Buckimion
Purple Heart Park Commando
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2003
- Messages
- 859
Tuesday, June 14th: Our first day at Disneyland! It also happened to be mine and Tammy's anniversary. (9th) We were using our early entry this day but first wanted to get breakfast. We walked down to Harbor Blvd. and saw an IHoP just south of Katella. But after crossing the street, found it was still under construction. Heading back north on Harbor we ended up at Denny's where we had a HUGE breakfast. It was a bit disappointing to see the restaurant was packed
clearly a sign of a busy day at the park. Leaving Denny's, we saw another IHoP just a few doors further.
Getting through the security check into Disney was almost painless. A small wait and the cast members had never seen anything like my scooter before. One thought the battery compartment was for storage and wanted to check it out but was waved off by another CM. We had a longer wait to actually get into the park and our early entry day began at 8:15. We made beeline for the Matterhorn (right side) since I was aware there wasn't a fastpass and expected this to be pretty tough to get on later. We got to ride after about a 30 minute wait.
Next up was Alice in Wonderland. I'd started following my wife and daughter through the queue but was directed to the exit by a cast member where I waited until Tammy & Tierney wound their way through. The cast member loading us said next time they could follow me through any handicap entrance. Afterwards we hit the tea cups where we were ignored at the handicap entrance. Tammy and Tierney went around and went through the regular queue and were planted in a tea cup right in front of me while I was still being ignored. I went ahead and let myself in and joined them before the ride started.
After a short break to recover, we knocked out most of the rest of the Fantasyland dark rides - Pan, Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio, along with the carousel. (We had to wait an extra cycle, but on the beginning of the next they let us on first and Tierney got the gold horse.) Most of these went pretty well and once I got the hang of looking for the exits where the handicap entrance was, loaded very quickly. (Blowing past a 45 minute wait for Pan.)
We then made our way over to New Orleans Square where we tried to ride Haunted Mansion first but found it wasn't open yet. (We noted later it would always be closed the first hour or so of the regular park opening.) We got in a ride of Pirates (Another exit loader) and had lunch at the French Market. (Tammy picked up tons of extras souvenir cups and straws and racked up a $75 bill for lunch.) We later found the Mansion open. The Mansion has one of the worst handicap entrance procedures of any ride at Disney. We would start out in the standard queue line but would be shuttled aside once we reached the porch. Those that could walk some were directed to park our chairs off to the right of the porch and would walk into the stretching rooms from there. After the ride was over, we'd take the standard exit out near to where our chairs were parked but they are blocked off by a locked gate that is also barricaded with a trash can. Asking around, I found I would have to walk all the way around to the entrance, wait until those blocking my way (taking me for a line jumper) got past and then try to explain my situation to the CM that I needed to recover my chair.
After this, we then decided to take the train around to Toontown. Getting on was pretty easy, but when we arrived and I waved the conductor over to signal we wanted off, he came back and said we were stuck there until either Tomorrowland or back to New Orleans Square as the handicap platform in Toontown wouldn't extend far enough out to match our train car. (And Main Street Station apparently doesn't have ANY handicap ramps.) he did say that we could continue around as long as we wanted so we continued past Tomorrowland, saw the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas and went completely back around to Tomorrowland again.
Tammy and Tierney thought about riding Autopia but gave up after waiting about 10 minutes in line. It didn't look that big at first, but signage indicated a 90 minute wait at that point! We did go on to ride Buzz Lightyear after about a 40 minute wait. (Buzz is new enough to be handicap acessable from the standard queue.) Thanks to an extended stay right in front of a high-points diamond target, I racked up nearly 600,000 in points. Tierney came in second with over 400,000. Tammy refuses to discuss her score but said we both beat her.
As we exited Buzz, we saw/heard the commotion of the Parade of Dreams getting ready to start and quickly snagged a decent spot. Parade was ok, not exciting, but it made Tammy happy and I was pretty satisfied with the number of rides we'd completed so far. I was actually surprised the parade was so short barely 20 minutes long. We followed the parade up Main Street to an ice cream parlor where we took a long break. (Well, sort of a break, I staked out a spot at a communal table and did my rabid pit bull impersonation to save their seats, Tierney and Tammy waited in line nearly 20 minutes to get 3 cones.)
After this, Tammy decided she'd had enough fun for one day and wanted to go back to the motel but she wanted Tierney to stay with me so she could get some rest. We split our different ways. Tierney and I went back to New Orleans Square for 2nd of Pirates and the Haunted Mansion, went around to Critter Country and rode Pooh on the way to Splash Mountain. (Pooh is an standard queue loader while Splash is an exit loader.) Doubled back to Adventureland for the Jungle Cruise where I waited the entire time in the standard queue until almost reaching the end where a CM finally noticed me and said I should have used the exit. They also gave me a heads up that I would use the exit at Indiana Jones. Jones was Tierney's favorite ride in the entire resort. Due to a slight mistake in returning us to the wrong side, we got to ride around a second time without having to completely exit. (We did get off the ride and then reboarded.) Tierney took this as the norm and always wanted to do this ride twice when we would go through.
Up from Adventureland though Frontierland where we rode Big Thunder. (Exit loader) Then over to Toontown to catch Roger Rabbit. (Standard loader) I fell in love with this ride when it first opened during my 1994 trip. (I got to ride it several times during it's soft-opening then). On our last trip in 2001, it was closed for rehab. Somehow, this just didn't do much for me this time; Maybe because Tierney was cranking the wheel as hard as possible and didn't let me enjoy the scenery as much. I wanted to get out of Toontown but Tierney wanted to explore a bit and spotted Gadget's Go Coaster. This was the low point of my Disney visit.
I didn't see any other signage for a handicap entrance and proceeded up the standard queue line. Near the top several CMs had spotted us working our way up. (One nearly chose us to help fill a car when they needed a "party of 2" but it turned out there was another party of 2 ahead of us.) There was no indication of trouble until we reached the very top and then they told me I couldn't board there because there was no way to get my scooter across! I let Tierney ride while they called for a manager to try to figure out how to get me back down. No manager ever showed up. But the problem solved itself when they closed the line 15 minutes later with the closing of the rest of Toontown. VERY Frustrating!
After our Escape from Toontown (Eat your heart out Kurt Russell), we got in a ride on Small World after about a 30 minute wait at the handicap entrance. This was especially bad since the walk up line was only about 10 minutes long, but in constant use. I didn't catch the details, but as we were boarding a standard boat they finally pulled aside for us, another handicapped patron started reading the CM the riot act, claiming ADA rules specified that 1 in 4 boats should have been reserved for disabled use. (Or something to that effect.)
On exiting Small World, we were herded like cattle up one street and down another, not being allowed to stop anywhere because the fireworks were about to start. I finally planted myself and Tierney behind a trash can near where Main Street empties into the hub and hunkered down. One CM started to have us move on but was stopped by another who said we were ok where we were. We had a few trees in the way, but an otherwise great view of the fireworks, especially the Pirates segment between the castle and the Matterhorn.
After the show, we started trying to make our way to the exit but it was slow going, especially when we reached the tunnels. Tierney and I decided to duck into the Opera House where we caught the show with Steve Martin and Donald Duck. (Hilarious!)
When the show ended, things had thinned out enough for us to leave. We were able to catch the Timon tram back where we finished making our way to our motel to rest and recharge for California Adventure.
Getting through the security check into Disney was almost painless. A small wait and the cast members had never seen anything like my scooter before. One thought the battery compartment was for storage and wanted to check it out but was waved off by another CM. We had a longer wait to actually get into the park and our early entry day began at 8:15. We made beeline for the Matterhorn (right side) since I was aware there wasn't a fastpass and expected this to be pretty tough to get on later. We got to ride after about a 30 minute wait.
Next up was Alice in Wonderland. I'd started following my wife and daughter through the queue but was directed to the exit by a cast member where I waited until Tammy & Tierney wound their way through. The cast member loading us said next time they could follow me through any handicap entrance. Afterwards we hit the tea cups where we were ignored at the handicap entrance. Tammy and Tierney went around and went through the regular queue and were planted in a tea cup right in front of me while I was still being ignored. I went ahead and let myself in and joined them before the ride started.
After a short break to recover, we knocked out most of the rest of the Fantasyland dark rides - Pan, Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio, along with the carousel. (We had to wait an extra cycle, but on the beginning of the next they let us on first and Tierney got the gold horse.) Most of these went pretty well and once I got the hang of looking for the exits where the handicap entrance was, loaded very quickly. (Blowing past a 45 minute wait for Pan.)
We then made our way over to New Orleans Square where we tried to ride Haunted Mansion first but found it wasn't open yet. (We noted later it would always be closed the first hour or so of the regular park opening.) We got in a ride of Pirates (Another exit loader) and had lunch at the French Market. (Tammy picked up tons of extras souvenir cups and straws and racked up a $75 bill for lunch.) We later found the Mansion open. The Mansion has one of the worst handicap entrance procedures of any ride at Disney. We would start out in the standard queue line but would be shuttled aside once we reached the porch. Those that could walk some were directed to park our chairs off to the right of the porch and would walk into the stretching rooms from there. After the ride was over, we'd take the standard exit out near to where our chairs were parked but they are blocked off by a locked gate that is also barricaded with a trash can. Asking around, I found I would have to walk all the way around to the entrance, wait until those blocking my way (taking me for a line jumper) got past and then try to explain my situation to the CM that I needed to recover my chair.
After this, we then decided to take the train around to Toontown. Getting on was pretty easy, but when we arrived and I waved the conductor over to signal we wanted off, he came back and said we were stuck there until either Tomorrowland or back to New Orleans Square as the handicap platform in Toontown wouldn't extend far enough out to match our train car. (And Main Street Station apparently doesn't have ANY handicap ramps.) he did say that we could continue around as long as we wanted so we continued past Tomorrowland, saw the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas and went completely back around to Tomorrowland again.
Tammy and Tierney thought about riding Autopia but gave up after waiting about 10 minutes in line. It didn't look that big at first, but signage indicated a 90 minute wait at that point! We did go on to ride Buzz Lightyear after about a 40 minute wait. (Buzz is new enough to be handicap acessable from the standard queue.) Thanks to an extended stay right in front of a high-points diamond target, I racked up nearly 600,000 in points. Tierney came in second with over 400,000. Tammy refuses to discuss her score but said we both beat her.
As we exited Buzz, we saw/heard the commotion of the Parade of Dreams getting ready to start and quickly snagged a decent spot. Parade was ok, not exciting, but it made Tammy happy and I was pretty satisfied with the number of rides we'd completed so far. I was actually surprised the parade was so short barely 20 minutes long. We followed the parade up Main Street to an ice cream parlor where we took a long break. (Well, sort of a break, I staked out a spot at a communal table and did my rabid pit bull impersonation to save their seats, Tierney and Tammy waited in line nearly 20 minutes to get 3 cones.)
After this, Tammy decided she'd had enough fun for one day and wanted to go back to the motel but she wanted Tierney to stay with me so she could get some rest. We split our different ways. Tierney and I went back to New Orleans Square for 2nd of Pirates and the Haunted Mansion, went around to Critter Country and rode Pooh on the way to Splash Mountain. (Pooh is an standard queue loader while Splash is an exit loader.) Doubled back to Adventureland for the Jungle Cruise where I waited the entire time in the standard queue until almost reaching the end where a CM finally noticed me and said I should have used the exit. They also gave me a heads up that I would use the exit at Indiana Jones. Jones was Tierney's favorite ride in the entire resort. Due to a slight mistake in returning us to the wrong side, we got to ride around a second time without having to completely exit. (We did get off the ride and then reboarded.) Tierney took this as the norm and always wanted to do this ride twice when we would go through.
Up from Adventureland though Frontierland where we rode Big Thunder. (Exit loader) Then over to Toontown to catch Roger Rabbit. (Standard loader) I fell in love with this ride when it first opened during my 1994 trip. (I got to ride it several times during it's soft-opening then). On our last trip in 2001, it was closed for rehab. Somehow, this just didn't do much for me this time; Maybe because Tierney was cranking the wheel as hard as possible and didn't let me enjoy the scenery as much. I wanted to get out of Toontown but Tierney wanted to explore a bit and spotted Gadget's Go Coaster. This was the low point of my Disney visit.
I didn't see any other signage for a handicap entrance and proceeded up the standard queue line. Near the top several CMs had spotted us working our way up. (One nearly chose us to help fill a car when they needed a "party of 2" but it turned out there was another party of 2 ahead of us.) There was no indication of trouble until we reached the very top and then they told me I couldn't board there because there was no way to get my scooter across! I let Tierney ride while they called for a manager to try to figure out how to get me back down. No manager ever showed up. But the problem solved itself when they closed the line 15 minutes later with the closing of the rest of Toontown. VERY Frustrating!
After our Escape from Toontown (Eat your heart out Kurt Russell), we got in a ride on Small World after about a 30 minute wait at the handicap entrance. This was especially bad since the walk up line was only about 10 minutes long, but in constant use. I didn't catch the details, but as we were boarding a standard boat they finally pulled aside for us, another handicapped patron started reading the CM the riot act, claiming ADA rules specified that 1 in 4 boats should have been reserved for disabled use. (Or something to that effect.)
On exiting Small World, we were herded like cattle up one street and down another, not being allowed to stop anywhere because the fireworks were about to start. I finally planted myself and Tierney behind a trash can near where Main Street empties into the hub and hunkered down. One CM started to have us move on but was stopped by another who said we were ok where we were. We had a few trees in the way, but an otherwise great view of the fireworks, especially the Pirates segment between the castle and the Matterhorn.
After the show, we started trying to make our way to the exit but it was slow going, especially when we reached the tunnels. Tierney and I decided to duck into the Opera House where we caught the show with Steve Martin and Donald Duck. (Hilarious!)
When the show ended, things had thinned out enough for us to leave. We were able to catch the Timon tram back where we finished making our way to our motel to rest and recharge for California Adventure.
