We Are Back From The USA

I visited the casino in Venice, and it's similar. You have to be a member officially, but you can get a temporary membership instantly. They also have a dress code, but they give out jackets at the door if you need one.

It's actually quite small, and in truth not all that fancy, but it happens to be, I believe, the oldest casino in the world still operating. So it was cool to go there just for that. I waited until I was up €20 and decided that was enough. I took some money off the oldest casino in the world!

Now 30 years ago, I tried to get into the casino in Monte Carlo. That one, you had to have formal dress, and they pointedly did not give out jackets, at least 30 years ago. Don't know if that's changed. But that one, apparently, is all about elegance.

 

Interesting. I don't know if those other "hoi polloi" casinos didn't exist 30 years ago, or whether we didn't even think to ask. We just wanted to walk around, and maybe play a little, in the famous one. We were dressed fairly nicely - not shorts and flip flops, but not formally. No jackets, anyway, and they didn't hand them out, so when they told us that, we just walked away and sat at an open-air bar and people-watched, which was just as good on a beautiful evening.

 

I think it's really funny that one of the things that stood out to you was having a narrator on the Haunted Mansion. Although the score for Phantom Manor is great, it always feels a little strange to not have the voice introducing everything

Everybody has their "home" park that feels the most like it belongs to them, but I've found that the DLR regulars can take that attitude to a bit of an extreme and it can be kind of off-putting for out of town guests. Line cutting is part of it, but luckily it sounds like you avoided some of the worst behaviors

And great photos as always! Looks like you saw some great stuff along the way

 

I'm glad you got to visit the Americana. It's definitely a nice shopping center (and home to the world's only Disney Baby store). I played at its opening ceremonies, which had all sorts of behind-the-scenes show problems and included almost getting set on fire by fireworks, but it was neat to be one of the first members of the public to check it out

And as far as the cheaper hotels near DL go, it looks like you got a really nice one! I'll have to remember that one for the future!

I'm glad you enjoyed the soup in the bread bowls. That's a classic DL option, and one that's fairly unique among all theme parks. My favorite is the clam chowder, even though I tend to visit on hot days; it's also nice that they serve it both in DL (in NOS and by Splash) and DCA (Pacific Wharf Café). I also love the chance to eat good sourdough bread while I'm in California, so it's good for that too!

Palm trees actually aren't native to California (it's a desert, not a tropical oasis, despite what they'll try to make you believe), so the palm trees all originated elsewhere. Most of the ones that I've seen have seed pods that dangle from the branches during certain times of year, rather than the iconic coconuts that you'd see on the beach somewhere

 

It's nothing too terrible, but I've found that the DLR locals often act like they own the place, and that any infrequent visitor is imposing on them. Unlike WDW, where everybody is having a great big vacation together, DLR often feels like you're stepping into someone else's favorite evening hangout. For one of the top tourist destinations in the world, it's a very strange feeling

I think they've died down a lot recently, but one of the best examples of this was the "social clubs" that liked to hang out around Mad T Party in their matching motorcycle-style jackets. I don't doubt that they were all very friendly people, but it just gave off an overwhelmingly unwelcoming atmosphere

In addition to the line cutting you mentioned, there's a lot more cutting people off on walkways, squeezing into crowded viewing areas shortly before shows, and other small things that show the entitled mindset of the frequent visitors. I caught myself doing some of that when I had an AP, and ultimately decided not to renew because it became more of an afternoon hangout than a true destination

 

Most of the palm trees you see in SoCal are non-fruiting. The Mexican Fan palm is probably the most common and iconic for Los Angeles. Many streets have a full row of this slender, tall variety.

There actually IS one species of palm native to CA, the California Fan palm (Washingtonia filifera).

The most common fruiting palm in CA is not the coconut palm, but the date palm. Not native, but certain grown in the Indio area for a long time now. Indio is famous for its date milk shakes (which were sold in DCA in its early years; I haven't looked for them lately and don't know if they still are).

A Brief History of Palm Trees in Southern California

 

They look great from a distance, but have all the charm of a utility pole up close. This is particularly noticeable for the taller trees, where the only greenery could be 70' or more above eye level. This also means that any shade produced by the relatively small canopy is going to be very far from the base of the tree. Palm trees seem so glamorous at first, but once you get used to them they're really not the best

I don't think DCA has sold them since they closed down Sam Andreas Shakes (Good to a Fault!) prior to the construction of Carsland. If I'm not mistaken, that location had reduced to seasonal operations in its final years. I tried to get a milkshake a couple times, but they were always closed when I tried