The TCD Gang Goes to Disneyland!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I rode in the canoes around the island Labor Day weekend. Maybe they are seasonal.

 

You might be right.  We didn't see any out in the Rivers of America on Friday.

 

But, stay tuned.  We still have a long way to go with this report.

 

The guy with the ear gauges baffles me. I just don't understand how people think that looks good...you've mutilated your ears! But to each his own, I guess.

But on a more positive note I love those snowmen in the parade!

 

I don't understand ear gauges either.  What do your ears look like when you take the disks out?  And where can you work (besides Starbucks) with those things in your ears?

 

I liked the snowmen too.  There's only one snowman in the WDW Christmas parade, and it's the dumb one who loves summer.

 

The one time I went to Disneyland back in the early 90s it was with a college roommate. She has a physical disability and uses crutches for short distances and a scooter or wheelchair for longer distances. I pushed her around in her wheelchair. We never had a problem getting on any ride. I was afraid there might be some rides that they would not let her on because I still remember the first time we went to Disney World and my cousin who has CP wanted to ride Space Mountain. They wouldn't let her. They said she had to be able to walk down if the ride broke down. I still remember her crying. Oh and she was small enough that my Uncle could have carried her, but they still said no.

 

Wow, I'm sorry about your cousin.  I wonder if being able to walk out for an evacuation is still a requirement?  I doubt it is.

 

Looks like fun.

 

It was.

 

I wish we could have more attraction decorations at WDW!

 

IASW lit up at night is awesome.

 

The parade looks great!

 

Sorry, WDW spent all of its money on MagicBands, so no special attraction overlays for you.  But, the MagicBands come in six different colors.   And, if the "free" ones aren't enough, you can buy special edition ones.  So, there's no reason to envy Disneyland.

 

Excellent updates!

I was trying to think of the place I had a Monte Cristo sandwich before....and you answered Bennigans.

I had one there before....it was so sweet, I only ate about half and felt like I needed to puke afterward........but it tasted great.

Wow. How bad do the people that make decisions at WDW suck?

Looking forward to the parade pics!

 

It's pretty incredible to think that someone approved spending $2 Billion dollars at WDW to add the MyMagic stuff, instead of adding more or enhancing aged and outdated attractions.

 

It's been about 30 years since I've had a Monte Cristo.  At a small local restaurant.  Man, they were good!

 

Yes, they are good.  But definitely not something you'd want to eat very often.

 

Cheddars restaurant has a Monte Christo sandwich

 

We have a Cheddars not to far from us.  We go there on occasion.  I'll have to look for the Monte Cristo on the menu.

 

I was away part of the weekend and busy when I got back, so I didn't get to read the last update until today.

 

30 minute round trip from good parade spot to your hotel room and back?  Sweet!

 

My kids loved the picture of the lit up IASW.  (I did too!)

 

Thank you again for your great TR!

 

Oh, and a friend on Facebook posted about going to DL someday and I linked her to this TR.  Gina, if you are reading along, why not join and comment?  There is always room for more!

 

Glad that you're caught up, Marty.

 

I am hoping to add an update or two today.

 

Hello and welcome, Gina.  If you join, you can ask questions here, and get some answers from me and the other Fiends who've been to Disneyland.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

This update was supposed to contain photos of the parade that we watched at Disneyland on Friday night, December 5.

 

But, those photos are currently not available.  The battery in my regular camera was about to die, so I used my backup camera for the parade photos.  The memory card for that camera is currently MIA.  I think I know where it is, but I don't have those photos available at the moment.  If I find the card, then, I'll add those parade photos out of order. Hopefully, tomorrow.

 

For now, all I can tell you is that it was a very nice parade.  It had a lot of floats, and it seemed like more performers than the WDW Christmas parade.  Plus, it was performed for all guests as part of the normal park admission.  At WDW, you only can see the Christmas parade if you buy tickets for the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP), or if you wait until after the last party date and visit the week of Christmas.  Even then, the parade is performed during daylight hours, and they cut some of the content out.  Once again, Disneyland does it better.

 

But, Disneyland's castle isn't anywhere near as nice as WDW's:

 

 

They have a castle lighting show here, too.  And it doesn't involve those Frozen sisters.  Here's their castle with all the Christmas lights on.  Not bad:

 

 

After the parade, we figured it was time to bite the bullet and wait in the standby line for Pirates.  So we headed there.  But, guess what?  The ride was down when we got there:

 

 

In case you forgot, we had also encountered closures at Peter Pan, Mr. Toad, Alice, and Space Mountain today.  And there might be more that I'm not remembering at the moment.  That's not too good, Disneyland.

 

Well, what could we do?

 

We doubled back and hit Mr. Toad, which was open.

 

The girls were literally in shock after that ride.  I don't know how many of you remember it, but it's a very odd ride.  You are driving a little car which encounters a train, get killed, and end up in hell.  What were they thinking?

 

While in Fantasyland, we knocked out the carousel:

 

 

 

 

And the twins took turns trying to pull the sword from the stone:

 

 

The sword didn't budge.

 

We had planned on something small for dinner tonight, and we headed there next.  The place we were looking for is in Adventureland:

 

 

I'm sorry that I don't have photos of our food, but we stopped at the quick serve place called Bengal Barbecue.  You can see their menu here: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/bengal-barbecue/menus/

 

Their specialty is meat on skewers.  The meat skewers only cost about $4.50, so we didn't expect them to be very big, and they weren't.  But, they had three or four chunks of meat on them, and they were very tasty.  We tried the two chicken varieties and the beef one as well.  After our big lunch, that ended up being a perfect snack/dinner, and I would recommend this place.  I wish there was something like it at WDW.  But, with the DDDP, that would never fly.

 

After that, we decided to check on Pirates, and we must have arrived right after they reopened, as we were able to walk right in, and quickly get to the loading area.  We had maybe a 10 minute wait.  Which was great.  Except for one thing.  I had one of the most annoying couples I've ever encountered at a theme park right behind me.  They weren't kids either. They were in their mid-20's, and they were drunk or on drugs or something, because every single time the line stopped, they bumped in to me.  Every single time.  And, when the line stopped, they took that opportunity to make out.  Again, bumping in to me.  WTF?  Who does that?  Like I said, it wasn't high school kids.  Very annoying.  So much so, that I really wanted to stop and let them go past us.  But, the twins didn't want me to make a scene, so I didn't.

 

You walk up a bunch of steps to get to the loading area for Pirates.  And the theme of the loading area is very different from the WDW version.  At WDW, you're in a cavern, and there's pirate stuff everywhere.  But here, I am not sure where we're supposed to be:

 

 

Here's an interesting fact:  Do you know that because of the incident earlier this year where a guest lost a finger on the Pirates ride at WDW that they are not seating any guests in the back row of any Pirates ride in any of the Disney parks around the world?  That is a big reason for increased wait times at all of the Pirate rides.

 

Fortunately for us, the line moved quickly.  I was hoping the drunk couple behind us would not be in our boat, but when we got to the loading area, we got placed in the second row, and they got placed in two rows behind us.  I didn't know why, but then another family came from the other direction.  They must have had a disabled rider in their party.

 

So, we headed out.  We were all looking forward to this.  The Disneyland version of Pirates begins with a ride through a swampy bayou, with shacks and fireflies along the shore to our left, and the seating area for the Blue Bayou restaurant to our right.  It is a beautiful, peaceful and quiet scene, with the faint sounds of cricket chirping and frogs croaking.  At least it's supposed to be.  But, unluckily for us, we got the most annoying dad in the world seated in the row right behind us.  He felt the need to narrate the ride for his family, and to try to crack jokes about everything.  And he was LOUD and OBNOXIOUS.  In this quiet scene he yelled that he saw a gator and to watch out.  His kid, who had been quiet, screamed and asked where the gator was.  Then we left that scene, and came to the drop.  Of course, the loudmouth dad had to tell the his kid that something was wrong and they were about to go over a waterfall.  The kid screamed about this.  And so it went. Every time there was something to see, the loudmouth had to say something about it, and point it out to his kid.  At one point, the kid stood up on the seat to see something the dad was bellowing about, and a CM came on over the loudspeaker telling the kid to sit down and announcing that there were cameras monitoring our boat.  That kind of ruined the magic. 

 

So, that was our first experience on Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  People say it's better than WDW's, but we didn't get a fair chance to evaluate it, because we had that loud idiot sitting behind us.  Oh well.  That just meant we would need to try again before our trip was over.  I'll tell you now, that we will get that chance.

 

Earlier that evening, the twins had a conversations with a CM who gave them pointers on watching Fantasmic.  The CM suggested that we wait for the second show at 10:30, as guests staked out spots for the first show hours ahead of time.  They then clear the area, and supposedly we could show up at around 10 and still get a good spot.  The CM suggested that we hang out in the area of New Orleans Square, as moving around the park after the first Fantasmic show can be challenging, as there are a lot of guests leaving the area.

 

So, after Pirates we decided to head over to Critter Country.  That's a land in Disneyland that we certainly don't have in WDW.  They only have two attractions there:  Splash Mountain and the Pooh ride.  We had heard that these were both different from WDW's version, so we needed to go and see.  Splash Mountain has FP here, so we got some of those:

 

 

I'm not sure if you can see, but those were issued at 21:12, which is 9:12 pm to you civilians.  The return time was 9:50.  We couldn't see the standby line from the FP machines, but I suggested that we go and look, as that quick of a return time had to mean the line was short.  It was.  There was no line at all.  We walked right on. I took this photo of our ride photo at 9:32, which meant we had boarded and ridden the ride and exited to the gift shop by then:

 

 

Look how you sit just one to a row in Splash.  So, our Space Mountain has one to a row, but Disneyland's has two.  And our Splash has two to a row, but Disneyland's has one.  Weird.

 

Those Splash FP's got kept as souvenirs.

 

Pooh is right next to Splash, so we rode that next.  Look at their strange ride vehicles:

 

 

The ride had a lot of the same elements as WDW's but in different order, and there were scenes (like the raining scene) that were omitted.  They, in turn, had scenes that we don't.  Their ride seemed longer.  We all agreed that we like WDW's version better.  I'm not sure I can tell you why, though.

 

After Pooh, it was getting near 10, and we needed to find a spot for Fantasmic.  We found a spot in an area where everyone was sitting, and parked it there.  The CM told the twins that there were certain areas of the viewing area where guests had to sit on the ground, and could not kneel or stand.  It appears that is where we found ourselves.  Before long, people crowded in around us, and we were in a very big group of guests sitting on the ground:

 

 

A little while after this, CM's came around and told everyone that we had to stay seated if we wanted to stay in this area.  There were areas behind us where guests could go if they wanted to stand.  We stayed where we were.

 

Then the show started.

 

The beginning seemed kind of the same, with Mickey coming out and the narrator talking about the power of imagination.

 

Then rafts full of characters came by.  So far, it was all very familiar.

 

Then we saw something coming around the island.

 

It was the Columbia!:

 

 

This is the best photo I have of it, but way up on the mast, Peter Pan was standing, and Captain Hook was climbing up that way.  It was really cool to see the Columbia sailing around the island with Peter Pan characters on it.

 

The crocodile followed after:

 

 

I don't know how they got all the props up on the stage, but they had a very cool and large dragon come out at one point, and also had the river turn to fire. This happens at WDW, but it was cool being so close to the action here:

 

 

Then we had another surprise on the river when the Mark Twain came steaming by loaded with characters.  We have a boat in the WDW Fantasmic, but it isn't as majestic as the Mark Twain:

 

 

 

 

There were a bunch of pyrotechnics and lasers at the end.  It was well done.

 

In the end, I'd say that Disneyland's Fantasmic is about as good as WDW's.  I appreciate the seating provided at WDW.  We could see fine here, but I would have rather had a bench to sit on than sit on the ground.  And, you can see everything better at WDW.  Still, it was cool to see them use the Columbia and the Mark Twain in the show.

 

We hung around the area for a while, and then started making our way out.  It was past 11 now, and Disneyland would be closing at midnight.  We had been here since 8 am this morning.  The girls had never left the park, and I had only been gone to run back to the hotel room for a minute.

 

We had one more stop to make on the way out.

 

Ice Cream.

 

They don't have Eddie's Ice Cream at Disneyland.  It's Dreyer's.  Which looks suspiciously like Eddie's.  Their ice cream shop is located in a different spot along Main Street, and it's called the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor.  Twin #2 just wanted a cone.  Twin #1 and I agreed that we'd split something they called The Firehouse Dalmatian Mint Sundae.  The photo on the menu showed it came with a cherry on top.  After we got gypped at the Tiki Room of our cherry, Twin #1 asked the CM who took our order if we could have two cherries, since we would be splitting the sundae.  No problem, the CM said.

 

Here's what we got:

 

 

And, that, my friends, is a perfect illustration of TCD's Law in operation.  Everything always evens out in the end.  Yesterday, we didn't get a cherry.  Today we got extra.  It is good to be TCD.

 

It was 11:21 when I took that photo.  They have some seating inside their ice cream parlor, but nothing was open.  So, we took it out to the street.  We stood there, using a trash can as our table, like we do at the Food and Wine Festival,  beneath the garland, with a view of their very short castle, and enjoyed our ice cream and the people watching.

 

It was about 11:45 when we finally headed out.

 

We had a great day.

 

We were back at our room and in bed shortly thereafter.

 

Tomorrow, we would be hitting California Adventure at rope drop, and staying there all day.

 

So far, so good.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Sorry about the obnoxious people at POTC!

 

Wow, as always, you accomplished so much in one day!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Sorry about the obnoxious people at POTC!

 

Wow, as always, you accomplished so much in one day!

 

Yeah, it's kind of sad that one guy with a loud mouth ruined our first ride on Pirates.

 

We did get a lot done in that one day.  We got everything that we really wanted to do in Disneyland done in that long day.  We will be doing the same in California Adventure next. 

 

Then we still have two days left to try whatever was left, or re-ride the things we wanted to.  it was a good length for our first trip.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here comes another update!

 

I hope you enjoy it.

 

This might be the last one I'll be able to post before the holiday craziness breaks loose.

 

I may be taking a one day trip to a certain place we all know and love tomorrow.  They are performing the Christmas parade during regular park hours at the MK now, you know. 

 

And, do you know how many times I've seen the Candlelight Processional at Epcot this year?

 

Zero!

 

I've got to do something about that too.

 

So, I'm posting this update.

 

And, there may or may not be an update tomorrow.

 

There most probably won't be any updates from 12/24 through the end of the year.

 

It looks like I'll have to come back to this one and finish it up in 2015.

 

Sorry.  There's going to be a delay.

 

But, I'll be back to finish it.

 

I promise.

 

For now, we have arrived at Saturday morning, December 6.

 

We slept like rocks at the Park Vue Inn, and repeated our morning routine in order to make it for rope drop at the free breakfast, which started at 7 am.

 

Today, in addition to the bread selection and cereal, they had scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits. They even had sausage gravy for the biscuits:

 

 

I've got to say that was pretty outstanding for a complimentary hotel breakfast.

 

We were early enough to get an inside table today.  We were getting good at this.

 

This was the Park Vue that we missed by not dining outside:

 

 

That's the Matterhorn you see under that first light pole on the right, and you can see the top of Space Mountain behind the light pole closer to the center of the photo.  The crosswalk that leads to the Disneyland entrance is right there in front of the IHOP.

 

After breakfast, we returned to the room, gathered what we needed for the day, and headed out.  Today, we didn't expect to return to the room, so I brought extra water, and made sure the girls had their back-up phone chargers.

 

We arrived at the California Adventure gate at about 7:50, and found that they were already letting guests in.  The girls didn't anticipate any problem here because there were no block outs in place today for California Adventure.  They both got in with no problem at all.  Then I stepped up to have my pass scanned, and the CM gave me a very suspicious look.  "When did you last use this pass?," she asked.  I thought a minute and told her that I had only used it the day before at Disneyland- once to get in in the morning, and then again in the early evening when I had run back to the room to get the phone charger.  She showed me a photo of a kid on her monitor, and said "this doesn't look like you."  I told her that's obviously not me, and that nobody had taken my photo yesterday, nor had there been any problem with the pass when I reentered Disneyland last evening.  She asked me why there was a photo of a kid attached to my pass.  I told her she needed to tell me.  Nobody took my photo yesterday, and if there was a problem, she needed to fix it. 

 

In the meantime, people were streaming in to the park through the other turnstiles, and the twins were getting antsy.  They were in, and they knew we needed to get Radiator Springs Racers Fastpasses immediately.  We heard that they always run out of those, and we really wanted to ride it today.  That was our first priority, and the advantage we got by making the effort to get here early was quickly slipping away.

 

I told the girls to go ahead without me and get the FP's.  They would only be able to get two, but that would be better than none.  I told them I would get this straightened out, and would meet up with them as soon as I did.

 

So they headed off with the crowd.

 

And I was still on the outside looking in.

 

The CM at the turnstile had me step aside so she could let other guests in.  She had radioed for a manager, and she said the manager would be here shortly.

 

Not cool.

 

The manager showed up.

 

The CM showed the manager the photo of the kid who showed up when they scanned my pass.

 

The manager looked at me like I was some kind of crook.

 

"When did you last use this pass?," she asked.

 

That's the same thing this lady already asked me, I told her.  And I repeated myself.  I told her I had the receipt for the pass and my photo ID with me, and they really needed to let me in so I could join my daughters.  The manager told me to wait where I was, and she walked off with my pass.  I waited.  And waited.  And then she came back.  She handed me back a pass and told me that it was a new one.  No apology.  No explanation for what had occurred.  The CM at the turnstile scanned my pass, and then asked me to pose for a photo, which she took with a handheld device she had at the turnstile.  Finally, I was in.

 

I needed to find the girls and join them.

 

But, I had a stop to make now.

 

The manager who brought me my pass was still there.  I asked her to please direct me to Guest Relations.  And I headed there.  I told the CM on duty what had happened, and I told him that my day was not getting off to the start that I had expected.  Through some error on their part, I was now delayed in getting my Radiator Springs Racers FP, and that could put me behind all day.  I told him I expected him to make up for this by giving me Radiator Springs FP's that my family could use.  He said he couldn't do that, but he could give me a FP for the family to another attraction, even one that doesn't issue FP's.  I thought about this a moment, and asked for Toy Story FP's.  The CM handed me one that was good for up to six guests, and asked if there was anything else he could do.  I told him that I thought that was fair, and thanked him, and was on my way.

 

While I was doing that, I got a text from the girls. They were in a long line waiting to get the Radiator Springs FP's.  Wow, that ride is popular.  They said they weren't far from the entrance.

 

As soon as I started to walk in, I saw this line:

 

 

I figured that was either the $14 Candy Cane line or the RSR FP line.

 

I called one of the twins and asked her where they were, and that I was walking past the line.

 

Then I spotted Twin #2- you can see her there in the while long sleeve t-shirt, just under the lamp post near the center of this photo:

 

 

By the way, I took that photo at 8:03 am.  While it seemed that all that garbage with my ticket took a long time, it really didn't.  Just a bit more than 10 minutes.  And, I now had a bonus Toy Story FP for that little bit of trouble. 

 

Apparently, people start lining up for the RSR FP's as soon as they enter the park, but the FP machines don't turn on until the official park opening time, which was 8 am today.

 

The line started moving right after I met up with the girls, and by 8:06 am, we were almost to the FP machines:

 

 

At 8:07, there was just one group ahead of us at our machine:

 

 

And at 8:09, I had these:

 

 

That was great.  We had just a bit less than an hour and half until we could ride RSR.  And, there were two attractions here that we wanted to ride.  Plus, we wanted to look around at all the stuff they had here in Carsland.

 

They have their own style of Christmas garland here, and I loved it:

 

 

 

There were holiday decorations everywhere:

 

 

We posed for a group shot:

 

 

I'll fess up to something right here.  I am wearing the same shirt I had on yesterday.  I only had two long sleeved t-shirts on this trip, and it was cool out this morning.  So, I wore my Fort Wilderness shirt, and planned to buy a new shirt in the park.  It ended up that didn't happen.  I wore the same shirt two days in a row.  Don't call the Fashion Police.

 

We all enjoyed just walking around and seeing the incredible detail they had incorporated in to Carsland:

 

 

This place would be great without the Christmas decorations, but it was fun to see all they had added:

 

 

The first attraction we decided to try was Mater's Junkyard Jamboree. It looked like a pretty simple ride, but there was no wait, so we figured we may as well give it a try:

 

 

We walked right up to the boarding area, and waited for the guests currently riding to finish.  Then, just like that, it would be our turn.

 

We had a great view of the big Bear Rock they have at California Adventure.  It's not as impressive as the Fort's Bear Rock, but it's not bad:

 

 

The twins rode together in one trailer, and I had the next one to myself:

 

 

We had a good view of Tower of Terror looking the other way:

 

 

This Mater ride ended up being a lot of fun. The tractors and trailers go around three large circles, but the cars can switch from one circle to the next.  The trailers whip around behind the tractors:

 

 

 

 

It was fun.

 

We headed out of there and down further in to Carsland.

 

There were more Christmas decorations along the way:

 

 

 

And regular props too:

 

 

Continuing down the street, we could see that they had a whole Cozy Cone Motel set up:

 

 

We saw Mater coming down the road and turn in to the motel office, where he pulled up behind Lightning McQueen:

 

 

This was a meet and greet and photo op, and there were only a few guests in line.  So, we joined in.  Here's a view of some of the holiday decorations at the Cozy Cone:

 

 

The Cozy Cone sign:

 

 

Across from the Cozy Cone was Flo's V8 Café.  We were thinking about having lunch there later:

 

 

We weren't sure who we would get to meet, but we wanted to meet Mater.  So, we were happy when they asked us to wait while Lightning McQueen pulled away:

 

 

I am always curious about how these things worked, and wondered if there was a person inside of LM to control him.  I don't think there was, as this CM led LM out, and she had a bunch of controls on her belt.  But, she was talking in to a radio and giving commands, so it's possible that there was a driver inside LM:

 

 

After LM left, Mater invited us to come on over.  And we did.

 

We'll pick it up from here in the next update.

 

TCD

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

TCD,

According to a guy that works in our garage, and he used to work at HS in the garage there, there is a person inside the car. He said there are 9 screens and cameras and the CM is still there to help guide the driver.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

TCD,

According to a guy that works in our garage, and he used to work at HS in the garage there, there is a person inside the car. He said there are 9 screens and cameras and the CM is still there to help guide the driver.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

Thanks!

 

I believe it. The CM in that last photo was speaking on her radio to someone about when to go and when to stop, which direction to turn, etc.  I wasn't sure if there was someone controlling it remotely, or someone in the car.  She also seemed to have a set of controls there on her belt.  Maybe hers were for an emergency where there was radio failure or such.

 

TCD

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Nice work getting extra FPs.

Cars Land always looks cool....the Christmas decorations are a nice touch.

[The Troll 67]

 

Why does Disneyland get the cool overlays for their Haunted Mansion and Small World rides?  Why does Disneyland still have Mr. Toad?  Why does Disneyland still have their subs?  And music in their Space Mountain?  And interactive targets in their Buzz ride? Why is their Indiana Jones ride so much better than Dinosaur?  Why do they still have a Bakery where actual baking happens?

 

I actually see some of this as neglect at Disneyland. I loved Mr. Toad, but let's face it, it wasn't a draw. And it didn't move merchandise. Was there ever any Toad swag? I don't think so. So replacing it, from a business perspective, was logical, in my mind.

 

Same holds true for the subs. That ride SUCKED. They spent a boatload of money to develop that ride and make it safe for what amounts to a very unconvincing, dull experience. I don't think they achieved the illusion they were trying to create with it. Being able to plainly see the surface and then all the cheap underwater props held in place with fishing line or whatever, it always struck me as a cheap experience. I remember thinking that when I was, oh, 8. I'm glad they got rid of the subs at the World. Unfortunately the Mine Train sucks almost as bad. But I'd rather ride the mine train than the boring, stuffy, hot, cramped, slow, leaky sub.

 

It appears they gave the sub ride a "makeover" by removing some theming and painting the subs yellow? Yes...a yellow submarine. For us to live in. Damn, I hate that song...

 

And it sure seems they're proud of their IASW. Earth to Disneyland managers: NO ONE likes that ride.

 

One has to wonder, though, why the heck DW does not have an Indiana Jones ride. Is it because they are afraid of upstaging the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show? I would like an Indiana Jones ride, so long as it was only themed on the first movie and none of the awful sequels.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Those guys ears are gross. How does he sleep?

That was a looooong day. My family would revolt.

Loud people on rides SMB.

That's all I got for now... My family is napping before Ohana!

[Family of Bears 98]

I actually see some of this as neglect at Disneyland. I loved Mr. Toad, but let's face it, it wasn't a draw. And it didn't move merchandise. Was there ever any Toad swag? I don't think so. So replacing it, from a business perspective, was logical, in my mind.

Same holds true for the subs. That ride SUCKED. They spent a boatload of money to develop that ride and make it safe for what amounts to a very unconvincing, dull experience. I don't think they achieved the illusion they were trying to create with it. Being able to plainly see the surface and then all the cheap underwater props held in place with fishing line or whatever, it always struck me as a cheap experience. I remember thinking that when I was, oh, 8. I'm glad they got rid of the subs at the World. Unfortunately the Mine Train sucks almost as bad. But I'd rather ride the mine train than the boring, stuffy, hot, cramped, slow, leaky sub.

It appears they gave the sub ride a "makeover" by removing some theming and painting the subs yellow? Yes...a yellow submarine. For us to live in. Damn, I hate that song...

And it sure seems they're proud of their IASW. Earth to Disneyland managers: NO ONE likes that ride.

One has to wonder, though, why the heck DW does not have an Indiana Jones ride. Is it because they are afraid of upstaging the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show? I would like an Indiana Jones ride, so long as it was only themed on the first movie and none of the awful sequels.

Wow. Just wow. (Applause)

I concur Troll.

Yellow submarines! Ha!

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Just a quick question, did you try to keep your internal clocks on Eastern time while you were there? I was thinking as you posted the time you left DL how late it might have actually felt. Then in the morning it must have felt like you were sleeping in.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Oh and thanks Troll now I have got that Yellow Submarine song going through my head.

[disney4dan 68]

Finally caught up!  Thanks for taking the holiday break so I could jump in again before the grand finale. I know you were thinking of me at the time, because it is all about ME of course!

 

Hope the parade at MK was a good show and that you got into the Candle Light Processional at EPCOT.  On my bucket list to be at WDW around the holiday sometime again.  Might have to be a solo trip now that Nancy works in a school system, but I'm OK with that!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Nice work getting extra FPs.

Cars Land always looks cool....the Christmas decorations are a nice touch.

 

There will be more FP skillz demonstrated shortly.  We put our vast paper FP experience to good use on our California Adventure day.

 

Carsland is cool, and there were Christmas decorations everywhere.  They did an excellent job with this whole area.  I hope whoever made the design decisions there is involved in the new stuff that seems to be on the way at DHS.

 

I actually see some of this as neglect at Disneyland. I loved Mr. Toad, but let's face it, it wasn't a draw. And it didn't move merchandise. Was there ever any Toad swag? I don't think so. So replacing it, from a business perspective, was logical, in my mind.

 

Same holds true for the subs. That ride SUCKED. They spent a boatload of money to develop that ride and make it safe for what amounts to a very unconvincing, dull experience. I don't think they achieved the illusion they were trying to create with it. Being able to plainly see the surface and then all the cheap underwater props held in place with fishing line or whatever, it always struck me as a cheap experience. I remember thinking that when I was, oh, 8. I'm glad they got rid of the subs at the World. Unfortunately the Mine Train sucks almost as bad. But I'd rather ride the mine train than the boring, stuffy, hot, cramped, slow, leaky sub.

 

It appears they gave the sub ride a "makeover" by removing some theming and painting the subs yellow? Yes...a yellow submarine. For us to live in. Damn, I hate that song...

 

And it sure seems they're proud of their IASW. Earth to Disneyland managers: NO ONE likes that ride.

 

One has to wonder, though, why the heck DW does not have an Indiana Jones ride. Is it because they are afraid of upstaging the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show? I would like an Indiana Jones ride, so long as it was only themed on the first movie and none of the awful sequels.

 

Now, that is a very thoughtful post.

 

You are correct- from a strictly business viewpoint, the things that have been and are still being done at WDW make sense. 

 

I have to agree that while I liked the 20,000 Leagues ride, it wasn't a very good ride, and it took up an awful lot of space that could be put to better use.  If I had to choose, I would definitely pick New Fantasyland over the old sub ride.

 

I personally agree about the Small World ride, but the strange thing is that at Disneyland, people wait in long lines to ride it.  At least that's what we saw.  We never did get a second ride on it, as there was no way that I was going to wait 45 minutes or longer to ride it-even with the holiday decorations.

 

When it was all said and done, though, my takeaway from visiting Disneyland is that there seems to be more respect and reverence for older attractions there than there is at WDW.  Definitely a different management philosophy.  Like it's not strictly about the bottom line.  I think that philosophy is more in keeping with Walt's than the way the knuckleheads in charge at WDW do things.  Walt was all about "plussing" and giving the guest more than what was expected.  That concept doesn't seem to exist at WDW anymore.

 

Those guys ears are gross. How does he sleep?

That was a looooong day. My family would revolt.

Loud people on rides SMB.

That's all I got for now... My family is napping before Ohana!

 

Yeah- I wondered the same thing about that guy.  I figure those things have to come out to sleep.  But, I don't even want to think about what his ears would look like with those loops of skin dangling down.  Gross.

 

It was a LONG day.   We don't do it like that at WDW, but we felt like we had to on a four night trip to Disneyland.  It was fun to go all day like that.

 

You are right about loud people on rides.  That rude guy ruined the only first ride on Disneyland's Pirates that we will ever get to do.

 

'Ohana!   Lucky!

 

 

Wow. Just wow. (Applause)

I concur Troll.

Yellow submarines! Ha!

 

I also applaud the Troll.

 

That guy has a way with words. And, he never shies away from telling it like it is.

 

Just a quick question, did you try to keep your internal clocks on Eastern time while you were there? I was thinking as you posted the time you left DL how late it might have actually felt. Then in the morning it must have felt like you were sleeping in.

 

The time change really didn't affect us.  From the little experience I have traveling east to west like that, I think it's a very easy adjustment, compared to the other way.

 

You are right that getting up early there was not an issue at all.  Also, the girls have been working such weird schedules in WDW that their internal clocks are a mess anyway.

 

Oh and thanks Troll now I have got that Yellow Submarine song going through my head.

 

Dang the Troll!

 

 

 

Finally caught up!  Thanks for taking the holiday break so I could jump in again before the grand finale. I know you were thinking of me at the time, because it is all about ME of course!

 

Hope the parade at MK was a good show and that you got into the Candle Light Processional at EPCOT.  On my bucket list to be at WDW around the holiday sometime again.  Might have to be a solo trip now that Nancy works in a school system, but I'm OK with that!

 

You are welcome.  I'm glad that you're caught up.

 

I am going to post a special Christmas Eve update, and then it looks like that will be it until after January 1.

 

I did catch the MK parade yesterday as well as the Comedy Warehouse Holiday show at DHS.  Didn't make it to Epcot, though.  But, I have one more week to try for the Candlelight Processional.

 

I hope you make it to WDW for the holidays some time.  But be ready for the crowds!

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Here's a special Christmas Eve update for y'all.

 

I found the missing memory card with the Disneyland Christmas parade photos on it, so we will back up a moment to Friday, December 5 and take a look.

 

We were seated in an area that provided us with a view of the Small World ride.  And, looking the other way, we saw the very large and overshadowing Matterhorn:

 

 

There was, in fact, a lighting ceremony for switching on the Small World holiday lights.  We saw that from our parade spot.  You can see that there is quite a crowd of people standing closer to see:

 

 

They give marching bands a chance to perform here just like they do at WDW.  Today, it was the band from Las Flores:

 

 

And a second one from Rancho Cucamonga:

 

 

I thought there was a lot of Hispanic influence in Florida.  But, it seems like they have a lot of that here in Cali too.

 

I am not sure if they have spotlights up for the parades in Disneyland all the time, but they sure lit up the parade route here.  It was much brighter than what they do at the Magic Kingdom:

 

 

The beginning of the Disneyland Christmas parade is very simple- it's called the Christmas Story- and the first float doesn't even have any Disney characters on it:

 

 

After that, the elements of the Disneyland Christmas parade are very similar to WDW's.  They have Toy Soldiers:

 

 

I think they have less than WDW does:

 

 

Their Mickey also appears with that stupid Duffy:

 

 

They have snowmen, and we don't:

 

 

The Pooh characters here ride on their own individual sleighs:

 

 

They also had guys on those rollerskis like we have at WDW- you can see one of them there on the right in that last photo.

 

Tigger's sleigh:

 

 

And poor Eeyore- we thought this was very funny and cute:

 

 

 

We don't have any big self-propelled Christmas trees in the WDW Christmas parade, but they have two in Disneyland's.  This is the first:

 

 

Skating girls.  We have those (but they only perform in the MVMCP version of the parade-not the daytime version) :

 

 

Anna and her sister have a float here-not just a carriage like they do at WDW:

 

 

They don't have Olaf or Kristoff in their parade.  Aren't we the lucky ones?

 

They have Clarabelle Cow.  Clarabelle must have one heck of an agent.  She is in the WDW parade too, but I honestly don't even know who she is:

 

 

Goofy and Pluto share a float here:

 

 

I don't think we have the stepsisters in our parade, but they do:

 

 

Snow White isn't on a float here.  She has to walk.  And the dwarfs are nowhere to be found.  Which makes me wonder about those seven snowpeople we saw earlier:

 

 

Tiana gets front and center on the princess float here:

 

 

This year, Chip and Dale have to hoof it at WDW.  At Disneyland, they get a fake Hummer to drive:

 

 

They have a big Toy Story presence in their parade, starting with Woody:

 

 

Then a really big Toy Factory float:

 

 

Buzz and the aliens have a small separate float:

 

 

Here's the second self-propelled Christmas Tree:

 

 

You might have noticed the reindeer behind the tree in that last photo, well here they are:

 

 

When you see the reindeer, you know what's coming next.

 

The Big Guy:

 

 

And, just like at WDW, the Big Guy is the end:

 

 

Now you've seen Disneyland's Christmas Parade.

 

I'd say that WDW's is just as good.

 

But, all guests can see the Disneyland parade with regular park admission.  At WDW, you have to buy a MVMCP ticket for most of December, or wait until the week of Christmas and see the daytime version for "free."

 

I hope you enjoyed this special Christmas Eve update.

 

I'll be back to finish this report in the New Year.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Poor Eeyore!

 

There are things about the DL parade that I like better than WDW's.  Best of all is that you don't have to attend MVMCP to see it.

 

Thank you for the update.  Have a wonderful Christmas and new year with your family!

[The Troll 67]

 

Snow White isn't on a float here.  She has to walk.  And the dwarfs are nowhere to be found.  Which makes me wonder about those seven snowpeople we saw earlier:

 

Whoa! Stop the bus! Stop the bus! Back up the damn boat!

 

Snow White had to WALK?! That's bullsh*t!

 

Let's face it, people, it all did NOT start with a Mouse -- it started with a princess and her name was Snow fricking White. If there was no Snow White there would be no Disneyland, no Disney World, no Fort, no Space Mountain, no rotting River Country, no gargantuan lodge, no hotel/blimp hangar with a monorail running through it, no geodesic sphere with a boring ride narrated by a lady with an annoying British accent, no Obama android, no dude getting a rhino horn crammed up his butt, no racist log flume ride, no debate over what's better -- the taller floats or the garland, no train ride where the narrator thanks me for putting up with him for the past couple of days when I've only been riding it for ten minutes, no circus tent store where there's a zombie-apocalypse feeding frenzy for stuffed Olafs and Elsa dolls, no pirates selling innocent women into sex slavery, no wealthy nobleman committing suicide by hanging himself from the rafters of his own mansion, no soda machines with advanced programmable integrated circuit chips to prevent hardened thieves from "sip stealing," no stupid wristband that's advanced enough to record my credit card number and my location in a particular park when my picture was taken but not advanced enough to record that I'm an annual pass holder, no animatronic Yeti that is bad ass but turned off because the foundation is cracked and they're too cheap to fix it, no grouchy retired electrical engineer who's sunk to driving a bus and insulting guests, no renovated Star Wars simulator featuring Jar Jar Binks even though Jar Jar Binks is universally reviled and the symbol of a ruined franchise, no walkways clogged up by lazy people riding scooters designed for disabled people...

 

Now, it's OK that Elsa gets her own float. She is this generation's Snow White. Can you say, "$1.274 billion box office," beyotch?

 

See this lady?

 

 

You may not know it, but Disney awarded this lady their evil Iron Cross with Oak Leafs, Swords, and Diamonds. It's the highest honor a person can receive from the evil Disney Empire.

[The Troll 67]

This trip report kicks ass, BTW.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

A ride called Storybook Boats was across the path here.  Unfortunately for us, it was down for a refurb the entire time we were here.  The rumor we heard is so they can add a "Frozen" scene to the ride:

 

Yep, they did. It opened this past week...

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2014/12/frozen-now-featured-in-storybook-land-canal-boats-at-disneyland-park/

 

Upside to being home sick and missing the Christmas festivities? 

Dr. Who marathon on BBC America and getting caught up on this TR! 

 

Love the IASW overlay and especially the lights, and still loving all the comparisons and observations.  Good, bad or ugly, you're making me really REALLY want to get out to DL sooner than later.

 

Merry Christmas TCD! 

 

 

 

 

Oh and rant on, Troll!  :thumbsup3:

[AC in A2......Aaron 693]

Great update and that may have been the best Troll post ever.

[Family of Bears 98]

Whoa! Stop the bus! Stop the bus! Back up the damn boat!

Snow White had to WALK?! That's bullsh*t!

Let's face it, people, it all did NOT start with a Mouse -- it started with a princess and her name was Snow fricking White. If there was no Snow White there would be no Disneyland, no Disney World, no Fort, no Space Mountain, no rotting River Country, no gargantuan lodge, no hotel/blimp hangar with a monorail running through it, no geodesic sphere with a boring ride narrated by a lady with an annoying British accent, no Obama android, no dude getting a rhino horn crammed up his butt, no racist log flume ride, no debate over what's better -- the taller floats or the garland, no train ride where the narrator thanks me for putting up with him for the past couple of days when I've only been riding it for ten minutes, no circus tent store where there's a zombie-apocalypse feeding frenzy for stuffed Olafs and Elsa dolls, no pirates selling innocent women into sex slavery, no wealthy nobleman committing suicide by hanging himself from the rafters of his own mansion, no soda machines with advanced programmable integrated circuit chips to prevent hardened thieves from "sip stealing," no stupid wristband that's advanced enough to record my credit card number and my location in a particular park when my picture was taken but not advanced enough to record that I'm an annual pass holder, no animatronic Yeti that is bad ass but turned off because the foundation is cracked and they're too cheap to fix it, no grouchy retired electrical engineer who's sunk to driving a bus and insulting guests, no renovated Star Wars simulator featuring Jar Jar Binks even though Jar Jar Binks is universally reviled and the symbol of a ruined franchise, no walkways clogged up by lazy people riding scooters designed for disabled people...

.

That troll post was a Christmas miracle.

[The Troll 67]

Waiting for updates to this report is a lot like the break in between seasons of "Breaking Bad."

[fowlandfishmommy 10]

Just wanted to interrupt this TR (and the best Troll Rant EVER) to let you all know we got our Travel Approval to go get our son in China today!!!  We should be leaving next week to get him!!   We are still a few thousand dollars away from being fully funded but if something miraculous happens and we make it owing zero, we may have the chance to go to Hong Kong Disneyland!!!!!!!!  Oh I want to go so so so so bad and it is SUPER cheap!  And a little 10 minute subway ride from our hotel.  We would do this when we first get to China and we wouldn't have our new guy yet!  It would be just for the day.  Again we really don't know if we can swing it.  But we really hope so.  This is a once in a lifetime thing! Please keep us in your prayers for our entire journey!  We will be gone for 2 weeks.  

 

Here's a little picture of our sweet boy!  Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!  

 

<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/user/fjvick/media/QQ56FE724720141205130651_zps4c12993e.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj554/fjvick/QQ56FE724720141205130651_zps4c12993e.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo QQ56FE724720141205130651_zps4c12993e.jpg"/></a>

[fowlandfishmommy 10]

Let me try that picture again!