Disneyland 2012

[ajp]

Enjoy the museum Keith and Della. I've been seeing alot of activity on there lately, so it should be a good time to go, including their part in the Bridge's 75th Anniversary. Remember to take your time!

[KeithS]

Day 2 – Monday, 4 June 2012
We woke up with a start this morning when the alarm went off at 7am. It was a good thing too because I could have slept a lot longer! We got up and headed to the restaurant for breakfast – the restaurant overlooked the ocean and we could see that it was grey and drizzling outside.

After breakfast we got in the car and headed up towards the Presidio to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum. It was very wet while driving, but we got there okay and parked right outside the museum. We walked in about 10:10am, thinking we’d only take a couple of hours to go through it – boy were we wrong.

After entering the two double doors, we noticed a lady and a gentleman having a conversation about the old days at the studio – the woman was none other than Diane Disney-Miller herself! We didn’t find out who the man was, but he was one of Walt’s animators from the old days. Diane and the man was joined by another couple of Disney animators and people from those days – I wish we had found out who they were. They followed us through the first half of the exhibition and I was half listening to their stories while trying to follow all the exhibition displays – it was very distracting to me! I wanted to say hello to Diane (and I know a lot of you readers would have done that) but she was escorting these people and it seemed rude to interrupt.

Anyway – the museum is a fabulous testament to Walt Disney – it is like a walkthrough biography of Walt from his family’s early days before his birth, right up to his passing – it is set out in chronological order and is full of wonderful memorabilia. We realised at 2:30pm that we hadn’t had lunch, and we were still only in the 1940’s section of the museum! We ran ahead to the cafeteria, grabbed a couple of quick sandwiches and drinks, before going back into the museum and the 1950’s section, which included a wonderful section on Disney’s trains and then the creation of Disneyland. The emotional end is of the museum is the death of Walt and all the stories of those around him we they heard the news.

The whole museum is a wonderful, moving experience and HIGHLY recommended to all Disney fans. We finished going through all the exhibits around 5:00pm.

Now – what is a Disney related exhibit without a gift shop? Yes, we bought stuff, including fluffies and other collectibles. We left the museum at closing time which is 6pm. By now, the rain had all gone away and it was a beautiful sunny day! We walked around the Presidio for a while and took photos before heading finally heading back to the hotel an dinner.

It was an amazing day and to be able to stand right beside Diane Disney-Miller was a highlight (and to hear her talk of her days staying at the studio and her Dad etc was just amazing!)

Tomorrow - we are heading to the City for some serious shopping wish me luck!!

Right now, it is 9:30pm and we are watching Beauty and the Beast of TV

[KeithS]

And here is my photo of the day!

[churros]

Did you stalk Dianne around the whole museum?

[ajp]

When you read the blurb you get after booking your ticket, they say that you should only be in there for about 2 hours or so, and if it is busy they may move you on. I think the time you spent Keith was about right. We took about 5 hours and still didn't cover it all, but we had 2 teenagers and that was about 2 hours beyond their patience level. Being there with Diane Disney-Miller, wow, that would have been just awe inspiring. You definitely lucked in there Keith. I previously meant to offer you a challenge, one by the sound of it I think you would have failed to meet, and that is to not shed a tear in the final room. It is very moving. Sounds like you had an incredible day! -/

[Mel]

Oh wow. Oh WOW! How cool that Diane was there!!! As much as I would like a pic with her, I probably wouldn't have interrupted either. How amazing to hear some of the 'good ole days' stories. -/

[KeithS]

Day 3 – Tuesday, 5 June 2012
We woke up this morning to a glorious sunny day. We grabbed our breakfast at the hotel and then headed over the Golden Gate Bridge to the pretty town of Sausalito. We parked the car there and bought a ferry ticket to San Francisco. It was great crossing the bay on such a fine day, taking photos of the Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz. We docked at the San Francisco ferry terminal about 11:30 and hopped aboard a tram that took us up Market Street to the shopping precinct around Union Square. The first destination was the new Disney Store.

When we arrived, there was a massive crowd out the front, be we found out from the security guard at the Disney Store that it was just a fire drill next door. The new Disney Store was brilliant inside – unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos as I soon had my hands full carrying all the things that Della was buying. The store had two levels and had lots of little projected animations on the walls that moved, so I was busy looking at what was happening around me while Della shopped (and shopped and shopped)!

Leaving the Disney Store, we crossed the road and headed into the Ferrari World shop – it was pretty disappointing as the quality of shirts was poor and the prices expensive – so I didn’t buy anything (sorry Dad). But next door was a Ghirardelli Chocolate shop – and we bought 5 blocks of chocolate!

Next up, Della headed to a Sketcher shop and bought more shoes, and then on to Swarovski for more crystal. We then hit Macy’s and checked out every floor (all 7) of the women’s store and bought more stuff – we didn’t go to the men’s store. Throughout all this, Della had her shopping face on and it was difficult for me to get through to her that it was now 4pm and I was hungry, thirsty and hadn’t been near a bathroom since we left the hotel at 9:00am! She agreed we should probably now stop for lunch, so we headed back to the trams and went up to Pier 39 for fish and chips and an iced chocolate. We then went back to the ferry terminal for the return trip to Sausalito.

But we weren’t finished yet – although it was about 7pm, we headed to the Serramonte Center shopping mall in Daly City. This is one of those big American malls and we were looking for two new suitcases. We found them cheap in JC Penney, so we bought them on the spot. We also went to the Disney Store there and bought more fluffies! We had a good laugh with the cast member who served us as she was a huge fan of Disney too. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the car. It was now 8:30pm and getting dark, so we headed back to the hotel to assess our loot for the day and get ready for tomorrow which is the first day of our road trip heading south to Carmel and visiting Laguna Seca raceway (they have a shop!)

[KeithS]

Here is today's photo - crossing the Golden Gate Bridge on a beautiful day.

[ajp]

Day 3 – Tuesday, 5 June 2012 visiting Laguna Seca raceway (they have a shop!)

-/ -/ -/

[churros]

I am in awe of you Keith and your shopping stamina! Della I expect no less!

[mushu mama]

I am in awe of you Keith and your shopping stamina! Della I expect no less!

seconding that...

Great updates Keith, sounds like you need those extra suitcases already what is it? day 2?

I am still trying to come up with a good photo challenge... ( Greg stole my idea, I was going to suggest a photo with Buzzard )

[Gerard]

The dollar has risen overnight, so go nuts

[KeithS]

The dollar has risen overnight, so go nuts

Woohoo!

Day 4 – Wednesday, 6 June 2012
Today was our first road trip day and the plan was to drive down Highway 1 as far as Carmel. We had breakfast first in the hotel then tried about seventeen different ways to pack our suitcases into our car. Lucky we had a big boot as we finally worked out a good way of packing them. We took a bunch of photos around the hotel then hit the road and headed south. It was only a short leg today, so our first stop was at Santa Cruz. The highway had coastal and inland stretches and the weather was cloudless again and a bit warmer, about 21 degrees. At Santa Cruz, we drove along the beachside which features an old traditional beachside amusement park but compared to Disneyland, it looked old, dirty and sleezy.

We had lunch at a tasty sandwich shop in the middle of downtown which was really nice and a quick look around the main street. It was a strange sort of place – a bit too arty for our liking, and it would appear that marijuana is a staple diet of the residents

We hit the road again towards Monterey and the Laguna Seca raceway. We stopped at a Safeway first so Della could buy some cold medicine from their pharmacy and then started up into the hills above Monterey until we found the Laguna Seca raceway! And boy, was I super excited to be there! We drove right down into the paddock area behind the pit lane and visited the Official Store where I spent a tonne of money and took lots of photos. It was also a track day and although they were just finishing as we got there, we were able to take some great photos of cars. I walked out into pitlane and took a long look around the place. Even Della got caught up in the atmosphere of it all, and when they were loading some classic 60’s Mustang racers into a transporter, she even said she loved how they sounded! That’s my girl!

After Laguna Seca, we headed off for the short trip to Carmel and our hotel. After checking in, we went for a walk around the town which is quite beautiful – the shops ranged from arts and crafty type shops that you see in Australia, right up to Tiffany and Co and Louis Vuitton. We grabbed our dinner from a bakery downtown and headed back to the room for the night.

[KeithS]

Photo of the day - Ferrari at Laguna Seca raceway paddock

[ajp]

Sounds like an awesome day! Nice car too.