Exploring the Disneyland Hotel

We all enjoyed exploring the Disneyland Hotel, starting with the quiet pool.

There is a sand “beach” area near the pool for getting a tan or playing beach volleyball.

This pool is heated, but the themed Never Land pool is not.

Continuing along further away from Goofy’s Kitchen, beyond the quiet pool, is an abandoned outdoor plaza which years ago had been the location of the nightly water show. It was very cheesy and is not missed.

This gazebo reminds me of the one which was originally in Disneyland, but it isn’t that one.

We’ve never been there for the feeding of the fish, but they are still nice to look at anytime.

These waterfalls do not stay on all night. If they did it would be too noisy in the hotel rooms nearby when Guests are trying to sleep.

Part of the walkway was closed while extensive landscaping work was done near Goofy’s Kitchen.

The waterfalls don’t look as interesting on early mornings when the water is still off!

Late Night Shopping

Carol did some shopping after the fireworks.

And Carol also took the pictures below, but not that night, when she did some window-shopping in the daytime.

Alone at Disneyland for Fireworks from Main Street USA Tues. Night

Believe fireworks from Main Street USA in Town Square

Alone at Disneyland, Tuesday Night

By Carol Koster

Rich and Michael went on to the room the evening I shot all these photos of fireworks you see here. At the time I was into “Well, we’re here now, when will we be back, let’s stay and see/do this (whatever the “this” is at the time) now?” Sometimes thpugh when you’re tired you’re tired, and they were, so they went on back to the Disneyland Hotel. Over the course of the two trips we missed out on a lot by disregarding “We’re here, now, let’s do it.” We grabbed up FastPasses and never went back to use them, in fact we grabbed up FastPasses when lines weren’t all that bad, and never went back to use them, could’ve ridden rides when “We’re here, now, let’s do it.”-kind of thing.
 
Some people find it lonely to anticipate being in a Disney theme park by one’s self. On the few times in my life this has happened to me (one year Rich was at a professional conference at WDW and I went touring the Magic Kingdom by myself) I’ve simply enjoyed the moment, or period of time, for what it was:
 
In everyone’s busy life, you need “soul replenishment,” not just in a religious spiritual way, but in a secular mental-emotional way, too. Sometimes being by one’s self can be rejuvenating, liberating, and give you a pep of memories to recall at future times when life is too busy, too crowded, too chaotic. No distractions. No complaining from others. You can have your own thoughts and feelings and opinions and savor those. You have freedom to go wherever and do whatever. While I love being “married with a ‘tween boy,” there are times when I don’t have enough alone time to have some peace, self-determination, make choices that please and suit me, and keep my own schedule. And spontaneously, that moment presented itself to me when Rich and Michael moved on to the hotel room, and I stayed behind to see the Disneyland fireworks.
 
Consequently, it was kinda neat to empty my mind out and let the show and narration and music and group experience I was in take over.
 
Comfy non-squished spots in Town Square were, at first, hard to come by. But crowds even during Disney fireworks shows can and do shift and move around. Using that to work for me, my view became unobstructed within a few minutes of the show having started. Town Square is not the very back of the crowds on Main Street to view fireworks, but it’s close to it. With families with young children deciding at early to mid show to get out of Dodge to take their tuckered out tots to bed afterall, life became comfortable and pleasant.
 
A great technique is to use to use this as a relaxation exercise and pretend you’re taking your whole intellectual activity — and short term put a lid on it. There’s no time, space, thought process, things to think about. There is only being conscious of the visual and aural environment around you, becoming naturally one with it, keeping yourself in a simple but real state, and let it all take place, then absorb it.
 
A lot of these fireworks photos you see identified as taken by me at Disneyland at either of our trips was to attempt to get the ideal, “picture postcard”-type shot of a chrysanthemum type starburst of sparkling gems of a fireworks display.
 
That’s hard to do on an iPhone. Rich tells me there’s an App in the Apps Store at iTunes called “Night Camera” that opens the appeture of the iPhone camera when it senses the camera is being held very steady, so it takes better photos that aren’t as blurry — and hence more likely to get a hard to shoot night shot of, say, fireworks in theme parks.
 
Without that App or knowing if it would work well for the purpose of theme park nighttime fireworks photos or not, taking photos of Disney fireworks using only an iPhone is tricky, a bit frustrating, and slow. First there is positioning yourself within jostling crowds and kids and kids on their parents’ shoulders to get a clear shot. There is also the technique of having to hold up your iPhone in order to frame the subject, which act gets in other people’s way of wanting their own unencumbered view. Last, in very low light conditions, the iPhone’s factory settings don’t allow to open appetures of lens up or for low light conditions, it’s factory set to an average, and left there. In low light conditions you snap a photo on the iPhone, then the shutter closes over and stay closed over, a very long time. Fireworks go kinda quick. It’s very hard to determine if you snapped the photo at the opportune moment or if the iPhone’s processing lags.
 
So as I was taught in two years of photography at college, I kept snapping. I figured out of constant or frequent snapping it might average out to a few good, representative, pretty shots that would represent “Disneyland fireworks” in general. Then later I’d go through them and delete what was substandard. Many truly blurry, awful, indistinct, undistinguishable photos I did in fact delete on the spot and just kept trying.
 
iPhone’s camera works best, and it’s images sharpest, in bright light conditions, not so much at night for some subjects or lighting conditions.
 
It’s lens cannot zoom and crop. Consequently the Castle appears very small and obscured, and when I use the finger pinch action on my iPhone to “zoom in” on the photos I took the Castle appears as a fuzz of pink and blue and purple lighting at a horizon line.
 
For quick, fast, “can e-mail it from the iPhone”-type photos and snap shots, the iPhone’s camera works best on the fly and can actually do a decent job of photography.
 
But for some shots, let’s face it, you want a good and true camera, with a lens or lenses, with a manually-adjustable apperture and shutter speed. Disney theme park fireworks and some other low light situations at Disney are best preserved for the memory books with a “real” camera, not one on a smart phone. Go get some photography classes, too, if you invest in a truly good camera. That training and the “training of your eye” to spot good photo subjects and photo opportunities will give you a true treasure of photos to reinforce your memories with.
 
In the meantime, some of the photos Rich posted from my iPhone are obviously better than others. Just scroll through and get the idea “Disneyland fireworks”, and that being there is much better than these photos might represent!
 
Lest you get a wrong impression, yes Rich and Michael have in fact seen, in person, Disneyland fireworks displays on our two 2008 vacations there. They both liked what they saw! But seeing it “again” on a night they were tired, they elected to return to the room. I figured “No telling when we/I will come back, savor the moment here and now” and stayed behind.
 
–Carol

Splash Mountain

After dining at Blue Bayou by the river, we must have wanted more water fun — because next the three of us used our FastPasses from earlier in the day to go on Splash Mountain.

Take it from me: It is better to have the smallest person in the front rather than the biggest… We were drenched!

Blue Bayou Dinner by the River, Tues., July 29

We had dinner reservations for 6:40 pm at Blue Bayou in New Orleans Square and arrived a little early. We last ate there for a late lunch during our Easter vacation at Disneyland and wrote about it starting here on the travel blog, as well as posting pictures (that’s a multi-page report… click on the link at the upper right of that page to see more).

Back then we had a table next to the river — but it was also next to the door to the kitchen, with a lot of light spilling in from there, and we were all the way on the right side of the dining area as you’re looking at the river. This time we also asked for a table on the river but got an even better one: on the other side, with a great view of the swamp shack across the river and a boat right near our table on the other side of the wrought-iron railing.

The last time we ordered from the lunch menu but this time we chose from items on the dinner menu.

For my drink, I ordered the Pirate Punch: “Minute Maid Light Raspberry Lemonade in a souvenir “pirate” cup with lighted clip-on figurine: Tinker Bell or Captain Hook (subject to availability).” I chose Captain Hook. The drink was delicious and even the straw was magical — changing color as it gets colder. For $6.49 it included refills — and the Captain Hook figurine which was attached to the straw is still bringing memories to me because I have it facing me under at my computer monitor at work.

Here is the rest of the menu:

Appetizers

Isla Cruces Crab Cakes – Pan seared, then topped with mango salad and zesty lime aioli $11.99

Gulf-Stream Jumbo Shrimp Remoulade – Creole boiled, chilled, and served with a traditional Louisiana-style remoulade $9.99

Entrees

Each entree served with Cajun-inspired wedge salad or a cup of our signature New Orleans gumbo.

Split Plate Charge $5.00

Port Royal Mahi Mahi – broiled and accompanied with lightly sauteed pecan-crusted jumbo gulf shrimp, spinach and endive, tossed in a light lemon vinaigrette $30.99

Five-Pepper Roast New York – Seasoned with the Chef’s signature pepper rub blend, then slow roasted over rock salt. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. $33.99

Royal Street Seafood Jambalaya – A robust combination of king crab, jumbo gulf shrimp, mahi mahi, tasso ham, andouille sausage, and chicken, tossed with Cajun-style “dirty rice” $28.99

Bayou Surf & Turf – A succulent, sweet petite lobster tail from the Pacific Northwest, paired with an expertly broiled filet mignon, sauce bearnaise. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. $39.99

Filet Mignon – Broiled to perfection and topped with sauce bearnaise. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. $36.99

Portobello Mushroom and Couscous Maque Choux – Marinated in a balsamic vinaigrette, then broiled and served with roasted corn and bell-pepper couscous and sauteed spinach. $27.99

Tesora Island Chicken – Blackened, roasted and finished to perfection in pan au jus. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. $27.99

Buccaneer’s Beef Short Ribs – slow-roasted, then finished in a Zinfandel demi glaze. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. $29.99

Cajun-Spiced Salmon – Blackened, with citrus crawfish beurre blanc. Choice of two sides: Blue Bayou potatoes, seasonal vegetables or sauteed spinach. $29.99

Desserts

Each treasured treat comes with a “Pirates” booty keepsake!

Tortuga Trio of Creme Brulee – Chocolate, passion fruit and vanilla-bean custards, caramelized and served with Brittany cookies $7.99

The Key West, Key Lime – Flaky crust filled with tangy key-lime citrus creme $7.99

The Flying Dutchman Cookie Boat – Warm chocolate chip cookie boat, served with Dreyer’s vanilla-bean ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce $8.99

To Blue Bayou Chocolate Mint Doubloons $4.99, plus tax.

Although it all sounds great, we knew from experience that the real reason to go to the Blue Bayou is the over-the-top theming, not the food. We preferred Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen in Disneyland’s Downtown Disney for great-tasting, authentic, New Orleans-style dining.

Tink is on one side of the sturdy, dishwasher-safe cup…

…Captain Hook is standing on the other side…

…and even the cup alone makes a nice souvinEAR!