Trip Reports
10-16-2005, 06:22 PM
* Time of Year: Fall
* Travel Method: Personal Car, Plane
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Infrequent
* Comments: I've combined a couple of different posts that Joy wrote, one on a day at Disneyland - the other on her impressions of Knott's Berry Farm (just in case Knotts is in your plans, too). The report includes alot of fun details and useful information if you're planning your own upcoming trip.
September 8, 1998 (DL) and September 5, 1998 (Knott's)
Cast of characters: me, my husband Chris, and my sister Miriam. We’re all in our twenties. Miriam and I went to Disneyland a LOT as kids. We haven’t been in a few years, but we still know pretty much all the little nooks and crannies. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t kept up with RADP for the past few months, so some of the things that were new to me may be old news to you guys.
The day after Labor Day turned out to be a perfect day to go. The park was very quiet. It was cloudy in the morning, and there really were no crowds until later in the day when the sun came out.
It seemed like the majority of the parking lot was ripped up for construction. There were only 2 parking sections, Timon and Simba. You can’t park close to the entrance anymore, you HAVE to take a tram. The new, huge tram drop-off area will look very attractive once the trees grow to their mature height.
We knew that the Submarines were scheduled to close soon, and we were crossing our fingers that we’d be able to ride it one last time. We got really lucky - on the tram on the way in, they announced that it would be the very last day for the Submarines! So we were among the last few thousand people to ever ride the Submarines.
Rides that were officially closed our day were Rocket Rods, It’s a Small World, and Alice In Wonderland. But we were also foiled by "Closed" signs at the Davy Crockett Canoes, Tiki Room, and Fantasyland Autopia.
We entered the park and rode Indy twice. We rode Pirates, and were surprised at how many changes they made in the rehab. We felt that they really made a lot of nice improvements to a ride that was already very good. But they really should have left the woman-chasing the way it was. We exited the ride and walked through the Treehouse.
Walking through New Orleans Square, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to make lunch reservations at the Blue Bayou. Chris had never eaten there before. Then off to the Haunted Mansion. Is the hearse with the invisible horse new? We didn’t remember it.
It’s really nice that Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan (and probably some other rides) can fit either 2 or 3 adults in one ride vehicle. That means that even if you have an odd number of people in your group, no one has to ride alone. The 2-across seating on so many of the other rides means someone is always the odd man out. I’ll have to remember that if I’m ever an imagineer. :-)
On to Splash Mountain, one of our favorites. Then we would have ridden the Canoes, but they were closed. :-( So around the river to Thunder Mountain Railroad, where we were pleased to see that people who tried to short-cut through the line ended up having to go all the way back to the very end of the line. (You don’t cheat in Disneyland!)
Lunchtime was approaching, so we headed back to New Orleans Square and visited the Disney Gallery, currently showing Tomorrowland art. They were selling ride posters again, but were out of Haunted Mansion, so they gave me the phone number so I could call in October and order one when the new shipment came in. For any huge Submarine fans, they did have full-size ride posters (huge!!) for about $40, I believe. Disney Gallery is 714-781-7531.
Then down to the Blue Bayou for lunch. Yes, it’s expensive, but really a pretty good deal considring the quality of the food and that it filled us up so much that we never had to buy any dinner. And their lemonade is soooooo good!!
Miriam spotted the hidden Mickey in the eyes of the mask at the Masquerade shop. It’s a really neat one, very obviously intentional, but very hidden. Look at the white highlights.
Then back to the castle to take a picture (we all were wearing Disney shirts) and off to the locker to get rid of some clothing and put on some sunscreen, as the sun had come out and it was getting warm.
We made a stop on Main Street along the way - my sister and I had decided in advance to get silhouettes. When my mother and her sister were about our age, they had silhouettes made at Disneyland, and mom had hers up in her bedroom for years. Mom died about a month ago, so this was special for us. Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty good deal for a Disneyland souvenir - just $5 gets you 2 copies, and a frame is only an extra $6.
Then off to New Tomorrowland. The day before, we had asked one of my sister’s friends what she thought of the New Tomorrowland. "It’s the same as the old Tomorrowland", she said, "they just painted it gold". I think that sums it up pretty well.
It was a bit of a shock to see Space Mountain in gold. Although I had heard about it, I was still surprised to see just how low the Astro-Orbiters were moved. It really is just another Dumbo ride now. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that there really wasn’t a lot for very small kids to do in Tomorrowland. But it’s too bad that a good "bigger kid" ride had to be sacrified. I now have envy over the Astro-Orbiter at Disneyworld, it’s much better.
We wandered around and looked at things for a while - visited the NASA exhibit, Rocket Rods were closed but we saw a few run by, and he fountain wasn’t as interesting as I had expected. Then we headed for Space Mountain. We had a hard time finding the entrance, and almost went into HISTA instead. Then when we found it, we were disappointed to see that the uphill moving walkway was gone. We loved that! Then we hiked about a mile, and finally were in line. They REALLY need some kind of shortcut here. It’s a very long walk, and it is pointless to have to walk so far when the line is short.
We were all blown away by Space Mountain. We hadn’t been on it since they added the music. It was so much better than any of us remembered! It even seemed faster than before, which I know can’t really be true. The music is wonderful!! The ride is fantastic!!
However, there is one major problem with the ride - the new head"rests". They seem to be just about perfect for little kids. But for a small adult they are horrible. The hard corner of the top of the headrest was right at the back of my skull. It was very uncomfortable to try and lean back, and whenever the ride jerked me back, it was painful! Disney really needs to get this fixed. Either they need to extend the headrest up, or they need to put some padding on that hard edge. A really sudden stop could give someone my height a concussion. Ouch! It hurts just thinking about it!
We came off the ride really excited, but decided we might as well do HISTA before riding again. I had heard about the WDW version before, but I was careful not to warn the others about anything. The mice and the snake made us scream. I knew what to expect with the mice (but screamed anyway), but I hadn’t really known about the snake. Good attraction.
So we rode Space Mountain again. Twice, I think. Then we wandered around some more. We looked at the Moonliner, and Miriam and I saw a bottle shoot up, then for some reason they stopped shooting and started just handing people bottles from behind the counter. So Chris never got to see one shoot up.
The submarine line was huge, so we rode the Matterhorn. Then off to the Teacups, which is the only ride at DL that I can’t handle. So I took pictures of them riding instead. They have a really nice shady waiting area for people with seasick stomachs.
We wandered off to Toontown and rode the CarToon Spin and Gadget’s Go-Coaster (because Miriam hadn’t been on it yet.) We went to get some cash and were shocked and delighted that the machine didn’t chare us a fee! It was the only free cash machine we saw during our entire stay in Los Angeles.
We bought some ice creams, and decided we might as well stand in the Submarine line while we ate. We had our last trip on the Submarines. I will always have fond memories of the Sea Monster with the Googily Eyes. I tried to videotape him, we’ll see if it came out.
Time for a small soapbox speech… All day as we walked through the park, we kept criticizing our fellow guests and listing things that you just don’t do in Disneyland. You don’t cheat to skip the line in Disneyland. You don’t throw litter on the ground in Disneyland. You don’t wear T-shirts with rude slogans in Disneyland. You don’t chat loudly with your buddies and ignore all the pirates. There should be no crying children in Disneyland. You don’t drop cigarette butts on the ground at Disneyland.
And here’s one for the CMs: You don’t sell off parts of your uniform in Disneyland. I was disappointed at the conduct of the CMs and guests bartering for the CMs’ Submarine commemorative pins. This is Disneyland, not a flea market! They should have had souvenir pins for sale to the guests, and they should have waited to give out the special CM pins until the end of the day. Any CM who wants to make a quick buck by auctioning off part of their uniform should do it on their own time, not when they are "on stage" in the park.
But I digress. So on from the Submarines to the Tomorrowland Autopia. My car was really slow, and of course I was in the front. So the traffic jam was all my fault. Then we decided we HAD to ride Splash Mountain again, so off we went to Critter Country, stopping along the way to walk through Sleeping Beauty Castle. I think all the Disney castles should have these permanent dioramas. It’s what really makes it seem like the Sleeping Beauty castle. At the castle were really delighted to see that the Villains Store is coming back!! Opening "Fall 1998", the sign said.
After that I think we headed back to the Matterhorn again. Somehow we ended up in Fantasyland, and with only an hour and a half left, we made our plan. We would ride a few of the dark rides, and then head to Adventureland to do the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room, and then we would ride Indy until the park closed. The Tiki Room was on Miriam’s and my must-do list because it was one of our favorite attractions as kids, and we haven’t been through it in years.
So we rode Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Peter Pan, and headed to the Jungle Cruise. We had a really lame skipper named Jeff, who just told the standard jokes and didn’t put any kind of effort into it. In line for the ride, they kept announcing that "Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Jungle Cruise will be open for the remainder of the evening. We apologize for any inconvenience." This seemed pretty funny until…
We got off the ride and found that the other rides in the area would NOT be open for the remainder of the evening. Tiki Room? Closed. Indiana Jones? Closed. Haunted Mansion? There was no actual "closed" sign and there were a few people sitting on the mansion steps, but there was no CM at the entrance and nothing seemed to be happening. We still had nearly an hour before closing and were getting very frustrated, so we decided to get away from that area and go to Fantasyland. Fortunately, we found that one side of the Matterhorn was still open, so we rode that.
So what happened? An evil plot to get us into the souvenir stores earlier? Some kind of major crisis in that area of the park? Or did they let the CMs abandon their posts to watch the final voyages of the Submarine? We’ll never know. But it was very frustrating, and we STILL haven’t been through the Tiki room in years.
After the Matterhorn, we did Space Mountain for the 4th time, and then Disneyland was closed. We went to Main Street to do our shopping. One of the nice things about this trip is that they had some new Maleficent dragon merchandise! It’s so hard to find stuff with my favorite character. This trip, they still had the large stuffed dragons, they also had small stuffed dragons (only $6!) AND they had neat frames with Maleficent both as an evil fairy and as a dragon. Great happiness!!
We bought some postcards, wrote them out, and dropped them in a mailbox. I also picked up one of the souvenir pictorial guides they always have, which was very out of date. It shows both Indy and the Peoplemover, so it must be from 1995 – three years old! I would have thought they’d have a new one showing the New Tomorrowland. I don’t mind, because I’m happy to have the pictures of the old Tomorrowland I grew up with. But it did surprise me – all this investment in New Tomorrowland, and they can’t be bothered to update their souvenir books?
Then it was time to go, so we headed for our last ride of the evening… the tram. The tram driver told much better jokes than Jeff the Jungle Cruise Skipper. They really need to swap jobs.
The last thing to mention is that we were surprised at he lack of signs guiding you to I-5 when you leave the park. We knew exactly where we were going, but we still got confused. It was always so much easier when Dad was the one driving! Perhaps it was because of the construction inside and outside the park.
Overall, we had a wonderful day.
Disneyland Summary
I’ve divided it up into the "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", but I’ll do it in reverse order, because it’s always nicer to end on a happy note. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t kept up with RADP for the past few months, so some of the things that were new to me may be old news to you guys.
THE UGLY:
* The bartering of the CMs’ Submarine commemorative pins. This is Disneyland, not a flea market! In my opinion, this is one of those things that does NOT belong in Disneyland (like rude T-shirts, line jumping, and throwing litter on the ground). They should have had souvenir pins for sale to the guests, and they should have waited to give out the special CM pins until the end of the day. Any CM who wants to make a quick buck by auctioning off part of their uniform should do it on their own time, not when they are "on stage" in the park.
THE BAD:
* The new head "rests" on Space Mountain. Pain! Pain! Pain!
* The long hike to get into Space Mountain. There needs to be a shortcut for quiet days.
* A bunch of rides suddenly shut down at 8 p.m. (the park was open until 9.) We tried to go to the Tiki Room, Indiana Jones, the Haunted Mansion - all closed. Finally we got on the Matterhorn, where one track was still open. It was very frustrating and disappointing.
* The lack of signs guiding you to I-5 when you leave the park. We knew exactly where we were going, but we still got confused.
* Why are the pictorial souvenir books three years old? I would think they’d have come out with a new one for New Tomorrowland.
* Jeff the Jungle Cruise Skipper.
THE GOOD:
* The tram driver at the end of the day, who was a lot funnier than Jeff the Jungle Cruise Skipper.
* It turned out to be the last day for the Submarine ride.
* Space Mountain!! Our first time since they added the music. It was so much better than any of us remembered, so we rode it 4 times! It even seemed faster than before, which I know can’t really be true. The music is wonderful!!
* The lines and the weather. School was in, and the park was very quiet. The only long line we waited in was for the Submarines (about 30 minutes). The weather was perfect.
* Maleficent dragon merchandise!!! It’s so hard to find stuff with my favorite character. This trip, they still had the large stuffed dragons, they also had smaller ones for just $6, AND they had neat frames with Maleficent both as an evil fairy and as a dragon. Great happiness!!
* The Villains store is returning to the castle! Hooray!
* The Disney Gallery is selling ride posters again. Unfortunately, they were out of Haunted Mansion, but they said I could call in a few weeks and they’ll send me one.
* The ATM was free!
* Pirates. It was our first ride since the "PC" remodel, and we were surprised at how many enhancements had been made. Although we still think they could have left the woman-chasing there.
* Silhouettes. When my mother was around my age, she and her sister both got silhouettes at Disneyland, and she has had hers up in her bedroom for years. So my sister and I got silhouettes. It was a special thing for us - our mother died recently.
THE NONE OF THE ABOVE:
* New Tomorrowland. It wasn’t good, bad, or ugly. It just kind of was. I think one of my sister’s friends said it best: "It’s the same old Tomorrowland, they just painted it gold."
KNOTT’S BERRY FARM
Our first visit in a really long time. This park would be the perfect compromise if you have a 14-year old who wants to go to Magic Mountain and a 4-year old who wants to go to Disneyland.
The roller coasters are pretty good, and they’re building a fantastic new wooden coaster that will open in a few months. The "Supreme Scream" is terrifying, much scarier than Tower of Terror. Scariest ride I’ve ever been on at any amusement park. First ride I’ve seen that could scare my husband. So of course we rode it three times.
The Dinosaur ride is a lot of fun, and really feels like an Epcot ride. Mystery Lodge is the best "magic" I’ve seen outside a Disney park - we’re still not really sure how all of the effects were done. Camp Snoopy really has great rides for young kids. One of our favorites was a miniature version of the "Supreme Scream" called "Woodstock’s Airmail", which was about 10 feet high. It was so cute!!
The log flume is the best I’ve seen outside Disney - lots of theming. The Mine Train ride is well themed and is pretty creepy. The river rafting ride is much better than at most amusement parks - it’s pure luck whether or not you get wet, they don’t just dump water over your head. And they have a nice compartment where you can put your camera to keep it dry!
One thing that impressed us about KBF was the number of random "cast members" walking around adding to the western theme. A woman sitting and spinning, gangsters on the train, a teacher sitting in the schoolhouse - they were all over the place. Just walking along, my sister and I were suddenly approached by two cowboys who offered to be our boyfriends if we would share our lunch with them. All these great actors made it feel much more authentic than Frontierland at Disneyland.
Joy Hogley
* Travel Method: Personal Car, Plane
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Infrequent
* Comments: I've combined a couple of different posts that Joy wrote, one on a day at Disneyland - the other on her impressions of Knott's Berry Farm (just in case Knotts is in your plans, too). The report includes alot of fun details and useful information if you're planning your own upcoming trip.
September 8, 1998 (DL) and September 5, 1998 (Knott's)
Cast of characters: me, my husband Chris, and my sister Miriam. We’re all in our twenties. Miriam and I went to Disneyland a LOT as kids. We haven’t been in a few years, but we still know pretty much all the little nooks and crannies. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t kept up with RADP for the past few months, so some of the things that were new to me may be old news to you guys.
The day after Labor Day turned out to be a perfect day to go. The park was very quiet. It was cloudy in the morning, and there really were no crowds until later in the day when the sun came out.
It seemed like the majority of the parking lot was ripped up for construction. There were only 2 parking sections, Timon and Simba. You can’t park close to the entrance anymore, you HAVE to take a tram. The new, huge tram drop-off area will look very attractive once the trees grow to their mature height.
We knew that the Submarines were scheduled to close soon, and we were crossing our fingers that we’d be able to ride it one last time. We got really lucky - on the tram on the way in, they announced that it would be the very last day for the Submarines! So we were among the last few thousand people to ever ride the Submarines.
Rides that were officially closed our day were Rocket Rods, It’s a Small World, and Alice In Wonderland. But we were also foiled by "Closed" signs at the Davy Crockett Canoes, Tiki Room, and Fantasyland Autopia.
We entered the park and rode Indy twice. We rode Pirates, and were surprised at how many changes they made in the rehab. We felt that they really made a lot of nice improvements to a ride that was already very good. But they really should have left the woman-chasing the way it was. We exited the ride and walked through the Treehouse.
Walking through New Orleans Square, we made a spur-of-the-moment decision to make lunch reservations at the Blue Bayou. Chris had never eaten there before. Then off to the Haunted Mansion. Is the hearse with the invisible horse new? We didn’t remember it.
It’s really nice that Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan (and probably some other rides) can fit either 2 or 3 adults in one ride vehicle. That means that even if you have an odd number of people in your group, no one has to ride alone. The 2-across seating on so many of the other rides means someone is always the odd man out. I’ll have to remember that if I’m ever an imagineer. :-)
On to Splash Mountain, one of our favorites. Then we would have ridden the Canoes, but they were closed. :-( So around the river to Thunder Mountain Railroad, where we were pleased to see that people who tried to short-cut through the line ended up having to go all the way back to the very end of the line. (You don’t cheat in Disneyland!)
Lunchtime was approaching, so we headed back to New Orleans Square and visited the Disney Gallery, currently showing Tomorrowland art. They were selling ride posters again, but were out of Haunted Mansion, so they gave me the phone number so I could call in October and order one when the new shipment came in. For any huge Submarine fans, they did have full-size ride posters (huge!!) for about $40, I believe. Disney Gallery is 714-781-7531.
Then down to the Blue Bayou for lunch. Yes, it’s expensive, but really a pretty good deal considring the quality of the food and that it filled us up so much that we never had to buy any dinner. And their lemonade is soooooo good!!
Miriam spotted the hidden Mickey in the eyes of the mask at the Masquerade shop. It’s a really neat one, very obviously intentional, but very hidden. Look at the white highlights.
Then back to the castle to take a picture (we all were wearing Disney shirts) and off to the locker to get rid of some clothing and put on some sunscreen, as the sun had come out and it was getting warm.
We made a stop on Main Street along the way - my sister and I had decided in advance to get silhouettes. When my mother and her sister were about our age, they had silhouettes made at Disneyland, and mom had hers up in her bedroom for years. Mom died about a month ago, so this was special for us. Anyway, it turned out to be a pretty good deal for a Disneyland souvenir - just $5 gets you 2 copies, and a frame is only an extra $6.
Then off to New Tomorrowland. The day before, we had asked one of my sister’s friends what she thought of the New Tomorrowland. "It’s the same as the old Tomorrowland", she said, "they just painted it gold". I think that sums it up pretty well.
It was a bit of a shock to see Space Mountain in gold. Although I had heard about it, I was still surprised to see just how low the Astro-Orbiters were moved. It really is just another Dumbo ride now. The only reasonable explanation I can think of is that there really wasn’t a lot for very small kids to do in Tomorrowland. But it’s too bad that a good "bigger kid" ride had to be sacrified. I now have envy over the Astro-Orbiter at Disneyworld, it’s much better.
We wandered around and looked at things for a while - visited the NASA exhibit, Rocket Rods were closed but we saw a few run by, and he fountain wasn’t as interesting as I had expected. Then we headed for Space Mountain. We had a hard time finding the entrance, and almost went into HISTA instead. Then when we found it, we were disappointed to see that the uphill moving walkway was gone. We loved that! Then we hiked about a mile, and finally were in line. They REALLY need some kind of shortcut here. It’s a very long walk, and it is pointless to have to walk so far when the line is short.
We were all blown away by Space Mountain. We hadn’t been on it since they added the music. It was so much better than any of us remembered! It even seemed faster than before, which I know can’t really be true. The music is wonderful!! The ride is fantastic!!
However, there is one major problem with the ride - the new head"rests". They seem to be just about perfect for little kids. But for a small adult they are horrible. The hard corner of the top of the headrest was right at the back of my skull. It was very uncomfortable to try and lean back, and whenever the ride jerked me back, it was painful! Disney really needs to get this fixed. Either they need to extend the headrest up, or they need to put some padding on that hard edge. A really sudden stop could give someone my height a concussion. Ouch! It hurts just thinking about it!
We came off the ride really excited, but decided we might as well do HISTA before riding again. I had heard about the WDW version before, but I was careful not to warn the others about anything. The mice and the snake made us scream. I knew what to expect with the mice (but screamed anyway), but I hadn’t really known about the snake. Good attraction.
So we rode Space Mountain again. Twice, I think. Then we wandered around some more. We looked at the Moonliner, and Miriam and I saw a bottle shoot up, then for some reason they stopped shooting and started just handing people bottles from behind the counter. So Chris never got to see one shoot up.
The submarine line was huge, so we rode the Matterhorn. Then off to the Teacups, which is the only ride at DL that I can’t handle. So I took pictures of them riding instead. They have a really nice shady waiting area for people with seasick stomachs.
We wandered off to Toontown and rode the CarToon Spin and Gadget’s Go-Coaster (because Miriam hadn’t been on it yet.) We went to get some cash and were shocked and delighted that the machine didn’t chare us a fee! It was the only free cash machine we saw during our entire stay in Los Angeles.
We bought some ice creams, and decided we might as well stand in the Submarine line while we ate. We had our last trip on the Submarines. I will always have fond memories of the Sea Monster with the Googily Eyes. I tried to videotape him, we’ll see if it came out.
Time for a small soapbox speech… All day as we walked through the park, we kept criticizing our fellow guests and listing things that you just don’t do in Disneyland. You don’t cheat to skip the line in Disneyland. You don’t throw litter on the ground in Disneyland. You don’t wear T-shirts with rude slogans in Disneyland. You don’t chat loudly with your buddies and ignore all the pirates. There should be no crying children in Disneyland. You don’t drop cigarette butts on the ground at Disneyland.
And here’s one for the CMs: You don’t sell off parts of your uniform in Disneyland. I was disappointed at the conduct of the CMs and guests bartering for the CMs’ Submarine commemorative pins. This is Disneyland, not a flea market! They should have had souvenir pins for sale to the guests, and they should have waited to give out the special CM pins until the end of the day. Any CM who wants to make a quick buck by auctioning off part of their uniform should do it on their own time, not when they are "on stage" in the park.
But I digress. So on from the Submarines to the Tomorrowland Autopia. My car was really slow, and of course I was in the front. So the traffic jam was all my fault. Then we decided we HAD to ride Splash Mountain again, so off we went to Critter Country, stopping along the way to walk through Sleeping Beauty Castle. I think all the Disney castles should have these permanent dioramas. It’s what really makes it seem like the Sleeping Beauty castle. At the castle were really delighted to see that the Villains Store is coming back!! Opening "Fall 1998", the sign said.
After that I think we headed back to the Matterhorn again. Somehow we ended up in Fantasyland, and with only an hour and a half left, we made our plan. We would ride a few of the dark rides, and then head to Adventureland to do the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room, and then we would ride Indy until the park closed. The Tiki Room was on Miriam’s and my must-do list because it was one of our favorite attractions as kids, and we haven’t been through it in years.
So we rode Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Peter Pan, and headed to the Jungle Cruise. We had a really lame skipper named Jeff, who just told the standard jokes and didn’t put any kind of effort into it. In line for the ride, they kept announcing that "Due to circumstances beyond our control, the Jungle Cruise will be open for the remainder of the evening. We apologize for any inconvenience." This seemed pretty funny until…
We got off the ride and found that the other rides in the area would NOT be open for the remainder of the evening. Tiki Room? Closed. Indiana Jones? Closed. Haunted Mansion? There was no actual "closed" sign and there were a few people sitting on the mansion steps, but there was no CM at the entrance and nothing seemed to be happening. We still had nearly an hour before closing and were getting very frustrated, so we decided to get away from that area and go to Fantasyland. Fortunately, we found that one side of the Matterhorn was still open, so we rode that.
So what happened? An evil plot to get us into the souvenir stores earlier? Some kind of major crisis in that area of the park? Or did they let the CMs abandon their posts to watch the final voyages of the Submarine? We’ll never know. But it was very frustrating, and we STILL haven’t been through the Tiki room in years.
After the Matterhorn, we did Space Mountain for the 4th time, and then Disneyland was closed. We went to Main Street to do our shopping. One of the nice things about this trip is that they had some new Maleficent dragon merchandise! It’s so hard to find stuff with my favorite character. This trip, they still had the large stuffed dragons, they also had small stuffed dragons (only $6!) AND they had neat frames with Maleficent both as an evil fairy and as a dragon. Great happiness!!
We bought some postcards, wrote them out, and dropped them in a mailbox. I also picked up one of the souvenir pictorial guides they always have, which was very out of date. It shows both Indy and the Peoplemover, so it must be from 1995 – three years old! I would have thought they’d have a new one showing the New Tomorrowland. I don’t mind, because I’m happy to have the pictures of the old Tomorrowland I grew up with. But it did surprise me – all this investment in New Tomorrowland, and they can’t be bothered to update their souvenir books?
Then it was time to go, so we headed for our last ride of the evening… the tram. The tram driver told much better jokes than Jeff the Jungle Cruise Skipper. They really need to swap jobs.
The last thing to mention is that we were surprised at he lack of signs guiding you to I-5 when you leave the park. We knew exactly where we were going, but we still got confused. It was always so much easier when Dad was the one driving! Perhaps it was because of the construction inside and outside the park.
Overall, we had a wonderful day.
Disneyland Summary
I’ve divided it up into the "Good, the Bad, and the Ugly", but I’ll do it in reverse order, because it’s always nicer to end on a happy note. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I haven’t kept up with RADP for the past few months, so some of the things that were new to me may be old news to you guys.
THE UGLY:
* The bartering of the CMs’ Submarine commemorative pins. This is Disneyland, not a flea market! In my opinion, this is one of those things that does NOT belong in Disneyland (like rude T-shirts, line jumping, and throwing litter on the ground). They should have had souvenir pins for sale to the guests, and they should have waited to give out the special CM pins until the end of the day. Any CM who wants to make a quick buck by auctioning off part of their uniform should do it on their own time, not when they are "on stage" in the park.
THE BAD:
* The new head "rests" on Space Mountain. Pain! Pain! Pain!
* The long hike to get into Space Mountain. There needs to be a shortcut for quiet days.
* A bunch of rides suddenly shut down at 8 p.m. (the park was open until 9.) We tried to go to the Tiki Room, Indiana Jones, the Haunted Mansion - all closed. Finally we got on the Matterhorn, where one track was still open. It was very frustrating and disappointing.
* The lack of signs guiding you to I-5 when you leave the park. We knew exactly where we were going, but we still got confused.
* Why are the pictorial souvenir books three years old? I would think they’d have come out with a new one for New Tomorrowland.
* Jeff the Jungle Cruise Skipper.
THE GOOD:
* The tram driver at the end of the day, who was a lot funnier than Jeff the Jungle Cruise Skipper.
* It turned out to be the last day for the Submarine ride.
* Space Mountain!! Our first time since they added the music. It was so much better than any of us remembered, so we rode it 4 times! It even seemed faster than before, which I know can’t really be true. The music is wonderful!!
* The lines and the weather. School was in, and the park was very quiet. The only long line we waited in was for the Submarines (about 30 minutes). The weather was perfect.
* Maleficent dragon merchandise!!! It’s so hard to find stuff with my favorite character. This trip, they still had the large stuffed dragons, they also had smaller ones for just $6, AND they had neat frames with Maleficent both as an evil fairy and as a dragon. Great happiness!!
* The Villains store is returning to the castle! Hooray!
* The Disney Gallery is selling ride posters again. Unfortunately, they were out of Haunted Mansion, but they said I could call in a few weeks and they’ll send me one.
* The ATM was free!
* Pirates. It was our first ride since the "PC" remodel, and we were surprised at how many enhancements had been made. Although we still think they could have left the woman-chasing there.
* Silhouettes. When my mother was around my age, she and her sister both got silhouettes at Disneyland, and she has had hers up in her bedroom for years. So my sister and I got silhouettes. It was a special thing for us - our mother died recently.
THE NONE OF THE ABOVE:
* New Tomorrowland. It wasn’t good, bad, or ugly. It just kind of was. I think one of my sister’s friends said it best: "It’s the same old Tomorrowland, they just painted it gold."
KNOTT’S BERRY FARM
Our first visit in a really long time. This park would be the perfect compromise if you have a 14-year old who wants to go to Magic Mountain and a 4-year old who wants to go to Disneyland.
The roller coasters are pretty good, and they’re building a fantastic new wooden coaster that will open in a few months. The "Supreme Scream" is terrifying, much scarier than Tower of Terror. Scariest ride I’ve ever been on at any amusement park. First ride I’ve seen that could scare my husband. So of course we rode it three times.
The Dinosaur ride is a lot of fun, and really feels like an Epcot ride. Mystery Lodge is the best "magic" I’ve seen outside a Disney park - we’re still not really sure how all of the effects were done. Camp Snoopy really has great rides for young kids. One of our favorites was a miniature version of the "Supreme Scream" called "Woodstock’s Airmail", which was about 10 feet high. It was so cute!!
The log flume is the best I’ve seen outside Disney - lots of theming. The Mine Train ride is well themed and is pretty creepy. The river rafting ride is much better than at most amusement parks - it’s pure luck whether or not you get wet, they don’t just dump water over your head. And they have a nice compartment where you can put your camera to keep it dry!
One thing that impressed us about KBF was the number of random "cast members" walking around adding to the western theme. A woman sitting and spinning, gangsters on the train, a teacher sitting in the schoolhouse - they were all over the place. Just walking along, my sister and I were suddenly approached by two cowboys who offered to be our boyfriends if we would share our lunch with them. All these great actors made it feel much more authentic than Frontierland at Disneyland.
Joy Hogley