Mickey's Halloween Party 2011 at Disneyland

Date of Visit: September 30, 2011

We cannot remember ever doing Disneyland during Halloweentime, although we must have, as we came for my 18th birthday back in 2005 and Mik's first Disneyland trip was my 10th birthday back in 1997.  I know the Haunted Mansion Holiday at least was a thing in 2005, but somehow we do not remember there being Halloween decor or anything and really only rode Haunted Mansion Holiday once before when we visited during Thanksgiving weekend once.

This year we decided to go to Disneyland for my birthday, since we seem to most times it falls on the weekend.  Plus, we wanted to get more use out of our Premier Passes.  It also worked out great as a chance to experience the Mickey's Halloween Party for our first time with the first date of it being last night.  Also, nice to get the tickets for that when we had Annual Passes, as we saved even on the ticket for Mom.

We went into Disneyland about 4 hours before the party.  Yeah, your supposed to only get in 3 hours before, but our tickets said the party started at 6pm (bought and printed when only for sale for Annual Passholders) and somewhere along the line it changed to a 7pm start time.  We had absolutely, no problem getting in right after 3pm, as we had planned for months to do.  Would have been nice if the party was at 6pm as we originally thought, though, as Mik did not appreciate having to waste 4 hours in Disneyland and me not wanting to wait 30 minutes to have to transfer him on Star Tours.  We did at least luck out and basically walk on to Haunted Mansion Holiday through and ride Buzz twice.


The main thing we did during the actual party was wait around for the parade to start at 8:30pm.  It was kind of cool, but Mik got tired by the end of it and we only ended up hitting one more trick or treat trail.  We hit a good one, though, as we went to the one the goes through the beginning of the Pirates of the Caribbean regular queue and Mik thought it was fun to go under the archway for once, since he has only ever been through the exit.  He kind of got into the trick or treating after that, but then heard the fireworks were about to start, so we hightailed it out of the park and to check for Grumpy clothing at World of Disney.


I liked Main Street lit up after dark with the green lit windows and the projections of spiderwebs on City Hall and the Train Depot.  The Mickey ghosts and pumpkins are the park were also cool lit up and of course the Mickey Pumpkin on Main Street.

Overall a fun evening, although, next time I would hit the trick or treating spots and skip the parade, so we could actually do more before leaving the park before fireworks.  I should have known we would not last past the fireworks, since we usually purposely leave the park before them.

Now to celebrate my birthday in Disneyland with Mik today.

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Mark Twain Riverboat

Date of Visit: August 22, 2011

With all the times we have visited Disneyland, neither Mik nor I could ever remember going on the Mark Twain Riverboat.  I probably did when I was little, but I really doubt we ever took Mik on it before.  Thus on this trip, Mik and I decided to finally go on it.  Of course, we were almost thwarted because when we went over to it first thing in the morning it was temporarily down.  Luckily, it was back up and going within a few hours and we did end up getting to try it out.


They had the wheelchairs load onto the boat first.  Note the boat is not level with the dock and they have you load on backwards.  When we got off they did not seem to care when we unloaded just that you also go backwards going off.  Definitely not a ride to go on when the tippers are on, as they certainly would have been in the way. but we usually leave them off when Mik is not wheeling himself anyways.


The ride around the Rivers of America on the Mark Twain is not all that exciting, but it is a relaxing break from walking around the park and gives a different look at the areas around the River including some parts you can only see from the boat rides (canoes, Columbia, Mark Twain).


Overall the Mark Twain Riverboat is not a bad ride, but you really cannot explore the boat and are stuck on the bottom level with the wheelchair.  One time around every once and a while might be worthwhile, but it would be much cooler if they worked out a way to get wheelchairs up on the Columbia.  Going around the Rivers of America on a pirate ship seems so much cooler!!


Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Fantasmic Dessert Seating

Date of Visit: June 3, 2011

Mik has never wanted to see the Fantasmic show, but he is a foodie, so when I told him we could get reserved seats and a dessert platter to watch the show he decided to give it a try.  It certainly is not cheap at $60 a person, but you do get a chair and even if you do end up in the second or third row there is adequate room to shuffle chairs a little so you can see in between heads in the front row if they happen to be tall.

We got in line about 15 minutes before they started letting you choose seats.  It is kind of annoying that for the first showing you have to then go and wait for them to let in the area, especially with the area so congested and not much room for hanging around the ~15 minutes.


Mik sat in the front row (they took away the chair) and we sat behind him in the second row.  The view was not bad, but there was a pole in the way.  You would think if you are paying $60 for seating they would line the seating up so there was not such an obstructed view.  Not too big a deal, as you could still see pretty much everything.


The dessert tray is great.  Each person gets a box filled with various desserts along with cheese and crackers.  There were some little truffles, a little cheesecake with a Mickey chocolate, a cool cookie with a purple starry chocolate bottom, a brownie, grapes, Babybel cheese, crackers, and probably a few other things.  The lid is cool with the Fantasmic logo, but it does not stay on very well (the CMs are nice and told us this when handing them out to best avoid spills).

You also get drinks as part of the seating.  We all had hot chocolate, but they also had soda and coffee options.


I loved seeing the show and having a seat instead of having to stake out a spot early or standing long before and during the show.  It is also nice that it is not crowded with people smooshed together like the other areas can be.

We all enjoyed the show and even Mik said he would see it again, but only if we did the Dessert seating.  Certainly, not something we are going to splurge on for every Disneyland trip (i.e. not happening the other two trips planned this year), but it was totally worth it and I will definitely try to budget it in again sometime.  Mik just wished they had something like this for World of Color, although maybe before we do this again we will give the Ariel's Grotto package for that, although that still is not really anywhere near the same from what I have read.

We also ended up watching the fireworks from here.  The view is not that great, but you do still at least see Dumbo and Tinkerbell flying.  The trees around the seating blocked seeing much of the actual fireworks, but it was better than trying to get out of the park during the fireworks.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Soundsational Parade

Date of Visit: June 3, 2011

Mik is not a fan of parades and I have never successfully gotten him to let us stake out a spot to see one until this last trip.  We had ended up leaving the park on the 2nd during the parade and he was surprised it was not all that loud.  Apparently, the main reason he does not like the parades is the noise.


On the 2nd we noticed the wheelchair viewing area on Main Street (outside shop near where the parade starts) was pretty much empty 20 minutes before the parade, so we got there about 30 minutes before parade time and had no problem getting a spot.  In fact, the area barely ended up filling the first row even with companions standing in front row.  That seems rather surprising, especially when it was the prime spot to be with the parade starting on the Main Street end that time.


I really enjoyed the parade, especially since Mary Poppins and the penguins from that movie were featured as the final part of the parade.  Mik has no real opinion of the parade other than it is surprisingly not that loud, as he ended up falling asleep before the parade and slept through it.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Hyatt Regency Orange County - Accessible Room

Date of Visit: June 2-5, 2011

This trip was the 2nd time we have stayed at the Hyatt Regency Orange County.  Last time we stayed here was back in 2005 for my 18th birthday.  That time we had a 2 bedroom suite, although I think we booked lower and got upgraded due to Mom's Hyatt Passport status.  This time we used Hyatt Points for a regular room and at check in ended up upgraded to a one bedroom accessible suite because they noticed Mik was in a wheelchair when we checked in.  We do not usually bother about getting an accessible room, except on Disney Cruises, but it certainly was nice to have a roll in shower.

Mik was hesitant to use the roll in shower.  He is a creature of habit and hates bathing anywhere, but his own tub and bench.  However, the fold on bench in the roll in shower was way better than the set up he has at home.

Mik does not like handicap toilets, which of course this room has.  They are too tall for him, but he did appreciate having a bar at least on one side of the toilet, although not too helpful with it being on his right side and him being such a lefty and it still not being all that close to the toilet.  However, still better than a regular room, especially since overall it has more space for us to help him.

Mik enjoyed the couch because he could sit in the corner with his leg in front of him and be facing the television.  He also liked that you could pull down the blinds between the couch area and bedroom to block out the light from the other room.


My favorite feature of the hotel room was that they actually have a split trash can with a can for trash and one for recycling.  Totally love that you can recycle, especially since we often ended up with soda bottles we started at Disneyland and then finish after we got back to the hotel.  It is also nice that the rooms actually have mini fridges.


This is definitely one of our favorite Disneyland area hotels, although partly because we use Mom's points to stay free.  We already booked another trip to go for my birthday and stay there this October.  It works out good when we drive to Disneyland and we have our Premier Passes to park free at Disneyland, but if we had to pay to park at Disneyland (still have to pay to park every day at Hyatt) or fly it is not a good choice because it is just a tad too far to walk with all the walking you do in the parks and the shuttle can be inconvenient waiting around for and having to request the wheelchair one.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Hyatt Regency Orange County
11999 Harbor Blvd
Garden Grove, CA 92840

Disneyland: Star Tours - The Adventure Continues

Date of Visit: June 4, 2011

The new Star Tours ride was the main reason we went to Disneyland the first weekend of June.  The lines were crazy long on Friday, June 3 when it opened, but first thing Saturday the lines were surprisingly short.  Also, we were able to snag some Fast Passes before getting in line for only an hour wait to ride the first time.


The wheelchair entrance remains a side door and elevator ride to the loading area, but now the queue wraps around more outside and you get to go in a small room with some cool Star Wars decor as part of the queue before you get to the actual ride building and the CM directs you to a side door to the elevator.  Note that it seems that they also load some disabilities from the exit.  It seems some get to the side doorway and are told to go to the exit, but we have never been told that.  I think it is because larger power chairs and scooter cannot get through the ride vehicle very well and those type load from exit, while manual chairs like Mik load from the regular side.


The path to the elevator is pretty much the same, although there is a new electronic screen that shows information about the ride.  The elevator is rather boring.  If you going to have to skip the regular queue, it would be nice if the elevator was at least Star Wars themed or something like the awesome elevators that you go on for the Indiana Jones accessible queue route.


Mik was sad he still did not get to see whatever might be cool about the inside the building queue (I have heard they added some cool stuff), but at least we get the full ride experience loading from the same side as most everyone else.  However, we always have to sit in the front row and I really wonder how the experience differs by row.

This is a transfer ride, but one of the easiest because it really is just a chair to chair transfer, especially since the armrest on the end of the front row swings back out of the way to make a transfer easier.  However, it does seem it would be a tight squeeze if you tried to put the chair right next to the seat to transfer over, but we did not even try because that does not work best for Mik anyways.

After you transfer, the CM takes the chair back out and then brings it back to you after the ride.  You then go out and exit the way down the ramp into the Star Wars store.  I really wish the exit was not the store, though, as it gets quite crowded and there, but that is how it has always been.

Star Tours - The Adventure Continues is similar to the old ride, but now it is 3D and the adventures are different.  This includes there being 54 different variations on the ride.  That makes it more interesting to ride multiple times every visit.  My favorite of the three times we rode was when we ended up in a pod race.  That was totally awesome, as that has always been my favorite aspect of the Star Wars universe.


The 3D aspect is a cool addition, but it really is not that great.  I found that it was like with my 3DS that you have to look just right at the screen.  However, the ride also requires the glasses to sit just right on your head, which is really hard for me when they have to go over my glasses.  The 3D glasses did not mesh well with my glasses coverage, so half the time the movie looked funky.  Mik nor Dad understood what I was talking about, but Mik amazingly has awesome eyesight and Dad's is not that bad.  Also, the fact my glasses are crooked and actually work better when crooked might play into the problem, but I never have that problem with 3D movies in theaters.  It might have to do with the ride moving and the glasses not being that snug on small heads like mine.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Excited About New Disneyland Rides and Little Mermaid Accessibility

One week until we are in Disneyland for the official opening day of two new rides (Star Tours and Little Mermaid).  The rides open on Friday, June 3, 2011 and that will be our first full day at the park next weekend, but we plan to get to Anaheim early afternoon to get our Premier Passes and Mik and I will probably go in the parks for a wheelchair accessible ride or two.  Dad will use his 3 day Park Hopper with us Friday through Sunday, so we can enjoy more of the parks with him transferring Mik.

I am most excited about riding the new Little Mermaid ride in Disney's California Adventure.  Just as I suspected from the concept map in Blue Sky Cellar, there is a wheelchair accessible vehicle.  Not as big a deal this trip with Dad along, but good to have another ride we can do on trips without Dad, such as our upcoming August one for the D23 Expo.  It uses the same ride clamshell style ride system as Haunted Mansion just with a slightly different look and bright colors, so I still am hoping that one day they will redo Haunted Mansion to let the wheelchair go on it.

Mik is looking forward to the new Star Tours ride, although he is unsure about if it will be awesome or just as good with new experience.  Of course, this is not a wheelchair accessible ride, but that makes total sense.  I have heard some about an armrest on end moving out of way to allow for an easier seat to seat transfer.  Even without that it has always been the one ride I could actually transfer Mik to.

What Mik is really most excited about, though, is riding more rides since Dad will be along to transfer him.  I am sure we will do Indiana Jones quite a few times.  Also, he loves doing the Matterhorn after dark.  We are also excited about taking Dad to see World of Color.

Disneyland: Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer Island

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

This trip was the first time in my memory of every going to Tom Sawyer Island at Disneyland, although I probably went when I was little.  It is definitely the first time Mik has ever been to the island.  We have always avoided it because we had heard that once you get there there is no where for wheelchairs to go and do anything.  Well, we finally decided to check it out for ourselves and discovered this was an overgeneralization.

It is true that for the most part wheelchairs cannot enjoy the island, but there is still some things they can access.  I have no idea exactly how much we really missed out on because the wheelchair could not fit in most of the cave openings or there were stairs up to the bridges, but there was still plenty to do to waste an hour on the island.  There is even a companion bathroom by the fort.

To get to Tom Sawyer Island you ride on a raft.  The raft is not exactly even with the loading dock, so we had to tip the front wheels of Mik's wheelchair off the ground to safely get on board.  Not too big an issue, but his new wheelchair is really hard to do that with because it is meant to avoid all the flipping over accidents Mik has ended up in at school.  Good for his usual daily wheelchair use, not so good for adventuring.  At least we did not have the tippers on, so did not have to stop to flip those up just to get on raft.

On the island there certainly are places a wheelchair can go from the start.  Sure, you cannot go to the left, but to the right is a rather level path.  Yes, the path is dirt, but it is hard packed and very easy to roll on.  We followed the path and found an area where there was a wheel that you can turn to lift a treasure chest with a skeleton out of the water.  Mik was able to easily do this by himself and found it fun to do.  There is also a little area where you can pump water, which we tried to do, but stunk and we notices two really in shape guys did not do any better when they tried after us.  This area was overall quite accessible, although the part by the waterfall was a tight squeeze.  Also, there was a rolling bridge of barrels that the wheelchair could not go on.



After this little area of pirate activities we continued on towards the fort.  There was one cave near the hill/lift up to the fort/restrooms that was plenty wide enough to go in with a wheelchair.  There was not much of interest inside, but it was cool to see Mik's new wheelchair glow in there and actually get a picture of it glowing.




The hill up to the front of the fort is very steep.  The one around the back near the treasure area is not much better.  We just went up the steep on in front because Mik had to go to the bathroom and we knew they were up at the fort.  We felt pretty stupid when we go to the bathrooms and right next to them is a wheelchair lift that gets you up to them.  I do not know if you can just operate it or you need to find a cast member to do it, though.  Either way better than dangerously trying to go up the steep hill.




Up at the top of the hill behind the fort is a little graveyard and getting around the fort and the graveyard area is relatively level, although the path is almost too narrow for a wheelchair at parts.  Not really any reason to go up here other than the bathrooms, but the companion bathroom up there is great.




One other fun little part we found is that near one of the areas with stairs up to stuff there is a pirate ship wheel.  Mik rolled up to it to see that a wheelchair person could play with it, although it seemed to kiddie for him.  There are also little microphones to talk into and talk with people up on top, which could be fun for groups with those that want to climb up and those that cannot.

Overall we had a lot of fun on Tom Sawyer Island.  Sure, there is a lot wheelchairs cannot access or do, but there is still some fun stuff.  Plus, you at least get a raft ride as part of it.

Photos by Mik
Text by Kjersti with Mik's Wheelchair Accessibility Input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters is our all time favorite ride at Disneyland.  We have been enjoying it since they were soft testing it and officially opened it during our March 2005 trip.  It is the first ride we ever went on with Mik staying in his wheelchair, as back then Mik was still not that big and Dad would always transfer him to whatever rides we wanted to go on.  At first Mik liked to go on this as a transfer, but he soon discovered that the wheelchair vehicle is much better as he does not have to try to sit up in the ride vehicle and instead can focus on trying to get a good score.

As a newer ride, the whole Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters queue is wheelchair accessible.  Right before you get to the normal loading area there is a door with a wheelchair logo sign.  I have noticed there is an automatic button next to it, but I always just push Mik into the door and open it that way.  There is always a cast member there to tell you to go through there and often a cast member at the start of the line to make sure you know how to get to the wheelchair boarding area (really the unloading area).  Note that the door into it from the line opens right into the path of people exiting the ride, so open it slowly to avoid hitting or running into people exiting the ride.

Sometimes you have to wait awhile for the wheelchair vehicle to get around again, but even in busy times we have never had to wait longer than for it to get around.  This is because even when their are other wheelchairs it is often people who can or choose to transfer out and they are loaded pretty much as they get there (they still can slow or stop the moving sidewalk/ride for those transferring).

For the wheelchair vehicle they stop the ride and the back of the vehicle folds down to form with the space behind it that unfolds into a ramp to roll into the vehicle.  I have heard some say the turn to get in is tight and can be hard, but we have never had a problem.  The wheelchair can ride by themselves or to the left side with another person riding on the right.  The other person sits on a little seat that folds down.  It is somewhat of a tight spot, but it has never bothered me.  It certainly would not work to have someone ride with those with wider wheelchairs or bigger companions, but you can always ride in the vehicle behind the wheelchair one instead.

Since the ride has to stop to unload the wheelchair, they often ask if we want to go around a second time if no one else is waiting for the wheelchair vehicle.  We love doing this, but it is usually just Mik and I or just people in the one vehicle behind us.  I certainly doubt they would do this for those in larger groups taking up multiple regular vehicles.  Also, it is always up to the cast member and we certainly do not mind getting off and having to get back in line to do it again, as Mik's hands get tired after about one and a half times through in a row.  Plus, you sometimes miss being able to find your first photo at the end if you go around again.

Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

Disneyland: "it's a small world"

Date of Visit: March 10, 2011

For years we would skip "it's a small world," but a few years ago I took Mik to Disneyland for the first time by myself and since I cannot transfer him we decided to go on it.  Now we always go on at least once per Disneyland trip.  This time it ended up being our first ride, as Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters (our typical first ride since we were there when they were soft opening and officially opened it in March 2005) was closed for mechanical difficulties when Disneyland first opened.

Mik does not like "it's a small world" much, but he likes it enough to not mind going on it once per trip.  Usually, though, we pick it for later in the day when we are bored and want to kill some time actually being in a line, as the wheelchair queue can often get longer than the regular queue or at least about the same.  However, going first thing we did not have to wait at all and not even for the wheelchair boat to get around, as we got there just as it pulled up.

We consider the "it's a small world" accessible vehicle one of the coolest, although Jungle Cruise is similar (heard that one is under repair right now, though).  A ramp rolls up to the vehicle, so the wheelchair can roll onto a turntable lift that then lowers the wheelchair down into the boat.  Mik likes that he gets a higher up view of "it's a small world" from his wheelchair rather than being down low in the boat rows.  Plus you get the whole boat to yourself.  We even got to go around twice in a row because there was no one else waiting to go on the wheelchair boat, although Mik usually declines to do that on this particular ride.

Photos by Kjersti
Text by Kjersti with Mik's wheelchair accessibility input

Destination Info:
Disneyland
1313 South Harbor Boulevard
Anaheim, CA 92802

D23 2nd Anniversary Mixer and Meeting Bob Gurr

On March 10, 2011, I took Mik as my guest to the 2nd Anniversary D23 Mixer at Disneyland.  Last year I took Dad, as it was only a special after hours Fantasyland experience and I could only have one guest.  This year I could still only have one guest, but the only in park experience was World of Color in California Adventure, which is a show, so totally accessible unlike Fantasyland mostly not wheelchair accessible rides.

The mixer was at ESPN Zone in Downtown Disney.  I did not expect to like this part of the event, but other than the crappy service from the ESPN staff it was pretty good.  Each of us got $10 game cards for free.  Mik was playing an 1990s baseball video game machine he could actually roll up to and reach the controls when a guy came up to him and asked if he wanted his coupon for the game card.  Of course, Mik said yes and he actually gave us 2 vouchers.  The really cool part though was this just was not a totally random guy, but a Disney Legend Bob Gurr.

I knew Bob Gurr was there, but did not expect to actually meet him.  So it was really cool that he came up to us.  That is not the coolest part, though.  The coolest part was as we were leaving to go to California Adventure for the World of Color show, Bob Gurr stopped us and asked us if we had gotten to use the cards.  Totally a cool experience from the mixer considering we really only did the event for the World of Color part and because I went to the 1st anniversary party it seemed fitting to try to keep going every year that I can and they do something.  Without the meeting Bob Gurr experience the whole mixer part would have been worse than expected due to the poor service.

The Color of Wonder was totally awesome and glad to finally see it.  Giving it its own post when I get around to doing the posts about each attraction we visited on this Disneyland trip, as we spent the day in the parks before the mixer.

Text by Kjersti

Its a small world instead of Buzz first

We ended up having to skip our favorite first ride at Disneyland because it was broken down.  'its a small world' is cool accessibility wise, but sure is not as fun as Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Especially, since we want to see Mik's new wheelchair glow in Buzz.

Sent from my iPhone