"Why is EVERYTHING better here?" First trip to DL, May '14

[bellebookworm9]

the main reason for it is it fit the theme of the boardwalk/ pier type of amusement park they were going for in the area. The carousel was first and the restaurant was rethemed later and then they tore out Golden Dreams to make way for the little mermaid ride.

I knew the carousel was there originally, did not know the restaurant had once been something else. And I remembered hearing about Golden Dreams being replaced by the Under the Sea ride. I guess this was one of those "we need to bring more princess stuff into this park" ideas.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Double post tonight to get all the Aladdin pics up!

I checked in with the Unofficial Guide to determine that we should try and sit in the orchestra section, so that was the line we headed in to. We were able to get very good seats, super close to the stage.

The Cave of Wonders:

“One Jump Ahead”

Jasmine reveals she is the princess, not just a common beggar:

Jafar disguised as an old man, getting Aladdin out of trouble:

Aladdin has made it to the Cave of Wonders:

Meeting the Magic Carpet:

“Friend Like Me”

The Genie had us in stitches. At some point he made a joke about something being scary, “but not as scary as being stuck in an elevator with Beyonce’s sister”.

Genie announcing that Prince Ali is coming…and come he does, riding an elephant through the audience!

I’m pretty sure this is the point where Aladdin runs off to pursue Jasmine and the Genie threw in lines like, “Use the force, Luke” and “Run, Forrest, run!”

Jasmine sang a song about wanting to be free before Aladdin shows up to take her to “A Whole New World”:

Jafar decides the Genie should make him the most powerful sultan/sorcerer in all the world:

This was definitely the scene where the Genie lays on Jafar’s shoulder and went, “What next?...Do you wanna build a snowman?....Come on let’s go and play…OK, bye”

But then Jafar wants to be a genie, so he comes out of the snake, which was pretty cool.

 

[bellebookworm9]

With Jafar safely in his own magic lamp, a happily ever after is overdue:

The Genie, garnering applause until literally the last possible second:

We loved the show!

It was getting to be close to naptime so we headed towards the entrance, stopping at Schmoozie’s on the way and also catching a glimpse of Five & Dime.

The special of the day was something like, “Three Berries and a Banana”, which was delicious!

We wandered out of the park and back to our room for our daily afternoon rest. After my nap, I headed up to the pool for what was, sadly, the only time. Coming out of the third floor elevators, the door to the pool is immediately to the right. Once outside, you have to go up a small set of stairs to reach the pool itself.

I took a dip in the pool for a few minutes and also went down the California Streamin’ slide. I liked the slide a lot! And although it was different not to be dumped in a pool at the bottom, it was also a little better: there’s no disorientation if you aren’t plunged underwater coming off the slide!
Then I chilled poolside to dry off for a bit.

That was around 4:30. We had dinner reservations at 5:30, but first we stopped in the lounge to check out the evening offerings. The hot appetizer that day was Pineapple and Beef Skewers, which was very good.

Each night they also had the following choices.
A variety of cheeses and crackers:

A veggie platter with ranch dip and lime tortilla chips with pico de gallo:

And our favorite part, the desserts!

Cookies, chocolate covered strawberries, mini cream puffs, pies, and delicious tarts in raspberry, strawberry, blackberry, and kiwi.

Our dinner plans were downstairs at PCH Grill. The bathroom off the lobby had this very pretty mirror.

Surfside Lounge, also off the lobby:

They weren’t open yet, so we browsed the gift shop for a couple of minutes, where I saw these adorable Frozen rice crispies.

When we checked in for dinner, the staff seemed a bit unorganized but we were seated fairly quickly. There was one couple in the restaurant besides us.

Beachy décor:

PB once worked at Be Our Guest folding napkin roses for five hours, so he decided to show off that skill.

Crazy straws!

We shared the Monterey Bay Spinach & Artichoke Dip to start. It was awesome, but I could have done without the red peppers on top.

For my entrée, I had the Pebble Beach Shrimp Mac n Cheese topped with herbed bread crumbs served with seasonal vegetables. For some reason I thought the veggies would be on the side, but they were mixed in with the pasta. I ended up picking them out. But the shrimp and pasta was very good!

PB had the Grilled Strip Loin with a Bacon-Leek Reduction, Garlic Whipped Potatoes, and Sautéed Vegetables, and he ate every last bit, including wiping up the last of the sauce with his fingers!

PB declined dessert, but I had the Ice Cream Sliders. The vanilla dipping sauce was just okay but the caramel was amazing!

It was good food but nothing special. The meal was pretty expensive too; I think it was about $60 with PB’s discount, though still cheaper and with more variety than a WOC dining package (our original plan). After dinner, we went back to DCA to get in line for World of Color.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Once again, we arrived 90 minutes early. I had my poncho but had dressed a bit more sensibly this evening, in jeans, a hoodie, and sneakers. I had PB buy me a World of Color shirt while we waited. We got the exact same front row spots as the previous night and sat down to wait. Sadly, the Fun Wheel Challenge wasn’t working tonight either.

We stood up shortly before show time and that’s when we witnessed the dumbest thing I’ve ever seen in the parks-and I’ve seen some very dumb things. Immediately to our right were two girls from Australia. Behind us was a Hispanic family. Next to the girls was a couple with a teeny tiny baby who were locals. Apparently the family behind us didn’t realize this was a show you stand to watch, and they were surprised when we stood up. This resulted in them shifting behind the other family for a better view. Suddenly, the wife of the couple in front starts screaming and swearing at them, saying she was going to freak out if they didn’t back up. Like she wasn’t already freaking out? I guess the Hispanic couple had been pushing their daughter’s stroller into the wife’s legs. A full on yelling match ensued. Thankfully, CMs appeared pretty quickly. The husband of the yelling wife actually said, “We don’t want them standing behind us”. What the heck, are we in kindergarten? In the end, the CMs moved the complaining couple down a bit, away from us, and the other family was allowed to stay where they were. Seriously the stupidest argument I’ve ever witnessed, and I used to deal with drunken guests at Epcot on a nightly basis. However, that was also the only grumpy guest or cast member we encountered on the whole trip, which is really saying something.

The show started, and I’m forewarning you now, I took 274 pictures of it. I won’t post all of them, but that’s 274 good pictures…I started out with about 500! In total, there will be 8 posts.

 

[waltsdream]

Hello! I'm new to your TR and wanted to say how much I'm enjoying it. I've only ever been to DL as a baby and don't remember much of it, and we always go to WDW so I've been very curious about DL for some time. Your TR has taught me so much and I really want to go now! I also love your pictures - they're amazing! Looking forward to reading the rest of the TR.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Hello! I'm new to your TR and wanted to say how much I'm enjoying it. I've only ever been to DL as a baby and don't remember much of it, and we always go to WDW so I've been very curious about DL for some time. Your TR has taught me so much and I really want to go now! I also love your pictures - they're amazing! Looking forward to reading the rest of the TR.

Welcome! I'd never been curious about DL up until a couple of years ago, just following that silly mentality that WDW must be better! I learned a LOT while I was planning for this trip; while there isn't as much planning to do ahead of time in regards to ADRs and whatnot, there's still so much that's different to learn about. Thanks for the picture compliment, it's definitely something I've gotten better at over the years, and I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the photography boards here on the DIS.

I started reading your WDW TR and I gotta say, I feel you on the green Mickey anxiety. My first Magicband trip was this past January. Because of our CM tickets, the only thing we could even use them for was to get in the room/charge things, but there was some problem that took the front desk at Art of Animation over two HOURS to fix...at 8:30 at night. My experience in March was better, but I couldn't do FP+ in advance because I had some complications linking my AP voucher to the band. Hopefully my August trip will be smooth sailing!

 

[Mrs. Gumdrop]

I am joining late, but I am really enjoying your TP! I did my first trip to DLR as a solo trip last Fall and I agree that it is just fantastic. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. Keep those updates coming!

 

[4theloveofmykids]

T-84 days til I take my kids for the first time!

 

[bellebookworm9]

Holy cow, over 6000 views?! I'm blown away!

I am joining late, but I am really enjoying your TP! I did my first trip to DLR as a solo trip last Fall and I agree that it is just fantastic. I am glad you enjoyed it so much. Keep those updates coming!

Better late than never! It is really an amazing place and I hope I can visit again in the future.

T-84 days til I take my kids for the first time!

That time will fly!

 

[bellebookworm9]

“Part of Your World”

“Under the Sea”

 

[luulu1999]

I wrote out on my itinerary what time and where you lined up at and what section FP to get cuz I want us to have an awesome view of WOC!!

 

[bellebookworm9]

I wrote out on my itinerary what time and where you lined up at and what section FP to get cuz I want us to have an awesome view of WOC!!

Oh dear, I'm creating mini-mes now! Here's hydroguy's map from the WOC superthread.

As you can see, I colored in some more sections green, because when we were there, those were reserved for dining. Our spot was right on the rail where that yellow star is circled in red. We lined up by 2.

 

[luulu1999]

So if we were able to get in the next row where the other two stars are on the rail would my 5&6 year old be able still see there since it is raised or it would just be better to get in the wet zone?

 

[bellebookworm9]

So if we were able to get in the next row where the other two stars are on the rail would my 5&6 year old be able still see there since it is raised or it would just be better to get in the wet zone?

From what I hear, it's better to be at the front of a raised section further back then behind people down at the front. But if you line up early you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[Daisybelle]

Holy heck, it would be awesome to be that close! I'm not sure I have the patience to make that happen. I shall have to ponder...

 

[bellebookworm9]

Holy heck, it would be awesome to be that close! I'm not sure I have the patience to make that happen. I shall have to ponder...

I have developed immense patience over the years...I'm used to waiting 90 minutes for Fantasmic at WDW just so I can be in the center section towards the front. I've even waited that long for IllumiNations on occasion (by choice, not necessity). We had our phones all charged up to play trivia games, talked to people around us, etc. Saw other people who were there as a group playing "headbands" on their phones (kind of like 20 questions), and I've heard there are charades games as well. Plus, you can sit until showtime, which is nice.

 

[bellebookworm9]

Finding Nemo:

WALL-E:

Toy Story:

UP:

 

[petals]

Luvin all the world of colour pics. I'm scared when we go that we won't get a good viewing location

 

[bellebookworm9]

Luvin all the world of colour pics. I'm scared when we go that we won't get a good viewing location

Thanks! My mom is always like, "Nobody wants to look at 45739845 pictures of the night time shows!"...but I do, and I think that sometimes others do as well. If you're willing and able to put in the bit of extra time and effort, it's no problem to get a good spot. Even if you're not right at the front, the show is so big that I think you could have a good view further back.

 

[bellebookworm9]

“A Whole New World”

"Friend Like Me"