When Can We Do This Again? A TCD Disneyland Double Dip

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We were able to book the Park Vue for our trip next spring. Great tip, thanks!

 

Awesome.  I hope that you like it.  It's old, but in decent shape, but the main advantage it has is that it is literally right across the street from Disneyland.  No buses.  No parking lots and trams.  An easy five minute walk to the park entrances. That makes it the best place to stay as far as I'm concerned.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow.

 

The end of this trip report snuck up on me.

 

This is it.

 

The last of the Disneyland photos.

 

I do have some bonus photos from a quick Black Friday visit to WDW which I'll share.

 

But this is it for Disneyland.

 

It is Saturday afternoon, November 14.

 

We just watched the Christmas parade.  During which we received a text from Twin #1 telling us that now would be a good time to try to catch her driving the boat at Jingle Cruise.  Twin #2 was included in that text, and she said she would meet us at Jingle Cruise so we could all ride together on Twin #1's boat again.

 

We went, and arrived just as Twin #1 was pulling up.  Twin #2 wasn't there yet.  I quickly texted her, and she told us to go ahead.  So, she missed the second ride.

 

The second ride was as good as the first.

 

I took a couple of photos of the Disneyland version of Jingle Cruise so I could compare them to the WDW version which we saw earlier in this report.

 

For example, this is the Disneyland lion family:

 

 

And this is Disney World's- a lot less decorating (in fact- there isn't any) :

 

 

This is Disneyland's scene with the explorers on the pole:

 

 

 

This is Disney World's:

 

 

Do you see how much more decorating they did at Disneyland?

 

It's that way throughout the ride.

 

Once again, Disney World took the cheap way out.

 

Sigh.

 

Why can't we have nice things too?

 

I don't know what the deal is with Disneyland's back side of water- it's not as good as ours:

 

 

The piranha-ka jokes make more sense in Disneyland, since they have piranha on their ride:

 

 

After Jingle Cruise, it was time to check one more thing off of our to do list- the monorail.  We all rode this exactly once when we were here last year.  The twins haven't ridden it again.  There's not a good reason to.  It just goes in a loop, and the cars are not air conditioned.  Until recently, it had been really hot out in California.  The twins told me that there were days that they didn't run the monorail because of the heat.

 

But we rode it today.  This is the view of the Matterhorn from the monorail station- those people you see at the base of the mountain are in line- it wrapped all the way around the mountain.  And they don't offer FP for this ride.  It was a lot busier than when we were here last year, and we ended up only riding it once on this trip:

 

 

After leaving Tomorrowland, the monorail travels for a bit along Harbor Blvd.  Which isn't very attractive.  In this photo, you can see the sign for the IHOP that bordered our hotel on the far right:

 

 

This is the road in front of the Grand Californian, and that bridge is the walkway for Downtown Disney:

 

 

Now we're looking at the walkway through Downtown Disney:

 

 

The monorail does stop here in Downtown Disney, and you can exit here if you wish.  Passengers can also board here, but you have to have admission to Disneyland, as the next stop is the stop in Tomorrowland.  You can't just hop on the monorail for a ride like folks do at WDW.

 

Now we're passing the entrance to Disneyland:

 

 

And here we are returning to the station.  We cruised above the Finding Nemo Submarines, and past the Matterhorn:

 

 

We were going to ride the subs, but the line was long, and Twin #2 and I told my oldest DD it wasn't worth it.

 

Plus, we needed to get back to the Small World area so we could visit Toontown and then catch a performance of Mickey and the Magical Map.

 

I made the oldest DD ride the Roger Rabbit ride.  She didn't want to, and I certainly didn't either. Twin #2 refused.  But, she needed to experience this fiasco.  And she did. It wasn't as bad as remembered, but it's also something that I don't care to ever ride again.

 

I honestly thought that Disney's Toontown was going to be leveled to make space for their Star Wars Land.  But, instead, they're going to level Big Thunder Ranch.  That doesn't make sense to me, but it's their park, and I'm sure that they have their reasons.  I think Toontown looks old and cheap:

 

 

We had been going for a while, and hadn't really had lunch.  We needed some kind of a decent snack, as we were going to have dinner with Twin #1 later when she got off of work. It was super crowded back here, and Toontown just had a hot dog stand, and popcorn and ice cream.  Twin #2 suggested that we try a little place located off to the side of the Mickey and the Magical Map theater.

 

We tried this little place, and the menu was awesome- they had bratwursts, pretzel bites, and baked potatoes. An odd combo. But, two of us went for the sour cream and bacon stuffed baked potatoes.  We also got an order of the pretzel bites.  Everything was great, and the seating area for the restaurant was nice and quiet and peaceful, unlike the rest of the park that day.  If you ever visit Disneyland, here's a link to that little restaurant's menu.  I recommend it as a nice, quiet, peaceful, place for a light meal or snack:  https://disneyland.disney.go.com/dining/disneyland/troubadour-tavern/menus/

 

Then we saw Mickey and the Magical Map.  What a great show.  Make sure to catch it if you ever visit Disneyland. Like I've been saying about all the live shows ,the talent level, staging, sets, lighting, and sound are all way, way better than what we get at WDW.

 

We headed out past the Small World ride after the show- its looks so nice at night during the holidays:

 

 

The next ting we planned to do was look for a spot for the first Paint the Night parade.  We met up with Twin #1, who was now off of work, and we surveyed the area around the hub.  It was way busier than we expected it to be tonight, and we decided that we would ride rides during the first parade, then get dinner, then see the fireworks, and the watch the second parade.

 

Twin #2 had to head off for work, and she decided now would be a good time to say goodbye.  We got one of our only group shots of the this trip then:

 

 

The girls wanted to go back and ride Small World now that it was dark.  It's cool to ride when it's all lit up.  Your boats take you right up to all the lights:

 

 

 

We got to see the clock strike 8-which is neat to see.  Something like this happens on a smaller scale at WDW, but I think most guests don't notice it, because you need to be in the queue to see it, and it's not as elaborate as it is here:

 

 

 

Next, it was corndog time.  The line at the Little Red Wagon was bad, so Twin #1 took us to a place called the Stage Door Café in Frontierland.  They have corndogs there too, and after you order, you can take your corndogs inside their Golden Horseshoe, and enjoy the live entertainment they have in there.  Yes, I said live entertainment. Music and corny jokes and skits.  Good stuff.

 

Then it was shopping time.  Twin #1 took her big sister on a shopping spree with her 40% CM holiday discount.  Disney merchandise becomes reasonably priced when you only have to pay 60% of the price tag.

 

We popped out of the stores in time to catch a spot on Main Street for the fireworks and then for the second performance of Paint the Night.  The parades at Disneyland are funny- if there are two performances, then the first one comes down Main Street, and the second one goes up the street, toward the castle. They have to do this, because there's no place backstage where they can move the parade into position to have it go the same direction twice.

 

Here we are with our light-up paintbrushes. These are a fun item, and are not sold in Disney World.  In Disney World, they sell something that looks like a magic wand.  In Disneyland, they're paint brushes.  You can control other people's light up stuff with it:

 

 

And here comes the parade from the other direction:

 

 

 

 

These spinning jellyfish marched with the Ariel float:

 

 

The Toy Story float is cool:

 

 

And, the Frozen float is also cool, but that doesn't mean I have to like it:

 

 

This is the last photo I have from this trip:

 

 

I like how you can see the Christmas Tree in the background.

 

After this, we spent some time in a place where I wanted to go, but my oldest wasn't too thrilled about- Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln.  It's cool to me, because this is an attraction that Walt really wanted to have here.  There are a lot of cool displays of memorabilia and artifacts in the entryway for the attraction. 

 

Then it was midnight and we had to go.

 

We had early flights set for Sunday morning.  My daughter had to work on Monday, and with the time change, the flights home take a long time.  So we headed out early.  Next time, I want to fly home on a redeye, because then we could have some park time on that last day.

 

Overall, this was another successful trip.

 

We were back home November 15, which is a few weeks ago now.  At the time, I though there might be one more trip out to California before the girls come home. but we are running out of time, and the parks are super busy, and they have a lot more blackout days for their Main Gate passes.  So, another trip is not looking likely.

 

So, there's not going to be a triple dip.

 

And, that's all I have for you from Disneyland.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

TCD

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Once again, you have me wanting to go to Disneyland. I am plannning a trip for my wife 40th birthday in two years and I suggested DL, but she wants to go back to WDW. I told her in July the weather is better in CA, but to no avail.

Thanks again for another great report and Merry Christmas!

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

Thanks for sharing!!  It'll tide me over till we get to DW in 3 days :)

 

So, there's not going to be a triple dip.

 

And, that's all I have for you from Disneyland.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

TCD

[BigTom 76]

Excellent report, really enjoyed it.

[dvccamper 32]

You've included a lot of great details in your report that I'm going to take note of, especially the places to eat.

I am looking at these pictures on my phone so it's hard to tell, but are the lights on Small World holiday lights? Or is it always lit up like that? It's beautiful!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

So sad to see this report over!

 

Please tell us more about the light-up paintbrushes.  Exactly what can you do with them?

[Seals 111]

Thanks for the great trip report. Colored lights and IASW are two of my favorite things so the combination looks amazing. It's on my bucket list. Park Vue Inn with the bunk beds looks like it would be perfect for us (assuming the bunk beds are full length?).  

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Great report!

I meant lights inside IASW. No one would miss the original, right?

Will your oldest be coming to WDW more frequently?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Once again, you have me wanting to go to Disneyland. I am plannning a trip for my wife 40th birthday in two years and I suggested DL, but she wants to go back to WDW. I told her in July the weather is better in CA, but to no avail.

Thanks again for another great report and Merry Christmas!

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

If you can find reasonable airfare, you need to put your foot down about Disneyland.

 

Until last year, I had never gone, and didn't particularly care, because I didn't think I was missing anything.

 

But, there's a lot to like there.  Your kids are the perfect age for some unique things they have at Disneyland- Cars Land, Bugs Land, even Toontown.

 

The thing you need to see to believe is how much there is to do in those two parks.  It's really nice to not have to bounce around four parks and deal with the related transportation issues to see everything there is to see.  And the shows and food are better.

 

What they don't have there is space or the luxury of the immersive feeling you get at WDW.  And, while I like to save a buck, the off-site hotels just aren't as nice as what you might be used to at WDW.

 

But, I stand by my opinion that every Disney fan needs to see the original park.

 

Thanks for sharing!!  It'll tide me over till we get to DW in 3 days :)

 

Three days? Lucky!  Have a great time!

 

We are finally getting some cool weather here.

 

Excellent report, really enjoyed it.

 

Thanks.  Glad you liked it.

 

 

You've included a lot of great details in your report that I'm going to take note of, especially the places to eat.

I am looking at these pictures on my phone so it's hard to tell, but are the lights on Small World holiday lights? Or is it always lit up like that? It's beautiful!

 

Yes, those lights are only there for the holidays. They started right around the time we got there, and will end in January when the decorations come down.  The rest of the year, the exterior is solid white, with white lights.

 

So sad to see this report over!

 

Please tell us more about the light-up paintbrushes.  Exactly what can you do with them?

 

Those paintbrushes are part of that Glow with the Show^TM  thing (which I believe has a new name).  You know- those expensive light up Mickey ears?  The paintbrushes have buttons on them that let you pick what color they will glow, and then there's another button that you can push while pointing the paintbrush at someone's light up mouse ears, and you can change the color on them.

 

My understanding is that in Hong Kong, where Paint the Night originated, guests could change the colors of lights on the floats with those paintbrushes, but they don't trust Americans with that power.

 

There is a part of the parade where Goofy, Donald and Minnie are riding on big light up balls, and they have giant light-up paintbrushes.  I think they can change the Glow with the Show stuff with that.

 

Thanks for the great trip report. Colored lights and IASW are two of my favorite things so the combination looks amazing. It's on my bucket list. Park Vue Inn with the bunk beds looks like it would be perfect for us (assuming the bunk beds are full length?).  

 

My oldest daughter slept in the bottom bunk with no problem.  She's probably only about 5' 4" tall though.  They might be a little short for anyone close to 6'.

 

Great report!

I meant lights inside IASW. No one would miss the original, right?

Will your oldest be coming to WDW more frequently?

 

Oh- putting the lights inside Small World? That would be awesome.  But, could you imagine the lines?

 

We thought with her move to Miami that my oldest would be able to go to WDW more often, but it hasn't worked out that way.  The drive is a bit long for a day trip (about 4 hours), and her job has been a lot more work than she expected.  At least it was in the fall.  Supposedly, things are supposed to let up in the spring, but she doesn't believe that.

 

But, once the twins get back in the state, I'm sure there will be some weekend trips planned (hopefully at the Fort), and that should hopefully give her the opportunity to visit WDW more often.  Her pass is up for renewal in a couple of weeks, and we just discussed whether she thought we should renew it.  We're going to.  So, hopefully it will work out for her in 2016.

 

TCD

[sherryberry 35]

 

Hmmm.

 

I don't recall us having Santa's helpers like this at the WDW parade:

 

 

It's good to be Santa.

LOL.

  Next time, I want to fly home on a redeye, because then we could have some park time on that last day.

That worked out pretty good for us - we had an entire day at the parks before heading to the airport. We dropped our luggage at the front desk at Grand Californian and played all day. I think our shuttle picked us up around 8:00 pm. To be honest, I would have loved to go to bed that night instead of heading to the airport, but we did save money by not booking a room that night. You could totally do this because you obviously have much more energy than me. I don't know how you go all day, the way you do!

Thanks for taking the time to do this trip report. It feels like such a long time since we were out there. I'm dying to go back. I think every Disney fan should visit that park at least once!

[sherryberry 35]

Dang it! Every time I post, it's double! At least that will get my post count up!

[lightbikes 73]

Thanks TCD - this is a great report about Disneyland.  The Paint the Night brushes sound wonderful.  It would be nice if WDW would do something like that but they never seem to go for the creative things, just the quick and cheaper version.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

LOL. That worked out pretty good for us - we had an entire day at the parks before heading to the airport. We dropped our luggage at the front desk at Grand Californian and played all day. I think our shuttle picked us up around 8:00 pm. To be honest, I would have loved to go to bed that night instead of heading to the airport, but we did save money by not booking a room that night. You could totally do this because you obviously have much more energy than me. I don't know how you go all day, the way you do! Thanks for taking the time to do this trip report. It feels like such a long time since we were out there. I'm dying to go back. I think every Disney fan should visit that park at least once!

 

We flew back on a redeye after our first trip last year, and I flew back on one in August after I helped the twins drive out to California.  Having that last full day in Disneyland is great.  In theory, you can sleep on the flight back.  But, I haven't had a lot of luck with that, and I was not only whipped and useless on the day I got back, but the next day too.  It's an easier adjustment to get back home at a decent hour, go to bed on time, and then get on with it.

 

You should make plans to go back.  Even after three trips in twelve months with park time, I'd go back again.  There's a lot to do and see there.  I enjoyed my subsequent visits because now I feel like I know where things are and what is worth doing and what is better to skip (Roger Rabbit).

 

Thanks TCD - this is a great report about Disneyland.  The Paint the Night brushes sound wonderful.  It would be nice if WDW would do something like that but they never seem to go for the creative things, just the quick and cheaper version.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

The paintbrushes are a fun toy, but they're ridiculously expensive.  With the CM discount, they were $15, which was OK.

 

It looks like the new name for Glow with the Show is Made with Magic, and the Disney Parks Blog just posted an article about it being introduced in Epcot (which is strange, because I thought they wanted people to wear those light up ears at Illuminations).

 

Here's a link to the article:http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/12/video-welcoming-made-with-magic-to-world-showcase-in-epcot-at-walt-disney-world-resort/

 

And here's a photo showing the lame magic wands we have at WDW instead of paintbrushes:

 

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm sad the trip report is over but maybe I can get the song out of my head now lol

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm sad the trip report is over but maybe I can get the song out of my head now lol

 

I know what you mean.

 

But, my crazy kids have all the Disneyland songs on the playlists they listen to in their cars.  I know I heard the Paint the Night and Trolley Car soundtracks many times on the drive out to California.

 

I'm going to ask them to make me one when they get back.  I'd like to listen to Disneyland music every now and then.

 

TCD

[PrincessE'sMama 6]

Thanks for letting us join in on your trip to Disneyland.  After 3 trips to WDW (2 to the fort!) this year, we are heading to Disneyland at the end of January.  I am excited for the trip and feel more knowledgeable about the park after reading this. 

Happy Holidays!

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

If you can find reasonable airfare, you need to put your foot down about Disneyland.

 

Until last year, I had never gone, and didn't particularly care, because I didn't think I was missing anything.

 

But, there's a lot to like there.  Your kids are the perfect age for some unique things they have at Disneyland- Cars Land, Bugs Land, even Toontown.

 

The thing you need to see to believe is how much there is to do in those two parks.  It's really nice to not have to bounce around four parks and deal with the related transportation issues to see everything there is to see.  And the shows and food are better.

 

What they don't have there is space or the luxury of the immersive feeling you get at WDW.  And, while I like to save a buck, the off-site hotels just aren't as nice as what you might be used to at WDW.

 

But, I stand by my opinion that every Disney fan needs to see the original park.

 

 

 

Unfortunately this is an adult only trip so airfare would be easier to afford, hopefully I can convince her.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks for letting us join in on your trip to Disneyland.  After 3 trips to WDW (2 to the fort!) this year, we are heading to Disneyland at the end of January.  I am excited for the trip and feel more knowledgeable about the park after reading this. 

Happy Holidays!

 

I hope that you have a great time. If you don't mind, please report back about what things are like with Big Thunder Ranch closed.  I've hear rumors through my girls that what's going to be closed as the result of the beginning of construction on Star Wars Land is much more than what is currently being said to the public.  In typical Disney style, they don't want to scare off customers, so they're not saying everything.  The girls say that the construction is going to necessitate the closing and temporary drainage of the Rivers of America, and that the railroad will also have to be closed so they can relocate the tracks.  I'm not sure of when things will be closed, but it's kind of a domino effect, and there will be a lot of closures and changes as the construction progresses.

 

 

Unfortunately this is an adult only trip so airfare would be easier to afford, hopefully I can convince her.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

An adults only trip might even be more fun.  The kids aren't going to really care that much about what's different, and might find some of the historical stuff boring.   Plus, there are some great full service restaurants you can enjoy. I hope that you can convince her too.  Plus, this way, I'll bet you'll get two Disneyland trips, as you and the wife will agree that you should bring the kids out there next time.

 

TCD

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Plus, this way, I'll bet you'll get two Disneyland trips, as you and the wife will agree that you should bring the kids out there next time.

 

Yep!

 

 

Even though this is called the Aladdin show, the undisputed star of the show is the Genie, and they do a great job with it:

 

This show is a big deal. Big theater.  Big props.  Big cast:

 

We just watched this show yesterday. Absolutely fantastic and yes, the Genie was HILARIOUS!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

We just watched this show yesterday. Absolutely fantastic and yes, the Genie was HILARIOUS!

 

It makes me sad to think that they're going to replace this show with a flippin' Frozen show!

 

I am sure they will do a good job with it, and that it will be popular, but I can't imagine it having the staying power of this Aladdin show.

 

I'm sure it was packed when you went.  I just don't see a Frozen show drawing in repeat customers like that.  And, they're not going to have a character like the Genie to work with.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, I have some bonus photos to share, so I may as well share them here.

 

This was the first year in a long time that the TCD gang was not at the Fort for at least part of the Thanksgiving break.  But, that's the way it went this year.  I'll have to make up for that next year.

 

The oldest TCD daughter was able to come home for Thanksgiving, though, and wanted to visit WDW.  The only day we could go was on Friday, November 27.  AKA Black Friday.

 

I have been a pretty vocal critic of My Disney Experience and of Fastpass+, but for last minute trips like this one, it's a pretty good thing to have.

 

And exploit.

 

With only a couple of days to plan, I started out searching for FP+'s for the MK for the Friday after Thanksgiving- a very busy time.

 

With just a bit of effort, I was able to line up six pairs of FP+'s for us.  Since the twins are in California, that meant we could use their Magicbands, and book FP+'s for them too.

 

I was able to line up Mine Train, Pirates, Big Thunder, Space, Jingle Cruise, and even wasted FP+'s on Wishes.  I figured if the park was busy, it would be nice to have that space for ourselves.  Also on the agenda was popping over to DHS to see the Osborne Lights.  Think about that for a moment- on a day like this, wait times for attractions like I had FP+'s for would all be 60+ minutes.  Yet, we would get to ride five attractions via FP+.  Because I was using the twins' passes too, it meant that I could book us two FP+'s for each hour, and could conceivably do all of that in just a three hour window.  There's a whole lot that I really don't like about My Disney Experience, but being able to do this was pretty spectacular.

 

I also was able to snag us a dining reservation for the Plaza for an early dinner in the midst of all of that.

 

Sounded like a fun day.

 

Since we had FP+'s booked, and stand-by times would be bad, there was no reason for us to break out necks to try to get to the park early.  We slept until a reasonable hour, and then headed east at around 11 am.  That meant we would need to eat lunch on the way, or when we got there.  Since I figured the park parking lots would not be a pretty sight, I decided that we should pick a resort where we could eat lunch, have lunch there, and then use Disney transportation to get to the MK.  There are places on the internet where posters will flip there stuff if you say you're going to park at a resort and leave your car there while you go to a park.  But, I do it all the time, and it's never been a problem for me.  If Disney doesn't have a problem with it, then why should I?

 

Since we were going to the MK, it made sense to go to a resort close to the MK.  I decided on the Wilderness Lodge.  We hadn't seen the Christmas decorations there yet this year, and since we had just stayed at the Grand Californian, it would be fun to go there and have a look around.

 

As far as resort Christmas decorations go, I think the way they decorate the Wilderness Lodge is my favorite.  Plus, I love the Wilderness Christmas music:

 

 

From the Lodge, we could take the bus or the boat to the MK.  Since is was such a beautiful day, we decided to take the boat.

 

I think they have already broken ground on the latest DVC project, which will include adding bungalows along the shore of Bay Lake here, but I saw no signs of that:

 

 

There were some construction walls up in the area of the geyser, but I think they may have been working on the boardwalk and/or geyser, so that wasn't related to the DVC:

 

 

I think I've already mentioned it in this thread, but the thing WDW has that Disneyland does not is land.  And lots of it.  There is nothing comparable to Bay Lake at Disneyland:

 

 

 

 

That pontoon boat over there is one of the fishing excursions.  Those guests paid big dollars for that guide to take them to that spot right next to the dock for the Wilderness Lodge boat launches.  I guess you would get asked to leave if you showed up there with your fishing pole, but if you had a bike, you could probably ride over here from the Fort early in the morning and do a little fishing before you got chased off:

 

 

A month of so ago, there was a thread on here about some big pipe things that showed up over on Seven Seas Lagoon, and there was speculation and discussion about what they could be for.  It turned out that they were new barricades to protect the monorail support that sits in the canal that joins Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon.  Since we were going to ride right past the new barriers, I snapped away.  All the stuff you see in the water around the monorail support in these photos is new:

 

 

 

 

 

 

That all looks really nice.  I am surprised that one side of the support seems to have been left unprotected.  But, maybe they're not done with this project.

 

As we approached the MK, we could see that it was busy.  But, really not too bad.  There had been some really scary photos of the bag check lines posted earlier in the week, but I was relieved to see that everything looked pretty normal.  Busy, but not scary busy.  I like how you can see the very tip of the MK Christmas tree behind the Train Station in this photo:

 

 

Yeah, there were a lot of people, but I honestly thought it would be much worse:

 

 

We zipped right through bag check.  Every station had a CM at it, and there really was no wait at all.  That's one nice thing about visiting when it's busy- a lot of times you wait less for things when it's busy because they are fully staffed.  I've had some long bag check waits on slow days simply because they only had a couple of the bag check lanes open.

 

I had popped over here to the MK right before we went to California, but my daughter hadn't been here for a couple of months. It was nice to see that the work on and around the castle is almost done.  I have to admit those new turrets are very nice looking.  Having just been at Disneyland, I really appreciate our castle:

 

 

Hey, I noticed something in that last photo.  Look at how many people in that photo are looking down at their phones.  LOL. That has really become an epidemic at the parks these days.  It's sad that people are in a beautiful place with so much to see, but their noses are buried in the their phones.

 

The way things worked out for us is that we would have time to watch the Festival of Fantasy parade, then use our Mine Train FP+'s, then dinner, and then ride a bunch more rides before ending up over at DHS for the Osborne Lights. 

 

We were able to grab a curb spot on Main Street about an hour before the parade.  Not long after we sat, the Dapper Dans showed up in their Christmas outfits.  Like almost right in front of us for a private concert:

 

 

They sang Christmas songs, and played music on these gizmos:

 

 

That was really nice.

 

These guys are really talented, and great performers.  And, it was nice to see them performing holiday songs.

 

I miss the garland on Main Street, but at least we got these BAW's (Big A** Wreaths).  Disneyland lost their garland this year, and got nothing:

 

 

You might have noticed that I didn't mention our lunch at the Wilderness Lodge.

 

That's because we skipped it.

 

So, I was really an illegal parker today.

 

Since we had an early dinner reservation, we decided to skip lunch and just have a snack before dinner.  After watching the Dapper Dans, my daughter suggested that we try one of the holiday offerings from Starbucks.  I told her that I would deviate from my long boycott just this one time for her.  So, in I went. This was a couple of weeks ago, and a big news story then was how Starbucks had changed their holiday cups and was anti-Christmas.  Yet, look what I saw right there while I was waiting in line:  Christmas Blend coffee.  Not Generic Non-Secular Holiday Blend coffee.  Christmas Coffee:

 

 

Kind of a strange thing for a company that worships satanic mermaids to sell.

 

Oh, and look, Christmas Disney Mugs:

 

 

My drink was some kind of peppermint Frappuccino, and I didn't like it.  But, I drank it.  It cost too much for me to toss.

 

I'm glad I'm boycotting that place.

 

After a bit, the crowds filled in, and the Grand Marshalls came along:

 

 

 

I took this photo because the people across the street had one of the new Star Wars balloons, and they had the picture of that new girl looking right at me.  They're just to the right of the flag pole:

 

 

I first saw one of these balloons a month or two ago, and was surprised to see that girl's face.  Who the heck is she?, I remember thinking.  Since then, there has been a tidal wave of Star Wars hype, and I now know that girl is named Ray in the movie, and she is played by a currently unknown actress named Daisy Ridley.  Daisy seems like a nice girl, and I've seen her on a few talk shows.  the poor thing has no idea what she has gotten herself in to.  The twins have pointed out to me that nowhere in the tidal wave of hype about the movie have we been told Ray's last name.  They say that it has to be either Skywalker or Solo.  And that's why they haven't used the last name.  The twins are guessing that it's Solo, and I think they're right.  We will all know in a week.

 

Here's another BAW shot:

 

 

Having just seen the Soundsational, Christmas, and Pixar parades at Disneyland, I can say that Festival of Fantasy is better than all of those.  I don't think it's better than Paint the Night, but I also don't think it's fair to compare the two.   Paint the Night is cool because it's a night parade.  It wouldn't be so great in the daylight. 

 

We are lucky to have Festival of Fantasy, it is way, way better than any of Disneyland's daytime parades:

 

 

This isn't the best Elsa I've ever seen:

 

 

Which got me to thinking about a conversation I had with the twins out in California.  At Disneyland, Anna and Elsa show up in the Paint the Night and Christmas parades, and at that show in the Fantasy Fare theater, and in the Frozen sing-a-long and also the meet and greet they have there.  At WDW, they are at the meet and greet, and in the parade, and then they show up for the castle lighting show they're currently doing.  That's a lot of Elsa's and Anna's.   I asked the twins how many there are.  They gave me back that "character integrity" baloney, and said there's only one.  So, they were of no help.  But, think about it- they need a lot of Elsa's.  And, if you ask me, it looks like they're getting kind of desperate.

 

Now Merida, on the other had, was on fleek (not sure what that means, but I hear the kids say it in this context):

 

 

The dragon surprised me by breathing fire on Main Street -and it was kind of breezy today.  The last bunch of times I've seen FOF, the dragon didn't do the fire thing on Main Street.  So, I missed the fire shot.  But, I still like this float a lot:

 

 

After the parade, we had the perfect amount of time to ride the Mine Train, and then get to our dinner reservation.

 

But first, we needed to make a pit stop.

 

We used the restrooms next to the Plaza. They had the new bypass open.  I guess it's open all the time now, not just at night:

 

 

 

I still think it's a shame that guests have to miss walking down Main Street, but with as packed as the parks have been, this bypass is needed, and I hope that they do keep it open all the time.

 

Well, that's 30 photos, so we need to stop.

 

The next batch will continue with the Mine Train, dinner ,and a bunch of rides.

 

Oh, and we stopped by that castle lighting thing again.

 

Against my better judgment.

 

But I'm glad we did, because I discovered something interesting about it.  I'll have that for you in the next update.

 

TCD

 

 

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Great post and I have some comments.

 

I'll work in reverse order.

 

We skipped MK that Friday but were there on Saturday.  

 

At one point after dark we wanted to use the by pass and it was closed, which we thought was real strange, another time they were only letting people walk one direction (out). 

 

We also had quick trips with bag check at MK that week, like you said they had the gates full staffed and we never waited in line there.  Epcot had the only slow bag check i can remember and it wasn't too bad.

 

The quiet pool at the Wilderness Lodge Villas is completely gone a long with quite a few trees, we walked by it twice and W loves to point out the tractors/excavators.

 

We used the extra MB trick at MK also and were able to score some great FPs on the same day during Thanksgiving week.  Of course I did it before 10am both mornings but still we were even able to get 7DMT and Space Mountain.  Using the trick, our official ones, and rider swap passes we had tons of FP+.  It got to the point where one day I had to write them down to keep track, lol.  

 

We also "wasted" a FP+ on Wishes Saturday night and we are now big fans!  CP didn't even want to stay for Wishes but then I told her about being able to sit on the fake grass so she agreed to try it and it turned out great!

 

WBI

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Hey, I noticed something in that last photo.  Look at how many people in that photo are looking down at their phones.  LOL. That has really become an epidemic at the parks these days.  It's sad that people are in a beautiful place with so much to see, but their noses are buried in the their phones.

 

 

I forgot to comment on this.  Because of all my FP+ management I had to use my phone a lot this trip (in Magic Kingdom) and I hated it!  We used to have a no phone rule in DisneyWorld but now that's gone.   Because of DIsney andthe fact that we wanted to maximize our FP and ride expereince we had to use mine for MDE.  

 

To CP's credit she didn't bring her phone in the parks.

 

I can honestly say there were a few times I was standing next to something awesome staring at my phone trying to adjust FP.  That was not fun and I remember catching myself and putting the phone away so I could enjoy the moment and not worry about the next ride. 

 

But you are right add Disney's MDE on top of people's already digital world and people are going to be staring at phones a lot!

 

 

 

I first saw one of these balloons a month or two ago, and was surprised to see that girl's face.  Who the heck is she?, I remember thinking.  Since then, there has been a tidal wave of Star Wars hype, and I now know that girl is named Ray in the movie, and she is played by a currently unknown actress named Daisy Ridley.  Daisy seems like a nice girl, and I've seen her on a few talk shows.  the poor thing has no idea what she has gotten herself in to.  The twins have pointed out to me that nowhere in the tidal wave of hype about the movie have we been told Ray's last name.  They say that it has to be either Skywalker or Solo.  And that's why they haven't used the last name.  The twins are guessing that it's Solo, and I think they're right.  We will all know in a week.

I'm guessing she's a Skywalker, Luke's daughter.  There was a toy picture leaked today...

 

WBI

[Beckers 1,136]

Parking at a resort to skip out on paying parking wrong. If your annual pass covers parking, I don't see it as wrong.

They didn't have the bypass open every night we were there and the one night it really needed to be. Plus we assumed it would be, fought our way over and it was closed. I wasn't saying very magical things at that point.

I bought my parents a Christmas ornament at Starbucks, it was next to all the other Christmas labled things. I think people need to focus their time and energy on more useful things. However, the plain red cups are ugly.