Our trip to Disneyland California Day 2

Our second and final day at the Disneyland resort started out with breakfast reservations I had made at a place called Goofy's Kitchen for a character breakfast over at the Disneyland Hotel. I was incredibly glad I made these reservations because I ended up finding a lot of different foods I loved! If you don't know me that is saying something because I am incredibly picky eater (prob the pickiest eater you will ever meet!). Yet I managed to fill two plates from the buffet! I am the opposite of my husband who will eat just about everything. He also loved the food at the buffet. There was a huge selection of food to chose from! I was a fan :)

After finishing breakfast we decided that we would go to Disney's California Adventure park and get a fast pass (gives you a time to go to the attraction with a shorter wait) for the main attraction at the Carsland section of the park, Radiator Springs Racers. The fast pass distribution was near the front of the park and we could not believe the lineup just to get a fast pass!! Thankfully the line moved fairly quickly, but I have never seen such a lineup just for fast passes. So if you ever make your way over to Disneyland in California get the fast pass distribution first thing as they go quickly!

Since it was a Monday the parks were much less busy than our first day(which was a huge relief!). We were able to go on everything we had wanted to and the waits were not too bad. We did take advantage of the fast pass program when we could. We were able to get another one at the same time as our Radiator Springs fast pass so our next one was for California Screamin, a high speed steel roller coaster. On our trip back in 2010 the coaster had closed down before we had a chance to ride it so we made sure to do it first thing this time around. We loved it! It is the only roller coaster in Disneyland with an inversion and is incredibly smooth! I am glad that we were able to go on it this time around. 

We decided we would go get our fast passes for the nighttime show World of Color and then wanted to take a small break back in our room for a couple of hours. Once we returned to the park in the afternoon we ran into flight attendant Minnie Mouse (she was so cute!) and decided since we were in California we would go on Soarin (which is identical to the Disney World version) since it originated in California. Although there are going to be some changes coming to this ride in Florida so that it includes areas outside of California and instead of showing you over Disneyland it will show you over Disney World (which only makes sense right!). 

The last two things I wanted to do in the park before heading over to Carsland was see the Aladdin musical stage show and go on Tower of Terror. It worked out perfectly because we were able to get a fast pass for Tower of Terror due just after the Aladdin show ended! I really enjoyed the show, it mainly went through the main musical scenes from the movie with some changes and great comedic moments to modernize it. Tower of Terror is located right beside the theater so it was easy to go right onto that. The version at California is different than the Disney World version in a couple of ways. First of all in the Disney World version you actually exit the first elevator shaft and move through a corridor into the final elevator shaft for the drop sequence. But the major difference is that the WDW version of the drop is completely randomized so every ride is different. In Disneyland this is not the case, every single ride regardless of what elevator shaft you get will be the same. I personally think that the Disney World version is much much better. 

 

It was then almost time for us to use our fast pass for Radiator Springs Racers so we headed over to walk around and look at Carsland (which had not been open in 2010). I was probably most excited to see Carsland and it was one of the main reasons I wanted to go back to Disneyland. The section is meant to look like the main street of Radiator Springs from the movie. The theming is phenomenal, it actually looks and feels like you are in Radiator Springs including places such as Cozy Cones Motel, Flo's V8 Cafe and Luigi's Casa Della Tires. There was periodically different Cars that would appear at the Cozy Cones Motel and then drive through the street. I appreciated all of the small details included in the area including little signs and so on. It is rumored that there will eventually be a Carsland at Hollywood Studios in Florida, and I hope it happens. 

At the end of Carsland is Radiator Springs Racers. The line up was very long for this ride and even with a fast pass there was a decent wait. It was completely worth it though and I must say I was incredibly impressed! The ride uses the same technology as Test Track at Epcot in WDW but it is so much better! You load into a car and are taken through a dark ride portion where you will see some animatronic characters from the Cars movies as well as some areas of the town and you will see some great effects throughout. 

At the end of the dark ride section, two cars are then lined up at a track where Luigi will wave a flag to start a race between the two cars. You are then taken through a high speed outdoor track which was so much fun! The entire time your two cars are racing side by side and at random one will cross the finish line slightly quicker than the other. I thought this was a great element to the ride! I just really cannot express how impressed I was with this entire ride! I think next time I will need to make a point to ride it a couple of times since this was probably my favorite ride at both Disneyland Parks! And I could also not get over the size of the attraction!! 

 

Our evening ended with the nighttime show World of Color which we also missed on our last trip (all of the things we missed last time made this trip a lot more enjoyable). I liked the other nighttime shows more than World of Color but it was still a very cool show. It takes place at Paradise Pier in front of California Screamin and Mickey's fun wheel. It is a great show with scenes and music from Disney movies projected on fountains with some fire and laser effects. 

All in all we had an amazing two days at Disneyland with some great experiences and perfect weather! Before checking out on our final morning we had another great character breakfast at Storyteller's Cafe! Once again the food was excellent! And the characters were so fun especially Meeko from Pocahontas.

While in California we did also go to Universal Studios Hollywood. This wasn't really part of these two days and even though it isn't Disney I will have posts about Universal Orlando in future posts so I figured I would take a quick moment to add a quick summary in this post as well (don't worry I am almost done lol). Again Universal Orlando is a LOT better! First of all in Orlando there is also Islands of Adventure which you will not find in Hollywood. There currently is no Wizarding World of Harry Potter (need I say more!), although they are in the process of building Hogsmeade and Hogwarts over in Hollywood. 

The park itself is not very big and has limited attractions that are also in Orlando and all the exact same - The Simpsons, Transformers, Despicable Me Minion Mayhem and Shrek 4D. They also have The Mummy and Jurassic Park which have some little differences. We did not get to go on the Jurassic Park River Adventure as it was closed for rehab but we did go on the Mummy. Some of the scenes were different and during the second portion of the roller coaster you actually go backwards for another portion before going forward again. 

While the Minion Mayhem ride at Universal Hollywood is the same as the Florida version there are some exterior differences which are actually for the better. Just like in Florida the exterior of the ride itself is Gru's house, but in Hollywood it actually has the street his house is on with Super Silly Fun Land at the end. It makes it seem more like a small Despicable Me land.

The major draw for Universal Studios Hollywood that is unique to the park is that it is actually a working movie studio with the theme park attached. The parks major attraction is the studio backlot tour, which I loved! I found seeing the studios and sets one of the major highlights of our vacation in California (we also did the Warner Brothers Studio tour). During the backlot tour we are taken through various sets and shown many props from movies such as the cars from Fast and the Furious. In the middle of the tour is the King Kong 360 3-D attraction. The set that I was most looking forward to was actually going onto Wisteria Lane and seeing all the houses used in Desperate Housewives. Some other sets we saw were ones used in Back to the Future, War of the Worlds, How the Grinch Stole Christmas and so on. 

I did enjoy our time at Universal Studios, but I also am in no rush to go back because as I mentioned there isn't a lot in the park. It is certainly an enjoyable experience and I am sure I will visit in years down the road but I don't not have a desire to go on every trip like I do in Florida. One thing that Florida just cannot beat though is the absolutely stunning views of the mountains from Universal Studios Hollywood! With that said I am done this post! I apologize for the length, it is so difficult sometimes to fit so much into a shorter blog entry!! 

Our Trip to Disneyland California Day 1

I haven't had a chance to post in a few weeks, because first we had been away on vacation in California and Las Vegas. Once we got home I had to get back into my normal routine. So I am finally getting a chance to post about our trip to Disneyland! There will be a few posts to come about the parks (I can't fit everything in just on!). So for now I am not going to go into great detail on things I plan to blog about in a different post. 

This was our second time visiting Disneyland (we spent a day there back in Sept 2010). Firstly I must say that we enjoyed the parks much more this time than the last time around. After our first visit I remember feeling somewhat disappointed with the parks and pretty much thought "Meh". I didn't care if I ever went back. Maybe it was because we are so used to Disney World or because we had driven from Las Vegas in one day and we were a bit tired and felt rushed. We may have enjoyed it more this time around as well due to the fact that our expectations were lower. Not that we didn't enjoy Disneyland the first time, because we did quite a bit. But we really liked the parks a lot in California this time around (still not as much as Disney World). Although we did notice a few things we liked better at Disneyland than Disney World. 

We spent two full days at the Disneyland resort, using our Disney Vacation Club points to stay onsite at the Grand Californian Resort. The resort was gorgeous and we had a 1 bedroom unit that had a view of Paradise Pier at California Adventure Park. The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub that I loved having to soak in after each day in the parks. The resort exited into Downtown Disney which was just a short walk to Disneyland Park and also from the resort was a separate entrance for resort guests only to California Adventure Park. Staying here made everything incredibly convenient and much more enjoyable. We could take breaks back into the room with just a short walk and just go back to the parks when we were ready. I think staying right by the parks and for two days also made us enjoy the parks much more. 

Disneyland is much smaller than Disney World and everything is side by side. At Disney World everything is much more spread out and grander. Disneyland consists of Disneyland Park and California Adventure separated by a hub between the two with Downtown Disney to the side of the open area separating the parks. As well as a 3 resorts all within walking distance of one another. Both being close together like in California and spread out as in Florida have their advantages. 

 

The majority of our first day was spent at Disneyland Park. One lesson I did learn was do not visit on the weekend! We went on a Sunday and the park was PACKED! I have been at WDW during long weekends and it has not been this busy. And People were much less considerate there than they tend to be in Florida as well. So needless to say during the afternoon we did not accomplish very much except going on Pirates of the Caribbean (which is actually longer than the WDW version) and just walking around before taking a break back at the resort. 

In the evening we decided to go into California Adventure and saw the special sneak peak going on for the new movie Maleficent opening May 30th. This movie has to be one of the ones I am most looking forward to this year! The sneak peak was basically the opening scene as well as an extended trailer. It showed in the theater used for It's Tough to be a Bug. I honestly wish all movies were shown like this one as it was in 3D with wind and light effects that really immerse you into the movie! I can't wait to see the full version! Maleficent has always been my favorite Disney villain and I think Angelina Jolie will do a great job in the role. 

We then went back over to Disneyland Park for the remainder of the evening. Luckily the park was less busy than it was during the day. We were able to get on Big Thunder Mountain, which I will admit is a lot better than the version over at Disney World. We also managed to go on Haunted Mansion which is basically the same ride inside except for a few minor changes. The outside looks completely different as it is in their New Orleans section so it was designed to look like a Plantation. On our last trip we did see the Haunted Mansion with the Halloween overlay of the Nightmare before Christmas, which is only at Disneyland Park. Our last ride of the day was Space Mountain which is much smoother than Space Mountain at WDW. The Halloween overlay on Space Mountain at Disneyland called Ghost Galaxy is also phenomenal! 

At Disneyland Park there are two nighttime shows. The first one we went to was the park's fireworks show "Remember...Dreams Come True". I personally prefer Wishes over at WDW but this show was still great. Parts of the show was the same as Wishes with the classes music but was narrated by Mary Poppins instead of Jiminy Cricket. The show pays tribute to different parts of the park with music from the attractions such as the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars. The show did include some pyrotechnics as well as at times 360 degree fireworks. What I did like about the fireworks at Disneyland better than Wishes at WDW is that Tinker Bell actually flies over and around the castle several times. Over at Disney World she only goes from the castle over into Tomorrowland. 

Immediately after the fireworks we made our way over to Frontierland to watch Fantasmic on the Rivers of America. At WDW Fantasmic is in Hollywood Studios and is an amazing show! On the other coast Fantasmic also does not disappoint. I actually enjoyed the Disneyland version better as well. The WDW version has a battle scene from Pocahontas which in Disneyland is actually changed to a fight on a ship between Peter Pan and Captain Hook (much cooler!). A couple of other sequences were also different. Near the end the dragon from Sleeping Beauty comes out onto the Stage but again the one at Disneyland is much better than the one over at Hollywood Studios. Either way both shows are amazing!! 

This concludes day one of our time at Disneyland. I was planning to do the entire two days in one post until I was half way through this one. I quickly realized it needs to be a 2 part blog!  

 

What is the Disney World Resort? Part 4: Animal Kingdom

I have reached the final of the four parks, Disney's Animal Kingdom. I still remember seeing commercials and information about the park as it was being built and the opening on the Disney World Very Merry Christmas parade back in 1998. Animal Kingdom is themed around animal conservation and is divided into 7 themed areas: Oasis, Discovery Island, Africa, Asia, Rafiki's Planet Watch, Dinoland USA. It will eventually be 8 as Disney is currently working on Avatar land to create Pandora (an opening date has not yet been announced). 

 

Once you enter the park you enter into the Oasis which includes some animal habitats as you make your way into the park you will see the park's centrepiece the Tree of Life(a 50ft tree with 325 animals carved in it's trunk) in Discovery Island. Discovery Island is the park's central hub which connects almost every other section of the park. You will also find the main gift shops as well as the 3D show It's Tough to be a Bug. I have never gone on this as there is spiders during the show (granted they are cartoon ones, but I am a major arachnophobe). I am told it is incredibly well themed though. Whenever I go to Animal Kingdom I always make sure to go to Pizzafari in Discovery Island and buy an order of their delicious breadsticks! They are super tasty and a great mid day snack :) And when you are walking towards Africa keep your eyes open for Devine! She blends in as she is completely covered in leaves and stands completely still and only periodically moved, very cool!

 

If you start making your way around the park from the right you will enter into Dinoland USA. This section is great for any children who may love dinosaurs. There is a dig site where they can find fossils. The area's main attraction is the ride Dinosaur. The story is that you are going back in time to the age of the dinosaurs. Be warned the ending is VERY loud. Personally I find the ride too rough and loud. But it is worth a try because the theming is great :) I do think this area was meant to have more than it does as there is an area with some more midway style attractions not usual to the usual Disney grandeur. There is now a Finding Nemo musical at the end of this section which is a great show and perfect for an escape from the outdoor heat. 

 

From Dinoland you will cross a bridge that will take you into Asia and the first thing you will see is Animal Kingdom's best ride, Expedition Everest! This is a very well themed roller coaster. Just the queue is very well themed and you can see the work Disney put into the immersion of this ride. As you walk through you will see actual articles the Disney imagineers brought back from Nepal where they went to do all of their research for the ride. In this ride you are on a train tour of Mount Everest when you suddenly come to a dead end where the tracks have been torn up. The coaster will then propel backwards through a dark area coming to a stop when you see a projection of the Yeti's shadow ripping up the tracks. Suddenly the train goes forward exiting the mountain and taking a drop on a high speed ride. You will at one point enter the mountain again where your train will go under a giant animatronic Yeti. This is an absolute must do! Also in this section there are several animal trails where you will see various animals you would find in Asia including Bengal Tigers! Also found in Asia is Kali River Rapids, one of the other major attractions in the park. It is a raft ride that can be great on a hot day, because be warned you may get SOAKED. If you are looking for a good quick service place to eat and enjoy Asian food I would recommend Yak & Yeti. This is my husbands favorite place to eat in Animal Kingdom.

Exiting Asia you will then enter into Africa. Make sure you don't miss Kilimanjaro Safari's, the area's main attraction. You are taken through a savanna where you will see animals such as antelope, elephants, giraffes, Lions, cheetahs, gazelles and many more. Another absolute must do! And it is great because you never know where the animals will be or what the will be doing. Once you exit this ride you will also find another animal trail. Located in Africa is a train that will take you to Rafiki's Planet Watch. I actually didn't even know this section was there on my first couple of trips as it is kind of hidden and only accessible by the train. There isn't a lot over there and it is mainly a petting zoo. In Africa you will also find one of Disney's best character buffets at Tusker House. If you can only do one character meal I highly recommend Donald's Safari Breakfast here as it is fantastic! As will all character meals the characters (Mickey, Goofy and Daisy) will go to all the tables. This is by far my favorite character breakfast!

 

It is currently closed as it is being relocated (I am not sure where as of yet), but if it has reopened when you visit make sure to go see the Festival of the Lion King! This is a fantastic show! It was located in Camp Minnie Mickey but this area is being removed to make way for Avatar Land. It is great to see a themed land going in here as Camp Minnie Mickey was only meant to be temporary. The original plan for the park had this section as a land called Beastly Kingdom. It never came to be due to budget constraints unfortunately. The park was originally supposed to include 3 types of animals: Ones that used to exist, currently exist and mythical animals such as dragons and unicorns. I am actually disappointed this never came to be as from what I have read this area sounds amazing! There was going to be a castle built around a roller coaster with a bad side housing a fire breathing dragon at the end and a good side being the home of a unicorn. When Disney didn't end up building this it was actually bought by Universal for Islands  of Adventure and was called Dueling Dragons (although it was not as well themed and did not include a fire breathing dragon). Universal's is still a great ride and has now actually been re themed and renamed Dragon Challenge as part of The Wizarding World Of Harry Potter. It is two coasters intertwined one being fire and one being ice. I think it is very unfortunate though that Disney did not end up building this and it went to Universal as it is a great coaster!

 

It has been a lot of fun doing this 4 part post and I hope it has been informative and helpful :) This will be my last post for probably at least 9 days as tomorrow I am leaving for California and Las Vegas until May 4th! I am of course going to be visiting Disneyland, so when I return expect some trip reports and articles on my visit there :)

What is the Disney World Resort? Part 3: Hollywood Studios

Hollywood Studios opened in 1989 and was originally called MGM studios. I originally knew this park as MGM and it took me years to get used to calling it Hollywood Studios! The park name change took place in 2008. The original plan for this park was for it to be a working studio for movies and tv shows. This is no longer the case. All Disney parks have a theme in which they follow and of course for Hollywood Studios that is show business. 

The layout for Hollywood Studios is not the traditional park layout. Originally before all the expansions adding additional sections and "streets" the park upside down resembled a Mickey Mouse head. Personally I am not a huge fan of the current layout to the park because it does not have a good flow. There are some areas that lead to a dead end and some streets that could be completely missed if you are not paying attention. This isn't really a major concern though as I still love the park. 

 

Hollywood Studios is divided into 6 themed areas: Hollywood Boulevard, Echo Lake, Animation Courtyard, Sunset Boulevard, Pixar Place and Streets of America. Hollywood Boulevard is the main entrance to the park and the street leading you into the park which of course is lined with shops leading you to the parks centerpiece the Sorcerer's hat. This main street is also used for the Disney's Block Party Bash Parade. 

 

Once you find your way to the end of the street to the right you will find Sunset Boulevard. This would be a dead end street so it does require some back tracking to move on to other areas. The street is mainly shops. Once you reach the end you will find Disney's Tower of Terror and Aerosmith's Rock n Roller coaster. These are must do's and my 2 favorite rides!! You will see Tower of Terror as you are walking down Sunset Boulevard. It is incredibly well themed to appear abandoned with overgrown gardens, cobwebs and cracks in the building. Once you make your way through the queue and pre-show you load into an elevator which takes you through some sequences before you enter the final elevator shaft for the drop. The Disney World version is unique as instead of it being a set drop sequence every ride (you do not drop once, there is lifts and drops), in WDW it is completely randomized so every time you ride it is different! You could even start out being shot upwards! To the left of Tower of Terror is Rock n Roller coaster. This is an indoor roller coaster that will play a random Aerosmith song during the ride. The story is that you are in a "super stretch" limo in a rush to get through traffic to get to a concert. The ride is in the dark except for the Neon signs you see along the way. At the start you are shot from 0 to 60 MPH in 2.8 seconds and then goes into an inversion! I also recommend the Beauty and the Beast stage show located in this area. It is a wonderful show with some amazing acting.  The last show I watched the actress who played Belle sounded exactly like in the movie! Adults and children would love this show.

 

After you have backtracked back to the center if you continue along the right you will enter into the Animation Courtyard. Here you will find a Little Mermaid show and some Playhouse Disney shows for the younger kids. A lot of people don't know that if you actually continue straight back you will enter the Magic of Animation building where you can get a unique and free souvenir! You are taught how to draw a random Disney character and you get to keep it in the end. Continuing past the Little Mermaid you will enter into Pixar Place. Currently the only attraction in this section is Toy Story Midway Mania. This is a very popular attraction so a fast pass is a must! Unless of course you want to wait in line for 60-90 minutes. The ride takes you through a track where you wear 3D glasses and play various midway games building up a score against the other person in your vehicle.

Next we move on to the back of the park for the streets of America. This section has a street which is themed to look like New york while a side street to look like San Francisco. At the very back you will find Lights, Motor, Action an extreme car stunt show. At the beginning of this section is Muppets 3D. You will also find a great little quick service food choice in this section, Pizza Planet. Of course themed after Toy Story. If you are visiting late November or December make sure you go to this area around 6pm to experience the Osborne Spectacle of Lights. This is an incredible sight! The entire street is lit up with over 5 million lights which will periodically "dance" to Christmas music while it "snows" on the street! This is an absolute must see!! 

 

And finally we move onto Echo Lake. If you are entering from Streets of America you will first see Star Tours. This is a 3D motion simulator, which also is random with several different scenes you could end up with. In every ride someone is randomly picked as the "rebel spy", which worked out perfectly to be my little brother the first time we took him on Star Tours! I have also been chosen a couple of times, so it's not impossible to get! Rumor has it that this area will eventually be expanded and developed into Star Wars Land (oh how I hope this is true!) while the Streets of America will eventually become Cars Land. A great experience for young kids in this area is also the Jedi Training academy! You will need to arrive for park opening to sign up as it does fill up quickly for the day. We managed to snag one of the last spots for my brother last May and I am so glad we did as this ended up being one of the highlights of the trip for him! He got to fight Darth Maul (you could also fight Darth Vader) and at the end received a certificate. The other big attraction in this section is the Indiana Jones Stunt show. This has been in the park for a very long time and once again if your watched the Full House episode where they visit Disney World, this is the show with the giant boulder when DJ thinks she sees Steve. I highly recommend the funnel cake you are able to buy near the Indiana Jones stunt show as well. They are delicious!!! And if you happen to be on the dining plan, you are able to use a snack credit for one (this seems to be one of the most expensive options you are able to use a snack credit for). 

 

When you visit Hollywood Studios please make sure you stick around until the end of the night and make your way back down Sunset boulevard by Tower of Terror to see the night time show Fantasmic! This is a stage show with video projected on water effects mixed with lasers and some fireworks. I honestly cannot stress enough the injustice you are doing to yourself if you skip this! It is absolutely an amazing show and cannot be accurately described. I would recommend arriving at least 45 mins prior or if you can book it with your Fast Pass+ reservations. This is an absolute must do! 

If you are a Star Wars fan you may want to visit in late May to experience Star Wars Weekends at Hollywood Studios. This takes place every year on weekends in late May and early June (June gets very hot). I have had the pleasure of attending twice and I loved it! You will not have time to do everything as there are lots of shows, character meet and greets, special merchandise locations, celebrity meet and greets. You will find normal Star Wars characters as well as Disney characters dressed up as Star Wars characters like Jedi Mickey! Make sure you catch the parade in the afternoon, there is only one so made sure you check the times! If you are a Star Wars fan this is a must and one of the other reasons Hollywood Studios is one of my favorite parks!