updated Sept 5, 2001
Thursday June 14, 2001
We took this little plane to Chicago.
It had an amazing amount of room and was pretty comfortable.
In Chicago we changed to a full size plane.
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Here is a shot around the pool and one of the office. You can see in my picture how nice the landscaping is. The building with the office has a cool 1960's modern look to it. (By the way, they have discount coupons in the office for the McDonald's next door.)
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There is a free trolley that goes from the hotel to Disneyland every 30 minutes. The route for this trolley is Disneyland - Fairfield Inn - Penny Sleeper - Howard Johnson - Disneyland. Here is the trolley station at the hotel and also a picture of the trolley. The trolley makes two pickups in the park after closing.
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We caught the 4:45pm trolley. There were long lines to buy Disney tickets. We bought 4-day Park Hoppers for $127.00 with the Disney Club discount. They are good for 14 days after the first use.
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Our first ride at Disneyland was Big Thunder Mountain. The stand-by line took about 15 minutes, even though the sign said 35 minutes. Here is Sleeping Beauty's Castle and some of the buildings at Big Thunder Mountain.
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At 5:30 we rode on Pirates of the Caribbean with no wait. You can read my descriptions of how much better the Disneyland version is over the Disney World version in my earlier trip reports. I also have ride maps in an earlier trip report. I noticed this detail from the POTC queue. It is the back of the Fast Pass Return Time sign. Amazing!
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At 6pm we waited in the stand-by line for Indiana Jones for about 30 minutes.
Next was the Haunted Mansion. Here again, the Disneyland version is better than the one at Disney World. The first walk-through area at Disneyland lets you get an up-close view of the changing paintings and the busts that follow you across the room. The Haunted Mansion now has Fast Pass. Here are pictures of the mansion, the entrance and the Fast Pass dispenser.
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After the Haunted Mansion we went to the Disney Gallery above POTC (Pirates of the Caribbean).
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This is another thing that is not at Disney World. The Gallery is exhibiting original paintings by Herb Ryman. They are his designs of Disney castles, rides and other park areas. This pin is for sale in the Gallery. There is a limit of two per guest.
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These lenticulars from Pirates of the Caribbean are also available. Each comes with a plastic easel stand. They look 3 dimensional and seem to move when the card is tipped.
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Here is the Columbia on the river and New Orleans Square.
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Then to Tomorrowland. This is at the entrance.
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At 8pm we rode on Star Tours. There was no line. At 8:10 we got in the stand-by line for Space Mountain. It looked like there was no line, but when we got to the second level there was a long line. It took about 45 minutes to get in.
On the way out we stopped at a pin cart. They had the Small World set and the Ticket Set. The Small World set plays "It's A Small World" when the doors are opened. I didn't realize that until I got it home.
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Here is the ticket pin set. Closed, open and a close-up of a pin.
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We took the 9:40 shuttle back to the hotel. This is the shuttle boarding area at Disneyland.
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Friday June 15, 2001
We stopped at the gift shop at HoJo to buy blueberry muffins.
They also had someone at a table on the way to the shuttle selling coffee and muffins.
We took the 9:45am shuttle at 9:35!
It was 10 minutes early.
This time we started at California Adventure.
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This is the Sun Wheel and the wave fountain. It produces really cool huge waves that move across the fountain wall. The big jet engine is a water vapor generator for cooling off. Also, here is a billboard in the Condor Flats area.
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We got Fast Passes for Soarin' Over California. Our return time was 10:45 to 11:45.
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We ate breakfast at the Taste Pilot's Grill. This is a great place for breakfast.
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At 10:45 we returned to the Fast Pass line. The wait was only a few minutes. The line took us to holding cages. From there we entered the main attraction area. There are nine sections of seats, organized into three aisles of three rows.
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We put our hats and bags in the storage compartment below, sat down and fastened our seatbelts. When everyone was belted in the flap above our head started to lower. Then the whole seating structure began to move forward and then up. When it stopped the last row of seats (closest to the entrance) was about 10-15 feet off the ground. The middle row of seats was directly above and the first row above that.
We were now like a wall of seats facing an Imax-like screen. They showed a film of a hang glider ride over various California scenery. On our first ride we were on the bottom row of seats. When we flew over the crashing waves on the beach and over the tops of the trees it REALLY felt like my feet were going to dip in the water or scrape the trees. The seats tip back and forth like a hang glider would do when turning. They supplied the breeze and some of the smells from the flight. The effect is very good.
After Soarin' Over California we went to the Hollywood Backlot. This is the entrance to the Backlot. The clouds and blue sky in the background are a painted movie flat. Here also are pictures of the Gone Hollywood shop and the ABC Soap Opera Bistro where you can eat on the set of a soap opera.
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Here we went to Muppets 3D. There was no line at all.
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The indoor queue area is much better than at MGM. The theater and the film are the same (great at both parks). Here is a "crashed" space ship outside the theater from Muppets In Space.
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After Muppets we went next door to Superstar Limo.
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This is kind of like Mr. Toad, except that Mr. Toad is a great ride.
Small cars drive though an area with flat cutouts of Hollywood scenery painted in pastels.
There are a few 3D figures of Disney/ABC stars like Drew Carey, Tim Allen, Whoopie Goldberg and Regis Philbin.
Maybe this is more like Small World without the water or kids.
Anyway, it is a cute ride. It is not worth a wait of more that 5 minutes.
We saw the queue area for it on our way in.
It looked like they are prepared for long lines.
We had no line. We walked right in and into a car.
I read on The Laughing Place that one reason this ride is so slow is because of Princess Diana's death.
The original ride was supposed to be a wild ride in a car being chased by paparazzi.
They decided that maybe the concept wasn't very funny after the real-life accident.
I have also read that they are planning a redesign of the ride soon. Here is the article.
Next we visited Disney Animation.
We were looking at a cast member's pins and he asked if we knew what pin "those people over there" were in line for.
We decided to check it out.
There were about 80 people in a line in the hot sun.
The line ended at a pin cart.
I went to the cart and found out they were selling the Mystery Pin!
It was a pin of Mickey playing the guitar.
While a limited edition and probably valuable, it was not interesting enough to stand in the sun for an hour.
We went back to Disney Animation. This attraction has a large lobby with four main rooms to visit. There is a room with many sketches and maquettes (models used to help animators) for various Disney characters. It is interesting to see how some of the characters had evolved. Woody, from Toy Story, started out mean looking.
Another room was full of Zoetropes, the spinning machines that make a series of still pictures look like a movie. There are blank strips so you can animate your own cartoon.
We took the shuttle back to the hotel at 1:15 to get out of the heat. It is unusually hot for this time of year.
I mentioned earlier that the rooms at the HoJo have small refrigerators at no extra cost! I went to Wal-Mart and bought some drinks. Here are some flowers on the trees in the parking lot near the Wal-Mart.
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I also went to AAA for local maps. They had a great selection of LA maps. The AAA is just a few blocks NE of the Howard Johnson.
At 6:15pm we took the shuttle back to California Adventure. By 6:40 we were in the stand-by line for Soarin' Over California.
A shot of the inside queue area.
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This time we were in the middle row. I didn't get nearly the same sensation of my feet hitting things as I did in the bottom row. It is still a great ride.
We saw these miniature ride toys and monorail accessories at the Engine-Ears Toy store.
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We walked around to Paradise Pier.
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There are not many rides here that interest me. I am not into the thrill rides.
We did ride on Mulholland Madness. It is like on old Wild Mouse coaster.
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We walked back across the plaza to Disneyland.
At the pin trading area near Main Street we talked to some of the pin traders. One of the traders had two trash can pins. Haunted Mansion and Frontierland. They are the first two pins of a set of ten pins. He explained that they are Cast Member pins, for sale only at the cast member store. I didn't have any pins worthy of a trade.
I found them on Ebay when I got home. There are now six pins out, Haunted Mansion, Frontierland, Main Street USA, New Orleans Square, Small World and Adventureland with four more to go. I have six of them, so far.
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The small trash doors swing on the pins. Here is the card given out with the pins showing the entire set.
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The card says that Walt asked the trash can manufacturers to add hinged flaps to the cans so the guests wouldn't see the trash.
We went back to the pin cart in Tomorrowland. Last night in all of the confusion the cast member put the wrong boxed pin set in my bag. I had paid for the Small World set and she gave me the Haunted Mansion set. I already have the Haunted Mansion set, so I exchanged it for the correct one.
Then we rode Mr. Toad. This is a must-see attraction at Disneyland, since they closed the one at Disney World.
Another ride on The Pirates Of The Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.
I went through the line for a coke at French Market. Boy is that an expensive place to eat! I though about getting a piece of cake but it was like $5!
10:15pm we entered the line for Autopia. The sign said 45 minute wait for stand-by. There was no one around. It looked like there was no line. We snaked around the queue and over the tracks, still no one. Then we found the line! Hundreds snaking around the final queue. It took over an hour to get on the ride. I was surprised to have that kind of wait at this hour. They were only running one of the tracks. I think when the crowds are heavy they should have both open.
We got a drivers license at one point in the queue.
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By the time we got out of Autopia the park was about to close. I took some time exposures of the Matterhorn and Sleeping Beauty Castle.
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We bought a tiny crystal Mickey at the Crystal Shop on Main Street for our neighbor that collects mice. At 11:55 we decided to walk back to the HoJo since we had just missed the shuttle. We stopped at McDonalds on the way for a late dinner. We were back in the room at 12:20am. Here is a shot of the grounds at Howard Johnson at night.
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Saturday June 16, 2001
Today we slept until noon.
At 1pm we drove to Long Beach. We took 5 to 22 to 405 to 22 to 710. Could there be more highways in LA?
It took about an hour to get to the Queen Mary. There are several small shops here. We went to the Scottish Heritage Center store.
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We bought our tickets for the Submarine Tour. The first part of the tour is a short film in this tiny building. The film give some background on the sub.
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The tour is self guided. The sub is floating next to the Queen Mary. There is a plank to walk from the shore to the sub. They let you go through as many times as you like. We made one trip through to take still pictures and another to take video.
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Here are the forward torpedos and the radio room.
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This is one of the small hatches that separate the different sections of the sub. To go on the tour you have to be able to get through these.
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After the tour we visited the gift shop and bought some pens, pins and magnets. We also bought a neat submarine poster. On the way back we took the PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) to 405 to Harbor for a change of scenery.
We took the 6:15pm shuttle back to Disneyland. The driver said that Disney is building a water park a few blocks away on Harbor. They bought 55 acres of land for $87 million from a Japanese farmer's son. The farmer didn't want to sell. He recently died and the son sold the land. I have heard since then that Disney is not saying what kind of park it will be. Maybe a water park, but maybe something else.
We went into Disneyland to go to the Blue Bayou to get a reservation for later. They were all booked up. They recommended the stand-by line. They only reserve about 1/3rd of the tables.
We left Disneyland and went to California Adventure to go on Grizzly River Rapids (GRR). They have lockers for storage of cameras and such. The lockers are free for about the first 90 minutes. The queue for the GRR is very long. Every time we thought we were getting close there was another bend in the line.
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We were impressed by the operation of the loading/unloading area for this ride. There are lots of gears and moving gear belts to orient the rafts properly and keep them stationary with respect to the rotating dock.
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This is Grizzly Peak and the long ramp up to the top of the ride.
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We got very wet. We figured we would get wet so we rode when it was warm outside, instead of during the evening.
We went to the gift shop afterwards.
We bought some postcards and magnets.
They also have a quarter smashing machine.
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A couple asked me to take a picture of then with their digital camera. I did and asked how to play it back so I could make sure it was a good picture. They said they just bought the camera and hadn't read the manual yet. I figured out how to do it and showed them.
7:00pm, back to Disneyland for dinner.
We got in the stand-by line for the Blue Bayou and we were seated in about 15 minutes!
The food was very good, as usual, and the atmosphere is GREAT!
Here is a time exposure inside the Blue Bayou.
It turned out to be harder than I thought to get a decent picture in there.
I really needed a wider-angle lens.
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After dinner we walked around Downtown Disney. The one in Anaheim seems more like Universal's City Walk than Walt Disney World's Downtown Disney. There are lots of shops and restaurants. The only ones that we stopped at were the Lego shop and the World of Disney.
We walked the entire length to the AMC theaters.
We wanted to see Tomb Raider but the next showing started too late for us.
The AMC Theaters are just about all the way to the Disneyland Hotel.
They have decorated the exterior of the ride building for Indiana Jones since our last visit.
Now that it is right next to Downtown Disney and very visible they painted it to look like trees and added a false skirt around the top edge to look like treetops.
We went to the Lego Store and saw this Lego Darth Vader.
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Here is the Lego Store and the World of Disney Store at night.
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I found the Father's Day Limited Edition pin at the Downtown Disney pin cart
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We took the 9:45pm shuttle back to the HoJo and we were back in the room by 10.
Sunday June 17, 2001
This morning I left the HoJo at 8:15am to get to the park before it opened. I wanted to beat the crowds today. I had just missed the trolley so I walked over to Disneyland. I got to the ticket gates at 8:25am. The Disneyland Band was playing in front of the train station. At 8:30 they opened the gates and let us in. It is really amazing how long it takes to get through the "automated" ticket gates. I headed straight for the Carnation Cafe.
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Everyone else headed for the rope barricade on Main Street. I was just about the only person at the Cafe. I had a lovely Mickey Mouse waffle and was finished before the rope on Main Street came down at 9am.
After breakfast I rode on the Storybook Canal Boats, It's A Small World, Pinocchio, Alice In Wonderland and Snow White.
There were no lines for any of these.
Everyone that arrived at the park before opening rushed to the "E Ticket" rides, leaving the Fantasyland rides to me.
I highly recommend the early entry.
The Fantasyland rides are great, but not really worth 30 minute waits for each one.
Here is the castle and a "Where The Magic Started" banner.
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Here are some pictures from the Storyland Canal boats.
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And here are some shots from It's A Small World. The Disneyland version is better, in my opinion, due to the outdoor loading of the boats. Although, outdoor boat loading in Orlando could be brutal in the summer.
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Since I was the only person in my boat, and the boat ahead of me and the boat behind me were empty, I took some flash pictures inside Small World.
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Here is a picture coming out of the second level of Alice In Wonderland. Also a shot towards the Matterhorn construction. The Matterhorn is one of our favorite rides. Unfortunately it was closed this month for refurbishment.
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I had finished all of these rides in 30 minutes. At 9:30am I visited the Tiki Room. As I have mentioned in previous trip reports, the Disneyland version is still the original version and is the best. Disney World has completely changed the show and the music. Many people seem to like it. I am happy for them.
At 11am I headed over to California Adventure. I saw the movie "It's Tough To Be A Bug" in the Hollywood Backlot. There was no line. It was a good thing, because the outdoor queue for the movie is a spiraling line in an area sheltered from a breeze but not the sun. Here is one of the posters from the indoor queue area.
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I waited for Monorail to cross the Golden Gate Bridge for about 10 minutes. I finally asked a Cast Member how often the monorail comes by and she told me that due to construction the Monorail isn't using that section of track right now.
I exited the park through the hotel. The lobby looks very much like the Wilderness Lodge at Disney World. I couldn't get back into the park from the hotel since you have to be staying at the hotel to use that gate, so I walked back through Downtown Disney to the main entrance.
I had a great lunch at Award Weiners. Hot dog and fries. Award Weiners had just opened. Yesterday it had a construction wall around it.
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While I was eating, a kid came up to me and took my picture. I think he just wanted to use his camera.
At 1:45 I walked back to the shuttle stop. I had just missed it, but it was so hot out I waited in the shade for the next one.
We drove to Mile High Comics, just a couple of miles south on Harbor. It is a large comic and collectable shop. We bought several pins there. We went to the 3:30 showing of Tomb Raider at the AMC theaters at The Block at Orange. It is just a few minutes from Disneyland. It is an open air mall with lots of neat stores and places to eat. We went to Wizards of the Coast to look for D&D stuff.
We were back at the hotel around 6pm and took the 7:15 shuttle to back to California Adventure. We walked over to the Egg Roll shop, but they were already closed for the evening. I think I already commented that I think that all shops and rides should remain open during park hours.
So instead of egg rolls we had surf board shaped pizzas at Pizza Oom Mow Mow. They were also closing early. They locked the doors as soon as we left with our pizzas. Here are some evening shots around Paradise Pier.
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We walked back over to Disneyland.
We sure got our money's worth out of the park hopper tickets.
There were large letter signs in front of the California letters spelling "GO LAKERS" for the playoff game.
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At 9pm we got in line for Indiana Jones. The sign said 45 minutes, but we were through the line and the ride by 9:30. This is Mara on the dome in the indoor queue area and the pit with the guy hanging from the rope.
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Another ride on Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. We tried out the Shooting Gallery in Frontierland. Many of the guns were not working. We got our money back in the candy shop next door.
There is a neat map model of the whole Disneyland Resort area in the building on Town Square. Here are some shots of it.
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At 10:50pm we said goodbye to Disneyland and walked back to our room at the Howard Johnson.
Monday June 18, 2001
We checked out of the HoJo at 10:40am and drove to Las Vegas. We stopped for lunch at Baker. They have the world's largest thermometer there. It was about 114 degrees. We had lunch at the Bun Boy. It turned out to be a nice place to eat.
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We arrived at the Luxor around 4pm. Boy was it hot. About 108. We checked in and brought in the bags. Here are some shots around the Luxor, including the view from our room.
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Then back in the car to drive around. We found a comic book store and the casino supply store. It was closed, but we would return tomorrow.
We went to the world's largest souvenir shop - Bonanza.
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We drove to the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace. We had seen a Star Wars store on a Las Vegas TV special. We decided it must be at F.A.O. Schwartz. It turned out to not be that great of a Star Wars store. We also went to the Disney Store. The Forum Shops have the ceiling that goes through sunrise and sunset every thirty minutes or so. They also have the audio-animatronic figures in the fountain.
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Back to Luxor for a late dinner at Papyrus. It is a Chinese restaurant on the entertainment level of the Luxor it is the place with the dome roof. This picture was taken from the 21st floor.
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Tuesday June 19, 2001
We slept in until 11:30am today.
At 1pm we went to Gambler's Supply and Toyz In The Attic. The toy store was amazing, but so were the high prices. The Gambler's Supply store is also amazing. Supplies of every kind, and pretty reasonable prices. We bought casino chips, casino playing cards, pins and more.
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Then on to the Hilton to visit the Star Trek Experience.
The first part is a walk-through museum of Star Trek props and costumes from the TV shows and movies.
My favorite is the radio set that Spock built from "little better than stone knives and bearskins" in "City on the Edge of Forever"
Then there is a queue to ride the shuttle craft.
The queue leads to an room where we thought we were lining up for seats on the shuttle.
Then alarms went off and the lights went out, there was a burst of wind and when the lights came back on we were on the Enterprise!
I won't go through the whole story line of the experience, but we got to see the bridge and then got on board the shuttle craft for a trip back to Las Vegas.
The last part of the experience is a restaurant and gift shops. We ate at Quarks Bar and Restaurant.
The food was okay, but overpriced.
Lots of neat shops with postcards, pins, etc. Also many quarter press machines making images of starships.
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One of the casinos that is new since our last visit is Paris. There is a large Eiffel Tower in front of the casino. We wanted to go up to take pictures, but they were charging $9 per person - too expensive.
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It was SOOOOO HOT that we went back to the hotel. We arrived at about 6:30pm. We decided to see the Lance Burton magic show at the Monte Carlo. I called from the room and bought ticket for the 10pm show that night. We left the Luxor at 7:40pm and walked to the Excalibur. We bought souvenirs at the gift shops and watched doughnuts being made at the Krispy Kreme there.
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We walked on to New York, New York. Then on to the Monte Carlo. They have a magic shop next to the theater (imagine that!). Each ticket holder can pick up a free show program in the magic shop.
The 10pm show ran until 11:30pm. It seemed short. It was a pretty good show, but I would have liked more illusions. It was also pretty expensive, around $60 per ticket.
After the show we walked back and bought a box of Krispy Kremes for morning (and also a t-shirt).
Wednesday June 20, 2001
We checked out of the Luxor at 10:30am and put the bags in the car.
Our rental car was parked in the covered parking garage, so it was out of the brutal Las Vegas sun.
At 11am we saw the IMAX film "Cyberworld 3D".
The 7-story IMAX theater is inside the Luxor lobby.
Looking down from the 20th floor, nothing looks large enough to be an IMAX theater, but it is there.
The railing in front of the seats folds down over your lap when the movie starts.
Kinda creepy.
The movie was very good. They have the Simpsons clip where Homer (or Bart?) becomes three dimensional.
Anyway, lots of good 3D effects.
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There is a food court on the theater level of the Luxor. They have a Little Caesar's Pizza! We stopped in for some Crazy Bread for lunch.
Then we left the hotel and drove just outside of town to take the Red Rock Canyon scenic drive. I bought some post cards and pins at the gift shop near the entrance.
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We arrived at the airport around 4pm. Dropped off the rental car and waited for our flight. We boarded and then after about 45 minutes they took us all back off to change a tire on the plane. Almost everything at the airport was closed. There was one section of a snack bar open. The plane finally left about 1.5 hours late.
We got home at 1am. It was a good trip.