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View Full Version : A Day at the Resort - Believe enhanced and Extreme Fantasmic (Sorry - long!)



cstephens
09-05-2001, 12:42 AM
My husband and I spent a rare full day at the resort on Sunday. The day started when we arrived at the parking structure at about 8:30 (and they didn’t park us on the roof this time!) for the first Sunday of the month pin madness. When we arrived at the esplanade a short while later, we noticed that both DL and DCA’s main gates had been opened, so he headed towards DL and I headed for DCA to split our pin purchasing. I walked in to Greetings to find very few people in line. I got my checklist of pins from the CM there (who mentioned that most people usually buy their pins at DL first and then head to DCA, so I figured our plan to split the two parks works quite well), looked at the samples of the new pins, picked out the ones I wanted and went to collect my pins and pay for the purchase, all of which took less than 10 minutes). The only glitch was that three of the new pieces were puzzle pins that fit together for the DL resort, and the CM tried to insist that two of the left pins would work if I turned one of them upside down to fit on the right...

I headed back to DL to meet up with my husband who was in line at Fantasy Faire. The line there usually moves quite fast, but for some reason (partly because there were so many new pin releases yesterday), the line was interminably slow, and he was in line for about 45 minutes. As I sat waiting for my husband, two people got into a shouting match because one of the people, either inadvertently or on purpose, managed to cut in line in front of a few others. I understand the frustration to some extent, but I guess I don’t really understand being that upset. When it comes right down to it, they’re just pins. Yes, some of them are very pretty, and I was disappointed when they ran out of the nice new castle/slider Tink pin before my husband got to the front, but, it’s still just a pin.

Of the pins we got that day, the Matterhorn slider is really adorable, as are the two new DEP pins. And the pin-with-purchase pin was very cute too - a blue bird. It seems that they’re sticking with the woodland creatures for the Snow White themed giveaways, and we were trying to figure out what the remaining three pins would be - the other colored bird, raccoon, skunk or a deer?

One other bit of merchandise we found and loved is the DL Halloween beanies. Mickey is a werewolf - he’s brown rather than his customary black, he has fangs and claws (with his clawed feet poking out of his shredded shoes) and a bushy tail. A steel button on the bottom of one foot says "Halloween 2001 Disneyland". Minnie is a witch in a pretty green flowing outfit and hat, with a spider on her belt buckle, and she’s holding a fuzzy broom. She has the steel button as well. They’re absolutely adorable. We also saw a Tigger dressed as a mummy, but we didn’t get that one. He didn’t have the steel button and was more generic.

We then spent a little time at DCA, riding Superstar Limo and then heading to the tortilla exhibit for a quick snack. To my delight, they were making flour tortillas! I do think they can expand the exhibit a bit to make it more of a real exhibit rather than just a walk-through. The last time I’d gone through the exhibit, they actually had mini-tours, where the CM would explain a bit about the development of the tortilla and would tell some stories related to the murals on the wall and the holograms. I thought it was very interesting and was glad they were doing that. When I asked about it this time (it so happened that the same CM was there), she said they when there are 2 CMs, they do the mini-tour, but when there was only 1 CM (as was the case at that time), they can’t do the tour. What a shame. They need to have the tour running all the time, imo. After the tortilla exhibit, we wandered next door to the bread exhibit, which I think is really well done. Unfortunately, they weren’t actually making any bread at the time, but I still think the video presentation is funny and informative, and overall, very well done.

We then headed back to DL to meet up with friends and had lunch at Carnation Cafe on Main Street. We also made a happy discovery - there’s a full dessert menu at the Cafe now. My husband was very happy to see that, as he missed the days when Carnation did have full desserts. We split the puff pastry with vanilla ice cream, strawberries and whipped cream. Mmmmm. We also confirmed with our hostess that one of our favorite waiters, who had moved to Soap Opera Bistro, was back at the Cafe, so we’ll know to look for him there in the future.

While we’re very regular visitors to the resort, we don’t actually spend very much time on attractions, and after talking to a friend last week who’d visited DL the week previous, I was missing going on rides, so we went on quite a few of them on Sunday: Pirates, Mansion, Snow White, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, It’s a Small World.

It had been ages since we’d been inside Innoventions (the last time for me was during the Divas event reception last year, and I can’t remember the time before that), and my husband had wanted to see the new Pioneer exhibit, so we went to Innoventions. The spieling stations looked different but we didn’t stay around to hear any of them. Some of the exhibit areas had changed (there are stations now where you can send D-Cards, so we spent a little time at those and sent some cards out). Upstairs, the old SAP air hockey area is apparently now just a bunch of video games from Disney Interactive. The Pioneer exhibit had some interesting looking things, but honestly, there wasn’t much you could do with them, so I got bored after a while. There was apparently some sort of movie presentation, but you had to make a reservation. Um, no thanks. I left Innoventions still feeling that there’s nothing in there to make me want to see it more than once every whenever and disappointed that they’re not making better use of that space.

We then went back to DCA, and my husband and our friends got FastPasses for Millionaire. I had no interest in seeing it, so while they went on that, I watched Goofy’s Beach Party Bash. I really like the show, and the 5:45 show was packed. The kids seemed to have a good time, and the parents around me were enjoying the show itself and watching how much fun their kids were having. The performers in the show are excellent and very energetic.

We had dinner at Farmer’s Market and the food was good as usual. My husband was a bit dismayed that they are apparently no longer providing trays or dish covers, so he had to make a couple trips to bring his dinner and mine to the table. Since my first visit on one of the preview days, I’ve always loved all the new food selections at DCA, but it’s been increasingly disappointing since. They seem to be making so many menu changes - all of which serve to diminish the menus. The Fortune Cookery now only serves beef and chicken rice bowls and vegetarian eggrolls. They’ve discontinued the won ton noodle bowls (which I thought were delicious) and the dim sum sampler platter (which I enjoyed as well). Farmer’s Market has gotten rid of their wraps (which I had once and enjoyed) and added just a few of the items from the former cooked food cart right next to it that is no longer there. Soap Opera Bistro no longer serves their wonderful breakfast. Strips N Chips has discontinued offering a teriyaki dip. While I was excited about all the new food choices at DCA, a lot of what I really like has been taken away, and I find that very disappointing.

After dinner, we headed back to DL to catch Believe from our usual spot in front of Small World. I hadn’t seen the show in a while, and our friend reminded us that this would be the last Sunday show of the summer. As usual, it was an excellent show, but we were pleasantly surprised that during the final finale (as opposed to the first or second finale...), they added the pinwheel effect fireworks to the mix. That is such an amazing thing to see. We’d seen the effect for the first time during the special Fourth of July fireworks this year and loved it, so its inclusion in the regular Believe show was such a treat and elicited spontaneous applause from us.

We then headed over to see Fantasmic, which I haven’t seen in quite some time, and it’s rare now when we can stay late enough to catch the second show. We sat in the handicapped access section, which is a bit elevated and in front of the water screen on the left, a pretty good view from the side. At the start of the Peter Pan segment, we saw the Columbia heading out from the other side and I was watching the pirates and Wendy and Peter and Hook and everyone else on the ship when I noticed a wake moving across the river from left to right. When I looked to see what was causing it, I noticed a black shape quickly heading towards the Columbia. It was a very odd sight to see. When the Columbia eventually made its way past us, I noticed that the Columbia was being pushed by a barge. My husband later told me that he saw the barge pull up behind the Columbia and watched as they tried to hook the two up. The Columbia must have had a problem after pulling out of its dock, and the barge had to race to get to it. I didn’t recall there being speedboats in Fantasmic... BLT Mickey was spastic - I love it when the CM plays it that way, especially when Mickey reacts to the concussion of the explosion. When the Mark Twain came around, I noticed that the boat was sparsely occupied. I know that when the Columbia doesn’t make it to the dock in the back in time, there aren’t as many characters on the Twain, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen that few characters. There were a total of 12 - 4 at the front bottom of the boat, Steamboat on top, 3 on the second deck on the side, 2 on the upper deck on the side, and 2 on the upper deck at the back. At Mickey’s line later about "some imagination, huh", my friend quipped that you really needed your imagination to imagine that there were characters on that boat. ;) Still a great show as usual, and yes, Mickey won.

We headed to Coke Corner for a few minutes to wait a bit for the crowds to thin out and ran into some friends there so chatted for a while before leaving. We pulled out of the parking structure at about midnight. A very full and very fun day at the resort.

On a different note, I ended up spending most of the day (from about 10:30am on) in a wheelchair, and it really is amazing to experience the parks in that way. So many people, either through inattention or sheer ignorance, treat you like a piece of furniture or as one component of an obstacle course. Parents seem to have no problem letting their children kick the chair as they try to get around you in a tight space instead of just waiting their turn, or to let their children use the chair as a stepstool. Many others would cut us off as we were heading somewhere, and my husband does a pretty good job of controlling the chair, but even he can’t stop the chair on a dime suddenly, and people would glare at us if they got hit after stepping right in front of me while the chair was in motion. Even at Fantasmic, a couple small children tried to squeeze in between us and the fence we were sitting in front of, and I had to ask them to move, and I wondered where their parents were and why they apparently felt it was ok to let their children impede our view because we were in wheelchairs and could only get so close to the fence. I can understand inattention, but outright rudeness is something I just can’t fathom.

Alex S.
09-05-2001, 06:45 AM
Thanks for the trip report.

One quick question, though. Did you mean they were making corn tortillas? Since the merchandising event before the park opened, I haven't yet been to Mission when they were making corn tortillas and always want one.

So it would be interesting if you experience has been the opposite and you are excited when they make flour tortillas.

twistedmickey
09-05-2001, 07:21 AM
It still shocks me to hear that people visit DCA to go on a tortilla or bread tour. This is so anti-disney. Whats next...how soil is made...come play with it. YUCK!!!!!!!

hbquikcomjamesl
09-05-2001, 07:50 AM
I see nothing wrong with the bread tour, "twistedmickey." It's very much like quite a few of the exhibits in Epcot, and remember, DCA started out as "Westcot."

On the other hand, the tortilla exhibit (Holograms? What holograms? I'll look again the next time I'm in DCA, but the peep shows in the tortilla exhibit looked like monitors being bounced off plate glass, the way the ghosts in the party scene of the Haunted Mansion are bounced off plate glass.) has struck me as a total loss from day one, and an embarrassment to DCA, and as something that ought to be closed until a real exhibit can be built.

cstephens
09-05-2001, 10:00 AM
Alex - They were making flour tortillas. I like them better than the corn tortillas. I'd say it's been about 50/50 for the times I've been in there whether they're making the corn or the flour. I prefer the taste of the flour tortillas, and I also think the apparatus for making the flour tortillas is cooler - more things to watch, more things happen. For the corn tortillas, there's not all that much to see. You can kind of see the "cookie cutter", but that's about it. I particularly like the compressor in the flour tortilla machine - reminds me of Terminator. ;)


TwistedMickey - I'm a 2-park premium annual passholder who visits the resort at least once every two weeks. On occasion, I go into the exhibits, and I still enjoy them, but then I like that sort of thing. I loved the old Lawry's seasoning tour at their plant, and I understand that semi-local companies that make marshmallows and other things have similar tours, and I'd like to go on those sometimes.

What exactly is "un-Disney" about it?

I'd much rather have expanded versions of the tortilla and bread exhibits than what they pass off as the attraction called Innoventions.


hbquikcomjamesl - I think I'm calling holograms what you're calling the images bouncing off glass. Honestly, I don't know how the effect is done, but I thought it was cool, and hologram seemed to me the easiest way to describe it.

hbquikcomjamesl
09-05-2001, 10:17 AM
I'd much rather have expanded versions of the tortilla and bread exhibits than what they pass off as the attraction called Innoventions.


I would definitely say that the bread exhibit is better than most of the stuff I've seen in Innoventions (though I didn't bother to see the Florida version back in November, when I visited WDW, and indeed, tried to avoid visiting anything that duplicated a DL attraction, since my time was rather constrained), but the tortilla exhibit (though I haven't seen the flour tortilla machine in operation) came off as being about as interesting as watching ice freeze (which, as a former ice rink employee, I've done many times), and as contributing to a negative stereotype started by the "Mexico" ride in Epcot.

The bread tour could benefit from a few tweaks, like maybe an animatronic Rosie, or adding made-to-order sandwiches to the menu of the attached food joint, but I still maintain that the tortilla exhibit needs to be rethought from the ground up.

Nigel2
09-05-2001, 09:55 PM
Animatronic celebs are scary, if you went on universe of energy the animatroic ellen scares me. Also you should have gone in the 2 inoventions buildings when you were at WDW they are so different from DLR's innoventions, they are actually more like the entire seccond floor of our version, but with more shows involved. The only thing we have that is better than their's is our Tom Morrow, theirs is this freaky little thing you see on tv.

DisneyFreak2000
09-06-2001, 04:07 PM
>>Tom Morrow<<

I just got that!!! TomMorrow!!! I never saw it before. How creative :o :)

zapppop
09-07-2001, 06:22 PM
Originally posted by Alex Stroup
I haven't yet been to Mission when they were making corn tortillas and always want one.


I'm pretty sure they'll have some if you go to DCA this weekend.

PirateoftheCaribbean
09-07-2001, 07:18 PM
At DCA, Grizzly River lights up my day. My other favorite aspect is the Tortilla exhibit. It just hit me as fun. The scary thing is that those are the only things I go to DCA for.

PS, DisneyFreak, That took me a while, too.