Disneyland: Day 1

Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Disneyland: Day 1
The first thing I noticed was that California does not rise and shine as early as Florida. Both Disneyland and Disney California Adventure park did not open until 10 a.m. that morning, so we took the extra time to have a leisurely breakfast at the local Carl's Jr. (a.k.a. Hardee's). Even after taking time with breakfast, and making the 20 mile drive from our campground to Disneyland, we still arrived extra early (apparently) for California time. The parking lot wasn't even open yet. Weird. Anyway, parking was essentially the same as at WDW, except that at Disneyland you are able to leave the lot at any time, come back, and still park in the same spot as when you first arrived. Every vehicle is given a parking pass like this:

You just circle the lot, section, and row that you're in and when you come back just show it to the attendant. Pretty nifty, huh?
At Disneyland there are only two parking areas for the entire property: The Mickey and Friends parking deck and the Toy Story lot. The first day, we parked in the Toy Story lot. We had to take a Disney bus from the lot to the esplanade, or main entry area for all parts of the Disney property. That's the other weird (but pretty neat) thing about Disneyland: everything is a less than a minute walk from each other. The esplanade connects both theme parks, as well as the Downtown Disney area. There is only one bag check (just before you enter the esplanade) for both parks. All ticket booths are also in the esplanade.

The scanning and using of tickets was different too. Of course that could just be all resorts, as Disney is in the middle of changing the way you enter and purchase throughout the parks. We each had to have our photo taken, and our tickets were always scanned twice: once before the turnstile and once at the turnstile. No fingerprinting like we were used to at WDW.


 

 

Is this not the sweetest thing??

 

Walt had a personal apartment above the firehouse. He spent many nights in Disneyland with his family. Now, a light is always kept burning in the upstairs window in his honor.

The wooden Indian on Main St. WDW doesn't have one of these. It was on my "I have to photograph this" list.

 

Even though it was before 10 a.m., some things in the park were already open. There was no opening ceremony at Main Street Station, we just walked right on in. We swung by City Hall to pick up our "1st Visit" badges before moving on down Main Street and toward our first attraction. I've never been so excited about a button in all my life.

As we made to go over the bridge to Adventureland, we finally saw that the park wasn't quite entirely open yet. We had to wait a few minutes until the clock struck 10 before we could head to our first attraction: Indiana Jones Adventure. In WDW, Indiana Jones is a stunt show, but here it is a thrilling dark ride. It was AWESOME!!

From there, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean next. While it does share a lot of similarities with its WDW counterpart, Disneyland Pirates blows the WDW version out of the water. You can tell that this version was definitely designed by Walt himself. In fact, it was the last attraction he ever worked on. For example, check out how detailed this scene is. You won't find it in the WDW version.

 

Disneyland's Pirates is located in New Orleans Square (WDW has Liberty Square). I fell in LOVE with this area! It puts you right in the middle of the French Quarter in New Oreleans (but much better). The main thing I wanted to see here was the Court of Angels. It's one of the very rare quiet spots in the park that is famous among Disney fan photographers. Sadly, it is being removed in order to expand the mysterious Club 33. I'm just thankful I got the chance to photograph it. It is beautiful!



Our next stop would have been Haunted Mansion, but unfortunately it was closed for refurbishment. During Halloween and Christmas, the mansion gets a makeover to become a special Nightmare Before Christmas theme. It would have been amazing to see it!
After a quick walk through Frontierland and Critter Country, we decided it would be a good idea to hit the Matterhorn before it got too crowded. Since only Mom and I were riding, we decided to try the single rider line to see if it really was faster. It did not disappoint! We waited maybe 10 minutes while the regular line was almost an hour wait (Matterhorn does not have FastPass).



Next it was finally time to hit some Fantasyland attractions. Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and of course Peter Pan's Flight. The first two are not at WDW, and Disneyland's Peter Pan is slightly different than the WDW version. We ate lunch at the Hungry Bear and it was YUM! Great views of the river boat while you eat.
After lunch, we wandered back over to Adventureland for a Dole Whip, and enjoyed some more of the less popular attractions while we were there. Crowds were fairly light, so we had almost no waits all day. This brings me to another noticeable difference between Disneyland park and its sister the Magic Kingdom: Although the layouts of the park are basically the same, because Disneyland is smaller the crowds are more compact. This means that even though there are not very many people in the park, it can still feel crowded along the pathways because the area is so small. At Magic Kingdom everything is spaced out, so a heavy crowd feels lighter and a light crowd feels nonexistent. They best way to really tell how crowded a park is, is by the wait times. If you don't have to wait more than 30 minutes for any attraction, crowds are very good. Now, where was I? Oh yeah...
We then headed to Tomorrowland to check out Star Tours (this was my parents first time to ride the new 3D version... We rode it twice in a row, so I think they approved of the update lol). Space Mountain was also closed for refurbishment, so we decided to do Buzz Lightyear (the same as the WDW version), and something WDW hasn't had in a very long time: The Submarine Voyage.

This is Disneyland's Finding Nemo attraction, and while it looks good on the outside, the ride itself was a little underwhelming. Epcot's version definitely has it beat.

After Nemo, we were finally able to ride the Alice in Wonderland dark ride. On our first run through of Fantasyland, it was down for technical issues. I really enjoyed it. The ride vehicles are kind of small, but story and effects were great.

Our next (and final) attraction in Disneyland for the day was one of my personal favorites: It's A Small World. I was so excited to experience this version! The Disneyland ride was updated a few years ago to feature dolls that represented characters in Disney and Pixar films. For example, in France you can see Cinderella and in Hawaii you'll find Lilo and Stitch. I LOVE these new additions! The outside is also different. At Disneyland, the building is much grander and beautifully landscape. Still, it's hard for me to say which Small World I like better. They are both top notch attractions!

By this time, the golden hour for photography was just beginning. On our way out of the park (it was closing early at 7 p.m. so it was close to closing time anyway), I took time to photography Sleeping Beauty's castle in all her subtle splendor. The castle is probably the most notable difference in California and Florida. At WDW, Cinderella's castle is tall and dominating of the landscape. It's the first thing you notice when you walk in, and it can be seen from anywhere in the park. Sleeping Beauty castle is nothing like that. My mom said it was actually kind of disappointing. There is no grand reveal at the end of Main Street, no spires reaching for the sky...In fact, you barely notice it until you're right on it. But in the same way that the grandness of Cinderella's castle makes it beautiful, the quaintness of Sleeping Beauty castle makes it equally beautiful. It is amazingly detailed, more so that the castle at WDW, and it feels more welcoming. You don't feel like a guest of royalty walking through, you feel like you ARE royalty. I could have photographed it for hours.

We purchased (as we always do) the park hopper option with our tickets. There is no reason not to buy this at Disneyland! The parks are just steps away from each other, so you can come and go as often as you please without losing any time at all. We were all anxious to see the new Cars Land at California Adventure park (that park was also open later than Disneyland), so we headed over to check it out.

DCA (Disney California Adventure) was totally redone in 2012, and it is AMAZING! It's kind of like Disney Hollywood Studios at WDW, but...not. As soon as our tickets scanned, we headed straight for the jewel of the park: Cars Land. Talk about jumping into a movie! Let me tell you, Radiator Springs is no longer a fictional town. It exists at DCA!

Mater and Lightning stroll through the streets like real cars, stopping to chat with fans every so often. It is the coolest thing ever! The main attraction in Cars Land is Radiator Springs Racers. It was the longest line we had all day (about 45 minutes), but it was more than worth it. Racers is a lot like Test Track in WDW. Same technology, same ride vehicle, only the story telling and audio animatronics here are out of this world! It's like a combination dark ride and rollercoaster. Before you actually "race" (it's kind of rigged, the car on the left always wins), you take a drive through the town. You go tractor tipping with Mater, get a paint job  from Ramone or new tires from Luigi. When the green flag drops, you better hang on, cause this ain't just a breezy ride around a track. There are crazy dips and hills and turns...it was AWESOME!!!

By the time we had finished Cars Land, we were all starting to feel the day. So after a quick stop at World of Disney, we loaded back up on the bus and headed for the car to start the drive back to the campground. The whole ride back, I couldn't stop thinking how amazing the day had been. I had gotten to see and do things I never thought I would. It was a day that I will never forget and will never be duplicated. For so long I had been telling my friends and readers that first visits were special, and even though I do remember my very first WDW visit very clearly, I think I'd forgotten just HOW special it really is. On my list of best days ever, it's definitely in the top 5.

 

The image on the left is one of the most famous photographs ever captured of Walt. As soon as I knew we were going to Disneyland, I knew I wanted to recreate it. I can't begin to tell you how it felt, to be there in that spot, to walk in his footsteps. Absolutely inspirational and moving to think that one man, one determined, imaginative soul could create so much for so many people. Many of us have him to think for our entire childhood. I know I wouldn't be me if there were never a Walt Disney.

 

 

Stay tuned for Day 2!













Disneyland for a day...or two?

     It's been exactly 13 days since my first walk down Main Street, USA in Disneyland. I meant to blog about it sooner than this, but well, you guys know I'm terrible at keeping this thing updated. Anyway, I finally had a moment to spare, so now on with the show!

 

     What can I say about my first visit to Walt's original magic kingdom? Honestly, I'm not sure there are really any words to describe it. The way it felt walking down Main Street, seeing the Sleeping Beauty Castle on the horizon for the very first time, is a feeling I've only felt once before...when I was 2 and my parents took me to Walt Disney World for the first time. But somehow this was different. This was more than just that feeling of belonging and "home." Disneyland has one thing that Disney World never will: Walt.

     Disney enthusiasts often refer to Disneyland as "Walt's park." It used to bother me when I heard that, like they were saying Disney World wasn't as good. But now I understand. It's not that one park is any better than the other (they both have their strengths and weaknesses), but rather that Disneyland just has a distinctive Walt-ness to it that all other Disney parks will forever lack. This is the only theme park Walt designed, built, and enjoyed. It's the one he would walk around in the wee hours of the morning in his bath robe and slippers. In many ways, it was both the end and the beginning of his greatest dream.
     I'm glad I waited until now to visit. I've had a couple of opportunities to swing by throughout my life, but something always changed the plan. I'm glad that I didn't get to visit those times when I was younger. I don't think I would have been able to truly appreciate Disneyland back then. But now that I've done so much reading and research and learning about Walt Disney, the man and the legend, I was able to appreciate tiny little details most guests today probably don't even give a second look. As we would experience certain attractions or just walk through the different lands, my mind was remembering all the stories I'd heard about how all this came to be. Finally seeing it all in person was an amazement I could never begin to explain.
     Since I knew most of my friends were vacationing vicariously through me, I live tweeted and instagramed throughout both days of my visit, capturing more professional shots with my DSLR in between. Some of you might be thinking, "Wait, TWO days? I thought you were only going for one?" You're right, we were. But we got a little ahead of schedule with the rest of the trip and had a day to spare, so the others decided that an extra day in Disneyland would be fun (let me point out that it was NOT my idea. Shocking, right?). I wasn't about to disagree with that!
   Just so that this post doesn't get any ridiculously longer than it already is, I'll be sharing more about our trip (including images) in two separate posts, one for each day. So stay tuned for Day 1! For now, I'll leave you with that one photo everyone MUST take on any Disney trip: the family photo in front of the castle :). I would have never gotten there if not for these three. They made it extra magical!

 

From Orlando to Anaheim

2,500.
That's how many miles separate Walt's biggest dream from his most daring. One started out as an orange grove in southern California. The other as a cow pasture in central Florida. People thought he was crazy when he bought the first one, and a genius when he bought the second. I think he was probably a little bit of both.

Most Disney kids in the good ole USA grow up one of two ways: The kids in the western half of the country are raised at Disneyland, and the ones in the eastern half are raised at Disney World. It's just a geographical fact of life. That's why I can count on one hand, the number of people I know that have been to Disneyland. Around here, it's a small group. And I'm about to be a part of it.
Oh. Em. Gee.

This year's family vacation to Alaska (yeah, we're driving to Alaska lol) comes with a return trip right through the heart of southern Cali, just a stone's throw from Anaheim. I was surprised at how little begging was required to get my mom to allow me a little Disney indulgence. One day. She said I can have one day. And you can bet I'm going to make every second count.
But planning a trip to Disneyland is nothing like planning a trip to Disney World. That's the lesson I am quickly learning. There are only two theme parks (both within walking distance of each other), but there is so much crammed into this tiny area that I get lost just looking at the map. The scheduling is totally different than I'm used to, and the park website doesn't have any of the handy tools that I swear by. That's when I realize that I am a WDW kid, and I am not a pro here. I am a 100% Disneyland ROOKIE!
So now I find myself in the shoes of all the friends who ask for my help in planning their first trips. I'm anxious, a little nervous, and slightly overwhelmed. But despite all that, above everything else, I am EXCITED!!
Walt Disney is my hero. His story is my inspiration to keep chasing dreams and never give up on myself. And now, like in Marceline, I will get the chance to walk in his footsteps. I will get to stand in the same spot where he stood under Sleeping Beauty's castle, watching all the magic he had created. I'll get to feel that magic for myself in Walt's original magic kingdom. I know it will be a day I'll never forget....
If I can survive the planning! :) Get ready for more Disneyland planning posts!

 

Photo from the fabulous photogs at the Disneyphotographyblog.com. They have lots of amazing Disney parks cover photos you can download. (I just added some text to this one of Sleeping Beauty's castle.) Check them out!

 

Cutting Costly Corners

What's the most frequently asked Disney question?....

 

"How do I save money on my trip?"

If there is one bad thing about a Disney vacation, it is the price. Yes, they are expensive... or they can be. Believe it or not, you can go to Disney World without having to drain your kids' college savings. My parents are the masters of planning a vacation on a budget. (They had to be with a daughter who just HAD to visit Mickey every single year. LOL) They've passed their secrets on to me, and now I'm sharing a few of them with you :). So here are my tips for cutting costs at WDW.

1. Timing. You can save a lot simply by choosing the right time of year to visit. Disney's value season is January to March (excluding holidays like New Year's and MLK Day). In February, a family of four can vacation for 4 days and 3 nights for less than $1000. The prices get higher as summer approaches, then drops again slightly as school starts, before reaching its peak around the holidays. Going during the value season also means much lighter crowds and almost no waiting in line.

2. Picnics. Food in the parks is expensive, even for just a snack. That's why we always like to bring our own. Pack a cooler of sandwich meats and drinks for a parking lot lunch while you're at the parks. It gives you a break, and saves a lot of money. You can also bring cereal bars and muffins for breakfast. This way, you only have to worry about purchasing one meal a day. You can also bring snack bags into the parks with you, so you'll have something to munch on inbetween.

3. Hotels. There are four different price levels of hotels to choose from. I've covered all of them in detail in previous posts, but I realize I didn't really give you much on my opinion of which is best. To be honest, while the deluxe resorts are AMAZING, I can't justify paying such a high price for a room that I'm hardly ever in. We love to spend as much time as possible in the parks, so we're basically only in the room to sleep. While the rooms at the value resorts are much smaller, they are MUCH cheaper and we're too busy having fun to care how big our room is. This, of course, is just a personal preference. If having a spacious hotel room is very important to you, then you might want to spend the extra money for a moderate or deluxe resort.

4. Avoid the unnecessary. This one is also a personal preference. Disney loves to push their dining plans by claiming they will save you a big percentage on food. And they do....if you like to eat a four course meal three times a day. We tried the dining plan when they first came out, and found that it was entirely too much food. Normally, we would never eat that much (and therefore, spend that much). Plus, we spent so much time eating that we weren't able to do all the attractions and shows that we wanted. I'll admit, it was nice to just swipe the room key and know the expense was already covered, and we got the chance to try a lot of amazing food. If you're going to do a dining plan, I recommend the Quick Service plan that includes two quick service meals a day. That is plenty!

5. Watch the mailbox. Disney almost always has some sort of special deal going. We get teasers in the mail all the time. The offers are so tempting, it's really hard to ignore them! You can go to the Disney website and sign up for the mailing list. You'll also get special offers through email.

6. Shorten your stay. Despite what Disney tries to tell you, you don't have to have a whole week for a vacation. Four to five days is really all you need. (Don't get me wrong though. I'd live there if I could!) That gives you an entire day for each park (plus extra magic hours), and an extra day to do anything you missed or want to do again. Cutting your days can save you hundreds per person.

7. Disney Rewards. If you have a Disney Visa card from Chase, you can earn enough reward points to pay for your vacation. I was out of pocket only $400 for our trip in February because my husband and I have Disney credit cards with reward points. It does take a while to save enough points (depending on how much you use your card), but it is such a great feeling to know you'll be able to treat yourself in the end.

8. Start a Disney Fund. Paying for a Disney trip isn't hard if you save for it one dollar at a time. I am always putting money back, even if I have no idea when I'll be returning. When you book your trip through Disney, you can also make interest-free payments to pay for your trip. You can make payments every month, every other month, or however often you wish. 

Too many people use money as an excuse not to go to Disney. But if you just play it smart and take your time, there is no reason why you can't afford a few days of unforgettable memories. A Disney vacation is worth every penny it costs and more. You can't replace the moments of magic you'll come back with. 
Until next time!