It's a Jolly Holiday with Larry--The Goble/Wilmot Holiday--Intro and Day 1

[rgoble5972]

CAST

Robin – 42 – Trip Report Writer, Hostess, Bringer of Butterfingers
Larry - 46 - Trip Report god, Weary Traveler, Stayer in Parks After Hours

HISTORY

I know this is going to come as a quite a shock, so please feel free to sit down if you’d like, but I’m not going to have a History or a Planning section as such! Yes, for the second trip report in a row, Robin “Planning is My Life” Goble is not going to bore you with all the details that went into the making of this trip. That’s not to say I didn’t plan this trip. On the contrary, quite a bit of planning went into it, unlike the last trip I took to a Disney Park. The last trip was to Disneyland Paris in July as a guest of the infamous Larry Wilmot and, as such, there wasn’t much planning to do since I left most of the details in Larry’s (motto: Planning is for Wimps—What’s a motto? Nothing, what’s a-motto with you?) hands.

I guess maybe some of that no planning, happy-go-lucky (bleeding heart liberal!) Wilmot attitude is rubbing off on me, the uber-planning, live-by-my-lists, conservative accountant. Luckily, you, dear reader, get to benefit from this since you don’t have to wade through a section the size of “War and Peace” of me debating which hotel we should stay at or what type of pass we should buy (not that there’s anything wrong with that—I still love the very detailed trip reports ala Sheri Niklewski, Brian Bennett, Mark Fendrick and Sue Holland et al). Also, cutting out the planning section hasn’t made me any less glib or led me to leave out any of the excruciating details on the other portions, so I apologize for that in advance.

Anyway, to make a long story even longer, since Larry was such a nice host when I visited Disneyland Paris, I thought I should repay the favor by playing hostess while he visited Disneyland California.

Since this is Larry’s first time at Disneyland (and since I’ve already voiced my opinions about the rides on previous trip reports), I’m going to leave most of the commentary on the rides to him, so you can get a fresh perspective on the parks. Yes, I’ll generously volunteer to be the dull, detail provider and let Larry provide the flash and color. Sit back and watch a master at work

Well Robin Goble that’s a mighty big build up, Trip Report god indeed. Though I am pleased yet again to have the opportunity to invade your Trip Report in order to give one or two of my little observations from over the pond. This was indeed my first visit to Disneyland, and much anticipated it was too. Thanks also to my erstwhile host Robin for accommodating me in the luxury of the Grand Californian Hotel, and conchy level too. Believe my dear reader, there is no kinder and more generous host than Ms Goble.

Robin has given me permission to insert my little comment-ettes into her tome, and, so you know it’s me, you have two choices. You can look if it makes sense or if it’s drivel, if it’s the former then it’s the stuff Robin wrote and if it’s tripe then I wrote it. But, to make it even easier, then, I’ll put my stuff in Italics. Cheers Larry (LWW – William in case you are wondering.)


Monday, October 17, 2005

“It’s a wonder there’s not a Starbucks in here.”
(The average pair of jeans weighs approximately 2 pounds.)

I was on the phone with Larry until around 11:00 the night before, finalizing our meeting arrangements, so I didn’t get finished packing until 1:00am. Not being much of one to sleep very well the night before a Disney vacation, I was up at 4:00 and at the airport by 5:30. Okay, here was my first “first” of the trip: being first in line to check in at the airport before they were even open.

Hey RG, you had it cushy, I had to drive all the way from Monterey, which ain’t much closer than San Francisco. And it was piddling it down, and I couldn’t see much on the drive down, though I did notice a lot of pumpkin farms, and I hit the sprawl of LA, did you know that the place is almost sixty miles of traffic jam. (I wasn’t a big LA fan, but I did like California and especially San Francisco). – LWW.

Luckily, they opened at 5:30 so I didn’t have to wait very long. I had already printed my boarding pass online, but I did need to check my bag. Apparently the airlines are stepping up the enforcement of their rules and cracking down on the weight limits on baggage, because the ticket agent informed me that my bag weighed more than their limit of 50 pounds per bag. Yes, horror or horrors, the bag was a whopping Fifty-ONE pounds! Why I should be drawn and quartered. Hanged at dawn. Run through with a rusty sword. Apparently I could have checked two bags that were 50 pounds each, for a total of 100 pounds of luggage, but try to check one bag at 51 pounds, and you’re asking for trouble, mister.

The ticket agent gave me the option of paying the $50 overweight baggage fee (as if!), or trying to remove a few items from my suitcase. She helpfully suggested that the average pair of jeans weighs around 2 pounds. Of course, the average pair of jeans that I had packed was on the very bottom of the bag, but, hey, anything to comply with the airline’s policies.

So, there I am at 5:30 in the morning, on the floor at the airport, unpacking my suitcase and transferring my jeans to my carry-on bag. As it so happens, the suitcase nazi, um, I mean, ticket agent, was correct about the weight of jeans and my suitcase now weighed in at 49.5 pounds. Thank goodness. I could just see myself having to wear several outfits at one time, just to get the bag at the correct weight.

I did have a large bag of snack sized Butterfingers in my suitcase that I considered eating--solely for the purpose of getting my bag under weight of course. I mean, that’s just the kind of person I am--sacrificing for the better good. Volunteering to make me overweight just so my suitcase could be underweight. The Butterfingers were to give to Larry however, for him to take back to Scotland as a gift to some of his staff at work (Its a nice custom they have in the UK--taking back something small from your holiday as a gift for the people you work with. Larry says you usually bring back some kind of sweet or snack that you can’t get in your own country, thus the Butterfingers, which were a request from his staff.), so I hated to cause a strike among Larry’s workers by denying them their candy!

This is a message for Anne Duncan, You have probably noticed, that I’m a bit cheap getting my friend to buy the chocolate for me, sorry about that, next time I go away, I’ll buy something myself. - LWW

One nice thing about flying so early in the morning is that your airplane is already ready and waiting at the gate for the first flight of the day. The early-morning route is apparently the “let’s-see-how-many-stops-we-can-make-on-one-flight” route, as I had three 45-minute legs of the trip--barely enough time to get your thimble full of coke drank and your two pretzels eaten. Actually, that’s the bad thing about an early morning flight (at least in my case). While your plane might not have had time to be behind schedule yet, all they offer you to drink is coffee or orange juice. So, not being a huge fan of coffee or orange juice, I generally had to wait until I was at an airport to get any sort of refreshment.

But, enough about airports and flights--this is supposed to be a Disney trip report, so lets get on to the good stuff....the shuttle from the airport. No? Well, to make a long story even longer, I’ll just summarize and say that my flight landed a bit early (10:15) at Los Angeles, I got my 49.5 pound bag, and went outside to pick up the Super Shuttle to Anaheim (approximately $15 one-way). There was one waiting as I walked up so I was quickly on my way.

As luck would have it, the Grand Californian was our first stop (woohoo!), so I was at the hotel at 11:30. A Cast Member (CM) came out to greet me and took me to the front desk to get me checked in. The rooms weren’t ready yet, but the CM took my cell phone number so he could call me when there were. I wasn’t expecting Larry until around 4:00, so I left my bags (yes, even the one that weighed 49.5 pounds--not that I’m bitter about that or anything) with Bell Services, and headed to the hotel entrance to California Adventure.

As I went through the gate into California Adventure, the CM gave me a scratch ticket for a chance to win a new Honda (they were giving the chance to win one each day in October). Sadly, I never won one, although Larry later remarked that the cars they were giving away didn’t even have alloy wheels, so it was hardly worth our trouble to scratch the card! I’m sure if I knew or cared about alloy wheels (It’s a boy thing Robin, Girls are more interested in the vanity mirrors etc.), I’d be appalled.

Yes and so you should be. I couldn’t believe how cheap a prize it was, steel wheels with nasty little plastic covers, and you have to pay taxes on prizes in America. In Britain they are tax-free. But as Robin is an accountant, I guess had we won the prize, she could have figured out our tax liability, and perhaps, figured out a way to reduce it enough to be able to buy some alloy wheels. Anyway, the bad news is we didn’t actually win one, so I guess it wasn’t a major problem solving either the wheels or the tax liability. I kinda knew that we wouldn’t win one, so each morning when we were given the scratch cards, I didn’t bother rubbing the whole scratchy bit off, I just headed for the spot where the “Try” in “Try Again” was, in order to minimize effort. And I always scratched it by a litter bin, to save the bother of having to find one later, because I’m a very ecological kinda guy. (Sign Kyoto George, you know you want to.) – LWW.

The first order of the day was to get Fast Passes for Soarin’ Over California. It was a gamble as to whether or not Larry would get here in time for us to use them, but I got some just in case. It was starting to sprinkle as I walked to the entrance of California Adventure to leave the park and cross over the esplanade to the Magic Kingdom. I got my hand stamped on the way out and the CM told me that I had beautiful eyes. He asked if I was a local and I told him that no, I was from Texas. He questioned that it wasn’t my first time at Disneyland though and when I told him no, he said “welcome back.”

I actually had an ulterior motive for crossing from California Adventure to the Magic Kingdom. I wanted to see if the brick I had purchased for the esplanade had been installed yet. The literature that came with the purchase of our brick gave the location as section C36 and included a map of where that was located. I didn’t have any trouble finding the right area. Unfortunately, while section C35 and section C37 had been installed, section C36 was not yet in place (This seems like a really good place to make a joke about a C-Section, but, alas, I can’t think of one!). Oh well, I guess that just means that I’ll have to come back and check on the brick later.

I’ve got this theory that Robin rang the Brick People up and begged them to put the brick in the last section to be laid, so that she could keep coming back every month or so, just to check that if it’s been put down. I’ve seen the design of the brick, and it looks really nice. There is also a signed certificate from Roy Disney, which I must admit is lovely, but its also funny given that he was running savedisney.com 10 minutes ago, and has now rejoined the team and is now “back on message”. Still, I’m looking forward to seeing the brick too; I’m kinda looking forward to it a lot as it happens. – LWW.

While I was waiting in line to enter the Magic Kingdom, I overhead a girl remark that it was a wonder that they didn’t have a Starbucks in the Magic Kingdom. Gosh, as rapid and intensive as their expansion is, it’s a wonder we don’t all have a Starbucks in our bedrooms! Have I mentioned my big gripe with Starbucks? No? Well pull up a chair and let me step up on my soapbox for a moment. I’m sure you’re aware (Unless you’ve just been skimming this report and not really committing it to memory like a good trip report reader--why I can quote vast sections of trip reports. Well, okay, I can quote sections of my own trip reports, but, I can also quote from Larry’s as well, being a rather big fan of his. So there.). (Thanks Robin, I’m a great big beautiful fan of your TR’s too.)

Anyway, like I was saying, I’m sure you’re aware, seeing as how I ranted on about it earlier in the report, that I’m not really a coffee person. However, I don’t let this stop me from associating with people who drink coffee (being a rather open-minded, yet Republican, sort of person). So, if I’m out with a coffee-drinking person and they want to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks, then that’s fine with me except for the fact that Starbucks doesn’t serve soft drinks, so I’m out of luck for anything to drink. They could at least be a little bit more understanding and acknowledge the fact that not everyone who goes there wants to drink coffee. I mean, would it kill them to have a diet coke or two on hand? Of course, if their coffee is $4 bucks a cup (which makes you wonder why people are mad about paying $3 for a gallon of gas, when they’re paying $64 per gallon for coffee), I don’t even want to know how much they’d charge for a coke. (I guess if they ever put one in Disneyland, they could re-name it “Big Bucks” – L.)

Even taking the time to ponder the Starbucks comment, I was inside the Magic Kingdom and on Main Street in just a matter of minutes. A relatively new tradition with me is to stop and get my fortune told by Esmerelda (a coin-operated fortune telling machine) so I did that before going to Indiana Jones.

Indiana Jones was a walk-on, and I enjoyed the quick ride. There’s no cell phone reception inside the queuing area though (no hate emails please, I had it on vibrate, not on ring) and, since I was expecting a call from Larry telling me what time he expected to arrive, I decided against doing any more rides for now.

I walked back to the hotel through California Adventure and went up to the concierge lounge for get something for lunch. Today they had cranberry-orange Mickey scones. Yes, the very scones that my family lost all semblance of dignity over when we first discovered them last December. I mean, how can you be expected to keep your emotions in check when faced with a Mickey-shaped fresh buttery baked good? Luckily, this time they were old hat to me, so I was able to not shriek with delight every time I saw them (at least not externally, though I was still highly amused on the inside!) So, I tried those (very good) and had some fruit and tea sandwiches as well. I got a bottle of water to take with me and I went down to the lobby to sit in front of the fire for a while.

Between the warmth of the fire and the comfort of the rocking chair, I got very sleepy. Not wanting to be caught snoring in the lobby, I decided to get up and call home to let my mom know that I arrived safely. While I was on the phone to Mom, I missed a call from Larry. He left a message saying that he expected to get to the hotel by 3:30 or 4:00.

Since I had a little time I decided to go to Downtown Disney and look around in the World of Disney store. It was still sprinkling a little so I was on the lookout for a rain jacket. I had brought a coat with me, but not anything waterproof (including an umbrella--you’d think I’d learn by now!). I had seen a jacket I liked in the Acorn Gift Shop in the Grand Californian and I didn’t really find anything that I liked better at World of Disney.

While I was shopping, the CM that had checked me in at the Grand Californian called my cell phone and told me that my room was ready. I hurried back to get my luggage and get settled in. I was in a room on the 5th floor, which surprised me since the 6th floor is generally the concierge rooms. I asked the CM about that and he said that the hotel was so full this week that they were having to put some of the concierge guests on the 5th floor (the ones that had a theme park view room booked). All those guests still had access to the lounge however.

The room was very conveniently located right by a staircase that led to the 6th floor. The key that he had given to me at check-in didn’t open the door, so I ran up the stairs to the concierge desk where they gave me a new room key. The room had a great view of the Paradise Pier area of California Adventure. It was especially nice at night when the rides were all lit up. In fact, for only the second time in my life (the first time being when I stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge at WDW and liked to be able to wake up in the middle of the night and see what animals were out on the savannah), I left the curtains open at night so I could see the view.

I unpacked most of my things, got some ice, and went back to the lounge for a diet coke and some more water. I spent the next little while updating my trip report notes until Larry arrived around 4:45. This was his first trip to Disneyland and the Grand Californian so we had a look around the hotel and caught up on the events of each other’s day. However, the call of the theme parks soon took effect and we went downstairs to go to California Adventure through the hotel’s entrance.

I was very impressed with the Grand Californian, I guess I had originally imagined it as being like the Grand Flo at WDW, but it is actually like Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge, you can tell that it’s the same architect. The lobbies are big features of these hotels; all have vast square seating areas with high ceilings, and rooms around the walls on each side. The woods are dark, and light comes from both external and internal features. Somehow the dark wood and the space seem to contradict each other, and it makes for an edgy feel, a kind of excitement. (Good Grief Wilmot, what have you been reading, Architecture Monthly???) – LWW.

The CM at the entrance gate to DCA gave Larry his scratch card for his chance to win a Honda and explained the contest to us in great detail (and when I say great detail I mean we might as well have gotten an attorney to read the official rules and regulations to us--and perhaps even “War and Peace”-- and explain the legal implications of each point.) We were anxious to set foot in our first Disney Park of the trip so we were a bit impatient for the CM to finish his speech about the giveaway. The CM was very thorough and we couldn’t help but laugh as he went over the rules with us and how we could enter online for a second chance drawing all the while Larry and I were inching farther and farther away from him, trying to make a break into the park.

Funnily enough I skipped the online game, I mean had it had decent wheels, I may have bothered but it didn’t seem worth it. – LWW.

The Fast Passes I had gotten for Soarin’ Over California had already expired (probably during the hour that we listened to the rules of the Honda giveaway!), but since it was already 5:30 and the park closed at 6:00, there wasn’t much of a wait for the ride. I always enjoy listening to Patrick Warburton give the safety spiel in the pre-show. He always amuses me with his mix of seriousness and smugness (not that I’d be attracted to anyone who was smug, mind you).

OK it looks like Robin has given me the job of talking about the rides this TR as she has commented on them in previous Trip Reports to Disneyland Resort. For those of you guys who have not read a Larry TR before, welcome. I’ve never been to Disneyland before, but I’ve been known to kick my heels around Walt Disney World, which is in Florida for those of you who have been an underground bunker for the past thirty years. I used to write Trip Reports after most of my trips, and I said I would retire, but Robin lets me put the odd comment, and I try to keep them fairly odd, just to keep the old brain-cells ticking over, So thanks for that Robin. Anyway to longstanding Robin and Larry TR readers, welcome, thanks for reading this far, and thanks for joining us on our little five days together in California. What will I hope be the first trip of many to the resort.

As usual I’m rambling on about myself, and not telling you guys, the readers, what you actually want to read about, Soaring – or “Soarin’”, as my Texas friend types, (You know I’m not sure which they use in it’s name, I hope that Disney put in the “G”. We British like to have our proper grammar you know. Stiff upper lip and all that. Well, however you spell it, it’s a great ride. I’m not really sure what I expected. I think, I imagined, it would be small hang glider mock-ups, which hovered over a back projection floor, kinda like the boats on Peter Pan, and I wasn’t totally wrong. Though the hang gliders are Big, with I’m guessing a hundred riders each “flight”. You sit in three rows, and when Patrick and his gang, have done the strapping in duties, - and Robin is right, (she tells me she is always right and I try not to doubt it.) Patrick is very smug (though in a kinda cute way) indeed. I’m so glad I’m not like that (smug that is, I don’t mind being cute!!), - you wooosh up into the air, very fast, and suddenly below you, is California. You fly through seven or eight scenes set throughout the day, and it’s a fantastic ride, I doubt anyone doesn’t enjoy this. In many ways, it’s a massive update on Circle-vision; the content is not dissimilar to the Canada, China or Paris Films in Epcot. But the ride machinery is pretty neat, I can tell you. The good news for those of you for whom California is hard to get to, compared with Florida, and that might include most of the Brits, the ride has just opened in Epcot in the Land Pavilion. (Mind you they Killed Food Rocks to do it, and that’s a shame.) –LWW.

Once we were finished with Soarin’ it was time for DCA to close so we walked through the park to the front entrance and across to the Magic Kingdom (stopping to check out the non-alloy wheels on the Honda’s).

One of the great things about Disneyland, is its compactness. Its layout is very very similar to that of Disneyland Paris, with the two parks, facing each other, and the hotels and downtown Disney within walking distance. The downtown Disney area is way better than the one in Paris, but not as extensive as the one in WDW. There are street performers, who were all of a, shall we say, Interesting Quality. But for those of you who like to go home with a lot less bucks than you set off with, you won’t find it too hard to find some shopping opportunities so that you can help Mr. Bush, keep the GDP of the US ticking over. (Though most of the dollars actually go to keeping the GDP of China ticking over.)

The good news is if you figure out how to get to the resort from the airport, -

· Shuttle bus.
· Making friends with the guy sat in the seat next to you on the plane from Idaho who has hired a car,
· Waiting for Disney to extend the Monorail to LAX.
· Walking- OK that’s a very very last resort--

You don’t need a car at all. In fact it ain’t going to go and move its Korean Butt from the car park once. So I wouldn’t bother if I was you. –LWW

The 3:00 parade at the Magic Kingdom must have started at 6:00 tonight, because it was in full swing when we entered the park. We cut down the west side of Main Street and headed into Tomorrowland where we found Buzz Lightyear to be a walk-on.

While Larry and I both finished with our scores at level 3, my score was a tad bit higher than Larry’s. I’d tell you that it was almost double his, but I’m not supposed to be smug. (Can I just say that I had only been in California for 10 days at that point, so I’m convinced that Jet Lag was still a factor.- Buzz is very similar to the one in Florida, but you can take your pistol out of your holster and wave it about a bit, - gosh that sounds so un-Disney. - LWW)

Space Mountain had a long queue and was out of Fast Passes, so we went into Fantasyland next to see if we could find any rides with short wait times. The queue for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride didn’t look too bad so we rode on that (a first for Larry, of course, and I hadn’t ridden it in a very long time). Larry mentioned that it had lots of “wild ride” and not much “Mr. Toad.”

This is one of the two regrets that I have about the first Trip I made to Walt Disney World in 1998. I never went on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and I’m not actually sure why, I guess, it just looked a bit “do it later”, every time I walked by, and later just never arrived. By the time I came again in 1999, it had been closed down, and of course I wanted to go on it then, you know, what you can’t have you want. So it was really nice to be able to ride it at long last, and I quite liked it, it was very a frantic kinda speedy whizzy about kinda ride, and as previous reported, I thought it was more “wild ride” than “Mr. Toad.” I liked it.

In case the eagle eyed of you are wondering. “What was the other regret that you had?” I can tell you that it was deciding to sleep on the back seat of the car, when we rode Journey into Your Imagination. In my defense I was rather tired, and I needed a petite napp-ette, and it seemed a fine ride to do it on, to me at the time. Is it my fault that they close the blinking ride down a few weeks later, for several rehabs leaving all the “Walt Disney Will Die and Turn in his Cryonic Grave if you alter a thing Brigade” foaming at the mouth? No- exactly!!! – LWW.

The rest of the rides in Fantasyland seemed crowded so we went to Adventureland next for a ride on Indiana Jones (Friends! I celebrate your safe return!). Next, we went to New Orleans square and went on the Holiday Haunted Mansion. Larry had never seen Nightmare Before Christmas until this summer when I made him watch it so he’d have some idea of what the Haunted Mansion makeover was about. He actually did make it through the whole movie but we were distracted and talked through the middle of it, so I’m not really sure how much of the plot Larry got. He seemed to recognize the major characters however so he must not have done too badly.

These are two great rides folks, I was mega impressed with them. First of All, Indy, WOW that’s a mean ride you have there Mr. Walt. For those of you familiar with Walt Disney World, and not Disneyland, then you would find yourself feeling, like you had done this ride before, and that’s because it shares it’s DNA with Countdown to Extinction, (Dinosaur – I don’t like calling it that. OK I know that makes me a Dinosaur too but hey, I can foam with the best of them.) The ride system is exactly the same, and I understand that the track layout is too. The great thing is that most of the ride area is lit, so you can see how the track is laid out, its way too dark in Florida to do that on CTX, for example I never knew there was a figure of eight loop, with a bridge and a tunnel that allows that. The effects are very good too, with much more of the track being used for effects, I particularly liked the lighting effect which shows the scarab beetles in the car’s headlights, (A touch of the Spiderman ride at Islands of Adventure in that I thought) And all the lava and fire stuff is great too. Probably a bit scary for very younger kids. The only bit I thought could he better are the animatronics of Harrison Ford, which make him look like Ellen at Ellen’s Energy Ride in Epcot. Gosh and you know how Bad she looks.

Now on to the Haunted Mansion, WOW that’s a make over and a half. This is not a half hearted, stick up a few beanies from the Tim Burton Movie, no way. This is an amazing transformation. Just about every element of the whole ride is NBC’ed. And it adds a fun element to what is already one of the nicest bits of Disney Magic. The Haunted Mansion took the fairground tradition of the “Ghost Train” and made it into a staple of the Magic Kingdom Parks, and this Christmas Make-over, really does take that even further. It’s a great blend. Robin kindly explained the plot of the movie to me, because although we had watched it, most of the storyline had evaded me for some reason. I liked this ride though, even if Jack is a bit scary. And very thin, the boy needs to eat more. -LWW


When I had checked in to the hotel this morning, the CM said that we were very lucky to have arrived today because it was the only night this week that they were having the special Remember...Dreams Come True Fireworks show (brought to you by Honda). The fireworks were scheduled for 8:00, so about 7:45 we found a spot on Main Street to watch them from.

The fireworks were really incredible and we were both very glad that we got to see them. They started out similar to the Wishes fireworks show that they have at WDW and at Disneyland Paris but then they added a tribute to many of the attractions (Pirates, Indiana Jones, Star Tours, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, the Tiki Room, etc.) playing the music from the ride while the fireworks went off. They also shot off fireworks from all around the park, effectively surrounding you in light and fireworks.

Tinkerbelle’s flight was a lot longer than it normally is, though we got rather amused at poor Tinkerbelle being dangled around the castle’s spires with all the fireworks going off around her (I say “her,” but Larry swears that she’s really some bloke!). She (he?) is up there so long that it almost seems like someone’s forgotten to reel her in.

Also, I don’t know how much Honda is paying to join the ranks of Disney sponsors but they seem to be getting their money’s worth as their name was mentioned several times in conjunction with the fireworks announcements.

I would concur with Robin, I loved the fireworks, and I particularly liked the fact that they were set up so that everyone would enjoy them, they are after all Disney Fireworks, you would have to be a Black Hearted Bad Person Type, not to. But there were rewards in there for “aficionados” of the parks. It was great fun, guessing which ride would be tributed next, and working out in the first couple of bars of music, which ride the segment was for. That’s one of the things that Disney does so well, remembering their own history. You can see that in lots of the rides, little tributes to previous rides in the same space or little mentions of long lost films or Disney People, I guess the biggest example is the windows on all the Main Street USA’s right down to the use of Tom Morrow in Innoventions. (First used in From the Earth to the Moon, in Tommorrowland. If I’m not very much mistaken.) Gosh this has so got to be my most cerebral report yet, I hope that regular readers are impressed, It think, it may have something to do with me stopping reading the Daily Mirror and swapping for the Guardian instead. – LWW.

After the fireworks were over the Magic Kingdom was closed for the evening so Larry and I made our way out of the park and into Downtown Disney. We were hungry so we stopped off at the counter service Napolini and picked up a calzone for Larry and a piece of pizza for me to take back to the hotel with us.

Back at the Grand Californian we took our food to the lounge where we found the bedtime stories for the children was just finishing up. We got some drinks and found a table in an out of the way spot to have our dinner at. They have a computer in the lounge now that you can use to check email and browse the internet so after we finished our food from Napolini, we got some dessert (Larry being just about as big a fan of the Mickey Macaroons as my mom was in December--well, okay, no one could be that big a fan!) and took turns looking at our email while we ate.

After we finished with the computer it was late and we were tired after our respective long days, so we went to bed. I don’t think I even updated my trip report notes until the next day!

Nice Day Robin Thanks. – Larry.

 

[Linxzy]

I'm glad to see another report from you guys. Enjoying this report also.