Frozen Takes Over DCA!

As you probably have heard by now, the nightly event "Mad T Party" has been replaced by Frozen. I'm a huge fan of Mad T Party. I think it's fun, entertaining, and a great theme for both adults and kids. When I first heard about Frozen replacing Mad T Party, I was pretty disappointed. I didn't feel like Frozen is as versatile of a theme as Mad T. To me, Frozen was target more towards the younger audience.
Now this doesn't mean that I totally despise the new "Frozen Fun" at DCA, my friends and I decided to check it out for ourselves

Another Year of Disney!

Since the summer and my job as a stilt walker at Magic Mountain comes to an end, it was time to renew my Disney annual pass and revisit the happiest place on Earth. 
First thing we did (even before we turned our one day ticket into an annual pass), was to run to the new Star Tours. Since there are different ride combinations, we got a fast pass and then hopped in line. It was nice that we got to have 2 very different ride experience. I have to admit, I totally geeked out both times. Here are some photos:

First ride of the day!

A storm trooper guards the ride

Woohoo!

Gunk Droid fast pass =P

The next ride on our list was The Little Mermaid at DCA. I was thinking it would be a 30 minute wait, but it was only 5 minutes! I loved the Little Mermaid ride, it made me feel like a part of the movie, and love the transition of going in and out of the ocean. Check out my on-ride video:

After hitting the 2 rides I've been waiting for all summer long, we took our time walking around, doing a little pin trading, and seeing all the changes they've made to the parks through out the summer. I especially love seeing the progress they've made on Cars Land. We even got to see "Laserman: R3CONF1GUR3D". Have you seen both versions of Laserman? If so, which one did you like better? I think I liked the original version more, but there are some cool visual effects in the new one as well.  http://youtu.be/Ug8-pynRiTA

And my blog wouldn't be complete with even more pictures! Here's more photos on Disneyland/DCA updates and more!

Cars Land is taking shape!

New entrance of California Adventures

Same ride, different look.

I almost got both of them!

Light pin trading this time ;)

That's all for this one. Thanks for reading and check back soon for more!


-Dee

Sunday, March 27th

Impromptu trip to Disneyland on Sunday evening! We had so much fun and there were so many new updates at Disneyland/DCA, like the Cars Land Entrance, Remember Firework, Fantasmic Meleficient Dragon returns, and more! What's best, is that it wasn't over crowded or freezing cold or rainy =)

Our first stop was California Adventures since it closed first, and we usually have the best luck at finding pins there.

Here's a look at the updated Cars Land Entrance:

The Cars Land entrance has updated since my last blog entry. Now it has more of a Grand Prix look and also promotes the Cars 2 movie

 

 

On our way to look for pins to trade, we stopped by the Mission Tortilla Factory and found this guy... 

After a couple hours at DCA, we moved on over to Disneyland. We started off in Tomorrowland and SWING DANCING! I've heard of swing dancing at the Tomorrowland Terrance, but its usually only on Saturdays, so when we heard the big band music we had to stop by and drop in on the dance floor =)

Swinging the night away with the Rumble Kings! Sorry for the bad quality picture.

I wonder if they'll continue to have swing dancing on Sunday nights for the duration of the non-peak season... or what's left of it, ha ha!
After dancing, we wanted to get in line to see the Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides sneak peek at Big Thunder Ranch, but the line was reeeeaaally long, so we went on Big Thunder Mountain instead. We'll hit up the POTC sneak preview next time and I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures.

While we were waiting in line for Big Thunder, we caught the Remember firework show. I've never seen it before, and I have to say I liked it a lot! The show is basically a montage of all the different attractions at the park, complete with theme music from each ride.


Another update, the Meleficent Dragon in Fantasmic is back! I know this specific dragon has been in Fantasmic before, but I've never seen it until now, so I took this opportunity to take tons of pictures:

 We ended our night with dinner at the River Belle Terrace, best turkey sandwich ever! And if you ever stop by there, get the Strawberry Shortcake Parfait. Soooo good!

And on our way out, we stopped in at the Disney Gallery where they were showcasing "Magic On the Water", the artworks were okay, but it was these guys that really intrigued me...

Looks like something out of "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" or perhaps from the movie "Atlantis"

Looks like a concept model of an attraction... bumper boats perhaps?? What do you think?

Another model. Very much resembles a Gondola, maybe they have them at Tokyo DisneySea.

 

And of course, here are the pins I got from tonight:

 Top Row, left to right:

- Jasmine Morocco. This one is from Epcot. They have different princesses with different countries.

- Princess Jasmine. I've gotten this one before, but since that was a scrapper I threw it out and was very lucky to have found it again (and real this time, haha!)

-Ariel WoC. The back says Travel by Disney, and it looks like the pin showcases the World of Color and the big Mickey ferris wheel.

Bottow Row, left to right:

-Donald Duck Cupcake. I've been dying to get my hands on these! I know I can buy these in the stores (7 pins in a pack), but I just didn't want to pay $30 for them. So happy I found this one!

- Mickey Strawberry. Enough said =)

-Castle from The Little Mermaid. I believe this is a part of a series as well, with different castles from different movies.

I hope you enjoyed all the updates and pictures! I'll be updating again soon. My annual pass expires in May and I probably wont be renewing it until after the summer break. But don't worry, I'll still be updating through the summer.

Thanks for reading!

~Dee

Spring Break

Disneyland on a Monday... sounds like a relaxing day with no crowds or long waits for rides, right? Only we forgot one tiny detail... SPRING BREAK! When my boyfriend and I decided to go to Disneyland on Monday, we didn't think about that. So we didn't get to do some of our favorite rides like Space Mountain, Matterhorn, or Indiana Jones (We had only planned to be there for half day, and fast passes had already reach 5:45pm by the time we got them). So instead, we got on some rides with short lines... like Winnie the Pooh!

Walking around both DL and DCA, we noticed how far the new rides and additionals are coming along. The Little Mermaid ride is really starting to take shape, and I can't wait for it to open. But the progress of Cars Land is the most impressive to me.

Say hello to King Triton!

Little Mermaid archway taking shape

Another angle of The Little Mermaid ride

Wow! Look how far Cars Land has come along

Entry way to Cars Land?

More Cars Land progress

 And of course, our day at Disneyland wouldn't be complete with some good ol' pin trading. Here's what I got:

 From the top row, left to right, is Tinkerbell. This pin is awesome, it looks like Tink is peeking out for behind your lanyard! Next is Aurora in her pink dress, with Belle in her yellow ball gown next to her. And the last one on the top row is Belle and Chip with the words Au Revoir written on it. The back of the pins says Adventures by Disney.
Bottom row, left to right, is Zazu and Scar fromThe Lion King, the last one is Minnie dressed as the bride from Haunted Mansion. Back of the pin says GWP (Gift with Purchase). I believe she's a part of the series, which includes the Daisy Madame Leota pin I got a while back.

I was a little sad that we couldn't stay the entire day, and it felt like time just flew by. Not sure when I'll be coming back to Disneyland... I hope at least a couple more times before our passes expire in May. Then we won't be renewing our passes until September.

Late for a very important date!

 Thanks for reading! Check back soon for more updates on the Little Mermaid ride, Cars Land, pin trading, and more!

~Dee

Valentine's Day Weekend 2011

Thinking of going to Disneyland on Valentine's day weekend? Don't do it! We went down there and it was pretty packed. I remember going on Valentine's day weekend last year but I don't remember it being so busy. We got on about 4 rides... Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones (Fast Pass), Monsters' Inc, and Toy Story Mania. By the time we got to Space Mountain and Tower of Terror, the fast passes were all out and the rides were at a 65 minute wait. We thought, "Oh well! We can go on the rides next time. Let's do some pin trading!". That didn't really work out either...
I don't know if, it's because it was busy, but for a Sunday (as some people would call it, "Trading Day") not many Cast Members had on lanyards. Usually on Sundays, I've found some pretty cool pins to trade. This past Sunday, I only traded about 6... and nothing that I really want to collect, except for the Mickey Skellington one =P

Top Row: Tinkerbell from Disney Cruise Line, Mickey w/ Sorcerer's Hat, Flying Tink, and a Minnie from DLRP.  Bottom Row: Mike & Sulley of Monsters' Inc, Hop Low from Fantasia, Daisy as Rapunzel from Disney Adventures, and Mickey as Jack Skellington.

Since pin trading wasn't going so well, we decided to check out Downtown Disney and take a break from the crowd. And there was a swing band by the ESPN Zone! So we stay for a while and danced. Lot's of fun! The band played a lot of songs by the Andrews Sisters (I love their songs). 

V-Day weekend was also the last weekend for the Lunar New Year Festival. The weekend of 2/18 will be the last Family Fun Weekend, and Disneyland will be celebrating Mardi Gras! I think it'll be over at the New Orleans Square. I want to check it out, but the forecast is saying that it'll be raining through the weekend, so we'll see!

Thanks for reading and I hope I'll have some cool pins to show you next time!


~Dee

 

Sunday Feb. 7th

Super Bowl Sunday = busy day at Disneyland. So much for my theory of it being empty... apparently everyone else had the same idea. So we didn't get to go on many rides, but we did get to trade tons of pins! We also checked out the Family Fun Weekends event. This past weekend (and this one coming up), they're celebrating the Lunar New Year. 
They had a the whole Thunder Ranch set up. An area/stage for dance and martial arts demonstrations. Picture areas with Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale, and Mulan & Mushu. They also sold various tea and other asian treats in carts. Here are some pictures from the event:

Happy Lunar New Year everyone!

I caught a quick view of Chip as he was leaving

Me with Mickey and Minnie, all dressed up

Dancing Mushu

Mulan & Mushu

Fan dancers

The Dragon dance

The Dancing Lions

A beautiful ribbon dancer

This picture is too cute! A little girl all dressed up and looks like Mickey is eating her face =)

And as for the pin trading, we got some pretty good trades! I think I traded about 9 or 10 pins totally. I even got a cool limited edition 100 pin of the Pixar Short "Birds" of a cast member. See the pin in the picture below:

Pins I traded from this weekend. I love the Pixar "Birds" one.

 I also complete the Little Mermaid Hidden Mickey set with the seashell Eric. And I even found another Disneyland Paris pin! It's the Tinker Bell full figure one (looks like she's doing a pirouette).

Hope you like all the pictures. Until next time!

~Dee