Originally Posted By dr jones Well, the wife and I just spent the last week at DLR. We arrived on Sunday evening after a nice ride down the coast on our motorcycles. We had a single king room booked for the night at the Pepper Tree Hotel. It's off the Brookhurst exit just north of all the DLR exits. It's in a regular neighborhood away from the resort district so it's not a "polished" area, but the hotel was recently renovated and the rooms are really nice. The staff is amazing as well. My brother and his girlfriend were joining us on monday for three days(We took my brother for his birthday)so we had what turned out to be a huge suite with two rooms. There were 2 beds and a futon, also a couch and chairs. 2 separate bathrooms. There was also a full kitchen that had all the cookware and dishes,flatware etc. There was a Ralph's right across the street. Monday we went to the park early and picked up our new AP's(yay!) and for some reason walked straight to IASW, as I hadn't ridden it since I was little fellow. When we got off my phone rang and it was my brother, they were at the gate, so we hustled up to meet them. My brother has had the misfortune of not having ridden Space Mountain longer than most of us. As an infrequent visitor, all of his trips even before the refurb, have happened to fall on days when the ride was down for one reason or another, so that was priority #1. He came off the ride with a huge smile on his face and said it was worth the wait. We then began to sytematically storm the park, soaking in all the wonderful details along the way. We never had more than a 35 minute wait for anything. We Fastpassed as much as we could as well. On Tuesday we started off at DCA because his girlfriend had never been there. About 3 hours later we were back in DL. My brother has not been to DL since the 50th celeb. started so the fireworks were in order. We got a great spot at the hub near the entrance to Tommorrowland. The fireworks were - as always- amazing, and when it was over, we all admitted to being a little choked up!. It was srange but every day the park started off like it was going to be crazy crowded, but then thinned out to the point of alot of the big rides being almost walk on's. As folks who normally go in the "off season" we were a little nervous about going in June to begin with, but it turned out to be really nice. It was mostly overcast and muggy all week with little flashes of sun here and there. The changes to the Haunted Mansion are great. Everything is cleaned up and the audio is nice and clear. The ride stopped for awhile once while we were right next to the shadow playing the organ, it was really cool to just sit and soak it all in. It actually got kind of creepy after awhile, hearing the keys on the organ moving! I also put in alot of extra miles on the bicycle before we left to try and offset all the waffle cones,cream cheese pretzels etc. etc. that I knew would be consumed(hoping against hope) Our original plan was to leave Thursday morning, but after my brother left on Wed. night, my wife said "We should stay another couple days, and go back on Saturday". Needless to say, I didn't need any further convincing!!!. We didn't know, but Thursday DL was closing at 9:00pm due to a Grad Night, we were a little bummed but the crowds were low all day so it was ok. We ate lunch and dinner in the park all week. We became big fans of the River Belle terrace and Rancho Zocalo. For the money they are good size portions. That chocolate cake at RBT is out of control btw!! We rode the Monorail from DTD to Tommorrowland one day and had to be asked to leave the platform because we were looking through the holes in the construction tarps into the Sub Lagoon for a little too long I guess. How can you not?! We started noticing the CM's name tags, ther doesn't seem to be too many below the class of 2000. Not alot of 19-- anything.(that we noticed at least) Friday was great, we rode everything numerous times and saw as many shows as we could. We happened to be getting off the train at Main Street Station when the fireworks started, it was a cool perspective to see them from. Looking down Main Street towards the castle was an absolute sea of people all the way to the Hub, it was beautiful. The image of that castle with fireworks over it has been burned in my mind since I was a little kid, but now as an adult I can truly appreciate how special Disneyland really is. Needless to say we choked up AGAIN! Anyway, there is more that I've left out because my typing skills are terrible and SLOW, but suffice it to say we had a fabulous time and a great ride home. I'll try and post some pictures of our trip soon. Thanks for reading, Scott.
Originally Posted By Pollyana What a great time you had dr j.... That was a well written report. It looks like you all had a terrific time. I am looking forward to my time,,,, 27 days and counting! I want some of that Disney Magic. BTW... how did you upgrade to the annual pass. We are looking to do that also. thanks for the good report. You made it all seem so real to me. I could almost smell the pretzels and waffle cones.
Originally Posted By dr jones Here are some of the pictures from our trip. Enjoy. <a href="http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/elldurham/album?.dir=3e04scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http" target="_blank">http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/ elldurham/album?.dir=3e04scd&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http</a>%3a//photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos
Originally Posted By dr jones Pollyana, We just bought our APs on line at Disney.com, and printed out the confirmation. We then took that to the will call window where the gave us what looked like a park hopper. We then took those to the bank on Main Street where they checked our IDs and took our pictures and gave us our APs. Pretty easy.
Originally Posted By Pollyana Great photos dr... I especially liked the Mickey firework. That was an awesome shot.
Originally Posted By dr jones In hindsight, I feel kind of bad for glossing over our time in DCA, but there just isn't enough there to keep our attention for more than a few hours. We did as always enjoy riding Tower,Screamin' and Soarin', and we rode Monsters for the first time. We all liked it, it's a nice little dark ride. The "door room" was really cool. But over all we can hardly wait to cross back over to DL. It was funny, I found myself worrying this time about the sanctity of Disneyland, about the threat of terrible changes and bad decisions that would ruin what the park has always stood for and represented. I know it sounds rediculous, but I felt like we should go a bunch of times before it changes for the worst. I guess I was feeling a little nostalgic on this trip.
Originally Posted By 4Disnee Hello dr jones, Thanks for the great report! I loved your photos. We also loved the Monsters Inc. Our DS loved the door room also that was really cool. Thanks for sharing your great trip.
Originally Posted By chickendumpling <<arrived on Sunday evening after a nice ride down the coast on our motorcycles>> That sounds like a lot of fun. <<sytematically storm the park, soaking in all the wonderful details along the way>> Sound like my kinda people! LOL. <<"We should stay another couple days, and go back on Saturday". Needless to say, I didn't need any further convincing!!!.>> More confirmation of above. Nice Tennessee T-shirt there, dr jones Very cool report. And I always love pictures to go with. And I totally get what you mean about feeling "nostalgic" in that weird way. I mean for me, I realize its an amusement park and it evolves over time but I have this really kinda "purist" part of me that just struggles with that a bunch. Thanks again for your report. I enjoyed it.
Originally Posted By dr jones Thanks chickendumpling, glad you enjoyed the report and the pix. Yeah, like you said, I realize it's an amusement park and evolution is part of the deal, but it's DISNEYLAND for cripe's sake!! I want it to stay as magical as it's always been for me. I mean you see some of the things they do there that they think are ok and you just think, please don't let this continue! Anyhow, We're going again in October and we can hardly wait! Thanks for reading.
Originally Posted By dr jones Hello ploeb909, We are not twins, my brother is three years younger. People think that alot though. LOL! MomofPrincess, I'm glad you enjoyed the report and the pix. Thank you both!
Originally Posted By 4Disnee Hello Dr. Jones, I want to post some of my photos from my last trip and just dont know how to do it. Can you tell me what you did you post yours please. I need help. LOL ) Thanks
Originally Posted By dr jones Hello 4Disnee, You need to have a yahoo account which is free and easy to sign up for. 1) go to yahoo photos (www.yahoo.com then chose photos) 2)Choose "get started" once you are on the photo page. 3)A page is displayed with some easy instructions - chose "continue to Yahoo photos" 4)Select "add Photos" 5)Type a name for your album then chose "continue" 6)Chose if you want your photo album to be private, public or friends only. We chose "public" so anyone could access it from the site. Then chose "continue" 7)Chose "select photos" Now you can "drag and drop" your photos onto the upload form. 8)When you have all your photos on the upload form chose "continue." Photos will upload onto the site. 9)Chose "view album" and then you can add or change captions under the photos, add a background to the page... and other fun stuff. Most of it is done when you select an individual photo and then chose "edit photo". Even though my instructions are long it really takes very little time. I hope this is helpful. Good Luck, The "lovely wife" of Dr. Jones
Originally Posted By 4Disnee The lovely wife of Dr. Jones, Thank you so very much for taking the time to put all the steps in for me cause you must know that I really needed them and that is the truth. LOL Thank a million and I do have a yahoo account already so that will work out great. I hope to post some photos soon. Thanks a million I really appreciate it so much! Have a great day!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 >>> I also put in alot of extra miles on the bicycle before we left to try and offset all the waffle cones,cream cheese pretzels etc. etc. that I knew would be consumed(hoping against hope)<<< ^^This cracked me up Your report was great, how cool that you randomly decided to stay extra days
