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Disneyland June 2017 -- better late than never!


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I''ve been a bit...okay completely scarce  on FF for about the past year - reason being I've being working in LA and commuting back and forth to TN each week.  Needless to say, travel alone has eaten up about 20 hours a week.  Anyhoo...since I was in the land of Disneyland, I did get to stay over one weekend and have my DW and youngest son fly out.  We stayed at the Marriott that just across the street from the entrance and it was a short walk to get to the parks.  I actually had to WORK a few days while they were out there, but managed to get a few days in the parks.  

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For anyone who hasn't been to Disneyland before (which we hadn't), it was a bit of a surprise to see the workers coming and going in the same streets outside since we are so used to not seeing anyone due to the hidden tunnels they use in DWorld.  You come out to a large courtyard and Disneyland is on one side and California Adventure is on the other. If you walk a bit further across the courtyard you get to a much smaller version of Downtown Disney.   In the photo's below, I literally just turned around....

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I'm not going to rehash things that are the "same", but for Disneyland first, there were some things I really really liked and some that were..meh.

Castle.....meh.  Tiny...now know why they have castle envy...

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Matterhorn - I've always wanted to ride this since I was a little kid. Pretty cool that you can actually "race" each other as they let two go at the same time.  If you are over 6', it is a bit painful. I guess these rides built in the fifties were made for much smaller...ah Svelter folks.   DW and Son:

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My wife LOVES  It's a Small World (as much as I hate it..)  I'll have to admit, DLand wins the Small world wars...did that come out right?  It's huge! and there are disney characters in each room.  The entrance is all outside (no rain or not much in SoCal..)

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 to be continued...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ok, Imgur to the rescue...

Continuing with DisneyLand

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I think there is only about 15-20 acres in difference between the Magic Kingdom and DLand, but seemed so much smaller...the scale of everything as you can see above just seemed about half of WDW.   

Space Mountain has been refurbished much more recently here than DWorld and the "Shuttles" are much larger and hold 2 folks side by side and the ride was MUCH smoother. 

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As you can see,  my son was moderately excited, I was having a good time, and my wife's picked the best time to check to make sure her phone didn't go flying out of her...pocket.

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Mr Toad!!!  I miss Mr. Toad greatly from WDW - actually much more detailed that what I remember.  

 

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They have an updated version of the submarine ride - very much Nemo'ed out.  I couldn't get any got pics down underwater, although in the confined space in the SoCal Heat, the olfactory sensation reminded me that maybe I don't miss this that much...

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I don't recall seeing one of these at WDW...but somebody can correct me...I'm sure.

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The StoryBook Canal Boats were down when we were there...bummer.  Pretty cool pic of Monstro tho'.   We just got a new Motorhome and I'm leaning towards naming it Monstro....or "The Redhead's Revenge" - you guys decide!!

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Two rides that I do think beat out WDW....Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.  Both seemed longer and a touch more elaborate.  Although I do like the HM queue at WDW better.

Haunted Mansion

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I didn't get a good pic of the Pirates queue, but here is some booty from that line.....ladies..please...yoga pants aren't always the best attire....thats mah pirate face....Arrrgh! 😎

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The Teacups were pretty cool - lots of greenery for shade, but no enclosure

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And finally for today, DW got to see her favorite parade one last time...

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On to California Adventure next!!!

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19 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

 FYI WDW does have a double decker bus and some other antique vehicles that operate in the MK, but not nearly as regularly as they operate them in Disneyland. 

TCD 

See - I knew somebody would know!

 Before I jump into California Adventure Park, I must give a nod to Toontown at Disneyland. Done very well - since we don't have little kids (Grandbaby coming in January tho'!) we didn't go here until very late in the day and the sun was going down when we got there.  I've always loved Roger Rabbit and it was nice to see these characters again. 

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The Roger Rabbit Car Toonspin brought the movie back and although most young folks don't remember it, this old Toddler really enjoyed it!

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Overall they did a great job at Disneyland to "keep the illusion", but they weren't not quite as successful as WDW.

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But they did have some cool fake hills to hide the outside world.  Overall you still feel like it's Disney!!

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Not as many rides here as there were in long since closed ToonTown Fair at WDW, but the area was pretty small.  

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Ok - on to California Adventure!  I really have to admit I liked this park a lot.  It's worth the trip alone.  

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Radiator Springs is LIFE SIZED and had some really cool rides for kids of all ages.   If you have kids who are big CARS fans, it's a must see. I was really blown away by the detail ( I know, it's Disney) 

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You can see one of the Racers in the back ground of this pic below.

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Granted, most of these buildings are gift shops or counter service food, but still cool to see!!

There were 3 big rides in this area, 

Mators Junkyard Jamboree in which you are pulled in a wagon behind rusty tractors - this was more for the younger set, but we had a lot of fun.

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Luigi's Rollicking Roadsters - this was pretty cool  You get in a car and it dives all on it's own.  In some instances all the cars are "dancing" together.  Again for the younger set (but I'd ride it again!!)

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The BIG ride here is the RACERS ride - think a MUCH longer Test Track and you "race" another car.  You get to see pretty much a replay of the original Cars movie in little scenes as you drive thru - the big truck was really cool.  I didn't get any pics here as it was dark most of the time, but after the "story" part you race out against the back drop of the mountains..really cool!  Here are some pics of the queue.

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As you can tell by my DW do' we were going pretty fast!

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I got some video, but no pics,  but as the sun goes down all the Neon comes on and they play the cruise music from the movie.  Pretty cool!

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Tower of Terror  - remade to Guardians of the Galaxy - I have mixed feelings about this one.  The ride was good, but as long as they don't mess with ToT at WDW, I'm fine.  But I really hope this ride isn't changed to be just a glorified movie trailer.  Groot and Starlord even came out to meet and greet.  

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The ferris wheel in the California part was pretty cool - my advice. RIDE THE CARS THAT ONLY SWING BACK AND FORTH.  We rode the cars that would not only swing, but would travel across a distance and oh my Lord..don't ever want to ride this again. Closest I've ever come to getting ill on a ride...If you look close you will see tracks within the ferris wheel.  These cars will travel in a smaller circle AROUND the circle as it moved.   It was diabolical...  You can see the coasters in the background.  After the ferris wheel, we were done...

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They had a water show here similar to Fantasmic and we were in an area so close that I was afraid my camera would get wet, so no pics. Pretty cool but SO MANY PEOPLE.  I mean...more crowded that I've ever been at WDW.

And last but not least...guess who we saw...any guesses?

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  • 3 months later...

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