Sharing the Disney Magic with Family & Friends-DL Diamond Anniversary-DCA F&W Fest Kiosks & The End!

[jedijill]

I'm sad to miss you too @rentayenta !

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

Your meal looks mighty delicious! Great idea to wait until January 2. Fun to get a last ride on the train for a while. Sad that they're changing things so much though.

 

[Steppesister]

OH thank you for the roundtrip circuit on the train! I have such fond memories of riding it as a young girl and again in 2011 with my aunt. I love all the scenes in it, and hope they don't change much!

 

[Malia78]

Excellent Grand Canyon shots!

 

[PrincessInOz]

What an amazing meal!

Love the Grand Canyon pics.

 

[franandaj]

Such a nice final ride around the park! Nice to take all the photos to look back until all the construction is over in a few years!

I hope that the train reopens sooner than Star Wars Land!

What a fancy meal! I liked your entrees and deserts the best!

Glad you got to ride the train one last time. I'm so sorry they are changing this iconic Disney attraction. I guess the poor old Native American is waving goodbye You got some great shots in the diorama section. I love the old school, low tech features at Disneyland.

I hope that they don't change it too much. I know that they have to completely reroute the tracks between Critter Country and Toontown. They are bringing it in closer to the Rivers of America which will also be rerouted. I hope that the Indian gets to stay.

Looks like you had another very nice dinner at Disneyland! Not a bad way to kick off the new year, and I have to believe that waiting until the second was probably a good idea.

It was a nice way to start the new year, especially since our NYE turned out to be pretty cruddy (Fran got sick as in worshipping the god, but without the alcohol part.) So having a nice dinner I didn't have to cook turned out to be very nice.

I'm glad you had a chance to get one last photo session on the train before it went down for refurb. It will be interesting to see what becomes of it and what views will be offered going forward, but it really is sad that the frontier scenes will be missing from it. I know that the old steam engines traveling through the frontier was something that was near and dear to Walt.

Well hopefully they won't take out the Frontier scenes, maybe just modify them a little bit. It will be sad though that the train will no longer circle the whole park. Star Wars land will be outside of the train tracks from the map that I saw.

Your dinner looked mighty tasty! I love the DL train and the diorama due to its connection to the 1965 World's Fair and the Mustang exhibit!

I'm going to text you about meeting up on 3/11.

Jill in CO

Huh. I didn't realize that they rode around in Mustangs. I knew it was a Ford exhibit, but thought it was different cars. Makes sense I believe that was the year the Mustang was introduced.

Dinner looks great.

That was good that you were able to ride the Disneyland Railroad one more time when it goes down till the sometime in mid 2017. It is a shame that Disney is doing this but I can understand why. It is going to be disappointing to not see the trains run but it will be good to walk on over towards the other side of the New Orleans Square Station and see the steam engines up close. Your shots during the Grand Canyon and Primeval World are nice.

I was so sad when I went out there last week and the train was just parked there in front of Main Street station. Not going anywhere for a year or more.

Dinner looked very nice again and your photos of the Grand Canyon are stunning. Nice that you got to ride the Disneyland Railroad one last time.

Corinna

Thanks, I'm glad that I got one last ride. It got crazy busy that last weekend with everything that was closing down. People were flocking there for one last chance. I'm glad I did it early because I despise crowds.

Thanks for the RR trip around Disneyland. Still one of the best!

Hopefully when we do it again you will be a resident of So Cal and we can go out together when it reopens!

Your meal looks heavenly. I think the lamb there is so good; some of the best I have had. I am a terrible carnivore though.

I really liked the lamb too. I think it's getting high time I get another nice meal!

Thank you for posting a pic of my purse. I love love love it! The color is just perfect.

I'm glad that you love your purse and I could help in getting it for you!

Jealous you and @jedijill get to meet up in March. I will just miss her on her way back. We arrive 3/26 and she'll be there 3/25.

Well at least we will get to meet up. Hopefully for either lunch or something out at the park for F&W!

Your meal looks mighty delicious! Great idea to wait until January 2. Fun to get a last ride on the train for a while. Sad that they're changing things so much though.

Thanks! It was delicious! At least we know that Walt always wanted Disneyland to keep growing and changing.

OH thank you for the roundtrip circuit on the train! I have such fond memories of riding it as a young girl and again in 2011 with my aunt. I love all the scenes in it, and hope they don't change much!

It's mostly the part between Critter Country and Toon Town. They have to make the Rivers of America loop smaller to accommodate Star Wars Land. As a result the train track has to come in a little smaller as well. From the artist rendering that I saw they will be brining the train right up on the water's edge and adding some "falls" like effects next to it.

Excellent Grand Canyon shots!

Thanks!

 

[franandaj]

What an amazing meal!

Love the Grand Canyon pics.

Thank you!

 

[skier_pete]

I really missed the Railroad this trip, particularly the Diorama. Of all the things shut down when we were visiting, this is probably the thing I missed the most. (I also like it as a form of transport to get around the park on aching feet!) GRR would've been nice also on our first day, as it was like 89 degrees that day.

 

[franandaj]

I really missed the Railroad this trip, particularly the Diorama. Of all the things shut down when we were visiting, this is probably the thing I missed the most. (I also like it as a form of transport to get around the park on aching feet!) GRR would've been nice also on our first day, as it was like 89 degrees that day.

I can't tell you how heartbroken I was to enter the park the day with you and see the train just parked at the station. Going nowhere. It was just sad.

 

[DnA2010]

Your meal looks lovely

We did a few laps on the train during our Oct trip, I wanted to make sure I could remember it as it was.

Excellent Grand Canyon shots, DD was reading over my shoulder and signed and said, "boy it was magical seeing the Canyon, those pictures are like being back"

 

[Steppesister]

Hi Alison! Just visiting everyone and saying howdy.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Enjoyed catching up! Espically Thanksgiving as we don't celebrate that it is a wonder to me to see photos of all the lovely food! I am glad you enjoyed your time with your parents.

Great photos in the dark. How nice to dismeet and I love Jenny's purse!

Going a day later to avoid the crowds is a spot on idea. Meal looks great.

 

[franandaj]

Your meal looks lovely

We did a few laps on the train during our Oct trip, I wanted to make sure I could remember it as it was.

Excellent Grand Canyon shots, DD was reading over my shoulder and signed and said, "boy it was magical seeing the Canyon, those pictures are like being back"

I'm glad you got your "last trip" around the park. And I'm glad your DD enjoyed the pictures too.

Hi Alison! Just visiting everyone and saying howdy.

Thanks for stopping by! Sorry I've been so lax on this thread.

Enjoyed catching up! Espically Thanksgiving as we don't celebrate that it is a wonder to me to see photos of all the lovely food! I am glad you enjoyed your time with your parents.

Great photos in the dark. How nice to dismeet and I love Jenny's purse!

Going a day later to avoid the crowds is a spot on idea. Meal looks great.

Thanks for the compliments. Thanksgiving is a special American holiday. The only goal is to eat, a lot! Sorry you don't have it!

We had a great time and Jenny loved her purse. Hopefully I'll keep up better on this thread I only have 5 updates left!

 

[kaoden39]

Hi,

This is my first time on in a long time and I wanted to stop and say hi. I hope all is well with you both.

 

[franandaj]

Hi,

This is my first time on in a long time and I wanted to stop and say hi. I hope all is well with you both.

I'm glad to see you stop by. We're doing OK, hope all it well with you too!

 

[franandaj]

So it’s been a good while since I’ve been on this thread. With trying to wrap up the Christmas Disney trip and keeping the Mississippi river cruise current, I don’t think I’ll be done with that one by the time that we take off for WDW with Naked Jim!

Anyways, if you remember, we had just taken the train around the park for the last time in quite a few years. I had another thing that I wanted to accomplish which was finally check out the Star Wars Launch Bay in detail and not have to go rushing through there.



I was actually working on these pictures right about the same time that I was working on similar pictures from the DHS Launch Bay. What I discovered was that both of them have many similar pieces.















However, I do not believe that Rey’s costume was displayed at WDW, nor was her speeder.





The rest of the exhibits were mostly from the previous six Star Wars movies.











































[Continued Next Post]

 

[franandaj]

[Continued from Previous Post]

The exhibit room spilled out into a replica of the Cantina. I’m not sure if it was because it was a weekday or if they just don’t have the jawas walking around. I missed that from the DL version, but at WDW it was crazy to get a picture with them, the lines were long.







After the Cantina we went to see the 10 minute film that we had skipped at WDW. I was glad we didn’t take the time while at WDW, it was nice, but not anything special and it was the same thing at both parks. I’d rather take the time for things like that at DL than WDW (where I have limited time.)

At the entrance to the exhibit, I waited a long time to get this shot without people walking through it.



Then we headed over to the gift shop. We were on a mission, again something we had spied at WDW, but didn’t want to pay for shipping



We didn’t need any lifesize Stormtroopers or Boba Fett.





At SWW two years ago, Fran got this lamp for her nightstand.



We discovered at WDW that they also have “resistance” lights, so I got one of those for my nightstand.



They had tons of merchandise available.









This costume was pretty crazy!







I waited forever to get this photo without people.



Over here you could design your own cell phone case or something.



We checked out and loaded up all of our loot, and decided it was time for a little bit of lunch. Where is the best place for lunch in Disneyland? Plaza Inn of Course!







As usual it was DE-licious! It was about 3PM and we decided that we better get back home as people were starting to pour into the park for the last weekend of the train. However it was still Christmastime and there were a number of special treats that were still available. We stopped in at the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor for a Candy Cane Ice Cream. We split it between the two of us and it completely hit the spot!



After that we headed out of the park and back home. It would be next month and a very different day the next time I returned.

 

[DnA2010]

Oh wow those lamps are awesome! Do you remember how much they were?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

On January 11, the train was scheduled to close down for a year or longer. We decided on January 8th that we would head out so that I could get one last ride on the train and take pictures with my dark lens.

I like the way you think! Thanks for the photo tour.

And then we traveled through Frontierland….This whole part will be gone in the refurb.

And then passing by It’s a Small World….

The best way to see it!

And that concludes my ride around the park until probably 2018.

After the Cantina we went to see the 10 minute film that we had skipped at WDW. I was glad we didn’t take the time while at WDW, it was nice, but not anything special and it was the same thing at both parks. I’d rather take the time for things like that at DL than WDW (where I have limited time.)

Makes total and complete sense.

We discovered at WDW that they also have “resistance” lights, so I got one of those for my nightstand.

I sense a conflict brewing...a disturbance in the Force.

Where is the best place for lunch in Disneyland? Plaza Inn of Course!

Agreed!

 

[Mywishes3]

Love your reports, so much so I'm going to plan a trip to Disneland, I've gotten such great information from your reports - thank you!