Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

[Melonballer]

Hello again,

Its been awhile since I posted a bunch of pictures of one of my Disneytrips. To be honest I got a little bored with them, but I figured what the heck, I only have one DL trip left to post anyways (got a couple wdw trips too, but they can wait), so lets post it.

Day 1:

Anyways I returned to the Disneyland Resort in Nov. 2003, 11 years after my last visit. I had flown down that morning and had reached my motel in time to get to DL around 1:30 or so. My parents and sister were going to join me later, so I wanted to get a look around and absorb some magic on my own. I went ahead and did the thing I always do first, rode the train around the park. After the grand circle tour I got off in New Orleans Square. One of the big reasons I was there was for the Haunted Mansion Holiday and it was a walk on. I was blown away with how cool it was and got back on immediately. After that I headed to Critter Country and rode Winnie the Pooh since it was a new ride. The CM working the ride gave me grief over my Spider-Man shirt and I told him, that I had just got there, so give me a chance to buy a DL shirt. I rode in a car to myself and spotted Max, Buff, and Melvin. I got a chocolate topped rice krispy treat at the Pooh shop. At this point I rode rides like POTC, Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones (another ride I had not been on yet).

Anyways I started wandering around the park taking in the sites. I started to wonder where my family was at (they where driving down) and tried to call them. I got no response so I called the hotel and asked them if they had checked in. They couldn't tell me. So I continued taking in sites and rides. At some point I was wandering around Triton's gardens and saw Ariel. I was instantly smitten with the young lady in the clamshells. However, I was too cool to get my picture with a Princess, so I moved on (remember this for later). Around 4 I was wondering where they were at, but had not been able to reach them. So I called my little sister in Seattle and asked her if she had heard from them. She said no, so I told her about HMH and some of the other neat stuff I had seen. I was leaning on the railing in NOS and looking towards Le bat en Rouge. Sure enough here came my Mom, Dad, and big sister. We rode HMH a couple times and did lots of other stuff. But, enough report. Here are some pictures.

Haunted Mansion Holiday.





some decorations in NOS.



My Mom, Dad and older Sister in front of the castle. I had to lay on the ground to get this shot.



The Disneyland Christmas Tree at night



Decorated tree in Downtown Disney. I loved the way these looked.

[Melonballer]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Day 2: It Begins

Well, we went to DCA for the day. Of course the first thing we did was head to Soarin. We had fron row center seats. Now my sister Laurie is obese and short and she had a hard time climbing into the seat. She might have been a little nervous too. My dad gave her a boost into the seat and we got all buckled in. When we took off my sister Oooed and held her arms out like she was flying. She loved it. Without a doubt its her favorite ride at DCA. After that we explored the park and visited the muppets and saw them testing ToT. My sister loved the Animation Building with the clips of movies. At lunch time we ate at Ariel's Grotto. While we ate the Fab 5 (minus Donald) came around in seaside outfits for pictures. At some point they wheeled Ariel out on her seahorse chair. My mom saw her and asked me if it was the same Ariel I had seen the day before. I told her it was and she told me that I had to get my pciture with her. I replied that it was not necessary and besides there were kids waiting for her (which there were). She said OK. However, once the crowd disappated she brought it up again. I felt kind of silly, but my mother said non-sense and lead me to Ariel. Here is the result.



Anyways, here are some pictures from around the park.

The Sun Wheel



California Screamin' from the SunWheel



Cowabunga Santa!



At some point my Dad and I rode Grizzly River Rapids. After the Kali River Rapids incident of '99 my mother always brought disposable ponchos with her. After we got off the ride we gave them to a man and his daughter.



We Stayed the day at DCA. I would not say it is my favorite park, but I had fun and it wasn't as bad as all the Disney websites seemed to say.

We ended the day with the Electrical Parade.

The Blue Fairy



Casey Jr.



Bathing elephant



America Tribute!



My mother always took pictures of the Electrical parade when we went to Disneyland and the ones she took on this trip were some of her best. The look on my sister's face when the lights went out and the music started was priceless.

Ok thanks for reading along. I'll post the rest in the next day or so.

[Fishbulb]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Those are some really good pictures. How could you remember such detail about the trip from 3 years ago. My goodness! Good stuff!

[Melonballer]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Those are some really good pictures. How could you remember such detail about the trip from 3 years ago. My goodness! Good stuff!

I have a really good memory. If you think 3 years is impressive you should look at my Disneyland trip threads about my 1992 and 1986 trips.

[frecky]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

awesome photos.

[hollywood1939]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Ahh, Main Street Electrical Parade. Nice photos!

[Melonballer]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Ahh, Main Street Electrical Parade. Nice photos!

Thanks for the kind words everyone. If you want to see some neat pictures of the Electrical Parade, check out my 1979 thread. It has shots of floats such as the "its a small world" float.

[Melonballer]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Ok so here's some more. I'm gonna forget about the day stuff cause I don't honesty remember if this was day 3 or 4.

On the Friday of that week my cousin, his wife and their daughter joined us in the park for the day. They live in Southern California and have passes. It was the first day of its a small world holiday, so we went to take a spin. Now my father and I decorate his house with something around 6500 lights. We were amazed at the lighthing on this ride. Here are some pictures, note that most of these are not in chronological order. My mother and I took a ton of pictures.





I don't see this angle often.




Inside the ride:



I really liked the mermaids. I think the fact they sing a different song is awesome.







In Frontierland we met up with Pocahontas, whom my sister got her picture with. Of course I also got my picture with her. It was around this time my mind started thinking, "I wonder how many princesses I could get my picture with. I was over my character shyness and started hunting princesses. I don't believe I got many that day, but I will post more about my princess experiences later.

In Adventureland one of my all time favorite DIsney moments was about to occur. Our group got on the Jungle Cruise and my cousin's daugther sat right next to the steering wheel as seen here.



her mom wasn't sure if she should touch the wheel, but the skipper said it was ok. Well we were off, exploring the jungle, seeing the sights and laughing at the puns. Now I should point out that this little girl has been going to Disney theme parks since she was at least 7 months old. Also she's pretty bright. When we got to the Rhino scene the skipper turned his back to her and started spieling about the scene. At that moment she decided it was time to become a real skipper and she reached up and pushed the throttle. Off we went! It only lasted a second or 2 because the skipper flipped around and said 'no no sorry dear, you just use the steering wheel, ok?" Of course the boat was laughing hard.

more to come...

Edit: On reflection this was day 3. We ended the day watching the Holiday fireworks and being snowed on.

[TanyAnnette]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Wonderful photos!

[hollywood1939]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Again, wonderful photos, thanks!

[Melonballer]

Re: Pictures from Melonballer's 2003 Disneyland trip

Ok let's wrap this up. We spent the weekend at Knott's Berry Farm and at my cousin's house in Hemet. In the time I had left in the park I planned on getting as many pictures as I could with princesses/face characters.

When I entered the park I found Alice waiting for me.



We wanted my sister to get pictures with her favorite characters so since I had to wait anyways, why not get some at the same time. Unfortunately, most of my pictures were not very good due to shadows, but here are a couple of my sisters.

My sister with Aurora



Aurora is probably her favorite princess, with the possible exception of Snow White. I really liked this Aurora. Out of all the princesses I met she was the friendliest and made me feel the least silly about asking for a picture. She says to me as I approach, "Now, who's this handsome prince?" I responded with "Anthony M'Lady. Could I trouble you for a photograph with you?" "Of course" she responded.

Here is my sister with Snow White at the wishing well, tossing coins.



Snow White was great too. Here's the statuary.




We got Aurora, Snow White, Cinderella and Belle all at the same time.
I got Mary Poppins at lunchtime. She asked me how I was doing and I responded "Well, it's always a jolly Holiday when you are around Mary". I got a big smile for that.

The aslt couple days at DL we reroad a whole lot of ride. On that trip I rode HMH 14 times. Since my sister was in a wheelchair we got to ride in the unstretching room and from the exit to the loading area on the Doombuggies. We went to the DIsnye Gallery where I got a couple prints. They had a great Haunted Mansion display there at the time including these dresses from the movie.



I got a picture of the oogie Boogie Replica at Cafe Orleans.



It took a little time to get a picture since the line was between Oogie and me.

That night my Mother and sister went back to the hotel and my dad and I roamed around. We road Indiana Jones and got on the rides almost immediately while fantasmic played. As we left Indiana I decided to catch a late night Jungle Curise. My mother never wanted to go at night, because she felt she would not be able to see anything. My dad and I had a great time. My favorite moments was when I saw another boat going under Schweitzer falls and the skipper was having a light switch rave.

The last day I spent the morning and afternoon in the park. My parents were spending the night there but I had to catch a plane around 8pm. It was a great trip. Finally here is my picture with my favorite character, Donald.



Thanks for reading and all your comments.

PS. In case you are wondering, yes I am wearing a Cedar Point Millenium Force t-shirt.