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captain_slinkyOur first day in Disneyland was a mixed bag that ended up awesome :) Molly and I were both still a bit sick and had a bit of trouble getting to sleep, luckily Crystal was completely over the cold and had been invigorated by the California sunshine! She made sure that we were awake and ready to go at 9am so we could be first in line as they opened the gates to Disneyland (it's tradition, dontchaknow). Hotel Breakfast, as expected, was Fruit Loops, Raisin Bran, Orange Juice, Coffee, FRESH donuts and a variety of muffins - nothing special, but worth every penny we paid for it (zero). Our walk to the park was SO EASY! Down to the end of the block and oh look! A 7-11! We'll have to check that out later! And right next to the 7-11, a knock-off tourist shop with cheap souvenirs! We popped in to the Tourist Shop to get some sunscreen since our ivory-white Washingtonian skin was already blistering in the 9am sun. Then all we had left was a block-n-a-half walk to the main gate of Disneyland!
I am an admittedly fat-n-lazy fellow, but even *I* had no problem with this walk. At the very most, the entire trip took maybe 20 minutes. I was extremely impressed, considering that the last $40 hotel we stayed at was *technically* just as far away from Disneyland, only on the other side of the park so you had to travel through all of Downtown Disney to get to it (which made the whole thing seem like a much longer walk for some reason).
On our way there, we saw a woman who was going to have a terrible time at Disneyland. Her shirt didn't want to stay stretched over her belly, and her pants didn't want to stay pulled up around her waist, and she knew it. We were amused by her predicament in the same way that we are amused by America's Funniest Home Videos; yeah it hurts when it happens to you, but as long as it's happening to somebody else it's impossible to not laugh.
So yeah, we were some of the first people through the gates that morning. I knew exactly where I was going...
Although Disneyland doesn't officially open till 10am on an off-season Wednesday, they start letting people in at 9:45 and then stop them right at the end of Main Street USA with a rope to wait till 10am. This allows folks to get in, get some pictures with costumed characters, maybe get a bite to eat or some coffee before The Day starts... it's nice :)
I was having none of that. Straight up the middle of Main Street USA (which had unobtrusive construction barriers up to protect the repaving project), a quick picture with Gepetto (Gepetto? Really???) to the rope keeping us from entering the rest of the park. We got to watch cast members scurrying to their respective lands at the last moment, then the "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN BOYS AND GIRLS" announcer came booming in to the air to remind us that Disneyland is OUR land and that they hoped we enjoy our Day at Disneyland.
And then The Rush!
Molly was, of course, on my shoulders as we strode in to the park. I had assumed that she would want to ride Peter Pan's Flight first, just like last time... but because of the way that the construction barriers were placed we had to circle around past the entrance to tomorrow land where she saw THE ASTRO ORBITER.
We had not ridden The Astro Orbiter last year. Molly said "I want to ride THAT first!" and it was all over. Fantasyland would have to wait, we were riding ROCKET SHIPS!
Crystal got in to one rocket, Molly and I in to the next. I was brave. I was strong. I was full of false bravado that ended as soon as Molly started yanking on the control lever to take us even higher and I almost puked!
Yes, I am such a lightweight that even the kiddie ride where you just spin around in a circle while going up and down is too much for me. Lucky for me, I had decided long ago that Disneyland is way too awesome to waste time on going on rides you hate and fear, so the next THREE RIDES on the Astro Orbiter (the lines were short - more on that later) were for just Molly and Crystal to enjoy while I videotaped and/or went looking for Fast Passes to other rides.
After that, things are already getting kind of blurry for me. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters came next (I think), then Autopia, and then? AND THEN.
CAPTAIN EO.
Molly *loves* Captain EO! Maybe because it was her first 3-D movie, maybe because it was kind of Starwarsish, who knows? But we saw Captain EO about a dozen times over the course of our stay at Disneyland and I am lucky to own a bootleg 2-D version of the film for home viewing. She dances with it, she sings with it, she wants to make all her friends see it! I'm so happy! It proved to be the replacement for Star Tours that I had hoped it could be :)
From there I think we got on the train and rode to New Orleans Square where we rode Pirates and Haunted Mansion, both favorites of Molly's. I think we did rapid succession rides since there were NO LINES for ANYTHING. Just get off the ride, walk back to the entrance, get back on. I think we did Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Pirates. That quick.
Then we walked over to The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so Molly and Crystal could ride and I could just admire the Mark Twain Riverboat. Several times over the course of our trip I had to reassure Crystal that i was TOTALLY okay with letting them go on the big rides alone because I love just *being* at Disneyland. I love looking at/for the details while everybody else is usually allo "C'mon we need to go get on another ride!"
Big rides they did were Big Thunder, Matterhorn and Space Mountain that day. This was a very sad day for Crystal because Molly has decided she does NOT like The Matterhorn OR Space Mountain any more :( She doesn't hate them enough to not ride them, she just wants everybody to know that she does not like them at all.
Since we were pointed in that direction, we now headed towards Fantasy Land where we (finally) rode Peter Pan's Flight, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Snow White's Scary Adventure, The King Arthur Carousel, Alice In Wonderland and The Mad Tea Party Tea Cups (screaming "HEY OBAMA WHERE'S THAT BIRTH CERTIFICATE?").
While in Fantasyland we happened to bump in to (read: "Stood In Line To See") Rapunzel! The line had *said* it was a 60-minute wait and that scared away enough people that they came and changed it to 20 minutes, we got in to see her within 10. And we were in luck because my new hero FLYNN RYDER was there as well (according to the photo folks, he's only there for about 1/4 of the meet-n-greet time)! After waiting in line for SO LONG (seriously it was the only line we encountered all day), we went to Der Village Hause to sample their new menu. I don't know about every menu item there, but the new Flatbread Chicken BLT Pizza is INCREDIBLE. Like, "I can't believe I bought This At An Amusement Park" good!
Next, Molly decided she wanted to go to Toon Town and who were we to say otherwise? So we hopped on the train (I heart the trains SO MUCH) and got off at Toon Town Station.
This is when things started getting weird, because Toon Town was DEAD. Like a shopping mall built in the mid-80's that had a bigger and better mall built in the late 90's not more than 5 minutes from it. A few employees, a security guy and one other couple and that was *it*. We rode the Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin 3 or 4 times in a row without getting out of our car before we decided to let the cast members shut it down. And when we came out at 7:30-ish, THE PARK WAS ABANDONED.
I have a video of it that I'll upload depending on if it's too dark or not, but it was the coolest, creepiest thing I've ever experienced at Disneyland. It was as if they had closed the park and forgotten to kick us out. I no longer need to wonder what it would be like to go to Disneyland after The Apocalypse has wiped everybody else from the face of the Earth - I now know EXACTLY what it looks like.
Last stop on the way out of the park was at The Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor for a simple chocolate cone dipped in sprinkles. It was a great way to end the day at Disneyland!
Dinner was Buffalo Wings and Sour Cream & Cheddar Ruffles from 7-11, which I also discovered had SUGAR FREE Lipton Iced Tea (WOOT!)
Next installment: Meeting Friends & World Of Color
I am an admittedly fat-n-lazy fellow, but even *I* had no problem with this walk. At the very most, the entire trip took maybe 20 minutes. I was extremely impressed, considering that the last $40 hotel we stayed at was *technically* just as far away from Disneyland, only on the other side of the park so you had to travel through all of Downtown Disney to get to it (which made the whole thing seem like a much longer walk for some reason).
On our way there, we saw a woman who was going to have a terrible time at Disneyland. Her shirt didn't want to stay stretched over her belly, and her pants didn't want to stay pulled up around her waist, and she knew it. We were amused by her predicament in the same way that we are amused by America's Funniest Home Videos; yeah it hurts when it happens to you, but as long as it's happening to somebody else it's impossible to not laugh.
So yeah, we were some of the first people through the gates that morning. I knew exactly where I was going...
Although Disneyland doesn't officially open till 10am on an off-season Wednesday, they start letting people in at 9:45 and then stop them right at the end of Main Street USA with a rope to wait till 10am. This allows folks to get in, get some pictures with costumed characters, maybe get a bite to eat or some coffee before The Day starts... it's nice :)
I was having none of that. Straight up the middle of Main Street USA (which had unobtrusive construction barriers up to protect the repaving project), a quick picture with Gepetto (Gepetto? Really???) to the rope keeping us from entering the rest of the park. We got to watch cast members scurrying to their respective lands at the last moment, then the "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN BOYS AND GIRLS" announcer came booming in to the air to remind us that Disneyland is OUR land and that they hoped we enjoy our Day at Disneyland.
And then The Rush!
Molly was, of course, on my shoulders as we strode in to the park. I had assumed that she would want to ride Peter Pan's Flight first, just like last time... but because of the way that the construction barriers were placed we had to circle around past the entrance to tomorrow land where she saw THE ASTRO ORBITER.
We had not ridden The Astro Orbiter last year. Molly said "I want to ride THAT first!" and it was all over. Fantasyland would have to wait, we were riding ROCKET SHIPS!
Crystal got in to one rocket, Molly and I in to the next. I was brave. I was strong. I was full of false bravado that ended as soon as Molly started yanking on the control lever to take us even higher and I almost puked!
Yes, I am such a lightweight that even the kiddie ride where you just spin around in a circle while going up and down is too much for me. Lucky for me, I had decided long ago that Disneyland is way too awesome to waste time on going on rides you hate and fear, so the next THREE RIDES on the Astro Orbiter (the lines were short - more on that later) were for just Molly and Crystal to enjoy while I videotaped and/or went looking for Fast Passes to other rides.
After that, things are already getting kind of blurry for me. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters came next (I think), then Autopia, and then? AND THEN.
CAPTAIN EO.
Molly *loves* Captain EO! Maybe because it was her first 3-D movie, maybe because it was kind of Starwarsish, who knows? But we saw Captain EO about a dozen times over the course of our stay at Disneyland and I am lucky to own a bootleg 2-D version of the film for home viewing. She dances with it, she sings with it, she wants to make all her friends see it! I'm so happy! It proved to be the replacement for Star Tours that I had hoped it could be :)
From there I think we got on the train and rode to New Orleans Square where we rode Pirates and Haunted Mansion, both favorites of Molly's. I think we did rapid succession rides since there were NO LINES for ANYTHING. Just get off the ride, walk back to the entrance, get back on. I think we did Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Pirates. That quick.
Then we walked over to The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad so Molly and Crystal could ride and I could just admire the Mark Twain Riverboat. Several times over the course of our trip I had to reassure Crystal that i was TOTALLY okay with letting them go on the big rides alone because I love just *being* at Disneyland. I love looking at/for the details while everybody else is usually allo "C'mon we need to go get on another ride!"
Big rides they did were Big Thunder, Matterhorn and Space Mountain that day. This was a very sad day for Crystal because Molly has decided she does NOT like The Matterhorn OR Space Mountain any more :( She doesn't hate them enough to not ride them, she just wants everybody to know that she does not like them at all.
Since we were pointed in that direction, we now headed towards Fantasy Land where we (finally) rode Peter Pan's Flight, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Snow White's Scary Adventure, The King Arthur Carousel, Alice In Wonderland and The Mad Tea Party Tea Cups (screaming "HEY OBAMA WHERE'S THAT BIRTH CERTIFICATE?").
While in Fantasyland we happened to bump in to (read: "Stood In Line To See") Rapunzel! The line had *said* it was a 60-minute wait and that scared away enough people that they came and changed it to 20 minutes, we got in to see her within 10. And we were in luck because my new hero FLYNN RYDER was there as well (according to the photo folks, he's only there for about 1/4 of the meet-n-greet time)! After waiting in line for SO LONG (seriously it was the only line we encountered all day), we went to Der Village Hause to sample their new menu. I don't know about every menu item there, but the new Flatbread Chicken BLT Pizza is INCREDIBLE. Like, "I can't believe I bought This At An Amusement Park" good!
Next, Molly decided she wanted to go to Toon Town and who were we to say otherwise? So we hopped on the train (I heart the trains SO MUCH) and got off at Toon Town Station.
This is when things started getting weird, because Toon Town was DEAD. Like a shopping mall built in the mid-80's that had a bigger and better mall built in the late 90's not more than 5 minutes from it. A few employees, a security guy and one other couple and that was *it*. We rode the Roger Rabbit Cartoon Spin 3 or 4 times in a row without getting out of our car before we decided to let the cast members shut it down. And when we came out at 7:30-ish, THE PARK WAS ABANDONED.
I have a video of it that I'll upload depending on if it's too dark or not, but it was the coolest, creepiest thing I've ever experienced at Disneyland. It was as if they had closed the park and forgotten to kick us out. I no longer need to wonder what it would be like to go to Disneyland after The Apocalypse has wiped everybody else from the face of the Earth - I now know EXACTLY what it looks like.
Last stop on the way out of the park was at The Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor for a simple chocolate cone dipped in sprinkles. It was a great way to end the day at Disneyland!
Dinner was Buffalo Wings and Sour Cream & Cheddar Ruffles from 7-11, which I also discovered had SUGAR FREE Lipton Iced Tea (WOOT!)
Next installment: Meeting Friends & World Of Color
