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Yes Virginia, there are other vacation places to visit (my DL, GC, Vegas TR)

Okay so as the title implies, this trip report is not just about Disneyland, but other places I visited on my recent vacation too. Or as my husband would say, "There are other places to go, you know".

First a little background. My husband, Larry, and I got married many years ago, barely out of high school. We have 2 beautiful daughters, one of whom is an attorney now, and the other is a member on this forum and will be receiving her masters degree in education in 2 weeks. I have 4 brothers and sisters, 5 half brothers and sisters and 5 step brothers and sister. Whew!!! One of my brothers, Norman, and I have always been close. He and his wife, Pam started going steady (some of you older members will know what that is) in junior high school, married at 18 and have been together ever since. The four of us have vacationed with our kids to Disney World many times together over the years. Well, finally all but one of the children are grown, through school, married, moved out, etc., so this trip was a first ever for just us. Actually the other one is grown, he just refuses to move out.

If you read my pre-trip report, you know some of the background of how this trip got planned. But I'll repeat it for those of you that don't know. My husband likes to play poker. Alot. So much so, that last year he kept telling me he was going to Vegas to play in the World Series of Poker senior event this year. So for Christmas our daughters and I gave him money toward his entry fee instead of the usual books, shirts, jeans, sneakers. Now I on the other hand don't really gamble so I wanted something to pass the time for me in Vegas while he played cards. I invited Norman and Pam to go with us. They are DVC owners and had never been to DL and wanted to go for a few days while on this trip. Larry on the other hand cares nothing for Disney parks and really didn't want to go. So we decided that he would fly to Vegas, while the rest of us flew to DL. He would rent a car in Vegas, drive to LA and pick us up in a few days and we would continue our trip from there.
 
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Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
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Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
Finally it was time for the rest of the park to open. We got fastpasses for Star Tours but rode Indiana Jones next. This is one attraction I wish Disney would build in Florida. It's great.

After exploring more of the park, we made it to Star Tours. For those of you that like looking for hidden Mickeys, I spotted one while waiting in line, but couldn't get a picture of it. There is a screen that has shadows on it of people, robots, etc., walking, talking and doing other things. It reminded me of an airport terminal. At one point R2-D2 walked in front of the screen and his antennae goes up. He turns a little and his antennae is in the shape of Mickey Mouse ears. With his semi-round head, it looks just like a MM hat.

I did manage to get this hidden Mickey near C3P0's head. Accidentally of course. To tell the truth, I didn't even notice it until I looked at the picture.

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Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
More random pictures of Disneyland before moving on to DCA.

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From It's A Small World.

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One of the best Jungle Cruise skippers ever. It didn't bother him at all to make an idiot out of himself. :lol:
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
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Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. What can be said about these 4 musicians (all wearing name tags that say Billy), except go see them before Disney finds out how great they are and decides to cancel them. I think I would personally pay DL admission just to watch these guys perform.
 
TakeMeThere81

TakeMeThere81

Well-Known Member
I haven't quite started your TR before but I just wanted to say how much I'm looking forward to reading it! I love the "there are other places to go..." concept. We try hard to balance Disney and Other adventures, so I am right there with ya! Can't wait to read it all!
 
Patrick_Ears

Patrick_Ears

Well-Known Member
Ahh those Mickey lamps!! Man i wish i had them... I love the pics, never been to DL. Would love to go just to compare it with DW. Great report so far.
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
TakeMeThere81 said:
I haven't quite started your TR before but I just wanted to say how much I'm looking forward to reading it! I love the "there are other places to go..." concept. We try hard to balance Disney and Other adventures, so I am right there with ya! Can't wait to read it all!
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Thank you. I've had such a hard time with photobucket that it's taken me longer than planned. Can't believe I've not even made it out of Disneyland yet.

There are so many places I want to visit, but I keep going back to Disney. So I'm really trying to branch out.
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
unkadug said:
What are those in the foreground? They look like a bunch of baby Audrey II's. :lol:
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Feed Me!

Not sure what this is, but this was from the Storybook Canal Boats, and all of the plants are fully grown but miniature. This way they don't overshadow the houses, etc..
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
Okay, on to DCA. I don't have many pictures from there. It's a good park and getting better. I've been twice now and haven't ridden Grizzly River Rampage yet due to the temperature. It only hit 70 degrees one day while we were in California.

On our last full day at the parks, we got up early again and went to DL for a little while and then to DCA. We went directly to the fastpass line for World of Color and got tickets for the 9:00 showing.

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So after arriving at our designated viewing spot at 8:00, and wasting 50 minutes of precious touring time, there was an announcement made that due to technical difficulties, the show had been cancelled. :eek Just as the announcement was made, I got a call that my husband had arrived from Vegas and was at the hotel. We met at the Grand Californian and the 4 of us had dinner at the Storytellers Cafe. It was an okay meal. By the time we ate, it was 9:00 California time, making it midnight at home.
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
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Carsland construction from the top of Mickeys Fun Wheel. My husband and daughter were surprised I rode this. I'm not one for heights. When we started to get in line, Pam wanted the cars that move but I refused, and she gave in. After we got off, she was glad we rode the ones that don't swing.
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
While I like DCA, in my opinion (and you know what they say about opinions), the best thing there is the Aladdin show. It's the best live theatre show in any Disney park. I can't believe Disney ever thought of replacing it. The genie is incredibly funny and whoever plays the part could do stand-up comedy anywhere. He incorporated jokes about Congressman Weiner and Arnold Swarzenegger in his routine. I wish this show and Billy Hill and the Hillbillies would come to the Florida parks.
 
Disneybird

Disneybird

Member
Original Poster
Okay, so on to other things. The next morning was Tuesday and our stretch limo arrived at 10 am. and off we went.

We drove past the USC campus, home of that dasterdly Lane Kiffin, If you follow college football, you'll know what I'm referring to.
First stop, The Staple Center. Now you'll notice my brother in front of Magics statue holding up three fingers on each hand. That's in honor of his favorite player of all time, number 33, Larry Bird.

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Our driver Bobby (in the last picture Larry), pointed out where American Idol is performed across the street from the Staple Center. A local girl was 1st runner-up this year. While Pam and I were waiting outside the car for the men to stop walking around, a young girl with the brightest pink hair ever walked up and asked me if I knew who was in the limo. I told her it was me, and she said, "Oh, I thought it might be Brittney Spears". :lol: Yeah, I'm her allright. Before the makeup and skin tight clothes.
 

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