Nrthwnd

: DCA To End Our First Day at DLR : But not before.....when we were having our meal at the Blue Bayou, we realized we'd still have 6+ hours to spend in the parks. Before our shuttle picked us up at 11:20. Knowing we couldn't last that long (the heat was getting to us all the time) we needed to change our pick up time. But without a phone, we headed immediately to where we knew we could get help: Customer Services in City Hall, right beside the Fire Hall at the front of Disneyland. And, it worked out great! We had the phone # of the shuttle service, so the Cast Member who helped us, just dialed up the number and we took care of the rest. We asked for a change to a 9:20 pick up, which made things a bit easier for us. THANK YOU Customer Services! And then we toured through DCA, riding a few of the flats, but not The Big Stuff. Those, we would ride the next day. And, we did! After getting an earlier shuttle pick up from Knott's, we headed into DCA. Big Bear. (DM) Even though it was hot all day, we didn't ride any water rides, including this one. That's the way to ride it! All hands up! Nope. If the falls didn't get us, this surely would. This was closed when I was last here, so I definitely wanted to check it out. (Pardon the blurry pix - hey, remember we're 'underwater', right?) Conga! The Non-Dole Whip Ariel. I have no idea what this is of. Ursula. The Near-Miss Kiss. The End. It was good. AND air-conditioned, too! Then we rode this. Nice and serene. Then this, in a Non-Swinging car. The steel netting over all windows put me off, of trying to get any photographs. But it didn't stop David from doing so. Water siphons for World of Color. (DM) What we'd just ridden before. (DM) Distance shot. (DM) I love this sign! We would get to both of these attractions the next day. G'night DL. Heading to the shuttle pick up spot. See ya tomorrow, DCA.

Here's the rumored "New Map for 2020" at the Studios, which includes the re-imagined "Route 66" Cars ride. Huh ~ there's no number on Crush's Coaster, there. Or the Stunt Show. And what the heck is #13? Could this be a sign of Fan Art? Hmmm.

Cool you got to see "something" up close.

It's Canada's Turkey Day! Gobble, gobble, eh?

Had one of these at the Race Track, yesterday. We were there for a charity event.

~ The Haunted Mansion Exhibit and A (Delayed A Bit) Blue Bayou Meal ~ After the Ears were bought and sewn up, we headed right next door to the Opera House. It not only has DL's classic "Moments With Mr. Lincoln" (he stands, he sits, he talks!), but it also contains changing exhibits and displays (and a pricy shop to buy Disney artworks and such). For most of last month and this month, they're showing an exhibit for the 50th Anniversary of The Haunted Mansion. So we wandered through there, taking photos where we were allowed to. After being there for awhile, it was time for our afternoon meal. A reservation made at the Blue Bayou Restaurant. We were advised to get there several minutes before our time, but when arrived there was a HUGE OMG CROWD in front on the entrance! We found out, there had just been an "alarm that went off" in the building, and they had to get everyone out, including all those poor people in the boats in the Pirates attraction. Eep. David overheard someone saying that "staff were in waders doing their job" guiding people out of the boats, and to the exits, safely. After several minutes of nobody outside knowing what to do, the staff started calling out names to get the first group (who were in there, before) back inside. Apparently a few people who didn't want to wait, left, and there turned out to be extra tables available, and then it went faster. In the end, we got our table only 20-25 minutes or so, after we arrived there. So although it was frustrating at first, the Cast Members were brilliant in handling everyone, and when everybody was back in the restaurant, it was like the incident never happened. THANK YOU to all the Cast Members involved! Our meal was a good one. I had the famed Monte Cristo Sandwich, while David had the Jambalaya. We shared a Golden Beet Salad to start. We also had non-alky drinks with "glow cubes" in them, and all refillable too. We skipped dessert (a lot of good food). When the bill came, I can honestly say "We Had A $100 Meal". That's what it cost us and it was worth it! After the meal, we decided to head right over to DCA for the last hours of our first day in DLR. But not before taking care of something, we both agreed on. In the Lincoln Attraction, this 1955 era map of the park. But I felt it was missing something... ...This. On my 1962 map of the park, Walt and his message are right there under the map's title. Retro pic I found, of the HM before the back show building was built, 1963. And Pirates is seen there, top of the pic, being built for it's 1967 opening. Many drawings and artwork for the Mansion. Pre- and Post-Opening. A bit busy, but I still liked it. I really liked this one. The Classic Room. Other films' artwork for sale. And Statues-A-Plenty! These were gorgeous! I left the photo full size so you can see them better,. We stop by the Fire Hall and I nod my THANKS to Walt and all that he's given us. Inside the Emporium. I'm making Pinocchio dance. Sort of. (DM) Really, David? (DM) Very very tempting here. David especially liked this one. We should have bought one and eaten Heimlich! (DM) When we arrived at the BB for our meal, this is what we should have seen. With a few guests in front. (2016) But this is what we waited with, instead. Once they brought people back in, it all moved fast. Just like in Japan! (o: Like nothing happened. Our starter. We love Golden Beets in ANY salad! ...With lovely Rosemary bread to enjoy. David had the Lemonade, I had the Mint Julep. With the Cubes. Both were refreshing. (o; Sweet! And Bright! With refills, too! David had Jam. I had Monte. Both were great, although David found his Jambalaya a bit "rice-heavy." But he ate it all up. After the meal, we headed over to DCA for a few+ hours' visit. But first, we had to immediately take care of something. (To Be Continued) I asked and they posed.

And for one more posting about this, for now, here's several of the "Groups of Ears (and Non)" I put these 20+ pairs of mine, into... Ears (and non-Ears) with Celebration #s on them. In back is DL"s 50th and 25th. In front is Tokyo Disney's 30th on a Cap; Disney Paris' 15th on ears and a Cap. 3 Non-Ears: Grizzly Gulch HKDL; Pirate Cap TDL; Captain Nemo Cap TDS. Before Mouse Ears were eventually sold at Tokyo Disney Resort, you could only buy headbands and larger caps/hats. These three headbands are 2007, 2011 and 2013 buys. Four colored felt Ears, with thin front brims. Three Simple Black Ones: Paris; Orlando; Hong Kong.

^ Yes we did buy it, And all we (both) got out of it, was the waffles taste. And for Halloween, I just posted it as a Scary Taffy Flavor, ha ha hah. And the Maple-Bacon ones weren't much better, either. IOhO. But the Orange-Vanilla; Strawberry; and (duh) the Boysenberry ones were HITS! And we truly did have quite a few taffys, to choose from, too. Sept.07/19.

^ Yep, they still do it, although obviously more in keeping with New Tech, etc. Here's what they used to do, with a much smaller sewing machine, a good eye, and two good hands.... My first, original pair of DL Ears...1963! My very first visit, at 10 years old. And how they sewed my name, by hand. (o:

THIS, is Knott's Scary Farm! I mean really? .....Really???

^ Actually, that's a lot of caps I've gotten, since my first visit in 1963! And this includes all the Disney Parks World Wide, except DLShanghai. Nonetheless, it's a a lot of Ears, and I try and appreciate all that I have gained, or have been gifted, to me. Actually, I am planning to wear The New Ears to an upcoming Patrons Luncheon (tomorrow) being given by a fave organization of mine. A Loving Spoonful. They provide hot nourishing meals to those who can't cook for them self, especially HIV and AIDS patients. Been a contributing fan of theirs for years and years. The complete mess of them.

^ & ^^ Thanks for your responses. I appreciate them. Unfortunately ^ the rail trip did not go as expected, heading home. It was "Detoured" to put it lightly. Which will be explained when I get near The End of The Trip. Which made it in hindsight, great that I took so many photos of that part of the ride, as well as David, heading down to Los Angeles from Santa Barbara. Still great stuff to come!... Where the New Ears go. Top Centre. Right beside (left) 2016's Pair.

^ Man, I'm glad Bert and I visited CP (both our first time) during the early June 2017 CoasterMANIA! weekend. Which made for much cheaper Fast Lane Passes.

^ ....And then there's "Piglet's Tell-Tale Heart".... Boom-ba-boom - Boom-ba-boom...

^ So true. We still had our meal at the Blue Bayou to enjoy this first day, and it wasn't even mid-day yet. But it kept getting warmer and warmer, that we started to retreat to Main Street, weaving in and out of the shops that were gloriously air conditioned! And by the time we reached the front of the park, through Main Street, I once again "found my Ears", where I had gotten my previous pair three years ago! After our Whip, we started to head towards Mark Twain for a ride. But then, Big Thunder just re-opened after being closed down for awhile. So I grabbed David, we changed direction and had a great ride on the Mountain, with the new explosion effects happening. Always a great ride on BTM. Fuzzy Toad. And was it just us, or was the inside lighting of the ride a bit.....fuzzy, too? As in Very Low Lighting. Or more like Hardly Any Lighting At - All? And not just Toad, too. Just passing by. We'll ride with you again, later Alice. I like this Castle shot I took. The Bling Shop on Main Street! Beautiful things to look at. Yes, that's $15,000 U.S. for the complete gang. David got some great shots of this glassware in the same shop. (DM) (DM) (DM) (DM) I loved all the theming around the various shops. This was in the Pins Shop. And Ms.Mouse had a wall full of merch dedicated to her. Where we headed next. Photo by Disney. Guess what's being sewn on my Ears? It's amazing to remember, that this used to be all done by hand (and a smaller sewing machine) in the earlier DL days. Ta Daaah! I probably should have gotten plain white thread, but I liked the rainbow style. In keeping with the cap itself. (To Be Continued)

After Black Spire...It's All About Attractions.....and The Whip! So after our brief look around Black Spire Outpost, we headed back into Fantasyland, started with The Matterhorn (right side only, as left side still had the fallen mountain piece to fix up), and being the right side, it was an easy ride for David w/o too much roughness in it, which was great! And seeing that Monster again....mmmm just toothy awesome! After the Swiss Mountain Ride, we immediately went to my fave dark ride in FL...Alice In Wonderland. It's got so much going for it, from the tunnel entrance, the great lit scenes, to the split level circuit, to the exit up above, and slowly descending into...an Un-Birthday Party! And The Best Ride Vehicles to ride in a Disney attraction! And it's a one-of-its-kind attraction too. Great ride. And then we got over to Toontown and a ride in Twin Bennies' Cartoon Spin. Still fun after all these years. I was going to take a shot of the Gag Shop that will soon become the queue for M&Ms Runaway Railway (the El Capitoon Theater?). But I forgot to. Getting warm here. Guess I was forgetting. Hmmm... Then back into the rest of the park, and riding in this order, the Submarine ride, the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Star Tours ride. And then after that?.... Time For DOLE WHIP! And in a brand new location too, one that a lot of guests forgot about, when queueing up at the told Tiki Tiki Room Dole Whip Bar. Maybe it's the feeling of actually experiencing buying a Whip at the Original Place it was/is sold at. Nonetheless, going around the corner to the brand new Tropical Hideaway, would bring instant gratification in the form of SEVERAL DOLE WHIP FLAVORS. It did for one couple who we saw give up, in the long queue, and we directed them to Hideaway, and in our queue for The Jungle Cruise (ride #2), we saw them coming out with a GI-Normous amount of Whip! We smiled, knowing we had done a good Disneyland Deed for the day. Back to FantasyLand we go.... ...For a Right-side ride on this. Still hate the new "sleds" though. My knees hurt, after each ride. Onward To Alice! Love the whole thing, ride vehicles, and all. And a cheshire cat hiding out in there....somewhere...... We hit Toontown for Cartoon Spin. Take in The Mouse' House. And the Ms. House as well. Look but do not ride. Is the natural. actually taking over the ......uh...fantasy? Bridge shot. Queueing up for an "underwater adventure"....with Ellen & Co! omg.....that's Darla, right?.......RIGHT???.....??? Nasty little girl. (DM) Then we get Buzzed. And Etch-A is offline. )o: And eventually "Toured" somewhere. David survived all of it. And yes, this man with another person, is going the wrong way in our queue. "Somebody" had second thoughts. Or a bathroom break was needed. (o: Out of this stuff... .....and into a more "tropical" atmosphere. But we didn't climb this at - all. Time for a SNACK, nom nom nom. Watching our 'skewers' protein grilling up. We had one chicken and one pork. And an AMAZiNG SLUSHY drink we couldn't get anywhere else, except re-queueing just for the non-alky cocktail! Yes, it was GOOD! We kept pining for it, when we were in the Hideaway, which is in visual range of the Bengal BBQ. Boo hoo. Where we took our Tropical Slushie and BBQ - back over to Hideaway, where..... ...Was the much "chirped about" Rosita (in Tiki Tiki Room show). She did quite a bit of a show, herself. Was fun to watch and hear her. Guess what this place serves? Several Flavors in fact, and many, many swirls possible. Yes! One of the two times we hit the place. This was hit #2. (o: Is this a lost flip? Or a lost flop? Discuss. My customary shot with...whats-his-name? Been posing with this guy since I was 10 years old. (DM) (To Be Continued)

^ "Quote The Eeyore, 'Never More'".....?

The New "Land" - Black Spire Outpost Before we headed into the back of the park, I took David on (the totally blah version of) Winnie The Pooh in Critter Country. And of course, he totally agreed with me, that after riding the one in Tokyo Disneyland, this version..... well, yeah.....meh. After that we took the big wide path into the unknown that is Star Wars Country. I wanted to first enter it this way, walking past "The Ride That Is Not Open Yet", and just taking in the expanse that this area covers. It was wonderful! I couldn't believe how open and (to us) spacious this new area was. And although the sun was out and hot as ever, we didn't mind it as much as before when we first arrived at Knott's. But we still needed to hydrate ourselves, so our bring along water bottle kept getting refilled where needed. And we liked the way that they had a bottle filler spout above the water fountains! Excellent idea! We didn't plan to do Smuggler's Run just yet. This was just a walk through of the area, checking everything out, etc. We did get a Blue Milk (it was okay, no big deal) and a Ronto Wrap at Ronto Roaster's, since we skipped breakfast. The Wrap was so good to us, we had another one in another visit. We did want to try the Green Milk, but never got around to it. And after a (breath taking) look at the Millenium Falcon all parked and ready to be ridden, we headed back out, to other parts of Disneyland...and a bit of DCA, eventually. It's just in the distance, there. The "Attraction That Is Not Open Yet" queue entrance. Lots of stuff to look at. David's shot of me heading towards the Outpost. (DM) Just up ahead there. It's really something to take in, all around you. And more spacious walkways than in DL, itself. Now what idiot takes a photo of Blue Milk? (DM) I did. This, we'll visit later on in the week. Ronto Roaster's menu. (DM) The Wrap was good, as was the Meiloorun Juice. The closest we got to the Falcon. Then we headed out to other parts of Disneyland. (To be continued)

Our First Day at Disneyland Resort! The "original plan" was to hit Disneyland in the morning at opening. Then head over to New Orleans Square and work back to Adventureland from there. We took the 7:20am shuttle from Knott's to the unload area. Then proceeded through the bag check/security area, and we were in the park at just a few minutes after opening time, 8am. From there, it was a quick walk up Main Street, hang a left, head to the Haunted Mansion first. It was great seeing the original overlay of this classic attraction, now 50 years old! There was a museum type display for this classic, up at the Main Street Opera House (which houses the Lincoln attraction as well), but we'd take that in later. Then we did Pirates, another literal walk on that early in the morning (not even 9am yet). Unfortunately, neither David or I could take any good un-unfocused photos. And I was so hoping to snap a pic of "the new Red Head" in the attraction. We also rode this a second time later on in the visits. But our photography skills were just as bad then as they were now. And - we got WET! Both hills brought water over the sides of our "boat" surprising everyone on board. Not happened before, so with that, we decided NOT to do Splash Mountain for the same reason. Possible wetness, lol. After Pirates we took a (of two we took) ride on the Jungle Cruise, with a great 'skipper' at the wheel. She did all the jokes, and personalized them really well. Of the two times we did this, she was the best. Then it was time for a run on Indy Jones. And that to us, was rougher than we remember it before. Maybe it's our age and bones, but the twists and banked turns sure felt over done, for us anyway. Still enjoyable, but rough to us, after all those years. I rode it again, on my own later on, and it still felt the same. And after all that, it was time to head into the new part of DL - Galaxy's Edge / Battu / Star Wars Land... Bag/security check at 8am. And we're in! We decided we'd definitely ride the Mark Twain later on. But first...the happy staff awaits our arrival at the Mansion. Juts love it, inside and out. My little Hero. It all starts here - photos taken in this attraction weren't that great. Actually, the new Gingerbread House looks good, what we can see here. The Halloween Tree. Sssssso whatssss new? Love the pumpkin quartet. And Oogie Boogie spins our wheel! Passing by our afternoon meal stop (Blue Bayou) on the Pirates attraction. Fuzzy pirates. Fuzzy booty. The big ship still packs a (cannon) punch. Well, at least we can see she's got a different outfit on. Cruise #1 You lookin' at me? Lunch time. Those without Fast Passes look on. How long have they been hanging on, there? Tribal Rave. Here's Indy! Another walk on for us. But once was enough for David. And we skipped this one. My 2016 memory of being "splashed" before the buzz buzz segment made this decision easy. (To be continued)

I already love the title!

^ That's good. They probably had too many complaints about the really FAST STOP it would do, and many howls of protest, did occur. (2008) Larry REALLY wanting to get off. And Brian, checking to see that everything's "still there."

Many, MANY GUYS would agree on that, for sure, lol! (Yay, Movie Park Germany's one)

^ Wouldn't it be funny (ha ha) if La Ronde actually gets it right with this, like how to run it, load it, right? Like at Grona Lund, with INSANE? (Based on 2009 and 2014 visits.)

I need to put Circus Circus on my Bucket List! Having been on an original El Loco over in the UK, I really want to experience this custom model. Not to mention, a lot of the other rides to ride, while there. Good reports on everything you visited. And great photos too!

Great looking zoo. And yay for Skyrides! And great shots of Wildfire, too, Chuck. But - kind of sad to see only one front seat filled, in a couple of your photos of it.