California Dazzling: A Roadtrip Vacation Spectacular - Last Update and Final Thoughts 11/8

[Flossbolna]

Oops - I'm way behind here! I keep forgetting to come over to this forum! But, you haven't gotten to Yosemite yet, so that's ok.

I will try to remember to send you a PM when I finally get to Yosemite!

 

[Flossbolna]

Time definitely speeds up on vacations.

See, Michael always feel the opposite way. I think it speeds up in the sense that it is always over too soon. But then when you look back, it always feels like the vacation was longer than it really was because so much happened in the meantime. But I think we ca agree that it never seems that vacations are too long!

I love this area of the park!

Anything that looks like a National Park would win out for you, wouldn't it? But I am the same!

That's just awful. Why would someone do that? Sometimes I really hate people.

That is one of the downsides of vacations: You get the change to witness so many rude and stupid people...

Nah. I trust my fellow engineers.

That is a smart thing! But then why are you a chicken on ToT???

Flying Wheel of Death?

Yes, that. Or Mickey's Wheel of Horror.

The view is great! But give me the stationary car, please.

At least you are consequential in not enjoying free fall experiences.

Can't go wrong with BBQ! Sorry for the bad server experience, though.

BBQ is always great!

I'm happier with that, because it makes it less likely for the company to notice when my kids trash it.

I guess we are the lucky people who end up with cars that you and your family had previously...

Man, so many VIP perks on this trip!

We were so incredibly lucky that things just fell into place. I am afraid of going back to Disneyland now that I got used to those kind of perks...

Absolutely! I wonder if they serve it on the side.

Not sure, I should have asked. Michael's friend did not even eat his and I was really tempted to ask him for it, but did not want to weird out someone I met for the first time by requesting to taste his left over candied bacon!

I will have to keep this place in mind. Thanks for the tip!

Umami Burger is definitely a place to remember. But it is a bit pricey.

This is so different from my experience in the blue section.

Our experience in 2014 was totally different, too. That shows how the new entertainment in Disneyland was able to attract the crowds.

That was a problem I had with the regular show as well. There really wasn't a story to it, it was just a Disney clip show. That combined with standing packed like sardines for an hour to see it made me pretty grumpy.

I can see that. Michael says that the original show was supposed to be different with more of a story line and a character leading through the show, but then Bob Iger demanded that to be cut in favor of other things that he wanted to be in there.

 

[Flossbolna]

I have and I haven't. When I was at Disneyland Paris in November, they showed Disney Dreams of Christmas. I have to say this did not exactly wow me. It was nice enough, but no more than that. Having said that, it was a lot better than World of Colour Winter Dreams. A return trip for Disneyland Paris is shaping up for mid March and I should get to see the original version of Disney Dreams then.

We saw Disney Dreams of Christmas in January 2014 and now again in January 2016 and the 2014 show was much better. Less of a Frozen show. It already had Olaf as the Master of Ceremony, but did not have the song by Anna and not the Olaf summer song. Instead the Toy Story bit was longer and there was a multi language sing a long for Jingle Bells. While I think it is a nice show for the Christmas season, the real Dreams is much better. It has a story that ties all the clips together (even though I was very disappointed that when we saw it this year one big element was dark and not working). I hope you will like it in March!

 

[Flossbolna]

Those Lines are Worse than Disneyland!

August 14: Move to Paradise Pier Hotel, D23 Expo, Dinner at Steakhouse 55

Today was going to be a very full day with plenty of things happening. The first was that we had to checkout of the GCV. I was thrilled that we were able to stay there until the start of the D23 Expo, but never expected to be able to get a room during that convention going on.

I had that one night waitlisted for quite some time, but then Michael asked about the possibility of using DVC points at the other resorts. We looked into that and it turned out that a standard room at the Paradise Pier hotel was not that much more in points than the GCV studio. Usually the Disney hotels (non-DVC) are far more in points than the DVC accommodations. This has to do with internal Disney accounting. As an example two nights in the first week of December (weekday nights) would cost 30 points in a Boardwalk view studio at the Boardwalk Villas, but 110 points in a water view room at the Boardwalk Inn or 41 points in a standard view room at the Caribbean Beach resort. It turned out that for one night the difference was not too bad, even though it sucked to have to pay more points for a room at a hotel that is definitely not as nice as the one we just stayed at.

Still, there were other advantages: Disney would take care of our luggage transfer. We had dinner plans with Alison and Fran at the Disneyland Hotel, so it would be very convenient for that. Paradise Pier is in walking distance to the Anaheim Convention Center where the D23 Expo was being held. So, all in all convenience was worth the extra points and we booked that room.

After a late night in the parks the day before, we had decided that we would not try to rush to the D23 Expo as early as possible, but instead slept in a little, packed our stuff and then called Bell Services to come and pick up our bags. They came promptly and told us that we would be able to get our stuff from Bell Services at the Paradise Pier once we got to our room there.

On the way out, I got the typical last moment feeling and had to take lots of random pictures of our beautiful hotel:

We crossed the street and walked over to the Paradise Pier Hotel. It really is not far at all!

We got checked in without problem and were told that since we were staying on points, parking was free! Normally the hotel charges for parking and that was one of the things that kind of bugged me that we would have to pay for parking. However, free parking seems to be a typical DVC perk that they include it when you are paying with your points!

It turned out that our room was already available, so we decided to check it out and already call for our luggage to come up to the room.

The Paradise Pier Hotel is an old non-Disney hotel that Disney purchased at some point. It has been renovated to give it all a bit of a beachy/pier decoration. All in all this is done in a very nice way and the hotel is wonderfully bright and well kept. But you can tell that this is an old hotel. It feels older than any other American Disney hotel I ever stayed at. And while it is very well maintained, It gives off the vibe of being in need of a top to bottom refresh.

When I see that people pay $300+ a night to stay at PPH, I wonder where their sanity is. At best it is a 3-star hotel that has had 2-3 Disney makeovers since they bought it as the Pacific Hotel. I liked it plenty when I lived in Beverly Hills and could stay there for an AP rate of $69-89 a night on weekends. The thing is the last time I stayed there was 2006 and other than getting flat screen TVs and new bedding (including beach ball pillows), the rooms are exactly the same as they were even in 2001. It isn't a dump or a bad place. But there are so many nicer places in Anaheim. It just worked out for us because we had to be on property that one night and could use the points.

But on to some room pictures:

Very interesting is also that the hotel is supposed to be “connected” theme-wise with DCA, especially the Paradise Pier section of that park, which is just across the street from the hotel. Therefore the public areas have quite a bit of concept art for DCA on the walls:

They've removed some of Tim Delaney's great concept art for the original PP in the last few years after DCA's extreme makeover. But plenty remains ... oh, and PPH actually had its own special entrance into the park for a few years. A gate that exists near the Corn Dog stand and the souvenir stand next to it is still there, but hidden away.

They brought up our luggage, which was already there. We actually saw the bellhop bringing our stuff across the street when we walked over ourselves.

And then it was time to finally head over to the D23 Expo.

Along the way we came across this interesting walking map:

And then we got to the convention center:

This is the oldest part and we were actually not in it. But I thought it looked quite fancy!

The entrance was all the way at the end of this walkway:

And in hindsight we were quite happy that we arrived so late. We could see the markings on the floor for the queues they had set up to get inside. They started far far away from the doors!

We showed our tickets and were inside the building, no wait at all. We then got to pick up a very nice souvenir guide and a backpack type of bag for all the papers and stuff you got during the day. For the ticket we got a lanyard that needed to be worn at all times.

We only had a few must sees and everything else would be a bonus to us. One was the Disney Archives exhibit on the history of Disneyland and the other was the Disney Imagineering exhibit which would showcase Shanghai Disneyland and Avatarland at AK.

But first I was a bit overwhelmed when we entered the showcase floor:

We decided to head to the Archives exhibit first and got in line for that. The line was actually just an empty space with switchbacks marked on the floor with masking tape. It worked quite well. The line seemed to keep moving at a slow space and it took us about 35 minutes until we got to the entrance:

Might have been the most boring line I ever experienced at Disney, but it was definitely worth it. The exhibition was quite amazing. I took plenty of pictures and I am going to torture you with all of them:

The exhibit started with the story of the Little Man of Disneyland, which was a children’s book about how Disneyland was being built in some former orange groves. The Little Man lived in a tree in the orange grove and Mickey and his friends tell him all about Disneyland. At some point it was time to take down the tree the Little Man lived in, but he has found a new home in the park. The story was re-published now for the anniversary and you now can find the Little Man’s new home again in Disneyland if you look for it.

They had a screen with John Lasseter reading out the story:

There was a lot of history of how Disneyland was built:

And then the early years:

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Those Lines are Worse than Disneyland! - Part 2

Scary character costumes:

Walt Disney’s final corrections on the entrance plaque before signing it off:

And then there was something about Club 33 – of special interest to me since I just had been there:

I loved all the old souvenirs:

I mean, who wouldn’t want to buy a Disneyland hamburger press???

One of the things I find so fascinating about Disneyland is that there used to be real shops. Not just Disney shops. This was a display about a drugstore:

There was a whole section about restaurants with menus and matches:

We had dinner at the Tahitian Terrace in 1992 and thought it was such a great place. I am so sorry that it went away…

There were a few ride vehicles:

and in miniature:

They actually had an interesting digital rebuilt version of Adventures Thru Inner Space (well, it was just a film on a screen) and that was interesting to watch.

America Sings was a show with singing critters. Many can now be found inside Splash Mountain.

costumes for the Mouse:

costumes from the parade “America on Parade”:

scary monkeys:

This picture made me feel old:

Steven Spielberg and George Lucas look so young there!!!

nametags – on the left the ones from Disneyland through the years and on the right one from every entity that falls under Disney Parks and Resorts.

Ok, you are propably as tired now after all these pictures as we were after going through the exhibit. We spent nearly an hour in there.

It was great for any DL history buff. I could have stayed for hours.

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Those Lines are Worse than Disneyland! - Part 3

Afterwards we thought that we should see if we could get a “Stage Pass” for one of the afternoon panels. Those “Stage Passes” were kind of like Fastpass for the different panels that were going on. We had read the program and while there were some “big” presentations going on, we did not expect to get into any of those. But there was one that sounded interesting. It was called “Disneyland Home Movies”. So, we headed to the area where they were giving out the Stage Passes:

There were long long switchbacks installed as you see. Unfortunately the one that we wanted switched from available to unavailable on the screens just when we got there. We were a bit disappointed and decided to get some lunch and then do something else.

Lunch was a bit of an adventure as all the different food outlets had really long lines. They had the official convention center food outlets open as well as a number of food trucks in a courtyard. Michael was still wanting a hot dog since I did not get one for him at the pool the day before and so we picked a line for one of the convention center food places, which was selling hot dogs. Surprisingly the line moved really fast, they were definitely very efficient and we got our hot dog combos: hot dog, chips and drink. And then we realized that the three tables they had set up were really not enough for all the people who wanted to eat. Plenty of other groups already sat on the floor of the convention center and so, that’s what we did as well. Here is a picture of our hot dog D23 picnic meal:

By now we were really hungry, so the hot dogs were quite tasty!

The hot dogs were good, but not having barely any seating wasn't. And despite the fact the Expo is huge, there was plenty of unused space that could have been seating areas. You would think that after holding expos in 2009, 2011 and 2013 that they would know how to make these things run smoother, but talking to people who have gone multiple times it would appear that many things actually get worse by the year, not better.

Once we had eaten, we walked past the Stage Pass area again and surprisingly the Disneyland Home Movies presentation was back to being available! So we made our way to the front of the line through the empty switchbacks and got our Stage Pass:

There was still plenty of time until we had to be at that presentation and we went to the next destination that was a must for us: Disney Imagineering.

On the way there, we passed this Pizza Planet delivery truck:

We arrived there from the backside and the first thing we saw was another line. We asked what it was and were told that this was the entrance to the Avatarland presentation and that the wait would be about 5 to 10 minutes. That sounded reasonable, so we got in line there. They always let one larger group in at a time and it started with a video explaining us about that travel agency ACE that is offering trips to Pandora and how wonderful it will be to visit all the sights there. Kind of like a pre-show video at some of the attractions. It was really well done. Even Joe Rohde was talking about the great adventure of visiting Pandora!

In case you want to see the video, it can be found on the internet (of course):

I thought that the founder of ACE was a bit creepy. If this were a movie, I would expect him to turn out to be really evil…

Then we got to see the model of Pandora:

Someone from Disney Imagineering explained the group what there was in the model and the there were several CMs around answering questions. From what I understood, these were all real imagineers who were working on the project. But they were obviously being told to stay in role and talk about Avatarland (I think the official name will the “Pandora - The World of Avatar”, but that is far too long and PTWOA is a stupid acronym as well) as if it were a real destination, not a land in a theme park.

Just call it Pandora. That is what it will be known as. And that is what it really is.

We learned that there will be two rides, one river ride through the night to see the bioluminescent vegetation and then one where you get to fly. So, it sounds like the Land Pavillion: Living with the Land and Soarin. There will also be some left over military structures that will provide services for the travellers, i.e. restrooms and food.

They also had some artifacts on display:

I have to say that seeing this has finally made me excited for Avatarland. I hated the idea when it was first announced (and still don’t think it belongs there), but I am now very confident that it will be quite an amazing environment and that it will be done very well. Animal Kingdom will be such a different park once this opens and Rivers of Light, the new nighttime show, is showing!

Then we went around the corner and were at the front of the Imagineering space:

It was all about Shanghai Disneyland. We first explored the section with the info on the hotels. There will be a Disneyland Hotel, in Art Noveau style:

And then a moderate hotel called Toy Story Hotel:

We then moved into the exhibit about the park itself. This started with a nice map of the whole park:

The area in the bottom left called “Disneytown” is kind of the Downtown Disney of Shanghai Disneyland, so it is outside the park, even though it looks like it is just a land.

It will be on top of the park, even closer than Anaheim's DD is to DL.

Instead of a Main Street, there will be Mickey Avenue. It kind of is a mix of Toontown and Main Street and the concept art we saw made it look very interesting!

The hub area is far larger and is called “Gardens of Imagination”. There will be the Gardens of the Twelve Friends, which will show the different animals of the Chinese years:

There will also be a Dumbo:

And the Fantasia-themed carousel:

This eatery looked absolutely lovely:

Tomorrowland is very much inspired by Tron //and any new airport in Asia//:

There will be a Tron-motorcycle-coaster:

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Those Lines are Worse than Disneyland! - Part 4

We actually got to speak to one of the imagineers in this area, who was working on this attraction. She was really nice and it was fun to talk to her. But the reason I actually started to talk to her, was this Tomorrowland attraction:

It is kind of a version of the Astro Oribiter. But it looks more “wild”. You are sitting on benches and it seemed to go pretty fast. And she confirmed that the ride would have quite some thrill to it. Sounded great to me!!

And there will be a Buzz Lightyear attraction in Tomorrowland:

Back to the castle, which will be the first castle to have a ride inside (and in front of it): The Voyage to the Crystal Grotto.

I talked with another imagineer working on this and said that it sounded like it would be the same as the Storybook Boats at Disneyland. But according to him this is in a different league. I am kind of thinking that it might be a cross between Pirates, Storybook and It’s a Small World.

More like a new-ager Storybook Land with music, lighting and fountains instead of miniature scenes from the films. Still should be nice!

The castle will also have a walk through attraction:

There will be a Pooh area with dancing honey pots (I think it is instead of the tea cups) You think correctly. There will also be a Pooh dark ride behind it that seems to be a clone of the MK version.:

And the Mine Train:

They will have a maze like in Disneyland Paris, also themed to Alice in Wonderland. But not the cartoon version. It will be the recent movie that is the inspiration:

Then we get to Treasure Cove, which will be the “piratey” area.

(I think this will be a restaurant)

This area will be home to a new type of Pirate of the Caribbean attraction. The rumors are less animatronics, but more projections. They made a huge deal out of it with a video presentation. But you really could not get a feeling of what this ride would really be like. But it sounds like it has a great potential.

Oh, so we are leaving out the tale of the Imagineer working on it who wouldn't answer the most basic questions? OK.

Ah, yes, there was one interesting encounter! I talked to an imagineer who was working on animatronics for the Pirate attraction and the castle boat ride. Michael came over and talked to him as well and then asked how many animatronics there would be in the Pirate ride. The reason for this question was that the rumors say that the Shanghai Pirates will be mainly projection (like the little show they had for some time at DHS, it was actually some type of prototype). The Imagineer kind of closed up with this question and borderline rudely said that there would be at least one and pointed to the video where they showed the making of one animatronic. It was strange. I understand that they have certain things they want to keep secret, but there would have been many nicer ways to not answer Michael's question.

The off to Adventure Isle. There they seem to have some kind of rope walking course or sno:

And a rapid ride that looks like it could be amazing:

And from these little vignets you can take a guess which WDW attraction is planned as one of the first additions to Shanghai Disneyland:

It is this one:

We then ended our exploration in Disneytown:

This is some of the planned merchandise for one of the three distinct areas of Disneytown. This one is themed after the Shanghai of the 1920s.

By the time we left the pavilion we noticed that it was closed off and there was actually a queue of people waiting to get in. It seems that we went during the time that presentations were on and that was why it was fairly uncrowded.

We walked around a bit more and saw some fun costumes:

Then it was time to head to our presentation. This was on the upper floor and walking there I noticed that we had a nice view of the bag check area on the ground floor:

We had our stage passes and stupidly thought that with these we would be let directly into the presentation venue. No way!! We were lead into a smallish room, maybe a conference room or so. The room was unfurnished but had markings on the ground for queues. So we went to the end of this line. Everyone was just sitting on the floor waiting. And they continued to fill this room until the floor space was all taken. Then, just a few minutes before the presentation was supposed to start, some CM finally came to collect the people from this room. And we all filed out of the room in the order that we had entered it to walk across a hallway to the venue. It actually turned out to be not very full (about 4/5 full). But we got pretty good seats still, so for that it was worth it to wait for some time and get the stage pass.

The presentation was really interesting. It was actually done by some people from the Motion Picture Academy. They have a project of collecting old home movies, especially from people in the movie industry. And there were some that contained Disneyland or Walt Disney in the old days.

It started with some films that were made by Ward Kimball and they were presented by his son John Kimball. The videos were of Walt and Ward Kimball playing around with different model railways. The next one was of Steve McQueen and family visiting Disneyland in 1970. They had Steve McQueen’s widow there talking about it and she appeared to be a bit flakey. Very well preserved, but ancient and she did not really have a clue what she was talking about. At one point she commented on how pretty Disneyland is in the video and that she has not been back since that visit (in 1970!!) and that maybe she should go with the grandchildren… Well, she was directly across the road then, she could have jumped over after the presentation. The last set were 3D pictures, some of them from a Disneyland preview in 1955 that were made by some silent movie actor and they featured his granddaughter who now was present to talk about the pictures and about how much her grandparents had loved Disneyland. It really was very interesting!

It was great. And it beat seeing Marty Sklar telling the same stories he always does or Bob Iger crowing about Star Wars (we just saw it together and it was fun, but nothing special at all!) ... John is a friend of mine that I got to know when he was the Animation Governor for the TV Academy. He and his wife are just very nice and down to earth. I had hoped there would be a chance to connect with him and introduce him to M, but things were chaotic and it was not to be.

Continued in next post

 

[Flossbolna]

Those Lines are Worse than Disneyland! - Part 5

After the presentation we headed back to the exhibition space to look at some more things. We saw this model of Radiator Springs:

And I took pictures of all the posters advertising excursions to Pandora:

I think this was also when we met Alison when she was in line to get into one of the stores and had a brief chat. We never got in any lines for the stores – so at least we were not tempted to by a lot.

Yes, I spotted them waiting to get into the Disney store location. I think people were afraid we would attempt to join them and cut the line. ... I do not get the concept of waiting in line for hours to BUY things. If it is food and water or meds and there's been a disaster, that is one thing. But Disney stuff? I like it. I buy some of it. I don't wait to do so. I think it was probably a good financial thing for M and I to not be able to get into any of the shopping opportunities. I don't know what we would have spent, but it likely would have been considerable and instead we didn't spend a cent!

At some point it was time to head back to our hotel for a change of clothes before we headed out to dinner. All in all we really enjoyed our day at the D23 Expo. I was impressed how well done most of it was. I did not enjoy the crowds and think the way we did it definitely was the right way for us. Also, thanks to a CM friend getting the tickets for us, we did not pay the full price, only 23 $. And it was most definitely worth that!! But I think if I happened to be in Anaheim for that weekend again some years in the future, I would be tempted to get a one day ticket again, even if I had to pay the full price.

I agree. I'd do it again like we did. But I wouldn't make a big deal about being there. I had interest in going to the very first one, but had a choice of that or a trip to France with friends (that did include DLP too!) Guess what I did?

Our Disney time was nearly over, but one highlight was still to come! We were going to meet up with Alison and Fran for a meal at Steakhouse 55. Alison had talked so much about it that I really wanted to try it. We had talked before the trip quite a bit about it and somehow the plan came up that the four of us would meet up for a Chef’s Table meal. Even though we had seen Alison and Fran on other days, I was looking forward to that evening as it would be only the four of us and we would be able to chat some more without rushing from attraction to attraction.

We got settled and started with some fantastic sour dough bread (of which I had far too much!!):

We then were served an amuse bouche, it was a blini with sour cream.

The first course was a salad with watermelon and fried balls of rice and cheese. Michael is not a watermelon fan and got to pass it on to Fran who seemed quite happy to have more of that. I have to say that while watermelon is not my favourite, I eat it, and this was definitely the best watermelon I ever had!! Very good. I really enjoyed the whole salad and ate everything on my plate!

Our next course was soup: a white and green asparagus soup. This was delicious!! I loved how you could really taste the difference of both of the different types of asparagus!

We then moved on to butternut squash ravioli in browned butter with burrata. I never had burrata before, it kind of is a very soft and creamy mozzarella. This was absolutely wonderful!! I loved the burrata and I love pasta, butternut squash and browned butter.

The only problem with the dish was that I was starting to feel full… It was a bit heavy with the butter and the cheese. And there was still more to come!!

My rib-eye steak! This was a wonderful piece of meat and I tried very hard to eat as much of it as I could. But it really was getting difficult!!

Michael had made a smarter choice and got a smaller piece of beef:

A filet. And the thing beside the steaks is bone marrow. We all tried it and none of us fell in love with it. I think I can well do without it in the future…

As sides we got for the table the creamed corn:

(not very good picture, sorry!!) If I remember correctly, Michael and Fran both loved this.

I loved all of it, but the corn was among the best I have ever had!

And fried spinach:

I loved it! It was very crispy and light (well, most likely it was not light with the fat from frying it, but it tasted light).

And mac and cheese:

I did not have a lot of the sides since I was battling with the steak already…

After we had eaten our main courses, I kind of took a break. I had some German goodies for Fran and Alison and stupid me had forgotten those back at the hotel. I thought now might be a good point to go and get them. While I was away, dessert was served, a fantastic Grand Marnier soufflé for me, ice cream for Michael. And because I was away, there are no dessert pictures! Sorry!!

It was berries and sorbet (think it was mango and or tangerine) for me and your absence was great as we got to sit around and talk about you behind your lovely back!

All in all it was a great meal with fantastic food and wonderful company. It really was so nice to chat some more with Fran and Alison without all the hectic of our previous meetings. However, in hindsight I felt sad that I could not do all that wonderful food the justice it deserved because I overate so much. I loved Steakhouse 55 and would love to return there on another visit to DL, but I think I will be content with a few less courses. But I absolutely get that Alison and Fran love the chef, he prepared an outstanding dining experience for us!!

It was one of the best meals of the trip and of 2015, but definitely too much food when you don't have a fridge and oven for leftovers. The chef, formerly the head chef of Club 33, put together a culinary masterpiece for us and you just wish you had more room for all of it!

Once we had said see you hopefully soon again to the two, we went back to the Paradise Pier where I just wanted to do one thing: fall into bed. Michael on the other hand had to move our car from the Grand Californian parking to the Paradise Pier parking and wanted to move himself a little bit more. So I let him go out on his adventure on his own. A decision I got to regret deeply!!!

So what? You missed a Tony Baxter encounter back at the Grand? That is what happens when you go to sleep too early!

Yes, I would have loved to meet Tony Baxter! And if it is just to tell him what a fantastic job he did when he oversaw the design of Disneyland Paris!

Up Next: Michael finds a New Love and We Eat in an Airplane

 

[GoofyFan1515]

There we had priority access to the theater with our tour guide and got first pick on our seats. Thing 2 all made us get into the third row and I have to say that these were excellent seats to follow the action on the stage. Close enough to really see the actors and their expressions, but not too close. There is some stuff happening in the walkways of the theater and some of that was behind us. Also, the flying carpet was mainly above us, so not the best view of that either. But all in all, I can very much recommend row three. Not that it matters much at all anymore as Aladdin will soon be gone to be replaced by some icy sisters.

I guess that's the good thing about different people having different choices. The times we have been we chose to sit in the middle behind the walkway. It was great to be able to see everything going on, and the stuff happening in the walkways are very interesting and unique in their own right........especially watching the elephant.

The show was really great and the genie was very funny! At some point Jafar was pointing his stick at him and the genie commented how he was able to get this thing in here, he thought that selfie sticks had been banned here now.

This was definitely one of my favorite Disney shows! The genie is always fantastic with his current ad libs! I hate they are doing away with this show for sure!

After the show Thing 2 wanted us to meet his performer friend who took some time to get out of the show. So, Alison and I decided to get in a quick ride on Tower of Terror while the others were waiting. Once we got out, he was there and we all went to get some lunch at Flo’s in Carsland.

ToT followed by a meal at Flo's is a great choice. We really enjoyed our meal there the first time we ate, although it sounds like the menu may have changed and based on Michael's comment, not for the better.

Because you can never have enough pictures of Cars Land!!

And then again, there are so many things there to take pictures of that it makes taking lots of them so easy to do.

The ride itself was very cute though, but nothing I would wait for very long.

Even though I hadn't ridden 20,000 Leagues since I was very young, it was funny that very little had changed from what I remembered about the underwater scenes, other than adding a little Nemo flavor here and there............lol

We ended that day with a ride on Space Mountain where Alison and I rocked the front row! I absolutely adore the Disneyland Space Mountain. I think it is even my favorite Space Mountain of all the versions that are available now.

You BOTH got to rock the first row??? Yes, that is an interesting difference in the ride vehicles. Sadly, I can't tell you what the DL Space Mountain is like since every time Pat and I have ridden it, it was themed for Halloween with the Ghost Galaxy overlay.

So THAT'S what Tink looks like all lit up................ When we were there, when this float made it to our location the lights were out and Tink was totally in the dark!

I browsed the shops for a while and looked at the shop windows on Main Street as some had really elaborate decorations:

I agree, those windows are always very interesting.

We decided that we should see if we could find a hat that was not too pricey and while walking through City Walk we spotted a shop that had hats on offer. They turned out to be really cheap and Michael got a new Universal hat (saving him the embarrassment of wearing a Disney one at Universal) for 3 bucks. That was much less painful than we thought it would be!

Since Kathy isn't around much anymore I have to say for her..............WHAT, no hat pictures???

The whole being a volunteer thing was over so quickly! I am normally not someone who has spent a lot of time on stages, so this was a new experience for me. But it was definitely a lot of fun!

Such a neat experience, but I'm glad you told us that you were the white blob in the scene........lol

One major difference is no room where the ceiling becomes a wall of fire, which I had expected in the drying off department.]

The ceilings become a wall? Must be some sort of camera trick.......

We took a spin on Mater’s:

This is such a fun ride!! It really has some fun action spinning you around. It looks rather plain at first, but the motion is actually not too mild at all and the whole theming is hilarious!

You're right, I've never seen this ride appear to be very popular, and it has always been a walkon..........a lot of people are missing out on a great ride. I laugh the whole time I am on it with the way it slings you around! Definitely a favorite if for no other reason that it is so unique.

But then none of the CMs ever came to our area again. So, after a while I got impatient, especially since it took them so long to come back for our order, we wondered how long it would be until they would bring our food!

The VGC pool is great, but the poolside service is definitely lacking! I think Pat also just headed off and got what we wanted too. That was much faster!

This was really delicious! Unfortunately it also had a lot of ice, so the glass was far too soon empty.

I hate when THAT happens!

And then we got to the convention center:

I did a conference in that convention center somewhere around 1995, but it definitely wasn't as interesting as the one you got to attend! You got some great pictures of some very interesting memorabilia.

Scary character costumes:

What in the world were they thinking............lol

We got settled and started with some fantastic sour dough bread (of which I had far too much!!):

Fantastic sour dough bread is always a great way to start!

 

[franandaj]

We crossed the street and walked over to the Paradise Pier Hotel. It really is not far at all!

It's nice that in California everything is so compact at the resort, no busses required!

And in hindsight we were quite happy that we arrived so late. We could see the markings on the floor for the queues they had set up to get inside. They started far far away from the doors!

Yeah, we got there at 11AM and those lines were still in use!

But first I was a bit overwhelmed when we entered the showcase floor:

It is very easy to get overwhelmed in that space, the room itself is so large and Disney definitely had a lot going on in there.

The line seemed to keep moving at a slow space and it took us about 35 minutes until we got to the entrance:

It took us about the same amount of time later in the day.

And then there was something about Club 33 – of special interest to me since I just had been there:

I love how "secret" the place is. They seem like they are full on advertising...."Got a spare $50K sitting around? We know where you can spend it!"

scary monkeys:

No, not scary monkeys, just part of Mickey's wild dreams in Fantasmic!

You would think that after holding expos in 2009, 2011 and 2013 that they would know how to make these things run smoother, but talking to people who have gone multiple times it would appear that many things actually get worse by the year, not better.

Some things have improved over the years and others got incredibly worse.

So we made our way to the front of the line through the empty switchbacks and got our Stage Pass:

I'm surprised that they had any left! From what I saw they sold out really quickly.

We asked what it was and were told that this was the entrance to the Avatarland presentation and that the wait would be about 5 to 10 minutes.

I didn't even know that this was there!

It was all about Shanghai Disneyland. We first explored the section with the info on the hotels. There will be a Disneyland Hotel, in Art Noveau style:

I missed this section of this exhibit as well.

The presentation was really interesting. It was actually done by some people from the Motion Picture Academy. They have a project of collecting old home movies, especially from people in the movie industry. And there were some that contained Disneyland or Walt Disney in the old days.

Sounds like a neat seminar.

Yes, I spotted them waiting to get into the Disney store location. I think people were afraid we would attempt to join them and cut the line. ... I do not get the concept of waiting in line for hours to BUY things.

I got that same vibe from the people around us, like no one is supposed to talk to you when your at the front of the line.

All in all it was a great meal with fantastic food and wonderful company. It really was so nice to chat some more with Fran and Alison without all the hectic of our previous meetings.

We enjoyed having a chance to sit and talk to you as well in a peaceful and nice setting.

I loved Steakhouse 55 and would love to return there on another visit to DL, but I think I will be content with a few less courses. But I absolutely get that Alison and Fran love the chef, he prepared an outstanding dining experience for us!!

My mom has the same complaint about Marcel, but when I'm paying that much for dinner, I like that there is something to take home. If I eat everything in sight, I'm afraid that I didn't get enough food. Also if you order off the menu, you don't get to try the innovative dishes like the butternut squash ravioli or the asparagus soup, nor is the soufflé on the menu. The regular menu is somewhat limited as traditional American steakhouses have a somewhat set menu. He loves to get a chance to cook innovative dishes, and I'm happy to let him experiment on us!

Yes, I would have loved to meet Tony Baxter! And if it is just to tell him what a fantastic job he did when he oversaw the design of Disneyland Paris!

Heck! I would just congratulate him on a lifetime of achievements, the number of things he has innovated is staggering!

 

[Poolrat]

One day of snow was enough for my Floridian boyfriend to stop complaining that winter is too warm and to start complaining that winter is too cold in Germany.).

I get the feeling that Disney is dumping loads of chlorine in their hot tubs though as I have learned the hard way that my good swim suits should not be worn in Disney hot tubs, they start to lose all the elastics.

Ohhhhh Yes they are but it should not be so obvious.

So, I guess you have not tried the Golden Zephyr either?

I have on the 2014 DL trip. The first trip out there I just never made it to that corner of CA.

Did I forget to post the tile??? Here it is:

That is cute.




D23 looks interesting. Some neat exhibits and I am sure many, many neat presentations.

Dinner looks great. Looks like you had a great meal there with great company.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a lot of pictures from D23. So cool to see it all!
Dinner looks amazing.

 

[dolphingirl47]

We looked into that and it turned out that a standard room at the Paradise Pier hotel was not that much more in points than the GCV studio.

I have found this on a couple of occasions as well.

We got checked in without problem and were told that since we were staying on points, parking was free!

That is good to know. Their parking charges are really steep, too.

All in all this is done in a very nice way and the hotel is wonderfully bright and well kept.

I love this hotel. The public area are of course a lot nicer at the Grand Californian, but I actually prefer the rooms at Paradise Pier. The decor in the rooms at Grand Californian and Disneyland Hotel are a little dark for my taste.

We showed our tickets and were inside the building, no wait at all.

That is what I call a result.

the other was the Disney Imagineering exhibit which would showcase Shanghai Disneyland

I would have loved to see that. Ever since I heard George Scribner speak on our Panama Canal cruise and then had a chance to chat with him at the Outlook Cafe, I have had a bit of an obsession with Shanghai Disneyland.

The line seemed to keep moving at a slow space and it took us about 35 minutes until we got to the entrance

That actually seems fair for something that special.

Once we had eaten, we walked past the Stage Pass area again and surprisingly the Disneyland Home Movies presentation was back to being available! So we made our way to the front of the line through the empty switchbacks and got our Stage Pass:

I am glad that you got your Stage Pass. It must have been annoying to nearly get there the first time round only for it to turn to sold out.

That is making my heart beat quicker. Only a little short of 10 months until I get to see this for myself.

There will be a Disneyland Hotel, in Art Noveau style:

This sounds like it will be right up my street. I definitely have to check this out. I am not so patiently waiting for them to release prices for their hotels, but I think they will probably make my eyes water.

This eatery looked absolutely lovely:

That does look amazing.

It is kind of a version of the Astro Oribiter. But it looks more “wild”. You are sitting on benches and it seemed to go pretty fast. And she confirmed that the ride would have quite some thrill to it. Sounded great to me!!

That sounds interesting.

I am kind of thinking that it might be a cross between Pirates, Storybook and It’s a Small World.

That sounds like it would be really enjoyable.

We had talked before the trip quite a bit about it and somehow the plan came up that the four of us would meet up for a Chef’s Table meal.

What a nice idea.

The first course was a salad with watermelon and fried balls of rice and cheese.

That sounds like an interesting and very unusual combination. I love watermelon and also arancini, but I would never have thought to combine them.

And the thing beside the steaks is bone marrow. We all tried it and none of us fell in love with it. I think I can well do without it in the future…

Had you not come across bone marrow before? It kind of feels like I was raised on Markklößchen Suppe and I do actually really like it.

a fantastic Grand Marnier soufflé for me

Now you are talking. How did it compare to the one on the ships?

So what? You missed a Tony Baxter encounter back at the Grand? That is what happens when you go to sleep too early!

What a shame.

Corinna

 

[Steppesister]

What a fabulous hour I have spent looking at all of the wonderful pictures from the D23. So many memories coming back to me when the parks were park of my childhood. Just lovely! So glad you got to have a leisurely, and extremely delicious looking, dinner with Fran and Alison! I'm really looking forward to meeting them both someday! Sorry you missed your the meeting with Tony Baxter. Maybe another time.....

 

[nodnol]

I had to read about your day in three sittings - so much to look at! The Expos sounds much more interesting than I ever thought. But I guess I never thought very much about it… And no wonder you were really tired after this day! Some of the designs for Shanghai look very tempting, but also very expensive.

 

[Flossbolna]

I guess that's the good thing about different people having different choices. The times we have been we chose to sit in the middle behind the walkway. It was great to be able to see everything going on, and the stuff happening in the walkways are very interesting and unique in their own right........especially watching the elephant.

I think different viewpoints give you different experiences. Being close you can see how much acting the actors actually do, but further back you get a better overview of the whole scene. I like both experiences and am sad that I only ever got to see Aladin that one time...

This was definitely one of my favorite Disney shows! The genie is always fantastic with his current ad libs! I hate they are doing away with this show for sure!

I generally like it when they keep the shows new and fresh. For example I think that Wishes is long overdue a replacement. But then they pick the one show that was the least stale to replace it... Not sure I am going to be in love with a Frozen replacement...

ToT followed by a meal at Flo's is a great choice. We really enjoyed our meal there the first time we ate, although it sounds like the menu may have changed and based on Michael's comment, not for the better.

The menu is more sandwich based now. It used to be more real meals. I think it is a shame, but most likely will fit more with most people's expectations of a counter service meal.

And then again, there are so many things there to take pictures of that it makes taking lots of them so easy to do.

Yes, you are right there. Lot's of details make a great material for lots of pictures!

Even though I hadn't ridden 20,000 Leagues since I was very young, it was funny that very little had changed from what I remembered about the underwater scenes, other than adding a little Nemo flavor here and there............lol

I have to admit that I remember very little of the ride, mainly that I was busy to concentrate on not getting a panic attack!

You BOTH got to rock the first row??? Yes, that is an interesting difference in the ride vehicles. Sadly, I can't tell you what the DL Space Mountain is like since every time Pat and I have ridden it, it was themed for Halloween with the Ghost Galaxy overlay.

So, you haven't seen the Disneyland Haunted Mansion either?? I wonder how different Ghost Galaxy is from the real Space Mountain. After all, it still is the same track.

So THAT'S what Tink looks like all lit up................ When we were there, when this float made it to our location the lights were out and Tink was totally in the dark!

What a shame!! One evening I noticed problems with the Slinky Dog float and was very disappointed. That and the Mickey one at the end were my absolute favorites.

I agree, those windows are always very interesting.

I have heard that they have installed even more of them. I really like how they change. Something small, but so nice!

Since Kathy isn't around much anymore I have to say for her..............WHAT, no hat pictures???

The hat was not picture worthy!

Such a neat experience, but I'm glad you told us that you were the white blob in the scene........lol

The ceilings become a wall? Must be some sort of camera trick.......

You're right, I've never seen this ride appear to be very popular, and it has always been a walkon..........a lot of people are missing out on a great ride. I laugh the whole time I am on it with the way it slings you around! Definitely a favorite if for no other reason that it is so unique.

Exactly!! This is a ride that makes me feel like a kid again, just having fun on the Merry-go-Round.

The VGC pool is great, but the poolside service is definitely lacking! I think Pat also just headed off and got what we wanted too. That was much faster!

Seems like plenty people are having issued there. I remember Cynthia was writing about it as well.

I did a conference in that convention center somewhere around 1995, but it definitely wasn't as interesting as the one you got to attend! You got some great pictures of some very interesting memorabilia.

I briefly read the year wrong and was surprised that they had a convention center there in 1955 already... And then it seemed strange that you were there at a convention when Disneyland opened and did not go to Disneyland. Finally I realized that you most certainly are too young to have gone to a convention in 1955...

What in the world were they thinking............lol

It is amazing how much the character costumes have changed for the better!

Fantastic sour dough bread is always a great way to start!

 

[Poolrat]

So, you haven't seen the Disneyland Haunted Mansion either?? I wonder how different Ghost Galaxy is from the real Space Mountain. After all, it still is the same track.

No Haunted Mansion without the overlay either. Alas maybe someday.

 

[Flossbolna]

It's nice that in California everything is so compact at the resort, no busses required!

Yes, this is definitely one of the plus points for California!!

Yeah, we got there at 11AM and those lines were still in use!

We were there not so much later and it is amazing that it already has all cleared out! I think we were really lucky then.

It is very easy to get overwhelmed in that space, the room itself is so large and Disney definitely had a lot going on in there.

Besides all the interesting stuff, there was also plenty that did not interest us one bit, like the whole Disney Infinity stuff. But then we had fun looking at some of the smaller stuff as well: The Disney gold coins from New Zealand, the Disney music display etc.

It took us about the same amount of time later in the day.

I guess that was the fair amount of wait overall.

I love how "secret" the place is. They seem like they are full on advertising...."Got a spare $50K sitting around? We know where you can spend it!"

No, not scary monkeys, just part of Mickey's wild dreams in Fantasmic!

Yes, as I said: scary! (I do find Fantasmic slightly scary indeed! Yes, I am scared easily!)

Some things have improved over the years and others got incredibly worse.

This just baffles me. You would think that they have it down to the dot now.

I'm surprised that they had any left! From what I saw they sold out really quickly.

I think there were some left because this was not a very high level panel!

I didn't even know that this was there!

We more or less stumbled upon it because of the side we approached the pavilion from.

I missed this section of this exhibit as well.

I am glad that I got pictures for you then!

Sounds like a neat seminar.

We really enjoyed it, even if it was not one with lots of news being announced.

I got that same vibe from the people around us, like no one is supposed to talk to you when your at the front of the line.

I totally missed that! Michael commented about it afterwards and I was just too excited that we actually ran into you and were able to see high.

We enjoyed having a chance to sit and talk to you as well in a peaceful and nice setting.

It was a wonderful evening!

My mom has the same complaint about Marcel, but when I'm paying that much for dinner, I like that there is something to take home. If I eat everything in sight, I'm afraid that I didn't get enough food. Also if you order off the menu, you don't get to try the innovative dishes like the butternut squash ravioli or the asparagus soup, nor is the soufflé on the menu. The regular menu is somewhat limited as traditional American steakhouses have a somewhat set menu. He loves to get a chance to cook innovative dishes, and I'm happy to let him experiment on us!

You have the advantage that it is a "local" place for you. I think if we had the meal earlier in the trip we might have decided to take some back to the villa as well. We did that at Flying Fish at WDW in 2013 and then had a lovely second meal in our villa. I am really happy for that reason that our next trip will be in a one-bedroom again. I love having a kitchen and a dining table!

Heck! I would just congratulate him on a lifetime of achievements, the number of things he has innovated is staggering!

 

[Flossbolna]

Ohhhhh Yes they are but it should not be so obvious.

It is really strange, but I find all your pool insider knowledge really fascinating!!

I have on the 2014 DL trip. The first trip out there I just never made it to that corner of CA.

I can understand it, it is a bit out of the way.

D23 looks interesting. Some neat exhibits and I am sure many, many neat presentations.

I was surprised in a positive way how much we enjoyed it. At first I was not really keen at all, but it was great fun. But it can be very overwhelming and I would hate the stress of queuing for ages for the big presentations.

Dinner looks great. Looks like you had a great meal there with great company.

It was wonderful!

No Haunted Mansion without the overlay either. Alas maybe someday.

It is great, but inside I think the WDW HM wins by a slight margin. Even with the Hatbox Ghost. He did not impress me.

 

[Flossbolna]

That's a lot of pictures from D23. So cool to see it all!
Dinner looks amazing.

I am glad that you enjoyed the pictures. I thought it was fun to try to document it for my trip report readers.

Dinner was amazing all around!