Trip Report - October 22, 2009

Tuesday was an exceptionally nice day at the park with that made to order Anaheim weather and low crowds. I got to the main gates at 8:15, with the park opening at 9:00. The “Magic Mornings” guests get to enter the park up to one hour early. I got a place right in front of one of the gates. The ticket taker reminds me of my Grandma.






At 8:40 they opened the gates and let everyone get right up to the turnstile.






A n t i c i p a t i o n…






At 8:42 the let us in! No running please.






Let’s peak back into the New Disney gallery. My cheap camera just has a fit with this poster.






Look what we have here, something new – a Silver Plated “E” Ticket!!! I almost bought one, but it wasn’t in my budget for this trip. It looks like it’s the 1959 version and also comes with the neat-o 1959 replica book.






The little note on this beautiful machine says its been in Disneyland since 1955. It's really a shame it’s not operating anymore, but a least I can stare at it endlessly (and trust me, I do).






The candy makers were hard at work making Nuttles!








Fancy for no reason other than to be fancy, Disneyland at its best.






The Matterhorn as seen from the Plaza Gardens.






You’ll notice an ongoing theme in the bulk of the photos to follow – no people! I love people as much as the next guy, but I gotta admit; I love “Disneyland under Glass” – that’s the first few hours on a weekday in the off season. Large sections of the park are mine for the taking.






There’s plenty of things to complain about in Southern California, the weather isn’t one of them.






One empty log after another, only about every 5th one had guests. Not much of a wait at 9:30am.






Paging the Omega man.






Not only did the canoes have no line, they had no cast members either. I guess it was self service day? Tempting indeed.






This is Anaheim, are you sure?






I could handle one of these by myself… yeah right!






Answering the age old question of where “does a bear go in the woods”.






New Orleans Square was freshly cleaned and oddly devoid of people.








My usual hang out at Disneyland.






My alternate hangout in Disneyland is “Club 30”. I saw an “Otis Elevator” man go in this door; it looks like a small hallway inside?






No one ever pays any attention to this guy, he’s just all alone is this weird little courtyard room.






Just behind that courtyard and in between two shops are these unlocked, unobserved stairs.






Were do these stairs go? There wasn’t even a sign that said “Cast Members Only” and no one was around. I was a good boy and resisted the urge.






Zocalo Park has a fun and funky mood to it.






It gets extra funky with this guy when it’s just you and him.






Heading to the hub I found this magnificent animal.






Let’s follow the trolley around the hub for a bit.

Work is still being done on the castle moat. I want that job so bad!






Look, you get to play with lots of pretty paint colors, just like the old cartoons!






Poetic isn’t it?






The vintage ticket booth is looking splendid. It was missing its top in my trip report from July (link).






Three fences of course is looking good as well.






Anyone familiar with the Matterhorn queue line knows this is a welcome sight.





Drinking fountains for all sizes and an emergency defibrillator, what will they think of next?






Groovy Baby.






“Discover the Joys of National Motoring”.






The controls look simple enough – I am really liking that vintage brass & wood steering wheel!






Who do you think would win in a race to Town Square?






He said he had gloves “somewhere”…






I’m hungry so it’s off to the Bengal Barbeque.






In my last trip report I raved on and on about the Chieftain Chicken Skewers at the Bengal Barbeque (link). Warning **Don’t get them now** They now are using small gross rubbery grey chicken chunks that I wouldn’t feed to a dog. I couldn’t even take a picture, as it would be considered indecent. I rarely return food, but this time I ran back up there and said “what is this?” The super nice CM (Jose) told me they just changed the “type” of chicken last week, it’s now a “mix of white and dark meat”, yeah, from road kill!

Anyway, Jose tried to give me a different skewer in exchange, but I couldn’t decide on which one so he gave me all three. Two are beef which were ok but I’m not a big beef on a stick fan and the asparagus bacon wrap thing was different. I should have asked for my money back, but as nice as Jose was, he didn’t seem to offer the returning of my money. The Bengal Barbecue is off my list!






Time to visit Tom Sawyers Island. I have only been to the island once since the Pirates took over and I’m ready for them to leave anytime. This visit however had a purpose.






My memories of youth are right there in that bubbling water…






There are some nice views from the narrow center of the Island.






It's brilliant how Splash Mountain whips you out by the river just for few seconds, great sensory overload.






The reason I traveled over to the island was to see the recently reopened “back trail”. Just to the left of the fort entrance there is a trail that follows the river bank all the way to the back side of the fort.






This path has been closed for a while; I think ever since they removed the original fort and replaced it with a Home Depot version. The path just reopened last week.






It’s a great path, not as “improved” as the others on the island.






There are several sections with no rail or fence; you could actually fall into the river here, just like the old days.






As you travel up the path, it starts to bend around behind the fort.






I will confess this much - many years ago we would go to this spot and do things you are not supposed to do in the park.






Turning around as the trail ends gives a great view of the river and the Hungry Bear Restaurant.






The graveyard is back behind the fort. It’s not as large as before, but nice to see its return.





Here’s a little video walking on the trail heading back to the front of the fort. Don’t watch this video if you suffer from motion sickness.

This is the only train I saw on this visit to the park. The Disneyland Railroad and Casey Jr. are both down for refurbishment.






Somehow I always end up on the wrong side of things!





It's just past noon and time to leave. Still light crowds and not a ton of people arriving.






The fall flowers seemed a little less vibrant than a couple of weeks ago (link).






Ghost Goofy stole some kids Churro and he almost ate it.






This is for Major and all the poster fans out there. It's very hard to get a picture of this due to the reflections, but I thought you’d find it amusing. Is that the sub from the original poster with Alfred Hitchcock and a smiling Hitler in the windows?