PDA

View Full Version : Trip Report: Seattle Red Bear [Oct. 29 - Nov. 1, 2005][merged]



SeattleRedBear
11-07-2005, 06:41 PM
Summary: 4 days (Oct 29-Nov 1) at the Disneyland Resort and a day in Hollywood (Oct 28) to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday. Crowds weren't bad, weather was beautiful and California Screamin' was running (eventually).

Cast of characters:

SeattleRedBear: Mid-40s librarian Disney fan and planner of all trips
DisneyHusBear: Early 50s, delicate flower that only starts blossoming about 2:00 in the afternoon after copious amounts of coffee
Birthday Girl: The reason for the trip. It was her 50th birthday (yes, she was born the year that Disneyland opened) but she wore a tiara proclaiming herself to be 40! (De-Nial ain't just a river in Egypt!) AKA: Chatterbox.
Kid Doc: Early 50s best-friend pediatrician in Corvallis. Still a kid at heart who you can dare to do anything.

Pre-Trip Planning

Several months ago we were having dinner with Birthday Girl and it turned out she had absolustely no plans for her 50th birthday. The Big 5-0 and she was doing NOTHING and actually wanted to ignore that nasty fact of life. Well, being the good friends that we are, we couldn't let that happen (instead we had to rub it in her face every chance we got). So the three of us decided to take her to Disneyland, where dreams really *do* come true (I'm 29, I'm 29, I'm 29, really, really, really). Because BirthdayGirl is a Halloween baby, we figured that would be the perfect time of year to go (50th anniversary and the summer crowds would be down). Unfortunately, this time of year Wishes was only running Friday and Saturday nights and Fantasmic is only running Friday, Saturday & Sunday. KidDoc had to do rounds on Friday, so it was decided that the three Seattlites would catch an early morning flight on Friday, arriving 10:30, get the rental car, drive up to Hollywood for a quick look at Grauman's (BirthdayGirl had never been to Hollywood), attend a studio taping and get back down to John Wayne by 10:30 to pick up KidDoc. This would mean catching Wishes on Saturday night and Fantasmic on Sunday if we wanted to get decent seats. I tried to get Fantasmic Balcony seating for Sunday night but sadly the balcony was sold out within five minutes of opening of the switchbaord :crying: ). I guess we'd have to make do with Walk in Walt's Foorsteps tour and birthday lunch at the Blue Bayou (both of which were new for everyone :) ).

We had originally reserved a room at the Howard Johnson's but by the time of the trip, a room at our affiliated timeshare (Dolphin's Cove) was available. I was looking forward to staying at the HoJo's because I've heard such positive things, but the one-bedroom unit with a kitchen was definitely going to give us more space and privacy. AAA Park Hoppers provided free parking and we were already planning on renting a car because of the Hollywood side trip so staying a 5-minute drive (rather than a 10-minute walk) worked just as well (and DelicateFlower was already complaining about that 10-minute walk at the end of the day). Now, the big question. What studio taping would we go to? We were limited to what was being filmed on Friday, so it was pretty slim pickins (as my dad used to say). We had already missed getting the tickets for a talk show (those are distributed pretty early) and the sit-coms being filmed that night were a pretty sorry lot. However...DelicateFlower is an avid Fran Drescher fan (I can hear the eyes rolling across the country as I type this). He's not a fanatic, but he does TiVo *every* episode of the Nanny. So it was decided, we were 'Living with Fran' for an evening. With plans in place we were ready to go.

Crazy4DL
11-07-2005, 07:21 PM
This is better than reading a book!!! more more more! :D

Crazy4DL
11-08-2005, 05:56 AM
I am still waiting . . . . . . :D

Just kidding you, but I loved your report so far and really am looking forward to the next installment. Thank you for taking the time to write for us all to enjoy. :)

nvmom
11-08-2005, 09:57 AM
Carry on, carry on... fun report so far

nvmom

audibleatom
11-08-2005, 10:06 AM
love the detail...we need more!

SeattleRedBear
11-08-2005, 07:09 PM
Sorry I'm being such a tease :~D I'm out of town on business for the next couple days but will get back to the report on return.

SeattleRedBear
11-08-2005, 08:40 PM
Summary: 4 days (Oct 29-Nov 1) at the Disneyland Resort and a day in Hollywood (Oct 28) to celebrate a friend's 50th birthday. Crowds weren't bad, weather was beautiful and California Screamin' was running (eventually).

Cast of characters:

SeattleRedBear: Mid-40s librarian Disney fan and planner of all trips
DisneyHusBear: Early 50s, delicate flower that only starts blossoming about 2:00 in the afternoon after copious amounts of coffee
Birthday Girl: The reason for the trip. It was her 50th birthday (yes, she was born the year that Disneyland opened)
Kid Doc: Early 50s best-friend pediatrician in Corvallis. Still a kid at heart who you can dare to do anything.

Day One: The Adrenaline Kicks In

Now Birthday Girl had nixed taking the 6 a.m. flight in favor of the more expensive 8 a.m. flight (What did it matter to her, she wasn't paying!). So working backwards, we had figured out she would arrive at our place between 6 & 6:30 and with a 30 minute drive to the airport, we would have plenty of time to check in. Unfortunately, when HusBear and I were figuring out what time we needed to get up, I miscalculated in my head (something I never do) and our alarm went off at 6:00 instead of the originally planned for 5:00. I only realized my mistake when Birthday Girl shows up while I'm still in the shower and HusBear is still in bed. OK, we're still OK (adrenaline kicks in), short shower and we'll be fine. Then ten minutes later when we're packing the car, Birthday Girl realizes she left her suitcase back at her house! ("I put it right in front of the door...I can't believe I stepped over it on the way out to the car!") She normally lives 15 minutes from our house but due to some warp in the space-time continuum (and some adrenaline influenced driving) we manage to cut it down to 10 each way. Adrenaline kicks up another notch.

I get back to our house, figuring we might still make it, and HusBear isn't ready yet! Even after he's had a shower, he's still fairly slow moving, but I've learned after 9 years that prodding and yelling don't help, so I stew in silence while I finish packing the car and by then he's ready to go. At this point, the flight leaves in 40 minutes. I'm driving the fastest I think I have ever driven in the U.S. (other than the time when I was 18 when I took the family car up to 100 just to see if I could...growing up in Eastern Washington such things were possible then). Since I'm not only driving like a race car driver, senses heightened, looking for cops, adrenaline has pretty much maxed out while Chatterbox is in the back seat of our Beetle ("Oh, I've never been in a Beetle, this is so cute. The headroom back here isn't as bad as you said it would be. I still can't believe I stepped over my bag on the way out the door. You know I wonder if we'll see any kids dressed for Halloween. How long does it usually take to tape a TV show? The last time we were at Disneyland, I think we stayed over by the convention center...."). And I'm repeating to myself over and over "We're going to miss it...we're going to miss it...I know we're going to miss it..."

About ten minutes from the airport, I turn to HusBear and say "You know, we're not going to make it if we park at the parking lot, but we just might make it if we park at the airport...shall we go for it??" "Yeah, let's try...it's only money." So we get get into the long-term parking, (after going up 8 floors of a tight circular ramp...if you've parked at SeaTac, you know what I'm referring to...we referred to it as our first ride of the trip) pull into the first spot and literally run/hobble with bags to the terminal ("We're not checking bags...we can gate check if we need to!"). Oh no, our flight's taking off out of the north terminal...a train ride!!! MVP status got us through first-class security fairly quickly. Down an escalator, and luckily train is arriving within two minutes. Off the train, up two escalators and I see the gate at the end of the concourse and the door is still open! YIPPEEE!

As we arrive, gate attendant asks us if we were on the Spokane flight. "No, we've just had a bad morning." "Oh, well I was trying to give you the benefit of the doubt." If it hadn't of been for a late flight from Spokane, I'm positive they would have left without us. They literally start the pre-flight drill as we're buckling in to our seats. Calm down...deep breath...drink some water...it's now 8:10 a.m., we're on the plane and now the vacation can begin. Slice of orange pound cake for breakfast. Very tasty but not filling.

After an uneventful flight, we collect bags, pick up rental car (Budget, $89/five days) and hit the road. We don't have to be at Sony Studios in Culver City until 5:30, so we decide to stop by the resort (Dolphin's Cove, on Orangewood just off of Harbor Blvd) to drop bags off. Turns out our unit was ready. Pleasant resort with standard amenities (pool, weight room, jacuzzi). Our 1-bedroom unit was a little on the small side as it was very tight with the sofa bed was pulled out. Ooops, you have to go through the bedroom to get to the bathroom...Who dreamed up this layout? Oh, well, we'll live. At least it has a small, but serviceable, kitchen and seems to be very well-maintained.

And we hit the road...until we see Mimi's. You know it's noon and all we've had is a slice of pound cake. Like others on the board, I recommend Mimi's. Good food and HUGE portions. I had the cream cheese & marmalade stuffed french toast. Very tasty.

The drive up to Hollywood is generally fine with some occasional stop and go (gotta love LA) but when the highways open, you're doing 80 just to keep up with traffic...I LOVE IT!!! After about an hour drive, we get to central Hollywood. Drive by the sights and end up parking in the shopping center around the Kodak Theatre as they have cheap parking with validation and the surrounding neighborhood streets are restricted parking. Window shop, sit down for gelato, put hand and feet in the prints at Grauman's Chinese and look at the names on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A couple dozen celebrity impersonators are around, begging you to take a picture with them. We even saw two Elvises (Elvi?), young virile gold lame jacket Elvis and older, gone to seed white pant suite and cape Elvis. The former was hanging out with Marilyn Monroe.

Time to get over to Culver City, but part of Santa Monica Blvd is torn up so we take a creative route to eventually get to Sony Studios. I think they're organizing a couple different audiences at the same time as there are about 50 people in the studio audience holding pen in the parking garage, but when we get our numbers, we're numbers 8,9 & 10 ("Make sure you don't lose those numbers and give them to the first person you see once you get in the studio"...I still haven't figure out why they were valuable). But it turns out we are all waiting to see Fran, but the people with numbers have advance tickets while the others are drop-ins (except for one group of about 20 older women and their friends/family; we later find out this is a cancer survival group and the studio taping was part of a fund-raiser). Our wrangler arrives, lines us up, and escorts us past many sound stages ("Wow, look at all those porta-potties" "So, this is where they store all the star's make-up trailers") and into our freezing cold studio. In order to enter the studio, we go through security, where it was discovered that Birthday Girl had a camera in her steam trunk she calls a purse ("Rules are rules ma'am, please take it back to your car"). Turns out in the 20 minutes it takes for her to get to the car and return to the studio ("You know, no one escorted me...I could have done *anything* back there!") we are introduced to our stand-up host for the evening (whose job is to keep the studio audience entertained because a studio taping of a sit-com is really, really BORING after the first take). You see, every scene of a typical sit-com episode has at least three or four takes to get different angles, reaction shots, etc. But the job of the studio audience is to laugh as enthusiastically (if not more so) on the fourth take as on the first. The host entices you with door prizes, games, etc. to keep people involved, but after twenty minutes, it's very apparent that it will be a very long night (unless you're there for the prizes, in which case you have many opportunities to show how badly you want that Sony t-shirt or those free tickets to the Laugh Factory). It's sort of a cross between the Price is Right (a couple times the sound guy even played the music), a stand-up routine and a sit-com.

Neither birthday girl or I won any prizes (I've never been able to bring myself to beg for anything) but one of the things I really enjoy about HusBear is his loud, infectious laugh. When he gets on a roll he just can't stop and at this very moment, I'm listening to him laugh at a Nanny episode that he's seen at least a dozen times. He was in his element. About an hour in, the host decides to give a prize to the person he things has laughed the best so far, and HusBear is asked to prance down the aisle to the Price is Right music to receive four free tickets to the Laugh Factory. He's made to jump up and down like a Price is Right contestant and is interviewed by the host (where we discover that HusBear bought a puka shell necklace at the shopping center by the Kodak Theatre...my man has proudly never left the 70's).

All this hilarity would be enjoyable if it went on for two, three, or maybe even four hours. But even having guest stars of Hal Linden and Lanie Kazan (who are both holding up amazingly well) could not relieve the unending agony of a six-hour (yes, SIX-HOUR studio taping). Muffins, candy & soda was distributed after four hours (to keep us from diabetic comas and to re-invigorate those lagging laughs). The taping started at 6:30 and ended at 12:30! But there was a silver lining. If you hung on to the bitter end (only about half of our original 60 person audience were survivors) you had the possibility of some sort of cool prizes. The woman who could juggle scarves and make a noice like a bicycle horn (I'm not making this up, her entire family could do it) received an autographed copy of Fran Drescher's latest book. As for my HusBear, his consistent belly laughs got him a copy of that evening's script signed by all the stars (including Hal Linden and Lanie Kazan!). For him, it was worth it. For the rest of us, it was a much too long glimpse into the making of a sit-com. Sort of like sausage, you don't really want to know how it's made. But we at least have a framed copy of a real television movie script on the wall.

So what, may you ask, has happened to Kid Doc?? When we last left her, her flight was to have arrived into Orange County at 10:30. Where were her friends who were to pick her up? They were racing down I-405, 90 miles an hour at 1:00 Friday night hoping that she would still be at the airport and hadn't completely abandoned us. Uncertainty was made worse by the fact that she didn't bring her cell phone ("I won't need it, I'll just wait at the airport for you") and ours were turned off until 12:30 (when we saw we had several missed calls). Having done a typical 75-minute drive in about 60 minutes, she calls us from a payphone about ten minutes before we arrive at the airport. She is as good as her word; still waiting for us. A stop at an IHOP (we're all starved) and a mini-mart for milk and fruit and we are in bed by 2:30. An adraneline-filled day! And it's only the first!

Crazy4DL
11-09-2005, 07:57 AM
Sorry I'm being such a tease :~D I'm out of town on business for the next couple days but will get back to the report on return.

Well, ok then, guess we can wait. ;)


Makes lots of money for your next DL trip. :D

hlbtimes2
11-09-2005, 08:25 AM
What an eventful start to your trip!

We made the mistake once of going to a sitcom taping. It was horrible- not the show, the long, long, long taping. Did mention how long it takes? We finally told them my sister was getting sick and needed to leave. It was a lie, but we couldnt take it anymore!

tink360
11-09-2005, 08:32 AM
Still laughing about the woman with scarves who sounds like a bicycle horn, great story & very entertaining. Thanks for posting!

Crazy4DL
11-09-2005, 08:59 AM
my gosh! I had no idea about the sitcom tapings being so long and boring . . . it was sure fun reading your report about them.

Can't wait to hear more. :)

SeattleRedBear
12-17-2005, 10:36 AM
Unfortunately, it's been too long since the trip for me to remember details, so this will be the final installment. My apologies.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Day 2 (Saturday)

DL opened at 8 am, DCA at 10. We had reservations at 2:30 for the Walk in Walt's footsteps tour. I had originally planned on using our EE this morning, but since we got to bed *so* late the previous night, I figured we could do EE on Monday instead and that today it might make more sense to do DCA in the morning, tour DL in the late afternoon and evening as today was our only chance to see Wishes. Even with getting up around 9:00, we still didn't get a full night's sleep. Cereal and coffee in the room for breakfast cut down on our prep time, so we ended up entering DCA around 10:30. First to Soarin' to get FP (about 1/2 hr wait at that point) and we could hear the screams coming from Screamin'...Yeah! Hoofed it over to ToT. Less than 10 minute wait. Well, Kid Doc and I were both *very* disappointed in the DCA version. Maybe sitting in the upper corner didn't convey the complete effect of the 'ghosts' but overall it was very disappointing compared to the WDW version. HusBear has always been a DL loyalist and so would hear nothing of our bad-mouthing it, but I really don't consider this version to even be an E-Ticket.

Then on to Screamin' Oh, oh. By the time we're walking past Ariel's Grotto, I realize I hear no screams. Kid Doc (who's the oldest one of us, but has the most energy) runs ahead and finds out that they've closed it temporarily, with no idea of when it will start running again. We were told we could ask anyone in the park to call and find out if it's running when we return. Well, we continue around Paradise Pier to Mulholland Madness (which was closed the last time we are at DCA a couple years ago). As we walk by the various PP attractions, we're deciding what we'll return to: SunWheel, yes; Maliboomer, no (been there, done that and with the vomit screen in front of your face it's not very enjoyable...as KidDoc says "It's just like ToT and I'd rather do that."); Orange Stinger, maybe; BirthdayGirl decides she *has* to go on Jumpin' Jellyfish (she's reverting back to her childhood). Mulholland Madness was another disappointment in comparison with its WDW version (Primieval Whirl). First, the cars are smaller and HusBear & I are both very big guys (both 6'5", 290 & 260 respectively) so there is always a small amount of stress when we're getting into a ride vehicle for the first time (although our trick is to first sit down legs forward and if that doesn't work, then sit again, crossing the ankles). Second, the cars don't spin. It's a pretty straightforward wild mouse with no real magic. Sigh.

At this point, it's about 11:15. We figured we could do the 1:00 Aladdin show and have just enough time after the show to squeeze in our Soarin' FP, head over to DL, pick up our tour tickets and take the tour. We head back to the SunWheel (where it's a 30-minute wait for a moving car) and as we're waiting in line, I spy a small stack of cast newsletters by the operator's stand. Information is power, so we sneak one away and start looking at it. Wow, it's got all the opening and closing times for each store, the scheduled times for character appearances as well as all the events that aren't posted (like the various bands that are around the park). We finally get on the SunWheel (this 1/2 hr was the longest wait we had the entire trip) and had a pleasant ride (only a couple moments where the car slid to the point of minor panic...the last time HusBear & I were on this ride, we shared the car with a small Japanese couple who together must not have weighed more than 175 pounds...175 pounds on one side of the car vs. 550 pounds on the other results in some serious air time...without anything to hang on to we scared s***less). Then headed over to Golden Zephyr (nice gentle ride; luckily no line). At this point, HusBear & I are getting hungry and the Korn Dog Kastle is right there (and I've heard such wonderful things about it from the list). Kid Doc & BirthdayGirl have been snacking on granola and power bars (Kid Doc was a boy scout in a past life...always prepared) so they decide to skip corn dogs and save a place in line for us over at Aladdin. This decision to split up was almost a big mistake as it took about 20 minutes for Korn Dog Kastle to serve the four people in front of us and the corn dogs are HUGE! I had no idea they would be that big! I was imagining a quick inhale and then heading to Aladdin, but these corn dogs definitely take time to eat. By the time we eat and hoof across the park, Kid Doc is just heading into the theater, but the main floor has already been closed (our first experience with a rude CM yelling insistingly that there was absolutely no room on the main floor when Kid Doc later reported there was tons of seats), so we yelled at each other to meet in front of the theater after the show. As always, the Aladdin show is very enjoyable, topical humor interspersed with very good stage effects, and seeing it from the balcony allowed me to better see the flying carpet. We meet up after the show and head over to Soarin' to use our FPs. Yes, we get first row. This was the first time I've ridden in first row and it does make a difference not having feet dangling above you. I don't think I will ever tire of this ride.

At this point, it's time to head over to DL for the tour. At Guest Relations, I'm told I need to pick up the tickets in the ticket booths outside the entrance (Ooops, forgot this). "You guys head over to the Emporium and I'll find you after I get the tickets." Then I pick up the tickets and find out the tour is scheduled for the next day! (I look at the notes I scribbled in my unofficial guide and, sure enough, I purchased tickets for a Sunday tour...apparently I SOOO wanted to take the tour that I remembered it being a day earlier). The park is fairly crowded but I figured there would be at least a few rides with no lines that we could go on. Kid Doc is focused on finding a replacement watch band for her MM watch (her old leather watch band was stamped with a hidden mickey and current watch bands no longer have that detail). So after more time in the Emporium and New Century Timepieces, Kid Doc & Birthday Girl realize they're both hungry. We're standing right next to the Carnation Cafe (with Disney Visa 10% discount), so wait about 20 minutes for a table. Our waiter (who it turns out is Danish, very nice guy who had been working at Napa Rose) spies the newsletter and gives us a hard time ("How did you get that? It has all our secrets...you know, I'm going to have to kill you now.") as we try to hide it from view. Chicken & Beef pot pies and stuffed potato soup were all delicious.

We then head over to HMH, eager to see it as BirthdayGirl had just seen the movie for the first time the week before. 1/2 hr. wait but fast passes are for about 1/2 hr later (why would you wait in line for 1/2 hr when you get a fastpass for that same amount of time). Head over to Pirates (no line); they've spruced things up since the last time we were there. More smoke in the battle scene and you could tell some of the figures had been cleaned up. Then over to BTMRR to get FP's, but ooops, we still had our outstanding HMH FP's *and* the BTMRR FP machine would not issue us FPs (apparently, the HMH FP machine is now hooked into the DL FP network). Well, the wait was only about 20 minutes, so we go on BTMRR, then head back to HMH which is absolutely wonderful. Every year they do more with it and the 'library' in the ballroom is just a great addition.

We decide to head over to TL to see how long the SM standby is (I figure we'll do this on EE Monday but wanted to get a sense of how crowded it was). However, going through the hub we get stopped because Parade of Dreams has just started. We end up finding a standing place up the steps looking straight down Main Street so watched the parade (and added bonus that we weren't planning for). Some very clever ideas (I especially liked the hanging chandeliers in B&B and the acrobat marionettes on rubber bands for Pinocchio). Then on to TL where we see the SM is 90 minutes and FPs are gone for the day. Surprisingly, Buzz Lightyear only has a 15 minute wait so to infinity and beyond! Finally, a new attraction which is better at DL!! As others have commented, I really like the fact that the guns are not attached to the ride vehicle and you also know when you have a hit by the light on your gun. I also like the look and feel of the ride a little better. By this time, it's about 7:30. I'm ready to go find a place for Dreams (since I've read that the best place to see the castle effects are from an open area in the Hub) but everyone is getting hungry/cranky by this time (power bars only go so far) so dinner at Red Rockett's (going for the Disney Visa discount). We get out of Red Rockett's (it was packed and really unorganized...what are supposed to be separate lines for different counters all merge so people don't know where one line starts and another line ends, many people getting in the line for salads thinking it's the line for the entire restaurant, etc.) and with an hour to go before Wishes everyone (except me) decides to fit in at least one ride before Wishes (I'm ready to try and stake out that spot knowing how bad the crowds are). We end up going on the Matterhorn at night (which is the only way to experience the Matterhorn). Yeah, it's slow and jarring but it ended up being one of our favorite rides because 1) at night you can't see where you're going so there's still a lot of surprises and 2) the sleds are *so* huge (each of us got in our own car) that you're sliding all over the place and really feel like you'll fall out at any point (serious air time). We preferred the left side to the right.

By now, the Hub has filled and we're told that there might be a place to see the castle from Main Street. KidDoc scouts and can't find anything (I said we should have camped out earlier) so we end up behind a tree with a clear view of the sky but partially blocked view of castle) but we figured once the show starts the ropes would drop and we could reposition a little. Even so, we still missed most of the castle images. I have 11 months to return and see it properly.

After Wishes, we head over to Indiana Jones on the off-chance that most people would be at the second Fantasmic show or would have have started leaving the park. We only have a 15 minute wait. Then over to HMH (once again, this was our favorite) and to Pooh. Here is where KidDoc & I completely lose it. It's been a really fun, but very long day and when I (with my 36" inseam legs) try to get into one of those little Hunny Bucket cars, I just can't do it. KidDoc is already in and I try to sit next to her and no matter which way I put my knees we just don't fit. KidDoc ends up jammed at end of the seat with my legs taking up most of the seat and we end up laughing hysterically through the entire ride.

Then onto Splash Mountain (which is our traditional last ride before we leave the park because we don't want to walk around in wet socks and underwear). Even with the weight in the back (the guys) we still get soaked. Walked back to Main Street (just missed a train) and shuttle Mickey & Friends. We're back to condo about midnight and in bed soon after.