Disneyland Trip Report June 29th-July 1st, 2017

Since we arrived to our hotel, the Tropicana, the day before we were to go to Disneyland, we decided to take a stroll through Down Town Disney over to the Disneyland Hotel.

Here's a look at what will become Splitsville in late 2017. It is located where the House of Blues used to be.

This is one of my family's favorite places to buy and trade pins. Located right by the Down Town Disney Monorail station, Pin Traders has a great selection of pins and usually has some pretty good pins to trade as well. 

I absolutely love the lobby of the Fantasy Tower at the Disneyland Hotel. The decor is great!

Of course the Thunder Mountain replica in the Frontier Tower is pretty amazing too...

I love getting to Disneyland before it opens so I can get pictures like this one!

I'm sure this is an every-morning meeting, but it was the first time I had ever noticed it.

Since this was a "magic morning" (we got in an hour earlier than the park opened but only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland were open) we headed to Fantasyland first.

Traditionally the first ride we go on has been Peter Pan. However, the last two years we made an exception to our tradition due to how long the queue was. Here you can see the queue of Peter Pan right after opening which stretches all the way back to the Castle.

Speaking of Sleeping Beauty Castle, it looks like the spire could use a little realignment...

Despite the long waits, Peter Pan remains one of my favorite attractions.

On to Casey Jr, another one of my favorites! Fortunately, my kids weren't acting like a bunch of monkeys...

My wife and I were talking about how we love this area of the Park - Casey Jr/Storybook Land Canal Boats - because of the many intricate details.

Alice in Wonderland's village

Storybook Land Canal Boats

We're headed right toward Monstro!

The town of Arendelle from Frozen, one of the newest additions to Storybook Land Canal Boats.

Toad Hall

From one Toad Hall to another...

The Tea Cups are one of my kids' favorites, though in my old age I've found that if I spin too much, I get motion sickness!

My mom loved taking pictures at Snow White's Grotto, so we decided to take a family picture there. It recently went through a major refurbishment but I was glad to see that it looks almost exactly the same as it did previously.

Big Thunder Trail
For quite some time the walk way connecting Fantasyland to Frontierland was closed as Disney worked on Star Wars Land. The closure led to major gridlock for guests trying to get out of Fantasyland, particularly during the parades/fireworks. It was reopened in June and has been wonderfully re-themed to fit Frontierland.

Here's the Big Thunder Trail as it starts from Fantasyland.

A newly added sitting area just past Fantasyland.

Here's a look over the construction wall into what will be the entrance into Star Wars Land from Fantasyland.

This was a really pretty area of the refurbished trail. If it was slightly wider, I would have expected to see a seating area under the outcropping. But the trail is too narrow to take up room by adding benches there.

Here is a look over the construction wall at the future entrance to Star Wars Land from the Frontierland side of the Big Thunder Trail.

This artists rendition of what Star Wars Land will look like was hung on the construction wall just outside Frontierland. 

Here's where the Trail leads out into Frontierland by Thunder Mountain.

I was so relieved to see that this old pond from the Mine Train Through Natures Wonderland time period survived the Star Wars Land project. 

I had read that Adventureland was going though some renovations to help with the congestion problems in the walk ways. I'm off to see what has been done...

On Thursday, June 29th, construction walls were still up around the Bengal Barbecue and the adjacent shops... 

...but by Friday the walls were down.

The South Seas Traders shop next to the Bengal Barbecue has been gutted and turned into a seating area for the Bengal Barbecue.

Next to the newly created indoor seating area is the merchandise (juice, fruit, etc) that used to be across the way in the Tropical Imports store.

Meanwhile, the Tropical Imports store has been re-purposed into stroller parking. This was literally done overnight. In fact, as is visible in the picture above, the Tropical Imports sign is still up... 

Off to my favorite attraction, The Jungle Cruise.

I'm partial to the Zambezi Miss as I recently acquired an original boat sign from the 1970's. 

That elephant has been in the shower so long that he's got wrinkles. Let that be a lesson to you...if you stay in the shower for a long time, you might turn into an elephant.

Any of you that are wearing yellow - try not to look or sound like a banana. The gorillas find it very appealing.

And here we have some long necked cheetahs. On the right there are some furry horses and on the left are some classic horses. You can tell they're classic because they're still in black and white.

I wonder if this little guy will migrate across the way to join the merchandise of the Tropical Imports store or if he'll stay on top of the stroller parking.

Over in New Orleans Square, the Disneyland Railroad still isn't open, but it's coming back soon...

July 29th is the day it will officially re-open. I'm about as excited to have the Disneyland Railroad re-open as I have been for just about any other attraction in recent memory. 

Here's a look at the track in Critter Country from Splash Mountain. The scrims below have finally been removed which makes for an exponentially better ambiance. 

Speaking of Splash Mountain...

Here's a clip of the final plunge into the briar patch:

Now on to Winnie the Pooh.

Nearby in Pooh Corner, the characters are getting ready for their meet-and-greets.

As I was leaving Critter Country, just past the Hungry Bear Restaurant I noticed that the waterfall that runs behind the Disneyland Railroad tracks and under into the Rivers of America was running! You can just barely see the waterfall in the picture above if you look in the right-center of the picture, just above and slightly to the right of the middle lantern that's hanging on the construction wall.

The entrance to Tomorrowland is in desperate need of a remodel. The rock work and Astro Orbitor in the entrance way create a log jam, particularly during busy days and parade times.  

This was the first time in years that I have seen the blue Monorail. In fact, I can't remember the last time there were 2 monorails in operation at the same time. During this trip both the Orange and Blue Monorails were operating.

Autopia is a favorite of my kids. There have been a few changes recently to the ride as I'll show you here shortly... 

Tomorrow And....? Unfortunately Disney let the "L" in Tomorrowland burn out for everyone to see.

Back in March 2017 Autopia was updated with ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) which had previously been used next door on the Innovations attraction. Imagineering decided to add ASIMO along with a new character simply named "Bird" to certain scenes along the half-mile Autopia track.

We don't typically venture into Toon Town, but we made an exception this year.

My 3 year old loved playing the organ in Goofy's playhouse. The organ makes, well, goofy sounds when you press the keys.

Gadget's Go Coaster with one of the cranes that is being used in the construction of Star Wars Land in the background.

Over in California Adventure, Disney is trying hard to infuse the park with the Marvel brand. Rumor has it that a "Marvel Land" is in the works and will be announced shortly. 

Here's a peak at the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. Despite all the negativity online about the appearance of the new attraction, I didn't have a problem with it. My wife even commented when she saw it at night that she loved how it looked all lit up. I think I had already been biased by online comments that it looked too "Christmas" with the red and green lights. 

Here's a look at Guardians peaking out behind the Carthay Circle Restaurant.

And here's one last look at the outside with the Red Car Trolley in front of it...Now let's check out the inside...

Here's what you see when you first enter the building.

Below is a clip from The Collector's Office when Rocket explains how he (and we) are going to help break out the other Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Collector even has aquired "Herold," the old Abominable Snowman prop from The Matterhorn.

Can anyone guess what attraction this is found in?

This should give it away...Monsters Inc!

Add Just outside of Monsters Inc, Black Widow was making her appearance in her Avengers vehicle. Just behind them is the Hero Action Center which my family really enjoyed. You take a short quiz to find out which superhero you are most like. Then you get a sticker of that superhero's attribute and a comic book.

Many of our family were most like Captain America.

The sign outside of Cars Land has been updated with Cruz Ramirez from Cars 3.

Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters is a decent attraction, but it's probably more fun to watch than to actually ride.

I love the look of Grizzly Peak.

My family loves this shop...

...mostly because they have pins to trade there...

We also all agree that Soarin' Over California was much better than Soarin' Around the World

The kids love getting soaked on Grizzly River Run!

My kids loved Paradise Pier this year.

We didn't eat at Ariel's Grotto this year, but we have done the character dining there in the past when my kids were 6-9 years old. Although expensive, the kids loved it.

My 11 and 10 year old's tried California Screamin' for the first time this year and loved it! They talked about it so much that my 8 year old decided to try it on the last day.

While the older kids went on Screamin' my 3 year old was content to ride the flying fish on King Triton's Carousel. 

Fast Pass was recently added to Toy Story Midway Mania which has almost doubled the normal wait time for non-fast pass users.

In the Midway Mania queue, Mr. Potato Head was up and running.

The Silly Symphony Swings seems to always be a "must do" for the kids.

The seats on Goofy's Sky School are much more comfortable than the old ones. 

We learned to fly the GOOFY way!

Back over at Disneyland, no update would be complete without the Main Street Electrical Parade. It will be running at Disneyland until August 20th when it will be retired.

We spent 3 days at Disneyland and California Adventure which is one day less than we normally spend. Although we had a great time and did just about everything we wanted, in the future I think we'll go back to 4 days.

Disneyland Hotel, March 2017

When I was young, my Mom took me to Disneyland each year for my birthday. Even though we only lived 45 minutes way from Disneyland, we would stay at the Disneyland Hotel. This was back before Disney acquired the Disneyland Hotel in 1988. Yes, that's right! The Disneyland Hotel at one time wasn't owned by Disney at all, it was owned by Jack Wrather and Helen Alvarez. Disney had used all his resources and capital on Disneyland and didn't have the money to open a hotel so he negotiated a deal with Wrather and Alvarez to own and operate the Disneyland Hotel. Much has changed since then, including the names of the Hotel Towers, the Koi ponds, paddle boats, Olympic sized pool, putting green, marina and waterfalls being removed, and water slides being added, among other things.

Here's a look at the layout of the Disneyland Hotel as it stands in 2017.

Because the Main Street Electrical Parade was back at Disneyland for a limited time (a parade I used to watch with my Mom when we'd go to Disneyland) I wanted to take my family there to see it. To keep with the nostalgic theme I was creating for my family, I decided that we would stay at the Disneyland Hotel. Typically when we go every year, we stay in one of the hotels across the street on Harbor Blvd, which offer a slightly shorter walk to get to Disneyland and are significantly cheaper than the Disneyland Hotel. But this year, we were all in for a great treat! Because the park hours are shorter during the spring time, which is when we were visiting, it also made more sense since we'd be spending a little more time at the hotel.

Here's a look at our stay in pictures:

This is the Fantasy Tower from the area where you temporarily park your car to check in to the hotel.

Of course, there's always the optional valet if you so choose.

Here's a look at the Lobby of the Fantasy Tower, where guests check-in for all three towers. 

As a nod to Fantasyland, for which this tower is named, there is a seating area designed with Tea Cups.

There is a quaint little area for kids to sit and take in some Disney Cartoons while the parents check in.

Here's a look at the brilliant blue lighting behind the check-in desk.

The Hotel area is well signed. This is the sign as you leave the Fantasy Tower and head south-east, either toward Disneyland or to the Frontier Tower.

As we walked from the Fantasy Tower to the Frontier Tower, we passed the Monorail Water Slides which looked spectacular at night! We stayed so busy at Disneyland during our trip that only 2 of our family tried out the new water slides...but they enjoyed them!

Our room was located in the Frontier Tower which is the furthest tower to the south and, consequently, the longest walk of the the three towers to get to Disneyland.

The lobby of the Frontier Tower, including the amazing replica of the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Our rooms were located on the 9th floor...

...which meant that we had fantastic views of the Hotel Resort area...

...and even a little glimpse into Disneyland.

As we stepped off the elevator on the 9th floor, we were greeted with this awesome carpet! 

And here's a look at the hallway to our rooms.

The vending machine in the hallway was missing a few items...

The next few pictures will show what our rooms looked like. The couch on the right side of the picture actually turns into a bed which Trey, my 9 year old, was excited to claim as his own!

Here's a closer look at the couch and a look at the cabinet where the mini-fridge is located (in the bottom right cupboard).

Here's a closer look at the beds and the back board that is, perhaps, the coolest part of the room.

The lamp on the desk between the beds has a switch that allows you to light up the bed board which also plays "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes." Below is a video of the bed board in action!

Here's a look at the bathroom...

The fixtures offered a nice touch.

Just opposite the bathroom is a small study area.

Just outside the Frontier Tower is Trader Sam's Enchanted Tiki Bar. Although we didn't get to try it this trip, it looked like a fun atmosphere to relax after a long day at the park or during an off day.

We had such a fun time staying at the Disneyland Hotel. The service was great, the themeing was amazing, and the rooms were adequate. If the pricing wasn't so outrageous we'd make a habit of staying here!