Trip Report

Anaheim, CA

Saturday Jan. 23th - Monday Jan. 25th 2010
Weather: Mostly sunny, low-mid 60s, cool nights
Crowds: Light (for Disneyland)

Our annual Disney trip found us once again at the Disneyland Resort. Last year’s visit to Disney World was as wonderful as we could have hoped, but the thought of spending that kind of time, money, and energy for a second year in a row was too overwhelming to even consider. We’ll be back there eventually, but for now we were able to revel in the fun of Disney for merely a few days and a few hundred dollars - a much more reasonable proposition.

The plan was for three days in the parks, which some may consider excessive, but we find to be just the right amount. Our visits are always in the low season, so crowds aren’t really a consideration. It’s more about making the travel worth it, and never feeling rushed while we’re in the parks. I know after that 4th or 5th time on Pirates over the weekend you might be prone to zoning out – but most of the time the attractions offer so much that I’m able to enjoy them after repeated rides, and even occasionally notice something I haven’t seen before. By no means do we experience all the attractions, though most of the ones we do, we’ll hit two or three times. I have no doubt that seems excessive to many, but I have no shame in admitting that there are more than a few rides I could stay on all day. You’ll probably be able to see which ones as you read my accounts below.

That being said, we had high hopes for this visit. The original plan had us taking the trip in early December, which would have us fighting with slightly larger crowds (though the week after Thanksgiving until the week before Christmas is the low season, and a great time to visit,) but the parks would be decked out for the holidays. We were able to see this last year, so it wasn’t too much of a disappointment when we decided to push it back to January – thanks mostly to a short supply of vacation days after that honeymoon in Australia.

Our typical routine is traveling Friday, three days of the parks on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, and then travel home on Tuesday. We stuck to that, but decided it was time to give flying a try. The 370 mile Friday evening drive has never actually turned into the catastrophe it could be, but I thought it would be best to go easy on myself. We’ve had plenty of luck making the drive in great time in the past, but even so it’s a long stretch going, and even less bearable making the return trip once all the fun is over.

Fortunately, flights between the Bay Area and the LA area are plentiful and reasonably priced. We scored a deal on United from San Francisco to John Wayne-Orange County-Santa Ana-etc., and would just need a quick cab ride to make it from the airport to the hotel. Once again we were staying at our usual spot, the Fairfield Inn Anaheim. I’m not sure if the place has improved its service, or it was my newly acquired elite status with Marriott, but the staff was really on the top of their game. The hotel itself is pretty much the same – that is perfectly adequate though nothing fancy. Its prime appeal is certainly its proximity to the parks, hardly a 10 minute walk from the front desk to the front gates.

We were out the door at 5pm and up to SFO before 6pm for our 8pm flight. It was as uneventful of a flight as possible, and we were down to SNA just after 9pm, and jumped in a cab for the 15 minute ride to the hotel. It came to about $40, even with the tip. We considered a shuttle, and with 2 people it is slightly cheaper, but it’s nice to start the vacation with some convenience, and it’s really so much quicker. We were at the hotel in no time, probably even before the bags from our flight hit the carousel.

With our 3-day park hopper passes, we were entitled to one hour of early entry, either Saturday or Sunday. The park times were 8am-11pm and 9am-11pm respectively, and we fully realized all the sane guests would cash it in on Sunday, making the two days the same hours instead of hitting Disneyland at 7am. Insane or not, doing the opposite of the crowds is an important theme if you want to save some time, so we would be looking at dragging ourselves out of bed before 6am in time to get to the parks bright and early, even if it wasn’t really all that bright at 7am.

As a nice treat, some friends of ours would be coming up from San Diego for the weekend to join us. Jarrod and I go way back and we have visited a ton of parks together, including both trips to Cedar Point and any number of visits to the parks around where we grew up (Great Escape, Dorney Park, SF New England, SF Great Adventure, Hersheypark, etc.) and even two high school trips to Disney World. His fiancée Kelly, however, was entirely uninitiated into our unique brand of park going. Between Jarrod and my capacity for marathon riding and Megan and my endless and probably annoying Disney nerdiness, we would be best to turn it down to avoid her running and screaming for a less determined group of park guests.

They would be joining us later in the morning, so Megan and I would be on our own for a few hours to run through the park before they arrived, and depending on the crowds may come close to hitting all the highlights. Before turning in for what is usually a somewhat restless night, I climbed up to the top floor and, as is something of a tradition, took in the view of the parks from the nice vantage point. I snapped a couple of shots of the closed but still glowing park, enjoyed the anticipation of what would be a fun visit, and then finally called it a night.

Day 1

I’d have spent more time cursing the alarm if I wasn’t getting up to go to Disneyland, instead I was happy it was time to get going. We were out the door around 6:20am, leaving plenty of time for a stop to grab breakfast and likely a spot at the front of the line at the turnstiles. In previous visits, we started our morning with a trip to the hotel’s small food court, though our most recent visit found that a stop at the McDonald’s next door offered a better value. Three days of breakfast sandwiches were sure to wear thin, but it could not be more convenient.

The scene at McDonald’s was quiet as we grabbed our meal to go, and we were pleased to see it was just as quiet as we entered the promenade. The pedestrian entrance on Harbor Boulevard puts you next to the shuttle bus drop off, and once past the security checkpoint, into the eastern side of the promenade. We were beyond thrilled to see only a couple other parties milling about the entrance – it looked like we would have the place to ourselves for at least a little while in the morning. We lined up at the gates, enjoyed our greasy breakfast for the few minutes until it was time to open.

By 7am, the crowd hadn’t really grown all that much. The whole place was still quite damp from what surely must have been one of the wettest weeks in Disneyland’s almost 55 year history. A solid week of storms had flooded Main Street and Thunder Mountain, and even resulted in the parks closing early multiple times. We could not have timed it better, as the forecast showed three mostly sunny days, highs around 60 or so. We knew once the city dried out, the crowds would eventually show up, but our hopes were still high for a relatively quiet weekend. Either way, that didn’t matter now, as the gates were opening, barely 100 people were joining us in the park and we would be able to enjoy the first loop hardly encountering any other guests, let alone waiting in line.

The Magic Morning Hour only includes Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, but that fit into our plan perfectly. The incoming crowds grow rapidly, so while it makes sense to catch popular rides first (i.e., rides that usually have long waits), you don’t want to spend too much time on rides that take a long time to ride. For example, Finding Nemo is definitely a ride where you want to avoid a wait, but considering the 15-20 minutes it takes to actually ride it, even without a wait, you’ve let the crowd grow by 20 minutes. With that in mind, the first stop would be Fantasyland. Not only do waits stack up here quickly, the rides are very short, so when the place is empty, you’re able to hit pretty much everything in the same 20 minutes you’d be sitting in the sub on Nemo.

We were through the front gates at 7am on the nose, under the train tracks, and made our way up Main Street, through the hub, and under the castle. It’s always a surreal experience taking this first walk into the park – it’s a mixture of relief, anticipation, and a little frenzy.

I’m glad I’m still able to be affected by a visit. I know plenty of people out there look at Disneyland as just a place to spend a lot of money and wait in line, or even worse – a cheesy, overdone, overrated amusement park for children. I have little argument that much of this is true in certain cases – there is the potential to spend a lot of money, a lot of time in line, and there is plenty that only children will really enjoy. But anyone who does a little research and understands what the resort has to offer will see how it’s a place that can be done thriftily, while avoiding crowds, and will offer adults more than enough to do. Hopefully this is seen in what follows.

If you’re going to start in Fantasyland, there’s certainly no better place the kick off the visit than on Peter Pan. The only folks in line ahead of us were the honorary family that got to start the opening countdown. I’m convinced it would have been us had we some cute kids in tow. Either way, we were able to walk right on and start our visit with one of the most beloved attractions Disney ever created.

The fervor for this ride is palpable, and plainly obvious later in the day when wait times are double or triple that of its immediate neighbors. I can both at the same time see why it is so beloved and not understand the big deal. To some extent, the novelty of being suspended from a track above is quite a thrill for the young audience. No doubt does it add to the flying sensation and “Off to Neverland” theme of the ride. The scenes are well done, no overwhelming animatronics, but some nice effects and a good amount of detail. Everyone remembers flying over Big Ben and through the stars to Neverland. The encounters are close, with Tiger Lily, the mildly offensive “Injuns”, through the Jolly Roger and past Captain Hook as his uppance comes in the form of a crocodile jaws. No question is the ride just plain short, but its charm and novelty keep the crowds, and generation after generation of indoctrinated guests loyal.

Across the plaza (or platz, given the Bavarian theme,) we hit Snow White. Definitely a step down in the Fantasyland hierarchy, you’re likely to find a minimal wait here throughout the day, though its proximity and similarly quick ride time certainly warrants a spin. I like this one because it’s by far the darkest of the options in the area. Similar to Peter Pan, small touches abound, from the shaving cream in the Dwarf’s house, to the apple that reveals a skull.

Yet another step down in popularity and, to me, in quality is Pinocchio. It has its dark side and loveable characters (gotta love Jiminy Cricket dropping in on more than one occasion), but the scenes are somewhat less inspired and save a brief Blue Fairy pepper’s ghost effect – think ballroom on Haunted Mansion – there aren’t many of the quirky dark ride tricks or gags. A fun ride for sure and always worth the token ride we give, but this is definitely not one we or many others clamor to get on.

Finishing up in the courtyard area, we were headed to Mr. Toad. The ride might not be as wild as you’re led to believe, but it’s got a bit more interesting vehicle action than the other rides in the area. The scenery here is between Snow White and Pinocchio in quality, but it’s taken at such a rapid fire pace you’re less likely to notice that most of it is two dimensional cut-outs. Things are a little more interesting after you’re run over by the train and head to the warm, glowing red area. (No specific mention of hell is given.) I’m convinced those little devils in the scene are surplus Figment dolls painted red.

The plan was to finish up in Fantasyland and work our way to Tomorrowland, getting the highlights there as the extra hour expired, and swing over to the other side of the park to finish the loop. Matterhorn’s empty trains suggested it was time for our first mountain, but it seemed to be still testing. Instead we went right next door to Alice in Wonderland.

Without question, this is my favorite dark ride in Fantasyland. It may lack the fanciful pirate ship vehicles over on Peter Pan, and the unfortunately configuration (max 3 adults) probably does a good job cutting capacity, but the scenes here are so well done you’ll be engrossed as soon as you’re on your way. The ride recreates Alice’s journey, pretty much directly out of the film, even with the same voices so far as I can tell. It’s one of the only two story dark rides I’ve ever come across, and its uniqueness is matched by the crowds it gets. It’s not quite the frenzy of Pan, but it’s close. Try to avoid it right after the Tea Cups have let out. In descending wait time, the order is Peter Pan, Alice, Mr. Toad, Snow White and Pinocchio. Some may say the quality follows that order as well, though I’d personally swap Pan with Alice, and Toad with Snow White. Sorry Pinocchio.

As for our particular journey, we had a bit of a hiccup. Halfway through the ride, between the rose painting and croquet scenes, we came to a stop. First they told us to remain seated, and we figured they needed to slow things down for loading. When the emergency lighting came on, we realized this wasn’t a routine delay. They had us sit tight for a few minutes, and eventually a ride operator came by and released us from our vehicle. I mentioned to Megan that we might get to see some behind the scenes stuff, and our rescuer remarked that we sure would.

We just so happened to be in front of the maintenance bay, and the emergency exit route took us right through it. Definitely smaller than I expected, not nearly enough room for all the vehicles (I guess they don’t all “sleep” there as we would have guessed), but still an impressive space filled with all sorts of equipment and tools, and as wonderfully dirty as you’d expect a backstage area to be. We found some steps on the other side of the bay and were dropped back into the park next to the nearby bathrooms. I would have liked to finish the ride (we missed the iconic Goofy scream), but we do love us some backstage access, so this was an interesting consolation.

We were hoping for some better luck over on the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which apparently had just come online. We walked right on, and once again heard the cast members discussing their shift schedules. What is it about this ride and complaining ride operators? The Tomorrowland side would be up first, though I’ve never paid enough attention to notice any particular difference. This thing still gives the same ride it has been giving year after year. It’s most certainly a wonderful attraction, and it is an icon both in the amusement industry and popular culture at large. But unfortunately it will likely leave you longing for some track work. Your ride may vary, but more often than not it seems to offer at least as much jostling and bruising as it does fun and thrill. Granted, I don’t expect a ride like this to provide an adrenaline rush, but you could at least hope something this mild would be a little more bearable.

Things were sure to go a little smoother over on Space Mountain. We made our way around the Matterhorn, cut through the Tomorrowland Terrace, and began the long trek from the entrance to the station. Without Fastpasses, you’ll have to take the long loop around the balcony, but at this still ridiculously early hour it was completely empty. As were the hallways. As was the station. Things were so quiet that they were actually sending empty trains so that people already on the ride could exit. We wound down to the loading area and hopped on for what would be the first of many rides throughout our visit.

There’s little question Space Mountain is the king of all Disney mountains. Everest may offer more of a thrill, Thunder Mountain may have higher ridership, but no roller coaster is better known than Space Mountain. What’s less known is how unique each of the installations is. We were slightly disappointed by our most recent rides on both the Orlando and Paris versions a year ago, the former for its overwhelming lack of immersion and effects, and the later for its rough ride experience. Still, these coasters are the anchors of their parks when it comes to thrills, and the aura of a ride on Space Mountain has become something of a rite of passage. Many visitors will remember the first time they worked up the courage for their first ride -- I know I sure do.

So it is left to the Disneyland version to really hold the mantle. The ride action may lack tremendous thrills like in France, but the ride action is plenty enjoyable, joyfully smooth, and never lets up from start to finish. In addition, the themeing and effects, along with the terrific onboard audio score offer a top to bottom sensory experience, unlike Florida. It’s funny to think how unimpressive a ride would be if it were outside, in the daylight, with no music or effects. Fortunately, Disney has used its magic to turn a mediocre coaster ride into a classic attraction. This ride is just plain fun from beginning to end, and entirely deserving of its fame in my opinion.

With the hour winding down, we didn’t want to spend too much time here. Really, Disneyland’s Tomorrowland doesn’t have all that much else to offer. There’s Star Tours, which we don’t always ride, Autopia, which we almost never ride, and Nemo and the Monorail, which would take up way too much of our morning. (Honey, I Shrunk the Audience was mercifully down for its temporary regression back to Captain EO.) Instead, we settled on Buzz, a quick interactive shooting ride with an even quicker wait this time of day. We zipped through the nicely themed queue and hopped on, ready to blast us some aliens.

The scenes here are great, and I’m convinced this would work well as a dark ride even without all the gun action, but that alone wouldn’t be nearly overstimulating enough, now would it? You’ve got targets to shoot, and in the name of competition, this ride might take a more serious tone. Sure, guests less competitive than us might find more whimsy here, but with pride on the line and a score to run up, this isn’t one we personally end up effectively soaking in. I managed to break 107,000 points but unfortunately have little frame of reference whether that’s actually good.

We couldn’t have planned it any better as our exit and trek across the hub to Frontierland was timed perfectly with the rope drop and the official opening of the park. The Frontierland bridge would be closed for the entire weekend, so we would have to cut over just after the entrance to Adventureland to make it to Thunder Mountain. After doing so, we found it was actually closed, likely still testing, but a bit surprising to see Disneyland being a little lazy getting everything up and running for opening.

Instead we cut around the corner back to Adventure and hit its headliner, Indiana Jones. You really notice how long (and how far outside the border of the park) the queue goes when it’s all but empty. It seems a little odd to have to stop and wait for the safety video, yes it’s bumpy but the same rules apply for any of the mountains and they all skip this pre-show. They let us out, and we continued our brisk trip to the station and settled into these unique ride vehicles.

Indiana Jones is by far more of a dark ride than anything else, but the jostling you get here, though entirely by design, can be a bit unnerving. I suppose I wouldn’t complain if it was toned down a bit, but I’m usually so enraptured by the scenery, special effects, story, and the soundtrack to notice. It has a great premise; the temple has been opened to tourists and we are free to seek its treasures so long as we don’t look into the eyes of the idol. Unfortunately, the stupid guests that were are do exactly that, and now only certain doom awaits us. We spend the ride narrowly avoiding the terrors of the temple: snakes, skeletons, rats, spears, fireballs, and the classic Indiana Jones rolling boulder. It’s about as unique of a ride as you’ll come across, and definitely a good time.

Eventually out the exit we took an immediate right and found Jungle Cruise just about to board. So much of this ride depends on your skipper, and while ours lacked a great delivery, I did hear a few jokes I hadn’t heard before. Sure, I use the word “joke” loosely here, but this 1955 original is a must ride – and if you’ve got a high tolerance for puns, you might even enjoy it.

The crowds weren’t exactly pouring in, but we thought it best to head up to Critter Country to check on Splash Mountain, since we’d already been rebuffed at Thunder. No luck. Actually, even worse luck. Here a series of cast members flanked the walkway and explained that Splash Mountain was down, and that it wasn’t just a temporary delay. There was hope it would be running later in the day, but that wasn’t a guarantee. Specifically, the employee described how thanks to the rain, some water got into an area it shouldn’t have. He was sure to note the irony of this explanation, but I suspect the week-long deluge that had just subsided might also be to blame for Thunder and Matterhorn sleeping in.

As annoying as the occasional delays and breakdowns are, I commend Disney for giving honest and almost always accurate information. The worse thing is to miss out on a headliner and need to rethink your entire day on the chance it might open at any moment. I was disappointed, but with a long day ahead and two more after it, there was no need to fret. Now Jarrod, on the other hand, was only planning to spend one day in the park, and would likely be bummed if he didn’t get to ride. Unlike Megan, he truly appreciates the overwhelming greatness this attraction.

Since we had already made it that far, and hearing that Megan wouldn’t likely ride at all, we decided this would be a good time for Winnie the Pooh. After seeing how popular the almost identical installation is in Florida thanks to its Fantasyland placement, it’s funny to think how forgotten this has become. It’s truly at a dead end, and while plenty of parents with kids in tow do eventually make their way here, I guess the walk spreads them out pretty well. Needless to say, we were the only ones in line, and the series of cast members seemed almost confused by our decision to ride. Whatever, I like this one just fine. It’s definitely a modern incarnation of the dark ride, and may lack a bit of the aged charm, but the scenes are well done and there are a couple nice effects. Not quite on par with Alice or Peter Pan, but probably close to Mr. Toad in my ad hoc rankings.

Similar to our last visit, by this point in the morning, we realized there was no need to rush. We had seen most of the highlights, and with the rate at which people were coming in, we’d have a pretty manageable day ahead of us. With that in mind, and in order to save some backtracking, it made sense to visit a few of the longer rides on the way. First up was, of course, the Haunted Mansion. It may not be the first haunted house dark ride, but it’s hard to argue that any ride does it better. It’s become such an icon that you’ll likely have someone in the viewing who’s matching the ghost host word for word.

The crowds were so light we were actually a bit worried we would be the only ones in the stretching room. We were in the lobby for a good few minutes before anyone else joined, and in a testament to how creepy Mansion remains, we were a little relieved. Through the stretching room and onto our doom buggies, and were enjoying the creepy, campy, and always memorable ghosts with their various antics. Singing, drinking, dancing, it amazes me that we’re still able to find new things after the bazillion times we’ve ridden this.

In the classic New Orleans Square two-fer, it was time for Pirates. Some empty boats were allowed to go by before we climbed aboard, and you can really tell you’re at the park early when the tables at the Blue Bayou aren’t even set yet. The ride will take you through the bayou, down into the treasure caves, past the classic ransacking scenes and through the armory. After the updated but abbreviated version in Paris, and the all-around short version in Orlando, it was nice to be on the original. It actually gives you enough time to get engrossed in the scenes and reminds you that when Walt Disney does something, he does it right the first time. I’m sure the budget concerns were an issue only his successors worried about when cloning these rides.

I confirmed our dinner reservations at the Blue Bayou (7:10pm, four people) just outside the exit and we were on our way to face that last remaining mountain. Thunder Mountain had come back up, and even with only one side and three trains running (I know, I realize how crazy it is that I said “only three”, but that’s Disney for you) we were through the mostly empty queue and in the station with barely a pause.

Yes, this is certainly yet another mountain that’s more known for scenery and themeing then outright thrill, but it’s hard to find an attraction that does it better. From the rock formations, to the waterfalls, to the over the top wildlife, it’s as much about what you’re flying past as the flying itself. There are so many small touches, like any of the beloved headliners here there is so much to notice, and as you’re zipping around that becomes a tricky task. My personal favorites are the bats right out of the gate, the yipping coyotes between the first and second lift, and the braying goat at the top of the second lift. There is a ton more going on, and if you’ve ridden a bunch I’m sure you have your preferences, and if you haven’t, good luck catching it all.

After all that, it was time for a break. In an effort to get a little energy, not to mention make up for the fast food breakfast, we grabbed a pair of apples for a mid-morning snack. We’d taken the frontier trail between Thunder Mountain’s exit back into Fantasyland, and the food cart was just opposite the bathrooms at the end of the trail. There was no need to dwell in crazy kid town, but I did want to peek over to Peter Pan, just to gauge the crowds. Still just 20 minutes, this was a great sign.

We took our break around the back of the park and up into Toon Town. We somehow always end up forgetting Roger Rabbit in our morning loop on previous visits and pay for it with a good 20+ minute wait later in the day. It’s a ride that’s worth considering a Fastpass, but it’s an absolute schlep to get it. Instead, we wouldn’t make the same mistake and headed right for it while things were still obscenely quiet. Seeing a posted five minute wait, we took a load off in Toon Town and basked in some sun enjoying our healthy snack.

Roger Rabbit is much in the same vein as Winnie the Pooh, a modern Disney dark ride, but it’s taken one step further with its unique ride vehicles and their controllable spinning. Riding Lenny (or is it Benny?) the taxi, you’ll zip around Toontown avoiding the weasels and trying to escape a dip bath. The scenery is well done, scenes right out of the movie and a few surprises. The real highlight here is the ability to spin your vehicle 360 degrees in either direction through almost the entire ride. I wouldn’t say it’s the same mechanism as the Tea Cups, it’s almost more of whipping action than anything – but it’s very fun, and entirely up to riders’ tastes. It may be a little distracting if you’re trying to take in the view, but I recommend at least giving it a shot. It’s entirely fitting with the manic theme of the ride.

In addition, don’t worry too much if you’ve got a bit of a wait to get through. While the queue doesn’t exactly fly, there is a ton of great stuff to check out. Similar to Indiana Jones, it’s almost worth having a 15 or 20 minute wait to be able to get a closer look. We didn’t have anyone in front of us until we got to the station, so we’d have to visit it later. With Jarrod and Kelly approaching the area, it probably wouldn’t be too long anyway.

The plan was to meet them at the top of Main Street in about 15 minutes, so that gave us just enough time to catch Space Mountain. Somewhat surprisingly, I had yet to pick up a single set of Fastpasses – it’s not really worth going out of your way for them first thing in the morning. The posted wait time was still only 10 minutes, but Space Mountain is always a safe bet for long(er) waits later in the day, so of course I grabbed a pair and we hopped in the standby line. Even with no wait we got to walk the long way around the balcony again, as this is where they would keep standby riders once things started to get backed up inside. The Fastpass setup here is good, not really the best, but nothing as frustrating as Indiana Jones. Usually they keep the crowd in the mountain pretty minimal, and your average Fastpass wait will be 5 to 15 minutes.

We didn’t even have that long of a wait going standby, though we weren’t the only ones in the station like earlier in the morning. We met up with the crowd right at the entrance to the station, about a 5 minute wait that is entirely bearable as you can watch how quickly this crew works. I did notice feeling a little rushed by the cast members as they encourage you to quickly sit down, and will instantly dispatch the train as soon as the last butt hits the seat. It may not be the safest way to go, but they do check restraints before sending you on your journey. The rush is even more abrupt as they encourage you to exit quickly. It’s not exactly, “Get your crap and get out,” but it’s close.

Our rendezvous with our friends went smoothly, right at the entrance to the hub near one of my favorite spots in the park – the wait time board. I was sure to check things out, and I would be pleased almost every time I did. Unfortunately Splash Mountain was still down, but with 20 minute waits for both Peter Pan and Nemo at almost 11am, we were in great shape. We said our hellos and explained how, thanks to our utter insanity, we managed to hit pretty much all the highlights already. So from there, it was really up to them as to what they wanted to do.

It was still somewhat early, so it was pretty reasonable to do another loop of the park. We wouldn’t get through it with the blinding speed we had in the morning, but it was nice to spend what little time we would have in line catching up with Jarrod and Kelly. Plus, Disneyland has some more than bearable queues, so we would be able to make due just fine. Along those lines, we went for Indiana Jones first. The wait had “swelled” to 15 minutes, so we were able to enjoy one of the most elaborate queues you’ll ever see, and were still onboard in short order.

I’d be lying if I said Splash Mountain wasn’t in the back of my mind this whole time, and Jarrod was equally concerned. We hadn’t been back there in a while so we figured we would leisurely make our way over there. Seeing as we had just done Jungle Cruise, and Jarrod requested hitting it at night, we skipped Indiana’s neighbor and instead went with Pirates. Now Kelly isn’t a big fan of drops, but she managed to get through Pirates’ pair at the beginning of the ride. I was more concerned about the surprising splash, it seems like we get wetter on it each time we ride. Jarrod was on the far left, so he got a surprising dousing from the cannonball splashes. Not like actually wet, but more than you might otherwise expect. Don’t worry; he would prove his water-related bravery throughout the weekend.

Continuing on our way, we visited the Haunted Mansion. The only downside about this ride: morons using their flash. It almost makes me long for the days of film, when people had to be judicious with their picture taking. Nowadays, people just click away, and their stupidity for using flash where glass or distance is involved is only topped by their complete lack of consideration for other riders who would prefer not to be blinded every 30 seconds. Gotta love it when idiots take a flash picture of the ballroom scene. You obviously have zero clue about what’s going on here, don’t you? That picture is going to turn out great, jackass.

I don’t mean to complain that much – and really, most of our visit is entirely blissful, but without crappy employees to complain about (a-hem, Six Flags), we’ve got to complain about something. Actually, most of the time the occasional inconvenience and inconsideration of daily life go unnoticed here, but you can’t help noticing from time to time how other guests act as though they’re the only ones in the park. I realize not everyone is going to try to zip through the crowds as we do, but we’re confounded by groups walking 4 or 5 across on a walkway, or strollers pushers who suddenly stop in the middle of a path, or exiting riders who clog the exit by stopping and rehashing the ride or thinking about what to do next. Countless times we noticed this oblivious behavior and wanted to remind people that they’re not in their living room.

Feeling optimistic, we peeked over at Splash Mountain and saw that things weren’t any better. Still dry as a bone, in fact there was a worker walking the channel. That’s never a good sign. We consoled ourselves with Thunder Mountain after barely a 10 minute wait and remarked how brave Kelly was for taking on this wild ride.

Looping around to Fantasyland, we saw things weren’t as quiet as we may have hoped. It was hardly the logjam one could expect here during the peak season, but Megan and I weren’t especially keen on taking an hour or two to do the 5 rides it took us 20 minutes to hit just a few hours ago. Seeing as things probably wouldn’t get too much worse, we compromised that Jarrod and Kelly would hit the area later while Megan and I hopped over to California Adventure for a bit. Being southern California residents, they took advantage of the two-fer ticket promotion, a great deal getting two days in the parks for the price of one, but it didn’t include park hopping so they were relegated to Disneyland today and would visit California Adventure tomorrow.

Not wanting to leave the area without catching anything, we saw that the Teacups had a manageable wait. We were on the next cycle, and Megan and Kelly decided to get their own cup as Jarrod and I planned to spin ourselves silly. I think Jarrod was a little disappointed with the friction in the wheel, giving it our all resulting in a fast spin, but unfortunately nothing that would do any long term damage. It was still nice and disoriented for a few moments after coming to a stop, but I managed to find the exit while not running over any children.

Matterhorn is always worth a peek to check out the wait, even if you have to walk halfway around the mountain to see it. It didn’t look too bad at all, and with both sides running we were on in no time. We noticed that more and more groups of adults were sitting as singles, which probably killed the capacity numbers, but meant people might go on it again. It’s always funny to spot the couples who don’t realize this option exists, and look a bit perturbed as they squeeze into a single seat.

It was definitely lunch time, and we decided to combine the break with a Fastpass and headed to Space Mountain. I grabbed a set for the four of us and we picked up lunch at the Pizza Port. I had the spaghetti and meatballs, which looked like an obscene serving until I discovered how hungry I was, and I picked up a kids pizza meal for Megan, which didn’t appear to be even half as appetizing. We enjoyed the respite for a few more minutes, even snuck a supposedly free refill, and cashed in the Space Mountain Fastpass.

With minimal crowds and wait times, the Fastpass return window is always at least 40 minutes away, and that was the perfect amount of time for lunch. In an effort to appear to not be abusing the Fastpass system as badly as we were, I redeemed the pair I had gotten earlier and hung onto this new set for later. I’m sure it made no difference whatsoever, but no one likes a guilty conscience.

After the wonderful trip into space, we saw the lack of a wait for Buzz and thought we’d give it a go. This ride eats people pretty well, so even with the line sticking out the door, it was a brisk walk into the station. The only holdup was the gawkers checking out the Buzz Lightyear animatronic. Impressive, sure, but it’s no reason to block the entire queue as you take a flash picture which won’t even come out. That’s a double shot of idiocy right there. I think I managed the top score of that round, but after experiencing Toy Story, it’s all somewhat anticlimactic.

With a second round of the highlights pretty much complete, Megan and I wanted to head over to California Adventure for a quick visit, figuring Jarrod and Kelly could finish up Fantasyland. We strolled down Main Street, stopped to enjoy the Dapper Dans for a couple numbers, and were out the gates and across the esplanade.

The first stop, as always, would be to pick up a Soarin’ Fastpass. It’s slightly bothersome that this park doesn’t have a convenient wait time board, but I checked with the information booth just inside the gates and they were able to give me the status of the rides we wanted to hit – 15 minutes across the board for Soarin’, Tower of Terror and California Screamin’. I got our pair of Soarin’ Fastpasses – glad to see them available while thinking back to the unbelievably high demand for them at Epcot - and we started our loop in the other direction.

We had to squeeze through a narrow Hollywood Boulevard thanks to the red car construction, but the silver lining was that the gate between Tower of Terror and Bugs Land was now open to alleviate the traffic. This entire park is one giant construction site, barriers everywhere. It was not pretty, but then again no one goes to California Adventure for the scenery. We go for the rides. Unfortunately, the first stop, Monsters Inc., was temporarily down. We settled for Tower of Terror instead, an icon of modern Disney Imagineering, though somewhat of a short sell without the dark ride scene, found only at Hollywood Studios in Orlando. Still, the story, themeing, and ride itself leave everyone satisfied. Even if the novelty has run out, it’s still got an aura about it and never disappoints. I didn’t even mind the predictably of the drop program – even if you know when the drops are coming, it’s still so much fun.

We took the shortcut (which I hope they make permanent) and strolled over to the new wine bar area and had a wonderfully kid-free break. After we each enjoyed a glass, we headed over to the Paradise Pier area. Now this part of the park had always been popular thanks to California Screamin’, but it was now something of a madhouse with the addition of Toy Story Mania. Similar to Soarin, this relatively new, amazingly novel, and popular with all types of guests attracted huge crowds and made the area a massive bottleneck.

We weren’t going to mess with Toy Story this time around, and despite the posted 25 minute wait for California Screamin’ we joined the queue. It’s more than I wanted to wait, given the crowds, but it just wasn’t worth the wait and walk to get a Fastpass and come back to redeem it later. We bit the bullet and slogged through the absolutely pathetic back and forth cement queue. I never had the outright vitriol some people seem to have for this park, but this one of the areas where Disney clearly skimped, and it is really quite disappointing.

The boring wait was made a little quicker with the addition of a fourth train, and we found the wait estimate to be right on. We got in our seats and were off on the fun, if slightly uninspired attraction. Don’t get me wrong, the coaster is absolutely top notch, the onboard musical score adds a lot to the experience, but overall the ride does seem at odds with Disney’s philosophy of immersion. Having a section of the park themed to an unthemed carnival is at worst blatantly lazy and at best uninspired. But in the end, with rides as great as this, you won’t find many people staying away just on principle. (That’s how Magic Mountain manages to stay in business, right?)

We trekked back across the park, cutting past the High Sierra area of the park, though not taking the sierra trail – I’m not convinced it’s any more direct to get to Soarin’. Into the somewhat ill-defined Condor Flats area, we redeemed our Fastpasses and cut what looked like a 20 minute standby wait. We managed to catch the last two seats of the show, not the most ideal viewing angle, but it saved us a few minutes waiting for the next showing.

Once again, the ride on Soarin’ was as powerful as ever. It’s a completely enveloping experience, with impressive sights, sounds, even smells. There really are no shortcomings to be found here and it is little wonder it’s such an overwhelming crowd pleaser. The only surprise is that such a simple ride concept, a hang gliding simulator, is able to execute the ride experience so perfectly. Thrill seekers may scoff, but anyone with any sense of wonderment at our natural environment will likely be blown away. So rarely am I convinced that an attraction will be able to live up to the expectations of such a diverse range of riders, but Soarin’ is a notable exception.

Starting to feel the long day (or maybe the early morning) dragging us down, we headed for the front of the park and paused for a coffee break in that weird train-themed ice cream, coffee, and souvenir shop. Megan had tea and I had a double espresso, and we snacked on a muffin and croissant as well. Our dinner reservations were still a good bit off, so the caffeine and calories were all but critical in lasting until then.

We crossed back into the Magic Kingdom just in time to see the Celebrate! A Street Party “parade” roll the last float into the backstage area next to the Firehouse. In most cases, we don’t make any special effort to see the parade but usually catch it randomly during the visit. This time, we were actively avoiding it, partly because unlike a parade, the show stops and sets up camp in certain “party zones”, clogging a main thoroughfare for a good 15 or 20 minutes. But mostly our aversion was to the painfully uninspired theme of celebrating special occasions (birthdays, anniversaries, first visits) with an interactive dance party. Unimpressive floats, lame pop music, and audience participation were more than enough to keep us away.

Instead we avoided the tail end and climbed Main Street as the confetti remnants of the show were swept up. Jarrod and Kelly had hopped on Pirates as we left California Adventure, so we made our way to New Orleans Square to meet them. Apparently due to some power issues, they didn’t have much luck getting through Fantasyland, so that was back in the plan. First, we would continue to take it easy taking in a showing of the Enchanted Tiki Room. We settled under the animatronic tree for the end of the garden show and endured the overzealous cast member’s vaguely offensive tiki impersonation once we entered the theater. It was a pleasure to once again see the original version of this animatronic show, shuddering to think of the travesty that is the updates it received in Orlando. Disney Imagineering needs to be more astute when deciding which rides to redo and which rides to treat as classic.

Over at Thunder Mountain, they were able to give the area the modern headliner it deserves while still preserving and including nods to the past. Unfortunately the full queue didn’t look especially inviting, so we picked up a set of Fastpasses instead and moseyed on to Fantasyland. (We must have taken this Big Thunder trail a dozen times each day.) Things in kid-town were still pretty nutty, but with power seemingly restored, it was time to make the rounds.

Peter Pan was immediately out of the question as our spoiled wait times made 30 minutes look unbearable, but Snow White and Pinocchio were all but walk on, so Jarrod and Kelly got a taste of the area even if they didn’t get the headliner. It was something of a compromise to catch Mr. Toad, with its wait queued up outside in its small courtyard, but it took barely ten minutes to get through it. Keeping up the dark ride streak, we headed back to Roger Rabbit, which may have been a first for our friends. This time around the 20 minute wait allowed us to take in all the scenery.

We had less than an hour until dinner, so we started darting around to hit whatever we would still have time for. Back across the park, we got our night ride on Jungle Cruise. Fortunately walk on, though the driver was actually a step down from the morning. I don’t want to suggest that only native English speakers be allowed to run this ride, but there really ought to be a minimum threshold for understandability. This person was below that line. What’s more, the waterfall was off, depriving us of the miraculous view of the back side of water.

Before cashing in the most recent Fastpasses, I got another round and we made our way onto Thunder Mountain for our first night ride. This one really gets it right once the sun goes down. It’s definitely a little chilly whipping around the fake canyons and campy animals, but it’s still an all around fun ride. With just a few minutes before our reservation, we crammed in a ride on Haunted Mansion, which also gets a bit creepier at night. Out the exit we checked on Splash Mountain and the running water was a promising sign. Boats weren’t running yet, but the attendant confirmed that they would do everything they could to open up before the end of the night, even if it was only for the last 10 minutes the park was open. That was the good news we were hoping for, and we’d be back for sure later on.

For now, we were able to really take a load off. We checked in for our meal, hung out in the lobby for a few minutes, and were shortly seated at our table. We were seated somewhat close to the water, so again the extra wait to be a mere few feet closer seemed silly. Megan had spotted a note in the reservation system mentioning a marriage proposal at a certain table, so we spent a portion of the meal trying to peg which table it would be, while possibly being a little too obvious about it. (We have our excuses: Megan and I are newlyweds, and Jarrod and Kelly will be getting hitched in a few months, so some glee can be taken from other couples joining in on the marital fun.)

We made a point of each getting something different to eat. The menu isn’t especially large but there’s no sense in spending all that money and overlapping. I went with the salmon, Jarrod had jambalaya, Megan had crab cakes, and Kelly went with the short ribs. There was plenty of sharing and no one was left disappointed. Our service was good as well, with our waiter keeping up as we got a little rowdy. We skipped dessert and instead went for a round of coffees to help make it through the stretch run.

The fireworks were quickly approaching, so we didn’t want to head too far out of the way with Splash Mountain, instead we redeemed our most recent Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain. It was another fun but brisk ride, and our plan was to head back around to Fantasyland and find a spot for the fireworks after cutting underneath the castle. In somewhat of a “duh” moment, we got to Fantasyland and found the castle roped off, and we remembered how the area is closed for the pyrotechnics. We made our way around the castle, and then found even the walkway between Alice in Wonderland and Matterhorn closed, no doubt for Tinkerbell’s safety.

What should have been a short five minute walk to grab a spot for the show was quickly becoming a slightly frustrating ordeal. Fortunately the walkway on the other side of Matterhorn was open, so once we went around the mountain we could see the hub filling in, now with only a couple minutes before the show. Eventually we found a spot on the far side of the hub, gladly not directly behind anyone too tall while not blocking anyone behind us. I always feel a little weird sneaking into a spot moments before a show where people may have camped out for an hour plus, but no one cursed our presence and, once we caught our breath, we were able to enjoy the show.

And these fireworks seemingly can’t be beaten. The show starts and ends with the slightly cheesy “Wishes” theme, but the pyrotechnics themselves, the score of ride music, and the virtual tour around the park make this really a one of a kind experience. There are subtle touches abound, including the safety spiel from Matterhorn, references to defunct rides, and great projections on the castle itself.

Equally fun though not subtle at all are a handful of impressive moments – the homage to the Main Street Electrical Parade, the fireballs from Indiana Jones, the fireworks in the round to simulate the stretching room from Haunted Mansion, the cannon fire from Pirates, and the laser fight from Star Tours. All are immensely clever reenactments of our favorite attractions, fitting in perfectly with theme of the show. It’s no doubt entirely self-referential and somewhat self-indulgent, but with Julie Andrews as the host and Walt Disney reading the opening day dedication, it adds a certain level of authenticity. But really, if you’ve spent your day here and made it this far, there is unquestionably no better capstone to your visit than what can only be described as magical overload.

The crowd is left somewhat dumbfounded at the end of the show, and we attempted to use this pause to cut across the hub and catch Space Mountain before the stampede started. Unfortunately we ended up in the middle of it, stuck in bottleneck next to the ill-placed Astro Orbitor. With the crowd pouring in for what would likely be one last headliner before heading home, we saw no reason to endure a wait that was surely growing with every passing second. Instead, I handed Megan and Kelly the pair of Fastpasses we had gotten earlier, and Jarrod and I turned around and figured this would be as good a time as any for Splash Mountain.

Back across a still crowded hub we cut through Adventureland and eventually made it up to a now open-for-business Splash Mountain. We have fond memories of overdoing it on the Florida version of this with multiple re-rides in some unfortunately cold February weather over a decade ago. It would only be one spin, and at 45-50 degrees it was noticeably warmer this time around, but it was still a great throwback to all the stupid things kids do in the name of fun.

It was no surprise to find an empty queue, and we were given an entire log for just the two of us. Jarrod took one for the team by being ahead of me, but even he was glad to avoid the front seat. I took the usual precautions of rolling up my jeans, hiding my sweater underneath my t-shirt, and figuring out how to best cram my legs underneath the seat in front of me to avoid wet shoes. I would like to say we forgot all about the impending drop and enjoyed the quirky dark ride scenes, but small splashes and spritzes were abundant.

We careened through the show building, unabashedly soaking up every moment, and were soon climbing up the final drop. Now thanks to years of crazy coaster riding, the 50 foot drop hardly registers on the anxiety-o-meter, but the ominous setting the ride provides combined with the reasonable worry of a less than pleasant dousing, we found ourselves somewhat edgy about the impending plunge. There really isn’t too much time to ponder though, as we reach the peak, take in the view for a split second, play it brave for the on-ride photo, and then tuck into our crash positions as we hit the bottom.

Fortunately, the light load in the boat and our well-timed and well-positioned cowering resulted in remarkably little drenching. It was really more on par with the random drops you’ll find on Pirates of the Caribbean. We were glad for that as we made our way through the climactic show scene and climbed out of our log no worse for wear. For about 5 seconds we contemplated a repeat ride, but neither of us was able to talk the other into it and we decided it was probably best not to tempt fate.

Meeting up with the ladies back in the hub, we took a few minutes deciding if there was anything else worth staying up for. It was after 10pm and there was time for one or two more, but we seemed content calling it a day. We did stick our heads into Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, and gave Jarrod and Kelly a quick though nerdiness-revealing tour of some of the Disneyland memorabilia. Once we found that it would be 20 minutes until the next Lincoln showing, we wrapped up our tour and headed back to the hotel. It was a little odd climbing into bed a good 10 minutes before the park closed, but with two more days ahead I rationalized the “early” evening as being smart to pace ourselves, and had no trouble falling asleep this time around.

Day 2

Our second morning started two hours later than the first, thanks to having spent our morning magic hour along with Disneyland opening an hour later. We would start there once again – California Adventure opened at 10am, and even so we weren’t expecting Jarrod and Kelly to rush the gates first thing. Instead our friends would likely enjoy a leisurely morning and catch up with us a couple hours after we had started over at Disneyland. Today they were relegated to California Adventure today as part of the ticket promotion they took advantage of.

We again grabbed breakfast at McDonald’s, which was noticeably more active. Sure, we were the same 30 minutes before opening, but being up and out at 8:30am for a 9am opening wasn’t nearly as insane as what we had done the previous morning. This was more than evident giving the crowds at the front gate. Perhaps people finally trusted the sunny forecast, but we lined up a few dozen feet past the monorail track. It wasn’t going to be the intimate morning we had yesterday.

But really, we didn’t need it to be. We would only be in the park for a couple hours before making the hop to meet up at California Adventure, so we weren’t in any particular rush. We poured into the park as part of the eager crowd and still ended up catching the rope drop at the top of Main Street at 9am. Interestingly, they had the left sidewalk roped off, as apparently Morning Magic participants had free reign of the park. I considered cutting over there and seeing if we could sneak through, as it didn’t seem at all obvious how anyone would be able to verify your eligibility one way or the other. We certainly hadn’t received anything distinguishing us the previous morning, though we were nowhere near Main Street when the park opened to general public.

Instead, we adhered to the honor system and waited the extra three minutes for the rope to drop, and we were on our way. We had missed Nemo entirely the day before, so despite it going against the most efficient touring strategy, we just simply didn’t want to wait for it. I did run up to Space Mountain to get a pair of Fastpasses, and then I met Megan at the entrance to Nemo. I really didn’t need to hustle; we were able to walk right into the station and climbed aboard the first available sub.

For anyone who remembers descending into the somewhat claustrophobic subs over a decade ago and taking a seat in front of a porthole, it will all come flooding back. Perhaps the downside, despite the nostalgia, is that the new Finding Nemo treatment is especially geared towards the age group that was likely born after the original subs last operated. That’s not to say plenty of adults out there don’t like the characters and the movie, but I think the enthusiasm for this attraction is mostly generated by younger guests. Couple that with an uncharacteristically low capacity and awkward loading procedure (i.e., long waits) and after an initial ride, you’ll probably find some folks who prefer not to ride again.

Personally I don’t find anything underwhelming about the experience. I think the props are entertaining, if not elaborate; the video scenes are as detailed as one can really hope for, and the references to the original version of the ride are a nice touch. There is nothing truly mind-blowing about the experience, so I can see how plenty of people would prefer not to bother, but to me it’s about as unique of an amusement park ride as you’ll find, executes decently, and is directly tied to the history of the park. We like it, we will always try to ride it (though admittedly probably only once), and whenever I come across someone expressing any strong displeasure with it, I resist the urge to refer them to the filled in and paved over site of the submarine lagoon that once existed at Disney World. It’s definitely not for everyone, but I’m glad it’s here. Just think how much more pathetic Disneyland’s Tomorrowland would be if it wasn’t here – low capacity or not.

Back on the surface, we needed to make up for yesterday’s partial ride on Alice. This time around we were able to complete the circuit, chasing down the cards, hearing Goofy’s iconic scream, and gliding back down to the unbirthday party. Having already made two tours of Fantasyland the day before, we cut through the growing (though still manageable) madness and looped around to Thunder Mountain. We got some potentially unnecessary Fastpasses before joining the standby line, found the wait at the track underpass but were quickly up and around the queue and into the station. A brisk ride here is a great way to start a day, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Speaking of brisk, I had to make up for getting only one spin on Splash Mountain so far. Luckily, I was carrying our trusty ponchos in anticipation of a ride on Grizzly River Run, so the cool morning wouldn’t be compounded too badly if I could stay dry. I suggested that this would be the best way to survive the ride if Megan wanted to give it a shot at all, but apparently the dark ride scenes and campy music weren’t enticing enough, so I was on my own.

Not that the wait was long enough to require it, but I figured I may as well check out the single rider line. As far as I know, it’s one of the few attractions you’ll find here that bother, mostly because the 7-passenger logs often leave spots open, and they’ve got decent room in the station to manage it. The entrance for single riders is actually back through the exit, around the main entrance, past the photo kiosk, and down the ramp into the unload area. I quickly donned my poncho and made myself known to the ride operator who almost immediately pointed me to an open front seat. I momentarily balked at the idea of getting the brunt of the splash, but an attendant and I simultaneously agreed that at least I was wearing the poncho.

We could have fit a slew of single riders, as I was alone at one end of the log, and a mother and son were together at the rear. So much for sending out full logs. We briefly smiled at each other in anticipation of the pending fun and plunge, and we were on our way. Again, thanks to a light boat, there was hardly much of a need for the poncho through the majority of the ride. I was treated to a nice view of the park from the precipice of the final drop before I did my best to take advantage of the poncho. The modest mist made the precaution seem a bit unnecessary, but I’m not convinced there’s much rhyme or reason to how wet you’ll actually get. Your results will vary, but I’d hardly call it a bad idea to be prepared. That said, I’d never drag the poncho around just for this ride. How pathetic do you think I am?

I got a call from Jarrod as we were exiting the stretching room on Haunted Mansion, and he let us know they were stepping into line for Toy Story, so our rendezvous could be soon, but not exactly imminent. After our tour of the mansion et. al., we chose to make our way over to California Adventure and meet them in the park. Wanting to take advantage of the sunny day, it made sense to join up at the entrance to Grizzly River Run and decide what to do based on the wait time. Jarrod did mention that he and Kelly had a pair of Soarin’ Fastpasses in hand, so that would be a quick stop for us as well.

In the meantime, I was looking for my first ride on Space Mountain since the morning of the day before. We picked up the next round of Fastpasses as well redeemed the ones we had gotten earlier. Granted, this was almost entirely unnecessary, but we did save the long walk around the balcony. A ride on Space Mountain is a great way to finish up a quick morning visit, and the odds were good that our evening would start up right here after we’d had enough of California Adventure.

Wanting to transfer my newly accrued Disney Reward Dollars from my account to a new card, we’d need to make a stop at Guest Relations. I had cashed in the years-worth I had accumulated on the tickets a couple months back, and I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to use the $20 or so I’d received since then. My understanding that a visit to Guest Relations with the credit card and drivers license in hand was all that was needed, but the line stretching far out the door at City Hall on Main Street looked like it was going to make this process a little harder. I checked with a nearby cast member and she pointed us to another booth just outside the California Adventure gates.

Boy, I should have stuck with the line in the park. With one window open and some obscure and/or complicated request from the current guest, the wait was absolutely painful. I was about the 4th party in line, and it took upwards of 20 minutes to get some service. They finally opened a second window just as I was moving to the front of the line, but by then I was pretty annoyed. Things looked up when the cast member was quick about handing me a new card, but I was again disappointed when she explained that I had to now call to transfer the balance. I’m not sure what I was thinking, assuming they would be able to transfer it for me.

We walked into the park, got the Soarin’ Fastpasses, and I called the customer service line to make the transfer as we waited to meet up with Jarrod and Kelly. The automated system was a painful labyrinth, and no combination of options I selected seemed to allow me to make the transfer in anything approaching an easy maneuver. Eventually, I went for an operator and tried to do it the old fashioned way. By this time Jarrod and Kelly had arrived, and thankfully after a couple times on hold, the transaction was complete and I felt completely silly about how determined I was and frustrated I had gotten for what would amount to two glasses of wine later on.

On the plus side, the posted 5 minute wait for GRR was a soothing sight, and instead of messing with a locker, the ladies decided to pass and Jarrod and I left our valuables with them. This meant there was an extra poncho for him, but he played it tough by going without, proudly remarking that this is how nature intended us to experience water rides. I wanted no part of what was natural as I put on the slowly shredding square of plastic, and we were taking our seats and buckling in without much of a pause. I always love the last-second assessing and adjusting everyone makes as they evaluate their vulnerability, and the eventual glances I always get. I can’t always tell if it’s envy, admiration, or pity but I haven’t taken a ride yet where someone hasn’t commented on my forethought.

I was the only one on this full raft who wasn’t exposed, though a delay on the lift left us momentarily baking in the direct sunlight, leaving the prospect of getting wet not all that terrifying. Once we were off, it became a giddy form of Russian Roulette as the raft bounced and spun in the channel, unpredictably exposing riders to a dousing over the side. Most of the ride is rapids, with some tunnels and even a waterfall or two. We had made it through most of the ride without too much damage – or at least the damage was spread somewhat evenly. The final drop and trip past the geysers remained, but those didn’t really add to the carnage in the end. Jarrod took a decent hit early on, and I endured more moisture in taking the poncho off than I had from the ride itself. It was a successful ride all around, but I was still a little glad to take a post-ride moment in the sun to repack all my possessions.

With lunchtime upon nearing, I picked up another set of Fastpasses and we attempted to redeem our original ones on Soarin’. We found even the Fastpass queue full as the attendant explained that one of the theaters was down and the ride was temporarily running at half capacity. Facing a 30 minute wait as the express option, we decided we were in no specific rush and would come back later. Instead, we went for the adjacent Taste Pilot’s Grill for some lunch. Hamburgers were standard fare, though I went with ribs, fries and a beer. Not too shabby, and I was even able to load up on free pickles at the fixin’s bar.

We checked back at Soarin’ after the meal and found that things hadn’t improved much. Instead of enduring the extra wait, we worked our way across the park, cutting through Bug’s Land and onto Tower of Terror. Kelly would sit this one out, and after only a short wait in the lobby we were through the preshow and squeezed right onto a loading elevator with some great timing. Always a great ride, especially because Jarrod had missed this and in fact hadn’t ridden in some 10 year since our last visit to Disney World. It was a little disappointing not having the extra dark ride section, but there’s no way he was left unhappy after the great dropping program.

We would all be aboard for a trip through Monstropolis on Monters, Inc. Here we found a surprisingly long line, a bearable twenty minutes, though the first half of the queue is as plain as you’ll ever find. No doubt we could have timed this better, but it wasn’t worth the extra walk to get back here and it was definitely a bit reassuring seeing such a good crowd for what I consider an underrated attraction.

This one goes even beyond Winnie the Pooh in showing how modern Imagineers have retained their craft over the decades. I know Superstar Limo (the original tenant of this building and the same ride system) was regarded as an abomination, but I’d suspect, never having ridden, it was more due to a completely random, incoherent, and meaningless story than the execution of the ride elements. Either way, the rebuild using the story and characters from Monsters, Inc. was unquestionably the smart move, and this has become a favorite of ours. We follow Mike and Sully as the city freaks out, they scramble to contain boo, and fend off Randall. Everything returns to normal, and Roz says goodbye in her own special way. Somehow Jarrod got off easy, being called a beefcake.

Our next stop came highly recommended by Kelly, so we visited the Mission Tortilla Factory Tour. In something more akin to a diversion out of the Mexico pavilion at Epcot, the tour consisted of a few displays of the history of tortillas, and ended in a modern, working, though scaled down factory. It takes all of a minute to walk through, and the highlight is receiving a fresh, hot tortilla right off the assembly line. The educational value is dubious, but who doesn’t like free food? This first for me will now be a regular visit.

It was time for a break, and we made our way to the wine bar for a little relaxation. We took our time enjoying the drinks and the rest, and before too long we were back on our way. Our destination was the madness that is Paradise Pier, quickly picking up Fastpasses for California Screamin’ and spending the wait for our window on Toy Story Mania.

The wait here was as long as I had ever seen it, out looping onto the midway, a good 5 minutes before getting to the Mr. Potato show, and all of the queue rooms open just before the final approach. It took just about the 45 minutes advertised, and we went boys versus girls as Jarrod and I attempted to get some of the easter eggs. We had a good showing on the balloon pop, but never got the rocket ship to blast off on the ring toss. I had a steady lead after each round, but lost my grip during the final “one big bull’s-eye” target, and easily left a few thousand points on the table. That was all Jarrod needed for the narrow victory, but both of us were a fair bit shy of what we were hoping for. As I like to describe it, this ride is fun, uses some impressive technology, and is about as unique as you’ll see – but most of the excitement comes from the competition and the ride experience itself is secondary in many cases.

Kelly sat out as the three of us redeemed our California Screamin’ Fastpasses. We would see her even quicker than we thought, as she found a spot by the launch and I noticed her barely a second before we were sent on our way. This was Jarrod’s first spin, and it’s fun to think how surprising this ride is the first time around. It may be on the opposite end of the themeing spectrum from, say, Expedition Everest, but it may just have a leg up in the thrill department. To help make it up to Kelly, we went down the pier to check out the wait time for the newly rethemed Mickey’s Fun Wheel. With a posted wait of 35 minutes for the swinging cars, we decided to pass.

Ice cream was our next destination instead, though the soft-serve stand back around the pier was temporarily closed. Instead we had to settle on the regular stuff back towards the entrance at Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream in the California Zephyr. I settled on a large coke as everyone else went to town on their snacks. Seeing as Jarrod and Kelly were checked out of the hotel and would want to get back to San Diego at a decent hour, they were ready to call it a weekend after a final visit to Soarin’.

The second theater had come back online, and our Fastpasses certainly proved useful. After the one-show pause in the noticeably non-descript second hallway, we got lined up front and center for the next showing. I can’t say that I have an adamant preference for seating location, and I have yet to notice any particular loading pattern, but it’s always a nice surprise to be both centered and at the top of the pile once pulled into position. We were happy to see Jarrod and Kelly as proud of their local downtown as we are to see San Francisco during the show, though they are considerable closer to the harbor in San Diego than we are to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

We headed for the plaza, with Jarrod and Kelly contemplated attempting some of the Disney magic Megan and I had failed on during our last visit to give someone your unneeded Fastpasses. Deciding it was too much effort to assess incoming guests for their ride preference and then possibly having to explain how even with the closed redemption window, the passes would still be accepted, they just kept them as souvenirs. Our own experience had been quite awkward as we found a couple that was surprisingly lukewarm about our gesture, though it would have been entertaining had they decided to try.

We left the park, said our goodbyes in the Esplanade, and went our separate ways. It was a little sad seeing our friends leave, but you can’t be too bummed out when you’re about to enter Disneyland. We had a good bit of the evening ahead of us with 5-plus hours until closing and whole other day, so there was still a lot to do. Walking back into the park and up Main Street, we popped into the newly refurbished Main Street Cinema. I always make a point to stop in here and, if only for a moment, reflect on how this whole thing got started. It’s always a trip to remark at how primitive the entertainment of these original cartoons seems today, while simultaneously acknowledging how groundbreaking and immensely popular they were at the time. I recommend not overlooking this.

Picking up where we left off, we went right back to Space Mountain. We got another set of Fastpasses as we were a bit surprised by the 50 minute standby wait. Overall, crowds were considerably bigger than Saturday, and while still manageable, a suspected breakdown in Space Mountain put even the Fastpass wait lined up down the initial entry ramps up to the balcony. We ended up waiting a good 15 or 20 minutes (most of it without budging) but found the indoor tunnels all but empty when we were allowed in. Worth the wait for sure, but we were hoping things would go a little smoother next time around.

Expecting lighter crowds tomorrow, it made sense to fill in the evening with a few of the low-priority and short wait attractions. Tops on this list is Star Tours. It’s somewhat defeatist to bother with this ride knowing full well it’s going to be completely redone in the not-too-distant future. Still, with a 10 minute wait, the walk through the queue and the setup for the ride is enjoyable enough, seeing as the ride itself is something of a letdown. I blame Soarin’, even more than I blame Toy Story for ruining the novelty of Buzz Lightyear. Still, the themeing is great, so hopefully this redesign will address some of the complaints about the attraction’s execution.

Having heard good things, we cut across the park to finally check out Bengal Barbeque for ourselves. We went with both beef and chicken and did our usual sharing. The only downside of our visit was yet another encounter with what was almost assuredly a homeless person. This time she was waiting in the queue behind us, and noticeably lacked personal hygiene, unfortunately to even a nauseating extent. I’m not sure how she gained access to the park, but having seen her on a bench in the hub the day before, we were convinced she’d saved enough money to buy an annual pass and used the park as her refuge during operating hours. It was an unfortunate situation for multiple reasons and with a shrug we took our snack around the corner to the seating area in Frontierland.

Looking for some ride momentum, we used the Fastpasses we had gotten in the morning for Thunder Mountain and enjoyed our first night ride of the day. Having missed Pirates during the quick morning visit, we climbed aboard for our daily visit. This time around we noticed the absence of the pirate overhead on the final underpass with the blackened foot known between us as Captain Dirtytoe. We cut to the left out the exit and timed the arrival of the train perfectly. Our ride aboard the Disneyland Railroad always takes us through the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas by design, but first we had a couple stops at Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. The first stop resulted in an extra delay as the early showing of the parade needed to cross our tracks. It was easy to be annoyed with the parade, now for a different reason, but the applause a lady in our car had for the floats and performers as we passed backstage showed there is some vocal support out there after all.

Through the 1964 World’s Fair dioramas, we exited at Main Street, having completed ¾ of the Grand Circle Tour. Wanting to get another less popular attraction that we wouldn’t care to bother with tomorrow, we climbed down the stairs and headed over to Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. In a rare occurrence, this is a first-time experience for me. I imagine this was up and running during my first visit to Disneyland in 1997, but it was hardly on the itinerary during that crowded August day. Since then, this space has been taken up by The First Fifty Years, and seeing as we’re at anniversary number 55, it was time to return the original tenant to the space. I’m glad they still play the anniversary film in the lobby, and still have much of the memorabilia.

But the highlight is now stepping back in time to a trying period of American history, with Lincoln as our moderator to help guide us through it. The first half of the show is a musical presentation of both Lincoln’s early life and many scenes of the Civil War. Little discussion is given of how the civil war was started, and politics are kept out almost entirely. The entire thrust of the show is that the civil war happened, it was really, really bad, and that Lincoln helped get us through it. I was somewhat disappointed so far, but we hadn’t even seen him yet, so I held out hope. Eventually, the curtains rise and we see the animatronic figure of arguably our greatest president.

There is no question that the figure is lifelike. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it looks like a real person, but it’s about as human as any animatronic character you’ll find. It’s hard to not be impressed. Unfortunately, the presence of Lincoln and the excerpts of his speeches are brief, histrionic, and at least to me, surprisingly unsatisfying. On the one hand, it’s an important reminder that at one time, the United States was as divided and fledgling as any country in the world. Given our modern existence of domestic tranquility, this comes as a sharp remembrance. But on the other hand, it’s presented with little context, little discussion, and with little explanation of how Lincoln truly led the country back from the brink.

In the end, I suppose it’s unfair to expect a complete or thorough recounting of an intensely complex period of history from an amusement park attraction. On some level, it’s feels that this was an attraction put together to show off some interesting technology while paying token homage to a great American leader. Some 45 years after its debut at the Illinois pavilion at the 1964 World’s Fair, it has perhaps become an attraction more significant for its Disney history than its American history. Take that for what it’s worth, and no matter what, you’ll probably appreciate the technological feat it presents.

With memories of our evening snack fading, it was time for something more substantial. While we were in the area previously, we’d passed through the River Belle Terrace on multiple occasions, and a sandwich sounded like it would hit the spot. I took a quick detour to get another set of Thunder Mountain Fastpasses. The idea of a freshly carved turkey sandwich sounded great to us both, and I had the full serving and Megan had the kid’s version (though ended up stealing my pasta salad). The meal was pretty good, worth considering again in the future.

It didn’t look like we’d have enough time for two attractions since we wanted to allow a little more time to find a spot for the fireworks. Instead of catching Thunder Mountain yet again, we went back across the Space Mountain, got another pair of Fastpasses, turned in our last set, and hoped the queue issues had been worked out. Unfortunately we were greeted with a similarly full Fastpass queue. This time, however, we emptied into the building quickly though found that full. It was not much more than a 15 minute wait in total, and it spit us out just in time to leisurely stroll back to the hub and stake out a spot.

We were there a good 20 minutes before things got started, so we had our choice of standing spots. Really, there are only a couple places where you can view the show from a reasonably comfortable bench, and most guests seated on Main Street or in the hub end up standing to view it anyway. In the end, it results in it being a little unnecessary, especially given the crowds, to get there much earlier than we did. So long as the place isn’t packed with people shoulder to should (which it certainly could be), there’s a good chance you can sneak in with 10 or even 5 minutes to go and still get a great view.

We were centered this time, on the street between the Partners statue and the top of Main Street. It may have been possible to try to cram in right in front of the castle, but we’d gotten that view on a previous visit and were happy with the extra personal space where we were. There was enough time for Megan to get some popcorn, and the festivities were underway before too long. No matter how many times I see this, I am always impressed. Granted I’ve only seen the display in person three or four times, but it’s absolutely over the top (in a good way) each and every time, and I can’t imagine tiring of it. I suspect some day they will tamper with it, if not change the show completely. Sure, there will always be fireworks at Disneyland, but my fear is a change for the worse, maybe something along the lines of the severely downgraded fireworks at the Magic Kingdom in Florida. Until then, I will never miss a showing whenever we’re here.

We were a little more prepared and better positioned for our quick escape following the conclusion, this time we would go right to Thunder Mountain and use our Fastpasses. Unfortunately, I completely forgot about the cutover to Frontierland after the Adventureland entrance, and we had to work our way up and around the outside of the River Belle Terrace (now that it was closed). Again, we were far from the first party arriving at the entrance, though with people pouring into the standby line, it looked like we could come out ahead in the end. Strangely, while more crowded, the standby line seemed to move just as fast through the queue, almost as if the ride had just reopened. There was hardly a backup at the end of the split, so we joined the regular queue, picked a side, and were on our way through the wilderness in but a few minutes. By the time we were pulling back into the station, we noticed that the full queue had stopped its brisk entrance and, Fastpasses or not, we were successful in beating the rush.

Noticing a sharper dispersal of the crowds as compared to last night, thanks surely to poor suckers having to get up to go to work on Monday, we took on some Fantasyland attractions. A night ride on the Tea Cups is a must. We didn’t get quite the spinning I had with Jarrod, but somehow the blur of the colored lights seems so much effective after dark. Snow White was walk-on as usual, so we took a quick ride. Peter Pan, not surprisingly, was still sporting a decent wait, so with the evening winding down, the options were: deal with it now and risk running out of time for anything else – or trek all the way over to Space Mountain, cash in that last Fastpass, and come back here to finish the night. We decided after taking it easy the night before, we would cram in an extra ride on Space Mountain and then come back, hopefully finding a much shorter wait as a bonus.

Well, the ride on Space Mountain was a success, but I should have known the wait on Peter Pan wouldn’t drop much in the 20 minutes the side trip took. Really, unless you show up at a queue with 5 minutes or less until closing, you’re not going to save much time. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind you’re far, far better off in the first hour the park is open than the last hour it’s open. With 15 minutes until closing we were still looking at a mostly full queue, though a manageable 20 minute wait. It was entertaining to watch the wait dwindle behind us as closing approached, and we boarded our pirate ship right as we passed the top of the hour. Off to Neverland and back before we knew it, we stepped out into a much quieter park.

Whenever we have a chance, I like to take my time while leaving the park. I always think to make an attempt at going slowly and savoring a visit while in the midst of the madness, but it never seems to work out as well as it does at the end of the day. Granted, most of the time there is so much to see and do, or do for a third or a fourth time it’s tempting to run yourself ragged for the sake of maximizing your day. I don’t think that’s necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, but I find it hard to not be excited here. That by no means is to suggest that I don’t or am unable to appreciate or savor the experience. In fact, I feel like I spend much of the time both consciously and unconsciously soaking up as much as I can. If anything is an indication of my ability to do this, it’s that I can, and often do, write trip reports several weeks and months after a visit.

But at this point in the night, it’s about savoring it and taking it is slowly. We never walk at a slower pace than this end of the day trip down Main Street. On this specific occasion, like several others, we would take our time check out the shops. I’m not one to shop aimlessly, but even I enjoy browsing the stores for keepsakes. Then again, my likely souvenirs are unused Fastpasses and the dated park entertainment guides. But we had a couple items in mind, specifically that 3-picture hanging frame we originally saw at Disneyland Paris some 18 months ago, but they were asking for a lot in Euros, never mind the awful exchange rate. After only a couple stops, we found it, and at a reasonable price, but we found a small 6-picture standing frame for even cheaper. Since our idea was to include pictures of the castles from the three Disney parks we have visited, we could even include an additional picture each park in this new frame. We picked it up, and it’s now sitting in our mantle, waiting to eventually receive a couple new castles.

I didn’t have nearly as much luck hunting down a 2010 wall calendar. I was hoping for something with monthly shots taken in the park, but guess I had missed the window, it being late January already. As consolation we made our way to the new home of the Disney Gallery in the old bank in the Town Square. Much of the artwork is very impressive, stylized versions of rides and characters, but the highlight are the concept sketches and pieces found in the back room – all authentic, and all with an insightful description of their place in the history of Disneyland. To me it’s not entirely about the art per se, it is just as much about history as anything else, and that I can easily get on board with. As you’d suspect, there were no kids around, and that made it even better.

It was approaching almost an hour past closing and our sore feet finally got their way. On our way out, we enjoyed speculating about the closing procedures, if there is a specific time they kick the final guests out or if it depends on the crowds and how much they’re spending. I’m not sure if anyone has played a game of Disneyland exit chicken to see who can be the last guest to leave, but each and every night, it’s got to be someone, doesn’t it? Even without our relaxing pace, it most certainly wasn’t us, and we were back to our room and probably even asleep before the last guest was shooed out.

Day 3

As has been custom, we started our third day headed to California Adventure. On weekdays the parks open at the same time, so we’re not missing out on too much over at Disneyland. (I suppose the better logic would be to quickly run through DL on a morning it opens first, and then cut over to CA for its subsequent opening an hour or two later, but even we aren’t that ambitious). The 10am opening meant the most leisurely morning yet and not surprisingly the biggest crowds at McDonald’s. We eventually got our orders (though I would later find I was given the wrong sandwich) and we made it to the esplanade about 15 minutes before the parks opened.

It was a little surprising to see both parks letting guests in, and we were able to enter California Adventure and finish our breakfast in the doomed Sunshine Plaza. I swung by Soarin to grab a Fastpass, glad to see it both open and distributing passes before the official opening time. We lined up for the rope drop, and of course we were all headed for the same place when it was time to go, Toy Story Mania.

Before we rounded onto the pier, we saw a surge of people already ahead of us coming from another direction. Apparently there is another rope drop around Soarin’, perhaps by The Grand Californian, and these smart or lucky people were doing a nice job of beating the rush. Eventually we made it to the entrance, and find that the surge had scattered and split groups up as they approached the queue. Now reasonable people will wait at the entrance until their party has arrived in full and then join in on the line. Unfortunately, the mania must have gotten to people, because we had several folks cut us in line explaining that their group was up ahead.

It frustrates me to no end that people either don’t understand or don’t care about the basic rules of how a line works. To a thoughtless minority, apparently cutting is forgivable if someone you know is already in line. The notion that ANY time you pass someone in line is cutting is obviously way too complicated or unnecessary a rule for them to adhere to it. Granted, we had seen this time and time again throughout this, and really all of our visits. In most instances, we usually give a good pause to impede the offender and then make some comment to each other after they go by. This time, I was not about to have it.

We hustled to get here just as much as anyone, and this lady and her small child don’t get to cut us just because the fastest person in the group was up ahead. As she attempted to get by, mumbling something close to “excuse me”, I plainly stood in her way and remarked that this was not how a line worked. Clearly annoyed, as if it was my fault she and her kid couldn’t keep up, she explained that her husband was just up ahead. In a helpful tone I explain that instead of cutting us, he is supposed to wait for them. Her displeasure was more than palpable, and what was just as noticeable was a reaction of utter surprise that anyone could be so rude and so cruel while at Disneyland. She just wanted to reunite her family. She just wanted to enjoy a ride with her innocent children. How could a man be so heartless? Her victimized facade faded quickly as she assertively squeezed past us and said something under her breath about how it wasn’t a big deal and my obnoxious treatment wasn’t necessary. Man, I can’t wait until I have a kid and I can teach them how their existence has entitled me to disregard other people. Oh well, hopefully someday I will meet this lady again and the universe will give me a chance to apologize for not letting her cut me with greater ease.

Fortunately we were still ahead of the most of the crowd and we quickly snaked our way to pick up our glasses. We did a brief refresher of the hidden bonuses, and we were on in a matter of minutes. There would be no disappointment this time around. We got the raining balloons to fall, we got the space shuttle to blast off, and I got to the 2000 point targets in the final scene. All our hard work paid off as we both set new personal high marks, Megan with 119,000, and me at 191,000. In fact, I hit the next prize plateau up from beaver to cat – not that this really means anything. We were quite pleased with our performance, until we saw the top three scores for the day. There couldn’t have been more than a couple hundred people ahead of us in line and already the high scores barely 15 minutes into the day were up over 300,000, with the top over 455k! I both envy and pity that person.

We knew everyone else would do the same thing, but apparently we were still far enough head of the rush to be able to walk on California Screamin’ next door. Ok, so maybe Thunder Mountain is still a brisk way to wake yourself up, but this coaster is such a great rush to really get you going. In fact, with hardly an increase in the non-existent wait, we looped right back around and got ourselves another ride. There is nothing close to disappointing about the experience, the launch, the musical score, the views, the loop and great maneuvers. I guess I could do without the shoulder restraints, but with barely an ear tap, it’s not something that’d keep me away.

Moving on, we still wanted to get to Disneyland at a somewhat early hour. For about a split second, we considered the loop around the pier to possibly hit Maliboomer, Golden Zephyr, and Mulholland Madness. No thanks, these rides aren’t especially enticing even when you don’t have to squeeze between claustrophobic construction walls to get to them. We took advantage of the cut through to Tower of Terror one last time and made our final visit to the Twilight Zone.

Continuing on the final loop, we saw that things were much quieter than the day before on Monsters, Inc, and we certainly weren’t going to miss out on it like we had the first day. It was the usual great ride, and even though Roz singled me out, her comment was a much more generic, “You didn’t see anything, folks.” Our final stop would of course be Soarin’, using the Fastpasses we had picked up earlier. We saved about 15 minutes of the standby wait, and once again lucked out in getting the front and center section after the usual pause in the hallway after the split. Good old Patrick did his pre-show routine and we were taking our final flight over the awesomeness that is California.

It’s funny to think how different this park is each subsequent time we visit, I’m glad the World of Color nighttime show will be going the next time we’re back, and The Little Mermaid dark ride probably the visit after that. And then there’s the re-themeing of the entry plaza and of course Cars Land. Who knows if these changes will be the tipping point for the park, but I’ll be stopping by at least for a quick visit no matter what. But for now, there was no need for any of the 4D shows or other mediocre diversions; it was onto bigger and better things.

We had certainly missed the morning surge over at Disneyland, and we were among a handful of people trickling in. The ability to walk up Main Street and get through the hub without dodging people left and right meant even though we were late to the party, crowds looked considerably lighter than they were over the weekend. Naturally, our first stop was Space Mountain. We did the usual Fastpass pickup and standby, the 15 minute wait was great to see.

Since the park was only open for 10 hours (as opposed to 16 and 14 the previous two days) and there were only about 8 of them left, it wouldn’t make sense to put off any of the attractions we wanted to do one last time. On our way out of Tomorrowland, Buzz Lightyear fell into this category and we pretty much walked on and got some target practice. There was no such last visit to Star Tours. Sorry, George Lucas. We’ll see what they do for the redesign, but odds are it will be closed for the conversion during our next visit.

With the most of the relatively warm afternoon ahead of us, I wanted to get on Splash Mountain before too long to give myself ample time to dry off. I also had a craving for chicken, so the Stage Door Café in Frontierland would be a good place to sit in the sun after my ride. Again I was on my own; I don’t think I’ll get Megan on it anymore. I’m a little bummed it’s not her thing, but finding the single rider line has made the prospect of a solo trip much more appealing. Given the single file seating configuration of the logs, it’s not the easiest ride to have a conversation on – as if I’m not totally enraptured by the ride anyway. Avoiding the boringness of slogging through a queue on your own is a bonus, plus the all but non-existent wait for singles means I never have to worry about timing or rushing to get on it before the wait customarily grows.

Seeing the 10 minute posted wait time meant I wasn’t saving that much anyway, but there’s still no reason not to take advantage of the expedited access of the ride. This time I entered the exit platform and made myself known to the ride operator, and instead of calling me onto the next available boat, she pointed me to the back of the station where a bridge spans the water and connects to the loading side of the station. Oops, who knew? Looking back, it appears as though single riders are free to follow this route on their own. It doesn’t seem to cross any yellow safety lines, and there’s certainly no need to preoccupy the busy ride operator. I’ll keep that mind for next time and see if helping myself is actually what is expected here.

By joining the end of the queue, we could more effectively be included into open spots on boats. As it was, I wasn’t the only single rider, and the two of us were summoned immediately into the same row. Oddly, the pair ahead of us in the row motioned for us to go ahead of them, as if they were trying to coordinate riding with their friends. I momentarily questioned how this was possible given how Disney assigns seats based on your party, and almost had the gates closed on me due to my hesitation, but I managed to squeeze through in time, and chuckled at how my single rider cohort and I were now the only ones on the boat. I don’t think that’s how it was supposed to go at all.

It was really no matter to us, and I was glad to see my appreciation for this ride shared by my co-rider as she swayed along with the catchy, campy, and anachronistic, if not offensive music. I’m still convinced the pace in the show building is taken a little faster here than in Orlando, and may in fact be missing a few scenes (e.g., the one with the bunny sweeping the steps). A quick comparison of almost any clip on youtube shows a calm float through the show building at Walt Disney World, and a virtual torrent here. Still, so many of the characters are there, and the same memorable feel abounds. Easily the best mix of story and ride this side of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.

I should have coordinated with Megan for her to grab lunch while I was off to the briar patch, as I had no idea how painfully slow the service would be at the café once I queued up. There were only 2 groups in front of me but the orders were assembled at a snail’s pace. The food was good; I got chicken nuggets, which were thankfully real pieces of chicken breast in a substantial breading. I went with the buffalo sauce, which was a nice surprise to see, but it was a little disappointing to only see ranch and no bleu cheese for dipping. It was nice to try out a new place to eat, and we would be returning shortly to have at some of the prominently displayed strawberry covered fried dough, but heads up on the slowly moving line here. Someday we may try the nicely-themed Rancho del Zocalo, but I’m not sure a big meal of Mexican food is the smartest idea at an amusement park. For me, anyway – your results certainly may vary.

Fastpasses aren’t available for Thunder Mountain on weekdays, so it was nice to see only a ten minute wait as we hardly gave our lunch a chance to settle. It was a little backtracking to get to Mansion afterwards, but we were in the mood for another mountain. Eventually we got there and hit Pirates as well. Apparently everyone in the park looked to be on Indiana Jones as the 35 minute wait it was sporting was far beyond everything else. We settled for Fastpasses and assumed we’d catch it on our final loop of the visit.

There was one thing we kept meaning to hit and most of the time it was closed and a couple times we just forgot about it, so we headed right for the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough. In a nice touch back in 2008, guests were once again able to enter the castle (just to the left of the castle underpass near Peter Pan) and see a few scenes from the movie. I suppose my expectations weren’t especially high, but I was pleasantly surprised by it. The scenes, though small – the interior of the castle is as cramped as it appears on the outside – were well done, had a few seemingly high-tech touches (lighting effects, movement, video screens) and told the story from beginning to end.

We didn’t realize that there is some motion in the scenes until we were already a bit into it, but it appeared as though most have some action that takes place and repeats every 10 seconds or so. We took our time viewing the last view windows and exited glad to see yet another well-done diversion that only Disneyland offers. I would have liked a window in the castle open to the outside to see the park, but I imagine that may create a flow issue in such a small space.

In something of a rare feat, we thought we’d give Matterhorn another visit. Usually by this time in the visit, we’re so battered and bruised from an intense long weekend that we do our best to stay away. Perhaps the Advil had kicked in better than expected, but after seeing the short line we chose to give it a try. This time we went for the Fantasyland side and did notice a slight difference in the ride experience, concluding that it felt like this side was not quite as intense. It was a welcomed changed given our physical condition, though I can’t say with great certainty that this is 100% the case. I couldn’t remember the last time I had actually been on this side, so I’m not making the most experienced judgment here.

Alice in Wonderland had an even shorter wait than it did when we passed it moments ago, so we gave it a ride. While in line we saw the monorail go by and its startling honk reminded us that we had yet to ride the new Mark VII trains. The wait for Alice was long enough for us to see that indeed two trains were going, so we headed over to Tomorrowland after our trip down the rabbit hole.

The timing didn’t work out all that well, even with the oblivious family ahead of us eventually realizing that we wanted to make the loading train even if they preferred to take their sweet time up the long ramp. We quickly saw the second train zipping above Autopia and realized our wait to catch the next one would be less than with thought. Being the first to arrive and having walked all the way down to the end of the station we found ourselves alone in the last car when we boarded. After getting settled, one of the station attendants asked if we wanted the rear-facing nose cone. I didn’t even realize this was an option, and I silently thanked him for not requiring me to ask for what might seem an odd request from an adult couple with no kids.

We had the place to ourselves and I happily put my legs up. Here we had all the views of the front car, with none of the awkward interaction with the driver. It did cross my mind how I had recently heard that these areas were no longer taking guests on the Walt Disney World system, following the fatal accident last year. Not that a collision is impossible on this system, but with only two trains running on a single route, it seems infinitely less likely than even the freak accident that occurred in Orlando. There was no need to contain the excitement of this rare treat, and I elicited a few waves and even a peace sign as we zipped all around the resort. No acres of swampland here, the route takes you over busy streets, through bustling parks, and over the downtown area. We retained our spot for the trip back into the park, and I disembarked thinking how this was the best ride on a monorail yet – even if we didn’t get to hear, “Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas.”

Following the overwhelming disappointment of our visit to Innoventions a few trips ago, we tried to maintain open mind as we decided to check out the House of Tomorrow, which was under construction then. Here the ride mechanics that once housed the Carousel of Progress were back in action, and we waited for our entrance to rotate and line up with the queue. It was definitely reminiscent of that classic attraction, and I would have been a little bummed had we not gotten to revisit it last year at Disney World.

But instead of a trip through the last century or so, we’re off to see what technology holds for the future. There’s a video introduction with Nathan Lane as Tom Morrow, an entirely overused joke at both US parks, and upon entering, we’re given a brief in-person introduction and eventually set free to explore the house. The whole open-house premise and docent interaction is a little awkward, but some of the technology is interesting enough to make the visit worthwhile. I wouldn’t say there’s anything particularly mind-blowing, lots of touch screens and embedded computer terminals. Some of it seems downright unnecessary, like touch screen controls for the lights and a mirror that is actually a video screen showing a real-time camera feed. I’m not sure why light switches and glass mirrors needed to be replaced. At best, it might seem like technology for the sake of technology (not that that ever stopped consumers), and at worst it’s a little creepy to think about the privacy and control implications.

Overall the “house” is well done, and it’d be hard to say it’s not worth a visit. Some people may find it fascinating and spend an hour or more playing with all the toys and speaking with all the docents – and some people may just leave with a shrug. We were somewhere in between and ending up spending even more time upstairs checking out some of the post show interactive displays. There were video games, interactive exercise bikes, car of the future simulators, all sorts of diversions that might hold your interest. The highlight for us, even though we skipped the Asimo robot show, was the Project Tomorrow vision of your personal future. You may recognize it as the same program that’s found on-ride at Spaceship Earth at Epcot. No dark ride here, but it uses the same face capturing technology the series of lifestyle questions to give a video preview of your life in the future. Most of the enjoyment comes from the ridiculous faces we make that pervade the entire video, though – so take this praise with a grain of salt.

With the park closing at 8pm, we had enough time for one last leisurely stroll around the park to hit the highlights. First we cut across the hub to Adventureland and used our last pair of Fastpasses on Indiana Jones. We don’t really use them much for this attraction due to most of the queue being after the Fastpass and standby lines join, easily resulting in a 20+ minute wait for those with a Fastpass. That’s what we ended up finding, though it did save a bit of time seeing that the outside queue was as long as we had seen it all weekend. We were off on our journey through the temple, and finally got a ride without awkward pauses at a few spots during the ride. There isn’t much post-ride, pre-station room here for vehicles that get stacked up before the loading area, so for both of our rides on Saturday we ended up getting stuck in each of the last few show scenes, including an awkward and anticlimactic pause in front of the rolling boulder, and plenty of seldom heard vamping music.

The relatively early closing time meant we would be able to enjoy a relaxing dinner outside the parks, and we had made reservations at Napa Rose for 8:45pm. It was still a bit off, so we finally made good on the temping funnel cake back at the Stage Door Café. The service wasn’t really any faster this time around, but it was worth it to get the warm and sugary fried snack. We’ve really been missing out; this was the first funnel cake I’ve had in longer than I can remember.

We made our final visits to nearby Pirates and Mansion, though with the cool evening and our classy dinner plans, I didn’t want to risk another ride on Splash Mountain. The substitute mountain was of course Thunder and after our ride we took the trail to Fantasyland one last time, listening to the braying goat and yipping coyotes fading in the distance.

There was definitely time to get a new ride in, we had always seem Casey Jr. Circus Train zipping around and even though this one is clearly for the kids, we were happy to see plenty of other people sans children. One of the children we did see, however, was not at all happy that the animal cages were full, he would have to wait for his re-ride to pretend to be a monkey or lion or some such. We, on the other hand, were glad to take the more grown-up seating and enjoyed the ride through the gardens and miniatures otherwise only accessible by the Storybookland Canal Boats.

Time was winding down, and we figured why not get a ride on Peter Pan while we were in the area. We braved what ended up being hardly a 20 minute wait, and then went for the other beloved dark ride. As we queued for Alice in Wonderland we got another passing glimpse of the Celebrate parade as it set up camp in the Small World plaza. It was further proof that we’d chosen wisely to avoid it, but as we exited from our ride, we realized we couldn’t avoid it. With 10 minutes until closing, our plan to finish the visit on Space Mountain was in jeopardy because of the seemingly causeless closure of the path behind the parade. Apparently some characters on bikes needed to cross first, and we were back on our way to Tomorrowland after only a brief delay.

Just like starting on Peter Pan, there is no more fitting way to end a visit than on Space Mountain. By now the crowd had quieted from what was already a tolerable peak of the day, and we were not at all surprised to see the absence of a wait. We made it almost into the station before we caught up with the end of the line, and we said farewell to Disneyland in style.

Actually, we’d have a few more hours of Disney fun ahead of us. First we had some time to spend walking down Main Street, checking out the shops again, and generally lingering about. I intentionally gave us the 45 minutes between closing and dinner for this, and seeing as we didn’t exit out of Space Mountain until several minutes after 8pm, it looked to be good timing. Megan spent most of the time perusing jewelry and ended up with a cocktail ring. I continued my hunt for a 2010 wall calendar, but had to eventually settle for a handful of postcards – postcards which I would end up mailing out a good week after arriving home, of course.

Unlike our jog to the Paradise Pier hotel a couple of years ago, we were able to take our time as we left Main Street and exited out the front gate. We look a right and headed into Downtown Disney, not at all sure of where to access the Grand Californian. After making our way a good bit, we eventually found an entrance a bit further down than we had expected. We snaked through a courtyard and down a couple hallways, and eventually made it to the lobby. It was an impressive sight no doubt, though very similar to the Wilderness Lodge at Disney World. It was funny to think how this is the ultimate accommodation at this resort, and the Wilderness Lodge is merely one of many deluxe Disney resorts in Orlando. Granted, I’m basing this solely on the appearance of the lobby, so feel free to investigate further if you have the budget for either one of these hotels.

Similar to our visit to Disney World, we would have to settle for experiencing these luxury resorts merely through their dining options. The star restaurant here, and possibly for the entire resort, is the Napa Rose. Once glance through the wine list and you’ll see exactly how apt the name is. We arrived at 8:45pm on the nose, and were promptly greeted and shown to our table. Starting with some champagne we chose boar cassoulet as a starter. My entrée was roasted duck, not cooked to order but coming out a wonderful medium rare. Megan went with mushroom ravioli. Instead of spending the evening over a bottle of wine, we each picked a couple different glasses to suit our meals and our tastes. I’m not sure what tips a sommelier off, but she was quick to greet us and we chatted a bit, mostly about how spoiled we are to be in such a bountiful wine region. She even let me sample a bit first before ordering a full glass, and even offered a superior alternate when I didn’t care for the one I had chosen.

The setting of the dining room, the interaction with the staff, and the taste, timing, and presentation of our meal were absolutely top notch – the kind of experience you would expect from such a highly regarded restaurant, and now the kind of experience we expect from fine dining at Disney. Much of our dinner conversation revolved around what Walt Disney would think of the resort empire as it is today, and certainly he would be marveled by the diversity and excellence of the various resort offerings. Perhaps some of the high-class and high-cost experiences might concern him, but surely he would be proud that no matter the experience, whether at a water park or golf course or spa, guests are satisfied.

To conclude the meal Megan jumped at the cheese plate, and I enjoyed a late harvest Zinfandel. Feeling a bit garish, I asked about a cigar shop, but was instead brought a choice of cigars by our waiter. Happily thinking it would be added to the bill, we later noticed that the tab had been altered, and the cigar seemed instead to be gratis. Had I realized while at the table, I would have been sure to show some additional appreciation, but instead our server simply suggested a nice outdoor fireplace to enjoy the smoke. Perhaps committing a slight faux pas, I asked about the closing time of the esplanade, as it was now around 11pm. I think he was a bit surprised we were staying across Harbor Boulevard, obviously at some of the budget accommodations. He didn’t let on, and in the end I’d gladly take a fine dining experience like this over an overpriced hotel room. The final tally came to a bit over $200 with tax and tip, definitely not more than what we would expect for our terrific evening, and if the other dining options at the resort weren’t similarly well regarded, we’d surely be back next time.

We skipped the firepit and I enjoyed the cigar during the walk back to the hotel. The esplanade was all but empty, though a passing cast member did ask us if we needed any assistance. I can’t imagine we seemed off-balance or intoxicated or anything, I like to think she was just being helpful. We continued on our way and marveled at the hidden activity going on inside the park to get ready for tomorrow’s guests. It’s hard to not be impressed with the operation they run here. I got through the majority of the cigar by the time we made it back to the hotel, though it certainly didn’t help me get to sleep any quicker.

With the 8am shuttle, it was another early morning to start the trip home. The front desk had printed our boarding passes, as well as made the shuttle reservation to get us back to the airport. This trip was half as expensive but took more than twice as long. I’d take the shuttle for departing again, but it’s hard to beat the cab we took on arrival. Things went relatively smoothly getting back to San Francisco, a supposed delay was suddenly removed so we made it back on time, and I managed to get online at home in time to finish a half day’s work. Not only does flying save a half day of vacation, it helped us avoid what is always a rather miserable drive home. I can’t imagine driving down to Disneyland again in the foreseeable future.

It was yet another terrific Disney vacation. It had been a year since our last, and over a year since the last visit to Disneyland, and most the memories of Disney World have faded. (Good thing I have the recap to refresh my memory). I can’t say for sure where our next visit will take us, or even when that will be. But for the time being, these three great days will stay with us for a while, most certainly as a reminder of how special the original Disneyland resort is, and how perfect it is for a quick but still immensely wonderful escape. And once these memories fade, it’ll be time to start looking into our next trip.

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