Disneyland/NASCAR - Terri & Cheryl - FINISHED 3/25
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Tink and co. · 03-09-2005, 06:05 PM

Great update and excellent photos! I want to now, today!!! And you haven't even hit DL yet! More please!

**LizardCop** · 03-09-2005, 07:27 PM

Great Pictures and a wonderful update!!!

BritDisFan · 03-09-2005, 07:44 PM

Great update, can't wait to read more

.

Karen

snoozy · 03-09-2005, 10:32 PM

Excellent pictures very

Oh how I wish I was there

**DopeyGirl** · 03-09-2005, 11:42 PM

Great update and pictures . . . I saw the Matterhorn in the picture taken from the hotel lounge and made a big *SIGH* . . . my favorite thing about Disneyland right there!!!

More please!!!

Tara O'Hara · 03-10-2005, 08:18 AM

Terri, great updates and I'm sorry but

about the rental car fiasco and the GPS!!

I think that I am really losing it!!

Isn't Soarin' the best?!?! I could ride that all day!!

your pics, too!!

GATechGal · 03-10-2005, 08:36 AM

We thought Soarin' was the best as well. I'm so sorry you missed the Aladdin show. We thought it was SUPER. But then we missed most of the other rides at CA. Can't wait for the next installment.

Phoebe_Cates · 03-10-2005, 09:12 AM

The familiar yet different Disneyland

Terri and I woke up early Sat morning, got dressed, and walked down the hall to the executive lounge for a continental breakfast. We then stopped by the front desk to figure out how to buy tickets for the Anaheim Resort Transportation (ART) trolley. Apparently, we walked right by the ticket machine in front of the hotel the day before. Now wiser, we purchased our 1-day pass for $3.00 each and waited for the next trolley. Once on the trolley, we arrived at the main gate much quicker then we did the day before. Since there was already a crowd loitering in front for the DL opening ceremony, we decided to walk up to a customer service window to inquire about the dessert buffet. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get it. Thank goodness we had a plan B w/ Goofy’s Kitchen!

Once the gates were open and we walked through to Main Street U.S.A., it became surreal for me. It was almost like entering into the Twilight Zone with Terri and I exclaiming “this is so weird” as we walked up to Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. What I thought was odd was that I didn’t see any cast members taking pictures of guests in front of the castle at all. Once we got to the partners statue, we decided to veer to the right into Tomorrowland. That’s when the full realization of closures due to the 50th celebration hit us: Space Mountain was under rehab! We also found out later that fireworks were off too for the same reason, which became a common occurrence for us.

Since there wasn’t anything else in Tomorrowland that we were interested in, we decided to head toward the Matterhorn Bobsleds, a unique ride to DL. Since the line wasn’t that long, Terri and I decided to experience both sides of the track. It was pretty cool! After which, we strolled over to the Storybook Land Cannel Boats – a ride that takes you though a miniaturized world, like the one near the Germany Pavilion in EPCOT. Unfortunately, the ducks waddling around the villages ruined the overall effect. From this attraction, we walked directly to the Mad Tea Party for a spin in the tea cups and then headed over to Alice in Wonderland. I really enjoyed this ride as an “adult” b/c I was able to see historical references in the storyline that I had missed as a child.

Next Stop: Disneyland Continues

Phoebe_Cates · 03-10-2005, 09:12 AM

Disneyland Continues

After Alice in Wonderland, we walked back toward Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and quickly got in line for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. It was vaguely familiar to me even though I couldn’t remember if I had ever seen it in WDW. One thing I did noticed was that it didn’t let us off in a gift shop. I also noticed that the lines for attractions seemed to spill over into the common walkways more so then in WDW. This was especially true for Peter Pan’s Flight, which looked ridiculous. I’m afraid to say that we never did make it on that one. We did make it to Pinocchio’s Daring Adventure, where I learned the origins of Pleasure Island in Downtown Disney WDW. We ended our time in Fantasyland by taking a spin on King Arthur’s Carousal in honor of Walt Disney himself.

From Fantasyland, we walked to Frontierland to hit “the wildest ride in the west”, i.e. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I actually enjoyed this version better then the one in WDW! We then headed to New Orleans Square to see the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean before our lunch reservation at the Blue Bayou, similar to EPCOT’s Mexico Pavilion restaurant La Cantina De San Angel, where patrons sit on the “water”. What I didn’t like about DL Haunted Mansion is that it’s on the main thoroughfare and not set back like the one in WDW. However, it was neat to actually go down in an elevator as opposed to the optical illusion of it. As for Pirates of the Caribbean, I think it explains the story line a little better then in the WDW version with the beginning scenes. By the time we finished, it was time for lunch. I ordered the Monte Crisco, which it’s known for. It was pretty good, but way too much for me to finish. After lunch, we headed toward Splash Mountain and the Enchanted Tiki Room, which were both closed for rehab. So, we decided to take a Jungle Cruise and see the Indiana Jones Adventure. I absolutely loved Indy! It’s a lot better then Dinosaur at Disney’s Animal Kingdom even though it’s supposedly on the same track.

After Indy, Terri and I decided to head back to Main Street U.S.A. for some shopping and then caught the one-way monorail to Downtown Disney. From there, we walked to the bus stop to catch the ART shuttle back to the hotel to rest for a bit (I think the time difference was finally catching up with us). A couple hours later, we caught the next ART shuttle from the hotel to the main DL gate and preceded to walk through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel for dinner at Goofy’s kitchen. Unfortunately, I didn’t really enjoy this character meal as much as others I’ve been too b/c it seemed overly priced for food that wasn’t that great to begin with. After dinner, we took the one-way monorail back to DL so we could find a good spot to see Fantasmic. It was a good thing we did that too b/c the crowds were already lining up blocking traffic, which explains why there’s a specific Fantasmic auditorium area in WDW! As for Fantasmic itself, I thought it was very similar. One thing that really stuck out for me was the Peter Pan and Captain Hook fight on the Sailing Ship Columbia, which I thought was really cool! After the show, Terri and I made our way back to Main Street U.S.A. to pick up a couple more items before we headed back to the hotel for the night.

Next Stop: NASCAR in Disney Gear b/c that’s all we brought to wear!

snoozy · 03-10-2005, 10:28 AM

Again I wish I was there

**DrDolphin** · 03-10-2005, 12:25 PM

26 February 2005 - Disneyland
We woke up at about 630am with our wake up call – but I had already woken up a couple of times and rolled over and went back to sleep. I think my body was a bit out of whack. We got up, took showers and got dressed.

We headed to the Executive Lounge to get some breakfast – bagels, cream cheese and some fruit for me. We spoke with the person at the desk and asked about shuttle service from the hotel. She told us about the ART shuttle – and that we could get a one-day pass for $3.00. We’d seen these trolleys yesterday… but had no clue as to what they were. We thanked her and headed down to buy our ticket and catch the trolley.

We boarded the shuttle at 8am, and were at the entrance to DL right at 820. It took a few minutes to get through the gates – long lines.

When we went under the train station, it was like we’d entered a Twilight Zone episode… everything was familiar, but different. We walked up Main Street and the buildings seemed shorter to me. And of course the castle is smaller – and PINK. It was stranger to see the Matterhorn Mountain rising above MSUSA and being able to see Space Mountain from MSUSA.

We stopped at the Partner’s status to take photos – and both commented about the lack of CM photographers to take photos in front of the castle like at WDW.

We made a right hand turn into Tomorrowland. Buzz light year is not open yet, and was being painted; Star Tours and Innoventions are under rehab – but open. We walked past Astro-Orbitor (how weird is it to see this at ground level?). We walked through Tomorrowland without riding a thing and it was completely deserted. We decided to head to Fantasyland and got in the left side line for the Matterhorn – it was a good ride, and we decided to immediately to get in the right side lane. After the Matterhorn, we headed to the Storybook Canal Boats. We had to wait about 20 minutes here as they were having boat issues. Cheryl and I decided we wanted to do the rides that were unique to DL or had a difference from WDW before riding the same ride in a different state.

We were on the “Flower” boat for our tour through Storybook Land. It was cute to see the cottages, castles, etc of the fairytales, but the ducks in the canal and the grey cat climbing past Cinderella’s castle – sort of ruined the scale effect.

After storybook – we headed to the Tea Cups. Cheryl usually defers a ride on the teacups – it makes her dizzy. I told her to focus on one point and that she would not get dizzy. It worked!! She said she focused on my Mickey earring… We asked another visit in the cup next to us to take our photo after we came to a stop.

After the tea party, we headed to Alice. WDW doesn’t have Alice and we found it to be a cute ride – Cheryl was really interested in the white roses, and red roses and the play on history and the “War of the Roses”. Hmmm never thought about it.

After our trip down the rabbit hole –we headed to Small World. I like how this is set back from the rest of Fantasyland and I love the outside of the building. I can’t wait to ride it in May at WDW after it opens again to compare it to DL. I also love the under the sea portion of the world with the turtles and mermaids (of course, I am slightly biased).

We headed to an old WDW friend – Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I remember this from when I was a kid. I liked the cars. Interesting to me that there are no character signings or anything else having to do with this movie anywhere else in the park.

Next - More Disneyland

BritDisFan · 03-10-2005, 01:03 PM

Great update ladies, I would love to visit DL one day.

Karen

**chezp** · 03-10-2005, 04:57 PM

Another great couple of updates - and some excellent photos too!

I love your approach to trying out the rides that are completely diferent to WDW. Would you recommend the Matterhorn to someone who can manage Test Track and BTMRR, but is too scared to go on Space Mountain?

Phoebe_Cates · 03-10-2005, 05:09 PM

You should be fine with the Matterhorn if you can handle both Test Track and BTMRR. You're basically "sliding" to the bottom, which shouldn't be a problem.