knowledgeable about Native American artwork as being unique to this tribe.
The artist, James Malcolm, is well known in the arts circles, active in his community, and was one of the highly recommended artisans by the Curator of a university which specializes in Native American culture. James is a frequent contributor to juried art exhibitions and is often travelling to Unity conferences, etc. He was wonderful to work with. If you want more information on him or to see more of his incredible work, check out his website:
http://www.darkwaterdesigns.com/
Here is a picture of Walter with the gift that our ABD group presented to him for his birthday:
Walter was very surprised and quite touched by the gift. It was wonderful to have been a part of something which Walter (and therefore Pete) found so moving!
Here was Walter’s response, which many of you read here on the boards…
WalterAKAscar said:
I have to especially thank the wonderful group of people attending the
Adventures by Disney trip with us who gave me one on the best gifts that I have ever received, a gorgeous pinecone patchwork from an artisan that belongs to the same Native American tribe that I belong to, the Lumbee. They had this beautiful piece of art shipped here from North Carolina. I was moved to tears by their thoughtfulness. I can never thank you guys enough. You have no idea how much this gift means to me. I will truly treasure this the rest of my life.
The ABD guides then showed us a slideshow made up of some of the pictures they had taken throughout the trip. I was surprised at how moved I was. Spending this kind of time with people, even if it’s a large group of 40+ people, with this kind of itinerary, sharing things that you all have an affinity for, creates friendships beyond what one would expect. I would have been much sadder if I didn’t know that we were going to see most of these folks again in December on the Podcast Cruise.
While all of this was going on, Disney artist and historian, Stacia Martin, who has been with Disney for over 30 years, was calling each party up one-by-one to draw a personalized sketch of our favorite classic Disney character – signed specifically for and to us. Phillip and I chose Pluto and, although I don’t have any pictures of it to share, we will be matting and framing it to hang in our family room. She was amazing. She talked to us the entire time she was drawing about the history of Pluto and all of his classic cartoon shorts!
Those cardboard tubes from this morning’s animation activity miraculously reappeared and the drawings were carefully placed in them for transport home! It is AMAZING!
Then, to top it all off, the big cheese himself and his best gal showed up for photo opportunities with all of the adventurers! Mickey and Minnie joined in the fun and were quite gracious in posing with everyone.
When it was time to depart, we were reminded about our fast passes and told that we would have a special private VIP viewing area near Main Street USA for the Disneyland fireworks scheduled for 9:30 that evening.
We ran back up to the room, dropped off our loot, grabbed a jacket, met up with Kathy again in the lobby, and headed over to Disneyland for the fireworks.
Our fireworks area was roped off near the Plaza. It was a great location. We slowly gathered there as people began to arrive. ABD guide, Jaime, earned his pay that night by showing his stuff as a Cast Member who’s done a little bit of everything at Disneyland. He continually ran folks off who stood in front of our ropes (and even one person who slipped under them). He was like a bulldog. It was great to watch.
The Disneyland fireworks are impressive. More impressive than Wishes in my opinion. It was a great way to cap off our farewell dinner.
After the fireworks, we added a few local DISers to our party and began to make our way round the park, using those wonderful fast passes (and sharing them with the locals). Pirates, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, we did them all. Phillip, Kathy and I shut down the park by finally getting the chance to ride the Matterhorn, which had been down earlier and only seems to be open on weekends. It’s a rough ride, but it’s a classic and THOSE 40+-year-old Yeti monsters actually work!
It was almost 1:00 a.m. by the time we made it back to the hotel room. We were very glad we’d added an extra night to our trip (as had many in the group), so tonight wasn’t our last night.
To be continued…
. I went on this trip in Dec 2008 & I am so enjoying reliving it with you.
I am a huge MP fan!!!!
