My long, long trip to Disneyland 2/13-2/21

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

Preface:
Ok, so we arrived at John Wayne airport at around 8pm, got to the hotel about 8:45 and took a taxi to food for less to load up for lunches and snacks for the four of us (me, my wife and 18yo daughter, 9 yo son).

Watched the fireworks from hotel window - Park Place Inn Best Western.
Got a good nights sleep, then up at dawn for hotel continental breakfast.

Day 1:
We were third in line at the gates when they opened at 8am on Saturday.




Beautiful weather! Sunny, not a cloud in the sky!!! 65° in the morning!



Friendly engineers!





I like this spot.

















Then it was off to IJA.





After exiting the inside portion of IJ, walking along the beginning part of the JC, I heard the skipper say.. " -and if you look over here you will see wildlife to your right" so I made roaring and growling sounds a lashed my claws out at them, it made some of the people laugh.

..next it was off to do the JC, since it was closed for refurb our last visit to DLR.














Then it's off to HM and then POTC.





(no flash pictures)



..and our very favorite Splash Mountain!!







...more to come...

[WeWantsTheRedhead]

yayyy!! more more more!

[CareBear2002]

Yea! This is making me very excited for our trip next Thursday!!!

[cositaluvsmickey]

Awesome...can't wait for the next set..keep them comin

[royaldisneyfan]

Great shots so far. Love the Jungle Cruise pics!

[Sydney Ursula Tate]

Beautiful photos!! I really like the 3rd one "I like this spot"......very cute section of the park! Makes me really excited to go next month!!!!!!

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

..off to BTMRR




... the wildest ride in the wilderness!












Next it's off to Fantasyland to visit "the classics" as we call them.

The Mad Hatter was walking by
















We did them all, was getting a bit busier around lunch-time, the temp was about mid 70's I'd say. We brought sandwiches and ate in line.

My favorite ride and movie -



The we did the walk through castle tour, our first time ever. Nice and cool in there, must be a big relief in the mid-summer trips.

I love this spot too.



The kids and the castle, my son is trying to be somber.







Oh Mickey your so fine you blow my mind --- HEY MICKEY!!



...off to Tomorrowland and SPACE MOUNTAIN!!!!

Then Autopia!

I haven't appreciated this ride as much until this trip. The first times my son drove and I was passenger, the next days he drove solo. He really liked that a lot. I now have a new understanding of appreciation for Autopia. Very cool!!









Hey... is that Steve McQueen?!! lol





Mom says the GPS said to turn left back there. lol

Ok, time to go off road and head to California for some surfin' the screamin' and "drop in" to the Hollywood Tower Hotel. Yeah baby!!!!

[GummiBears_Rock]

hooray for long trips!!! i can't wait for more of the trip report!

[Treasure]

Nice photos.....thanks for posting.

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

...ah California!

It's looks so good with the Mickey wheel (instead of the sunwheel). Everyone agrees!



My son





Pluto stopped by for a photo with the kids!




After goin' surfin' on the California Screamin' (YEAH!!!) we were heading out and Woody told us about this new ride called Toy Story Midway Mania, he even told us Mr. Potato head is down there entertaining the queue crowd.





The top of the new silly symphony swings .. I love it!!!








Hey, Mr. P... you were close ... but my wait was a bit longer than you guessed




Then we did Soarin' and made a pit-stop to see some lightning (cachinga!)




Then... his best friend Mater... like Ta Mater, only without the "Ta".



the Tower Hotel is AWESOME!!!



Time to start thinking about dinner.

We decided we would do a very nice restaurant every other night. Starting tonight.

We didn't want to plan too much in advance, it's more fun to be impromtu, but we needed reservations for some places, like the Blue Bayou for example.

We walked up Downtown Disney, but the good places were packed, thought about Rainforest, but 90 minutes stand by (we made reservations later for Monday). "Hey, that place looks nice". The Jazz kitchen, it was 80-plus degrees out so we asked for a table on the upper verandah. It was so fine! I had steak and a Corona! Quite possibly the best meal we had all vacation.

More to come... the evening of day one...

[RedHandedJill]

One of the most intriguing trip reports I've seen so far.

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

After dinner we decided to settle for a moment... and a Great Moments With Mister Lincoln sounded just perfect!



I do believe those hitch-hiking ghosts from HM followed us over to IASW later on, but I never saw them cut in front of us to get on the boat before us.























Star Tours is clsing for good on Oct. 23rd., 2010.





Aaaaahhh, the castle at night!!!




FIREWORKS!!!










nighty-nighty time... been a long very warm day for us Seattlites.

But we'll be back tomorrow for day 2. (I took over 1200 pics. I will not post them all... but many, many more to come!!

[Sorcerer's Apprentice]

Great shots so far. Love the Jungle Cruise pics!

Thanks, I loved the JC!!

Beautiful photos!! I really like the 3rd one "I like this spot"......very cute section of the park! Makes me really excited to go next month!!!!!!

I know... it's so peaceful!

Awesome...can't wait for the next set..keep them comin

I will, soon.

yayyy!! more more more!

My pleasure

Yea! This is making me very excited for our trip next Thursday!!!

Cool, you will have a fantastic time!

hooray for long trips!!! i can't wait for more of the trip report!

The longer the better!

Nice photos.....thanks for posting.

Most welcome

One of the most intriguing trip reports I've seen so far.

I'm honored you would say that... thanks... a lot!!

[NikkiDolce]

Great TR!! Can't wait for more pics!

[MickeyMousePal]

Thanks for sharing those photos.