Andrew
08-21-2005, 10:14 PM
Yes, once a decade or so I feel compelled to write one of these, so here goes. Our very brief visit was Friday night August 19th through Sunday afternoon August 21st.
We arrived and checked in to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express on Katella (http://www.mouseplanet.com/cgi/reviews/do/display.cgi?product-sku=holidayinnexpressmaingate) at about half-past 9 on Friday night. In fact, I can tell you exactly when we entered the room--9:25 PM--because s soon as we walked in we could hear the Remember fireworks from Disneyland. Opening the curtains, we saw that we had a fantastic view of the fireworks! After a bit of unpacking and freshening up, we decided to walk over to Downtown Disney for a little refreshment.
The walk from the hotel to the Uva Bar at Downtown Disney (http://www.colddeadfish.net/catal/cataluvabarmenu.html) was about a mile according to Google. We sat down gratefully after a mini-roundabout tour (the hostess took us to the left around the central bar all the way around to a table just to the right of the entrance gate) and ordered drinks (Napoleon Dynamite for Jen, Ketel One vodka martini for me) and food (turkey club for Jen, compressed salad for me). Note: The Uva Bar makes strong drinks. Food was very good.
After our light meal we wanted to go into Disneyland for at least a little while (the park closed at midnight; it was then about 11:15). We entered the park and wandered toward the Jungle Cruise, a usual nighttime destination. Sadly, our skipper was one we'd had before and wish to never have again. I won't give her name here but trust me, it was one of the very worst Jungle Cruises we'd ever had. "One of the worst" because the other worst was the other time we'd had the same skipper, in July. No timing, no personality, definitely no humor. She'd do very well on Storybook, or perhaps loading boats on "it's a small world".
Following Jungle it was time for us to hike back to the hotel and bed.
Saturday morning, after braving the free continental breakfast (served in a tiny conference room packed with hotel guests), we needed to make a pilgrimage to the Garden Grove Target for some essentials. And Jen had to have a new pair of pants. Purchases made, we drove to the Mickey & Friends structure (reasoning that since we were already in the car, why bother parking at the hotel and then taking that long walk again) and got lucky: Goofy 9 G!
Once we got through security, we were rather surprised at the disparity in entrance lines; Disneyland's was out past the second Monorail track, almost reaching the center of the Esplanade. DCA's was not even to the letters. Figuring we'd hit Disneyland later, we went into DCA, picked up Soarin' FastPasses and did the big loop around the park. Jen went on the Orange Stinger while I waited, and we got some mozzarella sticks from Strips Dips & Chips. That serving box needs a redesign; the sauce container makes the box top-heavy after you take out one or two sticks.
It was getting quite warm, so as we walked we tended to go through shops. By the time we got to the Wharf, we wanted a break in air conditioning, so we went into the Mission tortilla factory tour. For the first time, we saw the flour line stopped and people working on the press machinery (see attachment). They quickly had it fixed and were soon sending dough through the machine. We scored the first two tortillas, hot off the line. Yum.
We wanted to see if there had been any visible changes in the Monsters Inc construction since our last visit, so we made our way to the Hollywood Pictures area. DUH would not be performing for another hour and we didn't want to wait, so we checked out the new art on the construction walls, browsed in Off the Page and headed out of the park.
Into Disneyland (entrance line much shorter by now), and just in time for Laughing Stock. Previously we'd managed to see part I of the story several times but kept missing parts II and III (though we'd seen part II in the past) so today we decided to see all three parts in order. This meant being at the Golden Horseshoe at 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00. No problem, and we timed things so we could do the Tiki Room in between the first two and see the Parade of Dreams between the second and third. Laughing Stock were terrifically funny as always. After the 4:00 show ended, it was time to head out to our early dinner meet-up with several MousePlanet staffers and friends.
Dinner was at 5:00 at Storytellers, so I suggested we cross the Esplanade and take the hotel shortcut rather than going through Downtown Disney. We did, and met up with some of our group waiting outside Storytellers. Since it was still early, we decided to wait in the Hearthstone Lounge. Sadly, the Hearthstone has stopped serving the wonderful cheese sticks, in favor of a (still very tasty) spicy nut mix. Or they may have just run out, I didn't ask.
Dinner at Storytellers was... okay. I really don't think I got my money's worth from the $26.99 buffet ($24.29 after AP discount) and we were "discouraged" from ordering off the menu. The service was excellent, however, and drink refills were provided even before we knew we needed them. After dinner we did some shopping at World of Disney, where Jen had to buy the "kawaii" Bambi purse. Then it was time to make our way out to "it's a small world" for Remember.
We hadn't seen the show since the projections were added to the Small World facade. I'm of two minds on them; it makes the dead sections, where cool stuff is happening on Main Street, more interesting. On the other hand, what would UNICEF think of blowing up the Death Star on front of the ride dedicated to children everywhere?
When the fireworks were over, we moved slowly through Fantasyland and out of the park, waited only one load before getting on a tram (due to my noticing that both sides of the tram stop were loading but guests exiting the Esplanade were being directed to the north side) and drove back to the hotel.
On Sunday morning we got lucky with parking again--Mickey 8 E!-- and went to Granville's for breakfast. Jen had the eggs Benedict and I had the basic American. Both were very good and the service was fantastic. After breakfast we walked through Downtown Disney, stopping to check out Island Charters and (again) World of Disney, and found that Disneyland's entrance line was barely out to the first Monorail track. Which was interesting, because when we entered the park it was already pretty crowded. We had some time before the noon meet so we went into Fantasyland and rode Pinocchio, and then got Buzz FastPasses.
Right at noon, we walked up to the hub and found a few people at the meet. Some folks from other boards who I knew by sight, a few old friends, and many I'd never met. Surprisingly, only one other MousePadder! Come on, people. The meet broke up as people went to lunch, and we went to find some MP people we knew were in the park. We met up, said our hellos and goodbyes, and it was time to leave. Already!
Far too short a trip, but it was really hot and sticky and very Florida-like, so it's probably good that we didn't stay longer. We'll be back for MouseAdventure in October.
We arrived and checked in to our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express on Katella (http://www.mouseplanet.com/cgi/reviews/do/display.cgi?product-sku=holidayinnexpressmaingate) at about half-past 9 on Friday night. In fact, I can tell you exactly when we entered the room--9:25 PM--because s soon as we walked in we could hear the Remember fireworks from Disneyland. Opening the curtains, we saw that we had a fantastic view of the fireworks! After a bit of unpacking and freshening up, we decided to walk over to Downtown Disney for a little refreshment.
The walk from the hotel to the Uva Bar at Downtown Disney (http://www.colddeadfish.net/catal/cataluvabarmenu.html) was about a mile according to Google. We sat down gratefully after a mini-roundabout tour (the hostess took us to the left around the central bar all the way around to a table just to the right of the entrance gate) and ordered drinks (Napoleon Dynamite for Jen, Ketel One vodka martini for me) and food (turkey club for Jen, compressed salad for me). Note: The Uva Bar makes strong drinks. Food was very good.
After our light meal we wanted to go into Disneyland for at least a little while (the park closed at midnight; it was then about 11:15). We entered the park and wandered toward the Jungle Cruise, a usual nighttime destination. Sadly, our skipper was one we'd had before and wish to never have again. I won't give her name here but trust me, it was one of the very worst Jungle Cruises we'd ever had. "One of the worst" because the other worst was the other time we'd had the same skipper, in July. No timing, no personality, definitely no humor. She'd do very well on Storybook, or perhaps loading boats on "it's a small world".
Following Jungle it was time for us to hike back to the hotel and bed.
Saturday morning, after braving the free continental breakfast (served in a tiny conference room packed with hotel guests), we needed to make a pilgrimage to the Garden Grove Target for some essentials. And Jen had to have a new pair of pants. Purchases made, we drove to the Mickey & Friends structure (reasoning that since we were already in the car, why bother parking at the hotel and then taking that long walk again) and got lucky: Goofy 9 G!
Once we got through security, we were rather surprised at the disparity in entrance lines; Disneyland's was out past the second Monorail track, almost reaching the center of the Esplanade. DCA's was not even to the letters. Figuring we'd hit Disneyland later, we went into DCA, picked up Soarin' FastPasses and did the big loop around the park. Jen went on the Orange Stinger while I waited, and we got some mozzarella sticks from Strips Dips & Chips. That serving box needs a redesign; the sauce container makes the box top-heavy after you take out one or two sticks.
It was getting quite warm, so as we walked we tended to go through shops. By the time we got to the Wharf, we wanted a break in air conditioning, so we went into the Mission tortilla factory tour. For the first time, we saw the flour line stopped and people working on the press machinery (see attachment). They quickly had it fixed and were soon sending dough through the machine. We scored the first two tortillas, hot off the line. Yum.
We wanted to see if there had been any visible changes in the Monsters Inc construction since our last visit, so we made our way to the Hollywood Pictures area. DUH would not be performing for another hour and we didn't want to wait, so we checked out the new art on the construction walls, browsed in Off the Page and headed out of the park.
Into Disneyland (entrance line much shorter by now), and just in time for Laughing Stock. Previously we'd managed to see part I of the story several times but kept missing parts II and III (though we'd seen part II in the past) so today we decided to see all three parts in order. This meant being at the Golden Horseshoe at 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00. No problem, and we timed things so we could do the Tiki Room in between the first two and see the Parade of Dreams between the second and third. Laughing Stock were terrifically funny as always. After the 4:00 show ended, it was time to head out to our early dinner meet-up with several MousePlanet staffers and friends.
Dinner was at 5:00 at Storytellers, so I suggested we cross the Esplanade and take the hotel shortcut rather than going through Downtown Disney. We did, and met up with some of our group waiting outside Storytellers. Since it was still early, we decided to wait in the Hearthstone Lounge. Sadly, the Hearthstone has stopped serving the wonderful cheese sticks, in favor of a (still very tasty) spicy nut mix. Or they may have just run out, I didn't ask.
Dinner at Storytellers was... okay. I really don't think I got my money's worth from the $26.99 buffet ($24.29 after AP discount) and we were "discouraged" from ordering off the menu. The service was excellent, however, and drink refills were provided even before we knew we needed them. After dinner we did some shopping at World of Disney, where Jen had to buy the "kawaii" Bambi purse. Then it was time to make our way out to "it's a small world" for Remember.
We hadn't seen the show since the projections were added to the Small World facade. I'm of two minds on them; it makes the dead sections, where cool stuff is happening on Main Street, more interesting. On the other hand, what would UNICEF think of blowing up the Death Star on front of the ride dedicated to children everywhere?
When the fireworks were over, we moved slowly through Fantasyland and out of the park, waited only one load before getting on a tram (due to my noticing that both sides of the tram stop were loading but guests exiting the Esplanade were being directed to the north side) and drove back to the hotel.
On Sunday morning we got lucky with parking again--Mickey 8 E!-- and went to Granville's for breakfast. Jen had the eggs Benedict and I had the basic American. Both were very good and the service was fantastic. After breakfast we walked through Downtown Disney, stopping to check out Island Charters and (again) World of Disney, and found that Disneyland's entrance line was barely out to the first Monorail track. Which was interesting, because when we entered the park it was already pretty crowded. We had some time before the noon meet so we went into Fantasyland and rode Pinocchio, and then got Buzz FastPasses.
Right at noon, we walked up to the hub and found a few people at the meet. Some folks from other boards who I knew by sight, a few old friends, and many I'd never met. Surprisingly, only one other MousePadder! Come on, people. The meet broke up as people went to lunch, and we went to find some MP people we knew were in the park. We met up, said our hellos and goodbyes, and it was time to leave. Already!
Far too short a trip, but it was really hot and sticky and very Florida-like, so it's probably good that we didn't stay longer. We'll be back for MouseAdventure in October.