A Day at the Walt Disney Studios and Archives and Disneyland - 5/3/13 to 5/5/13 #2859

[skiingfast]

It will be interesting to see what you post from this next bunch. I really enjoyed the ones of Paradise Garden Grill and Pizza + Pasta that you took taking your time after the rope drop on that side.

[tksbaskets]

Originally Posted by mvf-m11c

Thank you TK. I just got back just awhile ago and I am now uploading all my pics from today. I have about 600+ pics today and it will take some time to upload all the pictures.

WOW you had a busy day taking pictures! I recently watched your last video of the fireworks at DL and just loved it. Can't wait to see what you took pictures of.

TK

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

WOW you had a busy day taking pictures! I recently watched your last video of the fireworks at DL and just loved it. Can't wait to see what you took pictures of.

TK

The park was kind of busy yesterday especially during the off season, but I was prepared when I saw Touring Plan crowd rating which was a 8/10. It did feel like a 7/10 yesterday. HMH wait time yesterday was all the way up to 45 minute wait time around 3pm. I only went on 2 rides the whole day yesterday which was MFW and the Monorail. I was sad that I didn't go on the DLRR, but the wait time was just way too long while most of the stations queues were all the way out of the turnstile.

Glad that you like the Magical fireworks video that I took last month. It was from a different angle that night, but it turned out really well.

Since I am about to go to work at a Anime Show today, I will try to get back and do the TR. I will start off with some pics of the Halloween decorations that I got yesterday. So here are some pics from yesterday.

Duffy in a nice pumpkin shirt


Pumpkin Pluto up on the turnstile


Pumpkin Mickie


Pumpkin Goofy


Pumpkin Minnie


Pumpkin Donald


Halloween decorations on MS














SMGG in TL


Around the Hub






Dia de Los Muertos






Halloween Round Up








I am still uploading more of the pics so you can check it out on my flickr

I will get back 2 you tonight.

[IBelieveInFairyTales]

Wow! Great pictures! Our fam will be heading to DL in a couple months and everyone is so excited.

[tksbaskets]

Bret what wonderful pictures on Mainstreet and of the pumpkin carvings. Can't wait to see what else you found. Thanks for sharing,
TK

[kaoden39]

Love, love, love the Duffy picture!!


I look forward to seeing more!

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by IBelieveInFairyTales

Wow! Great pictures! Our fam will be heading to DL in a couple months and everyone is so excited.

Thank you IBelieveInFairyTales. Hope that you and your family have a great time at DL in a few months.

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

Bret what wonderful pictures on Mainstreet and of the pumpkin carvings. Can't wait to see what else you found. Thanks for sharing,
TK

TY TK. I will have up the next batch of photos shortly.

Originally Posted by kaoden39

Love, love, love the Duffy picture!!


I look forward to seeing more!

Very interesting when I was entering PP, Duffy was approaching his meet and greet area. Thank you Michele.

The next batch of photos will be up shortly.

[mvf-m11c]

Here are more pictures from the Halloween season at DL. Hope you can see these pics on my TR Sherry.

Scare-Dy-Crow Shack














Halloween Round Up






Big Thunder Ranch BBQ








Jack Skeleton


HMH

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by skiingfast

It will be interesting to see what you post from this next bunch. I really enjoyed the ones of Paradise Garden Grill and Pizza + Pasta that you took taking your time after the rope drop on that side.

Sorry for not responding to your post Matt. It was nice to eat at the Boardwalk's Pizza & Pasta restaurant during the August trip.

[skiingfast]

I guess you didn't get many rides in because you were busy taking pictures.

That's surprising that HMH lines were so short. Did the parks not get busy until later?

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by skiingfast

I guess you didn't get many rides in because you were busy taking pictures.

That's surprising that HMH lines were so short. Did the parks not get busy until later?

Yes, you were correct. My goal for yesterday was to get as many pictures of the Halloween decorations around the resort during the short time I had at DL. However, I had even more time then I expected during my one day trip yesterday. I will get to that on my TR, but I will tell you and everyone that I got to stay at the resort longer then I expected. I was suppose to be at the DLR from 11am to 4pm, but I got an extra hour that day when something went wrong in the morning. I thought that it would cost me time at DL, but it actually made it better. But I will tell you and everyone on my TR tomorrow. I could have easily rode more rides yesterday, but I did my usual two rides (MFW & Monorail). Some of the rides I could have got on, but the wait times were just too long. I could have got on SMGG & HMH yesterday with no problem thanks to the FP but my focus was on the Halloween decorations & updated photos of the DLR then the rides.

That was the shortest time during my visit at HMH. The line for the HMH was all the way up to 50 minute wait time when it was around 4pm. That was crazy to see the line for the HMH that long. I even see that the queue was extended towards the fountain right by the NOS RR station & French Market. Jack Skeleton Meet & Greet area was located just by Cafe Orleans. Originally it was around the fountain. The wait times did pick up around 4pm and you can tell by this picture of the wait time at MS that it was no joke. It almost felt like a summertime at DL with the wait times so long.

[JH87]

Beautiful photos! Looks like I just missed you by a day or two. I was in the parks on the 20 and 21st.

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by JH87

Beautiful photos! Looks like I just missed you by a day or two. I was in the parks on the 20 and 21st.

Thank you Jillian. Just missed you by three days ago when I went on Saturday 24th. Hope you had a great time at DL and can't wait to see some of your pictures.

Now its time to get to the TR.

Now that I have finished ”My Trip at the D23 Expo/DLR” now is time to get to the “Unexpected Halloween Trip at DL”. The D23 Expo trip was great and I got to meet a lot of nice people at the Expo.

My dad was going to LA for a business trip. When he got there he was going to be picked up by his friend that lives in LA and go together for the meeting. He got a great deal on Southwest.com for a one round trip to LAX & back to Sacramento on the same day for $120. Then he asked me if I want to join him to LAX and have the opportunity to go to DL for just one day. I couldn’t pass the opportunity to go to DL during the Halloween season so I was so happy that I can get to go with him to LAX.

When he got the airline tickets, he also got a rental car for me. I asked him if it was better if he asked his friend to take me to Anaheim instead of getting a car. But he wanted to have some extra time to get to the meeting in the afternoon and enjoy some time with him until it was time to head back to Sacramento. So I thought it wouldn’t be bad to get a car and go to Anaheim by myself. He got a good deal with a car rental place called Advantage for $25 a day. Talk about a great deal just to rent a car for one day. I also mentioned that would it be better to take the Disney Express bus, but it does take awhile for the bus to get to the park and airport since it needs to stop at a lot of different places. So I didn’t go with the Disney Express.

I was really excited to go back to DL during the Halloween season since I was about to plan a trip to DL next month in the middle of October. But this saved me one trip to DL in October and a lot of money. You can’t beat that deal of a round trip to LAX for $120. This also gave me a great opportunity to take a lot of photos during the Halloween season. This will be a solo trip for me since my dad will be with his friend. I am so used to go solo to the park after so many different trips.

My goal during this trip was to get as many pictures of the Halloween decorations at the DLR. It was a tough task especially with the limited time I had at the DLR. But after seeing Sherry E and Funatdisney pictures it was possible to get as many pictures of the Halloween decorations. Plus to get some more photos from the construction of Cars Land and BVS. It was neat to see the alternate entrance to DCA while the BVS entrance is under construction.

Now let us get to the TR after all of this talking.

Day 1 – September 24, 2011 – Part 1

On a very hot Saturday morning night which was around 5am, my dad and I head on over to the Sacramento airport and get on our 7pm flight to LAX.

When we got to LAX around 8am, my dad waited to get picked up by his friend while I went to the car rental waiting area to be picked up by the Advantage car rental bus. My dad got a great deal on Advantage for only $25 a day with the car. So I thought it would be great to go to Anaheim through a rental car instead of taking the Disney Express bus or get a ride from his friend.

When I got to the Advantage Car Rental building, it took nearly 30 minutes to get from the queue to the desk. When I got to the desk and gave them my credit card. It declined on me. I can’t believe that my cards would decline on me especially during this one day trip to LA. I called my dad and he said that he can pick me up and take me to DL with his friend. But I had to wait awhile since they were about half an hour away from the car rental facility. I was so mad that my credit card didn’t work and have to wait. I lost some time to go to DL that day, but in the end it turned out better then I expected.

When they got there at 10:30am, they took me straight to Anaheim and at DL. I was so happy that my dad’s friend took the time to take me to DL while they had a meeting that day. They would come back later to pick me up around 4pm since we need the time to return to LAX and make our 7pm flight back home to Sacramento.

My dad and his friend dropped me off at the drop off area on Harbor Blvd around 11am and now is the time to get to work and get some pictures of the Halloween decorations at the DLR. When I got out of the truck, the day was kind of very cloudy and no sunlight. But that is not surprising to me since Anaheim is close to the Pacific Ocean. At least it was nice and cool way better then back in Sacramento.

On the way over, the welcome Disneyland sign on Harbor Blvd have some walls and curtains. I would have guess that they are changing the entrance sign into something new or just fixing it up.


The tram loading area didn’t seem that busy that afternoon


After passing through the security gate, I decided to head on over to DCA first since I want to get on MFW and get the aerial photos around the resort.



DCA entrance


After going through the turnstile and going through the alternate entrance to DCA. It did quite felt strange of not walking under the monorail track to the former Sunshine Plaza. When I walked through the alternate entrance to the park it felt tighter then I thought. When I looked at the photos from other website and here it did feel like it was so wide enough. There was quite enough room for both side of entering the park and exiting the park.













After that long walk all the way towards Condor Flats, I went towards GRR and get a FP for the 9pm WoC show. I just like collecting FP at the DLR. Over at the GRR FP machine, I knew that I would get yellow since the park has already been open for one hour and all the blue FP were all out.



After leaving GRR, I head on over to PP and go towards MFW. But on the way, I remember from Sherry pictures that there was Halloween decorations at Duffy meet and greet area. Before I went on over to MFW, I had to stop there first and get some pics of the Halloween decorations. The park at first didn’t seem that very crowded that afternoon, but I can’t let that bother me since I have a lot of photography to do that day.







When I got to Treasures in Paradise area where the Duffy Meet & Greet place is located, Duffy was approaching his area and I get to take some pics of him while he was taking some pics with other guests. I didn’t get too many pics of that area since I had to move on over to MFW, but I did get some more pics of the meet and greet area later during that afternoon.







I left the area and head on over to MFW. On the way, California Screamin was closed as it had said on the websites. I haven’t seen CS closed before during all my trips to the DLR. It was neat and sad to see it closed since this is another ride that draws a lot of guests.





When I passed TSMM, I knew that I wouldn’t go on the ride since it would be crowded. I know TK that I should go on that ride. But since I showed up one hour later and have little time, I couldn’t go on the ride. The wait time for TSMM was around 40 minutes and there was no way I could ride TSMM that time.



After passing TSMM, I head on over to MFW and get the aerial photos


When I got to the line for the non-swinging gondola, there was quite a line to get on MFW. I had to wait awhile to get on the non-swinging gondola.



That’s it for now and I will get back to you later today.

[franandaj]

So where was the Spooky Shack? We were out there Monday the weekend after the Halloween decorations went up and I didn't see a lot of that stuff. Perhaps they have been adding more. We're there quite a bit this week, so I'd like to get some more pictures of the Halloween decorations as well!

Great pictures! You have such an eye for the details! I'm so busy focusing on all the large stuff, that I miss the tiny things, like those mini pumpkins on top of the Crystal Arcade! So cute!

[WDWJonasGirl]

Love the update Bret!!