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View Full Version : First Trip To Disneyland - A Story in Seven Parts



PopPhan
01-14-2016, 08:58 AM
Finally getting around to writing up a trip report for my first Disneyland trip…..

December 3 – 8, 2015. Staying at Paradise Pier Hotel with 4 day hopper passes and 1 day Universal Studios Hollywood pass.

Before I get too far into this, my deepest apologies for the length. I was planning just a brief overview with comparisons to WDW where applicable, but once I got started, it all kept flooding out.

For those who want to skip the diatribe and go right to the pics….LOL

General DL/DCA photos:
https://www.facebook.com/bluskus/media_set?set=a.1070250022993331.1073741845.100000 250290975&type=3

Star Wars Launch Bay:
https://www.facebook.com/bluskus/media_set?set=a.1070259159659084.1073741847.100000 250290975&type=3

Marvel Avengers – Superhero HQ:
https://www.facebook.com/bluskus/media_set?set=a.1070260352992298.1073741848.100000 250290975&type=3

General Universal Hollywood photos:
https://www.facebook.com/bluskus/media_set?set=a.1070254966326170.1073741846.100000 250290975&type=3

Now…on to day one…

PopPhan
01-14-2016, 09:00 AM
Thursday, December 3: Wake up around 4:30am EST for an 8:30 flight out of Baltimore (BWI) [Reminder to self: Just bite the bullet and get a later flight and relax that first evening!!]

Arrived at LAX around 11:30am PST and had about a 30 minute wait for the Disneyland Express bus to take me to Paradise Pier. Not disappointed with the wait. About an hour later I check in to the hotel. Room is not ready, but they issue me a key and my park ticket. Check my carry-on and head out into the Anaheim afternoon to find my way to the parks.

Paradise Pier was pretty much what I expected – a simple, standard hotel. Nothing special other than the proximity to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure. When I actually got my room assignment and checked out the room, I was on the 4th floor facing DCA.

Since I have never been here before, I really don’t know how long the walk is to the gates, nor do I know the path to get there. The CM at the hotel desk was very good about giving me the basic idea of where to go, so I don’t get too lost. Down to the corner, cross the street, thru Grand Californian and take a right through Downtown Disney. Pretty simple! Entering the Grand Californian, I was struck (but not surprised) by the similarities between this hotel and Wilderness Lodge and Animal Kingdom Lodge. Yes, I know that that are all of the same design, but it still gives me that déjà vu feeling. It was pretty simple to wind my way through the hotel to find the entrance to Downtown Disney and, from there, the two parks. Call me silly, but I think I got turned around in Grand Californian every time I tried to get back to my room. For some reason, I never really got my bearings for the return trip. I would always get to the main lobby and look around like “Now what?”

I didn’t give DTD much more than a passing glance as I was walking down to the park entrances, I would have plenty of time for that later, it was already past 1pm PST!! No lines thru security and on into the main plaza between the parks…Disneyland to my left and Disney California Adventure to my right…Which should I choose? Did anyone say DCA? Thought not!! Of course I went to the left!! This is where it all began and where I should begin my visit as well!!

After going through the turnstiles, I made my way up to take the requisite, first-timer photos of the Mickey flower bed and the train station w/train, then entered the park proper. Entering Main Street USA brought the smiles to my face. Now, I’m home!! Most of the area was taken up by the chairs and stands for the Candlelight Processional that was going to happen Saturday and Sunday evenings, so there was a bit of a disappointment with the “clutter,” but I was looking forward to seeing the show later in my trip. The basic layout of Main Street is the same as WDW, but the buildings are a bit different and have their own character. Getting around the corner and getting my first look up toward the castle, I was a bit disappointed. I am so used to the large, unmistakable, castle at the Magic Kingdom, that I was surprised how much smaller Sleeping Beauty Castle was in comparison, at least from this end of the street. The further I traveled up the street, the more the castle came “in focus” and I came to see this as a good thing, building anticipation. I do like how this actually makes the Partners statue more prominent at the end of the street. Now that I can fully see the castle, I am suitably impressed. With the D60 banners and the Christmas décor, it is a beautiful sight.

At this point, it is getting close to 3pm PST and all I have had to eat was some airplane snacks, so I was getting pretty hungry. I had no plans for dinner, so I wandered around until I found something that would tide me over for the afternoon/evening. I ended up at the Hungry Bear and just got something simple and filling. Left there and headed down to Splash Mountain. Surprisingly, there was a pretty good wait, even for a Thursday afternoon, around 45 minutes, so I decided just to wander around.

Took a good look at the Haunted Mansion and the exterior decorations of the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. 3 words: Pretty dang cool!!! I liked the way it was done. When I got to the queue entrance, the wait was listed at 20 minutes, so I got in line. Well, over 30 minutes later, and a few conversations with others in line, I got to ride. I would like to do a comparison with the Haunted Mansion at WDW, but with the overlay it would be apples and oranges. As far as the layout itself, I like the queue better at WDW, but the ride itself is better in Disneyland….and it has the Hatbox Ghost!!

I’m going to put a personal aside in here….I am a vaper, so I have need (?) to find smoking areas now and then for my nicotine fix. I understand that “smoking is bad” and all that, but to have only two or three smoking/vaping areas in each park is downright nasty for us! AND when they start lining people up for Fantasmic!, the one nearest Haunted Mansion gets closed forcing smokers/vapers to trudge all the way over to the far side of the Matterhorn to get their fix. (It is a longer walk than you think!! LOL)

After getting my “fix,” I decided that, while I was here, I would check out Pirates of the Caribbean. 25 minute wait listed didn’t seem too bad…Actual wait closer to 40 minutes, and my feet and lower back were starting to complain, so I was more than grateful when I was able to board my boat for the ride. (I have major scoliosis – two opposing curves with 3 pinch points – and sciatica, but refuse to get an ECV because on a normal day-to-day basis I have little trouble getting around by foot. Sorry, but this is going to be a recurring theme throughout this report.) OK, now THIS was truly an enjoyable ride. Almost twice the length of PotC at WDW and with a better layout. Much better than the WDW version.

It was getting grey, dusk not storm, when I got on the ride and when I came out it was pretty much full dark. I wasn’t planning on staying for Fantasmic! or fireworks on this night, so I decided to start making my way towards the exit. As the path I took sent me past the Jungle Cruise queue, I decided to see what the timing on this was…30 minutes. Ok, not too outrageous for this time of evening, so I got in line. Again, the posted wait time was about 10 minutes off the actual wait time. I am still up in the air about this version vs. the WDW version. I have done both as the Jingle Cruise, so I do have a direct comparison. I prefer the layout of the WDW version much better. I didn’t think the Disneyland version had a good flow. It was still a fun ride and a good way to end the night for me.

Took my good old time making my way to the exit, just soaking it all in. I love the parks after dark!! Did a little window shopping on the way back through DTD and stopped to listen to the guitar player for a few minutes. As I was going through the Grand Californian, there was a trio of women singing Christmas songs in the lobby. They were in 40’s garb and had an Andrews Sisters sound. They were very good. Got back to my room and looked at the clock….It was ONLY 8:30!!! I felt like an old man, but realized that it was 8:30 PST, or 11:30 EST, and I had been up for almost 20 hours and active for the last 7 or 8 of them. It was a good day and I sat in the room listening to the fireworks going off with a big smile on my face.

Anyone ready for day two?

PopPhan
01-14-2016, 09:03 AM
Friday, December 4: Paying the price for overdoing it yesterday! Wake up at 5am, which would be 8am EST, without an alarm!! Dang! I’m sleeping the day away!! Need good coffee and ibuprophen to start the day! Have to settle for regular coffee with my ibu!! LOL Stood in a nice hot shower long enough to have the ibu kick in and got my day started. Lots of plans for today, but mostly later in the day – Fantasmic! dinner at Blue Bayou and then the show – so I was going to have to go a bit slower and take some breaks to make it through the day.

Since I hit Disneyland yesterday and it was Early Morning Hour at DCA, that was where I headed. Got in line at the gates at 6:45 for a 7:00 opening. NOTE: WDW REALLY needs to open at 8:00 on regular days and 7:00 on EMH mornings!!!!! That extra hour early really makes a difference for people like me – early risers!!

Gates open and I, like most others, head right for CarsLand!! At this time of day the crowds were very light and it was easy to get to Radiator Springs Racers without getting run over. I did not rush to get there, as I wanted to soak up the atmosphere of the entire area. I was more than a little impressed!! The Imaginears did a great job on this area. Got to RSR and the line was almost non-existent. I don’t think I waited more than 10 minutes before my “race.” I was in the front of my car with a father and his younger son – maybe 5 or 6 years old, if that. I kept hearing that this was quite a bit like Test Track at EPCOT….Yeah, like a bottle rocket is like a Saturn V missile!!! This was amazing! The ride itself was exhilarating, but add in the scenery and it is a jaw dropper!! WDW needs something like this…BADLY! Waited patiently with my ride partners for our pic to come up on the screens…5 minutes…10 minutes…nothing. The father and son left, disappointed. I finally went to the counter to ask what had happened. They apologized and said that sometimes the photos don’t make it to the screens for some reason. She pulled it up on a monitor at the counter and I had it added to my PhotoPass and snapped a pic with my phone. Wish I could have found that father and son afterward.

Now I need more coffee and some nicotine….Ok, there are 3 smoking/vaping areas in this park. Closest one, tossup – over in Paradise Pier area or in the Grizzly Peak area. Ended up over at Paradise Pier, grabbing a coffee on my way over. While there, I took in Toy Story Midway Mania. Pretty much a carbon copy of the WDW version. Still, a very fun ride/game!

After that, I made my way around to the Little Mermaid ride. Again, pretty much identical to the WDW version, but it did seem that the “scenes” were more distinct. Nothing beats the WDW queue for this ride though. Just walking into a building is kind of blah.

Next was a trip through the Grizzly Peak area with another smoke/vape break before Soarin’ Across California. I would have done Grizzly River Rapids, but it was a chilly morning – low 50’s – and I didn’t feel like walking around damp. It might be just me, but the Soarin’ waiting area video seemed a bit different from the EPCOT version until Patrick came on with your boarding instructions. Of course, the ride was the same as WDW.

Left there and headed over to the Hollywood Land section of the park. Wanted to get another coffee at the Starbucks location, but I wasn’t waiting for an hour for overpriced coffee!! Actually stopped and got a cup at Schmoozies in Hollywood Land. With this covered and another vape break, I headed into the Monster’s Inc. ride. Actually had to ride this twice in a row. Needed to get a pic of Roz at the end of the ride for one of my coworkers who is a big fan!! Both times I was in the back row and when we stopped there, Roz said “Hey you in the back row….I’m standing under the mistletoe!!” Got a laugh out of everyone in the car.

Wandered about a bit until it was time to get in line for Aladdin. Dang! What a wait! I am ok when I am moving around – walking, sitting, etc., but just standing in one place for more than 30 minutes really takes a toll on me anymore. [Personal note: Whatever you do, do NOT get old and fat!!! Especially if you have back or leg problems.] Got a seat three rows into the balcony section and had a great view of the show. One word: SPECTACULAR!! Glad I got to see this before it shut down. It was a good show all around, but the Genie stole the show. I don’t know if the Genie’s dialog is completely scripted or if he gets to ad lib some of his lines, but he was great! Topical and timely. Well worth the wait.

Since I had a Fantasmic! dinner reservation at Blue Bayou, I thought this would be a good time to go back to the room and get off my feet for a while, maybe take a couple more ibu before spending the evening in Disneyland.

After a couple hours of recuperation in the room, I was off to DL for my dinner reservation. Knowing, from my research, that DL and DCA are “locals” parks and primarily busy on the weekends, I was fully expecting larger crowds and long waits for any rides, so this was pretty much an evening to check out the park in the dark without worrying about actually riding anything.

Blue Bayou Restaurant was well worth it. Like San Angel in the Mexico pavilion at World Showcase, this restaurant is dark and borders the “river” of the Pirates ride. My table was in the center of the room, but I had a good view of the boats going by. [Funny note: I just looked at the website for the restaurant and the photo was taken from right where I was seated.] Although I am not an okra fan, I decided to try the gumbo for my appetizer. Glad I did!! With the rice and a few shots of hot sauce, this was delicious! Had to look up the recipe myself to try sometime. Followed that with the surf and turf, with both the steak and lobster done to perfection. I wish I could remember what the desert was called, (pear galette?) but it was also very good. I can’t remember all that was in it, but I know the main flavor was pears. Sorry! A little bonus that I was not aware of was the seat cushion for Fantasmic! with the D60 logo added. It came in very handy a bit later in the evening!

With dinner completed and more than an hour before I could get in line for Fantasmic!, I took some time to check out the part of the park that I had not visited the night before – Fantasyland and TomorrowLand. This was a quick walk through just to see everything lit up for the evening. Of course, Small World jumped out at me as I got over that way, but the entire park was lit up nicely, mostly in D60 setting rather than Christmas. I must say that, being used to the displays during the Christmas season at WDW, DL and DCA were disappointing. Maybe it was the D60 stuff, but other than the characters, I did not get a Christmas/holiday feeling in either park.

Made my way back over to stand in line for Fantasmic! WOW!! This really makes it a pain to get around that area of the park – Critter Country and New Orleans Square. Seating for the show was directly in front of the “stage” area on Tom Sawyer Island, so that was a definite plus to the dining package. Major disappointment, however, that there is no actual seating. Even the metal benches at the DHS version would have been much preferable to trying to sit on the cold, hard concrete. Once I found a place to sit that wasn’t too uncomfortable and had a good view, I struck up a conversation with a group of three women sitting beside me. They hailed from Arizona and had definitely been here before, as they had blankets, pads, etc. to get comfortable. In our conversation, it came out that they knew the area I was from as they were originally from Camp Hill, PA, just a few miles up the road from me. Small world?? (Pun intended!!)

For the Fantasmic! show itself, I was pleased with a few things and missed a few others from the WDW show. It was nice that the boats all worked – torches and all! – which is something I haven’t seen at WDW for some time. The dragon was impressive and better than the WDW version. Call me silly, but I missed the John Smith/Pocohantas section of the show from WDW.

After Fantasmic!, the ladies I chatted with suggested I stick around because they show the fireworks show – the castle portion, anyway – on the mist screens that they use for Fantasmic! I did, but after the fact, I would much rather have seen the fireworks show from Main Street USA. I was nice and I could see most of the fireworks themselves, but it really lacked the punch of seeing it from in front of the castle.

After the fireworks, it was time to head back to the room. Still on east coast time and a bit on the tired and sore side. Took my time and walked through a couple shops in DTD on the way back. Finally got into the room around 11pm.

Tired of my ramblings yet? LOL Onward, and upward, to Day 3!

PopPhan
01-14-2016, 09:06 AM
Saturday, December 4: Another early day on the west coast! Woke up at 5:30, without the alarm, grabbed a quick shower and headed downstairs to grab a bite before heading over to DL for Magic Morning hour.

Took the opportunity of low early morning crowds to take care of some rides that I had yet to hit, starting with Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Since this is not something that is in WDW, and from all the hype that I had heard about the ride, I was excited to get this in. It was a fun little ride, but for some reason, I was expecting more.

Next, on to Small World. I must admit that the DL version is MUCH better than the MK version. I like the outside queue and that the boats actually load outside the building. The ride itself was another pleasant surprise. The Christmas/holiday overlay set it apart from the MK version, but what I liked best about the ride is that you don’t have to have your head on a swivel to try to see everything. At MK you have scenes on both sides of the boat and are constantly snap in your head back and forth to see everything. At DL scenes are on one side or the other, there is very little to miss when looking in the direction of the current scene. Also, this version seemed much longer in duration, but “the song” didn’t seem so annoying. LOL

From there, it was a trip to Toontown. The Roger Rabbit ride was fun and some of the building walk through paths were cute. The Post Office with all the buttons and knobs that gave different quotes had me laughing. There were a couple kids there trying everything out, multiple times!! Walked through everything there and actually got character photos with Pluto, Minnie and Mickey. I had never been much of a character photo person, but for some reason I wanted to get as many of the “Fab 5” as possible on this trip. [Never found Donald on this visit, but got Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Goofy, and Pluto!]

By the time I came out of Toontown, the park was getting pretty busy. I rode the Storybook Land Canal Boats next. Quick, short trip which might have been a little better with a better skipper.

By the time I got back into the mix of things the lines were getting long everywhere. 9:30 in the morning and nothing was less than a 45 minute queue listed. So, instead of fighting lines and being miserable from my back and legs, I went over to Tomorrowland and checked out the Star Wars and Marvel displays. I was really impressed with the Star Wars display. I think I geeked out and took pictures of every display!! Some of them from multiple angles. The Marvel display was also very impressive, but I was hoping for more than just Iron Man and Thor displays. The one “poster” with the Infinity Gems/Gauntlet actually seemed a bit out of place because of this.

With the lines as long as they were, and with a late lunch reservation at Carthay Circle later in the afternoon, it was time to head back for a bit of a break. On my way, I stopped in the lounge at the Grand Californian for a couple ‘adult beverages.’ Very nice lounge. Rustic, but not overdone. I would visit there again if I ever got back to DL/DCA.

3 days of shortened sleep and pounding pavement is starting to wear on me, but I soldier out for my World of Color dining reservation at Carthay Circle. I was a bit early, but my timing was actually pretty good for the Red Car Trolley and the Newsies show in front of the theater/restaurant. I was impressed with this show.

My late lunch at Carthay Circle was delicious!!! I actually added the Firecracker Duck Wings (So, THAT is what happened to Donald!!) to my selection of Carthay Circle Salad as an appetizer. I could have made a whole meal out of just that salad…and I am not that much of a salad eater! Had never had duck wings before, so I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, but these were delicious. Spicy, but not exceptionally hot, and very tasty. Entrée was Tandoori Glazed Skuna Bay Salmon. Salmon is a hit or miss for me. Sometimes, depending upon the variety and where it had to come from, it can be overwhelmingly strong, but this was just about perfect. As much as I hate to say it, I cleaned all my plates!! LOL Dessert was the Chocolate Holiday Cookies and Cream Cake, which was good, but not really satisfying after that meal. Should have gotten the Diamond Celebration Truffles!!

I needed to walk some of my meal off, so I just started wandering around the park. I hate to say it, but I really didn’t find that much to do in DCA, so I did some browsing through the shops and did some people watching until the parade came through the Paradise Pier area. I did enjoy the parade and took lots of photos!

It wasn’t too long after this that I could get in line for my World of Color seating, so I kept pretty close by. I have to say that I am not impressed at how Disneyland or Disney’s California Adventure handle queuing people up for the Fantasmic! and World of Color seating. It seemed like the cast members really didn’t know who was to go where and when to have people lining up. In any event, I found the area for dining package FastPass holders and got myself comfortable. Remember those three nice ladies I was talking to before, during, and after Fantasmic!? Well, wouldn’t you know it, they got into the waiting area for World of Color right ahead of me! We had a good laugh about being a ‘small world’ and started chatting all over again. We had a grand old time and sat together for the show. I really enjoyed this show. It was the Winter Dreams version. I don’t know if it is actually Josh Gad doing the voice of Olaf for this show, but he was a lot of fun to watch and hear.

I had a FastPass for the World of Color: Celebrate show as well, but after sitting through the Winter Dreams show, I started to stiffen up and walking around the Pacific Wharf and CarsLand areas didn’t help to loosen it up, so I gave away my FP and made my way out of the park for the night. I was back in my room shortly after WoC: Celebrate started, so I turned on the simulcast station on the TV and listened to the show, even though my room was too low to see anything. I would think that the upper floors of this hotel facing the park would have a great view of the entire show.

One more Disney day ahead of me…Anyone want to come along for the ride?

PopPhan
01-14-2016, 09:09 AM
Sunday, December 6: Wish it was this easy to get up “early” at home!!! Another 5:30am roll out without aid from an alarm. I guess California time hasn’t caught up to me yet. Go through my morning routine and head out for Downtown Disney. I figured that I had a little time this morning to walk the full length of DTD and check out the shops, even if they weren’t open yet. I got lucky and found that Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen was already open and serving breakfast when I got there. Had to have me a big coffee and a bag of beignets!! I was pretty good and only got a few spots of sugar on my shirt! LOL [Note to self: If you are going to eat ANYTHING with powdered sugar, wear a BIB!!!!!! Or white clothes!!]

Satisfied with my breakfast, it was time to head to the parks. I was going to hop the monorail, but the line was closed and I was told the monorail was down, so it was footpad express once again. I didn’t get any further than about 150 yards and guess what…..the monorail arrived at the station! Go figure. I didn’t think I would have the time to go back and get up to the train on time, so I just continued on foot. I really wanted to ride the monorail at least once!!! Maybe the long days were catching up with me, but for some reason this would be a day of disappointments.

Rather than rehashing everything that went less than ideal for me on this day, I will just say that my last Disney park day was a lot of walking, sitting and not riding anything.

This was a night when Disneyland was having Candlelight Processional shows. I was really looking forward to this as I am a big fan of the shows in World Showcase in EPCOT. Tonight they had Lana Parrilla [the Evil Queen/Regina from Once Upon A Time, for those who don’t recognize the name] as narrator. (The narrator Saturday night was Geena Davis, but I didn’t see that show.) A beautiful woman with an excellent speaking voice telling the Christmas story to the sounds of numerous local choirs, including a Cast Member Choir.

Unlike WDW, there is no dining plan to get seating for this show, and seating is extremely limited. I am not sure, but I believe that it was by invitation only, as they were not letting regular guests in that area at all that I could see. I took up a position where I could lean up against a rail to rest my back for a while before the show, fully planning to move closer to the stage as it got closer to show time. Talking with the Cast Member that was stationed there for crowd control, she told me that it would be OK for me to be there until shortly before the processional started, but she would have to keep the area clear during the show and I would have to move. No problem. I was fine with that. Of course, about 5 minutes later another Cast Member comes along and very gruffly demands that I move immediately. When I explained what the earlier Cast Member told me, and pointed her out to this new person, I was basically told ‘tough, move along!’

I did find a spot along a shop wall that I could prop myself against, and not be shooed away from, and tried to get comfortable. While waiting, I struck up a conversation with 3 younger women who turned out to be off duty Cast Members who were there to listen to a friend of theirs who was to be a soloist on a couple songs. We had a great conversation before the show started which continued afterward as I waited for the crowd exiting the park to calm down before I left for the night.

The Candlelight Processional itself was another wonderful production. The choirs did wonderfully with the music they performed and Lana Parrilla was everything I expected her to be as narrator. She actually seemed a bit nervous at first, but she put a lot of feeling into her rendition. I took quite a few photos, but I just wasn’t close enough to allow the camera on my phone to get great close up shots.

As the crowd thinned after the show, and before the crowds for the second show started filling the area, I bid adieu to my newfound friends and slowly made my exit from the park. I was happy that I could finish the Disney part of my visit on a high note.

Hooray for Hollywood…Last full day of my trip and it is at Universal Studios Hollywood…Stay tuned!

PopPhan
01-14-2016, 09:11 AM
Monday, December 7: After my morning ritual, I checked with the desk at Paradise Pier as to how it worked for transportation to Universal Studios Hollywood. As part of my package deal, I received a USH voucher for a one day pass with transportation. Can’t waste a “freebie,” right? Turns out it was pretty simple, wait for the bus and ride!

OK, it wasn’t quite that simple. I had checked the afternoon before and set a time to be picked up. I think that was more to get me on board than anything else, as I believe that there was only one time to be picked up in the morning. I got myself a big mug of coffee and proceeded to wait outside on a bench for the bus. And I waited….and waited…. The listed time came and went… About 15 minutes later, the bus finally arrived and took me….to catch another bus!!! The place we were taken was like a clearing house for all the area destinations. I turned in my voucher and got an actual park ticket…well, a printout that passed as my ticket, anyway. Got in the right line, got on the correct bus and off we headed for Hollywood!!

The morning TMZ show was being broadcast from in front of the park, so we all got to see the hosts from a reasonable distance. As they were live, we were not allowed to get too close and were prompted to keep sounds levels down, but it was still interesting. I had done some work in front of the camera a long time ago and it was nice to see that, at this level, it really wasn’t much different than what I had done.

From there it was time to enter the park….Definitely not on the same level as Universal Studios Orlando. You could have walked by the Universal globe and not noticed it. Through the security line and the first thing you see is….construction walls. There were lots and lots of construction walls throughout the park. One thing you do notice though is that there are characters in the park…all over the park. From the old horror movie characters – Dracula, the Mummy, Frankenstein, Beetlejuice – to old cartoon characters – Woody Woodpecker -- to TV characters – Lucy.

Headed for the tour first and as I was getting off the escalator up walks Marilyn Monroe. I caught a couple snaps as she was making her way to her photo stop and when she saw me, she had to stop and make a quick pose. Very nice that she did that.

The lot tour was actually better than the Backlot Tour at DHS (when it was in operation!!) in that there were a couple places where there were show bits included – King Kong 3D, Fast and Furious, and an actual set being used to film portion of a Criminal Minds episode. The Back To The Future set and Desperate Housewives set were highlights, as well as the Amity (Jaws) / Cabot Cove (Murder She Wrote) set. A lot of the sets were recognizable.

Back to the upper level and into the Simpson’s area. Springfield looked lovely in early December. I walked into Moe’s and actually saw them making a Flaming Moe, but I didn’t order one. You could see the construction walls and a few of the structure that were going to make up the Harry Potter expansion in the park.

Up a little further, Shrek and Fiona were there for photo ops, so I got a couple taken. Someone told me later that it is not often that Fiona is out with Shrek, so I guess I was lucky.

I found the smoking area near the kids play area on this level. Does this seem out of place to you? It was tucked back away from things, but still…..I think they could have found a better place. Since I was over here, I checked out the Minions area. Got my photo taken with some Minions and rode Minion Mayhem. Now THAT was a cool ride! Thoroughly enjoyed that one.

To be honest, I did a lot of walking around in this park, but was not impressed. Thought I would go down and check out The Mummy, Jurassic Park and Transformers to see what they were like….The Mummy had enough quick motion to make my back give me some warning, so I passed on Transformers after reading the warning sign. Jurassic Park had a pretty long line, so I got some pics of the animatronic Dinosaur and the Anubis guys stilts in from of The Mummy queue and Optimus Prime and Bumblebee (at different times) while I was down on this level.

Did a little more walking around, then headed out and spent the rest of my day at City Walk.

It could be just me, but I didn’t think there was as much to do in this park as there is at Universal Orlando.

Next: “Final totals and a wrap up”

PopPhan
01-14-2016, 09:12 AM
Tuesday, December 8: Nothing really to report here. The trip back to the airport and flight home were uneventful.

The wrap up: My first trip to Disneyland / Disney’s California Adventure was very enjoyable and I would be willing to do this again. One note would be that I would do a Monday – Friday trip and leave the weekend(s) out of it.

Like always, I tried to go full blast from park open to park close, but I am getting to old and infirm to handle it. A couple Cast Members suggested I get an ECV because of my back, but I still refuse to do that. I guess that time is coming soon and yes, I will be one of those that look like they are healthy, if a bit overweight, taking advantage of using an ECV.

There were a number of things that I really enjoyed about DL/DCA, not the least of which were the length of PotC, HM, and Small World, and Radiator Springs Racers!! There were a number of things that I was less than pleased over – crowd control, seating for Fantasmic! and World of Color.

Knowing what I know now, I would have done a few things differently, but that is all on me.

Universal was a disappointment with all the construction and the lack of actual things to do that interested me.

Would I stay at Paradise Pier again? Yes, but if I had a chance, it would be Grand Californian all the way. Proximity and style, GC wins hands down. Although……if I could get an upper floor room at PP, facing DCA, I might have to think about it. Being able to watch World of Color from the comfort of your room with the TV tuned to the simulcast audio…. Hmmmmm!

One major disappointment: I wear button down shirts to work daily and always try to get a new one on each visit. There was NOTHING in the way of button down shirts with a Disneyland, DCA or resort logo anywhere. That is typically my only “souvenir” splurge.

Well, my friends, that is about it for this report. I hope I didn’t bore you stiff! (If I did, I am sure you never got to read this line!! LOL)

MizMissy
01-16-2016, 06:48 PM
It sounds like you had a great (if tiring) trip! I really, really want to see Disneyland. It's on my bucket list.

tinkwest
01-16-2016, 10:39 PM
Thanks for such a detailed report. Candlelight Processional weekends can be especially crazy.

Crow
01-25-2016, 02:35 PM
sounds fun. I might be there in April. and now might debate Universal. Ive seen it once but she hasnt. we have been to U FL. Im debating Paradise Pier as its the cheapest of the DLR but still exp.