Days in the Park Week in Review (12/5 - 12/10)

It was a fun week at Days in the Park.  Technical problems made it impossible to do an article every day like we would have liked, but sometimes that's just the way that particular ball bounces.  If it didn't exist, we couldn't blog.  But it does exist, so it seems like half the time it doesn't work.  Go figure...  Time for a recap!

On Monday and Tuesday, we challenged you with our weekly "Magical Mystery Mondays" to guess where in The Parks we were when we took a particular picture.  This week's was very special because Monday was what would have been Walt Disney's 110th birthday.  As we shouldn't have to note at this point, without Walt's vision and his willingness to dream, none of this would be possible, and we certainly wouldn't be here blogging about it  Monday's picture was in his honor.  We have a lot of fun with these every week, so make sure you stop by each and every Monday to participate with us.  Guess correctly, and you'll find your name posted on our blog come Tuesday morning!

In this week's "Almost" Wordless Wednesday, we took readers along with us through one of our favorite attractions, and buildings, in Disneyland on a little tour of Disneyland history in the Disneyland Opera House

On Thursday, we released another episode of our Disneyland podcast, the Days in the ParkCast.  This week's episode was one of our shorter, mini-episodes known as our "Banzai!" podcasts.  In it, we discuss Mickey's Halloween Party (which we attended in October) and give you our thoughts about this one-of-a-kind annual event; what we experienced, and what you can expect to experience should you attend.  It was a lot of fun to talk about, and a lot of fun to listen to we think.  Come on by and give us a listen!

And finally on Friday, Chad hopped back on board for his monthly ride around the blogging world aboard the Magical Blogorail Blue Line.  This month, we're talking the #1 Disney experience we've yet to experience but would love to do one day.  Chad's choice?  Walt Disney's apartment, of course!  So come on by, read what he had to say on the matter, and then check out all of the other wonderful writers along the rail and see what they chose as their #1 Disney experience wish.

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We didn't get to do as much as wanted this week, but we're really proud of everything that we did!  Walt Disney's birthday is very important to us, for obvious reasons, and we think it made an excellent choice for our Monday guessing game, and it segued perfectly into our "Almost" Wordless Wednesday.  We've also been working really hard on our podcast over the past few weeks, and there are two new episodes out for our listeners.  These are so much fun for us to do, and we hope that people enjoy them as much as we enjoy doing them.  It's so much fun to just grab a mic and start blathering away about something that we love so much.  If you haven't taken the time to listen in it, we'd love to have you give us a try!  You can listen to, or download, our show on our "Parkcast" website: http://www.daysintheparkcast.com, or you can subscribe to our show and listen to us in iTunes.  Give us a listen and let us know what you think!  And on Friday, what's better than a Blogorail article?  We have so many wonderful Disney bloggers on each and every one of the Blogorail loops; why don't you check them out?  If you're here, you obviously love Disney and there are some fantastic ones there.  We encourage you to check them all out!

The Holidays are in full-swing at the Disneyland Resort, and so are we!  We can't wait to head out this weekend and score an entire new plethora of pictures and information for our readers.  It's something we love doing, and we hope that it enables you to come along with us during our Days and enjoy Disneyland right alongside us.  That's what we try to do, and we hope we're successful to at least some degree.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  It's going to be a great week, so come on back.  We love having you around!

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!

"Almost" Wordless THURSDAY (?!): Random Wanderings

We missed yesterday's Wordless post because we were on board the Magical Blogorail, so we're making it up to ourselves (and you!) today!  We took these over a span of a couple of weekends at the end of April and beginning of May and realized we hadn't posted them yet. Here they are for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

Our absolute favorite meal to eat in The Park. No, really! We do it often!

We highly recommend watching 'Vegas Vacation' to understand this one. Greatest brick ever!

Awesome early morning shot of Paradise Pier

We'll never see THIS at a 0 minute wait again!

Just hanging out in Critter Country on a Sunday morning

Her back must be KILLING her!

Not sure why they're a tad purpley, but we're okay with it

LOVE 'Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln'. Always worth a view.

DitP Fave Five: Animatronics

If there is one thing that separates the Disney Parks from all others, it could arguably be said that it is the use of Animatronics.  Walt Disney was some kind of pioneer, man.

Don't get us wrong.  Everything in The Parks is great, but how many non-Disney Parks do you know that use Animatronics?  If you do know one, do they have the same magic Disney offers?

This is why we are proud to bring you our Favorite Five Animatronics from The Park.

Number Five: Jack Skellington from Haunted Mansion Holiday: 


Being fans of Tim Burton and "The Nightmare Before Christmas", we can say without reservation how amazingly cool it is to see The Pumpkin King two feet away from us asking if "we've been good this year."  Let us tell you, the first time we saw this we nearly screamed like a bunch of teenage girls at a N'Sync concert.  We have been tempted to jump out of our sleighs (doom buggies) just to take a pic with him.

Number Four:  Indiana Jones from Indiana Jones Adventure: 

What can we say about Indy?  The fact that he's the reason we took a liking to history, a fashion for fedoras, and that we all tried using a whip on our younger siblings speaks for itself.  Though we only briefly see him on the attraction (but twice!) we could swear that it's really Han Solo himself.  As a matter of fact, maybe next we'll yell out " Hey Harrison!" and see if he answers.  That might help with our confusion.    

Number Three:  Captain Rx-24 ("Rex") from Star Tours:

Yes, we know that Star Tours is no longer around, but that doesn't change anything about the way we felt about Rex.  We don't know what it was about him that kept us returning for another tour through the galaxy.  Was it the funny quotes he would say or the fact he was voiced by Paul Reubens (Pee-Wee Herman for those who might not have known)?  Whatever the case, he was always allowed to be our pilot for our trip to Endor.  Though we have been nearly killed by comets, or close calls with the Empire numerous times, this little droid guided us to safety every time, and that is why he is in our Fave Five.

Number Two:  The Abominable Snowman ("Harold") from The Matterhorn: 

So we're betting you didn't know that The Abominable Snowman actually had a name?  Well, he does and it's Harold.  To this day it gives us the willies to ride up front because of this guy.  In fact, we won't ride the attraction at all (it has nothing at all to do with the fact that this ride will shake your fillings out).  So for something to scare us that much, especially at Disneyland, it deserves to be on the list.  If you thought Harold was scary wait until you see who's next on our list.

Number One: Abraham Lincoln from Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln:

This has got to be the most realistic Animatronic we have ever seen.  The first time we saw it Chad wanted to sprint for the exit and Mark kept saying to himself over and over, "It's not real, it's not real."  If you haven't seen it you need to check it out for yourself.  In fact, it's your patriotic duty to.  Now, we're not bagging on one of the greatest presidents in United States history, but just pointing out that Disney did a wonderful job in bringing "Honest" Abe to life.  In fact, recently when we watched the show, the Cast Member pointed out to us that Mr. Lincoln was in fact the most advanced of all the Animatronics in The Park, and pointed out this particular model had 27 different facial expressions as opposed to 6 on the older.  We can't think of many real people with that many facial expressions.  Great job, Imagineers! 

Honorable Mention: All the Little Birdies in Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room

When it comes down to it, none of the Animatronics would be around today if not for the Tiki Room.  Walt's first foray into the use or robotics and characters all began here, and without success, might well not exist anywhere else in The Parks.  Not only is it our favorite show at the Park, but it's genuinely one of the most memorable.  Be honest, how many of you have seen the Tiki Room and left singing the theme song?  From Chad and Amy "singing like the birdies sing" to Mark chanting like a warrior, we say that the Tiki Room will forever be in our hearts.

So there you have it.  Our Favorite Five.  What are your favorite Animatronics from The Parks?

*Just a quick note:  We fully realize that not all of our favorites include a picture (although we will be adding Indy and Harold very shortly).  Could we have included pictures?  Sure!  But, pansies it might make us, we tend to try and follow the rules when we're in The Park.  When we're asked not to do something (especially since we often have our kids with us), we don't.  Not only for our own enjoyment, but for the enjoyment of those around us.  Hence, the lack of pictures in shows where we've been asked not to take them.  We truly hope that you'll still enjoy the post regardless.