Greg K.
Happy DVC Member, DIS Vet, and Catholic Deacon
- Joined
- Aug 18, 1999
Well, we're back.
My wife and I spent two weeks in LA (where I worked on the SURVIVOR finale) and then zipped down to Anaheim for a quick (too quick!) two and a half day visit to Disneyland ... or, er, The Disneyland Resort (established 2001, as the tee shirts will tell you).
This was our second trip to DL, our first to DCA, and I have a whole bunch of random impressions. In no particular order...
* I was shocked, simply shocked, that DCA shuts down its restaurants when it's barely dark. Why was the park a ghost town? Well, there's one answer, right there: few rides, no place to eat.
* Overall, I liked DCA. It's quite a departure for Disney, and an interesting experiment. In many ways, the park is an amalgam: the geographical and educational themes of EPCOT... the dash-of-Hollywood themes of DISNEY/MGM...and the varied lands and layout of DL. It's an effort, it seems, to do Disney without the characters, which may be wrongheaded to some, but to me seemed like - again - an interesting experiment. (The fact that I noticed Goofy and Max posing and giving hugs in the entry plaza suggests it's an experiment that may be shelved.)
* Could they PLEASE plant more TREES in DCA? It was a mild but sunny May weekend when we were there, and the sun was unforgiving. There just isn't enough shade. And, though the park is small, you have to walk FOREVER to get from one attraction to the next (or so it seemed in that blazing sun!)
* Favorite rides -- and the best: SOARING OVER CALIFORNIA and CALIFORNIA SCREAMING. We did them both at least twice and loved 'em, loved 'em, loved 'em. The coaster is sorta tame by coaster standards, but a lot of fun, and very smooth.
* The music in the park is kewl -- and I even got a kick out of hearing "Hotel California" being played in the Grand Californian. You can check out, but you can never leave.
I WISH! I hope they put out a California Adventure CD, with the "atmosphere" music! (They DO have one with the music from the rides, btw).
* Waits for the rides were varied. I did FastPass for GRIZZLY RAPIDS (good, as raft rides go, but not all that scary) but did the roller coast without more than a 15 minute wait...sometimes back to back! The wait for SOARING was reasonable, too...but we DID need FastPass for our second flight on Sunday.
* I was REALLY surprised (and disappointed
) that they aren't selling any logo merchandise -- shirts or sweats -- that herald this as the "inaugural season" for DCA. (Like they do on various cruise ships, for example) What a fun souvenir that would be!
* Downtown Disney is a JOY.
It far outclasses both the DD at Disney World, and City Walk at Universal -- better shops, fancier restaurants, more enjoyable atmosphere. Unlike the others, it doesn't feel like a tourist trap!
* We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, concierge level, and it was nice, but not really worth it. Our room was smaller, I think, than our regular room last year, though the furnishings were nicer (LOVED the high beds, and paintings of the castle and original sketches of the park painted on the cabinets!) We didn't eat enough of the snacks to really get much out of them, either. But it was fun to try.
* Saturday morning in Disneyland was FABULOUS. We did early entry (which would have let us in at 6:30), but didn't really get into the park until around 7:30, and it was so quiet and empty! We walked onto everything, even after the park opened, and it remained relatively crowd free until 11 or so. What a great way to do the park! (Sunday was another story -- a mob scene.)
* Our favorite restaurant remains Hook's Point at the Disneyland Hotel. We ate there twice -- the mesquite grilled salmon is out of this world
!
* Finally...and on matters completely unrelated to Disney... there was my adventure of working on SURVIVOR: THE REUNION. I can report that all the castaways are really REALLY nice; I got them all to sign my copy of People magazine with a double page picture of the whole crew...a neat souvenir! I also received (along with everyone else on the staff) an authentic boomerang with the SURVIVOR logo and my name engraved on it! Way kewl! I didn't have a clue who the final winner would be -- but most of us guessed it would be between Tina and Colby. The format of the reunion changed several times over the two weeks I was there -- at one point, Bryant Gumbel and Jeff Probst were supposed to introduce the show together, then (at least figuratively) pass the torch for Bryant to conduct the interviews. But someone scuttled that idea (hmmmm...I wonder who?). Anyway, it was thrilling and fun to be a part of the broadcast, and I hope I get to do it again for SURVIVOR III!
Which, of course, would necessitate another trip to Disneyland...
My wife and I spent two weeks in LA (where I worked on the SURVIVOR finale) and then zipped down to Anaheim for a quick (too quick!) two and a half day visit to Disneyland ... or, er, The Disneyland Resort (established 2001, as the tee shirts will tell you).
This was our second trip to DL, our first to DCA, and I have a whole bunch of random impressions. In no particular order...
* I was shocked, simply shocked, that DCA shuts down its restaurants when it's barely dark. Why was the park a ghost town? Well, there's one answer, right there: few rides, no place to eat.
* Overall, I liked DCA. It's quite a departure for Disney, and an interesting experiment. In many ways, the park is an amalgam: the geographical and educational themes of EPCOT... the dash-of-Hollywood themes of DISNEY/MGM...and the varied lands and layout of DL. It's an effort, it seems, to do Disney without the characters, which may be wrongheaded to some, but to me seemed like - again - an interesting experiment. (The fact that I noticed Goofy and Max posing and giving hugs in the entry plaza suggests it's an experiment that may be shelved.)
* Could they PLEASE plant more TREES in DCA? It was a mild but sunny May weekend when we were there, and the sun was unforgiving. There just isn't enough shade. And, though the park is small, you have to walk FOREVER to get from one attraction to the next (or so it seemed in that blazing sun!)
* Favorite rides -- and the best: SOARING OVER CALIFORNIA and CALIFORNIA SCREAMING. We did them both at least twice and loved 'em, loved 'em, loved 'em. The coaster is sorta tame by coaster standards, but a lot of fun, and very smooth.
* The music in the park is kewl -- and I even got a kick out of hearing "Hotel California" being played in the Grand Californian. You can check out, but you can never leave.
I WISH! I hope they put out a California Adventure CD, with the "atmosphere" music! (They DO have one with the music from the rides, btw).* Waits for the rides were varied. I did FastPass for GRIZZLY RAPIDS (good, as raft rides go, but not all that scary) but did the roller coast without more than a 15 minute wait...sometimes back to back! The wait for SOARING was reasonable, too...but we DID need FastPass for our second flight on Sunday.
* I was REALLY surprised (and disappointed
) that they aren't selling any logo merchandise -- shirts or sweats -- that herald this as the "inaugural season" for DCA. (Like they do on various cruise ships, for example) What a fun souvenir that would be! * Downtown Disney is a JOY.
It far outclasses both the DD at Disney World, and City Walk at Universal -- better shops, fancier restaurants, more enjoyable atmosphere. Unlike the others, it doesn't feel like a tourist trap! * We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel, concierge level, and it was nice, but not really worth it. Our room was smaller, I think, than our regular room last year, though the furnishings were nicer (LOVED the high beds, and paintings of the castle and original sketches of the park painted on the cabinets!) We didn't eat enough of the snacks to really get much out of them, either. But it was fun to try.
* Saturday morning in Disneyland was FABULOUS. We did early entry (which would have let us in at 6:30), but didn't really get into the park until around 7:30, and it was so quiet and empty! We walked onto everything, even after the park opened, and it remained relatively crowd free until 11 or so. What a great way to do the park! (Sunday was another story -- a mob scene.)
* Our favorite restaurant remains Hook's Point at the Disneyland Hotel. We ate there twice -- the mesquite grilled salmon is out of this world
! * Finally...and on matters completely unrelated to Disney... there was my adventure of working on SURVIVOR: THE REUNION. I can report that all the castaways are really REALLY nice; I got them all to sign my copy of People magazine with a double page picture of the whole crew...a neat souvenir! I also received (along with everyone else on the staff) an authentic boomerang with the SURVIVOR logo and my name engraved on it! Way kewl!
I didn't have a clue who the final winner would be -- but most of us guessed it would be between Tina and Colby. The format of the reunion changed several times over the two weeks I was there -- at one point, Bryant Gumbel and Jeff Probst were supposed to introduce the show together, then (at least figuratively) pass the torch for Bryant to conduct the interviews. But someone scuttled that idea (hmmmm...I wonder who?). Anyway, it was thrilling and fun to be a part of the broadcast, and I hope I get to do it again for SURVIVOR III! Which, of course, would necessitate another trip to Disneyland...
