Flashback Friday - Halloween Time 2010

Everyone's favorite... the big Pumpkin Mickey!

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Disneyland Hub Character Statues - Tips & Tricks Thursdays

Last week's new segment on Days in the Park seemed to strike a chord and resonate with people.  The opportunity to look through your browser searches, find out how you came to be on our little blog, and answer your questions (or comments) according to your searches still seems like a good idea, so we're going to keep running with it!

We had a couple hundred more searches to rummage through this last week, but one kept coming up in multiple spots, and that's what we're going to deal with today.  This week's "tips and tricks" was based around the following two searches (there were more, but these were the two most legible and understandable):

• "Statues Surrounding the Partners Statue" 
• and "Disney Characters Statues Hub"

Now, although we may be completely off base here, we're going to assume that readers were looking for information about those fantastic little statues inside "The Hub" at Disneyland.  Most people know all about the "Partners Statue" at Disneyland located inside what we lovingly refer to as "The Hub", right at the end of Main Street, U.S.A., and right before you cross the end of said street to walk up to and under Sleeping Beauty Castle and into Fantasyland.

What many people might not be as familiar with is the fact that the "Partners Statue" isn't the only statue in "The Hub".  There are in fact eight other statues which ring around "The Hub", and the "Partners Statue"; all in bronze and on pedestals at even intervals around Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse.  Pretty cool, huh?  While it may be true most Disneyland fans probably know about them, it's also probably safe to say that many Walt Disney World people might not, so we think it's a great little "tip" to make people aware of, especially if they're looking at making their first trip into Disneyland sometime in the near future.

We could probably wax poetic about it for hours, but in the end they really are only little statues surrounding the main one most people know about, so rather than prattle on we figured it'd be a nice touch to actually show all of our readers exactly what they all look like.  So here they are, in no particular order:

And there you have them, all of the "Statues Surrounding the Partners Statue".  They honestly are really cool little statues, and in the interest of complete disclosure, we really have spent probably hours in "The Hub" over the years just wandering around looking at them over and over again, even if we have seen them countless times.  But we think it's a great little "tip" for first-timers (and maybe even some old-timers!) to know about, so we thought it made a great fit for our segment.

We hope that you enjoyed today's little Disneyland "Tips and Tricks" segment.  Be sure and come back next week when we'll once again pilfer our list of "searches" and answer one seeker's special comment or question about the Disneyland Resort.  And let us know in the comments section if you had a favorite character statue out of the batch; we'd love to hear from you.

Until then, may your week be full of great Disney searches, some of which we can rip off and use here for everyone's amusement!

The Disneyland Opera House - Almost Wordless Wednesday

Since the Disneyland Opera House was featured in our blog on Monday for our "Where Are We?" article this week, we decided to ride this horse just a little bit longer and keep the theme going for our "Almost" Wordless Wednesday this week.  We spent a lot of time in front of the building waiting for the Disneyland Candlelight Processional this past weekend, so it's fresh in our minds and ready to go!

One of the best things about the Opera House is that it not only holds the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction inside, which is one of our very favorites attractions at Disneyland, but it also is a bit of mini-Disneyland museum, with oodles of old Disneyland, and Walt Disney, paraphernalia.  So not only do you get to get see a great show about one of America's greatest presidents, but you also get to learn a lot about the history of Disneyland as well!  You just can't beat that!

So we're including some of our favorite photos from around the Opera House today.  The next time you're at Disneyland, if you haven't already, or heck even if you have already, take a look around inside for yourselves, and let us know what you like about the Disneyland Opera House.

The entrance to the Disneyland Opera House on Main Street U.S.A.

Walt's bench from Griffith Park (Los Angeles) where he once sat dreaming of Disneyland

Disneyland as it was when Walt Disney opened it in 1955

We LOVE this diorama of Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle

There's always loads of Disneyland history and memorabilia to see here

Early Disneyland ticket books - Yes, once upon a time you needed TICKETS to ride all of the attractions

Absolutely AMAZING portrait of Abraham Lincoln - Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln

The Disneyland Opera House at night. Beautiful!

The Disneyland Opera House - That's Where We Were!

Each and every Monday we write a post, we like to play a little game.  We challenge our readers to guess "Where Are We?" based on a random picture taken somewhere at the Disneyland Resort.  We thrive on challenging, so the pictures can be anywhere at The Resort: Disneyland Park, Disney California Adventure Park, or Downtown Disney and the hotels.

Yesterday was a very special day in Disney history, as we celebrated Walt Disney's birthday; what would have been his 110th.  As such, we used one of his portraits from Disneyland as our inspiration for yesterday's game.  It must have been harder than we had anticipated (though we were sure we had served up a juicy softball to our readers), because we only had a couple of guesses; but both were right!

This week's photo challenge spot can be found inside Disneyland Park, on Main Street U.S.A., just as you enter The Park inside the Disney Opera House, where the Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln attraction resides:

This particular portrait of Walt Disney is arguably one of the most iconic, and certainly one of our favorites, ones ever taken of Walt Disney.  The image of Walt strolling through the gates of Sleeping Beauty Castle after Disneyland had been built is one that even when you're not actually looking at the portrait, you can still see it easily in your mind and know exactly what it looks like.  Every time we walk through the gates in this direction, into Fantasyland, we're reminded of this portrait and the knowledge that we're walking exactly, spot for spot, where Walt Disney himself did once upon a time; too amazing!

As always, we like to give a shout-out to everyone who came by and guessed, so here they in order of guess and by Twitter (or commenter) name:

• ChristinaShaw76
• Chilebob

And there you have it, our two correct guessers for this week!  Thanks to everyone who took a shot at it.  Even if you're not right, everyone should take a guess; you've got nothing to lose!

We'll be back next week with another brand-new spot for our readers to take a crack at!  In the meantime, if you have any suggestions for a spot you'd like for us to do, or a picture of your own that you would like to submit for us to use, drop us a line at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com.  We love having reader submissions and would love to take a look at whatever spots you might have that you'd like to see here.

Until next week, keep those peepers open and be sure and take in all of the little details all over Disneyland; you never know what little details you might see that you never have before.

Magical Mystery Mondays! - Where Are We?: Fourth of July Edition

We wanted to take the opportunity on this special day in our nation's history (for those of us "Yanks") to wish everyone a very happy Fourth of July.

It seemed apropos since it is Monday and this is the day we typically do our "Where Are We?" Park challenges to blend that along with this very special holiday.

The Parks do a lot each and every year to celebrate the holiday but we're never left wanting when we visit the location we're featuring today.  In what was no doubt our nation's darkest trials, one president was able to keep our country from ripping itself apart.  Although our country celebrates this one day in history as perhaps our most important, it was the actions of countless throughout the centuries that have brought us to this point, and this president arguably more than any other.  We pray tribute to him today on this our nation's 235th "Fourth".

So, we've lobbed you a juicy slow-ball today for our challenge, but in all honesty that's okay with us.  There really seemed to be no other spot we wanted to use today.  If you think you know where it is, let us know!  Leave us a comment here (probably the best way to do it), send us a Direct Message on our Twitter account @DaysInThePark, or drop us an email at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com; that way more people get a chance to guess!  We figure with it being what it is there may be too many to list here individually tomorrow, but again that's okay with us; we'd love to hear what you think our choice for today's spot.

Have a very happy and safe Fourth, everyone!

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It's the morning after so you know what time it is. Time to reveal the answer to this week's pictorial trivia question! We had a few guesses yesterday and all were correct.  Not as many guesses overall as we usually have (due to the holiday we're assuming), but that's okay.  We're always pleased with whatever participation we get.

This week's picture can be found inside the Disneyland Opera House on Main Street, U.S.A., in the lobby for the Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln attraction.  Great Moments... has become one of our favorite shows in The Parks, and lately we've been watching it almost every time we go out.  During the summer months it's one of our favorite places to get out of the heat, so if you've never seen the show yourself, it comes highly recommended by us.  We're glad we had this picture on file to use for the 4th, and we hope you can understand why it seemed like such a good fit to us.  If you ever get the chance to see it for yourself, we encourage you to do so.

Our correct guessers yesterday by Twitter name were:

• Granuaille
• GrowingUpDisney
• Chilebob

And there you have it!  We'll be back next Monday with another picture for everyone to take a crack at.  Thanks to everyone who took a shot yesterday. We love doing these!  If you have any pictures you'd like to submit for us to use, or have any suggestions for us, drop us a line at daysinthepark@daysinthepark.com and we'll be happy to use them and give you credit.

See you next week!

Magical Mystery Mondays! - Where Are We?

We're back again with an all new picture for you to take a whack at!

We think that this one could go either way.  Either loads of people have seen this so everyone will know where it is, or it might just be obscure enough to make people stumble a bit.  It should be fun finding out though!  We came across this little dragon (or is it a gargoyle?  Or both?) a few months back and snapped off a shot knowing it just might come in useful one day, and by jove, now it is!

If you think you know where it is, let us know!  Send us a comment here (probably the best way to do it) or send us a DM on our Twitter account @DaysInThePark; that way more people get a chance to guess!  We'll keep tabs on who made correct guesses and come back tomorrow morning and post all of the people who got it right along with the correct answer.

We do these just to share a little of The Park detail that we really enjoy, and nothing more.  We've had a few people tell us they feel bad that they're Passholders and don't know where our pictures are, but don't!  We just do it to share our enjoyment, so don't take it too seriously!  Take a look at it, hazard a guess, and just have fun!

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Sorry! We're running a little bit behind today getting back to this!  We spent the morning in The Park as a family so we just haven't had the time to update it.  We know that you've been waiting on pins and needles though!

For the first time since we started doing these, we had no correct guesses yesterday.  We had far fewer guesses too, though.  We're not sure if it's because the novelty of this has worn off some, or if it was just because no-one really knew where it was, but at any rate we had an "0-fer" this week.  We did have a few guesses though.  Most people guessed that this particular beasty could be found in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot in Disney California Adventure near the Hyperion.  We had several guesses for that, actually, but it was unfortunately incorrect.  A great guess we thought, though!  Hopefully people still enjoy them somewhat, because we have a huge stockpile of them ready to go at a moment's notice.

In case you are still interested, these little beauties reside above the men's and women's restrooms on Main Street, USA.  As you enter through The Park's main gates, if you take right path to go under the Disneyland Railroad bridge, there are some restrooms to your right, right as you are entering The Park.  They're some of the smaller restrooms, but we frequent them either on our way in or out, and we noticed these recently and thought it would make a good brain-buster.  Seems like we succeeded.

So there you have it; this week's Magical Mystery location revealed.  We'll be back next week with another picture of our favorite newer discoveries!

KILT (Karacters I Love Thursday): Halloween Time Goofy

We've spent quite a bit of time over the past week talking about one of our favorite characters in The Park, Goofy, but we realized we haven't posted a single picture of him yet.  He's completely missing from our "Karacter" gallery!  We felt it was high time to rectify that, and are doing so in today's post.  

This is a picture of Goofy back during last year's Halloween Time.  Unfortunately, we weren't quite as quick on the draw as we are now (with the camera), and we missed getting a picture of him waving at us (he saw we were taking his picture).  He had turned back to his line by the time we snapped it off, but we were still glad to get a decent picture of him.

We really love the way that the characters come dressed differently oftentimes depending on the time of year it is, and this one is certainly no exception.

Enjoy!

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The Sound of (Park) Music

Let the music begin

Have you ever entered the Park and just stood in awe at how detailed it is? From the Cast Members' costumes to the buildings surrounding you, everything is planned to fit together.  Even the background music fits in perfectly.  Just one of the many surprises that the Park has in store for you.

Almost every time we head over to the Park, we listen to Disneyland Resort Discography.  It hit me the other day that some of the songs on the CD I wasn't readily familiar with, and there were plenty of songs playing in the Park that weren't on our CDs.  So where did they come from?  Well, we found the solution (it wasn't hard to find, but it still made us feel good about ourselves) while making our way through the famous entrance tunnels into Main Street, U.S.A.  We heard some very familiar sounds from the CD, and it hit us, there's always more to the Park than meets the eye (quite literally sometimes).

We love hearing the song "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" from Hello, Dolly! (and Wall-E, of course) playing in the background throughout Main Street.  Making our way down to the castle and into Fantasyland, the tone of the music changes entirely.  King Arthur Carousel might as well be one giant calliope boom box.  You can hear famous Disney Princess music played, such as "Once Upon A Dream" from Sleeping Beauty (and many others) as it goes around and around.  Even heading towards the Matterhorn you can hear music coming from the Mad Tea Party; Alice In Wonderland tinged, of course.

Since we're heading towards the Matterhorn, let's keep going into Tomorrowland, where the sounds of space and science fiction movies can be heard.  They love music so much here they even have a stage for it where bands can be seen and heard on any given weekend.  While we're here, let's grab a Rocket Rod (couldn't resist) and shoot on over to the other side of the Park.

Where John Williams and Rock-a-billy collide

"How Do Ya Do?" can be heard over at Critter Country, evoking images of Brer Rabbit and his laughing place (and giving us an insane desire to climb on that blasted Splash Mountain just one more time), along with the many tunes of Winnie the Pooh ("Heffalumps and Woozles," anyone?) coming in every once in a while.  As you make your way down to New Orleans Square, you'll notice some of that 'good ole Jazz' music being played to set the mood while you stroll through the shops; it just makes you want to snap your fingers!

What about one of the wildest portions of the Park, Adventureland?  Music from the infamous Tarzan's Treehouse (infamous to us; let's not get into that tree too much, our legs hurt just thinking about it), Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, and the "Garden Show" from The Enchanted Tiki Room all vie for space inside your eardrums.

My name is Rongo...

Let's take a detour and say, "Howdy!" to Frontierland.  Classic western music is, of course, the theme here, and every once in a while you may get a real treat and hear the theme song from Blazing Saddles, as well as music from Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and from The Golden Horseshoe Revue.  Had enough?  Head on around the "wildest ride in the wilderness" and you'll find yourself on your way back to Fantasyland; we've already been here so just keep going until you hit Mickey's Toontown, where the many whacky and zany sounds of Disney cartoons like Steamboat Willie and Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin can be heard all around.

"This here's the wildest ride in the wilderness!"

We've said before (this week in fact!) that's it all in the little details, but we love our Park music and sounds.  We can't help but smile when our cell phones go off in the Park (featuring Park ringtones, of course) and we see people looking around to see where the sound is coming from.  We're so infatuated with the sounds of the Park even our phones play Park tunes! 

Sometimes we get so caught up in the visual magic of the Park that we let the audible kind pass us by.  So, the next time you're visiting, take a minute to close your eyes and give a listen.  We didn't list every 'Sound Hot Spot' because we want you to find some of the Park magic for yourself. You never know what you might discover.

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It's A Tuesday Toss-Up*!

In addition to writing something for our own blog each and every day, we also read others' blogs as often as we can.  Being the Park fans that we are, it's always good to hear other perspectives and look at the different Parks through others' eyes.

One thing we've really come to appreciate in recent weeks has been photoblogs, or picture posts.  They do say that pictures can speak a thousand words, after all.  It made us think that maybe that was something we should be more aware of.  We use a lot of pictures, but we've kind of missed the posts from the holidays that consisted of little more than the pictures themselves.

If you spend any time at all in any of the Disney Parks, you'll hear the expression "It's all in the little details" very quickly.  We take a lot of photos in The Park, and something we're trying to do a lot more of while we're in The Parks is to pay more attention to those "little details".  What better way to do that than to begin posting more pictures of those little details we see when we're in The Parks.  So from now on, whenever we spend a Day In The Park, we plan on doing picture posts.  They'll be random shots from whatever we take while we're in The Park, doing our best to focus on the "little details", or little things we come across.

We hope you like them!

May not seem like much, but we loved the way this sign placement turned out

Never noticed this door outside MuppetVision 3*D before, but got an actual chuckle out of it

Iconic, but awesome

The signage all around Main Street really gives it its flair and feel

You would think with the name "Penny Arcade" Chad would have noticed the penny long before...

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - One of our favorite parts of the queue

Sometimes you can make your own "little details" with interesting camera angles.  He REALLY appears to be sitting in the fountain.

One of our favorite shots of Jose.  "Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet..."

*A toss-up as in we threw all of our photos in the air, and the ones that landed face up we used.  Well, metaphorically anyway...

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Amy's Favorite Things: Tulip Time!

There are few places that experience the kind of landscaping changes that Disneyland Park does.  I think it's one of the things that makes The Park a special place.  Every time you come, if you're observant, you will notice new flowers and plants.  The plants change minimally with every season.

This, of course, brings me to another of my favorite things that comes in a very short period of time between late winter and early spring:  Tulip time!

Once January ends, I am always on tulip patrol, anxiously awaiting the planting of the new tulips for that particular year.

Something about the process of the flowers blooming is quite intriguing to me.  I'm not sure if it's the color of the flowers or their shape; they fascinate me so!  I know that the next time I am at The Park, there will be more blossoms.  And the anxiousness of how long into the season they will last is one that keeps me on my toes, and each time I enter into Town Square, the first thing I do is check to see if they are still there.

What colors will we have this year?  Last year they planted an assortment of purplish-pink and white tulips and this year it looks like there will be yellow tulips in Town Square.

I know it is said that we should take the time to stop and smell the roses, but perhaps in anticipation of springtime, sunshine, and blue skies, we should take some time to stop and enjoy the beautiful tulips.  So that's exactly what I'm going to do; stop now, and let you enjoy the tulips!

***These pictures are a last minute addition of the most recent shots I have... took them this morning and absolutely love them. When I saw all the new flowers I did a little happy dance. Oh yes, tulips are one of my favorite things! Aren't they beautiful?!

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Amy's Favorite Things: Cinnamon Tea Lattes

We're taking a slight break (unforeseen) from our usual Saturday Slow-Down posts (and our final one from the Animation Building) this week.  We hope to pick that up again next week.  In the meantime, enjoy a brand new Amy's Favorite Things instead!  Yummy!!!

The last time we met for "Amy's Favorite Things," I introduced you to the amazing Cream Cheese Pretzels.  I also made brief mention of another one of my favorite things at The Park, as it was in the picture with the pretzels, the Cinnamon Tea Latte!

The Cinnamon Tea Latte is my preferred hot beverage of choice in The Park. They are the perfect way to warm up on a cold day or chilly evening.  Sometimes I'll even grab one for the ride home!  You can purchase one at the Market House, and currently they are priced at $2.69 a cup.

I was first introduced to them by a friend who referred to it as "crack in a cup", and upon my first sip, I realized why.  First of all, they are highly addictive.  As soon as finished the last drop, I wanted another one.  I'm not going to lie, there have been particular nights where I've had two.  And there may or may not have been one time that I consumed three in one day.  Like I said, I discovered pretty quickly how it got the nickname "crack in a cup"!  The second reason is that they are quite sweet.  It probably doesn't help that The Market House always has some fabulous looking cookies that are hard to resist (and it's not unusual for me to grab a white chocolate chip raspberry cookie while there as well), but the Chai tea-lover in me always enjoys every last drop.  While hot and sweet, what I especially like about the Cinnamon Tea Lattes is that it doesn't give me that caffeinated-kick that will keep me up all night long like a cup of "leaded" coffee does.

A word of warning:  Don't be surprised to find a long line in the Market House.  Evenings especially tend to be a busy time there, as well.  But when I'm desperate for something sweet and tasty to warm me up, that first sip is worth the wait!  So next time you're in The Park and looking for something new to try, drop into The Market House and order a Cinnamon Tea Latte, find your favorite spot to people watch on Main Street, and enjoy the sweet goodness!

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