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Yummmmm! Designer cupcakes now coming to a store in Downtown Disney at Anaheim CA (The Disneyland Downtown Disney, not the WDW Downtown Disney.)
At $4.95 each cupcake, Orange Co. CA Register says that price point is $1.50 higher than formerly most expensive in Orange county, CA.
Your thoughts? Check the link then reply!
The Cupcake Store kiosk is located in front of the AMC Theatres and Compass Books and Cafe, not far from the Disneyland Hotel.
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Sometimes, life being what it is, you just can’t take a Disney vacation as often as you’d like. That doesn’t stop you from dreaming and imagining what your next trip will be. Your imagination can bring you to far off magical lands even quicker than the fastest jet plane!
Here on the Disney Echo Eyes and EchoEars Travel Blog you can take a virtual Disney vacation by reading the trip reports as well as taking part in the Disney Echo’s ongoing interactive story-creation game, “You Make A Story.”
See background information about what “You Make A Story” is all about by clicking here or jump right into Chapter 3 – Part 1 – “Movin’ Right Along” by clicking here.
You can participate by leaving comments or by becoming a Disney EchoEar and actively adding to the ongoing story!
Either way, we hope you enjoy the story and have a great time as we do some virtual Disney travel.
My wife Carol has a great writing style which makes you think of a deeper meaning than the obvious, and she has just updated her blog entry here, ‘Believe fireworks from Main Street USA in Town Square – Alone at Disneyland, Tuesday Night” to include her thoughts on what it was like to be on her own in the Happiest Place on Earth after dark when Michael and I had gone back to the Disneyland Hotel to rest. Check it out!
After our sightseeing in Los Angeles which included seeing WALL•E at the El Capitan Theatre then seeing our engraved paving stone in front of Ollie Johnston’s train station near the Disney Tunnel in Griffith Park, we got back to our room at the Disneyland Hotel as the sun was starting to set. Here’s the view from our room of that:
The construction crane (in the above picture on the right and the picture below in the center) is being used in the expansion of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. If the hotel wasn’t there, we’d also have a great view of Disney’s California Adventure.
After freshening up, we headed out through Downtown Disney to spend one last time that trip in Disneyland.
If you count us going to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood on the previous day, we actually did take time to see a movie on this Disney vacation… we just didn’t do it in this very conveniently-located AMC Theater in Downtown Disney.
We were in luck! Monorail Red came into the Downtown Disney monorail station after a short wait and we were able to take it into Tomorrowland at Disneyland.
Gates keep new passengers behind a half-fence until all the passengers get off of the monorail.
Here we are, inside the monorail, looking through the open door and a partially-open window. That’s the maximum amount the windows will open — designed to prevent Guests from jumping out (amazing that one has to do things to stop stupid people from doing things like that). However, it was quickly learned that the interior of the monorail would get way too hot in the California sun, so these windows will be redesigned/replaced with ones that slide down, like the older monorails’ windows.
A big tip of the mouse-eared hat to the designer of the backlit Disneyland Monorail logo!
How would Guests get out through these windows in an emergency?
There’s the Main Street Train Station as we speed along towards Tomorrowland’s monorail station.
We hadn’t seen Mickey’s Toontown at night, so we walked there first. Sadly, Roger Rabbit’s CarToon Spin was already closed for the night.
His wacky fountain was still lit up and running!
One last look over our shoulder at the ToonTown hills and Mickey’s ToonTown itself.
Approaching the Matterhorn, with Michael shooting a video of it.
It is great to see that they still draw portraits of Guests in a courtyard at New Orleans Square…
…and how faithful Walt Disney was in recreating a bit of the French Quarter at Disneyland.
This is near the back of New Orleans Square, with the restrooms down the alley on the right and the Frontierland/New Orleans Square train station behind us.
Gotta go on one last ride at Pirates of the Caribbean!
“We wants the redhead!”
“Quiet, ya scums!”
Main Street USA is ablaze with the new-fangled turn-of-the-century invention, the incandescent lightbulb.
Any Hidden Mickey’s in the arrangement of flowers there in Town Square?
One last look at floral Mickey and the Main Street Train Station, with Tinker Bell aglow…
…as she gives us a “goodnight kiss” of pixie dust. A farewell Disneyland memory of this trip.
The picture above and the two below combine to make a panoramic last look at the entrance to Disney’s California Adventure.
There are plans to change this entry way so this might be the last time we see it with our own eyes this way.
And now, one last walk through the exit of the plaza between DCA and Disneyland…
As we enter Downtown Disney for the last time this trip…
…we see a poignant message from three of our favorite Disney Characters…
We hope to seeya real soon, too, guys!
Each entrance to the giant World of Disney store is decorated differently.
It was hard to resist going in one last time, but we had an early plane to catch the next morning — and packing to do before then.
Bye-bye, World of Disney!
One last walk through Downtown Disney.
And then, all too soon, a last nighttime view of the Disneyland Hotel.
I can see our room from here!
Tired, but happy after a wonderful vacation that ended all too soon, before sunrise on Saturday morning I drove our rented SUV to in front of the Disneyland Hotel lobby where we had just checked out.
Goodbye, Disneyland Hotel! You’re… the best! 8=o)
Goodbye, California! We’ll be back… sometime!
We were last at Walt’s Barn in Griffith Park on our Easter trip. We went back to take a look at the paving stone we donated to the landscaping project around Ollie Johnston’s train station there. We not only found that but also found the Walt Disney Tunnel there at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California.
Want to see it? I’ll have more about it, including a picture down below in this blog entry. I had a feeling that title and opening sentence would get your attention!
The Carolwood Pacific Historical Society offers regular tours of Walt Disney’s barn on the third Sunday of each month — in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. See the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society for more details.
That’s Walt’s Barn and Walt adjusting his Lilly Belle locomotive in the backyard of his house, in this photo on display inside Walt’s Barn. Take a look at our earlier trip report about our other visit to Walt’s Barn during Easter week. After clicking here, go to each of the following pages of that trip report where it says “Walt’s barn >>” in the upper right of the blog entry’s column.
During this visit, Carol helped the Carolwood society out by folding t-shirts in Walt’s barn. Michael and I voluntEARed but there wasn’t much for us to do, other than sweep the walkway near Ollie Johnston’s train station and remove pine straw from its roof. We were glad to help in any way we could!
Ollie Johnston’s train station has had landscaping and paving stones added around it since our last visit.
And a windowbox has been added inside the front window as well, including an electric lamp in the window.
In the picture above and below you can see the paving stones and concrete which have been added since the last time we were last there. Starting closest to the station’s door, the paver is inscribed “Ollie & Marie Johnston” and below that one is an engraved marker showing “Frank & Jeanette Thomas.”
The one on the lower left as you’re facing the train station is ours!
It is engraved with the words
RICH KOSTER
CAROL KOSTER
MICHAEL KOSTER
We never got ourselves a paving stone at Walt Disney World or Disneyland when there was an opportunity to do that, but I like the setting of this one even better.
Ours is placed alongside Disney notables and fellow members of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society who donated to this project. From left to right, below the two markers for Ollie & Marie Johnston and Frank & Jeanette Thomas, are these:
Tom Shafer, Jr. // Oscar Urrutia // Les & Judy Smout Foundation // Rich & Teya Johnston // Ken & Carolyn Johnston // Ward & Betty Kimball // John Lasseter // Michael & Sharon Broggie // Roger Broggie // Herbert A. & Kathryn Dymond
Jim & Nancy Cotterman // Ella M. Witter, Marc George Witter, Matthew R. Witter // Bob Gurr // Walt Disney Family // Tony Baxter // Bob Lemberger // Michael Campbell & Family // Fred S. Lack, III // Peter & Patti Finie //
Rich Koster, Carol Koster, Michael Koster // James P. Klitch & Family // Gary Oakland // Austin Meyers // William D. Barbe // David Krebs // Blake & Sherolyn Thomas // Carl & Lois Lehman // Robert & Rita, Robert A. & Daniel Cisneros // Steve Waller
Over in a little-seen portion of the track system in Griffith Park is a hidden-away tunnel…
…marked with a plaque above it.
The Disney Tunnel is near the “Disney Loop” at Griffith Park and is curved like Walt’s own backyard tunnel was — but not as much. Walt’s Carolwood Pacific railroad at his Holmby Hills estate was designed with a curve that made it impossible to see light at the opposite end of the tunnel.
Update to add more information that Bill Barbe sent to me today: “The Disney loop was the original inner loop that is just inside the main part of the facility. When the club expanded west they put in the three tunnels. The Disney Loop is the most inner loop in the club. It goes around the infield area around the barn and inside between the storage building and the passenger cars.”
And additional information from Fred S. Lack III: “Walt Disney donated his track in 1964 and it was put in place in 1966. Walt was invited to the ceremony in September of 1966 but declined because he was too busy. (Walt died 3 months later) The Disney Loop starts at New Sherwood Station and goes around behind the car barns and down around the Disney Barn. The track was made out of aluminum and wore out and was replaced with the current steel track.”
Bill believes “they named it Disney Tunnel because it came off the Disney loop and Disney was a Charter Member of the club.”
Fred adds: “The city donated more land to Los Angeles Live Steamers in the early 1980′s. To reach this land, Los Angeles Live Steamers had to tunnel under the horse trail that still exists today. The tunnels, named for early members of the Los Angeles Live Steamers, were built out of old culvert pipes. They were not meant to be the shape of Walt’s tunnel. Since the west end is connected with the Disney Loop, I presume it was named for Walt. The tunnels were built about 1984.”
I big tip of the mouse-eared hat to both Bill and Fred! 8=o)
Michael Broggie wrote to add: “Yes, when Walt was a member of the LA Live Steamers he donated the funds to create the tunnel and donated the track from his Carolwood Pacific RR.”
A tip of the mouse-eared hat to you, too, Michael! 8=o)
Something used by Walt on his original home layout remains in the Griffith Park layout to this day… but I’ve been sworn to secrecy not to tell what that is, for security reasons (so it won’t be stolen and sold on eBay). Join the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society and you might find out what it is!
We enjoyed our second visit to see Walt’s Barn and Ollie Johnston’s train station — and were glad to see how well the paving stones around it turned out (including the great honor of having ours among Disney luminaries as well).
A last look at Griffith Park before we headed back to the Disneyland Hotel.
You’ll find out about that and our last visit to the parks in the next entry to this travel blog.
After enjoying the WALL•E movie and the Disney stage show at the El Capitan Theatre, we entered directly into Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Store. This was the second time we had been there this year — and we love it!
Hidden Mickey (okay, maybe not so hidden) in the section of the store with Hollywood-themed Disney items. See how many “Hidden” Mickey’s you can spot in the picture below!
A large portion of the Studio Store area of the Soda Fountain shop was devoted to WALL•E merchandise.
I bought one of those BnL (Buy n Large) coffee mug (lower right of the picture) and they really are large! Carol got a large souvenEAR Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Shop coffee mug.
Lunch was great! Good thing we didn’t overdo it on the popcorn during the movie.
Check out the mouse-eared bread bowl of New England Clam Chowder that Michael ate out of!
You’re guaranteed to be seeing Hollywood starts in Disney’s Soda Fountain & Studio Store!
Did you see Goofy up there?
The WALL•E Sundae looked real cute, but we were already stuffed. We didn’t want to look even more like the humans in the movie! 
If we had ordered that, we would have needed BnL hoverchairs to get us out of there! 8=o)
Next, we drove to see Walt’s Barn again in Griffith Park. And we discovered something else there as well… Take a look in the next entry on this travel blog!
We set off Friday morning from the Disneyland Hotel to see WALL•E at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles and do sightseeing in the area, too.
There’s a billboard promoting the new Toy Story Midway Mania attraction at Disney’s California Adventure.
…and another one.
A smoggy skyline.
Traffic was heavier than we expected, based on what we had during Easter week!
There’s the exit for the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Downtown Los Angeles. If we hadn’t gotten a late start that morning — and if the traffic hadn’t been so heavy — we would have gone to see it.
Michael took this shot from the back seat. He didn’t get much of a view ahead of him!
The famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine
The “Hollywood” sign can be seen off in the distance looking across the street from the Kodak Theatre, near Disney’s El Capitan Theatre. (Click this picture or any of them to see them larger.)
The Kodak Theatre complex is across the street from the El Capitan Theatre and also includes a shopping mall and underground parking garage, the best place to park when going to see movie in the El Cap — and that’s where we parked.
We took a picture of a nearby landmark to help us find the rented SUV after we were through.
A giant WALL•E atop the El Capitan marquee was the first thing we saw before crossing the street after parking.
Here’s another view of it, taken as we were leaving after the movie. Apparently a TV interview was being done there.
In the next blog entry we’ll cross the street and be right outside the El Capitan Theatre, then go in!
I got up Friday and even before getting breakfast I headed to the Alamo office in Downtown Disney to rent a car for us which I had reserved for our day of sightseeing in Los Angeles. Actually, it was upgraded to an SUV.
From the Disneyland Hotel, walk across the pedestrian bridge then take the first right on the pathways, near this building.
Walk past the Walt Disney Travel Company office.
Continue walking past the Travelers Insurance Company office… the Alamo car rental office is right next door, on the end.
If you go too far, turn around and you’ll see this.
The SUV Alamo assigned to us was parked nearby.
I made sure to bring an iPhone car charger with us so we could alternate charging our iPhones while riding to keep both of them fully charged. Having the Google maps app on our iPhones helped us out when we got list on the way to the El Capitan Theatre. I had originally set up our route to take us to see the Walt Disney Studios first before the movie but since we got a later start than planned that morning, plus there was more tradfis than we had experienced during Easter week, we were running late and had to revise the turn by turn directions on the go.
The SUV had some minor dings, which I documented with my iPhone’s camera and then showed the pictures to the clerk in the Alamo office just to make sure I wouldn’t be charged for having created them after I returned the SUV the next day.
There was plenty of room in the rear for luggage, which is good because we were also going to use this vehicle to bring us and our luggage to the Orange County airport early the next morning. I like the convenience and good customer service Alamo has: It is easy to walk to Alamo’s office in Downtown Disney to rent a car. They keep their cars in the large parking lot right next to their office, the same lot also shared with Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel. It actually is more convenient when staying in the Disneyland Hotel tower we were in to park in that lot rather than the official one for the Disneyland Hotel, but I’m not sure if that is allowed after you first drive the rental car out of the parking lot.
It is very convenient to drop off a car from Alamo at the Orange County airport. They have a parking area in the airport’s parking garage where you can leave it and put the keys and rental information in a drop box if your flight is before their office opens, like ours was. Then you just wheel your luggage to a nearby elevator and go across to the terminal to check in. It is too bad that Disney’s Magical Express only exists at Walt Disney World, but this is okay. We could have paid for a shuttle to take us to the airport, but we needed to rent a car to drive to places in Los Angeles anyway so this worked out fine. I like being able to drive off from the hotel when we are ready to go, rather than having to follow a shuttle’s schedule.
This was the first SUV I had ever driven and if this Pontiac Torrent SUV is like most of the rest of them, I’d rather be in my Honda Accord or Honda Odyssey “Minnie” van. Even the midsize car we had during Easter week was preferable to me — and got better mileage, too.
It was also the first time we experienced XM radio. What we really wanted to hear was Rush Limbaugh on AM Radio, but it was hard to figure out how to change to that radio band without having the SUV’s instruction manual left for us inside there.
Our room can be seen right from where the Alamo office is, we’re that close. Our room was to the right of the elevator shaft, about in the middle of this picture.
Carol and Michael were still getting ready for the day back in our room, so I had time to go into the Walt Disney Travel Company nearby and take pictures.
It’s red on the outside, blue on the inside, and very cool: Disneyland’s new Monorail Mark VI!
We were lucky enough to get to ride in it up front with its monorail pilot Thursday night (the week we were there in July). It was a trip — literally and figuratively — to take it from Tomorrowland to the Downtown Disney monorail station, including going through Disney’s California Adventure and the Golden Gate Bridge replica. From there it was a short walk back to our room in the Disneyland Hotel.
Isn’t she a beauty? Monorail Red in the Tomorrowland station, gleaming in the light.
Below us, the yellow submarines. In the distance, the Matterhorn.
Tomorrowland from the monorail station
A futuristic-looking part of Autopia beyond the monorail track.
Sleek and shiny.
Passengers get off…
We get a peek inside one of the passenger compartments with its monorail logo lit up.
Bench seating, facing out (not front or back).
We are now inside the front of the monorail as the monorail pilot prepares to have the monorail leave the station.
Nice Cast Member uniforms!
Impressive control panel.
The view ahead… Don’t go yet, red light.
Michael is shooting video of what’s through the curved front window.
Get ready…
…Go! Green light!
I love the backlit, glowing monorail logo inside the front of the monorail.
We’re looking off to the left at the off-site hotels and motels on Harbor Boulevard.
Now, on the right, is the building where Guests on the Disneyland Railroad see the Grand Canyon Diorama.
On the left is Disney’s California Adventure after closing, with a dark Disney’s Animation attraction.
There’s no mistaking the replica of the Golden Gate Bridge the monorail passes through.
On the right, at the same level as the monorail, is the building where Soarin’ over California is located.
Now we’re inside the courtyard of Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel…
…and the tunnel that goes through part of the hotel.
Far on the left, the tower of the Disneyland Hotel we stayed in during this vacation.
On the right, we quickly glide by the Lego store in Downtown Disney.
We’re approaching the Downtown Disney monorail station…
…and slowing to a stop.
Looking at the monorail station our the left side of the monorail.
Thank you for a great ride! We make our exit…
…and take pictures of other cars of the monorail.
That’s the back end of the monorail with nobody in it. Very cool!
One last look at the back of the monorail before we head down out of the station and make our way to the hotel.
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