In honor of continuing D23 Expo Coverage, today’s inaugural Mapping the Magic Monday takes us just outside the walls of Disneyland to the corner of Katella Avenue and Disneyland Drive.  For the first time in quite some time, and one of only three times total, I stayed off property for my Disneyland and D23 trip.  After a week-long Disney World trip only two months prior, and knowing that we would be spending three of our five days at the Expo, it made the most since to stay in a hotel that was a little more reasonably priced and closer to the convention center.  It was about a two-minute walk from the Anabella Hotel to the convention center and less than a 10-minute walk to Disneyland.  It really wasn’t a bad distance either direction, and there were lots of fun things to see along the way.  And, every time we crossed the street to or from the parks, I would admire the patina map of the Anaheim Resort on the sidewalk.  So, follow me, as I map my way from the Anabella around the Anaheim Resort…

Places of Interest:

One of my favorite things about walking from the Anabella to the Anaheim Convention Center were these unusual footprints on the sidewalk between the two destinations.  They came right out of the bushes and went no further than the manhole, and, oddly enough, they were permanent… not wet, not muddy, completely permanent.  Zombies?  Swampy pod people?  I’m not really sure, but I did get a kick out of watching everyone’s expressions as they passed this part of the sidewalk.

When viewed from just the right angle, the giant, angular structure in front of the convention center forms an “A.”  It looks especially cool when it is framing the fountain that greets visitors entering the convention complex from the Katella side.

The trees lining Disneyland Dr., from Katella to the Paradise Pier, are loaded with twinkling lights, which, at night, makes this stretch of the map look a lot like a fairy land.  I think it is really great that the Anaheim Resort has worked to make the neighborhood a little more magical, especially for guests staying off Disney property.

The Paradise Pier is one of my favorite hotels.  I actually fell in love with it when we stayed there for the first time during the 2009 D23 Expo.  Even though we weren’t staying there this time, we got to walk by it every time we went between the Anabella and the parks, and it was always a fun treat to see it all lit up at night, especially from the backside, when we were walking back from Downtown Disney, because there is a special surprise projected on the parking structure.

Quite possibly my favorite stop on the Anaheim Resort map is the shortcut we took through the Grand Californian on our way to the parks.  The Grand is probably my favorite place in the world, and while the price is somewhat prohibitive for staying there on every Disneyland trip, it’s still wonderful just to be immersed in the atmosphere.  This year the flowers growing over the gated entrance were particularly breath-taking.

My Disneyland trip this year was based mostly on being able to attend the D23 Expo, but we did have two almost full days and one evening to spend in the Park, and we definitely made the most of it!  Considering the crowd levels, I think we accomplished a lot in the time that we had.

Our first day was nearly a full day in the parks, as we had landed, taken a shuttle from the airport to the Anabella Hotel, and were in line for the Carnation Cafe by 11:30am.  If you’ve been a fan of Rays of Disneyland for very long, you know that starting a trip at the Carnation is our longstanding tradition.  There is something about this place that just makes me so happy.  I could honestly sit there all day just watching people and listening to the sounds of Main Street.

Next up, after a relaxing lunch, was a ride through Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters for our second tradition of the day.  We even saw R2D2 on what was supposed to be his last day in Tomorrowland as we were making our way toward Buzz… definitely a treat!  After a sweep through the Little Green Men store and Star Traders we were on to one of our must-sees on any trip, Pirates of the Caribbean.

We lucked out with a relatively short line at Pirates and were on the ride within 10 minutes.  I had seen the new Blackbeard waterfall effect on the Disney World version of Pirates but was curious to see if I thought it was better in Disneyland.  It was, but I still prefer the Davy Jones version.  However, it was so great to be back on this classic, which is so much more rich with detail in California than its Florida counter-part.  Out of the Bayou and back into the daylight, we took the opportunity the roam the streets of New Orleans Square.  We knew that we had limited time in the parks and lots of things we wanted to accomplish, but I’m really glad that we took the time to grab a Mint Julep and some beignets and take a few minutes to sit and listen to the Royal Street Bachelors perform.  At the end of their set, with the strains of Jazz music floating off into the sweet Disneyland air, we went on, this time in the direction of the Haunted Mansion.

The rest of the afternoon was very relaxing and wonderful… and full of lots of great Disney shopping. 😉  We were able to get a great spot to watch Mickey’s Soundsational Parade and only had to wait about 20 minutes for the parade to start.  However, it would have been worth a much longer wait than that… I absolutely loved this parade!  It was such a refreshing return to classic Disney entertainment after the strangeness of the street celebration that replaced the stunning Parade of Dreams a few years back.  I just can’t say enough great things about this parade, it was magnificent.

When Soundsational was over, it was time for us to head over to California Adventure, in hopes of catching a ride on the new Little Mermaid attraction and Toy Story Mania before our reservation for World of Color dining at Wine Country Trattoria.  I don’t know why, but I wasn’t expecting everything in the park to be so torn up.  I knew that the new entrance had been unveiled and it was pretty, if not a nearly exact replica of the turn-style at Hollywood Studios in Disney World, but past the gate, it was so sad to see the Golden Gate Bridge gone, as well as all of the cute little shops that used to line this area.  I’ve mentioned it on here before, and while I know I’m definitely in the minority, I will miss the California Adventure that used to be, although, especially after seeing the model of Buena Vista Street at the Expo, I am excited for what this park will become.  When we got over to The Little Mermaid – Ariel’s Undersea Adventure, it was a walk-on!  I couldn’t believe there wasn’t a line at all, as the rest of the park was really pretty busy.  I hope this attraction doesn’t suffer the same fate of many other California Adventure rides, with less than lack-luster crowds.  I did think that The Little Mermaid was a great new take on the classic dark rides of Fantasyland.  After a stroll through the new Embarcado Gifts and the Blue Sky Cellar it was already time for our Trattoria reservation.

Last time we saw World of Color we did the dining package at Ariel’s Grotto and it was really nice.  The Trattoria was equally wonderful and possibly even had a better atmosphere.  I love that we got to sit on the covered, second-level patio for World of Color dining and the food was wonderful.  We a very nice, relaxing meal, and even had a chance to get in that ride on Toy Story Mania after our meal.  Unfortunately, apparently some magical, little food poisoning bugs were at work in my dinner and by the time we were finding a spot in the reserved seating for World of Color I was sick… really sick.  With only about 15 minutes until the show I had to drag myself out of the seating area and into some of the most magical restrooms on earth.  I was so disappointed!  World of Color was definitely on the top of my must-do list for the trip, and even though I was able to see it last summer, I couldn’t wait for a second viewing.  So, super bummed and still a little green, we trudged back to the hotel.

Even with a disappointing end to the evening, it was a really wonderful first day in the parks, and the promise of an exciting Expo first day lay before us.

As you can hopefully tell from yesterday’s D23 Expo Highlights post, I had lots of fun at this year’s event, and there were a lot of wonderful memories to be made.  However, the Expo wasn’t without incident, and, unfortunately, I had a few major disappointments this year.  I don’t, by any means, want to be “that guy” with a myriad of complaints, but I do want to portray both sides of my Expo experience.  So, let’s take a look at a few of my least favorite moments from D23…

Lightning McQueen Animatronic '09 & Ride Vehicle '11

#3 Disney Parks and Resorts Pavilion: Okay, so to be fair, if I had nothing to compare this year’s Parks and Resorts Pavilion with, it probably would have been great.  However, Disney completely overwhelmed me with the awesomeness of the 2009 Pavilion, and this year’s just didn’t compare.  I did love seeing the maquette of the new Walt and Mickey statue for Buena Vista Street, and an actual ride vehicle from the Radiator Springs Racers.  The only problem is that we saw a prototype of the Lightning McQueen Animatronic in 2009, as well as an enormous model of Cars Land, including a very detailed Radiator Springs Racers attraction.  Overall, much like the Parks and Resorts Presentation itself, it seemed like a lot of the “sneak peeks” in the Pavilion were recycled, “old news” from 2009.

Storyteller's Sandbox '09 & Storytellers Maquette '11

One of my favorite experiences in 2009 was the interactive, Storyteller’s Sandbox exhibit, which allowed guests to actually tell a story by making shapes in a giant sandbox, onto which animation was projected to create the story.  It’s a little tough to explain, but the concept was so phenomenal, and represented unique experiences available outside the actual Parks.  This year, entities like DVC and Adventures by Disney were nothing more than an information kiosk, with Cast Members there to answer questions and hand out brochures.  Also, much like the Wall-E and Lucky the Dinosaur meet and greets in 2009, Disney offered the opportunity to meet the new “Talking Mickey” in the Parks Pavilion.  However, when we were in the pavilion, Mickey was experiencing some technical difficulties and it was unknown whether or not he would return to the Expo.  Mickey did end up making it back later in the day, but like lots of others elements of the Expo, we only had one opportunity to make it into the pavilion.  Disney did offer the, likely, once-in-a-lifetime experience to shop in a pop-up store version of the Cast Member exclusive Mickey’s of Glendale store at Imagineering… however, the lack of real content in the rest of the pavilion left me with the feeling that a little too much of the emphasis here was on how to get guests to spend more money, which I admittedly did, instead of sharing insider, sneak peeks with the biggest of Disney fans.

#2. Walt Disney Studios Presentation: Two words… Johnny Depp.  I’m not sure this section would require anymore explanation than that! 😀  The resounding question going into the Expo weekend this year seemed to be, “How will Disney top the surprise-filled Studios Presentation from 2009?”  Well, I’m not sure they even tried.  Captain Jack sailing out on his replica Black Pearl to close the 2009 presentation aside, this session failed to even touch the greatness achieved two years ago.  There were very few actual surprises, and, perhaps most frustrating was for each film many, if not all, of the stars, “wished they could be there but couldn’t make it.”  Movie after movie, this was the company line, and the celebs that did come had time to say little more than “Hi” and “Thank you” before heading backstage.  Instead of nearly the entire cast of Muppets singing on the deck of a replica Mark Twain Riverboat, we got Kermit and Miss Piggy.  Instead of John Goodman and Billy Crystal coming to talk about the upcoming Monsters, Inc. prequel, Monsters University, we got only Crystal.  Instead of the first 45-minutes of The Princess and the Frog, we got the first four-minutes of Wreck-it Ralph.  I will say that I am not a Marvel fan whatsoever, I don’t dislike the franchise, I just haven’t ever been into it, but the Marvel fans in the crowd did go crazy for the select cast of Avengers that came to talk about the much-anticipated blockbuster culmination of superheroes.  I, however, just kept waiting for Johnny. 🙂

My eye-level view of Dick Van Dyke & the Vantastix

#1. What did we learn from 2009? At the end of the 2009 Expo, D23 offered an on-line survey where guests could vent their frustrations, offer their suggestions, and let Disney know what they did right at the event.  The word from D23 was that this feedback would actually be used to improve the experience at future Expos and events.  The overwhelming feedback from everyone I spoke with was that the presentations needed to be offered in larger rooms, repeated when possible, with more time in between sessions, and a possible FastPass system to alleviate time spent in line if you would ultimately be turned away when the room was full.  So, I was baffled when the schedule came out and showed that sessions were still either back to back or overlapping, being offered only once, and in fewer rooms, with no more seating.  I was even more baffled when we arrived at the Expo and found that the lines were poorly managed, the crowds were heavier than ever, and some sessions were nearly impossible to get into.  As I mentioned yesterday, in order to see Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix perform, we had to wait in line for three hours until the presentation was scheduled to begin and then another hour before we were actually allowed to enter the venue.  Not to mention that once we were seated it became even more evident that this crowd would have been much better accommodated in the Arena, as the guests who did make it in were stuck in regular seating, with no “stadium” seating effect to allow everyone a view of the stage.  Being a bit vertically challenged myself, I could barely see the large screens set up to help enlarge what was going on.  Also, although Disney was promoting their special Twitter account, set-up just to answer Expo questions, communication was almost non-existent, until near mutinous crowds demanded to be informed when queues were at their capacity.  Unfortunately, the chaotic approach to crowd “control” took a lot of the Magic away from the weekend.

So, there you have it… my balanced meal of Expo coverage, the highs and the lows, the great, the good, the bad, and the downright ugly.  In the coming weeks, I will explore more individual details from D23 that I feel deserve a deeper look.  But, what did you guys think?  Did you love the Expo?  Hate it?  Proclaim that you would never attend another D23 event as long as you live?  Sing its praises from your hotel rooftop?  Let us know in the comments what your Expo highs and lows were… and come back Monday for the official start of Mapping the Magic Monday.

Suitcase contents are strewn around the room, stacks of Vinylmation are piled on tables, and I spent most of my afternoon clearing space on my computer to fit all of the pictures I need to upload… all signs point to the end of vacation, and if those weren’t enough, the post-Disney blues have set in fiercely.  That being said, its time to reflect on the 2011 D23 Expo… there were great things, and frustrating things, and amazing things, and disappointing things.  But, let’s start with the highlights, shall we, and as Kermit would say, “it’s time to get things going, it’s time to light the lights…”

#5 Shopping: Often my demise, likely my addiction, Disney shopping might just be my favorite past-time… and there were more than a few opportunities at the Expo.  Not to mention that everything was SO cool!  I mean, could you really pass up a replica of Walt’s original #1 Disneyland name badge?  Or exclusive, limited edition Vinylmation in every shape, size, and description?  Or exclusive pins direct from Walt Disney Imagineering?  Or even that pristine Shellie Mae Disney Bear, straight from Tokyo DisneySea, and priced just right?  Okay, well maybe you could, but I definitely couldn’t! 😀  The 2009 Expo definitely had more items represented in the Expo Dream Store, but this year there were “pop-up shops” throughout the Expo from every corner of the Walt Disney company.  In all, I bought special souvenirs at six different locations, including the Dream Store, the pop-up Disney Store, the pop-up Nordstrom/Small World store, the Collector’s Forum, the pop-up Mickey’s of Glendale, and the Archives’ Treasure Trove.  While I may have come home with a significant dent in my credit card and pocketbook, each and every item is a special reminder of a special time.

#4 Meet and Greet with Ridley Pearson: Although I never know what to say to people who really inspire me, meeting Ridley Pearson was a real treat.  I attended his session at the last Expo and loved it but I didn’t get to meet him then.  I adore both the Kingdom Keepers and the Peter and the Starcatchers books, and Ridley really inspires my own writing.  He was extremely nice at the Meet and Greet and seemed genuinely appreciative that people came out to see him.  His autograph in the newest Starcatchers book is one of my favorite “souvenirs” from the Expo!

#3 Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives: At the 2009 Expo, the Treasures of the Walt Disney Archives exhibit was really amazing, but Disney definitely upped the ante with this year’s exhibit.  There were more items, across four different rooms, and each item was fascinating.  Walking into the exhibit, I actually started crying (total Disney Geek moment), as they had the plush Mickey on display from the famous picture of Walt hanging out of the engine of the Disneyland Railroad.  They had a large version of the picture hanging up for comparison, and there were more of Walt’s personal items on display here as well, including his #1 Disneyland name tag.

However, in an even geek-ier moment, my mom and I both squealed with delight when we saw Annie Banks’ dress from Father of the Bride on display.  Growing up, this was one of my favorite movies, and we still have a Father of the Bride and Father of the Bride II marathon every so often.  Seeing this dress was a real treat.  There were also awesome items on display from Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, the original Mickey Mouse Club, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, and so much more.  In 2009, we were in the Expo exhibit looking at one of the cases and Richard Sherman came up right beside us to join his wife, who had been looking at the case with us.  It was a very surreal moment.  This year, we didn’t have quite the same experience, but we were in the exhibit when a throng of people came in surrounding John Lasseter, to take his picture looking at Walt’s personal items.  It was kind of funny, really, because security was very nervous that we were in there and started politely shoo-ing us out, but we had been sitting just one table over from Lasseter at the Storyteller’s Cafe earlier that morning!

#2 The Disney Legends Ceremony: The Legends ceremony was absolutely phenomenal this year.  At the last Expo it was really cool to see Robin Williams and Betty White, but this year was really special.  Disney inducted Paige O’Hara (speaking and singing voice of Belle), Lea Salonga (singing voice of Jasmine and Mulan), Jodi Benson (speaking and singing voice of Ariel), Anika Noni Rose (speaking and singing voice of Tiana), Linda Larkin (speaking voice of Jasmine), and even Regis Philbin, among others.

But it was the princesses that really stole the show for me.  Each of the princesses sang songs from their respective movies and was joined on stage by their respective princes.  It was such a touching moment seeing these women that I have grown up admiring, singing the songs that I love, in-person.  I have to admit that I cried when Paige O’Hara took the stage to sing a medley of songs from Beauty and the Beast.  This movie has always touched my heart and it was so surreal seeing the real Belle and hearing her sing.  Jim Henson was also inducted, posthumously, and his children gave a touching Muppet performance to honor their dad.  After they performed, Kermit and Rowlf, the two original Muppets Henson voiced, came on stage and sang Rainbow Connection… cue my waterworks here as well. 🙂  The ceremony was just beautiful and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to witness it in person.

#1 Drum roll please… my absolute favorite moment of the Disney D23 Expo 2011 was… seeing Dick Van Dyke and the Vantastix perform live on the first night of the convention!  This was the kind of thing that I wouldn’t even think to put on a Disney Bucket List because it wouldn’t ever occur to me that I might have the chance to experience it.  Even though I ate not-so-fabulous convention center soft pretzels, on the floor, in a cold room, while we waited in line for four hours… it was worth it.  Mr. Van Dyke was every bit as charming and debonair as I imagined him to be.  He was funny and friendly and seemed genuinely happy to be performing for us.  The Vantastix sing acapella and all the members are incredibly talented.  Their remarkable story started in a Starbucks, when one of the members struck up a conversation with Mr. Van Dyke about acapella music, as he was working for a music company at the time and had heard that Mr. Van Dyke was interested in acapella music.  On the spot, Mr. Van Dyke asked him if he knew anyone that would want to be in an acapella group with him, needless to say, he said yes, and so did his two friends, and they’ve been singing in the Vantastix ever since.  It was the kind of story that really warms your heart… ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations and living out their dreams.  The group sang a variety of both Disney and non-Disney songs, including some from the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.  They introduced both Richard Sherman and Mr. VanDyke’s Dick Van Dyke Show co-star, Rose Marie, who were both in the audience.  It was such an amazing night, I really can’t even believe I was able to be a part of it.

So, while I had lots of fun experiences at the Expo, these are my top five.  But stay tuned for some of the less enjoyable moments, when I explore my top five lowlights from the convention tomorrow.

Wordless Wednesday today pays tribute to one of my favorite memories from my recent trip to Disneyland… Mickey’s Soundsational Parade!  All of it was amazing, but I especially loved this picture of the multi-Princess float – complete with Rapunzel’s tower in the middle.

Thanks again this week to Focused on the Magic for their awesome Disney Wordless Wednesday Bloghop!  Be sure to stop by and comment on the awesome photos linked up there… and tell them Rays of Disneyland sent you!

I’m bringing my Disney World trip reports to an end today, but stay tuned for lots of fun this weekend as I blog my daily recaps of the D23 Expo!

Day 5

By the time Day 5 in Disney World rolled around, some of my least favorite Fibro symptoms had set in, so we got off to a bit of a slow start that morning.  We had dinner reservations that evening at Akershus with the Princesses, so our original plan had been to spend the day touring Epcot, but Toy Story Mania had alluded us thus far and we could hear it calling our names.  So, off we went in hopes to make it to the Studios in time to beat the rush or snag a Fastpass for early afternoon.  Apparently, however, this was a bit of a misguided approach, as by the time we scurried back to Pixar Place, the wait time was around 120 minutes and Fastpasses were being distributed for close to park closing time.  Bummer. 🙁

At this point we were just seven cranky, tired, hot, and hungry travelers, which probably made a certain Cast Member’s rude interruption of our conversation that much more appalling… as we were having a conversation among our party about the super long wait time, the Cast Member felt the need to insert his opinion about how we didn’t know what we were talking and even went so far as to scoff at Disneyland when we said we missed the lighter crowds there, “That’s because no one wants to go to Disneyland.”  Perhaps this Cast Member, along with the scads of other rude Cast Members we encountered in the World, need to go back to Traditions class and remember Walt and his vision for his theme parks.

Irritated and frustrated, our friends stayed in Pixar Place for photos with Buzz and Woody, while my mom and I headed to Star Tours to grab Fastpasses for a more reasonable time, and find that soothing balm that is Coffee.  Rejuvenated and re-caffenated, we all thoroughly enjoyed a ride-through on the Backlot Tour before returning to Star Tours for one last journey through the galaxy.  My hope had been to “go” to Naboo on Star Tours, and while the first trip had been awesome, I had fingers and toes crossed that this would be my chance… and, after a quick breeze through Hoth, we were off to Naboo! It was just as awesome as I thought it would be. 🙂  And, before everyone starts thinking that I’m an absolute loon with an affection for Jar Jar Binks, it was actually the underwater imagery of Naboo that appealed to me. 😀  It was so beautiful and the effects when the sea creature tried to eat our Star Speeder were way cool!

After Star Tours, it was time for the kiddos to head back for naps, but my mom and I stayed at Hollywood Studios for one of my absolute must-do’s… One Man’s Dream.  I hadn’t seen this exhibit since it’s refurbishment by D23 and I was excited to see what had changed.  I was, actually, really glad to see that most everything had stayed the same with the exception of a few new displays that were wonderful.  That D23 window display was amazing… I took lots of pictures just so I could go back and find all the tiny details that I had missed the first time!

After a quick stop in the Animation Gallery (and a great Vinylmation trade for an Urban 4), we headed back to the French Quarter to get ready for Akershus.  Unfortunately, getting to Akershus was easier said than done, as it took almost an hour to get there on the bus, and I ended up running through Future World to check in before we were too late.  As it turned out, there was no need for running because I couldn’t check in without my whole party being there.  Thankfully, we still made our reservation, but we had to wait extra long for a table because we were late.  So, maybe I already had a sour taste in my mouth when we were finally seated, but I have to say that I was largely underwhelmed by Akershus.  The tables are packed so tight that it was barely passable to get between our table and the appetizer buffet, only the kids were able to take pictures with the princesses because they were so rushed, and they were completely un-helpful when a problem with one of dining plans prevented part of the meal from being covered by the plan.  I had heard such great things about Akershus, so I was really disappointed that it didn’t live up to the hype.

We spent the rest of the evening strolling through part of the World Showcase and exploring The Seas with Nemo and Friends pavilion.  The girls really loved the Seas, so that was lots of fun, but it had been a long day, and I wasn’t really feeling the Disney Magic by that point.

This is really the first negative trip report I’ve ever written, and it seems unfortunate that a series of rude Cast Members and Disney blunders dampened my spirits for the day.

Day 6

Day 6 started at nearly Dawn with a 7:15 am reservation for Chef Mickey’s, which was a bit of a scramble as well.  Our friends made it with plenty of time to spare but my mom and I ended up running so late that everyone else had been seated before we got there!  Thankfully, however, the folks at Chef Mickey’s were happy to accommodate our incomplete party and even allowed us to re-take our group photo so we could all be in it.  The entire Chef Mickey’s experience blew Akershus out of the water, and I was so happy that we got a reservation with late notice… even if it was early in the morning!  The characters spent lots of time at our table, played with the kids, took loads of pictures, and signed all of our autograph books and Vinylmation.

Full and happy, we set off to check out of the French Quarter and finish up anything we missed at Epcot.  While we still didn’t get to see everything, our time at Epcot was really great and a super way to end our trip.  And with the first signs of rain we had seen on our whole trip (!) we set off for the airport, and waved good-bye, and hopefully see you real soon, to the World.

Disney World images taken with the Hipstamatic app for my iPhone…

Sassagoula Floatworks at Port Orleans French Quarter

Waterfall at the Polynesian

Inside the Tangled Meet & Greet

The Haunted Mansion

Donald in Carbonite at Hollywood Studios’ Star Wars Weekend

Italy Pavilion in Epcot

*Update: Thanks to Deb at Focused on the Magic for the awesome Disney Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop!

Our 4th day in the World was the only one that we had planned to split up.  Our friends were off to Animal Kingdom, and while my mom and I enjoy that park, there isn’t enough that we like to do to occupy more than a few hours.  So, we were off to Epcot for the day… and, for whatever reason, I was wearing a dress (more on that giant lapse in judgement later).

Epcot is definitely my favorite park in Disney World, so I couldn’t wait to get there.  I always get chills when you can finally see the giant Epcot “ball” breaking through the lush foliage.  It was fitting then, that our first ride was Spaceship Earth.  We hadn’t been on it since the changes had been made and, despite what I had heard on-line, I really enjoyed it!  I loved the “vacation of the future” part… very Horizons-like and very fun!

From Futureworld, it was off to the World Showcase for something sweet and breakfasty. 🙂  We ended up in the Norway pavilion and had pastries at the Kringla Bakeri og Kafe, which we had never tried, and it was amazing.  So yummy and so serene sitting on the patio, watching World Showcase guests stream by.  When our pastries had been devoured and we had soaked up every drop of peaceful relaxation that we could, we were off on a whirlwind journey around the World Showcase. [Read the rest of this entry…]

I hope one day to use this picture as the cover of my book about Disney Magic…

Rapunzel, Adventureland, and Nighttime in the Magic Kingdom

By Day 3 in the World, our group of seven had really hit our stride… breakfast in the Sassagoula Floatworks food court, a sizable amount of time spent waiting for and riding on the Disney World bus, then going as hard as the sun would allow until adults and kids, alike, would crash for naps in the afternoon.  On this particular day, we woke up extra early with one plan in mind: get to the Magic Kingdom as early as possible and get in line to meet Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.  Our hope was that if we got their early enough we might wait less than the three-four hours we had heard were to be expected when meeting Disney’s newest princess.  Well, we may have shaved an hour or so off that time, but it was still one heck of a line for the Tangled twosome.

The wait, however, proved well worth it, as everyone had a great time watching the girls dance and color, then taking pictures with Pascal, Rapunzel, and, the devilishly handsome, Flynn.  These Cast Members were spot on with their characters and they patiently entertained us as we took pictures of all of us, some of us, and everything in between, as well as signed our multiple autograph books and 9-inch Vinylmations.

Next up was a whirlwind tour of Adventureland, including a chance meeting with Ariel and Eric, the required Dole Whip experience, Swiss Family Robinson Tree House, and the Jungle Cruise… phew!!  By the time we had covered all of those tropical standards, it was definitely time for lunch, which was enjoyed at the Liberty Tree Tavern… one of my favorites. 🙂

Thoroughly stuffed and somewhat cooler, we headed in the direction of the Haunted Mansion.  While I love the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and the antebellum feel of the area, the old stone mansion on the hill in Disney World has always stood out to me.  Plus, I got to experience the new interactive queue, for which I had somehow missed all of the on-line “spoilers,” so it was a very happy surprise.  The girls loved the fun new elements while we waited as well, although, for the older of the two, the love affair ended as soon as we entered the Stretching Room… with part of our party on a beeline for the “early” exit, the rest of us waited in a crush of other guests for what seemed like an eternity for our Doom Buggy.  Between the oppresive heat and crowds, I really thought I might become ghost number 1,000 before we made it out! 😀  It turned out to be worth it though, as there were several elements that had been added since I had last riden the Disney World version, including the new effects in the mirrors at the end, which I absolutely loved!

Photo courtesy of Sue Sullard

After a quick ride on Pirates of the Caribbean, which, I have to say, always surprises me with its length and lack of detail compared to the Disneyland version, our friends headed back for naps, while my mom and I took a stroll through the rose garden between Main Street and Tomorrowland.  This little gem was one of the best hidden treasures that we discovered on this trip.  My mom is an avid gardener, and we both love roses, so I have no idea how we had always missed this part of the Magic Kingdom before, but even in the blistering heat, it was absolutely breath-taking!  What a special treat. 🙂

After re-hydrating and a nice, long nap in a very air conditioned room, it was time for some late-night, Extra Magic fun back at the Magic Kingdom.  It was a really wonderful night and one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  We had a quick dinner at Pinocchio Village Haus, overlooking Small World, then it was time to line up for Wishes!.  We found a great spot just behind Cinderella’s Castle, which was a completely new perspective on the fireworks for my mom and me.  We have never, in any park, watched the fireworks from behind the show, and it turned out to be really wonderful, even if some of the “shots” were a little too close for comfort for this pyrophobe. 🙂

Once Wishes! was over, we only had a short wait until it was time for the Main Street Electrical Parade.  This was one of the “must-dos” on my WDW list when we started planning.  For the past few years, I had, somehow, just missed seeing the updated Electrical Parade at Disneyland, so I was super excited that we were finally heading to Disney World and would have the chance to see the new Tinker Bell float.  It was everything that I was hoping it would be… absolutely twinkling and wonderful.  By the time the night was over, I was feeling particularly blessed to have the opportunity to take this trip and enjoy all of these wonderful experiences.