Trains and Planes

May 18, Part 4: Condor Flats

After ToT, we browsed the Hollywood Pictures area, including taking some pictures. There were other attractions we’d like to do on a future trip, but we were just scoping things out this trip. Besides, the heat was dictating how much we wanted to do on this trip. We know from going to WDW once a week for a year that we just don’t do as much on the really hot days.

Speaking of heat, it was getting really hot and we were thirsty so we were looking for some bottled water. The Award Wieners CM didn’t have her cash drawer open yet so we headed back toward Sunshine Plaza, stopping into gift shops for more browsing and finally got a bottle of water at a sidewalk cart.

As a side note: I was so excited to see the replica of the California Zephyr. When my in-laws took the train from Philadelphia to our house in Tampa, I couldn’t believe the weird little train they pulled up in (it pulled in backwards so that it could head back out to Orlando again and then go on to Miami.) The cars were flat and boring and had no observation windows. I had heard so much about the great trains and service in the DC to New York corridor, I didn’t realize the train to Tampa could be so, well, disappointing. And the station? Well, if you’ve read Rich’s humorous novel, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

It wasn’t quite time for our Soarin’ FP so we toured the whole Condor Flats aviation area. Watching Samantha Brown’s “Best of Disney” show again (saving it on TiVo for frequent viewing), I was struck again by how cool this whole “land” is and how nice that Soarin’ at DCA has its own structure and identity in the park, unlike WDW where they retrofitted a piece of “The Land” in Epcot for it. This works so much better—access to the ride and the FP machines.

My dad loves planes (he was in the Naval Air Force) so we enjoyed browsing Fly’n’Buy–the aviation-themed gift shop. By this time it was almost time for our FP return. We decided to show up to see if they’d go ahead and let us in. As we were standing in line, the DCA CM “Dad” appeared and said, “There’s Kathy again.” I think we ran into him a couple more times—just sorry we didn’t catch his name—he was so cool!

Part of the Fly’n'Buy gift shop

The CM allowed us to join the group being seated in the attraction. We ended up on the bottom row and we noticed that fastening the seatbelts was a more difficult operation here than at Epcot—you had to really shove the lap belt end into the fastener in the seat (love my technical lingo) and it was so awkward, I broke an acrylic nail. Rich and I both commented on this difficulty.

Rich puts it this way, “My impression was that instead of buckling into a flexible receptor, you had to buckle it directly into a slot in the metal of the seat.”

Next: We’re Soarin’ Now

“Welcome Home, Kathy”

May 18, Part 3: Rope Drop at DCA

After wiping off the powdered sugar and licking our fingers, we decided to walk over to DCA as we sipped the last of our coffee. Note: the containers of coffee are huge—we easily could have shared one.

We wanted the full effect of entering DCA so, instead of taking the entrance through the Grand Californian as we had last night, we headed for the main gate. We had a better impression of the Golden Gate area this time than the first time we saw it right before DCA opened for the first time before we moved to Florida. Missing California probably had something to do with it.

The two main attractions we were interested in were two of our favorites at WDW: the Tower of Terror and Soarin’ over California Which one to head to first to get a FastPass? We chose Soarin’ and it’s a good thing we did because that section was open before rope drop and we could secure an FP. Hollywood Pictures Backlot would not open until precisely 10 a.m.

Upon securing our FPs we stood in line at the rope drop for Hollywood Pictures. BTW, I was wearing my birthday pin today and when the delightful CM—an older man I call “DCA CM Dad” because he was like a father welcoming back his prodigal daughter—saw my birthday pin he called me upfront. He put his arm around me and asked where I was from. When I told him the story of growing up here, moving to Orlando, and back, he squeezed my arm and said, “Welcome Home, Kathy.” I can’t tell you how much that meant to me.

And then he introduced me to the crowd waiting for rope drop and had everybody sing “Happy Birthday” to me. It was a wonderful way to start the day. Then a group of hotel “bellmen” approached to lead the walk down Hollywood Blvd. to control the crowd so that the enthusiasm heading toward Tower of Terror didn’t get out-of-hand. Many of the guests were annoyed over the speech about “single file line,” “don’t walk on the sidewalk,” etc. “What are we–in grade school?” some of them said.

The line was moving quickly and we barely had time to notice any differences in the theming of this ride compared to the one at WDW. We were quickly approaching the bank of elevators and we were the last two to join the group ahead of us. But when we arrived at the elevators, there wasn’t room for us. We figured we would have to wait for the next group, but, the biggest surprise of all—we got to ride in our very own elevator.

I chose to sit in the back row but Rich convinced me to sit in the middle of the back row and not hang on to the cage on the far side.

Well, to honor this special occasion, we just had to buy the goofy picture with me slumping in the seat, making the biggest face, holding on for dear life because drops terrify me. But I love the theming of this ride and Rich absolutely adores this ride—this is probably his #1 favorite ride.

When the elevator opens at the top and you see the view below, it was wild peering over at the Matterhorn instead of the WDW landscape. Woo hoo! Another great welcome home.

Next: Photo Time

Beignets Anyone?

May 18, Part 2: Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen

By the time we finished settling things with the security company and our pet sitter, we decided it was time to regroup and discuss our plans for the day over a cup of coffee in the sitting room. This room was very comfortable and we enjoyed having the extra space. The coffee maker made 1 cup at a time, but that was no problem.

It was after 8 a.m. by this time and since DCA opened at 10 a.m., that would give us plenty of time to scope out some breakfast at Downtown Disney and wander over to DCA by rope drop. After our stressful morning, a relaxing morning greatly appealed to us.

It was a beautiful morning—not too hot yet—and we enjoyed the stroll over to Downtown Disney from Paradise Pier. The sweet-smelling Honeysuckles and the gorgeous Bougainvillea (love Bougainvillea—we put one on our lanai in our Florida home but the heat/humidity was just too much for it) just added to the pleasure of the walk.

We weren’t sure where we’d eat in Downtown Disney but we had in mind perhaps stopping at La Brea Bakery but when we saw Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen advertising a hot breakfast, we had to check it out. Beignets? Chicory Coffee? Oh my goodness, we had to eat breakfast here. And were we glad we did. We couldn’t seem to tear ourselves away from Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen for our entire stay and this is definitely on our list for our next trip. Love, love, love it! The décor, the food, the service—very authentic toNew Orleans.

Ah, noshing on Beignets and Chicory Coffee on a beautiful morning in southern California al fresco was supreme! Hooked on this, we’re having a tough time getting going in the morning at home without it.

Stay tuned for more glowing reports.

Next: “Welcome Home, Kathy”

Magical Mornings

Sunday, May 18, Part 1: An Alarming Morning

We decided we’d go to Disneyland in time for Magic Mornings only if we happened to wake up at 6 a.m. Arriving at the park by 7 a.m. just to ride the new Sub ride wasn’t very compelling. When we didn’t wake up until 7 a.m., we figured getting there at the regular opening time of 8 a.m. would have to be early enough.

I hopped in the shower (btw, we haven’t described the strange shower yet—it was tucked behind a wall so that only the front end of the shower was accessible) and when I got out, it sounded like Rich was talking to someone. I was curious about that so I got dressed and peeked into the room to find Rich on the phone.

I overheard words such as “alarm” and “security breach” and got a little nervous. This was the first we had left our new house and kitties with a pet sitter since we moved to Las Vegas. One of the things we loved about living so close to WDW is that we didn’t have to leave our cats with a pet sitter and we’d be home with them every night. We have 3 Burmese cats and they are full of personality, are quite affectionate, and interactive. They follow us all over the house and hate to be alone. And we hate to leave them alone or even with a pet sitter, which we have come to the house twice a day to give them plenty of attention and care. They are our kids.

Already tense about being away from home, this was my worst fear. Something must have happened at home and I was ready to suggest we just go home now. What a shame since we just got there. But then Rich explained what had happened.

While I was in the shower he turned on his cell phone and had a voicemail from our home security company. He called the security company and discovered our house alarm motion detector had gone off at about midnight, but there hadn’t been a breach of windows or doors and the alarm had reset itself. When they didn’t hear from us, they notified the police patrolling the area and since they hadn’t heard anything more, they assumed all was well.

Rich tried calling our pet sitter but got no response. So then he paged her and she called back. Apparently, she had set the alarm to “away” instead of “stay” as we had requested so the motion detector must have picked up one of the cats moving around. Whew! It was a big relief but still unnerving. But it was an easy mistake–all of her clients have her set the alarm to “away” and she’s never had a problem. But we thought the cats might be detected by the motion detector so we wanted her to set it to “stay.” We left her pages of instructions but we had forgotten to write this part down, although we had mentioned it verbally. Next time, we’ll write it down just to make sure.

Anyway, she headed to our house to check on things and to feed the kitties and when she called back to report that all was well, we were free to start our day in the parks.

Next: Breakfast in New Orleans

Our First Look at DCA

Saturday, May 17, Part 7: DCA from the Grand Californian

While the two engineers were working in the room, housekeeping stopped by to ask if we wanted turndown service. Rich said no but he accepted the stack of chocolates she handed to him. I was a bit disappointed since I love turndown service so Rich turned down the bed and turned on the low lights over the bed and spread out the chocolates just below the pillows. He’s a very talented guy.

Pic of lamps over bed before turndown

We were good to go. Since we already had a sneak peek into Disneyland that afternoon and we were anxious to see DCA for the first time, we headed for DCA via the Grand Californian. Tomorrow morning was “Magic Morning” and Disneyland would open at 7 am (yikes, that’s early) for those staying on-property. The thought at that time was we would do DCA tonight and Disneyland tomorrow morning.

We crossed the street and jogged to the left to the Grand Californian porte-cochere. Directly across the street from Paradise Pier is where they’re constructing the Grand California DVC Villas—can’t wait to take a tour of that on our next trip.

As soon as we entered the Grand Californian we knew we were on Disney property. Okay, so maybe hotels like Paradise Pier would have been good enough before we spent so much time at the wonderful resorts at WDW, but having done that, the standard has been raised. It was an interesting juxtaposition—knowing we were at Disneyland but feeling, resort-wise, that we were back at Disney World. It looked and felt so much like Wilderness Lodge.

Enjoying the fire even on a hot day in May

We took a tour of the resort, including the gift shop, noted the restaurants, pool area and entry into DCA and decided we must come back at Christmas and stay here. Entering DCA we landed in the Grizzly Peak Recreation Area. Grizzly River Run—the whitewater raft ride was still quite popular as the weather was still quite hot. But we stuck to the shade and were quite comfortable. We popped into Rushin River (play on the “Russian River” in Northern California) Outfitters and took a look around—really loved the atmosphere there.

By this time we were hungry so we headed for the Pacific Wharf Area. While we really enjoyed the architecture—so reminiscent of the San Francisco Bay Area where we lived for over 20 years—the eating areas were a bit disappointing. Why had I pictured Rita’s Baja Blenders to overlook the water the way the Margarita Bar did at Downtown Disney at WDW? We thought the Asian restaurant (forget the name and can’t find it listed anywhere so maybe it’s never open—did it used to be Pucks?) looked good but it wasn’t open. We walked up to San Andreas Shakes and the CM said, “We’re closing” just as we got there. Huh?

The menu at Pacific Wharf Café didn’t appeal to us, there was a very long line at Farmer’s Market and Cucina Cucamonga. We were getting hungrier by the minute and the hungrier we were, the more difficult it was getting to be to make a decision of which long line to stand in. We had a PS at the Vineyard Room for tomorrow night but with the heat and desire to see and do as much as we could, we weren’t sure we would make any of the sit down meals. This was more of a scoping out trip.

So, we wandered over to the Terrace Wine Tasting and were quite impressed with their long list of wines by the glass. Nothing like a delicious glass of Eschelon French Pinot Noir to take the edge off your hunger. We would have liked to have sat down to enjoy the wine but all of the tables were taken by families (one table was completely filled by kids) waiting for their Wine Country Trattoria PS. We would like to see some improvements here: have a more private seating area for those wine tasting (read: adults only) separate from the families waiting to eat at either the Trattoria or Vineyard Room.

In fact, as we were standing in line for our wine, a kid started screaming at the top of his lungs that seemed to go on forever. The woman in front of us turned to us and said, “That sure is annoying. I was hoping to relax with a quiet glass of wine.” We agreed.

We took our wine back over to the Farmer’s Market area and grabbed a picnic table. We weren’t really too impressed with this area because it just seemed like one big food court. I pictured these eating areas as being more integrated into an attraction area.

After our wine, we headed for Paradise Pier—the one part of DCA that is the most heavily criticized. We agree with the criticisms. Maybe it’s too reminiscent of a tacky beach theme park—Disney seemed to make no attempt to Disneyfy it—other than add Mickey to a roller coaster. The attractions are too pedestrian. What we’d like to see is more of a Boardwalk/World Showcase area like at WDW complete with water, Friendship boats, and a hotel like the Boardwalk Inn or Yacht Club. Heaven knows, Disneyland could use more resorts like at WDW—Disneyland’s weakest link. We tried to hunt down a place to eat but still no success.

At the far end of Paradise Pier, we finally found food at Pizza Oom Mow Mow, which had fabulous pizza. Rich had a slice of sausage and mushroom and I had the barbecue chicken—huge slices and delicious!

We walked back to Paradise Pier and awaiting us in our “Big Kahuna Suite” was a plate with 2 Chocolate-Coated Mickey Head Rice Krispy Treats. YUM! YUM! We shared one and saved the other for the next day.

Loving the Big Kahuna Suite Treat

Next: Alarming Morning