Quantcast March 17-22 2012 DLR trip report!
 
INTERCOT: Walt Disney World Vacation Planning Guide Walt Disney World Disney Cruise Line Mousehut Mail WebDisney News INTERCOT: Walt Disney World Vacation Guide
News Discussion Theme Parks Resorts Info Central Shop Interactive Podcast INTERCOT Navigtion
Site Sponsors
  magical journeys travel agency
  INTERCOT shop

INTERCOT Affiliates
  disney magicbands & accessories
  disneystore.com
  disney fathead
  disney check designs
  amazon.com
  priceline.com

News
  site search
  headlines
  past updates
  discussion boards
  email update

INTERCOT Other
  advertising
  sponsors
  link to us
  contact us
     

INTERCOT Ads
 

 
 

Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 39
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default March 17-22 2012 DLR trip report!

    Well I have not yet quite finished writing the trip report yet, so I'm going to post it as I put it up. I have a couple days written now, but in order the keep it to some sort of schedule to start, I'm going to try to do a day a week. That will hopefully change after this week though since I'm getting ready to get my finals done and then I won't have anymore excuses! Hopefully, since there was some time between me starting and (eventually) finishing, I won't repeat myself too much. Anyway, I hope you enjoy so I can make this the first of many trip reports to come!

    -Bret
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  2.     Please Support INTERCOT's Sponsors:
  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 1

    Day 1



    My girlfriend, Morgan, and I have been wanting to write a trip report for quite some time now, so this is going to be my second-first attempt at this. Originally, I wrote about 4 pages of our Walt Disney World trip last July, but never got the time to follow through with completing it. Hopefully, if this one is a success, I will have to turn back the clock and get around to finishing that one - it is never too late, but I’ll leave that up to those of you that actually end up reading this! In the meantime, here goes:



    As any vacation to Disney goes, the journey “starts” at the airport, and with waking up somewhere around 3:30am, this journey itself feels like a long one. This was our first time flying out of O’Hare, but no worries, it has a McDonald’s just like just about every airport I’ve ever been in. Because after all, what is a trip anywhere without starting the day off right with a sausage McMuffin and hash brown? The wait to get on the plane after that was not very long, but still very boring nonetheless. This was also our first time flying Virgin America. Besides not getting free snacks along the fairly long (4.5 hour flight), the flight was overall a good one. It was nice to be able to watch TV or follow along with the flight on the gps they have with their RED system. But in the realm of Disney trip reports, that is the boring stuff so we’ll skip ahead to the good stuff.

    Okay, I lied - not off to a good start - but I still think the layover in SFO was interesting stuff. After all, we were able to get our favorite California airport snack - Pinkberry! It is a must whenever we see it since we fell in love with it the first time we went to California.

    NOW let’s skip ahead, we landed, and shuttled to our “hotel,” which was terrible, but more on that boring stuff later. It was a quick walk to the ticket office - only about 15 minutes or so. Morgan still had to pick up her tickets that she bought online, and I was ready to get my first ever annual pass. I went with the premier annual pass since we are planning an August trip to Walt Disney World, so it should pay for itself over the course of the two trips.



    As it turns out, the weather back home in Chicago was much nicer than Anaheim on this particular St. Patrick’s Day. It rained just about the entire day and night. We got to the park right around 4pm and the rain picked up a bit as we walked the short walk from the ticket booths to the Disneyland (park) entrance so we decided to bite the bullet and get a poncho. We knew from our last trip to the World that rain does not make for a great photo taking day (and I love taking photos) but we were just glad to be on vacation. We weren’t going to let a little rain and cold get the better of us!

    We didn’t get many attractions done this day. We started by getting fastpasses for our favorite Disneyland specific ride - Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. We then decided we were too hungry to be able to brave the cold so soon, and made our way over to Redd Rocket’s Pizza Port since we had not yet eaten there on a previous trip, thinking that they only had pizza, and we had since heard good things about the Chicken fusilli. Fortunately for us, the good things we heard happened to be true and I would gladly make my way over there again - maybe to split the dish and something else. Have to diversify the eating!





    Since we were already right there and it was time again for us to be able to get a fastpass, we grabbed one for Space Mountain and then headed over to see what the wait was at our overall favorite ride - Pirates of the Caribbean. Since the weather was not good at all, there was absolutely no line there and we were able to walk on. I have always loved the version at Magic Kingdom, but this one blows the MK version out of the water. The start in the bayou with Blue Bayou overlooking and then extended skeleton scenes all make this version - in my opinion - so much better.








    No need to expose your superstructure. by BretJMiller, on Flickr

    After that, we headed over to another favorite (I guess just about every ride is a favorite in some way or another) Haunted Mansion. After that, we used our Indy fastpasses, took some pictures, used the Space Fastpass, grabbed another for Indy and then headed over to Winnie the Pooh since it always seems to be a walk on at Disneyland. (I know I ran through quite a bit of rides there, but I’m sure most of you have experience them all and know exactly what they are like, and don’t worry, we rode them a lot so I’ll have plenty more opportunities to bore you all with my opinions of them.)













    It was right about this time when we decided we needed to start heading out of the park because we were supposed to meet our friends Missy and Joey for dinner. This happened to be a perfect day for it since it kept us busy a couple hours and the fireworks had been canceled because of the rain. Now for the life of me, I don’t know why I didn’t take any pictures of them, with them or of the food we all ate, but we did have a good time chatting. We went to Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen, but we didn’t really get meals, it was more of a couple appetizers. The group appetizer was pretty good, with some shrimp, ribs, calamari and something else. If it didn’t stick out, it must not have been fantastic. It was at this time, where we met our suave server whose name escapes me right now. I’ll try to ask Morgan later and see if she remembers. Then as our meal, we had a trio of their soups - none of which were impressive. The cornbread, however, was my favorite thing there. It was a cajun cornbread that had some flavor to it that I still cannot pinpoint what it was, but overall, it was good.

    We had a good time, and then they had to leave, so we decided we would head back into the park for a little while. We headed over to grab another fastpass for Space and then decided we would go ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It is always a way better experience at night even though we knew it would be a very cold ride. The whole thing went well, as expected then all of a sudden we were wondering why we were, yet again, getting wet. Of course I had my camera out at the time and had to rush that back into my bag and we threw our ponchos on ran into some gift shops. Luckily, most of the rain held off until we got the ponchos on. It would have been nice if it would have at least waited until we got off Big Thunder. At that point, I was too fed up with the rain to do anything else and all I wanted to do was eat.

    We saw the cupcakes earlier and decided we would have to head back to try them. There was a special one for St. Patrick’s Day that I had my eye one even though I don’t usually like chocolate cake. Turns out, it was a thick buttercream - MINT - frosting. It made the entire thing amazing. If only I could have one right now. The lemon strawberry cupcake was much more disappointing at the frosting was thin and the cupcake itself was nothing special. The best part of that one was the delicious strawberry ...jam? center. The chocolate mint cupcake was easily the winner of this battle, and it turns out … of the trip.

    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I was still starving so I went over to the refreshment corner and bought myself a jalapeno cheese filled pretzel and ate it across the street as we wandered through the gift shops to stay dry. Morgan was uncomfortably cold at this point so she rather enjoyed being sheltered from the cold. I noticed that the rain had let up so I let her stay warm and decided to get a few shots of the park for a little while. For as few photos as I was able and willing to take this day, I did end up with one of my favorite that I have taken to date in this castle photo. I think it is more of an achievement in post processing than a great photo, but I love it.


    Rainy Day at Disneyland by BretJMiller, on Flickr





    Morgan came and got me from taking pictures around the hub and we decided to ride Indy one last time before we called it a night and made our way back to our hotel. After a nice short walk back, I uploaded my pictures and passed out for the night, eagerly awaiting my breakfast the next morning at La Brea, and a full day at Disney California Adventure.
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Aug 1999
    Location
    California
    Posts
    12,252
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    MORE MORE MORE!!!

    Great report! I love the pictures, especially your castle picture at the end...SO beautiful!

    Disneyland is my "home" and I miss it so much. Your report really lifted my spirits this dreary, cold, Virginia morning. Sounds like you had a great day, despite the rain. You really missed out by not ordering entrees at the Jazz Kitchen, as that is where they really shine. The apps and soups have always been "eh", except for the Roman Garlic Bread which is soooo good.

    Where did you stay? Curious minds want to know...
    Natalie
    INTERCOT Staff: Disneyland Resort-California, The Water Cooler

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2001
    Location
    Florida
    Posts
    40,874
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Nice start despite the weather!
    Linda aka: Faline
    INTERCOT Staff: Vacation Planning,Trip Reports and Disney Camping
    [email protected]

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I have the next day written, but it will probably take me a few days to get the pictures together, I have a lot more for the following days of the trip so hopefully you all like pictures! keep checking back as I hope to be done with the whole thing within the next couple of weeks!


    Thanks for looking and for the nice comments! We may have to go back to the Jazz Kitchen some time in the future so it can redeem itself.
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 2

    Day 2

    The next morning came pretty quickly, which was a good thing. The only time during this trip that I wanted to move quickly was the time we spent in our room. I didn’t even want to shower or brush my teeth in that thing - it felt that bad. (I exaggerate, but staying at Disney World resorts often has led me to expect something nice at a “value”). We were out the door by 9am and on our way to breakfast. Our walk to the parks led us straight through the resort we want to stay at most (at Disneyland, at least) the Grand Californian. The walk through was much too quick. One time, we will just have to book a night there and just have a casual day spent at the resort.

    We made our way to La Brea and were seated immediately. We decided to each get something different and split them. I went with the croque madame since I always wanted to try one after I found out what it was in a french class a couple years back. Morgan ordered the croissant sandwich. Both of them turned out very good, and I look forward to the next trip so we can go there for breakfast again.





    We got to the park right at about 10am when it opened and headed around the detour that felt like a mile in a crowd of people and walked to Soarin’ to grab a fastpass. We grabbed on and then looked at the line, which was non-existent. So we rode it. I had been smelling the smells of Soarin’ for about a month prior to this trip at work so it was a long overdue ride. Easily one of my favorite rides. I like that it doesn’t have to be a 3-D film and they can still make it a 3-D experience with the scents and the motion. It all works just so well as I’m sure all of you who are reading this already know.





    We then went on to get our fastpasses for World of Color, and ended up in the Blue section, as usual. One time, I want to end up in a different section in hopes of getting a better vantage, but we’ll have to figure out a way to do that before next time. Then we were off to the pier to see what the wait was looking like for Toy Story Midway Mania. On our way there, we were distracted by Mickey, who had only about 3 or so people in line. Of course we could not pass that up!



    We made our way to and past Toy Story, as the line was already in excess of 30 minutes and we knew we would get our chance again when we were at the park bright and early on Tuesday. I must say, we do love riding Toy Story for the awesome game and technology used, but we don’t find it necessary to wait more than 20 minutes for just about any ride with correct planning. We continued down the pier and decided it would be a good time to ride Silly Symphony Swings. It is a great ride, with a great view of the surrounding areas and a very fun place to take some pictures.





    It was a very windy day so of course the Golden Zephyr was closed the entire time and we made our way past it to one of our DCA favorites: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. Maybe it is because I grew up and this movie was very popular so I love the attraction, but I don’t understand why this ride never has a wait longer than 5 minutes. It is so colorful, fun and includes great music. It is an overall fun experience and a great ride to try to get some good pictures. It is much more well lit than other “dark” rides, which makes it “easier” to get some pictures.







    At this point, we were well overdue for a fastpass, so we made our way through a bug’s land and over to Tower of Terror to grab a fastpass and then figured the other modern dark ride would not have much of a wait. We happened to run in to Mr. Incredible on our way there and he only had a couple people waiting to see him. He threw me off as he started flexing down and then worked his way up and I was stuck in limbo as the picture was taken. Unfortunate, really.



    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  9. #8
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 2 continued.

    Mike and Sully to the Rescue had the usual 5 minute wait. Another one that I don’t understand. There are a lot of fun visuals and the recreation of the movie, even though not a new or unique story, is still a fun one.



    Sully - to the rescue? by BretJMiller, on Flickr



    We then went over and as I was grabbing a picture of the Muppet Vision 3D sign, Handy Manny came over and stopped for a picture.





    We decided it was as good a time as any to experience Muppet Vision 3D, and it is a good thing we did since it was our only time going on this trip. It was fun as usual, another one of those things I have experienced many times at “home” in Disney World, and can’t wait to be there to experience it again in August. We headed out of there in Off the Page for a quick look around.









    We made our way over to Blue Sky Cellar to pass some time and look at the new happenings with the Carsland project. I must say, I do love this area and find it to be a must do when we go just for the models and the videos.







    We had lunch reservations at Storyteller’s cafe at 1pm so we headed over there a few minutes early. We were seated right away and it seemed pretty empty. We were pretty excited about eating there because I was looking forward to my chicken sandwich. A sandwich with garlic bread is not something to be taken lightly. Then the unthinkable happened and I forgot all about the sandwich that would soon be headed my way. Our server brought our bread to the table and I forgot all about the entree that was to come. They were the most delicious cornbread muffins I had even had in my life. They had the most perfect niblets of corn and they were still warm and fresh. My mouth is watering right now as I type this just from thinking about them. I even ate Morgans too since she isn’t a fan of cornbread like I am, thankfully.









    We noticed there were special appetizers for lunch and since we have been on this kick with crab cakes since our first time trying them in January, we decided to split an order. They were amazing, not too fishy and yet, none of the other flavors were overpowering either. The crunch on the outside from being fried was perfect and I would order them again in an instant.







    By the time our entrees came, we were both pretty full so they didn’t seem to be a big hoorah to end the dish, but they were both definitely good. Morgan had a burger, which was just the same as just about any other burger you would expect at a table service restaurant, and I had my chicken sandwich which was not as garlic bread-y as I hoped, but still good. Needless to say, we will definitely be eating there again in the future.









    After lunch, we rode Ariel again and grabbed fastpasses for California Screamin’ and then looked at the time and realized we only had about 10 minutes until the next showing of Aladdin! So we got into high gear and did a nice little speed walk to get across the entire park and over the the theater.













    I had to stop on the way up the stairs, however, to get a picture of the Tower of Terror because who can resist, right?

    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  10. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 2 continued.

    Aladdin is one of those movies also that I grew up with and have loved. It is quite possibly my favorite Disney movie. We saw this show on our past August trip and fell in love with it, especially the Genie. As it turns out, the same genie was in this show and had most of the same jokes, but none of them felt old. One thing though in the show really changed and during A Whole New World, they used to fly on a carpet about the crowd. I don’t know what happened there, but apparently, they did away with that portion so Aladdin and Jasmine were nowhere to be found for the first half of the song which was a little off putting. Oh well, fantastic show anyway and definitely a must do each day in the park for us.

    Morgan is a big fan of drawing and especially learning to draw Disney characters, so she wanted to go to the Animation Academy. As we were waiting for it to open up for the next character slot, I got a brilliant idea. Since I do not have an artistic bone in my body, I decided it would be a good time for me to wander about and take some pictures. I understand some of you may think pictures are artistic, but they are more of just seeing something that you want to remember in that moment and capturing it. I love looking at and taking pictures, but I don’t necessarily take them for the art. I take them for the memories...(and sometimes the art, or to at least try to learn the art =P)



    Jumping Jellyfish! by BretJMiller, on Flickr



    Morgan caught up with me making my way down Paradise Pier and since our fastpasses were well past the time, we rode California Screamin’. Screamin’ is what Morgan was doing on there as well as the people around us. I usually spend my time riding catching the sights around or laughing about Morgan and others screaming unintentionally. However, the last bit of ups and downs does not agree with my stomach. I usually get motion sick but sometimes it is much worse than others and this trip seemed to be much more lax for me with the nausea, which is always good.

    Afterward, it seemed like a good time to get a twist cone; or a swirl as they call it. As we enjoyed it, we made our way over to Mike and Sully to get another quick ride in, just to pass time since we were both getting pretty hungry again and were planning for some lobster nachos at the cover bar. Anyway, we got done with the ride and saw Mickey come out and bust a move. I hadn’t really heard anything about this show, but it seemed like a good time. I didn’t want to watch it this time because I decided that I would just get a video of it the next day we were there so I could have my niece watch it. (still haven’t seen her yet since the trip so hopefully I will soon so she can enjoy it.)

    We finally made our way to the Cove bar and noticed the doors were closed and no one was out there. We just thought it was a little slow since it was only like 4:45 and we went to ask a CM about getting in and she told us it was closed until May! Then, to further salt the wound, she told us it just closed that day. Never have I been so depressed in a Disney park. Alas, it was to make that evening at Trader Sam’s even sweeter. A delicious chunk of fried cheese with a flaky corn dog covering and some chips would have to suffice for now.



    We headed over to do Ariel one more time and then decided it was getting to the point where it was ALMOST dark enough to get a ride in Tower of Terror in, so we headed that way. I must say, this is a much more simple version of ToT compare to the MGM version, but I still love the differences. The elevator shake really gets you in the mood for that ride when you are struck by lightning. Morgan still has trouble predicting the falls on this one, or more of having an idea of when it is going to start. She was in the middle of saying something to me for the first drop and ended up not holding on. She threw her arms down to grab on so quickly that she broke a nail.

    At that point it was getting quite chilly and Morgan needed a little something extra. She had been considering at least buying a scarf for a while so she went with that and I decided to take some pictures on the pier. I wish I would have waited until it got a bit darker so I could increase my exposure length and have a bit deeper of a blue sky but I still like how these ended up.






    Mickey's Fun Wheel by BretJMiller, on Flickr









    It was getting pretty last and we had our fastpasses for the 8pm showing of World of Color. We have yet to see the show up front which is what I am told makes all the difference so we haven’t had a particularly good experience with it. They almost had to cancel this showing because of the wind, but it held up just fine. We stayed a good distance back, but still ended up wet, which made Morgan being cold even worse, but it wasn’t too bad. It is a good show, but I don’t know if I really like it all that much because it is really just a preview of a bunch of their movies, and I don’t know exactly what it has to do with the park it is shown it. I like the colors and the clips and the technology, but maybe I just don’t understand the show, and this was my third time seeing it. Maybe it is just because I don’t know how to photograph it yet..haha.

    We decided to leave after WoC and head over to another highlight of our day. Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar. We heard that it could get pretty busy, but it was rather empty, which was fine with us since we are not particularly bar savvy. We knew going in there the things that we wanted to try as far as drinks and food, but didn’t really know what to expect of the place itself. It was intimate. And by intimate, I mean, tiny. It was good for us though and we were excited to be there. Excited to be warm, and excited to eat. I basically forced Morgan into her drink since I am a sucker for souvenir cups/mugs. I had the Krakatoa Punch and she had the HippopotoMai-Tai.





    Both drinks were delicious, but a bit on the strong side, which was fine since we were only planning on getting the one each. The real star was the food. We went with the Pu Pu Platter and had them follow up with the fish tacos, spaced out generously by our server so we didn’t have to eat them both at once. The chinese long beans were the hidden gem here. I have no idea how to describe their taste other than fried deliciousness. They weren’t fried to the point where they were overpowering or anything and they had the perfect amount of seasoning. The asian wings were pretty good, but as far as chicken wings go, weren’t anything special to me. The pork wings, on the other hand, were delicious and meaty. I didn’t expect much out of them and after I tasted them, I was disappointed that there were only 3! The slaw was good as were the tacos. The tacos were good on their own, but if you get them, make sure to use the lime they give you. It adds a whole new element and improves the taste tenfold.





    Charles was our server and he was a very pleasant guy. He made conversation and even ended up giving Morgan an additional glow cube after he rinsed out and bagged up our souvenir mugs for us. Overall, a great experience with him. We finished up there right around 10 and made our way back to our room since Morgan was beyond cold and we knew we would be up early and spending a full day at Disneyland ‘tomorrow.’
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  11. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 1999
    Location
    California
    Posts
    12,252
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    First of all, your pictures are AMAZING! Wow.

    Second, great reports! I feel like I'm there with you.

    Can't wait to hear about Disneyland.
    Natalie
    INTERCOT Staff: Disneyland Resort-California, The Water Cooler

  12. #11
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    91.5 miles from Disneyland
    Posts
    8,791
    Post Thanks / Like

    Thumbs up

    Your reports are great on their own, but the pictures bring a special life to them. Thanks for including them!

    It is true that the Enchanted Tiki Bar is tiny. That is my one disappointment with it. Otherwise, a fun place.

    Looking forward to the rest of your report.
    Linda aka tinkwest
    INTERCOT Staff ~ Disneyland Resort


    Come On Everybody - Here We Go!!

    “To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. ...”


    Support our INTERCOT Sponsors!

  13. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I'm sorry I've fallen a bit behind. Thank you all for your comments and just a heads up, I'm going to try to make a big stride toward getting the next day finished (or at least close to being finished) tomorrow, so be sure to check back for plenty more!
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  14. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Las Cruces, NM
    Posts
    361
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    I'm loving your trip report and pictures! I can't wait to see and hear about the rest of your trip! Thanks for sharing!
    Dreaming of Disney World every day, until I can get back there again!
    Disneyland at least a dozen times growing up!
    July 1997- Wilderness Lodge (HS Graduation)
    December 2009 & 2010- POP Century (7th & 8th Wedding Anniversaries)
    November 2011, April 2012, October 2012, January 2013 Disneyland

  15. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Homewood, IL
    Posts
    284
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Any status on the rest of trip. You've had us waiting far too long!!
    Apr 87 - Offsite
    Mar 92 - Offsite
    Jul 99 - Offsite
    Aug 99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Jul 03 - ASMu
    Aug 05 - Pop Century
    May 07 - ASSp
    Aug 08 - Poly/ASMu
    Mar 09 - Pop
    Sept 10 - Pop
    Oct-Nov 11 - Pop
    Nov 13 - Wyndham Bonnet Creek
    Jun-Jul 14 - ASSp
    Jun 15 - Pop
    Aug 15 - Disneyland

  16. #15
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Well I have the pictures set aside and most of it is written, just need to type it out, I'm hoping to get it up soon. As you can tell, I'be gotten quite behind. I'm hoping to get back on track very soon!
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  17. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 3, Part 1!

    Day 3

    We woke up on the following day right around 7:15, well Morgan did, I hit the snooze a couple more times and got up around 7:30. So for those of you interested, we stayed at the Eden Roc Inn and Suites. It was pretty bad from the get-go and we weren’t all too please, but hey, you get what you pay for, and I have to admit, it was a great deal, and I would probably do it again (only because we make a point of spending as little time in the room as possible). We ended up with a two bedroom suite with a kitchen(ette). The drains in the kitchen were rusted, and I was certain that there had to be mice living in the cabinets. I checked just to be sure. (There weren’t...at least when I checked.)

    We headed to the park just early enough to get in by about 8:03am and we were planning to have our most productive day yet. It definitely was, as we did our most attractions and I ended up with about 700 pictures. Granted, not all of them were unique or even turned out, but overall, it was a fantastic day.






    We started off by heading “straight” to Fantasyland. But it was such a beautiful morning that straight to Fantasyland meant straight to the hub, then straight to the castle...on each side, and THEN straight to Fantasyland. Since the wait shoots up to 20 minutes when the park has been open only for 10 minutes...we had to to Peter Pan’s Flight first. I remember texting my brother to tell him that we had been in line for 7 minutes and shortly after, we boarded our ship. While the ride itself is pretty awesome as far as the ride vehicles are concerned, I would not consider it my favorite dark ride, and I don’t understand how it always has such a long wait. We always make sure to get it done first thing in the morning because neither of us think it is worth the outrageous waits it turns out as you get later into the day.
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  18. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 3, Part 1! continued..



    We then jumped across the street and rode Snow White’s Scary Adventures followed by Pinocchio’s Daring Journey. Pinocchio is among my first memories of ever visiting Disney when I was a wee lad of almost only 4 years old, so the movie and now ride, hold a special place with me.


    The Sword in the Stone by BretJMiller, on Flickr



    We went from there back across the street to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, which, like the previous 2 rides, had absolutely no wait, and we were in our car almost immediately. Even though I had gone to Disney World a couple times when I was younger, I don’t recall ever riding Mr. Toad until my first Disneyland trip in 2010. Morgan on the other hand had only gone to Disney World once as a wee lass (when she was 5) - but she remembers this ride as being one of her favorites - she must have loved Hades as a child, who knows. It is a fun ride that continues to grow on me. I am a sucker for any dark rides and could probably ride them over and over if lines allowed.

    Next up was a quick walk over to ride the Alice dark ride which is another fun one except for the outside portion that lacks any sort of theming or story overall...unless I am completely missing something?



    By this time, it was about 8:40am, and we finished the rides in Fantasyland that we KNEW we wanted to get done early, but we were not done yet! Storybookland Canal boats were up and they are pretty awesome in the fact that they have the miniatures of all the great fairy tales and Disney stories. It is also nice to see another attraction like Jungle Cruise in that it is personalized by the cast member for each boat.





    it’s a small world came next and I decided I wasn’t going to ruin it with any mediocre pictures, but instead I decided to ruin it with some mediocre video. Video ride-thru’s of attractions are something I would like to do more of - eventually. I must say, I do love the facade of this ride especially when compared to the Disney World version and Morgan and I always have some fun trying to point out each of the Disney characters that were incorporated with the refurb.



    Next we headed back into the heart of Fantasyland for an attraction I could definitely do over and over: Casey Jr. Circus Train. We were getting pretty hungry at this point, and we hadn’t grabbed any fastpasses yet. Morgan went over to get fastpasses for Space, but I decided to take advantage of that time to take a few more pictures. I made my way around the castle and noticed that Ariel was out and I knew that Morgan would be excited so once I found her, I brought her right over to meet Ariel. Unfortunately, she did not have a cast member with her so we could not get one together. The little girl before us may have even been more excited to meet her than Morgan was...we’ll never know.
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  19. #18
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default Day 3, Part 1! continued..









    We made our way to the Jolly Holiday bakery for our planned cinnamon roll which was a lot smaller than last year, but we didn’t care enough to go elsewhere (on any day). I love eating cinnamon rolls, but eating them on Main St. is even better (but not as good as eating them at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom).



    Chef Oscar was making his rounds, came by to say ‘hi’ and see how we were and then moved on. In retrospect, I wish we would have gotten a picture with or at least of him since he is a Disneyland celebrity himself! We finished up and headed over to Adventureland. As we were passing through, we noticed that Tarzan’s Treehouse was open for the first time since our March 2010 trip, so we had to take a walk up and around. It is always nice to go up there and enjoy the higher vantage of the park and get those views you wouldn’t see otherwise.








    Tarzan's Window by BretJMiller, on Flickr



    Afterward, it was time to check the wait for Pirates, which was still fortunately a walk on. At that point, I guess I had already worked up an appetite from sharing the smaller cinnamon roll...and besides, I can always go for some Mickey shaped beignets! On our way over to the Mint Julep Bar, we stopped at the pin shop there to see if they had any St. Patrick’s Day pins left. They did, but there was only 1 there and it wasn’t the one that I wanted and I wasn’t going to give up the search so easily and we pressed on!


    Dead men tell no tales. by BretJMiller, on Flickr



    We ordered a half dozen beignets, even though Morgan only wanted 1, and took a seat in the French Market seating area there to nosh. As Morgan was finishing up, I took the short walk over to Indiana Jones to get a couple fastpasses for us to use later. Next up was Winnie the Pooh, and after that, we took one of many walks across the entire park to grab another fastpass for Space Mountain and ride it. Well, since I am behind and am not sure if I talked about this version of Space Mountain because of how long it has been since I wrote the first two parts, I will bore you with those details again (or not if I haven’t!). Disneyland’s Space Mountain excels over Magic Kingdom’s in that it is a very smooth ride. The side by side seats don’t bother me as much as they do Morgan, but it isn’t something that ruins the ride for her - or even threatens to. We love Space Mountain and if I had to pick one bad thing out about this version - It always seems to be turning in the same direction! However, as I said, this doesn’t taint the experience for us as it is still one of our favorites on each coast.








    Fastpass return yonder.. by BretJMiller, on Flickr





    Since we hadn’t yet checked out Mickey’s Toontown on this trip, we decided to run over there to see what the wait times were looking like. Of course with it being the middle of the day at this point, the wait for Roger Rabbit’s Car toon Spin was only growing so we decided to pass on it for now and on to Mickey’s house to see if we could get lucky in meeting him. I don’t even think we got a quarter of the way through his house before we hit the line to see him so we passed on that as well. As it turned out, it was not yet our time to visit Toontown and we took the train over to Main st. so we could stroll on over to Pirates of the Caribbean, but more importantly, to our lunch reservation at Blue Bayou.
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

  20. #19
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
    Location
    Davenport, FL
    Posts
    3,321
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Looks like a great trip. Fantastic pictures
    Marci

    Many visits. Live 20 minutes from the parks.
    Work at Universal Studios in Diagon Alley. Ollivanders/ wand magic.

  21. #20
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    South Suburb of Chicago
    Posts
    38
    Post Thanks / Like

    Default

    Thanks and there are definitely more to come, I'm trying to get back on track posting this so I can do a report again (for World) after my trip in August, so I have a deadline to reach. Hopefully it won't take that long though!
    Mar '92 - Offsite
    Aug '99 - Fort Wilderness Cabin
    Aug '05 - POP Century
    Jun '09 - POP Century
    Mar '10 - Disneyland for a day!
    Jul '11 - POP Century
    Aug '11 - Disneyland
    Mar '12 - Disneyland
    Aug '12 - POP Century
    Jan '13 - Art of Animation - Lion King Suite
    Nov '13 - POP Century

Share This Thread On Social Media:

Share This Thread On Social Media:

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

 
Company
Advertising
Guest Relations
Community
Discussion Boards
Podcast
Newsletter
Shop
Social
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
YouTube
Pinterest
Subscribe to our Newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive our newsletter:
INTERCOT Logo PRIVACY STATEMENT / DISCLAIMER | DISCUSSION BOARD RULES
© Since 1997 INTERCOT - a Levelbest Communications Website. This is not an official Disney website.
> Levelbest Network Site