Finally Finished - Trip Report - WDWers at Disneyland (June 10 - 18 with pictures)

[nzdisneymom]

You know how on Facebook they always have those quizzes and one of them is about which Disney Villian you are? (or if they don't have one, they ought to). Well sometimes in our family we play that game - which Disney character are you, either the good guys or (more fun) the villians. I never could quite settle on which villian is most like me (or should I say that I am most like) until we were on our cruise in December. We were standing in the atrium one evening when Alice came scurrying through shooing people out of the way because the Queen of Hearts was coming. I turned around and the QofH swished her skirt and glared at me (as only one can when not an actual face character) and I told my DH then that I had met my inner villian -- it is so true - I can be so like the Queen of Hearts!

So I'm telling you all that so you'll know why, when our next attraction was Alice in Wonderland, I was really excited because I remembered that I would see the Queen of Hearts there! And sure enough, she was there not once, but twice. Later in the week, DSN and I went back on the ride to try to get a picture of her, but it didn't turn out so well. But here's a picture that did -- a wonderful CM took this for us just before we went down the rabbit hole.

After the ride, we dashed to the restrooms just behind the Alice ride. I was delighted to see that the doors to the stalls displayed various card faces, like the Ace of Diamonds! What a whimsical touch. I asked the guys if theirs had them, but they couldn't remember (they checked later in the week and confirmed that they are in the men's room as well).

One of the things we wanted to be sure to do on this trip was include all the things that are in the California parks that are NOT at the Florida parks, so our next stop was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The boys "drove" their own car through while DH and I followed behind. I love how the Pooh ride in Florida has a tribute to Mr. Toad - it is such a classic ride!

Next up: a visit to Toon Town (way more fun than the Toon Town Fair).

 

[nzdisneymom]

In Florida, Mickey and Minnie have their country homes, but we know they really live in California in Toon Town. We don't spend a lot of time in Toon Town Fair in Florida, but the set-up of Toon Town in California is way more fun!

We wanted to ride Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin, but it was closed, so we headed over to check ou the Gadget Go Coaster which was also down for a bit. So we did what any other Toon fan would do - and explored the rest of what's there to see and do. Here are some pictures:

And outside and inside Mickey's house:

(We have a picture of DSZ when he was two at Minnie's mailbox - he's quite a bit taller now.)

Of course no trip to Toon Town is complete without a quick visit with Mickey. There was barely a line - we just had to wait through one group of other guests going in to meet Mickey before it was our turn.

We were the last family in our group with Mickey; as we were leaving, I told Mickey that I imagined there were a lot of disappointed people in Florida since *he* was in California that day! Mickey laughed!

When we were exiting, another group of people came from another door. My boys wondered aloud why they would've skipped seeing Mickey -- of course I know the reason, but no need for them to really know it yet

Both rides became operational as we were finishing up at Mickey's place, so we took a ride on the Gadget Go Coaster and RRCTSpin. I never could figure out how to make RRCTSpin work to get maximum spin / movement. Oh well.

The boys spent a short time in jail before we headed to catch the train... for lunch in New Orleans Square....

 

[thmar]

enjoying it!

 

[casiland]

I agree with you that there are things about both parks that I like. Heck to be honest the only Disney "thing" I have done that I didn't like was Disneyland Paris. It seemed fake to me. Looked like Disney but did not feel like Disney.

 

[nzdisneymom]

When we were at Disneyland in 1999, one of our favorite meals was gumbo in the sourdough bread bowls served from the little restaurant in New Orleans Square which is right next to where the Dream Suite is. I can't remember the name of it now, but that's what DH had been planning for lunch since we first booked this trip for our vacation!

So leaving from Toon Town, we took the train, stopping at Tomorrowland, going through the Grand Canyon-scape and Primeval World, through the Main Street station and around to New Orleans Square. It was pretty busy through the area as it was lunch time and the park was filling up, but there was just a short line at the restaurant and there were a couple of tables available, so the boys grabbed a table while DH and I got the gumbo for us. The boys weren't going to eat any, so they had to just wait for us. I asked for cups of ice water, but the CM seemed really put out. She gave me four small cups, but only three had water in them. The 4th just had ice - she said "there's a water fountain..." and waved her arm. This was so NOT LIKE Florida where they give you big cups full of water and don't act like it's a problem (it's not like we were just getting the water, either - we were already getting the gumbo). So we took our food to the table and then I went in search of the elusive water fountain... which I finally found one.

The gumbo was just as delicious as we had remembered. I gobbled mine down, but DH savored his, so I was done quite a bit sooner than him. So I had the boys come with me to get DSN a box of popcorn for his lunch, but along the way I wanted to show them Club 33 which I had stumbled upon while searching for the water fountain.

DSZ wanted a hot dog, so after DH finished his lunch, we headed toward the Refreshment Center -- DSZ's favorite restaurant at the Magic Kingdom in FL is Casey's, so he was hoping that he could get a similar lunch at the RC. We cut through Adventureland on the way and saw the Jungle Cruise had a 10-minute wait (compared to the 90 minute wait at Indiana Jones next door). The Jungle Cruise is one of our favorite rides at WDW - we love the jokes and always have fun. We were curious about how much of the spiel would be the same and how much would be different. We heard a few new takes on some of the similar areas, and we were pleasantly surprised by the addition of the pirahna! We all agreed that it was good.

So off to get DSZ's hot dog. There was a short line at the Refreshment Center, and we were a bit disappointed to find that they didn't serve fries like they do at Casey's, but DSZ liked his hot dog anyway. There was plenty of seating (something that never happens outside Casey's) so we were able to sit and listen to the piano player. Even Mickey enjoyed it:

By this time, it was getting on towards 1 p.m. and the crowds were getting larger. Remember it's media-day for the Summer Nightastic preview, so we decided to make a run for it and head over to Disney's California Adventure... all the way across the esplanade.

Next up: finding our way around DCA without a map...

 

[jerrifox]

Your pictures are great! I can't wait to read more of your report!

 

[nzdisneymom]

When we were at Disneyland in 1999, DCA was just a parking lot. Today it is still under construction as it is being re-imagined to make it reflect California in 1923 as Walt Disney would've experienced it. So there were some things that were changing, some areas "under construction", and some areas that will be totally different should we ever make it back.

We entered into DCA and tried to find a map, but because they were issuing new ones the next day, they were all out. The only thing that was changing on the new ones was the cover as they were putting the Summer Nightastic cover on.

Some people were sitting down for the High School Musical show as we were entering the park; it seemed like every time we were at the front of the park, it was time for the HSM show. We didn't stop to watch as we've seen the one in Florida several times and we really wanted to find our way to Toy Story Mania. DH and the boys have had a running competition about this attraction for months. DSN is the family champ in Florida and wanted to see if he could maintain that status in California.

So we wandered around trying to get our bearings and figure out where we thought TSM might be. Along the way we saw the "new" Mickey's Fun Wheel - I thought I had read that it wasn't re-opened yet, but it was.

Our first ride at DCA was the Golden Zephyr (which is really silver). It's a nice ride that just goes around and around, but you do get a bit of a view of the area - and the nice thing was that the line was pretty much non-existent. The boys did this ride several times later in the week.

While we were on the Golden Zephyr, we were able to see where TSM was, so we knew which way to go. Along the way, we stopped to watch the Maliboomer (which all week I thought was the Mail-boomer until I figured out Mali- as in Malibu). While looking at it, I spied a CM in one of the Guest Relations costumes who was waiting with someone for the Maliboomer off to the side. I noticed a couple of people handing up a piece of paper and figured they were making some sort of fast-pass swap or something until I looked closer and saw it was...


Selena Gomez. Oh my gosh - there was Selena Gomez standing there waiting for the Maliboomer, and she was signing autographs for the few people who were standing there. I got my camera out and asked if i could take a picture of her and she very graciously said yes.

 

[justliketink]

My daughter would have loved seeing Selena in the parks! I am enjoying your trip report. Thanks for posting

 

[nzdisneymom]

Well, as I mentioned before we were distracted by our Selena Gomez sighting, we were heading to Toy Story Midway Mania. This is our family's favorite attraction in Florida, so we were looking forward to experiencing it in California. The wait time said 40 minutes and the queue was wrapping pretty far around outside, so I was a little bit skeptical. We decided that we should go ahead and do it because it was the most important thing to us at DCA.

So we got in line (and noticed the rest of the week that the wait time was NEVER less than 40 minutes). About 10 minutes into the wait, DSN needed to use the restroom, but remember, we were without a map and it was our first time at DCA - so we had no idea where a restroom was. He thought he could wait, so we stayed in line thinking that if we did have to get out of line and come back, that's just what we would do. The line continued wrapping outside and then finally we were inside where you pick up the glasses -- I thought wow - they let you get the glasses really early in California - but we were nearly ready to get on the ride - in less than 30 minutes from when we got in line. There isn't much of an inside queue like there is in Florida - it is truly a midway attraction - even Mr. Potato Head is outside / visibile from the pier.

Of course DH and DSN had to ride together to keep each other honest about their scores, so DSZ and I rode together. The ride is pretty much the same as in Florida, so we were ready for it.

For the record, DSN won - hands down - and having to use the restroom so bad that his eyes were yellow (if you get my meanin'). We exited in a hurry and saw there was a restroom right there to the left of TSMM as you look at it, so if we'd had a map and known, he would've been able to hop out of line, go, and come back while we were in the queue. Oh well. I think it made his victory even sweeter because he can claim he won even while under great physical distress. LOL.

So now that the necessities were taken care of, we decided to leave DCA as we were pretty tired -- by this time it was nearly 5 p.m. Eastern time and we were feeling the time difference. The Orange Stinger didn't have a line, so we stopped to do it as it looked quick -- it's pretty fun - those swings that go round and round.

We had also thought we would take advantage of each and every PhotoPass opportunity that we saw, so here is our first one:

We left DCA and walked back towards the hotel through Downtown Disney. A fellow-DISer (SSRMonkey) introduced us to Wetzel's Pretzels several months ago, so we stopped at the one in DtD for an afternoon snack. The cinnamon ones are so yummy (as are the regular ones). This became a very regular stop on our walks back to the hotel from DL/DCA -- I never did add up how much money we spent at Wetzel's during the week; I'm sure I don't really want to know.

So we made it back to the room for a rest. As I had mentioned before, I was afraid that the room was going to feel small to us, but we were all able to get a good rest (we even all took a bit of a nap of varying lengths) without feeling like we were on top of each other. Oh yeah - Discovery Channel had Cash Cab on again, too - so I got my fill between naps!

Next up - back to DL where we saw more Disney Channel stars....

 

[hfehr1s]

Great Recaps!! Interesting about the TSM que being shorter on the inside than in WDW. I'll have to remember that if we see it lined up on the outside to not panic.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Great Recaps!! Interesting about the TSM que being shorter on the inside than in WDW. I'll have to remember that if we see it lined up on the outside to not panic.

You know how in Florida you go through Andy's room? It's not at all like that in California. But then there is also no fast pass for TSMM in California, either.

 

[JeninBuffalo]

Thanks for the re-cap! We will be there soon and reading your post is getting me excited!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

So we're all rested, it's about 4:45 and we head back out for DL. We decided to take the monorail over instead of walking as we hadn't yet ridden on the monorail and were eager to check it out. The monorail in California is both ride and transportation - ride during the less busy times and transportation during the busier times of the day. No round trip from DtD and back - everyone must exit the monorail in Tomorrowland -- and because of that rule, you go through a bag-check and ticket-scan at the Downtown Disney entrance to the monorail. The monorail entrance is a less than five minute walk from the Wonder tower at DLH, so it saves about 10 minutes of walking if you don't mind a short wait.

The monorail takes you through DL and around the edges so you can actually see some of Harbor Blvd (which was good for us because we got a bearing on where the McD's was on Harbor), and then lets you off in Tomorrowland right by where the Finding Nemo Submarine ride is. When we exited, we noted that the Finding Nemo line was well over an hour.

We also noted that Tomorrowland was a madhouse! We weren't really sure where we were headed, but you literally couldn't get through on one side as the stage area at the Tomorrowland Terrace was being used, and there were tons of people (mostly teenage girls) lined up in a queue. I stopped to gawk and then finally asked a CM what was going on. Turns out that Mitchell Musso was setting up for a 30-minute concert that was starting at 7 p.m. (it was just after 5 p.m. now) and the line was for those who were hoping to get into the stage area in the stand-by crowd. Apparently attendance at the concert was a prize in a contest. I tried to snap a picture of Mitchell but he was constantly moving around getting things set up and signing a few autographs. If you know who you're looking at, maybe this will work?

Of course it's also media night for the Summer Nightastic, so the crowd is buzzin'.

We finally got through the crowd and came to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. This is seriously more fun in California than in Florida! DSN was the family champ for the night getting high score both times we did it (back-to-back with less than 10-minute wait each time). The astro-blasters aren't stuck on the ride, so you can aim and shoot in any direction, regardless of which way your spouse or child may spin you. We also liked that when you come off the ride, you don't HAVE to go through the store - there is an alternate exit! Oh yeah - check out www.disneyland.com/buzz to play something at home.

Because everyone was queuing up for concerts, autographs, and other Summer Nightastic events, we were able to get on Star Tours with a 10-minute line before threading our way through the hub to Adventureland. Indiana Jones had a 60-minute wait so we figured this is one we'll have to get an early Fast Pass for and go back later in the day. Pirates also looked busy, but it was deceptive - the sign said 5-minutes (it was actually closer to 10) - it's just the way you can go two different ways and the line wraps in the courtyard in front of the house.

Pirates in California is longer than the one in Florida. We liked it better, too. You go by the restaurant Blue Bayou - reminds me of how the ride in Mexico at Epcot goes - and it's real quiet in the bayou before heading into the rough waters of Davy Jones. One major (to me, anyway) difference in California vs. Florida is the last scene with Jack Sparrow. In California, it's in a small room and seems very suitable; in Florida, it's the same scene only the room is too big and the story seems unfinished. We liked it better in California.

We decided that the crowd was getting to be too much for us, so we headed toward the exit. Remember, we're season passholders for Florida and DVC members, so we have a lower crowd-level-threshhold than others who feel the need to get maximum Disney minutes.

On the way to Main Street, we saw where Radio Disney was set up. Selena Gomez was there signing autographs across from where we were. My zoom doesn't zoom far, but I got a picture of her cleaned-up.

We hung out and watched for a bit, and then I saw Chester from Disney 365. We had seen him once before in Florida when he was doing a 365 with Kyle Massey and Jason Dolley (from Cory in the House). (Chester is the guy with the black hair kinda in the middle.)

My notes say that this day is nearly done -- that we took a left as we exited the park, walked through the esplanade towards Harbor, took a left on Harbor about two blocks, and had dinner at McD's... about a 6 minute slow walk when you go past the bag-checkers tables leaving the esplanade. After dinner, we timed our slow walk back to the hotel - just under 20 minutes from McD's, through bag-check, through Downtown Disney to the Wonder tower in the back of DLH.

Showers and bed and asleep by 9:30 p.m. As the princesses say on the bedtime tales, we should all sleep now. Tomorrow's another magical day here at the happiest place on earth.

Stay tuned for Friday, our second day in the parks -- Welcome to Disneyland tour and a surprise journey!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Friday, June 12th - second day in the parks on our five-day tickets.

We woke up around 7:45 a.m. and had breakfast in the room. DL didn't open until 9 a.m. and our Welcome to Disneyland tour was scheduled for 10 a.m.

We arrived at DL just at 9 a.m., entered (and made sure to check that our tickets all scanned properly after having read of troubles on the DIS with folks having an extra day taken off their ticket). We headed straight for the Finding Nemo ride -- the line was only 30 minutes, but it's also a 15-minute ride, so we thought we wouldn't have time to do it and still make our tour on time, so we headed back to the entrance to Tomorrowland. Buzz was a walk-on, but we noticed that Astro Orbitors was open -- it had been closed for rehab the day before, so we jumped in line (only had to wait for one more cycle ahead of ours) and we each got our own rocket.

We were able to do the Buzz ride twice as a walk-on, and today was DH's day to be family champ as he got high score for our family each time.

It was nearing 10 a.m., so we walked back to the front of the DL park where we were to check in and meet our guide. It turned out that we were the only family on our tour, so that was nice for us. We booked this tour by calling several days ahead and we had a AAA discount so the tour is $20/person. Our tour guide was Nancy. She has 21+ years in at Disneyland and is so very knowledgeable. It is so obvious that she loves her job.

Our tour started in the Esplanade and then we went over to DCA. Nancy showed us the things that will be changing, some pretty soon. She said they had been told that the CALIFORNIA letters in front would be removed pretty soon (hopefully if you're reading this and they haven't been, you'll take a moment to search for the Hidden Mickey on the ground behind the slanted leg of the R).

We stepped into the Animation building and explored some of the things to do in there, and then went back out into the Hollywood Backlot area. We had a choice of doing Muppets 3D or It's Tough to be a Bug, so we chose Muppets as ITTBAB creeps us out at AK. We were really glad we picked Muppets because even though it is the same film as in Florida, the quality of the picture was so much better from not having been shown for as many years. So for this one, we have to say California beats Florida.

One of the perks of taking the tour is that we could get preferred seating for fireworks, Fantasmic, or Aladdin. We chose Aladdin for later this same day, so Nancy showed us where we would be going at the Hyperion Theater. It was nice to see that ahead of time.

We walked past the Bug Land where she told us about Flik's Fun Fair -- later in our trip the boys spent some time there and had a good time! We went into the Blue Sky Cellar to see what's to come at DCA. We never did go back in there but if we'd had more time or were regular visitors to DCA, we'd definitely spend some time in there. I liked what this had to say so much that I took a picture of it -- we could use it at work:

We then went to the Mission Tortilla factory (which we had seen on Thursday but it wasn't open). While waiting for time to enter (they close the doors every few minutes for the film and for crowd control), we saw PUSH the trash can. We love encountering PUSH in Florida, so it was fun to see him in California.

We watched the short film and then walked through where they make the tortillas and each got a fresh hot flour tortilla -- yum! Across the way was the Boudin Bread Bakery which is the same sort of thing only with sourdough bread... we did that on a different day.

If you've ever just walked by the Mission Tortilla factory, do yourself a favor next time and stop in when it's open. The film is pretty cute (it's like some 4th graders doing a school report) and the tasty snack at the end is worth the few minutes it takes.

We continued around the rest of DCA, not walking back to the Paradise Pier area, but we did overlook the World of Color area that is under construction. What was really neat about DCA is that as you moved from area to area, the theming really did change and make you think you were in a different region.

We left DCA around 11:15 and headed back across the Esplanade to Disneyland.... details to come.

 

[thmar]

 

[VallCopen]

Great report!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Continuing our tour in the Disneyland Park, we stopped to look at the Firehouse and saw the light in the window in Walt's apartment. If you haven't listened to the Podcast from the Behind the Scenes tour that Pete and others got to do on June 20th (you can probably read about it in their various trip reports), a few of them got to go up inside the apartment. How cool is that? Our tour guide Nancy said she's been up only a few times and that it is a special privilege that even long-term CMs don't get very often.

Going along Main Street, Nancy pointed out some of the windows and talked about forced perspective. We got to the information board which is still done by hand by the CMs with the wait times posted on the board rather than the electronic versions you'll see at Epcot (and maybe at the MK in Florida).

We went into Adventureland and as we passed by Indiana Jones, we stopped long enough to pick up FPs. Pirates was a 15 minute wait and was part of the tour, but since we had done it yesterday, we opted to skip the ride. She explained to us how seating worked for Fantasmic and showed us her favorite spot to watch, and then we went up to catch the train in New Orleans Square to Tomorrowland...

only as we were waiting and talking, I shared with her how DSN always wanted to be an engineer and "drive the train at Disney World" - at least until we did the back-stage Behind the Magic of our Steam Engines tour at WDW and he learned how hot it gets. So he said he's just as soon be a conductor. Nancy started telling us about the Lilly Belle, which is Walt and Lillian's private car that they only bring out on non-rainy days (which I suppose is pretty often). We had seen it the day before. They sometimes have VIPs that get to ride in it. Then Nancy got a gleam in her eye and had a quick conversation with the conductor at the station who radioed to find out where the train was with the Lilly Belle - it was one train behind the one that was about to come into the station. The conductor checked and no one was on her, so they asked if WE would like to ride.... OH YEAH BABY! (all caps for emphasis on how excited we were!) Because we had skipped Pirates, we were about 1/2 hour ahead of schedule, so we had plenty of time to wait for the train (which comes about every 5 minutes). Here we are waiting:

Nancy regaled us with stories while we waited for the train. This was NOT part of the tour - it was just some magic she was able to make for us. If there had been others on our tour, or if the boys had been younger or less interested in the history of Walt, etc., then she might not have even checked... we feel truly blessed to have been given the opportunity.

When the train arrived, we went to the very back to board the Lilly Belle, and we rode her all the way around to the Main Street Station. At the Toon Town / Fantasyland stop, some people were looking at us in the car - that was kinda cool. After we got off at Main Street, our tour ended. We were given an envelope that had our Preferred Seating information for the Aladdin performance later in the afternoon along with FPs for Soarin' and for Buzz.

We definitely would recommend this tour to anyone who hasn't been to Disneyland or California Adventures, and especially to those who are familiar with WDW --- it helps you establish your California bearings for the rest of your visit. And the history and trivia about the beginnings of our beloved Disney theme parks is so worth the time.

To finish up, I'll post a series of photos from inside the train car in the next post. I wasn't sure if they would even let us take pictures inside but they said yes, it was ok to do so. Yay!

 

[nzdisneymom]

From inside the Lilly Belle:

 

[cinderella-princess]

How exciting about the tour!! My DH and I did the Walk in Walts Footsteps tour and we also got to ride Lilly Belle. It's so beautiful and so special to ride in a car that Walt took his VIP guests in.

I'm also excited to hear you say that some things in DL are better then WDW. Its nice to know that DL still has some magic that WDW doesn't.

 

[nzdisneymom]

How exciting about the tour!! My DH and I did the Walk in Walts Footsteps tour and we also got to ride Lilly Belle. It's so beautiful and so special to ride in a car that Walt took his VIP guests in.

I'm also excited to hear you say that some things in DL are better then WDW. Its nice to know that DL still has some magic that WDW doesn't.

We found there were quite a few things we liked better in DL than at WDW... in fact at the end of our vacation, we made a list of those attractions that are the same/similar and voted on which we liked better - FL or CA. I'll be posting those at the end of our trip report!