Showing posts with label Disney California Adventure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney California Adventure. Show all posts

Saturday, August 25, 2012

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!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

40 YEARS AGO - THE MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Disneyland proudly presents our spectacular festival pageant of nighttime magic and imagination in thousands of sparkling lights and electro-synthe-magnetic musical sounds. The Main Street Electrical Parade!"

40 years ago today, the most spectacular and popular parade of Disneyland ever, the "Main Street Electrical Parade" debuted.


According to D23's official website...

"It was a day of deep tension and nerves for those involved in the premiere of Disneyland’s Main Street Electrical Parade, because just two weeks earlier the parade was on the fritz. Disney engaged a company in Chicago to build the floats and most were not complete, and work on some hadn’t even begun! Disneyland’s Vice President of Entertainment Bob Jani and Director of Show Development Ron Miziker decided to have all the units shipped to California in pieces where a second set of electricians and technicians would try to make them all work. Everything was down to “the wire” but when the gates opened for the big premiere, it was all ready, and it was electrifying. As for the now trademark theme song, Jani originally suggested that music from Fantasia should accompany the new parade of lights, but it was Producer Jack Wagner who felt that it should be something electronic rather than orchestral. Within 48 hours Wagner discovered Baroque Hoedown on the record album Spotlight on the Moog: Kaleidoscopic Vibrations by Jean Jacques Perrey and Gershon Kingsley, and for the next 37 years, that song has accompanied the various versions of the Electrical Parade at Disney theme parks around the world and it’s still glowing strong!"


This parade was the inspiration of Robert Jani, who was Disneyland's director of entertainment for may years. the floats were designed by Disney Legend Bill Justice.

According to Wikipedia, here is a complete list of the parade floats...

Units
  • Blue Fairy
  • Casey Jr. Circus Engine
  • Alice in Wonderland
  • Cinderella
  • Peter Pan (1985–1996)
  • Dumbo's Circus
    • Hippo and King Leonidas Calliope
    • Four Ring Circus with Dumbo and Clown (split into two parts)
    • Bear Balancing on Barrels
    • Elephant Bathing
  • Briny Deep/Pinocchio Underwater (1977–Spring '83)
  • Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1985–1996)
    • Dopey's Mine Train with Dopey, Snow White, Doc, Grumpy, and Sneezy
    • Dwarf Mine with Happy, Sleepy, and Bashful
  • Pinocchio on Pleasure Island (1985–1996)
    • Funhouse Face and Pleasure Island Part 1
    • Pleasure Island Part 2 w/ Pinocchio and Lampwick.
  • Sleeping Beauty Dragon (1972) (later changed to Chinese Dragon)
  • Pete's Dragon (1977–1996, replaced Chinese Dragon)
  • Return To Oz (1985)
  • Disneyland's 25th Anniversary (1980) (replica of Sleeping Beauty Castle)
  • Mickey Mouse's 60th Anniversary (1988)
  • It's a Small World (1972–1988)
  • Disneyland's 35th Anniversary (1990) (logo float)
  • To Honor America (1979–1996
  • Disney Neon Finale (1977–1978) with a series of rotating mirrors and adorned with various neon-lit Disney characters. These include:
    • Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore
    • Peter Pan, Captain Hook and Mr. Smee
    • Bambi, Thumper and Flower
    • Bernard, Bianca and Orville
  • Fox and the Hound (1981)


It was sponsored by Energizer (1972-1985) and General Electric (1985-1996).

It ended on November 25th 1996. Click Here to watch a video of the parade that was shot "the year that it 'glowed' away". 


In 2001, a new reincarnation of this beloved parade was brought back in the form of "Disney's Electrical Parade" at Disney's California Adventure. That closed in 2010. (And hopefully they bring it back soon! I would like to see it for once!!!)

Saturday, June 16, 2012

CARS LAND OPENING



Hey! If you missed the opening ceremony video of yesterday's opening of Cars Land (like me!) Here it is...

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

ONE LAST PEEK



Here is the last peek of Cars Land and Buena Vista Street I have for you before it all opens up this Friday.  I will be at Priesthood In Excellence for the rest of this week, so I won't be able to post about the opening day stuff on opening day as it is released (unfortunately). But on Friday, go to the Disney Parks Blog and watch a live streaming broadcast of the opening day festivities.

Click Here to see the video peek...


Friday, June 1, 2012

DISNEYLAND 2002 - DAY 3

Here are the rest of the pictures from our 2002 trip to Disneyland. It's hard to know exactly what order they were all taken in, so I am simply going to post them in whatever order I please!!! Here they are...

Heidi took me on the Haunted Mansion. Here I am in front of the pet cemetery. I had my eyes closed the entire time, and I was forever scarred!!!!!
Just kidding. I was only mildly scarred. I LOVE it now.

Here we are in Snow White's Grotto, home of Snow White's Wishing Well...


"I'm Wishing..."

Here we are in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room... Moments before Amy spilled her Pineapple Dole Whip...

Here we are at the American Space Experience in Tomorrowland. This space is now the fastpass area for Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.


This was back when I was really into astronomy and I really wanted to be an astronaut. One of the coolest things from this NASA exhibit was an actual moon rock on display in a case. I wish I got a picture of that.





"I've got no strings..."



Geppetto!!!


Here we are at Pooh Corner...




And now, here are our pictures from the early days of Disney's California Adventure...







Mom and Dad got to ride California Screamin' with Minnie Mouse! :)

"5-4-3-2-1"


Bar none, one of the best rides in the park.

I really wish that the giant CALIFORNIA letters were still at the park somewhere...

They were recently donated to the Friends of the California State Fair. Read the story Here.


2002

2010

I hope you enjoyed looking back at this trip. (I miss you "O"!!!)

:)