Trip Report - May 4, 2009

Monday was a beautiful day at Disneyland; the next two weeks are my favorite time of year to visit the park. The crowds are almost as low as late January and the weather is usually outstanding, as was the case on Monday.






Mickey looks a little goofy in the current floral arrangement, but people still flock to him, me included.






The less photographed side of the train station.






The “Lincoln Theater Restrooms” are being refurbished. It probably has something to do with the upcoming Disney Galley moving into the bank area. The men’s room was woefully small in this area, I wonder if its being completely re-done?








It’s been a while since I’ve seen these doors closed, this time its nice to know who’s coming back!








Spring is in the air and everywhere at Disneyland. Over the last couple of years I’ve really come to appreciate the landscaping and amazing amount of work it must take to keep it fresh and new every day.







Walking by the Candy Palace the smell was intoxicating.






This “Palace” is so much fun to watch in action. The equipment all looks pretty old and original.








Vintage vent grill and fan.






Today’s yummy specialty.







Disneyland’s “intimate” size works great when it not crowded, I love just watching the Main Street vehicles travel up and down the street.

Out at the hub there was lots of color, these even smelled like they just came out of that refrigerated case at the florist!






That tree with the yellow leaves was more vivid than this photo suggests, truly magnificent.






What do you know, here’s some more yellow!






This shot was actually in the discard pile until I realized if you look close in the background, the Astro-Orbitor is GONE! (Well most of it). I Didn’t even notice it was gone, do I hate it that much it’s just removed from my mind? Disney; Please don’t put it back; really, it won’t be missed.






Ducks own Disneyland. This duck leisurely waltzed right past me within about 3 inches, he seemed a little annoyed that he had to alter his path around me.







A brief visit to Frontierland. More pretty colors.








Zero line for Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road at 10:30, I rode it twice; “It’s the wildest ride in the wilderness”!






You can’t see it in the previous photo so I tried to zoom in with my camera; there are two real birds at the top, they were black and matched perfect with the fake birds down lower on the attractions. Do they have a contract with Disney?






What a great tree.






Did I mention it was a beautiful day?






These flowers where over by the New Orleans Square (at Frontierland) train station.






Splash Mountain was also looking extra nice today, I was temped to ride it. It was getting warm and the line was short, but I was not up for wet socks.






Way back in Bear Country and way back in a store that I think used to be the Mile Long Bar or the arcade, there is another active candy shop!






She is making marshmallows on stick, dipped in caramel then dipped in milk chocolate.






Once again, the smell was intoxicating.






This time I gave in, I got one (without the “celebrate” stuff). Oh boy, these are worth every penny of the $4 they cost. At first I didn’t think I could finish it, but I did. It was pure bliss.






Retro-land.






Three Fences is fine and doing its spring thing.






While taking the Three Fences photo, Monorail Orange came zooming by.






Loyal blog reads will know I’ve been chronicling the crack on the Monorail cement awning in Tomorrowland ever since the crack started last year (September 2008 w/old Monorial), (December 2008), (January 2009) (February 2009), (April 2009) They attempted several fixes, mostly spackle and paste, all attempts failed and it just kept getting worse. A much large construction wall reveals a much larger problem.






As the next four photos show, a major portion of the 1967 cement monorail awning has been removed. It looks like rust was coming from steel plates within the cement and it looks pretty bad. At first I thought they tore out park of the PeopleMover track, but that’s on the other side of the beam, whew.












Here’s a little more than half of whats left of the awning.






The awning ends here as the monorail beam goes over the Matterhorn area. Notice the rust in this area too; I bet the entire vintage awning will be removed. What will go in its place remains a mystery. We could get a metal shield like the one in the Orange Monorail photo up a few pictures.





Here’s comes the Blue Monorail, she’s prettier than her Orange sister!

The Matterhorn was looking majestic as ever, the water was more than a trickle, but could have been turned up one more notch.






Not growing on me yet, you?





Ssshhhhh everyone quiet please, the band is about to begin.

A great Gurr-Mobile! They sure keep this machine clean as a whistle.






Nothing too complicated here.






Be sure and get your hand stamped.





Here's current gate flyer. Nice that it still has a BIG map inside, it's neat to see a lot of people studying this map at the park. Oh and what will you Celebrate?