Podcast Recommendation: Disney Dish

The Unofficial Guide's Disney Dish with Jim Hill is a podcast that's been around for about a year and a half.  It obviously features Jim Hill, but also Len Testa of the Unofficial Guide and TouringPlans.com. 

In this series of podcasts they explore the history of the parks. All the history.  From the original idea of Walt to the current attempts to upgrade areas of the parks to the ideas that imaginears are exploring for the future of the parks.  Muppets, Cars Land, Marvel, Star Wars and films being created?  Yes, they're all mentioned at some point. 

Although the podcast starts out in Disney World, they do have a whole series on Disneyland too.  Maybe one day they'll make it to one of the parks outside the US too.

If you're into the history of the parks, even as a casual fan, you'll love this podcast.   

Photo of the Week: Disneyland

The partners statue at Disneyland.  I'm pretty sure Walt is rolling over in his grave.

Photo of the Week: Disneyland

Main Street, Disneyland

Photo of the Week: California

Disney's California Adventure

Don't forget you can follow me on Twitter: Travelingiraffe

Touring Plan Follow Up - Disneyland

In Disneyland I used my touring plans to tour the parks and I have to say it worked out pretty well.  I did have a couple waits that were longer then I expected, but I got well more then the average person gets done in a day too.

Here's how day in at Disneyland went (as well as my memory serves me):
Fast Pass for Space Mountain
Matterhorn Bobsled
Peter Pans Flight
Buzz Light Year
Space Mountain
Big Thunder
Jungle Cruise
Indiana Jones
Haunted Mansion
Pirates of the Caribbean
Ice Cream lunch at Golden Horseshoe while watching the show (had an early dinner)
Columbia Sailing Ship
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Monorail
Captain EO
Autopia
Late Lunch/Early Dinner at Blue Bayou
Sleeping Beauty Walk Through
Snow White's Scary Adventure
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Small World
Mickey's Toontown Fair, including a picture with Mickey
The Railroad
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
Wait for Wishes and Fantasmic
That's 22 - 25 attractions (depending on how you count) and I also did some shopping!

Day 2 - there were extra morning hours at Disneyland and I was up so I went there first, then went to DCA for the day.

Space Mountain
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
Alice in Wonderland
Pinochio's Daring Adventure
Breakfast in Disneyland

At DCA:
Soarin
Fast passes for Soarin and World of Color
Toy Story Midway Mania
California Screamin
Mickey's Fun Wheel
Aladdin show
Tower of Terror
Soarin
Lunch at the bar at Ariels Grotto
Walt Disney Imagineering at Blue Sky
Tough to be a Bug
Bakery Tour
Tortilla Factory tour
Left the park for shopping at Downtown Disney
Monsters Inc Ride
Waited for World of Color
Tower of Terror

The problem at DCA is that by mid day all of the headliners had long lines and I had already ridden them anyway.  I wasted a lot of time trying to ride Monsters Inc, it was closed most of the day so I went by it a couple times to see if it was open. 

Also worth mentioning is that in those 2 days I noticed a lot of rides having issues.  In addition to Monsters Inc being closed, Indiana Jones was closed the day before when I went to ride that.  Toy Story kept stopping while I was riding it, I also had a long stop when I was on Buzz Lightyear, and also Haunted Mansion stopped briefly.  Rumor around DCA was that Soarin also had issues that day.  I can honestly say that in a week at Disney World I never noticed that many attractions down. 

I got a lot done on both days.  Incase you're wondering about a couple attractions - Muppet Vision 3D and Spalsh Mountain were closed and Grizzley River Run involves water, it wasn't that warm and I was wearing jeans and sneakers - I wasn't risking getting wet.  While I was able to move around the parks pretty quickly since I was by myself I also didn't know the parks so couldn't move quite as quickly as I would have liked, but the touring plans really helped to get me started with the big attractions in the morning.  I also used the Lines application from Touring plans, which helped to keep me from trying to ride an attraction that had a long wait.  I also got myself some badges for reporting posted wait times.

Illuminations and the evening shows

My last trip to Disney World was the first time I got to see Illuminations and I really really liked it.  Maybe it's the whole world and Earth and World thing, but I think it's my favorite evening show at Walt Disney World.  Don't get me wrong, I really do enjoy Wishes and Fantasmic, but I connected with Illuminations.

Wishes is primarily a fireworks show, it's a really good one.  But I've also had a front row seat to the Macy's 4th of July Fireworks show, it takes a lot to impress me.  I'm impressed, but I also know that at least once a year I can go see a fantastic fireworks show in my own backyard.

Fantasmic is fantastic!  After I saw it the first time I had to drag my friend to see it on our trip - it rained and none of the characters came out.  I love the characters and the story at the show, as well as the special affects.  What I don't like?  How early you need to get there (though seating is a plus), if it rains they cancel it, and it's not shown every night - making it a pain for scheduling. 

But Illuminations.  I love the globe, the fireworks and how World Showcase is integrated into the show by lighting up each of the pavilions.

I originally wrote this before I went to Disneyland, I thought the best way to deal with my update was to just add to the post my thoughts about the Disneyland shows.  Wishes is still fireworks, the music is great the coordination with the fireworks is great, but it's still just fireworks.  I wasn't in love with fantasmic here, I hear the show itself is better, but I found it was too crowded and hard to see since the show is done pretty much in the middle of the park instead of in a dedicated area.  The experience of watching Fantasmic here took away from the actual show. 

World of Color on the other hand was really good.  I'm still sticking by my love of Illuminations, but this show was special too.  And they have much better organization for seeing the show (with the use of fast pass) that it wasn't as overwhelming as seeing Fantasmic.  Though it is a bit disturbing that I got there over an hour before and couldn't get that good of a spot.  This is one event where the dining package could be worth the cost, just to get the good seats.

Anaheim Fairfield Inn

On my trip to Disneyland I stayed at the Anaheim Fairfield Inn.  For those of you unaware of the layout of Disneyland it is not like Disneyworld.  The Disney property fills in a ginormous city block, within it is Disneyland Park, Disney's California Adventure, Downtown Disney and 1 hotel.  The other two Disney hotels are across the street from Downtown Disney.  All around the park are privately owned hotels.  Directly across from Downtown Disney is one of the park entrances and an area with several hotels, including the Fairfiled Inn.  I had a 5-10 minute walk to the entrance of the parks. 

The rooms at the Fairfield Inn were large, the sink is seperate from the toilet and shower, and the hotel is set back a little bit from the road, I never heard any street noise and my room did face the street.  The hotel also offered free internet, always a plus.  They did have a pool there, a restaurant inside the hotel (Pizza Hut) and a coffee shop.  Additionally, there was a restaurant called Millies right outside as well as a McDonalds - you're not going to starve here.  The biggest downside of the hotel?  They had cheap towels.  The best part - you can see the Matterhorn.  I highly recommend the hotel to anyone visiting Disneyland.

There are some other hotels in this area too, I walked past at least 3 on my way to the park.  I know they are all also moderately priced hotels and although some of them had cheesy exterior decorations, none of them screamed, "bad hotel."  After booking my hotel I found out the Best Western there is good, it is the closest to the park entrance too.  But other then considering that Best Western I would stay at the Fairfield Inn on a return trip in a heartbeat.

Disneyland in review

I've just gotten back from my trip to Disneyland, that's the one in California.  It was my first time there, but I had heard it wasn't as good as Disney World, for many reasons.  It's smaller, it doesn't have that Disney bubble effect that you get in Florida, and it's just not as cool.  Of course I know there are people who disagree.  I think that for as similar as the two places are, they both offer something a little different.

I was there for 2 days, I spent the first day at Disneyland and the second at Disney's California Adventure (DCA). 

My first impression when I walked into Disneyland was, "that's the castle?  That's not a castle!"  There was a smaller feeling to everything, from the view of the train station when you first arrive, Main Street and the castle.  It was particularly weird since things also felt so familiar too, but was still different.  Overall the whole park felt a little smaller.  I'm not sure how much smaller the park is compared to the Magic Kingdom, but the walkways all felt smaller, and some of the lands felt smaller too.  I did like New Orleans Square.  As the day went on though the smaller feel of the park started to grow on me, the park felt more intimate then the Magic Kingdom.

As for DCA, it's one big giant construction project so I didn't get a real feel for it.  I do however think that DCA had MUCH better rides and attractions - Soarin, Tower of Terror, Toy Story, California Screamin and Aladdin.  As for the theming, it was good, but not as strong as the parks in Florida.  I thought the Hollywood section was well themed, but some of the rides were kind of hidden, rides that were closed weren't well marked.  A Bugs Land was well done, though the rides were really just for kids so I didn't spend much time there.  Paradise Peir was nice, the theme was well done, but it didn't feel as rich as many of the other themes I've seen in Disney parks.  As for Condor Flats and the Grizzley Recreation areas - while I noticed a difference in the areas, it didn't feel like the areas were that well themed and distinct.  World of Color is a fantastic show that I really enjoyed.

Overall I had a great time on this trip, I will talk more about it in future posts.  I felt like Disneyland was a bit underwhelming, though I could certainly see areas where Walt made noticeable improvements for the Magic Kingdom.  DCA provided great rides, but not so great of an experience, hopefully that will change once the expansion and upgrades are completed.  I do feel like the Disneyland vs Disney World is a worthy discussion, though no on will win it.  But I do think it makes a valid excuse to visit both.

Lines, the Iphone App

The Unofficial Guide and Touring Plans have created an app for the Iphone (and other platforms) called Lines.  I used the app when I went to Disney World last May when it was still fairly new.  I found that it was occasionally off (though not badly), I found that the addition of the self reporting option filled in the occasional incorrect data it was providing.  I hear that since then there have been improvements.  They also just released lines data for Disneyland too.

So for my trip to Disneyland I will be using the Lines app again, along with the touring plans for Disneyland that Touring Plans has created.

Can't wait for the trip to start!

What to do in 2011

Last Friday instead of writing a blog post, I was planning a trip.  Well, at least it sounds like a good excuse.  While I'm getting my life back in order, I'm still having some issues and thinking of taveling, instead of writing about it, is one of those issues.

So what am I planning?  Early last week I realized that I had a $50 credit with Jetblue, which I should have used for my mothers trip to Florida, but didn't.  Since it's expiring this summer I didn't think I would have an opportunity to use it.  The obvious solution to saving $50 is to spend more money and go on a trip.  Uhhh, who was that president who talked about "fuzzy math?" 

On Wednesday I got the briliant idea that I should go to Disneyland, saving $50 is kinda like winning the Super Bowl, so why not.  I've actually wanted to go, but since I've been to LA twice and don't love it, I don't see myself going there except on a stopover to somewhere cooler.  I figured I could go on a quick weekened trip and fly one way on Virgin America (obviously I need to fly one way on Jetblue for my $50 savings).  But since flying on Virgin America is on my list of things to do in tavel, it seemed like an obvious choice.  I figured I would wait and see if Jetblue or Virgin America came up with a discount on airfares - they were both listing fares at $150ish one way, so it seemed like I might be able to do this pretty cheaply especially if I could find an even cheaper fare. 

On Thursday I get an email from Jetblue, they're discounting airfares.  Decision time...  I decided to go (after much discussion and mulling over).  I booked the Jetblue Flight, contacted a travel agent for the Diseny part of the trip and then stressed about which flight home to take with Virgin America.  I didn't actually book the flight home until Friday. 

So now I have myself a quick little weekend trip to a warmer climate in the middle of winter, something I've never done before. 

Some other things  I have in the works for 2011 are Ireland and Walt Disney World.  I guess I should start working some OT!