Adventures by Disney Backstage Magic Photos

Here are a few select photos to give a flavor of the trip. First, below is the goodies that were waiting in our room at the Hollywood Renaissance. The lip balm was an especially useful item. With so much time spent outside, and the increasing CA heat, it came in very, very handy over the course of the trip:

We had a great view of the famous Hollywood sign right from our room. The hotel is near many attractions, like the Kodak Theater and the Chinese Theater, so you can check those out during your free time. We did the Kodak Theater tour and went very early in the morning to get pics. of our favorite stars' handprints because the Chinese Theater gets extremely crowded as the day wears on:

Our breakfast on the first morning of the trip was held at Disney's soda fountain, next door to the gorgeous El Capitan. You can see that the table decorations are themed to the Little Mermaid sing-a-long that takes place next door:

Ariel herself was on hand to greet us!

We toured the El Capitan, which has been restored in intricate detail, as you can see in the next two photos:

The El Capitan's organ is a sight (and a sound) to behold:

Kermit greets visitors to Jim Henson's studio, but he also pays homage to the original owner (Charlie Chaplin):

Here we are, hanging out below the sign to prove that we were really there:

This tiger was inside the office building:
Meeting Sweetheart was quite a treat. She is a feisty gal, as you can see!

I just love the Partners statue, so it was a great opportunity to see it at the Walt Disney Studio:

They also have the Friends statue:

This painting in Walt's train barn really touched me. The little boy in the background represents young Walt as he looks on at the adult who never lost his love of trains:
What a treat! We had a ride on one of the miniature trains:

Yes, I know that my shirt is on backwards. I wanted to make sure that the Carolwood logo showed.


After our Hollywood adventures, we moved on to the Grand Californian hotel at the Disneyland resort. It almost made me feel like I was back home in FL at the Wilderness Lodge.

Wow! An empty Main Street. We were able to enter the park early for breakfast, and that also provided some rare photo ops:

After breakfast, we visited the farm animals. This poor cow has a drooling problem, which accounts for my slight hesitancy to get too close:

We were able to feed the goats, too:

Hubby took a turn with the Paddle of Power. Over the course of your Adventure By Disney, you will learn to follow the paddle unquestioningly. It's always leading you to something new and exciting:

We had lunch with a pirate, and he personally escorted us to our ride on "Pirates of the Caribbean." That ride, along with Space Mountain, are the two most superior attractions when compared to their Florida siblings:

What a rare and fascinating treat! We all had a chance to ride in the Lilly Bell train car. It's one of those places where you can really feel Walt's influence (and of course Lillian's):
We visited Walt's apartment above the firehouse but could not take photos up there. We did grab this downstairs photo op:

At breakfast before we headed off to DCA, we met quite a few characters. Notice how well our clothing color matches with Alice!
Soarin' (or should I say Soarin' Over California)...the best ride ever! One of my favorite experiences on this trip was getting a behind the scenes peek at this favorite. We couldn't take photos there, but here is the entrance:

I ran into my favorite character hanging out at DCA: We noticed this mural in DCA Guest Relations when we stopped in to pay a compliment to an especially nice CM. Hubby had to grab a shot:
How sad! It's the last day! But there were still plenty of characters to meet at that last breakfast, including Brer Fox, Kenai, and Koda: