Disneyland Trip Report, Part 3

Monday, July 18th. It was exactly 50 years ago this day that Disneyland opened its gates to the General Public. As a Birthday gift to me, my birthday is today, my parents had planned a road trip to the Park that day. So, since my sister and I had been there on that opening day, we planned this day to re-enter together and spend the day just enjoying the Park.

Before going into the Park though, my sister joined myself and my friends from South Carolina for a "Birthday Breakfast" at I-Hop next to the hotel. Gail brought me a nice coffee cup with the state map of S. Carolina and information about the state printed on the cup, and a medallian with the state seal and flower and other things stamped on it. JD drew me an original picture in colored pencil of the Disney and Squaresoft comupter game, Kingdom Hears. He did it all freehand and picked out the matt and frame. You can bet this is going on the wall near my own Kingdom Heart Diorama. He drew it all freehand, and it's very good. Patrick paid for our breakfast and then they had to leave as the shuttle to the airport showed up. Lots of goodby hugs all around, and then they were off and so my sister and I headed on over to the Park for our day at Disneyland.

Now this was the third day in the Park for me and Irene had been there not too long ago, so we did not have to rush all over the place to see everything. But we did go on Space Mountain, we saw Asimo the robot from Honda that is on display at Innoventions. I took a bunch of pictures and here are a few:

Here is Asimo arriving in his Shipping Crate. He walks out of the crate and accros the stage.

ASIMO stands for Advanced Step In Motion.








Here is Asimo as he walks across the stage:



And here he is climbing stairs, a very difficult task for a Robt. Asimo is the only free walking robot that can both climb and descent stairs.

His show in Innoventions, in Tomorrowland, is given every hour on the hour.








After seeing Asimo, we left Innoventions and I saw the Rocket Ship ahead of us on the exit ramp and thought it would make for a nice picture:



This is a smaller version of the 80 foot tall TWA Rocket to the Moon that used to stand in front of the attraction building that you can see in the background. Now it is a misster for a beverage stand below it. The old Rocket To The Moon building is now a Pizza Place.











We also went on the Matterhorn and several other rides while we sort of wandered around and had a great day. At one point my sister, Irene, took this picture of me by the Nemo Wall that is around the submarine lagoon ride which is being redone to a Finding Nemo Them. I guess it's called "Bruce, meet Bruce" as the shark in the movie is also named Bruce.

We then headed to Fantasyland and I got the following pictures of the Sleeping Beauty Castle all decked out for the 50th, plus some shots around the Snow White Grotto. All this area has really been spruced up for the 50th anniversary.

The Castle has been repainted using shading in the coloring of the "bricks" and also has gold bunting drapped around the turrets. Also all the turret tops have been "crowned" with gold plated princess crowns, each crown represented a 10 year span of events at Disneyland.

You can see the turrets better in these photos.




The Bridge Across the Castle Moat has also been re-painted.





Here is a view of the new 50th medallian above the entrance.


Across from the Castle on the right side, is Snow Whites Grotto. The wishing well has been repainted, the grate work inside has been replaced with a new grill decorated with 24 carate gold leaves and finally, the grotto itself has been cleaned and repaired so that it looks brand new.


The Wishing Well.













The inside of the wishing well has been replaced with an all new Grill. All the money that is thrown into the well is collected twice a year and donated to Children's Charitties.





The Grotto has been scrubbed clean and looks like new.

Inside Fantasyland I caught a glimpse of the Evil Queen looking down on the crowds of people in "her" courtyard. She doesn't look happy.
After Fantasyland we headed over to Adventureland and rode Indy, then over to Haunted Mansion but it was not working. We never did back to ride that. We have been on it many times so it was not that big a deal.



We then went over to DCA and I took some pictures of The Tower Of Terror after we rode it.


















After this we rode the California Screamin' Roller Coaster, then left DCA and the Park for a take out lunch from McDonalds which is right across the street. We went back to my Hotel Room to eat and rest. Irene went back into the Park as I was really tired. I went over a couple of hours later and we met at the Train Station and went on some more rides and shows. We were basically killing time until the fireworks. We saw the afternoon Parade. Here are some pictures of the 50th Annivsary Parade.


Peter Pan and Tinkerbell are in the first float.











The second float is Beauty and The Beast













The third float is Pinnochio








The Little Mermaid is the fourth float.












Ursula follows as the fifth float.














The Mad Tea Party, from Alice in Wonderland is next.






The Lion King is next.


The final float is all the Princesses, Princes and Mickey and Minnie as King and Queen. Goofy, Donald and Chip & Dale are also around in court garb.
After the Parade we found a place to sit and wait for the 9:30pm Fireworks. It was over to the side in Carnation Plaza next to the Castle. It was a strange viewing area but we had real seats to sit in. After the fireworks we made our way to the Fantasmic viewing area, found a place next to the Center Light tower and had a 1/2 or so wait until the 10pm show. It went off without a hitch. After that, we were both kind of worn out, so it was time to head back out and over to the motel were Irene had parked the car. We said our goodbyes and I went in to bed. A very tiring 3 days, but it wasn't over yet. I had one more day to go, and that one turned out to be the worst day of the lot.

Next: Trip Report #4 will be the final day, and my trip home and what happened when I got there.