DisneyMartian
Soakin' up some sun in Maui ^_^
- Joined
- May 15, 2009
- Messages
- 25
Here it is. The next part of my TR! Pardon any horrible grammar I may've missed.
The courtyard was an empty precursor to the chaos at the front gate of DL. The gates were packed with jittery teens eager to get in, which took a while due to the high volume of bodies. But it didn’t take long for the crowd to get through and soon, I found myself on good ‘ol Main Street, soaking up the Disney magic and giving myself mental reality checks to make sure I’m not hallucinating.
We were greeted with this awesome banner and a distant display of fireworks above Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, which was turned into the backdrop for a huge stage that featured live performances (to be honest, I didn’t really pay much attention to which celebrities came or not…or whether or not there were actual celebrities performing on the stages or just music pumped through a sound system and brave souls coming to dance on stage). I had missed the fireworks show that kicked off the official start of the night, but I could care less: “Space Mountain” was what was on my mind as I quickly trekked over to Tomorrowland. Not without taking random videos and “wooing” with the crowd as I passed the stage. Hey, what can I say: I was just as pumped as the rest were
.
So I made my way to Tomorrowland, which was surprisingly emptier than I had imagined. That is, until I met the line for “Space Mountain”. A 2 ½ hour wait. I figured that it would die down later when people got tired so I turned around and headed back to the entrance of Tomorrowland. I walked on “Astro Blasters” and then over to one of my must-rides of DL: “Star Tours”.
I went crazy with my camera in the queue; I even accidentally flashed in someone’s face when he turned around just as I took a picture. He seemed cool when I apologized, but I still felt bad. Poor guy
(I somehow lost my Star Tours pics on my computer
. I'll get them posted here when I either locate them or re-upload them)
After admiring the overpriced but adorable Yoda backpack (and the Jedi Mickey one too), I left the Star Traders and passed over “Space” again (this time a 2 hr wait) and rounded my way towards “Finding Nemo” in vain hopes that it would be open since I have yet to ride it. I was bummed at the revelation, but shrugged, seeing another reason to attempt to return here next March. I moved on to Matterhorn. Or rather, I walked by it. The line was too long for me and I wanted to hit as much rides as I can before I jump into the longer lines, like “Space”. I continued onto “it’s a small world”, which to my surprise was not only opened but a walk on as well.
This was my first time on this ride in over a decade. Yes, I have not ridden this ride in 10 years and I was glad to get on that evening. I love the message of unity it “sings” and the audio animatronics are really adorable, especially the newer ones (though I was kind of bummed I didn’t find Jiminy with Pinocchio).
These are probably the best of the pictures I took. It's really difficult to get some good ones when you're moving and you have the flash turned off.
I made my way around the back of Fantasyland and into Frontierland and then over to New Orleans Square, which was a bit more crowded than Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. I headed onto “Haunted Mansion” and “Pirates”, which had pretty fast lines [nerdy fangirl] Disney does an AMAZING job at immersing you into the story of the attraction [/nerdy fangirl] Nearly two hours in and I had already hit five rides. For someone who only gets to go one day a year, this was really good, especially since I only had 5 and a half hours to do everything (our bus would be arriving at about 5:15ish that morning). I said “forget it” when I saw the three hour line to “Indy”. At least, unless it dies down later.
Party at Tom Sawyer's...and he didn't even invite anybody
The crowd in New Orleans Square area (I believe)
Line for Haunted Mansion from near the entrance to the building. It actually went pretty quick. Gotta love the high occupancy rate of the attraction
At that point, I had realized that Fantasyland attractions WERE open and therefore I must hurry over and get on my two “must rides” there before they close them again for the second fireworks show (they would close down the area about 30 minutes before each show). I hurry back over, only not to reach it on time. It was almost three in the morning when I decided to endure the two hour wait for “Space”.
It about 2:45am when I got in line.
(Sorry for the horrible quality, but this basically gives you the idea of how horribly long the line was)
It was almost 3:40am when I reached:
I seriously thought I was going to be in that feet-murdering line until 4:00am. One hour isn’t too bad for “Space” for me. Especially when I got in: it took less than 5 minutes to actually get on the rocket once I got inside the building.
While I was in line outside, the second fireworks show went on. I mostly took video of it.
Once I got off “Space” (I must say, every single time I go on it, I am simply blown away by its amazing effects and soundtrack), I quickly hustled back over to Fantasyland to catch “Pinocchio” and “Mr. Toad”. Not popular among the teens there, but I just had to see my Jiminy and Toady ^_^. Afterwards, I started to wind down and head back around the Matterhorn (which was still too long to get on) and back to the glistening Main Street to do some shopping.
When I was over there at the witching hour, everyone was pumped. By 4 in the morning, the energy had severely worn off. The streets were filled of exhausted teens sitting on the curbs, some even fast asleep on the shoulders of others or against the wall, or on the bench if they were lucky. I too felt the effects of the lost of second wind, but in Disney, I’m nearly always ready to go for more
I bought a new Disneyland sweatshirt that had its new “Celebration” theme, a Dumbo plushie for a friend, and a Grad Nite-themed Mickey Mouse plushie. I forgot the name of the store though...
4:45am. I still had about 30 minutes left before I had to start heading out to the bus. Guessing that “Indy” would still be way too long to jump on and get off on time, I decided to head back to Tomorrowland and hit either “Star Tours” or “Astro Blasters” one last time. I was in the mood for a bit of interaction, so “Astro Blasters” it was. My last ride of the event and it was an epic one for me. It’s always fun trying to aimlessly shoot the targets with eyes stinging from lack of sleep
Once I came out the exit, I sadly concluded that it was wise to start heading out to the bus. So I drag my feet back through Main Street and towards the gate. But just before I approached the exit, I stopped and turned around, facing the long street and the majestic castle at the end on the horizon. I smiled. I was and still am thankful for that fun night. I had dreamed of this event for the last four years and now, at the moment, my dream had finally come true. I had a blast and I felt very fortunate to have been able to afford this trip in this horrible economy. I couldn’t wait to share my memories with my close friends who were unable to attend. Memories that will last me a lifetime.
The dawn signals the end of an event, but the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Thank you Disney.
Here are some other random pics I took to give you more of an idea of the crowds and what the stages looked like.
Can you spot the hidden Minnie in this pic?
This was on display in front of Innoventions that evening.
I don't know whether they were giving this away or not, but it still looked pretty cool. It was a Honda, the company who sponsored some of the features of that night.
Well, this is the final part of the Grad Nite event itself. This was only a portion of the actual grad trip my class took, which also included a trip to Newport beach, Medieval Times, and Six Flags Magic Mountain. If you guys would like, I can do a montage coverage of those areas too, though not as detailed as the Grad Nite. Afterall, twas a "Grad Nite" report
Thanks to you who came read and were patient with me and my long absence. I hope this report gave some insight and answered some questions about Disneyland's Grad Nite. Take care!
(Sorry for the thumbnails. I forgot what I did before to make them clickable for a larger view. So if you need to see some details, just right click on an image, scroll down to "Properties", copy the URL, paste it in the address bar, take out the "th_" before the name of the image, and then enter. Voila! Enjoy!)
The courtyard was an empty precursor to the chaos at the front gate of DL. The gates were packed with jittery teens eager to get in, which took a while due to the high volume of bodies. But it didn’t take long for the crowd to get through and soon, I found myself on good ‘ol Main Street, soaking up the Disney magic and giving myself mental reality checks to make sure I’m not hallucinating.
We were greeted with this awesome banner and a distant display of fireworks above Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, which was turned into the backdrop for a huge stage that featured live performances (to be honest, I didn’t really pay much attention to which celebrities came or not…or whether or not there were actual celebrities performing on the stages or just music pumped through a sound system and brave souls coming to dance on stage). I had missed the fireworks show that kicked off the official start of the night, but I could care less: “Space Mountain” was what was on my mind as I quickly trekked over to Tomorrowland. Not without taking random videos and “wooing” with the crowd as I passed the stage. Hey, what can I say: I was just as pumped as the rest were
.So I made my way to Tomorrowland, which was surprisingly emptier than I had imagined. That is, until I met the line for “Space Mountain”. A 2 ½ hour wait. I figured that it would die down later when people got tired so I turned around and headed back to the entrance of Tomorrowland. I walked on “Astro Blasters” and then over to one of my must-rides of DL: “Star Tours”.
I went crazy with my camera in the queue; I even accidentally flashed in someone’s face when he turned around just as I took a picture. He seemed cool when I apologized, but I still felt bad. Poor guy
(I somehow lost my Star Tours pics on my computer
. I'll get them posted here when I either locate them or re-upload them)After admiring the overpriced but adorable Yoda backpack (and the Jedi Mickey one too), I left the Star Traders and passed over “Space” again (this time a 2 hr wait) and rounded my way towards “Finding Nemo” in vain hopes that it would be open since I have yet to ride it. I was bummed at the revelation, but shrugged, seeing another reason to attempt to return here next March. I moved on to Matterhorn. Or rather, I walked by it. The line was too long for me and I wanted to hit as much rides as I can before I jump into the longer lines, like “Space”. I continued onto “it’s a small world”, which to my surprise was not only opened but a walk on as well.
This was my first time on this ride in over a decade. Yes, I have not ridden this ride in 10 years and I was glad to get on that evening. I love the message of unity it “sings” and the audio animatronics are really adorable, especially the newer ones (though I was kind of bummed I didn’t find Jiminy with Pinocchio).
These are probably the best of the pictures I took. It's really difficult to get some good ones when you're moving and you have the flash turned off.
I made my way around the back of Fantasyland and into Frontierland and then over to New Orleans Square, which was a bit more crowded than Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. I headed onto “Haunted Mansion” and “Pirates”, which had pretty fast lines [nerdy fangirl] Disney does an AMAZING job at immersing you into the story of the attraction [/nerdy fangirl] Nearly two hours in and I had already hit five rides. For someone who only gets to go one day a year, this was really good, especially since I only had 5 and a half hours to do everything (our bus would be arriving at about 5:15ish that morning). I said “forget it” when I saw the three hour line to “Indy”. At least, unless it dies down later.
Party at Tom Sawyer's...and he didn't even invite anybody
The crowd in New Orleans Square area (I believe)
Line for Haunted Mansion from near the entrance to the building. It actually went pretty quick. Gotta love the high occupancy rate of the attraction
At that point, I had realized that Fantasyland attractions WERE open and therefore I must hurry over and get on my two “must rides” there before they close them again for the second fireworks show (they would close down the area about 30 minutes before each show). I hurry back over, only not to reach it on time. It was almost three in the morning when I decided to endure the two hour wait for “Space”.
It about 2:45am when I got in line.
(Sorry for the horrible quality, but this basically gives you the idea of how horribly long the line was)
It was almost 3:40am when I reached:
I seriously thought I was going to be in that feet-murdering line until 4:00am. One hour isn’t too bad for “Space” for me. Especially when I got in: it took less than 5 minutes to actually get on the rocket once I got inside the building.
While I was in line outside, the second fireworks show went on. I mostly took video of it.
Once I got off “Space” (I must say, every single time I go on it, I am simply blown away by its amazing effects and soundtrack), I quickly hustled back over to Fantasyland to catch “Pinocchio” and “Mr. Toad”. Not popular among the teens there, but I just had to see my Jiminy and Toady ^_^. Afterwards, I started to wind down and head back around the Matterhorn (which was still too long to get on) and back to the glistening Main Street to do some shopping.
When I was over there at the witching hour, everyone was pumped. By 4 in the morning, the energy had severely worn off. The streets were filled of exhausted teens sitting on the curbs, some even fast asleep on the shoulders of others or against the wall, or on the bench if they were lucky. I too felt the effects of the lost of second wind, but in Disney, I’m nearly always ready to go for more
I bought a new Disneyland sweatshirt that had its new “Celebration” theme, a Dumbo plushie for a friend, and a Grad Nite-themed Mickey Mouse plushie. I forgot the name of the store though...
4:45am. I still had about 30 minutes left before I had to start heading out to the bus. Guessing that “Indy” would still be way too long to jump on and get off on time, I decided to head back to Tomorrowland and hit either “Star Tours” or “Astro Blasters” one last time. I was in the mood for a bit of interaction, so “Astro Blasters” it was. My last ride of the event and it was an epic one for me. It’s always fun trying to aimlessly shoot the targets with eyes stinging from lack of sleep
Once I came out the exit, I sadly concluded that it was wise to start heading out to the bus. So I drag my feet back through Main Street and towards the gate. But just before I approached the exit, I stopped and turned around, facing the long street and the majestic castle at the end on the horizon. I smiled. I was and still am thankful for that fun night. I had dreamed of this event for the last four years and now, at the moment, my dream had finally come true. I had a blast and I felt very fortunate to have been able to afford this trip in this horrible economy. I couldn’t wait to share my memories with my close friends who were unable to attend. Memories that will last me a lifetime.
The dawn signals the end of an event, but the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Thank you Disney.
Here are some other random pics I took to give you more of an idea of the crowds and what the stages looked like.
Can you spot the hidden Minnie in this pic?
This was on display in front of Innoventions that evening.
I don't know whether they were giving this away or not, but it still looked pretty cool. It was a Honda, the company who sponsored some of the features of that night.
Well, this is the final part of the Grad Nite event itself. This was only a portion of the actual grad trip my class took, which also included a trip to Newport beach, Medieval Times, and Six Flags Magic Mountain. If you guys would like, I can do a montage coverage of those areas too, though not as detailed as the Grad Nite. Afterall, twas a "Grad Nite" report
Thanks to you who came read and were patient with me and my long absence. I hope this report gave some insight and answered some questions about Disneyland's Grad Nite. Take care!
(Sorry for the thumbnails. I forgot what I did before to make them clickable for a larger view. So if you need to see some details, just right click on an image, scroll down to "Properties", copy the URL, paste it in the address bar, take out the "th_" before the name of the image, and then enter. Voila! Enjoy!)
