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[Hilary]

so, just back from my first "proper" visit to DLRP since 2003 (not counting a flying visit one afternoon last December!).  Originally I was going with two friends and we'd booked to stay in the Cheyenne, then one changed jobs and couldn't get the time off and that pushed the price up too much for the other.  Well, I'd decided I was going for the 15th Anniversary Celebrations whatever so I went by myself and upgraded to the Sequoia.  Cost me a lot of money, but was worth every penny.

Had I gone with my friends, it would have been a much more ride oriented trip - being on my own meant I could just wander around taking hundreds of photographs (and I did!) and not worry about what anyone else wanted to do.  I mean sure, it would have been nice to have some company, especially for all those hours spent sitting around for the parades, but never mind.

So yes, there will be lots of photographs - although goodness knows how long it will take me to get them sorted out - and some videos too. For now, I'll just mention some brief highlights:

The weather brightened up!  I arrived Monday afternoon and within about 5 minutes of setting foot in Disney Village was running for the first store to buy a poncho.  Yesterday was beautiful and I came home totally burnt!

The queues were no where near as bad as I'd feared.  As my focus was on taking photographs, I had no intention of spending hours queuing for rides I've been on countless times before.  But I didn't have to!  Between the poor weather and Extra Magic Hours, I hardly queued for anything - well, apart from Crush, of course, but even that was only about 20 mins or so as I headed there first thing.

The new & improved Walt Disney Studios! The bedlam of Crush's Coaster aside, so exciting to see it so alive!  But I don't want to see the queues when ToT opens! And of course the excitement of a new ride - Crush was indeed awesome, really didn't expect to get spun around that much! (OK, didn't seem quite so intense the second time, but still...).  Didn't bother with Cars though.

Legend of the Lion King - OK, so can't match the show in the West End, but  still a fantastic show, and I think I preferred this to the version in Florida.  Managed to get a seat in the front row and taped it so should hopefully get that online shortly.

The wonderful 15th Birthday decorations.  The Castle did not disappoint (OK, I'm one of the few people who actually quite liked the 5th decorations but yes, this was a lot better!  Classier than turning it into a giant cake too!)

Downsides - not many. Sadly my second viewing of the Once Upon a Dream Parade was spoiled by the inevitable rude woman who shoved her daughter through to the front at the last minute (not so bad in itself) and who then proceeded to nearly knock the woman and child in front of her into the street as she tried to push forward herself. I watched the Parade twice - once to photograph and once to video and needless to say this was the one I taped!  So have had to crop a fair bit out because the shouting rather spoiled it

Choosing totally the wrong spot for Fantillusion because I thought it was coming the opposite way to the day Parade (like MSEP used to do).  Whilst I appreciate the dramatic effect of the floats "changing" with the snake, dragon etc, it does seem a bit unfair that you don't get to see the whole show as it were unless you're sat in specific places.  And yes, I'm just bitter because on my first viewing (again, needless to say the one I taped!), Ursula and co were hidden behind a tree!  I hadn't seen this Parade before and have to admit it was my main reason for braving peak season (not that turned out so badly).  But I hadn't realised how similar this was to Spectromagic  - although I guess that was inevitable.  But hey, Spectromagic doesn't have a big dragon, does it?!

Oh, and whilst it's not really a complaint, will they ever change the parade in the Studios?  Come on, just sneak one new float in there!

Anyway,  I'll update this when the photos & videos are up at my website but in the meantime, here's a (very) small selection of my favourites.









Oh, and one for Masamune - I did say I'd think of you whenever I saw the Cheshire Cat!

[tubbsy]

Glad you had a good time. You've tempted me into upgrading from Cheyenne to Sequoia....

I love the photo of the castle with the flowers and of course the photo of the WTP gang

I think it might become obligatory to take a Cheshire cat photo when we all go!I was thinking of doing the same thing in October! :lol:

[Hilary]

The weather was so bad Monday afternoon/Tuesday morning that I was really pleased I'd paid the extra for a Montana Room as my room was right at the front of the hotel - I had to go back and twice and change because I was drenched (first time I've bought a poncho ) so at least I didn't have too far to walk.

I guess there's not a huge difference between the Cheyenne and the Sequoia but I've stayed in the Cheyenne twice and have always fancied staying in the Sequoia - plus, being by myself I wanted one that was as close to the Parks I could afford (I was half tempted by the New York but that would have just been too much money - especially given that I was really only there to sleep and have breakfast!).

[Disneyana]

Very nice photos, can't wait to see the rest oft it.

[RnRCj]

Good report, and nice photos :wink:

You say the queue for Crush was 20 mins - Was it like that all day or just at the time you rode? Did it get any longer? :?: (Sorry, it's just that I can't stand waiting for more than about half an hour :lol:)

[Hilary]

I got to the Studios for about 9.40, ready to join the dash to Crush as soon as the gates opened and managed to get through the ride in 20 mins or so.  Buy the time I got out, I think the wait time was all ready reaching 60 mins and it just got longer throughout the day.

Basically, if you want to do it, go there first thing or forget about it!

Videos are now up here: http://www.dailymotion.com/fray101

Have uploaded (whispers) over 700 photos so it's going to take me a little while to sort those out into galleries etc.

[Jorien]

Very nice videos!! Thanks for sharing!

[Hilary]

Have finally got all the photos uploaded and tagged!  (well, not all - I've "only" uploaded around 700 to the galleries, there were a couple of hundred more!).

The main bulk of the photos are in the Parades & Shows sections, I've also added a gallery for the 15th Anniversary decorations and of course there are various others dotted around throughout.  I'm particularly pleased with some of the new Frontierland photos.

Anyway, the link to my site is in my signature, but the links for the photo galleries are as follows:

Disneyland Park: http://disneypix.tripod.com/id63.html
Walt Disney Studios: http://disneypix.tripod.com/id84.html
Misc Photos (Characters etc): http://disneypix.tripod.com/id86.html

Hope you enjoy them - and feel free to add comments

[The Butlin Boy]

Thanks for sharing your pictures, they're great :wink:

[Jorien]

Very nice pictures! thanks for sharing.

[Soap]

Thxs for sharing m8!  

[Boo]

): Its saying its forrbidden  

[Hilary]

OK, bit late finding this but what's forbidden?  The main site?  Videos?  Nothing should be...hmmm...