Live from Disneyland!

[disneycruise05]

Well, not quite yet. But my plane leaves in 12 hours! I'm hoping to post live updates while in the park, plus a review of Club 33 from my iPhone!

Sadly, all the tickets for the Halloween party at California Adventure are sold out, so I won't be able to comment about that.

I'll be posting pictures once I get home on Monday, unless somebody can tell me how to post photos from an iPhone.

 

[daneenm]

Have a great time! We were just there in August and I am ready to go back.

--Daneen

 

[Tonya2426]

Have a great trip!! Can't wait to read about Club 33.

 

[disneycruise05]

Well, as I sit at gate 7 in Terminal 1, I might as well give some background of my trip. All the TVs are on the news, and I'm sick of hearing about the election and the stock market. I'm headed to Disneyland...I want to escape reality!

In May, my mom and I were fortunate enough to be on the Westbound reposition Panama Canal cruise. Now, I totally agree with Pete that what DCL is doing with prices is rediculous. But, one of the things I love about DCL...and the longer cruises particularly (ours was 15-nights) is the sense of community you develop with the rest of the passengers and crew. I made some great friendships on this voyage. There are 2 couples that I met on the Magic that I will be visiting this weekend. The first are Karla and Kenny. We met in the atrium the first night. This was their first cruise. My dad jokes that all Disney people are born with some sort of Disney-radar. Let's call it Disdar.

The other couple we became great friends with are Jeff and Ken. Jeff is a Disney historian and ex-Imagineer. DCL brought him aboard to give talks about the new Walt Disney Family Museum, Disneyland, a new documentary of his on the Sherman Brothers, and Disney Theatrics. I'll admit that I qusai-stalked him. As someone who loves Disney history, I just wanted to pick his brain clean on everything.

So, about a week and a half into the cruise, Karla and I were talking about Disneyland. We got on the subject of Club 33. She mentioned that she had been invited about a half dozen times by a friend. Not knowing what it was she always turned him down. Once I picked myself off the floor, I told her the history and importance of the Club.

Let's fast forward to late August. I get a call on my cell phone at 8 in the morning. Being a college student, I don't know what 8 AM is. Seeing a 310 area code, I ignore it. I never answer the phone unless I know who it is. If it's important, they can leave a message. Well, they left a message. It was Karla. In a nutshell, she said "Does Club 33 mean anything to you?! Call me. You have 2 hours." needless to say, I called in 5 minutes. She was invited to Club 33, and I was also invited! Since I had to fly from Texas, we would work around my schedule. We settled on this Saturday.

OK...we're about to board the plane, plus my thumbs are hurting. I'll finish the story on the shuttle ride to the hotel. Then...live from Disneyland!

 

[disneycruise05]

'ello again! I'm on the shuttle from LAX to my hotel, the Hampton Inn on Harbor Blvd. The flight was uneventful. It was first time on Sourhwest in probably 17 years. I found roundtrip tickets for less than $200. How can you beat that?! The one downside was the woman I sat next to. She smelled like cream cheese. I don't know how or why, but it was gross.

Going back to the background story...well...I think I pretty much covered everything the first time. A lot of my friends (and some family members) think I'm crazy for flying halfway across the county for dinner. But seriously, how many more times will I have an opportunity like this? Probably never again.

I'll probably hit the Magic Kingdom today, then California Adventure tomorrow before I meet up with Karla and Kenny for dinner at Club 33. I can't wait to post live from the parks!

 

[disneycruise05]

Official! I'm live from the Magic Kingdom! The park doesn't seem too crowded. I was expecting more since DCA is closing early for Mickey's Trick-or-Treat Party. I'm current on Fantayland. I'm trying to get to Tomorrowland, but the Parade of Dreams is blocking my route. But it's an amazing parade, so I'm OK.

When I of to the Park, I first got a late lunch at Refreshment Corner. I'm used to Casey's Corner at WDW. It's tradition...the first lunch at MK is always at Casey's Corner. From there, I meandered to New Orleans Square. Wait time was maybe 5 minutes. After that, I rode on the Mark Twain. I'm pretty sure this was the first time since 1989 that I rode her.

I tried posting while waiting for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, but Fromtierland has no 3G and it was taking forever to load. Then again, I walked on BTMRR. The parade is over, so I'm going to walk on the Matterhorn!

More later!

 

[drakethib]

See if you can snoop around and find out if they may open IASW early if you dont mind.

Have a good time.

We are heading there in a couple of weeks.

 

[LilLisaLou]

Sounds like you are having a great time! I'm hoping to get out there tomorrow afternoon. I can't wait to see how the DLR decorations compare to WDW.

 

[Tonya2426]

Sounds like a great trip so far.

Do they have the nasty wheat buns at the Refreshment Center like they have at Casey's Corner? Because if they have the good white buns at DL and force WDW to serve yucky wheat buns while I am on vacation, I am pitching a fit!!!! (Not sure who I'll pitch a fit for but I will pitch one nonetheless.)

 

[disneycruise05]

Drake: I'll be glad to do some snooping for you. I'll let you know what I find out.

Lisa: I'll be looking for you tomorrow! The decorations are great. No too much, but not slacking.

Tonya: I believe it was a white bun. However, I kinda scarfed it down. It was the first real food I ate today. I'll probably stop by again either Sunday or Monday.

So...after the Materhorn, I headed to Tomorrowland. Rode Space Mountain (I like WDW's more. Much more thrilling. But I do like the music.) then headed over to Innovations. The House of the Future is open! Very very cool technology inside.

I grabbed dinner at Pizza Port. Blech. Besides the fact it took close to 25 just to get the food, and there being only 2 cashiers, and the place just being utter chaos... The food was just gross. I can't even do it justic as Kevin would. So I'm gong to leave my full dining review for tomorrow night.

After dinner, I saw the 7 PM showing of Walt Disney's Parade of Dreams. I've seen bits and pieces of it, but never the whole thing. Quite a nice parade. Probably my favorite daytime parade. Between the parade and the fireworks, I saw the Tiki Room. I believe it was Julie that said it needed an update. I love the show, but some of those birds, flowers, and tiki gods need to be replaced. I could hear them clicking from across the room! Oy.

It was then time to find a spot for Remember, Dreams Come True! I wanted to video tape it, since I didn't when I was here in May. Everyonce in a while, I just need to see the show versus hearing the music. I found a good spot where Main Street U.S.A. meets the hub. I bought a monopod for this trip. I usually use a tripod, but the last one broke at the World and I couldn't find one that was small enough while still being big enough...if that makes sense.

The show was delayed about 20 minutes due to technical difficulty, but we got
to see it. From there, I meandered the stores before heading out around 11:30 PM. I think this is the first time I've left the park early. But I have to get some sleep...Club 33 is tomorrow! I'll probably go to DCA in the morning. Talk to y'all then!

 

[calypso*a*go-go]

Can't wait to hear about Club 33...my family always stares longingly at the door during our visits to DLR -- it's like we expect it to magically open and let us in (so far, no luck!). Keep having a good time and thanks for sharing with us.

 

[BriarRosie]

I am not sure what impressed me more. The spontaneity of the trip, or that you are able to post here via the iPhone! I had difficulty posting here with mine. And I had to keep it on the Edge network because 3G didn't have any service around WDW (or where I was located around WDW, I guess).

Looking forward to your Club 33 review. I had almost been able to go there a few years ago, but it fell through. Have a great time!

 

[disneycruise05]

Thanks for all the good wishes, everyone! Lori: I can't imagine ever planning a trip like this. Like almost everyone else here, I suffer from OCDD...obsesive compulsive Disney disorder. I plan my trips down to ADRs for snacks. Well, just once.

So far, I've broken my top 2 cardinal rules of Disney parks. I left the MK before it closed and came back this morning after it opened. What is the world coming to?!?! But, I'm hitting DCA until I go back to my hotel to change for dinner. And that opened 2 hours later. So I browsed Main Street until around 9:15. They opened DCA 30 minutes early. I grabbed a Fast Past for Soarin' and tried to get down to Toy Story Midway Mania. Blocked. Turns out they start lining up by the Grand Californian entrance. So I'm on the line, and we've been led in. We're currently stopped by Grizzly River Run.

OK...we've started moving again, and it's quite hard to text and walk. After Midway Mania, I'm hoping to ride California Screamin' and Tower to Terror before Soarin'.

More later!

 

[disneycruise05]

Toy Story Midway Mania is by far the coolest thing Disney Imangineers have come out with in years! Soooooo cool! We waited in line for maybe 5 minutes once we were led to the attraction. I scored around 125000 points. I would have gone straight back on, but the wait was about 45 minutes. Instead, I went to California Screamin' twice.

After that, I walked to the ToT to get a fast pass. From there I headed to Soarin' to use the fast pass I got before I got in line for Midway Mania. From there, I took a look at the Blue Sky Cellar. This is where you can see the plans for the DCA refurb. It looks really nice. I'll have to plan a trip for late 2012 to see it once it's done. The World of Color fountain show looks like it's going to be incredible.

From there, I headed to Muppet Vision 3D! Great show, but there were maybe 50 people in the theatre. Kinda sad. In my opinion, Disney needs to start promoting them a lot more. It's a shame that the new generations don't really know about them. Afterwards, I rode ToT twice. Once loading from the lower deck, and once from the upper. Now, I'm well aware of the everlasting fued between WDW and DLR on which is better. Pirates is definately better here than in WDW. But for the ToT, I feel that WDW wins. I love the randomness at DHS. Here, I rode twice in a row and had the exact same drop sequence. It was fun, but not as much.

Now, it's time for lunch. After the pizza debacle (is that spelled correctly) last night, I'm looking at trying something new. I'm thinking of eitherr the Bountiful Vally Farmers Market or Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill. Any suggestions?

More later!

 

[disneyholic family]

oh my god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
club 33

woohoo

i haven't had a chance to read all of your posts yet..

i'll come back later to read the whole thing..

but i had to post the woohoo for club 33...

take PICTURES!!

 

[disneycruise05]

Live from Pirate's Lair! Which for some twisted reason has the strongest 3G signal I've found so far in the parks. One would think Tomorrowland would be good.

I left DCA after finding no quick service restaurant that either had decent food or wasn't packed. So I headed back to the MK. I had lunch at the Village Haus. Eh. Nothing special. And no Figaro Fries! What a shame.

This will be my last post until after Club 33. I'm heading back to the hotel in a few minutes to get cleaned up and change before meeting my friends for dinner. We have reservations for 8:30. I know were having a Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters challange. I did see the Lillie Bell car hooked up to the train. From what I've heard, those dining at Club 33 are allowed to ride. Hopefully we'll have time to see her!

I've yet to take any photos today, so I have 2 batteries and a little over 3 GBs of memory for tonight! Y'all will see everything I can take photos of!

More later, plus a dining review!

 

[mmmears]

Just thought I'd throw in some suggestions for dining in case you get hungry!

One quick-service food suggestion: the La Brea Bakery at the entrance to DTD, just outside the parks. Much better food than quick-service in the parks.

There's also a quick-serve at the Grand Californian right by the entrance to DCA. They have killer steak or chicken nachos there and a great view of DCA and the GC pool.

We tried Wine Country Trattoria in DCA (sit down, not too pricey) and thought it was pretty good, but not great.

We also really like Carnation Cafe on Main Streen (sit down, but not too expensive for Disney).

Have a great time!

 

[disneycruise05]

OMG you guys! Club 33 is just incredible!!!! I can't even begin to describe how amazing dinner was. I'll be posting a full review later, but I wanted to give you a quick look to what I had. I went with the 5 course meal with wine pairings. It was pricy (about $110 before tax and tip) but worth every penny.

I know it's short, but it should be enough to whet your appeptite (yes, the pun is intended). I'm on the bus right now back to my hotel. My feet are sore from wearing my Disney Crocs that I haven't worn in about 5 months. And my shoulders hurt from carrying my bag all day. So once I get into my bed and all comfy, I promise to write my review.

As always, more later!

 

[bcvdreamer]

Love your trip report. I can't wait to hear about Club 33! Lucky.

 

[disneyholic family]

great trip report..
i'm looking forward to the full report and pictures from club 33....
i am sooooooooooo jealous!!!