Our 3rd Annual Holiday Trip to DL in November - November 22nd - 25th, 2013 Post #3416

[tksbaskets]

Hi Bret,
We did an early dinner (first dinner seating I believe) at BTMBBQ. We really enjoyed the experience and the food. I think either lunch or dinner would be great. I hope you get in on short notice.

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

Thanks Bret. I like Cafe Orleans for meals. But I hope you get into BB.

Not long to go to the trip this month!


That's a great saving on the DLR tix. I got my WDW and UO tickets earlier in the year when there was the first chatter about price rises. I figured that Disney and Orlando would raise prices sometime during the year and as I had the money allocated, I bit the bullet in April; and May. It was rather short notice but then it always is.

It is likely that we won't get the reservation time for BB during our trip. With only less than 30 days away till the trip the time that we would want to eat at BB is not likely especially during the summertime where it is busy. I talked to my cousin about the restaurants that she is interesting in eating and the BB is one of them.

It won't be too long until the trip.

Luckily I checked the threads a lot and it was a good thing or we would have to pay extra for the tickets and my AP renewal. Paying for the tickets early for your trip later this year was a good idea so you won't have to pay extra. This time the Disney Company didn't give out a long time frame about the price increase. Mostly they would give a week or a few days so the people could buy the tickets before the price increase. At least the tickets and AP didn't go up dramatically like last year.

Hey Bret

Great news about more trips for us to follow along and see your fantastic photos.

Only 5 days until I am finally back at Disneyland after 6 long years. Very excited.

We will be going to the Studios on the ABD tour - so I was going to try to skip your photos - but couldnt stop myself looking. Now I cant wait to see it all myself.

On a personal note I am sorry to hear about your grandmother and hope the funeral goes well and wish you and your family all the best at this sad time.

Take care and keep reporting.

Thank you Toni. This upcoming trip was a short notice since my aunt wants to relax after what has happened last month.

I am very excited for you since you are only a few days away till your trip. Hope you have a great time at the DLR.

That is neat that you will be going to the WDS.

Thank you. It was tough for my family but we knew that this day was coming and she is not suffering anymore where she has been these last few years.

Hi Bret,
We did an early dinner (first dinner seating I believe) at BTMBBQ. We really enjoyed the experience and the food. I think either lunch or dinner would be great. I hope you get in on short notice.

TK

Thank you TK. I talked to my aunt and she wants to do BTR BBQ. Now is what time they want to have it. I looked at the menu and want to have the sausage in the meal. So we might do the dinner. She told me that she wants to have it on Friday when we get there. Thank you for your input.


I talked to my aunt today about what time we will be getting to Anaheim on Friday the 28th for the trip. Mostly I would leave at 7am in Sacramento or Livingston to get that head start and get to Anaheim around noon to 3. When my aunt told me that Chris and DM want to get to the DLR when it opens at 8am, I thought they were crazy. I did that one time back during the February 2011 trip with my DB when we left Livingston around 2am and got to Anaheim when the park opens at 8am. I was so wiped out later during that day when I drove part of the way while my DB drove the other part. Chris wants to do as much as possible during this trip including wanting to get to the parks on Friday. We will be talking about this before the trip these next few days.

Chris has already given me a list of what rides, shows and what places to eat that she wants to do. Here is the list that she wants to do. At DL: AiW, Autopia, BLAB, Monorail, HM, FNSV, IaSW, Matterhorn, JC, Winnie the Pooh ride, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, PP, Pinocchio's Daring Adventure, PotC, Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin, SB Castle Walkthrough, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Space, Splash, ST SLCB, Enchanted Tiki Room, Carnation Cafe, French Market, BB, BTR BBQ, Mint Julep Bar, Tiki Juice Bar and Fantasmic. AT DCA: The Boudin Bakery Tour, CS, Disney's Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular, Little Mermaid ride, Monsters, Inc., RSR, Soarin, TSMM, ToT, GRR, AG, Cove Bar, Cozy Cone, & WoC. You can tell that she has a big list of what to do during this upcoming trip. It is possible to do all the rides and shows during the trip. But since it is during the summertime where it is going to be busy and with not much time to make dining reservations, this is going to be difficult.

I will get more updates later on. I still need to go back to my trip report which I am really far behind.

 

[PrincessInOz]

WOW! Some list. Hope you get to tick everything off.

 

[tksbaskets]

Hi Bret,
I agree with PiO that the list is daunting. Luckily the CS eateries at DL and DCA are quite nice as it looks like you'll be fitting food in amongst your activities.

TK

 

[mvf-m11c]

WOW! Some list. Hope you get to tick everything off.

It is possible to do all the stuff on the list but the only problem is that it is a lot of activities and with a short time and summer crowds, its going to be very difficult to do all the stuff on her list. If we manage the time wisely with everything we should get everything done on the list. I am planning on using ridemax to plan everything. I haven't use that program in a long time and it will come in handy during this trip.

Hi Bret,
I agree with PiO that the list is daunting. Luckily the CS eateries at DL and DCA are quite nice as it looks like you'll be fitting food in amongst your activities.

TK

Hi TK,

It is daunting to do all those rides in 3 days but it is possible. My aunt and Chris definitely want to do Carnation Cafe and BTR BBQ during the trip but it only depends if there are any times available. We'll find out later this week if we can get in or not at those two restaurants.


The next post will be up shortly.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – May 4, 2013 – Part 14​

On our last update, we just have finished our time at the Disney Legends Plaza looking at all the different plaques and statues. It was so hard to try to get all the plaques during the short time that we had at the Disney Legends Plaza. I was able to get as many as I can during the limited time as well as the three statues. I wanted to get in the pictures with the statues but that will be another time if we have the opportunity to go back to the WDS.

We just left the Disney Legends Plaza and now about to enter the Team Disney Building or the Michael D. Eisner building which is the main building at the WDS. It was very neat to see the actual building this close.

We are now entering the entrance to the building. We were still outside of the building and while Kelly was talking more about the building, there were two tile pictures of Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney. My DA was so impressed with the tile pictures of Walt and Roy that she really likes the Walt tile.

Walt picture

Roy picture

We didn’t go inside the Team Disney building. We left the Team Disney building and went back down on Mickey Ave. It was almost 2 ½ hours since we have done the tour and we all can tell that the tour is almost over. Kelly was talking more about the other buildings while walking down including the Roy O. Disney building. A very interesting story she told us about the Roy O. Disney building is when there was an earthquake a few years ago, the building needed to be retrofitted for earthquakes.

A look at the street sign where we got to see earlier during the tour

We were now at the same place where we have started during the tour right close to the Studios Store and Kelly gave everyone a farewell speech. She was a very energetic guide during the WDS tour. It was nice to have her as our guide during the tour and she has told us a lot of great history of the WDS.

After the tour was over, most of the people went on over towards the Disney Studio Store or the Hyperion Bungalow to purchase D23 merchandise. My DA and I head on to both places to purchase merchandise and I did buy a lot of merchandise that day when the tour was over.

At the Hyperion Bungalow, there were more people coming for the tour later that day.

After we did a little shopping at the Disney Store and the Hyperion Bungalow, we started to head on back towards the car at the Zorro parking lot. Right by the Hyperion Bungalow, this was the parking lot where we were supposed to park our car for the tour. We parked at the Zorro parking lot where most of the people went for the screening. But it was not bad to walk a little bit down the WDS.

While heading on back towards the Zorro parking structure, there were more people coming from the parking structure. I would guess that there must have been another screening that day. It was quite busy at the WDS with a lot of different events happening.

We got back to the car and I drove us back to Anaheim. My DA was so excited that we got to do the D23 Day at the Walt Disney Studios and Archives tour. We couldn’t believe that we haven’t done this tour ever since it started in 2009. We could have easily stayed there longer at the WDS but we had to get back to Anaheim since I plan on going back to the parks later that day.

Before we head on back to Anaheim, we stopped at Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. My DA likes to stop at Little Tokyo when we are in SoCal so she can buy some food and treats for my grandmother. Since we have plenty of time and didn’t have to go back to Anaheim since we have done DL a lot. It was a perfect time to do some shopping.

We spent about 2 hours in Little Tokyo during shopping and we also had lunch that day. We ate at a restaurant called Suehiro Café. I told my DA that I had no problem eating at any restaurant while we were in Little Tokyo. There were a lot of different places to eat that day but this one was a nice place to have lunch.

For lunch, I had the pork and Udon noodles. For less than $10 which is a decent price for a bowl or udon noodles. I didn’t get a picture of my DA plate but she got a Okonomi plate.

We had a fun time eating at this restaurant while being in Little Tokyo. It was around 4pm and we decided it was time to head on back to the car and go back to Anaheim. The two of us did quite spend some time in Little Tokyo buying stuff and having lunch. My DA said that we should do this more often while we are in SoCal during our DL trips. I agree with her and we might do it again when we go in August during the D23 Expo trip.

It was around 5pm when we got back to Anaheim and at the Best Western Anaheim Inn. I decided to go to the parks that day and do my usual stuff (walking around the park taking pictures until the nighttime show). I won’t tell you yet what nighttime show I have done that night. My DA decided to stay in the room to rest up since she doesn’t have a ticket for that day. Even if she had, there was no point of wasting a ticket for only a few hours in the park that day.

I grabbed my camera bag, along with my DLSR and video camera. But I didn’t bring my tripod since I wasn’t planning on videotaping the nighttime show that night and just use my DSLR camera. The tripod does weigh a little and after my January trip where my aunt carried the tripod on the ECV, I got kind of spoil of not holding my equipment. I didn’t want to have that kind of habit when I got to the parks when I am there by myself.

I head on over to the DLR by myself that night and I plan on staying there until I am ready to leave that day. When I got to the esplanade, I decided to head on over to DCA since I didn’t go in that park on Friday. The turnstiles were not that bad that day after 5pm.

When I got in the park, it was a little crowded in Buena Vista Street. I also knew that the Pixar parade started at 5:30pm and some people started to get spots for the parade.

I head on over towards Hollywood Land to get some random pictures and see what the crowd level was like that day. It was not that busy but after the other day on Friday where DL was quite busy, I knew that this wasn’t a typical off season weekend where the crowds are above average on the weekends.

Passing by Mad T Party which is still running ever since last year. I don’t care too much about the Mad T Party since I am not a partying type person. Even though it is so popular ever it started last year, Disney should at least do something new in the future. I remember when ElecTRONica lasted a few years until it was replaced with the Mad T Party.

I head on down towards the ToT to see how busy the area is. While right in that area, the new Monsters University stand had all the new merchandise for the upcoming movie Monsters University. I am really looking forward to seeing that movie later this month.

The ToT wait time was already at 50 minutes which I don’t see too normally at DCA. I know that Disney Hollywood Studios wait time is in the hour plus range while the DCA version is getting quite a number of people.

I am about to head on over to A Bug's Land when I passed by the ToT. But that will be on the next post and see what has happened later that day at DCA.

 

[tksbaskets]

Nice end of the tour and looks like a nice afternoon/evening at DCA. What D23 merchandise did you end up purchasing?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Bret - Looks like it was a great trip...so far and I expect it will continue to be for the rest of the trip.
I have to say that your photography is great! You're doing wonders with that new lens.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Nice end of the tour and looks like a nice afternoon/evening at DCA. What D23 merchandise did you end up purchasing?

The WDS tour was so great even though we only had a couple of hours to do the tour. But every penny that we paid for that tour was well wroth it. It was also a very nice day at DCA. My DA decided to relax after getting back from Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. The D23 merchandise that I have bought is a D23 WDS tour shirt, a D23 WDS tour pin, WDS pens, and a pad. I went back to the Studios Store to buy a WDS polo but they didn't have the size I want so I was sad that i didn't get it. I bought a WDS license cover and keychain. My DA got the D23 WDS tour pin which she was happy to get. I also forgot to mention during the update that Kelly partner and fiance handed out everyone a D23 WD Productions lanyard. So everyone got something very nice during the tour.

Here are some of the items that I got at the WDS tour.

Bret - Looks like it was a great trip...so far and I expect it will continue to be for the rest of the trip.
I have to say that your photography is great! You're doing wonders with that new lens.

This trip was very nice especially the WDS tour. There will be more updates later on.

Thank you PiO. The new lens is working really well. But I am really looking forward to upgrading my Nikon D5100 one day maybe before the June trip or the D23 Expo in August. I am still having hard times if I want to upgrade or not. I do like the D5100 but I want to add more megapixels to my pictures. What do you think? Should I still stay with the D5100 or upgrade to one of those two cameras I just mentioned. I want to upgrade over the D5100 since the Maximum Autofocus Areas/Points on the D5100 is 11 while the D5200 has 39. I will make a decision these next few weeks before the trip if I want to upgrade to the D5200. Thanks for your help.

 

[tksbaskets]

Sweet merchandise!! Thanks for sharing the photo

 

[PrincessInOz]

Thank you PiO. The new lens is working really well. But I am really looking forward to upgrading my Nikon D5100 one day maybe before the June trip or the D23 Expo in August. I am still having hard times if I want to upgrade or not. I do like the D5100 but I want to add more megapixels to my pictures. What do you think? Should I still stay with the D5100 or upgrade to one of those two cameras I just mentioned. I want to upgrade over the D5100 since the Maximum Autofocus Areas/Points on the D5100 is 11 while the D5200 has 39. I will make a decision these next few weeks before the trip if I want to upgrade to the D5200. Thanks for your help.

Bret - I don't shoot with Nikon so I may not be the best person to ask.
But I gather that this is one of those decisions most Nikon owners grapple with.

You also want my thoughts?? Okay.

You mentioned that you want to add more megapixels to your pictures. Mpx mostly means that the you can blow up the picture to a bigger print size without losing the image resolution. Are you planning on printing to canvas? If so, then it makes sense to go with more mpx. If not, then it really doesn't make that much of a difference; other than more megapixels mean bigger files and that means more memory/storage.

On the other hand, I do understand the need to upgrade because of the AF points. The better system will allow you to have more accurate focus if you decide to use it for capturing sports or things that move. I believe that it's also better (more accurate focus) for pictures taken with shallow depth of field. On this feature it would seem that both the 7000 and the 5200 have the same system. However, I do remember reading some posts that Nikon might have an issue with this particular system?? Perhaps you could research if this is still the case or not.
When I went from the Canon 550d to the Canon 7D, this was one of the features that I was looking forward to having. I certainly think that it has helped with me keeping my pictures in focus and I've enjoyed being able to use the different focus points to focus on the part of the image I want; without having to lock focus and refocus. The other was the extra frames per second continuous shooting capability for capturing sports and fast moving objects.

I also remember reading that the d7000 has issues with oil spots appearing on the sensor. Might be worth checking this out as well.

Having said that, the d7000 is generally considered to be the better camera. I understand that the materials used in the body construction are of better quality and the weatherseal capabilities are significantly better. And it also has a higher frames per second capability for continuous shooting.

This will come down to what type of photography you want to do with the camera (e.g., sports etc) and which camera gives you the features you want for that type.....and cost.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Sweet merchandise!! Thanks for sharing the photo

Your welcome. The merchandise at the Disney Store and the D23 were all nice.

Bret - I don't shoot with Nikon so I may not be the best person to ask.
But I gather that this is one of those decisions most Nikon owners grapple with.

You also want my thoughts?? Okay.

You mentioned that you want to add more megapixels to your pictures. Mpx mostly means that the you can blow up the picture to a bigger print size without losing the image resolution. Are you planning on printing to canvas? If so, then it makes sense to go with more mpx. If not, then it really doesn't make that much of a difference; other than more megapixels mean bigger files and that means more memory/storage.

On the other hand, I do understand the need to upgrade because of the AF points. The better system will allow you to have more accurate focus if you decide to use it for capturing sports or things that move. I believe that it's also better (more accurate focus) for pictures taken with shallow depth of field. On this feature it would seem that both the 7000 and the 5200 have the same system. However, I do remember reading some posts that Nikon might have an issue with this particular system?? Perhaps you could research if this is still the case or not.
When I went from the Canon 550d to the Canon 7D, this was one of the features that I was looking forward to having. I certainly think that it has helped with me keeping my pictures in focus and I've enjoyed being able to use the different focus points to focus on the part of the image I want; without having to lock focus and refocus. The other was the extra frames per second continuous shooting capability for capturing sports and fast moving objects.

I also remember reading that the d7000 has issues with oil spots appearing on the sensor. Might be worth checking this out as well.

Having said that, the d7000 is generally considered to be the better camera. I understand that the materials used in the body construction are of better quality and the weatherseal capabilities are significantly better. And it also has a higher frames per second capability for continuous shooting.

This will come down to what type of photography you want to do with the camera (e.g., sports etc) and which camera gives you the features you want for that type.....and cost.

The megapixels are nice but the main thing for me to upgrade is the AF points. When I looked at my pictures that are on the move like the parade, rides, etc. that they are blurry unless you get them perfectly. The dark rides (PotC, HM, etc.) are the one's that I have trouble getting clear pictures due to riding. I have been thinking of the D5200 to upgrade over the D5100 because of the AF points where it would be faster. The D5100 is at 11 while the D5200 is at 39. You can tell that this is a big difference on the AF and I want to get great pictures during moving parts of the rides.

As of right now, I am leaning towards the D5200 over the D7100 as my next camera purchase. The batteries of the D5200 are the same as the D5100 which I have while the D7100 needs different batteries. The other is the price difference where it is about a $500 difference between the D5200 and D7100.

I haven't decided yet when to buy it. I would like to get it before this upcoming trip but I am having second thoughts of upgrading the D5100 to the D5200. We'll just wait and see what I will do. It is likely that I will upgrade my D5100 to the D5200.

Thank you PiO for your input.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Day 2 – May 4, 2013 – Part 15​

On our last update, my DA and I have finished the D23 Day at the Walt Disney Studios and Archives tour at the WDS in Burbank. It was so amazing to do the WDS tour and it was worth every penny that we had paid. We also went to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles for shopping and have lunch. Then we came back to Anaheim and my DA decided to stay back at the hotel and rest up while I went to the park later that day. I head on over to DCA to do my walking around the park before it was time to head on over to DL for the nighttime show.

I just passed by The ToT at the edge of Hollywood Land and now entering A Bug’s Land. It was kind of semi busy at DCA that day and it showed with the ToT had a 50 minute wait time to get on the ride. I through ABL and I went on over to Cars Land to see what the wait times for Radiator Springs Racers and Luigi’s Flying Tires. ABL wasn’t that busy.

I have now entered CL from ABL. While I was walking down towards the middle of the town of Radiator Springs Racers, I always have to get the Lightning McQueen and Sir Tow Mater sign when you enter the town.

Over at CL, it was not that busy and rides like LFT only had a 30 minute wait time which is right for that ride.

I head on over towards RSR to see what the wait time was like during that day

When I got to the entrance to RSR and the wait time at the stand-by queue was a 75 minute wait time which is over an hour as expected. The single rider sign was not working again. It has been a while since I haven’t seen the single rider sign showed how long it would take while in the single rider queue.

Just when I was about to leave the area around RSR, I saw that the backside of Ramone’s House of Body Art shop which was supposed to be the FP distribution area and is now more area for shopping. It is nice that the store extended towards the backside. There were some new merchandise at the store which was nice like the Cozy Cone hat and Red’s fire hat which is nice.

After looking at Ramone’s, I head on down at Radiator Springs and see this beautiful land where I have walked a lot of times back and forward. I have taken a few pictures of RS with the new lens and most of them turned out really well. Speaking of my camera, I just bought a new tripod for my camera and my video camera. The one that I have used a lot these past trips just broke and it was time to get a new one. I got a Sunpak 2-in-1 tripod and monopod. I bought it for its height which can go up to 70”.

On my last few updates, I am most likely going to upgrade my Nikon D5100 to the Nikon D5200 before the June trip unless something changes my mind these next few weeks. I have been going crazy these last few weeks about upgrading the D5100 to the D5200 where the D5200 has better AF points where the D5100 has little. I will get to that when I buy it or not.

Luigi’s Flying Tires.

Curios shop

Cozy Cone Motel sign

A look down at RS

After leaving RS, I head on over towards Pacific Wharf to have dinner at Lucky Fortune Cookery. But when I got to the queue, I didn’t feel like Asian food that night since I had some when my DA and I were at Little Tokyo in Los Angeles after we finished the WDS tour. So I head on towards the backside of RS and see RSR.

Every time I look at RSR from the backside it is so amazing to look at it.

After looking at the backside of RSR, it was time to head on out of the park and head on over to DL. Just when I was about to leave, I thought about staying a little bit longer to go around the park and see what the crowd levels were like. The day when I was at DCA, it was quite busy. But I wasn’t planning on going on any rides at DCA since I plan on going to DL and see something that just have opened.

I went down the Pacific Wharf bridge over to Paradise Pier where there were some people waiting for the Pixar parade.

After passing through Paradise Pier, I was now in Grizzly Peak passing by GRR. GRR was quite busy that day where the wait time was close to 40 minutes even though it wasn’t that hot.

I passed by Condor Flats and passed by Soarin which is busy during this time of the day where it is in the 40 minute wait time.

The last land that I passed until I left the park that day was Buena Vista Street.

The Pixar Parade was going on right by the Carthay Circle Theater and it was a good thing that I didn’t go in that direction while I was leaving the park that day.

Before I was about to leave DCA and head on over to DL, I had to get pictures of the window displays. It has been awhile since I have gotten pictures of the window displays at DCA while I get them at DL. I mostly don’t like the Disney souvenirs in the window displays where DL doesn’t show too many merchandise where DCA has some of it in the window displays.

There were a few window displays that were very interesting to look at.

These window displays were right at the front entrance to the Los Feliz Five & Dime store

A look at Mark VII Monorail Orange passing by on the bridge

After looking around DCA for about 30 minutes in the park which wasn’t that long that day. But I was able to go around the park except for PP and see my usual stuff. So I was back at the Esplanade and about to head on over to DL. But that will be on the next update.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great shots, Bret.

Good luck with the 5100 v 5200 decision.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Great shots, Bret.

Good luck with the 5100 v 5200 decision.

Thank you PiO.

It's likely right now that I will upgrade my 5100 to the 5200 before the trip at the end of this month. But when? I am busy with work and I should have some time off later next week so I might use that time to get the 5200. When I get the 5200, I am planning on selling the 5100.


Today my aunt and I have made our final decisions on our upcoming trip later this month. We didn't make any dining reservations until today since my aunt was waiting for her colleague to call her if she and her DD wants to join us during our trip. But when she told her that she couldn't make it, my aunt and I have made our DL dining reservations this morning. We got all the sit down restaurants that we want to eat and we mostly got all the times that we wanted.

For Friday the 28th when we get there, our first sit down restaurant will be Ariel's Grotto for the World of Color dinner. I was surprised to see AG having the WoC dining package after it was left off since last summer. I thought that it was just going to be Carthay Circle Restaurant and Wine Country Trattoria as the only places to get the dining FP's for WoC. My aunt wanted to eat at AG again after we ate at it during the January trip. This time there won't be any princess which she, Chris and DM don't mind since it is the food that they are interested. I never imagine that AG would have the WoC dining package after it was taken off last year.

For Saturday the 29th, we will be eating at Blue Bayou. My aunt and Chris really wanted to eat at this restaurant. My aunt was surprised at the prices at first but we told her that it is the atmosphere which makes this restaurant very nice and to eat at. So my aunt wanted to eat at this restaurant and saw what was on the menu and she wanted to eat at BB. So our reservations will be at 5:40 which will be plenty of time so we can head on over towards the RoA to watch the 1st or 2nd show of F!. We will be planning on what show time we will see that Saturday. This will be the first time eating at BB in over 10 years. I wanted to eat at BB one day but my aunt is not a huge fan of creole food and it is very expensive to eat at the restaurant.

Lastly for Sunday the 30th, we will be eating at Big Thunder Ranch BBQ for lunch at 1pm. My aunt wanted to try this restaurant and it would be perfect to have it as our last place to eat until we leave the park that day. Thank you TK for showing all the pictures of BTR BBQ and your insight of the restaurant from your past trip. My aunt was intrigued of the BBQ food selection and eating outside which she thought would be enjoyable.


So our sit down restaurants have been selected for the trip and I will tell you later on during the updates of where we will be eating at certain quick counter or stands around the DLR and off-site restaurants. For what time we will be leaving during the trip will be at midnight on Thursday night. Chris wants to get to the park when it opens at 8am on Friday and leaving at midnight will be enough time for us to get to the park for opening time. I haven't done too many night trips to SoCal since February 2011 which is nice to get to the park early but it is dangerous at night when you don't get enough sleep. But we have three drivers so we can change during the traveling.

This will be it for tonight since I am about to head to bed. I will update you later on and a possible schedule of what we will be planning on doing during the trip later this month. It is now about 2 weeks away till the trip.

 

[PrincessInOz]

That's a great set of ADRs for DLR. I hope you enjoy the meals.

Hope you find time to get the 5200 soon.

 

[franandaj]

I'm glad you enjoyed your studio tour and made it back to Anaheim.

Congrats on getting your ADRs. Are you coming this month?

You are coming for the Expo right?

 

[mvf-m11c]

That's a great set of ADRs for DLR. I hope you enjoy the meals.

Hope you find time to get the 5200 soon.

The meals are my aunt and Chris choices where I am going along with any of the sit down restaurants that they want to do. I am looking forward to eating at BB since I haven't eaten at that restaurant in a long time.

I'm glad you enjoyed your studio tour and made it back to Anaheim.

Congrats on getting your ADRs. Are you coming this month?

You are coming for the Expo right?

Thank you Alison. Your pictures from your trip to the WDS made me so excited to go and see it in person. We got back to Anaheim with no problem after stopping at Little Tokyo in Los Angeles.

Thank you. I was a little surprised that most of the times that we got for sit down were available. It will be nice to eat at some restaurants that I haven't eaten for quite some time. I will be coming in two weeks on June 28th to 30th. It is a last second trip where my aunt wanted to get away from Sacramento and what better trip is to come down to SoCal.

I will definitely be down there for the Expo in August with my DA. Are you getting excited for the Expo with the Sorcerers package? It will be nice to see you and Fran during the event. Are we planning on doing another DISer meet before the Expo?

 

[mvf-m11c]

We are only 11 days away till our trip to DL. I am getting excited but the one’s that are getting excited are my aunt, Chris and DM. I know that it is going to be a busy trip with all the rides and shows will be busy so we are planning as much as we can so we can do as much as possible. Let’s get back to my May trip since I am not even close to being finished.

Day 2 – May 4, 2013 – Part 16​

On our last update, I was in DCA going around the park to get my usual pictures before it was time to head on over to DL for my nighttime show. While I was walking through DCA, it was still the same even though it was kind of busy during early May which was a little surprising. It was a very nice day to walk around the park and now I am walking on over to DL to do my next attraction.

I just walked on over through the Esplanade and was now in DL. It was around 5:40pm when I entered DL that day. It was a little busy entering the park through the turnstiles but it wasn’t that bad. As when I entered DL, I have to take a picture of Main Street Station and the Disneyland Railroad.

I was walking through MS on over to my next destination. I came to the park when the 4pm Mickey’s Soundsational Parade was over since I won’t have to go through MS during the parade. When I was walking down MS, the former Market House, Disneyana for the new Starbucks location was roped off. I would guess that it was roped off due to painting but I didn’t see any paint signs around the area.

I head on over to Tomorrowland to go in Innoventions to see the Iron Man Tech. After the tour at the WDS this was my next thing that I was very interested in coming back to the DLR. I have heard great reviews of the Iron Man display at Innoventions. The banners outside of Innoventions was neat to look at and I knew that it was going to be neat to see the props of the suits.

It is so neat to look at Tomorrowland from the 2nd level of Innoventions. The park was kind of busy that day where rides like Space Mountain which was reopened after being closed for awhile and all of a sudden it was reopened on Friday.

I entered Innoventions and the first thing I wanted to see was the Iron Man Tech. When I got to the display where they show all the different suits. There were a lot of people looking at the suits and taking pictures. It was so neat to see all the different suits from the first one to the current one.

Looking at the Mark 42 suit

I head on over towards the suits right at the wall which goes from the Mark I all the way to the Mark VII used in all the different movies from Iron Man 1 to 3.

The very first suit from the movie Iron Man Mark I

Mark II

Mark III

Mark IV

Mark V

Mark VI

Mark VII

After looking at the suits, I looked at all the different props that were used in the movies which was right close to the area where you can be see yourself wearing the Iron Man suit in a video screen.

A look back at all the different suits before I head on out of Innoventions

After I walked on out of Innoventions, it was nice day where I had to go on one of my favorite rides at Disneyland. For the people that have followed my trip reports in the past, you know what ride I am talking about since I am in TL. If you guess the Monorail, you are correct. Since I have plenty of time until I head on over to get a spot for the nighttime show, I decided to ride the Monorail round trip from TL. So I head on over to the TL Monorail Station.

When I got to the TL Monorail station right by the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the FNSV wait time was in the 30 minute range which sounded right during the day.

I walked up all the way to the TL Monorail station and I like to get a picture of the FNSV dock with the submarines.

I had to wait until the Monorail entered the station while I was waiting I got some random pictures while I was waiting.

The monorail finally arrived and it was Mark VII Blue Monorail arriving at the station.

I was all the way at the back since I enjoy riding in the last car of the monorail. Since I was by myself, I decided to ride in the back but not in the back cabin of the monorail.

That is it for this post and I will have more from riding the Disneyland Monorail.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Love the suits!

11 days? I bet you can't wait.

You're photographs in this set are really great, Bret.