Trip Reports
10-16-2005, 06:38 PM
* Time of Year: Fall
* Travel Method: Not Reported
* Resort: offsite
* Accommodations: Not Reported
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
* Comments: This is a very short report, just a few paragraphs, but provides a nice little glimpse of the magic. Probably the best thing about the report is Stephen's realization that he could truly enjoy his visit to the park by just hanging out, with no agenda or goals in mind.
Well, on the advice of many here I went to Disneyland by myself Saturday, Sept. 2. A little background, I am in Irvine (15 minutes from Anaheim) for the labor day weekend and was wondering if going to DL by myself was just too wacky. Many people mailed to say "go for it" and I did.... thought I'd file a trip report. Firstly, I'm a WDW regular, taking the family (wife, 3 kids under 8) to Orlando roughly twice a year. Also, we recently got back from a vacation to the Grand Canyon and Disneyland just about a month ago so I didn't feel bad about going to DL by myself.
I got in the park around 9:30 am and the first thing I did was..... nothing. I just hung out... I marveled at how busy everyone one was rushing to ride this or that and I'm sure that's exactly how I look when I take the family, I've always thought any Disney trip was among the most exhausting of vacations.
I gravitated over to Adventure Land and did the obligatory Pirates ride.... for some reason I always like this to be first... sets the tone I suppose. Then I ambled over to the Haunted Mansion and got a Fast Pass for Indy. After that, I just walked about for a while... I realized I didn't have an amazingly strong desire to hit all the rides and it was quite liberating to know I could just hang out. To try to sum it up, I guess I did the things I never get to do w/ the family (now don't take me wrong, as most family guys here will attest, nothing is better than the look on your daughter's face when she sees Snow White). I waited for the 4:30 parade and got a great spot....I also noticed that some people are incredibly rude when it comes to waiting in line. A woman and her daughter were waiting next to me when someone tried to cut in front pretending not to see the dozens of people jockeying for a spot. I shoo'ed the interloper away w/ a loud "pardon me."
Grabbed lunch at the Bengal Barbecue and rode Indy and skipped over to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan, Mr. Toad and Pinocchio. Didn't set one foot in Toon Town..... but I rode the train around the entire park twice - who knew about the Grand Canyon and the Dinosaur forest. Early dinner at one of the New Orleans sidewalk places and then decided to grab a spot on the bridge about 90 minutes before Fantasmic. There I had the incredible luck of meeting a Dutch couple (Michele and Karla) and I believe they frequent the newsgroups so if you guys are out there - thanks for the excellent company. They made waiting for both Fantasmics a complete joy.
After the shows, I sauntered over to the Haunted Mansion again and then hit the Jungle Cruise and Indy one last time before some shopping for the kids and then to the parking lot around 12:45am. All in all a fun day but surprisingly, I'm done for a while. I thought about going on Monday but... nah.... while I had a lot of fun it wasn't the same w/out my kids. I kept missing them badly each time I passed their favorite rides.
Stephen Banks
* Travel Method: Not Reported
* Resort: offsite
* Accommodations: Not Reported
* Ages Represented in Group: Adult
* Disneyland Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
* Comments: This is a very short report, just a few paragraphs, but provides a nice little glimpse of the magic. Probably the best thing about the report is Stephen's realization that he could truly enjoy his visit to the park by just hanging out, with no agenda or goals in mind.
Well, on the advice of many here I went to Disneyland by myself Saturday, Sept. 2. A little background, I am in Irvine (15 minutes from Anaheim) for the labor day weekend and was wondering if going to DL by myself was just too wacky. Many people mailed to say "go for it" and I did.... thought I'd file a trip report. Firstly, I'm a WDW regular, taking the family (wife, 3 kids under 8) to Orlando roughly twice a year. Also, we recently got back from a vacation to the Grand Canyon and Disneyland just about a month ago so I didn't feel bad about going to DL by myself.
I got in the park around 9:30 am and the first thing I did was..... nothing. I just hung out... I marveled at how busy everyone one was rushing to ride this or that and I'm sure that's exactly how I look when I take the family, I've always thought any Disney trip was among the most exhausting of vacations.
I gravitated over to Adventure Land and did the obligatory Pirates ride.... for some reason I always like this to be first... sets the tone I suppose. Then I ambled over to the Haunted Mansion and got a Fast Pass for Indy. After that, I just walked about for a while... I realized I didn't have an amazingly strong desire to hit all the rides and it was quite liberating to know I could just hang out. To try to sum it up, I guess I did the things I never get to do w/ the family (now don't take me wrong, as most family guys here will attest, nothing is better than the look on your daughter's face when she sees Snow White). I waited for the 4:30 parade and got a great spot....I also noticed that some people are incredibly rude when it comes to waiting in line. A woman and her daughter were waiting next to me when someone tried to cut in front pretending not to see the dozens of people jockeying for a spot. I shoo'ed the interloper away w/ a loud "pardon me."
Grabbed lunch at the Bengal Barbecue and rode Indy and skipped over to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan, Mr. Toad and Pinocchio. Didn't set one foot in Toon Town..... but I rode the train around the entire park twice - who knew about the Grand Canyon and the Dinosaur forest. Early dinner at one of the New Orleans sidewalk places and then decided to grab a spot on the bridge about 90 minutes before Fantasmic. There I had the incredible luck of meeting a Dutch couple (Michele and Karla) and I believe they frequent the newsgroups so if you guys are out there - thanks for the excellent company. They made waiting for both Fantasmics a complete joy.
After the shows, I sauntered over to the Haunted Mansion again and then hit the Jungle Cruise and Indy one last time before some shopping for the kids and then to the parking lot around 12:45am. All in all a fun day but surprisingly, I'm done for a while. I thought about going on Monday but... nah.... while I had a lot of fun it wasn't the same w/out my kids. I kept missing them badly each time I passed their favorite rides.
Stephen Banks