Time Machine Travelogue Seven

July 17, 2001 California Adventure

The time machine is ready to clock a few more hours of time.  So I need to pick a date.  Having just recently gone to Disneyland for the One More Disney Day celebration, I have Disneyland on my mind.  Thinking back for a time in the past to return to I am reminded of two trips I made there in 2001.  So let’s spin those dials for our own 2001 Space Odyssey.  There was a significant event on the Disney calendar of February 8, 2001, the opening of California Adventure. 

No, I know better than going to the Opening Day ceremonies.  However, I had been to the Disney Hotel when the parking lot was torn up and steel skeletons were starting rise from the emptied space.  These were going to be the new park attractions and the newest jewel of the resort the Grand Californian hotel.  I got the itch and had to go and I was ready to go as the say First Class.  We monitored the Disney.go.com website to see what this new development would offer us.  I was meticulous.  I printed every page on the website in color, three holed punched it, and put it in a ring binder.  We would look at those pages and virtually knew every attraction, place to shop, and restaurant.  We were psyched.  We decided to book that trip.  We definitely had to try the newest thing the Grand Californian Hotel.  

We wanted to have a park view and stay on the concierge level.  You should have guessed when we would go to the now new Disney Resort Complex.  The logical choice for us of course was July 17, 2001.  This is Disneyland’s Birthday and a time, we as a family, enjoy.

Our Twins were already veterans of Disneyland and Disneyland Hotel having been going there since they were 18 months.  We worked extremely hard to convince their Aunt to go with us.  She didn’t want to go at first.  She didn’t have the same passion for Disneyland.  We explained to her that she needed to see Disneyland from the Twins eyes.  She should see how they enjoyed the adventure.  She agreed and we scheduled he trip.  We would drive down and she would fly down a couple of days later.
We arrived in Anaheim and got off the freeway and followed the signs and ended up in the multi-storied parking lot.  They were nice about it and directed us to the gate for the Grand Californian Hotel.  At the gate they asked our name and from that moment we were treated like royalty.  We were taken to our room and drew back the curtain California Adventurehad

the park 

was laid out before us.  We were directly over the Grand Californian entrance into the park.  Our view was of Grizzly Mountain home of the Grizzly Rapids Ride.  We got our luggage, changed clothes and headed to the park. Oh what a delightfully short walk it was compared to other Resort Hotels.  We had to walk around and see all the sights that we read all about.  Being a warm summer morning, the twins first gravitated to a water feature in what was then called the Bountiful Valley Farm.  They got soaked and it was just the first hour in the park.  But who cares we were only a short walk back to the room and a dry set of clothes

Twins can have completely different personalities.  My son is a daredevil and my daughter is a little more cautious and doesn’t dive into the more thrilling rides.  When you enter the driveway to the hotel you first saw Mulholland Madness, it looked fun to her and her mom who also was not a fan of the roller coaster type rides.  I recognized it as a ride that debuted at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962, the Mad Mouse.  I tried to warn them but they thought they were ready.  Big mistake, it took years before my daughter would try thrilling rides again.

The benefit of staying Concierge is you get the use of the Concierge Lounge.  They serve a really good Continental breakfast.  They have snacks like cookies and sodas the rest of the day.  Another great thing about the sixth floor Concierge Lounge is you can see the Disneyland fireworks with synchronized soundtrack.  It was well worth the price.  Remember I once blogged that we personally changed Disneyland and the Grand Californian Hotel.  It was on this trip when one of these occurrences happened.  They have a beautiful balcony and we sat and ate breakfast there.  My son went inside through the sliding glass door for another treat.  Excited he ran back to us at the table.  Bam! Right into the super clear sliding glass door.  He fell back stunned.  The hotel staff was immediately on the spot.  They checked him out and he seemed okay.  The next stay there were logos on the door so that you could see the glass. 

Staying at Disneyland Resort Hotels allows a guest Early Entry in to Disneyland.  I will never forget my sister in laws reaction to standing in Disneyland at 6:30 in the morning or what she called, “Dark thirty.”  She enjoyed the trip and the memories that were made with the Twins. 

We were totally impressed with the Grand Californian Hotel. The California Bungalow style was beautiful.  It reminded me of the architectural style of the Greene and Greene Brothers. This style I always enjoyed and tried to emulate when I was building custom homes many years ago.  They had me as a return guest forever.  Only things like pool changes to the Disneyland Hotel could get me to change my mind or the fact that the Grand Californian is booked.

Hardly a Disney Theme

The park itself, California Adventure, left us unimpressed. Real Disney fans had heard at on time that they were planning Westcot.  An Epcot styled area for the land of the parking lot.  then we heard it was scuttled.  Then the California themed park would be put in it's place.  I never understood why you would try to entice people to come to California to see a microcosm of California at Disneyland.  If you lived elsewhere in California, you would and could be closer to the real California tourist attraction.  There where many features that where fun Disney innovation, but there were others that you could do at other amusement parks or state fairs.  The key to a Disney is in the way it is themed to something recognized as Disney.  The original California Adventure was too much like a mall.  There were too many shopping outlets.  Most of the restaurants resembled food courts.  

My son and I rode every ride that was open since then many have been either closed or rethemed.  California Screaming, the roller coaster, was almost to much for me.  I found I could only ride it two times a day.  The launch is accomplished using a linear induction motor and jets you off from zero to 55 mph in seconds.  This was not the reason I needed to limit my daily trips. Being turned upside down effected me more than I had expected.  While it wasn't a Disney themed attraction it was a welcome inclusion to your overall stay.  Another county fair attraction was the chain swing ride.  The Orange Stinger had a nostalgic factor from me.  When I was young, we often traveled from LA to the Central Valley.  This was before the Interstate.  When the Grape Vine was the twisty road.  Along the way there were Giant Orange Stands selling cool orange juice.  So it was a reasonable theme.  The Maliboomer while fun and themed like a giant muscle carnival test.  Ring the bell and win a Cupiedoll.

There was one innovative attraction.

 California Soarin' gives the rider a feeling that they are hang gliding over different regions of California.  The sights, sounds, and smells are perceived as you progress on you journey.  It reminded me of 360 Degree Circle Vision which was in Tomorrowland at one time.  When the scene changed, turned and flew by, you had the sensation that you were flying.

The 3D adventure It's Tough to Be a Bug was a better fit with Disney Pixar themeing.  Here you entered a underground ant hill that was surrounding the tree from the movie A Bug's Life.  Once inside, you learn the characteristics and hardships that the smallest species on the Earth.  It has many sights and smells the bugs possess.  Plus there is a surprise near the end of the show that brings you to your feet.

Well, there are upgrades we are going to do the time machine.  We are installing room temperature superconductivity.  This will give us constant voltage with less ohms of resistance.  We are going to need it because in 2001 we had two stays at the Grand Californian.  So we will save some of the other attractions for the second trip.   We will time travel back to California Adventure also on the next time out.  It was a stay with the Sponsor for Christmas 2001. It was a heart warming trip that will never be forgotten by our family.