PTR-Cheating on Mickey w/Harry!...OMG! Only a month to go!

[franandaj]

I did upload the Carsland stuff (at least some of it) but Fran is being very "puffy" on what I should do. She told me to go to bed, so obviously my course is set.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I just got back from the CL & BVS preview tonight and it was so exciting seeing CL & BVS tonight. I am so beat up that my back is killing me and I should be in bed resting. But I thought I check out your pics from yesterday. Just this trip alone, i already have over 2000 pics in just these two days. I can't wait to upload the rest of my pics.

I will be looking forward to hear your day at the preview.

 

[kmedina]

So check it out everyone! This was us today!

Union Station at LA Pride Parade

Loved it. Even though it is short, I can tell you guys are good. Looks like everything is coming together nicely.

Loving both of your trip updates. We love La Brea. I wanted to check it out this trip, but it will have to wait until next time. The Ghiradelli is another place that will have to wait til nect time. They both look great though. Looks like you had a great time, and again I am so happy you got CL.

I know you are not overly fond of BVS, but it looks amazing. Cannot wait to read more about your day at Carsland.

 

[tksbaskets]

Thanks for the great pictures!

 

[franandaj]

I just got back from the CL & BVS preview tonight and it was so exciting seeing CL & BVS tonight. I am so beat up that my back is killing me and I should be in bed resting. But I thought I check out your pics from yesterday. Just this trip alone, i already have over 2000 pics in just these two days. I can't wait to upload the rest of my pics.

I will be looking forward to hear your day at the preview.

I was so wiped out yesterday afternoon as well. 2000 pictures! Wow! That's a lot!

Loved it. Even though it is short, I can tell you guys are good. Looks like everything is coming together nicely.

Loving both of your trip updates. We love La Brea. I wanted to check it out this trip, but it will have to wait until next time. The Ghiradelli is another place that will have to wait til nect time. They both look great though. Looks like you had a great time, and again I am so happy you got CL.

I know you are not overly fond of BVS, but it looks amazing. Cannot wait to read more about your day at Carsland.

I've got another update in progress....

Thanks for the great pictures!

You're welcome.

 

[dgbg100106]

Everything looked like it was coming along, when is it set to open?

Thanks for going on the mission for me... I really do appreciate it, please let Fran know and tell her thank you from me.

 

[franandaj]

So by the time we got things sorted out of who was going to eat what and go where, John & Suzie (and Elwood) had gone on to the Corn Dog Palace whilst I starved to death with cranky Fran. We found the end of the line to get into Carsland and it was pretty long. It started moving quickly and they let us in at least 15 minutes before the actual scheduled time.

I know why they let us in this entrance! Absolutely stunning!

I thought all the little signs on the side of the road were really cute.

As you enter town from this direction, Flo’s V8 Café is the first thing that you see.

Now I had one thing on my mind that I wanted to do. I felt guilty that John and Suzie were still waiting in the Corn Dog line, but Oh well! As we headed toward Radiator Springs Racers we saw Ramon’s House of Body Art

Lubeorama

And of course the Court House

I loved these little flower arrangements made out of tail lights!

I didn’t get a shot of the entrance sign, but I did capture all the little signs on the queue. Notice all the different types of cactus. If I’m not mistaken John Lasseter told us in the Carsland Presentation at the Expo that there were over 150 different types of cactus used in Carsland.

Now just beyond this bridge is where we hit the line. We waited about 30 minutes to get to the loading part of the ride.

This was where we hit the line. They cleverly concealed how long the queue was with all kinds of interesting diversions.

I liked this tree. It was kind of funny, Arline commented to me that “Disney did a real good job, that tree looks real.” I had to explain to her that there are no “fake” plants at Disney, well the taillight plants were, but that they have an entire landscaping division. She then said that those little balls that fall off the tree will be everywhere and make a total mess. I had to explain again that CMs will be sweeping them up and tending to the plants multiple times per day and all throughout the night. I don’t think she believed me!

This is Stanley’s Oasis. John Lasseter had a whole back story to this and how Stanley founded the town of Radiator Springs when he found the Spring and set up his radiator cap store (which you will see soon.)

I just liked the symmetry of these

 

[franandaj]

This was the first part of where the queue went into the shade, Stanley’s Radiator Cap store.

The next “shop” was a gas station I believe

You know Disney is expecting long lines when they have concessions being sold in the queue!

This is the bottle house. I believe they are making this similar to the bottle house up at Calico which is off old route 66 by Barstow.

The queue continued through more shaded areas as we got closer to the actual ride area.

At this point, I realized that I hadn’t really taken any pictures of the queue itself.

You can catch a glimpse of a ride vehicle going past here.

See what I mean about the Cactus?

We were in the home stretches

This was us waiting where they split let FP riders combine with the standby line. At this point they asked if Arline could do stairs and the answer was “no” so they sent us off to the Handicapped loading area.

 

[kmedina]

Awesome pictures. You're right. It is abosolutely stunning. The Tree of Life at AK is fake, but I think you're right about all of the others being real. I adore all of the cute signs and the headlight bushes. Disney did a great job with Carsland. I cannot wait to see it!

 

[Leshaface]

Sooo jealous that you were able to go to the Carsland Preview! We had entered mine, DH's, and mom's AP's and we didn't get picked I could be there right now, instead of in boring Tulare.

Oh well, i'll continue to live vicariously through you...Can't wait for the next update!

 

[Pinkocto]

WOW! Everything looks amazing!!! Thanks so much for all the pictures. I can't believe how much it looks like the movie. Disney is amazing!

 

[rentayenta]

Wow wow wow! I actually got Michael to look at your pics. He loves Cars! I cannot wait to visit. I could kick myself for not getting us APs. Live and learn. How did you get in to preview it early?

 

[ACDSNY]

Carsland looks fantastic I can't wait to see it next May.

 

[franandaj]

Awesome pictures. You're right. It is abosolutely stunning. The Tree of Life at AK is fake, but I think you're right about all of the others being real. I adore all of the cute signs and the headlight bushes. Disney did a great job with Carsland. I cannot wait to see it!

At the Expo, they talked at great length about how the gal in charge of landscaping searched out appropriate foliage for every area of the land. On the floor or regular land (and with respect to each building) they wanted a different feel. On RSR they covered a wide variety of terrain so they wanted to reflect that. The town has quite a bit of diversity in foliage.

Sooo jealous that you were able to go to the Carsland Preview! We had entered mine, DH's, and mom's AP's and we didn't get picked I could be there right now, instead of in boring Tulare.

Oh well, i'll continue to live vicariously through you...Can't wait for the next update!

I'm surprised that you didn't get the "buy a Preview spot for $50 or $75 email". It was technically an AP event. The free day was Monday, but APs could have bought in for six different time slots over the weekend.

WOW! Everything looks amazing!!! Thanks so much for all the pictures. I can't believe how much it looks like the movie. Disney is amazing!

It was an amazing job! I won't spoil the ride, until I post pictures, but they did a great job inside as well!

Wow wow wow! I actually got Michael to look at your pics. He loves Cars! I cannot wait to visit. I could kick myself for not getting us APs. Live and learn. How did you get in to preview it early?

Yeah, this was bascially an AP event, but we used our amped up APs for Fran and I and the friends, John and Suzie I kept mentioning. They did show up in a few of our pictures with their son Elwood, but we sort of entered together and kind of went our own ways once we got into the park. It worked out for the best. Since Arline has one of our Premier passes we got her ticket later since we didn't realize she would be in town and going to the preview back in the first of May when we reserved the original tickets. It cost AP holders $50 additional for the 8-12 and 1-5 events and $75 for the 6-11 setting.

Bret, who is posting on my PTR said he saw people with wristbands for all three times, the last one came with a special 11:30 WoC viewing. Personally we were wiped after the 1-5 which extended to 11-7 with going in early and shopping at WoD afterwards, but you'll see that later!

Carsland looks fantastic I can't wait to see it next May.

I'm sure by May it will have calmed down, and be reasonable. I'm afraid of what is to come later in the week. I would be happy just to go and stay at the PP hotel and relax, but I have to talk to Fran, she is talking about not going at all. I would be pissed to blow the points, I'd rather just go lounge at the hotel and see if they would upgrade us to CL with the whole Platinum thing, even if we didn't brave the opening ceremonies, just getting away from feeding the cats twice a day would be a bonus!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Dang! Gonna have to come back in a bit. Right now, it looks like over 80% of your pictures aren't coming up....just red X's.

I'll check back in a bit later.

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW Alison. Great pics of the queue area......and the cactus. And I love the look of Radiator Springs itself. Looks like a lot of nice new places to go explore.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[tksbaskets]

I'm enjoying your pictures and report. Thanks for sharing.

TK

 

[franandaj]

WOW Alison. Great pics of the queue area......and the cactus. And I love the look of Radiator Springs itself. Looks like a lot of nice new places to go explore.

Thanks for sharing.

You're welcome!

I'm enjoying your pictures and report. Thanks for sharing.

TK

Glad you are enjoying it!

 

[franandaj]

This was us waiting where they split let FP riders combine with the standby line. At this point they asked if Arline could do stairs and the answer was “no” so they sent us off to the Handicapped loading area.

This is looking back into the end of the ride

The special loading area

And the Hieroglyphics on the walls

We boarded our ride vehicle and were on our way….

This was the license of the car in front of us

Watching the other cars begin their journey

And along the way on ours

After a spin through the canyon, nightfall sets in and we go tractor tipping with Mader before arriving in Radiator Springs. We went to Ramon’s and got a new paint job before getting set to go to the race. Doc Hudson makes sure that you are ready for the upcoming race.

Guido and Luigi cheer you on.

I didn’t get any shots during the race, but it was fun. After we crossed the Finish Line we took a trip through Taillight Caverns.

Lightning McQueen and Mader are there at the end to congratulate you.

Of course, there is the obligatory photo option

Just a couple shots while we were exiting the ride

And then we were off to explore the rest of the land (little did we know that Fran had already done plenty of damage in Ramon’s, and needed more gift cards from me).

 

[kmedina]

RSR racers looks like a lot of fun. Did Fran not want to ride? It must have been easyy for her to spend so much on shopping. I would love to have a huge shopping budget there. Just reading all of the different reports, I see so much stuff that I want to buy.