Trip Report - February 26, 2009

Another trip report? I stopped by the park yesterday to try and get some photos of the bank vault door (they’re at the end of the report) and I took a few other photos as well. You may recall my digital camera died a couple weeks back, so please do not adjust your monitor, these are taken from my 10 year old digital camera.

The “What will you celebrate” promotion seems to be quite popular; the ticket booth lines are at least 5 times longer than this same period last year.






The Mickey planter looks silly, I guess he’s “celebrating”?






Sorry I ate half of my “Seasonal” muffin before the photo. It was Apple & Cinnamon and was yummy.






I’m sure this sign has been there for a while but I never noticed it.






Look what I found inside the Plaza Pavilion. The new Annual Pass Center! Hey look who’s in the reflection in the glass.






In this slightly better photo you can see they have a Mr. Lincoln attraction poster framed on the wall; (a) Nice Touch and (b) does this mean we get our Great Moments back with Mr. Lincoln?Also on the wall, next to the Mr. Lincoln poster is a Vintage Park Map, nice touch again!






Pretty colors at the hub.








Three fences is doing just fine. Please Disneyland, never remove this spot, I’ve grown quite fond of it.






The mighty Matterhorn was water-less and guest-less.






Closed for “Seasonal” improvements. I’ve read they are installing new seatbelts (Indiana Jones type) that should shorten the load times. There was no trace of them on the bobsleds that were parked out front.






These are hard economic times we all know, but spackle and paste won’t fix this!!!






Monstro seems to be turning baby blue? Also, check out his teeth, the dude has caps!






In this June 21, 1969 press photo you can see Monstro’s real teeth. Just like a Hollywood star, Monstro has had “work done” on his appearance.






Pardon the blurry photo but I did notice a themed pay phone as a shout out to my friend over at Meet the World.






A so-so picture of the River's of America and the Mark Twain, but check out the ducks, they are both just about to land. The ducks reminded me of the emergency duck landing from the Mission to Mars preshow. I miss that corny attraction.








The doors to the Veranda Café where I get my Beef Gumbo bread bowl. Why are there bars on the upper windows, they are on the upper windows in the front of Pirates of the Caribbean too, but they are no where else in New Orleans Square?






Is this room actually stretching? “No Flash photos please” Ok, I got in trouble, but I was the last one out of the room...






Look who I found in Bear Country! He was more than happy to have me take his photo, I even shook his hand, I mean paw.






Just when you thought the ugliest thing you’ve ever seen was the “celebrate” decorations on the lamp posts (link) this comes along. Ugh.







Following up on Daveland’s magnificent post about Walt’s apartment, complete with bathroom photo (link), here are the pipes for said bathroom.






And now, for the Vault Door. These are the best photos I can get. The lighting is bad, my old camera is, well, old and I obviously don’t know what I’m doing!






Looks like they do use the inside, at least for storage. I asked if I could see the “front” of the vault door. They told me they aren’t supposed to move the door. I bet it still works and they’re worried it might get locked. I was told the Bank will remain the AP center until this summer.

Trip Report - February 3 & 11, 2009

It’s time for another trip report, this one is actually from 2 separate days, most photos are from February 3rd and a few area from February 11th. There’s a ton of photos in this report, it covers the 2 days and commemorates the loss of my digital camera (rip).

Tuesday’s in early February have very short wait times to enter the park. The cast member on right was spinning the turn style over and over, inflating the daily attendance numbers?






Always fun to see the cattle cars at the Main Street Station upon entering the park.






Not sure what was going here, this was right at opening time.






The flag pole usually has some kind of landscaping, but today it looked like my back yard!






Just 8 days later it was spring time at Disneyland! By the way, notice the shadows? The above photo was taken at 10am, the one below at 3pm.









Looking back at Daveland's Bank of America post (link) here’s a photo of the bank in August 1956.






Here’s the Bank of Main Street today. Hopefully the exterior will remain the same after the Disney Gallery moves in. If you missed my vintage B of A at Disneyland post, check it out here (link).







A few interior shots of the bank. I hear they may keep this area as a check-out location for the Disney Gallery, boy would that be great!












You’ll have to cope with a blurry photo of the vault door; my camera didn’t make it long enough on my second trip to get a second look.






Look who I found outside of the bank! What happened to his right shoe…






This is the only gas light post I could find without all the celebrate stuff smothering it.






Café Latte from the bakery on Main Street, better than Star Bucks!






The castle looking great, a small construction wall for the ongoing repaving project.





One of my favorite spots in the park, hey check out the roof on the concession stand on the right.







This is from Walt Disney World last July, I never noticed Disneyland has similar roofs!






Off to New Orleans Square for my latest favorite Disneyland lunch.






The Steak Gumbo bread bowl is no bargain at $9, but it sure is tasty and there’s never a long line at 11am!






Here’s the bread being delivered. If you zoom in you’ll see the bread is fresh and dated for “2-3”, also the Veranda has reached a new sales record according to the themed banner on the door.





Now that I'm full of steak gumbo, bread, crackers and coke (can it get any better?) let’s take the Circle Tour on the Disneyland Railroad.





The only one waiting for the train was me! I felt special….

I felt so special that I rode the caboose to Toontown Station! If you ever get the chance to ride the caboose be sure and do it.






It’s old but in great condition.






The back area with the observation deck is locked and off limits, however it looks ready to be used at any moment.






It’s a charming ride, but the windows only go up as much as you see, it gets a little stuffy in the summer.






Original detail, yes I touched it.






Who is this man and why was his standing backstage on his cell phone? If you look closely you can see the monorail at the end of the clip.

Exiting the train at Tomorrowland station to go check out the Majestic Matterhorn and Tomorrowland.






The big falls aren’t falling today.






Here's some Disney magic, water gushing at the bottom of the falls but no water from above!






Have I missed this for the last 31 years?






The water is flowing nicely on the eastern slope.






Note to Disneyland: Fix this already before the whole thing comes crashing down on unsuspecting sirloin burger eating guests! Don’t make me say “I told you so”.






And if you’re not going to fix this, I want one of those square tiles please.






I like this.






Back on the train heading into Main Street Station.

Jumping the train and stowing away on the Mark Twain, here a shot looking at the petrified tree and the Golden Horseshoe. If you look real close at the far right side of the balcony there is a table setup with a wine bottle and wine glasses that appear full, nice touch!






Maybe the train from Nature’s Wonderland will come chugging down those tracks any second.






Then again, maybe not.






The dolls on the clock at It’s a small world are in fabulous shape, shining like new, as does the rest of the attraction.






Heading over to the Tiki Room I stumbled into this chap, I think he needed a cigatette break.






Now we’re talking! This is so yummy it’s hard to describe if you’ve never had one. Also notice the generic “what will you celebrate” napkin created in Photoshop 1.0. Nice Tiki costume!






I try and steer away from bathroom humor here on the blog, but I couldn't resist. Did you know the Tiki Room has its own bathroom just outside the main entrance doors? I’ve been told these are original to the attraction and their tiny size would indicate they are probably old.






Don’t you love that door? I didn’t go near the women’s door, it was weird enough that I was taking pictures of the mens bathroom!






Here’s something you don’t see on the “In Walt’s Footsteps” tour. I’ll bet my Dole Whip that Walt walked on this exact floor. That pattern is “1963” for certain, the sink and “other” appliances have been updated with water savers, but the floor and tiles look original.






Now heading out on the monorail to get a few photos of the Disneyland Hotel. The Monorail got some new windows and they look great. The upper half is fully open making for a much welcomed and familiar ride.






On my way to find the Dancing Waters Fountain, I found these water falls were roaring away so I took this photo.





That was the last photo from my camera, it died right there, all alone, just me and my Olympus. It was really weird, all that water rushing is loud and kinda spooky when you’re alone. In fact, they entire “Disneyland Hotel” property was eerily quiet and spooky.