Well here it is.... I was going to do this DURING my trip but I was too busy having fun. Maybe too much....here it goes....

4th of OCTOBER, Thursday...

Alarm goes off at 4a.m. in San Francisco. ugh. Super Shuttle whisks me to SFO and I am dropped off at the INTERNATIONAL TERMINAL which is where brand new VIRGIN AMERICA is. No one is at the terminal at all yet. I upgrade to First Class and it is AMAZING. Actually the whole plane is pretty cool so I highly recommend it to anyone in SF for their Disneyland trips (or NYC or DC or Las Vegas for that matter!) Get to LAX no problem and get in a Super Shuttle and make it to THE GRAND CALIFORNIAN in 35minutes.....YES you heard me!!!! So I am at the hotel at 8:40a.m.

Room wasn't ready.

Waiting for sis to arrive from Oregon.

She shows up around eleven. We check our bags at the BELL desk and they give us a number to call in case they are ready for us early. So we head to Disneyland in desperate need of lunch. The streets look great for Hallowe'en and we drink it all in as we decide that it is early enough to beat the crowds at RANCHO ZOCOLO so we head that aways.

We are BLOWN away by the HUGE and beautiful DIA DE LOS MUERTOS tribute set up in Frontierland. For you English speaking folks that is DAY OF THE DEAD which is an amazing celebration on November 2nd. I have set up a shrine in my apartment this year and we stopped in because their was a trio of three amazing musicians playing Mexican and Disney and Popular songs in Spanish and a bit in English. They are called the MARIACHI DIVAS and these gals rocked. We heard them play more than once on our visit. Very very cool. Please visit them and give them a hearty round of applause.

Had a nice lunch at RANCHO ZOCALO and then headed to Big Thunder and the Haunted Mansion and the Pirates of Carribean. Now we are starting to dog it big time so we ring up the hotel and POW our rooms are ready at 1:30....so we high tail it to the Hotel and move into our room. We had a standard view and we requested a courtyard view. Personally it is nice to NOT hear the noise of Downtown Disney and be away from the madding crowd and watching the MONORAIL zoom by. Sis did some shopping and I took a disco nap.

Then it was off to GRIZZLY RIVER RUN in our flip flops, suits and t shirts....no worry about getting wet. Good thing that was our policy. We ended up getting on a RAFT with 5 really cute kids....age six to 13 who were also from the BAY AREA and were really fun. They had ridden this 5 times and spent the whole ride teasing each other about getting wet. I think this ride is watched over by someone because we all were pretty dry after the final drop....then we went by that GEYSER...it never shut off and every last one of us was SOPPING WET. I mean not one dry inch on any of us. The kids quit laughing and me and my sis couldn't stop laughing....then they joined in. Then we headed for the pool for MARGARITAS and swam for an hour.

Back to the hotel and we ate our COW GIRL CREAMERY CHEESE and had a nice sip of Viognier.

Back to Dland for a couple of hours to enjoy the park at dusk and then we headed to NAPA ROSE for a shared salad, scallops and dessert at the bar. What a great way to end our first day in Disneyland.

5th of OCTOBER, FRIDAY

We slept in and decided not to head into the park early as we had early entry on Saturday. We ordered room service. The omelettes were pretty cheap and we had coffee in the room. We found out the coffee was only enough for barely two cups and the omelettes were HUUUUUUGE and my sis doesn't do a big breakfast so we SHOULD have ordered a pot of coffee and ONE omelette to share. Still it was nice not facing the crowds for breakfast and you can order your meal the night before. Very convenient.

Then we headed into the park for a WALK IN WALT'S FOOTSTEP TOUR. I had done this tour when I lived in Hollywood back when it was only 25 bucks and an hour and a half. I kind of enjoyed this version better for a Disney veteran like myself but my sister wanted to do it. I highly, highly, highly recommend it if you are taking someone who never has been to Disneyland and you are the veteran....that way you won't bore them with all the details and they give you a headset so you hear quotes from Mr. Disney himself the whole trip. Our tour guide was sweet and we jumped on THE DISNEYLAND RAIL ROAD and THE JUNGLE CRUISE and did the TIKI ROOM and got to see the lobby of CLUB 33 which was a first for me. I did learn a few fun facts and they served a nice lunch at the end of the three hour tour and we chatted with a really cool couple ALSO from the Bay Area!!!! So all in all it was worth it and I do recommend if you are doing it to do it early in your trip as you are taken on some attractions.

I don't recall the details after that but we rode a lot of rides the first two days including SPLASH, BTMRR, Space, Matterhorn, saving Fantasyland for Early Entry the next day. NEMO lines were 90 minutes EVERY time we looked. Since we had ridden it in August we opted out this trip.

Back to the hotel for our GRR, Pool, Margarita ritual. Then my sister went to meet her high school pal who was to spend the night with us. And I went to the First Mixer for Gay Days at the Sorrel Room in the GCH. That was fun and I chatted with a nice fellow from....you guessed it....the BAY AREA.....my sis and her pal showed up and we all enjoyed a cocktail with the very friendly hosts you were from DISNEY in the GLBT out reach dept. Which was very cool. The cocktail made us all very, very, very hungry and with no reservations on a FRIDAY night at 7pm you are kind of SOL. We ended up at CATAL and there was a 45 minute wait for a table but the outside bar was open and free so we sat down and got served quickly....sat next a cool gal who WAS NOT from the BAY AREA.....

Then we all three went back into the park and rode some rides and retired earlish to get up for EARLY ENTRY.....more later.....

*whew*

Needed a break there....didn't realize I had so much to write about.....Okay? Where were we????.....Ahhhhh yes.....Saturday Morning Early Entry.....

6th OCTOBER, SATURDAY-Got up very early of course and made it into the park at 8am. By the time we whisked around the Matterhorn to ride NEMO it was a 60 minute wait.....so we opted to do ALL of Fantasyland and we did just that.

First off we had a FIRST TIME EXPERIENCE.....the three of us got on the TEA CUPS and we were the ONLY 3 on the ride. We each picked a different section and had our own cup. AWESOME. We then rode every single ride except CASEY JR. and STORY BOOK because they were closed. We also fit SPACE MOUNTAIN and the MATTERHORN into that hour(both with a 5 minute wait) so we actually think NEMO is awesome for that alone. Let me tell you ....riding about 12 attractions in an hour really makes the rest of the day seem easy. We had breakfast reservations at CARNATION CAFE and all had eggs and put the CINNAMON ROLL FRENCH TOAST in the middle to share. AWESOME. So now it is 9:30am so we decide to spend a leisurely time on MAIN ST. Listened to the Dapper Dans in their Hallowe'en finery. Rode the vehicles up and down the street. Shopped and looked at the WINDOW displays. Then we headed into FRONTIERLAND and did the shooting gallery and then went to ride the MARK TWAIN as the first official gay event of the day. Our friend Carol opted out of it to do some shopping. So we get on the MARK TWAIN along with 300 Red Shirt (you are supposed to wear a red shirt) Guys and Gals and we all stand on the PORT SIDE for Photo Ops and when we round the corner to dock our pal Carol over hears a guy say "Hey, look at ALL those red shirts....I wonder if they planned that."

Then we went to the PLAZA GARDENS to sign up for a GAY DAY sponsored Scavenger Hunt. It was very very cool. Disney didn't want hundreds of people clogging up the lands so they divided the packets into five pages. Each group was sent to a different area to complete before receiving the next area.

Our first task was FANTASYLAND/TOON TOWN....it was a counting game.....how many horses on the Carousel, how many Squirrell Drains on the castle, how many Ravens on the Apples on Snow White, how many coins are stacked at the TOON TOWN BANK!!!! etc. you also had to get your picture taken at two different areas shown on the paper and this held true for every land. We were 100% right on that one.

Number Two was MAIN ST USA. Two more pictures to be taken. ONE WAS REALLY HARD it was the drawing on the bathroom side of the MAIN ST. BANK so I had never seen it....very cool. The questions here were complete the years.....what year is the Penny on the penny arcade, What century sailors does Hawkeye want to hire for the Columbia, copywright of films on Main St. Cinema.etc. We completed that one lickety split too and 100% correct.

THIRD LAND was shopping in Tommowland, find the prices without tax and add them up....some were easy but some were hard (who knew that a SUPERNOVA SWEET was available at TOMMOROWLAND TERRACE but was just an ice cream bar???????) Our math was great and we were 100% correct again!!!!! Two more lands to go and we were playing beat the clock!!!

FOURTH LAND was New Orleans Sq./ Critter Country and it was all about the signage. Where is Kanga and Roo's mail box, where is TOM SAWYER'S look out point, Who is the proprieter of the Chanelry? and we never noticed this one.....Match the addresses in New Orleans to the fire department plaques. Back in the day the fired departments were private and you paid them and they put their plaques on your building and if your place caught on fire they would only put it out if you paid your bill and the plaque hung on it. I had NEVER noticed this in all my years to NEW ORLEANS SQUARE. There are three different emblems. One looks like a snake and one actually looks like a fireman. The other one looked kinda like grapes and they are oval....very cool. THis was very very hard because there was construction and it was lunch time so we were all most out of time when we grabbed...

FIFTH LANDS-Adventureland/Frontierland....complete the phrases......things like NO CUSSING, SPITTING DRINKING___________________________(the answer was "in deference to the gentler sex" or something to that effect and it was in fine print on the GOLDEN HORSESHOE sign) With 5 minutes left to spare we asked TEN cast members about TEXAS BILL'S BEES and NOT one had any idea what we were talking about so we missed that one and didn't have time to finish the bonus round. We thought we did so great but 8 teams had already finished the bonus round which were 8 extra questions that could be anywhere. Our feet were really glad we ran out of time. We didn't win but what a cool thing to do. ( By the way the BEE SIGN is in the window in plain sight above the MERCANTILE STORE) I guess we were all too tired to notice it.

Soooooooooooooooooo.....exhausted we headed back to the hotel and did the Suit/GRR (with single rider entry)/pool ritual. This time we brought a bottle of white wine down using a plastic carafe and plastic cups. We met a cool couple and her sis and ended up drinking a second bottle of wine. Awesome afternoon of fellowship and toasting by the pool. Needless to say we didn't have cocktails or wine with dinner at YAMABUKI.....our first time there. Beautiful restaurant and the sushi was outstanding. Nice to have a healthful meal at DIsneyland. Highly recommend it. Then I took a nap while my sis and her pal rode big rides. Then we bid farewell to our friend and watched FANTASMIC and retired around ELEVEN very very tired. There was a big dance party that night at THE HOUSE OF BLUES but me and my sis opted for a good nights sleep and early rising for GAY DAYS IN DCA on SUNDAY!!!

7th of OCTOBER- SUNDAY- Slept in a bit with no alarm. NICE. Got up and had breakfast at WHITE WATER CAFE in the GCH. Very low key and pretty. Sat outside and could see DCA coming alive. Walked right into the park and did the biggies (SCREAMIN, SOARIN, TOWER OF TERROR) since we had only ridden GRR (three times already) Of course lots of red shirts and the place was PACKED for the three day weekend. I have never waited so long for TOWER OF TERROR. It was a half hour wait. It was real cool though because they had extra sound effects for Hallowe'en and that was neat. It was also really cool seeing all of the Hallowe'en decorations in the lobby so I didn't mind waiting at all. The ride seemed EXTRA awesome. We did MONSTER'S INC. still the cutest dark ride in the park. Talked to ROZ a lot on this trip. We had a handicap person in front of us and they took a while to unload and me and my sis actually had a bit of a conversation with her.

We watched PUSH the talking/moving trash can in the SAN FRANCISCO (very lame section) area for at least 20 minutes. HILARIOUS. He talked to me and my sis for quite a while and begged kids for CHURROS and made people show him their hands after exiting the bathroom, he tried to get a drink of water, and talked to his ex-wife trash can and she didn't say anything. Very funny. You all have to look for him in DCA!!!! After riding EVERYTHING in PARADISE PIER it was about 12:30 so we ate pizza at PIZZA OOM MOW MOW! (did I spell that right?) Not bad. And we headed back to the pool skipping our GRR ritual. THREE TIMES was enough. Skipping our cocktail ritual (the last few days were enough plus we wanted wine for dinner in the VINEYARD ROOM) We did get fast passes though for SCREAMIN' GRR and SOARIN'....the park was so busy they ran out of TOWER OF TERROR!!!!!!!

WE then met at the GOLDEN ZEPYR for the GAY DAYS meet for BLOCK PARTY BASH....(we missed the PARADE OF DREAMS the day before because of being exhausted from the Scavenger Hunt)...and that was SUPER FUN. All the red shirts danced up a storm and then we all follow the end en masse to watch the gals do the dance off at the end. What a hoot.


Then back to the hotel to change for dinner at the VINEYARD ROOM. We had a cocktail at Napa Rose then walked into the park in our finery and had an awesome dinner. My sister got the pre fixe with CARROT GINGER SOUP, FILET MIGNON and PARFAIT....a wine pairing with each course that was gorgeous ( I sipped each one and got a glass of red wine with my course) I had a PROSCUITTO/ PEAR app and PORK CHOP for dinner. Our waiter was super cool and new his wines. Really a great experience. Then we headed to DL to catch the fireworks. By standing back by the TOWN SQUARE part of MAIN ST. You have an awesome view of the castle. Not up close but still you can see all of the lighting effects. Then back to the GCH for a farewell cocktail party in the HEARTHSTONE lounge. Saw lots of people we met all weekend and thanked the organizers. What a great day!!!

8th OCTOBER- MONDAY- Did early entry one more time but wished we would have slept in. WE were really exhausted from our stay and the park was SUPER CROWDED. Space Mtn. didn't open until later and it was packed packed packed for that holiday. We got a fast pass for SPLASH and the HAUNTED MANSION. We did the Astro Orbiter before there was a line and did POOH and CANOES since we didn't do those. Said farewell to the MARIACHI DIVAS and ate a luncheon at CARNATION and headed to LAX.

Now I am jonesing to go for Xmas time........

Thanks for a detailed and interesting post, madasahatter! Sounds like you had a blast! Wish we could have been there to share in the festivities...

Great report! What is a "disco nap"?

Wow,

You really READ my report. A disco nap is a term I heard while living in NYC and refers to taking a quick nap (usually under a half of an hour) to rejuvenate oneself before heading out for the night. In NYC the bars and clubs don't even START until MID NITE!!!! So hence the term DISCO NAP....in Disneyland they occur around 7 pm.

Cheers!!!

Hey! I used to take Disco Naps, too. I just never knew what they were called. It was Country Western dancing, but the same idea. How funny!

Greetings from another Gay Days attendee!

Reading your TR made me all nostalgic. Perhaps I need to fly back down there some time soon for another Disney fix...

Wow, I am tired reading your report! LOL! Sounds like a great trip! Can't wait for our upcoming trip 12/20-12/27th! Are you going at Christmas as well? Such a Magical time at the Parks! I LOVE the holidays at DL, no matter how crowded it is, I just pack ALL my patience with me! ;) Thanks for sharing, sounds like you had a marvelous time!:D I love reading these reports, it makes me anxious to go.....I wanna go...NOW!!!
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