TR Nov 2012: Another Aussie mad dash - Day 10: Final posts, TR finished #932 (02/21)

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by tiggrbaby

What a busy first day! Alison, I thought the guest suite looked very nice!

That's because she strategically avoided taking pictures of all the clutter! Thanks PIO!

[shushh]

I'm suppposed to be organising childcare for next year and picking bathroom sinks...but this is far more interesting!

Even if the plane food was awful at least you took great photos of it! So for economy plus, other than the extra 2 inches of leg room, do you get anything else? eg a bigger recline?

How wonderfully generous of Alison to invite you into her home and share her everyday with you. It is always nice to meet your 2D friends in 3D. It sounded like you had a fab day and the greek food looked awesome!

[rentayenta]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

Are you from LB originally? I should have taken a few more pictures, then. I love the art deco period so I had a great time looking at the architecture.

I am. Born and raised for a few years anyway. We moved to Cypress (OC) which is about 15 minutes from Disneyland. Stayed until I was about 20 then moved to Huntington Harbour and then back to Long Beach, graduated college, and remained until we moved to Utah in 1994.

The LBC is a great city. There are some rough parts like South Long Beach where my grandma lived but wasn't rough back then.

Glad you enjoyed it.

[franandaj]

Originally Posted by rentayenta

I am. Born and raised for a few years anyway. We moved to Cypress (OC) which is about 15 minutes from Disneyland. Stayed until I was about 20 then moved to Huntington Harbour and then back to Long Beach, graduated college, and remained until we moved to Utah in 1994.

The LBC is a great city. There are some rough parts like South Long Beach where my grandma lived but wasn't rough back then.

Glad you enjoyed it.

That's funny! I moved here in 1999 and around then they had a revitalize downtown renovation. Now the Downtown area is much improved and North Long Beach is like that.

[PrincessInOz]

Originally Posted by franandaj

That's because she strategically avoided taking pictures of all the clutter! Thanks PIO!

Originally Posted by shushh

I'm suppposed to be organising childcare for next year and picking bathroom sinks...but this is far more interesting!

Even if the plane food was awful at least you took great photos of it! So for economy plus, other than the extra 2 inches of leg room, do you get anything else? eg a bigger recline?

How wonderfully generous of Alison to invite you into her home and share her everyday with you. It is always nice to meet your 2D friends in 3D. It sounded like you had a fab day and the greek food looked awesome!

Shushh...if there was a bigger recline, I certainly didn't notice it.

Bathroom sinks sounds interesting as well. Are you getting closer towards completion?

Originally Posted by rentayenta

I am. Born and raised for a few years anyway. We moved to Cypress (OC) which is about 15 minutes from Disneyland. Stayed until I was about 20 then moved to Huntington Harbour and then back to Long Beach, graduated college, and remained until we moved to Utah in 1994.

The LBC is a great city. There are some rough parts like South Long Beach where my grandma lived but wasn't rough back then.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Second time for me in LB. We were there in 2010 as I wanted to go to Catalina. We had two nights; enough time for a quick look around the city, and then a full day in Catalina the next.

[PrincessInOz]

Life in the Slow Lane



Before heading to bed last night, Alison and I agreed to get up at the crack of dawn so as to hit the parks early. So I set the alarm on my smart phone to wake up at the agreed time before crashing shortly after 8 pm.


Yeah. It. Won’t. Work. If. The. Phone. Is. On. Silent. Mode.


Alison – I trust this explains why I didn’t hear your text message either and why you had to come and wake me up?


As a relatively unfit and painfree mobile individual, my experience of scooters are of the kind that my DS likes to use.

For the record, I have no issue with anyone needing a scooter to get around. It’s just that I have relatively little experience with them…..until this day.
Scooters or Electric Convenience Vehicles (ECV) are not yet commonplace in Australia and my experience with them had thus far been limited to scooter dodging in the US.


Afterall, no one wants to be scooter road kill, right?


Alison does have an ECV. During our planning, we had agreed that she was bringing her ECV with us to Disneyland as she does experience pain with her feet with prolonged walking. I had wondered how the day was going to turn out and I was just about to find out for sure.





Fran did offer me the use of her scooter for the day. Evidently, she thought I would not be able to keep up with someone on the scooter. I looked at Alison to see if I should accept, decline or otherwise (because there is ALWAYS an ‘other’ option on the DIS) but she had her Lady Ga-Ga Poker Face on.


Remind me NEVER to play poker with Alison.


I graciously declined…which turned out to be the right decision to make.


Life…..well……life was in the slow lane today. I had wondered if having to travel around the parks with a scooter was going to be slow. Turns out that the person in the slow lane was me!

I know Alison was on go-slow mode on the scooter for most of the day. Her cruising speed matched my baseline walking speed, which was good for me. She did get up to a faster pace once in DTD and that matched my power walking pace…..or more accurately my power walking pace only JUST matched what I suspect was 1st gear for Alison. I asked her at the end of the day if I had held her up. Thankfully, the answer was no. The go-slow mode is about as fast as Alison normally does in the park because of all the people around.

Touring round the park with a scooter was relatively easy for me and I hope it worked out the same for Alison. But from my perspective, it was filled with some frustration because of other people in the ‘slow’ lane.

Being with a scooter made me aware of how patient the driver needs to be. They are not at eye contact level of a standing bi-ped; and being rather silent vehicles; no one hears or sees them other than when contact of the physical kind is made.


And when physical contact is made, it is ALWAYS the driver’s fault, right?!?!


People - - If you don’t want to be scooter road kill, don’t make any sudden moves. If you suddenly stop or change directions without looking out for traffic, do not be surprised if you are hit. Scooters do not have brakes and in order for them to stop, the driver has to release the trigger lever and wait for inertia to bring it to a stop. Despite driving at the slow lane speed, it does take a while for the vehicle to come to a full stop.





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[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Making Rope Drop – Hooray for Hollywood




We made it to the resort in good time and after we parked the car, we decided to take a detour in via the Grand California.





We headed past the DTD shops….









…and after I got through bag check and my park hopper ticket sorted out, I got my first view of the park entrances.


The changes were immediately obvious to me. The impact of that CarsLand pulling power was blatantly clear.






Judging by the queues that morning, it would seem that CarsLand has changed the guest’s behaviour as to which park to hit first up.






As I looked at the Compass Rose directional points, there was never any doubt as to which park I was heading into first.





The Mickey with the Fireworks was definitely left behind today. It was the Mickey Sun Rays that was on the ascendency.





Yes, Disneyland was definitely left in the dust today.


I had been eager to see the new Disney California Adventure entrance for myself. Having seen so many pictures of it from the other TRs, I missed the C-A-L-I-F-O-R-N-I-A letters, colourful tiles and the Golden Gate bridge that had so marked this park’s entrance in the past.


Up close and personal?


The new entrance felt more like the authentic version of the Disney Hollywood Studios park entrance in Orlando. It felt “grown-up” and definitely in keeping with the “Hollywood” feel and that Hooray for Hollywood feel kept flowing right through to Buena Vista Street after I crossed the turnstiles.





Yes. No doubt about it. The new entrance was more serious, more mature, more in keeping with the flow into the park. But I DEFINITELY miss the colour of the old.

I really did try to take in my surroundings in the new DCA entrance this morning….





…but the best I did was take in the details of the Carthay Circle colonnade walkway as we waited for rope drop.









We were on a mission. The mission was to stay to the left side and get in line!






(Continued in Next Post)

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


Life Imitating Art




At rope drop, the crowd started moving forward.





The queue we were in would take us in here.





It wasn't quite into CarsLand yet; and it would take us about 30 minutes to get our objective.





As I was with a local, I was happy to take the backseat and head in whichever direction Alison wished to take me. Alison took me round the Pacific Wharf way for the first full visual effect of the canyon.





And what a visual it was!





In past holidays, I’ve spent a bit of time around God’s Country….Zion, Bryce, Escalante, Kodachrome, Glen Canyon, Arches, Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Canyon de Chelley, Sedona and even driven along Route 66. I’ve always loved the red rock landscapes of the Utah/Four Corners area.
I found that if I kept my eyes opened, I was immediately transported THERE!


There Where?

Right before my opened eyes, I was literally in the PIXAR visual of this red rock storyboard.
I had stepped out of real life and straight into the cartoon board of Ornament Valley. Anyone who has watched that scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit enter the tunnel and ends up in ToonTown will know what I mean.






Life. Imitating. Art.







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[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)

CarsLand by Day




With Life imitating Art so realistically, I spotted an error that the Disney Imagineers made. This billboard has gotta change!





Everyone KNOWS the town is Radiator Springs; NOT Carsland!


I had thought I’d be spending more time in the kitschy shops…..





…but I was trailing Speedy Gonzales so I had to hoof it to catch up.





I’m not really sure why I took this picture….seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, it does allow me to make this completely random and relatively unrelated statement so in keeping with the tone of this TR.





But(te) I LOVED the details all around me. They were just delightful.





I’ll finish off this vignette by saying that there were just people everywhere today. Any hope that I had had of a quiet day at Disneyland went out of that Car(sland) window very quickly.






I was still trailing Speedy Gonzales at this stage; so I headed up to see what she had in mind for this morning.

[dhorner233]

Gorgeous, crystal clear pictures! I had camera envy when I saw yours

I love having an EVC! I spent 8 days in the park and it would not have been as much fun without it!

[Uncle Remus]

Originally Posted by PrincessInOz

And this is why I really love your pics, PIO, you see these fabulous details!


Well, that and you tell a great story, it's just like bein' there with you 'n Allison!

[ACDSNY]

You TRs are always so fun to read and the pics are wonderful. I feel like I'm right back in Cars Land.

[Caroline NZ]

Loving your trip report, you write brilliantly. I can't wait for the next instalment

[rentayenta]

I. Must. Get. To. Carsland aka Radiator Springs. The detail looks amazing and the red rock really does resemble Souther Utah. I've spent a lot of time down there too. In fact we'll be in St George, Utah the weekend after Thanksgiving as Gabby has a soccer tournament. I love the deep red rock.

[franandaj]

Yay! I get to relive the day all over again! I didn't see you take half of those pictures. Funny how you keep catching my backside!