Trip Reports
10-16-2005, 06:29 PM
* Time of Year: Spring
* Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations: Standard Room
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Frequent, Infrequent
* Comments: It's always fun to read the reactions of someone that is experienced at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World when they visit the "other" resort. This report is no exception. Sue is probably the senior-most-veteran of WDW visitors (other than someone that lives in Kissimmee or Lake Buena Vista) of all the folks I know. Her views on Walt's original park are entertaining!
* Who/When/Where:
o Who: Sue (me - 41), Disney Vacation Club member
o Nina (excagirl), Disney Vacation Club member - joining me 4/12 & 4/13
* Dates: April 12-14, 2000
* Travel Method: Airline, Rental Car
* Resort: Fairfield Inn (Anaheim, CA),
* Experience: Rookie - I’ve been to Disneyland once before, in 1981 or 1982 for a single day. Nina & her husband live in California, so she’s a frequent Disneyland guest - and my expert tour guide!
INTRODUCTION:
I’m looking forward to visiting Disneyland, and the chance to finally meet one of my online friends who is driving up to spend the first 2 days with me (Nina - excagirl). I’m especially interested in the Indiana Jones ride, Matterhorn, and anything that’s different from MK in WDW. Just a few weeks ago I was at WDW and was talking to an actor (Layden) at the Comedy Warehouse in Pleasure Island & he recommended the Walk In Walt’s Footsteps tour, which he just loved. I hope to take that tour on Friday!
DAY 1 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2000:
My flight leaves at the ungodly hour of 7am, but looking at the bright side I arrive in Anaheim at 11am with the time change! To get out of the house on time I set the alarm for 3:50 am and my ex-husband picked me up at 5:30 for the trip to the airport. He’s using my car while I’m gone and will be taking it in for an oil change and some needed warranty fuel pump work (I can’t stand waiting around while the car is being serviced). I still can’t believe I’ll be in Disneyland later today!!
We got to the airport around 6am, and Tim dropped me off at the Continental Airlines section. Our airport is not very large, but it’s the only one I’ve been to lately that requires you to open the laptop to allow the security people to manually check it over. I sat & watched the airport CNN news show until it was time to board the plane. They were saying people flying in or out of Houston this morning should expect delays due to some strong thunderstorms. Of course, my connection is in Houston!
The flight to Houston left on time and was surprisingly smooth. I’m used to traveling on the very small planes that hop between Florida cities. On this plane I was seated in row 17 - on the planes I’m used to there isn’t a row 17 because the plane’s not that big, lol! With the small planes you get bounced around a lot, especially in stormy weather. As we neared Houston we repeatedly descended, leveled off, then climbed back up. Finally the pilot told us that the heavy storms extended all the way to the ground and they could not break through from this direction. Instead he was going to fly north and around to the other side of Houston in hopes of finding a spot to put the plane down - and that this would take 25 minutes or so. I was concerned because my connection time was under 45 minutes if everything was on time...being 25 minutes late was cutting it way too close! The flight crew was very strict about people staying in their seats...when someone would get up to use the rest room for example, they got immediately sent back to their seat and told to fasten their seat belt. The pilot did a great job, though, and the turbulence was practically nothing. We landed, I RUSHED from gate 31 to gate 45, and arrived at 9am for my 9:22 departure!
The second flight was great - uncrowded, smooth (once we got up over the storm), and I loved seeing the mountains we flew over. I even saw snow! When I got off the plane I spotted Nina - she had made a sign with my name and the name of the onelist we’re both on, but I recognized her from her pictures on her photopoint site. When I first mentioned in a dvc chat a year or more ago that I was making this trip she’d volunteered to be my tour guide, and here we were finally meeting after all that time! We’d never met in person, yet it felt like we were old friends. She’s every bit as talkative in person as she appears to be in her posts - and lots of fun!
We drove to the Fairfield Inn across the street from Disneyland and both our rooms were ready. I’m very happy with my room, and with Fairfield Inn (this is my first stay with them). When you walk in there’s a sofa and square coffee table, then a king size bed, a dresser, 2 night stands, and a desk. Strangely, the desk does not have the phone or an electrical outlet nearby to use for the laptop, so I’m sitting on the floor in front of the sofa using the coffee table. There’s a refrigerator, coffee maker, iron, ironing board, and hairdryer. My room overlooks the pool - which sounds nice but right now I can hear the noise from all the people in the pool. I’m paying $53/night plus tax tonight and tomorrow, and then the rate is $79 or so on Friday. Friday was added long after the original reservation, so I think the discounted rooms were gone at that point. They don’t do free continental breakfast, but they have a cafe on my floor. Also I think local calls are free, which is always nice for going online.
We basically just dropped our stuff off in our rooms and then headed out. We went to check out the Character Warehouse store down the road (about 5 miles away, in Fullerton) and I was pleased at how large it was and how the merchandise wasn’t all crammed in together like the Orlando locations. I got an ESPN shirt for Chris, some note cards, and a postcard for Maria’s (WDWmaria)son’s school class. They also had the chocolate Christmas tree with the Mickey beanie inside marked down to $1.99 so I bought one of those because I knew I liked that chocolate! It’s 8 oz of chocolate, so I’ll have a lot of eating to do these next 3 days! By now it was lunch time for Nina - it was mid afternoon to me and I wasn’t hungry any longer - so we just drove through Jack In The Box and she got some chicken strips (I did eat one of them). There was a See’s Candy store nearby and she’d spent a lot of time driving around near the airport unsuccessfully looking for a See’s Candy store to get me a box of chocolate to greet me with, so we headed on over. It was a pretty big store, and full of Easter candy items. Since I had my Disney chocolate there was no way I could also eat a 1 lb box of chocolates! She got me a truffle (thanks, Nina) and picked up a few of her favorite items for herself. We went back to Fairfield Inn to put our chocolate in our rooms and finally were ready to think about Disneyland!
We walked to Disneyland (can’t even imagine walking to WDW from an offsite hotel, lol) and entered the park. I laughed at how few turnstiles they have to enter this park - there couldn’t have been more than a dozen of them! We stopped at City Hall so Nina could flirt shamelessly with cute young cm Jason. It was my job to distract the female cm so Nina could enjoy Jason herself, lol! He was very nice, and gave us some Walt trivia and things to look for in the park. Next stop was the Bakery for me to see if they make banana nut bread like in the MK and to my astonishment the cm told me they didn’t but she’d call around to some of the other food places in the park to see if they did. Wow - I didn’t expect that extra service, but Nina said that in general the Disneyland cm’s seem more friendly and willing to go that extra step than the cm’s at WDW. I have to admit that everyone we encountered today was very friendly & helpful - and I never once saw cm’s standing around talking to each other & ignoring guests (sadly I’ve seen a lot more of that in WDW lately).
For our first ride we headed to Tomorrowland and got fast passes for Space Mountain. The standby time was only 30 minutes, and so was the fastpass but we decided to stick with fastpass. I was surprised to see they’d taken the Astro Orbitors and set them on the ground (instead of being up on the roof of another attraction like at WDW) - they looked really boring & kind of stupid at ground level. The Rocket Rods looked pretty cool, but I was surprised at how slow they were moving...I was expecting them to be zooming around quickly. That line was 45 minutes every time we checked, so we never did ride. We stopped in a store and I bought a couple of the Partners 45th anniversary pins (one for you, Dottie - send me your address & I’ll mail it after the trip, and one for me). We walked around a little bit and rode the Railroad Train around the park. Here you sit facing sideways - like the trains going to Conservation Station in Animal Kingdom. It was a decent ride, nothing too exciting.
By now it was fastpass time, so we went to Space Mountain. Unfortunately, Nina couldn’t find her fastpass! She searched several times, we traced her steps back a while, and just when we were sure I’d be riding alone she found it! The waiting and loading areas here are completely different from in WDW. Also, the cars hold twice as many people (12) because they seat people in pairs next to each other. We were in the 2nd seat. The seats seem bigger - I wasn’t able to see anything in front of me because the seat in front was so high, and they’re not padded like in WDW. The ride is jerky, and my head kept hitting the hard back of the seat, so wasn’t able to put my arms up over my head because I needed to brace myself! Also, the music I’d heard so much about wasn’t working in our rocket. Despite all of that though, Space Mountain here is definitely better than in WDW! It felt so much faster - we were whipping along that track! I didn’t notice the dip - Nina said I was talking during that part, lol, so I guess I missed it. We’ll definitely be riding again :-)
We walked around some more. This park is so small, and the attractions are so close together that it feels really crowded. There just isn’t the space for the crowds to disperse. We rode the riverboat thing, which was relaxing but not something I’d repeat. Next we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, I was amazed at the differences in this ride - from the loading area, the 2 drops, and the whole section in the beginning that doesn’t exist in Florida - the Disneyland version is far superior to WDW. It’s almost like they eliminated a big chunk from the beginning and then just built the rest of the ride in WDW. Unless you’d been here I guess you’d never notice, but I think I’ll always be disappointed with WDW’s PoC from now on.
After the ride we browsed through the New Orleans shops, and then walked some more. Indiana Jones Adventure had a posted 30 minute wait and since it was my main “must do” for this trip we got in line. I don’t think the wait was more than 15 minutes, and we were in our vehicle (back row). The vehicles are the same as in Countdown to Extinction, and the ride starts out very similarly. I’ve always enjoyed CtX, but now having ridden Indy I’d rate Indy a 10 and Ctx would be struggling to deserve a 3! This ride is soooooo much better than CtX and I don’t understand why the Disney Imagineers didn’t create an equally great attraction the 2nd time around. The theming is incredible - including in the waiting area. I’ll definitely be repeating this ride before I leave here!
We stopped at the tip board to see what the waits were looking like, and chatted with another handsome young cm. The board said the Matterhorn wait was only 15 minutes so we headed there, but the line looked longer than that so we didn’t stop. We were going to take the monorail over to the Disneyland Hotel but the wait was 30 minutes - and we couldn’t see waiting that long for a monorail! Instead we ended up in Toontown and picked up fast passes for Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin ride (for 30 minutes later). We walked around a bit and then decided to try Matterhorn again. This time we waited, and were off the ride in less than 20 minutes. It was my first time riding this, and I was somewhat apprehensive. It turned out to be somewhat of a letdown, though. I was pretty tired by now, having been up for over 16 hours and having flown across the country & all, and the constant jerking around was making my head hurt! I’ll give it another try tomorrow, though. I enjoyed it, just not as much as Space Mountain or Indiana Jones.
Our last ride was back in Toontown - Roger Rabbit’s thing. Once again we had to wait for Nina to find her fastpass - it was lost again, lol! She found it though and we spun continuously through this ride. It was cute, but wouldn’t be worth a 30 minute wait (maybe 10 minutes would be acceptable). I was ready to leave the park, knowing I still had a trip report to write and online stuff to do. We shopped along Main Street on our way out, then Nina came back to the hotel with me so she could change into jeans before she returned to the park.
I bought a 1qt bottle of water at the cafe and just about fell over when it was $2.40! I’ll be sure to savor every drop, lol! I decided to skip dinner since I had that chocolate to eat, and ended up eating about ½ the Christmas tree (oink oink). There’s always tomorrow for more nutritious food. I finished up the report about midnight my time, 9pm CA time. I haven’t decided if I’m going to change my watch to reflect CA time or if I’ll just leave it as it is. Tomorrow I’m doing early entry (7:30am, which should feel like 10:30 to me hopefully) at Disneyland and Nina will join me sometime after 9. She brought 2 of those radio things so she’ll be able to reach me when she arrives. It’s been a wonderful day - how cool to wake up in FL, fly across the country, meeting an online friend and spending a good chunk of time in Disneyland including riding some things that were new to me! Now it’s time to get online to post the report & check the email.
Total miles walked: 8.25
DAY 2 - THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2000:
Today I got up at 5:30, which is actually 8:30 back home - so I slept for about 5 hours (a long time for me on vacation). The room was very quiet even without the a/c unit on. The pool closed at 10pm and after that it was silent out there . I showered (felt wonderful), dressed, had some cappuccino and the dry cheerios from the airplane and took care of all the email that had come in since midnight (only about 150 messages, thank goodness, lol). My trusty “stalker”, WDWMaria was online and we im’d for a while, and I replied to some work stuff that had been sent by the person I left in charge. Overall it was a productive morning and it feels good to be relatively caught up.
The weather person says it’ll only be in the 70’s today...perfect for touring the park. I left around 7:15 to walk across the street to Disneyland, arriving about 7:25. The turnstiles opened at 7:30. It was somewhat cool - only 56 degrees, but it was sunny & beautiful. I’d decided to primarily do the attractions Nina wasn’t interested in, which all happened to be things that I knew would have long lines later. The stuff that also exists at WDW wasn’t of interest (Dumbo, Carousel, Tea Cups, Astro Orbitor, etc). I walked around taking a few pictures and then headed to Fantasyland. By the way, the attractions open for early entry are all in either Fantasyland or Tomorrowland, and are Alice in Wonderland, Astro Orbitor, Dumbo, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Carrousel, Mad Tea Party, Matterhorn, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Space Mountain and Star Tours.
First ride was Alice in Wonderland, which was new to me. It’s a basic kiddie ride, like a Snow White or Peter Pan. It was cute, but I thought the volume was set too high - it was too loud in there. At one part the cars come outside & ride on a track up at the 2nd story level - that was kind of neat. Next I rode Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and liked it better than the version that used to exist at WDW. It still twisted & turned, but it was much smoother, and I liked that the “hell” room was actually hot! Pinocchio’s Daring Journey was okay - I noticed a directional sign to Pleasure Island inside - what’s that about? I haven’t seen any of these movies - I just ride the rides! Peter Pan’s Flight had a short line but I stood in it since I like the Peter Pan in WDW. This one did a better job in the room with the volcano and did a better job making you feel like your boat was flying. The WDW seemed be longer and took more time to wrap up the story. Here it just seemed to end too abruptly. Snow White was the only other kiddie ride I was going to try, but the crowds were getting thicker so I decided to just head to the Matterhorn while it was’t too busy.
I was seated in the front seat, and tried taping the ride. I don’t think it’ll be worth keeping though - between the darkness, speed, and being jerked around! It’s a fun ride, but definitely not in the same league as Space Mountain or even Big Thunder. At Space Mountain fast pass wasn’t open yet so I went through the regular line and got on in about 10 minutes. This time the sound was working, and it really adds to the experience! The music as you’re going up the big hill builds the anticipation! When I got off it was about 10 minutes before 9 (park opening time) so I headed to Rocket Rods to line up there. The line was extended all the way out of Tomorrowland, around the hub, and almost to the front of the castle! I knew it would only get worse as the day went on, so I stood there. Nina called on the radio just after I got in the building, so we agreed to meet at the exit. All together I guess I waited 30 minutes for this ride. It was a decent ride, but not worth a wait longer than 10 minutes in my opinion. It’s not nearly as fast or exciting as it’s hyped up to be. But, I had to try it once and don’t regret it - I just won’t bother with it again.
Met Nina and we immediately went to Space Mountain to get fast passes! After the trouble with her temporarily losing hers both times yesterday I took custody of her fast pass as well as my own, lol! She didn’t object, and it saved us time later. We went shopping - she got a couple tee shirts for one of our list friends (Kath) and I bought some stuff also. I picked up 2 more of those Partners pins for 2 more friends (Kathy & Andrea - send me your addresses). Then I shopped for myself and got a Disneyland souvenir picture book, the 45th anniversary Christmas medallion ornament, and a 45th anniversary tee shirt that I liked. Normally I stay away from the tee shirts because they’re just too big, but the child’s medium fit fine over the shirt I was wearing so I bought that one. We had our purchases shipped to the front gate so we didn’t have to carry them around.
We went over to the Matterhorn and rode that once, then visited with Rafiki on our way back into Tomorrowland. It wasn’t quite time for Space Mountain yet so we went into Innoventions. Here Innoventions is in the old Carousel of Progress building, which still revolves. It’s kind of strange - similar yet different than Epcot. The attraction’s hosted by Tom Morrow, with the voice of Nathan Lane. We poked around a little bit and then did the virtual reality GM attraction (no big deal). It was then time for Space Mountain, so we left Innoventions!
Ah, Space Mountain! What an awesome ride this is at Disneyland! While we were in line the cm opened the lane next to us but kept the new people behind him as he followed the people in our side down - so the new people didn’t get ahead of the ones already in line. I thought that was very considerate! Nina & I were seated together and tried to ride with our arms up. She did ok, but partway through the ride I started getting thrown over to her side, getting bent at the waist and landing on her legs - it’s such a wild ride! Finally I just held on to brace myself. I just LOVE this ride, lol!
By now I was getting hungry so we headed to Bengal Barbecue (a new place for Nina) and shared a chicken skewer, banyan beef skewer, and order of breadsticks ($8.26 total). The chicken was ok, the beef was excellent due to the spicy sauce, and I thought the breadsticks were a disappointment. We sat at one of the few tables there and relaxed for a while - after we asked a couple of obnoxious smokers to please go somewhere else to smoke (like a designated smoking area for example - duh). Here in CA the cm’s seem eager to approach guests to tell them to put out their cigarettes or get to the smoking area - and these 2 people were the only ones we’d seen smoking since we’d arrived yesterday! In this park there are only 3 smoking areas, too - unlike WDW where you can’t move without coming across one. On the smoking issue Disneyland definitely does a better job!
We talked about Nina’s night in the park last night. She spent a bunch of time talking to different cm’s and along with a group of cute gay male cm’s spent time salivating over the cm playing Tarzan in the parade. I believe they even made “mmmm, mmmm” noises out loud when Tarzan passed by, lol! She had a great time with them. The cm’s told her the parade would be changing on Friday 4/14 due to the high # of complaints it had generated from guests (we had this confirmed a little later - although the biggest change will be the music & choreography). They also told her the MSEP would be returning from WDW later this year.
We decided to ride the monorail to the Disneyland Hotel, but when we got there it had shut down. So, we headed towards the park exit but stopped at guest services to flirt with the cm’s some more. A cm who was there last night talking to us remembered us, lol - but we mostly talked to Marcel. He’s such a nice guy, very funny, and his French accent is nice to listen to. He works with the princesses - and loves his job...especially the hanging around the attractive young women part, lol! He was telling us that Tinkerbell had just gotten a new costume - costing $30,000 - that lights up. She’s supposed to push a button when she gets ready to fly, but the other night she hit the button twice by mistake - so she turned it on and then turned it off! She came down without her costume lit, and there was a big to do about that, lol! He came with us down Main Street to see a Tinkerbell jacket in the Disneyana store - it has fiber optic fireworks and Tinkerbell flies over the castle....all for a mere $1,000! It was gorgeous, though.
We said goodbye to Marcel and left the park, taking the tram to the Disneyland Hotel. We walked around - it’s a nice place, but can’t compete with a dvc resort or a deluxe WDW resort though. I posted a picture of the Neverland Pool area, which was much smaller and less exciting than I’d expected. We rode the monorail back to the park when we were done, and got another fast pass at....you guessed it - Space Mountain! To kill time (30-40 minutes) we went to Frontierland to check out a new candy store, but they don’t sell the chocolate covered marshmallow thing there either. Big Thunder had a 15 minute wait posted, but a long line. The cm said it really would be only 15 minutes so we got in line. About 20-25 minutes later we were on the ride, in the back car (my favorite). It was a fun ride, but not significantly different from the one at WDW.
Now it was time for Space Mountain again. Our fast pass time was 2:15-3:15, so I’d figured on riding it at 2:15 then going back to the hotel to update the report & watch General Hospital before coming back to the park. We got on the ride within 10 minutes, and this time waited for the front car (best visibility). I swear I’m just too small for this ride - we tried riding with our arms up in the air again. It seems to keep building up more & more speed as the ride goes on - those rockets were flying incredibly fast along that track, and I was being tossed around like a rag doll, from one side of my seat to the other. If I tried to brace myself we’d change directions suddenly and my head would fly back and slam against the speakers in the headrest, so once again I ended up holding on to the front bar but was still getting really thrown around. It was fun though, and if I could have stayed on again I would have! This ride has got to be my overall favorite from the 5 parks I’ve been to (4 WDW parks plus this one).
After the ride we walked up to the park exit. Nina was staying in the park, so we agreed she’d turn her radio on at 5 and I’d call her when I got back between 5 & 6. I picked up my package and walked back to the Fairfield Inn. When I got to the room it was just after 3pm but instead of General Hospital I got Oprah! Then I remembered that the west coast shows are on 1 hour earlier than the east coast, lol! Tomorrow I’ll take my break earlier .
I downloaded the digital pictures and uploaded the ones I wanted to put on the photopoint site. The url is www.photopoint.com (in the View Members Albums field enter WDW1972@aol.com and the select the April 2000 Trip album). I read some of the mail, chatted with a couple of friends via im’s, and wrote up the trip report so far - while eating more of the chocolate. That took until 5pm, and then I got ready to return to the park for part of the evening.
There were long lines entering the park, but I got to Main Street about 5:30. As I walked I turned on the radio, figuring I’d contact Nina when I got closer to the hub. Soon she came on the radio - the conversation went something like this:
Nina: Sue, is that you on here?
Sue: Yes, Where are you?
Nina: I’m on Main Street in front of Disneyana
Sue: I’m on Main Street too :::looking up::: right before Disneyana
I looked ahead of me and there’s a woman with her back to me talking into a radio - it’s Nina! If we were any closer to each other we would have tripped over each other, lol.
She’d been chatting with cm’s and doing some pin trading while I’d been gone. She said one of them didn’t believe I existed - that I was just her imaginary friend, so she wanted to show me to him. Just then he came walking down Main Street so we stood around talking for a couple of minutes. I told him I’d never seen this woman before, that she’d approached me at the entrance and asked me to be her friend, lol! The cm seemed like a fun guy - he was there on his day off enjoying the park.
We made it to the end of Main Street and stopped at the tip board to see how the waits were looking. While there we got to talking/flirting with cm Christopher - who was an absolute master with corny puns & bad jokes! He was so full of “schtick” Nina told him he should be starring at the Diamond Horseshoe. I wanted to know what the maximum speed was on Space Mountain here - knowing that at WDW it was 27 mph and it felt a lot faster here. Christopher kept trying to convince me it was some scientific or space term, and translated to 186,000 miles per second. The female cm working there got the book out to look it up - she was all serious, no sense of humor that we could detect. Anyway, the answer according to their book is 30.2 miles. I was shocked, because it really feels much faster than that. Nina attributes it to the music making it feel like you’re going faster, but I don’t agree entirely. Our first ride had no music, and the unless they’ve got fans blowing your hair & face constantly even on each turn, I’d swear there is a big difference in speed!
Indiana Jones Adventure’s wait was posted at 25 minutes, so we headed over there. The line was quite a bit longer than we experienced yesterday, but this ride really is worth a wait - it’s incredible! I love the part where the big ball is coming towards you, Indy is hanging on the rope from the ceiling, and just in the knick of time we avoid disaster - it’s such fun!
The Jungle Cruise had a 15 minute wait and it’s one of Nina’s favorites so we got in line. Our skipper was terrific! Most of the jokes were the same as at WDW, but he had some different material (all extremely corny). The ride itself was pretty much the same as WDW - with slight differences (no indoor temple, for example). Next we headed back to Space Mountain and got fast passes (which I held) for 40 minutes later (7:40 - 8:40). We went to the Tomorrowland Terrace for Nina to get a burger for dinner and afterwards decided to ride the Matterhorn again. This time it felt like the line was the longest we’d waited for this ride. The ride was more fun in the near-darkness - it felt faster somehow - and as we’d hit the outdoor parts we saw the beautiful sunset sky. It was also getting very cool, and I was glad to have brought the jacket I bought in Hilton Head! After the Matterhorn we were into our Space Mountain fast pass time, so we headed back there. We got 2 more fast passes for me to use later (8:25-9:00) and went on the ride.
We waited for the front car, and it’s so much more fun up front because you can actually see more. However, I was really tossed around a lot again, and about ½ way through had to hold on and unsuccessfully tried to brace myself to keep from landing in Nina’s lap (or hanging over the side of the rocket). I got a good strong head-bang at one point - ouch!
After Space Mountain it was time for Nina to head home to Palm Springs. I’m so glad she came up for these 2 days - it was a lot of fun! I do love my solo trips, but I know I’m going to miss her tomorrow when she’s not here! We’ll meet again in November - our trip dates overlap somewhat. I walked around a little bit, which was somewhat difficult because the parade was about to come through. I walked through the castle, into Fantasyland, and walked onto Snow White’s Scary Ride. A friend had emailed earlier today mentioning that the Disneyland version was different than WDW - which I didn’t realize when I was here earlier this morning. So, I wanted to see for myself since there wasn’t a line tonight. Overall it is very similar to the old WDW version of the ride - but the beginning is longer here and the ending is longer at WDW. I’m glad I rode, but wouldn’t bother again.
After getting off it was getting close to 8:20, so I returned to Space Mountain and rode it 2 times in a row. The first time I got the front seat, and was jerked around a lot. The 2nd time I was in the very last seat, and I think the non-front seats are just a little bit smaller and may have higher sides or something, because I was able to brace myself so that I didn’t get my head banged or get tossed onto the other side of the seat or outside the rocket itself. Unfortunately, you see more from the front seat - so if you’re relatively small like me you have to choose what’s most important to you (I’ll take the front seat and live on the wild side, lol).
When I got off there was just 5-10 minutes before the park closed. I saw Rocket Rods was open again (it closed during the parade) so I went inside. It was listing a 20 minute wait, and it took every one of those 20 minutes - maybe a bit longer. I asked for and got the front seat. The front seat has the best visibility, but it’s also the coldest! The ride felt faster in the dark than it did this morning, and was more fun despite the cold air. When I got off the park was closed so I headed out to Main Street. I looked in a couple of stores, but didn’t buy anything. I was going to pick up something in the Bakery for breakfast in the morning, but the line was so long and slow-moving that I eventually bailed out and left.
Now for a complaint about Disneyland...there are 2 ways to pass under the train station - one to the right and one to the left, just like at WDW. There are turnstiles in front of each end. However, after park closing, when hordes of people are exiting, do they have them all open??? NO! Do they have some on each end open??? NO!! Ok, do they at least have most of them at one end open??? NO!!!!! They’ve got a measly 4 turnstiles open - the 4 that are the FURTHEST from the direction that every single guest needs to go. Does that make sense from the guest’s point of view? I, being a smart person, purposely used the train station exit on the left, since the way out of the park is to the left. Since those turnstiles were all gated closed I had to walk all the way as far as possible to the right to exit and then walk all the way around to the left outside the gates. I don’t mind walking, but I thought this was really stupid and unnecessary.
The lines for the trams to the parking lot and the Disneyland Hotel were huge - just as Nina said they’d be. I honestly see NO convenience to staying at the Disney hotels here, but perhaps when the construction is done things will be better. I was happy to just walk out of the park, across the street, and down to the Fairfield Inn. I thought about stopping at McDonald’s for something to eat, but the line was really long in there & nothing sounded good anyway.
At the Fairfield Inn I stopped at the concierge desk to have them find me transportation to LAX airport on Saturday. The concierge said I had 3 options, I asked her which would be most efficient, and told her to book that one (I think it’s Xpress Shuttle, or something like that). It’ll cost $13, and she called to make my reservation. They’ll pick me up here at 7am Saturday morning (ugh) for my 9:30 am flight to Las Vegas. I stopped at the cafe on the 3rd floor to see if anything in there looked worthwhile either for dinner or tomorrow’s breakfast, but came away empty handed. I ended up finishing my chocolate Christmas tree, and will find breakfast either at McD’s or in the park in the morning. I can’t believe I didn’t think to pack any breakfast bars or anything - that was dumb!
The pool was full and extremely noisy, but once again at 10pm it closed & it was silent. I updated the trip report and read some of the mail...that took until almost midnight. I’m so far behind on reading the message board messages, haven’t read any of the brochures I’ve picked up, and still haven’t even unpacked (meant to, just never got around to it). At this point I won’t bother, since I’d have to pack again in the morning! Tomorrow the park opens at 8, closes at midnight, and will likely be very busy. With the 8am opening though, it means not much sleep tonight. I feel completely adjusted to the west coast time...felt that way immediately when I got up this morning. Hopefully the transition back to the east coast will go as quickly.
Total miles walked: 12.9 (seems like a lot for such a small park!)
DAY 3 - FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2000:
It was after 12:30 when I finally went to bed - this is starting to feel like a WDW trip but without the Comedy Warehouse . I had some cappuccino in the room, but had no breakfast food and chose to take care of some online stuff rather than go to the cafe. About 7:20 I left the room and walked over to Disneyland. First a cm told me that I couldn’t get onto Main Street until the park opened at 8am, but then a different cm told me that Main Street (specifically the Bakery) would be open at 7:30 and the rest of the park wouldn’t be open until 8. Based on that, I got in line and ended up wasting 30 minutes standing there (I should have walked back to McDonald’s for breakfast) because they did not let us in until 8. A small marching band came and played the Mickey Mouse song for us right at 8am, and then finally the cm’s opened the gates. I headed straight to City Hall to book my Walk in Walt’s Footsteps Tour for 10:30. I forgot to mention, last night when I left I noticed the light on in Walt’s apartment over the fire station - they leave it on all the time but open the curtains at night, and along Main Street there’s a light on all the time for Walt’s dad - in the window that says Elias Disney.
I checked the Bakery, but the line was very long and I was not about to waste the precious uncrowded hours waiting to buy food! Rather than going to Space Mountain (with fast pass I can do that any time of day) I went straight to Indiana Jones Adventure and pretty much walked right on! A guy in the row in front of me had his camcorder out so I decided to tape it also. Not much turned out though, it’s just too fast, jerky & dimly lit to capture with a camcorder. When I got off it still wasn’t busy so I got back in line and rode again - it was great!
Haunted Mansion was due to reopen today, so I headed there next and found a very small crowd waiting. Many of the scenes are the same as at WDW, but there are some minor differences. Overall I’d say the WDW version is better, and seems a little longer also. I went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with a 10 minute wait, and taped this ride also. This one came out pretty well, since it’s mostly just daylight. I’d say the WDW version of this ride is superior to the one in Disneyland.
Next I headed to Space Mountain and got my fast pass (9:55-10:55, 30 minutes away). Figuring finally I’d get something for breakfast, I started walking around but the carts weren’t open yet and I didn’t want a whole meal so late now, lol! I really thought today I’d eat more like a normal person, but you’ll see things don’t turn out that way. I wandered around taping in Fantasyland, and eventually the Churro cart opened up. I bought a cinnamin churro, after having read about them on the internet for so long. It was very good - nice & warm, for $2.25. I ended up eating the whole thing, and then rode It’s a Small World. The inside is similar to WDW, but the scenes are in a different order and are not exactly the same. The boats here are smaller, which gives the ride a more intimate feel. I like this version better than WDW. The only problem is the unloading is very slow...but it can back up in WDW sometimes also.
By now I had to rush back to Space Mountain to get that ridden before my tour! Luckily they were holding back the regular guests so with my fast pass I got ahead of many of them. The ride was great - the back seat really is more sheltered for me. After riding I walked very quickly back to City Hall to meet the tour.
The Walk in Walt’s Footsteps Tour takes you through the Disneyland that existed when Walt was alive, and covers a lot of the history of the park. Our guide Steve did a good job, and was a big Disney history fan. We started with 18 people, including a couple who brought their 4 & 6 year old antsy boys. I heard the mother telling the 6 year old at one point when he was complaining about wanting to leave “I asked you if you wanted to do this tour and you said yes”. Excuse me, but DUH.... what the heck is a 6 yr old going to understand about a 2.5-3 hour walking tour about Disney history????? Sure enough, they lasted maybe 15 minutes before even they couldn’t stand their own kids behavior. The kids weren’t bad kids at all, they were just normal active little boys who were brought into a totally inappropriate environment and their attention span lasted about as long as anyone could have hoped for. We lost more people later, for a variety of reasons. I won’t get into the specifics we covered, because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I thought the tour was 1.5 or 2 hours, but Steve kept us going until almost 2pm (over 3 hours). It was interesting, and definitely worth doing. I knew the answers to most of his questions, but still learned a lot. I was the only one who visits WDW a lot - in fact I think only 1 other guest had ever been there, and it was obvious none of them had a clue what it was like. When Steve explained how many acres was in Disneyland vs WDW they were all shocked.
While we were walking through the hub we got to see Mickey and Goofy climbing the Matterhorn!! It was so cool - they hire professional mountain climbers (not cm’s) and put them in costume and have them climb to the summit of the Matterhorn. Evidently mountains are rated for climbing difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being most difficult) and the professional climbers rated the Matterhorn as a 5. Goofy was already at the summit, but I was able to tape Mickey on his final ascent - with the zoom I got them both clearly and then panned out slowly to normal view which clearly showed just how high up they were - it came out pretty well.
The park was very crowded by now, but since I was on the tour and not in line for any attractions it was no big deal. We ended the tour in the new apartment built for but never occupied by Walt (in New Orleans Square), which is now the location of the Disney Gallery. I’d planned on getting a chicken caesar salad for lunch, but with it being so late now and the park being so crowded I just left to head back to the Fairfield Inn. I did check the Bakery - still a long line, though! I got to the Fairfield Inn at 2, just in time for General Hospital. The cafe here had absolutely nothing that sounded good, so I just got a toasted bagel with cream cheese and ate it while watching my soap and the video I’d taped here.
I got online to clear up the email and write the report for the day up to this point. I thought I’d have time to catch up reading the message board stuff, but I was way off base - didn’t have time to look at it at all! I also took more pictures for the website today, but had trouble downloading them, wasting WAY too much time and not ever succeeding! I was SO angry!!! Plus, I planned to pack for tomorrow, and haven’t done that. Finally, I tried the pics again and this time it worked. Geez! So, I took the time to download them and send them to the web. I’ll get up really early again to pack in the morning - I’d rather spend the rest of my time at Disneyland while it’s open.
I got back to Disneyland around 4:30, and Main Street was full with people waiting for the 4:30 parade to get there. I went directly to Space Mountain and picked up 2 fast passes for 5:55. Earlier today I’d found a used one-day ticket on the ground where there weren’t any people around, so I picked it up knowing I could use it for extra fast passes. With so much time to kill I went to the Matterhorn and got on that in about 10 minutes or so. I decided to try ToonTown again, and walked over there. It was extremely busy! All the characters were out in front of their houses, and people were everywhere. Gadget’s Go Coaster looked to be about as long as the Barnstormer at WDW, so the posted 40 minute wait was NOT something I was willing to do! Instead, I took a few pictures and then rode the Jolly Trolley from one end of town to the other. The trolley is cute, but nothing special.
Just about everything in the park had a 45 minute or longer wait...Rocket Rods was listed as 70 minutes! I walked around the entire park, which doesn’t take long because it’s so small. Along the way I picked up 2 more of the Partners pins for someone online (suenjosh - couldn’t find the other one you wanted, go ahead and send me your address) and got myself a Disneyland pin. Finally, I sat on a bench at the hub until it was time for Space Mountain. It was pretty chilly already - not sure I’ll still be here for Fantasmic at 10:30. I did walk into Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, which Steve the tour guide said had the best pizza in Disneyland. I’d seen this place the past couple of days since it’s right next door to Space Mountain, but I’d wrongly assumed it was like the Pizza Planet place in MGM...not somewhere I’d be interested in. I walked in the door and WOW did that place smell good! It’s set up like a cafeteria but from what I read on the menu & saw on people’s plates the food is a cut above typical cafeteria food. The pizza did look good, and they had a pasta & chicken thing that sounded wonderful. Next time I’m here with somebody, if this place is still here in this format I’ll be sure to eat here. I wasn’t hungry enough now.
At 5:55 I rode Space Mountain. The cm doing the lap bar checking recognized me from last night and commented that I must really like this ride. After the ride I picked up 2 more fast passes (for 7:20) and rode again. This time I was in the front row of the 2nd car, and we had no music. I did finally figure out how to ride without flying all over the place. An online friend (IMBE) wrote asking how to keep from getting so jerked around since she’s my size too. Basically, I sit leaning forward somewhat (to keep my head from hitting the back of the seat), crouch low (to be sheltered from the wind) and I put one arm outside the car, along the outside & holding on to the side of the bar. The other arm is holding the bar with my arm straight, to brace myself. It might sound like an awful lot of trouble for a ride, but really it isn’t any big deal. I enjoy the ride, but I don’t want to keep having my head slam into the back of the seat or to be falling around inside the rocket!
Since I had over an hour until 7:20 I wandered around a bit, but the crowds were too bad to really do anything. I ended up going into Innoventions and looked around more in there. No email postcards like at Epcot, though. I played the Honeywell Home Game with a bunch of teenagers and lost (by a wide margin, lol). When I went back outside there was a bank playing at the stage in Tomorrowland, and they sounded very familiar. Eventually I realized they were playing a song that I always hear Frankie & the West End Boys play at Pleasure Island when waiting for the 8:15 show at the Comedy Warehouse! This band wasn’t Frankie - their name was Catch 22, and they were excellent. I sat and enjoyed their music for a while, and they drew a pretty big crowd.
At 7:20 I went back to Space Mountain, but just after I got inside the ride shut down. From where the fast pass people had come in we could see the track through the window when they turned the lights on - it was pretty cool. It’s amazing how small an area the track actually uses - no wonder you’re twisting & turning so much. It was fixed after about 10 minutes, and this time I got the front seat and had music! After the ride I went back around for my final ride :::sigh::: The fast passes were all gone by now, but I wasn’t planning to ride again even if they were available. It seemed right that my last ride on my last night should be my favorite ride, so I wasn’t interested in trying to get on anything else. I’ll miss this ride, and hope some day WDW changes theirs to upgrade it to the Disneyland version.
As I approached Main Street (headed to the Bakery to buy a cinnamin twist) I saw everyone lined up for the parade again, and noticed that it would be starting in 5 minutes. I found a spot behind some people and decided to stand and watch. I ended up liking it - the music was very good - all Disney songs. They had a couple of sections where guests were in the parade, wearing silly hats, wearing tutu’s and dancing around. They were so bad it was really funny, and they were having a great time! And then, without warning, after it had totally slipped my mind....HE arrived. It was Tarzan! All I could say to myself was “Oh my....Oh my....” He was absolute perfection, if you ignored the awful wig. There’s nothing more to say except he is exquisite - and when he waves to the crowd, causing muscles to ripple under his skin - it just takes your breath away. I actually turned to watch his float as it passed, until I think the people further up the street thought I was looking at them, lol! Too bad I didn’t have the camcorder tonight.
When the parade was done it was shoulder to shoulder people and the gridlock got so bad nobody was moving at one point. I was headed to the Bakery, but the line was so long it filled up the entire waiting area (which is much larger than at WDW - probably 3 times as long) so I didn’t wait. Once back out on Main Street I soon realized that everywhere in the park was going to have long lines, and there wasn’t anything else that I really wanted, so I went back to the Bakery & got in line. Luckily the line moved steadily and they had all 4 registers open. I ordered a hazelnut cafe latte and my cinnamin twist, but the cm checked and found out they’d just sold the last one a few seconds ago. Argh - this park just does NOT want to feed me, lol! There wasn’t anything else I wanted, so I stuck with the latte and headed back out to the street. By now there was only about 20 minutes to go before the fireworks so I found a spot on the curb in front of the coke place and sat down.
At 9:30 the fireworks started - and they were wonderful! Tonight was the premier of the new fireworks show “ Believe...There’s Magic in the Stars” Fireworks Spectacular. The music was great - lively and whimsical, very Disney. The fireworks were impressive also. Overall I’d say it’s definitely better than Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks at MK - these are more on par with the old Sorcery in the Sky that used to be done at MGM. One unusual thing - Tinkerbell flies from the top of the Matterhorn to the castle, but doesn’t do it at the beginning. She flies towards the end - I thought it was all over and then she flew and there were more fireworks. The whole thing lasted 15 minutes, and people were applauding when it was done. All of Main Street was full of guests standing to watch the fireworks - no empty space anywhere. I’d say most of them continued into the park for more rides or the late Fantasmic, which clinched my decision to NOT stay for Fantasmic after all. I just was not interested in fighting the huge crowds and waiting outside in the cold for a 10:30 show, and then getting back to the hotel so late. I’ll save Fantasmic for my next visit...oops, I guess that means I’ll be coming back.
I walked back to the Fairfield Inn, stopped in the cafe to buy a blueberry muffin to eat some later & the rest in the morning, and went to my room for the last time. I added the ToonTown pics to the photopoint site and got the suitcase organized for tomorrow’s trip. After finishing the report and doing the online stuff, hopefully I’ll be in bed by 12:30 or so.
Total miles walked: 11.4
SUMMARY:
* I came to Disneyland solely because I was going to be nearby (Las Vegas) and it just made sense to take the extra time since I was so close. My only other visit was a single day 18 years ago, and I honestly did not expect to feel compelled to visit again after this trip. However, I found Disneyland to be a special place, and I’m sure I will be back. I’d love for them to build a dvc resort here - then I’d definitely be back & would be enjoying a gorgeous resort! If they don’t though, I could see myself back at the Fairfield Inn perhaps in another 5 years - for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary.
* Meeting Nina was wonderful - and the 2 days we spent together flew by! There were so many outstanding cm’s that did simple little things that made my trip magical. Disneyland has the edge on guest service over WDW. I don’t like that Disneyland is on such a small piece of land and the “real world” intrudes as soon as you leave the gate - traffic, touristy stuff, street peddlers, etc. Overall I definitely prefer WDW to Disneyland, but would probably rank Disneyland higher than the Magic Kingdom due to Indiana Jones and the better Space Mountain, Pirates, and Small World. WDW is my favorite due to the Comedy Warehouse and the whole resort experience. The Disneyland Hotel wasn’t very impressive, in my opinion.
Anyway, that was my experience at Disneyland - hope it’s been of some value to others reading. If you’ve got any questions feel free to email me.
This concludes the portion of the trip report that will be posted on the boards/newsgroup. The rest of the trip includes time in Utah, Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon. If you want to read the whole thing, go to http://members.aol.com/SueDVC/Trip.html
Sue Holland
* Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
* Resort: Offsite
* Accommodations: Standard Room
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Frequent, Infrequent
* Comments: It's always fun to read the reactions of someone that is experienced at either Disneyland or Walt Disney World when they visit the "other" resort. This report is no exception. Sue is probably the senior-most-veteran of WDW visitors (other than someone that lives in Kissimmee or Lake Buena Vista) of all the folks I know. Her views on Walt's original park are entertaining!
* Who/When/Where:
o Who: Sue (me - 41), Disney Vacation Club member
o Nina (excagirl), Disney Vacation Club member - joining me 4/12 & 4/13
* Dates: April 12-14, 2000
* Travel Method: Airline, Rental Car
* Resort: Fairfield Inn (Anaheim, CA),
* Experience: Rookie - I’ve been to Disneyland once before, in 1981 or 1982 for a single day. Nina & her husband live in California, so she’s a frequent Disneyland guest - and my expert tour guide!
INTRODUCTION:
I’m looking forward to visiting Disneyland, and the chance to finally meet one of my online friends who is driving up to spend the first 2 days with me (Nina - excagirl). I’m especially interested in the Indiana Jones ride, Matterhorn, and anything that’s different from MK in WDW. Just a few weeks ago I was at WDW and was talking to an actor (Layden) at the Comedy Warehouse in Pleasure Island & he recommended the Walk In Walt’s Footsteps tour, which he just loved. I hope to take that tour on Friday!
DAY 1 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12, 2000:
My flight leaves at the ungodly hour of 7am, but looking at the bright side I arrive in Anaheim at 11am with the time change! To get out of the house on time I set the alarm for 3:50 am and my ex-husband picked me up at 5:30 for the trip to the airport. He’s using my car while I’m gone and will be taking it in for an oil change and some needed warranty fuel pump work (I can’t stand waiting around while the car is being serviced). I still can’t believe I’ll be in Disneyland later today!!
We got to the airport around 6am, and Tim dropped me off at the Continental Airlines section. Our airport is not very large, but it’s the only one I’ve been to lately that requires you to open the laptop to allow the security people to manually check it over. I sat & watched the airport CNN news show until it was time to board the plane. They were saying people flying in or out of Houston this morning should expect delays due to some strong thunderstorms. Of course, my connection is in Houston!
The flight to Houston left on time and was surprisingly smooth. I’m used to traveling on the very small planes that hop between Florida cities. On this plane I was seated in row 17 - on the planes I’m used to there isn’t a row 17 because the plane’s not that big, lol! With the small planes you get bounced around a lot, especially in stormy weather. As we neared Houston we repeatedly descended, leveled off, then climbed back up. Finally the pilot told us that the heavy storms extended all the way to the ground and they could not break through from this direction. Instead he was going to fly north and around to the other side of Houston in hopes of finding a spot to put the plane down - and that this would take 25 minutes or so. I was concerned because my connection time was under 45 minutes if everything was on time...being 25 minutes late was cutting it way too close! The flight crew was very strict about people staying in their seats...when someone would get up to use the rest room for example, they got immediately sent back to their seat and told to fasten their seat belt. The pilot did a great job, though, and the turbulence was practically nothing. We landed, I RUSHED from gate 31 to gate 45, and arrived at 9am for my 9:22 departure!
The second flight was great - uncrowded, smooth (once we got up over the storm), and I loved seeing the mountains we flew over. I even saw snow! When I got off the plane I spotted Nina - she had made a sign with my name and the name of the onelist we’re both on, but I recognized her from her pictures on her photopoint site. When I first mentioned in a dvc chat a year or more ago that I was making this trip she’d volunteered to be my tour guide, and here we were finally meeting after all that time! We’d never met in person, yet it felt like we were old friends. She’s every bit as talkative in person as she appears to be in her posts - and lots of fun!
We drove to the Fairfield Inn across the street from Disneyland and both our rooms were ready. I’m very happy with my room, and with Fairfield Inn (this is my first stay with them). When you walk in there’s a sofa and square coffee table, then a king size bed, a dresser, 2 night stands, and a desk. Strangely, the desk does not have the phone or an electrical outlet nearby to use for the laptop, so I’m sitting on the floor in front of the sofa using the coffee table. There’s a refrigerator, coffee maker, iron, ironing board, and hairdryer. My room overlooks the pool - which sounds nice but right now I can hear the noise from all the people in the pool. I’m paying $53/night plus tax tonight and tomorrow, and then the rate is $79 or so on Friday. Friday was added long after the original reservation, so I think the discounted rooms were gone at that point. They don’t do free continental breakfast, but they have a cafe on my floor. Also I think local calls are free, which is always nice for going online.
We basically just dropped our stuff off in our rooms and then headed out. We went to check out the Character Warehouse store down the road (about 5 miles away, in Fullerton) and I was pleased at how large it was and how the merchandise wasn’t all crammed in together like the Orlando locations. I got an ESPN shirt for Chris, some note cards, and a postcard for Maria’s (WDWmaria)son’s school class. They also had the chocolate Christmas tree with the Mickey beanie inside marked down to $1.99 so I bought one of those because I knew I liked that chocolate! It’s 8 oz of chocolate, so I’ll have a lot of eating to do these next 3 days! By now it was lunch time for Nina - it was mid afternoon to me and I wasn’t hungry any longer - so we just drove through Jack In The Box and she got some chicken strips (I did eat one of them). There was a See’s Candy store nearby and she’d spent a lot of time driving around near the airport unsuccessfully looking for a See’s Candy store to get me a box of chocolate to greet me with, so we headed on over. It was a pretty big store, and full of Easter candy items. Since I had my Disney chocolate there was no way I could also eat a 1 lb box of chocolates! She got me a truffle (thanks, Nina) and picked up a few of her favorite items for herself. We went back to Fairfield Inn to put our chocolate in our rooms and finally were ready to think about Disneyland!
We walked to Disneyland (can’t even imagine walking to WDW from an offsite hotel, lol) and entered the park. I laughed at how few turnstiles they have to enter this park - there couldn’t have been more than a dozen of them! We stopped at City Hall so Nina could flirt shamelessly with cute young cm Jason. It was my job to distract the female cm so Nina could enjoy Jason herself, lol! He was very nice, and gave us some Walt trivia and things to look for in the park. Next stop was the Bakery for me to see if they make banana nut bread like in the MK and to my astonishment the cm told me they didn’t but she’d call around to some of the other food places in the park to see if they did. Wow - I didn’t expect that extra service, but Nina said that in general the Disneyland cm’s seem more friendly and willing to go that extra step than the cm’s at WDW. I have to admit that everyone we encountered today was very friendly & helpful - and I never once saw cm’s standing around talking to each other & ignoring guests (sadly I’ve seen a lot more of that in WDW lately).
For our first ride we headed to Tomorrowland and got fast passes for Space Mountain. The standby time was only 30 minutes, and so was the fastpass but we decided to stick with fastpass. I was surprised to see they’d taken the Astro Orbitors and set them on the ground (instead of being up on the roof of another attraction like at WDW) - they looked really boring & kind of stupid at ground level. The Rocket Rods looked pretty cool, but I was surprised at how slow they were moving...I was expecting them to be zooming around quickly. That line was 45 minutes every time we checked, so we never did ride. We stopped in a store and I bought a couple of the Partners 45th anniversary pins (one for you, Dottie - send me your address & I’ll mail it after the trip, and one for me). We walked around a little bit and rode the Railroad Train around the park. Here you sit facing sideways - like the trains going to Conservation Station in Animal Kingdom. It was a decent ride, nothing too exciting.
By now it was fastpass time, so we went to Space Mountain. Unfortunately, Nina couldn’t find her fastpass! She searched several times, we traced her steps back a while, and just when we were sure I’d be riding alone she found it! The waiting and loading areas here are completely different from in WDW. Also, the cars hold twice as many people (12) because they seat people in pairs next to each other. We were in the 2nd seat. The seats seem bigger - I wasn’t able to see anything in front of me because the seat in front was so high, and they’re not padded like in WDW. The ride is jerky, and my head kept hitting the hard back of the seat, so wasn’t able to put my arms up over my head because I needed to brace myself! Also, the music I’d heard so much about wasn’t working in our rocket. Despite all of that though, Space Mountain here is definitely better than in WDW! It felt so much faster - we were whipping along that track! I didn’t notice the dip - Nina said I was talking during that part, lol, so I guess I missed it. We’ll definitely be riding again :-)
We walked around some more. This park is so small, and the attractions are so close together that it feels really crowded. There just isn’t the space for the crowds to disperse. We rode the riverboat thing, which was relaxing but not something I’d repeat. Next we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Again, I was amazed at the differences in this ride - from the loading area, the 2 drops, and the whole section in the beginning that doesn’t exist in Florida - the Disneyland version is far superior to WDW. It’s almost like they eliminated a big chunk from the beginning and then just built the rest of the ride in WDW. Unless you’d been here I guess you’d never notice, but I think I’ll always be disappointed with WDW’s PoC from now on.
After the ride we browsed through the New Orleans shops, and then walked some more. Indiana Jones Adventure had a posted 30 minute wait and since it was my main “must do” for this trip we got in line. I don’t think the wait was more than 15 minutes, and we were in our vehicle (back row). The vehicles are the same as in Countdown to Extinction, and the ride starts out very similarly. I’ve always enjoyed CtX, but now having ridden Indy I’d rate Indy a 10 and Ctx would be struggling to deserve a 3! This ride is soooooo much better than CtX and I don’t understand why the Disney Imagineers didn’t create an equally great attraction the 2nd time around. The theming is incredible - including in the waiting area. I’ll definitely be repeating this ride before I leave here!
We stopped at the tip board to see what the waits were looking like, and chatted with another handsome young cm. The board said the Matterhorn wait was only 15 minutes so we headed there, but the line looked longer than that so we didn’t stop. We were going to take the monorail over to the Disneyland Hotel but the wait was 30 minutes - and we couldn’t see waiting that long for a monorail! Instead we ended up in Toontown and picked up fast passes for Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin ride (for 30 minutes later). We walked around a bit and then decided to try Matterhorn again. This time we waited, and were off the ride in less than 20 minutes. It was my first time riding this, and I was somewhat apprehensive. It turned out to be somewhat of a letdown, though. I was pretty tired by now, having been up for over 16 hours and having flown across the country & all, and the constant jerking around was making my head hurt! I’ll give it another try tomorrow, though. I enjoyed it, just not as much as Space Mountain or Indiana Jones.
Our last ride was back in Toontown - Roger Rabbit’s thing. Once again we had to wait for Nina to find her fastpass - it was lost again, lol! She found it though and we spun continuously through this ride. It was cute, but wouldn’t be worth a 30 minute wait (maybe 10 minutes would be acceptable). I was ready to leave the park, knowing I still had a trip report to write and online stuff to do. We shopped along Main Street on our way out, then Nina came back to the hotel with me so she could change into jeans before she returned to the park.
I bought a 1qt bottle of water at the cafe and just about fell over when it was $2.40! I’ll be sure to savor every drop, lol! I decided to skip dinner since I had that chocolate to eat, and ended up eating about ½ the Christmas tree (oink oink). There’s always tomorrow for more nutritious food. I finished up the report about midnight my time, 9pm CA time. I haven’t decided if I’m going to change my watch to reflect CA time or if I’ll just leave it as it is. Tomorrow I’m doing early entry (7:30am, which should feel like 10:30 to me hopefully) at Disneyland and Nina will join me sometime after 9. She brought 2 of those radio things so she’ll be able to reach me when she arrives. It’s been a wonderful day - how cool to wake up in FL, fly across the country, meeting an online friend and spending a good chunk of time in Disneyland including riding some things that were new to me! Now it’s time to get online to post the report & check the email.
Total miles walked: 8.25
DAY 2 - THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2000:
Today I got up at 5:30, which is actually 8:30 back home - so I slept for about 5 hours (a long time for me on vacation). The room was very quiet even without the a/c unit on. The pool closed at 10pm and after that it was silent out there . I showered (felt wonderful), dressed, had some cappuccino and the dry cheerios from the airplane and took care of all the email that had come in since midnight (only about 150 messages, thank goodness, lol). My trusty “stalker”, WDWMaria was online and we im’d for a while, and I replied to some work stuff that had been sent by the person I left in charge. Overall it was a productive morning and it feels good to be relatively caught up.
The weather person says it’ll only be in the 70’s today...perfect for touring the park. I left around 7:15 to walk across the street to Disneyland, arriving about 7:25. The turnstiles opened at 7:30. It was somewhat cool - only 56 degrees, but it was sunny & beautiful. I’d decided to primarily do the attractions Nina wasn’t interested in, which all happened to be things that I knew would have long lines later. The stuff that also exists at WDW wasn’t of interest (Dumbo, Carousel, Tea Cups, Astro Orbitor, etc). I walked around taking a few pictures and then headed to Fantasyland. By the way, the attractions open for early entry are all in either Fantasyland or Tomorrowland, and are Alice in Wonderland, Astro Orbitor, Dumbo, Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Carrousel, Mad Tea Party, Matterhorn, Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, Peter Pan’s Flight, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Snow White’s Scary Adventures, Space Mountain and Star Tours.
First ride was Alice in Wonderland, which was new to me. It’s a basic kiddie ride, like a Snow White or Peter Pan. It was cute, but I thought the volume was set too high - it was too loud in there. At one part the cars come outside & ride on a track up at the 2nd story level - that was kind of neat. Next I rode Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, and liked it better than the version that used to exist at WDW. It still twisted & turned, but it was much smoother, and I liked that the “hell” room was actually hot! Pinocchio’s Daring Journey was okay - I noticed a directional sign to Pleasure Island inside - what’s that about? I haven’t seen any of these movies - I just ride the rides! Peter Pan’s Flight had a short line but I stood in it since I like the Peter Pan in WDW. This one did a better job in the room with the volcano and did a better job making you feel like your boat was flying. The WDW seemed be longer and took more time to wrap up the story. Here it just seemed to end too abruptly. Snow White was the only other kiddie ride I was going to try, but the crowds were getting thicker so I decided to just head to the Matterhorn while it was’t too busy.
I was seated in the front seat, and tried taping the ride. I don’t think it’ll be worth keeping though - between the darkness, speed, and being jerked around! It’s a fun ride, but definitely not in the same league as Space Mountain or even Big Thunder. At Space Mountain fast pass wasn’t open yet so I went through the regular line and got on in about 10 minutes. This time the sound was working, and it really adds to the experience! The music as you’re going up the big hill builds the anticipation! When I got off it was about 10 minutes before 9 (park opening time) so I headed to Rocket Rods to line up there. The line was extended all the way out of Tomorrowland, around the hub, and almost to the front of the castle! I knew it would only get worse as the day went on, so I stood there. Nina called on the radio just after I got in the building, so we agreed to meet at the exit. All together I guess I waited 30 minutes for this ride. It was a decent ride, but not worth a wait longer than 10 minutes in my opinion. It’s not nearly as fast or exciting as it’s hyped up to be. But, I had to try it once and don’t regret it - I just won’t bother with it again.
Met Nina and we immediately went to Space Mountain to get fast passes! After the trouble with her temporarily losing hers both times yesterday I took custody of her fast pass as well as my own, lol! She didn’t object, and it saved us time later. We went shopping - she got a couple tee shirts for one of our list friends (Kath) and I bought some stuff also. I picked up 2 more of those Partners pins for 2 more friends (Kathy & Andrea - send me your addresses). Then I shopped for myself and got a Disneyland souvenir picture book, the 45th anniversary Christmas medallion ornament, and a 45th anniversary tee shirt that I liked. Normally I stay away from the tee shirts because they’re just too big, but the child’s medium fit fine over the shirt I was wearing so I bought that one. We had our purchases shipped to the front gate so we didn’t have to carry them around.
We went over to the Matterhorn and rode that once, then visited with Rafiki on our way back into Tomorrowland. It wasn’t quite time for Space Mountain yet so we went into Innoventions. Here Innoventions is in the old Carousel of Progress building, which still revolves. It’s kind of strange - similar yet different than Epcot. The attraction’s hosted by Tom Morrow, with the voice of Nathan Lane. We poked around a little bit and then did the virtual reality GM attraction (no big deal). It was then time for Space Mountain, so we left Innoventions!
Ah, Space Mountain! What an awesome ride this is at Disneyland! While we were in line the cm opened the lane next to us but kept the new people behind him as he followed the people in our side down - so the new people didn’t get ahead of the ones already in line. I thought that was very considerate! Nina & I were seated together and tried to ride with our arms up. She did ok, but partway through the ride I started getting thrown over to her side, getting bent at the waist and landing on her legs - it’s such a wild ride! Finally I just held on to brace myself. I just LOVE this ride, lol!
By now I was getting hungry so we headed to Bengal Barbecue (a new place for Nina) and shared a chicken skewer, banyan beef skewer, and order of breadsticks ($8.26 total). The chicken was ok, the beef was excellent due to the spicy sauce, and I thought the breadsticks were a disappointment. We sat at one of the few tables there and relaxed for a while - after we asked a couple of obnoxious smokers to please go somewhere else to smoke (like a designated smoking area for example - duh). Here in CA the cm’s seem eager to approach guests to tell them to put out their cigarettes or get to the smoking area - and these 2 people were the only ones we’d seen smoking since we’d arrived yesterday! In this park there are only 3 smoking areas, too - unlike WDW where you can’t move without coming across one. On the smoking issue Disneyland definitely does a better job!
We talked about Nina’s night in the park last night. She spent a bunch of time talking to different cm’s and along with a group of cute gay male cm’s spent time salivating over the cm playing Tarzan in the parade. I believe they even made “mmmm, mmmm” noises out loud when Tarzan passed by, lol! She had a great time with them. The cm’s told her the parade would be changing on Friday 4/14 due to the high # of complaints it had generated from guests (we had this confirmed a little later - although the biggest change will be the music & choreography). They also told her the MSEP would be returning from WDW later this year.
We decided to ride the monorail to the Disneyland Hotel, but when we got there it had shut down. So, we headed towards the park exit but stopped at guest services to flirt with the cm’s some more. A cm who was there last night talking to us remembered us, lol - but we mostly talked to Marcel. He’s such a nice guy, very funny, and his French accent is nice to listen to. He works with the princesses - and loves his job...especially the hanging around the attractive young women part, lol! He was telling us that Tinkerbell had just gotten a new costume - costing $30,000 - that lights up. She’s supposed to push a button when she gets ready to fly, but the other night she hit the button twice by mistake - so she turned it on and then turned it off! She came down without her costume lit, and there was a big to do about that, lol! He came with us down Main Street to see a Tinkerbell jacket in the Disneyana store - it has fiber optic fireworks and Tinkerbell flies over the castle....all for a mere $1,000! It was gorgeous, though.
We said goodbye to Marcel and left the park, taking the tram to the Disneyland Hotel. We walked around - it’s a nice place, but can’t compete with a dvc resort or a deluxe WDW resort though. I posted a picture of the Neverland Pool area, which was much smaller and less exciting than I’d expected. We rode the monorail back to the park when we were done, and got another fast pass at....you guessed it - Space Mountain! To kill time (30-40 minutes) we went to Frontierland to check out a new candy store, but they don’t sell the chocolate covered marshmallow thing there either. Big Thunder had a 15 minute wait posted, but a long line. The cm said it really would be only 15 minutes so we got in line. About 20-25 minutes later we were on the ride, in the back car (my favorite). It was a fun ride, but not significantly different from the one at WDW.
Now it was time for Space Mountain again. Our fast pass time was 2:15-3:15, so I’d figured on riding it at 2:15 then going back to the hotel to update the report & watch General Hospital before coming back to the park. We got on the ride within 10 minutes, and this time waited for the front car (best visibility). I swear I’m just too small for this ride - we tried riding with our arms up in the air again. It seems to keep building up more & more speed as the ride goes on - those rockets were flying incredibly fast along that track, and I was being tossed around like a rag doll, from one side of my seat to the other. If I tried to brace myself we’d change directions suddenly and my head would fly back and slam against the speakers in the headrest, so once again I ended up holding on to the front bar but was still getting really thrown around. It was fun though, and if I could have stayed on again I would have! This ride has got to be my overall favorite from the 5 parks I’ve been to (4 WDW parks plus this one).
After the ride we walked up to the park exit. Nina was staying in the park, so we agreed she’d turn her radio on at 5 and I’d call her when I got back between 5 & 6. I picked up my package and walked back to the Fairfield Inn. When I got to the room it was just after 3pm but instead of General Hospital I got Oprah! Then I remembered that the west coast shows are on 1 hour earlier than the east coast, lol! Tomorrow I’ll take my break earlier .
I downloaded the digital pictures and uploaded the ones I wanted to put on the photopoint site. The url is www.photopoint.com (in the View Members Albums field enter WDW1972@aol.com and the select the April 2000 Trip album). I read some of the mail, chatted with a couple of friends via im’s, and wrote up the trip report so far - while eating more of the chocolate. That took until 5pm, and then I got ready to return to the park for part of the evening.
There were long lines entering the park, but I got to Main Street about 5:30. As I walked I turned on the radio, figuring I’d contact Nina when I got closer to the hub. Soon she came on the radio - the conversation went something like this:
Nina: Sue, is that you on here?
Sue: Yes, Where are you?
Nina: I’m on Main Street in front of Disneyana
Sue: I’m on Main Street too :::looking up::: right before Disneyana
I looked ahead of me and there’s a woman with her back to me talking into a radio - it’s Nina! If we were any closer to each other we would have tripped over each other, lol.
She’d been chatting with cm’s and doing some pin trading while I’d been gone. She said one of them didn’t believe I existed - that I was just her imaginary friend, so she wanted to show me to him. Just then he came walking down Main Street so we stood around talking for a couple of minutes. I told him I’d never seen this woman before, that she’d approached me at the entrance and asked me to be her friend, lol! The cm seemed like a fun guy - he was there on his day off enjoying the park.
We made it to the end of Main Street and stopped at the tip board to see how the waits were looking. While there we got to talking/flirting with cm Christopher - who was an absolute master with corny puns & bad jokes! He was so full of “schtick” Nina told him he should be starring at the Diamond Horseshoe. I wanted to know what the maximum speed was on Space Mountain here - knowing that at WDW it was 27 mph and it felt a lot faster here. Christopher kept trying to convince me it was some scientific or space term, and translated to 186,000 miles per second. The female cm working there got the book out to look it up - she was all serious, no sense of humor that we could detect. Anyway, the answer according to their book is 30.2 miles. I was shocked, because it really feels much faster than that. Nina attributes it to the music making it feel like you’re going faster, but I don’t agree entirely. Our first ride had no music, and the unless they’ve got fans blowing your hair & face constantly even on each turn, I’d swear there is a big difference in speed!
Indiana Jones Adventure’s wait was posted at 25 minutes, so we headed over there. The line was quite a bit longer than we experienced yesterday, but this ride really is worth a wait - it’s incredible! I love the part where the big ball is coming towards you, Indy is hanging on the rope from the ceiling, and just in the knick of time we avoid disaster - it’s such fun!
The Jungle Cruise had a 15 minute wait and it’s one of Nina’s favorites so we got in line. Our skipper was terrific! Most of the jokes were the same as at WDW, but he had some different material (all extremely corny). The ride itself was pretty much the same as WDW - with slight differences (no indoor temple, for example). Next we headed back to Space Mountain and got fast passes (which I held) for 40 minutes later (7:40 - 8:40). We went to the Tomorrowland Terrace for Nina to get a burger for dinner and afterwards decided to ride the Matterhorn again. This time it felt like the line was the longest we’d waited for this ride. The ride was more fun in the near-darkness - it felt faster somehow - and as we’d hit the outdoor parts we saw the beautiful sunset sky. It was also getting very cool, and I was glad to have brought the jacket I bought in Hilton Head! After the Matterhorn we were into our Space Mountain fast pass time, so we headed back there. We got 2 more fast passes for me to use later (8:25-9:00) and went on the ride.
We waited for the front car, and it’s so much more fun up front because you can actually see more. However, I was really tossed around a lot again, and about ½ way through had to hold on and unsuccessfully tried to brace myself to keep from landing in Nina’s lap (or hanging over the side of the rocket). I got a good strong head-bang at one point - ouch!
After Space Mountain it was time for Nina to head home to Palm Springs. I’m so glad she came up for these 2 days - it was a lot of fun! I do love my solo trips, but I know I’m going to miss her tomorrow when she’s not here! We’ll meet again in November - our trip dates overlap somewhat. I walked around a little bit, which was somewhat difficult because the parade was about to come through. I walked through the castle, into Fantasyland, and walked onto Snow White’s Scary Ride. A friend had emailed earlier today mentioning that the Disneyland version was different than WDW - which I didn’t realize when I was here earlier this morning. So, I wanted to see for myself since there wasn’t a line tonight. Overall it is very similar to the old WDW version of the ride - but the beginning is longer here and the ending is longer at WDW. I’m glad I rode, but wouldn’t bother again.
After getting off it was getting close to 8:20, so I returned to Space Mountain and rode it 2 times in a row. The first time I got the front seat, and was jerked around a lot. The 2nd time I was in the very last seat, and I think the non-front seats are just a little bit smaller and may have higher sides or something, because I was able to brace myself so that I didn’t get my head banged or get tossed onto the other side of the seat or outside the rocket itself. Unfortunately, you see more from the front seat - so if you’re relatively small like me you have to choose what’s most important to you (I’ll take the front seat and live on the wild side, lol).
When I got off there was just 5-10 minutes before the park closed. I saw Rocket Rods was open again (it closed during the parade) so I went inside. It was listing a 20 minute wait, and it took every one of those 20 minutes - maybe a bit longer. I asked for and got the front seat. The front seat has the best visibility, but it’s also the coldest! The ride felt faster in the dark than it did this morning, and was more fun despite the cold air. When I got off the park was closed so I headed out to Main Street. I looked in a couple of stores, but didn’t buy anything. I was going to pick up something in the Bakery for breakfast in the morning, but the line was so long and slow-moving that I eventually bailed out and left.
Now for a complaint about Disneyland...there are 2 ways to pass under the train station - one to the right and one to the left, just like at WDW. There are turnstiles in front of each end. However, after park closing, when hordes of people are exiting, do they have them all open??? NO! Do they have some on each end open??? NO!! Ok, do they at least have most of them at one end open??? NO!!!!! They’ve got a measly 4 turnstiles open - the 4 that are the FURTHEST from the direction that every single guest needs to go. Does that make sense from the guest’s point of view? I, being a smart person, purposely used the train station exit on the left, since the way out of the park is to the left. Since those turnstiles were all gated closed I had to walk all the way as far as possible to the right to exit and then walk all the way around to the left outside the gates. I don’t mind walking, but I thought this was really stupid and unnecessary.
The lines for the trams to the parking lot and the Disneyland Hotel were huge - just as Nina said they’d be. I honestly see NO convenience to staying at the Disney hotels here, but perhaps when the construction is done things will be better. I was happy to just walk out of the park, across the street, and down to the Fairfield Inn. I thought about stopping at McDonald’s for something to eat, but the line was really long in there & nothing sounded good anyway.
At the Fairfield Inn I stopped at the concierge desk to have them find me transportation to LAX airport on Saturday. The concierge said I had 3 options, I asked her which would be most efficient, and told her to book that one (I think it’s Xpress Shuttle, or something like that). It’ll cost $13, and she called to make my reservation. They’ll pick me up here at 7am Saturday morning (ugh) for my 9:30 am flight to Las Vegas. I stopped at the cafe on the 3rd floor to see if anything in there looked worthwhile either for dinner or tomorrow’s breakfast, but came away empty handed. I ended up finishing my chocolate Christmas tree, and will find breakfast either at McD’s or in the park in the morning. I can’t believe I didn’t think to pack any breakfast bars or anything - that was dumb!
The pool was full and extremely noisy, but once again at 10pm it closed & it was silent. I updated the trip report and read some of the mail...that took until almost midnight. I’m so far behind on reading the message board messages, haven’t read any of the brochures I’ve picked up, and still haven’t even unpacked (meant to, just never got around to it). At this point I won’t bother, since I’d have to pack again in the morning! Tomorrow the park opens at 8, closes at midnight, and will likely be very busy. With the 8am opening though, it means not much sleep tonight. I feel completely adjusted to the west coast time...felt that way immediately when I got up this morning. Hopefully the transition back to the east coast will go as quickly.
Total miles walked: 12.9 (seems like a lot for such a small park!)
DAY 3 - FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2000:
It was after 12:30 when I finally went to bed - this is starting to feel like a WDW trip but without the Comedy Warehouse . I had some cappuccino in the room, but had no breakfast food and chose to take care of some online stuff rather than go to the cafe. About 7:20 I left the room and walked over to Disneyland. First a cm told me that I couldn’t get onto Main Street until the park opened at 8am, but then a different cm told me that Main Street (specifically the Bakery) would be open at 7:30 and the rest of the park wouldn’t be open until 8. Based on that, I got in line and ended up wasting 30 minutes standing there (I should have walked back to McDonald’s for breakfast) because they did not let us in until 8. A small marching band came and played the Mickey Mouse song for us right at 8am, and then finally the cm’s opened the gates. I headed straight to City Hall to book my Walk in Walt’s Footsteps Tour for 10:30. I forgot to mention, last night when I left I noticed the light on in Walt’s apartment over the fire station - they leave it on all the time but open the curtains at night, and along Main Street there’s a light on all the time for Walt’s dad - in the window that says Elias Disney.
I checked the Bakery, but the line was very long and I was not about to waste the precious uncrowded hours waiting to buy food! Rather than going to Space Mountain (with fast pass I can do that any time of day) I went straight to Indiana Jones Adventure and pretty much walked right on! A guy in the row in front of me had his camcorder out so I decided to tape it also. Not much turned out though, it’s just too fast, jerky & dimly lit to capture with a camcorder. When I got off it still wasn’t busy so I got back in line and rode again - it was great!
Haunted Mansion was due to reopen today, so I headed there next and found a very small crowd waiting. Many of the scenes are the same as at WDW, but there are some minor differences. Overall I’d say the WDW version is better, and seems a little longer also. I went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with a 10 minute wait, and taped this ride also. This one came out pretty well, since it’s mostly just daylight. I’d say the WDW version of this ride is superior to the one in Disneyland.
Next I headed to Space Mountain and got my fast pass (9:55-10:55, 30 minutes away). Figuring finally I’d get something for breakfast, I started walking around but the carts weren’t open yet and I didn’t want a whole meal so late now, lol! I really thought today I’d eat more like a normal person, but you’ll see things don’t turn out that way. I wandered around taping in Fantasyland, and eventually the Churro cart opened up. I bought a cinnamin churro, after having read about them on the internet for so long. It was very good - nice & warm, for $2.25. I ended up eating the whole thing, and then rode It’s a Small World. The inside is similar to WDW, but the scenes are in a different order and are not exactly the same. The boats here are smaller, which gives the ride a more intimate feel. I like this version better than WDW. The only problem is the unloading is very slow...but it can back up in WDW sometimes also.
By now I had to rush back to Space Mountain to get that ridden before my tour! Luckily they were holding back the regular guests so with my fast pass I got ahead of many of them. The ride was great - the back seat really is more sheltered for me. After riding I walked very quickly back to City Hall to meet the tour.
The Walk in Walt’s Footsteps Tour takes you through the Disneyland that existed when Walt was alive, and covers a lot of the history of the park. Our guide Steve did a good job, and was a big Disney history fan. We started with 18 people, including a couple who brought their 4 & 6 year old antsy boys. I heard the mother telling the 6 year old at one point when he was complaining about wanting to leave “I asked you if you wanted to do this tour and you said yes”. Excuse me, but DUH.... what the heck is a 6 yr old going to understand about a 2.5-3 hour walking tour about Disney history????? Sure enough, they lasted maybe 15 minutes before even they couldn’t stand their own kids behavior. The kids weren’t bad kids at all, they were just normal active little boys who were brought into a totally inappropriate environment and their attention span lasted about as long as anyone could have hoped for. We lost more people later, for a variety of reasons. I won’t get into the specifics we covered, because I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. I thought the tour was 1.5 or 2 hours, but Steve kept us going until almost 2pm (over 3 hours). It was interesting, and definitely worth doing. I knew the answers to most of his questions, but still learned a lot. I was the only one who visits WDW a lot - in fact I think only 1 other guest had ever been there, and it was obvious none of them had a clue what it was like. When Steve explained how many acres was in Disneyland vs WDW they were all shocked.
While we were walking through the hub we got to see Mickey and Goofy climbing the Matterhorn!! It was so cool - they hire professional mountain climbers (not cm’s) and put them in costume and have them climb to the summit of the Matterhorn. Evidently mountains are rated for climbing difficulty on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being most difficult) and the professional climbers rated the Matterhorn as a 5. Goofy was already at the summit, but I was able to tape Mickey on his final ascent - with the zoom I got them both clearly and then panned out slowly to normal view which clearly showed just how high up they were - it came out pretty well.
The park was very crowded by now, but since I was on the tour and not in line for any attractions it was no big deal. We ended the tour in the new apartment built for but never occupied by Walt (in New Orleans Square), which is now the location of the Disney Gallery. I’d planned on getting a chicken caesar salad for lunch, but with it being so late now and the park being so crowded I just left to head back to the Fairfield Inn. I did check the Bakery - still a long line, though! I got to the Fairfield Inn at 2, just in time for General Hospital. The cafe here had absolutely nothing that sounded good, so I just got a toasted bagel with cream cheese and ate it while watching my soap and the video I’d taped here.
I got online to clear up the email and write the report for the day up to this point. I thought I’d have time to catch up reading the message board stuff, but I was way off base - didn’t have time to look at it at all! I also took more pictures for the website today, but had trouble downloading them, wasting WAY too much time and not ever succeeding! I was SO angry!!! Plus, I planned to pack for tomorrow, and haven’t done that. Finally, I tried the pics again and this time it worked. Geez! So, I took the time to download them and send them to the web. I’ll get up really early again to pack in the morning - I’d rather spend the rest of my time at Disneyland while it’s open.
I got back to Disneyland around 4:30, and Main Street was full with people waiting for the 4:30 parade to get there. I went directly to Space Mountain and picked up 2 fast passes for 5:55. Earlier today I’d found a used one-day ticket on the ground where there weren’t any people around, so I picked it up knowing I could use it for extra fast passes. With so much time to kill I went to the Matterhorn and got on that in about 10 minutes or so. I decided to try ToonTown again, and walked over there. It was extremely busy! All the characters were out in front of their houses, and people were everywhere. Gadget’s Go Coaster looked to be about as long as the Barnstormer at WDW, so the posted 40 minute wait was NOT something I was willing to do! Instead, I took a few pictures and then rode the Jolly Trolley from one end of town to the other. The trolley is cute, but nothing special.
Just about everything in the park had a 45 minute or longer wait...Rocket Rods was listed as 70 minutes! I walked around the entire park, which doesn’t take long because it’s so small. Along the way I picked up 2 more of the Partners pins for someone online (suenjosh - couldn’t find the other one you wanted, go ahead and send me your address) and got myself a Disneyland pin. Finally, I sat on a bench at the hub until it was time for Space Mountain. It was pretty chilly already - not sure I’ll still be here for Fantasmic at 10:30. I did walk into Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, which Steve the tour guide said had the best pizza in Disneyland. I’d seen this place the past couple of days since it’s right next door to Space Mountain, but I’d wrongly assumed it was like the Pizza Planet place in MGM...not somewhere I’d be interested in. I walked in the door and WOW did that place smell good! It’s set up like a cafeteria but from what I read on the menu & saw on people’s plates the food is a cut above typical cafeteria food. The pizza did look good, and they had a pasta & chicken thing that sounded wonderful. Next time I’m here with somebody, if this place is still here in this format I’ll be sure to eat here. I wasn’t hungry enough now.
At 5:55 I rode Space Mountain. The cm doing the lap bar checking recognized me from last night and commented that I must really like this ride. After the ride I picked up 2 more fast passes (for 7:20) and rode again. This time I was in the front row of the 2nd car, and we had no music. I did finally figure out how to ride without flying all over the place. An online friend (IMBE) wrote asking how to keep from getting so jerked around since she’s my size too. Basically, I sit leaning forward somewhat (to keep my head from hitting the back of the seat), crouch low (to be sheltered from the wind) and I put one arm outside the car, along the outside & holding on to the side of the bar. The other arm is holding the bar with my arm straight, to brace myself. It might sound like an awful lot of trouble for a ride, but really it isn’t any big deal. I enjoy the ride, but I don’t want to keep having my head slam into the back of the seat or to be falling around inside the rocket!
Since I had over an hour until 7:20 I wandered around a bit, but the crowds were too bad to really do anything. I ended up going into Innoventions and looked around more in there. No email postcards like at Epcot, though. I played the Honeywell Home Game with a bunch of teenagers and lost (by a wide margin, lol). When I went back outside there was a bank playing at the stage in Tomorrowland, and they sounded very familiar. Eventually I realized they were playing a song that I always hear Frankie & the West End Boys play at Pleasure Island when waiting for the 8:15 show at the Comedy Warehouse! This band wasn’t Frankie - their name was Catch 22, and they were excellent. I sat and enjoyed their music for a while, and they drew a pretty big crowd.
At 7:20 I went back to Space Mountain, but just after I got inside the ride shut down. From where the fast pass people had come in we could see the track through the window when they turned the lights on - it was pretty cool. It’s amazing how small an area the track actually uses - no wonder you’re twisting & turning so much. It was fixed after about 10 minutes, and this time I got the front seat and had music! After the ride I went back around for my final ride :::sigh::: The fast passes were all gone by now, but I wasn’t planning to ride again even if they were available. It seemed right that my last ride on my last night should be my favorite ride, so I wasn’t interested in trying to get on anything else. I’ll miss this ride, and hope some day WDW changes theirs to upgrade it to the Disneyland version.
As I approached Main Street (headed to the Bakery to buy a cinnamin twist) I saw everyone lined up for the parade again, and noticed that it would be starting in 5 minutes. I found a spot behind some people and decided to stand and watch. I ended up liking it - the music was very good - all Disney songs. They had a couple of sections where guests were in the parade, wearing silly hats, wearing tutu’s and dancing around. They were so bad it was really funny, and they were having a great time! And then, without warning, after it had totally slipped my mind....HE arrived. It was Tarzan! All I could say to myself was “Oh my....Oh my....” He was absolute perfection, if you ignored the awful wig. There’s nothing more to say except he is exquisite - and when he waves to the crowd, causing muscles to ripple under his skin - it just takes your breath away. I actually turned to watch his float as it passed, until I think the people further up the street thought I was looking at them, lol! Too bad I didn’t have the camcorder tonight.
When the parade was done it was shoulder to shoulder people and the gridlock got so bad nobody was moving at one point. I was headed to the Bakery, but the line was so long it filled up the entire waiting area (which is much larger than at WDW - probably 3 times as long) so I didn’t wait. Once back out on Main Street I soon realized that everywhere in the park was going to have long lines, and there wasn’t anything else that I really wanted, so I went back to the Bakery & got in line. Luckily the line moved steadily and they had all 4 registers open. I ordered a hazelnut cafe latte and my cinnamin twist, but the cm checked and found out they’d just sold the last one a few seconds ago. Argh - this park just does NOT want to feed me, lol! There wasn’t anything else I wanted, so I stuck with the latte and headed back out to the street. By now there was only about 20 minutes to go before the fireworks so I found a spot on the curb in front of the coke place and sat down.
At 9:30 the fireworks started - and they were wonderful! Tonight was the premier of the new fireworks show “ Believe...There’s Magic in the Stars” Fireworks Spectacular. The music was great - lively and whimsical, very Disney. The fireworks were impressive also. Overall I’d say it’s definitely better than Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks at MK - these are more on par with the old Sorcery in the Sky that used to be done at MGM. One unusual thing - Tinkerbell flies from the top of the Matterhorn to the castle, but doesn’t do it at the beginning. She flies towards the end - I thought it was all over and then she flew and there were more fireworks. The whole thing lasted 15 minutes, and people were applauding when it was done. All of Main Street was full of guests standing to watch the fireworks - no empty space anywhere. I’d say most of them continued into the park for more rides or the late Fantasmic, which clinched my decision to NOT stay for Fantasmic after all. I just was not interested in fighting the huge crowds and waiting outside in the cold for a 10:30 show, and then getting back to the hotel so late. I’ll save Fantasmic for my next visit...oops, I guess that means I’ll be coming back.
I walked back to the Fairfield Inn, stopped in the cafe to buy a blueberry muffin to eat some later & the rest in the morning, and went to my room for the last time. I added the ToonTown pics to the photopoint site and got the suitcase organized for tomorrow’s trip. After finishing the report and doing the online stuff, hopefully I’ll be in bed by 12:30 or so.
Total miles walked: 11.4
SUMMARY:
* I came to Disneyland solely because I was going to be nearby (Las Vegas) and it just made sense to take the extra time since I was so close. My only other visit was a single day 18 years ago, and I honestly did not expect to feel compelled to visit again after this trip. However, I found Disneyland to be a special place, and I’m sure I will be back. I’d love for them to build a dvc resort here - then I’d definitely be back & would be enjoying a gorgeous resort! If they don’t though, I could see myself back at the Fairfield Inn perhaps in another 5 years - for Disneyland’s 50th anniversary.
* Meeting Nina was wonderful - and the 2 days we spent together flew by! There were so many outstanding cm’s that did simple little things that made my trip magical. Disneyland has the edge on guest service over WDW. I don’t like that Disneyland is on such a small piece of land and the “real world” intrudes as soon as you leave the gate - traffic, touristy stuff, street peddlers, etc. Overall I definitely prefer WDW to Disneyland, but would probably rank Disneyland higher than the Magic Kingdom due to Indiana Jones and the better Space Mountain, Pirates, and Small World. WDW is my favorite due to the Comedy Warehouse and the whole resort experience. The Disneyland Hotel wasn’t very impressive, in my opinion.
Anyway, that was my experience at Disneyland - hope it’s been of some value to others reading. If you’ve got any questions feel free to email me.
This concludes the portion of the trip report that will be posted on the boards/newsgroup. The rest of the trip includes time in Utah, Las Vegas & the Grand Canyon. If you want to read the whole thing, go to http://members.aol.com/SueDVC/Trip.html
Sue Holland