DISNEYLAND DAY 1 - AUGUST 10TH 2012

Finally, here is the first post about my trip to Disneyland with Greg!

Day 1, Friday: 1 day Park-Hopper tickets to DISNEYLAND & DISNEY CALIFORNIA ADVENTURE

About to pull into the parking structure...

We got there before a lot of other people did to our surprise. We were able to park in the Pinocchio parking lot as opposed to the parking structure. Yay!

We were able to go on a TON of rides in just one day because there was hardly anyone there. It was reportedly the hottest day of the year so everyone was most likely avoiding the heat. Not to mention everyone was probably over at DCA checking out the new stuff that just opened up there. In the first three hours of being there, we were able to get onto "Star Tours: The Adventures Continue", "Space Mountain", "Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters", the newly refurbished "Matterhorn Bobsleds"...

..."Alice In Wonderland", "Peter Pan's Flight", "Mr. Toad's Wild Ride", Pinocchio's Daring Journey", Snow White's Scary Adventures", "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad", "Pirates of the Caribbean", "The Haunted Mansion"...

..."Splash Mountain"...

(That's me in the back with my arms up and Greg is behind me)

..."The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh", and "Indiana Jones Adventure". Did I mention that we did that ALL in about 3 hours??? We both thought we'd be lucky to get less than half of that done at all! We even got on Star Tours again! It was awesome! We we're like, "What're we going to do now?" We decided  then to head over to DCA and check it out...

Buena Vista Street is BEAUTIFUL. This area received a much needed improvement. No more tacky stores! And for those of you who loved the giant sun "Hub-Cap" (pun intended), I'm sorry. It has been replaced with a re-creation of the Carthay Circle Theater. (The theater where the 1937 grand premiere of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was held)

Once there, we browsed the shops a bit. Then, we stopped to watch the Red Car Trolley Newsboys show in hopes to snag one of their newspapers, but they unfortunately didn't give any out. We saw some people walking around with them, so we were curious...

This street entertainment show is inspired by Newsies.

Guess who just arrived in town via the Red Car Trolley?

Any guesses?

It's MICKEY MOUSE!!!

The premise is that Mickey has just arrived in Hollywood, and is about to go to an audition. How will he do?  Will he be discovered? I guess we'll see...

Off to the audition. Good luck Mickey!

After this, we went to check out Cars land!

Cars Land is soooooo cool! It is literally like walking into the movies. It is very detailed and really feels like Radiator Springs. There is old time music playing everywhere and sometimes the cars are out greeting the guests.

(Sarge's Surplus Hut)

You can (kind of) see Mater and Lightning McQueen in front of Sally's Cozy Cone Motel. There were a LOT of people there... The cars are really cool! The're not just still, stiff and statue like. They move around and make noise and stuff. Almost like they're alive!

(Flo's V8 Cafe - Finest fuel on Route 66!)

At this point, we went to eat and to meet up with Greg's friends to register for Destination D the next day and also to check out the available D23 merchandise. After we were done, we headed back to Cars Land to try our luck at getting onto Radiator Springs Racers.

(Stanley's Oasis Water Tower)

The ride had broken down earlier that day because someone's hat had flown off and stopped one of the cars and messed up the sync of the whole ride, so it was down for a bit that day, but by the time we got in line, it was back up and running. The regular line was about 2 hours long, but luckily there was a single rider line. We got in that one so we would have the best chance of getting on the ride. (Plus it's a MUCH shorter wait!) We were in line for longer than anything else that day, but it wasn't two hours before we finally got on it thankfully.

I am not saying a word about this ride except it was absolutely amazing. Definitely top work from the Imagineers. It's like part dark ride, part thrill ride. I couldn't believe some of the stuff in there. It is one of my favorite rides in DCA. You will love it! Here's Greg's picture... (Mine disappeared before I could get a pic of it)

After this we decided to go on a few more things. We got on "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror", "Monsters Inc: Mike and Sulley to the Rescue" and "It's Tough to be a Bug".

(The Shirley Temple doll on the couch of the Hollywood Tower Hotel lobby)

(It's blurry, but there's me and Greg in the back on the left - Tower of Terror provides a great view of Cars Land by the way...)

That concludes day 1 of our trip. Day 2 and 3 are coming soon!

6 DAYS

I can not believe that it is only less than a week until the completion of the Disney California Adventure expansion is complete!!!

How did it change so drastically from this...

...to this???

Well, in celebration of the 78th birthday of that attitude ridden duck named Donald, and also of the 6th anniversary of the June 9th 2006 release of Disney*Pixar's "Cars" (and also in preparation for next week!!!), I thought I'd take you on a timeline detailing the spectacular multi-year expansion. Let's take a look!!!

On October 17th 2007, it was announced that the Disneyland Resort would undergo a 5-Year expansion.

On March 14th 2008, Disney California Adventure (I'll call it DCA) got a little more Disney-fied with the addition of the "Pixar Play Parade".

And on June 17th 2008, Paradise Pier saw the addition of the super-fun "Toy Story Midway Mania!"

On May 4th 2009, The Sun Wheel in Paradise Pier got a face lift, when the giant beaming face of Mickey Mouse replaced the creepy sun face. Also, the California Screamin' Mickey face was replaced with a giant Paradise Pier sign.

The new fireworks spectacular, "Magical" debuted on June 12th 2009.

On October 29th 2009, Blue Sky Cellar, the area that showcases the upcoming future of the resort, opened it's doors.

June 11th 2010 saw the debut of the beautiful and breathtaking nighttime water spectacular, "World of Color"...

...and June 12th 2009 saw the opening of "Silly Symphony Swings" (formerly the "Orange Stinger")

On October 8th 2010, Hollywood Pictures Backlot got "Derezzed" with the opening of "elecTRONica" in celebation of "Tron Legacy".

(It's blurry and hard to see, but there's me with my Flynn's Arcade tokens)

On May 27th 2011, "Mickey's Soundsational Parade" took to the streets of Disneyland park.

On June 3rd 2011 "Star Tours" got a major reboot when the 3-D "Star Tours: The Adventures Continue" moved into Tomorrowland.

and on the same day, the dark ride "The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure" opened in DCA.

On July 1st 2011, "Goofy's Sky School" moved in, and "Mulholland Madness" moved out.

July 15th 2011 was the first phase of the DCA entrance transformation. The new turnstiles were revealed, and the giant CALIFORNIA letters were removed. (I miss you soooo much "O")

On January 20th 2012, the original Disneyland Hotel opened after a major 2-year renovation.

On June 7th 2012, the new Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop opened in Downtown Disney.

And finally, on June 15th 2012, this Friday, it is all complete with the opening of Buena Vista Street and Cars Land!!!

 

Click Here to see a video with John Lasseter and Brent Mustburger introducing Cars Land. Also, I recommend watching this short DCA tribute video, and this 5 part TV special that aired in 2001 that showcases the original DCA. It stars Barry Bostwick, Richard Kind, Colin Mochrie, Brad Sherwood, Patrick Warburton, John Lasseter, Michael Eisner and Mickey Mouse! It is so hilarious because of the way they promote such a bland park.

Let's just say, June 15th will see a HUGE (and much needed) improvement.

WHO'S EXCITED!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?