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[999ghosts]

For those that would like to read what Tony Baxter had to say during his Masterclass.

Tony Baxter Masterclass

It was an awesome event.

[lynny]

@ davewasbaloo sorry for your probs hope being @ Dlrp helped ,been there got the t-shirt :cry:

the flashmob looked fab i only wish i could have een there.....makes me so emotional seeing all the pics and vids from yesterday :oops:

Davewasbaloo i would not have been happy with the food situation yesterday either....what were they thinkin??

i cant wait to go in july it's only going to be me and my 10yr old and have never been in nthe summer before,my oldest is 19 now and has lost interest.....so looking forward to it though

[Columbiad]

Probably my favourite visual from the 20th AnniversaryL

[DLP-Photos.com]

The lines were unacceptable. Yesterday had huge crowds, and yet the Lucky Nugget, Last Chance Cafe, Col Hathi, and toad hall were all closed. This led to lines out the door to try to get food and people sat on the pavement eating. Does that sound acceptable to you? (That was not just peak time when we first checked, but also at 3:30). We went to the village to Annettes (Where they halved the options again this year), for some respite.

Dreams dinner packages are ok, but if you are willing to wait 30 mins before the show, it is not as necessary as say the Fantasmic packages in the states). But not a bad menu, very cute design.

Dreams is excellent. The first night we were in the hub. Great view. Last night we were at the discoveryland rocks (not recommended. We may try near coke corner tomorrow night.

First of all - very, very good to hear from you again. Sounds like it has been a rough time and I really hope you continue strongly through it

This sounds crazy indeed with the restaurants and one would have thought that every single line, in every single restaurant would have been open yesterday. So for 4 restaurants to be all closed is really flabbergasting me! Could it be because of the strikes still going on?

That being said I am happy to hear that the party yesterday was awesome - what I wouldn't have done to have been there

[captain rocket]

Just to add to the restaurant closures on 12th Fuento del oro and Agrabah, despite a sign outside Lucky Nugget telling you to go there! I had a bag of crisps and a coke for lunch and finally ate at the Chalet de marionette at 6ish and to my surprise,it was really quiet! I can only believe it must have been something to do with the strikers, it must have cost Disney Thousands in lost revenue, but what a great day to be there. Disney as you expect it to be!

[captain rocket]

Quick note for eduk, The dining package is expensive and only has two choices for courses, I have not been in the "VIP" area but got a reasonable view of everything on 12th and 13th so would'nt bother personally. As a PS, people atarted gathering two hours before Dreams so you need to be prepared! The show itself is awesome and so worth the wait!

[ed-uk]

@Captain Rocket.
Thank you for the reply. We haven't made up our minds for sure on the dinning package, and we'd only do it once. We're going in July and will be there over the 14th so I expect it to be very busy. Maybe that week there'll be two performances of Dreams a day which might help. And what with finding a good spot for Fantillusions, there could be alot of standing around waiting, so a VIP dinning package is tempting for me. I'm glad you had a good time on the 12th and found somewhere to eat, what a great experience.

[Columbiad]

The 20th Anniversary, has, so far, been a big success in my eyes. Whilst a new attraction, or a brand new parade would have been amazing, Disneyland have worked with what they've got and seem to have re-worked their priorities.

Disney Dreams! gives the park a permanent infrastructure for nightly shows far into the future, their "Project Sparkle" period showed how they wanted to maximise what they had in the parks, and the occasions for the 12th April were cost-cheap and effective: the flash-mob, getting Tony Baxter & the International Ambassadors over, the videos with celebrities and cast-members wishing the park Happy Birthday - all relatively simple and relatively cheap, but effective.

The anniversary also had a great branded, consistent "look", and they seem to be very much pushing the 20th into the media.

They've also set the ball rolling for a great future, with the funds in for a bettered WDS, Ratatouille and a promise for a better esplanade with the World of Disney store.

[gldc]

Quick note for eduk, The dining package is expensive and only has two choices for courses, I have not been in the "VIP" area but got a reasonable view of everything on 12th and 13th so would'nt bother personally. As a PS, people atarted gathering two hours before Dreams so you need to be prepared! The show itself is awesome and so worth the wait!

2 hours! I hope this is only on the 12th..I doubt normal park guests are that organised.

[captain rocket]

I think you may be right gldc, we only realised that people were settling down for the show when we were passing through central plaza and as we had been up late the night before we decided that we would join them and got a seat right in front of the castle and settled down. In my opinion this show really is worth the effort, it was awesome and got a great reaction from the crowd. One thing that did surprise me was how close to the castle you could sit/stand, literally at the curbs edge in front of the pathway from the castle itself! As a ps people started "kerb sitting" for the parade 90 minutes before the show yesterday.

[Josh]

We had such a great time. We got the Dreams package for my birthday dinner at the Silver Spur. It turns out that they're not just doing the menu at Walts and the Steakhouse; it's at Blue Lagoon and Auberge du Cendrillon (so, in other words, all of the table service restaurants). The desert is meant to be a surprise, but it was really nice. My mum also bought a birthday cake (to my embarrassment XD). However, at the end of the meal, it was getting past 9 o'clock (because the kitchen had a lot of orders, so our mains and deserts were late), so we had to rush out and get to the reserved area.

Surprisingly, there was plenty of room. I've never noticed, before, that Main Street slopes down, slightly, so we were slightly higher up to the crowds around Central Plaza. The only problem was that one of the posts with the speakers was in the way; plus, one of the trees on the roadside. Still, we got a good view.

The rest of the holiday was great, as well. It was funny when I arrived on Tuesday evening at the New Port Bay, because the two ambassadors walked passed check-in, just as we got in the queue.

We missed the flashmob, because they only let 2000 people in for the opening ceremony.

Still, the presentation with Tony Baxter was brilliant. It was my first time to a fan event. Where was everyone else sitting? Also, the entire centre column was reserved for people wearing special IDs around their necks. Does anyone know who they were?

After that, we queued up for his autograph. I was near the back, so I never got a chance to see him. We were waiting for about two hours, and he even called off a meeting in order to see more fans. We rushed off to the stairs in order to get a photo with him, and luckily, I did. Jut before he did, he said to the cast member next to him, "This is crazy!" because the rest of the fans in the queue were stalking him like paparazzi. Are all fan events like this? :S

It was funny, though, because we bumped into him in the Emporium the next day. He said he was given few things to buy before he left, because he was leaving that afternoon. I still didn't get his autograph. XD

[captain rocket]

The group of Americans were from the Disneyland fan club in Anaheim, Disney are only advertising the Dream Package at Walts and the Silver Spur.

[davewasbaloo]

Wow, I feel even more lucky to walk the purple carpet, an event I will never forget.

The central rows were the ambassadors, management from opening day, several imagineer from Glendale, and the southern California Disneyana Club (they paid a fortune for special treatment including lunch at the California Grill with Tony).

We were sat in the second row on the right hand side just across from the Ambassadors.

[davewasbaloo]

As for Dreams, on the 10th, we got a position in the middle of the hub about 35 minutes before show time. The 12th was a zoo. We contemplated waiting the 90 minutes but as we had seen the show before opted for a ride on Phantom Manor and Orbitron instead (the kids have spent 2 weeks travelling 1000 miles around France with me and also let me sit through Tony's talk, so when they asked to ride, I did not deny them).

Busy nights they show Dreams twice. We are going into the park shortly (we had a lay in after the excellent gig at Billy Bob's last night, and spent the afternoon swimming). Dreams is at 9:30 and the park closes at 11:00 tonight with a 2nd showing shortly thereafter! I imagine summer could be similar?

[DedicatedToDLP(Steve)]

Great to see you back Dave, sorry to hear of your troubles.

Reading these posts sees my excitement levels ever rising for our trip in 22 days. I can't wait to see Disneyland Park after all the recent refurbishments. Main ST USA looks stunning in the photos and videos I have seen.

We went in 2002 and 2007, but 2012 with the 20th Anniversary seems much more like a celebration than the 10th and 15th, and the refurbishments and enhancements have made the resort look world class, and with more to come.