CA Coast & Disneyland! Pics & Video - Update 9/18- Pg. 12 #177 - The End!

[SoonerGirl]

I'm so excited that I found your TR! I just began planning a similar trip for next summer, although I will be going with two kids aged 12 & almost 8 so we won't be able to squeeze in quite as much as you did! Your photos are fabulous! Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

 

[Spartangirl]

Spartangirl,
Do you use Tour Guide Mike when you go to WDW? It would appeal to your planning side and the forums there are a ton of fun!!! Your TR has been wonderful!

I haven't used Tour Guide Mike, yet!!! Since we go to WDW every year at the BUSIEST TIME (Week between Christmas and New Years) and haven't had a problem seeing everything we've wanted to, I guess I never thought about using TGM. However, with what you've mentioned, it may be worth looking into! Thanks for the compliment about my TR!

Great report SpartanGirl.

- Amazing pics.
- I've never done the Getty....I need to do it.
- The Matterhorn, StorybookLand Canal Ride & Toadie are favorite "old school" rides of mine.
- But you're right, the Matterhorn is bumpy.
- I'm glad you re-boarded Storybookland...it's so nicely done.
- Toadie came thru for you. So what did DBF think about the judges sentence?

And a couple of comments:

- I love/love/love the pictures. Especially the coast pictures.
- I told you...you should have given the Coast 2 days.
- Why wouldn't you let DBF play Pebble??? It was only $475!!

I'm catching up....great job.

hound -

Glad you're still onboard, Hound! We LOVED the "old school rides" too!

Thanks for the compliment about my pictures! I do WISH we would have had more time for the coast, but what we saw was beautiful. DH would have LOVED to play Pebble, but for $475, the view was quite enough!

Your report is amazing! Love the pics.

Welcome!!! Thanks for the compliments about my TR and pics!!!

Loved your BEAUTIFUL pics in front of the castle!!! Great TR!!

Welcome to my TR! Thank you for the compliments!!!

Fantastic trip report I'm looking forward to the rest of it

I'm so glad you're here and enjoying my report!!!

Subbin in, Spartangirl. I love your TR! Your pics are incredible! The bird in Yosemite looks 3D and the light hitting the bridge and some of the cliffs looks professional - like a magazine! We took the drive from Anaheim to Santa Cruz and then home to Oregon a couple of years ago - loved Monterey, but it was really cold! DL is our stopping ground a couple of times a year - it's great to see it through a "WDWer" view! Can't wait for the rest! Hope you had a great trip to DC

Welcome to my report!!! Thank you for the wonderful compliments about my TR and especially my pics! You just made my day!!!

There's more on the way.....and yes, we had a wonderful trip to DC!!!

I'm so excited that I found your TR! I just began planning a similar trip for next summer, although I will be going with two kids aged 12 & almost 8 so we won't be able to squeeze in quite as much as you did! Your photos are fabulous! Can't wait to read the rest of your report.

Welcome!!! Glad to hear that you're planning a similar trip......it won't disappoint!!! Thanks for the compliment on my pics! There will be more up shortly on my TR...

 

[Spartangirl]

On our way to Paradise Pier!

We decided we were a bit hungry as we walked by "Taste Pilots' Grill" and smelled the food. We headed inside and placed our order. We both got chicken sandwiches which were pretty good. After finishing our meal and feeling quite stuffed, we decided to continue exploring the park. We were about to head toward Grizzly Peak, but there was some music that caught our attention, coming from Sunshine Plaza. We quickly made our way over there, and this is what we saw....



After watching the HSM Pep Rally pass us, we headed back the other direction. We happened to glance at our fastpasses and noticed that it was our time to fly! We headed over to Soarin'.

As usual, we LOVED this ride! It's exactly the same as the one in WDW. However, the ride was different for us this time........we liked it even more seeing as though we had just visited so many of the places in the video. That made it extra special!!!

We were definitely on as we left the ride. Our next stop would be a few quick pics by Grizzly River Run and then we were off to the Pier!

We decided we didn't want to walk around wet for the rest of the day, so we bypassed GRR. It did look like a great ride though...

We were really excited when we reached Paradise Pier!

There were so many rides that we wanted to try! But, there was one that caught our eyes first.......California Screamin'!

We had it in our minds to Fastpass the ride, giving us time to take in some of the other rides......

On our walk over, we stopped to watch the coaster take off........



Upon reaching CA Screamin', we noticed that the wait time was 5 minutes! We double-checked it to make sure that we were reading it right........ No need for fastpass here!

We happily boarded the coaster and loved every second of the ride!!! The take-off is amazing and the music was kind of fun! It's very similar to WDW's Aerosmith ride, which is a favorite of ours.

Since the wait time was practically non-existent, we chose to ride again.

Up next, we had our sights on the Sun Wheel.

We were determined to ride the "sliding cars" until we saw this...



Now, usually Chris and I don't shy away from too many things. Although we both suffer from motion sickness, we always try something once to form our own opinions. However, seeing as though we had recently eaten, we were thinking that the stationary side might be best.

We decided to play it safe!

The ride was very peaceful and enjoyable and the views were great!

Although we enjoyed our ride on the stationary cars, we were kind of wishing we had chose the sliding ones. We knew that we would have to make a point to come back to the pier at some point in time.

We continued on our journey and rode Mulholland Madness and the Orange Stinger. Both were pure fun!

We enjoyed our time on the pier and loved the whole "carnival vibe."

The sun was feeling a bit hot at this time in the day, so we decided to head back to the hotel for a short break and swim.

To be continued... - Post #124

 

[Spartangirl]

Continued...

The swim at the pool was so refreshing! We even met a nice woman, a DL Vet, who gave us great tips about where to view the Electrical Parade later in the evening.

After feeling relaxed and refreshed, we headed back to the park. Our first goal was to get some pictures of the "California" letters, seeing as though that was next to impossible earlier in the day.

Now seemed to be the perfect time! There was hardly anybody around!

C A L I F O R N I A happens to have both of our 1st initials!

As we walked through the front gates, I immediately noticed the giant sun. It seemed to sparkle so brilliantly in the light, so I had to snap a photo!

Before seeing the parade, we decided that we wanted to see some new parts of the park that we had missed earlier. We ventured into "A bug's land" and took a peek around. It was nicely set up and a perfect playground for children! We then made our way back to the "Golden State" to check out some of the tours.

We were impressed to find out that there was a winery.

There were even tiny grapes on the vines...

We continued on until we reached the Bakery Tour.

We loved seeing the designs in the sourdough and the free samples were great!

Up next was the Mission Tortilla Factory.

We liked this tour the best. It was neat to see the tortilla production. It didn't hurt that there were free samples either!

We explored the park a bit more and just soaked in all of the sights. Seeing as though we ate a couple of samples from the tours, we decided we weren't in the mood for dinner tonight. However, we both wanted a snack instead. Chris opted for "loaded fries." I wanted a Mickey pretzel!

We happily ate our snacks and headed off to find primo spots for the parade.

Up Next: Disney's Electrical Parade Post #128

 

[tksbaskets]

Continued...

The swim at the pool was so refreshing! We even met a nice woman, a DL Vet, who gave us great tips about where to view the Electrical Parade later in the evening.

We happily ate our snacks and headed off to find primo spots for the parade.

Up Next: Disney's Electrical Parade

Oh no....I have to wait to find out where the primo spot for the parade is???? I'm tuned in and waiting to add your sage advise to my trip planning spreadsheet for next June.....

 

[burly]

I'm all caught up. so good. when is the next update?

 

[Spartangirl]

Oh no....I have to wait to find out where the primo spot for the parade is???? I'm tuned in and waiting to add your sage advise to my trip planning spreadsheet for next June.....

I was actually surprised about the location of the "primo spot." It's coming right up in my next installment...

I'm all caught up. so good. when is the next update?

Glad to have you onboard!!! The next update will be up shortly.....I'm working on it now!

 

[Spartangirl]

Disney's Electrical Parade

Looking back to my childhood, the one thing that stood out in my mind from our family trip to Disneyland was Disney's Electrical Parade. I could still picture the floats, the lights, and the music. I don't know why this particular parade had such an impact on me when I was younger, but I knew that I wanted to experience it again.......and, I wanted to share it with Chris.

It was about 7:35 p.m. and the parade was due to start at 8:45 p.m. Many people were already sitting on the curb and reserving their spots. With just over an hour before the parade, I was a little worried about getting our "primo spot." The woman from the pool all but guaranteed that we would have no problem finding our spot just an hour ahead of time. So we headed off...

The DL Vet said to head toward the start of the parade and to look for benches right across from the Orange Stinger over at Paradise Pier. We headed in that direction, and much to our delight, found several open benches with no problem. We sat directly across from the Orange Stinger and right in front of the S.S. rustworthy.

These truly were the perfect seats! We literally saw the floats as they first appeared!!! During the parade, not only did we have the bench to ourselves, but there was no one in front of us, or behind us!

Here are some of my pictures from the delightful parade...

Here is a short video clip from the parade.......I just LOVE the music! It's exactly how I remembered it!

To Be Continued... Post #129

 

[Spartangirl]

Disney's Electrical Parade Continued...

I absolutely adore Dopey!!!

Pete's Dragon was one of my favorite movies as a child!

Here is a short video clip from this cool float...



I love the "American" theme at the end of the parade!

Chris and I were both humming the music by the end of the parade.....he was really happy to have experienced it!



We decided that we wanted to get a few night shots of Paradise Pier before we left the park.

This happened to be the perfect opportunity because the pier was relatively empty due to most people watching the parade and a park closing time of 9 p.m.

After snapping a few shots, we happily headed toward the front gate. As we exited the main gate, we looked up in the sky as it exploded with the fireworks from Disneyland. We stood with a large crowd of people and watched the fireworks until they ended. It was quite a different view than what we had experienced the other night, but we still enjoyed it.

Not feeling too tired at this point in time, we decided to head into DL to catch a couple of rides. Going in was quite the challenge, since we were going against the flow of those who were leaving after the fireworks. But, once we made it down Main Street, we were good to go!

We headed into Tomorrowland and grabbed Fastpasses for Buzz. We decided we wanted to battle it out once again. While waiting for the time to pass, we decided to hit Autopia, since it looked cool, and we hadn't experinced it yet. The wait time said 15 minutes. That wasn't bad, so we hopped in line.

What should have been a 15 minute wait, soon turned into 40 minutes. Instead of using all of the lanes of cars, the CM's went down to one lane of cars, since it was late in the evening. That would have been so nice to know before we got in line. This ended up being the LONGEST line that we waited in for the entire trip. We usually averaged wait times of 5 - 15 minutes for everything else!

Although we had to wait for awhile, we made the best of it. The ride was actually very cute......we loved driving the cars!!!

Since we had to wait in such a long line for Autopia, the time quickly passed and it was time to use our Fastpasses for Buzz.

We headed over and boarded the ride. I didn't do so well, but look how serious we are.......can you tell we're competitive???

Although it would have been nice to stay and do a few more rides, we were both wiped out! We decided to head back to the Candy Cane Inn to get some rest so that we would be up and ready for tomorrow's events!!!

Up Next: Newport Beach by day and Downtown Disney by night! Post #137

 

[SoonerGirl]

Amazing night pictures of Paradise Pier! Your parade photos are great too - thanks for the tip on where to watch it!

 

[tksbaskets]

Your pictures were awsome. How did you get the great night time shots? I have already copied the secret viewing directions and they are on my spreadsheet for June Thanks for sharing!

 

[burly]

Stayed at the Candy Cane in also when we went in 2005. Loved it, did you?

 

[Spartangirl]

Amazing night pictures of Paradise Pier! Your parade photos are great too - thanks for the tip on where to watch it!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! The spot for the parade was awesome!

Your pictures were awsome. How did you get the great night time shots? I have already copied the secret viewing directions and they are on my spreadsheet for June Thanks for sharing!

Thanks! The secret is the use of a tripod.....I just used a mini one. In addition, I used the self-timer to minimize the movement of the camera during the shutter release. You can either manually use a slower shutter speed or the night setting on your camera. We LOVED our parade seats!!!

Stayed at the Candy Cane in also when we went in 2005. Loved it, did you?

We loved the Candy Cane Inn too!!! It was quaint, friendly, and had a great location...we would stay there again in a heartbeat!

 

[spongemommie05]

okay i am all caught up now .. i am so scared of the bixby bridge and i think we have to go over it on our way to disneyland.
oh by the way i have the ancient egyptian statue that the hearst castle has it is sitting in my back yard... i love egyptian things..
i love your picts of disneyland it was making my kids way excited for our trip they were screaming in my ear...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Once again, awesome pics! I love California Screamin'! One thing: when they say, "keep your head back" they mean it! I leaned forward just as we took off one time, and my head was stuck forward for the entire ride!

 

[Spartangirl]

okay i am all caught up now .. i am so scared of the bixby bridge and i think we have to go over it on our way to disneyland.
oh by the way i have the ancient egyptian statue that the hearst castle has it is sitting in my back yard... i love egyptian things..
i love your picts of disneyland it was making my kids way excited for our trip they were screaming in my ear...

Yay, you're caught up!!! I can't believe you have to cross the Bixby Bridge.........we just "looked at it." Glad to hear that your kids are so excited for your trip, but not about the screaming in your ear!

Once again, awesome pics! I love California Screamin'! One thing: when they say, "keep your head back" they mean it! I leaned forward just as we took off one time, and my head was stuck forward for the entire ride!

Thank you for the compliment about my pics....it really does mean a lot! We LOVE California Screamin' too!!! And...I know what you mean about "keeping your head back!"

 

[Spartangirl]

Newport Beach by day and Downtown Disney by night!

Before our trip, after much thought and consideration, we decided to book a tour that headed to Newport Beach for the day.

We woke up nice and early the next morning and headed down for our usual continental breakfast at the CCI. We were scheduled to be picked up from our hotel at 8:20 a.m. for our O.C. Experience Tour. At about 8:22 our bus showed up and we quickly boarded. We headed to a few more hotels and then were dropped off at the Gray Line Depot. Here, we stood in line to turn in our vouchers for our tour tickets. Finally, we were able to board a bus for our 9:15 a.m. narrated driving tour of the O.C.

Our driver was quite witty and told us many interesting facts about Newport. The ride was quite enjoyable and it only took about 20 minutes to get to the beach......the ride was so much shorter than I had anticipated.

I was very impressed with my first sights of Newport!!! I loved the cute little rows of "million dollar" homes.

Our driver took us to the "Balboa Fun Zone" where we would be boarding a boat to take us on a Newport Harbor cruise. We had some time to kill, so we did a little exploring. The "Fun Zone" was cute! There was a small ferris wheel, a carousel, and some little shops.

We briefly stopped in the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum...

Soon, it was time to board the "Queen."

Although much of the seating was on the inside of the boat, Chris and I headed straight for the front. Before boarding, one of the workers gave us a "tip" that the front right was the best viewing area. We decided to take her advice. Plus, we really wanted to sit outside to enjoy the views and the beautiful weather.

The tour was fantastic!!! We loved the sights and the commentary from our guide.

We soon learned that the homes in Newport Harbor go for $4 million dollars and up! I can't even imagine........

Here is Dean Koontz's (Author) Home...Note the gentleman in white, in the picture. Don't know if that's Dean Koontz himself???

And here is Shirley Temple's childhood home...

And look at these guys on the buoy!

The sights were truly spectacular!

We even got to see "Giligan's Island!" This little patch of beach with the cave was used in the opening scene of the television show where the S.S. Minnow washed ashore. It looked much smaller than it seemed on T.V.

To be continued... - Post #138

 

[Spartangirl]

Continued...

The Gillette home was quite impressive.......yes, that is Gillette of the "razor empire!"

It was so much fun being out on the water!!! We loved looking at all of the boats.

Here is a home that was featured on the cover of Architecture Digest.

After our Harbor cruise, we walked over to Newport Beach and Balboa Pier.

It was great watching the waves crash on the shoreline and against the pier.

Chris and I spent a great deal of time watching the people who were body surfing. It was quite amusing!

Here is a short video clip....



And here is one of my favorite action shots that I took!

While standing on Balboa Pier, we vowed then and there, that we would return to Newport Beach for a longer period of time in the future. Renting a condo near the beach would make a wonderful week-long escape! Notice that I said "near the beach" and not "on the beach." Don't think we could quite afford the latter........believe me, we actually checked into it while we were there! We truly fell in love with Newport!!!

We soon returned to our tour bus because we had one more stop in store for us...Fashion Island!!! On the way, our driver took us along Newport Coast, with the multi-million dollar homes of many of the rich and famous.......all I can say is, WOW!

We then made our way to Fashion Island where we would spend about 2 hours in the open-air shopping plaza.

I cannot say enough about how much we enjoyed Newport....other than the fact that we wanted much more time there.

Soon, it was time to return to Anaheim. Our driver dropped us off at the Candy Cane Inn and we headed to our room to freshen up. Then, it was time to check out Downtown Disney. Rather than waiting for the bus, we decided to take the leisurely walk.

Upon entering Downtown Disney, the first place we stopped was our favorite, The World of Disney.

We had fun both looking and buying!!!

We made our way in and out of just about every store that we could find. Then, we saw Ralph Brennan's and decided to give our feet a break and grab a bite to eat.

The Creole cuisine was YUMMO!!! After feeling a bit full, we wanted to "walk off" some of the calories we had just put in our bodies. We made our way to the Disneyland Hotel and did some exploring. The hotel was really nice and we enjoyed the gift shop too!

Although we would have loved to keep going, we realized that we had experienced another long day and were ready to head back to the CCI. Tomorrow was the 4th of July and we wanted to be awake and ready to take in our last full day of our vacation. Little did we know what magical moments would be in store for us the next day...

Up Next: The 4th of July!!! -Post #150

 

[burly]

Still here along for the ride The Newport Beach pics are awesome. Looked like a beautiful place.

 

[SoonerGirl]

I feel like a broken record, but once again, great photos! I've actually been on that little ferris wheel in Newport Beach. We only had one evening there, but really enjoyed the area. It's so sad your trip is almost over - I want more!