Friday, February 27, 2009

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.


11 comments:

  1. Another great trip report. Thanks for the shout out...and the phone pic! I'm hoping that they are somehow going to leave the lobby of the bank intact and just convert the back area for the Disney Gallery. Isn't the new Gallery supposed to be accessed from inside the Opera House anyway? I guess I won't hold my breath.

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  2. Tim - Please do not post photos of apple cinnamon muffins unless you plan to share with the rest of us. Now I am extremely hungry for one! Great trip report as always - love the details that you point out.

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  3. good job, and thanks for bringing back the memory of "the emergency duck landing from the Mission to Mars preshow." wow, i had so forgotten about that.
    your next mission (if you choose to accept it) is to uncover the secret of those bars in NOS. hummmmm, the mind is racing.
    really good post. thank you.

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  4. I always love your trip reports! I was comparing an old photo of Monstro with the one you took, he not only got caps but his head looks re-sculpted. New details around the mouth and eyes, and he's been smoothed out (he was pretty bumpy in the old days). The baby-blue is an odd choice though...

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  5. Yep, Monstro got painted a "friendlier" color. The same thing happened to Eeyore. In 1966 his was a gray donkey as described in the books, but sometime in the 70's (I think) he got painted blue as well.

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  6. I look at these pictures and I think "Nobody does signage better than Disney." New signage, old signage - it's all very good and very uniform. This is something that could easily be done on the cheap but rarely is.

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  7. Just got back from 8 days in Orlando. Though I've been there several times over the years - I really tried to see it through the eyes of a 10 year old (the age I was when I first visited). I posted a side-by-side
    photo on my blog showing me then & now outside the castle.

    http://dougsploitation.blogspot.com/2009/02/you-can-go-home-again.html

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  8. Monstro was also given a lower jaw and a partial set of lower teeth at some point. Take a look at your B & W photo and then check him out the next time you're at the park (they are hidden behind the rocks in your color pic.) I don't know for sure when they added them, but they aren't original.

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  9. And, yes, old Honest Abe is coming back...

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  10. Very nice. Considering you couldn’t get any closer to the vault those shots are pretty good. Thanks. That 1969 shot has got to be a Grad Night.

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  11. Fantastic trip report! Your detail shots are amazing.

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