Disney First, Education Later - An Aussie TR

[miss.potatohead]

Sounds like another great day. Can I ask, what was it that weirded you out on Winnie the Pooh?

And I love your shot of the singing busts from HM

Definitely the fluoro psychedelic colours, swirls, motion and the randomness of the ride. It's worthy of a ride, but I would never wait in a 20+min line for it!

 

[miss.potatohead]

Saturday 10th August

This weekend was the D23 expo and weren’t sure what the crowds would be like, so we headed to the ‘dark side’ – Universal Studios. In saying that, it was still summer holidays for schools so we splurged and bought the Front of the Line passes for approximately $60 more. We booked through LUX Bus, who picked us up nice and early. The man at the depot almost didn’t charge us as it wasn’t listed on his notes, and when he did process payment he put it through at the non-peak price so we saved a few extra dollars.

Our bus driver took a very long detour to ‘show us the sites’ between Anaheim and Los Angeles, including the Crystal Cathedral in Orange. She was really informative but we just wanted to get to Universal and beat the crowds! Eventually we arrived (around a 35min journey on the weekend) and entered just as a large Japanese tour group arrived. Staying one step ahead of them, we were one of the first parties on the Simpsons ride, then went down and did the Mummy, Transformers and Jurassic Park without using our Front of Line passes. The Transformers ride was amazing! We took cover in the air conditioned NBC exhibit where they had lots of props, scripts and videos from Universal films and then saw the Sound Effects Stage Show.

Lunch was at Mel’s Diner where I had the not so healthy chilli cheese fries and onion rings. The park was getting quite busy so we left to check out the City Walk and was amazed at the price difference between America and home. Converse for $45, Doc Martins for $70, Havianna thongs/flip flops for $15…

We returned to the park and watched the WaterWorld Show which I really enjoyed. Last time I went to Universal it was winter so the show wasn’t running but it was a great way to cool down in the hot summer afternoon. The crowds were really heavy now so we went back to the lower lot and rode Jurassic Park, Transformers and the Mummy using our Front of Line pass, all within 45 mins minutes, while the Transformers ride alone had a 105 minute wait time listed. We finished off with the Simpsons ride and I had a nice nap during Shrek 4D.

To end our day we took the Studio Backlot Tour. I felt it covered more this time than my previous trip and the material was fun. I’m a bit of a film/tv nerd so it was an interesting tour. They were also setting up for The Voice (I think) and the Mindy Project and we saw some behind the scenes action!

We said goodbye to Universal and headed to dinner at Wolfgang Puck in City Walk. I’d read good things about the ones in WDW so I had the mac and cheese and it did not disappoint. The serving was a little small but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

We were told the bus would be back at 6.30PM and leaving at 7PM so we had planned to finish dinner at 6.50. Our waitress sped our service up which was nice and as we were walking towards at bus (at 6.55PM mind you) it was reversing out! Thankfully we got there in time but the ‘older’ Australian group on it were a bit catty muttering to themselves that had they known we’d be late (but we weren’t?) they’d have had dinner at the park. Whatever. We were dropped back to the hotel and went to bed relatively early compared to the other nights as we had a busy last day in Disney planed for tomorrow!

 

[maryr1oz]

Really enjoying your report!

 

[Mumtotwocuties]

Loving the TR! Can't wait till our trip Sep 2014

 

[Marlea98]

Lol - I know EXACTLY what you mean! our family refer to that ride as "Pooh's Bad Acid Trip"- it is quite different to the WDW version. Liberal use of fluoro paint, swirly trippy shapes and Pooh does a lot of spinning around.... not to mention dreaming of Heffalumps and Woozles!
we love turning around at the right spot to see the heads of the three dudes from the Country Bear Jamboree though, still hanging on the wall....
enjoying your TR!

So is the WDW one different to DLR? I thought the DLR one was weird and it wasn't something I'd go on again (even the kids weren't fussed by it). Would it be worth investing time on the WDW then?

 

[Saskiwi]

So is the WDW one different to DLR? I thought the DLR one was weird and it wasn't something I'd go on again (even the kids weren't fussed by it). Would it be worth investing time on the WDW then?

Yes the WDW one is quite different. it has a nice interactive queue with lots of cute games for kids and the whole thing is a lot less psychedelic!

 

[Mum from oz]

Just caught up. Fantastic TR so far. Sounds like you're getting lots done!

 

[darrenf67]

Great TR thanks!!

 

[miss.potatohead]

Sorry for the delay! Classes are in full swing now and I've had little time between study and social life here! But here is my last day at Disneyland, will add my travels in NYC soon!

Sunday 11th August

Today was our last day at Disneyland before we packed up and headed east to New York City I wanted it to be special, so I’d booked the Minnie and Friend’s Breakfast at the Plaza Inn. One morning a guest at the HOJOs had given us some left over dining vouchers, which we were able to apply to the cost of the meal, despite them, being for children so all together we were only $20 or so out of pocket for breakfast! Yay for Disney generosity.

We had a 8.10am reservation and the park opened at 8am so we got there early and were some of the first guests to be seated. We were inside just to the left of the podium, which was nice as we were close to the door where the characters come out from. There were many characters including Minnie, Max, Rafiki, Chip and Dale, Captain Hook, Fairy Godmother, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. I definitely got my moneys worth of food, especially in Mickey Waffles (ahh my new love).

Sharing the Love


Once breakfast was done, we rode Space Mountain, Buzz, and then Space again before getting on Splash Mountain three times in a row. As we were in the area, we explored Tarzan’s Tree House and had our last Dole Whips. I had not yet been on It’s a Small World so we did that and said goodbye to Disneyland as it was getting a little busy to do anything else. We headed across to DCA and rode Screamin’ twice and saw Aladdin – wow what a show! The Genie was hilarious and it was nice to sit in an air-conditioned room out of the hot Californian sun.

I realised my camera lens had broken just before I left and couldn’t afford to buy a new one/fix it so all my photos had to be taken with a manual focus. A bit annoying but it helped me use my camera in manual settings as well (not just focus, but all the other technical stuff)

We rode the Tower of Terror and then got fast passes for Soarin’. We also rode Grizzly River Run before having dinner at the Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta. I had the 5 cheese ravioli which was nice but a little strong for my liking. We did a photo-shoot in the stores wearing the silly hats before jumping in a 35minute line to ride Toy Story Midway Mania for one last time. We finished up at Toy Story just as our Soarin’ fast passes were about to expire so we sprinted across the park and got in line with no issues.

I did some last minute shopping at World of Disney and bought myself a Disneyland t-shirt, 3 pins and a caramel apple (which became my dinner for a few nights in NYC, yum!). On the way out I also traded some of my uglier pins from my previous trip with some cute ‘my family’ car sticker style pins.

I was so sad leaving but glad to have had the chance to return to my happy place. I had a heavy heart as I walked back to the HoJo but I was excited for move on to New York City the next morning!

 

[miss.potatohead]

Adding on - I pre-purchased the PhotoPass+ for the trip because initially I was going to be a solo traveller and wanted to get some photos of myself! This changed, but it took AGGGGGGEEESSSSS for the PP+ to arrive, I think something like 25 days from when I purchased it to when it arrived on my doorstep (inevitably, the day I left for DL)!

We easily got our moneys worth with ride photos alone. A digital download of a ride photo is something like $15. Well, going through my downloads, we did

RSR - x1
Splash - x6
Space - x5
Screamin' - x3
ToT - x5

(all in three days in the middle of summer holidays!)

Plus a decent amount of photos in front of the statues, carsland, castle etc.
And we received 5 4x6 photos of us at the front of Minnie and Friends breakfast, and a large print too, worth $30ish so if we were to buy all the photo downloads that were included (which we wouldn't have, but anyway) it would have come to over $300! [I think, math isn't my strong point].

Definitely worth buying the PP+ in my opinion!