Patty Winter's
Disneyland Trip
November, 2005
Day 4 (Wednesday, Nov. 30)(Click on any image to see a larger version of the photo.) Last day at Disneyland. That has to be one of the most depressing sentences in the English language! :-( Still, I couldn't complain, because the trip had gone great. Besides, I only live an hour's plane flight away, so there's always the possibility of going again. I slept in till well after 8:00, then listened to the radio for a while before rousing myself and going downstairs to Whitewater Snacks for a biscuit-and-egg breakfast. I sat outside as Julie and Larry and I had done on the first day of my visit, listening to the recorded guitar music playing at the not-yet-open California Adventure some 30 feet away. I could see people going into the park from Grand Californian entrance, but they were being held in a limited area until the official opening time of 10:00. There was a rope across the walkway near the Grizzly River Recreation Area building, and a Disney security guard attending it. There must have been a similar blockade around the corner towards Soarin'. The guard in my view actually removed the rope a couple of minutes before the park opened. Everyone obediently stayed in place until he signaled them to go ahead near the end of the official opening announcement. I wanted to get into the park before it got very busy, so I finished my breakfast and left Whitewater Snacks about 10:05. Over my cotton slacks, I put on some rain pants I had brought with me from my room. (I bought them last year before going on Kali River Rapids at Walt Disney World, and they worked great.) I was also wearing a lightweight waterproof jacket and river sandals. So I was all ready for the Grizzly River Run! I entered the park and walked right across the path to GRR. (Location, location, location!) I put my knapsack in a storage locker (they're free for two hours--very handy!) and walked through the ride queueing area to the loading dock. No wait at all. If you've seen Kali River Rapids, this is very similar; the ride vehicles are round rafts that float down the river. (Althought the ones at DCA are smaller; they hold eight people vs. the 12-person rafts at Animal Kingdom.)
Because no line had built up yet, I went on the ride twice in rapid succession. It's a fun ride, although I got a little dizzy from when the raft spun around. (I'm sure there are jets in the water to make sure it does that occasionally.) I was tempted to go again, but it was now just after 10:30 and I had to be checked out of my room by 11:00. So I got my knapsack out of the storage locker, took off my wet jacket and rain pants, put them in a plastic bag I'd brought for that reason, and headed back to my room. I finished packing, called the automated system to tell them I was leaving, brought my bags down to Bell Services for storage, and sat in the Great Hall near the big Christmas tree for a few minutes while finishing the bottle of orange juice I'd bought at breakfast. It was now about quarter after 11:00, and I had three hours until my scheduled hotel lobby tour at 2:00. So it was off to Soarin' again. The standby line was running about 20-30 minutes, so I went in through the Single Rider entrance. Once inside, I was directed to the lefthand theater (Concourse A). I was the only person in the Single Rider line. All seemed to be going well, and I figured I'd be on the next flight. Not that I was guaranteed that, of course. In fact, here's what the "Single Flyer Pass" says: "This pass allows one (1) Flyer to proceed through the Single Rider queue. This pass does not guarantee immediate boarding. Please note that all flyers must meet the 40" height requirement and be at least 7 years of age. We're sorry, but special seating requests may not be accommodated, and parties will be separated. Thanks, and have a great flight!"(That note about parties being separated is directed at groups who use the Single Rider line to avoid standing in a long standby line, then try to get the CMs to seat them all together. Sheesh!) Anyway, as I said, all "seemed" to be going well. Then we found out that the Concourse A theater had gone out of service. I was told to go over to the Single Rider line at Concourse B, where again, I was the only person. I don't know what happened to the people who had already been split into the Councourse A standby line. I hope they got worked into the Concourse B line in such a way that they didn't get delayed too much from their original flight time. Long story short, I finally got to a boarding area about 20 minutes after arriving at Soarin'. Nothing to complain about--especially when it turned out that the one remaining seat they needed filled was in the front row of the center section! Hoo-ray! Another perfect view of the wonders of California. The film in Concourse B did have one minor annoyance: a fuzzy round speck that showed up intermittently. Time to make a new print from the master, Disney folks! Also, maybe it's just me, but I never seem to smell the saltwater. I get the pine trees and the orange groves, but that's it. I don't know whether the smells all come from the same pipes and the saltwater one gets overwhelmed by residual effects of the stronger orange smell, or whether I'm just not sensitive to salt smell. Oh well, no big deal.
When I came back outside and looked at the standby time display, it was now reading 50 minutes. Ouch! And on a weekday during the school year. I hope they got the other theater running again soon. I went into a nearby store to buy a Soarin' pin, then sat on a bench across from the ride entrance for a while, watching kids play in the mist from the rocket engines, and enjoying the monorail passing by every few minutes. I love that all of the music piped into this area relates to aviation or space. For example, I heard the main theme from "Air Force One," as well as the Jupiter section of Gustav Holst's "Planets." After watching two or three monorails pass in front of the Soarin' hangar, I realized that it would be fun to see one go across the Golden Gate Bridge, so I walked over towards the front part of DCA, sat in front of the fountain at Sunshine Plaza, and watched monorails there for a while.
Between trains, I consulted my DCA guide to decide what to do next. That's when I realized that I hadn't seen Turtle Talk with Crush yet. So off I went to the Hollywood Backlot. I enjoyed watching the clips from Disney animated movies while waiting to enter the theater. It really is a clever show. I saw tinted glass rectangles on either side of the big screen that I presume hide cameras, enabling the cast members backstage to see the audience so they can say things like, "Yeah, the dude in the striped shirt on the left." Whatever software they're using to animate Crush is very good. By now it was about 1:00 p.m. and I wanted some lunch, so I decided to check out the restaurants alongside Paradise Bay. As I walked through Sunshine Plaza, I encountered Santa Claus leading some kids in a limbo dance. I took a brief side trip through the Mission Tortilla Factory, then picked up a turkey sandwich at the Pacific Wharf café and a strawberry Tropicool (a virgin strawberry margarita--or, if you prefer, a high-priced Slurpee :-)) at Rita's Baja Blenders. I found a table in a quiet area behind the café, right above a shallow part of the bay, where a duck was taking a nap in the afternoon sun, his head tucked under one wing as he lay on a flat rock just under the waterline. Across the water from me was the Golden Vine Winery; I could also see the Golden Dreams building, the Maliboomer, the Sun Wheel, and part of California Screamin'. All in all, a lovely place to sit and enjoy a meal.
I finished eating just after 1:30 and decided that I probably had enough time to walk around the back part of the park (Paradise Pier) before returning to the Grand Californian for the lobby tour at 2:00. I had to keep moving at a fairly brisk pace to make it, although I did spare a couple of minutes to watch ride vehicles launching on California Screamin'. On arriving at the hotel, I asked at the Guest Services desk where the tour would begin. They said the tour host would be coming right to that desk. So I sat nearby in a comfy chair in the Great Hall and waited. And waited. About 2:15, I went back to Guest Services to ask what was happening with the tour. One of the CMs made a call and told me that someone would be there soon. Three people had signed up for that day's tour, but no one but me had shown up yet. A little while later, a nice lady named Dana showed up, apologizing profusely, and explaining that she'd been upstairs with a colleague working in the concierge lounge who had suddenly started having chest pains. Dana said she was very sorry but would have to cancel the tour for today because she needed to handle the other situation. I said I completely understood, and hoped to take the tour next time I visit Disneyland.
Dana actually stayed with me for about 15 minutes (while monitoring her earpiece for any updates from the concierge lounge), giving me some quick information about the hotel's design. She also rustled up a handout that gave more details. For those who don't know, the Grand Californian reflects the Arts and Crafts movement of the early 20th century. I was eager to learn more about the hotel, because I find this type of architecture and décor very appealing. In fact, several years ago, I bought mission-style furniture for my new living room. I had already been drooling over the mission-style Tiffany lamps in the gift shop at the Grand Californian, so I was obviously in my element here. (The photo here is of one of the lamps in the hotel's lobby.) There are a number of styles related to the Arts and Crafts movement, and Dana mentioned that the hotel's two presidential suites demonstrate that. The Mt. Whitney Suite is done in a classic Greene & Greene Arts and Crafts style, while the El Capitan Suite features Prairie-style décor. The best known architect of the Prairie School is, of course, Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, another Prairie-style suite at the Grand Californian, the Arcadia vice presidential suite, was inspired by Wright's Dana House. Dana also pointed out something I hadn't noticed about the hotel itself: the northern part is green, reflecting the forests of northern California, while the southern part is brown, reminiscent of the drier southern California landscapes. Even the landscaping is different. For example, the redwood trees in the Brisa Courtyard are in the northern part of the hotel. Oh, and speaking of trees, Dana said that the hotel's horticulturists call the two bigs ones near the pool "Chuck" and "Hank" in honor of Charles and Henry Greene. Cute. :-) Dana left about 2:40, after which I sat in the Great Hall for a while reading the hotel information she had given me. At the other end of the hall, past the huge Christmas tree, a pianist was playing Christmas and Disney tunes. Since I still had more than two hours before my airport shuttle was due to arrive, I gravitated back toward Disneyland. I began walking toward Downtown Disney to catch the monorail, but stopped for a few minutes in the Brisa Courtyard to watch trains coming through there. "Brisa" is Spanish for "breeze," and indeed, as the monorails glide through the courtyard, they create a gentle breeze that stirs the branches of the redwood trees.
I continued on to the Downtown Disney monorail station, and as one of the last people to board the next train, I noticed that no one had gone into the front car. I asked the pilot whether anyone was sitting up front, and he said cheerfully, "You are!" My first time in the front of a Disney monorail! What a fun view as we entered Disneyland and looped our way around Tomorrowland before arriving at the monorail station. As I headed toward Star Tours, I came across PUSH again, just finishing an appearance in front of the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. This time there was a fairly large crowd around PUSH, so the CM controlling him was much less evident. (See if you can find him in this photo. If you give up, click here for the answer.) After riding Star Tours (still a very fun ride despite its years), I walked the short distance to the hub and bought myself a Mickey ice cream bar. Turned out it was frozen solid, so I put it under my jacket to warm it up and sat on a bench peoplewatching for a few minutes. Then I pulled it out and ate it as I walked through the castle to Fantasyland. This is where most of the 50th anniversary golden ride vehicles are located, and I wandered around for a bit looking at the golden elephant on Dumbo, the golden horse on the carrousel, and the golden teacup, as well as the duplicate golden car sitting outside of Mr. Toad. Alas, it was time to head back to the hotel. I walked back to the Tomorrowland monorail station and took my last ride (for now, anyway!) through the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Californian, exiting the train at the Downtown Disney station. It was now about 4:15 p.m., so again I relaxed in the Great Hall until it was time to retrieve my luggage from Bell Services and go outside to wait for my shuttle van. It arrived promptly at 5:00, and I was past security at John Wayne Airport by 5:45, well ahead of my 7:25 p.m. flight. So I got some food and read and listened to my iPod until my flight boarded. The Southwest Airlines flight attendant giving the mandatory safety speech got a chuckle from all of us when she said, "In case this flight becomes a cruise, you can use your seat cushion as a flotation device." Luckily, that turned out not to be necessary. The flight to San Jose was uneventful, and by shortly after 9:00, I was back home, trying to explain to my complaining cat why she hadn't seen me for three days. Time to start planning another Disney trip! |
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Last updated 6/18/07