A quick TR May 2012 - DL, DCA & COMPANY D, yay!

[Disneydreamsdancer]

So! I just got back from the parks last week and thought i’d do a real quick trip report of our visit!

On this trip there was me, Keelie in my 20’s a teacher, dancer and a HUGE Disney fan since I could walk, and my DBF Mark, 31 who had only been to Disneyland once when he was 5 and couldn’t remember much! I decided he needed a proper Disneyland trip!

We flew from Auckland to LAX on Friday May 11. We flew with Air New Zealand, and I have to say I disappointed with the flight crew. I was only offered 2 drinks during the 13 hour flight and requested a few items on the ondemand request system that never turned up. Not all that pleased. Other than that the flight was good, not much turbulence and we landed into LA on time! We got stuck at customs for nearly an hour but got on the Disneyland express and arrived at the resort at 4.30pm! I was supposed to meet a castmember friend of mine at 3pm so I missed him.

We checked into the Carousel Inn and got our room cards. This was the first time I had stayed at this particular hotel and I was very impressed. The rooms were spacious, not huge but plenty of room for both of us and our international luggage! They were clean and tidy. The only negative I can say is the noise. We were on the 3rd floor, just one room away from the breakfast room which meant we had a lot of people coming past our room at all hours of the day and night and not keeping their voices even down to a talking level, people were plain shouting! I can overlook that however as it was not the hotels fault and everything else was just great!

After a quick freshen up we headed over to downtown Disney for some food as we were both, tired, jetlagged and very hungry! We stopped at Wetzel pretzel and picked a spot in the sun outside to eat our yummy pretzels. Once we had eaten we felt quite refreshed and decided we would head into the parks for a couple of hours, it was a grad night so we didn’t want to stay long and were keen on an early night after all the travelling we had done but the Disney lure was too much and lets face it, we were excited to be there!
We got our paper confirmations changed for our 6 day hoppers at the turnstile and were quickly inside Disneyland park.
We strolled down mainstreet and I pointed out some classic Disneyland trivia to Mark who was happy to soak it all in! There was good crowds that evening, walking along the pathways was difficult and rides had a moderate wait time.

We decided on Haunted Mansion as the wait was only 10minutes. Mark loved it! He thought it was a good choice for his first ride, not too crazy and really well themed. It made me smile to see him so excited, I just wanted him to love Disneyland as much as I do!

We then did Captain EO and buzz as I thought with the crowds it was better to stick to free flowing rides. By this time it was 7pm and we were once again getting tired, so with much regret we left the park and went back to the hotel for the night.


On Saturday we were up bright and early, had breakfast at the hotel. This was complimentary and reasonably good, there were donuts, toast, cereal, bagels and fruit, tea and coffee, the usual continental spread.

We made it to rope drop at DCA and headed straight for TOT for fastpasses. I LOVE this ride and hoped that Mark would too, he unlike me is a kiwi born and bred and so has never been to a proper theme park! After we got our FP we went over to California screamin and did stand by as the wait was only 15 minutes.

We had a great ride and then walked round paradise pier to TLM ride. This is my joint favourite ride in the park along with TOT. Ariel is my favourite Disney princess and I find this ride so cute!

After we exited our clam shell we headed back over to the newly deemed Hollywoodland and used our FPs for TOT. Thankfully Mark liked the ride! I just love the theming in the lobby, all the cobwebs on the lights, its just great!

In the afternoon we headed back to the hotel for a rest, I love staying on Harbor for this very reason, its so easy to just walk back for a while. We had dinner reservations for WOC at Ariel’s so get got freshened up and headed back to DCA.

 

[Disneydreamsdancer]

We had a 5.40 reservation for Ariels, on the way in we rode TLM again and then headed over for our reservation. The WOC dinner package was lovely! We had a great server who was very attentive and kept the food coming quickly. He gave us anniversary buttons and much to his embarrassment I made Mark wear his! I loved the white chocolate film strip so much that I asked for a take away box so I could bring it home. It stayed in the hotel fridge all week before I managed to fly it back to NZ without damage. It’s now in my freezer, I want to keep it cause its so pretty!

We got our reserved FPs for WOC and hit a few slower rides while we waited to be let into the section. I did some shopping and got an Ariel top and the animators doll, which I fell in love with on my last trip!
WOC was amazing! Literally blew me away, we were lucky enough to get a railing spot, which was in the ‘wet zone’ however we only got a little bit of mist on us, barely enough to notice. I filmed the whole thing and we both went back to the hotel singing the theme song!

After the show ended we decided to try and make it across to Disneyland to catch the 2nd fantasmic showing! As we walked across the hub the fireworks were going! We managed to make it to rivers of America without too much disruption and wandered over to the harbour galley to get a hot cocoa. I had wanted since reading about it here on the disboards to see fantasmic from further down the river as I had heard you could see the cast getting on and off the boats. As a performer myself and a Disney nut, I was determined to do this! We got a reasonable view of the show and got to see the performers in more of a backstage view. I found it great that despite being no longer visible to the crowds and with the light on the boat all turned out that the castmembers on the Mark Twain still waved at us as they passed where we were sitting in the hungry bear. For me it was a really magical moment.

The next morning we were up at a good hour and went over to Disneyland park to do some more classic rides. As it was mothers day there was a table inside the turnstiles set up with flowers. I got one for my mom, despite her being back in NZ I wanted to know that I was still thinking about her. (As we’re English we celebrate mothers day in March) So I took a photo with the flower and put it safely in my lunch box.

I headed up to the mainstreet station and managed to get a slot on the Lilly Belle for 11am. Mark had no idea what we were waiting for but as he liked trains I knew he would appreciate it!

We sat outside the station taking photos of the crowds and watching the mad hatter and Alice lead the Disneyland band! When we returned to the station we were given paper tickets and led aboard the Lilly Belle. I couldn’t believe how plush and beautiful the carriage was. We had a castmember who came round with us and told us tales and historical facts about the car and the park. It was a great experience and I would definitely recommend it!

After that we headed over to Frontierland and rode BTMRR and Indiana Jones. By lunchtime the queues were excessive. All rides had a 60+ wait and we had to queue for 30minutes to get some lunch at Jolly Holiday. We decided to leave the parks for another day and headed up to Fullerton where there was a dancewear store I had a meeting with.


On Monday we headed straight for DCA rope drop, with the intention of riding Toy story midway mania.

I have never ridden this ride due to the crazy lines it gets during the day! We both really enjoyed it, I was worried about the spinning, I won’t go near the teacups! However it was great and I beat Mark, much to his annoyance!

We then headed back over to Disneyland park to get some good photos of the hub and the castle. I love taking shots of the castle from as many angles as possible! Its so beautiful!

We had some lunch in Frontierland, I had bought a packed lunch from the hotel and Mark tried one of the famous Turkey Legs!
We then got the rafts over to Pirate Island so have a look around and eat our lunch in peace. We had lots of fun exploring the island, seeing where all the trap doors are for fantasmic and seeing all the firework caps that litter the area! I am seriously a HUGE Disney geek when it comes to backstage stuff and anything relating to performing, so after seeing the performers in fantasmic disembark the Mark Twain and somehow change in the same area the boat docked and make it to the rafts in under 15minutes we were keen to explore to see if we could find any castmember only areas that could relate to it. I can only assume they use the old fort wilderness that is no longer accessible to the public. We had lots of fun hunting for anything relating to fantasmic!

 

[Disneydreamsdancer]

In the afternoon we headed over to DCA and did animation academy, which I discovered on my last DL trip and love so much! We keep all our drawings and mom frames them and puts them around the house. We also rode Monsters inc and went to see my castmember friend who was working in Muppets 3D. We ate dinner at the boardwalk pizza and pasta place, I had a kids meal as I find the portion sizes for adult meals too much and it was great! Just the right size and great food! We listened to the band playing live, checked our emails and headed back to the hotel for an early night as we would be using our MM the next day!

The next morning I left Mark at the hub, he wanted to ride space mountain, star tours and splash mountain, all of which I have ridden before and wasn’t keen to do again anytime soon! I headed into fantasyland and rode Mr Toad,

I then went to see my castmember friend in Pixie hollow. I got some squashed pennies for my collection at the princess fantasy faire and wrote my mom and email while resting on the benches. I then realised I still had over an hour till I was due to meet back up with Mark so I thought i’d get some more rides done. At first it felt strange being on my own but I grew to love the freedom it gave me! I found BTMRR had a 5 minute wait so I jumped right on!

I did find that you slide around quite alot when you ride by yourself though!

I then headed over to Indiana Jones and did single rider. This was the first time I have ever tried this and it was great. For those of you not familiar with SR, for indy you enter through the exit line and then take a lift up and then down to the ride. It deposits you right by the ride and I managed to get straight in a car. It didn’t matter to me that I didn’t know those I was riding with, as the lack of a queue was worth it!

By that point it was time to meet up with Mark in the hub. He had had a great time riding his rides and was only slightly wet from splash. We both headed over to DCA and straight onto Ariel’s again! This time I filmed the ride, yup I really do love it! I have to say her new hair is muc better than the soft serve she had before!

Mark then decided he wanted to do single rider GRR as he was dry again, I was not keen to get wet as I had only denim to wear so we separated again and I went to animation academy to do a couple of shows there.

 

[Disneydreamsdancer]

Mark then met up with me and he was soaked...completely! I had warned him! He was in good spirits though and as the sun was out we did stand by TOT before heading back to the hotel for a rest.

We were so tired, with the journey finally catching up with us that we decided to stay in and just chill for the evening. We were asleep by 8.30pm!
On Wednesday we headed in LA for some sightseeing. We did the VIP tour at Warner bros. I came here for a shooting in January for The big bang theory (in my previous TR) so it was lovely to come back and do the tour. I loved the warner bros museum, they have one of the real sorting hats in there that can digitally sort you, I got in Gryffindor and Mark made it into Slytherin, it was great! We had Mickey waffles at the soda store before heading to the Hollywood sign and stopped at the block at orange for shopping on the way back. (I go back to college next week and nowhere beats office corporate wear better than H&M)

On our last day in the parks we got up early to meet with my friend! We checked out of the hotel and had our luggage stored. A sales rep got talking to us about timeshare properties and Mark made an appointment for later in the day to go to meet about it.

We met with my friend and drove to CompanyD. I LOVE this place so much! I spent well over $100 but got so much, everything is so marked down and the staff are amazing, so friendly and helpful! My pride and joy was a pin I got which says ‘castmember’ and is the same as the name badges they wear.

We headed back to the parks together and started in DCA we rode TOT with my friend before Mark had to go to his timeshare meeting.

Me and my friend stayed in the park and rode Ariel’s one last time and did another drawing at the animation academy. Despite having worked for Disneyland for over 20 years it was his first class! We then walked over to Disneyland park and rode POTC. We had a real blast and I was sad to say goodbye to him again when we met up with Mark.

Remember that flower I got my mom? I had managed to keep it alive in my Tupperware box all week, I had wanted to take it back to NZ but customs does not allow you to bring plant stuff into NZ so I took it back to the hub and left it in Minnie’s hand. I thought that was fitting and I knew my mom would love it. I took a photo and I got some last minute shopping and we headed back to the hotel.

We collected our luggage and got the Disneyland express back to LAX, the journey was quick and we checked in early. Thankfully this flight we were seated together and had an amazing attendant, she was great and more than made up for the bad service we had on the way up to LA. Two days later we landed in Auckland, very tired but very happy, I love Disneyland so much!

The crowds were the highest I have seen them, even higher than just before xmas, I guess that had to do with the gradnites and the soon opening of Carsland. We had hoped that most people would hold off until it opened but it seemed many others had the same idea! The crowds would have been manageable without the hundred and hundreds of school groups in matching tshirts, there were literally so many of them! We managed the crowds well though thanks to the tip I got here on the dis, thanks everyone!

 

[DisneytheKid]

Love the TR! Thanks for the great pictures! They help tide me over til December!!!