Most of the time when you read a trip report to a Disney theme park, it is of one or more days of a multi-day visit. But as someone lucky enough to live within 35 miles of the park and an Annual Passholder, a day at Disneyland is often a different experience for us "locals." Below is a brief report on a visit to Disneyland made by Kathy and myself on Saturday, September 7.

We decided to go to Disneyland as a last "hurrah" before Kathy had to go back to work as a teacher on Monday. So we got to bed early on Friday and woke up early on Saturday to make our drive down to the Happiest Place on Earth.

When I was younger and my family would go down to Disneyland, we often woke up to be at the park at opening and wouldn't leave until they kicked us out at closing. But as an annual passholder, we are able to set different hours, knowing that we'll always have a chance to get back in the near future and not having to worry about getting our admission price's use out of the day.

But getting there early, especially on a weekend day, still allows us to avoid the crowds and the morning light makes for some great pictures around the resort, so up and out the door by 7 a.m. were we.

The Disneyland Resort seen from the Mickey and Friends parking structure. The Sunwheel and the Maliboomer are to the far right, Grizzly Peak is left center and the beginning of the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is to the far left.

This is really the only time to drive the Southern California freeways anyway and we made good time to Anaheim. We parked on the Donald level of the parking structure and had a great view of the entire Disneyland Resort. The sun was still rising from the east and cast a golden glow over the entire complex. I had seen Paradise Pier from this vantage point before but never noticed Grizzly Peak poking his head above the Grand Californian Hotel. And we could see the superstructure of the Tower of Terror rising. Man, is that thing going to be big!!!

Instead of taking the tram, we like to walk to the main entrance. There are actually two directions you can walk ... one path parallels the tram route while the other takes you through Downtown Disney. We like going through Downtown Disney to see if there is anything new and exciting, even though most of the stores aren't open yet. We looked at the showtimes for movies at AMC and considered coming back later in the day to check one out.

After getting to the ticket booths and esplanade area, we went to visit our brick. We bought one of those pavers with our names and wedding date and we make it a point to visit it every time we go to Disneyland. It is a nice tradition, and since we were engaged and married at Disneyland, it brings back nice memories when we see it.

Disneyland had just opened so we got out our annual passes and made our way through the turnstyles. Disney's California Adventure wouldn't be opening for two more hours so we didn't have to choose which park we wanted to hit first. There were plenty of gates open and no guests around so entry was quick, even with having to have my fanny pack checked by security.

The purpose of our visit was twofold ... for me to get some more pictures for StartedByAMouse.com's Wallpaper of the Week and for Kathy to go shopping. With great light and few guests in my shots, we took pictures around different parts of Main Street, in the Hub, into Fantasyland and around the rest of the park.

Fantasyland, usually the most popular land at Disneyland's opening was mostly empty this first Saturday morning after the summer season.

Fantasyland is almost always busy, even upon opening so we were surprised to see how empty the land was. We took a brief break from snapping pictures to ride Peter Pan's Flight, which had no line. I had heard that they had gotten rid of the blocks in the nursery that spelled out "Di5ney," so I was happy to see them there still.

After a few more pictures, we found ourselves at it's a small world. I must say that having seen the new white-and-gold paint job of yesteryear in person, I'm more disappointed than ever that they ditched the colorful facade. It is just boring looking - not elegant. The gold does show up better with the white paint job but it just doesn't do anything for me.

Kathy and I peeked in the Toy Shop before deciding to go on the ride. They sat us in the middle row, presumably to keep the boat balanced, since there were no others riding with us. And there were no people in dozens of boats ahead of us and no people in dozens of boats behind us. We literally had the ride to ourselves. How fun!

From there, we continued our photo safari around the park and up into Critter Country. Kathy had patiently waited for me to take my pictures so I decided that we should start our shopping back in the woods since we probably wouldn't come that way again. After quickly looking through the store, we were in Teddi Barra's Swinging Arcade when I noticed that one of the games had a credit on it. So I played. And as I did, Eeyore came up to watch, followed by Tigger and Winnie the Pooh. They stopped by on their way to the break room from their photo spot right outside the arcade. It's nice to be able to interact with them like that.

We decided that we were hungry at that point, so we got breakfast at the River Belle Terrace. It has become a tradition to do so ever since my mom, sister and I would eat there when visiting the park for a birthday. Our "Steamboats" (scrambled eggs, pancakes and choice of bacon or sausage) were tasty as always and we were ready to head out for more shopping afterwards.

We looked through New Orleans Square and headed up to the Disney Gallery, where Eric Robison was signing lithos. His 100 Mickeys display is coming down soon so we are looking forward to seeing what's next.

Then we went shopping through Adventureland and down Main Street U.S.A. When I say shopping, it doesn't usually mean buying. But today Kathy was determined to find and buy the new Disney Theme Park version of Monopoly and the new Haunted Mansion version of Clue. We decided to get them both at the Storybook store - an annex of the Emporium. They come in a cool tin boxes and cost $40 each. Kathy can't wait to play them and they will become the subject of a future Kathy's Collectible Corner, I'm sure.

We decided to hit up more of the stores on Main Street and Tomorrowland. We stopped in the Market House on Main Street and played a game of checkers, which is one of the hidden treasures of a visit to Disneyland. Kathy almost had me until I made a double jump that put the game into a stalemate draw.

In Tomorrowland, we checked out the new pin shop, which wasn't that big of a thing and then saw the new Star Tours action figures released into the Star Wars collection at the Star Traders. I was tempted to buy but didn't.

We decided to take our games back to our car in the structure so we headed back down Main Street towards the exit. Kathy loves getting her hand stamped, especially at Disneyland, because she likes to guess the character's name of the day by reading the "invisible" ink, even though a hand stamp is no longer required of annual passholders.

We took a quick trip through World of Disney before hopping the tram to the structure. As we were walking to the car, I saw a family eating a picnic lunch out of the back of their car and remembered when our family used to do that to save money on meals at Disneyland. It was a nice memory and made me appreciate the fact that I can now eat inside the park whenever I want now.

After dropping off the merchandise, we decided to do our other favorite "secret" activity -- getting a cold drink and sitting in the White Water Snack Shop of the Grand Californian Hotel. It is in the very back of the resort hotel and I'm not sure how many people know about it but we love sitting in this traquil place, which actually lets you look into Disney's California Adventure, and enjoy a Coke or water. Kathy also had a little something to eat for lunch. After our batteries were charged, we went to DCA.

Here's another secret ... anybody can use the special entrance into the park from the Grand Californian Hotel. It is restricted to hotel guests only if you are making your first entry of the day. But since we had already entered Disneyland, we were able to use the entrance. Using this entrance was one of the things I had looked forward to when we first stayed at the GCH because I didn't know that it really isn't that restricted. On one hand, I'm disappointed that nearly anyone can use it, but on the other, I try to use it as often as I can myself, even if I'm not staying at the hotel.

Grizzly Peak is one of my favorite icons to photograph. This vantage point is from a walkway that you can take down next to the final drop of the Grizzly River Run attraction.

Going to our second park of the day meant whipping out the camera for more pictures. I'm obsessed with Grizzly Peak so I took a couple more shots of it before walking through Paradise Pier. It was later in the day but the park still wasn't that busy. The wait time for California Screamin' was three minutes.

Kathy got a grape-flavored ice cream cone and I got a Coke float from Catch-a-Flave and we sat down on a bench and watched the launch of the California Screamin' cars. It was fun. The wave machine is on again since they've taken down the stage over the water from the summer Rockin' the Bay series, so it was fun watching the water splash up every so often. And it is a lot of fun to count the launch. After hearing the breaks completely let out, you can count to three and the car will launch. Simple things make us happy, I guess.

"a bug's land" is the new name of what was once the Bountiful Valley Farm. BVF will now be a part of a bug's land along with It's Tough To Be A Bug and the soon-to-open Flik's Fun Fair. Part of the mural in the background is being painted over to reflect the name change.

Over at the farm, there is a new entry sign to "a bug's land." Flik's Fun Fair is still boarded up though you can see the entry from in front of the walls. And did I mention that Tower of Terror is going to be big? The structure can really be seen towering above a bug's land.

We went to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and just happened to time the start of another Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It show so we decided to go in. It looks like they got rid of the taped Regis part at the beginning, which I thought was a little lame anyway. The host was pretty good and joked well with the first contestant. I missed the 100-point question so I knew I wasn't getting in the hot seat anytime soon but it was still fun to play along. After the first guy left and they called up the second contestant, I was determined to make a good showing. And I did, seeing my seat number come up on the big board in the No. 9 position. Kathy had been No. 10 before and I was jealous so now I regained some bragging rights.

At one point, they kept showing this little girl two seats down from me on the big screen. She was really cute and danced and blew kisses. It was pretty funny. But her dad was in the running for the Hot Seat and I think he wanted to keep playing. I guess a show after ours found someone winning the Million Points. It was the third time this week that someone had hit it.

At this point, it was nearly 5 p.m. and the heat and the walking had taken its toll on us. We tried to cool off and rejuvenate ourselves back at White Water Snacks again but to no avail. Kathy wanted to keep pressing because we were having such a great time. She had also wanted to eat at Soap Opera Bistro but wasn't hungry yet after breakfast and lunch. But I know her pretty well and knew it was time to head home so we walked back to the car and bid adieu to the Disneyland Resort.

So off we went, after a pretty full day's adventure. For us, a trip to the Disneyland Resort isn't as much about how many attractions we can take in or how much we can push ourselves in order to "do" everything. We enjoy each other's company more than anything else. We like the sights and the sounds. We like to people watch. Kathy will shop and I'll take pictures for the website. We enjoy our atmosphere.

And we always know that we'll have a chance to come back and enjoy it again. It's a different mindset to those that are visiting as part of a vacation. And after a day like this, we are appreciative that we have the opportunity to spend time with each other in our favorite place in the world.

- Story and Photos Matthew Walker
Posted

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