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Thread: A Long Weekend Trip Report

  1. #1

    A Long Weekend Trip Report

    Well, I'm back home in Dallas after a long weekend in southern California, attending the funeral of a beloved aunt. She was 89, and not in great health for a long time, so it wasn't really a shock. Still, it's always sad to lose a loved one, and important to be there to show support for the cousins that I grew up with. While a Disneyland visit wasn't foremost on my weekend agenda, I still hoped to get in a little bit of park time.

    Friday was the graveside service, but I had Friday evening open, so it was off to the parks, stopping first at my favorite, the Uva Bar. Most of the guys I know were out of town, taking a break while the place was being remodeled (turns out the remodel will start a week later than planned!). But Renee was still there, and he made a fine vodka/frangelico martini! I made it into Disneyland about 30 minutes before the final showing of Fantasmic! at 10:30. I headed right for my favorite spot, behind the central lighting pole. And the trick still works - the area was totally empty cuz the pole was in its lowered position blocking the view (at showtime it goes up, and leaves you with a perfect view without having to wait hours for it!). The show was excellent as usual - Murphy was working splendidly. By the way, whatever happened to Flotsam and Jetsam coming out on the jet skis? Now we're back to just Ursula on film, and it's a slow point of the show.

    The park was open till midnight, so I had time to go on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion, and I even got to enjoy a corndog from the cart on Main Street, still open much later than I've seen it stay open before. It appears they've changed the pricing here. It used to be the corndog included chips. Now the chips are separate, costing $2.99 (!) for a little bag. Outrageous! Still, the corndog itself was just as tasty as always, and a nice nightcap.

    The next day I didn't have to fly out till 2pm, so I was able to enjoy a quick morning in the parks. I started with Star Tours, moved to Space Mountain, and then to the Nemo subs - doing them all in less than an hour! Time to walk over to Frontierland for breakfast at the Riverbelle Terrace. I got my DL and my WDW confused, and was thinking Big Thunder was down (it's down in Florida for a few months). When I saw that it was open I joyfully got in line, only to find the line moving really slowly as they were just running a couple of trains. So I got out of line, got a fastpass, and went on to breakfast. I still had a little time to kill, so I jumped on the Mark Twain for a once around. Time for my FP at BTMRR, which is always fun.

    My morning plan left me just enough time to go into DCA for about an hour or so. I headed right to Soarin' and rode with maybe a 5 minute wait. Then I wandered over to the new Hollywood area to see all of those horrible electric wires that supposedly are ruining everything. They really aren't, and I can't wait to see a trolley going down the street. I went into one of my favorite places anywhere, the lobby of the Animation building. I could spend hours in there, just soaking in the large screen projections of classic Disney animations. And then the zoetrope is good for quite a few minutes of just staring and marvelling at this accomplishment. Sadly, time was up and it was time to head for the airport.

    Not much of a trip report - not much of a trip. I'll be back out in SoCal in July to meet up with family and to spend hopefully a bit more time with the Mouse!

    The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
    - James Taylor

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  3. #2

    So sorry for your loss Dan.

    Anytime at a Disney park is a good day. Thanks for sharing.

    Ellen


  4. #3

    Still worth writing about and I thank you for that!
    But do you HAVE to tell even more people about the Fantasmic viewing spot? It's not gonna be much of a secret anymore
    The limited train operation at Big Thunder is becoming a frequent occurrence and it's highly irritating. The Fastpass queue operation is bad enough; now they're limiting trains. Very frustrating.


  5. #4

    I've been talking about that F! spot for years. I don't think that there is a large enough population on websites like this to make a difference. It hasn't so far, at least. . .

    The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time.
    - James Taylor

  6. #5
    At home in the hills candles71's Avatar
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    Feb 2008
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    foresthill Ca

    Flotsam and Jetsom were there in December, so maybe they were "resting" .
    Thank you for sharing. I think some time in your happy place after any loss, no matter how expected, is a good thing.


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