ErikM
10-17-2007, 10:40 AM
Our first Disneyland Anaheim trip 26th – 30th september 2007
Cast:
Erik 30 years old: Disney-dweeb from birth
Sandra 32 years old: Likes Disney a lot especially since she hooked up with me.
Sandra en Erik both veteran Disneyland Paris visitors: more than 22 multi day visits since 1995 and still counting
Walt Disney World: First visit June 2005 off site with a 7 day magic your way ticket.
Second visit November – December 2006 on site with a 10 day magic your way ticket
Finally the waiting was over so we could start our three week exploration of the west coast.
I know you are all not really interested in knowing what we did the first two and a half weeks, this is a Disney site so I will stick to the Disney portion of the trip. Oh I might as well tell you about all the 3456 critters we saw during our stay in the national parks……just kidding I will not bore you with the details, although we saw a lotta critters including a momma bear and her three cubs, ooooooh how cute.
Ok on with the report from Disneyland Anaheim.
I am not going to give you a full rundown what we did every single minute of the day, life is just too short, but I will comment different aspects of the resort and comment on them and I will make some comparisons with the other Disney resorts that we visited.
We are annual passholders for the Paris resort and we had two trips down to Orlando the last couple of years so we are becoming avid Disney travelers.
Like we said we had a three week trip on the west coast. To be honest we were thinking about only visiting Disneyland in Anaheim and then flying home but there were a few other highlights that we included to extend our stay, boy are we glad we did. Disney is fun but there are some other gorgeous places in the world and you kinda forget about them sometimes when you are in a Disney frenzy. The finale of our trip was a four night stay at the Disneyland hotel in Anaheim, I will begin my report with our thoughts of the hotel.
Disneyland hotel:
We arrived on Wednesday around noon at the hotel. The hotel looked, well like an ordinary hotel on first glance. A couple of boring towers from a distance not really Disney-like. If you looked further there were of course a lot of nice features to this hotel. The tropical gardens and walkways are just beautiful, the pool is great, although it looked great we never used it. The lobby has a very elegant feel and is truly Disneyesque. But the nicest feature for me were the horseshoe waterfalls near our tower. The rooms were spacious and well appointed and it had some great touches. Tinkerbell on the wallpaper that glowed in the dark, bedspreads with all the classic Disney attractions and the nice vanity area. The hotel was very conveniently located at the end of Downtown Disney it was really just a few minutes away from the fun at the parks. All the employees that we saw and spoke were very friendly and I think they wore their badges with pride, although it seemed like they did.
We had one problem with our room and not a very pleasant one. On our fourth day our toilet bowl flooded. Yippie what a great way to start the day !! We called housekeeping and they assured us that they were going to take care of it. So they did, everything was nice and clean again and we could use our bathroom without bothering our neighbors. That would have been something to use the bathroom at the neighbors. One thing I have to say is that the rooms are very noisy, you can hear almost everything. We had an extremely loud woman staying next to us, our friendly neighbor that we almost had to bother with our bathroom troubles. She was really not in her happy place that morning, she yelled at her kid that she had to open her F…. mouth, well well well that is not something you want to wake up with. And you also don’t want to go knocking on the door of her room to ask for a potty break. We were very glad that we only ate a bagel the night before.
Loud neighbor on the side the stay at the hotel was very pleasant and I would return in the future, I think they are going to remodel the whole hotel over the next few years. We were looking for a restaurant to eat one morning and we stumbled at the Grand Floridian, now that is a Disney hotel, it reminded us of the national parks we visited during this trip. Who knows in future when our budget allows, keep dreaming……………
Downtown Disney:
What a pretty place with all the flowers, fountains and other eyecandy. Especially at night when the twinkling lights are all on. We didn’t do a lot of shopping because they really didn’t have anything interesting for us. I think it was a shame that they only had one big Disney store and not like in Orlando that they had all kinds of Disney shops. I would have loved an Animation gallery and a Christmas shop and where is the Ghirardelli shop !!! We want free samples !!!!! Nothing to do with Disney of course but just to satisfy our sweettooth. Everything was very well maintained I have to say, that really stands out for me at this resort and not only at Downtown Disney. Everything is just one notch cleaner and brighter in Anaheim.
We were a bit worried with the food in the resort. They do not really have a lot of choices when you compare it to Orlando. I know it is not a fair comparison but Sandra was mortified to find out that they didn’t have a Wolfgang Puck, Liberty tree tavern, Sci Fi dine inn or Prime time café let alone a food court at our hotel. All the planning and preparing and telling Sandra what to expect I forgot to mention the food, you can imagine the horror. During our stay we had a couple of good breakfasts at the La Brea bakery, just a simple bagel and cream cheese every morning keeps our clock ticking. We didn’t really care for their cinnamon rolls, the bread was tasty but we like them stickier and sweeter. We never really eat big dinners we prefer to eat our big meal at lunchtime, our tummies prefer that. We had two delicious lunches at Naples. Oh they had these great filled pasta shells with spinach, ricotta and then baked in the oven with cheese and marinara sauce. The three cheese pizza was also very good but the tiramisu and the chocolate cake were really the best. Actually we had these lunches on Saturday and Sunday and the waitress recognized us, she was really sweet. One thing that bothered us was the fact that people who have take-out from the Napolini next door can use the outdoor seating area where restaurant guests eat their food. Or this was maybe because our waitress was very sweet that she didn’t want to say anything about it but there was one family with an incredibly obnoxious child that was screaming the whole time. They ate their prefab lunches next to our table and it was not very pleasant and to top it all off they left everything behind, plastic bag and all. This is not what you want on a nice quiet afternoon and you are eating a lovely lunch. I do not know if this is common practice but it sure bothered us.
Disneyland park:
What can you say, pure Disney magic, charming, small and welcoming. But when it is crowded the charming small park becomes cramp with overheated guests and a place to avoid at all times. It never really bothered us when it is was crowded in one of the other Disney parks we visited around the globe but at this park it was a bit of a problem for us. It can be that we were tired from the three week trip we had and we couldn’t really deal with the crowds on Friday and Saturday.
Despite that is was a treat walking around the park on Wednesday afternoon and seeing all the originals that Walt and his imagineers designed 50 years ago. First, it is a bit of a tradition for us, we rode the railroad. Cute station and town square looked very festive with the nice Halloween decorations. When we were walking up to the station Sandra glanced back and got her first look at the Sleeping Beauty castle. She said “is THAT the castle” I said yes, she paused……”well it is very tiny”
I told her all this stuff before but she was a bit shocked that it was this small. She loves Disney but I am the real dweeb, I knew exactly what to expect so I was prepared for the eencie weencie castle. Riding the rails was nice and it gave a good first impression of the park.
Main Street: Small charming Main Street was wonderful. They had some nice shops and it felt really different than the more elaborate streets in Orlando and Paris. What really stood out was all the entertainment in the street, Dapper dans and the marching band and they had all the vehicles and streetcars running. It was a real bustling small street. It is a shame that we only have a fraction of this in Paris. That was another plus of this park all the entertainment offerings. From the live bands on Saturday night to the small jazz combo in New Orleans Square everything sounded great and brought the place to life.
Adventureland: Wow this place is really tiny ! ( my reaction, not Sandra’s) Especially when you compare it with the bigger land in Orlando and the enormous one in Paris. The really have no room to expand here. Nevertheless the place is very well themed and looks great. Lets start with those golden oldies the Tiki Birds, ahhhh bliss, what a great and cute show. We like the show in Orlando but this is really THE classic AA show. Let’s hope that the birds still have their lovely show in 50 years. The Jungle cruise was nice and I liked the piranha effect but the skippers were talking very fast and they almost swallowed their microphones so the sound was very distorted, guess the . Some things were different in comparison to Orlando, the scenes looked more crisp and fresh here in Anaheim. But the real gem of this land is the much praised Indiana Jones adventure. I must say they did one hell of a job with the whole ride. From entrance to exit it is all details in true Disney style. When we rode it the first time Sandra said that she liked Dinosaur better but when we took our second spin we knew what to expect and we were more relaxed. Fortunately we rode it twice on Wednesday with a small wait and again on Saturday with our complimentary fastpass that they gave us while evacuating Space Mountain, but that is another story. I we only could have this kind of ride in Paris, I would almost kill for it, almost………
We didn’t visit Tarzans treehouse, we saw a lot of real Sequoias on our trip so we were not in the mood to climb a fake tree.
To be honest Sandra is never really in the mood to climb treehouses. After 10 years of pleading we did the Robinson treehouse in Paris, so that was all the tree climbing we were gonna get this year. Sandra by the way is my lovely wife and I love her to death, she really is no difficult person but when it comes to treehouses I am really on my own.
Adventureland was one area we visited the most during this trip, although it is small it is again charming and feels cozy. It reminded me that all Disney parks are truly unique and they are all worth visiting. To be honest you can only say that to real Disney fans because when you tell someone who never visited one or is not a fan you are almost laughed at and they look at you like you are an imbecil. I am glad that there are a few imbecils in my family and friends circle.
New Orleans Square: This is truly one immersive district with a lot of beautiful details. Too bad some small areas were blocked off by construction fences. We also liked the small park next to the French market and the Haunted Mansion. We had a lot of fun there watching people and we did the famous spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp sans spaghetti but with a churro……don’t ask. We did no shopping in the area but the shops looked great and well themed. Oh sure we ate here, not only churros although we wished we had. We tried the famous monte christo sandwich, the cheese variation. We ate at the café Orleans because the Blue Bayou was fully booked for the day, doesn’t anybody have to go to work on Friday ?
We both ordered the cheese version without the powdered sugar, it just didn’t seem natural to me with sugar ( is there anything natural about this thing ?). When it arrived I must admit it didn’t look very appetising to us. Now for all you M christo fans out there please skip the next part.
I do not understand what the big deal is with this dish. It is just a heart-attack waiting to happen. We absolutely didn’t like it and we thought it was almost disgusting, mind you, almost. We had a good time throwing grapes at each other in the restaurant, again don’t ask…….
The sweet waitress who brought us the check, and caught a grape or two, brought these delicious chocolate coins. We asked her, already knowing the answer, where we could buy these. She brought out a few more for us….hihihi , sneaky devils.
Again back to the overly positive: Pirates, what an amazing ride. It doesn’t have the elaborate outside theming as Paris but the ride is fabulous. This is our favorite Pirates version so far. Paris has a wonderfull version but the boats go rather fast and they don’t have those amazing alterations from the movie. A+ for Pirates !!! I think we rode it four times, we just loved it.
A big pro was the pace of the boats, you really have a good amount of time to look at the scenes so you can really enjoy them fully. The Haunted Mansion holiday version was nice, They did a great job in decorating the house. The ride itself was good but we agreed that we would prefer to see the original version of the Mansion. I am glad we saw this though and at night it looked awesome with all the candles. The Mansion itself was just beautiful with the cemetary and all the other details. The outside was really pristine a big difference with the Phantom Manor ride in Paris.
Still my favorite is the Phantom Manor ride in Paris because it is more story driven, crepier and they use beautiful music.
Critter country: This is home to our favorite ride in the resort ( at least one of our favorites ) Winnie the Pooh, no just kidding, although it is cute. We absolutely adore Splash Mountain. It is such a fun ride with beautiful theming and great uplifting music. We loved the version in Florida and we loved this one too. There a some differences in the scenes and animatronics. The Orlando animatronics seem more sophisticated especially brear rabbit but that does not take away the pure joy of this ride. They had a more elaborate finale and laughing place here with more AA’s. The logs in Orlando go in a more leisurely pace while the Anaheim logs go rather fast and of course the seating is different. It always amazes me how steep and long the drop is, it is really spectacular. The first night on Wednesday we hesitated to ride because it was a bit chilly and people were really drenched when coming out of the ride. But we just couldn’t resist. We sat in the back and we kept ourselves fairly dry but the people in front of us were really wet. When we returned at the station there was nobody waiting so we stayed in the log for a second trip.
We were very lucky that evening, riding the mountain twice and almost no water damage.
The other ride in this area is really dwarfed by the mountain but it is a cute one. The much hated Winnie the pooh ride was rather enjoyable. I also thought it fitted quite nicely in the area. There was a woman working the controls of the ride and she was very enthusiastic and when I say very I mean freakishly very. She was yelling all sorts of Winnie the Pooh slang and she imitated Tigger. She had a great time, I think, or it was brain damage. The ride itself was cute and we liked the beehives which transported us to the hundred acre wood. Critter country was a relaxing place with all the shade and relaxed atmosphere.
Frontierland: In Anaheim this land really is small in comparison to Paris. It is nicely themed and they have a great Big thunder mountain. Wow this ride is really fast. Still the most impressive BTM stands in Paris but the Anaheim version comes in second because of the speed. Orlando has a great version but I remember it as being less smooth than the other two versions. I am still amazed at how small the Anaheim park is really. They had to cramp it all in but the theming and atmosphere never suffers from this, I think that is a great accomplishment especially with BTM.
I loved the big boats on the river, WOW that Columbia is impressive. We rode it on our last morning on Sunday and it is really one impressive sight to see. We also liked the fact that you could go below decks to learn about how the crew lived on these kind of ships. The Mark Twain is always a true icon for me so seeing it glide gracefully through the waters was really great. We rode it on the first night and it was great. We liked the fact that they had chairs on the lower deck. We also visited the petting zoo, they had all these great pumpkin displays and a barn where you could take photos with the displays. They also had some sweet animals and there was one little goat that really seeked shelter with Sandra because the small kids were herassing him or her. This was a nice and quiet area away from the madhouse in the other parts of the park. We did not visit the Pirate Island, we were not really interested and we had other priorities. We saw the canoes on Sunday, that was a first for us to see canoes on the river, nice touch.
Fantasyland: The eencie weencie pinkie castle was actually very pretty up close. It had some great touches and details and we loved the Snow White wishing well and fountain next to the castle. The rest of Fantasyland was pretty similar to Paris but much smaller. It was really uncomfortable here with all those people. We were not interested in riding rides that we have in Paris and Orlando so we sticked to the unique rides. Let me start by saying that the following is our own observation we never grew up with those rides so please forgive us.
Mr Toads wild ride was just plain stupid. I do not understand the fuss. It is ugly and it looks very cheap. In my opinion not a Disney ride although it is a Disneyland original. Ok maybe this is blasphemy for most of you Disney fans but that was our opinion. I know that It’s a small world is going to close for nine months and let me start by saying that the ride really needs it. It is just not up to the standards of the Paris and Orlando version. We really like It’s a small world but we were really disappointed with this version. We know that it is 40 years old but I hope that they spruce this one up because it deserves better.
Now lets get positive: Alice in Wonderland was nice, we waited 30 minutes and that is way more than we want to wait for these kind of rides. But we liked it, the theming was very good and maybe it is also because I loved the movie when I was young. Why can’t Mr Toad be like this ? The Matterhorn was also very enjoyable. Sandra was scared to death when she heard the first growl of the abominable snowman. Of course the ride is old and you notice that and there are better coasters but we liked it and the splash at the end was a nice touch. We rode it twice and we would definately go again.
Like I said the rest of Fantasyland was nicely themed but very small and cramp with all the people and I really do not want to wait 50 minutes to see Peter Pan. That is the reason that we also never rode it in Orlando.
We also did not visit Toon Town because it was not a priority for us because there are so much other wonderful rides. Maybe next time, I know that it is better than the Orlando version but we skipped it anyway.
Tomorrowland: When we go to Paris we often skip Discoveryland, it is gorgeous but we like Frontier and Adventure better. In Orlando we like the Tomorrowland because they have the Carrousel of Progress, Stich escape show and the TTA (our favorite)
Here in Anaheim they have a lot of the same things that we have in Paris so we skipped Star Tours (we are waiting for the upgrade) and Buzz (we are non-violent people so we do not really like to shoot)
The area is not bad but we all know what needs to be done to make the area more attractive.
Reintroducing the submarines was a very good start and let me say that we loved it. We rode it twice and were perfectly ok with waiting 75 minutes. This is our kind of ride, leisurely paced and full of eyecandy.
They really did a great job, two thumbs way up !! Last year we rode the Epcot seas pavilion nemo ride and were not very impressed but with this ride they really pushed the envelope. Space Mountain was also great. On Friday we rode it but we were evacuated from the ride, really nice to see the building with the lights on, we made pictures !! They gave us a complimentary fastpass that we could use for any attraction except Nemo, we used it on Indiana Jones. Later that evening after the fireworks we hasted ourselves to Space Mountain. We thought the wait would be less now with all the people leaving but it was still 40 minutes. When we entered the inside waiting area things came to a halt…..no movement for ten minutes and there were people leaving. Oh no not again, we wanted to ride the damn thing. After 5 minutes so many people left that we were at the boarding platform and they got the ride up and running again. The ride is great I think it is our favorite Space Mountain. Orlando’s mountain is a bit outdated and is not very smooth, smoothness is also the problem with the Parisian mountain although it is the most spectacular version.
Shows: There were no real stageshows in the park, kinda weird. They have a lot of street performers and that really adds to the atmosphere in the park. We saw the parade of dreams and that was great. A beautiful parade with very detailed floats and a catchy tune. Although I think the new once upon a dream Parade in Paris is better but the Anaheim parade was impressive too.
The real showstopper was the Remember… dreams come true Fireworks spectacular and spectacular it was. Although not as emotional as Wishes or illuminations in Orlando it featured great music and beautiful choreographed fireworks and I liked that it was really different from the other fireworks shows. Disney really knows how to push the button regarding fireworks extravaganzas. We didn’t see Fantasmic because two hours before the first show New Orleans square and Frontierland were complete chaos with all the people sitting on the ground and we didn’t want to deal with that. We saw it in Orlando and we have the Disneyland version on DVD so we are going to watch that from the comfort of our living room.
To wrap it all up: Disneyland has some amazing attractions some are the best Disney has like Pirates, Indy, Space, Nemo and Splash but the smaller space makes it uncomfortable to go on weekends. Next time we go we will probably avoid the weekend and go during the week. Although when you go on weekends you have these amazing extras like the Fireworks and Fantasmic shows. The park looked great and really clean and everything was well kept. I think there are some great things waiting to happen to this park, like re-doing Tomorrowland and fixing It’s a small world so it will only gain in quality. They call it the crown jewel of Disney parks, I agree but it is a very small jewel. Orlando and Paris are just as near to my heart as this one. They are all so different and each one deserves it to be visited.
California Adventure: I honestly have to say that I expected the worst from this park so maybe I was prepared. Sandra didn’t know really what to expect. First let me start by saying that the park really lacks theming in some areas atmosphere and rides. The real Disney spark is spread around very thinly and only in some areas. I
But, there is a but, we had some of our best times this trip in this park. Don’t get me wrong there is a lot wrong with the park but we are also used to the most hated Disney park in the world, Walt disney Studios in Paris. So maybe we were prepared for this.
Like I said we really enjoyed ourselves when we were here and I think the lack of big crowds was also a factor for us that made it positive.
Hollywood pictures backlot: this area had the most Disney sparkle for me. Although I am not really a fan of the backlot themes in these kind of parks. I like real buildings and not painted flats. We were walking down the streets tapping our toes to the music so we were in a good mood when we visited.
Tower of Terror: After all the criticism on this version of the tower I expected a nice ride but not the wow factor like the Orlando version has. I have to say that we both loved the ride. The building is very impressive, actually they are building the same structure right now in Paris, so that gave us a good first impression of things to come. It lacks the elaborate spooky gardens that Orlando has. The theming inside is just top notch from lobby to library to boiler room. The ride itself was awesome. We liked the first floor stop with the mirror effect. The second stop was similar to the Orlando version except for the last effect. The breaking window was replaced by a falling elevator, which I like better and is more appropriate.
I don’t think they have different drop-patterns because we rode it three times and I thought it was the same, but we sure loved it.
The lack of a fifth dimension room where the elevator rides horizontal and from there enters the shaft was no biggie for me. Sandra never even mentioned it. I like the room in Orlando and it is really disorienting but some effects look rather cheap and the newer effect with the mirror looked very convincing. The only thing I didn’t understand was the loading area. Why do they have two platforms ? It also took a very long time to load us in the elevators. They were using one shaft on Thursday but there were people waiting on the first floor loading platform and on the ground floor platform. It took forever to enter the elevator, there were two lines for one elevator. And my other complaint was that there was no real theming in the exit area. You step out of the elevator and you walk some corridor with no real theming. Like I said we loved the tower and we can’t wait to ride it in Paris.
We also loved the Monsters inc ride. It was such an enjoyable ride with so much nice little details and surprises. This is not your ordinary darkride. We loved the way that Ross reacted to the people in the taxi. Sandra wanted to take a picture of her and she said “sure you make a picture” and Sandra said “thank you” and she responded back “you’re welcome”
I love the living character program from Disney. We saw Lucky the Dinosaur, Turtle Talk and now this. It was a pity that they didn’t have Doc Bunson Honeydew and Beeker in Anaheim at that moment, I would have loved to see those characters interact with the guests. We already loved The Muppets in Orlando and we loved the Muppets here. They crack me up every time I see them. They also have the key under the mat gag here. Again I lifted the mat and the castmember told us we were the first guests in 4 weeks that looked under it. Too bad that they probably will not stay in California Adventure with all the new plans for the park. Maybe they can pack the whole thing up and ship it to Paris, hey that’s an idea !
The Animation building was also a nice surprise. Turtle Talk was great as always and we loved the sorcerers workshop. We also liked the Toy Story zoetroope. The lobby was also quite impressive with all those video screens that showed all these different images of Disney animated features.
Golden State: The Grizzly river run attraction is very impressive. The mountain really is beautiful and the ride is great fun. When we rode the Kali river rapids in Animal Kingdom we swore never to ride a ride like that again because we were drenched. After seeing the rafts zipping along the river we were eager to ride. We were not really wet and it was nice and warm so that was convenient. We thought the ride was awesome. I think it is a good idea that they are going to place some wildlife scenes along the route it will give the ride more Disney quality. In condor flats we visited Soarin over California of course. We love this ride !! We rode it several times in Florida and this version is the same but it is so impressive and relaxing, it was a little emotional to see the Golden Gate, the pacific coast and Yosemite because we visited them during this trip. We really were emotional about it and when we exited we were all teary eyed. The rest of the area was a bit static, pacific wharf and the San Francisco area were nice to look at but there was nothing to do.
A bugs land: This is a nicely themed area for the kids nothing that interested us but nice to look at. The 3D It’s tough to be a bug show is hilarious. That amazing AA of Hopper is just mindblowingly realistic. We really like it but I wonder if one park needs two 3D shows ? They are both great fun but I wonder if this will change in the future. Although I heard about Muppets being replaced with Philarmagic. Well the future will see.
Paradise Pier: This is the most criticized area of the park and I truly understand where it comes from. It is not really Disney-like to put a fairground in the middle of a park although it is themed to some kind of water-beach area. I must say that the sight from across the lagoon was impressive but the area really is not Disney. They had some nice touches like the area music that really was a nice touch. The first attraction we rode was the Sun Wheel. We liked it because the cabins were swinging from one side to another. The next thing on the program was the Maliboomer. Sandra was always scared of these kind of rides but she wanted to try. She absolutely loved it and wanted to go again so we did. After that we rode the Orange stinger, Golden zepher and the Jumping jellyfish. These rides are all pretty dumb and lame and I can not wait till the moment that the bulldozers come in to rip them apart.
After the twirling and whirling it was time for the Mulholland Madness coaster. Pretty zippy but no Disney-esque quality.
The California Screamin coaster was already up and running so we got in line. For me this was the only attraction in the area that I was interested in but Sandra loves twirling and whirling so I joined her (oh joy ) I was pretty sick of all the spinning when we got on the coaster and when it finally started I got so queasy that I couldn’t wait to get off the thing. We loved the ride-music it really fitted perfectly. Lesson learned, first ride screamin to fully enjoy it and than sacrifice myself for Sandra to go spinning in all those rides. Sandra really thought the pier was hysterical, I do not know if this is positive or negative.
Shows: Back to the positive, we saw the High school musical Pep rally. We both like the first movie very much and till that point the second film was unknown to us. We liked the show, what else can you say about it……don’t know.
But the real showstopper was the fantastic Aladdin show. Wow, it really was beautiful. When we checked in the hotel we got a coupon with some priority seating information for the different shows in DCA. You can get prefered seating at the Aladdin show but you have to show up 30 minutes in advance. We didn’t read the coupon so we were there 10 minutes in advance. The doors were already open and the hostess informed us that prefered seating was 30 minutes in advance. We thought it was a little stupid because when you show up anywhere 30 minutes in advance with or without a coupon you probably have priority seating and the best seats in the house. Well that is just our opinion. Anyway we entered the theater and we found two great seats in the middle on the theater. Why do people leave all those empty seats between other parties ? Are they afraid to catch some kind of sickness or something ? The show really was great, one of the best Disney shows we have seen till now. We loved the Nemo show in Animal Kingdom and this show was also top notch and it was great to finally sit on normal theater seats for once and not on long wooden benches. The man who played the genie was hysterical. And there was also a woman in the chorus that was in a wheelchair. It surprised us but it is great that she gets a chance at Disney !!
Conclusion: We really had a good time at California Adventure. I am very curious what will happen to this park in the future. They have some fantastic rides like Tower, Soarin, Monsters and Grizzly river run. The shows and 3d movies are also great.
Like I said we both enjoyed the park very much and it was more relaxed than Disneyland was. It definitely needs more theming and rides and please add the real Disneymagic. Maybe they can whip that up with the more than 1$ billion dollars that they are going to invest in the park.
Conclusion overall: We had a wonderful time at the resort. Everybody has their own taste, so do we. Now the big question is what resort did we enjoy the most up till now. Well Disneyworld Orlando wins this by a long shot. Because of the opulence and scale of the place. Second is Disneyland Paris and third is the Anaheim resort. This is nothing negative but that is just our taste. We learned a few things too. We were rather tired at the end of our three week vacation and we loved the peace and quiet of the national parks so every time when we ended up somewhere busy, like Vegas, San Francisco or Disney, it took a little getting used to. We came to the conclusion that a Disney vacation really stands on its own, you know what I mean ? The parks are soooo hysterical that when we go again we will start with Anaheim or only just visit the LA area and just one or two national parks.
We really were amazed at how different the resorts are, especially Sandra. And they are all worth a visit.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. We are going to Paris in November and we are loosely discussing going back to Orlando…….who knows what will be in store for us.
Thanks for sticking with us !!
Erik and Sandra
Cast:
Erik 30 years old: Disney-dweeb from birth
Sandra 32 years old: Likes Disney a lot especially since she hooked up with me.
Sandra en Erik both veteran Disneyland Paris visitors: more than 22 multi day visits since 1995 and still counting
Walt Disney World: First visit June 2005 off site with a 7 day magic your way ticket.
Second visit November – December 2006 on site with a 10 day magic your way ticket
Finally the waiting was over so we could start our three week exploration of the west coast.
I know you are all not really interested in knowing what we did the first two and a half weeks, this is a Disney site so I will stick to the Disney portion of the trip. Oh I might as well tell you about all the 3456 critters we saw during our stay in the national parks……just kidding I will not bore you with the details, although we saw a lotta critters including a momma bear and her three cubs, ooooooh how cute.
Ok on with the report from Disneyland Anaheim.
I am not going to give you a full rundown what we did every single minute of the day, life is just too short, but I will comment different aspects of the resort and comment on them and I will make some comparisons with the other Disney resorts that we visited.
We are annual passholders for the Paris resort and we had two trips down to Orlando the last couple of years so we are becoming avid Disney travelers.
Like we said we had a three week trip on the west coast. To be honest we were thinking about only visiting Disneyland in Anaheim and then flying home but there were a few other highlights that we included to extend our stay, boy are we glad we did. Disney is fun but there are some other gorgeous places in the world and you kinda forget about them sometimes when you are in a Disney frenzy. The finale of our trip was a four night stay at the Disneyland hotel in Anaheim, I will begin my report with our thoughts of the hotel.
Disneyland hotel:
We arrived on Wednesday around noon at the hotel. The hotel looked, well like an ordinary hotel on first glance. A couple of boring towers from a distance not really Disney-like. If you looked further there were of course a lot of nice features to this hotel. The tropical gardens and walkways are just beautiful, the pool is great, although it looked great we never used it. The lobby has a very elegant feel and is truly Disneyesque. But the nicest feature for me were the horseshoe waterfalls near our tower. The rooms were spacious and well appointed and it had some great touches. Tinkerbell on the wallpaper that glowed in the dark, bedspreads with all the classic Disney attractions and the nice vanity area. The hotel was very conveniently located at the end of Downtown Disney it was really just a few minutes away from the fun at the parks. All the employees that we saw and spoke were very friendly and I think they wore their badges with pride, although it seemed like they did.
We had one problem with our room and not a very pleasant one. On our fourth day our toilet bowl flooded. Yippie what a great way to start the day !! We called housekeeping and they assured us that they were going to take care of it. So they did, everything was nice and clean again and we could use our bathroom without bothering our neighbors. That would have been something to use the bathroom at the neighbors. One thing I have to say is that the rooms are very noisy, you can hear almost everything. We had an extremely loud woman staying next to us, our friendly neighbor that we almost had to bother with our bathroom troubles. She was really not in her happy place that morning, she yelled at her kid that she had to open her F…. mouth, well well well that is not something you want to wake up with. And you also don’t want to go knocking on the door of her room to ask for a potty break. We were very glad that we only ate a bagel the night before.
Loud neighbor on the side the stay at the hotel was very pleasant and I would return in the future, I think they are going to remodel the whole hotel over the next few years. We were looking for a restaurant to eat one morning and we stumbled at the Grand Floridian, now that is a Disney hotel, it reminded us of the national parks we visited during this trip. Who knows in future when our budget allows, keep dreaming……………
Downtown Disney:
What a pretty place with all the flowers, fountains and other eyecandy. Especially at night when the twinkling lights are all on. We didn’t do a lot of shopping because they really didn’t have anything interesting for us. I think it was a shame that they only had one big Disney store and not like in Orlando that they had all kinds of Disney shops. I would have loved an Animation gallery and a Christmas shop and where is the Ghirardelli shop !!! We want free samples !!!!! Nothing to do with Disney of course but just to satisfy our sweettooth. Everything was very well maintained I have to say, that really stands out for me at this resort and not only at Downtown Disney. Everything is just one notch cleaner and brighter in Anaheim.
We were a bit worried with the food in the resort. They do not really have a lot of choices when you compare it to Orlando. I know it is not a fair comparison but Sandra was mortified to find out that they didn’t have a Wolfgang Puck, Liberty tree tavern, Sci Fi dine inn or Prime time café let alone a food court at our hotel. All the planning and preparing and telling Sandra what to expect I forgot to mention the food, you can imagine the horror. During our stay we had a couple of good breakfasts at the La Brea bakery, just a simple bagel and cream cheese every morning keeps our clock ticking. We didn’t really care for their cinnamon rolls, the bread was tasty but we like them stickier and sweeter. We never really eat big dinners we prefer to eat our big meal at lunchtime, our tummies prefer that. We had two delicious lunches at Naples. Oh they had these great filled pasta shells with spinach, ricotta and then baked in the oven with cheese and marinara sauce. The three cheese pizza was also very good but the tiramisu and the chocolate cake were really the best. Actually we had these lunches on Saturday and Sunday and the waitress recognized us, she was really sweet. One thing that bothered us was the fact that people who have take-out from the Napolini next door can use the outdoor seating area where restaurant guests eat their food. Or this was maybe because our waitress was very sweet that she didn’t want to say anything about it but there was one family with an incredibly obnoxious child that was screaming the whole time. They ate their prefab lunches next to our table and it was not very pleasant and to top it all off they left everything behind, plastic bag and all. This is not what you want on a nice quiet afternoon and you are eating a lovely lunch. I do not know if this is common practice but it sure bothered us.
Disneyland park:
What can you say, pure Disney magic, charming, small and welcoming. But when it is crowded the charming small park becomes cramp with overheated guests and a place to avoid at all times. It never really bothered us when it is was crowded in one of the other Disney parks we visited around the globe but at this park it was a bit of a problem for us. It can be that we were tired from the three week trip we had and we couldn’t really deal with the crowds on Friday and Saturday.
Despite that is was a treat walking around the park on Wednesday afternoon and seeing all the originals that Walt and his imagineers designed 50 years ago. First, it is a bit of a tradition for us, we rode the railroad. Cute station and town square looked very festive with the nice Halloween decorations. When we were walking up to the station Sandra glanced back and got her first look at the Sleeping Beauty castle. She said “is THAT the castle” I said yes, she paused……”well it is very tiny”
I told her all this stuff before but she was a bit shocked that it was this small. She loves Disney but I am the real dweeb, I knew exactly what to expect so I was prepared for the eencie weencie castle. Riding the rails was nice and it gave a good first impression of the park.
Main Street: Small charming Main Street was wonderful. They had some nice shops and it felt really different than the more elaborate streets in Orlando and Paris. What really stood out was all the entertainment in the street, Dapper dans and the marching band and they had all the vehicles and streetcars running. It was a real bustling small street. It is a shame that we only have a fraction of this in Paris. That was another plus of this park all the entertainment offerings. From the live bands on Saturday night to the small jazz combo in New Orleans Square everything sounded great and brought the place to life.
Adventureland: Wow this place is really tiny ! ( my reaction, not Sandra’s) Especially when you compare it with the bigger land in Orlando and the enormous one in Paris. The really have no room to expand here. Nevertheless the place is very well themed and looks great. Lets start with those golden oldies the Tiki Birds, ahhhh bliss, what a great and cute show. We like the show in Orlando but this is really THE classic AA show. Let’s hope that the birds still have their lovely show in 50 years. The Jungle cruise was nice and I liked the piranha effect but the skippers were talking very fast and they almost swallowed their microphones so the sound was very distorted, guess the . Some things were different in comparison to Orlando, the scenes looked more crisp and fresh here in Anaheim. But the real gem of this land is the much praised Indiana Jones adventure. I must say they did one hell of a job with the whole ride. From entrance to exit it is all details in true Disney style. When we rode it the first time Sandra said that she liked Dinosaur better but when we took our second spin we knew what to expect and we were more relaxed. Fortunately we rode it twice on Wednesday with a small wait and again on Saturday with our complimentary fastpass that they gave us while evacuating Space Mountain, but that is another story. I we only could have this kind of ride in Paris, I would almost kill for it, almost………
We didn’t visit Tarzans treehouse, we saw a lot of real Sequoias on our trip so we were not in the mood to climb a fake tree.
To be honest Sandra is never really in the mood to climb treehouses. After 10 years of pleading we did the Robinson treehouse in Paris, so that was all the tree climbing we were gonna get this year. Sandra by the way is my lovely wife and I love her to death, she really is no difficult person but when it comes to treehouses I am really on my own.
Adventureland was one area we visited the most during this trip, although it is small it is again charming and feels cozy. It reminded me that all Disney parks are truly unique and they are all worth visiting. To be honest you can only say that to real Disney fans because when you tell someone who never visited one or is not a fan you are almost laughed at and they look at you like you are an imbecil. I am glad that there are a few imbecils in my family and friends circle.
New Orleans Square: This is truly one immersive district with a lot of beautiful details. Too bad some small areas were blocked off by construction fences. We also liked the small park next to the French market and the Haunted Mansion. We had a lot of fun there watching people and we did the famous spaghetti scene from Lady and the Tramp sans spaghetti but with a churro……don’t ask. We did no shopping in the area but the shops looked great and well themed. Oh sure we ate here, not only churros although we wished we had. We tried the famous monte christo sandwich, the cheese variation. We ate at the café Orleans because the Blue Bayou was fully booked for the day, doesn’t anybody have to go to work on Friday ?
We both ordered the cheese version without the powdered sugar, it just didn’t seem natural to me with sugar ( is there anything natural about this thing ?). When it arrived I must admit it didn’t look very appetising to us. Now for all you M christo fans out there please skip the next part.
I do not understand what the big deal is with this dish. It is just a heart-attack waiting to happen. We absolutely didn’t like it and we thought it was almost disgusting, mind you, almost. We had a good time throwing grapes at each other in the restaurant, again don’t ask…….
The sweet waitress who brought us the check, and caught a grape or two, brought these delicious chocolate coins. We asked her, already knowing the answer, where we could buy these. She brought out a few more for us….hihihi , sneaky devils.
Again back to the overly positive: Pirates, what an amazing ride. It doesn’t have the elaborate outside theming as Paris but the ride is fabulous. This is our favorite Pirates version so far. Paris has a wonderfull version but the boats go rather fast and they don’t have those amazing alterations from the movie. A+ for Pirates !!! I think we rode it four times, we just loved it.
A big pro was the pace of the boats, you really have a good amount of time to look at the scenes so you can really enjoy them fully. The Haunted Mansion holiday version was nice, They did a great job in decorating the house. The ride itself was good but we agreed that we would prefer to see the original version of the Mansion. I am glad we saw this though and at night it looked awesome with all the candles. The Mansion itself was just beautiful with the cemetary and all the other details. The outside was really pristine a big difference with the Phantom Manor ride in Paris.
Still my favorite is the Phantom Manor ride in Paris because it is more story driven, crepier and they use beautiful music.
Critter country: This is home to our favorite ride in the resort ( at least one of our favorites ) Winnie the Pooh, no just kidding, although it is cute. We absolutely adore Splash Mountain. It is such a fun ride with beautiful theming and great uplifting music. We loved the version in Florida and we loved this one too. There a some differences in the scenes and animatronics. The Orlando animatronics seem more sophisticated especially brear rabbit but that does not take away the pure joy of this ride. They had a more elaborate finale and laughing place here with more AA’s. The logs in Orlando go in a more leisurely pace while the Anaheim logs go rather fast and of course the seating is different. It always amazes me how steep and long the drop is, it is really spectacular. The first night on Wednesday we hesitated to ride because it was a bit chilly and people were really drenched when coming out of the ride. But we just couldn’t resist. We sat in the back and we kept ourselves fairly dry but the people in front of us were really wet. When we returned at the station there was nobody waiting so we stayed in the log for a second trip.
We were very lucky that evening, riding the mountain twice and almost no water damage.
The other ride in this area is really dwarfed by the mountain but it is a cute one. The much hated Winnie the pooh ride was rather enjoyable. I also thought it fitted quite nicely in the area. There was a woman working the controls of the ride and she was very enthusiastic and when I say very I mean freakishly very. She was yelling all sorts of Winnie the Pooh slang and she imitated Tigger. She had a great time, I think, or it was brain damage. The ride itself was cute and we liked the beehives which transported us to the hundred acre wood. Critter country was a relaxing place with all the shade and relaxed atmosphere.
Frontierland: In Anaheim this land really is small in comparison to Paris. It is nicely themed and they have a great Big thunder mountain. Wow this ride is really fast. Still the most impressive BTM stands in Paris but the Anaheim version comes in second because of the speed. Orlando has a great version but I remember it as being less smooth than the other two versions. I am still amazed at how small the Anaheim park is really. They had to cramp it all in but the theming and atmosphere never suffers from this, I think that is a great accomplishment especially with BTM.
I loved the big boats on the river, WOW that Columbia is impressive. We rode it on our last morning on Sunday and it is really one impressive sight to see. We also liked the fact that you could go below decks to learn about how the crew lived on these kind of ships. The Mark Twain is always a true icon for me so seeing it glide gracefully through the waters was really great. We rode it on the first night and it was great. We liked the fact that they had chairs on the lower deck. We also visited the petting zoo, they had all these great pumpkin displays and a barn where you could take photos with the displays. They also had some sweet animals and there was one little goat that really seeked shelter with Sandra because the small kids were herassing him or her. This was a nice and quiet area away from the madhouse in the other parts of the park. We did not visit the Pirate Island, we were not really interested and we had other priorities. We saw the canoes on Sunday, that was a first for us to see canoes on the river, nice touch.
Fantasyland: The eencie weencie pinkie castle was actually very pretty up close. It had some great touches and details and we loved the Snow White wishing well and fountain next to the castle. The rest of Fantasyland was pretty similar to Paris but much smaller. It was really uncomfortable here with all those people. We were not interested in riding rides that we have in Paris and Orlando so we sticked to the unique rides. Let me start by saying that the following is our own observation we never grew up with those rides so please forgive us.
Mr Toads wild ride was just plain stupid. I do not understand the fuss. It is ugly and it looks very cheap. In my opinion not a Disney ride although it is a Disneyland original. Ok maybe this is blasphemy for most of you Disney fans but that was our opinion. I know that It’s a small world is going to close for nine months and let me start by saying that the ride really needs it. It is just not up to the standards of the Paris and Orlando version. We really like It’s a small world but we were really disappointed with this version. We know that it is 40 years old but I hope that they spruce this one up because it deserves better.
Now lets get positive: Alice in Wonderland was nice, we waited 30 minutes and that is way more than we want to wait for these kind of rides. But we liked it, the theming was very good and maybe it is also because I loved the movie when I was young. Why can’t Mr Toad be like this ? The Matterhorn was also very enjoyable. Sandra was scared to death when she heard the first growl of the abominable snowman. Of course the ride is old and you notice that and there are better coasters but we liked it and the splash at the end was a nice touch. We rode it twice and we would definately go again.
Like I said the rest of Fantasyland was nicely themed but very small and cramp with all the people and I really do not want to wait 50 minutes to see Peter Pan. That is the reason that we also never rode it in Orlando.
We also did not visit Toon Town because it was not a priority for us because there are so much other wonderful rides. Maybe next time, I know that it is better than the Orlando version but we skipped it anyway.
Tomorrowland: When we go to Paris we often skip Discoveryland, it is gorgeous but we like Frontier and Adventure better. In Orlando we like the Tomorrowland because they have the Carrousel of Progress, Stich escape show and the TTA (our favorite)
Here in Anaheim they have a lot of the same things that we have in Paris so we skipped Star Tours (we are waiting for the upgrade) and Buzz (we are non-violent people so we do not really like to shoot)
The area is not bad but we all know what needs to be done to make the area more attractive.
Reintroducing the submarines was a very good start and let me say that we loved it. We rode it twice and were perfectly ok with waiting 75 minutes. This is our kind of ride, leisurely paced and full of eyecandy.
They really did a great job, two thumbs way up !! Last year we rode the Epcot seas pavilion nemo ride and were not very impressed but with this ride they really pushed the envelope. Space Mountain was also great. On Friday we rode it but we were evacuated from the ride, really nice to see the building with the lights on, we made pictures !! They gave us a complimentary fastpass that we could use for any attraction except Nemo, we used it on Indiana Jones. Later that evening after the fireworks we hasted ourselves to Space Mountain. We thought the wait would be less now with all the people leaving but it was still 40 minutes. When we entered the inside waiting area things came to a halt…..no movement for ten minutes and there were people leaving. Oh no not again, we wanted to ride the damn thing. After 5 minutes so many people left that we were at the boarding platform and they got the ride up and running again. The ride is great I think it is our favorite Space Mountain. Orlando’s mountain is a bit outdated and is not very smooth, smoothness is also the problem with the Parisian mountain although it is the most spectacular version.
Shows: There were no real stageshows in the park, kinda weird. They have a lot of street performers and that really adds to the atmosphere in the park. We saw the parade of dreams and that was great. A beautiful parade with very detailed floats and a catchy tune. Although I think the new once upon a dream Parade in Paris is better but the Anaheim parade was impressive too.
The real showstopper was the Remember… dreams come true Fireworks spectacular and spectacular it was. Although not as emotional as Wishes or illuminations in Orlando it featured great music and beautiful choreographed fireworks and I liked that it was really different from the other fireworks shows. Disney really knows how to push the button regarding fireworks extravaganzas. We didn’t see Fantasmic because two hours before the first show New Orleans square and Frontierland were complete chaos with all the people sitting on the ground and we didn’t want to deal with that. We saw it in Orlando and we have the Disneyland version on DVD so we are going to watch that from the comfort of our living room.
To wrap it all up: Disneyland has some amazing attractions some are the best Disney has like Pirates, Indy, Space, Nemo and Splash but the smaller space makes it uncomfortable to go on weekends. Next time we go we will probably avoid the weekend and go during the week. Although when you go on weekends you have these amazing extras like the Fireworks and Fantasmic shows. The park looked great and really clean and everything was well kept. I think there are some great things waiting to happen to this park, like re-doing Tomorrowland and fixing It’s a small world so it will only gain in quality. They call it the crown jewel of Disney parks, I agree but it is a very small jewel. Orlando and Paris are just as near to my heart as this one. They are all so different and each one deserves it to be visited.
California Adventure: I honestly have to say that I expected the worst from this park so maybe I was prepared. Sandra didn’t know really what to expect. First let me start by saying that the park really lacks theming in some areas atmosphere and rides. The real Disney spark is spread around very thinly and only in some areas. I
But, there is a but, we had some of our best times this trip in this park. Don’t get me wrong there is a lot wrong with the park but we are also used to the most hated Disney park in the world, Walt disney Studios in Paris. So maybe we were prepared for this.
Like I said we really enjoyed ourselves when we were here and I think the lack of big crowds was also a factor for us that made it positive.
Hollywood pictures backlot: this area had the most Disney sparkle for me. Although I am not really a fan of the backlot themes in these kind of parks. I like real buildings and not painted flats. We were walking down the streets tapping our toes to the music so we were in a good mood when we visited.
Tower of Terror: After all the criticism on this version of the tower I expected a nice ride but not the wow factor like the Orlando version has. I have to say that we both loved the ride. The building is very impressive, actually they are building the same structure right now in Paris, so that gave us a good first impression of things to come. It lacks the elaborate spooky gardens that Orlando has. The theming inside is just top notch from lobby to library to boiler room. The ride itself was awesome. We liked the first floor stop with the mirror effect. The second stop was similar to the Orlando version except for the last effect. The breaking window was replaced by a falling elevator, which I like better and is more appropriate.
I don’t think they have different drop-patterns because we rode it three times and I thought it was the same, but we sure loved it.
The lack of a fifth dimension room where the elevator rides horizontal and from there enters the shaft was no biggie for me. Sandra never even mentioned it. I like the room in Orlando and it is really disorienting but some effects look rather cheap and the newer effect with the mirror looked very convincing. The only thing I didn’t understand was the loading area. Why do they have two platforms ? It also took a very long time to load us in the elevators. They were using one shaft on Thursday but there were people waiting on the first floor loading platform and on the ground floor platform. It took forever to enter the elevator, there were two lines for one elevator. And my other complaint was that there was no real theming in the exit area. You step out of the elevator and you walk some corridor with no real theming. Like I said we loved the tower and we can’t wait to ride it in Paris.
We also loved the Monsters inc ride. It was such an enjoyable ride with so much nice little details and surprises. This is not your ordinary darkride. We loved the way that Ross reacted to the people in the taxi. Sandra wanted to take a picture of her and she said “sure you make a picture” and Sandra said “thank you” and she responded back “you’re welcome”
I love the living character program from Disney. We saw Lucky the Dinosaur, Turtle Talk and now this. It was a pity that they didn’t have Doc Bunson Honeydew and Beeker in Anaheim at that moment, I would have loved to see those characters interact with the guests. We already loved The Muppets in Orlando and we loved the Muppets here. They crack me up every time I see them. They also have the key under the mat gag here. Again I lifted the mat and the castmember told us we were the first guests in 4 weeks that looked under it. Too bad that they probably will not stay in California Adventure with all the new plans for the park. Maybe they can pack the whole thing up and ship it to Paris, hey that’s an idea !
The Animation building was also a nice surprise. Turtle Talk was great as always and we loved the sorcerers workshop. We also liked the Toy Story zoetroope. The lobby was also quite impressive with all those video screens that showed all these different images of Disney animated features.
Golden State: The Grizzly river run attraction is very impressive. The mountain really is beautiful and the ride is great fun. When we rode the Kali river rapids in Animal Kingdom we swore never to ride a ride like that again because we were drenched. After seeing the rafts zipping along the river we were eager to ride. We were not really wet and it was nice and warm so that was convenient. We thought the ride was awesome. I think it is a good idea that they are going to place some wildlife scenes along the route it will give the ride more Disney quality. In condor flats we visited Soarin over California of course. We love this ride !! We rode it several times in Florida and this version is the same but it is so impressive and relaxing, it was a little emotional to see the Golden Gate, the pacific coast and Yosemite because we visited them during this trip. We really were emotional about it and when we exited we were all teary eyed. The rest of the area was a bit static, pacific wharf and the San Francisco area were nice to look at but there was nothing to do.
A bugs land: This is a nicely themed area for the kids nothing that interested us but nice to look at. The 3D It’s tough to be a bug show is hilarious. That amazing AA of Hopper is just mindblowingly realistic. We really like it but I wonder if one park needs two 3D shows ? They are both great fun but I wonder if this will change in the future. Although I heard about Muppets being replaced with Philarmagic. Well the future will see.
Paradise Pier: This is the most criticized area of the park and I truly understand where it comes from. It is not really Disney-like to put a fairground in the middle of a park although it is themed to some kind of water-beach area. I must say that the sight from across the lagoon was impressive but the area really is not Disney. They had some nice touches like the area music that really was a nice touch. The first attraction we rode was the Sun Wheel. We liked it because the cabins were swinging from one side to another. The next thing on the program was the Maliboomer. Sandra was always scared of these kind of rides but she wanted to try. She absolutely loved it and wanted to go again so we did. After that we rode the Orange stinger, Golden zepher and the Jumping jellyfish. These rides are all pretty dumb and lame and I can not wait till the moment that the bulldozers come in to rip them apart.
After the twirling and whirling it was time for the Mulholland Madness coaster. Pretty zippy but no Disney-esque quality.
The California Screamin coaster was already up and running so we got in line. For me this was the only attraction in the area that I was interested in but Sandra loves twirling and whirling so I joined her (oh joy ) I was pretty sick of all the spinning when we got on the coaster and when it finally started I got so queasy that I couldn’t wait to get off the thing. We loved the ride-music it really fitted perfectly. Lesson learned, first ride screamin to fully enjoy it and than sacrifice myself for Sandra to go spinning in all those rides. Sandra really thought the pier was hysterical, I do not know if this is positive or negative.
Shows: Back to the positive, we saw the High school musical Pep rally. We both like the first movie very much and till that point the second film was unknown to us. We liked the show, what else can you say about it……don’t know.
But the real showstopper was the fantastic Aladdin show. Wow, it really was beautiful. When we checked in the hotel we got a coupon with some priority seating information for the different shows in DCA. You can get prefered seating at the Aladdin show but you have to show up 30 minutes in advance. We didn’t read the coupon so we were there 10 minutes in advance. The doors were already open and the hostess informed us that prefered seating was 30 minutes in advance. We thought it was a little stupid because when you show up anywhere 30 minutes in advance with or without a coupon you probably have priority seating and the best seats in the house. Well that is just our opinion. Anyway we entered the theater and we found two great seats in the middle on the theater. Why do people leave all those empty seats between other parties ? Are they afraid to catch some kind of sickness or something ? The show really was great, one of the best Disney shows we have seen till now. We loved the Nemo show in Animal Kingdom and this show was also top notch and it was great to finally sit on normal theater seats for once and not on long wooden benches. The man who played the genie was hysterical. And there was also a woman in the chorus that was in a wheelchair. It surprised us but it is great that she gets a chance at Disney !!
Conclusion: We really had a good time at California Adventure. I am very curious what will happen to this park in the future. They have some fantastic rides like Tower, Soarin, Monsters and Grizzly river run. The shows and 3d movies are also great.
Like I said we both enjoyed the park very much and it was more relaxed than Disneyland was. It definitely needs more theming and rides and please add the real Disneymagic. Maybe they can whip that up with the more than 1$ billion dollars that they are going to invest in the park.
Conclusion overall: We had a wonderful time at the resort. Everybody has their own taste, so do we. Now the big question is what resort did we enjoy the most up till now. Well Disneyworld Orlando wins this by a long shot. Because of the opulence and scale of the place. Second is Disneyland Paris and third is the Anaheim resort. This is nothing negative but that is just our taste. We learned a few things too. We were rather tired at the end of our three week vacation and we loved the peace and quiet of the national parks so every time when we ended up somewhere busy, like Vegas, San Francisco or Disney, it took a little getting used to. We came to the conclusion that a Disney vacation really stands on its own, you know what I mean ? The parks are soooo hysterical that when we go again we will start with Anaheim or only just visit the LA area and just one or two national parks.
We really were amazed at how different the resorts are, especially Sandra. And they are all worth a visit.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. We are going to Paris in November and we are loosely discussing going back to Orlando…….who knows what will be in store for us.
Thanks for sticking with us !!
Erik and Sandra