Trip Report

Anaheim, CA

Friday, Sept. 10th - Sunday, Sept. 12th 2010
Weather: Warm, 80s, sunny
Crowds: Light (for Disneyland)

With the summer crowds gone, the kids back in school, and the vacation season coming to an end, it was our cue to go back to Disneyland. Most people wait for amusement park season to start; I prefer to make my visits when it ends. In January, we made the trip down in the dead of winter. Who thinks "trip to the amusement park" when it's snowing, raining, or whatever else winter looks like in your area? We do, that's who.

It should be plainly obvious that I don't like to deal with crowds. Mid-January (away from MLK weekend) is a great time to make a visit. The visit before was taken smartly in mid-November, past the craziness of Halloween but before the holiday crowds would pack the place. But September? Isn't that still technically the summer? Indeed it is, and we would see that weather and daylight-wise. But crowd-wise, it was most certainly the low season, and that was our time to roll.

I can't take all the credit for the timing of this visit, or any of it, really. Our friend Katie is just as much of a Disney connoisseur (i.e., nut) as we are, and her family has been taking annual trips to Disneyland possibly longer than she's been alive. In most years past, they would make the excursion in October, post summer and pre-holidays for sure. But they began to notice, in no small coincidence considering how much Disney has amped up the annual Halloween event over the years, this previously quiet mid-fall visit has being nothing short of another brief high season.

This year, she and hers said no thanks, and moved the festivities up to this considerably more bearable time of year. We followed her lead, and saw yet another chance to visit with some friends accompanying us. Like last time, Megan and I would have plenty of time on our own, partly because Katie (with David along for the ride) had a more family-focused visit in mind, and our visits only actually overlapped for 2 of each of our 3 days in the parks - their last 2 and our first 2.

So with the timing sorted out, it was a simple matter of logistics. Once again, flying would be in order, and we found an unbeatable deal on United for $99 per person, round trip from SFO to Orange County. Still officially being summer, discounted park tickets were impossible to find, so we did pay full price there. We made some of that back sharing the hotel room - our usual digs at the Marriott Fairfield Inn Anaheim. Another reasonable rate was easy to find there, and we were all set up with our increasingly standard arrangements.

The only thing that really varies with our trips, besides the temperature and sunset, is which rides will be down for rehabs or seasonal treatments. If there is a tradeoff to be found for getting more tolerable crowds, it's of course a considerably lower importance on making sure all rides and attractions (including shows) are operating at peak availability and efficiency.

There is a little better prediction for rides, since those are usually regular annual closures. We'd be looking at two highlights off the table, Haunted Mansion was receiving its annual Nightmare Before Christmas treatment, and Toy Story Mania was getting its first major rehab since opening a couple years ago. In addition, Space Mountain would be down for our last day, getting its supposedly spooky holiday treatment as well, becoming Ghost Galaxy - not that I've ever seen it. More peripherally, Star Tours is closed as the upgrade to Star Tours 2 continues, and Maliboomer has a date with a wrecking ball, so it too would be unavailable. No tears were shed for either of these though, I assure you.

We had no problems taking the bad with the good, and we were even more pleased once we learned that, in addition to nightly fireworks and two showings of Fantasmic being part of the entertainment schedule, World of Color would be offered twice a night as well. Disneyland doesn't announce its schedule particularly far in advance, so when we saw fireworks and Fantasmic but not the new nighttime water show, we were bummed, but understanding. While certainly a hit, the show had been a workhorse all summer and was surely in need of some fine tuning. That respite may eventually come, but we were thrilled to see it wouldn't be while we were there.

It was shaping up to be another amazing visit, and after a somewhat distracted day working from home, we were off to the airport at 5pm, with a quick stopover at Elephant Bar for what may be the best happy hour in San Jose. $2 margaritas? I don't care if they are mostly mix and ice, keep 'em coming. The new 45 minutes of free internet at SFO helped pass the time, and we spent it keeping an eye on the San Bruno fire, which we were luckily able to drive directly past without major incident.

The flight was quick, as expected, and we hopped into a cab and were headed for Harbor Boulevard via Disney Way one more time. Katie and David had flown down this morning and had their first day in the parks already, so we were just going to meet them in the hotel room. We got our keys from the front desk and found them relaxing after their first busy day right around 10:30pm.

They did, however, have some exceedingly disappointing news for us. Despite running earlier in the day (i.e., before they arrived), Space Mountain was down, had stayed down all day, and was rumored to be beginning its week-long transition a couple days early. Supposedly there was an issue with the on-board audio and instead of spending all the time and effort to get the ride back up in its normal state just to close it back up on Sunday; they'd use the extra time to sort out that problem while getting a head start on the retheming. While there was no official word on this, they had heard this same explanation from two separate cast members, so it had some credence.

I got online - micechat, of course - and confirmed that there had indeed been issues with Disney's premier attraction all day long. One commenter did echo the early closure story, so I began to worry. Others were skeptical, insisting it wasn't scheduled to start until Sunday regardless of any rumors to the contrary. In reality, no one had any real information one way or the other. Outside of being considerably let down, all we could do was wait until tomorrow, keep an eye on things, and hope something would change. I couldn't say if this news made it easier or harder to sleep, but the sleeping pill definitely had an effect.

Day 1

After getting up at 7:30am, our morning started with a reluctant breakfast stop at McDonalds. The price is right and there's definitely some convenience there, but we had already decided we weren't going to make this a daily stop like we have on past visits. With our greasy breakfast in hand, we continued down Harbor Boulevard and made our way to the crosswalk and entered through the shuttle bus turnaround area.

There was an unusual sight as the two security tents were closed, and small lines had gathered behind both of them. It was after 8:15am by this point, so I expected to be queuing up at the front gates, if not on Main Street. That is eventually what happened, as they opened the checkpoint a few minutes later, shifting the still light crowd to the main turnstiles. In a consistent indicator of an imminent opening, they plucked the lucky family randomly from the crowd; otherwise it's almost impossible to tell what the morning procedure is going to be. Some days they wait until opening to actually open the gates. This was one of the times they let folks in before scheduled opening, and let everyone mill about Main Street.

Really, most people just queue up yet again (the third line of the morning and the place wasn't even open yet) at the top of the street waiting for the rope drop. I always chuckle when they announce that while the park has several minutes until it opens, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln is running. Who wouldn't want that to be their first stop of the day?

With Space Mountain out of the picture (as confirmed by the "Closed Attractions" sign at the esplanade entrance), our usual routine would need to be adjusted a little bit - essentially cutting out Tomorrowland until later in the day. Captain EO and Buzz were definitely on the to do list, but nothing worth rushing to.

The top of the hour approached, the rope was removed, and with yet another countdown, we were off into the magic. Having gotten a spot just shy of the rope, we were in a great position to get to Peter Pan without a wait. More than any other ride, this wait balloons right out of the gate. Sure, tons of people normally head to Indiana and the Mountains, but with their long queues and high capacities, you've likely got a good 30-60 minutes before anything beyond a negligible wait builds.

Without breaking stride we cut though the hub, under the castle and took a right into the queue. There were a mere handful of folks ahead of us (we were in no mood to run), and we were hopping into our pirate ship in no time. This beloved classic is a perfect place to start a visit, and it's also pretty great to get it out of the way. Not that I look at rides as check marks...well, not rides at Disneyland anyway. Even though it shares fervor similar to Dumbo, I can see Peter Pan as being significantly more deserving of the attention - and an accompanying wait time.

Trying to get through (and away from) the area before the late morning blitz, our next stop was meant to be Snow White, an honorable mention in the area in my eyes. A chain across the entrance with the requisite cast member out front, we turned to Pinocchio instead. This one I could take or leave - not bad for a taste of the Fastasyland dark ride experience, and yet another Disneyland attraction you won't find anywhere else, but it lacks so much of the depth and heart of its neighbors.

With Snow White still closed, we moved onto Mr.Toad. Yet another reason I'm fond of Snow White: for its quality, it's got very short lines throughout much of the day. Not the ghost town that is Pinocchio, but usually just a straight shot through the loading area. Toad definitely gets more attention, so we were glad to see it still very quiet. I do like the whimsy and frenetic pace here, even though the story is all but unknown to me. If anything, I've gotten to learn the characters through the 3 or so seconds of interaction we get each time we ride.

We swung around to hit my personal favorite, and other crowd pleaser, Alice in Wonderland. It had yet to come online, so we went over to Matterhorn. Both sides were running, so we made the choice for the Fantasyland side, in something of an unofficial attempt to make a more studied comparison. Our suspicions were accurate in that this side was relatively more tolerable than what we remembered of the Tomorrowland side from January.

Back over at Alice, we had our first close look at the safety modifications made to the outside portion of the ride. If you think it looks awful from the midway, just wait until how much it detracts from the experience once you're onboard. What used to be a slim sliver of path for the track, giving a nice, open, exposed feeling is completely killed by a really bland, wide floor that follows you all the way to the ground.

That safety modifications were supposedly necessary for a ride that has operated without incident for over 50 years seems a bit ridiculous. Yes, I understand that this is preventative, but it just seems like complete regulatory overkill. The good news is that this is apparently a temporary solution, and something more aesthetically pleasing may be put in place during a more lengthy rehab, though that has yet to be scheduled.

What's even better is that the indoor portions of the ride - which really are where most of the action happens - remain wonderful. The scenes have great depth, good timing, and the characters are terrific. I still haven't seen the Tim Burton live action film, but this is how Alice and her cohorts will always been seen in my eyes. Really, it's a trippy experience all the way through as you chase down the white rabbit - wink, wink.

From here we'd normally head over to Tomorrowland, but our substitute mountain would have to be Thunder, and that meant a trip back around to Frontierland. We were quickly through the queue, which is surprisingly tiny compared to its Orlando and Paris counterparts. In fact, as we would see later in the visit, a full standby queue which even spills out onto the midway is just about a 20 minute wait, which is perfectly tolerable given the queue's elaborate themeing and interaction with the ride.

There would be no time to overhear all the ruckus and corny jokes coming from Rainbow Ridge during this visit. We'd have to be facing a pretty full queue to get to enjoy this tremendously thoughtful throwback to this ride's origin, and really the history of the park itself. Instead we enjoyed some instrumental "Big Rock Candy Mountain" playing the background as we took our first ride through the wilderness.

Definitely a fun ride, with some modest jostling and jarring (more so in the back), but, unless you're holding a hot coffee (or a soda), it's all in good fun. Enjoying the wildlife is half the fun of the ride - I somehow had never noticed the upturned skunks just off the top of the second lift. Maybe I was too focused on the braying goat, but they certainly made me smile.

Indiana Jones is another ride in which you want to do your best to avoid the crowds. Since its Fastpass setup isn't the best (i.e., the vast majority of the queue is past the joining point) it's best to just go standby while it's still reasonable. Fortunately it's one of the few queues which manages to top Thunder Mountain - and it's really in a class by itself as one of the most elaborated themed queues in any park. In fact, it's arguably the best themed attraction in the world.

Part of that comes from a uniquely cohesive story: the temple has been open to visitors who are free to take from its treasures. The first part of the queue is the approach to the temple, and the majority of it snakes around inside, through various rooms and caverns. You are able to see the traces of the explorers who paved the way for us tourists, signs, riggings, even a film explaining how to ride the transports safely. Shown as a newsreel, even the safety spiel is themed perfectly. The place is full of small and clever touches.

The vehicles takes us to the temple's idol, and we naively look into its eye (hence Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye), and that sends us on a whirlwind descent filled with fire, snakes, skeletons, spears, and of course an encounter with that famous rolling boulder. Elaborate does not begin to describe this experience.

In a jump to a more lightheartedly themed but still immersive experience, we headed next door to the classic Jungle Cruise. Of course there was hardly a wait this early in the morning, so we quickly found ourselves onboard with an enthusiastic but not exactly rapid fire skipper. I feel like it's been a while since we really had a good jokester on this, though it was still nice to see the backside of water. Did get one good one I hadn't heard before, during the scene with the lions eating the zebra, "Here we see the first law of the jungle in action: Don't be a zebra." Pretty good, I thought.

Climbing out of the boat I got a call from David and we headed to meet them - Katie wasn't too keen on some extreme teacup spinning so David needed some help. Not much to this one, but the placement and the originality really adds to this often-duplicated park mainstay. Also, we spun the crap out of our teacup.

Reunited, it was time to get a group ride on Splash Mountain. Megan sits this one out these days, so this would be a rare chance to ride with some friends and skip the single rider line. Instead we whisked through standby style, and briefly enjoyed another great queue. The best part was that it was entirely empty, and we got our spot in a log.

It's probably for the best that the Disney World version was closed during our visit last year, because I have this nagging feeling I'd think less of what is otherwise my favorite Disney mountain. I know for sure the in-line, down in the log style seating was greatly improved for Orlando's installation, and I'm almost certain the scope and pacing of the dark ride scenes are better there too. While in some cases the original version made out better than clones (e.g., Pirates, Tower of Terror), this is an example of whether the copies were improved versions (e.g., Cinderella's castle, Space Mountain). Still, this ride offers all the same feel, and that's a thoughtful, complete - if a little hokey - story that takes us literally through the ups and downs of Br'er Rabbits adventures.

Megan smartly grabbed us a set our first set of Fastpasses with her spare time, and we were back out of Critter Country. It was always a bit painful to walk past a down-for-redecorating Haunted Mansion, but the silver lining was that they were changing it TO the seasonal holiday version. Blech, I'm glad I've done it, and it wasn't completely uninteresting, but it's just not the same. It loses the entire playful atmosphere and the wry take on otherwise macabre subject matter. I'd be slightly more wistful if the down time were to return to the original version, all impatient and such.

Thinking ahead, we had Blue Bayou reservations for 7:30pm, so both the 8pm and 9pm World of Color showings our first night were off the table. Only a rumor of an extra 10pm showing made us eager to head over to California Adventure and check out the situation. Even if we couldn't make this possible added showing, we had two more nights to catch it, but we were still quite curious about the process. There seems to be no central and complete source of information regarding the logistics, and my theory is Disney is intentionally keeping it this way so as not to expose how shoddily they're handling the crowds.

Regardless, we had made a good morning loop through the Magic Kingdom and it worked out to head over to California Adventure. David and Katie had just enough time to check things out before catching their lunch reservation at Blue Bayou. We walked with them to the front of the park, and with a short line at City Hall, it made sense to see what details we could get there without making the trek all the way over to Grizzly River Run. The official answer was that there was a 10pm showing, but it was a private event. Rumor busted. We would have to try for tomorrow. But having come this far, we continued out of the park and across the esplanade and they headed back to New Orleans Square for lunch.

The usual first stop is Soarin', which used to be quite bearable for most of the morning. Much of the rush went to Toy Story Mania and California Screamin', but with the former down for maintenance, and a huge chunk of guests flocking to GRR to get passes, the traffic patterns for the park have been greatly altered. With a moderate standby wait (25 minutes, so a small wait outside the building), we were entirely too spoiled to bother, so we got a pair of Fastpasses and cut back across the park to Tower of Terror.

Last time we were here the construction walls made walking down Hollywood Boulevard pretty challenging. Now, with the work on the Red Car track continuing down the street in front of the theater, it was completely blocked off. Instead Bug's Land was now the only access to Tower of Terror, in something of a frustrating dead end, was made into even more of a bottleneck thanks to the encroaching construction of the entrance to Cars Land. This would prove especially trying later in the visit, but it was still relatively early and we made our way to Tower of Terror and enjoyed it being entirely walk-on.

The creepiness here is something of a consolation with Haunted House being down. The ghost host is surely missing, but Rod Serling (i.e., his voiceover replacement) always delivers. We quickly wound through the lower level, remarking at how stupid that guest must have been for climbing over a railing and plummeting 20 feet from the upper basement queue, which had been in the news. I always have to remind myself that this area is still "on stage", they do such a great job making this and the post-ride area feel like a dingy work area.

Onboard we were treated to one of the better ride op greetings. I'm not sure if they have to get their spiel approved, as is supposedly the case with Jungle Cruise, but we're noticing more great commentary each time we ride. This time our bellhop suggested we visit the swimming pool, as it was a delightful day for a...wait for it...plunge. Ok, so it's entirely cheesy, but if you can't get into the mood and enjoy something like that, you really shouldn't be coming to Disneyland.

The bellhop was right: ToT supplied its patented mix of great effects and family-friendly thrills. Heck, there even is some actual airtime to be found here. The at-rest drops from the top are great, as is the double-dip at the beginning, but nothing beats the great rise-and-fall halfway through the sequence. Getting off the seat for both the deceleration going up and the freefall back down lasts for a good couple seconds. I've always been happy to get my gut wrenched here instead of Maliboomer, and with it being dismantled shortly, it's pretty clear Disney made the right choice.

Swinging across the park yet again, we made our way to California Screamin', by far the best Disney coaster thrill-wise, where we found a manageable 20 minute wait. We didn't mind taking the time since we wanted to grab a Fastpass for it, but our next window wouldn't start for just about the same amount of time. With a 4th train added halfway through, we moved through the bland queue quite quickly.

The ride is terrific. Fun launch, lots of banked turns, and plenty of slick maneuvers and some pops of airtime. I had never really appreciated the Gs in the loop, but it's really got some force to it. Again, all family-friendly of course, but a long circuit, a good rush and backed by some really catchy on-board music. We timed it perfectly and grabbed Fastpasses for it and headed back across the bridge to the Bay Area section for lunch. Having been to the bakery, and me not feeling like Mexican, we found a Chinese counter service place - Lucky Fortune Cookery - nestled in the back. Choose your meat (or go for tofu), choose your sauce, and it comes with rice and veggies. Not exactly a bargain at almost $10 per meal, but it's really quite a good portion, and the quality was not bad. Pretty much taste like all the other Chinese food I've had-- tasty, if not especially good for me.

After lunch, we cashed in our California Screamin' Fastpass (a great Fastpass setup, with 4 trains it's never more than a few minutes, just up and over into the station). Wanting to check out the rest of the Paradise Pier area (though mostly just to check it off the to-do list), we looped around the lagoon, past a closed-for-rehab Toy Story Mania (down for installation of station gates, of all things - why they weren't installed when the ride opened a couple years ago is beyond me). Reports from Orlando say they have already hit capacity pretty hard, so there's that to look forward to when it reopens.

The construction - or destruction as it were - of Maliboomer has started in earnest, just the barrier walls up now, describing a new green space, park-type area to be added. I suspect someday we'll see an attraction in this spot, but my enthusiasm for seeing this ride gone is increased by hearing that they'll be added some much-needed shade to this part of the park. Across the midway, the swings look absolutely great. It's still a bit weird to see such a generic park ride here at Disney, but the removal of that unsightly orange has helped greatly.

Actually, the setup for the newly dubbed Silly Symphony Swings is pretty good. Everyone likes a "new" attraction, so we jumped on considering the short one-cycle wait. The physical ride itself is well adorned with classic scenes from this often-overlooked series of cartoons, and it actually works quite well. There's no story or depth here, but at least it looks nice. The onride experience is good, the 360 degrees of speakers pumping out manic classical music is nice and powerful, though the cycle time is painfully short. Overall an improvement, if not a substantial one.

The swings were an "after", so we took one last ride on Mulholland Madness before it undergoes its transformation to Goofy's Sky Skool. It's a pretty standard wild mouse, so like the swings it's nothing to get all that excited about, but hopefully the new treatment will be a similar improvement - even if it does condone poor spelling.

Finishing up unfortunately the only loop possible in this park and wanting to do a bit of recon for the next day, we zipped by Grizzly River to scope out the World of Color Fastpass situation. It was a good sign that there were passes still available, though only for the second of the two shows.

The way it works is relatively simple, though not at all well communicated. I consider it my responsibility to provide a clear outline of the process. To see World of Color, you need a Fastpass. There are two ways to get one, either purchase a prepaid meal that comes with it or receive one at the Grizzly River Run Fastpass area. (Here is where the confusion for many people begins, not surprisingly.) We didn't buy the meal, so I'm not sure how that determines which showing or which section you get, but you can select your day and select your meal, and voila, you have a WoC Fastpass.

For people who don't want to spend $15+ on a mediocre boxed lunch, it's a simple matter to enter California Adventure and retrieve a pass in person-- sort of. As Disney says, tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis, which translates to: first we give out tickets to the first show until they're all gone, then we give out tickets to the second show until those are gone. When they switch over to the first show is all but unknowable unless you're standing directly in view of the sign in front of the machines that says which show they're distributing. Once the passes for the second show are gone (or third, if they're doing 3 shows a night, which they weren't while we were there), that's it, they're out. You can't see the show if you don't have a Fastpass. Don't even bother trying - mostly because the view can be obscured enough for people with passes, so it's not very likely to get a half-way view when you're blocked out of the best spots. The viewing areas are marked by colors, and the color you get is denoted on the Fastpass you receive - supposedly allotted randomly.

We would try to enact this the next day, but for now our general concern about demand was somewhat lessened by still having passes for the later showing a good bit after noon - not that we would want to take our chances. For now we finished up our visit by cashing in our Soarin' Fastpasses. Yes, the end of the return window had come and gone. I suspect anyone reading this is aware that this is not enforced, as well as aware that we tend to take advantage of this, if not outright abuse it. Instinctively I grabbed another pair, but those would become souvenirs as this was our last ride here for day. (No, I don't try and use them the next day. Even I draw the line somewhere.)

This ride continues to deliver. Up and into the sky, it's so easy to be amazed by the awesomeness of California - both natural and manmade. Soarin' works its subtle magic every damn time, and this first visit left me with goosebumps and even a little lump in my throat. We know we're not the only ones who could spend all day on it.

A great day so far just got even better with some unexpected news, Katie sent me a text saying Space Mountain was open. I'd be lying if I said it being closed hadn't entered my mind on a few occasions. It's hard to consider your visit to Disneyland complete without a ride on this flagship attraction, so I was more than a little dejected. It would have been a different story if we were visiting during planned downtime, but after expecting the worst, this news lifted us back up. Predictably we headed out of the park, and gleefully confirmed the good news at the Information Booth just short of California Adventure's gates. A 50 minute wait seemed daunting, but we were willing. We HAD to ride.

It was not to be, at least not yet, as we made our way back into Disneyland and to the entrance only to find it had gone back down. The word from the cast members was to try again later - but hearing that it had been opened at all and that it was possibly opening later was still great news. Knowing now that the rumor of the early start to the planned rehab was untrue was enough for now, we were hopeful we'd get to ride it eventually.

With Tomorrowland suddenly back in play, we reported back to David and Katie not to rush over since we'd spend some time in the area and keep and eye on things. Now was as good a time as any to hit Space Mountain's overlooked neighbor, the 3D theater currently showing a Captain EO tribute. Granted, I'm no MJ fan, but I do have the vaguest memories of this 3D film from Epcot in the late 1980s. My memories primarily include reaching out and trying to grab the furry character (painfully named Fuzzball) and taking off my 3D glasses in a moment of fear when the evil queen reached out with her long nails.

The pre-show was an interesting montage of the making of the attraction, complete with shots of Francis Ford Coppola, George Lucas, and a bevy of ridiculously 80s-clad dancers. And of course there was Michael Jackson himself, early in his transition from promising young pop-star to freakish skeleton impersonator. I was mildly impressed with the good-sized crowd. It was nothing the theater couldn't handle, and I'm sure there was never an actual wait during our visit, but it was definitely a good showing. A smattering of applause was heard both when the film started and when MJ appeared.

Unfortunately, the film was even worse than my exceptionally low expectations. I must have blocked it out as a child, but the story, dialog, and acting is absolutely terrible. Michael is particularly awful. Why they tried to get him to act is beyond me. How Coppola or Lucas could have had anything to do with this is even more astounding. It's not even funny bad. It's like it was created by 8 year olds. Once the singing and dancing finally started, it was finally a little nostalgic, but the rumbling of the theater seats was entirely unnecessary - something like a simulator for the whole theater for that managed only to annoyingly bump a half inch in time with the music.

I'm not a huge fan of Honey I Shrunk the Audience, and I can understand how it was smart for Disneyland to bring this back. I'm also happy for MJ's diehard fans who can relive a piece of what I assume were his glory days. But this attraction is thankfully not the long term solution of what to do for this space, and really highlights even more how Tomorrowland struggles here at Disneyland. I'm not even sure how a standard 3D theater fits in anymore, even more so once a newly 3D Star Tours 2 opens next year. I wish the Imagineers luck figuring out what to do. At least they were able to buy some time with this revival.

Things were still shuttered over at Space Mountain's entrance, so a ride on Buzz Lightyear figured to help us hit an attraction without going too far. The overflowing queue looking intimidating and the blazing sun during the peak heat of the day didn't help, but the omnimover ride system churns though people and we were into the building and under the AC vents in short time. Once we passed the Fastpass merge, it was even quicker into the station. While I didn't have Toy Story Mania to compare it to on this visit, it still seemed to be wearing a bit thin. The scenes are nice (though not as elaborate as Orlando or Paris), but having ridden this probably 20 or so times now, it's just not something I really look forward to. Thankfully it's nothing we ever need to bother with a wait for, so it's worth a couple rides during a multiple-day visit, but it's becoming something of a token visit - one of the rare ones here in Disneyland.

We'd run out of nearby attractions we were willing to spend time on - Nemo's wait was 30 minutes, we'd hit monorail to get to the Disneyland Hotel later in the weekend, and Autopia and Innoventions are, well, pretty lame. Instead we gave up and headed for the train, aiming for New Orleans Square. Boarding here gave us instant access to the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas, a must-see for us for every visit, and yet another personal and historic touch that you can't get anywhere but Disneyland. We were a little surprised to see such a packed train and were lucky to grab a couple seats as we made our way first to Main Street, and then stayed aboard one more stop.

Being so close, it was a good time to hit Splash Mountain again, this time by myself. Knowing all about the single rider line I was glad to avoid what had become a solid wait, it being toasty and all. I joined back up with Megan and we walked onto Winnie the Pooh. This is a pretty solid dark ride, even if this version tends to get forgotten back here in Critter Country. It's not especially overwhelming, but the familiar characters are all there, the scenes are great, and it's even got its own psychedelic dream sequence. I still marvel at the rain scene where raindrops splash and waterfalls flow but not a single drop of actual water is present.

Next we made our first visit to Pirates of the Caribbean. Nothing new here, just the same classic attraction Walt Disney himself inspired. No ride seems to have his personal touch nearly as much Pirates, and you can feel that in the detail and the massive scope of this ride. The fact that the copies of this ride found at the 4 other resorts are a disappointingly abridged is really just a testament to what Walt wanted for this, they only park he had a direct hand in creating.

Another throwback to Disneyland history was up next, though more because of its seated waiting area than any nostalgia streak. Being one of the few attractions that allows, and almost encourages food and drink, I stopped for a pickle and a soda and Megan had an apple as we waited. Inside was the usual cavalcade of singing flora and fauna, and whatever those tiki drummers are supposed to be. It's nice to take a break and take a breath during this lighthearted but still classic animatronic show (the very first), and really let it sink in that you're getting to run around one of the most fun places in the world.

Right as the show ended, I got a call from our friends, having taken a respite back at the hotel, explaining that rumor was Space Mountain had returned to life. We had about 15 minutes until they would make it all the way there from the hotel, so we snuck in a ride on Thunder Mountain. Usually Thunder doesn't run Fastpass on weekdays, but with Space Mountain in limbo, pressure was on the other super headliners to handle the extra demand. This apparently took a while to sink in as it dawned on me to grab a pair only after we were a good bit into the queue. Instead of hopping out, we toughed out the minimal wait and vowed to smarten up next time around. It's one of the better rides to get Fastpasses for, usually only requiring a few minutes' wait with the merge being on the queue's final stretch.

Our rendezvous with David and Katie went smoothly, though it was definitely a little frantic as the whole section of the park was abuzz with the good news. See how smart Disney is - set the bar low and then blow everyone's minds by managing to get the ride open halfway through the day. Well played. The only down side was a 50 minute wait that would be unlikely to lessen during the rest of the day, and no prospect of Fastpass, the machines were turned off and covered up.

We snaked through the queue on the mezzanine, but without the constant stream of Fastpass holders joining at the merge point entering the building, it moved pretty well. A couple groups did enter, likely with exit passes or some other special access, but there was nothing that really slowed us down. About 25 minutes in, it was our turn to enter, and we found the wait starting just inside the station. Once again Disney had under-promised and over-delivered. A station wait takes about 5 minutes, so we were looking at a perfectly bearable 30 minute wait, especially with our friends bringing some Coca Cola-themed contraband.

It was a relief to take our seats for what, as far as we knew, might be our only ride, and we were lucky to have it. I know in the grand scheme of injustices in the world, the inability to ride Space Mountain while at Disneyland ranks remarkably low on the list, but this is why you come here: great immersion in a universal theme, enveloping special effects, a terrific musical score, and a couple of thrills along the way. It really made it feel like the visit now had a chance to be complete.

No offense to It's A Small World, but I had the feeling the trip could be complete even though we hadn't made our way there yet. The group of us rectified that, and we enjoyed our first non-seasonal ride on this, the original World's Fair version, in years. In fact, for each of the previous 4 visits we've made together since early 2007, this was the first time the ride wasn't down for putting up or removing the seasonal overlay, or down for its extended rehab. That meant I'd been on the Orlando version during two visits and the Paris version during 3 visits in the time I've seen this one au naturale in 1997, my first visit to Disneyland.

Somehow I survived the 13 year wait. We had not seen the new fatty-compliant boats, nor the surprisingly controversial addition of a variety of Disney characters into the show. The mind-numbing tune was still the same, but we finally got a chance to see the small world-stylized inclusion of a variety of our familiar international friends. There was Alice and Peter Pan in London, Cinderella in France, Pinocchio in Italy, Woody, Jesse, and Bullseye in the Old West part of America, Lilo and Stitch in Hawaii, Ariel in Oceania, Nemo and Dory in Australia, and plenty of others.

As for the notion of altering some sacrosanct attraction, my response would be that Walt himself said Disneyland will never be complete. I don't really look at this as blatant promotion or overuse of already familiar characters in a ride built before most of them were created. Perhaps it somewhat skews the noble purpose of using the ride as a reminder of the connectedness of our society, but anyone who expected this ride to bring about world peace must have been drinking its water. I look at it as adding to a somewhat stale attraction with respect given to its history and its terrifically unique artistic style. In fact, hunting for these new characters actually made the ride a little more fun. Then again, this is just my take, as I don't have a sanctimonious Disney preservation stick up my ass. C'mon people, it's not like they turned this into "It's A Small World - Under New Management".

I was hoping to get that ride on Snow White, since it had been down in the morning, and David and Katie had missed much of Fantasyland so far. Unfortunately, it was still down, so we settled for Pinocchio instead, what with Peter Pan and Toad in their usual afternoon frenzy. From there, we went our separate ways again, they to dinner with the family in Downtown Disney and we right back to Space Mountain. Hey, we never knew when it could go back down for good.

We had reservations for dinner on this first evening at Blue Bayou (we're so predictable, I know) at 7:40pm, so we optimistically thought we could squeeze it in beforehand. It was just about 7pm and with the listed - and likely exaggerated - wait time of 40 minutes, we'd be able to sneak in just a little late. The exaggeration was unfortunately not as large as last time, the wait ended up being right about 30 minutes again - still totally worth it, so with the ride time and the semi-hurried trip across the park we didn't miss our target by more than a few minutes.

In actuality, the reservation isn't what you get at a normal restaurant. Once you arrive, they check you in and you wait for your turn, which comes after everyone who checked in before you has been seated. Supposedly you lose your spot if you arrive more than 15 minutes after your slot, but I've never seen that happen. What happens if you arrive exceedingly early is unclear as well - I wouldn't expect them to be sticklers either way. But just as a general rule, don't expect to get seated for a good 10 or 20 minutes after you arrive, longer if you request a ride-adjacent table.

We've made several visits here over the years, and since the one waterfront request the first time around (which came with about a 30ish minute wait), we've lucked out each time since being merely one row back. Not that it's all that important, but there's definitely something serene about the splashing of the boats, the fireflies, and the crickets and the frogs. Hopefully all that doesn't get negated too frequently by unruly passengers and genius photographers using the flash.

It didn't for us as we once more took the opportunity to rest, relax, and with about 5 Cokes between us, recharge for the evening. We know how ambitious we are, and our bodies do not fail to remind us. While enjoying the meal we often reflect on the visit, and bask in the thought that this ridiculously busy and fun day has just been one-third of our time, and it's not even over yet. If there's a better way to do all this than with our little tradition, I certainly haven't found it yet.

Megan had a salad and I had the gumbo as starters - I had forgotten how good the gumbo was. I went back to my old mainstay, the beef short ribs, which provide a great portion of pretty tender meat in a zinfandel sauce. Megan had the crab cakes, and seemed pretty satisfied. Being entirely full, we skipped dessert - but also because we wanted to catch the early showing of Fantasmic. There were shows scheduled for 9:05pm and 10:30pm, and while we certainly didn't rush dinner in the least, it was a good idea to see the early show since we were right there.

We settled up and headed out just shy of 9pm and were glad to see a pretty tolerable crowd waiting the show. Of course there were surely tons of people who had staked out the absolutely best spots more than an hour in advance, but having seen the show a good half-dozen times we would be satisfied getting there all of 5 minutes beforehand and still ending up with a perfectly reasonable view. We were the second row of people back from the railing on the New Orleans Square stage in front of Cafe Orleans. There were a couple heads and trees to peer around, but nothing terrible.

Having missed the show during our off-season visit in January, our last Fantasmic experience came as we were stuck in standing-room-only spots at the amphitheater at Hollywood Studios in Disney World. Not only was the viewing position unfortunate, but the show just didn't compare. Back to the more intimate setting on the Rivers of America, the charm and originality really came through. The impressive use of lighting in the smaller space, the presence of the Mark Twain and Columbia ships, and the clever integration into the park really make this version shine. It's definitely a microcosm of the Disneyland vs. Disney World Magic Kingdom comparison: what Orlando has in scope and scale, Anaheim generally tops with heart and creativity.

David and Katie had finished dinner and were on their way back, as a night ride on Splash Mountain was in order. In the meantime, we queued up for Thunder Mountain despite the obvious rush, though we did grab Fastpasses this time around. The wait was thankfully the usual 15 minutes or so, and we met up in front of the Golden Horseshoe as the frenzy over the second showing of Fantasmic was beginning. Megan stayed put as the three of us headed back to Critter Country.

Our Fastpasses were entirely useless as the wait was down to zero and we cruised through the empty queue. The ride didn't disappoint, and we were treated to yet another thorough splashing. This time around I had taken off my socks, but my shoes still got a good drenching. You've got to be careful about this ride; rarely does the dousing come head-on. Instead you'll think you've survived a drop with little damage and then the surge comes out of nowhere.

Up and out of the station (missing Br'er Frog, who appears in Orlando) off the mini-lift, you cruise around the top of the briar patch, and try to avoid the spritz of plunging logs from above. The first main lift takes you through the barn, past an owl (Br'er Owl, perhaps?), and up to the top of Chickapin Hill (seriously, that's what it's called). I suspect some people think this leads directly to the main drop, but much more is in store.

Around the top, you pass some crops, a small critter's house, and a snoozing bear in his den. The first serious drop has you pointed away from the park and scooting out of the park's border and into the ride's main show building. Here you meet a few birds singing "How Do Ya Do" and then see Br'er Bear getting tangled up for the first time as Br'er Rabbit starts heading for the Laughing Place. A small drop gives a surprising splash, Br'er Rabbit laughs at you about it, and then you dive into the Laughing Place.

This drop is unique as the logs catch the rails and actually give an additional and surprising rise and drop back into the water. All's fun down here until Br'er Fox finally catches his prey in a bees nest. The other rabbits lament as the mood turns dark and the dim lift up to the final drop becomes visible. At the bottom, our vulture friends give us ominous warnings, and just shy of the peak we see Br'er Rabbit talk his captor out of making rabbit stew with some reverse psychology, and we all get tossed into the briar patch.

There's a nice 50 foot drop, nothing a seasoned thrill-seeker would sneeze at, but the patented Disney-fied version of thrills you'd expect. The climactic splash is mostly a heavy mist; though do look out for that side spill if you're in a moderately weighted boat. You're given a good amount of time to recover as the flume curves back around and heads under the mountain. The final show room is the grand finale rendition of Zip-a-De-Do-Dah you've been waiting for, replete with paddleboat, Mr. Bluebird, Br'ers Fox and Bear suffering from their backfired plan, and our hero enjoying is return back to his cozy home. It's a wonder why he ever left in the first place.

Down to the home stretch, we met back up with Megan in front of Thunder Mountain and gave that one last spin for the day, and our second night ride. When you usually visit in January, it's surprising how long the daylight lasts, even in September. But with the parks open until midnight, we ended up getting the same 5 or so hours of darkness we got when the park closed as late as 10 in the winter. After greeting all the hilarious and campy wildlife - bats, possums, coyotes, turtles, rattlesnakes, a goat, and skunks, in that order - and surviving a cave in, all while seeing bits and pieces of Fantasmic's finale fly by, we made the final turn into Fantasyland, finally got on Snow White and plotted our last moves.

It was just past 11:30pm, and Space Mountain was showing a 30 minute wait. We also wanted to hit Nemo, which had a negligible wait but sports a good 15 minute ride time. We took our chances with Nemo, and surfaced just 5 minutes shy of midnight. Megan wasn't keen on the Space Mountain trek, even with a diminished 20 minute wait, knowing full well it would be our stop first thing in the morning. I joined David and Katie for our last ride of the night and we returned safely from outer space - even if David and his head did block out my awesome "sleeper" pose as I laid across the vacant seat next to me for the on-ride photo. We exited the ride at 12:20am, for the record.

If you ever wanted to know what 15+ consecutive hours of Disneyland insanity looks like, this was it. We were absolutely spent, and we wasted no time getting back to the hotel. The castle and Main Street were certainly aglow, but there were two more nights ahead and we'd have to soak in the atmosphere then-- as if we hadn't been soaking it up every damn minute already.

There would be a minor change to the schedule in light of our exhaustion. Magic Morning Hour was offered both Saturday and Sunday, but it started an hour later on Sunday. We would get the same amount of park time, but making the shift to using it on Sunday meant or opening times would be 8am and 8am, as opposed to 7am and 9am. Obviously crowds would be lighter for the 7am hour on Saturday than the 8am hour on Sunday. But there was no way we would be setting the wake up call for 6am seeing as it was 1am as we finally called it a night.

Day 2

Instead, we would add that glorious 6th hour of sleep as the phone rang at 7am. We'd forgo the fast food breakfast this time around as we headed right for the park at 7:30am. We found a quiet walk, as we were actually getting into the park an hour earlier than the day before, if you can believe it. The only downside was that the Extra Morning Hour had taken place, meaning we weren't the first ones in the park. No real damage given the light crowd even for the official opening, but mostly since we were plenty ok with avoiding Fantasyland altogether right out of the gate.

This time, the gates opened at 8am on the nose, and we made a beeline straight for Space Mountain. Having seen it up and running the day before, our confidence was confirmed when it was absent from the out-of-order sign at the bag search. We were thrilled to see it open for business, and also pleased to see that the Fastpass machines were working. This would make our visits much easier, so of course I grabbed the first set of the day and we were on our way through the long queue.

It was a pleasant surprise to make it all the way into the station without a pause and see it essentially empty. We were on our way in short order, up the power surge pre-lift, through the strobe tunnel, up the main lift as the walls began to spin around us, creating that great funhouse-style disorientation. We came to the top with a big musical fanfare, swing around and catch the final lift with the countdown, and really get going once we hit zero. The ride action is nice and smooth, lots of turns and small but sudden rises and dips. Wait for a pretty nice hill late in the layout that even gives a good bit of airtime in the back. All that leads to the climactic reentry tunnel, where you're temporary blinded by the strobing flash of the on-ride camera. You've got a mere couple moments to fix your hair and wipe your eyes before you make the final turn into the station as a soundtrack comes to an end.

We couldn't look such a short line in the mouth, especially considering how we endured the longest waits of the visit here the day before. Wrapping around the outside, we made the trek for a re-ride. On the trip, I did notice that the Fastpass machines had gone down. I was glad we already had one in hand, and we made our second trip into space to start off the day on a good note.

Getting back into our usual stride, we hit an empty Buzz Lightyear. The light crowds meant we'd have a chance to email our on-ride photo (and our scores) to ourselves for our future enjoyment. I swear I didn't do it to document my victory, but that was a tolerable side effect.

I took a peek over at Space Mountain to see if Fastpass distribution had come back online (it was almost time to grab another set), but no luck. Having skipped breakfast to this point, we grabbed a couple obscenely large apples and took advantage of the long stroll to and through the Indiana Jones queue to enjoy our light meal. Then again, considering the genetic freaks that were these apples, it wasn't really all that light. Finishing right as we boarded, we were happy to see of another quiet queue and enjoyed the really unique experience that is Indiana Jones here at Disneyland.

We went next door to Pirates and sailed passed a quiet Blue Bayou, underneath the talking skull and crossbones ("Psst...avast!"), down into the caves, through the ransacked town, past the dungeon and armory, and back up to civilization. Megan would continue to take it easy as I wanted my first Splash ride of the day. She would use the time to people watch, photograph, and grab a Thunder Mountain Fastpass, since our window was now open and this is the only place we were really concerned about avoiding a wait, what with Space Mountain apparently not offering any more.

The single rider line again paid dividends, though I wasn't skipping all that much of a wait this early in the day. I further refined my wetness avoidance technique as not only did I remove my socks before entering the ride - I took my shoes off right out of the station. I'm sure this violates some rule or another, but walking with wet sneakers is not something I consider pleasant. The water that did find its way to me was more easily shed, and the relief of putting dry shoes and socks made this extra effort more than worth it. A few splashes on my shirt and superficially on my shorts were all I would endure, and considering the weather we were looking at, was somewhat welcomed.

What was unwelcome was a temporary closure of Thunder Mountain. Fortunately, Megan had grabbed those passes before it went down (Fastpass distribution stops whenever the queue is closed) so we were all set to skip the line when we returned later in the day. With an early lunch (and a Georgia Tech football game to watch at the ESPN Zone), and being eager to get those World of Color Fastpasses, we wouldn't want to spend too much more time in the park. We zipped around to Fantasyland to get another ride on Snow White, it having been unavailable for much of the day before.

It's definitely one of the darker (i.e., scarier) rides in the area. Though all do have at least some moment of danger that can startle young kids, this one seems to spend most of its time in eerie dungeons and woods (even with Thunder Mountain-esque bats and Splash Mountain-esque vultures), constantly being barraged by the evil witch. The abrupt ending still leaves us confused, but there's enough there to keep the ride squarely in the underrated dark ride category.

A dark ride that does get its share of attention is Roger Rabbits Car-Toon Spin, though fortunately not usually on this side of noon. The fact that the ride is completely seperate from the park's other Fastpass machines is a little known tip, and we got a pair even though we had just gotten some for Thunder. We also walked on, flying through the completely empty queue. I'm glad we've appreciated it in visits past, but I was fine skipping it entirely on this trip.

The experience is something of Mr. Toad meets the teacups, as a full 360-degrees of freedom is allowed simply by spinning the wheel in front of you. There is plenty to see, so it's not entirely disappointing that these things max out way short of what you can get on the teacups. One unique feature of this ride that you otherwise may not have thought about is that Imagineers in turn had to design the scenes with the vehicles' full rotation in mind. That is, most dark rides are unidirectional and not intended to be viewed backwards. You'll notice this anytime you look over your shoulder and see spotlights and the back of characters and scenery. Here you're entirely surrounded as you spin around Toontown, through the Acme Warehouse and avoid getting bathed in dip. Definitely don't miss this one.

We had touched base with Katie on our way back here as she was in the queue for Matterhorn. Our timing worked perfectly as we made our way back to Fantasyland and met her just in front of the bobsleds. It was a bit past 10am, and with California Adventure now open, it made sense to check out the World of Color situation. I thought we might be a bit on the early side, but better early than late, what with this being their last night. Again we were looking for the late showing (being jerks, they had Napa Rose reservations), so we thought to head over and see what was what.

After deciding as much and greeting the rest of her family, we were on our way out and over to California Adventure. We double-checked that passes were still available and were reminded that there was no way to determine the changeover from one show to the next outside of being there. Katie also confirmed that not all guests needed to be present to receive passes, but they do need to be in the park. As it turned out, her quick exit and reentry using David's pass was entirely necessary to activate it.

Of course a quick pause to get Soarin' Fastpasses was in order. (Again, DL and CA are on entirely separate systems, as is WoC.) Around the corner to the High Sierra area, we were surprised to see that barely half an hour into the park's day, the first show was already gone. Not wanting to tempt fate we jumped right in line, though Katie was kicked out, as only one person was needed for all the passes in your party- another logistical rumor dispelled.

We took a little breather once we had our passes in hand, glad to see we had been assigned the blue section, which reportedly is the place to be. We were assigned to assemble starting at 9:30pm for the 10:30pm show in front of Wine Country Trattoria, though we had absolutely no idea what would happen after that. Katie called her sister and suggested that she hustle over if she wanted to see the show. We were glad to momentarily sit back and watch the frenzy, and when Katie's sister arrived, she was pleased to see she had gotten a blue section pass as well. I'm not entirely convinced the sections are assigned randomly, but we weren't about to question our seemingly good fortune.

Megan wasn't keen on the trip across the park to Tower of Terror, so Katie joined me as her sister headed back to join her family. We were glad to see an entirely empty queue as we slipped right into the small crowd waiting in front of the pre-show room. We were on and off the ride in short order, and timed the retrieval of a set of Fastpasses there perfectly. Supposedly we might need them, as the quiet here would not last, with Katie reporting a 60+ minute wait the night before. We'd have them in case we had time pre-WoC.

Timing continued to work out well as we headed for lunch as the game was nearing the final quarter. We met back up with Megan and exited the park conveniently through the Grand Californian - with a quick stop for Katie to get their boarding passes for the next morning - and through Downtown Disney. The ESPN Zone is towards the bitter end, just before the Disneyland Hotel.

Here we joined David, having staked out his spot at the bar probably sometime soon after the 9am kickoff. We took a high-top table, fully surrounded by college football games from across the country. Our game wasn't going so well, but a 32 ounce Blue Moon served to lessen the pain. I had a turkey club wrap (about as healthy as I get for a vacation meal, even including the great fries), and Megan had a similarly large beer, though a Stella, and the turkey and portobello mushroom burger.

We definitely took our time (and some Advil), as it was getting difficult to get back on our feet after a nice break. We expected no sympathy for our self-inflicted aches and pains; no one feels bad for you if you're sore from Disneyland. There were rides to ride, and the Soarin' Fastpass to redeem. Our trip back into the park included a stop at Quicksliver for Megan to get a pair of flip flops; her sneakers were no longer getting the job done.

Back through the Grand Californian and through their private entrance (with David verbally confirming the hand stamp he, in fact, had not gotten this morning) and we grabbed an additional set of Fastpasses as we turned in the ones we'd gotten earlier. It's slowly getting to the point with this ride where it's easier to list the places we haven't been than where we have. My most notable addition was a mid-April trip to Yosemite that simply blew me away. Disneyland won't be the only California destination that requires at least an annual visit. We may push it a littler later in the spring, mostly because our views had a good bit more snow in them than the view on Soarin'. Of course there was Disneyland, LA, San Diego, SF, Monterey, Napa, Lake Tahoe (I am convinced the ski resort shown is Homewood, on the east side, which I have been to, but have zero confirmation of this.) I have yet to make it to Redwood Creek, Palm Springs, Anza-Borrego and Camarillo, though I don't expect visits to those last two in the foreseeable future.

Not just a great reminder of the amazing views, I also like how the ride highlights some amazingly diverse activities - skiing/snowboarding, ballooning, hang gliding (of course), surfing, golf, rafting, kayaking, horseback riding, hiking. I'm really not trying to gloat, honestly I've only done a handful of those things myself, but it's nice to know the option is there.

It may have made more sense efficiency-wise to do Grizzly River Run right after lunch, but I wasn't too interested in sitting in the cool queue and theater still exceedingly damp. It was worth the short backtracking so we could catch GRR before we made our way back to the hotel for an extended afternoon respite (i.e., nap). The World of Color Fastpass distribution had concluded for the day, so the machines switched over to GRR. This meant a marginally longer standby wait, listed at about 15 minutes, which was perfectly reasonable for such a warm day.

I semi-manned up as I would take this ride sans poncho. I still gave all my important possessions to Megan (including my socks), and the plan was to do this one Splash Mountain-style. Unfortunately I jumped the gun on removing my shoes and was chided by the ride operator that they were necessary for health and safety reason. No shoes, no service I suppose. As if the place wasn't already swimming with cholera. I should have just waited until we left the station. Instead I had to settle for using the underseat ledge to keep my shoes off the floor, and put my plastic bag over my lap.

We were joined by a couple other small groups, and the cramped boats get personal right away. Things start off serenely out of the loading wheel and up the lift. The water jets found here are just plain unnecessary, but they would pale compared to what was in store. A few small waves found their way into the boat and dampened pants and legs (and shoes) all the way around. Really everyone gets a little wet, mostly from the churning rapids. A big surge comes halfway through the ride on the first drop, and that usually punishes one or two riders. The ride really is a blur of swells and turns, partly from the panic and partly from the fact that the boats never seem to stop spinning. In fact, the ride is designed so the rafts intentionally spin during the final drop.

This is the highlight, a Russian roulette of water. Insult is added to injury (i.e., wet underwear) just before reaching the safety of the station as a water geyser frequently erupts from the river and just pummels riders. I'm not sure if this is bystander-controlled as you'll often see or automatic, but given the torrent it unleashes, it is beyond cruel if anyone has had a hand in activating it. Through no small miracle, it didn't erupt as we passed by. David and Katie were already wet enough, and I was glad to make out without too much damage. We slogged back to where we left Megan and we reassembled ourselves before we went our separate ways. They had some gaps to fill in on their last day, and we had some sleep to catch up on.

The hotel is close, don't get me wrong, but it's not right there, especially if you're already deep in a park. It's far enough that once you're worn down, you want to make the trip worth it. We did exactly that, though we did have to wait for the maid to finish with our room before we could really relax. Megan was out completely and I mixed in a short nap with plenty of college football (the games that started after ours ended were now finishing up).

This was probably one of longest absences from the parks we've ever had during a visit. It was completely necessary, though after a couple hours I was ready to get back to the action. I headed down to the Pizza Hut on the 3rd floor, (stupidly had to wait 10 minutes for it to open) and grabbed a couple orders of bread sticks. With David and Katie returning to the hotel as well, it was cocktail hour and I made my offering as they opened a nice bottle of wine.

Nap, wine, and snack accomplished, we all headed back for an evening of fun. They didn't have a ton of time but would join us for a ride on Thunder Mountain - new Fastpasses retrieved and old ones redeemed, of course. This was surprisingly our first ride here today, but so much of our attention had turned to Space Mountain considering its difficulties yesterday and the closure tomorrow. We probably would have headed there instead, but our friends weren't lucky enough to get early morning Fastpasses. No problem for us, we'd be there shortly, but they were headed out for their fancy dinner.

First we took a side trip to Roger Rabbit. This one is a ways back there, so it's worth two rides in a day only if you've got the Fastpass for the second time around. We most certainly did, and we cut an impressive 40 minute standby wait. The Fastpass queue shoots right into the station, and even though it was full, we were on in a matter of minutes. Another fun ride, but this would be it for Toontown for our visit, and no one was too sad about that. Sorry Gadget.

We headed to Tomorrowland and had some trepidation about redeeming our Fastpasses despite the fact that the machines had been down since 8:30am and we were blatantly outside the redemption window. The thought of being forced to wait standby (for what was posted as 45 minutes) when we had gotten these fair and square was not pleasant. With a kind smile I presented them, prepared to have to explain myself. They did get a close look, closer than usual, but once they were apparently seen to be issued today, we were allowed in without a second glance.

The looks instead came from merging into the line as went took our shortcut and entered the building. The attendant dutifully took them from us, but the faces of those we had just passed were classic. Surely befuddled by our miraculous procurement of Fastpasses when they were led to believe they were unobtainable, the look was of half confusion and half envy. I suppose it's a bit cruel, but that was almost as fun as the ride itself.

Our evening would need to take us back to California Adventure, to assemble for World of Color at 9:15pm. The late showing (15 minutes after the park officially closed) meant any more rides we wanted to get in there would need to be hit beforehand. We had several Fastpasses in hand, so we wouldn't delay our visit. It made sense to start in the back and work our way forward, since we had to meet near the front of the mark. This meant another long walk from Tomorrowland all the way back to California Screamin' in Paradise Pier. Worth it though, as we'd yet to hit this today.

The posted wait time was 20 minutes, but another train was added halfway through the wait (bringing the total to an impressive 5), so it was more like 10. The wait absolutely flies when they run at full capacity like this, and with a dwindling wait we got right back in line for a re-ride with what barely took 5 minutes. This second time around, we received a soundtrack-free ride. If I hadn't just gotten the full experience not 10 minutes before I would have been disappointed, but this "silent" ride was actually kind of interesting. If nothing else it had you focus a bit more on the ride itself, but it was mostly a stark reminder of how much the musical score adds to the experience.

Heading back into the center of the park, we took a right through Bug's Land and redeemed the Tower of Terror Fastpasses I had gotten after my ride with Katie. They indeed came in handy, as predicted, what with a 40 minute wait - easily the longest we'd ever seen for our local version.

Dinnertime was near, and we thought we'd revisit the hot dog counter service, the unfortunately named "Award Wieners". Since we would have time to kill while waiting in the World of Color holding area, it made sense for this to be our last stop after we were done riding. We wanted to get on Monsters, Inc for the first time, but with that so close to dinner, we darted across the park and cashed in the Soarin' Fastpasses before backtracking to Hollywood Boulevard and visiting Monstropolis.

This is even more of an overlooked and underrated dark ride than Snow White. Great scenes, vivid colors, with a familiar but engaging story, it's got everything you'd want. The range of motion of the scenes isn't remarkable, but it's got a good number of tricks in store, highlights being the smell of ginger in Harryhausen's, Randell's chameleon-like skin changing patterns as Boo knocks him around, and of course Roz greeting, if not debasing, riders at the end. In an unprecedented move, I actually got on her good side. I was affectionately called a hunk, and while there was probably something on the camera lens obscuring the view, I'll take what I can get.

It was finally time for dinner, and while Megan played it safe, I braved a spicy sausage with BBQ sauce an onions. The first sign of trouble was that the thing was slathered in a ridiculous amount of sauce. I scraped some off, but then found out that they weren't joking around with the spice. Too hot for me, I had about 2/3 of it before tossing. It's a good thing I wasn't all that hungry. Better luck next time I guess.

And so the time was here. After eating in the ill-fated Sunshine Plaza (construction walls were already up), we made the quick trip to our section's gathering point, which was a roped off area along the midway. David and Katie and her sister were just behind us, and we all chatted as the waiting game began. We were all in the dark about exactly what would happen next, but we had little trouble passing the time rehashing our evenings.

About 10 minutes after we arrived, the grand finale of the early show was visible (and audible) in the distance. Glowing lights, towering water streams, and a thundering musical fanfare were hard to ignore, and the excitement really began to set in. Once finished, the stream of guests walked past us and I tried to look for signs of satisfaction and amazement. Once the place was clear, about 20 minutes before showtime, the crowd in front of us suddenly started to move, and then split in two at the intersection of the Paradise Pier bridge and the main viewing area. A little like a squirrel in traffic, not at all sure where do go, I spotted a couple guys in suits, obviously keeping an eye on the crowd control procedures. I quickly explained my confusion and after a vague, "you can go either way", I asked where they would go. Seemingly in unison they pointed us to the bridge.

We squeezed past the left side of the main viewing area into the narrow roped area on the bridge. Things looked a bit crowded up ahead, and with a small area against the railing free, we staked our claim. It was hard to tell exactly what kind of view we were in for, so I chatted a bit with the cast member who was helping out nearby. Without question, the bridge was the place to be, perhaps a bit higher up, but where we were was more than sufficient.

As is clearly visible once the main viewing area fills in, there isn't much slope to it, so much of the view closer to water level is obscured if you're not in the first couple rows. You could be perfectly centered and not be able to see the bottom portion of the show, including parts of the projections. Where we were, we traded a straight-on angle for an unobstructed view of all but the right-most portion of the show, where we could only see the top above the viewing area. Higher up on the bridge meant being able to see further across its span, but also increased the angle of the increasingly side view you were getting.

In the end, it's pretty hard to deny that there is no perfect view. Even being front and center results in a pretty heavy dousing. We were definitely further away than most of the main viewing area and we were misted from time to time. Pretty much every area has its advantages and its shortcomings, but we were certainly glad we weren't in the back of the pack. A couple speaker poles and the lower left corner obscured was well worth the completely clear view of the rest. The general trade off seemed to be, the closer you are, the wetter you get while losing the perspective of the whole show. Further back, you stay drier, may have some people/towers in your way, but you get to see the amazing breadth. It all points to not stressing too much about the view you end up with and trying somewhere else the next time you get to see it. My best advice would be, no matter where you go, get to your assembly area as early as they let you, and be sure to find a spot up against a railing or barrier - something that guarantees at least no heads blocking your view.

Once all the logistics are sorted out and everyone has their spot, it's another 15 minutes or so until the show actually starts. Here we enjoyed the view; the new chaser lights on Mickey's Fun Wheel are absolutely terrific and are integrated into the show itself quite seamlessly. As the countdown dwindled, excitement built and finally it was showtime!

I'll skip the scene by scene review, one because it's been recounted and videoed countless times already, and two because it was such a whirlwind of segments, I can barely remember exactly what we saw, let alone the order. There's really no story to it, which bothers some, but didn't concern me in the slightest. It's about a couple dozen scenes from classic after classic, movies and shorts, of course highlighted by some of the biggest musical numbers Disney has been milking forever.

My impression? Entirely over the top, in a good way. The music, the projections, the lighting, the amazingly agile and demonstrative geysers, this is so far from anything I've ever seen it was impossible not to be astounded. The show's movement and colors alone were absolutely hypnotizing; never mind the footage from the movies. The soundtrack is great, a perfectly tolerable pop version of the original World of Color theme before it bounces from movie to movie. The use of color is great, with themes ranging from a calypso rainbow for "Under the Sea" to serene greens and blues for "Just Around the Riverbend," to deep reds and purples for the demon scene. And of course the water jets were just jaw-dropping, hundreds of them swaying, pulsing, and shooting hundreds of feet into the air, each one a colorful streak across the lagoon.

A few highlights were the aforementioned "Under the Sea" scene, as well as "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin, and I even found myself impressed by the Pocahontas scenes, an otherwise unfamiliar movie brought vividly to life by an enormous forest and waterfall panorama. Along the way there are also great effects: lasers, bubbles, and plenty of fire. And of course, the finale is absolutely mind-blowing, just visual and aural overload as only Disney can do.

While the experience may have left some fans a little lukewarm, primarily because of the lack or a story a la Fantasmic, I got exactly what I was hoping for. I can't deny that some detractors have some valid minor points. The heavy use of the projections on the mist screens is something we've seen before, it really isn't all that crystal clear, and it takes attention away from the real show stealer, the colored water jets. Most of the time, these features are used simultaneously, but there were definitely gaps where the lagoon was dark save for a slightly fuzzy projected image.

Fortunately this was the minority. There were some passing scenes with no real fanfare other than their short airtime, e.g., the quick Up! scene. Plenty of people probably will like or dislike parts based on their movie preferences. I, for instance, enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean segment, though I know plenty don't care one way or another about the films. What really impressed me was a terrific homage that paid tribute to "The Old Mill", a 1937 Oscar-winning short from the Silly Symphonies series. Most people probably didn't realize the history behind the image of an old mill getting battered by rain and wind, but to us is was instantly recognizable and told me there are still people at Disney who get it.

Nit-picking aside, there's no denying World of Color is nothing short of impressive. Absolutely a must-see, even if it doesn't become your all-time favorite Disney spectacular. I still am partial to the Main Street Electrical Parade, and the former Remember, Dreams Come True fireworks here at Disneyland, but this is in that uppermost tier of nighttime spectacles along with Spectromagic and even the new Disneyland Magical fireworks. I'd have to say it tops Fantasmic in my mind, but I know they're trying to do completely different things. In the end, it blows away everything Disney World has to offer, including Illuminations and especially the Magic Kingdom's pathetic fireworks.

Even after all this, our night was still not over. The 25 minute running time left us with almost an hour to finish up at Disneyland - for the night for us, and for the visit for David and Katie. It only made sense we'd hit the mountains. First was Splash, sans wait of course, and the sock/shoe maneuver was once again a success. This time I even learned my lesson with the photo. Once again sitting behind David, I ducked down to the right of his extended arms and gave the old thumbs up as I snuck into the shot right next to him.

Thunder was up next, where we met back up with Megan and enjoyed the blur of gas lamps and hilarious critters. With only time for one last mountain, Space was the choice we made. Katie may have been more sentimental for Matterhorn, but this would be our last chance to catch Space before its certain downtime tomorrow. We soaked up every second so we wouldn't be down about it the next day, and really, after going from thinking we'd get no rides to actually getting 7 over a day and half of operation was something we were grateful for.

The day ended with a trip into the hub and a quick photo-shoot in front of the castle. David and Katie milled about Main Street a bit longer than we were up for, considering yet another early morning for us the next day. We met back up at the hotel, said some tired goodbyes and again called it a night right around 1am. With the wakeup call set for 7am one last time, we'd be on our way before they had to drag themselves out of bed for the less cheery prospect of heading to the airport.

Day 3

For the third day in a row, we did our best to slip out without causing too much of a commotion. By this point we had the morning routine down, and the room sharing seemed to be a great success. Then again, we weren't the ones trying to sleep while others were getting ready, so maybe I'll check with David and Katie to see if this cost-cutting measure was really worth it.

Out last day began at the same time as day before, but it included a morning magic hour. We would continue our health conscious streak and not mess around with McDonalds, so we went straight to the gates and found the place predictably quiet at about 20 minutes to 8am.

Arrive this early day after day, visit after visit, you begin to notice a few things. The first day, we noticed that the entrance just in front of the tree usually gets ignored since large crowds can't really build up in front of it. Thus, a single line usually forms, and if they do end up using both turnstiles when opening, it's by far the quickest line.

This morning, we saw a similar single line forming for what likely would be a pair of ticket takers. Once the cast members lined up at their stations (usually a good sign that opening is imminent), we saw that positioning ourselves somewhat in a no-mans-land was the smart move. We were sure to suggest to the group ahead of us to take the primo spot at the front of what would be the new line. (It's not like we were the first ones here, we may have been paying closer attention then other folks, but we didn't want to blatantly cut anyone). They generously insisted we go first, what with their small kids and assortment of strollers.

Just before the gates opened, the cast member we were lined up for even remarked how smart we were for filling in an open line, and insisted others near us do so as well, considering only us and the family behind us has bothered. Heck, if people want to stand around and not pay attention, that's fine with me, but I guess he was doing his job by focusing on efficiency.

The countdown began, prematurely as it were, as the gates weren't even open yet. I should have seen this as a bad omen - almost as if the park was opening, and we were going to miss out. It was just a momentary delay, as the real trouble would start when our tickets were scanned. First mine was read, resulting in a sad scanning noise and a "not valid for magic morning hour entry" in big, black letters on the screen. My first thought was that we had mixed up our tickets with David and Katie, as we had shuffled the tickets back and forth in an effort to get various sets of Fastpasses - and stupidly hadn't signed them. Fortunately we realized this and they gave us what we thought were theirs the previous night, just in case we had mixed things up.

That wasn't it - as what I was sure was Megan's pass (it had Donald Duck on it) gave the same result. Seeing our extra hour slip away before our eyes, we had no choice but to leave the line and let others through. In case I wasn't already bewildered, a random person apparently noticed my Georgia Tech hat and proceeded to give me flack about the football team losing yesterday. I was mostly caught off-guard, as if wondering how this guy knew I cared about the game - for all he knew I didn't follow sports and had no idea or interest in what he was talking about. It probably would have bugged me more if I wasn't distracted trying to figure out what the hell just happened with our tickets.

We headed for guest relations across the esplanade, which was fortunately empty at this hour and staffed with one window open. After explaining what happened, my concern over us having done something wrong was eventually replaced by annoyance that this happened for absolutely no reason. The cast member seemed a little confused, not entirely sure which day morning magic was offered and thinking we had already used it. She was able to see our entry times as she read the ticket, but it took a moment for her to realize we were still eligible for one this morning, and that there had been a mistake.

She did a thorough job marking of the tickets with special instructions and stamps and tape (so the ink wouldn't smudge off), and that was apparently sufficient to overrule any electronic contradiction. Ever so slightly miffed at this inconvenience, I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask for an exit pass, as our delay had certainly cost us first crack access to Peter Pan. She didn't hesitate to oblige, and with that I felt like we were square.

It's funny, when we had arrived the day before, I swear the thought crossed my mind that if we enter before the magic hour we're trying to avoid is up, I hope the tickets will somehow be smart enough to reflect that - assuming because they used particular turnstiles for early entrance. That fear was laid to rest when they waited until regular park opening to let us in. Maybe I should have thought twice, but when she checked our tickets, she confirmed we weren't trying to pull a fast one - so all we could do was brush it off as a freak misreading.

Back across the way, we aimed for our original ticket taker, but there was a short (i.e., no) line nearby, so any sort of wry, told-you-so moment was avoided. Instead, with only a moment of hesitance, then a quick realization that this was the last day the tickets were valid anyway, we were in. All told, this non-ordeal took a matter of 10 minutes and hardly 200 people had entered the park in front of us, so we figured we'd just go about our business and consider the exit pass gravy. It was only then that I paused to think about what a jackass that guy in line had been.

All was forgotten (if not forgiven) when we saw a still-quiet Peter Pan queue. I was actually surprised it so short - probably just 4 or 5 boats' worth ahead of us - thinking everyone would head here. They apparently didn't, and we were happily off to Neverland one more time. This felt a little more special this time around because we're headed to London next month...though the pirate ships and mermaids aren't specifically on the itinerary.

It was a full-on Fantasyland assault as we hit Snow White, Mr. Toad, and Alice in short order. Matterhorn had just the Tomorrowland side open, so we'd still be able to make that comparison. While it was considerable later in the visit, and we'd been physically tormenting ourselves with some 30+ hours of park time already, not to mention we were now in a back car instead of the front car - we blatantly ignored all of those confounding variables and concluded quite confidently that this side was indeed rougher than the other. Further investigation would have to wait until our next trip, seeing as this was all we could handle here. I don't know when those new trains are actually going to be installed, but it can't come soon enough. Anything is worth a shot here.

Figuring we'd have more than our share of time throughout the day, we decided to avoid the line over at Nemo by riding now, even if it meant seeing the rest of the extra hour come to an end. The Submarine Voyage offers some of the deepest immersion (please forgive the pun) you'll find, taking to the reef and sharing a quick adventure with Nemo and friends. Most of the scenes come from the movie, sharks in a sunken boat, exploding undersea mines, an encounter with anglerfish, bouncing on jellyfish, though the climactic volcano scene is new, and very impressive, even if its only visible for a few seconds.

There's absolutely no thrill to be found here, Some may scoff at the kid-centric plot, some may bristle at the prospect at being underwater with or without screaming children, but for me it's a remarkably unique experience, and I'm encouraged that only at Disneyland might you be underwhelmed by something Six Flags (or maybe even Universal) could never even dream of.

With Buzz indeed wearing thin, I thought this a good chance to not focus so much on scoring and try to take in a little more of the scenery. Shortly out of the loading area, we had a bit of a pause, and I overruled my earlier plan with an opportunity to really rack up some points. The delay didn't last too long, so no records were broken, but Megan took advantage and outscored me for what is almost certainly the first time. We even have the emailed picture to prove it - as if she was going to let that go undocumented.

Following our route perfectly, minus the officially closed Space Mountain, we cut across the hub and once again planned to enjoy our morning snack while winding through the Indiana queue. This time we grabbed our fruit at the stand next to Jungle Cruise, where I had gotten the pickle earlier in the visit, so it was a quick few steps to Indiana Jones. Our delay cost us (or maybe helped us, if the delay was long enough), but we were among the first few people to be greeted with a closed entrance. With breakfast in hand, and having added a coffee from the nearby River Belle Terrance, we took a load off by Bengal Barbeque, just in case it was going to be a short breakdown.

It was not, and after our quick meal we moved on, me still nursing a moderately severe burned tongue after underestimating its temperature. Scalding was its temperature, and Megan correctly noted that I clearly don't go out for coffee much. With Space down, me on my own for Splash, and our disdain for Indiana's setup, Thunder Mountain would be our go to Fastpass all day. Of course the early hour meant no need for one right away, but we got a pair and planned to get new ones and redeem old ones each and every time. Obsessive maybe, but why the hell not? Lines are for suckers.

We peeked at Indiana Jones, no luck, and I went ahead to Splash Mountain with Megan meeting me at the exit for another ride on Pooh. The visit to Critter Country went well, as I managed to notice a couple things I had heard about but never caught first-hand before. First, that the music throughout the Splash Mountain area and especially on the ride is actually quite distinct from its Orlando counterpart. Here, being among cartoon characters, the theme is much more bouncy and has the usual toon-ish orchestra scoring. Listen for it, and you'll notice trumpets, chimes, flutes, strings, even a oboe - the same kind of arrangement you'd expect for a Silly Symphony short.

At Disney World, you'll instead notice an overwhelmingly country-western, even a bluegrass arrangement. The featured instruments are a banjo, harmonica, even a washboard. The melodies are of course the same, but the style of the music is most certainly different. The reason? At that park, Splash Mountain is in Frontierland (there is no Critter Country there!), snuggled right next to Thunder Mountain. It was important to the Imagineers for the feel and emotion of the music to be consistent given this otherwise subtle difference in the placement of the ride. While probably not noticeable to most people, I think each style blends well with its location in the park, and is yet another tremendous example of the thought and creativity that goes into implementing these attractions.

The other subtle secret is much less nerdy, and much more noticeable - assuming you know where to look. I had always heard that in this version of Winnie the Pooh you can turn around at a certain point in the ride, and see the trophy heads of 3 animals - characters from the Country Bear Jamboree. (Yes, they were trophy heads in that attraction was well, Disney is not quite deranged enough to have beheaded otherwise full-bodied characters). It's a not-so-subtle reminder that the attraction was bulldozed to make way for this one, though it's entirely unnoticeable unless you knew where to look (up and behind you just after the Heffalumps and Woozles scene).

In fact, both versions of the rides were met with major outrage by so-called Disney purists. Orlando's version also replaced a beloved attraction, their installation of Mr.Toad in Fantasyland. I suppose I can see why some fans might be bummed, but Pooh is certainly a more obvious interest to kids than Mr. Toad or some creepy singing bears. No one likes to see rides removed - especially with all that damn space in Orlando, they really have no excuse - but adding more popular rides is the name of the game. (I do realize that Pooh here in Critter Country consistently has some of the shortest lines in the entire park, but no doubt it met its goal by topping whatever pathetic crowds Country Bear Jamboree was drawing back here.) Like I said in my Disney World review, at least you can still ride the removed attraction at the other resort.

Returning back to Indiana, we saw it had opened, but showed a 25 minute wait and an already lengthening outdoor queue. We almost never bother with Fastpasses here, but we figured it couldn't hurt. If we had to cash in our exit pass here, so be it. With that, we went next door and pretty much walked on to Pirates

Lunch was in order, and we hesitantly returned to Stage Door Cafe for some fried chicken strips. Disneyland's dining operations must have read my last trip report, because we found an open cashier and had no wait whatsoever. I enjoyed my chicken with buffalo sauce and ranch, Megan had honey mustard. We had been eating relatively healthily, so we cut ourselves some slack with this wonderfully beige meal.

We did the Fastpass exchange at Thunder Mountain, got our ride in no time, and then headed back to Small World to say goodbye to the children (and animals, and historical figures, and Disney characters) of the world, before moving on to California Adventure.

A quick stop at the information booth, and we were armed with the knowledge that we'd want to do Fastpass at Soarin', and would otherwise tough out Tower of Terror and California Screamin' - pretty much like usual. I also checked to see what we would need to do with the exit pass, and we were told to use the Fastpass entrance (assuming we were going after a ride that had one), which made sense realizing that it was actually called a "Reentry Pass". With that in mind, and us wanting to do Soarin' twice, we made the call that we'd take our chances with the Indiana Jones Fastpass and redeem this here, after getting a pair of Fastpasses of course.

No problems with using the special pass, we enjoyed Soarin' once more, and then headed across to Tower of Terror. The wait time was indeed posted at 13 minutes, which means pretty much walk-on. There was hardly a pause in the lobby, and we were in and out of the pre-show room quite quickly. We unfortunately were stuck climbing the stairs (the right pre-show room stays at ground level), and were a little disappointed to see the wait going all the way back to the top of the stairs, and only two elevators being used. It ended up as being only one elevator as the other never actually seem to load the people waiting in front of it. Instead the line moved 21 people every 5 minutes and we lamented the inaccurate wait time sign. Of course when we exited, the sign showed a more precise 25 minutes. At least the ride was awesome.

Having to stand longer than we expect took its toll, and we consoled our poor, aching bodies at the wine bar. Megan went with a rarely seen Pinot Blanc from Napa, and I had a nice Malbec from Argentina. Trying not to lose too much time, we got back on our way and headed for California Screamin'. The walk mandated two rides at this point, so we got Fastpasses before queuing up, and figured the modest 15 minute wait plus a possible ride on the ferris wheel would equal the required minimum of 40 minutes until our passes were valid. It would have worked out as such, but the swinging car wait over at Mickey's Fun Wheel stood at half an hour, longer than we were willing to, well, stand.

Instead we searched for some shade (which actually took some effort) and rested for several minutes until we could try our luck a few minutes early. The rest was sorely needed, and we were able to get our final ride on California Screamin' while avoiding a wait - the best way to enjoy an already awesome attraction, without a doubt.

There was some fro yo and a soda to be had on the pier (with even more sitting), and we figured to keep the streak going with a seated attraction. We missed Bug's Life in January, so we tried for it here, but it was closed. We also missed Muppets then, as well as at Hollywood Studios last year, so that was certainly due. I asked how long until the next showing, and at 15 minutes, we were smart to cram in a ride on Monster's Inc. I honestly don't know the consensus for this, but it remains a favorite of ours. I think anyone who complains should be forced to watch a ride through of Superstar Limo. I again avoided Roz's scorn, as she instead hit on a guy in a different row.

Our timing worked perfectly as we got our glasses and caught the final 90 seconds of the Muppets pre-show. A delay of a couple years makes this bearable, and the Muppets are hard not to enjoy, even if we've almost got the show memorized. Megan likes it well enough, though has little tolerance for that annoying character. I always thought that kind of the point though, right?

We gave Bug's Life one last chance, and it was not to be - still closed. With no choice but to move along, we aimed for Soarin', Fastpasses in hand. Even our reserved entrance had a line, a good 30 yards of it out into the midway in fact. We'd seen this before when there had been a breakdown or some other capacity issue, so I checked with the line attendant and this wasn't the case here. People had just coincidentally returned all at once and the Fastpass line was slammed. I tried not to look guilty as we added to the surge despite being well past our window. These things happen, and we were rewarded by our willingness to endure - the line quickly moved into the building, and in fact we moved through the post-split hallway and into the pre-show area in record time.

Our next chance to fly over California would be our flight home tomorrow, but for now we said goodbye to California Adventure, wondering what condition it would be in for our next visit. How different will the entry plaza be? Will the mosaic be gone? Will the Cathay Circle Theater be under construction? And how far along with Cars Land be? But the most immediate question is if Little Mermaid will be open or not. Summer 2011? Too close to call just yet.

Back over to Disneyland, where things are blissfully less chaotic (construction-wise, anyway), we visited one its most recent changes - the return of Abe Lincoln. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was indeed back and well implemented as part of a larger history of Disneyland attraction, much of which has stuck around from the 50th anniversary exhibit. There are early park and ride concept sketches, pictures, models, and even the video from First 50 Years playing in the waiting area. We'd have no time for that this time around as the doors to the theater were already open when we arrived and we managed to sneak in mere seconds before the show started.

As I implied on day one, this is not something anyone is flocking to. The purpose, other than extolling our 16th president, is almost as much about Disneyana. Much in the way Carousel of Progress at Disney World does, it also has an air of, "Hey, we know this is kind of lame, but its crazy old and you probably remember it from when you were a kid, so you can at least enjoy it for that." The subject matter before the highlight - Robot Lincoln - is nothing but an obvious downer, and afterwards the commendable speeches are likely too lofty for most younger visitors. Perhaps the impressive animatronic is enough for people, for others it's about the Disney history, or maybe there are those who love the patriotic themes. (Even though, ironically, the gist of the performance is that our destruction will come from among us, not from foreigners.) Whatever the cause, I expect this will remain just popular enough for some time, and will probably continue to draw us in for at least the one token showing per trip. Plus, the seats are comfy and the A/C is plentiful

There wasn't a ton of time before dinner, but we did have enough for an abridged loop. Figuring it was now or never, we saw a large outside queue for Indiana Jones and decided to make our Fastpasses count as much as possible. If nothing else, we were passing all those people. Enjoying the direct access to the temple, we were only able to guess where we would be meeting the end of the line. In a small victory, we found it a good halfway through the stalactite-esque cavern area. This meant just a few minutes until the pre-show room and then an even quicker wait from there into the station. Still far from the best Fastpass setup, it was probably all we could hope for, and actually quite tolerable. The journey was as thrilling as ever.

Some little-known trivia: John Williams did not, in fact, score the music for this attraction. Michael Giacchino - the composer behind Lost, Alias, some Pixar films including The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and Up, as well as the new Space Mountain themes here and in Paris - actually took the recognizable themes John William originally put together and created a new arrangement specifically for the ride. The same is also true for Star Tours. You're welcome.

In other last ride action, I took the trip up to Splash Mountain. Without a doubt, my little procedure has now become standard protocol. It sure as heck helps to not be in the front, and the very back row still requires coming off the seat at the bottom of the drop to keep your pants dry, but I had it down. I was oddly introduced to the entire family I was riding with right out of the station, and we all enjoyed the ride. I came away nearly water-free; I even used my hat to dry off the seat as I sat back down post-plunge. If that's what it took to not be waterlogged for dinner, so be it. Oh, and one thing to look out for the next time you ride. Is that what I think it is on the ground beneath the vultures? You decide for yourself.

We did the perpetual Fastpass transaction over at Thunder Mountain, and after enjoying the excursion, we continued onto Fantasyland. A newly discovered (to us) classic is the Casey Junior Train. It is indeed entirely aimed at young children, but it's a nice way to see the scenery in this part of the park, and it's much more tolerable in my mind than the canal boats. I'm not sure why, to be honest, but it is. Still being early in the evening, it matched the craziness of pretty much everything else nearby. This meant a full queue, and with only one train operation it seemed pretty unpleasant. We put it on the after dinner to-do list, and used the time to visit the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough. I can't say I have the patience to read each and every portion of the story, but it really is nice to view the various scenes. Some are actually quite enthralling, though mostly for their subtle use of technology and not necessarily any amount of compelling action. I'd recommend this overlooked diversion, and we don't miss it ourselves.

The thought of making the long trek to the Disneyland Hotel for dinner at Steakhouse 55 was a frightening prospect. We entirely intended to rely on the Monorail, not so much as a time-saving alternative as an ability to walk-saving one. We continued onto Tomorrowland and scouted the skies above to see how long we may have to wait. I had seen two trains running the day before but hadn't confirmed that either way today. There was a train exiting the platform right as it came into view, so we'd either time it just right if a second one was running the course, or we'd have only a few minutes to wait if it needed to make the complete circuit.

To our delight, it was the former, and by the time we made it up into the station, it was just a few seconds before our ride pulled in. It was a fun, if quick, voyage down Harbor Boulevard, (past our hotel,) across the front of California Adventure, over the Grand Californian, to Downtown Disney. With some time on our side, we took a few pictures of the resort entrance - a hat very reminiscent of one at a certain Disney park in Orlando, though hardly as despised, I'm sure. We also visited a gift shop and then found the check-in stand for the restaurant still a good 15 minutes before our scheduled reservation.

As we found in Florida, there are almost no issues with accommodating early arrivals. This was extra convenient because after seeing Fantasmic on night one, and World of Color occupying night two, this would be our only chance to see the new fireworks show. I had already moved the meal a half hour earlier - from an actual payphone in California Adventure with a "Disney Dining" call button on it, no less. It was a 9:30pm showing, and it was still currently shy of 7pm, so even with a leisurely dinner we'd likely be ok.

But we quickly forgot about schedules, crowds, and time altogether as we were seated in the classy, dimly lit dining room. The restaurant definitely had the feel of a bygone era, chic 1950s. It hinted of a familiar Hollywood hangout for celebrities, punctuated with large photographs of stars and starlets from decades past on the walls. Not that the Napa Rose wasn't classy, but this place definitely had more of an old-school import, and considerably more mature atmosphere. That's not to say there weren't kids aplenty and folks, including us, who were clearly dressed more for a day at a park than a $200 meal. But hey, this is still Disneyland, and they truly do take all kinds (...of people's money).

We were greeted by our server - Khan - he welcomed us, let us know about some specials and specialties, and offered his assistance if we had any questions. When we instinctively started with a couple glasses of Prosecco, I think he got the first hint that we had some idea what we were doing. We shared an ahi tuna appetizer - absolutely delicious with a good amount of spice, and we were easily talked into some signature steaks - the filet for Megan and the highly-touted rib-eye for me.

Ordering the wine was fun as well; I'm past the point where I'm intimidated about the process, but there is still so much I don't know when looking at a wine list this expansive. I do have a good idea of what I like and appreciate most, and there were some familiar names mixed in there. Khan recommended a Cabernet, as is the go-to wine in this situation, but we like to play around and looked at some Zinfandels and other less obvious varietal parings. We took something of a shot in the dark, a Merlot from Flora Springs. We've passed their tasting room in Napa several times but never stopped in, and I can't really recall ever trying their wine. It was pretty easy to tell by Khan's reaction that we had made a good choice (whew!), and the bottle was on its way.

The wine was fantastic, definitely going to be a stop on our next visit to Napa, and the steak was very good. I wouldn't say it was amazing or remarkable - definitely not the best I've ever had, but it was still quite enjoyable, and we greatly reveled in our terrific meal. Who doesn't like to splurge every now and then? I unfortunately did have an eye on the time at this point, as we had definitely taken our time. We did have time for dessert, and Megan went with the creme brulee, replete with tuiles. I was predictable as well, getting my desert in liquid form - a terrifically sweet late harvest Riesling.

Now it was downright time to hustle, as we hurried to finish our last course and got the check. Khan came back and handed us the modified bill with a small, mystical discount that we were more than appreciative to get. It wasn't until after we were headed back to the monorail that I remember the 10% (not including alcohol, of course) I get with my Disney Visa card. In the past I've had to remind cashiers to provide this discount, so even if Khan and the staff at Steakhouse 55 weren't being as randomly generous as we first thought, it was very helpful that they provided it without prompting. I'd been reminded myself all weekend that we were eligible for it, and surely would have kicked myself had it not been used. It may only have been like $10 or so in the end, but it's the principle of the thing.

There wasn't a ton of time to get back to the park and get a spot for the fireworks. Luck was again on our side as the Monorail pulled into the station moments after we arrived, and we walked down to the first car to be in a position closer to the exit at the end of the trip. That's how much I wanted to see the fireworks. The twisting and winding around Tomorrowland seemed a little excessive this time around considering our rush, but everything came together perfectly as we were down the ramp, through Tomorrowland and cutting across the hub with a few minutes to spare, and even found a nice spot just to the back and left of the Partners statue area on the street.

It was a shame to see the Remember, Dreams Come True fireworks show had finished its run - easily the best theme park fireworks I had ever seen. But, being one of the last bastions of the 50th anniversary festivities, it was inevitable. These were the Magical fireworks, and focused more generally on Disney characters, films, and songs than on the park itself. Tinkerbell was still there, of course, but this time she would joined by Dumbo during the show.

Our expectations were probably on the low side, so it's not a huge shock that we were pleasantly surprised. The show still felt amazingly personal and had much of heart that we had found lacking in the Disney World showing of Wishes. I'm hard pressed to put my finger on the exact difference, but the shows here always seem to touch so much more on the history and nostalgia of the place and rely less on the cavalcade of Disney hits. Not that we'd be avoiding Beauty and the Beast or any of the other classics, so don't worry, Disney will milk these for decades to come.

Overall the show was quite terrific. Still not quite as good as the last version, but miles ahead of what Orlando offered. Oh, and Dumbo was actually pretty cool. He's only visible for a few moments, but it's an impressively large figured suspended from the plainly obvious guy-wires, though a nice addition in the end. We were left quite pleased, but quickly started to move out of the area before the masses began to shift post-finale.

There was a little difficulty in getting to our next stop, Pirates, even though we had smartly positioned ourselves in front of the bridge to Adventureland. It seems in an effort to managed crowds both coming from the early Fantasmic to see the Fireworks as well as leaving the Fireworks to see the late showing, ropes and barriers galore were set up. It was far from obvious how the configuration would help, as it mostly stood in our way. We ended up having to go halfway into Frontierland before doubling back and connecting to Adventureland just on the other side of the bridge we were originally aiming for.

Still ahead of the surge, we had no trouble zipping through Pirates' non-descript queue and boarding a boat in short order. Fortunately our exhaustion kept our ride from being all that bittersweet, and we appreciated one final voyage on this classic. With most of the remaining guests in the area busy getting spots for the final Fantasmic, we had Thunder Mountain to ourselves. I still compulsively got another pair of Fastpasses and we passed the few folks in the standby line using our old ones.

Time was winding down; it was just shy of 10:30pm and we were wearily looking at the third midnight closing in a row. There really was no need to go all out to finish up the visit, so we made a quick visit to Fantasyland for a few more final rides. First we remembered having tabled Casey Junior. It was still running only one train (I'm convinced there are two here they could be running) but at least the queue had gone down to just a couple cycles ahead of us. In something of an odd coincidence, the entire queue behind us was child free. So it became something of an adult swim on a ride blatantly meant for children. Still, the gardens and miniatures were nice to see, and who doesn't love the can-do spirit this ride and its theme song portray.

Not having had a night ride on the teacups just yet, Megan got one last chance to experiment with her awesome new SLR in some unique lighting. Of course the pictures and the ride were an absolute blur, so mission accomplished. Fantasmic was letting out, but we were far enough head of the crowd to avoid too much of a wait for Alice. I really look forward to seeing a more tolerable solution to this supposed safety issue some time in the future. What is there is really quite ghastly. At least the inside portion of this beloved dark ride hasn't been messed with, so it was still a joy to join Alice and all the craziness.

Still feeling the need for one more dark ride, especially after noticing we were way ahead schedule on this final run, I dragged Megan onto Snow White. I can't say we really got all that much out of this late night and impromptu visit, but it's just so hard to walk away from the fun when there's still time on the clock. But there was no denying we were pretty much at our end, even if the time didn't agree just yet. We headed back to Thunder Mountain for the closing spin, and the only reason I didn't instinctively hand in the last Fastpass was because that queue had been closed off. Even Disneyland was ready to call it a night.

And after the farewell tour of the wilderness, we did just that ourselves. Rather unceremoniously, we exited the park without ado or fanfare, and ended up even back at the hotel a good 45 minutes before closing. It's always weird for me to see time left on the clock, but I'm just not convinced we had anything left physically or emotionally to be able to endure that final hour. It was an abrupt return to real life. I went to the front desk to get our boarding passes and to arrange the shuttle, and that was it for the night.

The wake up call was much more kind to us this final morning, having mercy until 9am. We caught our 10am shuttle, and avoided the ordeal of an early onset of air range we had encountered the last time Super Shuttle gave us a lift. It was a simple matter getting to the airport and through security, and despite a delay (and enduring it in an unwelcoming temporary gate - think double-wide trailer), we were home only slightly later than expected, but no worse for it.

All in all, it was another utterly wonderful trip. I keep expecting one of these visits to not end in such physical torment, but somehow we (i.e., I) keep getting carried away. I think I may have to scale the aggressiveness back for future trips, but I'll need to stay on the good side of relaxing without crossing over into downright inefficient. I say this mostly jokingly, but if you've gotten this far I'm probably not fooling you.

I always like to come back and start thinking about the next visit, and now with the summer season behind us, we've got a fair amount to look forward to. That includes a full day special company outing at Santa Cruz Beach Board walk this next weekend (do expect a detailed, though considerably shorter trip report for that as well), and we've got an awesome weekend of UK parks in England next month, but I'm talking about none other than future Disney action. A late winter, early spring trip back down here may pop up, but it's best not to push it while blisters are still healing from this go around.

Instead, we'll look further ahead and focus on a considerably more noteworthy happening. Plans are now getting underway for next year's international excursion, and the compass seems to be pointing to Tokyo. We took a day in Paris to hit the local Disney park, would you really expect us to go all the way to Japan and not visit their Disney resort? We'll see how it goes, but I hear amazing things, so don't be surprised if we end up getting our first trans-pacific Disney experience sometime down the road.

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