The TCD Gang Goes to Disneyland!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Way to beat the Cali hippies to RSR!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

You are totally debunking my stereotype of Californians.

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Caught up. Again. Lol

Way to much to comment on but let me just say what an awesome trip y'all are having.

The only thing that could have possibly made it better is if you would have brought me with as your tour guide.

Also Baileys is not a sissy drink my little sister and grandma sip it all the time. And they're they're pretty feisty for a 21 and 89 year old. .

[Beckers 1,136]

Loving this report.

I'm glad you did the canoes, they are on my list of things I would want to do. Not sure why, because a big canoe with tons of people sounds slightly scary. Did it seem more stable than a regular canoe?

The Nightmare overlay looks awesome, Adam loves that movie. I might even be able to get him in the haunted mansion for that. Currently we just go and play on the interactive side of the line and then bail because he won't go in.

The comments about acting like you belong club level made me lol. When we were upgraded the 1 night we stayed at AKL (from a1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom club level). I'm sure we stuck out and were in totally awe of how the people who spend lots of money vacation (especially considering we had transferred from Pop !)

The differences in how people act compared to WDW is interesting. Seems like a more relaxing atmosphere.

And I still think that garland looks skimpy, hasn't grown on me yet. Maybe they could take the MK's and beef it up.

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

All caught up finally.

Nice job squaring your RSR record.

That beer looked tasty.

The GC looks really nice.

How long did it take to get from DL back to your room?

DCA back to your room?

You had a great view! Love the real mountains in the distance.

Being able to see the fireworks and WOC from the lounge area is pretty sweet too.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

I am also caught up.

I would be one of those slackers that the CM was giving a hard time to on the canoe ride. I noticed you had your Fort Wilderness shirt on when you went on that. Did anyone ask you about it?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Way to beat the Cali hippies to RSR!

 

That's right.  Those hippies don't know how to do a proper rope drop.  They would need some serious hippie lettuce if they ever saw a Star Wars Weekend rope drop at DHS.

 

You are totally debunking my stereotype of Californians.

 

For the most part, the guests we saw at Disneyland were indistinguishable from guests we see at WDW.  But, I'm not sure that the guests at Disneyland are a fair sample of Californians.   What you see at WDW is certainly not a fair sample of Floridians.

 

Caught up. Again. Lol

Way to much to comment on but let me just say what an awesome trip y'all are having.

The only thing that could have possibly made it better is if you would have brought me with as your tour guide.

Also Baileys is not a sissy drink my little sister and grandma sip it all the time. And they're they're pretty feisty for a 21 and 89 year old. .

 

There were times that I wished we had a tour guide, but we did alright.

 

Thanks for the support on the Bailey's.  LOL.

 

I'm glad you did the canoes, they are on my list of things I would want to do. Not sure why, because a big canoe with tons of people sounds slightly scary. Did it seem more stable than a regular canoe?

Those big canoes are definitely more stable that a regular canoe.  They didn't seem to be very concerned about tipping or capsizing.  There were no lockers for guest to stow their electronics or valuables- they seems very confident that no one was going to be going in the Rivers of America.

 

The Nightmare overlay looks awesome, Adam loves that movie. I might even be able to get him in the haunted mansion for that. Currently we just go and play on the interactive side of the line and then bail because he won't go in.

 

If Adam likes Nightmare Before Christmas, then I can't see how he could resist going on Disneyland's HM with the overlay.  It is a completely different attraction. 

 

The comments about acting like you belong club level made me lol. When we were upgraded the 1 night we stayed at AKL (from a1 bedroom to a 2 bedroom club level). I'm sure we stuck out and were in totally awe of how the people who spend lots of money vacation (especially considering we had transferred from Pop !)

It's hard for me to imagine traveling like that all the time too.  But, there must be a lot of people who do. They have concierge levels at all the WDW deluxe hotels, and they apparently stay full.

 

The differences in how people act compared to WDW is interesting. Seems like a more relaxing atmosphere.

 

Disneyland is definitely a far more relaxed atmosphere.  From what I understand, they attract many more locals there, and the locals are not in a rush to do anything.  Plus, there is so much more to do in each park than there is at any WDW park.  That leads to less congestion at the attractions.

 

And I still think that garland looks skimpy, hasn't grown on me yet. Maybe they could take the MK's and beef it up.

 

That garland is too skimpy.  You are right- they ought to take the MK's and fix theirs.

 

All caught up finally.

Nice job squaring your RSR record.

That beer looked tasty.

The GC looks really nice.

How long did it take to get from DL back to your room?

DCA back to your room?

You had a great view! Love the real mountains in the distance.

Being able to see the fireworks and WOC from the lounge area is pretty sweet too.

 

Yup, at this point in the trip, we were at .500 on RSR.  As you will soon see, I couldn't leave it a that.  We needed to leave California with a winning record.  So we will be running one more race.  You'll find out soon whether we left winners or losers.

 

I have a few sets of photos that I can look at to tell you how long it took us to walk from the parks to our room at the Grand Californian.  From our room at the Grand Californian to the DCA park entrance was less than a five minute walk.  To the main DCA entrance, it was 10 minutes, and the Disneyland entrance was less than a minute from there.

 

I really enjoyed the view of the real mountains.  We don't have views like that in Florida.

 

I am also caught up.

I would be one of those slackers that the CM was giving a hard time to on the canoe ride. I noticed you had your Fort Wilderness shirt on when you went on that. Did anyone ask you about it?

Good question.  As you may have noticed, I had several Fort Wilderness shirts I wore throughout this trip (thanks to the TCD twins' 40% holiday merchandise discount).  There were a few conversations sparked by that.  The most memorable one was with one of the concierge CM's at the Grand Californian.  This lady had a stay reserved at the Wilderness Lodge coming up, and, like a lot of people, didn't know that the Lodge and Fort are separate resorts.  She had a lot of misconceptions about things.  People in California obviously have as much difficulty understanding how large WDW is as people from Florida have understanding how compact Disneyland is.   This lady was stoked about finally visiting WDW.  I wish there was a way for me to catch up with her after her visit to see what she thought of it. 

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We left off on Monday morning, December 8.  We had successfully ridden Radiator Springs Racers at rope drop during Extra Magic Hours.

 

It wasn't quite 8:30 yet, and Disneyland would be opening at 9.  That meant we could get over there for rope drop.

 

We weren't in a huge rush, though.  We could tell already that since this was a Monday, it wasn't going to be nearly as busy as the rest of the days of our trip.

 

I planned to grab FP's for us to ride RSR later, but the FP machines don't open until regular park opening at 9.  We didn't plan to still be in this park at 9, so the new plan was that I'd stop by here to try for FP's when I returned this way around 10:30 or so on my way back to our room.

 

As we walked out of Cars Land, the girls said they wanted to catch another ride on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  There was not a single person in the standby line, so why not?:

 

 

We enjoyed that ride a lot.  And, we are in good company.  Last week, the Disney Parks Blog published an article listing the top ten things to do in Disney's California Adventure, the blogger listed Mater's Junkyard Jamboree as her #7 must do, and said:

 

" . . . but my absolute favorite attraction in Cars Land is Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. It’s surprisingly intense but still great for kids … a perfect Disney Parks attraction."

 

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/01/what-are-your-disney-california-adventure-park-must-dos/

 

I can't agree that this ride is the best attraction in Cars Land, but I do agree that it's a good attraction.

 

If you are planning a trip to California Adventure, be sure to read that blog post and the comments.  There are some good tips.  The only things we missed on that list were the dining recommendations, and the Frozen stuff.  Luckily for us, the Frozen stuff started after our visit, and I'm happy about that.  Also, the article mentions that World of Color is currently down for a refurbishment, and I've seen elsewhere that Soarin' is as well.  It looks like we timed our trip perfectly.

 

After the Junkyard Jamboree, we made our way to the main entrance in order to cross over to Disneyland.  On the way out, we passed the street the Trolley Car travels down.  It was empty:

 

 

If we didn't have things we wanted to do more in Disneyland, it would have been great to stay here in California Adventure, I'll bet the rides back in the Paradise Pier area were walk-ons up to and past 9 am.

 

On our way out, we saw a group of CM's holding signs and passing our wristbands.  We wondered what was going on there, so we stopped to find out.  This was the candy cane line!:

 

 

But there was no line.

 

Remember that long line we saw stretching all the way down Main Street on our first morning?  There was no line here.  That guy with the sign is supposed to be down the street marking the end of the line.  But there was no line for him to mark.

 

Remember how I scoffed at the idea of anyone paying $14 for a candy cane?

 

Well, I couldn't resist getting the wristbands, so we did.  I asked the CM if the candy canes were good, and he said they were the best he's ever had.

 

They were making the candy canes in the store right next to the CM's.  There's a lot of reflection in this photo, but if you look in the center, you can see that a big candy cane is being formed:

 

 

Along with our wristbands, we got some very specific instructions about how and when we could come back to claim our candy canes.  We didn't have to pay for them now.  Which was good, because if we failed to return by 4 pm and claim our candy canes, they would go to the guests waiting standby to buy them.  Oh brother.  All of this hype made me believe that there must be something very special about these candy canes, and now I really wanted to try one.

 

Disneyland was not supposed to open until 9 am, but as we walked across the esplanade, we could see that they were admitting guests.  So, in we went.  At 8:43 we were here in front of the Disneyland Train Station.  The other days of our trip, it was covered with plants and candles. This morning, it was cleared off and almost back to normal:

 

 

Everyone was heading down Main Street.  Apparently, the park was open early, and we headed on in with everyone else:

 

 

I can't remember why I took this photo of the First Aid/Baby Care center, but I had a reason:

 

 

We weren't sure where we were supposed to go first for a Disneyland rope drop, and we were thrown off a bit by the fact that there was no rope.  One of the things I most wanted to do today was ride the Matterhorn one more time.  So, we decided to head there first.  Our progress was soon stopped as we rounded the hub:

 

 

So, they have rope drop at Disneyland after all.  With a real rope, too:

 

 

That is where we will soon be heading.  At 9 am, that is:

 

 

Check out the dude next to Twin #2.  He has on a safari outfit.  And a kilt:

 

 

We enjoyed the low key vibe of the Disneyland rope drop crowd:

 

 

Right at 9 am, there was an announcement welcoming us to Disneyland, and the rope was dropped.  We headed to the Matterhorn:

 

 

The family on the left was running.  Which was very unnecessary, but there's always one group of knuckleheads, even in laid back Disneyland:

 

 

We had to make a quick decision when we got to the mountain.  We knew the loading area was just off to our left, but there was a  Matterhorn entrance sign directing us around the mountain to the right.  The girls wanted to disregard the sign, which would have saved us a lot of time and walking, but there were other guests following it, so I said we should too.  So, around the mountain we went. Past the subs:

 

 

Here we are rounding the mountain. The guy in the white shirt up there in front is the first guest in this line, so we are in good shape here:

 

 

When we got to the loading area, there were already guests loaded up and going.  They had disregarded the sign directing us all the way around the mountain and went right to the loading area. I got some grief for making us take the long way:

 

 

But, it really was no big deal.  We never stopped walking, and proceeded right to the loading area, and everyone was happy (photo credit for this selfie to Twin #1) :

 

 

I took this photo at 9:04 am- we were already on the ride and on our way in to the mountain:

 

 

I failed in my attempt to get a photo of the abominable snowman on the Matterhorn again. This time, I didn't even get a photo of my own head or anything.  I did get this nice photo of the waterfall, though:

 

 

We were done with the Matterhorn and headed in to Fantasyland at 9:10.  The crowds were light, and we figured maybe we could re-ride Peter Pan or Alice in Wonderland.  Here we are heading that way:

 

 

Alice in Wonderland was down when we got there.  Classic.  But the Tea Cups were running with no wait, so:

 

 

The Peter Pan line looked like it would take 30 minutes.  I knew I wanted to snag Indiana Jones FP's, so I suggested that we head that way.  The girls agreed.  On the way there, we re-routed to Pirates, and got to ride it again with zero wait.  We all enjoyed it much more without the annoying dad.

 

When we got to the Indiana Jones FP machines, they were giving out FP's with a return time of 11.  That was too early for us.  The Jingle Cruise right next door was a walk-on.  We didn't plan to ride it again, but why not?

 

I got some more photos of the Disneyland Jingle Cruise decorations.  There's no question that they have way more:

 

 

 

 

 

This photo isn't the best, but I'm including it, because this scene is really funny. The natives are all wearing tacky Christmas sweaters:

 

 

The natives in WDW don't have sweaters.

 

Here's a photo of he piranhas they have here:

 

 

I don't know if we used to have them and they're broken, or if we never had them at all at WDW.

 

This shot shows the bubbles blowing around Trader Sam.  I wonder what the rationale was behind having such a different looking Trader Sam at WDW?:

 

 

After Jingle Cruise, we got our Indy FP's.  The return time was now 12:30, which worked perfectly for us.

 

We did great with our two rope drops.  In the first hour, we made it on the Matterhorn, Tea Cups, Pirates and the Jingle Cruise.  Plus, we had FP's for Indiana Jones for later.

 

Next up, we will make another visit to an attraction the girls wanted to do over.  Then, I'll be making a mad dash for the Grand Californian, and back to Disneyland for a lunch that we really enjoyed.

 

TCD

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

Thanks for the info. GC is definitely on our list of places to stay.....and the place we would like to stay at DL.

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

Can't wait for Arrendelle Matterhorn at Epcot.....

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Nice work on the double RD!

Now I'm interested in your thoughts on the candy canes. I'm not a huge fan of them, so it's hard to imagine they can be that special. But maybe....

[lklasing 16]

As much as I've read about DL and how compact everything is, I still can't get over that you left your room and 6 minutes later were in a park.  Or that you could so easily plan to grab a FP in one park when you're leaving the other park on your way to go back to the hotel.  

 

And yes, I'm working hard on my girls to try the CP.   If that ends up working out, a trip to DL will most assuredly be in the plan!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks for the info. GC is definitely on our list of places to stay.....and the place we would like to stay at DL.

 

I hope you can line up a good deal if you go.  The Grand Californian does not come cheap.

 

Can't wait for Arrendelle Matterhorn at Epcot.....

 

LOL.  That actually is probably a better idea than what is ultimately going to end up there.

 

Nice work on the double RD!

Now I'm interested in your thoughts on the candy canes. I'm not a huge fan of them, so it's hard to imagine they can be that special. But maybe....

 

It's theoretically possible to do a double rope drop at WDW, but I can't see any reason to ever try one.

 

At Disneyland/CA, it's great because you can ride RSR and still get to Disneyland and have a good hour or so of low crowds.

 

I will be getting to the candy canes eventually.  I am also not a huge fan.  I don't hate candy canes, but what's the big deal?  These things, however, are a big deal.  There was a line all the way down Main Street.  There's a big segment devoted to the candy canes in that Guy Fieri Disneyland special that was mentioned earlier in this trip report.  These Disneyland candy canes are supposedly the best things ever.

 

As much as I've read about DL and how compact everything is, I still can't get over that you left your room and 6 minutes later were in a park.  Or that you could so easily plan to grab a FP in one park when you're leaving the other park on your way to go back to the hotel.  

 

And yes, I'm working hard on my girls to try the CP.   If that ends up working out, a trip to DL will most assuredly be in the plan!

 

I looked at maps and aerial photos before we went, but could not grasp how close everything was until we got there.  My problem was that I was thinking of Disneyland in terms of Disney World.  There is absolutely no comparison when it comes to size.

 

Take a look at this aerial photo.  I've marked the location of the Grand Californian.  You can see the pools there that we could see from our balcony.  I've also marked the location of Grizzly River Rapids, Soarin' and the main entrances for both parks.  It took less than 5 minutes for us to walk to our room from the park entrance, but our room was on the 6th floor, and on the far side of the complex.  If we had been on a lower floor closer to the entrance, it might have been a two minute walk:

 

 

As long as I had the purple crayon out, I figured I'd mark up another photo- this one shows the Grand Californian but also the IHOP across the street.  Our first hotel, the Park Vue Inn, was right there- maybe just as close to the park entrances as the Grand Californian:

 

 

TCD

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Love me some purple crayon!   :banana:

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Love all the pictures of California Adventure; that part was built, after our last trip to DL, so I've never seen inside.  The pics off the balcony in the morning are awesome.  Coffee and watching the sunrise... tops my list of one of my favorite things to do.  Love, love, love it and you had a pretty nice view that morning :)

 

Oh... the picture of the three of you on the bobsleds... SUPER cute!!  You should frame that one :)    Several memories for me of that ride, one in particular was when my little brother was about 8 and he was screaming so loudly (in fear) that they stopped the ride, right as it was starting to go into the first tunnel and pulled him off.  He had really wanted to ride it up until that point, but as soon as it started moving he became terrified.... of course, it was shortly after that, that my parents discovered that the poor boy needed some (pretty strong) glasses so they now think it was because he couldn't see and that's why he became so afraid    Poor guy.  No worries though, no permanent damage...today at the age of 35, he's the first one in line at any fast ride/roller coaster :)

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Purple Crayon Fan Club unite!

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

One of those specials on TV went on and on about those candy canes.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Love me some purple crayon!   :banana:

 

Me too.

 

I'll keep it out and see what else I can use it on.

 

Love all the pictures of California Adventure; that part was built, after our last trip to DL, so I've never seen inside.  The pics off the balcony in the morning are awesome.  Coffee and watching the sunrise... tops my list of one of my favorite things to do.  Love, love, love it and you had a pretty nice view that morning :)

 

Oh... the picture of the three of you on the bobsleds... SUPER cute!!  You should frame that one :)    Several memories for me of that ride, one in particular was when my little brother was about 8 and he was screaming so loudly (in fear) that they stopped the ride, right as it was starting to go into the first tunnel and pulled him off.  He had really wanted to ride it up until that point, but as soon as it started moving he became terrified.... of course, it was shortly after that, that my parents discovered that the poor boy needed some (pretty strong) glasses so they now think it was because he couldn't see and that's why he became so afraid    Poor guy.  No worries though, no permanent damage...today at the age of 35, he's the first one in line at any fast ride/roller coaster :)

 

I hope that you get to bring your family to Disneyland some time.  It would be interesting to hear what you think of all the changes that have taken place. 

 

LOL @ your brother having to be taken off the ride.  It sounds like he's never going to live that down.

 

Purple Crayon Fan Club unite!

 

Yes!

 

One of those specials on TV went on and on about those candy canes.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

There is a lot of hype about those candy canes.

 

The Disney Food Blog (which is not owned by Disney) and tons of other bloggers make it sound like these candy canes are the best thing ever.

 

There are only certain dates that they make the candy canes, and they only make them in limited quantities, according to this article:http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2014/11/13/2014-disneyland-candy-cane-dates-announced/ :

 

During the 2012 and 2013 holidays, there were 40 wristbands per batch and three batches per day. This means that 120 wristbands were given out at park opening.

 

The earlier you are there, the earlier your batch. PLEASE NOTE that your wristband will get you ONE candy cane. If you have people with you, you HAVE to be together as a group. They will not hand you wristbands for anyone who is not with you. Lines start at whichever candy kitchen is producing candy canes for the day. SO walk REALLY fast to either Candy Palace or Trolley Treats upon entering the park. Cast members will be there to guide you. It can be serious business!

 

Your wristband will have the date and batch time on it. You may pick up your candy cane any time after your batch time, but prior to 4PM. If you don’t pick up your cane by 4PM, it will be sold to someone in the stand-by line.

 

If you want to read something interesting, here's a 2010 post from that same blog which describes how a mommy blogger ran through the park, leaving her kids behind, just to get a candy cane ticket (this apparently was before they started using wristbands) : http://www.disneyfoodblog.com/2010/12/16/disneyland-candy-canes/

 

With all the hype surrounding these candy canes, there has to be something special about them, right?

 

TCD

[Memphis 105]

That CM is wearing the exact same type of leather palm gloves I used to wear to splice wire rope!  I hope they just look like the same because I sure would not eat out of the ones we used. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That CM is wearing the exact same type of leather palm gloves I used to wear to splice wire rope!  I hope they just look like the same because I sure would not eat out of the ones we used. 

 

 

I hope so too.

 

And, I am impressed that you know how to splice wire rope.  I used to know how to splice regular rope, but it's been years since I've done that.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time. it's still Monday Morning, December 8.  It's still early, and we have already ridden a lot of rides.  Big ones, too.

 

It's our last day here, as we will be heading to the airport tonight, but we are going to make the most of it.

 

With Indy FP's in my back pocket, we headed off to do something the girls wanted to do one more time.

 

I stopped for one last photo of the Tiki Birds sign.  I really like the real flames on the torches:

 

 

We headed back to Fantasy Faire.  We all really enjoyed the Beauty and the Beast show we saw here.  They also put on a Rapunzel show using the same concept, and the girls decided that we ought to see it.

 

As we waited to be admitted to the theater, Aurora strolled casually by.  No attendant.  Just Aurora heading to clock in at her meet and greet.  They don't have utilidors here, you know:

 

 

I believe that if a princess tried to walk through a WDW theme park, she wouldn't get very far without being mobbed.  Maybe they put valium in the water here. or something?

 

The Rapunzel play followed the same concept as the Beauty and the Beast one- a retelling of the story, with the princess playing herself and the two males playing multiple roles. The guy on the right played Mother Gothel  and stole the show:

 

 

This show had the added bonus of Flynn Rider.  The TCD girls are big fans:

 

 

We all enjoyed that show very much.  It turns out we were lucky that we got to see both the Beauty and the Beast and the Rapunzel version.  Just a week or so after our visit, Disney announced that a new show would be taking over the theater.  Frozen.  Only Frozen.  No Belle.  No Rapunzel. Just those two sisters.  I'll bet it's a funny show, but I'm glad that we got to see the two shows we did.  I am afraid it will be a long time before Belle and Punzie come back.

 

After the show, it was time for me to head back to the Grand Californian to check out.  The girls decided that they would head to Innoventions and try and meet Captain America and Thor.

 

So, I headed out.

 

I was back in California Adventure in a matter of minutes.  I was good with time, so I stopped to read this plaque just inside the entrance.   The opening of Cars Land and other new additions was such a big deal that they actually had a park rededication in 2012.  I didn't know that. As far as I know, that hasn't happened at any of the WDW parks, but there are a couple where it needs to:

 

 

On my way to the room, I stopped and picked up Fastpasses for us to use later at Radiator Springs Racers.  The timing here was perfect- they were good at just past 4 pm.  That would be a good time for us to pop over here.

 

I made it to the room just before 11, and called for a bellman.  A bellman was there within minutes, and took our bags.

 

I took a minute to sit on the balcony and have a bottle of water:

 

 

The pools were not busy on this late Monday morning:

 

 

In case you didn't notice, I really liked our view:

 

 

The plan was for me to meet the girls at the place where we agreed to have lunch at a few minutes before noon.  So, I needed to go.

 

On the way out, I stopped by the hotel's quick serve restaurant, just because I wanted to see it.  It's a good size and has a good variety of choices.  And a coke zero machine, if you like those:

 

 

They are trying to make the gingerbread house thing happen here at the Disneyland resorts, but they need to try harder.  This little gingerbread house was set up in the quick serve restaurant:

 

 

Since it's so easy to get to this hotel from the parks, they have a pretty intense fence and gates around the pool area.  This gate is the one that accesses the quick serve.  Our room is one of the ones on the top floor across the way, with the solid walls on the balcony.  I didn't realize that all the rooms didn't have solid walls- I wonder why some do and some don't? :

 

 

Since we were talking about walking distances and times, I will tell you that the last photo, taken right in front of the quick serve restaurant in the resort, was taken at 11:33 am.  From here, I walked to the Grand Californian entrance to California Adventure, passed through the bag check and turnstiles, and entered the park.  Two minutes later, at 11:35 am, I took this photo of the Grizzly River Rapids ride in the park:

 

 

Did you catch that?  Two minutes from the resort and I'm in the park at an attraction.  Two minutes.  You have to see it to believe it.

 

I headed down the walkway toward the main gate.  This photo was taken looking back at the hotel:

 

 

There's the streetcar again.  We wanted to see that show one more time, and hoped that we could time it so we could when we came back to ride RSR today:

 

 

I headed out the main gate, and now I'm in the area they call the esplanade.  It is now 11:40 am- just seven minutes from when I took that photo outside the quick serve.  I didn't walk fast, and I stopped along the way to take the photos you just saw:

 

 

There's the Disneyland turnstiles right over there:

 

 

And turned to my left from that last shot, and standing in the same spot, there's the entrance to Downtown Disney:

 

 

From here, I headed back in to Disneyland, and headed under the train and toward Main Street.

 

As I entered the park, I saw a horse and wagon waiting for passengers:

 

 

That photo was taken at 11:44 am.  That's 11 minutes from when I took that photo in front of the quick serve restaurant inside the Grand Californian grounds.  I have passed through two park entrances, and taken photos along the way.  I could have easily made it from there to here probably in 8 minutes or less had I just walked directly.

 

Anyway, there's a horse wagon looking for passengers.  A ride up Main Street sounded pretty good to me. We had done a lot of walking since we arrived here on Thursday, so I hopped on:

 

 

Here's another look at the Train Station from in the park.  Just last night, our buddy Beau Bridges was up there with a cast of hundreds for the Disneyland Candlelight Processional.  Today, it's already back to normal:

 

 

There were a bunch of chairs and umbrellas set up around the Christmas tree this morning.  No tables.  Just chairs and umbrellas.  That's odd, isn't it?:

 

 

Those benches we saw people camped out on yesterday are now turned facing out toward the street:

 

 

As we waited for some more passengers, a marching band came out:

 

 

And, as if on cue, we took off with the musical accompaniment:

 

 

You see that sign there in that last photo?  Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln?  That was on my must-do list.  The girls weren't interested, but we made a deal that if we went back to the Fantasy Faire theater, then we also got to go to Great Moments of Mr. Lincoln. So, we needed to stop by there today.  A deal is a deal.

 

As we rounded the circle, I got a great view of the Christmas tree:

 

 

And, I found out what all those chairs were doing there. The band settled in for a little concert:

 

 

I've never seen a band do that at WDW.  I like it.

 

We slowly made our way up the street, with a CM up front telling the dumb Californians to get out of our way, man:

 

 

There's a castle down there somewhere:

 

 

 

When we reached the hub, it was just about time for me to meet up with the twins.  We drove past that spot, which is right over there:

 

 

I could see the twins as we rounded the hub.  In that photo above, if you look above the head of the lady in the green skirt in front of the trash can, you can see a guy in a red shirt off in the distance.  To the left of that guy, you can see the back of Twin #2's head- she's wearing a white long sleeve shirt.

 

We are meeting at Disneyland's Plaza restaurant, which occupies the same spot on Main Street as does the WDW Plaza restaurant.  But, there's a big difference between these two restaurants- Disneyland's Plaza is a quick serve.  And, supposedly, they have really good fried chicken.  People rave about it.  We are fried chicken connoisseurs.  So, we had to go.

 

We will be heading to lunch next.

 

TCD

[LWQuestie 0]

For your next visit to Disneyland, you should get "nice tiny castle" T-shirts made.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

You've had an impressive morning already.

I don't think The Plaza at the World has fried chicken. It does have steak fries, however.

For your next visit to Disneyland, you should get "nice tiny castle" T-shirts made.

Ha ha ha ha!

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

2 minutes?! Holy Guacamole!

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Purple Crayon Fan Club unite!

I wish my daughter had gotten a picture of me following the purple crayon path TCD drew for me as I made my way from the Contemporary boat dock to the gates of MK for EMH.  The best part was the people all following me because I had a map and must know where I was going!  LOL