D23 2019 UPDATE 3/9 This is the end, my only friend, the end. Of our elaborate plans, the end.

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I love the design of these banners:



Really, anything that highlights attractions is awesome. I like it that at DL, they seem to appreciate the attractions more. They even had a fireworks show that used attraction music.

Our first stop was a classic:



There was also a Haunted Mansion exhibit inside to celebrate the HM's 50th.

It was a really great display and we had time to look around before the next Great Moments show.



Some very cool early concept art:





And a poster of explanations for some of the mementos in the queue:







Love Rolly Crump. Anyone who rides his motorcycle into Imagineering is ok by me.





Such a great exhibit.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

We still had some time to look at the usual exhibits inside Great Moments.

The original DL layout:








The show was excellent as always.





We decided that a train ride around DL was in order.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

It was close to 1 pm and we could begin to hear the clock ticking on our DL trip. Hahaha, little IASW related humor. Because we were right next to the big clock...nevermind.



There is always that moment for me where I start to feel the panic of...it's almost over! But there's still so much to see! So much I haven't done!








The T-Rex represents my job and obligations. The much smaller dino that is about to be owned by the T-Rex is me

Fight him! Maybe you can win this time.



We pulled back into Main Street, thus completing our circle tour of the DL park.



At this point, we still had about 3 hours left in the parks. So what did we do?!



Isn't that Downtown Disney?! You might find yourself, asking yourself, self, didn't she just say she never wants to leave and only had 3 hours left in the parks?? What about the impending sense of doom?! Why is she leaving the parks!?

Well, if there's anything I love so much as the Disney parks, it's Trader Sam's at the Disneyland Hotel.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Trader Sam's is just the perfect blend of tiki culture with Disney charm and a dash of Adventureland.






Love love love.

We had met up with our friend Lori somewhere along the way again.




Drinks were had:





Pictures were taken:



Volcanoes blew:







Until next time Sam's.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I’m glad you took the time to write all of this! D23 sounds like quite the experience (I wanted to write “ordeal” but I know you had an amazing time). I have been binging DL trip reports so I have really enjoyed reading about how your trip was a bit different. I look forward to reading about your last day and wrap up!

Thanks for reading! And thanks for posting!

Your post has inspired me to go! Deeper and deeper into my trip report, that is.

Little Jungle Cruise humor.

 

[soniam]

It feels so long ago already. I miss Disneyland. At this point, I miss any Disney park, since it's been 6 months since I have been to one. We have a trip coming up in July though and a DCL cruise. I am really excited about Destination D in November and already have my hotel booked. Hopefully, I will catch up with you guys again at the parks sooner than later. I appreciate all of the help, advice, and camaraderie at my first D23 Expo. Can't wait for the next one.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

It feels so long ago already. I miss Disneyland. At this point, I miss any Disney park, since it's been 6 months since I have been to one. We have a trip coming up in July though and a DCL cruise. I am really excited about Destination D in November and already have my hotel booked. Hopefully, I will catch up with you guys again at the parks sooner than later. I appreciate all of the help, advice, and camaraderie at my first D23 Expo. Can't wait for the next one.

It does seem like forever

We did a couple days at wdw in October when we went for hhn at universal with you. But that's that last time.

We also have no plans to return, which is just awful.

We have a long weekend trip to Seattle in a few weeks.

We were going to do Hong Kong and their Disney in the fall... But since that park is now closed with no signs of reopening I have no idea what we're doing.

We are going to book the 2021 West bound Transatlantic cruise, but that's really far in the future.

I gotta tell ya, it's very sad not having a Disney trip in the works.

 

[soniam]

It does seem like forever

We did a couple days at wdw in October when we went for hhn at universal with you. But that's that last time.

We also have no plans to return, which is just awful.

We have a long weekend trip to Seattle in a few weeks.

We were going to do Hong Kong and their Disney in the fall... But since that park is now closed with no signs of reopening I have no idea what we're doing.

We are going to book the 2021 West bound Transatlantic cruise, but that's really far in the future.

I gotta tell ya, it's very sad not having a Disney trip in the works.

Oooh, Transatlantic Cruise! So jealous! That’s on our bucket list. Seattle will be nice. I’ve never been there, and we have friends that live there.

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I have such a weird love for this attraction

SAME. It's such silly fun!

but it seriously looks like my little force owl took a selfie:

I'm definitely on the side of the owl selfie

thinking they were $8.

I also love and appreciate the Grizzly Peak theme.

I think its so underrated! They really nailed the sightlines and the ambiance of the whole area is just so relaxing.

Delicious. And now I'm starving.

Those film strip fries are the potatoes of my dreams.

Hahaha, little IASW related humor. Because we were right next to the big clock...nevermind.

The T-Rex represents my job and obligations. The much smaller dino that is about to be owned by the T-Rex is me

No you are the T Rex! BE the T rex!!

Until next time Sam's.

I'm in serious need of a trip to Trader Sam's. For now I'll just drink my coke zero out of my tiki mug.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

All right.

We just walked out of Trader Sam's. It was time to head back to the parks, but we had one snack request first.

Who can refuse a snack request on the last day of a trip?

No one.

We found ourselves at:



Here is my artistic Insta photo:



Brian and I shared since we'd just had a...few...Trader Sam's drinks. I forget what the flavor was but it shocked me with it's deliciousness.

I highly recommend Salt and Straw!

We slowly ate and made our way back to DL so we could visit Galaxy's Edge one last time.






I could spend hours just walking around.



Love my some Gonks (droid on the very right for those of you who have better things to do with your time than read Star Wars books).







We did single ride for Falcon and all got put in the same vehicle again. We had major good luck with single ride for the Falcon this trip.



The others in our group kindly relented and let Brian and I have pilot again. We are fiercely competitive and wanted to be perfect as pilots.

We sadly said goodbye to Galaxy's Edge.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

At this point we were severely low on time. We said our goodbyes to our friend Lori and the 3 of us took a walk up Tarzan's Treehouse.









You'll be in my heart, Disneyland. You'll be in my heart.





Easter egg!



Suddenly it was time for our last ride.



I like how they incorporate ABD advertisements into attraction queues:



Love this bird:

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I wish they sold this sign:





Just like that, our time was up.

Brian and Sonia wanted to grab a quick skewer at Bengal BBQ. I wanted to grab a few conciliatory treats, so I stopped at the Jolly Holiday.







Leaving is always so sad. I'm usually drop dead exhausted but I still never want to leave.

This trip was amazing in so many different ways.

Club 33, D23, but mostly it was the memories and the time spent with friends, old and new. If you ever listened to the old Disneyland DIS Podcast, Tom Bell always got it right with his sign off:

Disneyland is always more magical when it's shared.



With that, I will call this trip report complete.

Remember how I was whining a few posts back that I had no idea when my next Disney trip was planned?!!

Well, I take it back. We were supposed to travel to Seattle for Emerald City Comic Con with our friend Emily.

However, you may have heard of a little thing called COVID-19. That seems to be having it's US epicenter in Seattle. That convention, along with our trip, has been canceled.

We were all pretty depressed, so we very quickly threw together a mid April WDW trip!!

We have no idea if we'll actually make it on this trip or not, but I think I may start a pre-trip report over on the WDW boards. Please come find if you'd like to join in!

 

[soniam]

Sorry to hear about your convention. We had some friends that were going to attend a convention in Orlando in late April. I was helping them plan their first WDW trip, but the convention was canceled. Yah for an April trip though! I hope you make it. We aren't heading back to WDW until July, but we will be back at WDW at Thanksgiving. I wish they would hurry up and announce the 50th dates, so that I can plan for next year. I know we will be going at Thanksgiving again 2021, because the Universal podcast that had the event last October during HHN is doing another event the weekend before Thanksgiving.

 

[pepperandchips]

Conciliatory Jolly Holiday treats is the only way to make parting less sorrowful. Again, wonderful report! I loved all your photos and the feeling of joining your trip. It’s really crappy that covid-19 canceled your con but WDW will be a nice silver lining. I hope that works out for you - our fingers are now crossed for our April Disneyland trip. Thanks again for sharing!!

 

[dolewhipdreams]

I like how they incorporate ABD advertisements into attraction queues:

I never noticed that! Classic Disney marketing move.

However, you may have heard of a little thing called COVID-19

What's that?

Thanks for sharing about your trip! It's always nice getting to live some things vicariously (ahem C33) through the Disboards! Now off to find this PTR...

 

[Chisoxcollector]

Thanks for the great trip report! I started reading it last night, and just finished. I always think about attending D23, so I appreciate all of the details you provided. Somehow you’ve made me want to go even more, and at the same time not want to go at all.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Sorry to hear about your convention. We had some friends that were going to attend a convention in Orlando in late April. I was helping them plan their first WDW trip, but the convention was canceled. Yah for an April trip though! I hope you make it. We aren't heading back to WDW until July, but we will be back at WDW at Thanksgiving. I wish they would hurry up and announce the 50th dates, so that I can plan for next year. I know we will be going at Thanksgiving again 2021, because the Universal podcast that had the event last October during HHN is doing another event the weekend before Thanksgiving.

It's all up in the air with the virus whether we'll go. We plan on going if things are as they are now. None of us are high risk and I am able to work from home anyway. But there is the real risk of WDW closing down.

I imagine they might not know what they're still doing for the 50th. I keep hearing such different thoughts on the subject. Whether the closure of the Asia parks is affecting the bottom line of the US parks and whether cuts will happen or won't they.

Conciliatory Jolly Holiday treats is the only way to make parting less sorrowful. Again, wonderful report! I loved all your photos and the feeling of joining your trip. It’s really crappy that covid-19 canceled your con but WDW will be a nice silver lining. I hope that works out for you - our fingers are now crossed for our April Disneyland trip. Thanks again for sharing!!

Are you thinking of doing a trip report for your April DL?

My fingers are also crossed for your trip.

Thanks for following along, I'm glad you joined in.

I never noticed that! Classic Disney marketing move.


What's that?

Thanks for sharing about your trip! It's always nice getting to live some things vicariously (ahem C33) through the Disboards! Now off to find this PTR...

You found it!

Thanks for the great trip report! I started reading it last night, and just finished. I always think about attending D23, so I appreciate all of the details you provided. Somehow you’ve made me want to go even more, and at the same time not want to go at all.

Yeah, our first D23 trip was much better. I have a link to that trip report in my signature if you want to check it out.

But that's just how these conventions and D23 go. Most of the moments are kind of bleh, but you get those handful of amazing, wow moments that just make you want to keep coming back.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

Thanks for sharing your trip and letting us go to club 33 through you!

The d23 expo sounds awesome. I'd love to go one year but I'm not sure if I have enough patience for it lol.

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

Thanks for sharing your trip and letting us go to club 33 through you!

The d23 expo sounds awesome. I'd love to go one year but I'm not sure if I have enough patience for it lol.

It does take quite a bit of patience hahaha

 

[Jessicarabbit1985]

WOW all those pictures seem great.