The Wanderlust Librarian | I Choo Choo Choose...the Lilly Belle!

All aboard!! 

 The Disneyland Railroad is made up of 5 steam locomotives that take guests on a grand circle tour of Disneyland. There are four stops around the park: Main Street Station, New Orleans Square, Toontown and Tomorrowland. The entire trip around the Park takes about 20 minutes and travels 1.5 miles. 

Fun Fact!! I once took a nap on the train for over an hour! 

When Disneyland celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005, the park presented many special perks for their guests over the course of the year. One of them was a ride on the Lilly Belle. In all of the books and internet sites I had devoured, all of them said the same thing: The Lilly Belle was brought out for VIP members of Club 33 (a private club in Disneyland) and celebrities. 

This made me want to ride the Lilly Belle even more. 

When I was standing at the New Orleans station, I looked towards the end of the train and saw.... the Lilly Belle! I recognized it from the pictures. I excitedly asked the conductor if a ride on it was possible. He told me "I'll see what I can do" and to approach him again at the Main Street Station. 

The answer turned out to be yes! My inaugural trip was awesome. Conductor Curtis was one of the nicest people and gave us all sorts of trivia about the Lilly Belle and new things being built at the (now) re-imagined Disney California Adventure. 

On my last trip to Disneyland, a few weeks ago, the Lilly Belle was in service again! I tried my courage and asked Conductor Billy if a ride was possible. He told me that they were booked up for the day, but if I were to show up the next day he could see if he could fit us in. 

Good readers, Conductor Billy worked another bit of magic for us that next day. He asked that we come back at 1:00pm and meet him in front of Main Street Station. 

Once again, my daughter, two friends and I got a special tour with an amazing conductor. Could it be possible that Conductor Billy was even BETTER than Conductor Curtis?!?! As a child, I was always felt well informed about the happenings in the park by reading annual guidebooks from the library and a "behind the ears" book called Mouse Tales. The trivia that Conductor Billy shared with us put those books to shame. In fact, I was delighted by the new information! 

During stops, we could walk around. 

The train is lovingly restored from an old observation car with the input of Lillian Disney. Ornate gas lamps shed a warm and comforting glow around the rail car. The other observation cars are no longer in service due to the limited views they offered when the train went through the Grand Canyon Diorama and Primeval World.

Before I leave you to look at the lovely pictures, here are some facts that were shared by Conductor Billy on our tour: 

• The Grand Canyon Diorama is the largest single strip diorama in the world. It was painted by one man, Delmer Yoakum (Disney artist), with 300 gallons of paint, 12 colors in only one year! 
• The ticking you hear at the New Orleans Station is Morse code of the first two lines of Walt Disney's opening day speech in 1955. Why Morse code? Because it is a recording of Lillian Disney (who was learning Morse at the time)! 
• Toontown station is a cartoon replica of the New Orleans station. 

While we wait at Main Street Station,
the light was gorgeous!

These lights are on the ceiling of the Lilly Belle! 

The rail car and its finery

I love the sidelights

Walt and Lillian

Thank you, Conductor Billy!!! 

The Wanderlust Librarian | Costumes at Disneyland

Confession time: I am a horrible costume builder. 

In fact, when Halloween time rolls around... I cringe because I can never think of a good costume to pull off! This anxiety was made worse when a few friends wanted to dress up when we went to Disneyland. 

Dress up? With costumes?  *gulp*

Turns out, Disneyland has an official position on wearing a costume: "(one cannot wear) adult costumes or clothing that can be viewed as representative of an actual Disney character". In plain people talk: an adult can't wear something that looks like a legitimate Disney character. The only time an adult can wear a full fledged costume in Disneyland is when there's a special Halloween party that you buy a special ticket for. 

How does one dress like a Disney character but not?  Disneybounding. 

The term was new to me until this year. Disneybounding is taking the color palate and essence of a Disney character and using those items to make a "costume". This means, that ANYone can wear it into a Disney park and represent their favorite character and still stay well within the rules. 

This was something I could definitely get behind! My travel companions and I decided to dress up as a cohesive group. We chose the classic movies, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Each of us chose a different character within those movies. 

Clothes are a huge part of Disneybounding. Accessories really push it all over the top. My friend, Taylor, brought bows and hats for us to use and they really made the difference between "It looks good." and "We look AWESOME!". She found things on the cheap. The cost was $1.00 ea for the big bows and $1.00 for a pair of the little bows. She got the shirts at a shirt outlet in Stockton for $3.00 and the pants for $10.00 at K Mart. 

The cartoon Mr. Smee

The Bloggess as Smee (and a hat... I NEVER wear hats)

TinkerScout with green jeans! 

Tinkerbell

                                                                               

 Happy Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
and Pluto!! 

Grumpy Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

                                                                               

A lot of cast members (people who work at Disneyland) really loved it. It solidified us as a group and it made people smile. At the end of the day... it was just fun. Everyone was comfortable, happy.. and full of Disney spirit! My friends and I are already planning our next Disneybounding adventure. 

What would be yours?

Go out there and find your costumed adventure. 

Happy Halloween! 

4 Kids | Beware the Magic Kingdom

In my living room I have a picture of me with my two good buddies -- Lloyd and Amy -- as we are careening down in a log ride on Splash Mountain in Disneyland. We had so much fun. We left at 3 am on a Saturday morning, drove to LA, spent the day/night in the park, slept a few hours that night, then hit California Adventure on Sunday. Home Sunday night by midnight and back to work the next day.

Funny thing, though. I had a very hoarse voice on Monday morning. I could barely speak. My good buddies claim I was a screaming fool on the many times we rode Space Mountain (that scary, orbit ride where it really feels like you're leaving earth). Supposedly, I was screaming something like "Oh Mommy! Oh Daddy! Please help me!" I can't believe I'm even writing this. I'm sure my buddies are wrong. Although how is it that Amy has a tape recording of this? Hmmm.

I digress. 

I'm thinking of Disneyland because I just started the most awesome book ever: Kingdom Keepers by Ridley Pearson. This is one of the most suspenseful books I've read in a long time. I'm halfway through, and would have finished the whole thing last night/this morning if it wasn't for having to be at work!

So here's the deal: Finn Whitman and 4 other teens are hired by Disney World in Orlando, Florida to be hologramed as guides. So after some fancy technology shenanigans, Finn and the others appear as guides to help visitors to the Magic Kingdom. A rather neat concept, right? Only very early on, something strange happens. When the 5 guides go to sleep at night, their dreams take them to Disney World after dark. Only "take" might not be the right word. The guides are needed in the Magic Kingdom to help fight a group of Disney villians, led by Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty. Seems the villains are bent on taking over Disney World -- and maybe more! Will Finn and the other guides solve the riddle of the Stonecutter's Quill? I can't wait to find out!

And the very great news is that there are more Kingdom Keepers books in this series. 

Trust me. You will love this book! 

Happy Reading!