First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 14

Last in the parade, but first in my excitement--Mary Poppins! And Bert!

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 13

Peter Pan and Captain Hook, at battle for the enjoyment of all parade lovers! Another view of their battle, as it continued for a moment or two. Captain Hook, distracted from his battle with Peter Pan, decided to "visit" those on the sidewalk, to convey his displeasure at their hoops and hollers. He gave up, having no more impact on them than he eventually did on Peter Pan!

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 12

The Princess on the float for The Princess and the Frog. I am not familiar with this Disney Princess. Do you know anything about her or the frog that you can share with use, please and thank you? The dress must be something that is reinforced for support so that she is secured at all times on the float--at best, it looks a bit uncomfortable to me. Atop the float for the Princess and the Frog, an entertaining couple. I know not the identity of the lady or the man.

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 11

Roaring from atop his float, the Lion King! One of my favorite Broadway musicals--I count myself blessed to have seen it the first time in London and the second time here in Portland. Those dancers behind the float are on stilts, tall stilts, playing drums some of the time, fringe flying all of the time. Love them!

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 10

Beautiful dancers twirl, wave, and smile along the street in front of the float on which ride five Disney princesses: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle and Rapunzel. I found online this term associated with the float--the Royal Princess Romantic Melodies. At the front of the float I instantly recognized Snow White. Not sure who that other princess is, sitting down on the right. Wearing lavender, Rapunzel is there behind these two, up higher--I recognized her by her braids, the thickest, longest ones I'm likely to ever see. I hope that you can see the smiles on the faces of the two little girls in the crowd, bottom left of the photo. They're waving and smiling, so thrilled to see these princesses right there in front of them! Here at the back of the float, Cinderella and Belle. So, the other princess at the front has to be Aurora. To confirm her identity, I Google Imaged "Princess Aurora Mickey's Soundsational Parade." Yep, she's Aurora.

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 9

We leave the snow behind for this warm January night at Disneyland. Dancers and two of the Three Cabarellos, in their colorful costumes! And here's the third of the Three Cabarellos, Donald Duck himself, dancing away atop his very tall float!

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 8

Mickey Mouse on his float, playing the drums. Minnie Mouse, such a cutie pie. Love that piano keyboard skirt and all the petticoats! The genie from Aladdin and some harem girls. Are they known as harem girls in that movie? I haven't seen it, so I don't know for sure. Aladdin is certainly handsome! Undersea creatures from The Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid herself! She kept that tail of hers moving, flipping it up and down, swiveling on that seat.

More from the parade tomorrow!

From the Disneyland Web site:

Fabulous Floats Watch as beloved melodies from classic Disney movies come to life through thrilling rhythms, Disney Characters and whimsical floats.

• Music in Motion Rhythmic beats hit Main Street, U.S.A at Disneyland Park!
• Mickey strikes up the band and leads the way with a syncopated drum line.
• Colorfully costumed musicians, energetic dancers and many of Mickey’s friends follow to amplify the fun with twinkling cymbals, steel drums and bold percussion.
• Each fantastic float has its own unique musical style, like crowd-pleasing Bollywood and South American rhythms.
• Best of all, you're encouraged to join the celebration for a giant jam session

A Symphony of Disney Characters

• Mickey leads this rockin’ parade, followed by many of his friends, including some royal Disney Princesses.
• Joining Mickey are Minnie, Goofy, Chip ‘n’ Dale, Pluto and Pals from popular Disney films, including:
• The Little Mermaid
• The Three Caballeros
• The Lion King
• The Princess and the Frog
• Aladdin
• Peter Pan
• Mary Poppins
• Don’t miss the medley of Royal Princess Romantic Melodies, where these 5 Disney Princesses make an appearance: Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Belle and even Rapunzel.

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 7

After we learned that the Monorail was down, we knew we'd have to walk back to the gates to Disneyland. On the way we stopped to look at this store window which we had noticed the day before--so many different styles of Mickey Mouse ears. In another window of the huge store I saw a T-shirt, one that I really wanted to take a closer look at. The three of us ended up wondering around in the store, the World of Disney, for so long that it got dark. Tired feet, never found the T-shirt. Couldn't find Sharon and/or Jenna. So, I headed for this smooth, low wall, decorated with a scroll shadow. A few minutes there and I was ready to go again, especially when Sharon and Jenna found me. Our ticket allowed us back inside Disneyland itself because we followed their security guidelines. I cannot remember for sure, but I think before we entered the first time that morning, we signed the back of our tickets and showed our photo ID. And we had our photo taken, too, so that there would be a photo of each of us associated with our tickets. And at some point we had the back of our left hand stamped--I think it was when we got off the Monorail and walked out into Downtown Disney. I felt pretty good about the security, and I heard someone talking with the handsome Estaban (while I waited to ask him my question) about having lost a ticket which had been found and all would be well very soon. Those folks at Disneyland thrive on first-class customer service. Number of visitors to Disneyland in the 50 years that it has been open: over 650 million. Number of photos taken here beside Mickey Mouse in flowers with the Disneyland Railroad Depot in the background: easily over 650 million, especially now that most folks either use their phones or their digital cameras which make it so easy to take more than one shot until you get the perfect one. I took this photo at 6:09 p.m. on my first day, ever, at Disneyland. Once we walked back inside and made our way around to the front of the railroad station, I cannot remember where Sharon and Jenna walked, but I stayed on the sidewalk, thinking to myself, "I do believe it is just about time for the night-time version of the Mickey's Soundsational Parade." I remembered reading on the park map that it was supposed to start at 6:30 p.m. I turned to my left, saw a bunch of empty benches just outside the station's entrance, up a few steps and right at the center of the view down Main Street USA. Oh, boy, I thought. Seats for the parade! Well, those seats were roped off for I-know-not-whom. However, just to the right of them, I spied a half an empty two-section bench! I asked the man who sat there with a lady, "Is this saved?" He replies, "Yes, for you!" Yea! Sharon and Jenna came back soon and sat to my left and before too long, the parade began. I took this photo with my iPhone 5 when I realized that I had better check-in on Facebook before Mickey Mouse got too far past me. Was I ever happy to be sitting on that bench at 6:41 p.m.! So cool. So exciting. So real. Remember when I said that the fact that the parade was going left to right in that photo yesterday would turn out to be beneficial? Here's what I meant. Every single element of the parade went from a gate where we were that afternoon by It's A Small World all the way to Main Street USA and out another gate to the right of the Disneyland Railroad Depot, where we were for the start of the night time parade! I'm not sure how that got turned around, reordered so that first was first again and ready for that start--I've looked at the Google Map image of that area and wonder if every single element turned into a building that looks huge on the image. I probably will never know, but I don't care. It's part of the magic that is Disneyland! I'll have parade photos tomorrow and a bit about where we ate our second meal of the day soon--thought I'd get to it in this post, but I'm out of energy. Gotta get to bed, y'all.

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 6

My photos have helped me remember what we did next--hallelujah! I had bought myself two SparkleSkirts the day before at the runner's expo--they're good for walkers, too. Unfortunately, I did not get the correct size which meant another trip through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel. Or so we thought. Jenna and/or Sharon remembered that the monorail went close by the hotel, so we sought advice of one of Disneyland's information booth employees, a handsome young man named Estaban. Not only a handsome young man, but a gracious one who explained that we could board the train at the New Orleans Square station, get off at Tomorrowland and walk a short way to board the Monorail, then get off not too far from the hotel. Excited, we made it all happen and planned to return to Disneyland by Monorail. Unfortunately, both units of it were down when we had taken care of business at the expo. More about what happened next tomorrow! Little did I realize when I took this photo that I would have a way to show you what I meant about the train tracks being up on a berm which I had mentioned in yesterday's post, raised about the rest of the Disneyland acreage. You can easily see that the brick street is much lower than the place where the train tracks are located. You can see the earth piled up around and above the tunnel, too. Just to the right of the tunnel stands the Haunted Mansion; just to its left stands the huge show building that houses the scary and fun ride that is the Haunted Mansion. Neat-o! Doesn't bother me one bit to not have actually been inside the antebellum building throughout the entire experience. In fact, I felt much less confused than I had been when trying to figure it out later on when we sat down for our second meal of the day, after dark. More about that tomorrow, too. We missed this particular train but soon boarded the one we'd already been on twice earlier in the day. Here's some info about it's engine: No. 3: Fred Gurley, a 2-4-4 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1894, went into service at Disneyland March 28, 1958. The locomotive, named for the then-current chairman of the ATSF, Fred G. Gurley, is the oldest single piece of railroad equipment in use at any Disney theme park. The 2-4-4T tank locomotive, used in Louisiana to transport sugar cane, was purchased in working condition for US$1300; nevertheless, more than $35,000 was spent on its restoration. A commemorative plastic plaque celebrating the Gurley's centennial was mounted under the engines running board in 1994. In 2008, the Fred Gurley returned from an extensive overhaul and was featured as a static display at the Fullerton Railroad Days. I love these saloon-gal-singing-and-dancing chickens that one sees not too far after entering the tunnel on the train. I've just read online about this scene: Shortly thereafter passengers catch a glimpse of Splash Mountain's "Zip-a-Dee Lady" riverboat finale scene ... All sorts of fun seems to be going on, but I wouldn't know how it actually relates to Splash Mountain because I couldn't bring myself to give that ride a try--fear of heights, motion sickness, fear of getting drenched, I confess to all three. This time while we waited at the Mickey's Toontown station (which is right next to It's A Small World), being in the front rail car allowed us to see Mickey Mouse's float in the afternoon Mickey's Soundsational Parade! You know, if I were a child, I'd be overwhelmed with the amount of excitement every time I turned around. It was so cool, energizing, thrilling, loads of fun. Also, notice that the people standing close by the float are looking to their left which means the parade is moving across the photo left to right. I didn't notice that then, but, boy, did it turn out to be extremely beneficial to us later on that day. More about that tomorrow. We pulled out of the station, rolled through the It's A Small World attraction, and came upon more floats on their way to the parade itself. More excitement! Folks in line for Autopia. Just a few of them. When I looked at the rest of the lines for the ride, I wondered if I'd get a chance to do it later on or on another day. I surely wanted to drive one of those cars! Autopia cars waiting for drivers, seen from the walkway to the Monorail. Cool. Monorail station and sign. Hard to believe that I was headed for it. Wow! Quick photo before it was our turn to board. Queen Mum Leah at the SparkleSkirt venue. Nice lady. Very busy. Graciously OK'ed my putting her photo on the blog.