But You Have Promised Me A Subtropical Paradise

[dolphingirl47]

So I ended up getting my first glimpse of Buena Vista Street a lot earlier than I had expected. It was love at first sight. I have to admit I was more than a little suspicious when the plans for California Adventure were announced as I liked the park before and those kind of makeovers do not always turn out to be an improvement. However, Disney definitely got it right with Buena Vista Street. The whole area is so beautiful. After a quick look around, I headed to the Photopass shop to exchange my voucher for my lanyard and get my photo package from breakfast. This ended up taking longer than I had expected. I had a family in front of me who already had purchased some ride photos and now wanted to upgrade to Photopass +. This seemed to be a rather complicated process. It is also $30 more expensive to do it at the park than pre-ordering it. Eventually they were all sorted out and I handed my voucher over and this was scanned and I was handed my lanyard. I was then send over to the viewing stations so that a cast member could help me locating the photos that were taken at breakfast and add them to my Photopass+ lanyard. This was a very smooth process, but they did not have the folders for the print package. So I was asked to come back in the afternoon to get my prints. This actually worked great as I did not have to carry them around with me all day.

When I came out of the shop and walked up Buena Vista Street, I just saw Chip and Dale going in. I walked a bit further and saw Mickey in his Buena Vista Street Outfit and he did not have much of a line. So I figured that I have time to go and see him. By the time it was my turn, there was hardly anybody behind me and Mickey spend a a couple of minutes with me. I then walked towards the central hub of Buena Vista Street and spotted Goofy in the distance who was just leaving, but Pluto was around for photos so I went to see him. Again, I only had a short wait and I had a brilliant interaction with him. After I said goodbye to him, I headed over to Hollywoodland.


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Part of the deal with Photopass+ is that you get a ride photo at participating rides added to your Photopass lanyard. Those rides are Tower of Terror, California Screamin and Radiator Springs Racers at Disney California Adventure and Space Mountain and Splash Mountain at Disneyland. I had every intention to get the full set. There was one little problem with this though. Space Mountain I can tolerate at Disneyland and I was definitely going to do Radiator Springs Racers. Tower of Terror and Splash Mountain freak me out and I was never brave enough to try California Screamin. Still, I had the best intentions. So my next stop was Tower of Terror to check out the waiting time. On the way, I came across a Photopass photographer who took photos against the street backdrop. So I stopped to have some photos taken. When I got to Tower of Terror, the standby time was 45 minutes, which was too much for my liking, but the Fastpass return time was only a little over an hour away. So I decided to get a Fastpass and then cut through A Bug's Land on my way to Paradise Pier.


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[dolphingirl47]

I quickly stopped by Duffy's photo spot and asked the Photopass photographer when Duffy would be out. She expected him out any minute. So I decided to hang around as I had never managed to catch Duffy in his sailor outfit. I have photos with him dressed up as pumpkin and as Santa, but not in his normal outfit. I noticed that Donald in his nautical outfit was in the little gazebo at the entrance to Paradise Pier. I decided that I would go and see him while I was waiting for Duffy. The problem with this was that Donald's line had a first class view of the launch area of California Screamin. Even though I had convinced myself over the previous weeks that I had done and enjoyed much more thrilling rides, I started to second-guess my decision to try this ride. Anyway, eventually it was my turn to see Donald and when I was done, Duffy had arrived and there was only one family ahead of me. I had my photo taken with him and then headed towards California Screamin.


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I had read time and time again that this ride had a single rider line, but I could not find any evidence of this. The standby time was only about 30 minutes, which was not bad, but I figured that I would chicken out if I had that long to think about this. The window for my Fastpass had not yet opened so I could not get another one. So I decided to go and do Toy Story Midway Mania and then get the Fastpass afterwards. The posted waiting time for Toy Story Midway Mania was 45 minutes and this is about the only ride that I will consider waiting that long for, but the line did not look that bad and seems to be moving steadily. In the end it was only just short of 30 minutes and I loved the ride as much as I remembered. I took a couple of photos of the exit area and then I went for a quick bathroom stop.


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By now my Fastpass window for Tower of Terror had opened. I decided to head there and ride this first to see how I was getting on and if I was OK with this, I would come back and get a Fastpass for California Screamin before heading to Cars Land. With this plan made, I cut through A Bug's Land again and headed to Tower of Terror. I was absolutely fine about this right to the moment that I sat down in my seat in the service elevator and buckled up. Then I started to wonder what on earth I was doing, but by then it was too late. The doors were closed and we were on the move. I tried Tower of Terror once before at Disney's Hollywood Studios and this totally freaked me up. Well, this was not a bundle of laughs either, but did not seem quite as intense as the one at Walt Disney World. I even came out thinking that now I have to try the one at the Walt Disney Studios in Paris, too. My knees were shaking when I walked towards the gift shop, but I was essentially OK. I made sure to memorise the number for my photo and headed to the photo pick up. I presented my Photopass+ lanyard and gave the cast member the number. He pulled it up for me so that I could check it was the right one and then added it to my Photopass+ lanyard. I had a quick look around the gift shop and was very tempted by a t shirt saying "I survived the Tower of Terror", but I resisted.


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[dolphingirl47]

As I left the gift shop, I decided that I had enough thrills for the day and was going to see if I could convince somebody the next day to ride California Screamin with me. So I headed off to Cars Land. There was a Photopass photographer by the sign for Cars Land and I stopped for some photos. Then I headed straight to Radiator Springs Racers. There were no Fastpasses available and the standby line was 80 minutes, but I had heard that the single rider line was a good bet. This turned out to be correct. I waited about 20 minutes even though the single rider line was huge. I took some photos while I was in line. I was quite curious about this ride. I knew that it shares the ride technology with Test Track and I have always enjoyed this. Graham had watched a YouTube video and had decided from this that the ride is mediocre. I had also read countless reviews and some were glowing and others proclaimed the ride to be a total waste of space and talking about having to suffer through a tedious dark ride element before getting to the race. So on the whole, my expectations were pretty low. Well, I loved it. I thought the dark ride part was cute and well put together and the race was even more thrilling than Test Track as it features quite a few dips and more sharp banks than Test Track.


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As Radiator Springs Racers has a ride photo, I needed to get this added to my Photopass+ lanyard. The photo pick up there is peculiar. Pretty much straight after you come off the ride, there is a bank of screens for the photo. I memorised the number and headed down some stairs where there was another screen and a courtesy phone to order photos. I could not figure out how this would work with Photopass+. Fortunately there was a cast member in the area so I could ask. He told me that I had to go back up the stairs. I told that nobody had been there and he told me that two people would be up there. So I back-tracked and sure enough, opposite the screens there were some counters for the photo pick up. As this is behind you when you come from the ride, I had never spotted this. Anyway, I got my photo added and I was on my way.


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[dolphingirl47]

I had a walk around Cars Land next. I know that people are very enthusiastic about this, but I don't quite get it. I love the two rides there that I did, but on the whole it feels disjointed. I wonder if I had felt differently if I had seen Cars Land first, but after seeing Buena Vista Street first, it was a little disappointing. I still had a good walk around and took some photos and had some more Photopass photos taken.


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While I was wandering around, I came across the Casa Della Tires. At this point I had no idea what this was all about, but a lot of people seem to be heading inside so I decided to check it out. This is actually the queuing area for Luigi's Flying Tires and the majority of the line for this ride is inside the building. This was a definite bonus as it was getting quite hot by now. I was also curious about the ride so I got in line. The theming of the line is very clever. The ride itself is outside and is classified as a bumper car ride. It has also been described as a giant air hockey table. The ride vehicles are oversized tires with a soft bottom, which seat up to three people. Air that flows underneath them lifts them a couple of inches in the air and they are controlled by leaning in the direction you want to travel in. This is a lot of fun and probably even more so if you are doing it with other people.


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I took some more photos while heading towards the exit of Cars Land. At this stage I had essentially done everything I was going to do at this stage. So I decided to have a closer look at Buena Vista Street and get my photo package before temporarily leaving the park. I thought that Buena Vista Street was beautiful in the morning, but now that I had some time to look at it a bit closer, I was absolutely blown away by this. I missed Chip and Dale again as they were just heading in, but I was happy to just walk around and absorb the atmosphere. I found the new partners statue that was commissioned for Buena Vista Street and I much prefer this to the one at Disneyland. A Photopass photographer was offering to take my photo with it and I took her up on the offer. After I had a good look around, I decided to get something to drink. I was happy that they had orange soda at the little market place. I also learned something interesting. At Disneyland the Key to The Magic card loses the ability to charge to it as soon as you check out and not at midnight of that day like at Walt Disney World. As I had yet to get any cash, I had to pay for my drink with my debit card. Fortunately they are pretty used to this in the USA.


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[dolphingirl47]

There was one more thing I wanted to do. I was going for drinks at the 1901 lounge later. The 1901 lounge is an extension of Club 33 and is located in the Carthay Circle building on Buena Vista Street. It also turns out to be very hidden. I walked around the building a couple of times before finding the entrance. They seem to be very reluctant to have people in the area. As soon as I approached a cast member came over to see what I was doing there. I explained that I was meeting somebody there in a short while and was just checking out where I needed to be. This seemed to satisfy her. I took a couple of quick photos of the entrance area and the sign and then I moved on I picked up my photo package and then I headed back to the hotel.


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The reason why was heading back to the hotel was that I had arranged to meet somebody from the Animal Kingdom Lodge thread there before heading back to the park. I had mentioned this to Graham and he said that he was going to be there if he remembered. He was just planning on having a lazy day by the pool so as soon as I headed back to the hotel, I had a look around the pool area. He was nowhere to be found so I went to the lobby. I checked with the front desk if my missing package had arrived, which fortunately it had. Then I went to find a seat and found Graham in the process. He had had enough sun for one day and had made himself comfortable near the piano. I went to join him and for a while listened to the piano player. Graham mentioned that earlier on she had asked people hanging out in the lobby what their favourite Disney songs are. He was being sarcastic and told her It's A Small World and she proceeded to play this for him. I laughed so hard when he told me this. I then was mulling over what my favourite Disney song was. The first thing that came to mind was the soundtrack from Soarin, but I am not sure how this would translate into piano music. So in my mind, I settled on The Colors of the Wind from Pocahontas. Of course shortly afterwards, she started to play this. She was very good. She played mostly Disney songs, but also some other stuff including some songs from Les Miserables. I enjoyed my orange soda while I listened.

I checked my emails and noticed a message from the person I was due to meet saying that she was running slightly behind. This gave me time for a bathroom break and to get some cash from the cash machine at the hotel. When I first sat down with Graham, one of the DVC staff that are based in the hotel came to speak to us. We chatted for a while. A little while later, we saw his partner in crime and he looked familiar. He spotted us and came over. He was one of the DVC staff on the Hawaii cruise last year. We talked for a while and shared memories. It was nice to see him again. Shortly afterwards, the person I had been waiting for arrived. We all chatted for about 10 minutes and then we left Graham to his own devices and headed over to California Adventure.

 

[dolphingirl47]

I was so excited that I could have burst. First of all it is always great to meet somebody that you have met online in person, but I was in for a real treat. I had read countless articles about the 1901 lounge, looked at hundreds of photos and seen it feature in a few trip reports. I still could not believe that I would actually get to see it for myself. However, this was precisely where we were headed. The park suddenly felt very crowded, but this was partly because Minnie Fly Girls Charter Airline was in full swing opposite Soarin over California, which had pulled quite a crowd. When we reached Buena Vista Street, the crowds were a lot lighter. We had arranged to meet a friend of the person I was meeting who was the one who made it possible that we could meet at the 1901 lounge. He prefers to remain anonymous and I fully respect this. I was asked if I wanted to take a photo of the sign, but I had already taken care of this. So we walked through those magical doors and checked in with reception. There are two seating areas and we made ourselves comfortable in the family room area which is the opposite end from where the bar is. There is a shelf in this area that is said to contain something representing every land at the Disneyland park. I have read since that the model plane on the shelf used to be on Walt Disney's desk. There is also an amazing stained glass lamp in this area that kept drawing my eye and an interactive picture frame that shows Snow White being drawn and every now and again, Snow White pops out of the page.


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It was a little while until somebody came to check if we wanted to get something to drink. The reason for that seemed to be that one of the guests was feeling unwell and needed medical attention so all of the staff's attention was taken up by this. I was quite happy just to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and to chat. The hustle and bustle of Disneyland and California Adventure seems a million miles away. 1901 Lounge is very serene and peaceful. Eventually a bar tender came to check what we wanted. I had read about their Martini with a special ice sphere so I decided to go with this. I also got some water. The had my Martini the traditional way with gin, but they also had the option for a vodka Martini. The bartender came with a cart and made the Martini right there at the table. They have some device that is made from some type of aluminium alloy that makes the ice spheres. They get cylinders of ice made from purified water and this is entered into a metal tube. A few seconds later, this has been turned into a perfect sphere that looks like a crystal ball. This melts very slowly, which means that the drink does not get watered down. Unfortunately all the photos have ended up being blurred. The Martini was amazing, it was so smooth that it could have made you weep. It also came with two Blue Cheese stuffed olives that were very nice. We enjoyed our drinks and carried on chatting.


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A little while later, I decided to have a walk around to check out all the neat things at 1901. There was a mix of photos, drawings and memos. There is another interactive picture frame where Mickey was supposed to do something, but I did not see this. There was also another amazing stained glass lamp. In front of the bar, there are two pairs of chairs with names on them. One pair has the names Roy and Edna on them and the other pair Walt and Lillian. We ended up sitting in the Walt and Lillian chairs for a while and talked to the bartender. We all like wine so we talked for a while about different wines and also what kind of training bartenders at Disneyland have. This is actually very impressive. Unfortunately all to soon the time came to say goodbye. I had to head back to the hotel to meet Graham and head over to the Disneyland Hotel for our reservation at Goofy's Kitchen. On the way, I had a quick peek in one of the shops.


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[dolphingirl47]

Graham had moved to another area of the lobby. I took a few photos of the lobby while Graham was getting changed for dinner and once he was back, we headed over the Disneyland Hotel. When we got to Goofy's Kitchen, it seemed very busy, but we did not have to wait long until we were checked in and then we were sent straight to have our photo taken with Goofy. We were then asked to sit down until somebody would come for us when the table was ready. Again, we did not have to wait very long. While we were waiting for our server to take the drinks order, Dale came by to say "hi" and Graham took a photo of us. I went to the buffet to get some salad and Pluto came to visit shortly after I came back. I then went for some hot food. I had some vegetable pot stickers, some Mexican beef stir fry with rice, some pasta and carved pork and strip loin. Graham did have have pretty much the same, but also had some fish. I had eyed the kids table with goodies like Macaroni Cheese Pizza, meatballs and popcorn shrimp, but I was too full. Graham had some kind of fruit cobbler for dessert. I had a look at the dessert buffet, but there was nothing there that really grabbed me so I had a slice of Peanut Butter and Jelly Pizza for my dessert, which was very tasty. During the course of the meal, Aladdin and Minnie also came to visit. Jasmine and Chip were also around, but never made it to our table. I was not too bothered about Chip as I knew I would see plenty of him around the ship, but I would have liked a photo with Jasmine as I have never met her before.


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One of the good things about Goofy's Kitchen is that you pay when you are checking in and this includes an automatic tip. So unless you had any alcoholic drinks, there is nothing to pay at the end of the meal. We had to wait for our photo package to be brought to us. This is a neat book with some recipes and the photo with Chef Goofy. Once we had this, we slowly walked back to the Grand Californian Hotel. There was some live entertainment going on at Downtown Disney and this was pulling some crowds. I quickly popped into D Street as I wanted to see if they still did the 9 inch Create Your Own Vinylmation, but I was out of luck.


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We headed back to the hotel and retrieved you luggage from Bell Services. They took our luggage to the area where Shuttles pick up from for us and there was also a handy bench. It was still a bit too early for our shuttle, but it was a beautiful evening and therefore no hardship to sit outside. The shuttle arrived right on time and soon we were on our way to Seal Beach. Our friends were only due to return from a conference on the East Coast that evening. I had regular updates on their progress and they had landed in Los Angeles while we were still at dinner. The house was dark when we arrived, but we figured they would not be far behind. When I got off the shuttle, I must have taken a wrong step as I ended up on the floor. I had all of our cameras and I was a bit worried about them as I hit the floor hard, but fortunately they were packed well and did not come to any harm. I ended up with a few bruises, but was otherwise OK, too. Our friends were already at home after all and came out to welcome us. It was great to see them again.

We spent some time sitting in the kitchen catching up. Graham was introduced to some new beers and I just had a coke. I gave them the presents that I had brought. After a couple of ours we were all ready for our beds. We would have a very busy day of us the next day. When it was bedtime, we had a huge surprise. Last year the room we were sleeping in had a double bed, which was very comfortable. This year this had been replaced by a huge bed. This was supposed to be a king sized bed, but was much bigger. Graham and I were joking that we would need to pack a picnic to get from one side of the bed to the other. We got ready for bed and fell asleep as soon as we were laying down.

 

[tiggrbaby]

Your face is just a picture of joy with the characters!

 

[Pinkocto]

Wow, what an update!

You got in quite a few rides. Loving your pictures, can't wait to finally see DL in September.

Glad you tried ToT, that's one of my favorites.

Your meet with Alison looks amazing! All that memorabilia would put me in sensory overload.

What a great start to the trip

 

[Chilly]

Love your face on TOT. Well done for braving it. I was too chicken at first but now I love it.

 

[jenseib]

Mega updates!
I wanted to let you know that in your breakfast post you have 3 of the same pictures of Graham with Pluto. I do that sometime with Flickr too. So I just wanted to let you know so you can edit it and put the right ones in.

What a fun day and such a neat chance to go to 1901 Lounge.
You really got some great photopass pictures too. I sure hope I can get out there in the next few years and see all this exciting stuff.

 

[dolphingirl47]

Your face is just a picture of joy with the characters!

I just love meeting the characters. It is only the princesses that I get a little shy with.

Wow, what an update!

You got in quite a few rides. Loving your pictures, can't wait to finally see DL in September.

Glad you tried ToT, that's one of my favorites.

Your meet with Alison looks amazing! All that memorabilia would put me in sensory overload.

What a great start to the trip

This was actually my second attempt at Tower of Terror. I tried it at Hollywood Studios in 2005. I really don't understand why I did this again as it really freaks me out.

As far as memorabilia are concerned, watch this space. There are a ton more later in the trip.

You will have a wonderful time at DL. I can't wait to read all about it.

Love your face on TOT. Well done for braving it. I was too chicken at first but now I love it.

I don't think I could ever love it, but may brave it again the next time I go to Disneyland Paris just so that I can say I have done it.

Mega updates!
I wanted to let you know that in your breakfast post you have 3 of the same pictures of Graham with Pluto. I do that sometime with Flickr too. So I just wanted to let you know so you can edit it and put the right ones in.

What a fun day and such a neat chance to go to 1901 Lounge.
You really got some great photopass pictures too. I sure hope I can get out there in the next few years and see all this exciting stuff.

Thanks. I don't know why I added that three times. I had posted all the photos we took at breakfast. I have now removed the duplicates.

I keep your fingers crossed that you can visit Disneyland. I so love this place.

Corinna

 

[dolphingirl47]

Day 3

However comfortable the bed was, I was wide awake again at 4:00 AM. I went to the bathroom and eventually went back to sleep. However, when I woke up again at 6:00 AM, it was clear that I would not go back to sleep. Graham was still fast asleep so I got up, got dressed and made myself comfortable in the living room with my iPad and caught up online. A couple of hours later, I heard movement and headed back to the bedroom. We both got ready for the day and once we were all done, our friends were up and about as well. Both of the men had studied the dress code for Club 33 and realised with considerable relief that both jeans and below knee shorts are perfectly acceptable for lunch.

As our friends had been away for a week and their fridge was bare, we decided to head to the local Starbucks for some breakfast before heading to Disneyland. We did not want to have a lot of breakfast anyway so that we would not spoil our appetite for Club 33. Graham had a warm apple fritter and an Americano and I had a cheesecake brownie and a Hazelnut Macchiato. I spotted something very tempting. We can get the Starbucks Refresha drinks in the UK, but in the USA they have sachets to make them at home. I was very tempted, but resisted for the time being. I found one thing that they do at Starbucks in the UK that they don't have in the USA. Our friends are tea drinkers and although Starbucks has a staggering choice of different teas in the USA, they don't have my favourite, which is the Lavender Earl Grey. I was quite surprised that our Starbucks has something that you cannot get in the USA.

Once we had all finished our breakfast, we headed for Disneyland. The signposting for their main parking structure has always been a little dubious and the fact that one of the main access roads was closed without any advance warning did not help either. So we took a little detour. This did not delay us much though. When we got to he parking structure, we were directed to a relatively low level, which was encouraging. The tram was also not too busy. One was just getting ready to pull out when we got to the tram stop, but we were on the next one that arrived shortly afterwards. I don't think I had ever been to Disneyland on a Saturday before so I did not know what to expect. This all looked OK until we got to the bag check, which was a zoo. Part of the problem though was that they only had about half of the tables staffed. We all made it through roughly at the same time and re-grouped on the other side.

The next thing that we needed to figure out was how to find the right Guest Services window. Two of our group had multi-day tickets, but the two men needed to pick up a one day ticket from Guest Services. Strange enough, according to the confirmation we did not need to pick the tickets up at the Guest Services window just outside Disneyland, but across the plaza to the left of the entrance to California Adventure. We did find it without to much trouble and although there seemed to be a lot of people in the area, we did not have to wait too long. Once we had the tickets, we headed across the plaza to Disneyland. The turnstiles were relatively quite so we were in the park very quickly. We stopped by the flower display to have some photos taken by a Photopass photographer and then we headed into the park.


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Nobody had a a preference as to what to do first. So I suggested we do Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters first as this rarely draws a long line. The line did actually run parallel to Pixie Hollow, which was the furthest back I had ever seen it. Still, it was shady and moved very quickly. In the end the waiting time was just short of the posted 20 minutes. For most of the ride I was about 1000 points ahead of Graham, but then he suddenly most have hit something tasty as his points shot up. We all met up again at the other end. We emailed the ride photo to ourselves, but this unfortunately did not arrive. We then headed over to Space Mountain to get some Fast Passes for later.

 

[dolphingirl47]

As Tomorrowland was extremely busy at this time, we headed across to Adventureland. I had figured that we may be able to ride Pirates of the Caribbean as this is so close to Club 33. On the way, we passed Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. As this ride has a single rider line, we decided to go for this. I asked for single rider and was directed in the direction of the line, but this did not seem right. Whenever I had done single rider before, I had been directed to the exit. So this was different and the line did not move. So I decided to double-check this. The cast member had changed in the meantime. The original cast member had directed us to the standby line. It was still the same as on our previous visits. I got a single rider pass for everybody in our party and then we entered via the exit. We lost our friends when we were headed for the lift to the loading platform. They had been behind us all the time and then they were suddenly gone. I got called first and it was Graham's turn straight after. I really enjoyed the ride. I met up with Graham again as I was walking towards the exit, but there was still no sign of our friends. We did eventually find them enjoying the sun by the exit. They had decided to chicken out as the ride was too bumpy for them. I wished they had said something before.

We carried on towards Pirates of the Caribbean, but that line looked huge. So we headed into New Orleans Square instead. I had something to take care of. In November at Walt Disney World, I had bought a tiara from Arribas Brothers that had interchangeable Mickey head charms. At the time I had got a lilac Mickey head to go with this. I now wanted a pink Mickey head. I had found out the previous day that there was an Arribas Brothers store in New Orleans Square opposite Club 33. So that was my next stop. I started to get a bit worried as I could not see the Mickey head charms even though they had the tiaras. In the end I decided to ask and they had them behind the counter. I had assumed that there would be one pink Mickey charm, but there were 4 different once to choose from. I went with the lightest pink. Once I had my Mickey head, we decided to take some photos by the entrance of Club 33. This just went to show that people really have no idea what is behind this magical doorway or that there is anything there at all. People kept using the area right in front of the door to park their buggies or mobility scooters. Eventually the area was free long enough for us to take some photos.


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We had a look around some of the other shops in the area and one of our friends did some pin trading. As we came out of one shop, we discovered a quiet courtyard that I had never noticed before. We went in to have a look and it was very pretty. As we were also out of the way of everybody there, we used this opportunity to change our assorted shoes. We all had worn things like flip flops, sandals and trainers to the park, but they were not permitted at Club 33. So we all had brought some other kinds of shoes that we now put on. Once we had all changed our footwear. I took a few photos around the courtyard and then we faced the masses again and waited outside Club 33 until it was time for our reservation.


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Finally it was 13:00 and therefore time to use the mysterious voice box. In everything I had read prior to our visit it said that when the time for your reservation has come, you should press the button underneath the flap and somebody would ask for the name and the size of the party. If this matches their records, you are then let in. This was not quite our experience. I pressed the bell and somebody came straightaway and opened the door. We were invited in and then she checked the name the reservation was booked under. They were not quite ready for us upstairs. The person staffing the reception told us a bit about the artwork in the lobby and about the famous French lift. Soon it was time to go upstairs. Graham opted to take the stairs, but the rest of us decided to take the French lift. Once we all arrived upstairs, we were greeted by Samantha who showed us to our table. I had asked if there was a tour and she said that officially there was not, but to come and find her once we had finished our meal and she would see what she could do. When we got to our table, we had a blue Club 33 gift bag each that contained a couple of pens, a history of Club 33 and a copy of the menu. She then advised us that our server would come to meet us shortly.


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[dolphingirl47]

Our server Terri Jo came to welcome us shortly afterwards. She took our drinks order. Now, there is something rather unusual and a bit special about Club 33. Disneyland is officially a dry park. So all the restaurants only serve non-alcoholic drinks. The one exception that proves the rule is Club 33, which has a full bar. So I could not resist this and ordered a Gin and Tonic. I have to admit part of this was so that I could say that I (legally) had an alcoholic drink in Disneyland, but part of it was that this seemed to be an obvious kind of drink for our surroundings. The Gin and Tonic was delicious and very smooth. Graham went for an ice tea. Our server explained about the buffet and the menu. Essentially salads, seafood, cold meats, fruit and various breads and dips and the desserts were on a buffet and this was on a eat as much as you like basis. We also each got to order a main course from the menu. We ordered our main courses before exploring the buffet. Graham went with the Seared and Baked Free Range Chicken Breast with Truffled Macaroni & Cheese, Turned Sauté of Vegetables and Cinderella Pumpkin Beurre Blanc. I had the Filet of Pan-roasted Chateaubriand with Aromatic Parsnip Puree and Chipotle Salted Hollandaise. I also ordered a side dish of the Truffled Macaroni & Cheese.


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Once we all ordered our main courses, we headed for the buffet. Graham concentrated mainly on the seafood and had feel and eat shrimp, lobster and some little canapés with salmon as well as various salads. I went for the cold meats and cheeses and discovered the only non-seafood based canapé, which were little profiteroles filled with goats cheese and slivers of truffle. This was a little bite of heaven. I also got some fruit and we all tried the Chicken and Coconut Soup that was served in tiny cups and was the most amazing soup I have ever tasted. We all went back for a second helping. I had some more soup, the little profiteroles and some more cheese. I did try some of the flavoured olive oil with some crackers. I also decided to be adventurous and try some lobster. As a rule, I do not eat seafood, but I occasionally eat shrimp. Everybody in our party assured me that the lobster was very good. Well, I did not dislike it, but it did not do anything for my either.


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Before the main course was being served, I decided to have a quick bathroom stop. I had heard people mention this bathroom before and I wanted to see this for myself. I have to say, it is very beautiful although a toilet that looks like a wicker chair does take some getting used to. There is also not a great deal of room in the bathroom area so taking photos was a bit of a challenge, but this needed to be preserved for posterity. On the way back, I had a bit of a look around and took some photos.


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When I got back to the table, the main course had arrived. This was absolutely amazing. The steak was so tender that it nearly fell apart if you just looked at it and was full of flavour. My favourite part of the meal was the Truffled Macaroni Cheese though. This comes with the chicken dish that Graham had, but if you want it with any other dish, ere is a charge of $9 for it. Well, it was worth every cent. This was a generous helping that was served in a cast iron casserole dish. It was creamy and full of flavour with a crunchy topping. We had a leisurely lunch with wonderful conversation. I could not believe how much time we had taken over lunch.


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[dolphingirl47]

Once we had all finished our main courses, we decided to go out on the balcony for a while to let the food settle. We had a corner table so we had two doors to the balcony right next to our table. It was amazing to see New Orleans Square from higher up. It was also kind of scary to get a bird's eye view on the park and to realise just how crowded the park is. It looked like almost shoulder to shoulder people. It was kind of strange that most people down in the park seemed to be totally oblivious to us and other people that were on the balcony. It was almost like we were in a different world. Club 33 most certainly felt like a world apart from the hustle and bustle below us. I could not believe how much I was enjoying the whole experience. Whenever people mentioned about wanting to go to Club 33 or were excited about being given the chance to go, this always left me a little bemused. I just thought that this would make me feel very uncomfortable. We to not normally move in circles like this. However, ultimately curiosity and a fascination with the history of the place got the better of me. In the end it was a truly magical experience. Everybody who we encountered was so nice and wanted to make sure that we had a wonderful time. I felt totally at ease. I will be eternally grateful to our "Fairy Godmother" for allowing us and our friends to have this amazing experience.


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We decided that we should at least try some of the desserts. Fortunately they are not too big. Graham only had one of the Club 33 sugar cookies. I had a sugar cookie, a cake pop, a mini chocolate eclair and one of the famous Mickey macaroons. The cake pop and the chocolate eclair were nice, but nothing special. The sugar cookie was lovely and I was blown away by the Mickey macaroon. I am not sure why we did not burst as we had so much food. We enjoyed the atmosphere for a bit longer.


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Eventually we could not stall any longer and had to go out into the real world again. We paid and then headed towards the cabinet and which they keep the Club 33 merchandise. Unfortunately they did not have Club 33 Mickey ears in stock, but both I and one of our friends wanted to get a Club 33 pin. As we were waiting for somebody to assist us, Samantha came up to us. I had totally forgotten that she had advised us to come and find her once we had finished our meal. Fortunately she spotted us. She gave us a guided tour. We started out in front of a painting that shows Walt Disney at Club 33. Unfortunately this is complete fiction has he had died shortly before Club 33 opened. However, it is still a lovely painting and that way, he is at least always there in spirit. We also were shown the phone booth from the film The Happiest Millionaire. I have never seen the film, but this is the prettiest and poshest phone booth that I have ever seen. Unfortunately we were not allowed to have a look in the trophy room as lunch was still in full swing in there, but we were told about the microphones in the chandeliers and the animatronics vulture. Unfortunately the vulture was above the door so we could not see it when we were peeking through the door. We headed back towards the main dining room and stopped at the bar. At this point she handed us over to Jeff, who had been working at Club 33 for many years and is full of stories and bits of information.


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Jeff pointed out various pieces of artwork like the chandelier above the bar. This is a replica that was created to match the chandelier above the buffet. He also pointed out the harpsichord. Underneath the lid it has a beautiful painting. He also told us that Sir Paul McCartney has played on the harpsichord. One of our friends had heard that Sir Elton John had played the harpsichord as well, but Jeff advised us that he had heard this in the past, too, but that nobody at Club 33 can confirm this as fact and Elton John has never confirmed this either. Jeff pointed out a false French window and explained that bar used to be in a service area behind this, but at some stage was moved to its present location. He also explained a bit more about the original purpose of Club 33. Essentially Club 33 was created so that Walt Disney had somewhere to entertain his business associates. When Club 33 became a member’s only club, it was only open to corporate members. It was only much later that membership was opened up to individuals. It was all fascinating stuff and Jeff was an absolute pleasure to listen to. We said goodbye to him, bought our pins and headed back out into Disneyland.


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[Chilly]

lunch sounds very yummy

 

[dolphingirl47]

We had seen the crowds earlier and the line for Haunted Mansion was no joke. Pirates of the Caribbean did not look any more promising. Our Fastpass for Space Mountain was still valid, but we were all too full to even contemplate this. One of our friends suggested that we could go to the Enchanted Tiki Room. Apparently whenever his parents took him to Disneyland as a child, they took him there. In all my years of going to Disneyland and Walt Disney World, I had never got around to seeing this so I was quite happy with this idea. I have to say I am surprised that this attraction survived for all those years. It was fun and I am definitely glad that I have seen it once, but singing birds and Tiki masks do not have the same attraction for me than let’s say Big Thunder Mountain. When the show was over, we had a look at one of the shops in the area. I managed to get a gift card to put on my onboard account on the ship. For some reason they seem to struggle with adding a specific amount from a credit card, but have no trouble doing so with a gift card.


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We were all kind of undecided where to go to next. Again, one of our friends had an idea and suggested we should go to see Great Moments with Mister Lincoln. This is something else that I have never seen before so we agreed. As we headed towards Town Square, things were prepared for the daily Flag Retreat Ceremony. I have experienced this before in 2011 and found it hugely moving. So I suggested that we hang around for this. This time round it did not seem quite as moving, but I am sure that this had a lot to do with the fact that we had a family right next to us that were disagreeing with each other very loudly and being generally obnoxious. Once the Flag Retreat was completed, we went to see Great Moments with Mister Lincoln. We had a short while to wait until the next showing so we had a look around the exhibition in the waiting area. I actually can recall very little of this so I think I must have had a little nap during the show. I definitely have to go back to try and see this again.


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When we left Great Moments with Mister Lincoln, we decided to head over to Disney's California Adventure. I was not quite sure what to expect as it was Grad Night's that weekend and although the students had access to both parks during the day, the party was moving to California Adventure in the evening. So I wondered if more and more students would head over there in the late afternoon. Fortunately my worries seemed to be unfounded. Yes, it was busy, but not as busy at Disneyland had been. One of our friends really wanted to go to Cars Land and ride Radiator Springs Racers. I liked the sound of this as well. As we walked up Buena Vista Street, the Red Car Trolley was sitting there. This was one thing that I had wanted to try, but had not got around to the previous day. So I suggested that we take the Red Car Trolley to Tower of Terror and then cut through A Bug's Land to get to Cars Land. This plan was agreed to. Unfortunately the trolley was full and just about ready to pull out. We decided to wait for the next one and sat down next to the trolley stop. It was nice to just watch the world go by. I was quite thirsty by then and quickly went across to the little market place to get an orange soda for myself and some water for Graham. We just had enough time to finish our drinks when the trolley arrived back. This time around it was only half full. This was a nice leisurely journey stopping at the plaza on Buena Vista Street, near the Animation Building in Hollywood Land and then finally just beyond Tower of Terror. What amused me considerably is that a cast member always walks in front of the trolley. This is probably to avoid somebody running out in front of the trolley, but at the slow speeds that it travels, everybody should see it coming.

When we got to Cars Land, we stopped a couple of times to have Photopass photos taken. We then headed to Radiator Springs Racers. The standby line was 70 minutes long and the single rider line did not seem quite as far back either. We all got in the single rider line. After about 5 minutes, Graham decided that the line was not moving quickly enough and went to find a quiet spot to sit down and wait for the rest of us to do the ride. Two minutes after that, one of our friends decided to do the same. We decided the next time we go to Disneyland, we will leave the men at home. At one point all three lines (Standby, Fastpass and Single Rider) came to a complete halt. There must have been some technical issues as there is no other reasonable explanation while all lines stopped at the same time. Once the lines started moving again, it was not long until it was our turn to ride. I was sent to one loading area, but they had got the count wrong and now I was surplus to requirements. So I was sent back to the line again. Fortunately pretty much as soon as I got back there, I was sent to another loading area. This time round, the car went on the other track. Unfortunately the camera for the ride photos was not working this time round. I met up with our friend again near the photo pick up area. We then had to find the two men again. We looked around the exit area and could not see them. We slowly walked towards the front of Cars Land looking around, but we still could not see them. Our friend tried to ring her husband, but he did not pick up the phone. Eventually they turned up behind us. I have no idea where they had been or how we had managed to miss them.


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By that time we essentially all had enough. We wandered slowly towards the exit. When we came past Soarin over California, the waiting time was only about 20 minutes for the standby line. As this is my favourite ride, we decided to see if the single rider line was still open, which it was. So we decided to go for it. Us to ladies got called to the loading area in short succession and ended up on opposite ends of the ride. They must have got the count wrong as there was an empty seat on my hang glider. We met up again once the ride was finished and headed for the exit. We both half expected to find our men their waiting for us, but we were mistaken. We had a look at the shop opposite that has a good selection of pins and also is good for pin trading. I found a couple of pins I rather liked up for a trade.
Once our men had emerged from the ride, we headed for the exit. We made one last stop. I really love the new Partners Statue on Buena Vista Street and wanted a photo in front of it with Graham. As this was on the way anyway, we went ahead. Unfortunately those are the only Photopass photos that did not come out. They are a very strange shade of blue. Well, we will just call it modern art and love them anyway.


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We had walked through some of the shops on Buena Vista Street to see what they had to offer and then headed for the exit. Our men suggested that they could get a drink somewhere and wait for us if we wanted some more park time, but we had enough. We did not have to wait very long for a tram to arrive and managed to get on the first one.

On the way back, we had to stop for some petrol and some food. We picked up some odds and ends for breakfast the next day at Whole Foods Market. I was in heaven and could easily have spent an hour in there. I have been to one in the West End of London a few times, but this is tiny. This one was the size of a proper supermarket. Still, we got what we needed and left. We also stopped at Five Guys Burgers and Fries to pick up some supper to take back to the house. As I have to be very careful with bread because of the yeast that it contains, they just put the burger with its toppings in a take out box for me. I had a cheese burger. Apart from the standard lettuce, tomato and onion, this also came with mushrooms, peppers and pickle. Graham had the same, but with a bun. We also got a portion of Cajun fries to share between the four of us. While we were waiting, we were munching on peanuts that came in their shells. We took our supper back to the house. This was one of the nicest burgers I have ever had. We were watching a program called Sherlock on Netflix, but I was totally exhausted and my eyes kept falling shut. So I said good night and retired to bed.

 

[dolphingirl47]

lunch sounds very yummy

Lunch was absolutely amazing. Everything was just perfect.

Corinna

 

[franandaj]

I got so far behind on all your updates! Now I'm caught up. You got quite a lot accomplished on your solo day at DCA. It was fun chatting and having drinks. I'm glad you had a good time!

You got some really great shots at Club 33 and the food looks awesome. Every time I have had soup there it has always been out of this world. That's so nice that they gave you a tour of the place. Tiki Room and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln were really good choices for "after lunch" attractions. I find that when I do lunch there I end up rolling out of the park and needing a nap!

Your friends must live REALLY close to me. I know exactly which shopping center you went to and that's nearby where I live. My hairstylist is in the shopping center across the street from where you went. Small world.