"That's not supposed to be HERE!" A WDW Native's First Trek West! ~ New 8/13!

[elphie101]

Who starts a TR nearly 4 months after the trip? This girl!!

Hello and welcome to my second ever trip report, and first one for the magical mothership, Disneyland! Let's get right into it, shall we?

YOUR CAST


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I'm Jenn, your author/trip planner/photographer/entertainment for this journey. As an East Coaster/former WDW Cast Member, I've made many a trip to Florida but only visited Disneyland once, as a day trip during a San Diego vacation about 10 years ago or so, which really just amounted to spending several hours on the Matterhorn (ah childhood). I also love (love, LOVE) Disney food. Down time at work for me is clicking around the internet for Disney food menus and drooling over food pictures on the DCL section of the boards!


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This is Kevin, the DBF, who more accurately fits the title of my TR. He has never been within an hours drive from our home town area (plus a short school trip to London he'll kill me if I don't mention) EXCEPT to go to WDW - at least once a year for as long as he can remember. He obviously shares my love for Disney, though sadly does not care as much for Disney food as I do!

THE TRIP
Our trip was from April 10th-April 15th, staying at the Fairfield Inn Anaheim on Harbor Blvd. We wanted to take advantage of a long weekend (thereby using fewer vacation days for me) but were hoping to avoid the crowds of more nationwide holidays like MLK Day and President's Day, as well as banking on (slightly) warmer weather, fewer attraction refurbs and opportunities to see Fantasmic and Remember Dreams Come True.

THE PLANNING
It all started with a mouse...........and the Disney College Program. After getting my foot in the door with the CP and becoming a seasonal Disney Cast Member, DBF and I started talking about the idea of visiting Disneyland. We waited. And planned. And saved. It was just an idea.

That all changed when I got a job at home in MA. Now I could no longer fly to Florida to keep working to stay a CM, which meant we had roughly one year to make our California trip happen before I would lose all my cast member benefits (namely admission for both of us to the parks, which made this trip doable for us).

It's hard to argue with that logic - we were going to Disneyland, and going soon!

Join us as we visit the Happiest Place on Earth - for (practically) the first time!

**Table of Contents**
Introduction (you're here!)

Day 1 - Wednesday April 10th
*Leaving on a Jetplane....
*Leaving on a Jetplane.... (Part 2)
*"It's like Mexico - BUT BETTER!"
*Zigging our Zag Across the Land
*Touristssssss Innnnnn Spaaaaaace

Day 2 - Thursday April 11th
*Goooooooood Morning California!
*On Your Mark, Get Set...
*A Fist Full of FastPasses Makes the Wait Time Go Down
*Soarin, Tumbling, and Racing Through an Endless Diamond Sky
*Soarin, Tumbling, and Racing Through an Endless Diamond Sky (Part 2)
*Soarin, Tumbling, and Racing Through an Endless Diamond Sky (Part 3)

Day 3 - Friday April 12th
*A Dreary Disney Morning
*A Walk on the Walt Side
*The Most Exclusive of Clubs
*A Couple of Cruises & One Magical Firehouse
*Holy Crowds Batman! (Part 1)
*Holy Crowds Batman! (Part 2)
*Holy Crowds Batman! (Part 3)

Life Updates
*9/19: Back from WDW aaaaaaand.........

 

[Chaitali]

Hi, can't wait to read more We're staying at the Fairfield Inn for our October trip to Disneyland so I'm especially interested in hearing about your trip!

 

[TheChapman6]

What is your job? I hope you love the trip and enjoy all the churros your hear desires.

 

[elphie101]

Wednesday April 10th

Happy Departure Day!! It's always easier to wake up early when you know you're going on vacation - especially a DISNEY vacation!

The alarm went off bright and early at 3:40am (ok, maybe not SO easy to wake up). Kevin had stayed at my parent's house the night before, as my dad works the early shift at the airport and allowed us to travel with him to work in the morning, since he would be up anyway!

We had already packed the car up the night before, so the three of us rolled out of bed and packed the morning-of essentials, grabbed some coffee, I threw on some basic make-up (for the eventual TR photos!) and we were off.

It took us about 15 minutes to get to the shuttle bus terminal (we have a line of coach buses that have terminals in various suburbs that go into the airport), then another half an hour to get to the airport.

Words words blah blah -OH LOOK THERE ARE PHOTOS NOW!


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If I remember correctly, I think we actually got there before they opened (which was 5:00am). This was our first time flying United, so I was eager to try something new - eager that is until about 3 weeks before when they canceled our nonstop from Boston and put us on a connecting flight through Newark. We now had to be at the airport half an hour earlier and were getting into LAX an hour later Don't they know that's an hour I could be in the parks?

We checked Kevin's bag and headed into the security line, where I was utterly fascinated by this computer-lady:

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I never saw anything like this before! She was explaining how to get through security (in English AND Spanish!) I was fascinated; Kevin was poking fun at me for having taken 2 pictures already before 5:15m.

We plonked down in front of our gate, got some Dunkin Donuts breakfast and waited.....and waited....and waited....


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An hour later, finally we boarded! EXCITEMENT!


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What I didn't know is I inadvertently took a picture of my dad, watching us while he worked (in the terminal on the right with the rows of lights)! I turned to Kevin and said (or probably shouted) "SMILE FOR THE TRIP REPORT!"


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........it was an early morning.

The flight to Newark took about an hour, and we had about 2 hours to kill before we took off again, so we set out to explore and stretch our legs. We found another United flight to LAX that was actually departing sooner, and for a brief moment I was so excited at the thought of getting to California sooner. But when they found out we had checked a bag, they told they wouldn't be able to move our baggage, so we would have to wait for it at the airport anyway........fudge.

We killed time charging our electronics for the big flight ahead, munched on some snacks and grabbed some pizza for the 5-hour flight ahead with no (free) food. We called the parents, and then it was boarding time!


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There's a trip report smile!


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The flight was long, but doable, with one glaring exception: it was SWELTERING HOT I've never been that hot on a plane before (usually I'm freezing) but we were both pretty uncomfortable. We passed the time by watching some TV show episodes we were behind on, then Kevin read from his army of comic books while I watched Cars - I had never seem it before, and I wasn't about to go to Cars Land without seeing the movie! It wasn't that bad.

We watched the scenery change as we crossed the country! Still towards the east.....


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Hello mountains!


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As soon as we could see the Pacific, I started bouncing in my seat - almost there!


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We landed in no time - and a half an hour ahead of schedule! A half an hour with Mickey back! Once we got off the plane, we sprinted to the restrooms (5 hours in the air...), then collected our bag and headed out to wait for the shuttle.


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As you can see, we booked Super Shuttle for this trip. We were pleased with them overall. We waited no more than 15 minutes for the shuttle, and we got right on the first Disneyland area one. Yes it was full of strangers, but we didn't mind! There driver seemed friendly and safe, and it was very convenient to have paid the tips online. We drove along, and we quickly started seeing signs for the Anaheim area.

One by one, we dropped off people around the block as we circled the backside of California Adventure ("THAT'S RADIATOR SPRINGS") until DBF and I were the only ones left. Then we pulled up...


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I had stressed so much about WHERE we were going to stay, far more than anything else about our trip - and I have to tell you, when we pulled up I felt GOOD!

***
I hate to end an installment so that it's nothing but boooooring travel, but this installment is coming to you from work and well, it's time to go home! Stay tuned for part 2!

Continue to next post

 

[elphie101]

Hi, can't wait to read more We're staying at the Fairfield Inn for our October trip to Disneyland so I'm especially interested in hearing about your trip!

Thanks for following!! I would 100% recommend the Fairfield Inn, and DBF and I both would stay there again - I'll have room photos up in my next update!

What is your job? I hope you love the trip and enjoy all the churros your hear desires.

I worked in Tomorrowland Attractions at WDW - specifically Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, and the Carousel of Progress. I also had a chance to do parade control and candy distributing during the Halloween Party. It was an absolute dream experience!!

If you ask me, it is FAR easier to find churros in DLR/CA than it is in the Florida parks - I felt like they were every few feet! It was a dream

 

[Chaitali]

I love the photo with the trip report smiles . And it can't believe the plane was warm. I'm always cold on planes too. I take a sweater no matter how warm our destination is going to be. I wonder if the AC system was broken

Your job at Disney world does sound like a dream job! Those three rides are great. I like Buzz Lightyear better than Toy Story Mania since I can beat both my brother and my husband on Buzz Lightyear but always lose at Toy Story Mania

I hope the rest of your trip went well!

 

[elphie101]

We hopped out of the Super Shuttle and were immediately greeted with a "HI! Welcome to the Fairfield Inn! Would you like me to assist you with your bags?" from the employee waiting by the door. We're all set thank you, but talk about a FANTASTIC first impression!

We headed into the lobby and check-in was an absolute breeze. I double checked with the woman about us leaving our bags at the desk the day we checked out (since we were taking a red-eye home to maximize park time while minimizing our hotel bill) and it was not a problem! Sweet!

Happy and excited, we took the elevators up to the third floor (the same floor as the Pizza Hut/Grab-and-Go convenience store) and found our room where, like the good DISers we are - we took untouched room photos.


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That would be Kevin's arm taking the same photos I am - like I said, we've both been trained well!


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This picture came out blurry, but I wanted to post it, since I had never seen a room safe like this before; it was in the bottom of the vanity cabinet, and the top popped up automatically on a spring, and it was SO COOL! Very spacious too - Kevin's MacBook was able to fit inside, which was an unexpected surprise.


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The view from our door, looking straight out to the HoJo.....


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And to the left at the Matterhorn!! Can you believe that monorail luck?! Talk about Pixie Dust!

The room was clean, and very spacious (especially for just the two of us). We did have a connecting room as you can see by the photos but never had any trouble/heard any noise from them - if I recall we did hear kids running down the hallway outside maybe once or twice after we had gone to bed, but not enough to bother us or keep us up.

We changed into shorts (80 degrees and sunny!) and discovered that United had broken Kevin's suitcase during the flight (the red & silver one in the photos above) - one of the locks wasn't latching shut. We were bummed and he was stressed about getting it home, but we decided to cross that bridge when we got to it - DISNEYLAND was at our doorstep after all.


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Come on honey, there hasn't been a picture of our mugs in 6 hours now!

We headed down the hall and around the corner to the stairwell, since it was quicker then going back through the lobby, and started off to the parks. Walking down Harbor Blvd was like a dream - I had spent so much time on Google Street View just going up and down the street that it felt like I had been there before.


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The stairs are right where the blue awning is, however they're locked from the outside - we always had to return to the lobby to re-enter.


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The Best Western Park Place Inn at the time of our visit - this did make me glad I hadn't ended up booking our room here (although I'm sure it wouldn't been fine).


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WE'RE HERE!

It might've just been my crazed brain, but I swear the second we crossed that archway the Disney music started. I couldn't help myself from skipping (to Kevin's dismay) through the bus dropoff to the bag check stations. Our park of choice was Disneyland, as how we couldn't imagine starting off our trip any other way, but it just so happened that the extra morning hours were opposite of our proposed touring plan (ie DCA Wednesday, DL Thursday, whereas we were going to do DL then DCA) which I hadn't realized until everything was booked. Happy coincidence!


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About to go in, but first....


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DCA gates from the exact same spot. Kevin couldn't believe just how close they were - I'd told him before that it would change the definition of park hopping but he was still shocked that we would soon be INSIDE one park and could still turn around and see the other!

We had a bit of a kerfuffle at the turnstiles, as WDW and DLR turnstiles don't handle CM tickets the same way, so it was slightly confusing - but then we were in!


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Walking right down the middle of Main Street U.S.A......


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Hello gorgeous!! Pinch me, I'm dreaming!

We were utterly starving at this point - it was just about 3:00pm at this point, but dinner time to our Eastern-clock bodies, and those Newark pizzas on the plane had been too little too long ago. So food was the first thing on both of our minds, after one very important mission: The First Fastpass.

The First Fastpass was something that was decided on a very long time ago. Something that absolutely had to be experienced our first day. Any guesses? Here's a hint:


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Not the Jungle Cruise but.....


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Indiana Jones! Kevin loves, loves, LOVES Indy (one of the few people I've met who didn't loathe Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) and getting a chance to experience this ride was one of the main draws of going to DLR for him (outside of the major aspect of visiting a new Disney park of course). We definitely wanted to focus our first day on attractions that weren't in Florida or very different than their WDW counterparts, and this ride was #1 on the list!

Fastpasses obtained, it was time to chip away at the wait by EATING! The food obsessed person that I am, I wanted to try as much and as many different restaurants as we could over the course of our trip, but Kevin is far more of a 'plain' eater than I am - a back-up option of chicken/pizza/burgers was necessary if he wasn't in the 'branching out' mood.

So......where to now?

 

[elphie101]

I love the photo with the trip report smiles . And it can't believe the plane was warm. I'm always cold on planes too. I take a sweater no matter how warm our destination is going to be. I wonder if the AC system was broken

Your job at Disney world does sound like a dream job! Those three rides are great. I like Buzz Lightyear better than Toy Story Mania since I can beat both my brother and my husband on Buzz Lightyear but always lose at Toy Story Mania

I hope the rest of your trip went well!

I bet the AC was broken! Never in my life have I been that warm on a plane - we were literally sweating! Definitely unexpected.

I think Toy Story is WAY harder than Buzz, it takes so much more out of your arm to pull on the ball & string, whereas you can just hold down the button on Buzz and it'll keep shooting!

 

[Chaitali]

I loved the photos of the hotel room and the walk from there to Disneyland! Looks like it was a great option. I'm excited to hear about your food stop. I'm pretty food obsessed too. The good thing is that Mike doesn't care much about food so is happy eating almost anywhere . He leaves the restaurant decisions to me for our vacations.

 

[glennbo123]

Hey Jenn (and first poster on my current TR)! I'm here and ready for you to tell me all about Disneyland! Enjoying it so far.

 

[LuvindisCruiser]

I'm in too !

I'm really enjoying your comparisons so far. We are a Disneyland family, and our first time to WDW, was amazing. So much planning, but so worth it !

It's so funny when we go to DLR, we stay across the street too. As soon as I cross that walkway and get to Disney property I always want to start skipping too! Sometimes I actually have !

Can't wait to read more about your adventures ! And, I love that you are a foodie too ! Hope you have a lot of food pics !

 

[elphie101]

I loved the photos of the hotel room and the walk from there to Disneyland! Looks like it was a great option. I'm excited to hear about your food stop. I'm pretty food obsessed too. The good thing is that Mike doesn't care much about food so is happy eating almost anywhere . He leaves the restaurant decisions to me for our vacations.

That's how Kevin is (for the most part) - the menus on All Ears have become our best friend. Everything has to past the "will Kevin starve if we go here?" test

Hey Jenn (and first poster on my current TR)! I'm here and ready for you to tell me all about Disneyland! Enjoying it so far.

Welcome! Glad to have you! I completely forgot that I was the first post on your TR haha. I'm actually almost (sort of) caught up on your adventure - it's quite an adventure at that!

I'm in too !

I'm really enjoying your comparisons so far. We are a Disneyland family, and our first time to WDW, was amazing. So much planning, but so worth it !

It's so funny when we go to DLR, we stay across the street too. As soon as I cross that walkway and get to Disney property I always want to start skipping too! Sometimes I actually have !

Can't wait to read more about your adventures ! And, I love that you are a foodie too ! Hope you have a lot of food pics !

Welcome! It's hard to compare - we wanted to appreciate both parks for what they were but it was impossible to NOT compare!

I'm pretty sure I got food pics of almost everything (I hope so, since my photos are the only trip notes I have), can't wait to release them all to people who will actually appreciate them!

 

[elphie101]

When we last left you, Kevin and I were standing in a Twilight Zone-esque Adventureland, with two Fastpasses patiently waiting in our pockets and a rumbly in our tumbly-s. We set out in search of sustenance.


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All of a sudden we were in New Orleans Square. I knew there were plenty of quick service places in the area - River Belle Terrace, French Market - that I had seen on this side of the DIS, but I wasn't sure if Kevin would go for their menus. So we went with something more close-to-home: Stage Door Cafe


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From All Ears: "Chicken Breast Nuggets - $8.49 Served with sliced apples or fries & one dipping sauce. Ranch, Honey Mustard, Barbecue, Marinara or Buffalo Hot Sauce"

Kevin got an orange soda, while I went with my good ol'favorite, free cup of water (I don't drink soda). I got the buffalo sauce for myself (since buffalo chicken is one of my FAVORITE foods), and ordered Kevin's with ranch for me to try (he prefers ketchup with his chicken).

Let me tell you, not only did these completely hit the spot, but that buffalo sauce was OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD. I ended up not even touching the ranch dressing because I couldn't imagine wasting one chicken nugget on not buffalo! And thus, the first "WHY don't they have this at WDW?" moment was had. Oh buffalo sauce, how I wish I could find you in Florida....

After we ate (which knowing us probably took about 10 minutes) it was still slightly too early to use our fastpasses, so we decided to head over to Pirates of the Caribbean.


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New Orleans Square is such a beautiful area - I love it


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Hello Dream Suite!


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Full of mock fear!


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We were quickly loaded onto our boat - our first official ride at Disneyland! It was so odd to see the whole loading area set up as if we were in someone's backyard bayou or whatnot.


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My best attempt at a Blue Bayou picture - I was so excited to see it that I'm pretty sure I screamed "It's like Mexico - BUT BETTER!" (aka San Angel Inn at the Mexico pavilion in Epcot, if you're not following my crazy leaps of logic).

With my faithful little point and shoot camera, I knew decent photos of Pirates were going to be impossible, but here's the best of the bunch (which isn't saying much):


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We LOVED it. I loved all the treasure room and cavern scenes at the beginning, and going through the busted-up ship towards the end. It was great!

After the ride we poked around in a couple shops (Kevin and I are HUGE Vinylmation collectors, so we were excited to start on a different coast and contributing to our collection) and explored some of the nooks and crannies of New Orleans Square.


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Note the #35 in the picture? It didn't hit me until we were looking at these at home, but this picture indicates that I was standing RIGHT IN FRONT OF Club 33 - and I didn't even realize it I am still shocked that I didn't put two and two together on the day of and realize where I was! Don't worry we did make it back to the Club on another day - and even inside on our Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps tour! But that's getting ahead of myself.


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Look, you CAN find moments of quietness and alone time in the parks! On my staircase that is...

We decided we had dawdled enough and we were well within our FastPass window at this point, so it was time to head off with a certain professor/explorer/Harrison Ford.


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As you can tell by this picture, it was HOT out.

We went through the queue in no time, and I snapped a few photos along the way.


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My poor attempt to capture the spikes descending on us from the ceiling


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Soon we were greeted by our good friend Sallah, reminding us to fasten our seatbelts and not to look into the eyes of Mara. Kevin was like a little kid in a candy store he was so excited - he called his dad as soon as we were off the ride to say "SALLAH DOES THE SAFETY VIDEO."

This ride gave us our #2 "WHY don't they have this at WDW?" moment - it was unbelievable! Kevin and I were in agreement that it was like Dinosaur, but better. Kevin especially wished his dad could be there, as he loves Indiana Jones just as much as Kevin does, and while he has to sit out of most thrill rides in Florida because he can't do any sudden drops in height, Dinosaur is one of the few thrill rides he CAN experience, so he would definitely be able to ride Indy here. I say more of a reason to convince his parents to come out west one year - and bring us along too of course

We decided to head to Tomorrowland next, so I could explore the sister to my homeland (I mentioned it in a comment above, but if you're like me and just read TRs via chapter links, when I worked in Disney World I worked in Tomorrowland Attractions - specifically Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor, and the Carousel of Progress. I've come out to the experience with a particular fondness for Tomorrowland, Buzz, and Mike & Sully in particular. And by fondness, I mean weakness when it comes to merchandise and spending )


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A space ranger returns home!


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......but that's not where I parked my Astro Orbitor

Walking through Tomorrowland was SO strange. In a way it was easier to accept because it was just SO different - not only the music, but the whole design of it all. It was a very alternate-reality kind of moment.


(Continued in next post)

 

[elphie101]

Continued from previous post


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Kevin: "Star Tours is HERE?" Why yes it is my dear. As a CM, one of the biggest tip offs that a guest was more familiar with DL was when they would come up to us standing in front of Buzz and ask where Star Tours was.


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When we saw this, we knew we HAD to get in line. We never see the wait this low on my Buzz at this time of the day (about 4:30)


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Being hit with the first sad reminder that there is no PeopleMover in California - for shame!


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This all looks eerily similar - I could be collecting Fastpasses right next to this wall! (Well, I formally could have)


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I had to take a photo with animatronic Buzz for my CM friends back home - one of our collective pet peeves is when guests stop for a photo with Buzz and refuse to let anybody pass them. This leads to people not getting on the ride as quickly as they could, which leads us CMs being scolded for not keeping things at an efficient pace. The More You Know And in case you were wondering, I did let people pass us for this photo!


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I'm having deja vu! One day I spent 10 hours in this room Florida side (in 2 hour shifts. But still, 10 hours.)

It was great to get to pick up the guns, and now I FINALLY understood why people were always asking 'Which shape is the most points?' and talking about squares and triangles. I can usually manage a good score picture, but not this time - although I know Kevin beat me (womp womp).

Based on my photos (since I have no trip notes) we meandered through the park towards Fantasyland - the type-A planner in me is aghast looking back now that we didn't have more of a concrete plan but I really do believe we were enjoying the general ambiance of the park and just appreciating that we were finally here, walking the ground that Walt had walked.

Coming up next: just how much zigging and zagging will we do across the park?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Loved your comment "but that's not where I parked my astro orbitor??!!". I grew up in Southern California and went to Disneyland more times than I can count. My first trip to WDW I was a junior in high school. I remember thinking how wrong it was that the Haunted Mansion was in Big Thunder Mountain's spot AND it was made of BRICK!

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

 

[Chaitali]

Fun update! We're really looking forward to the Indiana Jones ride too since they don't have that one in Florida. And I hear that Pirates is better at Disneyland too. We're planning to concentrate on the rides that are not at Disney World or that we've heard are difference. Hopefully we have enough time to do everything we want but just in case, at least we'll get the unique things in

 

[elphie101]

Loved your comment "but that's not where I parked my astro orbitor??!!". I grew up in Southern California and went to Disneyland more times than I can count. My first trip to WDW I was a junior in high school. I remember thinking how wrong it was that the Haunted Mansion was in Big Thunder Mountain's spot AND it was made of BRICK!

Can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

I know what you mean! It was so odd for me to see the Haunted Mansion the way it is in DL. Honestly though, the oddest for me was getting used to the idea that certain rides that had FastPass in Florida (like Peter Pan and Jungle Cruise) didn't in California - definitely changed the way we toured a bit!

Fun update! We're really looking forward to the Indiana Jones ride too since they don't have that one in Florida. And I hear that Pirates is better at Disneyland too. We're planning to concentrate on the rides that are not at Disney World or that we've heard are difference. Hopefully we have enough time to do everything we want but just in case, at least we'll get the unique things in

All in total I would say we spent about 4 1/2 days in the parks (half days on our arrival day, after our Walk in Walt's Disneyland Footsteps tour and after a day in Hollywood) and the only things we missed in terms of rides (besides things under refrub like Big Thunder) were Bugs Land in CA and Grizzly River Run (due to poor timing on our part). Everything else we were able to hit at least once, the majority twice, and Indy we definitely got to 3 times!

 

[elphie101]

After we got off Buzz, we began to mosey our way towards Fantasyland.


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Oh hi Jedi Training! This + Star Tours made DL's Tomorrowland really feel like some kind of TLand/Hollywood Studios mashup.


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The Majestic Matterhorn. I really think the two of us photographed the Matterhorn 10x more than the castle (it's just so pretty though!)


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Disneyland's Tea Cups > WDW's Tea Cups. This area is just BEAUTIFUL.


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Pretty sure I took this for the grown woman in the stroller.......who needs benches when you have children?

Even though it was decently packed in Fantasyland, we decided to hop on a ride.......one we both (vaguely) remembered from our own young Fantasyland days....


California 2013 106 by elphie101, on Flickr


California 2013 109 by elphie101, on Flickr
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride!

I feel like I'm one of the few people in the WDW-side of the boards that doesn't shake their fist at the heavens regarding the fact that we have Winnie the Pooh instead of this ride - as a 5-year old we got stopped for a time in the Hell scene and.....the words 'scarred for life' come to mind. Needless to say, I haven't missed it. Kevin however did not share my traumatized memories (or any memories at all, good or bad) so in keeping with our Day 1 theme of "Different or Not in Florida!" we got in line.


California 2013 108 by elphie101, on Flickr
One of my favorite photos of the trip - were it not for the shadow of my arm I would be in love! Perhaps I can photoshop that out....


California 2013 110 by elphie101, on Flickr


California 2013 111 by elphie101, on Flickr
As someone who has spent hours on end standing in front of a ride console pushing buttons, I was very envious of this CM's chair!


California 2013 112 by elphie101, on Flickr
I love the sparks as they burst through the fireplace!

This version of Mr. Toad was far less terrifying than it's old Florida counterpart (or maybe it had to do with being 20 years older....) and we gave it a thumbs up! Next it was across the "street" for another (totally new) dark ride....


California 2013 113 by elphie101, on Flickr


California 2013 114 by elphie101, on Flickr
I love the loading areas on dark rides, the murals are always so beautiful (in Disneyland especially!)


California 2013 115 by elphie101, on Flickr
Kevin grew up with a black cat he named Figaro, so he was very excited about our ride cars!


California 2013 116 by elphie101, on Flickr

I tried not to take photos during the ride so that I could enjoy it - and BOY did we! I give this one two thumbs up - it was creative and cute and I wish we had this in Florida (a recurring theme you'll find).

After Pinocchio I was in the mood for a little snack, so we decided that Kevin would double-back to Tomorrowland to grab Space Mountain FastPasses (WHY we didn't grab these before we got into Fantasyland I could never tell you ) while I visited Edelweiss Snacks and picked up my new favorite treat:


California 2013 117 by elphie101, on Flickr

From AllEars: Soft Frozen Beverages (Wild Cherry, Blue Raspberry, and Apple) - Regular $4.19, Souvenir Sipper $7.59

I drank apple juice almost exclusively till I was about 16, so I was in HEAVEN, if you couldn't tell by my (poor) attempt to capture my frozen beverage ecstasy. It was still pretty warm out (and ended up being the warmest day of our trip) so this was exactly what I was looking for.

When Kevin returned, I had made an important souvenir decision. I was going to buy my first pair of ears.

I feel like Mickey Ears only look good on a small percentage of people over the age of 12, and I do not count myself as one of these people. However being in this new park and this new experience had me caught up in the pixie dust......and I wanted them. We headed to the hat shop by Alice and I selected the Minnie headband ears with sequins (they should appear in later pictures!). The CM cashing us out gave us our first "So which park is better?!" grilling - we didn't encounter this TOO much, but we definitely ran into a few CMs who (once they found out I was a WDW CM) wanted to know which resort we deemed "better". My answer was always the same - they're different in their own way! And they really truly are - I feel like Disneyland especially will always be Walt's park and as much as we compared rides and food, it really isn't fair to compare the parks themselves, they're each special in their own way!


Anyway......now back to your regularly scheduled TR!

Based on my photos, we headed into Critter Country next (we really zigged our zag!)


California 2013 118 by elphie101, on Flickr


California 2013 119 by elphie101, on Flickr

Splash Mountain is definitely different, much shorter than what I was used to, but the animatronics to me seemed like they were in far better condition than Florida's (which I loved, since Splash is one of my top 5 favorite rides!) And now presenting......our first redneck ride photo!


California 2013 120 by elphie101, on Flickr
One of the best of the trip IMO - if only my hair wasn't completely obscuring Kevin!

We headed back to Tomorrowland after this, but not before making one very spooky detour:


California 2013 122 by elphie101, on Flickr


California 2013 123 by elphie101, on Flickr

Haunted Mansion is my favorite attraction, hands down, so we couldn't resist hopping in the line. I held myself back from taking photos (that wouldn't have come out too well anyway) once we were inside so that I could enjoy the experience, and man did it not disappoint. Just knowing we were in an actual elevator instead of our fake stretching room in Florida was such a thrill! Kevin and I also loved hunting for the portraits while we waited. Another boring review I know, but we gave this

Now that we returned from the grave, it was time to jet off into space!

 

[Chaitali]

Cool, I had no idea that Splash Mountain was different at disneyland. I'll have to look for the differences! And I'm one of the that miss the Mr. Toad ride at Disney world. But I love the Winnie the Pooh ride so at least it's an acceptable exchange in my mind

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Ahhhhhh...there's MY Haunted Mansion!!!!!

Love it!