Trip Reports
10-16-2005, 05:22 PM
* Time of Year: Fall
* Travel Method: Plane
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
* Comments: Paul was able to visit Disneyland briefly while on a business trip out on the West coast. He made a comment in the introduction to the report that he had read my own trip report from last Spring when I also went West and visited Disneyland alone. He seemd to be surprised that I was "sad" at visiting Disneyland by myself....actually, I missed Barb and Allan very much, but I still had a wonderful time. Paul did, too, and it's obvious from the wonderful time he had. I'm sure he'd agree that it's better with the family than alone, though...since he's planning to visit again with them in a few years. (Sound like alot of us will be in Anaheim in the summer of 2002, huh Paul?)
October 1st - 6th, 1998
Prelude
Well, this has been my Disney year! Before 1997, I had only been to Disney World twice in my life. Since a trip to Disney World with my family last November (see Fall ‘87 trip report for Paul Bittorf) I have been back to Disney World in July (on business - didn’t even have time to write a report) and just recently to Disneyland (again as part of a business trip). The only credit card I now own is a Disney Credit Card. The folks at Disney should love that!
Just a couple of comments on my July trip before I go on. Bobbie (my wife) and I (kids had to stay home this time) got to stay at the Grand Floridian (mainly because it was paid for). What an excellent hotel and a romantic way to see Disney with my wife. People have commented that this is not a very "Disney" hotel. Maybe so, but it is certainly a very nice hotel with a lot of Disney friendliness and amenities. We had a room right out of a Disney commercial that overlooked the castle at the MK. It was truly a magical experience for both of us. My only complaint the absolute HARDEST thing for me was to be talking business with my fellow managers while on Disney property. It almost killed me! Disney was the "big" trip of my childhood and the honeymoon choice of me and my wife. They should NOT ALLOW business to be conducted on such hallowed ground! :-)
We did have a wonderful time on our July trip to WDW (saw all of the attractions I missed that my kids were too scared to go on) and really loved it. It is just too far back in my memory to do a full report on but I couldn’t have asked for more. Period.
One last comment here - at MGM, don’t leave without seeing the shows. They are the best part!!
On to the present.
The Trip
Before I left, I had read Brian Bennett’s trip report on a trip that he had taken to Disneyland last spring all by himself.. I knew that I would also be going alone, so it was interesting reading for me. His report to me seemed to make visiting Disneyland alone seem kind of sad . Well, I only get to California once every three years or so and had never been to Disneyland. Despite potential sadness (yeah, right, for me at Disney?), I just had to go. Even if alone! Turned out not so bad.
I, by the way, am 35 and the Director of Customer Services for a computer center in Madison , Wisconsin.
My wife and kids brought me to the airport early morning on Thursday, October 1st. My flight out was at 7:20 (before school started) so my kids got to see me off. My son is 8 and my daughter is 5 so they were "on" to me this time. They now have a pretty good concept of time and know that when I leave I will be gone for awhile. They also know that they will miss me (and I them) so they get pretty sad. I had spent most of the previous evening with them so that they wouldn’t miss me as much but they were both pretty sad anyway. My daughter told me that she would try not to be sad which of course made me sadder. There were tears as I left. My boss Tom, who I was traveling with who has older children had forgotten these types of good-byes. Traveling for business is fun, but thankfully I don’t do too much of it because this part is always tough.
Had a bumpy ride to Chicago and on to Orange county. I have never heard a pilot tell the flight attendants to take their seat. It fortunately got smoother after we got into the mountains a bit. By the way I flew United this time (usually fly Northwest but had to go with United because of the Northwest strike). I liked having the in-flight movie and the food was much better.
Got to the Orange County (John Wayne) airport which was nice and not all that large. The runway seemed rather short though. My conference was at the Mariott in Newport Beach. This is a very nice hotel with a nice view and an interesting shopping area across the street.
We from the Midwest have a stereotypical image of California that is mainly formed in us by television. This particular area of California did little to tarnish that image. In fact it probably enhanced it! The sponsors of the conference took us to many interesting spots in the area - most of which enhanced this image also. One was an adult "Chuck E Cheese" (as it was described) called Dave and Buster's and the other was an nightclub called Geckos. Both were fun and interesting in their own way.
Our conference ran from Thursday to Sunday. On Sunday I was to be picked up by the executive director of the National Stuttering Project - Annie. I’m a person who stutters myself and have formed a support group for people who stutter back in Madison which is affiliated with the National Stuttering Project. The national office for the National Stuttering Project is in Anaheim Hills which really worked out well.
Annie and her husband Bob picked me up at the hotel and took me to their nice home out by Corona (a bit East into the hills). They were great hosts and invited a bunch of other people who stutter from the area over for a barbecue on Sunday night that turned out to be a lot of fun for me.
It was nice for me to see how real Californians live. Most of the time on business trips you end up staying in hotels that are full of visitors and you never get to leave the hotel much so that you never get to experience what it is like to actually live there. This was different. Here I was with a bunch of true Californians and aside from being really nice (and a tiny bit exotic in their own way), they could have passed for Midwesterners!
I had told them how much of a Disney fan I was and they weren’t even phased. Most of them go to Disneyland on a regular basis. Annual passports for residents around there are really inexpensive. Annie, who I stayed with, even had an autographed note signed by Walt Disney himself she had gotten when she was a little girl- pretty cool! They were all very excited for me and all wished they could had been going there themselves. To them though it was just another Monday.
They were surprised at how much information I already knew - you can learn a lot about Disneyland on the Web. The game plan is that Annie was going to drop me off at Disneyland before going to work and then pick me up at the Disneyland Hotel after work. This was great because I didn’t have a car.
Disneyland
Woke up at six in the morning to the sounds of Santa Anna winds coming into the guest room where I was sleeping. I couldn’t believe how strong these winds were. Fortunately (I was told) these were cool Santa Anna winds. After having breakfast and picking things up that had blown all around the yard, we were off.
The Santa Anna winds continued to be strong (whipping up sand that felt like we were being sandblasted) and we continued west toward Disneyland.
Now I had heard that the area around Disneyland was really pretty bad and you know what - they were right! WDW in Florida is growing up fast and losing some charm but this area is far past that. Not so much because of sleazy establishments (although a few of them remain) but because of a lot of construction that is going on there now. Everything is being torn down and remodeled it seems. I can envision however that shortly this area could become really nice again. I would love to go back in a couple of years and see the changes. A bit of a mess for now though. Sad however that there are no orange groves. Orange county is really Orange county in name only these days.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot things started to change though. We were both a bit worried how a person could get dropped off in the parking lot without staying. The parking lot attendant knew what to do right away and put a little red flag on our car which allowed Annie to drive right up to the handicapped spaces and the very front tram. I got out of the car and took literally four steps to get on the tram. Pretty nice! This was the start of a very nice day.
The tram looked new. I only was on it for a very short ride however - soon I was at the front gates. It was 10:05 now and the park had opened at 10:00. This was a bit later than I had wanted though Annie said I could stay as long as I wanted. The line to buy my ticket was one of the longer ones of the day and it didn’t help that I needed to use the facilities and couldn’t find one outside the gates. I did make it in by 10:30 and headed to the first restroom I could find.
First thing that was apparent was that DL is a lot older than Disney World. Pretty normal older looking bathrooms. Maybe I’m picky but I had expected a little more. Mainstreet is nice however. I immediately noticed more color on the buildings. WDW’s MK is mainly cream colored. It seemed smaller than WDW. I was told that the castle was smaller but didn’t fully appreciate how small. It was like a small three story house. It does not stand out very well. My impression was that it was built to be an entrance to the "land" just like the other entrances to the "lands" that come out on the end of mainstreet. That would make sense to me.
I immediately headed to TomorrowLand because of how new it looked. Very nice job with the theming here. I liked this much better than WDW’s version. It was fun just to look around here. Nice coloring. I LIKED the red rocks (I thought it looked like Mars). I went straight to Space Mountain having not been to Space Mountain since a 1989 WDW trip (neither my kids nor my wife like rollercoasters). The line was about a 20 minute wait but a fun queue I got my first lesson that in Disneyland if you are traveling as a party of one, they will give you a seat all to yourself. This was OK, and I can understand why they do this, but it is always more fun to talk to other people and scream together. I always felt like the stowaway in back.
I digress a bit, but there should be a Website for touring buddies for folks who end up going to the park alone. I did, however, enjoy the ability to move at my own pace and see what I wanted to see. This has got to be the trade off. I went on more attractions in nine hours than I could have possibly gone on with even two people.
Anyway the ride here was fun. The music does add. My problem with the music here and all over Disneyland is that it was not loud enough. For some reason it seemed to me that the music on the rides was always a lot louder in WDW than it was here. I like music and like to experience it fairly loud for the full effect. All of the attractions seemed quieter. The music on Space Mountain was not loud enough to drown out a lot of the other noises of the attraction and I wish that it had been. I also wish that the music was more emotionally uplifting. Disney is usually so great at this. I was a bit disappointed in the music for this attraction.
Maybe there is a California noise ordinance!?!
Anyway after SM I looked around TL a bit more and then headed toward Frontierland which I considered my favorite area in the MK of WDW. Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country here at DL are beautiful. Even better than at WDW. What makes this area so nice are the mature trees and fine detailing. You get the feeling that this has been here for awhile. I did not mind the "oldness" here. I went straight to Pirate of the Caribbean because of a short 10 minute wait time. What can I say, this ride is great here! So much better than at WDW. Floating past the restaurant and the bayou and then the caves was excellent. I felt transformed. Even though they sat me in a seat by myself some strangers joined me on this because they thought I needed the company. I appreciated this. Made the attraction more fun. The effect of the entire attraction is much better here. Kudos! Music was again not loud enough though.
After POC, I went over to the HM but it was not opening until noon. So instead I headed to Critter Country. Saw that the line for Splash Mountain was a 45 minute wait so I decided to get a bite to eat. A chocolate chip cookie and a lemonade did the trick. By now it was 11:50 so I went back and got into a short line for the HM. Best move of the day. Promptly at noon the HM opened and I was on the ride in a couple of minutes. Problem, the CM’s here were too nice. They were supposed to be spooky! :-). I loved the mime as we were going in that was motioning us not to go in that it was too scary. Nicely done without words!!
By the way I could tell that the floor in the stretching room goes down here (this means that the ceiling at the MK in WDW must go up). I could feel a slight bump when we "hit the bottom".
I always love the "talking heads" in this attraction. It is such a great effect!! This attraction has many great effects.
When I got done with HM the line to Splash Mountain was only 35 minutes! Good timing! So on I went. The queue for this attraction is not as nice as in WDW. There is not as much buildup to the actual ride as there is in WDW. Once again very little music and very soft at that. I had read in other trip reports that this Splash Mountain attraction is "darker" that the one in WDW. I would have to agree. And, although the attraction is almost the same there is something missing from this version. The Zip-ah-dee-do-dah feeling is missing somehow. Still a good attraction however. One of the few I went on twice. Having the far back of the log all to myself while other were scrunched up in front did make me a little uncomfortable.
One other note here is that the lines seemed to move slower here than anywhere else. I’m not sure why.
After Splash Mountain I decided to check to see how long the line was on BTMR: 45 minutes. Seemed too long now (lots to do you know). So, I continued on the shortcut path behind BMTR to Fantasyland. This is a quieter, very nice part of the park. I wouldn’t have even know it was there, except for my curiosity. I recommend taking this path to Fantasyland or vice versa.
My goal was just to look at Fantasyland (these attractions for me are best enjoyed with the kids). By the way I thought about my kids quite a bit during this time. I was thinking in a few years how much they are REALLY going to enjoy this!
Well, curiosity got the best of me so I rode the Pinnochio ride. Not bad - and this was almost a walk on. Again I was the stranger in back of the car with some unknown family up front. What the hey, I’m starting to get used to this by now.
Well by now I had the bug to go on all the attractions that are unique to Disneyland. I headed by the Matterhorn but the line LOOKED long (I found out later that in reality it was not all that long). Thinking that this would be a wait, I decided to head over for the Indiana Jones Adventure. I also like the look of Adventureland so I looked around a bit - this land is not all that big at DL but very well done. I almost missed the actual queue for this attraction because it is so well done to blend in with the rest of the scenery.
I wasn’t sure what to expect here but even the queue here is EXCELLENT!. When I went in the line didn’t stop until about halfway down and I found myself stopping anyway to look at things. Again, this queue is VERY well done and very varied. This, and the Splash Mountain queue at WDW are my favorites. Indiana Jones is probably THE best!
During the "video portion" of the queue I finally got to see what this attraction was going to be like. I had made it to the Animal Kingdom on our trip to WDW in July and was able to ride on Countdown to Extinction. This attraction looked almost the same. This made me even more excited because Countdown is a very good attraction..
A side note here. Up to this point the service from the CM’s was kind of bland (except for portions of the HM). It wasn’t until I got to this ride that they seemed truly "Disney".
Well, for this attraction I actually got to sit next to other people. Even better, I sat next to someone who was just as thrilled as I was to be on this ride. Better yet, I got to sit in FRONT! Way cool! Sitting in front gives you a more realistic experience of this ride. And what a ride it was. I don’t want to spoil any of it for those who have not gone, but this is a must see attraction. I would caution that my kids probably wouldn’t like it because they would have been scared, but still an excellent attraction. Probably tied (again) with Splash Mountain in WDW for my all time favorites with BTMR at WDW and both HM’s a close second.
I knew I would have to get back to this one before the end of the day!
After Indy, I headed on over to the Matterhorn and this time got in the line although it was the same length. All I can say here is that anywhere else this would be a good rollercoaster ride. Fortunately or unfortunately, I tend to hold Disney at a higher standard. I think they could remodel this and make this a really good attraction however. It has some "dark" portions where they could add a lot of special effects. The mountain itself is interesting.
By now it is around 2:30 and I realize I only have about 4 more hours left. What next? BTMR of course!
The queue here is better than going through the "mine house" at WDW, but I like the view from on top that WDW gives you. Here I did get put with the young woman in front of me because the CM I think thought we were a couple. There was not enough time to argue the point the train was "awaitin to take off" She was with her parents and I’m assuming from Germany from the language I could make out. She seemed nice but very shy. I’m not sure that my non-verbal attempts to assure her that I was an OK person got totally through (I was trying to put her at ease although I may have had the opposite effect). I will unfortunately never know. She did every once and awhile turn around to talk to her parents behind her and they would occasionally be laughing - I hoped that was because they were having fun - even if at my expense! I was probably more conscientious about the situation than the attraction, but I did very much enjoy the ride. Very similar I thought to WDW (except for the "gold" fountain that I thought didn’t quite fit in).
By the way the CM’s were great here and really got into the part. I always enjoy that when it happens!
By now I was getting very hungry. Where to eat? I reality wanted to go to the Bayou restaurant that is part of the POC but I was alone and didn’t know how I would fit in. I had heard good things however about Redd Rockett’s Pizza in TL so I headed on over there.
Even better that the food and portions at Redd Rockett’s was the service. You wouldn’t think a cafeteria style place could have good service but they did. Everyone from the people serving up the food, to the staff at the registers to the cleanup people were all friendly. I had a "Count Down Chicken Fusilli" (as it says on my receipt that I kept) that was great (actually a more appropriate comment would be "out of this world" ha,ha) Translated this was grilled chicken with a white garlic sauce over pasta. Quite good and the person behind the counter even told me it was a good choice and that I should enjoy my meal.
The best CM interaction of the day however was with Katie B. who happened to be at the registers. Not only did she surprise me by asking how my day was going, she also commented about the place that I worked (our company logo was on my shirt) and seemed genuinely interested in carrying on a conversation.
I wouldn’t have even noticed her name, if it hadn’t been for her friendliness. When I noticed that her name was Katie B. (same as my daughters) I had to tell her about my daughter and that I was here without my kids and missing them. Despite what turned into a long conversation in a checkout line she remained quite friendly, understanding and sympathetic.
I truly hope that my Katie B. grows up to be as nice and pleasant as the Katie B. I met at Redd Rockett’s Pizza (I’m sure she will)!
After getting food and drink in me, I felt refreshed and ready to take on the world (or "land" in this case)! But first, a quick call to my kids who were just getting home from school and soccer practice.
I should warn you that there is no quiet place to make a phone call from in TommorowLand. Especially since all day they were testing out the "Rocket Rods", running them around the track completely devoid of people, stopping and restarting them constantly. Every now and then I noticed a group of Disney employees on the cars either testing them or having fun. I wish I knew what they were testing for - they must have had some problems. Besides the obvious "whine" they make, to me they smelled hot. I always could smell an odor like electronics overheating when they were running. Due to the length of the testing, I’m wondering if there is some type of an endurance problem going on with the "Rods". Maybe I just really wanted to ride them!
Anyway, the pay phones at TL are probably not the best place to call from. Much better would have been the phones on the path between Fantasyland and Frontierland but I didn’t notice them until later. Now I know that you are probably thinking that calling your kids from Disneyland is cruel! Well, maybe in a way, but I had been gone for five days at this point and we all enjoyed the call. I think that they were just as happy to talk to me from Disneyland as they were anywhere else. Perhaps a bit more :-)!
Now I was truly fired up and resolved to go back to the attractions I enjoyed one more time. But first, since I was right there, I HAD to go to HISTA. I went to HISTA at WDW last fall with my kids (and grandparents) and they were so terrified of the show that all I could think about at the time was how to get out of the theater! I didn’t enjoy it that time at all. I had to see if the experience would be as bad as I remembered. Knowing what was going to happen and not having my kids there made quite a difference and the experience was much more enjoyable (sorry kids - not your fault). I would like to see a "G" rated showing of HISTA for younger audiences because parts of it are really good. I’m probably in the minority here, but I thought Captain EO was a much better show (more entertaining - plus I like music if you remember).
Anyway I’m happy I went to HISTA.
It was now around 3:45 and I started back to some of the attractions I had enjoyed before. While this was probably out of my way I wanted to take the "back" way to at least see Toontown before I took in the other attractions. Besides this would lead me through the "back passage" that I liked so much. I do like the fact that this is a whole "town" made up to look like a comic strip. I could have spent a lot more time here. I was tempted to go on the ride here and actually got in line but the line was just too long and the reviews of this weren’t the best so I headed back toward Splash Mountain. PS. I liked the trolley in Toontown. I’m sure my kids would have wanted to spend a lot of time here at Toontown!! Glad that they have a place like this for younger kids!!
So back to Splash Mountain I went - this time rather slowly to take in the atmosphere. 45 minute wait at Splash Mountain! Oh well - I’m here. Even though this is not as nice as WDW’s it is still a fun attraction. I love the "big" drop. I again fulfilled my role as the visiting stranger in the back of the log! I didn’t get very wet back there at least!
Now that I wasted a bit of time in line at Splash Mountain I hurried back to Indy. This time the line appeared longer, but in actuality was shorter because some queues were skipped inside. One note: as we were going in there a "real" kitten was crawling around the area outside of Indy having the time of its life with the bountiful Disney props and scenery. This place must have been a thrill for a real cat - at least until it stumbled across the "animals" on the "Jungle Cruise"!
This time in the line I got to talk to a mother and her daughters in front of me. Now that I was a "veteran" I was able to let the apprehensive mom know what this ride was all about. Even though I didn’t get to sit up front this time, we did go through a different "door" this time (the left) and it was still a fantastic ride. Plus, I got to help some others enjoy it too!!
As I was walking out of the Indy attraction I was taken with the food from the Bengal Barbecue. Since I was a wee bit hungry, I went and tried their barbecue chicken skewer. It was quite good and made an excellent snack although I would have needed two or three skewers for a meal. The service here was slow and not nearly as friendly as at Redd Rockett’s.
By now it was 6:00 and I needed to get some gifts for my family. After all, every time I talked with my daughter her first question was "did you buy my present yet?" Now you have to realize that I myself set that expectation with my daughter before leaving. I PROMISED her I would buy her something at Disneyland. She just wanted to hold me to it! After checking out the gift shops in Adventureland, I decided to spend some time on Main Street. Anyway, what better place to shop than there? Soon I had a bag full of gifts and surprisingly the total was "only" (and I say that only knowing full well Disney prices): $62.
I’m getting a bit sad now because my short Disney experience is coming to a close. I walked around a bit to take in the atmosphere one last time. As I had mentioned earlier, my plan was to meet Annie over at the Disneyland Hotel. To get there you need to take the monorail. Thinking this was more like WDW, I wanted to know WHICH monorail to take since I didn’t want to end up in the wrong place. It turns out at Disneyland the Monorail is more of a ride. There is just one loop where you can get off at the Disneyland Hotel if you want or stay on and ride back to DL. You get your hand stamped at the Disney Hotel if you want to return later.
The monorail trip goes through a lot of the new construction for the California adventure. It also gives you the opportunity to see the surroundings a bit. Right now it is a big mess, but the fact that it is under construction means that change is coming!
Now I got to the Disneyland Hotel with about 40 minutes to spare before my ride was to come (the ride was quicker than I expected). Having some time to spare I decided to explore the hotel area. I had heard that this was an old hotel and not very Disney. Walking around the grounds however, I felt more like I was at Disney than at some of the "Disney" resorts at WDW. As a matter of fact, I had not experienced that special "Disney" feeling as much until I got to the hotel. Maybe it was because WDW holds such special memories for me from my childhood that Disneyland to me seemed like a not-quite-as-good-copy of the original, even though in fact the opposite is true. It could also be because of the people I was with when I was at WDW or the fact that I was alone now Or maybe it was the surroundings. I just didn’t quite feel the same way until then.
Walking around the hotel and seeing all of the people pose with the Disney backdrops they have all around there and seeing the beautiful "lake" area with all of the different activities somehow made me feel more like I was at Disney. It looked to me like a great place to stay.
To put the perfect ending on my day, I happened to stumble across "Fantasy Waters" , which is a "dancing waters", light and music choreographed together type of show at the DH. There were only a few people there at 6:50, ten minutes before the show was to begin but soon people started to come out of the woodwork. By now the sun had set and all of the lights around the hotel were on. Very nice. Lots of young couples and families started to show up. I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought is would only be a small diversion. The show kind of started out slow but quickly picked up the pace. Disney does a good job at even the smaller things. As I said before, I’m a big fan of music and really enjoyed and was moved by the show. Lots of good Disney music and effects. Only wish my family could have been there (and that the music was louder - must be a noise ordinance)!
After the show I wandered back through the maze of waterfalls and ponds at the hotel to the monorail station where I was to be picked up.
Annie was there only a few minutes late (traffic was heavy). A great day. I had accomplished pretty much all that I wanted to this day. I thought as I was leaving how nice it would be to come back here with my family in 2002.
Paul Bittorf
* Travel Method: Plane
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
* Comments: Paul was able to visit Disneyland briefly while on a business trip out on the West coast. He made a comment in the introduction to the report that he had read my own trip report from last Spring when I also went West and visited Disneyland alone. He seemd to be surprised that I was "sad" at visiting Disneyland by myself....actually, I missed Barb and Allan very much, but I still had a wonderful time. Paul did, too, and it's obvious from the wonderful time he had. I'm sure he'd agree that it's better with the family than alone, though...since he's planning to visit again with them in a few years. (Sound like alot of us will be in Anaheim in the summer of 2002, huh Paul?)
October 1st - 6th, 1998
Prelude
Well, this has been my Disney year! Before 1997, I had only been to Disney World twice in my life. Since a trip to Disney World with my family last November (see Fall ‘87 trip report for Paul Bittorf) I have been back to Disney World in July (on business - didn’t even have time to write a report) and just recently to Disneyland (again as part of a business trip). The only credit card I now own is a Disney Credit Card. The folks at Disney should love that!
Just a couple of comments on my July trip before I go on. Bobbie (my wife) and I (kids had to stay home this time) got to stay at the Grand Floridian (mainly because it was paid for). What an excellent hotel and a romantic way to see Disney with my wife. People have commented that this is not a very "Disney" hotel. Maybe so, but it is certainly a very nice hotel with a lot of Disney friendliness and amenities. We had a room right out of a Disney commercial that overlooked the castle at the MK. It was truly a magical experience for both of us. My only complaint the absolute HARDEST thing for me was to be talking business with my fellow managers while on Disney property. It almost killed me! Disney was the "big" trip of my childhood and the honeymoon choice of me and my wife. They should NOT ALLOW business to be conducted on such hallowed ground! :-)
We did have a wonderful time on our July trip to WDW (saw all of the attractions I missed that my kids were too scared to go on) and really loved it. It is just too far back in my memory to do a full report on but I couldn’t have asked for more. Period.
One last comment here - at MGM, don’t leave without seeing the shows. They are the best part!!
On to the present.
The Trip
Before I left, I had read Brian Bennett’s trip report on a trip that he had taken to Disneyland last spring all by himself.. I knew that I would also be going alone, so it was interesting reading for me. His report to me seemed to make visiting Disneyland alone seem kind of sad . Well, I only get to California once every three years or so and had never been to Disneyland. Despite potential sadness (yeah, right, for me at Disney?), I just had to go. Even if alone! Turned out not so bad.
I, by the way, am 35 and the Director of Customer Services for a computer center in Madison , Wisconsin.
My wife and kids brought me to the airport early morning on Thursday, October 1st. My flight out was at 7:20 (before school started) so my kids got to see me off. My son is 8 and my daughter is 5 so they were "on" to me this time. They now have a pretty good concept of time and know that when I leave I will be gone for awhile. They also know that they will miss me (and I them) so they get pretty sad. I had spent most of the previous evening with them so that they wouldn’t miss me as much but they were both pretty sad anyway. My daughter told me that she would try not to be sad which of course made me sadder. There were tears as I left. My boss Tom, who I was traveling with who has older children had forgotten these types of good-byes. Traveling for business is fun, but thankfully I don’t do too much of it because this part is always tough.
Had a bumpy ride to Chicago and on to Orange county. I have never heard a pilot tell the flight attendants to take their seat. It fortunately got smoother after we got into the mountains a bit. By the way I flew United this time (usually fly Northwest but had to go with United because of the Northwest strike). I liked having the in-flight movie and the food was much better.
Got to the Orange County (John Wayne) airport which was nice and not all that large. The runway seemed rather short though. My conference was at the Mariott in Newport Beach. This is a very nice hotel with a nice view and an interesting shopping area across the street.
We from the Midwest have a stereotypical image of California that is mainly formed in us by television. This particular area of California did little to tarnish that image. In fact it probably enhanced it! The sponsors of the conference took us to many interesting spots in the area - most of which enhanced this image also. One was an adult "Chuck E Cheese" (as it was described) called Dave and Buster's and the other was an nightclub called Geckos. Both were fun and interesting in their own way.
Our conference ran from Thursday to Sunday. On Sunday I was to be picked up by the executive director of the National Stuttering Project - Annie. I’m a person who stutters myself and have formed a support group for people who stutter back in Madison which is affiliated with the National Stuttering Project. The national office for the National Stuttering Project is in Anaheim Hills which really worked out well.
Annie and her husband Bob picked me up at the hotel and took me to their nice home out by Corona (a bit East into the hills). They were great hosts and invited a bunch of other people who stutter from the area over for a barbecue on Sunday night that turned out to be a lot of fun for me.
It was nice for me to see how real Californians live. Most of the time on business trips you end up staying in hotels that are full of visitors and you never get to leave the hotel much so that you never get to experience what it is like to actually live there. This was different. Here I was with a bunch of true Californians and aside from being really nice (and a tiny bit exotic in their own way), they could have passed for Midwesterners!
I had told them how much of a Disney fan I was and they weren’t even phased. Most of them go to Disneyland on a regular basis. Annual passports for residents around there are really inexpensive. Annie, who I stayed with, even had an autographed note signed by Walt Disney himself she had gotten when she was a little girl- pretty cool! They were all very excited for me and all wished they could had been going there themselves. To them though it was just another Monday.
They were surprised at how much information I already knew - you can learn a lot about Disneyland on the Web. The game plan is that Annie was going to drop me off at Disneyland before going to work and then pick me up at the Disneyland Hotel after work. This was great because I didn’t have a car.
Disneyland
Woke up at six in the morning to the sounds of Santa Anna winds coming into the guest room where I was sleeping. I couldn’t believe how strong these winds were. Fortunately (I was told) these were cool Santa Anna winds. After having breakfast and picking things up that had blown all around the yard, we were off.
The Santa Anna winds continued to be strong (whipping up sand that felt like we were being sandblasted) and we continued west toward Disneyland.
Now I had heard that the area around Disneyland was really pretty bad and you know what - they were right! WDW in Florida is growing up fast and losing some charm but this area is far past that. Not so much because of sleazy establishments (although a few of them remain) but because of a lot of construction that is going on there now. Everything is being torn down and remodeled it seems. I can envision however that shortly this area could become really nice again. I would love to go back in a couple of years and see the changes. A bit of a mess for now though. Sad however that there are no orange groves. Orange county is really Orange county in name only these days.
As soon as we pulled into the parking lot things started to change though. We were both a bit worried how a person could get dropped off in the parking lot without staying. The parking lot attendant knew what to do right away and put a little red flag on our car which allowed Annie to drive right up to the handicapped spaces and the very front tram. I got out of the car and took literally four steps to get on the tram. Pretty nice! This was the start of a very nice day.
The tram looked new. I only was on it for a very short ride however - soon I was at the front gates. It was 10:05 now and the park had opened at 10:00. This was a bit later than I had wanted though Annie said I could stay as long as I wanted. The line to buy my ticket was one of the longer ones of the day and it didn’t help that I needed to use the facilities and couldn’t find one outside the gates. I did make it in by 10:30 and headed to the first restroom I could find.
First thing that was apparent was that DL is a lot older than Disney World. Pretty normal older looking bathrooms. Maybe I’m picky but I had expected a little more. Mainstreet is nice however. I immediately noticed more color on the buildings. WDW’s MK is mainly cream colored. It seemed smaller than WDW. I was told that the castle was smaller but didn’t fully appreciate how small. It was like a small three story house. It does not stand out very well. My impression was that it was built to be an entrance to the "land" just like the other entrances to the "lands" that come out on the end of mainstreet. That would make sense to me.
I immediately headed to TomorrowLand because of how new it looked. Very nice job with the theming here. I liked this much better than WDW’s version. It was fun just to look around here. Nice coloring. I LIKED the red rocks (I thought it looked like Mars). I went straight to Space Mountain having not been to Space Mountain since a 1989 WDW trip (neither my kids nor my wife like rollercoasters). The line was about a 20 minute wait but a fun queue I got my first lesson that in Disneyland if you are traveling as a party of one, they will give you a seat all to yourself. This was OK, and I can understand why they do this, but it is always more fun to talk to other people and scream together. I always felt like the stowaway in back.
I digress a bit, but there should be a Website for touring buddies for folks who end up going to the park alone. I did, however, enjoy the ability to move at my own pace and see what I wanted to see. This has got to be the trade off. I went on more attractions in nine hours than I could have possibly gone on with even two people.
Anyway the ride here was fun. The music does add. My problem with the music here and all over Disneyland is that it was not loud enough. For some reason it seemed to me that the music on the rides was always a lot louder in WDW than it was here. I like music and like to experience it fairly loud for the full effect. All of the attractions seemed quieter. The music on Space Mountain was not loud enough to drown out a lot of the other noises of the attraction and I wish that it had been. I also wish that the music was more emotionally uplifting. Disney is usually so great at this. I was a bit disappointed in the music for this attraction.
Maybe there is a California noise ordinance!?!
Anyway after SM I looked around TL a bit more and then headed toward Frontierland which I considered my favorite area in the MK of WDW. Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Critter Country here at DL are beautiful. Even better than at WDW. What makes this area so nice are the mature trees and fine detailing. You get the feeling that this has been here for awhile. I did not mind the "oldness" here. I went straight to Pirate of the Caribbean because of a short 10 minute wait time. What can I say, this ride is great here! So much better than at WDW. Floating past the restaurant and the bayou and then the caves was excellent. I felt transformed. Even though they sat me in a seat by myself some strangers joined me on this because they thought I needed the company. I appreciated this. Made the attraction more fun. The effect of the entire attraction is much better here. Kudos! Music was again not loud enough though.
After POC, I went over to the HM but it was not opening until noon. So instead I headed to Critter Country. Saw that the line for Splash Mountain was a 45 minute wait so I decided to get a bite to eat. A chocolate chip cookie and a lemonade did the trick. By now it was 11:50 so I went back and got into a short line for the HM. Best move of the day. Promptly at noon the HM opened and I was on the ride in a couple of minutes. Problem, the CM’s here were too nice. They were supposed to be spooky! :-). I loved the mime as we were going in that was motioning us not to go in that it was too scary. Nicely done without words!!
By the way I could tell that the floor in the stretching room goes down here (this means that the ceiling at the MK in WDW must go up). I could feel a slight bump when we "hit the bottom".
I always love the "talking heads" in this attraction. It is such a great effect!! This attraction has many great effects.
When I got done with HM the line to Splash Mountain was only 35 minutes! Good timing! So on I went. The queue for this attraction is not as nice as in WDW. There is not as much buildup to the actual ride as there is in WDW. Once again very little music and very soft at that. I had read in other trip reports that this Splash Mountain attraction is "darker" that the one in WDW. I would have to agree. And, although the attraction is almost the same there is something missing from this version. The Zip-ah-dee-do-dah feeling is missing somehow. Still a good attraction however. One of the few I went on twice. Having the far back of the log all to myself while other were scrunched up in front did make me a little uncomfortable.
One other note here is that the lines seemed to move slower here than anywhere else. I’m not sure why.
After Splash Mountain I decided to check to see how long the line was on BTMR: 45 minutes. Seemed too long now (lots to do you know). So, I continued on the shortcut path behind BMTR to Fantasyland. This is a quieter, very nice part of the park. I wouldn’t have even know it was there, except for my curiosity. I recommend taking this path to Fantasyland or vice versa.
My goal was just to look at Fantasyland (these attractions for me are best enjoyed with the kids). By the way I thought about my kids quite a bit during this time. I was thinking in a few years how much they are REALLY going to enjoy this!
Well, curiosity got the best of me so I rode the Pinnochio ride. Not bad - and this was almost a walk on. Again I was the stranger in back of the car with some unknown family up front. What the hey, I’m starting to get used to this by now.
Well by now I had the bug to go on all the attractions that are unique to Disneyland. I headed by the Matterhorn but the line LOOKED long (I found out later that in reality it was not all that long). Thinking that this would be a wait, I decided to head over for the Indiana Jones Adventure. I also like the look of Adventureland so I looked around a bit - this land is not all that big at DL but very well done. I almost missed the actual queue for this attraction because it is so well done to blend in with the rest of the scenery.
I wasn’t sure what to expect here but even the queue here is EXCELLENT!. When I went in the line didn’t stop until about halfway down and I found myself stopping anyway to look at things. Again, this queue is VERY well done and very varied. This, and the Splash Mountain queue at WDW are my favorites. Indiana Jones is probably THE best!
During the "video portion" of the queue I finally got to see what this attraction was going to be like. I had made it to the Animal Kingdom on our trip to WDW in July and was able to ride on Countdown to Extinction. This attraction looked almost the same. This made me even more excited because Countdown is a very good attraction..
A side note here. Up to this point the service from the CM’s was kind of bland (except for portions of the HM). It wasn’t until I got to this ride that they seemed truly "Disney".
Well, for this attraction I actually got to sit next to other people. Even better, I sat next to someone who was just as thrilled as I was to be on this ride. Better yet, I got to sit in FRONT! Way cool! Sitting in front gives you a more realistic experience of this ride. And what a ride it was. I don’t want to spoil any of it for those who have not gone, but this is a must see attraction. I would caution that my kids probably wouldn’t like it because they would have been scared, but still an excellent attraction. Probably tied (again) with Splash Mountain in WDW for my all time favorites with BTMR at WDW and both HM’s a close second.
I knew I would have to get back to this one before the end of the day!
After Indy, I headed on over to the Matterhorn and this time got in the line although it was the same length. All I can say here is that anywhere else this would be a good rollercoaster ride. Fortunately or unfortunately, I tend to hold Disney at a higher standard. I think they could remodel this and make this a really good attraction however. It has some "dark" portions where they could add a lot of special effects. The mountain itself is interesting.
By now it is around 2:30 and I realize I only have about 4 more hours left. What next? BTMR of course!
The queue here is better than going through the "mine house" at WDW, but I like the view from on top that WDW gives you. Here I did get put with the young woman in front of me because the CM I think thought we were a couple. There was not enough time to argue the point the train was "awaitin to take off" She was with her parents and I’m assuming from Germany from the language I could make out. She seemed nice but very shy. I’m not sure that my non-verbal attempts to assure her that I was an OK person got totally through (I was trying to put her at ease although I may have had the opposite effect). I will unfortunately never know. She did every once and awhile turn around to talk to her parents behind her and they would occasionally be laughing - I hoped that was because they were having fun - even if at my expense! I was probably more conscientious about the situation than the attraction, but I did very much enjoy the ride. Very similar I thought to WDW (except for the "gold" fountain that I thought didn’t quite fit in).
By the way the CM’s were great here and really got into the part. I always enjoy that when it happens!
By now I was getting very hungry. Where to eat? I reality wanted to go to the Bayou restaurant that is part of the POC but I was alone and didn’t know how I would fit in. I had heard good things however about Redd Rockett’s Pizza in TL so I headed on over there.
Even better that the food and portions at Redd Rockett’s was the service. You wouldn’t think a cafeteria style place could have good service but they did. Everyone from the people serving up the food, to the staff at the registers to the cleanup people were all friendly. I had a "Count Down Chicken Fusilli" (as it says on my receipt that I kept) that was great (actually a more appropriate comment would be "out of this world" ha,ha) Translated this was grilled chicken with a white garlic sauce over pasta. Quite good and the person behind the counter even told me it was a good choice and that I should enjoy my meal.
The best CM interaction of the day however was with Katie B. who happened to be at the registers. Not only did she surprise me by asking how my day was going, she also commented about the place that I worked (our company logo was on my shirt) and seemed genuinely interested in carrying on a conversation.
I wouldn’t have even noticed her name, if it hadn’t been for her friendliness. When I noticed that her name was Katie B. (same as my daughters) I had to tell her about my daughter and that I was here without my kids and missing them. Despite what turned into a long conversation in a checkout line she remained quite friendly, understanding and sympathetic.
I truly hope that my Katie B. grows up to be as nice and pleasant as the Katie B. I met at Redd Rockett’s Pizza (I’m sure she will)!
After getting food and drink in me, I felt refreshed and ready to take on the world (or "land" in this case)! But first, a quick call to my kids who were just getting home from school and soccer practice.
I should warn you that there is no quiet place to make a phone call from in TommorowLand. Especially since all day they were testing out the "Rocket Rods", running them around the track completely devoid of people, stopping and restarting them constantly. Every now and then I noticed a group of Disney employees on the cars either testing them or having fun. I wish I knew what they were testing for - they must have had some problems. Besides the obvious "whine" they make, to me they smelled hot. I always could smell an odor like electronics overheating when they were running. Due to the length of the testing, I’m wondering if there is some type of an endurance problem going on with the "Rods". Maybe I just really wanted to ride them!
Anyway, the pay phones at TL are probably not the best place to call from. Much better would have been the phones on the path between Fantasyland and Frontierland but I didn’t notice them until later. Now I know that you are probably thinking that calling your kids from Disneyland is cruel! Well, maybe in a way, but I had been gone for five days at this point and we all enjoyed the call. I think that they were just as happy to talk to me from Disneyland as they were anywhere else. Perhaps a bit more :-)!
Now I was truly fired up and resolved to go back to the attractions I enjoyed one more time. But first, since I was right there, I HAD to go to HISTA. I went to HISTA at WDW last fall with my kids (and grandparents) and they were so terrified of the show that all I could think about at the time was how to get out of the theater! I didn’t enjoy it that time at all. I had to see if the experience would be as bad as I remembered. Knowing what was going to happen and not having my kids there made quite a difference and the experience was much more enjoyable (sorry kids - not your fault). I would like to see a "G" rated showing of HISTA for younger audiences because parts of it are really good. I’m probably in the minority here, but I thought Captain EO was a much better show (more entertaining - plus I like music if you remember).
Anyway I’m happy I went to HISTA.
It was now around 3:45 and I started back to some of the attractions I had enjoyed before. While this was probably out of my way I wanted to take the "back" way to at least see Toontown before I took in the other attractions. Besides this would lead me through the "back passage" that I liked so much. I do like the fact that this is a whole "town" made up to look like a comic strip. I could have spent a lot more time here. I was tempted to go on the ride here and actually got in line but the line was just too long and the reviews of this weren’t the best so I headed back toward Splash Mountain. PS. I liked the trolley in Toontown. I’m sure my kids would have wanted to spend a lot of time here at Toontown!! Glad that they have a place like this for younger kids!!
So back to Splash Mountain I went - this time rather slowly to take in the atmosphere. 45 minute wait at Splash Mountain! Oh well - I’m here. Even though this is not as nice as WDW’s it is still a fun attraction. I love the "big" drop. I again fulfilled my role as the visiting stranger in the back of the log! I didn’t get very wet back there at least!
Now that I wasted a bit of time in line at Splash Mountain I hurried back to Indy. This time the line appeared longer, but in actuality was shorter because some queues were skipped inside. One note: as we were going in there a "real" kitten was crawling around the area outside of Indy having the time of its life with the bountiful Disney props and scenery. This place must have been a thrill for a real cat - at least until it stumbled across the "animals" on the "Jungle Cruise"!
This time in the line I got to talk to a mother and her daughters in front of me. Now that I was a "veteran" I was able to let the apprehensive mom know what this ride was all about. Even though I didn’t get to sit up front this time, we did go through a different "door" this time (the left) and it was still a fantastic ride. Plus, I got to help some others enjoy it too!!
As I was walking out of the Indy attraction I was taken with the food from the Bengal Barbecue. Since I was a wee bit hungry, I went and tried their barbecue chicken skewer. It was quite good and made an excellent snack although I would have needed two or three skewers for a meal. The service here was slow and not nearly as friendly as at Redd Rockett’s.
By now it was 6:00 and I needed to get some gifts for my family. After all, every time I talked with my daughter her first question was "did you buy my present yet?" Now you have to realize that I myself set that expectation with my daughter before leaving. I PROMISED her I would buy her something at Disneyland. She just wanted to hold me to it! After checking out the gift shops in Adventureland, I decided to spend some time on Main Street. Anyway, what better place to shop than there? Soon I had a bag full of gifts and surprisingly the total was "only" (and I say that only knowing full well Disney prices): $62.
I’m getting a bit sad now because my short Disney experience is coming to a close. I walked around a bit to take in the atmosphere one last time. As I had mentioned earlier, my plan was to meet Annie over at the Disneyland Hotel. To get there you need to take the monorail. Thinking this was more like WDW, I wanted to know WHICH monorail to take since I didn’t want to end up in the wrong place. It turns out at Disneyland the Monorail is more of a ride. There is just one loop where you can get off at the Disneyland Hotel if you want or stay on and ride back to DL. You get your hand stamped at the Disney Hotel if you want to return later.
The monorail trip goes through a lot of the new construction for the California adventure. It also gives you the opportunity to see the surroundings a bit. Right now it is a big mess, but the fact that it is under construction means that change is coming!
Now I got to the Disneyland Hotel with about 40 minutes to spare before my ride was to come (the ride was quicker than I expected). Having some time to spare I decided to explore the hotel area. I had heard that this was an old hotel and not very Disney. Walking around the grounds however, I felt more like I was at Disney than at some of the "Disney" resorts at WDW. As a matter of fact, I had not experienced that special "Disney" feeling as much until I got to the hotel. Maybe it was because WDW holds such special memories for me from my childhood that Disneyland to me seemed like a not-quite-as-good-copy of the original, even though in fact the opposite is true. It could also be because of the people I was with when I was at WDW or the fact that I was alone now Or maybe it was the surroundings. I just didn’t quite feel the same way until then.
Walking around the hotel and seeing all of the people pose with the Disney backdrops they have all around there and seeing the beautiful "lake" area with all of the different activities somehow made me feel more like I was at Disney. It looked to me like a great place to stay.
To put the perfect ending on my day, I happened to stumble across "Fantasy Waters" , which is a "dancing waters", light and music choreographed together type of show at the DH. There were only a few people there at 6:50, ten minutes before the show was to begin but soon people started to come out of the woodwork. By now the sun had set and all of the lights around the hotel were on. Very nice. Lots of young couples and families started to show up. I wasn’t sure what to expect and thought is would only be a small diversion. The show kind of started out slow but quickly picked up the pace. Disney does a good job at even the smaller things. As I said before, I’m a big fan of music and really enjoyed and was moved by the show. Lots of good Disney music and effects. Only wish my family could have been there (and that the music was louder - must be a noise ordinance)!
After the show I wandered back through the maze of waterfalls and ponds at the hotel to the monorail station where I was to be picked up.
Annie was there only a few minutes late (traffic was heavy). A great day. I had accomplished pretty much all that I wanted to this day. I thought as I was leaving how nice it would be to come back here with my family in 2002.
Paul Bittorf