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View Full Version : Saturday, 5/7 visit to Disneyland



Terrapin
05-09-2005, 10:29 AM
Had a great Saturday at the park.

Got to Disneyland at about 1:30 and weather was great. Overcast started to lift just after I arrived. The other pleasant surprise was lack of crowds. One of the least crowded Saturday's I can remember and I was expecting a crush of people on the opening weekend of the 50th celebration.


-- Jungle Cruise was wonderful. Enjoyed the new additions. Cool to see the Gold Vehicle version used an older model boat with the striped canvas top.

-- Pirates - have I been totally oblivious to this or have they only recently added whooshing sound effects in the Ship battle scene. I was never aware of those before.

-- Disneyland looks sooooo good. And it feels busy as in you see things happening everywhere. Some things may not be your cup of tea but I think it adds to the overall excitement. Stumbling upon the "talking trashcan" in Tomorrowland. Or the drumming trashcan people.

-- Dole whip booth - Though it closed at 6pm last time I was there it was still open at 11pm Saturday. And people were still scarping up those
Dole whips. Had my Dole whip float earlier.

-- Mainly went to check out the new fireworks. Awesome! There is so much going on it will take a few viewings simply to take it all in. Again because of lack of crowds you could pretty much pick your spot except within the hub proper which was packed early. Plus due to the stage setup for Regis alot of real estate in front of the castle was taken up. I lucked out with a place right on the curb where Main Street hits the hub. Being in that location was great for the surround sound. (I noticed on the next evening when I was in front of the Plaza Inn and a set of speakers that the surround sound was non-existent). The mixing of ride sounds/songs and fireworks is simply wonderful.

-- A Disney moment. Sitting on a bench after the fireworks. About 10 minutes after the Fireworks had ended and the crowd had thinned out. An army of janitors swarmed through the hub cleaning everything in their path. The park would only be open another 2 hours but instead of just having the overnight crew clean it up it was done for those people still in the park for two hours. That was cool to see and was definitely a Walt Disney moment.

-- Fastpass at 11:00 for Splash Mountain. Just walked on. Fast passes were still available for Splash Mountain at 11:00 to indicate the lack of crowds. So cool to ride Splash at night. Thought they had reverted to the old logs as the back did not look two wide and they were loading the back seats. Did they just make modifications?

-- Broke down and purchased the 50th Anniversary leather jacket. Totally too expensive but I could not resist. Has patches on sleeves of the 10th, 20th, 30th and 40th anniversaries. Never had a leather jacket before so
what the heck.


Michael

Mermaid
05-09-2005, 11:23 AM
Thankls for the report! I am really looking foward to seeing the fireworks!!

Big Baloo
05-09-2005, 11:39 AM
You really captured the experience. I can't wait to go next week!

TikiGeek
05-09-2005, 11:45 AM
Nice report! Those jackets are very cool - I've been thinking about getting one too.

Crazy4DL
05-09-2005, 12:15 PM
Very nice report :)

Love your upbeat attitude. :)

MommyTo3Boys1Girl
05-09-2005, 12:30 PM
Had a great Saturday at the park.

Got to Disneyland at about 1:30 and weather was great. Overcast started to lift just after I arrived. The other pleasant surprise was lack of crowds. One of the least crowded Saturday's I can remember and I was expecting a crush of people on the opening weekend of the 50th celebration.


-- Jungle Cruise was wonderful. Enjoyed the new additions. Cool to see the Gold Vehicle version used an older model boat with the striped canvas top.

-- Pirates - have I been totally oblivious to this or have they only recently added whooshing sound effects in the Ship battle scene. I was never aware of those before.

-- Disneyland looks sooooo good. And it feels busy as in you see things happening everywhere. Some things may not be your cup of tea but I think it adds to the overall excitement. Stumbling upon the "talking trashcan" in Tomorrowland. Or the drumming trashcan people.

-- Dole whip booth - Though it closed at 6pm last time I was there it was still open at 11pm Saturday. And people were still scarping up those
Dole whips. Had my Dole whip float earlier.

-- Mainly went to check out the new fireworks. Awesome! There is so much going on it will take a few viewings simply to take it all in. Again because of lack of crowds you could pretty much pick your spot except within the hub proper which was packed early. Plus due to the stage setup for Regis alot of real estate in front of the castle was taken up. I lucked out with a place right on the curb where Main Street hits the hub. Being in that location was great for the surround sound. (I noticed on the next evening when I was in front of the Plaza Inn and a set of speakers that the surround sound was non-existent). The mixing of ride sounds/songs and fireworks is simply wonderful.

-- A Disney moment. Sitting on a bench after the fireworks. About 10 minutes after the Fireworks had ended and the crowd had thinned out. An army of janitors swarmed through the hub cleaning everything in their path. The park would only be open another 2 hours but instead of just having the overnight crew clean it up it was done for those people still in the park for two hours. That was cool to see and was definitely a Walt Disney moment.

-- Fastpass at 11:00 for Splash Mountain. Just walked on. Fast passes were still available for Splash Mountain at 11:00 to indicate the lack of crowds. So cool to ride Splash at night. Thought they had reverted to the old logs as the back did not look two wide and they were loading the back seats. Did they just make modifications?

-- Broke down and purchased the 50th Anniversary leather jacket. Totally too expensive but I could not resist. Has patches on sleeves of the 10th, 20th, 30th and 40th anniversaries. Never had a leather jacket before so
what the heck.


Michael


As far as POTC, I am thinking that there is something wrong with the cannons coming out of the water, as they were not doing that in March and it hasn't had a refurb since then. Could be why it needs to go down for so long this fall. Maybe I am wrong.

We noticed a ton of garbage as we were leaving our perfect fireworks viewing spot in front of the castle on the 5th. I assumed it would be cleaned up quickly and am glad that you reported it was. People are so disgusting to leave so much trash.

Very cool on the jacket. I am envious.