Trip Report: What's New

Rather than drive to Anaheim at the crack of dawn for the CHOC walk, I decided to go up the afternoon before, spend a leisurely day at the park, and get a good night's rest at the conveniently located Anabella Hotel. Beautiful grounds, clean rooms, tasteful decor, and just blocks from The Disneyland Resort, I cannot recommend it highly enough! On top of that, the staff is extremely courteous and friendly.





Now that we've covered my lodging, let's get down to the good stuff. Best surprise of all was that the Carnation Plaza Gardens were still there.



I did my best to capture as many of the small details as possible; hopefully I'll still have an opportunity to do a shoot at night when the dance floor is full.



How about that terrazzo floor?



Or the mirror ball?



In Adventureland, the rocks outside of the restrooms have taken on a very strange shade of green. Not sure that I really care for this; it seems to be a little artificial looking to fit into the Adventureland theme. It would seem that the ability to create authentic looking lands is not quite what it used to; I would add in Fort Wilderness and other aspects of Tom Sawyer Island that have been redone over the years. Instead of rustic and hand-hewn, they seem very manufactured and pristine.





Pirates of the Caribbean in New Orleans Square is still under the tarps getting spruced up.





If anything is going on at The Plaza Pavilion or the new Jolly Holiday Bakery, it must be on the inside.



Detouring over to the Disneyland Hotel, I was happy to note that the geyser was steaming AND shooting up as scheduled!



Construction continues on the pool at the hotel as well—even on the weekend!







Great E-Ticket detail on the pool tile:



Across the way at California Adventure, Buena Vista Street is still in the early phase of construction:





Lighting, signage, and other small details are beginning to emerge in the Carthay Circle portion of Buena Vista Street:







Just two of Cars Land:





And that is it for today's post. More photos to come later this week from my recent Disneyland/DCA trips.

See more vintage & current Disneyland and Disney California Adventure photos on my Disneyland web pages.