The Land of The Walls: My DL Trip Report!

[DisneyDreamer08]

So after the Jungle Cruise we went over to Pirates. My mom has been on Pirates in WDW and was fine but I didn’t tell her about the extra drop in this Pirates until we were actually sitting in the boats. She was fine though and said it wasn’t that bad.

When we left Pirates, we walked by the area where Princess Tiana does her shows and she was out again!

I told my parents I really wanted to meet her but they said the line was too long and they didn’t want to wait. No fair! My husband would have waited with me. Where’s the hubs when you need him?

We then went over to Haunted Mansion. I had to convince my mom that its not actually a scary ride.
We were moving along and then when we got to the attic scene, our doom buggies stopped. I’m guessing to load a wheel chair person. Since we were sitting in the same spot for a few minutes, I turned my flash on and took a few pictures. Don’t worry, as soon as the ride started up again, I put my camera away!

After the HM, we stopped for lunch. We went back over to the River Belle Terrace. I got the BBQ pork sandwich with baked beans and fruit salad. My dad got the roast beef sandwich with baked beans and coleslaw and my mom got a turkey sandwich, also with baked beans and coleslaw. My parents loved the fixins bar and overall, the food was great for a counter service restaurant. Holy Moly though- are they expensive! It came to about 17 bucks per person! I mean, you did get a lot of food but still, that’s way too much money to spend on a quick service lunch.

After lunch, we went over to Winnie The Pooh.

The Splash entrance from the Winnie The Pooh queue

It was really cute, very similar to the WDW version. I totally forgot about looking for the Country Bear heads though. I remembered literally as I was getting up when the ride was over. Darn!

We then made our way over to Tomorrowland. While we were sitting at lunch before, I told my dad that I thought he should go on one ride with me where a picture was taken. My husband and I have a “Wall of Fame” in our house with all the photo pass and on ride Disney photos we have purchased throughout the years. I told my dad that we needed a photo to add to the wall. I thought Space Mountain would be good because since they did not take pictures on the WDW version (at least not when we have been there). And…. My dad agreed!
So the first thing we did in Tomorrowland was go to get a Space Mountain fast pass (I think the wait was 45 minutes).
Then we went over to Buzz Lightyear.

Well what do you know, the sky is blue in California!

I think it is always a good idea to ride Buzz on your trip before you do Toy Story. Once you do Toy Story, you realize how lame Buzz actually is. It’s impossible to tell whose red dot is whose and most of the time, I have no idea if I’m actually hitting the target or if I’m watching someone else’s red dot.
I scored 57,000+, my dad scored 35,000+ and my mom scored 2000 (I rode in a car by myself). I doubt those are actually good scores.
My parents really liked Buzz (it was their first time riding, they’ve never been on the WDW one) but I told them to wait until we did Toy Story, that they would like that even better.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After Buzz, we went over to Nemo and the wait was 25 minutes so we got in line. It was a long wait (it ended up being 30 minutes) but the line moved so it was fine.

Mine mine mine

Boy is it tight quarters down in the sub! The Nemo ride was cute but it was not at all what I expected. I thought there were going to be real fish down in the lagoon! I didn’t realize it was just images and some fake, 3D models. My mom thought there would be real fish too and said she wasn’t all that impressed with the ride. I had to agree.
I also have to say, I like the Nemo ride at Epcot better. I like that it is a combination of real fish, and Nemo character images. Also that ride hardly ever has a wait and this Nemo pretty much always has a long wait. I just didn’t think it was worth the 30 minute wait. I do like however that they found a use for the original lagoon and didn’t just fill it in.

After Nemo, I’m pretty sure we went over to the Small World area to find a spot for the parade (the order of the next few things is a little fuzzy). I loved seeing the parade again and my mom really liked it too. My dad enjoyed sitting down and taking a break.

Love Plutos tag!

After the parade, we went back to Tomorrowland and went over to Captain EO. Ok, so here’s the thing. I am not a big Michael Jackson fan. Sure his music in the 80’s was good but once he got into all the baby dangling over the balcony, child molestation charges stuff, I lost all respect for him. My parents feel the same way. But we figured while we were there, we would watch the show.

So the show starts and the second MJ appears on screen, everyone starts clapping. My mom and I just look at each other. Then he starts to talk and I totally forgot how ridiculous his voice was and I just cracked up laughing. Oh, it was funny.

So the show was interesting enough (did anyone else catch one of the dancers mess up though?). My parents agreed that it was just ok and my dad didn’t like that they chose Angelica Houston to play the “beautiful” queen. When the show was over everyone clapped. So I guess we were in the minority.

I’m wondering what they are going to put in that theater when the show leaves. I highly doubt they’ll go back to Honey We Shrunk The Audience. Maybe Monsters Inc? I do love that show!

After that, it was time to use our fast passes so off we went to Space Mountain! I of course loved the ride! My dad didn’t mind it. It’s not that he hates thrill rides, he just could take them or leave it. He thought it was well done though and he told my mom she would have a heart attack if she went on (seriously, she would). While we were on the ride, my mom just poked through that nearby gift shop.

We decided to skip Astro Orbitor and Autopia. So that only left Innoventions- which I wanted to skip also. But my mom wanted to check it out.

I thought you could just go in and walk around so when we had to wait outside the doors for a few minutes I was very confused. Once we were inside, we had to listen to guy lecture us on light bulbs for about 10 minutes. Boy was it boring! I was looking for an escape route the whole time. After that, we turned around and had to listen to the guy talk about the house of the future. Finally, they let us in. Everyone was just sort of standing there, I guess waiting for more lecturing but I seized the opportunity and took off in the other direction. My parents followed.

The house isn’t all that futuristic. I mean, every single room had about 10 digital photo frames in it. We quickly did a lap and then went upstairs. I begged my parents to please not waste any more precious Disney time on those exhibits. My mom agreed but my dad got distracted with that aging booth thing. He messed around with it for 10 minutes and then some error message came up. So finally we left.
That whole section feels like a science museum. Which would be fine if you were actually at a science museum, not Disney. I thought it was a waste of time.

I will try to finish up this day a little later on!

 

[bartbrine]

report

I gotta tell you, some of what you're saying is disappointing. Like the nemo ride, innoventions. It sounds like disneyland is just a very compressed WDW. Anyway, I am enjoying your report very much. What about places to eat? What do you think is the nicest table service place to eat at? Thanks

 

[susan5027]

This has been so much fun to read!! I confess that I have been secretly reading this during our standardized testing going on here in our California schools this week. (Being a math teacher please excuse any bad grammar or spelling.) I,too, enjoy the first impressions of a first timer to DL. You take good pictures too, DisneyDreamer08! And you said your camera wasn't that good. I say good enough to make us all smile.

Too bad you didn't ride the autopias though. The track is a combination of the old Fantasyland and Tomorrowland tracks with some neat little upgrades like the bumpy 4-wheel drive section. I have always loved the "bridge part" above/along side the submarine lagoon too. The whole ride is much longer than at WDW (at least it feels that way) and the theme is a much more intimate car driving experience so to speak--not a racing theme as WDW. I'm sorry for the comparison. Anyway, now you have a reason to come back! Welcome to Disneyland!

 

[fitzy2004]

Innoventions is a lackluster. It rarely has a crowd from what I understand. I did not enjoy it as well. Originally that was where carousel of progress was.

Shame that you missed Autopia. I love it. The track layout is a lot more exciting than the WDW version.

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage is very similar to the ride in Epcot minus real life sea creatures. However I enjoy the submarine better for the fact that it is a submarine.

I think what I enjoyed most about Disneyland is the simple fact that it was the only Disney park ever owned/operated by Walt Disney himself. I feel like you can almost feel him there when you in the park.. Plus above the firestation he had his little apartment. I must have tons of photos of lamp in the window. Just seems magical. Just my feeling.

I love all your pics. Great Trip Report, love reading about it.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Hey guys! Sorry for the lack of updates yesterday. I haven't been feeling well and sitting for long periods of time at the computer right now just isn't a good thing! Anyways, I will definitely try to add more today!

Bartbrine- please don't let my opinions disappoint you in any way. I'm sure there are many other people who love the things that I wasn't crazy about. I always try to formulate my own opinions on everything. Thats why I never read reviews about a movie before I see it. Why should I let some stuffy, elderly man tell me if I'm gonna like a movie or not? Ya know? So please, don't let the opinion of one person effect how you might feel about something!
The only table service restaurant we ate at was Cafe Orleans and I loved it! I should hopefully get to that part today.

Susan and Fitzy- thanks for your comments on Autopia. Unfortunately, there just wasn't enough time to do everything so that was one of the things we chose to skip. And Fitzy, I agree about this being Walt's Disneyland. It does have a more old timey, magical feel to it!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

So after Innoventions, my mom wanted to do some shopping on Main St. So first, we walked back over to the castle to take advantage of the blue sky and finally get some nice castle pictures!

We started walking down Main St. and we saw Mary and Bert with practically no line! I’ve only met Mary once and it was 3 years ago and I’ve never met Bert- so this was a must!

While my mom shopped, and I followed along, my dad went back to the car to get his and my moms sweatshirts. We were planning on staying until the fireworks and it was already getting chilly!

The fire station and Walt's apartment. The lights on!

When my dad came back, we made our way over to Café Orleans for our dinner reservation. We checked in and requested a table indoors (again, already a little chilly). We were seated within 10 minutes.

I had told my parents ahead of time that the Disney way is to rush you in and out of restaurants as quickly as possible. Since we had been there all day, and were planning on being there for a few more hours, we wanted to take our time and relax a little.

So first, we ordered an appetizer, the pommes frites, and we told the waitress we weren’t ready to order our meal yet. Once the appetizer came out, then we put our meal order in. The pommes frites were delicious! If you haven’t had them, they’re French fries with garlic and parmesan cheese with a dipping sauce. Oooh they were so good!

For our dinners, I ordered the ratatouille, my dad ordered the chicken gumbo crepe, and my mom ordered the seafood herb crepe. Mine was great, a little on the spicy side but not too bad. It came with corn bread and asparagus. My dad liked his as well. My mom is one of those people that can always find something to complain about at a restaurant so she said hers was only so-so. That's just my mom though.

For dessert we split an order of the Mickey Beignets. An order comes with 5 big beignets so it was a good thing we split them! They were amazing! Sort of like a combination of fried dough and a donut. They came with 2 different sauces- a vanilla one and a berry one. I didn’t think to take a picture until we had already attacked them.

So because we tried our best to take our time, you could tell they were getting annoyed with us by the end. We would just barely take the last bite of something, fork still in mouth, and someone would come over and clear our plate. Total we were only there about 45 minutes but I guess that’s long for the Disney folk! All in all though, it was a great dinner. Because New Orleans Square is a section that is completely unique to DL, I really wanted to try a restaurant there. The Blue Bayou just seemed too expensive so I was happy with our choice of Cafe Orleans.

After dinner, we poked through a few of the shops in that area and then made our way towards the Tree House. It was only about 7pm and still light out, but it was already closed. I guess they close it as soon as the sun starts setting.

So we walked back to New Orleans Square and hopped aboard the train for a round trip ride!

When the train stopped in Toowntown, we could see the parade going by.

Mary and Bert had a busy night!

And we could also see some people working on the Matterhorn.

So the other day when I was riding the train alone, when it went through that section of Frontierland where you can see the drained Rivers of America, all the people around me were commenting about how terrible it looked and how they wondered what was going on. During this ride, the conductor was smart enough to make an announcement that the River was currently under a lengthy refurb, hence the dry river bed.

After the train ride, we walked over to the Tiki Room. We had about a half hour until the next show so we went into the Adventureland/Frontierland stores that are right near there. I bought some cute Mickey salt and pepper grinders!

When my mom and I were checking out, we were talking the CM behind the counter. She was asking us where we were from, how long we were here, etc. My mom said that her and my dad were in CA for 8 days but that I flew across the country for 3 just to go to DL. The CM said that deserved to be become an honorary citizen! So she gave me this button that said “Honorary Citizen of Disneyland” which I proudly wore for the rest of our trip. Haha.

So we then went over to the Tiki Room and I so prefer this show to the one in MK. I love the original and I think its so charming and unique.

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

After the Tiki Room, we walked back over to Space Mountain so I could pick up my photo from earlier in the day. I stopped along the way to take a few pictures.

Then we just went back to Main St. and shopped around a little more. My mom and I got some hot Cinnamon Tea Lattes.

Then we found a spot for the fireworks. I wanted to go up towards the hub but my dad wanted to be closer to the exit so we could get out faster. So we ended up about halfway down Main St.

Before I get into the fireworks, I have to say one thing- it should be against the rules to put kids on your shoulders during the fireworks. If you have a dad who’s six feet tall, and then you put a kid on his shoulders, that’s like 8 or 9 feet. It happened to us more than once that we would find a spot with a perfect view and then the dad in front us would throw a kid up on his shoulders, blocking out the entire castle. I mean seriously, the kid can see the sky just fine from where he is. Or, can’t the parent just hold the kid so they’re the same height as an adult? I don’t know, I just think its so rude.

Anyways, I finally found a good spot behind a nice family who had their kids in strollers. The fireworks are called Remember, Dreams Come True and they are narrated by Julie Andrews.

These fireworks are without a doubt the best Disney nighttime show I have ever seen!!! I can’t even begin to describe how amazing I thought they were. I loved that they included a clip from Walt’s opening day speech. And I love how they then circle the park with music from attractions in each land. Although my mom was a little confused during the Tomorrowland section when it said Please Remain Seated. Haha

An all that wonderful music is happening while the castle is lighting up different colors and the fireworks are exploding to the beat of the music. It was just amazing, best fireworks ever as far as I’m concerned!

Because we were so far back my pictures only came out so-so.

So after that, we left DL and headed back towards the trams. Once again, they were prepared and there were several trams there waiting.

The next day, the plan was to spend the first part of the day at DCA and then go back a finish a few things up in DL.

I will try to continue on later if I can!

 

[bartbrine]

report

Boy, that last picture is amazing! Sure looks a little crowded though. Keep up the good work I look forward to reading your posts each day.

 

[OklaHoops]

List of Disneyland features over WDW

1. Toontown
2. Roger Rabbit
3. Indiana Jones
4. Matterhorn bobsleds
5. Alice in Wonderland
6. Mr Toad
7. PotC and Blue Bayou

WDW over Disneyland - hmm, too numerous to mention.

 

[nemofinder22]

I'm glad you got that picture of Cafe Orleans it looks like its being prepped for the refurbishment. The awnings have been removed and one of the balconies has a bit damage. Good thing you saw the building before the tarps went up.

Cafe Orleans from last week with tarps-
http://mintcrocodile.blogspot.com/2010/04/lamps-plus.html
http://mintcrocodile.smugmug.com/photos/838006531_fBe8F-X3.jpg

Anyways keep up the great trip report!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Wow, looks like we just missed that!

Actually, on that day (Monday the 12th) they started putting up some scaffolding on the side entrance where the check in podium is. It wasn't there on Sunday but then was on Monday. But the front was still fine.

Bartbrine- the crowds weren't too bad. Sunday was crowded because it is always filled with locals on the weekends. It felt like a typical spring day at the Magic Kingdom. Monday and Tuesday were nice. The longest wait we had was that 30 minute wait for Nemo. For the fireworks, we were standing towards the end of Main St. so basically, everyone in the park was standing in front of us.

Oh another thing I forgot to mention about the fireworks- I also loved how they were shot off over the Main St. Shops in addition to over the castle. It was just so awesome

 

[bartbrine]

photopass

A question for Disneydreamer or anyone--When we go to wdw, we usually purchase the photopass cd in advance because we know we are going to get alot of those pictures taken. Does Disneyland have photopass photographers and does it make sense to buy the cd in advance?:shrug:

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Bartbrine- DL does have photopass. They don't seem to have as many though. I saw them with a few characters and occasionaly would see them in the big important places. However, the time we went back to the castle to get our pictures with a blue sky, there was no photopass person in sight. So they seem to be hit or miss. I have never purchased the whole CD but from what I understand you get a discount if purchased in advance. So that seems like a good idea!

Everyone else- I am so sorry I haven't finished this yet! I'm usually not like this! I just really haven't been feeling well lately- I'm so glad I wasn't feeling like this when we were in DL!
I am going to try to finish up our last day tomorrow. Thanks for your patience!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Ok guys, I’m going to do my best to do a little bit of updating today!

Our last day at DL was spent mainly at DCA. They opened at 9 and we got there at about 8:30. They were already letting people in through the turnstiles. Then they had a rope set up once you got inside.

While we were waiting behind the rope, Chip and Dale came out with Tower of Terror hats on. Since we were at the front of the rope, I was able to get a picture.

Eventually, some ToT CMs came out also. We saw them talking to some people and they took two guests from behind the rope and walked away with them. So I’m not sure what that was all about.

When the rope was finally down at 9, we started making our way towards Toy Story. I could have been the first one there but once again, my parents slowed me down!

When we were waiting to board, there was a family of three right in front of me. My parents were planning on going together and I was going to go alone. Since there were 3 people in front of me, I said to them, do one of you guys want to ride with me? They said, no thanks. Then the mom got into a car alone and the 2 kids got in together. So weird! Do I smell or something?

So I had to play alone, which was fine, it’s still a really fun ride. It ended up being my moms favorite of the trip. Our scores:

Mine

Moms on the left, dads on the right

Oh and by the way, the queue for DLs Toy Story isn’t nearly as impressive. It’s the same as all the other Paradise Pier queues.

After Toy Story, we left Paradise Pier. As we were walking towards the Backlot section, we stopped for this picture.

My dad and I then went to ride Soarin’. My mom decided to sit it out despite all my efforts to convince her to try it. This ride was better than the first time I went on a few days ago by myself. On that ride, the chairs lifted and audio started but the screen was black for the first 10 or 15 seconds of the ride.

This time was normal. My dad and I were in the front row which was good. My only complaint is that the screen could really use a refurb. At one point, my dad even pointed to one of the large black spots and said, what is that supposed to be?

This was my dads first time riding and he loved it. He said afterwards it was his favorite of the trip!

For some reason, I have no Soarin' pictures!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Our next ride was Monsters Inc.

I really liked it. I liked that its one ride that is completely unique to DCA. My parents haven’t seen the movie so they had a hard time keeping up. It was cute though.

After that, we went over to the Visa Card photo meet and greet. I’ve been doing the WDW version for a few years now and its always some combination of Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. So I was really excited that here it was Chip and Dale! And, there was no one else around so we didn’t have to wait at all.

We then went over to Muppet Vision 3D. I had read online before we left that somewhere in the pre-show room there was a net full of Jello (get it). So I spend our 10 minutes of wait time looking for it. I even asked the CM who was in the room and he said he had never heard of that. I never did find it. Oh well.

The show is the same as the WDW version- so of course it was great!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

As we were leaving Muppet Vision, a Drawn to Magic Show was going to be starting in about 5 minutes so we stopped to watch.

Volunteers from the audience

So cute! The 3 CMs sang a few songs and talked about drawing different types of Disney characters like princesses and heroes. Then at the end, the characters they were drawing came to life. It was really cute, I enjoyed it. The characters did meet and greets afterwards but as usual, my parents refused to wait. Where’s the hubs when you need him?

We then went over to Turtle Talk with Crush.

The theater is a little nicer than the one in WDW, there are actual seats instead of benches. The show is the same concept though. I love this show and never get sick of seeing it!

We took this picture as we were leaving the Backlot area:

 

[hpyhnt 1000]

Whoo hoo! Nice to see you back and updating; great trip report! :wave:

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Hey everyone! I am so sorry to drag up such an old post but since I never finished, I wanted to explain why. I was in DL in mid April. About 2 weeks after I got home, I started feeling really sick. I couldn't eat, I couldn't drink and if I did I would throw up. During this time, I was not only trying to type up this report, but I was also working on all the pictures I took on my computer- fixing the color, cropping them, etc.
I eventually found out that I was pregnant! My husband and I had been trying for our first for about 7 months so we were so excited! The next several weeks were not so fun however. From weeks 5 1/2 until about week 19 I had terrible morning sickness. Or in my case, all day sickness. Like I said, I had problems eating and drinking, I was nauseous all the time and I needed to nap daily. There were certain things that made me sick just by thinking about them. Certain foods, certain smells, etc. Hopefully there are other mothers out there who can relate to this, because I'm sure it sounds a little silly. Since I started to feel sick while typing my Disney report and fixing my Disney pictures, whenever I would think about sitting down to work on them, I would feel even more sick. So eventually I just gave up and stopped thinking about it.
I am now in my 24th week and my husband and I know we are having a baby girl. Our own Disney princess!
I am feeling better, not great, but better. I would really like to finish up this report. I'm not sure I will be able to do it in as much detail since it was so long ago now. But I can at least get some more pictures up. I hope to work on it this afternoon. But if you've lost all interest by now I totally understand
So I will be back a little later on!

 

[DisneyDreamer08]

Ok everyone, attempting to continue on. From looking at my pictures, it looks like we next went over to A Bugs Land. Even though the rides here are 'kiddie' rides, I have to say, I think this one of the most well done parts of DCA. The entire area is perfectly themed with great detail. You could easily spend an hour or two here if you had little kids.

The only ride we went on was Heimlich's Chew Chew Train. It was cute and again, the attention to detail was fantastic. It was however much shorter than we expected. Maybe a 45 second ride?

We also did It's Tough To Be a Bug. This is actually one 3D show that I'm usually not a fan of just because it really creeps me out. The stink bug, the termites crawling through the seats...ew! But I did it anyway for my parents.

After that, I believe we decided to break for lunch. As we were walking towards the Wharf, we passed the green army men.

We had lunch at The Pacific Wharf Cafe. My mom and I got in the super long line and my dad walked over to one of the other places (the Mexican place maybe?) to get a beer and then save us a table. Beer in Disney- my dad was in Heaven!

My mom got the corn chowder in a bread bowl, my dad got the chili in a bread bowl, and I got the Asian salad in a bread bowl. All were absolutely delicious! No complaints and nothing but love for Pacific Wharf Cafe. Those bread bowls are huge though. When we finished, we all had bread left over and we felt bad wasting it.
While sitting at lunch, relaxing by the water, my mom mentioned she wouldn't mind doing Toy Story Mania again. I checked my Verizon phone app and saw that the wait time was something like 35 or 40 minutes. My mom thought this was too long to wait and said nevermind.

After lunch, we went to find the Brother Bear characters. We walked back over the entrance of the Redwood Creek area (where the CM told me the other day they would be) but they weren't there. According to the times guide they should have been so we hung around for 5 minutes or so and then just started to look around the area. We finally did find them but I can't really remember where it was.