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

[natebenma]

My family just returned from DL a few weeks ago. I loved your first trip report and I have scrolled through most of this one- when I get a chance I will sit down and actually read everything.

I didn't miss the big engagement moment, though!

Congratulations Jenn and Kevin!!!



Dee

 

[elphie101]

We've said we're definitely going in 2015, and we've picked out a potential week in September. That's about as far as we've gotten but it's still over a year away I'm not sure when the good neighbor hotels will open booking for fall 2015, but I guess a hotel will be our next step!

It definitely sounds like that tour is worth it just to visit Walt's apartment and Club 33!

Hmmmm I wish I could remember now when we booked our hotel. I know we got our flights in November (for April). So let's see.....I imagine I booked the hotel around 4 months out? I'll dig through my Twitter to be sure.

As far as I'm aware the tour is the only way to visit Walt's apartment, so if it's something of interest to you, I say go for it! I would consider it again sometime in the (distant) future, if only to see how Club 33 looks now (and if we were traveling with people new to DL, like Kevin's parents).

Do you know what the Regular Price of that tour is?

According to the DIS, the tour is now $109 per person, but $87.20 if you have a Premium/Deluxe AP, Disney Visa or DVC. I'm sorry, but I have no idea what we paid back then!

My family just returned from DL a few weeks ago. I loved your first trip report and I have scrolled through most of this one- when I get a chance I will sit down and actually read everything.

I didn't miss the big engagement moment, though!

Congratulations Jenn and Kevin!!!



Dee

I had no idea you went with the West Coast trip! Now I have another TR to catch up on! I'm sorry to say I got left behind on your Dark Side TR.

It means so much that you dropped by this one! Thank you for your kind words!

 

[elphie101]

After a long morning of touring Disneyland, we stumbled out of the park in the mid-afternoon to head back to the old reliable Fairfield Inn for an Eastern Time Zone crash nap. I never got tired of being a 10 minute walk from the front gates of the park, let me tell you!

Based on the timestamp of the next picture, we made it back into Disneyland around 5:00pm. Our only set plan for the evening was to stake out a spot for the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks, as I knew from my boards research the cardinal mistake of a DL rookie (other than insulting Sleeping Beauty's castle) was to bank on the fireworks being offered later in the trip. And so we headed into Tomorrowland, where we felt the full force of being in Disneyland on a Friday evening.

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HOLY CROWDS BATMAN.

Yep, the fabled weekend crowds had descended on DL. This was definitely not the same park we had left pre-nap. We stopped at Star Tours to grab a Fast Pass and then decided to hit up another new-to-us, Autopia.

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This picture I just realized highlights my new Disney sunglasses! I managed to break both of the Wal Mart pairs I bought specifically for this trip, so I was forced to buy these on Main St - and over a year later they're still in one piece! Most of the white has chipped off though.

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I don't know what it was - the sun, the California air, the suddenly realization of the selfie, but this ride was SO. MUCH. FUN. Much much better than our speedway. We absolutely loved it!

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It's also at this point of the TR that I'm realizing I have no idea what we ate for dinner this evening, as I have no photos and, you guessed it, no notes. My most likely suspect is Pizza from the grab & go at the hotel, but I can't say for certain. I guess we'll never know! Rest in Peace, lost memories of our Friday night dinner. Now that I'm thinking about it, I may have picked at the macaroon back at the hotel. Anyway, moving on.

At this point I was able to convince Kevin of something I had never thought I would: Soundsational was due to start very soon. If we went and got a spot on Main Street at the beginning of the parade, we could see the entire parade (which was at the very top of my to-do list for the trip) and be able to dash back to Star Tours as soon as the parade was over for the end of our FP window. Kevin was apprehensive but agreed.

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Proof that we DID actually get the Space FP before naptime - I'm telling you all, writing this TR has made me desperate to take better notes in the future.

After we got of Autopia, we went ahead and used our Space Mountain FP before heading over to Main Street to stake out our spot.

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The AP holders were out in full force to catch the AP preview of the Iron Man exhibit

NOW I remember what we ate! Kevin was able to score a spot of curb and occupied it with a wide-legged stance while I dashed across Main Street for my first Gibson Girl Ice Cream! One Butter Pecan in a sugar cone please - the no-sugar added is just an added bonus - and a Vanilla in a cup for Kevin. I scampered back across the street with minutes to spare and thanked Kevin for holding our spot (as well as our 20-something neighbors who helped him fend off spot moochers). Satisfied, we sat on the curb with our ice cream and waited for the parade.

And down it came! I went a little crazy taking pictures - this parade was one of the serious highlights of the trip. It has a fond spot in my heart, as it premiered in Disneyland during my college program and I will never forget crowding around a laptop with 10 other perfect strangers watching the first video of Disney's latest parade and immediately mourning the fact that it isn't in WDW. I've had the soundtrack on my iPod ever since.

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Sadly the best shot I was able to get of drum playing Mickey, he never looked our way

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It was here that we learned we were sitting right next to an Entertainment Parade manager and a backstage exit, as moments after I took this picture the dancer in the front (the only one not with blue fabric arms) marched right over to us and told the manager (who we hadn't noticed before) "My harness is broken and unstable". And just like that she was whisked backstage and out of the parade, and it was so cool to see Disney's troubleshooting right before our eyes.

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I remember from early parade videos Donald was supposed to be Three Caballeros Donald - so I'm assuming this was either a costume change or costume malfunction

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Continued in next post

 

[elphie101]

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And now my favorite part - THE PRINCESS FLOAT!

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Closely followed by my least favorite part (at least musically), the animals

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This Tiana was amazing! The best Tiana I think I've ever seen.

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One of the butterflies also came over to the manager CM and said "Excuse me, I seem to be having a bit of trouble flying with my wing today" and was sent backstage for costume help. At least she was more committed to staying in character!

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Ok, this might be the best part

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Hello Mary!

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This parade was unbelievable. Everything I hoped it would be and more. The music is phenomenal, the costumes and floats spectacular, and the energy was amazing. Even Kevin, who insists the only decent parade Disney has ever done was Epcot's old Tapestry of Nations said he enjoyed this parade, and ranked it #2 out of parades I had made him watch (after Boo to You during the Halloween Party). I'm a bit more tolerant of parades, but I would rank this #1 hands down (in case you couldn't tell by all the photos!)

With minutes to spare we ran back off to Star Tours, and if I remember correctly we made it there just in time. All the insides looked exactly the same as the ride we knew and loved back home.

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Continued in next post

 

[elphie101]

With no Fastpasses, we meandered over to Fantasyland and hopped in line for a beautiful sight.

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I could not stop taking pictures of this ride, and the lights, and the area. Gorgeous and stunning.

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The kind of shot I imagine would be frame worthy had it been taken with a decent camera!

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We started spinning, and by we I mean Kevin, as he has the muscles. And I kept taking pictures, and I got one of my favorite shots of the entire trip -

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Just look at that face!

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Mine didn't come out so well

We gleefully stumbled out of our cup and continued to wander around, with no real plan in mind.

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Gorgeous, gorgeous castle. I don't know what was with the sunset that night, but it made for some truly stunning pictures.

We continued our stroll through the castle hub, when I mentioned that I had never visited the Enchanted Tiki Room back at WDW. It seemed like the perfect time to catch a Walt classic, so off we went.

We headed through the turnstile and Kevin was quite excited to see he could order a Dole Whip from inside the Tiki Room queue/holding pen. I pointed out to him that they only sold pineapple here (he had only ever had the vanilla soft serve from Aloha Isle in WDW, which he referred to as Dole Whip despite having zero pineapple in it). That made Kevin pause, but he decided to try one anyway.

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And he loved it! We have a pineapple-only convert on our hands folks! Believe me when I say Kevin eating pineapple-flavored ice cream is a HUGE deal.

We continued our wait outside and soon were ushered into the show.

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It was cute! I can definitely appreciate it more knowing it was a Walt-loved classic. Once we exited the theater, I looked at the time and decided to stake out our fireworks spot. Kevin, not wanting to be tied down for 45 minutes of standing on the pavement, headed off to do some exploring on his own. I made my way to an already-packed hub and quickly staked out a spot between a trash can and a lamp post, roughly wide enough for two and without tons of trees in the way. A CM was walking around at the very beginnings of doing crowd control, and I checked with her to see if I would be moved. She said so long as I stayed on the brick and not the pavement (I was right on the boarder of the sidewalk and "street") I was good!

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Kevin returned soon later, he said exploring the park was no fun without me And so we waited.

A view behind us -

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And then the fireworks started! For them that do not know, Remember Dreams Come True is very similar to Magic Kingdom's Wishes, in fact they even have the same beginning (minus DL's intro by Julie Andrews!). It was very comforting to hear the familiar fireworks intro. It then continues on to highlight each of Disneyland's lands.

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Tinkerbell flying along

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I believe this was the Indiana Jones part

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The End!

I'm really glad we caught the show, and I'm glad we had such a great vantage point. Kevin liked it better then Wishes, but of course nothing could ever top the sentimentality of the show I watched every night at work.

At this point, we were exhausted and decided to join the masses streaming out of the parks and turn in. We had a busy day ahead of us tomorrow!

Coming up next - A Smoggy Hollywood

 

[librarygeek]

You got some fantastic parade pics! The costumes are so great. It looks like it was a fun Tiana, and Mary Poppins/Bert are so cute on their carousel horses!

The Enchanted Tiki Room is not one of my favorites but I do appreciate it for what it is, and the fact that it's a classic. Glad you converted Kevin to the pineapple Dole Whip! Though in WDW, it's the citrus swirl that really steals my heart

Very pretty fireworks too!

 

[petals]

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

When I read this I loled and had to join in

What an awesome view from your hotel

Congrats on the Disney Engagement

 

[glennbo123]

Nice mega-update! (I saw it back when you posted, but didn't have a chance to comment and am only now getting back here.)

Interesting that Autopia is more fun that the Speedway; I'd have thought that they'd be similar.

Yes, your pictures show that it was a great dusk/sunset for photography. It looked like a beautiful night.

I'll bet it was interesting seeing the performers from the parade getting help from the manager. Especially for someone like you who's worked at a park. Glad you enjoyed the parade so much, and that Kevin liked it too.

Wow, you got a pretty nice shot of at the start of the fireworks.

 

[natebenma]

I sat down and finally took some time to start reading your report. I have gotten through your arrival day.

Wow! You did a lot!

But I get it.

Flight- GRRRR!!! on the change in your flight itinerary. I HATE THAT!

on a Dunkin's breakfast- the way all good flights from New England start.

Glad to hear you had a good experience on Super Shuttle. That was one of the options we looked at.

Your room at Fairfield looks great- I love the Disney touches.

And you got a theme-park/monorail view



Of course, Disneyland first!

We did the same thing as you- pulled an IJ FP first thing.

Pirates in DL is so AWESOME!

I love your pictures in New Orleans Square, especially the one on the staircase. We didn't explore this area at all.

I love hearing your descriptions of the rides. We didn't do Toad or Pinnochio, but we agree with your thoughts about Buzz, Splash, Haunted and Space.

Those are a couple of gorgeous pictures while you were waiting for the monorail. It was never running the couple of times we tried to ride it.



Looking forward to your morning at California Adventure!

 

[natebenma]

CA:

Love your early morning pictures at your resort. Wow, great views of California Adventure from the upper floor.

I'm glad you got to get into DTD, and had a fantastic breakfast at Whitewater Snacks. We got a lot of food from there during our stay, but never the Mickey Waffles. Now I'm sorry! But we were always at the parks by 7 am.

Your pictures in the lobby of the GC are great! It is really hard to take photos there since it is so dark except for the upper windows that let in a lot of light.


**************

Bummer about RSR being down for so long that morning. I'm glad you were able to get a FP for that, and World of Color along with your ToT and Goofy's Sky School. Sounds like you missed the Goofy's FP time, I'm curious to see if you rode it later and what you thought.

Oh wow on that pasta! Sounds amazing! You hit the jackpot so far that day on meals.

I totally agree with you about the Toy Story Mania queue at DL (boring!). Good thing the wait times are a lot less than at WDW.

I at your experience on the swinging gondolas. OMG they are horrible!!! My youngest son Ben and I rode those and regretted it.



*********************

YAY for loving your ride on RSR!!!

We never made it over to the Tea Party area and didn't even see the Monsters Inc Ride or Muppets.

The faces on the people in the standby line say it all. I would NEVER! And fortunately, we didn't have to.

I have to say that Carsland at sunset and the Aladdin show are a good tradeoff for missing Soarin'. I think Aladdin is my favorite show at a Disney park. I watched it solo because my guys didn't want to see it.

But:

While this picture didn't come out very good, I had to include it because it represents (as Kevin and I called it) "That Awkward Moment When Jasmine Had a Song". Not that her song wasn't good, or that the actress wasn't good - it just didn't feel like it fit at this part of the show. Hopefully now that they're bringing the show to Broadway they'll give her more to sing at places that feel more organic in the story!.

LOL!!! I thought the same thing- could have done without the song.

We loved our rice bowls from the Lucky Fortune or whatever it was. A little different option.

Pretty picture from the World of Color, but glad that you decided to just sit back (stand back) and enjoy the show.