Laura's Disney Lines

Warning: This is going to be a rambling collection of various observations.

On Friday, September 26, the first official day of Disney's HalloweenTime, I made a day trip to DL with my friend Kristin(e). (Spelled Kristin, but pronounced Kristine - got that?)

Weather was beautiful and the crowds were minimal - the longest line we waited in all day was 20 minutes for Toy Story Mania. We practically walked onto Space Mountain at 11:30 that morning. And even Soarin' and Grizzly Rapids had less than 15 minute standby lines - we really didn't need Fastpasses, though we used them a few times. (Since it was Friday, I'm sure crowds at Disneyland picked up in the afternoon/evening, but we left at 6:00, so we missed that.)

Disneyland continues to have big problems with the Indiana Jones attraction - it was down when I was there last month, and it was down when we walked by it just after park opening. We went back later and it was up, and we got as far as getting into our jeep and belted in - and then it stopped. And after a few minutes the lights came on. And then they started sending Cast Members into the attraction to walk people out of it (which would have been really cool, but we weren't in the attraction at all!) They gave us a Fastpass to return later, which didn't end up happening, but Kristin gave it to a group of very nice young teenage boys who rode Grizzly Rapids with us. Anyway...seems like Indy is in major need of an extended rehab.

Haunted Mansion Holiday is back, and still a lot of fun, though I didn't notice any new additions to it this year. But I took a few movies inside (movie mode on my camera handles low light a lot better than still photography!) and noticed something I'd never noticed before: the gingerbread coffin on the table in the ballroom scene has a lid that opens and closes, with a gingerbread man corpse that sits up then lays back down! The scent of gingerbread in the air is a nice touch.

Other things that have returned in Disney's HalloweenTime:

The Halloween displays along the tram route.

The huge pumpkins over the Disneyland park entrance, and the large Mickey pumpkin in Town Square.

The Dapper Dans on Main Street in their orange and black striped vests

Woody's Halloween Roundup in the Big Thunder Ranch area, with live shows featuring Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye - and your host, Tex Tumbleweed (and sponsored by Cowboy Crunchies!)

Free coloring crafts for kids at Woody's Roundup, or there are bat and pumpkin-shaped Halloween cookies available to purchase and decorate.

The pumpkin carver at the Roundup

Special menu and food items - especially sweets like Halloween-decorated apples and cookies.

Lots of Halloween merchandise - both quite a collection of Nightmare Before Christmas stuff and Disney Halloween plush, pins, Mickey ears, etc.

Goofy's Candy Corn Acres at DCA, which features character greetings and "corny" shows.

Over at DCA, one thing that is NOT back this year is the Halloween decorations around the Tower of Terror - the last couple of years there has been a glowing-eyed bat banner outside, and decayed Halloween party decorations inside, but those were missing this year. Golden Screams has also not returned.

I collected menus from some of the Disneyland and DCA restaurants, and there have been some significant changes in the Blue Bayou lunch, dinner, and kid menus. Price is up, of course. Cafe Orleans also has a few changes, though mostly in their dessert items and the kid's menu. I think the kid's menus were changed just about everywhere that I looked. More "healthy" options - like a turkey dog, or string cheese, fruit, and yogurt, or a turkey wrap. All kid's meals come with fruit (e.g. grapes or apples) though parents can request chips or fries. Prices have gone up slightly - most kid's meals start at $6.99 now - and the price of the Arroz con Pollo Toddler Meal has gone up from $2.99 to $3.99.

Ariel's Grotto had the most significant changes, though - they have completely redone their menu with more of an Italian theme. It actually looks a whole lot more interesting to me - I might actually consider eating there now. They've also changed their pricing - $29.99 if you eat outside, and $31.99 if you eat inside. (Sorry, I didn't get a kid's menu for Ariel's, but maybe someone has one they can photograph and send to me???)

Some of the updated menus:

Blue Bayou Lunch

Blue Bayou Dinner

Blue Bayou Kids

Cafe Orleans

Cafe Orleans Kids

Tomorrowland Terrace (updated kid's menu)

Ariel's Grotto

Wine Country Trattoria Kids

(You can always find all the menus on our Disneyland Menus page.)

We had a very nice lunch at the Wine Country Trattoria at DCA - that's one menu that had NOT changed at all. With the demise of the Vineyard Room, that's my favorite park table service restaurant now. Kristin had the Tuscan Salad and I had the Chicken Bruschetta Salad. They were both really good.

An unexpected surprise - I ran into my IRC friend JD in line at Soarin'. I knew he had an upcoming trip to Disneyland, but thought it was in October. After Soarin' we all went to Grizzly River Run - JD and I got drenched, but Kristin escaped most of the water. It was nice to see JD!

Toy Story Mania continues to be way fun - Kristin had never been on it before but she had a good time, and she scored very well - better than I did my first time!

(If anyone would like to help with All Ears menu updates for Disneyland, please let me know - it can be as simple as taking a picture of a menu and emailing it to me. You can contact me at laurag at allears dot net)

Have you visited the Disneyland Resort recently? Share your experiences in our Disneyland Rate and Review Area!

Lee and I went up to Disneyland on Memorial Day to meet up with AllEars' Deb Wills and Linda Mac, and also to see some of the new Indiana Jones Summer of Hidden Mysteries stuff that started over the weekend. You can read more about it in this Disneyland Press Release.

We arrived in time to see the first Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Stone Tiger show at 10:30. This is held in The Oasis, where the Aladdin and Jasmine StoryTale Adventures show used to be. We arrived about 10:05 and there was already a huge line (something I never saw for the Aladdin show!), but we got into the theater - a Cast Member said it holds about 250 people.

As you can see from the picture below, the sign outside The Oasis makes it look like more of a lecture by Dr. Jones. But of course how interesting would *that* be? :-)

As with the Aladdin show, there's a large area right in front of the stage where kids are encouraged to sit on the floor. The stage is filled with a variety of interesting-looking archaeological artifacts.

Dr. Rachel Flannery comes out and informs the audience that Dr. Jones isn't available - he's disappeared while searching for a powerful artifact associated with the stone tiger, and she's trying to interpret the clues he has left in his notes to find him. Which requires a lot of help from the junior members of the audience. (At least 6-8 different kids get to participate in a variety of tasks.)

With everyone's help, the Stone Tiger portal opens, and Indiana Jones himself appears in a cloud of smoke, bearing the artifact. Which he then has to fight Dr. Flannery for. Kind of a fun fight scene - Indy gets to use his whip. After vanquishing Dr. Flannery and thanking the audience, Indy takes off for his next adventure - no photo ops after this show.

Not long after the show ends (10 minutes maybe) the Random Acts of Indy (I love that term!) begin in Adventureland. Indy and a "bad guy" show up at various places throughout Adventureland and they are fighting over possession of a treasure map. They engage in several fight scenes up high - on top of Tropical Imports, on the balcony above South Seas Traders, and, my favorite, on the rope bridge of Tarzan's Treehouse. Both of them are miked so you can hear their dialog, and there's accompanying Indiana Jones background music, too. The "bad guy" definitely gets the worst end of it. :-) Indy also is out among the crowds in Adventureland at several points during this time, as well. I thought it was a lot of fun.

Here's a link to a short movie I shot of the fight scene at Tropical Imports.

Another aspect of the Summer of Hidden Mysteries is the Indiana Jones Adventure Map. These are free (CMs were handing them out as we waited in the Stone Tiger show queue). There are symbols scattered around Adventureland, and the map has a list of symbols and their translations (though more symbols are identified than actually exist, otherwise it would be way too easy!). Find the symbols and use the map to decipher them and reveal the message. I was a little disappointed in this - once you knew what to look for the symbols (as you can see in the photo below) were really obvious and very easy to find. And the "message" is hardly news to anyone who has ridden the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye attraction! :-)

There's also some Indiana Jones relics that have been left along the way in the Jungle Cruise attraction, but we didn't get a chance to do that.

I think it'll be a fun addition for the summer months - I think the kids especially will enjoy the show, and probably the map hunt, also. We got a kick out of the "random acts", though I am concerned that when the park is crowded the traffic in Adventureland will come to a standstill, and that place is enough of a bottleneck as it is (I avoid going through there most of the time).