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Thea Cassetta-- July 2000 -- DisneylandJuly 7-15, 2000 I spent the last week in Anaheim for a work related thing, but as we were at the Anaheim Marriott, I just had to take a few trips to Nirvana! ;-) I spent quite a bit of time growing up here in central Florida and have been to WDW hundreds of times. However, I had only been to DL once before, in 1987. The only thing I remember from that trip, that I know was DL, was the Matterhorn's Abominable Snowman. Altogether, I spent about 20 hours at DL spread over 5 days. Some of this time was spent with friends, and some was solo. I experienced all the attractions, shows, and rides with three exceptions: Woody's Roundup Show - just never did manage to fit it in the schedule Autopia - I can get whiplash at home, thank you very much Tea Cups - No way, No how, Na ga do it, wouldn't be prudent! I'll just kind of compare the attractions between DL and WDW Main Street - The entry gates are wonderful as there is a pixie dust tinkling noise as the guests enter. I thought that was charming. DL's Main Street is so nice as it is not just one big plush shop. They still have a cinema! However, when we came under the train station and looked down Main Street, my first thought was "Where's the Castle?". They definitely need to do some tree trimming! Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was great but cannot compare with American Adventure or Hall of President's. Took the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour (Hi Joan!!), and much of our time was spent on Main Street. The tour guide, Nancy, was very good, but did not tell me much that I didn't already know. I enjoyed the Railroad, especially the Grand Canyon diorama. Adventureland - Loved getting to see the original, if slightly shortened, Tiki Birds. This was always a favorite of mine and I was disappointed when they changed WDW's show. Jungle Cruise was very similar and lots of fun - we had a great driver. I was surprised as they still "shoot" at the hippos. WDW drivers no longer do this. Tarzan's Treehouse was well done. Then we did Indy - and does this ride ROCK. IMHO, it is a much better attraction that Dinosaur - not even in the same league. I hope it comes to WDW! New Orleans Square - This part of the park was lovely, although it didn't look like any part of the French Quarter that I've ever seen! My friend, Doug, showed me many wonderful little details in this area, and I even got a small peek inside the foyer of Club 33, as some guests were coming out. I really liked the outside of the Haunted Mansion, it seems to fit the theming of the area a little better than the WDW HM, but I like the attraction itself better at WDW. Pirates of the Caribbean was just amazing! The only edge WDW has at this attraction is the queue, and who cares about that! ;-) Frontierland - This area seemed to me to need the most in way of rehab, but it did have a wonderful pin trading area where I made lots of great trades! WDW pins were very popular. Big Thunder and the Mrk Twain were very similar to WDW's BTMR and Liberty Belle. I learned that the Mark Twain and the Columbia were on tracks, which surprised me. The Columbia was beautiful and the little museum was great. It was interesting to go to Tom Sawyer's Island and try and figure out how they did Fantasmic. Critter Country - I have always enjoyed the Country Bear Jamboree and it was fun to see a different show. This one has a theme of bears on vacation and was great, but I did miss Big Al singing "Blood on the Saddle"! We enjoyed the canoe ride very much. I am sure part of this was due to the very cute guides! I found Splash Mountain to be a disappointment. The track in much narrower and the logs have the more traditional flume style seats where people site one behind the other. There were very uncomfortable and actually painful when we went down the hills. The seats were not padded enough and the the handles hard to hold. I found the attraction itself to be not as detailed, and the story was much harder to follow. The sound quality was poor for most of the ride. Fantasyland - Very pretty and nice theming. The castle, if small, is lovely, and wonderfully decorated. We enjoyed all of the dark rides, but especially Mr. Toad! I miss this attraction very much at WDW and was thrilled to discover how much better it is at DL. The ride is longer, more detailed, and just a blast. And, I love the last segment! We did Early Entry one morning (which is 6:30 am at DL, but not a problem for folks on East Coast biological clocks) and rode this about 10 times! Also, for the first time since I was a little girl, I rode Dumbo. It was late in the evening, about 11:30, no line, and just magical. Then, we three grown women went and rode Casey Jr's train while sitting in the Wild Animals cage. If my students could have seen me then! I also enjoyed the Storybook Canal Boats, what a charming ride. Waved hard at my friends while they rode the tea cups - and that was close enough for me! Toontown - Cute, but IMHO, too crowded. We were there very early, and with not many people it seemed claustrophobic. I can't imagine when the park was crowded. The trolley and coaster were not running, but we did do the Roger Rabbit ride. This was a spinny ride, but you control this, so there was NO spinning in my car! Cute design, but was too LOUD! Tomorrowland - HISTA, Star Tours and AstroOrbiter were all similar, but AO is not as good an attraction at DL because it sits too low, so you get no view. Space Mountain was fun, but as we were waiting in the queue, something seemed wrong to me. And , then I realized it was that you could not hear people screaming, as the queue area is not open to the ride, so the queue is much quieter. I liked the music, but the ride itself is not as thrilling at WDW, and the ouside of the building is ugly. Innoventions was much better designed than WDW's, and much more interactive. I won a million at the Who Wants to be a Millionaire! And, then we did Rocket Rods. What a Waste! The attraction is slow loading, too jerky, and goes too fast to see anything. Bring back WedWay!! Shows- I enjoyed Fantasmic very much, but I will take the WDW Fantasmic theatre seating any day over an spending an hour sitting on the concrete at DL. The last evening, I watched Fantasmic with Doug from a side area. It was a great behind the scenes perspective and something that is not possible at WDW. It's amazing how quickly King Louie's monkeys can turn into Captain Hook's pirates! Animazement was very cute but a little disjointed. Plus, we got the zero Hercules instead of the hero! :-( The best part of the show when we saw it involved a young lady named Erica. The CM's said it was her birthday and we all sang. Then her boyfriend got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. She said yes, and the whole theatre clapped and cheered! The fireworks were great and choreographed well with the music. It reminded me of Sorcery in the Sky. Dl's Tinkerbell has a great fiberoptic costume that is very bright. The parade was cute with lots of guests marching in it. (Note to LIB - we gotta see about getting this at WDW - Tarzan was HOT!) They no longer use the Pomp and Circumstance music. It was interesting to see walking characters in the parade like Clarabelle Cow and Thumper, I have never seen them at WDW. All in all, it was a nice trip. EE and FP worked well. I did hear people complain about about FP holders "cutting in line". Why don't they just get one themselves? We did not eat any full meals in the park, but prices seemed equitable to WDW. Souvenir prices also seemed similar. Pin trading seems to be just as popular as it is here. The CMs seemed just as friendly and helpful to me at at WDW, but guests were less considerate. I know this is long - so thanks for reading. Feel free to email any questions! Thea Cassetta dcassetta@aol.com Mail a Comment to Thea Cassetta |
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