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

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

We left off on the swing ride.

 

The actual name of this ride is the Silly Symphony Swings.

 

But, that has not always been the name.

 

This was an original attraction when California Adventure opened in 2001.  Back then it was called the Orange Stinger, and it was enclosed in a giant orange, and the seats were decorated to look like bees.  Aren't those Imagineers clever?  A lot of the original attractions at California Adventure were off the shelf, common amusement park rides.  This park was conceived and built in the dark days of Michaels Eisner, where the emphasis was on squeezing the last drop of blood from every turnip.

 

If you want to read more about the Orange Stinger, here's a great article that tells the whole story, and then some:  http://www.yesterland.com/orange.html

 

I didn't know that the current version of the ride has only been in place since 2010. Too bad.  I would have liked to ride it when it was enclosed in a giant fake orange.

 

But, we like the current version.  Inexplicably, the twins say it's their favorite ride in California Adventure.

 

They taught their big sister that it's more fun when you don't hold on and flap your arms like a bird:

 

 

You can see a lot from this ride.  Here, we have a great view of the lagoon where they will be performing the World of Color shows later tonight.  There are hundreds of fountains beneath the surface of that water.  Down there to the left in the photo is the Golden Zephyr ride, which we will be visiting next:

 

 

Here, we can see the Little Mermaid ride building, and Tower of Terror there in the distance:

 

 

There's the Grand Californian over there- wouldn't it be cool to have one of the rooms overlooking California Adventure?:

 

 

Now we're on the Golden Zephyr.  This is another off-the-shelf ride.  But, it fits in the theme of this area of the park,  Here we're looking down at the viewing area for World of Color.  I think the best place to watch the show would be from right on the railing of the second tier. But, good luck getting there.  I think you'd need to show up two hours early to get a spot on the railing on the second level.  You can get a spot along the front railing with a FP, but they say that's a wet zone:

 

 

Speaking of World of Color, we were here on the first day that they would be performing both the holiday version and the 60th anniversary version of the shows on the same night.  They let you get FP's for both shows if you want, so we did.  That required us to go by Grizzly River Rapids, because that's where the WOC FP machines are located.

 

It turns out that we were here on a big day for California Adventure.  Not only was this the first night they would be showing the holiday WOC show, today was also the opening day for something called Olaf's Snow Fest.  Which is described on the official Disneyland site thusly:

 

Let It Go! Let It Snow!

 

The forecast calls for a blast of snowy fun on Stage 17. So drift on in for a Frozen festival of awesome activities, hosted by one of the coolest guys around—Olaf.

 

Do you want to build a snowman? You can do that and lots more in a fanciful setting that will transport you to Arandelle.

• Hang on tight and go sledding on real snow.
• Say “Freeze!” as you pose for pictures and share a hug with Olaf.
• Enjoy delightful live musical performances.
• Just “chill” and play in the snow.
• Enjoy a delicious snack (for an additional charge).

Bring the whole family for this one-of-a-kind experience, because nothing puts you in the holiday spirit like a romp in the snow!

 

https://disneyland.disney.go.com/attractions/disney-california-adventure/olafs-frozen-snow-fest/

 

Hmmm.

 

This sounded suspiciously like the Frozen ice skating area they slapped together in Hollywood Studios last year.  Minus the ice skating.  So, lame, right?

 

But, today was the historic opening day, so we had to go.

 

Right?

 

And we did.

 

And guess what?

 

It was really nice. 

 

Like 1000% nicer than what we had at DHS last summer.

 

For one thing, they actually built some sets and props so it didn't look like a repurposed warehouse:

 

 

 

Do you see that snow area?  That's like 10 times the size of the snow area they had at DHS.  And, it doesn't look like the dirty, melting, scrapings from the Zamboni. It kind of looks like snow.

 

And another thing, they put a meet and greet in there.  Yes, it was just Olaf, and not the Frozen gals, but still:

 

 

And then there was this sledding hill:

 

 

Yes, we did that.

 

And it was a blast!

 

I was surprised at how fast we went.

 

And how we came very close to flying off of the end at the bottom of the hill.  Like really close.  Like, I don't know how the Disney lawyers signed off on this close:

 

 

In the middle of the room, they had live performers playing music and telling stories.  Nice:

 

 

You know where they could really use something like this?

 

In the half-empty DHS, that's where.

 

This would be popular as heck in Florida.  Why can't we have nice things too?

 

After the Olaf thing, we had to take big sister on the Monsters, Inc. ride. Just so she could see we weren't lying about how bad it was.  You know, it's really not that bad.  And, there's never a line:

 

 

it wouldn't be awful if they put something like that in DHS too.  Something is better than nothing.

 

After that, it was time for an early lunch. The plan was to eat and then cash in our Radiator Springs Racers FP's.  Both twins had to work today, and they were going to head back to the hotel after Radiator Springs Racers to start getting ready.

 

We had lunch at the Smoke Jumpers Grill.  If you want a nice quick serve place for lunch in California Adventure, this will do the job:

 

 

Before lunch, I zipped over to the Radiator Springs Racers FP machine to try to pull another set of FP's for us.  But no dice-they were all gone.  And it wasn't even noon yet.  Just like the good old days at WDW.  There were Soarin' FP's though, so I got those before lunch.

 

After lunch, we headed to Cars Land.  As I already said, I love the Christmas decorations here:

 

 

 

Thank goodness for FP. That's the standby line that we skipped past over there:

 

 

Another photo of the excellent fake rocks they have here:

 

 

After Radiator Springs Racers, we had time for a ride on Mater's Junkyard Jamboree.  This is a simple, but surprisingly fun ride:

 

 

Bugs Land is right next to Cars Land.  Boy, there's a lot of Pixar at California Adventure.  Currently, their It's Tough to be a Bug theater is being used to show previews for the Good Dinosaur movie.  We wanted to stop and see it, but they had just started the show, and said it would be a 20 minute wait for the next one.  None of us thought it would be worth it to wait, and the twins were short on time now, so we went on.  They sure had a lot of added decorations for the movie preview:

 

 

 

Bug's Land is well done.  I'm not so sure it was a smart idea to build a whole land around one of Pixar's least popular movies, but the theme lends itself to some cute attractions.  This is a great area for families with young kids, and Disney World could use something like this in one of its parks:

 

 

Make sure you didn't miss the special Christmas decorations themed just for this area of the park.  Well done.

 

This is one of the attractions in Bug's Land.  Heimlich's Chew Chew train.  Get it?  Chew Chew?:

 

 

That is a zero thrill kiddie ride.  But, what's wrong with that?  As I said, it wouldn't be a bad thing for WDW to have some rides like this.

 

This is a ride called Flik's Flyers, I believe.  Kind of like Dumbo, but you ride in boxes:

 

 

What's wrong with that?

 

We headed out of Bug's Land and to the trolley stop.  Twin #1 was gong to take the trolley out to the front of the park, and we decide to ride half way with her:

 

 

 

We hopped off at the first stop, which is by the tip board.  I miss tip boards.  And check this out- it's a busy day, but the wait at Toy Story Midway Mania is only 30 minutes.  And same with Soarin:

 

 

Really, the only bad wait time on there is the 90 minutes for Radiator Springs Racers.  I took that photo at 1:48 pm.  I'll bet the waits for Toy Story and Rock N Roller Coaster at DHS would be 90+ minutes on a day like today, and Soarin would probably be 2 hours.  It's amazing what having a few extra attractions can do for a park and wait times.

 

We said goodbye to Twin #1 here, and then the three of us walked back from where we had just come.  Which ended up being a dumb move.  But, we wanted to ride the trolley, so we did.

 

On our way, I noticed that they have an area in California Adventure called Hollywood Studios.  I didn't know that:

 

 

We were heading back this way to get to the Hyperion Theater.  We needed to watch the Aladdin show, and that's what we will be doing next.

 

TCD
 

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

I agree WDW could use more non-thrill kiddie rides.  There's just so many times you can keep little kids happy on the PeopleMover.

 

Why was walking back a dumb move?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Thought I commented yesterday but apparently not.

That room looks nice, and you paid value resort prices.

You weren't scared of dropping your camera on the swings?

Glad you had beautiful weather!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I agree WDW could use more non-thrill kiddie rides.  There's just so many times you can keep little kids happy on the PeopleMover.

 

Why was walking back a dumb move?

 

Back when my kids were in the 3-5 year range, they would have loved to ride all the rides in Bugs Land.  They liked riding them as 20+ year olds too, but it would be nice for WDW to have an area that has a half dozen or so kiddie size rides. 

 

The walk back was dumb, because we retraced the path of the trolley.  We were going hard this trip, and just added a few more minutes of unnecessary walking to our day.

 

Thought I commented yesterday but apparently not.

That room looks nice, and you paid value resort prices.

You weren't scared of dropping your camera on the swings?

Glad you had beautiful weather!

 

Yes, value prices with a decent free breakfast and really close park access.  Not bad.

 

Yeah, I was scared of dropping my camera.  But, I laugh in the face of danger.  Not really.  I had a wrist strap.  It was just a point and shoot camera.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's squeeze in another update. 

 

We're still in California Adventure on Friday, November 13th.  We got here at rope drop, and we are still going strong.  Twin #1 had to leave to go over and guide guests through the Jungle on the opening day of the Jingle Cruise.  We will be heading over there to ride her boat tomorrow.  Today's our day to hit California Adventure hard.  And we were killing it.

 

Next up was the Aladdin show.

 

This is a not to be missed attraction at California Adventure.

 

It's held here in the Hyperion Theater, which is really big and really nice:

 

 

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:

 

 

There's one problem, though.

 

The Aladdin show is about to get the axe.  Guess what's replacing it?

 

If you guessed something that rhymes with Crow-sin, you're right.

 

That change was announced a few months back, and has not been well received:

 

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2015/09/all-new-frozen-inspired-stage-musical-coming-to-disney-california-adventure-park-in-2016/

 

I guess that was my last time seeing the Aladdin show.  I'm sure the Frozen show will be OK, but I'd rather see the Genie.

 

Next, we trekked back to the center of the park, and awaited the arrival of the trolley there.  Here it comes:

 

 

That trolley is full of newsboys (and one newsgirl)  (and a couple large mice), and we're going to watch their Christmas edition of their show:

 

 

One thing that is obvious when you see any of the live performers in Disneyland is that the talent pool here is so much deeper than it is in Florida.  All of the live performers in all the shows we saw are excellent:

 

 

 

And who doesn't like seeing a giant mouse dance?:

 

 

 

 

For the 60th anniversary, they found a way to work Minnie in to the show, and she makes a brief appearance:

 

 

After they finished their singing and dancing, they packed up and headed down the street:

 

 

If you ever visit California Adventure, make sure you stop and see this show.  They perform it multiple times per day, and it is really good.

 

After the show, we might have stopped at the California Adventure Starbucks, but I'll never admit that.  I'll tell you one thing about it, though:  they have a huge indoor seating area.  Which is a nice place to take a break.

 

Then it was time to cash in our Soarin' FP's.  I like the theming of the California Adventure Soarin' better than ours, and you don't have to walk for a mile in the queue:

 

 

Oh, and they use digital projection in their Soarin'.  I makes a huge difference.  It is so nice to see a clean, crisp film instead of that mess we have at Epcot.

 

I should have mentioned that Twin #2 left right after the Trolley show.  She had to go and get ready for her evening shift at the World of Disney store.

 

So, now it was just me and my oldest.

 

She wanted to do a little shopping about now.  Just looking, mind you, as the actual buying needed to be done by one of the twins with her 40% holiday discount.

 

A few months ago, there was a small bit of excitement when Duffy the Bear's girlfriend Shelly Mae was introduced in Disneyland.  The first few batches of bears were snapped up by eBay resellers who dreamed of big pay days.  But, Disney kept the sweatshop busy, and there are now more Shelly Maes than anyone needs in the stores:

 

 

After the shopping, it was time for us to find a spot for the Pixar Play Parade.  I saw it last year, and really didn't need to see it again, but my oldest daughter had never seen it, so we found a place.

 

The nice thing about this parade is that the route is long, and it's not hard to find a spot where you won't be behind a family with giant heads.  We got a spot down from Carthay Circle, and had a clear view of the parade route:

 

 

I took that photo at 5:22.  The parade was going to start at 5:30.  Look how dark it was.  I still don't understand why the sun sets so early in California.

 

Here's a few parade photos- the first float was based on Monsters, Inc., so we had some monsters walk by:

 

 

There goes Sulley.  They jazzed this parade up a bit with a 60th anniversary decal on his big drum:

 

 

Sulley must have a good agent.  He is in both this parade and the Paint the Night parade too.

 

Then there was an Incredibles float:

 

 

Then Finding Nemo:

 

 

And Bug's Life:

 

 

Then Toy Story.   The twins had a funny story about this part of the parade. This tinkertoy thing sprays water in the summer time, and one of their friends was totally soaked by it.  I could see it wasn't spaying water tonight, and that was appreciated:

 

 

The Toy Story float:

 

 

There are gymnasts on this float, and they really swing around.  You can see one in this photo up there next to Rex:

 

 

Slinky Dog must use Sulley's agent:

 

 

Mater does the honors of closing out the parade:

 

 

It seems like there were some Pixar movies missing from that parade. But, it was plenty long, so I'm fine with that.  I thought I had seen photos of a float with characters from the Inside Out movie, but it wasn't in this parade.

 

After the parade, we decided to try our luck with the Good Dinosaur preview.  We got to see it this time.  Since it was in the Bug's Life theater, there were special effects, which made it fun:

 

 

Time was flying by.  The bulk of our evening would be taken up by watching two World of Color shows.  Normally, I would never do that, but this was our only chance to see them both, as tomorrow night was already going to be our last night in the parks, and we wanted to close it out at Disneyland.

 

So, that meant we needed to eat dinner now.  We decided to give the Mexican take out place in the Pacific Wharf area of the park a try:

 

 

Wow, it was excellent.

 

We've noticed that they do a great job with Mexican food in Southern California.  I guess there's a pretty demanding customer base there.

 

After dinner, we had time for a few more rides.  My daughter even wanted to ride the death wheel again.  That was crazy talk, since the rest of us hate that ride.  Especially me.  But, I just said we would if we had time.  And them promptly thought of al the things we could do to avoid it.

 

We rode Mermaid.  Their ride is the same, but their queue is very basic:

 

 

Then we rode the swings again.  And even the baby jumping jellyfish ride next to the swings.  Anything but the death wheel.  Right when DD asked me about the Death Wheel, I pointed out that guests were already gathering near the FP return for the first World of Color show and that we needed to get over there.  Phew. That was close.

 

Getting to the FP return area was good.  We didn't get a front and center spot, but we did get a front spot.  Here's where we were waiting for the show to get going:

 

 

Next up, we will watch two different versions of World of Color back to back.

 

And, then we will meet up with Twin #1 for a late night visit to In N Out Burgers.

 

And, our third night will be done already.

 

Which then leaves us with just one more full day.

 

Don't worry, though.

 

We get a lot done in one day in the TCD gang.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

No more Aladdin show SMB. It's one of my favorite Disney movies.

 

I'm excited to hear about riding the Jingle Cruise with your daughter as skipper.  

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Your hair on the Death Wheel is awesome. It reminded me of Hades from Hercules.

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm so glad you had the bread bowls! Fresh bread from Disneyland is on my list of things to do whenever we finally go. What kind of soup did you have in them?

[Beckers 1,136]

I'm so glad you had the bread bowls! Fresh bread from Disneyland is on my list of things to do whenever we finally go. What kind of soup did you have in them?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

No more Aladdin show SMB. It's one of my favorite Disney movies.

 

I'm excited to hear about riding the Jingle Cruise with your daughter as skipper.  

 

I agree.  I know that the Aladdin show has been playing since 2003, but it still packs them in.   The Genie and his jokes and wisecracks help to keep the show fresh.  I just don't see a Frozen show having that same kind of appeal.

 

We will be getting to the Jingle Cruise in the next update.  I have been struggling with how to put my feelings about riding it with my daughter as skipper into words.

 

Your hair on the Death Wheel is awesome. It reminded me of Hades from Hercules.

 

LOL.

 

It's a much better look for him than it is for me.  Maybe if I died my hair blue?

 

I'm so glad you had the bread bowls! Fresh bread from Disneyland is on my list of things to do whenever we finally go. What kind of soup did you have in them?

 

The bread in Disneyland is great, along with their other baked goods.  That's because they actually bake stuff in the bakeries at their parks.  At WDW everything is made in some off-site warehouse.  And some of those off-site warehouses are way off site.

 

I had broccoli cheddar soup on this trip.  The location we visited was also serving a New England Clam Chowder and a Lobster Bisque.  I know that other locations had Chili or Gumbo.  There are a few locations at each park where they serve the soup, and they have different soups at each ones.  And they change seasonally.  The twins knew which locations had what soups, and that was a big help.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's continue on.

 

It's the evening of Friday, November 13.  We had been in California Adventure since rope drop this morning.  Twin #1 had left us in the early afternoon to go and work a shift at the Jingle Cruise, and Twin #2 left later in the afternoon to go and work a shift at the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney.  My oldest daughter and I had FP's for both of the World of Color shows that would be performed tonight, and that's how we would close out this long day.

 

The twins and I got to see World of Color when we visited Disneyland last year.  We had FP's, but had no idea what we were doing, and ended up about half-way back in the center of the viewing area.  Behind lots of tall people with huge heads, kids on shoulders, and iPad photographers.  The show was good.  At least the parts we could see over all of the aforementioned obstructions.  When I was back here earlier in November with Mrs. TCD, we changed our strategy and decided to take our chances in the "wet zone" up front.  We got a light misting there, but could see the show so much better.

 

So, for this viewing with my oldest daughter, we chose the wet zone again.  To get here, we still had to have FP's and show up about an hour before the show.  But, that got us along the front rail, with no one to block our view.

 

World of Color is basically a fountain show.  They also use water screens, like you might be familiar with if you've seen Fantasmic, and they have lights and projections that they use on the Fun Wheel and California Screamin' rollercoaster.  It's a good show.  It's just a pain to get to see it because there is no seating area, and it's confusing about who gets to stand where in the viewing area based of FP's and Dining Package reserved areas.

 

Anyway, the holiday version of the show was first.  I think they call this World of Color, Winter Dreams.  The host of this show is Olaf.  You can see him over there on the water screen to the left in this photo:

 

 

I don't particularly have anything against Olaf, but I really don't like it how he's the host of this show.  Why not Mickey Mouse, or a character who deserves such a prominent role?  Plus, that voice of his is annoying.  And, he's really stupid.  Sorry, but I've had enough with this Frozen stuff.

 

The holiday version of the show still has plenty of fountain action:

 

 

And lots of red and green.  For Christmas, you know:

 

 

After that first show, they cleared out the viewing area.  We had FP's for the next show, but we weren't sure where to go with those.

 

I wrongly figured that the second show would not be as busy as the first, so we spent some time looking in some of the shops in the area, and then tried to find where we were supposed to go to use our FP's.  We finally were sent over a bridge to an area that they had taped off way back by the California Screamin' rollercoaster:

 

 

There was a huge mob of people here, and we were in the back of that pack.  When we finally got moving and into the viewing area, we couldn't get very close to the center, but we chose a spot along the railing again.

 

The second show was the regular 60th anniversary edition of World of Color. This one is hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.  I saw it back in October with Mrs. TCD, and liked this version a lot, but there are a lot of Disneyland fans who don't like NPH's performance for this show. 

 

You can see NPH talking to Mickey on the water screens in this shot.  You can also see the mob of people to our right who beat us out to the better viewing spots:

 

 

There's a lot of NPH in this show.  So, I guess those NPH haters have a lot to hate:

 

 

There are a lot of fun scenes in the 60th anniversary WOC show- it basically tells the history of Disneyland and the Disney company.  Here's a shot of a scene where they played the Tiki Tiki Tiki room song- you can see the projections of Jose and company up there on the big Mouse head:

 

 

World of Color is a lot of fountains.  But there's also fire.  And even some pretty impressive fire balls- like the one you can see going up near the center of this photo:

 

 

After the second WOC, the park was closed.  So, we had to leave.

 

Twin #1 was going to be getting off of work around now, and we agreed to just meet her back at the hotel.  Twin #1 had to work until some God-awful hour, and we decided to head in to the World of Disney store to see if we could find her.  Which is no easy thing.  That store is huge.  But, somehow, we did find her, and she was actually working:

 

 

She was able to sneak away for a bit and chat with us, but then she had to get back to her post.  So we made the long five minute walk across the street to our hotel.

 

Twin #1 beat us there.  It had been a long day, but she suggested that we make a run out to In-N-Out.  That sounded good to me, so we did, and here we are:

 

 

This place has a cult-like following of fans.  Which is odd, because look at the menu- there's nothing to it.  But, there's a secret menu. I knew about that last year when we were here, but I didn't understand it.  The twins know about it now.  So, you can order something "animal style," and they put a bunch of weird stuff on it. Twin #1 got some animal style fries.  They looked animal style all right- like an animal threw up on them.  But, she liked them.  Of course, I had to try them.  I don't get it.  Regular fries are fine with me.

 

After In-N-Out, I was out.  Poor, twin #2 didn't get back from work until near 3 am.  I was going to try and be a concerned father and wait up for her, but there was no way.  We had been going too hard.  I did wake up and say goodnight to her.

 

We were all up for rope drop the next day, which would be our last full day here, so we had to make it count.

 

Twin #1 had to work the morning shift at the Jingle Cruise, which meant that Twin #2 had to get up so she could use one of her holiday comp tickets to let us in the park.  That was tough on her, but she said she would do that, and then break away later and come back to the room for a nap before she had to work again tonight.

 

This was Saturday, November 14- the day after the attacks in Paris.  So, the security was all beefed up.  Which meant that the bag check lines were really, really, backed up.  Again, we made it through quickly, and were in the park before 9.

 

We headed back to Fantasyland, again hoping that we'd ride Peter Pan, but the line was too long again.  The lines for the other dark rides were short, though, so we rode them- Pinocchio, Snow White, and some more.  We were doing good, and getting a lot done.

 

Then Twin #2 got a text- from Twin #1.  She was going to let us know when she went on break, as she would start a boat driving shift right after her break.  She said she would be going on her first break at around 11, but also that she heard they were going to soft open Hyperspace Mountain to regular guests today.  The girls had already gotten to ride if for CM previews, but I didn't think they would soft open it to guests. I was wrong.

 

We dropped everything and headed to Tomorrowland.

 

Sure enough, they were letting regular guests in to the Space Mountain queue!  Woo!

 

The Space Mountain queue at Disneyland is mostly outside:

 

 

There wasn't a lot of evidence of any change to the ride outside- but look here- it's Admiral Ackbar!:;

 

 

And, once we got to the inside part of the queue, there were video screens with that weird Star Wars writing that some of the geeks around here can read:

 

 

It isn't long after you get inside that you get to see the loading area.  Here, you can see the ride vehicles they use in California- here guests ride side-by-side:

 

 

There are subtitles on the screens in case you can't hear the Admiral.  Here we find out that we will be going after a Star Destroyer near Jakku:

 

 

Jakku?

 

I don't know about that planet.

 

But, there's a lot I don't know about Star Wars.

 

From what I can determine, we're going to find out all about Jakku in the new movie.

 

Here, the Admiral tells us that we will be flying with the 77 Squadron:

 

 

Do you know what the significance of the number 77 is?

 

Disneyland's Space Mountain opened in 1977.

 

Details.

 

Here, Admiral Ackbar wishes that the force will be with us:

 

 

Here's some more shots of the video displays in the queue- for any geeks who want to read this stuff:

 

 

 

 

Then we rode the ride.

 

It was really cool.

 

They added audio, and projections throughout the ride to make it look like you're flying on a mission and shooting and being shot at.  There are no character appearances- only other space craft.  I'm sure a real Star Wars geek would know what kind of space craft we saw on the ride, and who flies that stuff, but I don't.  All I know is that the overlay made it like a whole new ride, and it was fun.

 

After Hyperspace Mountain, we popped in to their former Captain EO theater and saw what they're calling the Path of the Jedi.  They have the same movie going at DHS now.  It's basically clips from the first six movies, and then a trailer for the new one.  They used some of the special effects in the Captain EO theater, which they won't be doing at DHS.

 

Then we got the text from Twin #1 telling us to hightail it over to Jingle Cruise.

 

We timed it perfectly, and arrived just as she was pulling up with her boat.  The other CM's there knew that we were family, so we got to come in through the exit and board her boat without having to wait in the regular queue.  Which is a sweet deal by itself, because they don't use FP for Jungle Cruise here, and the standby line was a 50 minute wait.

 

And here we are on the boat, with Twin #1 at the helm:

 

 

From here, we pulled up to the regular loading area, and picked up the rest of our crew.

 

Then we were out in the jungle.  They decorate way more for Jingle Cruise here:

 

 

 

 

I admit that I am biased. But, Twin #1 was great!!  She was non-stop with the jokes, and had everyone laughing.  Especially me. We got to Trader Sam way too fast:

 

 

Like I said earlier, it's hard for me to put into words what it was like to be on a Jungle Cruise boat being skippered by my daughter.  It was great.  I was full of pride and full of joy.  It was the highlight of this trip, for sure:

 

 

After the Jingle Cruise, Twin #2 decided to head back to the room for her nap.

 

My oldest daughter and I headed next door to the Tiki Room.  Disneyland's is so much better than ours:

 

 

Then we took a break and had an asparagus skewer at the Bengal BBQ.  I told you they were good.

 

We then popped over to what they call Fantasy Fare and caught the show they have there.  We arrived just a minute or two before showtime, and the theater was full.  We had to stand outside, but that was fine.  We could see and hear fine, plus we got to get out of there quick when the show was over:

 

 

This show might look dumb, but I highly recommend it.  The actors are superb.  And really funny.  It's a great little show.

 

After this show, it was already time for us to scope out a place for the Christmas parade.

 

We will be looking at that next.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

How great to have Twin #1 as your Jingle Cruise skipper!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Whoa. Finally caught up- so many comments especially as we are in the middle of Disneyland.

Keep on posting. I'm loving it!

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Awesome update! Love that you got to ride with your daughter as skipper :)

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

OK, I got choked up a bit at that update. I know she wanted to be a skipper in WDW, and I'm glad she finally got the chance in DL!

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Great post. Your daughters are so cute, love the skipper outfit. Very neat experience. Hope you frame that picture.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Hey TCD- can the girls ask around to see if Disney is flying a drone during the Disneyland fireworks? We couldn't tell which side of the fence this thing launched from- either outside or inside.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spIZwC0T2uc

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

How great to have Twin #1 as your Jingle Cruise skipper!

 

It really was great.  The sad thing is that Mrs. TCD didn't get to ride on her boat when we were there earlier.

 

We've been trying to scheme a way to get back there for one more visit before their programs end on January 2, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.

 

Whoa. Finally caught up- so many comments especially as we are in the middle of Disneyland. Keep on posting. I'm loving it!

 

I hope that you're enjoying your time in Disneyland.  I know from your post on the "I am" thread and from a phone call that I had with Twin #1 last night that you found her at the Jingle Cruise.  Awesome!

 

Awesome update! Love that you got to ride with your daughter as skipper :)

 

I loved it too.  Wish I could get out there one more time to see the girls.  But, they're going to be back in Florid in less than a month.

 

OK, I got choked up a bit at that update. I know she wanted to be a skipper in WDW, and I'm glad she finally got the chance in DL!

 

It's just a reaffirmation of something that I always tell my daughters:  everything happens for a reason.  I think if she had been a skipper in Disney World, she probably would not have applied for this second program in Disneyland.  Now, she will always be able to look back on the time she and her sister spent a semester in California and walked in Walt's footsteps.  Priceless.

 

The Disneyland College Program also gave the twins a chance to reconnect.  They got to be roommates after spending the last two years at different schools and not seeing each other that much.  It's been a great experience for both of them.

 

And the good thing is that they're both ready to come back and get cracking on finishing up with their college degrees.  They will both be beginning their Junior years a semester late.

 

Great post. Your daughters are so cute, love the skipper outfit. Very neat experience. Hope you frame that picture.

 

Thanks.  It's fun to see them at work and enjoying themselves.  They have learned to work hard, but to still have fun.  That's going to take them far in life.

 

Hey TCD- can the girls ask around to see if Disney is flying a drone during the Disneyland fireworks? We couldn't tell which side of the fence this thing launched from- either outside or inside.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spIZwC0T2uc

 

Wow, that's unbelievable.  I wonder whose drone that is?  I've never heard of Disney using one, but I can't imagine that it's OK for a private person to do that.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Update time.

 

It's still Saturday, November 14.  We just got to ride the Jingle Cruise with Twin #1 as our skipper.

 

Twin #2 headed back to take a nap and get ready for her night shift at World of Disney.  The plan was her to be back sometime around dinner time, and we would meet up with Twin #1 for a last bit of fun in the park before she had to head off to work.

 

My oldest daughter and I decided that we should see the Christmas parade.  Remember that on our first day of this trip, we got to see the final performance of the year of the Soundsational parade.  Starting that weekend, it was replaced with the Christmas parade.  What was different this year is that they are performing the Christmas parade during the daytime, and still performing Paint the Night in the evenings.  Last year, we saw the Christmas parade at night.  That's not happening at all this year.  Even during Christmas week.

 

As you might know, they don't perform the Christmas Parade at WDW for regular MK guests until the weeks before and after Christmas.  The only way you can see the Christmas Parade before that is to pay for a Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party ticket.  They don't have a hard ticket Christmas party at Disneyland, which surprises me. 

 

Anyway, we went to our new favorite parade spot for this parade, and claimed our spots on the first row.  Other guests came along after us, and sat to the side and behind us.  These girls came from the direction of Tomorrowland and brought their lunch:

 

 

Hey, look at what they have on their trays:

 

 

Those are those black Star Wars burgers.  They just started serving those in Disneyland that weekend.  There's a place in Tomorrowland that serves all the Star Wars stuff.  That wasn't going on at WDW until last week, when they opened the Launch Bay in DHS.  Disneyland guests got their black burgers weeks earlier.

 

There goes another example of live entertainment they have at Disneyland that we don't have at WDW- this band walked up and down the parade route before the parade, and they were excellent:

 

 

The pre-parade was not a typical High School band.  Today, it was this All Star Productions Holiday Magic Extravaganza.  As best I can tell, this is some scam run by a dance studio to allow kids to perform in a Disneyland parade:

 

 

There were about a thousand cheerleaders:

 

 

After that, the actual parade began.

 

The first float featured a real ballerina, who was doing ballet stuff on that float:

 

 

And then the Toy Soldiers:

 

 

Next came some elves.  What was remarkable about these elves is that they were all very, very, small people:

 

 

Like live in a hollow tree and bake cookies sized.  At WDW, the elves are just regular college kids in elf costumes.  At Disneyland, the elves are actually elf-sized.

 

Details.

 

This next float had everything going for it- Mickey, Minnie and Donald up front:

 

 

And then Chip and Dale mid-ship:

 

 

Then we had a flock of snow people:

 

 

And some skiers:

 

 

Then Pooh and Tigger cruised by riding their sleds:

 

 

Poor Eeyore:

 

 

Here comes a Christmas Tree- this probably would look more impressive at night:

 

 

It apparently is a rule that no Disney parade can be performed without these two having their own float, so here they are:

 

 

Then came a lot of gingerbread people and bakers, led by Clarabelle Cow, or all people:

 

 

 

The dogs have their own float in this parade:

 

 

Then came the princess part, led by the step family:

 

 

You might have noticed that Snow White was walking in that last photo.  Well, Tiana and Naveen get to ride:

 

 

Aurora also gets to ride:

 

 

Good thing Ariel has her legs for this parade, because she also has to walk:

 

 

Belle and the Beast get to ride:

 

 

I'm sure Cinderella was somewhere in this group, but I don't have a photo of her.

 

Next, it was Pixar time.  There's Woody:

 

 

And Buzz:

 

 

And, here's another Christmas tree with some carolers:

 

 

When the reindeer show up, you know who's going to be coming next:

 

 

And there he is!  I distinctly remember Santa shouting out that there were 40 days until Christmas.  That was good to hear.  But, that was on November 14.  We don't have anywhere near that much time left now:

 

 

Hmmm.

 

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

 

 

It's good to be Santa.

 

So, that's the Disneyland Christmas parade.

 

It sure has a lot of performers in it.  A lot more than WDW's, it seems to me.

 

It's nice to be able to see it with regular park admission instead of only at the hard ticket parties.

 

Next up, we will be heading back to the Jungle.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Wow.  DL's Christmas parade sure is different from the one at WDW!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Next came some elves.  What was remarkable about these elves is that they were all very, very, small people:

...

 

Aurora also gets to ride:

 

 

 

...

 

I'm sure Cinderella was somewhere in this group, but I don't have a photo of her.

 

Just watched this Christmas parade yesterday. Very entertaining.

 

First, my wife and I talked about the small-ness of the elves. That was a really nice detail and something we also noticed. Did your parade have a second set of elves (who were also very little?)? I'm surprised how much they all looked alike.

 

Cinderella is up there with Aurora. They alternate sides.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Christmas is coming too quickly! Ack!

Very cool that your daughters got to reconnect through their programs. When do they return to FL? Will they get to spend any time at home, or is it straight to school?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

I just realized that I think I forgot to make a comment about something. Your picture of IASW has me thinking... what if they turned the ISAW at WDW into The Osborne Lights?

 

Sorry if I did say that. I can't find the picture of the ride that  made me think of it now. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Wow.  DL's Christmas parade sure is different from the one at WDW!

 

Yes, it is very different.  The Disneyland one seems older, but it's also more elaborate.  As I mentioned, they seem to have a lot more CM's in various roles in the parade. 

 

Just watched this Christmas parade yesterday. Very entertaining.

 

First, my wife and I talked about the small-ness of the elves. That was a really nice detail and something we also noticed. Did your parade have a second set of elves (who were also very little?)? I'm surprised how much they all looked alike.

 

Cinderella is up there with Aurora. They alternate sides.

 

I don't recall there being two sets of elves in the parade that I saw.  That's weird that you had two sets.

 

Now that you mention Cinderella, I remember that she was on that float.  I don't think that float spun like the princess float does for the Festival of Fantasy parade at the MK.

 

Christmas is coming too quickly! Ack!

Very cool that your daughters got to reconnect through their programs. When do they return to FL? Will they get to spend any time at home, or is it straight to school?

 

I know.  According to the official Mrs. TCD advent calendar, there are only 17 days left until Christmas.  And, we are far from ready.

 

We are still working on the arrangements to get the girls back to Florida.  Because of time constraints, we are probably going to ship their cars back and have them fly.  Their last day in California will be January 2, and they will fly back on a red-eye that night. So they will arrive early in the am on January 3.  Classes start back at UF on January 4.  Twin #2's schedule will not be as bad- she has another week once she gets home before classes start.

 

So, no, there won't be a lot of time at home before they head back to school, but they'll be in the state, and we will certainly have some get togethers over the weekends.

 

I just realized that I think I forgot to make a comment about something. Your picture of IASW has me thinking... what if they turned the ISAW at WDW into The Osborne Lights?

 

Sorry if I did say that. I can't find the picture of the ride that  made me think of it now. 

 

If you look at how WDW's Small World attraction is designed, I don't thing it would work to add lights like they have at Disneyland.  The Disneyland version has a huge outside edifice, and the Disneyland Railroad runs right through it.  Disney World's exterior is pretty generic looking, and it's in too crowded of an area. 

 

But, I do think there are places at WDW where a lot of lights could be added to become a substitute for the Osborne Lights.  I'll bet the Imagineers already have some plans for that.  I think they need to find a place in DHS.  I haven't seen the new theater area they recently built next to Rock N Rollercoaster, but maybe somewhere back there?  Or maybe even on the Great Movie Ride?

 

TCD

[shoreline99 137]

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