One of my previous Project 365 photos was a look at my countdown clocks for various trips.  I’m revisiting that today but with a focus on one particular countdown.  In 10 hours I’ll be boarding a plane for Orlando.  Then its one day at Disney World (Hollywood Studios and Epcot) and a week on the Disney Dream. Can’t wait!

This is what I did on my Friday night while the wife was out-of-town. I know, crazy stuff, eh?

Our Magical Express vouchers arrived today for our Disney cruise trip later this month!

Check out photos from my first day of D23 Expo (pre-expo). No captions yet. #d23expo

So here we are in 2011 and I’m sitting in Anaheim as I type this getting ready for the start of the Expo tomorrow (actually today since it is after midnight).  I arrived in Anaheim this afternoon and kicked off the trip with some quality time in the parks. I won’t go into detail here, but wanted to hit some of the highlights.

• Southwest Airline Express Bag Drop—Love this! If you’re checking a bag and already have your boarding pass, just scan your pass, hit the number of bags you check, and you’re done!
• Southwest Early Bird check-in—Again, love this! I don’t love that it costs $10 each way, but I like not having to worry about checking in 24 hours ahead of time to secure a good spot in line.  Today I had two A passes.  I’d never get that checking in manually.
• Eden Roc Inn & Suites—I’m on the trip by myself because Kristin didn’t have any extra vacation days.  To help keep the costs down, I went for a budget hotel… a really budget hotel.  I found Eden Roc which is right next to the convention center and across the street from the resort area.  My daily rate is $42 which is hard to argue with, and the room isn’t bad.  Fridge, microwave, everything looks well-maintained.  Nothing fancy on the outside, but it is perfectly adequate for my needs.  The one downside is the problem with all budget hotels… scratchy towels.  I’ll live
• Grand Californian Hotel—I cut through going to and from the parks and the place wows me every time.  Very reminiscent of the Wilderness Lodge at Walt Disney World, one of my favorite hotels at that resort.  Would love to stay at GC someday, but the daily rate is just insane. Not sure when I’ll ever want to spend that much on a hotel.
• Star Tours 3D—Wow! The new Star Tours is a worthy successor to the original.  The original ride was fun, but was overdue for an upgrade.  The new scenes and special effects coupled with the 3D and topped off with different combinations of story-lines really make this an E-ticket ride. My only quibble is the continuity issues. I only rode it once so only experience one random sequence. Mine went from the Battle for Hoth to a battle over Coruscant with Old Republic and Separatist ships. Ummm, OK. Looks good, so I’ll let it slide.
• Haunted Mansion—My favorite attraction. Have to say though that after years of being the better haunted Mansion between Disneyland and Disney World, I think Disney World HM has equalled or surpassed the Disneyland version.  Disneyland still gets Haunted Mansion Holidays overlay for Christmas so that helps make up for it.  During the holidays, Disneyland Hm is superior again.  The exterior is better in DL too. Love that it isin Orleans Square, my favorite land in Disneyland.
• Pirates of the Caribbean—DL version is still better than WDW and always will be. To bring WDW up to par would require a complete reconstruction of the ride which is not going to happen. DL is longer, sets the mood better, and has been plussed in so many ways.  The battle between the pirate ship and the fort is just one example of a scene that just feels more rich and detailed than its WDW counterpart.
• 3 Cheese Monte Cristo at Cafe Orleans—I think I’m burned out on Monte Cristos. Thought I’d try the cheese version for somethign different, but it was just too rich and there was too much.  This is an entree for two!
• California Adventure Rehab—Lot of work still ot be done, b ut it is looking good.  Amazing to see Cars Land from afar.  Going to be a huge addition to the park.  Good to see so many people in the park at night. Shows it is finally living up to its potential.
• The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure—This dark ride replaced Golden Dreams, the Whoppi Goldberg movie about California history.  Very well done with some of the most amazing audio-animatronics yet. The motion is so fluid and the skin acts like the characters’ skin does in the animated feature.  Truly brings the characters to life.
• World of Color—Doubble Wow! Makes the Ballagio dancing fountains look like squirt guns.  Not to be missed show.
• ElecTRONica—This is the nightly Tron-themed dance party at CA. I loved Tron Legacy and the music, so I really enjoyed this (even though I don’t dance).  Great music (think BBC Radio 1 or SiriusXM BPM) and great theming.  The Laserman Reconstructed show was simply amazing.  Hard to describe but the performer on stage, costumed like a program from the Grid interacts with laser light as if it was an actual object. Just amazing to watch.

Should stop there.  It is 1 AM and I have an early day tomorrow as the convention starts.  I uploaded some photos and need to change some settings. Will post a link later.

We made our way down to the Magical Express area only to find the longest line I’ve ever seen for ME. We were a bit concerned but the line moved pretty fast, so while it took longer than we had anticipated, it really wasn’t long until we were on the bus.

We arrived at All Star Sports (Not our preferred level of resort, but we wanted to minimize the costs for the trip… we miss you Wilderness Lodge!) and put the new online check-in to the test. The idea is you provide all your info ahead of time and check-in by showing photo ID and picking up your pre-printed materials. Honestly I’m not sure we saved all that much time. Perhaps if the lines had been longer for regular check-in, the advantages may have been more apparent. Would definitely do it again however.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that we were in Surf’s Up building 1. Nice and close to the pool and main building but with a room facing away from the noise around the pool. We settled in, changed into warm-weather clothes, and headed for the bus to Downtown Disney. We were easing into things with a park-free day. After arriving at Downtown Disney we spent the rest of the day shopping and eating.

Lunch was at Earl of Sandwich (love their bread), and dinner was at Cooke’s of Dublin (fish and chips!). We’re on the Disney Dining Plan this trip. Used to be a better deal when the tip and appetizer were included for table service meals, but you can’t beat the free dining promotion. Our only complaint was the inclusion of a dessert item with every quick meal. It is OK if the venue has a fruit option, but not ever one does.

We also did some shopping though not as much as in previous years. Nothing was all that compelling. We were disappointed that we couldn’t find a Chipbacca or Mashter Yoda Star Wars Potato Heads. Will check Hollywood Studios and keep our fingers crossed. We had our real dessert at Ghirardelli. As usual there were way too many people there for their seating area. It doesn’t help when people hold a table waiting for the rest of their party to arrive. Wish the staff would police the area and reserve seating for people who have ordered.

We also took the boat up to Port Orleans Riverside (aka Dixie Landings). We honeymooned at Dixie Landings and it remains a favorite of ours. We checked out the Christmas tree in the lobby then boarded the boat back to Downtown Disney. During the trip we had a good look at the reconstructed treehouse villas. Very nice. Curious how many points these go for.

Other than walking through Pleasure Island to move between the West Side and the Marketplace, we never did anything there. I’m not one to go to a nightclub or dancing, so there wasn’t much there for me. I did always want to go to the Adventurer’s Club though since it sounded like a fun “Disney” experience, but I guess that isn’t in the cards. Would have stopped by in April if I had known what was coming.

I can understand why people assumed that the blueprints were correct and didn’t check them against the actual cars.  I am surprised, however, that no one did any simulations of the cars as designed on a model of the track.  These days it would be a simple matter for the designers to check clearances this way.