Oct 14-17:A Solo Trip to Disneyland! Day3: Single Rider Shuffle

[becstr]

Great trip report! Love your costume!
I really want to make a halloween trip next year. I hope they have the Buzz Lightyear dance party again. My kids love Buzz!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Back in October I joined your TR (pimped from Glenn), but real life took over the month of November, so I just finally read the whole thing - WONDERFUL! Loving every single bit! And oh man...you have me wanting a DL trip! We have one in mind for 2013 after the re-furb/Cars Land...but I don't want to wait that long!

GREAT costume!!! The party looks like a lot of fun, love all the neat little affects they have with the lighting, fog and sound too.

 

[SurfinTX]

Great trip report! Love your costume!
I really want to make a halloween trip next year. I hope they have the Buzz Lightyear dance party again. My kids love Buzz!

From what I have read the number of dance party areas had been cut back a lot this year. Club Skellington and Buzz Lightyear's Intergalactic Space Jam were kept since the party moved to DL. I'm sure they will be back again next year and here's to hoping they include more as well!

Back in October I joined your TR (pimped from Glenn), but real life took over the month of November, so I just finally read the whole thing - WONDERFUL! Loving every single bit! And oh man...you have me wanting a DL trip! We have one in mind for 2013 after the re-furb/Cars Land...but I don't want to wait that long!

GREAT costume!!! The party looks like a lot of fun, love all the neat little affects they have with the lighting, fog and sound too.

RL can be tough as it has hit me pretty hard as well. I am already trying to plan out my future trips as well. With the trips we take to Utah I don't think it will be too hard to get out to California again but we have tenatively decided that after the new Fantasyland makeover has completed we will go to WDW as well as Universal Orlando.

Thanks about the costume. The park really did transform in a few places...others not so much. Rivers of America and the Hub seemed to be the best touring spots.

 

[SurfinTX]

Saturday Magic Morning

OMG! So where does the time go? Real life and the holidays have trounced this trip report big-time!

Never fear! Things have settled down some and now I have some time to post more than a few blurbs.

To my faithful TR followers my most humble apologies.

With that...let us continue on.

I believe, before RL stepped in so abruptly, that we left myself heading back to my room very tired and footsore. There was a light mist falling that night and I knew I was not going to be feeling up for an early start the next day as I had planned. Cleaning the eyeliner off and stumbling into bed around 1 a.m. I do not set the alarm fully expecting to sleep well into the next day.

This was not to be.

My eyes open. I am still really sore. Looking over at the clock it is 6:10 a.m. Lying there a moment I assess the situation. This is now the third night in a row of poor sleep. At the moment it didn't seem likely I would be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. Looking at the clock again I decided I would still be able to make the early opening of Disneyland today.

Once again I struggle out of bed and throw on a few things before heading out the door at 6:20 a.m...and again I am greeted by some fabulous southern California weather. You guessed it. Drizzle and Fog. A drawback to leaving so early was that the breakfast was not available yet. I knew it wouldn't be open until 7 but still it would have been nice to grab a donut or something on the way out.

Marching and at times jogging I make the mile trek in record time (for me on this trip ) and arrive at the bag check at 6:40 a.m.

At 6:45 bag check opens up and allows us to make our way over to the Disneyland entrance where we all wait until the 7:00 am opening.

Let me take a moment here and describe Magic Mornings for our Disneyworld readers. On Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday if you have a 3 day or greater or stay at an onsite resort you can go to one of these early openings. Once your ticket is scanned it will not let you into an early morning hour after that. A bit different from WDW since non-resort guests can attend but only one time per ticket.

This Saturday it seems the crowds are slow to arrive at the gate and I am only one person away from the front. 7:00 a.m. arrives and the procedure is the same as Friday's opening. The gates open and the crowd is off! I have a very specific plan (Thanks Hydroguy!) and I am am very nearly in the front of the crowd. Making a beeline for the Castle I pause for a moment to take a few shots.

Following Hydroguy's (plus many other poster's) advice I head through the Castle and walk directly to...

No wait at all and no one even in line! Looking around I pull my flash up for this ride over London.

Staying with the British theme I walk directly across the street to

For my WDW readers think of it as a faster version of Snow White in a car. The humor and scenes are distinctly British. A Wild Ride would not be complete without a picture of Mr. Toad.

Stepping off mere minutes later I see the crowds are arriving and they have predictably swarmed Peter Pan.

With a grin on my face I step over to Snow White's Scary Adventures.

No wait again and I was zipped through a classic ride. There is very little difference to the WDW version.

Hopping off it was again only a few more steps over to...

One step ahead of the crowd there was, again, no wait. In fact there was no one in the cars around me at all so I did get a few decent pictures.

After a whirlwind tour of these four classic rides I gather myself for a moment and check my watch. 7:15 a.m. Wow! I am way ahead of schedule with 45 more minutes of Magic Morning left! Check in next time to see how I use it!

Next Up: Curiouser and curiouser.

 

[glennbo123]

Hey Tom! Good to see another chapter...I was just thinking that I haven't seen you around lately. I'll have to come back later to read it though.

 

[Dizzy4DL]

Great to see you back!
I'm leaving for DL in a few days and it's a treat to see more of your fantastic photos before my trip.

The Peter Pan line difference...Wow. I'll show those pictures to my trip mates and maybe
they'll better understand why I'm "gently" nudging them along on our Magic Morning.

 

[marvali]

Wait a minute, I thought Disney WAS real life?????

Glad to see you got back around to posting updates! Super (fast) morning so far, and lots of great pictures! I love the way you walk right up to and through the castle at DL! I miss having Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at MK, and I can't remember if I ever did the Pinochio ride or not when I was there! Can't beat doing some of the biggies in Fantasyland as walk-ons, and great picture of the crowds who weren't quite as well prepared as you now having to wait at Peter Pan!!! All I can say for them is

BTW, I have my TR up for our trip to WDW over New Year's! Love to have you check in sometime when RL isn't getting back in your way!!!

 

[glennbo123]

My eyes open. I am still really sore. Looking over at the clock it is 6:10 a.m. Lying there a moment I assess the situation. This is now the third night in a row of poor sleep. At the moment it didn't seem likely I would be able to get back to sleep anytime soon. Looking at the clock again I decided I would still be able to make the early opening of Disneyland today.

Wow, I can't believe you did that. Disney really messes with your sleep patterns, doesn't it?

Making a beeline for the Castle I pause for a moment to take a few shots.

Is there a reason why Sleeping Beauty's castle is so short? Were there building height restrictions that Disney couldn't get around? Just curious.

No wait at all and no one even in line! Looking around I pull my flash up for this ride over London.

Ahhh, impressive!

Stepping off mere minutes later I see the crowds are arriving and they have predictably swarmed Peter Pan.

Holy smokes!

No wait again and I was zipped through a classic ride.



One step ahead of the crowd there was, again, no wait. In fact there was no one in the cars around me at all so I did get a few decent pictures.

Are you kidding? The crowd must be as predictable as cattle.

After a whirlwind tour of these four classic rides I gather myself for a moment and check my watch. 7:15 a.m. Wow! I am way ahead of schedule with 45 more minutes of Magic Morning left! Check in next time to see how I use it!

Oh my gosh! 4 rides, with pictures, in 15 minutes? That must be a record.

 

[SurfinTX]

Great to see you back!
I'm leaving for DL in a few days and it's a treat to see more of your fantastic photos before my trip.

The Peter Pan line difference...Wow. I'll show those pictures to my trip mates and maybe
they'll better understand why I'm "gently" nudging them along on our Magic Morning.

Hey! Have a great trip to DL and I hope to see a trip report. If you are going for Fantasyland on Majic Morning then you will need to be very dedicated to getting there early and move out immediatly for the rides. Even one minute later and I would have had to wait 5 minutes for Peter Pan. Then the waits for the other rides will progressivley get worse after that.

Wait a minute, I thought Disney WAS real life?????

Glad to see you got back around to posting updates! Super (fast) morning so far, and lots of great pictures! I love the way you walk right up to and through the castle at DL! I miss having Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at MK, and I can't remember if I ever did the Pinochio ride or not when I was there! Can't beat doing some of the biggies in Fantasyland as walk-ons, and great picture of the crowds who weren't quite as well prepared as you now having to wait at Peter Pan!!! All I can say for them is

BTW, I have my TR up for our trip to WDW over New Year's! Love to have you check in sometime when RL isn't getting back in your way!!!

Thanks for rejoining me here! Fantasyland at DL is so much better laid out and themed than at WDW. If WDW had Pinochio and Mr. Toad as well then it would match pretty well with DL.

I would have never been able to do what I did with my kids along. Five hours of sleep, throwing on clothes, no breakfast and then power walking all the way there. No way!

Wow, I can't believe you did that. Disney really messes with your sleep patterns, doesn't it?

There will be ramifications later.

Is there a reason why Sleeping Beauty's castle is so short? Were there building height restrictions that Disney couldn't get around? Just curious.

I can't find anything that says that there were plans to have it made larger than it is now. At 77' it looks pretty impressive and I'm sure it wowed the crowds in 1955. Remember that the Matterhorn wasn't built yet so there were no close by references other than Main Street. Once the 60's rolled around and Walt had even more resources for WDW he planned a much larger Cinderella's Castle.

Holy smokes!

Took the words right out of my mouth. 8 minutes after opening and there is a 15 minute wait...and building.

Are you kidding? The crowd must be as predictable as cattle.

Too true. Many read the same guides I guess or consider Peter Pan a must ride. It's the slowest of the loaders in this area. Problem is if you are not right at the front of the crowd you are better served to bypass it and come back later. Moooo!

Oh my gosh! 4 rides, with pictures, in 15 minutes? That must be a record.

It has to be close. Walked on all four with no wait. The rides themselves operated perfectly. I had to say I was pretty pleased with myself at that moment.

 

[TinksThree]

What a great update! A pretty successful start to your day! That is really, really early to get into the park!

 

[brookelizabeth]

Yay! An update! I know all about real life interrupting. Glad to see you back on.

Nice job avoiding those crowds! Where did they all go first instead???

 

[SurfinTX]

What a great update! A pretty successful start to your day! That is really, really early to get into the park!

It WAS early! Somehow I made it and stayed ahead of the crowd.

Yay! An update! I know all about real life interrupting. Glad to see you back on.

Nice job avoiding those crowds! Where did they all go first instead???

The crowds split at Tomorrowland and the Castle. Nearly everyone went for Peter Pan or Dumbo. I just managed to stay one step ahead of them.

 

[SurfinTX]

Day 3: Part 2 - Curiouser and Curiouser.

After my whirlwind trip of the classic rides behind the Castle it was time to move further back into the park. Passing the Carrousel and Dumbo by due to the crowds I continue on to the Wonderously themed Alice in Wonderland. The Tea Party as well as Alice's Ride are right next to each other. At this time Alice in Wonderland was not opened due to technical difficulties but the CM standing out front promised that it would open soon.

Turning back a bit I headed into the Mad Tea Party.

As you can see there was little wait again as most of the crowd was still queueing up for the slow loaders. Personally I like the DL version better than WDW. The line queue is well decorated and the whole ride feels very open with no roof. The drawback is that on rainy days you will get a very wet rump as you sit down. Might explain the lack of line, eh?

The Matterhorn right across the way as I sit down for my whirly-hurly ride. That out of the way I checked Alice and saw that it still wasn't open yet. No matter since The Matterhorn was so close by. The wait was about 10 minutes with no issues and this time I had my camera ready as I sat in the front seat.

The two tracks run parallel for about half of the ride as you race each other down.

Splashdown near the end of the coaster.

After getting off I notice that all of my front had gotten a bit wet due to the mist including my camera. No worse for wear I take a moment to towel off and make sure everything is OK before moving on.

During early morning hours whole parts of the park are blocked off as they only operate a limited number of rides during this time. Leaving the Matterhorn I take a picture down the deserted walkway heading to It's a Small World.

Quickly turning back I see that Alice has opened!

A line has formed but since there is no version of this at WDW it was a must ride for me. Coincidentaly, today is the day of the Alice in Wonderland Blu-Ray release. (Disney, you can send my check via Paypal. ) About ten minutes pass and I get halfway through when the CMs come back and say that they had to shut the ride down. A bit dissapointed I turn around and make my way back towards Dumbo taking a few pictures along the way.

The line for Dumbo wasn't too bad (15 minutes) so I jumped in line and hped to get a few good pictures of Fantasyland from here. This picture of me might indicate how tired I was getting.

and with that the Magic Morning Hour had ended. Even with the aborted attempt at Alice I was still way ahead of schedule as the opening for Cali Adventure was still 2 hours away. There was plenty of time to do more than I could ever hope for this morning!

Next Up!: Oh Alice! You Tease!

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for all the beautiful DL Fantasyland pictures! I love the original Small World facade, it is so pretty and stylish. I still remember that the Birnbaum Guide which I had for my first visit in 1992 pointed out that the gold is actuall real gold, not just some paint because it keeps much better than paint.

Did you ride both sides of the Matterhorn? I think it is a wonderful coaster, even though compared to EE it lacks theming. But it is fun with the two different tracks and the very low seats.

And when I saw your Tea Party pictures, I thought just the same as you: it looks much more festive without the roof. However, in Florida weather they would have to close down the ride way too often, not only because of the wet seats. I guess the platform could also become very slippery...

 

[glennbo123]

Yay, you're still ahead of schedule. Hey, what was Han up to?

I didn't realize that the cars "race" on the Matterhorn, that looks like a great ride!

 

[SurfinTX]

Thanks for all the beautiful DL Fantasyland pictures! I love the original Small World facade, it is so pretty and stylish. I still remember that the Birnbaum Guide which I had for my first visit in 1992 pointed out that the gold is actuall real gold, not just some paint because it keeps much better than paint.

Did you ride both sides of the Matterhorn? I think it is a wonderful coaster, even though compared to EE it lacks theming. But it is fun with the two different tracks and the very low seats.

And when I saw your Tea Party pictures, I thought just the same as you: it looks much more festive without the roof. However, in Florida weather they would have to close down the ride way too often, not only because of the wet seats. I guess the platform could also become very slippery...

I did not know that they actually used real gold for the decorations on the facade of IASM. That whole area between IASM, Matterhorn and Alice looks soooo much better than the equivalent between Snow White, Mad Hatter and Toon Town at WDW.

I did get both sides done on Matterhorn with that last ride. It's so fun with the open cars and the scenery all around you.

No doubt the Tea Party would be shut down a fair amount in Florida...but you can't beat those lanterns floating above you at night as well as the landscaping during the day time.

Yay, you're still ahead of schedule. Hey, what was Han up to?

I didn't realize that the cars "race" on the Matterhorn, that looks like a great ride!

Oh yeah. When I woke up I turned to the other bed and found this.

and I thought I was having a bad morning.

If you have a group you can time it right you can both ride each side down at the same time. As it was on this day I was just happy I hadn't damaged my camera after all of the water getting on everything.

 

[glennbo123]

I saw your post and started laughing and my daughter Lauren wondered what was so funny. So, after I explained your "Solo" trip and all, I showed her your post and she about died laughing. Excellent picture!

 

[zimaaaaah]

Enjoying your trip report!

 

[marvali]

Nice update! Have I said before I love the Matterhorn???

Nice that you kept staying ahead of the crowds and got so much done early. Too bad about Alice though.

I was wondering when I was looking at all the pictures in the update where Han was. Looks like you really wore him out, or he just can't hang any more and run on 5 hours sleep! Man, he is sleeping like a........uh......block???

 

[TinksThree]

What a successful morning! I agree with you totally on the Tea Cups! Those lanterns are very cool! Your trip almost has me ready to book a flight to Cali!!