Part I: Coast-to-Coast Disney Trip Report

We raced around, looking for an open one. Finally, we asked a security guard. He motioned us to the ones nearest Downtown Disney, saying that they were open. The ones visible to us over there appeared closed, but we headed that direction, anyway. Sure enough, when we went all the way around to the other side of the kiosks, we found two that were open!

We bought our Annual Passes and headed towards the turnstiles. Before the trip, we did a lot of research to determine what type of tickets we should buy. Since we tentatively plan on returning at Christmas, we decided to buy APs. Surprisingly, it was cheaper for us to get the Deluxe Disneyland AP rather than the Premier Passport (AP good at both DLR and WDW) because the Premier Passport doesn’t have a DVC discount and the individual passes do on each cost. Plus, we were only traveling on one of the Deluxe APs block out dates, and we had a free ticket for that day, so the Deluxe AP made the most sense.

We arrived at the turnstiles and discovered that our tickets worked! It was around 10:10 pm, and we were in Disneyland. Admittedly, I added in a bit of an ominous tone above to make things a bit more dramatic. I really was surprised that our plans went off so smoothly. I figured somewhere along the way we’d encounter a problem. I guess the McDonald’s curse didn’t come to fruition after all (or did it?!).

The one thing we hadn’t thought of was which attraction to do first. Our nighttime standby in the Magic Kingdom, the TTA-Peoplemover, was out, as Disneyland doesn’t have one. We opted for the next best thing, and rode Pirates of the Caribbean.

That morning, I had woken up early, as I always do on the mornings of our trips, to find news that the day before, Disneyland had started construction of the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides viewing area. Even though we didn’t experience the Sailing Ship Columbia, Davey Crockett Canoes, or Mark Twain Riverboat on our previous visit, nor have we ever ridden the Liberty Belle at Walt Disney World, I was really upset by this news, which would put all of those attractions out of commission. Part of it was from a photos perspective, as I just didn’t want the mammoth seating area in any of my shots. Part of it was because I actually thought “this might be the trip” for those attractions. Of course, you always appreciate things more once they’re gone.

When we walked past the construction for the first time, I realized it would interfere substantially with photography, and also thought of a new problem it would pose: traffic flow. It wasn’t so bad at that point, since it was late at night, but it was pretty clear that it’d be worse during the day when crowds were at their peak.

We took advantage of the low crowds that evening and hit some other big attractions: Indiana Jones Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, the Storybook Land Canal, and Space Mountain. We accomplished quite a lot in under 2 hours, I think!

While in the Haunted Mansion stretching room, I pointed out to Sarah that this room stretched more than its Florida counterpart. She looked at me with one of those, “well no shit, Sherlock” looks implying she had noticed that a while ago. For whatever reason, I had either missed this last time, or forgot about it. Although we do seem to have far too many, “wow I just noticed that for the first time,” there’s also a running joke between us that there are probably a couple things about which we say this every trip, and just forget that we noticed it–and said that same line–on the past trip. I think this probably falls into the “forgot I noticed it” category. It stinks that I am already becoming absent-minded, but I guess there is some upside: there are plenty of things I’ve experienced before that will suddenly become “new” again!

I was a little nervous that night about taking photos. I practice very little at home, and due to that, the first day of our trips I often have a lot of creative rust that I have to overcome before getting good shots. Because of this, last August I wandered Tomorrowland somewhat aimlessly, taking half-hearted shot after half-hearted shot on our first night. On this evening, I was torn between attempting to redeem myself by getting some good shots in Tomorrowland or shooting New Orleans Square for the first time at night. Both options had their pitfalls: if I attempted to conquer Tomorrowland and failed yet again, it could be an insurmountable blow to my confidence; if I committed to New Orleans Square and found nothing worth photographing, it would be a waste of valuable shooting time.

Eternally game for a challenge, I opted for both. Well, sort of. I snapped a couple of shots in Tomorrowland that I found sufficiently satisfying to yell, “IN YOUR FACE, TOMORROWLAND!” and then we headed to New Orleans Square for more shooting.

I discovered that New Orleans Square was definitely better for daytime shooting due to its myriad of impressive details, but managed to grab a few good shots in the area. We then headed to Adventureland.

After Adventureland, it was off to Main Street, where we took in the ambience, background music, and general leisure of Main Street, USA in Walt’s original Magic Kingdom.

Sarah’s photo of me setting up for the shot immediately above this one.

As you can tell, we grabbed a few more photos on Main Street before heading out. All in all it was probably my best night for photos of the trip, and that’s probably because I put so much pressure on myself. Although I was tired from being awake for nearly 24 straight hours (thanks to the unfavorable time change), I still wanted to play, imploring Sarah for a few more shots on the Esplanade.

She reminded me that every minute we were out then meant another minute of the park being open the next morning because we’d be sleeping longer. She sort of killed the fun there, but I’ve got to admit that she was right. We walked the short distance to our hotel and I snapped some photos and video of our room for TouringPlans.com and the Unofficial Guide. Nearly twenty-four consecutive hours of being awake will certainly wear you out!