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[RnRCj]

Ah, another trip report. I haven't done one of these for a while. It's hard to start...

Okay, I'm forgetting the usual "we did this we did that" style report because, well, most of the time they're boring to read and write. You'd also get fed up with hearing "and then I rode Rock 'n' Roller Coaster" over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and over again.

Instead, I'm going to try to write something that you can actually enjoy reading. I've always wanted to write that ultimate report, full of hundreds of beautiful photos, positive thinking, and lots of good news to report from the resort. That sort of report where you get a great sense of satisfaction by reading it and you feel almost as if you're there with the person.

This report will, most likely, not be that report.

I'm sorry.

Before we start our little adventure, I must apologise for the pathetically bad photos which are to follow. The camera was having some real problems, making photos either too bright, too dark, too blurry... or whatever it felt like doing to them. This is also the reason why I don't have many photos. So you're going to have to put up with lots and lots of glorious text! :mrgreen:

HOTEL NEW YORK

The Hotel New York was okay - nothing special for the price you pay. Our room was in good condition, except the safe which was broken. After a call to reception someone was quickly sent up to fix it though.

Breakfast in the convention centre was quite bad really. We queued for at least 10 minutes to get in and when we did there were loads of tables free. When we left the room was practically empty yet people were still being made to queue. The breakfast itself was not good. When I went up to get my breakfast lots of trays were empty and I had to wait for them to be refilled. The food wasn't exactly hot either. There was no milk, no butter, no tea... etc.

Also, on one day it seemed as if two of the lifts was broken but there was no notice and people were literally queuing to use the one that was operating.

WALT DISNEY STUDIOS ATTRACTIONS

Tower Of Terror was great as usual. There were a few problems, such as the dials not working, the light on the back of the elevator doors not working, and the wind effects not working. But apart from that it was all good. The bellhops were entertaining (though not quite as good as the original bellhop team I feel). I must mention one lady bellhop who was completely in character, and looked the part too with her completely wacky hairstyle! Didn't check the name tag though.

I noticed a problem with the middle shaft - that the scenes were not lit properly, the corridor scene in particular. When the room faded away you could still pretty much see it, and the elevators doors at the end of the corridor seemed very bright compared to the other shafts.


(this is how bad my photo are - I didn't get one better picture of ToT)

Rock 'n' Roller Coaster was fantastic. All the effects at the load, unload, and lauch area were working after being broken for years. The main lightshow was pretty good too, with lots of smoke on the Wednesday in particular. For more, please see the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster topic where I've written a long detailed report which only I am interested in (probably). I rode it 26 times. :mrgreen:


(your standard RnRC billboard shot)

Crush's Coaster displayed at 70 - 75 minute wait, but it was actually more like 40 minutes. To be honest, I can't say I like this attraction. The capacity is a nightmare and personally I didn't believe I was surfing the EAC for one second. Bruce's timing was out too. No grafitti on the wall though, good good.

Over at Cars, half of the cars were sleeping. I decided not to disturb them.

Stitch Live was fun. Even though it was an English showing, the CMs never seem to pick English-speaking people. You always end up with some Portuguese dude desperately trying to remember his English class from school.

DISNEYLAND PARK ATTRACTIONS

During Extra Magic Hours, all Main Street vehicles were operating! I took my first ever ride on the horse-drawn streetcars and thoroughly enjoyed it.




Over in Frontierland we did Phantom Manor which was great. The music seemed a little louder than my previous visit, and on the final day the fog behind the bride's skeleton was working! Personally I didn't think the new Leota head looked too bad, and I thought the darkened walls in the seance room really added to the atmosphere. This is still one of my favourite attractions.

The extra strobe lighting effects by the guests were "cool" too.......yeah, you know what I'm on about.

We also checked out Boot Hill, and the heart was still beating. I am totally convinced there is some living in there.



I rode on the Mark Twain for the first time in years and absolutely loved it. I forgot how far back the Rivers of the Far West actually go. Sadly the Keelboats were closed, which I really wanted to try.



We used Fastpass for Big Thunder Mountain. When we came back at our time the Fastpass queue was out the gate. The ride had broken down earlier in the day, and I have a feeling the visitors queuing at that time may have been given Fastpasses to come back at the same time as us. Either that or the CMs couldn't control the Fastpass queue properly.

The ride itself was super fun as always. The flourescent pools were working by the first lift, as was the water splash and the steam from the engine at the second lift.



Space Mountain was pretty bad. Very rough. The smoke, recoil, and door were not working on the Columbiad. The music however was working well and loud enough to hear properly. I'll try and get through this without mentioning de la Terre à la Lune...... oops. Mission 2 sucks.

Buzz Lightyear was fun, but I still don't like it's location. My score was something like 420,000. Not the best I've ever got. The Buzz animatronic was broken when we first rode it, but when we came back literally 10 minutes later, he was working!



The Nautilus needs to have it's effects fixed. There was no bubbling water outside, no bubbling water in the diving hole, and no hydrolics moving in the engine room. Nevertheless it is still my favourite attraction of Discoveryland.



"it's a small world" was very good. Only a few relatively minor things were not working it seemed. Love this ride.



Peter Pan was okay. I think this ride is quite overrated. It would be nice if they could get the flying over London scene working properly.

Snow White and Pinocchio were fine, no problems. Funny how Pinocchio had a much longer queue than Snow White.

Pirates was in great condition when I rode it. I didn't see one broken AA throughout the whole attraction. The swordfighters were still a little further apart than they should be, but other than that, no major problems. It was nice to see all the extra little water effects working for the summer too. I nearly always visit in the winter, so have never really seen them before.

ENTERTAINMENT

On the second day of the trip we headed into Disneyland Park and I was very pleased to see a live band performing as I walked in!




Sadly this was the only band we saw over the entire trip. I asked about the African Tam Tams at City Hall, and was told they only play during the summer. Their drums were still lying outside Restaurant Hakuna Matata weirdly.

On the final day of the trip, there was some entertainment in the lobby of Hotel New York in the form of Mickey Mouse and a dancer. If I remember correctly, they danced to the MMP theme, a HSM song, and then some latin music.





I'd just like to say that I officially hate anything to do with Mickey's Magical Party. The Main Street vehicles could not run outside of Extra Magic Hours due to the stupid show at Central Plaza, and the I swear the Minnie's Party Train was out every 5 minutes or so. The Stitch Dance Slime thing was also horrific, I watched about 5 seconds. I didn't realise just how many spots there were...



In the castle there was a glass-blower who looked like a James Bond villain. Very cool!



Whilst lost in the jungles of Adventureland there were some characters around:




This annoys me. Why on earth are Jafar and Gepetto in the middle of a jungle?? If it was Baloo or something, then fine. But characters completely unrelated to the theme are not acceptable to me.

GENERAL MAINTENANCE AROUND THE PARKS

...was pretty good on the attractions, but not so good on the other features of the park. Disneyland Park seemed a little dehydrated in places:







The waterfalls by Hakuna Matata, at the entrance to Frontierland, and at the sides of Fantasia Gardens were not working either.

I must point out that the waterfall at La Cabane did start working again on Friday though, as well as the water running to the drinking fountain.



The lava rocks in Discoveryland were mostly dry. Only one fountain was working.



I noticed that the egg has been cleaned up since my last visit:



The birds at the Hyperion were looking good as new:



Inside, the hydrolics above the Coke machines were not working and seemed broken:



The bubbles inside were working however.

Over in Fantasyland, the Old Mill was still turning. I was very pleased to see this working for the first time.




The pop-up dormouse and smoke was working:



I noticed that Captain Hook's ship in Adventureland is in desperate need of a refurbishment. It was closed off to guests and the paint was very faded.



In Fantasia Gardens, the fountains were not working:



In Casey's Corner, the animated baseball players on the menu were broken:



The torches on the Adventureland Bazar were not working:



The Mad Hatter's Teacups are in desperate need of a refurb, and thankfully they are getting one soon. The floor was filthy, as were the insides of the cups.



Okay, you're probably wondering by now whether I actually had any fun at Disneyland... I did kind of feel like I was doing a Kristof and spending the whole visit checking effects and not doing any rides ( :wink: ). No, I honestly did thoroughly enjoy myself. I only spent an hour or two checking effects, really!!

CONSTRUCTION

On arrival at Hotel New York, I noticed some fences were up in the courtyard. Luckily we were upgraded to a lake view room so I was able to get a quite a good shot:


(if there was no reflection you'd be able to see the Manhattan map)

Is this just to turn it into the ice rink for winter again? Or possibly a return of what should be there?

Whilst in Frontierland, I noticed the construction going on at the Last Chance Cafe. The covered terrace will definitely be useful, and hopefully it will blend in well too.



There was more work going on with the Discoveryland walkways too. I'm sure I took a photo, but it seems to have vanished. Oh well.

ATTRACTION CLOSURES

Indy and Alice's Labyrinth were closed for the duration of our stay. Didn't really see anything going on at either of them.



The early closures/late openings of attractions wasn't so much of a problem. The only time I noticed it was with the Nautilus which was only open for 3 and a half hours.

Storybookland was closed all day every day (I think), which was annoying as we had no warning of this. Also, the Disneyland Railroad was only letting people board at Main Street Station because apparently only one train was running.

FOOD

Overall the food experiences we had this visit were good. The first night we ate in Annette's. We queued about half an hour to get in but the food and service was very good. The second night we ate in the Rainforest. We only waited about 10 minutes and again the food and service was good. On the third day we ate a bit earlier at Casey's Corner because we were leaving that evening. The service was quite slow (as with all DLP counter-service restaurants it seems) but the food was good. There literally no one in there either because we ate during the parade. Most of the tables were very dirty though. Despite being empty, we still had to search for a table that was clean.

CAST

Overall the CMs were very good. Lots of them actually seemed like they were enjoying their job. The cast in Rock 'n' Roller Coaster were laughing and joking with each other, and sometimes doing creepy station announcements. 99% of CMs actually smiled and said "bonjour" as you walked past them too. I didn't really see any "bad" CMs.

OTHER THINGS THAT MAY INTEREST YOU

Oh look! A photo I took that could actually be considered as "good":



Whilst on Main Street we walked past the Victoria's restaurant:



It looked as if it was closed. There was no one inside whatsoever. But just out of interest I tried the door and it was open! Someone forgot to lock it?



See what I did there?

Now for a super-cool shot of Orbitron:



Yes, that's me in the back.

Future World of Disney site?



Future Earl of Sandwich site?



Panamonamaromanagique did not operate at all over the three days. Not quite sure why as the weather wasn't bad.



The train thing going round Lake Disney was strange. We went to get on it once when the driver suddenly pulled away without even checking to see if people were getting on. It was very dangerous actually, if one of us had one foot on the train we would have been pulled over. The bright lights on the train are very annoying at night as well.

BAD PHOTOS WHICH DON'T REALLY FIT IN WITH ANY OTHER PART OF THIS REPORT












CONCLUSION

I enjoyed my visit very much, honest!

The worst part is always going home, and facing the grim task of returning to reality...






...and writing a magic forum trip report.

[Epcot_Boy]

Breakfast in the convention centre was quite bad really. We queued for at least 10 minutes to get in and when we did there were loads of tables free. When we left the room was practically empty yet people were still being made to queue. The breakfast itself was not good. When I went up to get my breakfast lots of trays were empty and I had to wait for them to be refilled. The food wasn't exactly hot either. There was no milk, no butter, no tea... etc.

Now that does suprise me :?  When I stayed there in late July, the breakfast was the one thing that stood out at the HNY, it was excellent all things considered. Consistancy a problem obviously

Anyhow, thanks for sharing your break with us =D>

[SophieD]

A great trip report RnRCj!! Your photo's are great and they really capture the Disney atmosphere! Its great to see the giant rip in the POTC flag has been fixed  =D>  :mrgreen:    

[Aveen2008]

I've always wanted to write that ultimate report, full of hundreds of beautiful photos, positive thinking, and lots of good news to report from the resort.

I think that will have to come with the next report haha, as good news and positive thinking don't fit this report  lol! It sounds like nothing worked and everything was closed or had something broken on it!?  :shock:  I'm staying in HNY in 2 weeks time, first time staying there..i'm just hoping the breakfast service improves by then!! :?

For some reason storybookland and casey jnr have spent the majority of  the past year or two closed which I really hate as I love casey jnr and it really takes away from fantasyland!

Were the parks busy? They don't seem too bad in the photos? Speaking of photos I honestly think your photos are good! I think your TOT pic is great with the dark sky gathering at the top! Great affect! =D>

I didn't realise there were that many spots on the ground for dj stitch either, from the youtube videos i have seen it does look awful!

oo I would like to meet Jafar! hehe I guess he's placed in adventureland because of the Aladdin walkthrough and the agrabah cafe but he should probably be standing near them lol! And gephetto just seems to be everywhere if hes not in the forests of adventureland, hes on the minnie's party train or in cafe Mickey- he is over used I think! :roll: To be honest i really dislike characters like him, mr smee, the sheriff of nottingham, friar tuck and other random characters that are constantly used in DLP because they are not even main characters that people like or maybe even know!

I cannot believe you went on the RNRC 26 times....well actually I can hehe /  /  /  /  well done =D>

Out of interest what restraunts did you eat at?

Thanks for sharing your report! =D>

[kiki_304]

I was wondering if you had a good time at first.  Glad you cleared that up as I was beginning to wonder if you would ever go back. lol

Great pics and report.  Maybe Disney will send you a questionnaire about your visit, I had one sent to me after visiting in May.

[RnRCj]

Haha, I think I made my trip sound really bad! It probably wasn't as bad as I made it seem. It was one of the better trips I've had to the resort actually.

I'm staying in HNY in 2 weeks time, first time staying there..i'm just hoping the breakfast service improves by then!! :?

I'm not sure when the refurbishment of the Parkside Diner ends, hopefully it will be very soon because I've always had better experiences in there. I've stayed at HNY 4 times and this was definitely the worst of the four. Not meaning to put you off or anything!

For some reason storybookland and casey jnr have spent the majority of  the past year or two closed which I really hate as I love casey jnr and it really takes away from fantasyland!

I agree. I love both attractions, and was so disappointed to see the "closed today" sign at the entrance.

Were the parks busy? They don't seem too bad in the photos?

Not particularly - most rides had queues between 0 and 20 minutes. Then of course you get Crush's Coaster which thrashes all other attractions with a whopping 75 minute queue (though it was actually around 40mins).

I cannot believe you went on the RNRC 26 times....well actually I can hehe /  /  /  /  well done =D>

Well it was a walk on, and since the smoke was working I thought I'd make the most of it.

126 rides altogether now!

Out of interest what restraunts did you eat at?

Ah, I knew I'd forgotten something!

The first night we ate in Annette's. We queued about half an hour to get in but the food and service was very good. The second night we ate in the Rainforest. We only waited about 10 minutes and again the food and service was good. On the third day we ate a bit earlier at Casey's Corner because we were leaving that evening. The service was quite slow (as with all DLP counter-service restaurants it seems) but the food was good. There literally no one in there either because we ate during the parade. Most of the tables were very dirty though. Despite being empty, we still had to search for a table that was clean.

I'll edit that into the first post. :wink:

[Gareth]

wow jafar that close lol i must track him down in december lol i love it looks like you had an an awsomness trip makes me excited for my holiday

[-breeno-]

Great little trip report J, i love this new way of trip report writing you did =D>

Also you shouldn't say your photos are bad, they're much better than anything i could do :lol:

We also checked out Boot Hill, and the heart was still beating. I am totally convinced there is some living in there.

This reminded me about something of my trip in July.  Has Boot Hill received some much need attention with a hedge trimmer?  Back when i was there nearly all of the gravestones weren't visible due to being covered by bushes (you seen none of this in my Fail Report as it happened in a day after day 2, sorry again! :oops: ), i remember thinking "Where's the Hole In The Wallet Gang!?  They couldn't of got rid of it!!" :lol:

See what I did there?

Haha!  Nice work :mrgreen:

Now for a super-cool shot of Orbitron:



Yes, that's me in the back.

Is it just me or do you look like Andy Murray in that photo?  :lol:

All i can say to this photo is YES!! /   Back in July the POTC sign had a huge rip in it, half the "n" in "Caribbean" was gone :shock:

This again reminds me of July, Buzz has a bad bit of dirt on his face back then, has this been cleaned by any chance? (surely it has, it's been nearly 3 months)


Great work once again RnRCj /

[Javey74]

Another enjoyable and fab read there RnRCj..  =D>  =D>  =D>

Love the pics, definitely the finishing touches of your Trip Report..  :wink:  

[Aveen2008]

The first night we ate in Annette's. We queued about half an hour to get in but the food and service was very good. The second night we ate in the Rainforest. We only waited about 10 minutes and again the food and service was good. On the third day we ate a bit earlier at Casey's Corner because we were leaving that evening. The service was quite slow (as with all DLP counter-service restaurants it seems) but the food was good. There literally no one in there either because we ate during the parade. Most of the tables were very dirty though. Despite being empty, we still had to search for a table that was clean.

I am thinking of eating in the Rainforest cafe this time,was it worth it do you think? by any change did you get any photos? Can I ask what you ordered?

[giorgio1712]

I have to agree with your comments on SM:M2, it was VERY rough this week, gave me headaches, and I could only manage 3 times in a row  :lol:  
Regarding the baseball charcaters in Caseys they were working on Tuesday, so dont know what happened there!

Also RnRCj, I think I may have rode RNRC next to you without realising! I think it was on Wednesday or Thursday, late in the day I think. I was at the front on the left and someone who may have been you was on the right, I looked at the person like I thought I knew them. Was this you? I cant remember what you look like so I'll go check the "What do people look like" thread......

 

[davewasbaloo]

I am glad you had a good trip, and I am sorry that it reads like a typical trip in DLP these days, some good and some not so good. But I have realised that Disney no longer cater to fans like us, it is about the casual visitor who would miss these effects.

For the first time in 10 years, we have not renewed our APs. Instead we bought Merlin APs last month and are travelling around the attractions of Britain (did Legoland for 2 days, Warwick Castle, and Thorpe Park within 8 days of each other). And you know what, I think I will enjoy the break from DLP, I will appreciate it more. But what is sad is that Warwick castle during the bank holiday felt more like Disney than Disney. Loads of live entertainment, characters interacting everywhere (Lepers, Torture inquisitors, washer women, the watch, scullery maid, jesters, knights). It was awesome.

two really nice pieces of news from the report was the smoke being back in RNRC and the fact that staggered opening and closing was not an issue other than the NAutilus.

Thanks for sharing, even though I am sad to hear the TAMTAMs are only there in summer now  

[Pete's Dragon]

Great trip report RnRj !!! My excitement levels have risen, and I am now offically at DefCon 2.

Love the photo of ToT, I think the angle and the colour of the sky are fantastic. But nowhere near as good as the photo of the castle, which has to be the 'Offical Best Trip Report Photo' of 2009 thus far  =D>

[RnRCj]

I've just realised I forgot to mention POTC under Disneyland Park attractions! :shock:

Pirates was in great condition when I rode it. I didn't see one broken AA throughout the whole attraction! The swordfighters were still a little further apart than they should be, but other than that, no major problems. It was nice to see all the extra little water effects working for the summer too. I nearly always visit in the winter, so have never really seen them before.

...I'll edit that into the first post too.

Is it just me or do you look like Andy Murray in that photo?

Sooooooo many people say I look like him! But I really can't see the similarity. :-s

I am thinking of eating in the Rainforest cafe this time,was it worth it do you think? by any change did you get any photos? Can I ask what you ordered?

It was expensive, but the food was mostly good and the service was great. Okay, my meal was a tiny bit cold, but I'm not too fussy with food and didn't see any need to complain (unlike in the HNY where the breakfast was ridiculously cold). I had some double-burger thing with fries, I can't remember what it was called.

And yes, I do have one photo (a very bad one once again!). We sat right next to the elephant.



I do have a couple more photos from inside, but they involve me pulling stupid faces. :lol:

Also RnRCj, I think I may have rode RNRC next to you without realising! I think it was on Wednesday or Thursday, late in the day I think. I was at the front on the left and someone who may have been you was on the right, I looked at the person like I thought I knew them. Was this you? I cant remember what you look like so I'll go check the "What do people look like" thread......

Well, I was at RnRC late on Thursday on my own (because my group had returned to the hotel for a swim), and I did sit with three or four other riders over the 12 rides I did that evening. So yes, it may very well have been me! I wouldn't have been holding on to the restraints, just sitting there quite relaxed. I probably would have been looking around at all the lights too. At the end I would have rushed round again not looking at the onride photo, because after 126 rides, you get bored of looking at your photo every single time. :lol:

I am glad you had a good trip, and I am sorry that it reads like a typical trip in DLP these days, some good and some not so good. But I have realised that Disney no longer cater to fans like us, it is about the casual visitor who would miss these effects.

Maintenance, Hotel New York, and Mickey's Magical Party were the three biggest disappointments for me this visit. I thought the maintenance had improved recently, but for some of the most basic effects to be broken like all the waterfalls I mentioned in the report... well that's just ridiculous. If it hadn't been for RnRC being in such a surprisingly good condition (as well as a few other attractions) I probably would have been much more disappointed overall by the visit.

[Aveen2008]

Thanks for posting the photo! Everyone seems to say it's expensive. The theming looks good and that's a pretty massive elephant hehe!