Trip Report - 5/8 - 5/13
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bradk · 05-15-2006, 10:58 AM

Just got back home this morning, so it's going to be a while before I get a report posted (had a very busy, fun and fruitful trip) and it's going to be even longer before I get the pics up as I have over 7000 (!) to weed through, but quick summary: the weather was decent, the crowds were minimal at worst (Space Mountain was a literal walk-on at 2 pm on one of my days), most of the CMs and characters were phenomenal.

Here's a few photos I hand-selected to offer as a tease of what's to come. I'm either thrilled with the photo itself or with the opportunity I had to take it.

My favorite shot of Sleeping Beauty Castle
The Bride in Haunted Mansion (with axe)
Tigger in mid-bounce
'The Goat Trick' Goat
Peter, Wendy and Hook on Autopia
Most of Paradise Pier at night
Tower of Terror with full moon

I'm also more than willing to answer any questions regarding my trip or entertain any requests for photos while I'm busy catching up and working on the trip report. Hope ya like.

jimmymac · 05-15-2006, 11:09 AM

7000 pix??? Love the ToT shot

lauren-roxy · 05-15-2006, 02:17 PM

Great photos Brad!! Can't wait for the actual report!!

bradk · 05-15-2006, 02:42 PM

DAY 0 - MONDAY - MAY 8
arrived in partly-sunny LGB around 1:30 PST. got myself a nice cab (london executive sedan or something like that - had 2 facing seats that folded down), good driver. arrived at the tropicana, checked in. decent room. cute little balcony facing harbor blvd (yay). don't think i'll be using it much.

so I dropped my bags off and decided to use getting DTD out of the way as an excuse to give my trip a start since I won't be going into the parks until tomorrow.

first thing i noticed was the pedestrian entrance sign is all covered and some cheesy sign is in its place. boo.

i grabbed entertainment schedules from the parks as i walked through the esplanade to DTD. also went to pick up my F! ticket for friday. visited the hotels and scoped them out a bit (GCH is really impressive - I can see the WL influence, only it's cozier). went to the WOD store where I figured I would get most of my spending out of the way and had a coupon I got for purchasing my tickets online. i'm pretty sure the coupon was for 10% off, but they didn't know how to enter it, so they just gave me the AP 20% off (which is nice considering I spent $200+). had them ship it to me for $36, but I also didn't have to pay tax so that offset it as well.

so that's pretty much it. i haven't really eaten all day so i'm going to go grab something and head back to my room and probably catch some sleep since i've been up for like 13 hours and i have an early day tomorrow too.

DAY 1 - TUESDAY - MAY 9 - EARLY ENTRY

Arrived in the esplanade area around 6:20 for an 8 am EE. Took opportune photos of the parks before passing through DTD for some more photos. went as far as anne geddes before deciding to head back to the line for the turnstile. First in line at the line closest to the tunnel (why people like to go to the center is still beyond me). Got a couple of nice photos of a DL kitty hanging out in a floral arrangement in the esplanade area. I then realized my wide angle lens was set to manual focus which explained a lot. But none of the shots were bad enough to warrant retaking them.

They let us in about 7:50 am and held us at rope drop at the end of Main Street. I grabbed as many shots of Main Street and the castle from my vantage point that I could. When the clock struck 8, I went right for Peter Pan (which was also on the list of a few others who were waiting). Took a few more shots before heading into Pinocchio, followed by Mr. Toad, followed by Snow White. A few more dozen photos and it was off to Matterhorn - both sides. At this point, it's a few minutes to 9 am, so I head over to IASW. A bunch more shots and I'm done with FL for now.

Headed off to Adventureland where I grabbed a FP for IJA before boarding the Jungle Cruise. I noticed the now infamous see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil monkeys set up in the shop adjacent to the attraction, facing into the queue, only they seem to be a tad messed up. Asked for a map of the jungle cruise river and was told to ask again when I got off the ride. So I did and I got me a pretty cool map of the river. I then popped in for a viewing of the Enchanted Tiki Room. Grabbed another FP for IJA.

It was about 10:20 when I was done and the Re-dedication Ceremony was to take place at 10:30, so I headed off to the Main Street train station and grabbed a spot right in the middle across the street from the station. The Mad Hatter, Belle, Alice and Chip & Dale joined the Mayor and the Fab Five for the ceremony. Got some decent shots but I think I totally missed the doves being released. That just means I get to see it again [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

After the ceremony, the characters went off to do their photo-ops. I got a photo of Pluto at the Disneyland FD and visited Belle before heading back to IJA. I rode it twice, back-to-back and used FPs both times, but the posted wait times was 10 minutes so it really wasn't necessary either time.

My VIP tour was scheduled for 12:30 PM at City Hall and it was now only 11:30 AM, so I had some time to fill/kill. Visited Tarzan's Treehouse and poked around NOS a bit. Briefly caught a performance of the Side Street Strutters.

Went down to the Mark Twain to see if I could co-pilot it, but the run that was currently about to leave had a family already and time wouldn't allow me to try to wait for the next one, so I continued to linger on. Watched some of the Laughing Stock (?) show. Went back through Adventureland to get my first (of many) Dole Whip floats.

Headed down towards City Hall only to discover I still had time to kill before the tour, so I went into the Main Street Cinema for the first time and watched a cartoon or few, including all of Steamboat Willie. What a brutal cartoon! If Disney had made that film today, they'd probably be run out of business.

I then headed to City Hall where I met up with my guide Debra. Tackled the most important thing first and got me an Honorary Citizen sticker. I then enquired about Rockit Mountain and if there was any chance it would be running later that week in light of the fact that it was preeming at Grad Nite. She called the Tomorrowland manager and reported back to me that it was a perk offered exclusively to the Grad Nites and all that aside, that not all of the effects were in place yet, so it was only a scaled down version anyway. Good enough for me.

We reviewed what I wanted to accomplish during our four hours and she suggested we go ride around the park on the Lilly Belle parlour car. As it turns out, the train with the car had just left, so we had to wait another 20 minutes. We went into the Opera House and reviewed some of the exhibits and before we knew it, we had missed the Lilly Belle again. So we opted to just wait at the train station for it so we wouldn't chance missing it again.

We got on the Lilly Belle and rode around the park in comfort (beautiful car!). She pointed out some of the pieces that came from the firehouse apartment as well as Lillian's robe in the corner. We also talked a bit about miscellaneous things.

We arrived back at Main Street and began our exploration of the park. We took the Omnibus (top of course) up to the end of Main Street. She pointed out the still-standing access point (or whatever) for the skyway. She then offered to see if I'd be able to pilot the Mark Twain, so naturally I agreed and we were able to get right on to the next boat which arrived very shortly after we did.

So I co-piloted the Mark Twain (even got to turn the wheel a bit) and had a lengthy discussion between the 3 of us (Debra, the Pilot and myself) on a bunch of things. She pointed out how you can see the Maliboomer from where we were and he said they're supposed to get a 'tree' for it (whatever that means).

I grabbed a shot of the petrified tree which I knew was an unwelcome gift from Walt to Lillian, but Debra gave me some more backstory about how the petrified forest was privately owned at the time and the owner tried to sell Walt the entire park, but he opted for a tree instead and that Lillian was in the car the whole time he was plotting this gift for her. She pointed out the Fess Parker window in Frontierland.

We then started crossing the hub to go towards Tomorrowland because I had asked her to point out the remnants of the House of the Future as I vaguely knew where and what was left before but I wasn't sure and wanted to document it. On the way across the hub, I was able to get a great shot of Gepetto. There was also a short line for Ariel, so I wanted to grab that opportunity. It turns out Ariel was about to go in, but I was able to sneak in and get a photo. Unfortunately Ariel didn't have her dinglehopper on her. She said she'd have it for the parade and the next day, so I'd have to come back.

Debra had mentioned something about the apple at Snow White and I thought she meant the one that used to get stolen, but she was referring to the one outside the attraction by the book. I hadn't a clue so she said she had to show me. So we cut over through Fantasyland, where I saw the Evil Queen out in the villain section. Again, little line (it was actually closed again), but I was able to get a few moments with the Queen (this was the first of many times I had seen her and I've never seen anyone as true to character as she was. I had heard stories about the villains treating guests in an un-disney way but this was the first time I had witnessed it). It was great.

So we went to Snow White and she showed me the apple by the book in front of the queue - how when you touch the top of it - well, you know. I also took the opportunity to take a photo of the Queen as she peers out the window.

At some point after this, she asked me if I knew about Walt's window in Toontown. I didn't. So she pointed it out to me. It was now about 3:45 pm and she wanted to know if I wanted to see the ASIMO show at 4. Of course this was the only reason why I wanted to go back to Innoventions (that and Stitch), so I gave a big yes. But first, I had to stop at IASW and watch the clock go off.

We made it in time to see the 4 pm ASIMO show at Innoventions. A not to be missed event. It's obvious that ASIMO clearly isn't operating completely on his own, but for a robot that I've only read about for years and occasionally seen on tv, it was a thrill.

By now our time was coming to a close, so we sat down in Tomorrowland and she allowed me to write down some times for events I wanted to see that aren't listed in the entertainment guide. I noticed BLAB had a 5 minute posted wait time, so she told me I couldn't pass it up, so we parted ways and I headed into Buzz (and did not do too well I might add - I think I came out Level 2).

It was almost 5 pm and I made it a point to make sure I'd see the flag retreat ceremony at 5:30, so I headed back to the flagpole area, encountering Mulan and visiting Goofy at the firehouse and Minnie along the way. Watched the flag retreat ceremony.

The next thing I wanted to do was ride tender on the train. The first train came and it was the brakers (?) crew, so they couldn't take anyone. 10 minutes later, can't do it on the next train. another 10 minutes later and the engine had to go take on water so I couldn't do it again. By now it was getting too close to parade time, so I had to quit trying for now.

Staked out a spot for the parade and watched it.

After the parade came and went, I headed over to NOS and visited the Haunted Mansion, semi-complete with new bride.

I went to go ride Splash Mountain but it was getting dark and I waited until I got to the loading area before bailing (it made no sense to take photos then and I was feeling tired and cranky anyway).

But since I was in the neighborhood and it was a dark ride so the lighting didn't matter for photos, I decided to go on Pooh.

On my wait out, I grabbed myself some food - a chili cheese hot dog and a mickey pretzel and a really cool stitch crazy straw (which subsequently broke when I was packing [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] ). Ran into Maynard on my way out and I only meant to say hi because I was tired and cranky, but we ended up chatting a while.

END DAY ONE.

bradk · 05-15-2006, 03:49 PM

DAY 2 - WEDNESDAY - MAY 10

Park opening is at 9, I was probably there around 8 with a couple of families waiting. I took the same turnstile closest to the tunnel which was empty (oy!). In fact, by 8:30, only one guy was behind me (a regular) and the existing lines were stretching beyond the monorail track.

I got inside the park, taking things slower because I knew the rope drop would happen. Got some additional Main Street photos.

Hung out at the rope drop and before long, Tigger (who was on his way to the Minnie & Friends breakfast) appears near the restaurant to greet the crowd from afar. He's soon joined by Dale who does the same sort of thing. They're both soon joined by Hook who just taunts the crowd, making rude gestures and funny faces at everyone.

I now become enamoured by the K-9 security.

The rope is dropped and I'm off to Toontown Morning Madness. Everyone's out doing photo-ops which I wasn't concerned with, but so few people were there and I had planned on attending the event 3 times during my trip, so I wasn't stressed. I said hello to Mickey and Minnie before exploring the residential half of Toontown. Rode Gadget's Go Coaster and took some shots. Before long, it was time for the ceremony. This was new to me because it now starts 15-20 minutes before it used to. I got the little parade that goes on, but by the time I got to City Hall, it was packed, so I decided to skip the ceremony today and go on exploring Toontown. Also rode Roger Rabbit before heading off to Tomorrowland.

The plan was to just FP Space, but the posted wait time was 5 minutes, so I rode it standby as well. It was very cool. The effects were neat and the ride was everything I anticipated it to be.

By now it was almost time for my Minnie & Friends breakfast, so I headed over to the Plaza Inn. The food was very good and the character interaction was great (which is what I was hoping for by getting a later PS time). I saw Eeyore, Minnie (several times), Fairy Godmother, Dale (I briefly saw Chip), Rafiki, Hook, Tigger and Goofy. At one point, there was at least 6 characters in the same room and they were all interacting with each other, which is something I'd never see at WDW. At one point, Hook banished Tigger out of the restaurant. I asked Tigger to bounce for me and he looked at me like I was crazy - that he had no room for it. I totally didn't understand because when he bounces at WDW, he barely leaves the ground. But he did it for me anyway and - wow. Tigger can bounce!

I headed down to the exhibit at the Opera House to take some photos, stopping to say hello to Mickey on the way.

Headed off to Adventureland to grab an IJA FP, stopping to see the Dapper Dans and the horse drawn car along the way and spotted Aladdin and Jasmine at Aladdin's Oasis, so I waited to say hi to them.

I had some time to kill so I thought I'd say hi to the princesses scattered around the castle. Cinderella's line was closed, but the page informed me that Snow White should be out at 12:30, so I went to the grotto and took some photos and waited for Snow. 12:30 came and no Snow. A page showed up to inform us that Snow was doing the princess story thing at once upon a time. So I went to see Ariel where I was the last on line before she had to go. Fortunately today she had the dinglehopper, but the Evil Queen showed up before she could show it to me and they had a stare down. When the Queen left, Ariel was about to go, but I reminded her of the dinglehopper and she graciously showed it to me before leaving.

I knew Cinderella would be back out in about 15 minutes, so I headed back that way, noticing Aurora along the way so I stopped to say hello to her. It was 2:05 when I made it to the Cinderella line and it was already closed (she had a long line long before she was even scheduled to appear), but the page remembered me and let me in. He also advised me Snow would be out around 2:30.

Met Cinderella and the Fairy Godmother who remembered me from breakfast and filled Cindy in on all the details and they posed for a few photos.

Went to Autopia to pick up a FP and noticed Mickey with a couple of guests just hanging out. More specifically, Mickey was doing the Robot!

Headed back to Snow's grotto and noticed Space had a 5 minute wait posted at 2 pm. That was an exaggeration. It was a literal walk on! BLAB was also posting a 5 minute wait, so I rode that one again too. Did better scorewise this time (L3).

Got on line for Snow when I saw Foulfellow walking through (or the 'big bad wolf' as some guests were calling him - he's clearly a fox, people!). I guess he was doing the villain thing. He walked past me (it's hard to yell out foulfellow a bunch of times), so I left the line to chase him a little and just started screaming Foul! Foul! (it works!) he posed for a couple of pics and I got back in line for Snow. Finally met Snow and had her make a wish for me before moving on.

I hadn't ridden Alice yet and the line was tolerable so I went on.

By now it was about 3, so I headed back to Autopia and FP'd my way through (Autopia was consistently the *only* attraction in MK that was posting a wait above 10 minutes according to the tip board - usually hovering at around 25 minutes). Got off Autopia and was leaving the attraction when I noticed someone in a Peter Pan hat in one of the cars. I thought it was weird until I realized it WAS Peter Pan! and the stringy black hair I could see in the car in front was Hook. So I ran up to get a clear shot, only to discover Wendy was in the car in front of both of them. It was pretty neat.

I had some free time so I went to try to ride tender at the Main Street train station again, first saying hi to Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee and the Queen of Hearts.

I waited for the train but made the mistake of asking the conductor on the train, not the one at the station (they cycle so I though the one on the train was my best bet). it turned out that the position was already offered to another couple, but they offered me the next run and also let me ride the train normally before.

I rode tender with engineers Royce (who was firing) and Scott (?) who was pulling. They gave me a lot of information on the engine. I couldn't believe how hot it was sitting outside the cab. They told me it's normally between 90-130 degrees inside. I couldn't even begin to imagine doing that all day.

I then did something else I needed to cross off my list - watch a Billy Hill & The Hillbillies show. My VIP Tour guide Debra had pointed out Walt's private box to me, but I showed up too late to grab it (and I really didn't need to sit in it anyway). So I went upstairs and watched the show. Very entertaining. I managed to grab a shot of Walt's box afterwards which is all I wanted anyway.

I rode Big Thunder and got a really decent shot of the goat with the dynamite in its mouth - a shot I sorely missed last time around. I was quite proud of myself.

I then staked out a spot for the Parade of Dreams and watched it again. As it passed, I followed it until I got out of the park and called it a day since I would have an early start tomorrow.

END DAY TWO

bradk · 05-15-2006, 04:29 PM

DAY THREE - MAY 11

Got an early start as I had PS for 7 am at Goofy's Kitchen, so I passed through DTD for photos, stopping at GCH and working my way to DLH.

Overall, I wasn't too thrilled with my experience at GK. Maybe I just started too early, but I made sure to stick around to see everyone. There was a wider selection of food at GK than at Minnie's, but Minnie's tasted better. Saw Goofy, Pluto, Max, Mad Hatter, Belle, Baloo.

I then headed off to DCA where I waited to be let in at 9:30. Knowing Soarin' was open, but not wanting to ride it, just wanting to photograph the queue, I was first to arrive. Made it down to the bottom and went back up through the exit to hang at the Backlot rope drop (collecting photos of course) where the security guy was kindly steering folk to Soarin'.

10:00 came and the ToT bellhops walked us down to the street where I positioned myself to be the first rider of Monsters, Inc. of the day. First (of many) impression: it's cute, has some really neat effects but re-ride value? I don't know. I will go ahead and mention I rode this MANY times (more details later) and Roz chose to call on me each and every time. This time around it was because I had my camera and she told me to get her good side (with a long cheeeeese for effect).

Took photos of the Muppetvision queue while it was empty and then headed on to GRR taking many photos along the way. Initially I was offered my own raft, but at the last minute, they dumped another group on me. Oh well. I have no idea why either since many rafts went out empty afterwards anyway.

I went to the Redwood Creek trail across the street and watched the Brother Bear Totem ceremony, meeting Koda and Kenai after the event.

I then went through the Mission Tortilla Factory (where the guy obliged me and gave me 2 tortillas) and then went to the Boudin factory. While stuck watching Colin and Rosie, I saw Flik and Atta going to the Ugly Bug Ball hand in hand right by the factory. Lost photo-op. Breezed through the factory and headed over to a Bug's Land and watched the remainder of the Ugly Bug Ball and waited for the two to leave. Unfortunately I learned you can't get them as they just come off the stage, so I got photos of them separately for the time being.

Took some photos of the area before heading down the Backlot area where I saw Mr. Incredible. He was leaving before I could get to him but he managed to oblige me in a couple of shots as he was walking out. I wasn't too thrilled with them though so I made a note to try to catch him again.

Went into the animation building. Belle was doing photos but the line was closed. The next Turtle Talk was 20+ minutes away, so I wandered around the sorcerer's workshop. watched Turtle Talk which was great as always (but no Dory!). I went outside and saw Mr. Incredible again. This time I got some decent shots.

Then it was time for Aladdin (well, time to start lining up for it anyway). I basically stuck around until they decided to open the mezanine so I could be first in. Great show as always. What's really funny is last year, I remember the Martha Stewart jokes and I was relieved I'd avoid them this time. Nope. Martha's still funny.

Rode TOT twice in a row with very little wait.

Walked back down towards sunshine plaza when I noticed someone was looking for a princess. I thought they were looking for Belle who I had just seen go into the animation building, so I was going to tell them, but it turns out they were waiting for Mulan instead. Sure enough, Mulan was in the middle of the street and I had walked right past her (she was probably bent down for a little one). So I said hello to Mulan. Immediately after that, I saw Jojo walking off towards backstage, so I chased after her and she readily obliged me for a bit (I do love Jojo).

I opted to go see Muppetvision now as the show was only a few minutes away. After that, I went off to a bug's land. I saw the ugly bug ball was going on, so I watched it until the end, and went off towards the exit point for Flik and Atta to get my shot of the two of them. worked like a charm!

went back to a bug's land and rode heimlich's chew chew train - the best smelling attraction anywhere!

Crossed over to DL and went on Jungle Cruise, this time on the opposite side of where I was last time. Skipper Brittany (Bob) is as good as they come - the piranha bit was exceptionally well done.

Rode Storybookland Canal Boats but wasn't thrilled with where I was positioned, so I rode it again, this time getting the right spot.

Stopped by the firehouse to take a few photos as the parade was set to begin and I called it a night.

END DAY THREE