Photo Trip Report – Panama Canal Cruise plus 3 days in DLR

[speedo]

so long Skinny Minnie we are headed back to Disneyland to try to ride Roger Rabbit



We discovered by accident that you can go into the castle at Disneyland where there are displays showing the story of snow white.



Not only was it open but it did not have a long line!





We went on It's a Small World but don't have a picture. This was another attractions that was understaffed. Only one of the two lines was open so the line was longer than it needed to be.

We also went on the jungle cruise

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics!

 

[speedo]

We head back to California Adventure for World of Color

Before this trip there happened to be a week of shows about the Disney parks and DCL on Destination America. I dutifully watched these shows. I saw that for the World of Color show people buy light up ears - show with the glow ears. This was really a fun and cool effect. My dad happened to be watching also at my parents home and called me all excited about this. So we planned to buy the ears. These are $25 a piece so we bought two - one for my dad and one for me.

We also walked through Cars Land at night (wearing our ears of course )







We got to the Carthay Circle reserved standing area for World of Color. The section was empty and there were two benches so my mom sat down only to be quickly told by a cast member that the bench was only for people who needed to sit. Now my mother was definitely one of the only gray hairs at the park (as noted before the park was mostly teens and young adults). So she asked if she could stay until someone who needs it more comes along. Eventually the cast member conceded and gave my mom a pass so she could stay seated. We stood to the side in the section.








Wait a minute where is the sea of glow with the show ears?

Oh there they are - apparently we were the only two fools to spend $50 on these hats...



I think for the filming for Destination America they must have given the hats to people because there were only a small handful of people with these hats. Also, with no seating it can be very tiring to stand through this show. Plus you get wet - even the Carthay section which was at the back got wet. Personally I like fireworks better, I wasn't so impressed with the blurry projections on water.

 

[speedo]

Great pics!

Thanks!

 

[speedo]

We came back a second night - this is a really fun bar.


This totem pole looked at us and said, "Yep, those are the suckers who spent $50 on Glow with the Show ears"



These fried green beans were really good...

 

[speedo]

This morning's early magic hour was in California Adventure. We decided to cut the corner through the Grand Californian Hotel (which reminded me a bit of Wilderness Lodge at WDW). Anyone staying on property can use the entrance through the Grand Californian.

The line to get in was really long



The line for the fastpasses for cars land racers was once again quite long



There are no return times on the board because the ride was not open during the extra magic hour so the fastpass was also down but people were still waiting. You would think they would have their most poplar ride open during the early magic hour but unfortunately not.

With the racer being closed we went on this instead...


This was really fun, and as I learned on Destination American this is based on an early ride that was UFOs instead of giant tires



then we headed back to the wharf where the only ride operating was the toy story ride, we didn't do as well today...


At exactly park opening the rest of the rides began to open but some like the swings didn't open until 30 minutes after park opening.

So in the one hour we went on 2 rides, at WDW I am used to going on at least 4 in the first early hour.

We headed to the ferris wheel from Toy Story which opened at park opening...


There are two different lines - one for the rocking cars and one for the cars that don't rock. we went on the rocking cars which is fun and luckily we did not need the sick bags they provide...





These swings were great fun...

 

[annichan]

The line to get in was really long

Hi again,

I am still following your trip report eagerly and having lots of fun reading - not least because you caught us again!
Just like you, we spent the Monday to Wednesday after the cruise in DL (although we stayed at the Grand Californian instead). I am pretty sure I see myself in the back of that picture, and I also think I spotted my husband in the next one, in the Radiator Springs Racers line )

We also found that those three days in the parks felt rather crowded compared to what we were expecting (and what we know from off-season WDW touring), but we did not encounter any rude CMs, luckily. Regarding the crowds of teens, I know that there were Grad Nights on most of these days, wehere the parks stayed open really late for high-school graduate parties. I'm not totally sure what age American kids are when they graduate from high-school, but I though that many of these were really there for the at-night party, and only warming up by loudly talking their way through Haunted Mansion and such

DH and I were incredibly lucky regarding Radiator Springs Racers: I spent about 15-20 minutes in the line to get the Fastpasses in the morning, and then once we came back for our ride, we were in line for about 5 minutes until we were redirected to another line because they apparently needed another two people to fill up a wheelchair-accessible car - so we hopped straight on. We were joking all the rest of the day that RSR definitely had the shortest wait time of all the rides

 

[speedo]

Hi again,

I am still following your trip report eagerly and having lots of fun reading - not least because you caught us again!
Just like you, we spent the Monday to Wednesday after the cruise in DL (although we stayed at the Grand Californian instead). I am pretty sure I see myself in the back of that picture, and I also think I spotted my husband in the next one, in the Radiator Springs Racers line )

We also found that those three days in the parks felt rather crowded compared to what we were expecting (and what we know from off-season WDW touring), but we did not encounter any rude CMs, luckily. Regarding the crowds of teens, I know that there were Grad Nights on most of these days, wehere the parks stayed open really late for high-school graduate parties. I'm not totally sure what age American kids are when they graduate from high-school, but I though that many of these were really there for the at-night party, and only warming up by loudly talking their way through Haunted Mansion and such

DH and I were incredibly lucky regarding Radiator Springs Racers: I spent about 15-20 minutes in the line to get the Fastpasses in the morning, and then once we came back for our ride, we were in line for about 5 minutes until we were redirected to another line because they apparently needed another two people to fill up a wheelchair-accessible car - so we hopped straight on. We were joking all the rest of the day that RSR definitely had the shortest wait time of all the rides

I didn't know about the grad nights that does explain a lot - including why there were no fireworks in the evenings. Too funny that we keep catching you in our photos!

 

[speedo]

We headed back to Disneyland.



We didn't get enough of toy story so we rode Buzz Lightyear...


Since this is no longer at WDW we rode Snow White. I actually liked this as a kid even though most don't, but I am not disappointed they closed it at WDW since the Mine ride does sound really fun. I do miss Mr. Toad's at WDW though!





Splash mountain seemed to have a lot more drops than at WDW and the last dropped seemed even more intense!


The Harbor Galley was a quiet spot to grab lunch - the loaded baked potatoes lived up to their name.







If you continue walking along the path there are some seats off the beaten path, the pirate ship was not operating while we were there. Neither were the Davy Crockett Canoes. A cast member told me these only operate on the weekends. Since they don't have everything operating or fireworks on weekdays the ticket price should be less for weekdays than weekends.



Tarzan's tree house had a crossover from Beauty and the Beast


The Tiki Room has always been a favorite of mine, so glad WDW has gone back to "original management"


yum...


The railroad is more interesting at Disneyland than at WDW, more sights and less about the transportation aspect.







according to HP paintings in the future will be replaced by tv screens. At least at Disneyland they weren't pretending the house of the future was green like the house at Epcot (which has the new electric toilet by Kohler).



Love the new Star Tours (this was the same as at Hollywood Studios)

 

[speedo]

We decided to see Star Trek that night at the movie theater in Downtown Disney. I am a Netflix person so going to the theater was actually a treat and this theater was really nice and empty!



It was weird seeing all the calories listed out everywhere - no wonder Minnie is thin in LA.




And that is the end of this two and half week vacation! Thank you so much for following along. It has been fun to share our trip with all of you!

We will sign off with the following...

 

[Flossbolna]

Thank you so much for the wonderful report!

I am sorry that you did not enjoy Disneyland that much. I absolutely adore the original park and even liked DCA before its refurbishment. To be honest of all the three "Magic Kingdom style" parks I know (DL, MK, DLP) I like the MK the least. On my two visits to DL I never had problems with rude teenagers or unfriendly CMs. And I think you did not miss anything by not going on the canoes! On my first visit to DL, I thought this was the most pointless ride ever!!

 

[ShellB8585]

Thank you so much for the wonderful report!

I am sorry that you did not enjoy Disneyland that much. I absolutely adore the original park and even liked DCA before its refurbishment. To be honest of all the three "Magic Kingdom style" parks I know (DL, MK, DLP) I like the MK the least. On my two visits to DL I never had problems with rude teenagers or unfriendly CMs. And I think you did not miss anything by not going on the canoes! On my first visit to DL, I thought this was the most pointless ride ever!!

Goes to show different strokes for different folks. Of those same parks WDW Magic Kingdom is by far superior (maybe becuse it's my first )

 

[jedijill]

Fantastic report! Thanks for all the detail and photos!

Jill in CO

 

[speedo]

Thank you so much for the wonderful report!

I am sorry that you did not enjoy Disneyland that much. I absolutely adore the original park and even liked DCA before its refurbishment. To be honest of all the three "Magic Kingdom style" parks I know (DL, MK, DLP) I like the MK the least. On my two visits to DL I never had problems with rude teenagers or unfriendly CMs. And I think you did not miss anything by not going on the canoes! On my first visit to DL, I thought this was the most pointless ride ever!!

Good to know we didn't miss out on too much!

Thanks for following along and posting!

 

[speedo]

Goes to show different strokes for different folks. Of those same parks WDW Magic Kingdom is by far superior (maybe becuse it's my first )

It will always be my favorite too, but I am a Florida girl so I am definitely biased. Just got a notice today from WDW that I'll be testing the new magic bands on my September trip Already have fastpasses for my favorite rides lined up

 

[speedo]

Fantastic report! Thanks for all the detail and photos!

Jill in CO

Thank you!!!

 

[rndmr2]

Fun report! Thanks for sharing. Sorry you didn't care for DL as much.

I still really want to see it someday. Carsland looks fun, I really hope that the rumors are true that they are going to bring that, or a version of it to WDW

 

[cruiseletters]

Thank you for writing such an in depth trip report with all the great pictures. When I was reading about your impression of DL it made me think that often times we're most comfortable with our own surroundings. The first time my family went to WDW we kept looking at the peeling paint and moisture damage on some of the facades, or the cast members that treated you like you were invisable while you got on rides because they were talking amongst themselves. We kept making comparisons to DL saying that would never happen they're painting nonstop there, and so on. Since we've been back to WDW again we've grown to appreciate it as the different place that it is. Such is DL a much different place from start to finish, people that have grown up going there will tell you it's just as magical for them when they spend a day there as any place in WDW. You did happen to go during grad month so yes things were even more different then the rest of the year, so sorry your experience was so disappointing. I will say to spend just one day there is to not even try to really see all the wonderful and beautiful spots it has to offer.

 

[AZMouseFan]

Great report! Thanks so much for all the descriptions and pictures. We go next May and now I'm looking forward to the Panama Canal more than ever!

 

[Muushka]

Thank you so much for all of your time and effort that you put into this very informative trip report.
We are doing this cruise in May 2014 and you have given us a very good idea of what to expect.

Again, thank you!