Thanks Barry and Narelle - glad you are tuning in!
It was efficient for us Greg - but we were lucky. I'll let you know Wendy and Ashley's experience when they arrive tomorrow morning!
Here is the next part - I'm running a day behind - too busy with everything. Forgive me of any spelling/grammar errors, I haven't proof read it and I'm writing it at 12:40am
Day 2 – 30 September 2018. Anaheim
Today is our first real day of the trip. We headed out for breakfast and ran into Wayne in the laundry. He came to our room and we sorted out the club shirts for distribution later on. After breakfast (our hotel has a full breakfast at Captain Kidds restaurant next door) we headed over to Disney California Adventure.
First thing we did was get a locker – as they are all day accessible in Anaheim, they are worth it if you are shopping etc. We put all the shirts in one then headed left out of Buena Vista Street into the Hollywood backlot. No one was in line for Monsters Inc, so we jumped on that – I guess an unusual choice of first attraction for this trip.
Once we got off, we headed down to the Guardian’s ride, but it was a 60 standby and the Fastpass return time was during our lunch, so we didn’t ride it. That part of the park is now a dead end again like pre-Cars Land due to Bugs Land being demolished for the new Avengers Land, so we headed back the way we came and sat in the Animation Building for a while. We ran into Jan and Les outside that before we headed in, then we ran into Wayne and Jennifer when we left. We had a quick look around Off the Page too as we love that shop.
We then headed into Cars Land which was all dressed for Halloween – in fact, the whole park is well themed to the season – I guess this is a preview of next year when DCA will be the prime Halloween park (to even out the crowds from Star Wars in Disneyland). Anyway, we looked through the shops and bought a few things before heading back to the locker to get our club shirts.
We exited the park via the Grand Californian Hotel exit and went to the Storytellers Café. Most of the club members were already there, plus a few guests – Dennis Taneda (who designed the DCA Animation building and Fortress Explorations in Tokyo Disneysea); and Eric and Barbara who are old friends of ours from our 2008 trip to Tokyo and 2009 trip to D23 Expo – it was great to catch up again with them after so many years.
We handed out the shirts while we waited - it took a while before our tables became available and Della and I eventually got a booth with Karen. We had a fun lunch which was also a character lunch – the food was strange as it was an all-day breakfast menu but it was great chatting to everyone and interacting with the characters who were all great. We had Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Chip and Dale come around multiple times – it was fun. We also had Dennis come and sit with us at our table for 30 minutes and talk to us about designing Tokyo and DCA – it was a great opportunity to learn all about Imagineering a new space.
While we were at lunch, we were hearing from our US friends that they had arrived at LAX and were heading to the resort – and as lunch ended, they were checking in to the Grand Californian Hotel. So Della, Karen and I headed to the hotel shop and waiting for Brian and Patti to come down. It was awesome to see them again as it had been 18 months since we toured in China and Japan with them.
The five of us headed out into the park, and as Brian and Patti hadn’t eaten – we went to Smoke Jumpers (formerly Taste Pilots) so they could eat. We then headed to Guardians but again the standby was long and the FP return was the same time as the fireworks tonight, so we didn’t do it again!
Following this morning’s path, we headed to Cars Land and went on Mater’s Jamboree which had been re-themed for Halloween. Karen took photos of us as we rode on the attraction – that ride still makes me laugh, but it does knock you around so I know why Karen stays clear! Next we headed to Luigis – last time we were here it was the Flying Tyres – now it is a trackless ride which is cute and a lot of fun. We all went on this and had a good laugh as the cars dance to Luigi’s music.
After Luigi’s, we headed to some Cars Land shops and then Karen departed to watch the Pixar Play Parade over at Disneyland. The four of us stayed on at DCA and went for a walk through Pixar Pier and all the shops before ending up at The Little Mermaid attraction which was a walk on. We then headed back to Off the Page with Brian and Patti, followed by the Buena Vista St shops. Della and I wanted to watch the Disneyland fireworks and tonight was the only time they’d be on. Brian and Patti’s cast member ticket wouldn’t allow them to park hop tonight due to blackout restrictions, so they stayed in DCA while we emptied our locker and headed over to Disneyland.
Once in the park, we headed to Coke Corner and just had a hot dog and drink for dinner – we were still stuffed from lunch. Della then wanted to do more shopping and got sucked into the vortex of the Pandora store on Main St. She got served by a really nice cast member and she bought some charms. We got out of there with just 5 minutes to go before the fireworks. We found a great spot on Main St to watch them and it is still a brilliant show. At present they are showing “Remember, Dreams Come True” which debuted during the 50
th celebrations which we saw on our first visit in 2005 and is still one of my favourites.
After the fireworks, the park emptied out and we headed to the shops on the other side of Main Street – we were having fun sending images of merchandise back to Jess in Australia. We also decided to head into Tomorrowland – the first time in two days we’d gotten past the Disneyland Hub! We just went to Space Traders for a quick look, but decided to call it a night and go back to the hotel. It was the end to a great fun day.