A little over a year ago, my friend Cathy and I visited to Disneyland. During that trip, I purchased my first annual pass. I had the chance to renew my pass by mail, but I wasn't exactly sure when I would return, and since I could get the same discount by using the Magic Kingdom Club, I decided to wait. This turned out to be a good decision.
After I had made the decision not to renew by mail, my friend Liz invited me to join The U2 Celebration at Disneyland.
This sounded like a lot of fun, and so I made plans to attend. I then found out that during the same weekend, the Disneyana shop was going to re-open and have some special events. On the Saturday the shop would be dedicated, they would give away "mini-lithographs" to the first 1,000 guests entering the shop, and they would sell 1,500 commemorative pins with the opening date stamped on them. On Sunday they would give away another 1,000 "mini-lithographs" and sell a different commemorative pin. With this event planned, I decided to purchase a flex pass from CSAA for $68, take advantage of the early entry on Saturday and then exchange it for credit towards an annual pass later on. I called Disneyland Guest Relations to find out if there were any restrictions; They said that I had to exchange my flex pass for the annual no later than the second day.
I drove down to the park on Friday morning. The day wasn't bad, and I managed to arrive in Anaheim just before 3 PM. I decided to stop at the Disney's California Adventure preview center which is in a trailer next to the Team Disney Anaheim building near the Ball Rd/I5 freeway interchange. Unfortunately, when I arrived, there was sign on the door saying "Out to Lunch from 2-3". I had some time on my hands, so I decided to wait. At about 3:10, a cast member briskly walked from the TDA building to the trailer, and opened the doors. I said "Hello" and asked if she had a good lunch, and she said "Yes."
The preview center really isn't designed to show off what will be in DCA; it's really designed to show off what changes are going to be made in the area surrounding Disneyland.
After looking at the concept drawings, maps, and other items, I asked the cast member a few questions. She was very helpful and let me know that:
I thanked the cast member for her help, and went on to my hotel. I wanted to make this a cheap trip, so I opted to stay at the Magic Carpet Motel on Katella. The motel doesn't have any amenities, but for $34 a night, the rooms are clean, and everything works. Since I'm only sleeping in the rooms, I don't feel the need to pay extra. (Since my stay, the Magic Carpet and it's sister motel, The Magic Lamp, have been combined to form the Magic Inn and Suites. This probably means that the rates will rise, and I'll be finding a new budget motel)
After settling in, I was off to the park. Before the DCA construction began, I would walk from the hotel and cross the Disneyland parking lot to get to the park. Faced with the prospect of a longer walk, I got in my car and drove to the Pinocchio lot on West Street. The easiest way to do this is to go on Katella and turn up a side street which connects with Convention Center Way, left on Convention Center way, right on Harbor, right on Orangewood, right on West, past the Disneyland Hotel and finally left into the Pinocchio lot. When I got to the parking lot, the guy in the toll booth did a double-take when I handed him my CSAA flex pass; He had never seen a flex pass which included parking.
Soon I was in the park and on my way to Tomorrowland. I wanted to see what changes had taken place. My first surprise was seeing the Moonliner Rocket on its pedestal. I didn't think that they were going to put it up until its dedication which was a few days later. When I had my early dinner at Redd Rocket's Pizza Port (I had a Caesar salad, bread sticks, and coffee), one of CMs told me about watching them attach the legs and put it up.
After my dinner, I noticed that a crane had been attached to the Moonliner. I walked up to the balcony over the Magic Eye Theatre to watch what was going on. It turned out that they were taking the Moonliner off of its pedestal. There were some other people on the balcony and all of were wondering what was going on. Our first guess was that they had positioned the rocket incorrectly and that they were going to spin it so that the it faced the "right way". Then we watched them set the rocket down on the ground and so we thought that it was a dry run before Monday's dedication. (I later found out that they put it on the pedestal to switch cranes.)
The rest of my Friday evening was spent wandering around various places in the park. I went to Space Mountain, it's a small world, Toon Town, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, and the Indiana Jones adventure. At the end of the evening, I went over to Coke Corner to see if anyone I knew was listening to Rod. Unfortunately, no, and this made for a strange closing since only one other person sang along to Stars and Stripes and the Mickey Mouse Club March. I then wandered over to Snow White's Grotto, where I was shocked to hear no sound at all. At first I thought that they had shut it off, but the next day I found out the sound was just not working. Since Snow White wasn't singing, I quietly sang instead, and made a wish.
When I walked out of the front gates, I noticed something different about the tram procedures for the Pinocchio lot. They had a line set up before the loading area, and only allowed one tram load of people into the boarding area. The cast members said that this was an experiment. I said that it's a great idea and I hope that they can figure out a way to apply this to the other tram loading areas.
The next morning I decided to park in the Timon lot which is in part of the old Disneyland parking lot. I had no problems parking and was soon dropped off near the front gate. Quite a few people were already lined up next to the regular entrance gates, but surprisingly few people were over at the early entry gates. I was able to get a spot at the front of a line. When they opened the gates, I was the first to get to the flag pole, and snapped a photo of an almost empty Main Street. I talked with some of the CMs who were setting up for the Disneyana dedication, all while people were walking past to ride rides. I decided to do the same, and went to Fantasyland so I could ride Dumbo and Mr. Toads Wild Ride.
It then started to rain, so I went back to the Disneyana shop. About 10 people were in line, so I grabbed a spot. I brought a book to read but didn't read it at all; I talked to the folks who were around me and the CMs controlling the line. Everyone was very nice. When one of the CMs said "The Market House is open if you want some coffee", we went in shifts to peer into the back room of the Disneyana shop and also get some coffee."
When the park opened, we watched "The running of the APs" It was funny to see everyone run into the park and get in line. Judi Lane, Jeffry Moxley, and my friend Mariah's mom had planned to meet me while I was in line (and the folks around me didn't mind that I was holding spots for friends). When they found me, they were surprised at how close we were. Other a.d.ders cursed me for getting such a good spot. We all had a fun time waiting in line; Half of the fun was showing Mariah's mom that we're not a bad group to hang around.
One of the funniest moments occurred well before the ceremony. The ribbon in front of the store was already cut and held together with tape; I guess someone had remembered that when the Monorail was dedicated, the ribbon wouldn't break. Anyway, before regular opening, CMs were entering and exiting the main door of the shop and ducking under the ribbon. Inevitably, someone broke the ribbon. Eventually, the CMs found some tape to connect the two ends of the ribbon.
When 10 o'clock arrived, the ceremony began. The Disneyland Band marched up Main Street led by Mickey and Minnie. Afterwards, the Disneyland Ambassador was introduced who then introduced Tony Baxter. Tony spoke about the renovation and crowed about how the new shop heralded a new era of Disneyland specific merchandise. Tony even thanked Ann Dale for being a driving force in bringing Disneyland specific merchandise back to the park (for several years people had been requesting park specific merchandise; I guess that she finally listened.)
When we were let in, we were handed vouchers to redeem for our mini lithograph. Everyone who walked into the store gawked at the merchandise. The first thing to catch my eye was a series of five framed limited edition (to 500) photo-prints of Walt in Disneyland. The prints were gorgeous.
Mariah's mom decided to get one of them for her daughter as a surprise gift. She had a tough time choosing between "Nostalgic on Main Street" -- a print of Walt on Main Street standing underneath the window labeled "Elias Disney, Contracter" (Elias Disney was Walt's father.) -- and "On the Right Track" -- a print of Walt walking along the tracks of the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland. Eventually she chose "On the Right Track". The print that caught my eye was "Walt Flies to Never Land" -- a photo of Walt inspecting one of the flying boats for the Peter Pan ride. When I found out that the Premium Annual Passholder discount applied, I decided to wait to get my pass before buying the photo.
While I was taken by the photo prints, Judi was taken with a statuette of Mickey dressed up in Indiana Jones garb holding up a golden Pluto idol. It was a beautiful one-of-a-kind piece, and Judi's thought was "I want to buy this, but I just can't." Jeffry and I then proceeded to work on getting her to buy it (it's not like we could afford it). When Judi asked us "Suppose it comes down to going to Disneyland Paris or buying the statuette." In unison Jeffry and I said "Paris will still be there." Then we found out that the premium annual passport discount was applicable; Ten percent isn't a lot, but it helps. Finally she relented and decided to buy it. A friendly CM went into the back room to find some packing material, only to return to tell us that the piece had already been sold. All that effort to come up short. At least we later found out that the statuette has a good home -- Tony Baxter's house.
The only purchases I made at Disneyana were two commemorative opening day pins. When I found out that the premium annual passport discount could be applied to purchases at Disneyana, I decided to get my AP before buying any other items. Upgrading my flex passport was a very simple process. While Judi and Jeffry went over to City Hall to get Jeffry his "Today's my Birthday" sticker, I went over to the AP processing center where, surprisingly, there was no wait. My AP was processed even faster because they had not erased the information from my expired annual pass. I only wish that they had my old AP photo, because I thought it was a better photo than my new one.
I then met up with Judi and Jeffry, who were still at City Hall. It was lunch time, so we went over to Redd Rocket's Pizza Port, which features some of the friendliest cast members in all of Disneyland. One of the CMs, Scott, saw that it was Jeffry's birthday, and thus gathered up some other CMs to serenade him with a birthday drill sergeant march which you'll just have to hear for yourself.
After the serenade we had a nice lunch and then it was time for me to rendezvous with my friend Liz and all of her U2 friends.
I wandered over to the castle, where I met Liz and her boyfriend Jason. None of her other friends made it, but that didn't stop us from having fun. We wandered around the park, went on a few rides, and chatted with some friends of Liz who were still cast members. This was an educational experience for all of us. For my part, I learned a little bit about the Disneyland rumor mill. A week earlier, a two year-old kid was struck by one of the trams and according to the news reports, had only suffered some bruises and broken arm. According to one of the CMs we talked to, the girl had died. I also learned that general complaints should be sent as letters to Paul Presslar rather than made at City Hall. A letter is better for two reasons: it's more likely to reach the person who needs to read it, and it's less likely to get a CM in trouble.
As I said, education went both ways. When we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, I taught Liz and Jason about The Goat Trick. Also, when we were in line for Big Thunder, Liz commented on how some of the rides had their share of phallic symbols, I decided to show her Penetration Rock (a rock formation in the Matterhorn) and Walt's Little Friend. The look Liz had when she finally noticed why Penetration Rock is so named was priceless. I wish I had gotten a photo of her. When we went over to look at Walt's Little Friend, there were several other people who were also trying to find the proper angle to look at the Partner's statue. Finally, I also showed off Tomorrowland's edible topiary, including the next spot where the U2 fans should meet -- the lemon tree.
Over various times we were supposed to meet other friends of Liz's, but for some reason, they didn't show up. One place we waited was Snow White's Grotto. While we were waiting, some teenage boys leaned over into the wishing well and started fishing out quarters. We had joked that Disneyland management would use the coins tossed into the well to pad the profits (actually, they're donated to the Make a Wish Foundation). After the teenagers' fishing expeditions it sounded like they were heading over to the arcade, so I guess Disneyland does get those profits. While all this was going on, a couple was making out right next to the castle. For some reason seeing both of these things made us all laugh. What didn't make me laugh was that no CM came by during the five minutes over which this all took place.
While Liz's friends did not show up, we did manage to meet some of mine. Al Lutz had sent out a message to a few people that Teri-Lynn Wheeler's final night in the park was that evening. Teri-Lynn was a long-time cast member who worked the Monorail. We went over to Rod's where we met up with Al, Jeffry, Judi, Dave, and Karl. After waiting for other people to show up (and talking about what direction the park has been going in), we went over to the Monorail.
Teri-Lynn was working on the platform, but switched off with the monorail driver so she could drive us. There were too many of us to ride up front, so Al and Dave waited on the platform. During our ride, Teri-Lynn told us about starting off working as a character and then switching over to attractions. All this time, Judi was taking some photos, which she has put up on a web page. Teri-Lynn also told us that she was looking forward to finally getting to spend Sunday with her family. I was glad I had the chance to wish her a fond farewell.
Following the ride on the monorail, we went over to Storybook Land, where Liz had arranged to deliver the spiel. Even though it had been two years since she had last given the Storybook Land spiel, Liz did a great job. She didn't miss any of the comments, and even delivered the "never neverland line". What was funny about that was that the waterfall which normally flows over the entrance to never neverland was not working, so we were able to get a better look at the curtain which hides the boat storage area.
Following our ride on Storybook, we had dinner at Casa Mexicana, where the manager Sue, recognized us and said "hello." During our dinner, we listened to the entire performance of Fantasmic. I made sure to tell everyone to watch Big Thunder Mountain as the fireworks went off; It's quite a beautiful sight.
Following dinner, we went back to Tomorrowland, to ride Space Mountain. When we exited the ride, there was something interesting going on up at the Rocket Rods' platform. Someone with a bunch of security was riding the Rods with his family. We asked someone who was up there. We found out that it was Newt Gingrich. After two rides, he waved at everyone looking up (including us), and then went off to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience and then the second performance of Fantasmic.
Following our celebrity sighting, we went over to Pirates, where we were exposed to one of the worst smells that was emanating from the drains. Eeyew! It was a good thing the line was short. After that, it was off to the Matterhorn. Liz used to be a cast member at the Matterhorn, so she wanted to relive some old memories. We ended up on the Fantasyland (or B) track, which I hadn't been on in a while. I was finally convinced that yes, the Tomorrowland (or A) track is a much better ride down the mountain. The B track just takes you around and around the mountain, and has no real dips or hills in it.
Eventually it was time to go home. We all had a wonderful time, and Liz commemorated the day by saving some photos and quotes. Meanwhile, I learned an important lesson -- don't park in Timon. Judi and I ended up waiting about 20 minutes to get aboard a tram to take us to the lot. In the old days, I would have walked to my car.
The next morning, I awoke in time to check out of my room and drive over to the Pinocchio parking lot. When I reached the lot, the gates were still closed. Since they didn't look like they were going to be opened soon, I turned off the engine, got out of the car, and looked to see if I knew anyone else waiting to get in. First I encountered Brandon and his girlfriend Kristi, who were about six cars in front of me. Then, as I walked closer to the gates, I saw Jason Schultz. He had looked at me and said "Ha! No early entry for you this time!" As we chatted, the money takers entered their booths and they got ready to open the gates, so I dashed back to my car, only to be spotted by Adrienne Vincent, who was several cars behind me. I've never heard of an a.d.d meet in line to get into a parking lot, but I guess that's what this was.
We were soon in the parking lot, and we all managed to board the first tram, where we also bumped into Mr. Liver. From the tram we made a dash for the gates, and managed to get a spot close to the front of one gate. We were all set. At 8:30 the gates opened, and it was the mad dash of the APs all over again. We ended up at the entrance to the Main Street Cinema, so we were pretty close. Andrew "Lt. D'amato" Rich and Jennifer, ended up a little closer, and invited us to join them, but we didn't want to piss off some of the folks in front of us, as some of them had been in line near me the day before.
While we were in line, we were informed that the pins for the second day were not ready. The pins were supposed to have the date (Sunday, May 3, 1998) stamped on them, only when they arrived, there was no date stamp. The shop CMs passed out address forms to everyone so that the pins would be shipped to us later. Once we entered the shop, I noticed that some of the photo-prints were no longer displayed. A castmember informed us that they only had ten copies of each print in the shop, and that we could fill out an interest card to order the photo-prints later. I decided that I wanted all five with matching numbers, so I turned in a comment card. [About a week later, I received a phone call from one of the Disneyana cast members asking me if I wanted the photo-prints. I was able to get number 22 of each print.] At the same time I bought my pins and got my second free mini-lithograph.
Following our time in Disneyana, we went to meet several other a.d.ders at the hub before getting breakfast. At the hub we encountered a duck with several ducklings in tow. After several people tried to steer the ducks to water, Judi got a bright idea and bought some popcorn. She laid out a little trail for the duck and ducklings, and soon they were in the pond next to the entrance of Frontierland. It was cute to see all of those ducks crossing from the hub to Frontierland.
We joined other a.d.ders at the River Belle Terrace for breakfast. The River Belle is a nice quiet spot in the morning, so this was a great way to start the day. Of course, eating breakfast right before lunch was a silly move. Maybe a muffin and coffee would have been a better choice, but then it was still a good breakfast.
After stops at Pirates of the Caribbean, Fortune Red, and the Gallery, we were off to the hub for the noon a.d.d meet. There, The Fabulous Disney Babe had brought along a large entourage. This ended up splitting the meet in two, as she opted for lunch at Redd Rockets while everyone else opted for lunch at New Orleans Square. Even lunch at the French Market was scattered, as we had a bunch of separate tables. Though I didn't eat (because I was still full from breakfast), I had fun chatting with Andrew, Jennifer, Sheila, Twinkermom and one of her daughters, and Linda.
A few people, including Jeff Graebner, Matt Mendenhall, and Kevin and Adrienne Krock had gone over to Cafe Orleans where they experienced some problems trying to use their AP discount. They were falsely informed that the discount only applied at restaurants between 2 PM and 5 PM. They were given their discount, but this spawned an adventure.
After lunch, we went over to the Disneyana shop where David Krackow, who sculpted the statuettes we had seen the day before, was appearing. Judi, who had lunched with Fab and her entourage, decided that she wanted to order a statuette from him. While she was doing this, we looked around the store now that the crowds were gone. It was good thing I looked around, because I saw that they still had mini lithographs remaining. I informed a few people who had decided to skip standing in line, and they got their lithos.
After that, Jeff, Matt, and the Krocks decided to lodge their complaint about the apparent change in discount policy. A CM in City Hall initially confirmed the change in policy and so they filed a written complaint. The CM offered to fax the complaint so that it would be dealt with immediately. Eventually, they went over the Annual Passholder center to see what the story was. The AP center CMs had said "There's no such change." Eventually (after a few weeks), the mess got straightened out. A memo was circulated that was supposed to remind CMs of the restrictions on Magic Kingdom Club member and American Express member discounts at restaurants, only it left off the bit about only applying to those two discounts and thus was interpreted to apply to all discounts.
While some went to City Hall, John Frost, Sheila and I went over to the Bank of Main Street to get some cash from the ATM. While over there, I showed my new AP. I was disappointed that Tinkerbell no longer was on the back. John said, "Next time hold it under black light and see what happens." I said that I would.
John then went off to meet someone while Sheila and I went to City Hall to provide moral support for the folks who were complaining. After they were finished at city hall, they wanted to head back to Disneyana, while Sheila wanted to ride some rides. I decided to stay with Sheila, and we watched part of the Hercules Victory Parade while thinking about which ride to go on.
With the parade going by, there was no line for the Disneyland Railroad. We walked up to Main Street Station and ended up right at the front of the line. I asked Sheila if she wanted to ride in the tender and she said that she had never done that before. When engine number one (the C. K. Holiday) pulled into the station, I asked the conductor "May we ride up in the cab?" The conductor cleared it with the train crew, and escorted us to the engine for our trip around the park (If you ride up in the tender, you can only get on and off at Main Street Station -- the other station platforms are not long enough.)
The fireman, whose name was Jay, I think, was a font of information for us. (The engineer was a bit busier plus had some laryngitis, so he didn't talk.) He told us about the engines, pointed out a few sights which we might not have noticed, and a few facts which we might not have known.
As we pulled back into Main Street Station, we heard someone say "Hi." Adrienne and Kevin were leaving the park and happened to spot us as they were heading to the gate. We waved at them, said "Bye." and then thanked Jay and the engineer for a nice trip around the park. As we were heading to the exit, Mr. Liver said "Hi!". It was his time to take the train. We chatted for just a bit until it was time for him to board.
Afterwards, we went over to Coke Corner to meet up with other a.d.ders. We grabbed Judi and headed over to the Mad Tea Party. Judi wasn't in the mood to spin, so Sheila and I took a seat in my favorite tea cup. I was in a particularly good spinning mood as Sheila said "Sean, you can stop spinning. I mean it!" When I let go of the wheel, I leaned back, and WHOA! I guess we were spinning a bit fast.
For our next ride, we decided to relax on Alice in Wonderland. While we were in line, a man in front of us said to me, "Pardon me, but do you teach UNIX?" "Yes.", I replied. "You're Yoda right?", he asked. "That's right!", I answered. "I was in one of your classes!", he said. "Oh wow! How cool.", I responded. By that time the line had moved and we couldn't talk any more, but it was funny to bump into one of my old students.
When we got on Alice, we noticed all of the black light. Sheila said "Sean! Get out your AP." I pulled it out, and sure enough, the words "Annual Passholder" appeared under the black light. Judi and Sheila said "cooool."
One other cool thing happened. We went over to Toon Town to look at the Goofy's Freeze Time stand. The stand was closed, but as we were leaving, we saw a rainbow off of the clouds over it's a small world. Talk about a magical way to end the day.
We went back to Coke Corner where Fab and Steve (a.k.a CaptDisney) were preparing for dinner at Club 33. We said good bye since we were not staying in the park much longer. After a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean, and some wandering, we left the park to go our separate ways.
I was hoping to drive all of the way home, but the weather was not cooperative. The rain started coming down as I was driving through LA. By the time I was over the Grapevine, it had still not stopped. I was somewhat tired, and with the rain, I did not want to take chances. I stopped at the Motel 6 in Buttonwillow. To me, spending $30 was worth it compared to what would happen if I was not alert while driving in the rain. After a good night's sleep, I made it home safe and sound.
A lot of people made this a special trip. I'd like to thank: