Pics from Harbor this morning

WonkaKid

DIS Veteran
Joined
Apr 2, 2009
I decided to drive down to DL once again this morning (since there isn’t much else to do :-)). But today I finally did something I’ve meant to do for years. Long story short, the first time I ever visited DL was sometime in the winter of 1999. I went on a Saturday with Evalina. a woman I knew from Chicago (I still lived there at the time, she’d moved to Pasadena about a year prior). We arrived in Anaheim around 9:00. I exited I5 and then took a left onto Ball - i.e. I was eastbound: the wrong direction. Pretty quickly we realized I’d taken a wrong turn so I turned down a residential street - Lemon Street - so that we could flip around. It then occurred to me to ask one of the residents for directions. But I made a point to ask someone who had an orange tree in their yard... so that we could also ask for a few oranges. I’m a Midwesterner and had never had an orange fresh off the tree. The person we spoke with was very helpful. When I asked if we could have an orange or two, he went into his garage and returned with a picking tool and a brown paper bag. He told us to take as many as we liked. So we did - perhaps twenty or so.

I’ve always remembered that experience and promised myself that one day I’d return to Lemon Street. I did so this morning. It was hard to connect that memory with what I saw today. I think that’s often how these things go. There was also a lot of magic in the air then because I was with a beautiful woman and was excited for my first ever visit to DL. Contrast that with this morning: it was gloomy, I was alone and I wasn’t really going anywhere. Oh well. That’s how it goes sometimes. You can revisit a location but can’t expect the emotional charge that it carried at the time to still be there. Sometimes circumstances have magic.

Side note: Evalina spoke eight languages at the time (I believe she’s at 12+ now). When we took an afternoon break on a bench near Matterhorn Bobsleds to share an apple, two German girls sat down next to us and began to talk. She turned to them and spoke in perfect German. The following day we were in Santa Monica and I thought I heard a guy speak Russian so I asked Evalina to say something to him. She did but a confused look crossed his face and he explained that he didn’t speak Russian but that he did speak Italian. So without the slightest effort, she slipped into Italian and they had a brief convensation. I was impressed and that has always stuck with me. I only speak a little Japanese and Swedish. I never became fluent in a second language. Let alone twelve ;-).

Anyway, here are some pics from today. Unlike last weekend, I didn’t walk the entire perimeter of the park. I simply walked by the front - Harbor to Katella and then back. The place felt even more vacant than last Sunday. One piece of good luck: I needed to use the bathroom and the Denny’s on Harbor was open for pickup orders only. They were very nice and allowed me to come inside and use their facilities. Had it not been for them, I would have had to wait until I got back to LA.

The tree from which I had my first ever freshly-picked orange.
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Feels a bit like Chernobyl / При́пять
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I continued down to Candy Cane Inn. Before I move me to LA seven years ago, my mother and I would often visit DL together in the spring. Like all hotels in CA, it’s closed, of course. But I saw a light on in the lobby, stepped inside and asked if I could go back and take a look at the pool, since I hadn’t laid eyes on it since about 2012. They were very nice and said that I could. Later I asked why they were there if the hotel was closed. They explained that they’re there to take reservations for late June and all of July and thereafter. A few pics from CCI and Harbor.

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I continued down to Candy Cane Inn. Before I move me to LA seven years ago, my mother and I would often visit DL together in the spring. Like all hotels in CA, it’s closed, of course. But I saw a light on in the lobby, stepped inside and asked if I could go back and take a look at the pool, since I hadn’t laid eyes on in since about 2012. They were very nice and said that I could. Later I asked why they were there if the hotel was closed. They explained that they’re there to take reservations for late June and all of July and thereafter. A few pics from CCI and Harbor.

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Thanks for the wonderful pics. Is that when the stay at home will expire? Late June/July?
 


Thanks for the pictures. I don't blame you for wanting to stay away. I would feel really depressed to see it closed off and empty.

I visited Little Tokyo on a lunch break and it was so empty.
 


It’s very surreal. I believe this is the last time I’ll go until the park reopens. It’s not especially pleasant. I don’t regret going but I won’t go again under these lockdown conditions.

Just looking at these pics makes me cry. It’s symbolic for everything we have lost. Really missing the days when my biggest Disneyland problem was the massive crowds in October. 😭😭😭😭😭😭
 
Thanks again for the pictures @WonkaKid. These pictures of the deserted streets make me think of those old time disaster movies. One in particular that I remember is a really bad train wreck of a TV series called Z Nation (A real bad attempt at mimicing the Walking Dead). One episode had the cast walking through very run down but very recognizable Disneyland. Sorry for the Dark Imagery.
 
Thank you for doing these photos. I miss the parks so much more looking at them, but I'm still glad to see them. I totally understand not being able to handle more than you've already done, though. If it's sad looking at them on my screen, I can only imagine how sad it must have been in person.

Thanks again for the pictures @WonkaKid. These pictures of the deserted streets make me think of those old time disaster movies. One in particular that I remember is a really bad train wreck of a TV series called Z Nation (A real bad attempt at mimicing the Walking Dead). One episode had the cast walking through very run down but very recognizable Disneyland. Sorry for the Dark Imagery.

I actually liked Z Nation way more than TWD at times while the former was still airing new episodes 😹. Probably blasphemy to say since I've had the chance to work with Steven Yeun on a minor level (very, very nice guy, or at least he was to me). I appreciated it had an element of humor that often led to it making fun of itself. I loved when they walked through what was left of Disneyland! They even comment on it and make some cracks about it ("It's a world of laughter. It's a world of tears.") after saying where they are. They also apologize to 10K for bringing him to a destroyed Disneyland :rotfl2:

I'm glad it doesn't actually look right now exactly like it did in that, though. Now that would be really heartbreaking to see it utterly destroyed except for a few landmarks (like Matterhorn). It's just empty which is devastating enough.

Imagine the refurb time needed if it looked like it did in Z Nation :scared:
 
Loved reading about your walk around DLR and the neighborhood. It appears that the orange tree is still bearing oranges. It also is apparent that the Disney gardeners are still at work keeping the grounds looking nice. I agree with others that the emptiness is sad, but we will overcome this and the good days will return.
 

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