Day 1 – May 30, 2015 – Part 1
Flying Down Again and Ready to see the Diamonds Again
It is now time for the first day of our trip “Back to the Diamonds at the Happiest Place on Earth” to Disneyland in May. It wasn’t too long ago when I was at the Disneyland Resort before and after the Diamond Celebration started on May 22nd. I was able to go on the 20th before I head to Las Vegas since I was working a basketball tournament. This was the longest week of my life on the 20th when I was working in Vegas. I was in Vegas since Tuesday the 26th. I was able to go to the DLR before this trip on May 26th to 28th for three days and I was glad that I was able to make a quick trip. I know that it didn’t make any sense to go back to SoCal in a couple of days which I drove back home to Sacramento and flew a couple of days after. But I was tired and wanted to come back home for one day and be back in SoCal with DAW. I was also trying out a Nikon 70-200 f/4 telezoom lens during the trip in which I wanted to get some up close shots of the Diamond Celebration from the Paint the Night parade, World of Color – Celebrate, Sleeping Beauty Castle, etc. (you know what I mean). I’m not doing a report on my solo trip but I will do be doing this last trip with DAW. Boy we had a blast and had fun. Even though it was crowded during Grad Nite. We also were able to see some family during the trip as well which was a surprised.
Here are posts from my trip report thread during the Diamond Celebration on the 20th, 26th, 27th and 28th when I was at the DLR.
Quick look at the Diamond Celebration and Grizzly Peak Airfield 5/20/15
Paint the Night parade 5/26/15
Disneyland Forever fireworks 5/26/15
World of Color – Celebrate 5/27/15
Let’s get back to the trip report.
Just like when DAW and I were able to get the $49 deal on Southwest Airlines during the March 2015 trip, she was able to get tickets for the May trip as well. Luckily, I was able to go a few days before the trip and able to buy the merchandise that I wanted to get from the popcorn buckets, hats, pins, etc. during the 60th Diamond Celebration. Since you are limited to bring back stuff when flying then from driving, it was fun to fly instead of drive after all of that driving to Vegas, Anaheim and back to Sacramento. DAW loves to fly over driving which is why we got the tickets.
We will be staying at our favorite hotel which is Best Western Park Place Inn. I still love going to this hotel every time I come down to SoCal when going to the DLR. It is the closest non-Disney hotel to the DLR which makes a big difference. Since we were flying, we didn’t have to pay the extra $10 a night for parking which saves us some money.
The reason we did this trip was that DAW Premium Annual Pass is about to expire in late June which she renewed it last year which was a shocker. But this will be her third trip to use the AP which will get her usage out of the AP. Paying for a Premium AP is not cheap and you have to get the amount of days and trips in order to pay for it. I also renewed my AP when I was at the DLR on the 20th. I enjoy going to the DLR which I did went a lot this past year and this year.
It was the day of the trip in which we were planning on flying down to SoCal instead of driving. I mostly never like to fly since I drive most of the time when I go to SoCal. But DAW didn’t want to drive down to SoCal and we were able to get great deals on SWA for $49 one way which is a really good deal. For this trip, we were able to get early flights to Orange County John Wayne Airport. Our flight to OC was at 8am and get there at 9:55am which was perfect timing. On the way back, we had a flight at 9:25pm and back to Sac at 10:55pm. So we were able to get almost 3 full days at the DLR during the trip.
During the trip, I rented a Nikon 70-200 f/4 telezoom lens. I don’t own any telezoom lens since most of my photography is with wide angle, standard and prime lenses when I am at the parks. But this time, since I was able to use my lenses during the first trip (May 26th to 28th), I wanted to get up close shots of everything so when you see my pictures most of the shots were from the telezoom lens.
Now let’s get to the updates after all of this writing.
I was picked up by Cousin C to get DAW. It was nice of him to take us to Sacramento International Airport (SMF)
We got to SIA around 6:30am and our flight was at 8am. I really like to fly SWA since it is a reasonable price and all the seat assignment are the same where we can sit anywhere we want.
Our flight was heading on over to John Wayne Airport Orange County which is one of the closest cities to the DLR. I have flown to OC a lot of times in the past and it is nice to fly to OC over LAX which I don’t like to go since it is so busy and takes a while to the DLR.
It took an hour and ten minutes to get from Sacramento to OC. When we got off the plane, we head on down to get our baggage and head on over towards the SuperShuttle area. I was suggesting DAW to use the Disney Express Bus but DAW wanted to use the SuperShuttle instead. It took a while for the SuperShuttle to pick us up and take us over to our hotel which was BWPPI.
We rode the SuperShuttle to BWPPI but we had to stop a few times since there were other people riding the bus that day. I always enjoy staying at BWPPI because of its location to the DLR which is the closets non-Disney hotel.
We got to BWPPI around 11:00am which was really quick from John Wayne Airport. When we check-in at the front desk, our room was not ready so we just left our bags at the lobby at BWPPI and on our way to do our first thing in SoCal.
When we left BWPPI, DAW and I started to feel hungry so we went to this one restaurant that we go almost every time I go with DAW. The restaurant that we had for lunch is Mimi’s Café on Harbor Blvd right by Howard Johnson (HOJO). DAW loves eating at Mimi’s Café which we do have one in Elk Grove.
I wasn’t able to get any pictures during our meal since we have eaten at Mimi’s Café so many times in Anaheim and Elk Grove. I remember that DAW got a West Coast Reuben while I had Chicken and Waffles since they were still serving breakfast.
After we at Mimi’s Café, it was now time to head on over to the DLR during the Diamond Celebration.
While walking down on Harbor Blvd, Disney is already promoting the D23 Expo in August with banners on the poles.
The new sign on Harbor Blvd is very nice and colorful which represents the 60th Diamond Celebration.
When we got to the DLR and about to pass by the baggage check area, there was the
Disneyland Diamond Days Word of the Day Sweepstakes. The sweepstakes is every day during the Diamond Celebration with a chance to win prizes at the DLR. You have to do is text the word in and hopefully you will be able to win. I didn’t do any of the texting during the two trips since I was enjoy my time at the DLR.
The old DCA banners have been replaced with the Diamond Celebration banners.
We entered DL first since there was more to see over there over DCA.
I did like the 60th Celebration sign right in front of the Main Street Railroad Station.
We walked down MS, and it was a little crowded that afternoon. I am not talking about summer crowds or Christmas break crowds but it was a little busy walking up on Main Street.
Since I had the telezoom lens, the first thing I wanted to do was get pictures of SB Castle with the 60th Diamond Celebration decorations. It was nice to see the castle all decorated during the Diamond Celebration. Since I don’t own a telezoom lens and rented the f/4, it was so great to rent it where I was able to get up close shots of the castle during the daytime.
After getting some shots of the castle, the first ride that we tried to do first was the Haunted Mansion. I was able to see the new Hatbox Ghost during the first trip and I knew that DAW would love seeing the new Hatbox Ghost.
When we got to the HM, the wait time was already at 35 minutes. But we were able to do the handicapped scan of our AP’s since she was in an ECV during the trip and we had to come back about 30 minutes to get in the handicapped queue. The HM FP system was up and running. Since the Hatbox Ghost was added to the HM, it did make sense for Disney to run the FP system which is used for the Haunted Mansion Holiday during the Halloween/Christmas season. So it was great to see it up and running.
After getting our AP’s scan and to come back later to ride the HM, DAW wanted to ride the Mark Twain. So I had no problem with it since we had to wait and when we got off the Mark Twain, our return time to ride HM will be ready.
Just when we were walking on over to the Mark Twain dock, I saw the mine car popcorn bucket. I did forget to pick up the mine car popcorn bucket during my first trip and I knew that I was going to get it and had to carry it back home with me. This is the third different type of popcorn bucket that I bought during the Diamond Celebration from the Mickey Shape Balloon Popcorn bucket and Cinderella Pumpkin Coach bucket.
Luckily, the Mark Twain was at the dock and we boarded it in less than one minute. We sat on the first level in front of the Mark Twain and on our way on the Rivers of America. The park did look busy especially at New Orleans Square where it was busy at Pirates of the Caribbean.
Different pictures while riding on the Mark Twain.
I do miss the old Keel Boats where it was a ride back in the old days.
DAW did enjoy riding the Mark Twain around the RoA which is always fun to do. She had no problem riding the Mark Twain with me that afternoon since the park started to get a little busy with most of the rides are now having long queues.
After we got off, it was time to head on over to the HM to get in the queue. But that will be on the next post so continue on to the next post below.