PDA

View Full Version : Trip Report Sept 23rd -> 27th



cyeh
10-04-2002, 09:43 AM
I had meant to do a big long trip report but it looks like I won't get around to it. Instead, this rambling message will have to suffice.

Went to Disneyland for the first time in about 6 years. Myself, my wife, my son (aged 4, first trip) my mother and my sister.

First off, if you have never experienced Disneyland in the offseason, GO. Seriously. I have a tradition of going weekday, third week of September. The third week is great beacuse the weather is nice, the kids are in school and the park is not crowded at all.

The longest wait we had were for the Tiki Room (missed a show by seconds) and California Screamin'. Otherwise Indy, Space Mountain, Pirates were all near walk ons with 2 to three minute waits.

Since this was my son's first trip to Disneyland, we decided to take a four day trip so we could leisurely see everything that we needed to and not feel rushed.

Okay, now we go into the random comment sections:

* Is it just me, or are all the rides blaringly loud? My son, G, had to cover his ears in "It's a Small World" and I nearly did too. The newly painted outside looks great, and the inside looks amazingly good. I missed the clicking tic-tock face in the front though. I have many a memory of staring at the clock and waiting for the 15 minute. Indy was loud too. Nearly got my ears blown out. Same thing with Snow White's Scary Adventures.

* It had been nearly 10 years since being on Space Mountain. A lot of the ride effects up weren't working at all. And I noticed that the Mountain was darker than usual.

* Star Tours' ride film really needs to be changed. It's done. The ride is done. It really needs to be changed.

* My wife liked Innoventions. I thought it was pathetic. Ohhh, a whole bunch of computers with Disney Computer games loaded on them. Just shoot me. The building has so much potential. Why did they waste it?

* Still miss the submarines.

* Dumbo needs a repaint. G loved it, as well as the Teacups. He cracked up when he first saw them. He thought the idea of riding in a teacup was the funniest thing he had ever seen.

* I still have the Unbirthday Song stuck in my head. G really liked the Teacups. And since there was no wait we went on them a lot.

* So Pirates is pitch black for the first drop now. Has it always been that dark? Also noticed the new animatronics on the left hand side as you approach the final lift out of the ride. When did those come in?

* They really need to fix the animatronics along Rivers of America. I'm sure it's hard keeping the bird crap off of the Grizzly bear, but it looks bad.

On day three, we headed over to DCA. I hadn't been there. My first thoughts:

* Condor flats has one ride in it. Umm...okay. Oh, and Soarin', while neat, really underplayed the motion. They should have done more.

* The Animation building is beautiful. But it was nearly empty. In fact, DCA was nearly empty.

Just FYI: I live in the Santa Cruz/Monterey Bay Area. So the Pacific Wharf area and the Paradise Pier areas were both interesting to me, since they were trying to replicate things that I live near.

Pacific Wharf: So they stole the architecture of Cannery Row in Monterey. Then stuffed a food court into it. They even ripped off the covered bridge over the walkways. Sorry, the real thing is much better.

Paradise Pier: I live in Santa Cruz, home to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. So it was hilarous/interesting to see Disney Parks try and replicate that feel in a themed area. California Screamin' rocks, but the Giant Dipper has way more character. Over all Paradise Pier felt flat with me. Sure it has a midway of sorts. It has a coaster. It has some nice rides. But I'll take the scent of the ocean and sandy concrete any day over this Disney fakery.

Fliks: We got in as a part of the soft opening. It was underwhelming. Flik's Flyers was short, and again, ear blaringly loud.

Overall DCA was about what I expected. I think my wife summed up DCA the best. "DCA's only problem is that it's right next to Disneyland." If you had located that park anywhere else, I am sure it would have done fine. The unfortunate problem is that it has to compete with a world-famous theme park right next door. You could put nearly _anything_ next to Disneyland and have it pale in comparison.

There was evidence of lack of maintenance everywhere. My wife commented on the duct tape holding the carpet onto the walls on Monorail Blue.

Oh, Downtown Disney was a hit with us. It was nice having a walk through a crowded lively area on the way back to the Disneyland Hotel. Although again, the music was really loud.

Oh, a funny thing: last call in Downtown Disney on a weekday is 11 PM. So we headed over to the Lost Bar at the Disneyland Hotel, where last call was very very late. We commented to the bartender about this, and he mentioned that all the Downtown Disney and Disney Hotel workers come to the Lost Bar after work for a drink. It was like being in Cheers were everyone was on a first name basis. Overheard some funny comments about Y Arriba and how all of the banquet business has been shunted over to the Grand Californian.

We got a whole slew of FastPasses with our vacation package. I think we used 5 total over four days.

G had a great time getting autographs of every Disney character we ran into. We gave him a camera to take his own photographs and gave him a photo album to put them in. It was fun seeing what he saw in the photos.

So overall we had a great time. We were done after four days. There were no waits anywhere. Tomorrowland has a serious problem. Maintenance is down everywhere. But we had a good time.

Iceman
10-04-2002, 09:51 AM
Thanks so much for a nice summary of your visit. It sounds like you and your family had a great time, and even though you saw some things that need improvement you didn't let them get in the way of your fun.

I live in Monterey, and I have a different perspective on Cannery Row and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Cannery Row (the real one) is touristy, expensive, full of tacky shops and cheesy restaurants with inedible food and poor service. The Boardwalk has rusting rides, screaming kids, and apparent gang-bangers walking all over the place. While I agree that Disney needs to put more stuff to do in those areas (especially the whole Monterey and San Francisco-themed parts), I feel that they have a lot more POTENTIAL than the real places do.

I was also really interested in the statement that "DCA's only problem is that it's right next to Disneyland." I think that's a great, but new (to me) perspective. You see a lot of people on here saying that the only reason DCA is doing any business at ALL is because it's right next to DL. Without that steady stream of guests and the Disney name stuck on it, they say the place would already have gone under.

cyeh
10-04-2002, 09:58 AM
Oh, forgot to mention one thing:

On Indy, everytime we rode we went through the fountain of youth room. It was like they were saving the other rooms or we just got a bad string of luck.

cyeh
10-04-2002, 10:14 AM
I live in Monterey, and I have a different perspective on Cannery Row and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Cannery Row (the real one) is touristy, expensive, full of tacky shops and cheesy restaurants with inedible food and poor service.

But we never eat there. I enjoy walking along a real ocean. We usually go down there to visit the aqurium and then head out.



The Boardwalk has rusting rides, screaming kids, and apparent gang-bangers walking all over the place. While I agree that Disney needs to put more stuff to do in those areas (especially the whole Monterey and San Francisco-themed parts), I feel that they have a lot more POTENTIAL than the real places do.

Heh. I love the boardwalk. But to respond: the boardwalk is a low cost affair for us. We have a season pass for G. So we can go in the early morning, get a couple of hours of rides in, then go. You're correct that the rides aren't in the same class as Disney perfect, but I think your description of "rusting" is a little over the top.

I will take the Giant Dipper and the Looff Carousel over the santitized characterless Disney versions any day.

And the gang-bangers? Never seen them. Of course, they only let the best people into Disneyland. I actually saw a kid get smacked to the concrete during our trip because of misbehavior.

My point is: if you want to see the real thing, go see the real thing: it's much better.

Of course the Boardwalk isn't DCA. But it's also a fraction of the cost next to a real beach and real ocean with more rides.



I was also really interested in the statement that "DCA's only problem is that it's right next to Disneyland." I think that's a great, but new (to me) perspective. You see a lot of people on here saying that the only reason DCA is doing any business at ALL is because it's right next to DL. Without that steady stream of guests and the Disney name stuck on it, they say the place would already have gone under.

In everything, there is a grain of truth. If you relocated the park and stripped it of the California theme and placed the food and attactions where, oh, where Marine World sits in Vallejo, I bet it wouldn't do half bad up there. But the point is that it has a Disney name on it, people expect certain things, and it has to compete with a very good theme park across the way. It's simple economics. If you can only pay admission to one park, which would you choose? The answer is simple.

Iceman
10-04-2002, 10:46 AM
Originally posted by cyeh
If you can only pay admission to one park, which would you choose? The answer is simple.

Yes it is, but it's not the answer you might expect. I would choose DCA in a heartbeat. I've been going to Magic Kigdoms for over twenty years. They're still fun, but I don't have kids and the rides are the same as they've always been... DCA is fresh and new and has different experiences that I enjoy.

By the way, I wasn't trying to argue with you earlier that the Disney versions of things are "better" than the real deal. In some ways they are (tend to be cleaner, safer, etc.), but I've never felt that Disney is trying to REPLACE actual experiences with their versions of things. They are simply trying to take what's special about them and give people a taste of that. It's difficult, for example, to enjoy morning at the Boardwalk the way you do and then take in the live taping of a game show in the afternoon, not to mention visiting the redwood forests, going hang-gliding, touring food plants, etc. At DCA you can, and I like that. Would I rather tour the actual Disney Animation studio--of course! But I'll take what I can get...

mad4mky
10-04-2002, 11:47 AM
I liked reading your quick trip report...analysis of the parks. It's nice reading quick, information filled sentences...vs reading long, boring family "trip-a-logs" that seem to say the same stuff over and over, and go every 6 mos, and have to tell us again.

Living just a little north of you on the SF Peninsula...I liked your comments on the pacific wharf area...because it is exactly how I felt when I saw it the first time. They did capture some of the flavor of the Monterey Wharf area...but the area is wasted (as is the area to represent San Francisco). So much potential...

Thanks for the write up...
I am glad that you and your family, especially your little one on his first trip, had such a good time.:)

Also...are you joining us the the Bay Area Potluck & Meet on October 12th at Happy Hollow Park in San Jose? We'd love to have you and your family...
We also have a special "secret" guest coming to the picnic...you won't be disappointed! Come on out, we'd love to meet you!:D

cyeh
10-04-2002, 12:42 PM
Originally posted by mad4mky
Living just a little north of you on the SF Peninsula...I liked your comments on the pacific wharf area...because it is exactly how I felt when I saw it the first time. They did capture some of the flavor of the Monterey Wharf area...but the area is wasted (as is the area to represent San Francisco). So much potential...


As I think about this more, all they really captured was the architecture. Same thing with replicating the Palace of Fine Arts for the "Golden Dreams" theatre. We didn't see any of the movies or shows while we were in DCA. (Which I understand severely limited our experience.) G wouldn't have had any of it.

There is a lot more they could have done with Pacific Wharf. Something, anything more authentic then sticking a food court in there with Mexican food, Chinese food, and a juice bar. That would have been the perfect place to have put an upscale seafood restaurant with lobster's, crabs, and slabs of fresh fish out ala a real fishmarket that you see.

I kinda felt the same way about the little minature Sunset District replica near Golden Dreams. It was like they just tossed in random buildings for show. It made no sense.

mad4mky
10-04-2002, 01:52 PM
Originally posted by cyeh


There is a lot more they could have done with Pacific Wharf. Something, anything more authentic then sticking a food court in there with Mexican food, Chinese food, and a juice bar. That would have been the perfect place to have put an upscale seafood restaurant with lobster's, crabs, and slabs of fresh fish out ala a real fishmarket that you see.



I have not gone to DCA as often as the locals do...obviously. But, every time I have gone to DCA...everytime...the Chinese Fortune Cookie Factory has never been open. What is up with that? Why'd they even bother to put it in?:( :rolleyes: :confused:

Besides, when have you seen Fortune Cookies being made at the Monterey Wharf? Carmel Corn being made at the Wharf maybe...but I haven't ever seen a fortune cookie. They would have been better off doing a SF area...with a China Town in it. SF's China Town is the largest China Town in the US after all.