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Patrick Edaburn -- June 1998 -- Disneyland

Where: Disneyland Anaheim

When: May 30 (Saturday) through June 2 (Tuesday)

Who: Myself, Patrick (29-year-old male attorney) and my sister Lori (27-year-old nurse).

Transportation by car (8 hour drive)

Stayed at Anaheim Maingate

This trip was to celebrate Lori's graduation from college with her BA in nursing. We both knew that money was a little tight so we decided to skip staying at a nicer hotel and booked at the Anaheim Maingate, which we later learned to be a mistake. We already had our annual passes so we didn't need to get passes.

We originally planned to leave after her graduation ceremonies on Saturday morning, but due to rainy weather we decided to skip the ceremonies and leave a bit earlier than planned.

We headed out around noon, stopping at the local Taco Bell for a quick bite to eat. The drive down was pretty easy, it was a non holiday weekend and the traffic was not very bad. We made fairly good time despite a couple of snack breaks and arrived in the LA area by early evening.

This is when we hit our first problem. For those who have read about the traffic problems in Anaheim and thought they were exaggerated, trust me when I say that if anything the problems were understated. The roads in and around the park are badly torn up by construction and it's a real nightmare getting around the area.

We checked into our motel and found that it was in far worse shape than we had thought, we considered moving but decided that it was late and we might as well stay where we were. For those headed to the area, however, I strongly discourage staying at the Maingate, it's badly maintained and the service is poor. If you want to save some cash, stay at Motel 6.

We were out to the park at 10am, and found another small problem. Due to the road mess, the shuttles seem to take a bit longer to get to the park. I don't blame the drivers for this, and indeed was impressed with the skill they showed in maneuvering around the mess. The shuttles drop you off just inside the old parking lot area, so you do have a moderate walk to the main gate, but it's not real bad. However, we have decided that on any future trips we will stay at a motel nearer the park and walk, you end up taking less time to get there.

The park was only moderately crowded as we entered. This was our first trip since December and I was pleased to see they have fixed up Main Street a bit, touching up details here and there and keeping up the street maintenance. I had noticed this during our prior trip but thought it might just be due to the holidays, however from my view, they are continuing to keep things up.

One side note, for those who, like me, have watched the Magic Shop commercials on Disney Channel and wondered where exactly the shop was located, it's on the right side of the street at the corner near the Town Square.

One of the first things I did was to check out the 'tent' problem. I do agree with those who point out that it does interfere slightly with the view from Town Square, but only to a minor degree in my opinion. Once you get past the Emporium and down Main Street a bit the tent is no longer visible. From the hub you can get great pictures of the castle without any tent at all. So while they need to fix the view from Town Square, the problem is not as bad as it used to be.

We next headed over to Tomorrowland to check out the new attractions. I know some folks don't like the new look but I think they did a fine job. The interactive fountain is a nice centerpiece to the area and the Astro Orbiter looks great, especially at night.

Our first ride was Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Having never been in this attraction I didn't know what to expect, but really enjoyed the show. I won't go into too much detail so that I don't spoil things for those who have not been, but having spoken with some WDW vets, the show is pretty much the same here as in Florida. The pre show theming is well done and the crowds move at a good pace. They did have the show close down a couple times while we were there (over the 4 days), but I expect that after some break in time they will clear up the problems, after all nothing is perfect.

We next headed through Fantasyland on our way to Frontierland and New Orleans Square. Fantasyland has also been touched up a bit; the shopping area near the castle is much more like a medieval fair again with new banners up. They also retouched the gold on the castle, it looks great.

We moved through Fantasyland into Frontierland and then to New Orleans Square so we could ride Pirates. The line was fairly short. They have fixed up Pirates since our last trip. The first drop is now totally in the dark and the battle scene is now much more smoke/fog filled which helps with the effects. They have also added a new boat at the entry to the ride and some other small details. I think it looks very good.

We went to Hungry Bear for lunch, a tradition for us. We love sitting on the lower deck and watching the River and feeding the birds. We both had the chicken strips meal which comes with 5 or 6 chicken strips, fries and a drink. With tax it ran about $ 15 for both. The food is certainly fast food type, but it is still good for a quick bite.

After lunch we toured Haunted Mansion. They've darkened it up a bit and this is a bit of a problem for moving through the hallway, it's easy to stumble into the people next to you. One thing we discovered on this trip is that there are two 'elevator' rooms. We had always gone straight forward from the entry door but there is a second room that goes to the left. We'd never been here before but it was interesting to see a few small differences in the location of the various pictures.

After HM we moved through Fantasyland. Peter Pan was our first target and it was wonderful as always, some of the best detail in the whole park. We went ahead and moved through Fantasyland and rode on everything but Alice and Casey Jr. Most of these rides are fairly short and we mostly do them for nostalgia purposes. The CM's were efficient and friendly, we didn't have any major breakdowns.

We did Small World and I didn't really notice any of the problems people have been pointing out on the outside of the building. It seemed to be in good shape without any holes, scrapes, etc. Maybe they fixed it up recently, but for my money it looked just fine. Inside they did have a couple of the displays not working (one in the Europe room, one in Asia). Since we were there on a weekend I'm not sure if it was down for long, so if others go through in the future, let me know how it looks inside.

We popped into Toontown for a quick tour and they seem to have cleaned things up in the last few months. I though Toontown looked pretty good in December but had read that it didn't look so good in the Spring. Our trip found it in decent shape, although there was some trash in the water by Donald's boat.

It was now late afternoon so we rode the tram over to the DL hotel and looked around. We stopped in at the Monorail Cafe and had some cheese sticks (mickey Mousearella) and drinks. It ran about $ 8 for both of us. This is one of the nicest places to eat in the park and I hope that they rebuild it after the construction (it is due to be torn out later this year).

On our ride back to the park we spoke with a CM from Disney Travel who said that Sub rides is probably doomed and that Tiki Room is also under fire. She also said that the word she hears is that California Adventure will be open in 2000, not 2001.

Back at the park we went over to Adventureland and did the Tiki room. I am pleased to report that the room seemed crowded and as we went by during the day there were always crowds waiting to get in. Hopefully the folks upstairs will take the hint.

We had a late dinner in Tomorrowland at Red Rockets and the food was pretty good. We each had a large slice of pizza and a drink, the total was $ 15. The theming here is well done although they need to work on it a little more, add a few more details (although the various attraction posters on the walls is a nice touch).

TL looks very nice at night, we still couldn't (and never did) do Rocket Rods. From what others have told us, it's a decent ride but not worth a 1 or 2 hour wait. But then Indy and Star Tours are also great rides not worth a 1 or 2 hour wait so I expect after the furor dies down it will be easier to get on this ride.

We spent the evening looking around the park, taking in the sights. One nice exhibit is in Tomorrowland, and is put on in conjunction with NASA. Among other things it features a moon rock, space suits and models of various craft. It's a very interesting display and well worth a look.

We got into the park a little later today because we had been out late on Sunday. The park actually seemed a bit more crowded today, although I expect that was partly due to the fact that there were several large tour groups, so when they went on a ride the line suddenly went from 10 to 100.

As it was late morning we decided to walk around a bit and then head over to Blue Bayou for lunch. We hadn't made reservations but managed to walk right in and get a table. We split a Monte Christo (can anyone really eat a whole sandwich ?) and had some drinks, the tab ran $ 17 with tip. The decor in this place is well worth the price of the meal, as Pirates runs right through the restaurant.

After lunch we hit the west side of the park, rode on Pirates and Haunted Mansion again and then headed into Critter Country for Country Bear Jamboree. Once again the crowds were large and spirited, which made the show all that much more fun. We didn't get on Splash Mountain due to crowds (the three rides that we missed due to crowds were Rocket Rods, Splash and Big Thunder). I have read those who are upset by the long lines, and I have to admit I wish things were shorter. But on this trip we did all but three rides and we could have done those if we had wanted to take the time (Splash and Big Thunder waits were 45 min to 1 hr).

We headed into Adventureland and rode Indiana Jones (best ride in the park) and Jungle Cruise. We had a really good skipper on JC and a good crowd too (we all joined in the routine as were all were vets who knew it almost by heart).

Lots of bands out this trip, Disney Band on Main Street, Jazz bands in NOS, Trash Can Trio in TL. As I said before the park seems to be much cleaner and better kept up that it was a year ago. Maybe I'm just not as observant as some of the other people whose reports I have read, but things look good to me. I do wonder though if some of them simply want to condemn everything because they don't like current park management.

We then headed down to Main Street and took in Mr. Lincoln. One change from our last trip is that they now have a movie screen set up in the lobby playing the Walt Disney Story as an into to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. It's nice to see that back. Abe seemed in good form, I didn't see too much shaking in his hands, perhaps I saw a good show or perhaps they fixed things up some.

We took in a snack at the Coke Corner, drinks and pretzels cost $ 7 total. This is one of the nicest parts of the trip for me, sitting along Main Street soaking in the flavor and watching people have fun. It may not be a thrill ride but I wouldn't feel like I had been to the park if I didn't take a bit of quiet time for myself to enjoy the view.

The rest of the evening was spent in Fantasyland and Toon town, we had dinner at Village Haus, burgers fries and drinks for $ 15 total. The carousel is best at night, a wonderful view. We also did the Matterhorn, which is a great ride but a tad more intense that you remember, which is why we usually ride it once every couple of trips.

We made one more run on Indy and Jungle Cruise and then headed back to our motel for a good nights sleep. The only thing that was disappointing is that fireworks hadn't started yet.

Day Four: Tuesday June 2 

Didn't do much park touring today, just some shopping and a few rides in Adventureland. The park was fairly crowded today, so we were glad to be headed home.

I hope it is fairly readable and useful. If you have questions, feel free to E-mail me and I'll do my best to answer them.

Patrick Edaburn

Troosvelt@aol.com

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