California/Disneyland Vlog Day 1 - Oct. 13, 2000 - Hollywood & Disneyland

TRAVEL NOTES:
1:42 LAX airport - Enterprise Rent-a-Car shuttle bus

1:58 Driving. My friend Mike rented a pickup truck from Enterprise and we drove past Randy’s Donuts and Santa Monica Blvd. Next we drove down Mulholland Drive because it is iconic and has great views. We saw the Hollywood Sign, the Hollywood Bowl, and L.A. from above. We drove past Universal and NBC. We visited the Walt Disney Studios, but I didn’t film it because we were not allowed, but at the end of the video I posted photos of the studios. We went to the Disney archives and hung out with Dave Smith and he let us look at a lot of old monorail artifacts. Mike and I worked in WDW monorails together, so we were able to get into the studios.

7:42 Driving I-5 to Anaheim. We pulled into the new Disneyland parking garage. I don’t think the entrance off the freeway was completed yet. My previous Disneyland trip was in 1999 and the parking structure wasn’t open yet. When it opened in 2000 it was the largest parking structure in the United States.

10:12 Monorail Blue passes by the front entrance and I love how the windows are open. Disney’s California Adventure is behind construction walls and won’t open until Feb. 2, 2001.

10:46 Disneyland train station Mickey floral “45 years”. Walt’s Lilly Belle steam train engine and caboose from his backyard are in the Main Street Train Station.

11:21 DL Railroad train ride. We stopped at New Orleans Square station. Next we pass through Splash Mountain. As we pass the Hungry Bear restaurant the spiel talks about the Country Bear Vacation Hoedown, which I recorded a little of another day. I will post that in the future. We chug past Big Thunder Ranch, Mickey’s Toontown Station, and it’s a small world. There’s an Agrifuture sign behind Tomorrowland and a Mark V Monorail passes overhead. We get off at Tomorrowland Station.

15:25 Monorail station & Innoventions.

15:39 Quick Fantasyland shots - Mad Tea Party, Alice in Wonderland, Matterhorn Bobsleds, Storybook Land Canal Boats, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, King Arthur Carrousel, Dumbo the Flying Elephant, Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, Casey Jr. Circus Train.

16:54 Casey Jr. Circus Train ride-thru - first half.

19:19 Sleeping Beauty Castle (few seconds)

19:26 Quick Tomorrowland shots - Astro Orbitor, Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port, Space Mountain presented by Federal Express with NEW Disney’s FASTPASS, The Star Trader, Observatron, abandoned Rocket Rods station (closed a few months earlier), Innoventions, and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. You will notice lots of copper and green in the updated theming of Tomorrowland.

20:12 Space Mountain load & switch track. We were fascinated by how the track slid over and how they added rockets on the line.

21:02 Me outside Thunder Mountain. I was hoping a mine train would zoom past when I said my joke, but we waited and it did not happen.

21:10 Indiana Jones Adventure queue and unload.

21:35 The awesome Tomorrowland Monorail Station at night with its chasing neon. I love it!

21:49 Fred Gurley train passing by with the Matterhorn in the back.

21:57 Haunted Mansion load.

22:10 The NEW Autopia presented by Chevron now featuring Disney’s NEW FASTPASS. Mike is waiting for his Chevron character car to arrive and he flashes his Disneyland Autopia Driver’s License.

After this we got back in the rental pickup truck and drove to a gas station so I could call my uncle in Ontario (CA) to see if we could stay with him. At this point we still did not have a place to stay the night. My uncle said sure, but he just got a new place and it wasn’t furnished yet, so we stayed in an empty house and slept on air mattresses.