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[dagobert]

The cheesecakes look so delicious. Now I'm a little bit diappointed that I haven't been to the Cheesecake Factory in the US.

Doesn't Universal offer a Studio Tram Tour through the real movie studio? Or did I miss it in your report?

[davewasbaloo]

Doesn't Universal offer a Studio Tram Tour through the real movie studio? Or did I miss it in your report?

That is the whole reason to go, and why I do not like the park in Florida as mush. USH is a real studio and the tram tour gives a behind the scenes tour. WHen I was a kid, the bit where Jurrassic Park, the Mummy, the SFX tour and Backdraft is used to also be a part of the real studios and tour. The tour used to be a 3 or 4 hour affair, with props and shows on the top part of the lot. It was more of an edutainment centre than a hodge podge theme park. And I must admit, I preferred it that way.

[Riebi]

Oh the studio tour is much much much much much better then the WDS Tour. But it´s the rest of the park that doesn´t fit much.

Doesn't Universal offer a Studio Tram Tour through the real movie studio? Or did I miss it in your report?

That is the whole reason to go, and why I do not like the park in Florida as mush. USH is a real studio and the tram tour gives a behind the scenes tour. WHen I was a kid, the bit where Jurrassic Park, the Mummy, the SFX tour and Backdraft is used to also be a part of the real studios and tour. The tour used to be a 3 or 4 hour affair, with props and shows on the top part of the lot. It was more of an edutainment centre than a hodge podge theme park. And I must admit, I preferred it that way.

That must have been great times. I think I would like it more this "old" way. This was more as they want to try to be no working studio. (Maybe it doesn´t impressed me that much cause I´ve worked long time at production stages  :wink:  so a film set and game shows aren´t very impressive for me)

[Riebi]

Day 7 Part I

Hurray! Disneyland Day! That was a early bird day for us. We had an early breakfast at the hotel, gored our donuts and coffee, took our bags and things we needed for the day and soon we left the hotel – destination disneyland.

I was again surprised about the location of the resort. It´s a bit like walking through your city and in place of your town market place/church/Town Square or else is a disneyland resort. You can clearly see why they had the dream to build something like WDW. On the other hand Anaheim seems to try everything to keep the area clean an proper.  And it´s an interesting diffrence to have a resort directly in the center of a city.

By the way: The security checks have the same décor as in Paris. Sorry but they haven´t wonderful themed holy land security checks with flowers all over and a light show (And I don´t need that for a security check). But the security Cast Members are diffrent. Seems to be mostly some pensioners instead of our business like security guys. And they have nice uniforms.

But now to the main attraction. Disneyland Park! It was great to step again in this diffrent world. They have an other ticket system with a ,,sparkling" sound for every guest. Our first attraction was Main Street Station where we waited for the Disneyland Railroad. Not much people there, completly diffrent to paris where main street station seems to bet he first attraction of everybody in the park. Better for us. We took the full tour around the park. Bigger panorama scenes but you see also some not so nice corners where they seem to have not much berm/trees at the berm and tried to cover this fact with some tarpaulin. But ok. Most of the tour is the same. They have the better explication while the ride. You get a full report of everything you see and thats something that I often missed at Paris.

After our tour we had our traditional walk on Main Street USA. It´s all a bit smaller and not that elaborate here but also a nice street. I loved the little open air café/restaurant. There is always something to watch. Always a vehicle on street and very often the horse tram.

We reached Central Plaza, made the traditional Partner statue pics and castle pics and enter then Adventureland. There was an extreme long queue that reached to the Indiana Jones Fast Pass station. (We were first thinking that this was the indiana jones queue but no. Just fast pass.) The waiting time for Indiana Jones was around 30 minutes so we don´t get why they all took this fast passes. We decided to start the day calm and walked on the tree house next to indiana jones. This comic tree house looks a bit dull. I ask me what they will do in one or two years. At the moment there aren´t that much people interestet in Tarzan.

After Tarzan we had a walk along the street and  we stepped into another land. Then I turned around and around and ask my friend (it was his second time in the park) ,,Where´s the rest of Adventureland?". ,,That was it", he said. ,,oh". The Adventureland of Disneyland is extremly small! Just some trees and some attractions at one small street. That´s a bit sad if you are familiar with the wide wooden jungle ways with an Adventure Isle in the middle. But ok, that´s life.

We crossed New Orleans Square and enter pirates of the caribean. I like this version of pirates also. I can´t say on is better then the other. I like both. They are just diffrent and this smoke effect is really impressive. The best: We had a waiting time under 5 minutes. The biggest diffrence was for me the queue. It´s a real short indoor queue and a long not that interesting outdoor queue.

After our Adventure at the wild sea we were ready for a spooky one. The Haunted Mansion was our next stop. We had the luck to see it in its halloween/holiday costume. I was first a bit sceptical about Nightmare before Christmas at haunted mansion but I must say it was one of the best attractions ever. The well themed and decorated gardens are a nice prelude to the lift scene where jack the pumpkin king laught loud over your head. The attraction is soooo wonderful in this scary christmas deco! A absolute must! And again just 10 minutes waiting time.

On our route through the land we changed again the theming and entered critter country. Really nice area. And it has the next new favorite attraction of Riebi: Winnie the pooh...just kidding...Splash Mountain! Again just 10 Minutes to wait and a great ride with a little boy in front which always just said things like ,,Oh my good I die here...". Loved the attraction and loved the splashes! Great fun! Should be at paris as soon as possible.

Then we went to our next adventure: The canooooooos. Such fun! It´s great that this attraction still excist there and it makes much more pleasure to take a round with this little boats then to take one with the steamers. We had so much fun on the rivers!

We decided then to take a fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain and took then the round to Fantasyland and there to Toon Town where we had a hot dog. Nice themed area. I like it. But I think it would be a problem at paris. Not because of the theming but because of the refurb. I think toon town is one of this areas where you have to kept your paint with you every half year. Without this fresh paint look it will look very cheap and ugly. Thanks god Disneyland seems to have enough paint for Toon Town.

[dagobert]

I can't wait for the rest of your Disneyland report and of course your pictures. Your comparisons with DLRP are very interesting.

[never2old]

More, more, more!!

[The Butlin Boy]

Fantastic report so far Riebi, I would give so much to go on a trip to California like you have, and I pray that one day I will

I'm glad you had a great time and I'm looking forward to seeing some more of this report

[Riebi]

Thank you all!

I start now with part II of our first disneyland day:

After Toon Town and our hot dog we saw the ,,parade". It´s not a real parade. At Paris they would say it´s a cavalcade. There are some party floats (celebrate a street party floats) that try to keep the celebration going. It´s a nice little show with many effects and variety. It´s the right thing for a celebration year. Not to big and not to small. And it seem much more on peoples mind then our Mickey´s magical party show. The sad thing: It´s the only ,,parade" at Disneyland and if you see it just as a cavalcade you get clear that Disneyland Park hadn´t a real parade during my visit.

We took then a nice tour at Autopia, a fast pass for Space Mountain and a little rest at central plaza.

By the way the whole celebration thing is much quieter and nicer then MMP at Paris. It has more to do with the people at the park and not that much with characters and rubber heads. The deco is much nicer and fits better and they had many little idea (for little money I think) but with big success. For example every guest who celebrate something gets a big button with the thing on it he celebrate. ,,Today is the Anthony´s Birthday Party" or else. (,,We celebrate our engagement", ,,I celebrate my first visit to DL".... such things) Most were this birthday buttons. Always a Cast Member saw one of the buttons he shoulded loud out ,,OOOOH it´s Anthony´s Birthday today! Let´s give him a happy birthday wish everybody". Which means that the whole queue was shouting ,,HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANTHONY!" and other things. Was quiet fun and I never heard a Happy Birthday that often.

After this cavalcade we went on indiana jones. Crossing Main Street we realized that they had now the music on. In the morning they had forget to turn it on so we were happy to have this familiar tunes now on Main Street.

Then Indiana Jones: I was a bit disapointed by the first part of the queue (outside). It shows again how small adventureland is. The outside part is very squeezed between the treehouse and the jungle cruise. And the whole area looks too small for Indy. But the inside of Indiana Jones is all cool. Nice temple ambiance, wonderful ride (even if some effects seems to cry ,,REFURB ME". Would love to have an updated version of this at Paris.
We made the little castle walkthrough (next to the castle) and then our Big Thunder Mountain Fast Pass was ready. Big Thunder Mountain is diffrent from the Paris version. Not completly but you are waiting for your train while you stand inside the mountain area. It looks all again a bit smaller then paris but also intimate. It´s the area of Disneyland that looks most like our Frontierland. The ride itself was great.

After Big Thunder our Space Mountain Fast Pass was right and we entered the Ghost Galaxy. It´s a nice overlay. Nothing for the victorian Paris but nice for this type of space Mountain. Space mountain is not that fast but they have some good effects at the launch area.

We made another space adventure: Star Tours. Mostly the same as in Paris. After that we were a bit hungry.

We went to a little mexican restaurant at Frontierland. Yummy mexican taccoooo salad! Was a real good meal! And something totally diffrent to the paris food location. We were sitting outside, nice theming, nice evening.

Then we had not so nice evening experiences. Frontierland and the area in front of the rivers of america were full of people. All waiting for the fantasmic show. They waited since 3 PM fort his show. I can´t understand this peoples but ok. They are crazy. They block the area since 3 PM with wheelchairs, strollers and blankets. That to see was horrible. Was like a Mallorca vacation. One person of a family were waiting at the blanket/wheelchair/stroller while the others had some fun then they changed again and another person of a family was waiting. They done this the whole day since 3 PM!!! That means that after our evening meal there was simply not much place to go to central plaza or doing something other then waiting for Fantasmic. We had the plan to see the show later this evening and so we came up into a nightmare called ,,Crowd Control". Crowd Control means that some bearish Cast Members stand up in a line with a little yellow lamp shouting ,,MOVE FOWARD! MOVE FOWARD! THIS DIRECTION!!!!". It also means that I get in serious trouble as I stopped 30 seconds to get my mostly emty cup of coffee in a trash can next to PotC. The bearished Cast Member of Disneyland Resort shouded to me if I´m that stupid to know that this is a moving way and some other quickly spoken english things that I didn´t understand cause it was that fast. I tried to explain that I just wanna throw this little cup into the trash can but cause there was a little quencher inside, I had to take a short stop. ,,The waiting areas for fantasmic are marked" she shoulded out. ,,We don´t want to see fantasmic at the moment" my friend explained. ,,THEN MOVE ON. THATS A MOVING WAY!!!" There seems not to be much happiness at the happiest place on earth after 8 PM....I didn´t trink the rest of my coffee ? trash can, I didn´t had the chance to get my shoes again closed (I had some problems with my lace) I moved on. ,,MOVE ON" she should out all the time and some other fast english things about our neck...spooky....no I never had such a bad CM experience at DLP. Sorry.

At central Plaza you had the same thing. Everywhere shouting Cast Members. MOVE ON! MOVE ON! THIS IS THE WALKING WAY TO THE EXIT. No we don´t wanna take the exit. We want to take the way to a shop. But no chance. You have no chance to shop at Disneyland´s Main street if this silly CROWD CONTROL is MOVING YOU ON. They don´t let you go inside a shop, they don´t let you stop stey just know that you have to move all the time. After another discussion a woman gave us the advice to watch first the firework. Watching the firework at Disneyland means that the MOVE-ON-CREW move you into a hurdling. If you keep on mooing you want have a problem. We had a place inside the flock. There were little and big animals all waiting for the firework. Luckily the firework starts just one minute before the flock would get insane about the hurdling place.

The firework was great! Really nice show and quiet funny! Good storyline great effects! A + for the firework F fort he rest.

After the firework we found our way back to fantasmic. But it was to crowded there and the MOVE-ON Guys took our last nerves. So we went just out of Disneyland.

[dagobert]

I'm sorry for your bad experience with the CM. In my opinion it is a fairytale that US castmember are nicer and more polite than the CMs in Paris. We have also experienced some rude CMs at WDW.

[Riebi]

I'm sorry for your bad experience with the CM. In my opinion it is a fairytale that US castmember are nicer and more polite than the CMs in Paris. We have also experienced some rude CMs at WDW.

Yes that´s true! Seems we must realise that all CMs are just people like the others.

The vending staff had a bit higher lever then at Paris (just a bit) but for the rest I would say it´s nearly the same. And maybe it´s a question of mentality. The californian people seems to be more interested in big smiles  :mrgreen:  and a short talk with their customers. The customers in europe doesn´t really want to talk with their super market cashier about where they come from and how long they stay and how they think about the products you buy.



Day 8

10.10 Disney´s California Adventure and more Disneyland


Part I:

Today was our Disneys California Adventure Main Day. Cause the park hasn´t open that early we had a bit longer sleep and went to the gates around 9:30 AM. There were some crowds in front of the gates but nothing serious. They let you in till sunshine plaza. There you have to wait till the official opening of the park is. The halloween decor is more modern then at Disneyland park but the candy corn fields fits for the park. The waiting time was really funny cause they played much old candy or halloween songs. Which means that all americans around us began to seesaw and sing old this hits. We tried our very best of course to be a part of the others. And I must say as finally even the security guy (they have nice uniform over there for them) sang with us it was one of the best starts in the day you can have at a disney park.

At 10 AM the lines dropped and we all entered the other parts of the park. We firstly had a straight walk to Paradise Pier. We wanted to be one of the first people at Midway Mania. Aaaand we were one of the first at Midway Mania. Sadly Midway Mania was closed. Technical issues. The CM at the entrance said that they have some problems and that the ride maybe could open in the next 30 minutes but it could even be possible that it runs not before 3 PM. Sad faces all around. We decided to take a ride on California Screaming first to bridge the waiting time. We were one of the first at California Screaming! With a first lucky then sad face we realized that it was closed. Technical issues the woman in front of it told us. We decided a bit more unhappy now to take a first ride at Mickeys Funwheel. But they had also something going on there...My friend realized that some vehicles at Toy Story Midway Mania runs through the attraction. We went back and asked the CM again. Same statement: She doesn´t know how much time it would take. Maybe 30 minutes, maybe till 3 PM (3PM seems to be the Disney time to say NOT-TODAY-LITTLE-GUEST). A more official looking guy went to the attraction team he aked all CMs at the attraction with his müllpiekser (I don´t know the word in english) in his hand what´s going on. Fortunally 30 minutes is the disney time to say immediately. Cause the next what we saw was the opening of Midway Mania. Aaaaand so we were one of the firsts at the attraction. This was a real good thing cause as we left the attraction you had to wait 40 minutes.

Toy Story Midway Mania is such a great attraction! It´s quiet fun and it´s something you want do again and again. I would say it´s one of the best D-Tickets they build. I was first a bit sceptical but I must say just a wonderful fun attraction.

After our trip to toy story we went on mickeys fun wheel. sure we took the swinging gondolas. Was fun and scary in the same way. From time to time I had the feeling I would die cause the gondola slips that abrupt  and with a big swing at the end that you think that this couldn´t be that healthful for a fun wheel. But I must say the fun aspect is much bigger.

We were pleased to see California Screamin open after our Fun Wheel tour. And so we took our first ride on the attraction with a waiting time of just 5 minutes. I think 20 minutes was the longest waiting time for it we saw this day. California Screamin is also a fun coaster. It´s not that much to see but the track is quiet excellllent. The music fits and I liked the carnival parts of it much. From time to time we took anohter ride at this day sometimes two in a row (taking a fast pass and queue for 10 minutes, then using the fast pass).

We then took a mulholland drive madness ride which was hmmm really unthemed....but cause alamo was our rental car company we saw the tie to make our tour.

After this adventure  we made the round through the Grizzly Peak Area. That´s such a nice area. (Paradise Pier is also a nice area! The Midway Mania building do sooo much for it and I like it really. I´ve heard so much bad about it, but it´s not that bad) Grizzly Peak is really a great themed area. It´s wonderful for a little walk, just to sit around and have a look or two at the people around, to recreate and – of course – to have fun. We took a ride at the river run and it has a wonderful balance of wet and dry, fast drops and calmer parts. It´s not easy to create a good/perfect water ride like this but WDI done it.

After this bit wet ride we went over to the hollywood area. Sad to say but the hollywood bvd. looks more themed as any of the WDS lands. The should hardly make the placemaking projects going on at wds. The Muppets/Monster inc part looks a bit tacky but the bvd is really nice. Also the Hollywood tower area isn´t that bad as much people told us. Yes it´s at the end of a street but on the other hand is looks more enclosed. The details aren´t that richt as in paris, the ride ist he same in every way. The CM at Paris are better and scarier, the one at california were all a bit busy talking to other CMs about what happend here and there at the park and that didn´t let you believe that they are real hotel staff. Maybe they should now send the californian CMs to Paris to teach them how to run this attraction.

Back at the normal dimension we were a bit hungry. We first took the tortilla tour and gets a tortilla! Happy about this like little childs we then took a round through the dining area and grab finally some chinese food. It was fresh, delicious and pricy. That´s the food quality and direction I would love at DLP. First step: Bring back the hot potatoes! (On the other hand the Hot Dogs at DLP are better)

After our lunch we went after a ride at california screamin to condor flats to see what kind of fun soarin would be. It´s a proper D ticket but I was a bit disapointed. Yes it´s great to fly over the landscape but with this cuts inside the movie and with a place in the last row you always now clearly that this is just a movie. It´s a good filler but nothing more. And nothing you do twice a day.

We were interested what the developements over the next years would be. So the blue sky cellar was the right thing for us. That´s such nice little preview area. You can watch some movies about the developements, some interviews with imagineers and you can see the many things they put here together. Was fun, interesting and magical. DLP should thing about such a info point. Maybe at the village.


....next part soon...(sorry I´m a bit busy at the moment  :lol: )

[davewasbaloo]

I am glad you like DCA, we think it is a great park, better than a lot of things on offer at WDW IMHO. Interesting though, Soarin' for me is a must do, multiple times attractions, whereas Paradise Pier does little for me. Different strokes for different folks.  But it is all good.

[experiment627]

Thanks for another awesome report!

Strange how your observations at DL and DCA mirror so much my own from Florida...

Cast - the bit you wrote about the ToT CMs chatting with each other, being not really in character? Happened to me too at WDW...
And yes, Americans are extremely friendly and chatty. Too chatty for this European, at times... Example: We were sitting at the Animal Kingdom Lodge's bus stop early one morning and a young CM - apparently tracking the flow of guests - started chatting with me. I wasn't in the mood. So he blamed me for being not much of a fun-type...

Food - yes, the hot dogs in Paris are better...  

Toy Story Mania -    ... We loved it. And why I haven't downloaded the iPhone game yet is beyond me... Anyway: bring it to Paris. Fast!  

Soarin - I don't know... but the lack of transitions and even the sandals, sneakers and bare feet in front of me took me out of this beautiful experience... but, as dave already said: different strokes for different folks...



Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

[dagobert]

Again great trip report.

Soarin' was one of our favorite rides at WDW, so I'm sorry you didn't like it so much. But like the others said: Everyone has a different taste.

The CMs at the ToT in Paris are really great and spooky and they add a lot to the whole experience.

@ experiment627:
We had also encountered some very overmotivated CMs at WDW. For example at Epcot there was a young CM who was earning her ears, so she was in training, and she desperately wanted to start a conversation with all guests walking by. I wasn't in the mood to talk so my girlfriend did, but I wasn't blamed for being not much of a fun-type.

On other occasions we really enjoyed talking to the overmotivated CMs, because they were really interested in us, since we were from Europe.

[Riebi]

I am glad you like DCA, we think it is a great park, better than a lot of things on offer at WDW IMHO. Interesting though, Soarin' for me is a must do, multiple times attractions, whereas Paradise Pier does little for me. Different strokes for different folks. But it is all good.

Oh I wouldn´t say Paradise Pier is the number one area of the park but it was far away from that worse and ugly everyone told us. Maybe becaue we went there after the first part of the placemaking project  :lol:
It was a more "romantic" and detailed version of some of the piers and boardwalks we found some days ago at the coast.

For DCA I can really say I like the park. An I think one of the main reason it doesn´t was a big success is also because it´s a park about california in california. For example: You are really not very impressed if you stand in front of the palace of fine arts replica if you had seen it some days ago for real. And you see directly the diffrences between hollywood LA and hollywood DCA. Would be the better second park for Paris  :wink:

Again great trip report.

Soarin' was one of our favorite rides at WDW, so I'm sorry you didn't like it so much. But like the others said: Everyone has a different taste.

The CMs at the ToT in Paris are really great and spooky and they add a lot to the whole experience.

@ experiment627:
We had also encountered some very overmotivated CMs at WDW. For example at Epcot there was a young CM who was earning her ears, so she was in training, and she desperately wanted to start a conversation with all guests walking by. I wasn't in the mood to talk so my girlfriend did, but I wasn't blamed for being not much of a fun-type.

On other occasions we really enjoyed talking to the overmotivated CMs, because they were really interested in us, since we were from Europe.

Thanks for another awesome report!

Strange how your observations at DL and DCA mirror so much my own from Florida...

Cast - the bit you wrote about the ToT CMs chatting with each other, being not really in character? Happened to me too at WDW...
And yes, Americans are extremely friendly and chatty. Too chatty for this European, at times... Example: We were sitting at the Animal Kingdom Lodge's bus stop early one morning and a young CM - apparently tracking the flow of guests - started chatting with me. I wasn't in the mood. So he blamed me for being not much of a fun-type...

Food - yes, the hot dogs in Paris are better...

Toy Story Mania - ... We loved it. And why I haven't downloaded the iPhone game yet is beyond me... Anyway: bring it to Paris. Fast!

Soarin - I don't know... but the lack of transitions and even the sandals, sneakers and bare feet in front of me took me out of this beautiful experience... but, as dave already said: different strokes for different folks...



Looking forward to the rest of your trip report!

For Soaring I have to say: It´s a good attraction. I don´t hate it or I wouldn´t say it wouldn´t fit for paris. But it´s for me one of the attraction you should have from day one of a park and nothing to make a big and impressiv ad.
I like to fly over the states but it wasn´t that perfect as I was thinking from the describtions. But: Surely I would do it again! Next time at california  :mrgreen:

The Tower of Terror CMs...interesting that they seem to behave the same way at florida. I was thinking: Is it just me? But I ask my friend and he had the same impression. AND noooow you and florida!

The hot dog...the hot dog at Disneyland Resort was served in a simple alu-bag. Not very nice. You had to find it in there and it wasn´t a nice view. But we pimped it with mustard and ketchup and and and  :wink: But I must say DLP seems to have the better ones. We ate a much much better hot dog at las vegas some days later.

I really felt in love with Toy Story Mania! And that was a real surprise! I was first thinking: that´s just another Buzz Lightyear. But it´s sooo much better and an extremly fun attraction!  =D>

Fot the CMs or the chatty californians: It´s doesn´t bother me.  :wink: The seem really interested in us cause we were from europe/germany and that seems to be something special for them. So they ask much things about germany and that they have/had a cousin/dad/uncle/grandgrandgrandfather/friend/dog in germany and such things. That point was everywhere in California and also at Las Vegas. At Williams they are not much interested in anything I think  :lol:

For the rest of the week I´m on a business trip so I try to make another trip report step on friday or sat.

[davewasbaloo]

I agree, I think DCA gets a bad rep because of the theme. But there is some great theming in Grizzly River Run, Condor Flats, the Marina area, and Hollywood Pictures Backlot.  PP looks great at night shining on the water, not so much in the day.

But attraction wise, I think it's great -

ToT
Aladdin (best stage show in the Disney parks world wide)
Monsters Inc
The Animation Pavillion
Muppetvision 3D
It's Tough to be a Bug
Soarin'
Grizzly River Run
The Red Wood Creek Challenge Trail
Screamin'
TSMM
My wife likes the factory tours too, as well as the California Wine Tasting seminars

Plus a load of others that don't appeal. I think it's a pretty good line up for the 2nd gate.

Just a shame they got rid of all the fine dining and my fav two little attractions, Golden Dreams and Seasons of the Vine. They also used to have amazing streetmousphere, but sadly that has been reduced because of lack of space during the place making. I hope it comes back. I am looking forward to WOC though, Carsland looks like it could be pretty awesome, and even though I am not a huge fan, I know my daughter is looking forward to the Little Mermaid attraction.