Originally Posted By markcanada Friday, November 4th – We awoke around 7:00 as we wanted to go to Disneyland and be at the gates before 8:30 in order to be at the rope drop by 9:00 a.m. While I was in the shower, one of the HoJo security guards came to our door to tell us that the guests below us had complained about us being too noisy! My wife’s response was to tell the security guard that we had to put up with noise coming the pool area and hot tub at midnight (probably made by the people in the room below us – I would insert an eye rolling icon here if I knew how) the night before, which the hotel never did anything about. He told us to call the front desk if that happened again, and asked us to try to be quieter, which we did. We were a little put out that although we were tolerant of others wanting to relax on their vacation, others didn’t want to show us the same courtesy. Although it put a slight damper on our morning, we continued to get ready the same way we did before, showers, getting dressed, breakfast, getting organized. We embarked on our short walk from the hotel, crossing to the other side of Harbour onto what felt like our own private sidewalk to the park. We quickly passed through the bag check and onto the esplanade (I think that’s what it’s called). It was just amazing to take it all in, seeing the California sign, the train station beyond the gates, Grizzly Mountain, the people in line just as excited as we were. While waiting in line, seeing the train pull up to the Main Street Station, the monorail going by. We weren’t too far back in line (maybe 10 people?) and felt our excitement build as cast members approached the turnstiles. Finally, 8:30 approached, and right near our turnstile, behind the gates, was the family chosen to open the park, under the direction of a very animated middle aged cast member lead in shorts (Darkbeer probably knows his name, age, how long he’s been at Disneyland, his shoe size, and the name of his dog). There was a countdown from ten that he led the crowd in, and finally the gates opened! We quickly passed through the turnstiles, and got a good view of the “50†logo in the flowers in front of the station. We didn’t bother with a picture in front of it at that point, as many people had that idea. Instead, we headed to the right tunnel and onto Main Street. As we proceeded towards the hub, we saw Pluto in front of the firestation greeting guests. We moved over to there, and my two daughters got in line to get an autograph and a picture. After they got an autographs, I told them, “Move closer to Goofy, so I can take a picture.†Pluto was not impressed. He gestured, in a very animated way, towards his name that he had just written in the autograph book, shaking his head in disgust. I realized at that point that we really need to visit Disneyland more often. I apologized profusely, of course. Perhaps I was too excited to think straight? We then moved up Main Street towards the rope drop, where we were maybe four or five deep back. While my mother and the girls looked around a bit, I shot some video, checked my RideMax itinerary for the 27th time, and studied the map and daily events brochure. I should interject at this point that this was, in fact, not my very first visit to Disneyland, nor my wife’s. She had gone with her family as a teenager, as had I, but that was about 25 years earlier, and a lot had changed since then, all around. And especially around (by about 150 pounds, personally). So, it certainly felt like a “first time†for us, as we waited. Of course, every ten minutes, you get the booming voice welcoming you to the park, that the park will be opening soon, and don’t run . . . or else. Finally, the opening announcement, the music fanfare, and the crowd starts moving forward! We head around the central statue towards the statue, deftly evading the photo gals, and pass through the archway. We’re in Fantasyland, and ready to leap into our Ridemax schedule. Now, in all respect to the Ridemax authors, I am not going to give the exact order of rides we did that day. But I will share what it was like for us. I will say that we started with Peter Pan’s Flight, and if you want to start a Disneyland vacation with the perfect ride to get you in the mood, that was it! Definitely one of the top magical rides at Disneyland. Floating through the bedroom, through the rooftops, past the Tower of London, and into Neverland over the volcano and pirate ship, and through the excellently done scenes definitely got all of us into a very Disney mood. As we came out, I noticed that there was a minimal line for Dumbo, so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Even my teenage son was up for this ride, and it was great to just soar. The sun was up, we were in Disneyland, and we were riding Dumbo! Whoo hoo! So, this first day, we were in the park until about 2:30 on our first visit. We did Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Star Tours, Jungle Cruise, Snow White, Pinocchio, Winnie the Pooh, Splash Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Alice in Wonderland, Big Thunder, and Pinocchio. Just some thoughts on the various attractions: - all the “dark rides†were great, definitely what Disney does better than anyone else and the heart of the Disney magic. - Pirates – floating through the bayou, seeing the “fireflies†drifting past the Blue Bayou and feeling relieved that it was too early to worry about errant dinner rolls, going under the skull and into the caves! We loved it! - Haunted Mansion – the Nightmare overlay is excellently done, but I couldn’t help feeling nostalgic for the “traditional†HM. - Buzz Lightyear – wow, the face animation in the wait area was amazing! Really convincing. And Buzz was amazing! A chance to interact with a ride, controlling your “ship†and shooting. I got 78,000, if anyone cares. My mother got 6,000, and went down on subsequent rides, by the way. - Winnie the Pooh was really impressive, but seemed out of place so far from the other dark rides. OTOH, it does fit well with the theme of Critter Country. My youngest also got to meet Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger while the older kids and I headed over to Adventureland. - Star Tools continues to be amazing, even though it is the same ride as 20 years ago. I wonder if Disney might want to work with Lucas and ILM to come up with a “new†destination. But the preride alone with the ship, R2D2 and C3PO, and the droids, as well as the info screen, are really enjoyable. - Everyone liked the Jungle Cruise jokes. - Splash Mountain is really great with the audioanimatronics, definitely state of the art, and the drop of the end is great! Also one of our favourites of the day. - Columbia wasn’t sailing, even though it was listed as operational by Ridemax. To my surprise, my 65+ mother was open to going “fast†rides, like BTMR, Splash, and Indiana Jones. My daughters definitely like the fast ones, whereas my son is a little more reluctant to do the coasters (he passed on doing Space Mountain and Screamin during our trip). But he definitely like Star Tours. Nearly all of our rides were walk-ons, with the exception of some of the more popular rides, but that’s where Fast Pass worked really well. Darkbeer’s advice and studying Ridemax really helped me to understand how to make the best of FastPass throughout the day (e.g. don’t get your first FastPass for the most crowded ride, get it for the least crowded, because you’re likely to get a return window less than 2 hours, allowing you to get additional FastPasses more often). This helped us to adjust for the one or two occasions where something didn’t quite work to schedule, or to take advantage where we were ahead. Space Mountain seemed to break down a few times that day, so we couldn’t use our passes. Of course, as we walked by rides following the Ridemax plan, my mother would ask “why aren’t we going on that ride?†and several times throughout the day, I would tell her, “yes, we are, it’s on the schedule.†She eventually bought in, of course. By early afternoon, we were ready for some snacks, and I was introduced to the glory that is churro. Mmm, deep fried batter covered with cinnamon sugar. Definitely a regional delicacy! (come to Canada, I’ll introduce you to beaver tails, Tim Horton’s coffee, and poutine. But I digress . . .). We also took a tour around the park on the train, which was a nice way to take a break and take in more of the sights. We had decided to bring our own stroller, to save on the cost of rental and to have a stroller to and from the hotel. Our sister in law loaned us this old orange stroller they had . . we had noooo trouble spotting our stroller everytime we got off of a ride – the orange dot in the sea of green. After leaving the park in mid-afternoon, we headed over to IHOP for some lunch/dinner. Yes, it’s not the cheapest, but it was convenient, and the food was good. Then, back to the hotel for a swim and a bit of a rest. We headed back to the park at around 6:30 to do some more rides and be there for the fireworks. We hadn’t planned on seeing the parade that night, but as we walked down Main Street, about half way up on the left (in front of the central entrance to the store), there was a spot where there was just a couple sitting on the curb. I thought we would have a great view just sitting/standing right behind them, so my wife and son saved the spot while the rest of us went to do a bit of shopping. I think it was great seeing the parade at night, with all the lights, and the floats were just magical (ok, so I’m too lazy to use the thesaurus, but it really is the best word). After the parade, we worked through the crowds to do Indiana Jones. It’s really neat working through the tunnels as they definitely get an added effect in the dark. Of course, with FastPasses, we moved pretty fast and didn’t spend much time noticing all the effects in the queue area. Wow, that was one of the best rides of the trip, with the motion, the scenery, the action, it was great. While heading back to Tomorrowland around 7:30, a cast member approached us and asked if we have any questions, and asked if we needed to know where to sit for the fireworks. I indicated that we planned on watching from Small World, and thanked him for his help (we’re just not the “sit for 90 minutes just for a good spot type of people . . . I haven’t sat down for Christmas Eve church services in 12 years, and God doesn’t care if you’re in the front row). We headed over to Autopia where my five year old demonstrated her excellent driving skills. Space Mountain was still down (so much for the FastPasses I had gotten hours before), but we got in another ride on Buzz, and then headed over to Small World for Remember. We got some popcorn, and sat on the plaza area along with some others. Although the empty spaces were filled, it didn’t feel crowded, and everyone stayed sitting. There was a cast member there helping people get settled, and just as the fanfare starts, he takes his last look, waves his flashlight, and yells “Enjoy the Show!†Remember was fantastic with the music, the projections, the fireworks, the timing, the effects. I was surprised to see the train running through Small World during the fireworks, though. We all really enjoyed it. We then started to head over to New Orleans square. As we passed through Fantasyland, I noticed there was no lineup for Casey Junior. We decided to go for it, and it was neat seeing the settings in the dark. We then continued behind BTMR over to New Orleans square, to see what kind of spots were there for Fantasmic. I knew we weren’t going to get front row seats, but that was never our plan anyways. We weren’t even sure we were going to have enough energy left for Fantasmic that night, but decided this was our best chance, without coming back on Saturday or Sunday. We worked our way around the Rivers, and noticed a vacant spot almost directly in front of the stage area. It was a raised sidewalk/patio “dead end†that didn’t seem to go anywhere, almost right behind one of the light platforms. I asked the cast member “on patrol†in front of there if that would be a good spot to see Fantasmic from. He indicated it would be a very good spot, and indicated that the light platform would be going up before the show. Although we weren’t right on the water, we were elevated and could easily see over the crowd. This was an amazing spot to watch the show from, and easily saw the stage, the mist effects, the barges, etc. Especially with my camcorder, I was able to zoom in for close shots of many of the effects. And as the final music and effects end, I rotate over to my five year old, who had fallen asleep in the last few minutes. In all fairness, it was nearly 11:00 local time, which would have been 1:00 a.m. in Manitoba, where we had been only a few days before. We followed the crowd out and headed home after a pretty full day. Saturday, November 12th – We slept in after the big night, and then headed out for some shopping. When my mother once asked if we wanted to take a vacation to Costa Rica, I told her that if it doesn’t have a TJ Maxx and a Krispy Kreme doughnuts, I’m not interested. I’m pleased to report that both were visited by the end of the day. Krispy Kreme even had a special on – buy 12 doughnuts, and get 12 original glazed for free. Bonus! We then headed to Newport Beach to see the Pacific Ocean. We ended up going to the Balboa pier. It was amazing, seeing the beach going on for miles and miles. It’s just like you see in the movies and on TV shows. We had lunch at Ruby’s out on the pier. My daughters were quite amused when one of the gulls flew into the restaurant and pooped on a nearby table. But the food was good. We then spent some time walking on the beach, playing in the waves (but not swimming, I could tell that there could be some serious undertow). We then headed back, did our Krispy Kreme run (I could watch those happy new doughnuts come out of the vat for their icing shower all day), and called it another day. Sunday, November 13th – Off to Legoland. On to I-5 and off to Carlsbad. Noted another TJ Maxx on the way there (off of Jamboree). As we headed south near the ocean, we came across another piece of movie trivia. In the movie “The Naked Gunâ€, a spoof of crime movies starring Leslie Nielson, he has just been picked up at the airport by his partner and is talking about how much he misses his wife, who has just left him. He says that everywhere he goes, he sees something that reminds him of her. Just then, the camera shows two huge domes side by side next to the highway. The exact same domes we were driving by! I only noticed this because the movie had been on TV a few days earlier. But once again, I digress . . . So we get to Legoland right on time. Did you know that if you drive a Volvo, you get preferred parking spaces? Anyway, I won’t spend too much time on Legoland here, as this is, after all, a Disney-themed website. But a few highlights: - great park for the family with kids 13 and under. Older kids might find it boring. - The “kid powered†rides (Power Towers and Sky Cruiser) are really innovative, and a lot of fun - Fun Town Fire Academy where you have to power the fire engine and hose was really neat, too. But it’s harder than it looks! - The coast cruise jokes are as lame as Jungle Cruise, but still entertaining : ) - I spent hours looking at all the displays in Miniland – San Francisco, New York, the shuttle. The level of detail is incredible. Next time you are there, look at the lower left hand corner in Grand Central Station where a little Lego person is reading a newspaper while attending to business . . .would have liked to see the skyline lit up at night, but didn’t think of it until too late. - Theme park food is expensive no matter where you go. But it was good. - Whoo hoo! CAA discount on Lego. That Millenium Falcon looks good . . . (the Y-Wing was just a little too much). Next report – DCA . . .
Originally Posted By kimi911 Fantastic. Thanks!!! Your posts are incredibly entertaining. I hope you are saving these to your computer, making paper copies, etc. This will help you remember the details. In fact, for your personal collection, you might want to go into even more detail. I do this, for these very rare and special trips (or just something important), and it is a great way to remember things years later.
Originally Posted By Mrs ElderP The beaches in S. Ca are just about the only things that totally live up to their hype (DL being th other of course). I'm glad you ejoyed them!
Originally Posted By markcanada 3 hours and 45 minutes of video. 96 slides. 225 pictures. We'll have lots of detail there, too. The video I took of Remember in front of Small World came out fairly good. Can see some of the projected images quite well. The best part, though, is you can see and hear how the music and fireworks were choreographed together.
Originally Posted By jnemo Mark, when you watch the fireworks from Small World side do you still get the laser effects?
Originally Posted By markcanada You face Small World, not the castle. I don't recall any lasers at that location. I know there were occasional lights and fireworks going off behind us, but the show on Small World (the white building makes a great backdrop for the projections) and the proximity to the fireworks still made for a great show. The Main Street view probably has a few more effects.
Originally Posted By jnemo Thanks Mark, I hav enjoyed reading all your planning and now your trip reports.
Originally Posted By quincytoo >>>>By early afternoon, we were ready for some snacks, and I was introduced to the glory that is churro.<<<< go down to Play-pen there is a church that needs you..... GREAT trip reporting....OMG I am laughing so hard!!!!!!
Originally Posted By markcanada I noticed . . . a bit overwhelming, though. I think I need more first hand study before I can become a true disciple. And on another note . . . . AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! *&&^%$%^&^&*^&^&^%^&^&&*^ Goshdarnitgoshdarnitgoshdarnit! <expletive deleted>, <expletive deleted) @@@@@@@@@@@XXXXXXX*&*&^&*^^*$%&%&*^&*^*& Just got three rolls of slides back. The first roll, from our FIRST day at Disneyland, is completely RUINED!!!!! I don't know if it was a bad roll, or due to airport X-rays, but it is completely blank, or way overexposed. Either way, we lost 36 of our slides. But I had a second roll (I had bought them both before we left), and it turned out fine. Go figure. Well, as I've told my wife, now we HAVE to go back, just to reshoot the slides.
Originally Posted By chickendumpling <<Well, as I've told my wife, now we HAVE to go back, just to reshoot the slides.>> LOL! That is our House Rule also! Whenever the kids mention something that we forgot to do, we just say "Well, you know what that means...we HAVE to go back!" Am sorry you lost your pictures though. On a happier note, I loved your trip report! Made me excited for mine. Thanks for all the detail - I even enjoyed the digressions. <--- off to go look for your DCA report.
