Trip Report

Anaheim, CA

Saturday, Feb 12th - Monday, Feb 14th, 2011
Weather: Warm, upper 70s, sunny
Crowds: Moderate

It’s no secret that I’ve been exceedingly ambitious about making visits to Disney parks over the last several years. They’ve always been a special source of my proclivity for amusement parks, considering I was riding Disney rides and coasters easily a decade before the symptoms of this obsession came on in full force. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found a growing appreciation for how they do things and have, on these occasions, traded in extreme physical thrills for the atmosphere, variety, efficiency of Disney parks with absolutely no regret.

That’s likely due as much to the sad state of many of the amusement parks as anything else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a thrill seeker and will jump at any opportunity to experience the latest and greatest scream machines. But when I think of taking a vacation, taking a few days and really escaping and indulging in an extended break from reality, I don’t head for Six Flags. Even the finer thrill parks just don’t offer what we’re looking for - a beautiful setting, plenty of memorable attractions, operations and employees you can actually enjoy, and even a little bit of that ridiculously over-the-top magic.

Hopefully that it explains this, a sixth visit to Disneyland in four years, and also in that time, an additional visit to each of the Disney resorts in Paris and Orlando. Speaking of ambition, a trip we’re hoping to be able to make could having us spending two or three days at the Tokyo Disneyland Resort, which would be our ninth and tenth Disney parks - out of the grand total of 11 that exist. Although the planning for that is in its early stages, we’re already looking forward to it. Guidebooks have been read and comparisons will be and have been made. But we try not to get ahead of ourselves, and nothing was going to overshadow this visit, even if that possibility was in the back of our minds.

Seeing a year-long gap between our last Disneyland visit the previous September and this possible trip to Japan in the coming fall, a late-winter trip to Anaheim was easy to talk ourselves into. As you’ll notice if you continue to read, we’ve pretty much got the routine down, and logistically we followed our usual plans: a flight from San Francisco to Orange County, lodging at the agreeable Fairfield Inn Anaheim right on Harbor Boulevard, and three day park hopper passes. Even the dinner reservations at Blue Bayou and a fancy spot on our last night were part of the package we’ve been putting together for years now.

The familiarity we’ve started to show with making this trip coincides nicely with a small but meaningful personal milestone. It’s with this visit to Disneyland, my seventh, that I’ve now been here as many times as I’ve been Walt Disney World, the resort I grew up going to. It’s funny to think back when I first started to learn about how different these two places are, though more recently I’ve started to understand how they are each uniquely special and any comparison is entirely moot. Now this neck-and-neck situation may actually swing back to the Orlando resort considering some our theoretical travel plans for 2012 - but that’s getting even further ahead of ourselves.

For now, it was all about Disneyland, and we were we off to San Francisco International Airport just after 5pm. A quick dinner stop at the Elephant Bar’s wonderful happy hour had us all in a good humor, even though the radio was detailing the San Jose Sharks’ loss to the lowly New Jersey Devils during the rest of the drive.

Through security, to the gate, onto the plane, and down to Santa Ana all in just a couple hours reminds me how much less of an ordeal flying is when you’re not going cross-country. An oddly crowded taxi stand had us waiting more than usual (i.e., not at all), but everything worked out well getting to and checking in at the hotel. (If only we had known at the time how that would pretty much sum up the entire trip.) Despite initially sending us to the wrong room, we were settled in where we belonged not too much after 11pm.

Day 1

We were both up before the 7am alarm; even with the sleeping pill it was hard to contain the excitement. With oatmeal and granola bars, it was possible to get a bit more sleep by skipping the breakfast stop. Certainly we’d need an additional snack to make it to lunch, but that was a good start - coffee included to be sure.

Out the door a bit after 7:30am, we were headed for our Magic Morning Hour. With the ridiculously beautiful weather expected for the weekend, we worried we may be in for some intense crowds; the waits for the bag check and in front of the entry gates weren’t obscenely long, but not empty either. The countdown started promptly at 8:00am, and after enduring a poor line choice, we were in the park, under the train bridge, and on our way.

Of course we were headed to Peter Pan to start things off. I have to admit it’s more about being efficient with our touring than any particular sentimental feelings or personal nostalgia, but that’s not to say we don’t appreciate a classic. Here queues jam up pretty quickly, and it will be all but impossible to find anything less than a 30 minute wait throughout the day. Even up until closing. Even a closing at midnight. Having encountered that exact scenario before, we were glad to see the stream of guests moving steadily towards the loading station. It was more a slow walk than a wait, and we were off to Neverland via London on our first ride - and done with it in notably short order.

Taking care of Fantasyland is easy work at this point - and pretty much only this point - in the day. Back on the other of the courtyard are Snow White and Pinocchio, the former I find to be underrated, and the latter is probably right where it should be - low. Snow White has lots of charm and a bit of edge matched only by the trip to hell on Mr. Toad. Pinocchio does have a few nice moments, though usually you won’t have to wait to long to see them.

We certainly didn’t have to wait for either, and it was back around the Carousel for Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. It’s fun enough and the vehicle ride action makes it a consistently popular stop. But my personal favorite is Alice in Wonderland, considerably longer and with more to see than anything behind the castle. There we found just a few groups waiting to board and we got our ride in almost no time.

In the first sign that we may not be basking in the emptiness of Disneyland over the weekend, we were caught a bit off guard by the wait we saw for Matterhorn. Granted, it was considerably less than an afternoon on even a light day, but a good bit longer than what we usually find at this point during Magic Morning Hour, in that it wasn’t walk on. Instead, with only the Tomorrowland side running, the line stretched beyond the station and started to wrap around the Mountain. Not being a ride either of us was clamoring to get on, we decided to skip it for now. If the line looked like this here, we wouldn’t want to waste much time getting to Space Mountain and Indiana - the other priorities.

Priority number one was Space Mountain, and thanks to some low-season construction we were going to have to rethink our strategy. As we had learned the week before the visit, Fastpass wouldn’t be available during the weekend because of repaving. Now, our assumption was that the area where the Fastpass machines are located would be torn up and off limits. Instead we came upon a construction wall a good bit before the queue, seemingly blocking the entire path between Captain EO and Pizza Port.

We found the route we’d need all the way to the right of the wall, hardly enough for two people walking abreast. The immediate confusion of squeezing through that and then seeing the Fastpass machines accessible but disabled quickly faded. One trip through the bottleneck was more than enough to see that there would be no way that the traffic created by retrieving Fastpasses would be manageable. It was a bit hairy even considering it had been made essentially a one-way route.

Passing all that excitement, we were into the queue, around the mezzanine, and into the mountain without further delay. The bad news about everyone going standby is that you still have to go the long way, but the good news is that the line moves much faster. Not that that means a shorter wait, but a fast moving line is better for morale.

Eventually we met the crowd towards the top of the station. Not exactly walk on, but it’s never a long wait from here - maybe a couple minutes - as you spiral down to the gates, surrounded by futuristic sights and sounds. Our ride was as awesome as usual, and we did our best to start the on-ride photo posing as cleverly as possible.

Wanting to be efficient with our loop, we’d walk on Buzz Lightyear next, but first a quick pause on the way to grab some apples and a bottle of water (which we’d use for the rest of the trip). This visit to Buzz was easily the most prolific round ever, thanks partly to a couple brief pauses in very fortuitous spots, as well as some improved strategy in targeting certain shapes. The end result was a score well over 600k, multiple times better than my best previous round. I have to admit, my interest in this ride had been waning a bit, but the sense of accomplishment will have me coming back, if only to see if I can repeat it.

Retrieving the apples, we had a bite on the way across the hub to Indiana Jones. It was a good 15 minutes past the end of our extra hour, and the surge was impressive. We cut across the hub, though not directly thanks to some of the paving work also being done on Main Street. We were glad to see the outside portion of the queue empty, which is usually a given for most of our visits - but we would see most of our low-season expectations and experiences go out the window pretty quickly.

The wait began not too far inside the temple, in the middle of the open-air hallway before the cave rooms. Slightly annoyed with the crowds, we were sure to remind ourselves that we were in one of the most impressive queues in the world, and all the little details and gags and various sights kept us entertained for the 15 minutes we had to endure. The ride seemed to be in good condition, all the effects were in order as we made our way through the circuit. It’s such a unique attraction, though I shouldn’t overlook the clone found at Tokyo DisneySea.

Trying to keep our first loop thorough, we were right out the exit and into the queue for Jungle Cruise. I was thinking Thunder might have been building a wait, but it’s a dangerous prospect when you start to think about darting back and forth across the park. Being efficient is a combination of avoiding waits while minimizing walking and it would be smart to pace ourselves - something I often struggle with. Our wait was minimal, just a few minutes for a boat and we were off on our pun-filled journey. See what I did there?

Now was the time to hit Thunder Mountain, and after exiting Jungle Cruise, it made more sense to head right, past the Tiki Room, and then take the open gate directly to Frontierland. It sure beats going all the way through New Orleans Square. Excited for our first ride through the wilderness, we were sure to get a set of Fastpasses before getting in the standby queue. With Space Mountain’s machines down, and Splash Mountain down entirely, this would be a pretty hot commodity. And that’s pretty understandable - it’s a fantastic ride, and after a quick wait, we picked up right where we left off from our last visit careening through the countryside.

With all but the highest capacity headliners under our belt (save for Matterhorn), we headed back towards New Orleans Square to get to Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. Pirates was less walk-on than shuffle-on, and we took a load off for our first visit with Jack, Barbossa, Davy Jones, and all those iconic pirating scenes.

Over at Mansion I saw a few rare sights. First, thankfully, it was open - visits both pre- and post-Christmas often find it closed for holiday re/de-themeing. Next, it was great to see the absence of said themeing. It was nice during one visit, but it just doesn’t compare to the original. The last rare sight was something I’ve actually never seen - the use of the extra queuing on the side of the house. Usually it’s a straight shot across the front yard and up the front steps of the mansion. As is turns out, I’d never actually noticed the multiple queuing sections otherwise hidden from view. Only one was being used, so it was less than 10 minutes of a wait, but to see this so early was not a good sign. Totally worth it, though, as the classic, campy ride was as fun as ever.

Wanting to consider this side of the park done until much later in the day (we’d need to be back here for dinner at Blue Bayou) turned out much easier considering the state of Critter Country. It was closed, specifically. The entire section. Splash Mountain was down for an extended rehab, including the reconfiguration of the station to better match the previously reconfigured seating in the boats. It was going to be down from just after New Years into May. In the meantime, the Hungry Bear was receiving some less extensive attention, but was also closed for several weeks. With the headliner and the restaurant closed, I guess it didn’t make much sense to operate the ghost town of a ride, Winnie the Pooh, and the few shops and stands.

Instead, we doubled up on Thunder Mountain, redeeming our first Fastpasses of the visit. We looked to get some more, but the machines were down and being worked on - we were just glad the ride was running. I was happy to see a new configuration for the Fastpass queue. Instead of looping around the inside courtyard and essentially paralleling the entire standby queue, it now shot directly towards the station underneath the brake run. We were glad to save the walk, and Disney would be able to cram even more guests into the queue - something they would definitely need later in the weekend.

From here, the usual destination is Toontown, which for most visits only has one destination - Roger Rabbit’s CarToon Spin. Here we’re often able to get a bonus Fastpass, as it’s not on the system with the rest of Disneyland, and we can walk on during the early hour. We did get a Fastpass, but there would be no walk-on, already sporting a 30+ minute wait. The queue is nice, but not something we haven’t seen so there was no reason to wait. That was especially the case because the Fastpass redemption window was the minimum 40 minutes away. It gave us plenty of time for our first real rest of the day, a chance to get lunch and a few minutes to do some shopping.

Our meal would be the first of several new dining experiences for us. Nothing too fancy right out of the gate; behind city hall are a few food stands with pizza, hot dogs, sandwiches. I went with a club sandwich and Megan had a chef’s salad. We were lucky to find a spot to sit in the shade (not much of that in this area of the park) and enjoyed the nice meal. The shopping was just a quick stop at Five and Dime to pick up some sunglasses. I didn’t even notice they were apparently a kid’s pair until the cashier mentioned it. They seemed to fit just fine and I was all about a $12 pair of shades.

We cashed in the Fastpass for Roger Rabbit; it’s got a great set-up as it’s a straight shot into the station. We whirled our way around Toontown and the Acme factory and were out the exit in no time. There was one final stop on this initial loop. Of course we would check to see how things would be over at Matterhorn (not likely any better), but we expected Small World to be more than tolerable.

What we found, however, was a completely full queue stretching out onto the midway. This was yet another sign that this wasn’t going to be the quietest weekend we’ve ever had - quite the opposite, actually. This ride is a capacity monster, so despite several pauses to transfer guests from wheelchairs (avoid the left queue/station - it’s the one with the wheelchair ramp) it did end of being mostly manageable, though every extra minute spent in that queue listening to that music surely shortens one’s lifespan.

As expected, Matterhorn was still more than we were willing to wait. Not that we didn’t want to ride, but it was preferable to try to beat the park hopping surge and another 20 minutes wouldn’t help things over at California Adventure. We looped around the mountain and headed to the hub and the wait time board. I asked the cast member manning the station if the Thunder Mountain Fastpass machines had come back online - saving walking where possible is one of the keys to a pleasant visit.

They were up and running and Megan took a load off while I popped into Frontierland to grab us a pair for later, when we would return to the craziness that is late afternoon at Disneyland. Only a couple machines were up, so I had my first "waiting to get a Fastpass" experience, and after waiting for the usual groups of people with their heads up their asses, I was on my way back to the hub and we made our way down Main Street for the first park hop of the vacation.

It was time to see Disney’s California Construction park first hand. The madness starts even before you enter the gates, as the esplanade has been encroached upon with construction walls for the new gates which required some maneuvering just to get to the turnstiles. Once inside, the entry plaza is all but walled off for its transformation. It’s a pretty sudden blockage, and guests need to make a quick choice as to where they want to head.

To aid in our decision, I stopped at the information booth, which was thankfully still intact. Wait times were reportedly not pleasant, most of the highlights being between 30 and 45 minutes. No, these weren’t anything close to staggering, but not what we’re used to seeing. We decided our plan would be the same, and just had to deal with the fact that it would take longer to make our loop. It was an easy to call to opt for Fastpasses for Soarin’ and not Tower of Terror; I just hate the awfulness of the Soarin’s outdoor queue.

Unfortunately the window was a good few hours away, but we knew we’d be around the park for a while. Things were surprisingly quiet over at Monsters Inc., and our wait was only a minute or two before we were on this retrofitted but well-done dark ride. Our world came crashing down when we saw the wait time at 50 minutes for Tower of Terror - we were in uncharted territory.

With a shrug, Megan led the way, and we joined a pretty extensive outside queue. I’d honestly never seen a line this long here in Anaheim. We’d had waits for the other versions, about 30 minutes during a summertime visit to Walt Disney Studios at Disneyland Paris, and easily 20+ minutes on visits to MGM/Hollywood Studios over the years. Either way, it’s a nice enough queue, not nearly as impressive as the outdoor gardens of Hollywood Studios’, but shaded and well-themed.

It ended up being about a 45 minute wait, which wasn’t entirely unbearable, but right about the limit of what I’m willing to endure for this ride. I know that seems stingy, but that’s pretty generous for a ride I’ve walked on more times than I can count. I wouldn’t be willing to wait half as long for most rides in these parks. Fortunately the wait inside the basement area was essentially just for the next elevator and that was a relief. We had a great cast member who was ridiculously enthusiastic, so that added some fun to what is already a terrific ride. You really have to appreciate the combination of story, setting, and thrill here. Not many rides, even at Disney, rate so highly with all three.

Having earned an indulgence, we cut through Bugs Land to get to the Golden Vine Winery. I picked up a Zinfandel that came highly recommended, and Megan went with a refreshing Sauvignon Blanc. Both were terrific, and instead of taking an immediate load off, we headed over to Paradise Pier. The winery is a great spot to relax a bit, but it already had a full house for its limited shaded seating. Besides, it helped to be more efficient by seeing what we should do about California Screamin’. Cool spots over there aren’t especially prevalent either, but we found a spot among the madness beside the fountain surrounding the carousel. It had peaked over 80 degrees, and it was certainly needed.

We were able to enjoy the wine in full view of a favorable situation on California Screamin’ - a less than full queue and running five trains. With the capacity maxed out like this, ridership rates easily over an amazing 2500 an hour, even a full standby queue with Fastpass going absolutely flies. After relaxing a bit more, it was our chance to join in and it was even less than the 15 minutes posted before we climbed into our seats.

The only downside was that there was no onboard audio! Not that this ride, just as a coaster, isn’t top notch, but it’s surprising how much the synchronized soundtrack adds - the tick tock waiting for the launch, the, a-hem, bitchin’ guitar blasts during the long drops, and the rise and fall during the camelbacks. Feeling a bit cheated, we re-upped thinking that there was only a 20% chance we’d have the same train. The long odds found us as we were right back on the only silent one. Oh well, it was something to look forward to for tomorrow, and it was still a lot of fun.

There was only one more stop for our current visit. We’d be making a quicker Disneyland loop the next morning; there was no reason to do Fantasyland first thing - especially since we’d be visiting after an Morning Magic Hour that didn’t include us. This meant, optimistically, that things would be a little more tolerable in the crowd department. We certainly didn’t want to miss Toy Story Mania, and with all the construction, I was actually excited to take a ride on Mickey’s Fun Wheel - if almost entirely for the view.

But our stop now would be the redemption of our Soarin’ Fastpasses, as the window had just become available. As a result of the larger crowds and demands than we’re accustomed to, it was an unusually common experience to be redeeming Fastpasses actually IN their prescribed window throughout the visit. With the longer redemption delays, it wasn’t nearly as easy to stockpile and assortment and save them for later. For the most part, we didn’t have more than one or two Fastpass per park at any given time. I shudder to think how we’d usually have twice that, but boy did that require a LOT of walking.

A wonderfully quiet Fastpass queue found us into the left-hand theater hallway in no time, and we were through the pre-show and on the ride in a matter of minutes. Soarin’ continues to get the job done. Amazing visuals, a stunning score, and very pleasant ride action, it simply embarrasses all other amusement park theater attractions - 3D, 4D, whatever. Even such attractions elsewhere in the park are pathetic by comparison. There is a reason this is one of the most popular rides Disney has created in the last 10 years.

Our actual last stop in the park was just around the corner at Baker's Field Bakery, in the supposedly ill-fated California Zephyr replica. Hopefully a spot like this remains once this entire entrance area is rebuilt, it’s become a pretty consistent pick-me-up after finishing up at California Adventure. To exit we had to squeeze far to our left around the other side of the entryway construction, and we were back across the plaza to Disneyland.

We hadn’t actually stopped to enjoy our snack yet, so we took a load off in Town Square to drink our iced coffees and eat a sizable chocolate croissant. We found another shaded spot, and ended up having a nice view of the flag retreat ceremony, which we had never really seen in its entirely. We’d heard the God Bless America finale before, but the marching band, the surprisingly touching salute to veterans of all our armed services, and the singing of the national anthem by the Dapper Dans was actually pretty cool to see, especially considering we just happened upon it.

After this nice break, we were up Main Street to, not surprisingly, the wait time board. The situation was squarely between terrible and quiet, 30-50 minutes for the mountains, Autopia, Nemo and Roger Rabbit, and 15-20 for pretty much everything else. Of course the diversions (Tiki Room, e.g.) and walkthroughs were certainly an option, but we were in the mood for some more coastering.

We were disappointed to see Thunder Mountain down once we made our way over there (thanks for the heads up on that, wait time board). We took the loop around behind Thunder Mountain, if only to get an idea of how crazy things were park-wide based on Fantasyland. The answer was about as crazy as usually, standard 30 minutes for Peter Pan, 20 for Mr. Toad.

Figuring things wouldn’t be getting any better, we joined the extended queue for Matterhorn. It was significantly longer than the morning, but it was now serving both sides, so the wait was probably about it same. It ended up being a tolerable 15 or 20 minutes as we wound around almost the entire mountain. We shot for the Fantasyland side, and again confirmed our suspicion that it is the less unpleasant side. In all fairness, it’s a fun enough ride, but it is bumpy at best, though we enjoyed the amazing views provided by the sunset.

We knew that, without Fastpass, Space Mountain was going to be a challenge all weekend. We didn’t even consider Nemo as we walked right by to scout out the situation. It was a stunner to see only a 30 minute wait posted, and we quickly found out why that was the case. As we found a completely empty balcony and were shortly let into the building, we surmised that it must have just come on-line after a breakdown. It would seem that the 30 minutes would just be the starting point. If they had posted the amount we actually waited, about all of five minutes - it would have been madness.

Finally getting some time back in our day was a nice treat, and it allowed us to hit a couple things before dinner. With crowds still massive, it made all sorts of sense to take in a showing of the Enchanted Tiki Room, a great stop for when you’re tired, and tired of crowds. We found the garden show already underway, and knew it would be just a couple minutes until show time. It’s probably more outdated and campy than any other must-see attraction, but it remains one I don’t want to miss.

Taking the shortcut to Frontierland, we headed to Thunder Mountain for the last 20 minutes until our Blue Bayou reservation. We were as glad as ever to have Fastpasses in hand, as we had to take a different route to get a new pair due to extra temporary queuing having been set up between the entrance and the restaurant next door.

As a general rule of thumb, you’re unlikely to see the line for a ride to go beyond its queue. Sure, sometimes the wait starts way before the entrance when extra temporary queuing is set up like this. But the general instinct when confronted with a messy mass of humanity streaming uncontrolled down a midway is to avoid it. Granted, it likely shows no indication of what the queue is doing inside the entrance, but the assumption is if this thing is overflowing, it’s not going to be any better inside.

This leaves Disneyland and Thunder Mountain in an interesting spot - they just don’t have the space for this ride to accumulate an excessive wait. The doubling of the standby line into what used to be the line for the Fastpass has helped, but even so, a full queue, while serving a full load of Fastpasses, isn’t going to be much over 25 minutes. Of course the extension into the lesser traffic areas of Frontierland does add to it, and even with the inflated wait time estimates, you’re unlikely to see a listed wait time of more than 45 minutes, and not likely to wait even that long either.

It’s just a stunning comparison to the queues at Disney World and Disneyland Paris, where similar meandering entrances both lead into a massive, tedious queue house. At these locations, wait times can easily stack up over 90+ minutes without coming close to stretching onto the midway. Who’s to say the advantages of land and more modern implementations of rides are always a good thing for guests?

With that in mind, we were more than patient when we saw the newly diminished Fastpass queue stacked halfway to the entrance. As expected it was only a few minutes in the end and with time to spare we headed to New Orleans Square for one of our favorite Disney traditions.

I had moved up our reservations from 7:00pm to 6:40pm a couple weeks prior, and we were there even before our earlier time. It can be a bit of a challenge when making reservations; I try to make them as far in advance as possible, but the parks don’t release their entertainment schedules more than a few weeks out. Turns out the fireworks were scheduled for 8:45pm, and with the usual delay to get seated, I was hoping to avoid rushing the meal.

The scheduling worked out perfectly. We were seated only a bit before 7pm but were able to soak in the atmosphere and really relax and unwind after what had already been a hectic day. For the meal itself I went with the Gumbo to start and the roasted New York steak for an entrée. Megan had the salad and Portobello mushroom with couscous. I ended up helping Megan finish off both. Turns out I was surprisingly hungry.

Dessert was just a couple coffees, and the constant refills they provided were a nice though regrettable touch. (Having trouble falling asleep when you’re unimaginably tired is not something I enjoy.) We had terrific service, coincidentally from a waiter we’d had before, though we couldn’t remember from when. We weren’t as close to the water as in past visits, though with a handful of rowdy boatfuls on Pirates, we were more than happy to be sitting smack in the middle of the restaurant.

After being treated by Megan to a lovely pre-Valentine’s Valentine’s dinner, we ended up with a good amount of time before the fireworks. On lighter days we could have gotten both Pirates and Haunted Mansion in, but with the 10+ minute wait on Haunted Mansion, we didn’t press our luck before we headed to the hub with just about as long to wait.

Picking your nighttime entertainment is a bit like filling out a crossword puzzle, as not everything fits together the way you think, and a change to one thing means you might have to rethink your whole plan. After a thorough investigation a good couple weeks before the visit, I was able to tease out a couple options. With World of Color and Fantasmic! each showing twice a night, and with the fireworks going only once nightly, it wasn’t easy.

Basically it came down to a choice, which would we rather see: just World of Color or both Fantasmic! and the fireworks? We chose the latter, and shooting for that the first night meant we might be able to squeeze in a second viewing of the amazing fireworks on Sunday, as long as we were able to get passes to the early World of Color show and willing to book it over to Disneyland immediately after.

Nightime extravaganza number one was up, and it is the best that Disneyland has to offer - the Remember...Dreams Come True fireworks. Calling it fireworks doesn’t do the show justice. In addition to terrific pyrotechnics, there are also, lasers, massive spinning sparklers, immense projections on both the castle and Matterhorn, and a series of surprises along the way. Our viewing put the Disney magic over the top for us, and we were as dumbstruck by the display as everyone else.

We were, however, a bit quicker to snap back to the task at hand - riding more rides. The crowd began its surge over to the Rivers of America for the imminent early viewing of Fantasmic! and we hustled to stay ahead of the wave. Knowing we wouldn’t have enough time after our late Fantasmic! viewing for both Space and Thunder Mountains, we used our set of Fastpasses on the latter without wasting any time getting a new pair.

The show started just as we were exiting, and to avoid the mass of humanity on that side of the park, we went towards the mass of humanity in Fantasyland. Surprisingly, the courtyard area directly behind the castle was still roped off due to the post-fireworks safety check, though we realize it had really only been about 10 minutes or so since it had ended. Our destination was Mad Tea Party, as a night ride here means the memorable blurry glow of dozens of colorful lanterns. It was good to see just a once cycle wait.

With about a half hour until Fantasmic!, we squeezed back into New Orleans Square to get the ride on Pirates that we had missed earlier, and put ourselves near to some prime viewing areas upon exiting. Thinking we would again make the trade of view quality for a shorter wait, we had no problem ending up with only 10 minutes to find a spot. Headed for the same raised area in front of Café Orleans as our last visit, we were stunned to see it completely empty. Instead of settling to peer between trees, we moved up a row, and found a spot behind a seated couple. They didn’t look all that tall.

In fact, they stayed seated for the entire show, and the view was terrific. Camping out three hours beforehand is for suckers. The highlight of the show was easily our first viewing of the dragon, and it was amazing to see how huge it was in person. He didn’t spew fire, but he did sway menacingly, and that alone was impressive.

The 10:15pm show ended with about 20 minutes until closing, and there was only one place we would be headed. A soon as the lights came up we darted towards Adventureland and took the direct but crowded route eventually over to Space Mountain. Without surprise, things had not lightened up, and the wait time was posted at 40 minutes.

The idea of waiting until closer to closing at 11pm to avoid the full wait did cross my mind, but it didn’t look like it would be dwindling down anytime soon. A huge portion of the balcony was full, and it actually did look like the advertised 40 minute wait. I reassured the pair behind us, who were worried they might not be able to ride since it was almost 11pm, that only the queue entrance closes, and everyone in line, barring a breakdown, could ride. I reassured myself when 11pm came and went that the wait started pretty much where we had joined it, and we made the right call joining in.

It was 20 minutes more, as predicted, until we got our ride. Yeah, 40 minutes is a long wait for us, but we shrugged it off. Hey, only half of it was spent during official park time, so it didn’t cost us much - just our fading ability to stand. Night rides here are usually a bit more interesting visually, with a crisper vision of the star effects.

In an effort to appreciate Main Street a bit more than we usually do, we hoped to spend some post-closing time enjoying the sights and sounds and smells. It really is a sight to behold, aglow with that turn of the century fascination with all things electric. The music is of course still going, and the fervor of a more modern consumerism creates an inescapable din, audible even outside the shops. Every few steps is a new, wonderful smell, from corn dogs to coffee to fried and sweetened treats.

We peeked into Disneyana, which is a great spot for anyone with an interest in Disney history. The wares here are much more interesting than clothes and toys and trinkets as far as I’m concerned, and I enjoy looking at various books and old ride posters that instill much more in the way of reverence than the overzealous capitalism found nearby. Of course we’d be making a couple modest purchases later, but now we were content to take our time browsing.

As midnight approached, we finally called it a day. We headed out the gates, and made our way, still with a good amount of company, back to the hotel - looking forward to a good night’s sleep. I ordered a wake up call for 8am.

Day 2

Thanks to all that coffee, it was an unfortunately fitful night of sleep, yet I somehow still woke up a good bit before the alarm went off. We got ready for the day, enjoyed a quick oatmeal bite, and were on our way. The little girl who accidentally pressed the elevator buttons for pretty much all the floors didn’t get us there any faster, but was still a ridiculously short trip to the gates.

We found them pretty packed again, though we hadn’t been pushing things early in the morning like we’ve done on previous trips. There were about 15 minutes until the 9am opening, and we dealt with another poor line choice and ended up switching a couple times before eventually making our way in.

Another crowded day was apparent, thanks to the massive backup in Main Street behind the rope drop, and considering that we needed to be over in California Adventure shortly, we weren’t going to mess with Fantasyland as part of our morning loop. In fact, it would just be a tour of the highlights, so it made sense to start at Space Mountain considering the monster wait we had barely nine hours prior.

As we had seen the day before, even with the extra magic hour, Space Mountain handles the crowds so well; there was essentially no wait even some 10 minutes after the park was open to the general public. There was a quick pause just outside the entrance into the Mountain, but we were back where we finished the night in just a few minutes.

Nemo may have been a good choice here, but we only had an hour until California Adventure opened - and we were a bit concerned that the Fastpasses for the early showing of World of Color wouldn’t last too long. Opting for Indiana Jones, we grabbed some more apples at the usual spot in Tomorrowland and cut across the park. It was pretty astounding to see the line even shorter than the day before, in the atrium just before the safety film room. Again, not exactly walk on, but we were pleased our morning was going so well.

Thunder Mountain was our last stop before hopping, getting the first Fastpasses of the day, and joining a pretty full queue. The doubled-up parallel queues in the courtyard is a bit odd, and certainly added to the wait we’d been used to when the line stretches almost back to the entrance, but even so, the lack of Fastpass returns meant a doable 15 minutes, mostly because of only three trains running. Apparently they didn’t realize we had places to be.

It was just about 10am, and that was our cue to hit California Adventure mere minutes after it opened. We made our way back out of the park we’d spent all of 60 minutes in, and we were definitely going against the grain as the masses just poured into the place. It was another stunningly beautiful day - already around 70 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. We expected a pretty unpleasant build-up outside the California Adventure gates, but even with just a fraction of gates opened due to the construction, they seemed to be on top of their game.

Luckily, Soarin’ is right on the way to the World of Color Fastpass dispensing area (the Grizzly River Run machines), and though we didn’t want to risk the time a ride would take, I was sure to get Fastpasses, with the redemption window being only an hour away. As you could probably guess, the World of Color Fastpass machines (similar to Roger Rabbit) aren’t on the system with the rest of the park, so we were still eligible for those.

Megan continued on her way - we were eager to get to our next stop, Toy Story Mania - and I stopped to get our tickets. We had indeed made the cut to see the early showing, which meant we might be able to see catch the fireworks again as well. Ending up with tickets to the yellow section, I wasn’t quite sure how that would compare to our previous spot in the supposedly superior blue section. We’d be sure to scout it out a little later on.

First would be the madness that is Toy Story Mania. Never is this without a line, and since we weren’t willing to come here first thing, we would just have to bite the bullet. High popularity due to a recent movie plus low capacity partly thanks to new station gates does not make a very fun wait, and we slogged through the switchbacks with pretty much no themeing to lighten the burden. Disney World has a rare edge over this installation thanks to its fantastic queue - and remarkable use of Fastpasses, though it’s important to note that the rides themselves are identical and that standby wait there is often twice as long as the wait here, which came out right at 45 minutes.

It’s pretty clear that repeated exposure has helped a good bit in our scores; we seem to be topping ourselves with each ride. We’re still a long way from the 200, 300, or 400,000 points some experts apparently rack up, but it’s still nice to do a little better each time. Our Soarin’ redemption window had started, and that meant we got get another pair. California Screamin’ is the only thing even remotely close that offers it, so despite the moderate 10 or 15 minute wait is was showing, we got some there and found our next diversion.

I’m not the biggest fan of Ferris Wheels, especially ones that you have to wait for, and Fun Wheel was showing its usual wait, 30 minutes for swinging, 20 for stationary. We decided we could make do without swinging to save what looked like a pretty unpleasant wait in the boring cement queue. Granted, there are twice as many swinging cars as non-swinging, but the line was significantly more than twice as long for them. It wasn’t even a 15 minute wait before we were paired up with a father and his young son (I’m assuming), and it was definitely a treat to be able to scope out the massive amount of construction going on all around us.

There was the construction for a shaded park where Maliboomer used to stand almost directly below us. That, in fact, had the entire midway blocked, and closed off the loop around the lagoon. Nearby was the massive renovation and re-themeing near the former Burger Invasion, Pizza Oo Mow Mow, and Mulholland Madness coaster. They would be transforming into much classier and detailed period restaurants, with the coaster getting a new treatment as well.

Directly across from us was the Little Mermaid ride in the home stretch of its construction, expecting to open in a matter of months (depending who you ask). A bit further afield was the extensive area being assembled for Cars Land - the largest construction project in an operating park I’ve ever seen. Closer to the entrance was the work being done on the new entry plaza, and of course the work on the turnstiles extending outside the park.

We would want to see a little more detail about all of this at the Blue Sky Cellar eventually, but California Screamin’ roaring beside us reminded us of the task at hand. Instead of patiently waiting for our Fastpass window to open, we took the time to take a ride standby. It was the perfect wait - short enough to be worth going standby, but long enough not to have wasted our time when we used our Fastpasses for the second time. Our rides had the onboard audio going for both, and we were glad to have it. Another auditory treat was the new in-station and pre-launch spiels done by the talented Neil Patrick Harris, of whom we’re both fans.

Due for our first real respite of the day, lunch was in order, and we gladly returned to the Boudin Bakery for the first time in a number of years. I had a chili bread bowl and Megan had a fancy salad, also served amid a bowl of awesome sourdough bread. Again I was hungrier than usual as I had no trouble finishing the chili and ended up devouring the entire bowl as well.

Hoping to avoid another less-than-ideal wait over at Tower of Terror, we made the trip, via Bugs Land, to see what the situation was there. It had another long wait, this time 60 minutes had us wary, but then we saw that the Fastpass redemption window was only 45 minutes away. Here is where I pity people who just don’t understand how it works. I realize it helps us out to have folks who don’t know or don’t care to know even the basics of this system. Yes, I realize it can be a bit confusing, but even the newest user would be able to see that a redemption window that is only 45 minutes away literally saves 15 minutes over the standby wait in the current form. It almost hurt my brain as I got us a pair and pitied the fools entering the full queue as we went to ride other rides while they wait away.

We backtracked ever so slightly to It’s Tough to be a Bug, one of the more tolerable 4D showings. Along with Muppet-Vision 3D, we see it pretty much every other visit, usually alternating one or the other. We found a spot to lean in the clever and detailed queue and loading area, and the crowd barely filled a quarter of the ornate theater. I remember my first viewing of this show, at Animal Kingdom in 1999, several months before the film even opened, and I had no idea what was going on. Now that I’m familiar with the characters, I’m able to enjoy the show. It’s nothing overwhelming, and some of the gags are pretty predictable, but it’s nicely done overall, and is a million times more bearable than Honey I Shrunk the Audience/Captain EO.

We went back around the corner, past Tower of Terror since we had some time to kill, and headed to Monsters, Inc. Thank goodness for this now-permanent cut-through; while thematically abrupt, it saves so much walking and makes the park considerably more pleasant to navigate through.

As we approached the entrance, we saw the line backed up, easily a 15 minute wait or so. It wouldn’t have stopped us from riding, but out of nowhere, we were handed a "buddy pass", and told, since it was just the two of us, that we could access the ride through the exit. The pass itself didn’t explain why, though considering the configuration of vehicles (three rows of two), it was probably to help fill up capacity with the high number of foursomes. Something like a single rider line for pairs, we considered it gravy and we were on and off even with time to spare before Tower of Terror.

That gave us a few minutes for a pleasant sit just outside the entrance, and we soon joined in the fun, only having to wait a fraction of the time we had put in the day before. Our feet and backs thanked us. Doubling up on the benefits of Fastpass, next we were back to Soarin’ to finish up our first visit. We were planning on a rare second trip to California Adventure in one day, entirely thanks to World of Color. I suspect that’s exactly what the purveyors of the Disneyland Resort were hoping for.

It was the peak heat of the day, almost hitting 80 for the second straight day, and there was no doubt we were rejoining the Magic Kingdom at its peak fullness. With this in mind, we weren’t going to get too greedy with our attraction selection. The wait time board confirmed our modest fears, at it was easily as bad as the day before.

Having somehow missed the worst on Pirates and Haunted Mansion the day before, we encountered the longest waits I’ve ever seen for each. The queue for Pirates was using real estate usually reserved for pedestrian traffic in New Orleans Square, as well as tucked-away areas around and behind the entrance I never even knew existed. The ride did its best to handle the mass of humanity, but even so it was easily a 20+ minute wait. That’s unheard of, as far as I’m concerned. We decided to stick to another crowd churner and things were pretty much the same over at Haunted Mansion, though thankfully the queue there wasn’t into spilling into uncharted territory. Well, not beyond what had been uncharted territory for me the day before, anyway.

The one ace up our sleeve was a Fastpass in hand for Thunder Mountain. Getting new ones while redeeming old ones is second nature at this point, and we passed a predictably sizable standby wait. Having again missed a morning ride on Matterhorn, we made our way through Fantasyland to check it out, and it strangely had individual lines for each section, both of which stretched way beyond the station. Also, Space Mountain was currently at a 60 minute wait. It was an easy call to pass, and we figured it was as good a time as any for a ride on the Disneyland Railroad.

I had noticed the day before that the sideway seated cars were replaced with the more traditional forward-facing ones. Megan shrewdly suggested that they could more easily handle what was surely higher demand, as was the case for the entire park. It was noticeably crowded, though we did find a handful of empty rows towards the front. I settled comfortably on the park-side as Megan occupied the rest, putting her feet up and enjoying a good sit.

Ending up taking ¾ of the loop, we hit a few of the highlights, including the Grand Canyon and Primeval World dioramas as well as the Rivers of America. In a rare right, we saw the windows inside Splash Mountain predictably covered up, though when we popped out of the tunnel we passed over a completely empty Critter Country - spookily lit up as though operational but without a single soul present.

There were a few options as we had time for a couple of attractions, as well as dinner, before we needed to return to California Adventure to stake out our spot. Having decided to exit the train at ToonTown and not make the full loop back to Tomorrowland - even though it meant missing passing through the Small World façade - it was as convenient as it would ever be to take a ride there. The line was slightly more manageable than the day before, and by avoiding the peak heat of the day and taking the right-hand queue, the short wait was hardly a bother. It was actually downright pleasant as the quarter hour showing of the Small World clock was doing its thing just as we approached the loading area.

The ride itself timed out at exactly 15 minutes as the next clock performance was finishing up right as we came back ashore. The timing was the best part of the experience, and two is definitely my limit for Small World rides for a single visit. It actually made me miss the holiday treatment, where you at least get a slight variation in the theme song. I know for a fact that there were multiple verses created by the iconic Sherman Brothers for Walt Disney. How is it that they aren’t mercifully used on the ride?

Wanting to be sure we at least fit dinner in, we finally got around to a meal at Rancho Del Zocalo. Now I’m not the world’s biggest fan of Mexican food, especially while traversing a theme park (you’re welcome), but after more than four years in California, even I have the craving every now and then. It’s easily one of the largest restaurants we’ve never even set foot in, aside from using the sweet shortcut to Fantasyland, and it was about time. Oh, and it didn’t hurt that I’d be getting a 10% discount thanks to my Disney Visa card.

There is a nice variety in the selection, as far as Mexican food can go, really. My first thought was to go for a tostada salad, but after seeing the glut of shredded lettuce being scooped for the person ahead of me, I quickly jumped out of line. I saw a ½ grilled chicken at the next station over, and that was what I went with. It came with beans and rice and the usual accoutrements, and with the 2 small tortillas I was able to put some of the white meat into hand-made chicken tacos. Megan went with soft tacos, though hers came mostly pre-assembled.

I’d be the last person to assess the authenticity, but I thought the meal terrific. The chicken was a little greasier than I expected for having been supposedly fire-grilled, but it was delicious. It was a good amount of food and worth the $10 and $14 for each of our meals. I should also mention the setting was pretty terrific as well, space heaters aplenty as the outdoor seating area was up against the Thunder Mountain brake run and overlooked by the former Mineral Hall, a throwback to bygone Disneyland which use to house a surely thrilling mineral display and shop. The "indoor" sections were impressively adorned with period cultural styling.

Our World of Color showing was at 8pm, and while I knew getting a good spot would be nice, I wasn’t as willing to camp out as early as some. We figured we’d play it cool and stroll over around 7pm, when the viewing area became accessible to guests. It was still closer to 6:30pm, so we thought a visit to Fantasyland would made sense since it was nearby and the lines were pretty predictable.

The line for Pinocchio, though still probably short, was almost to the queue entrance, and we skipped it just on principle. Snow White had less of a crowd, and it’s considerably more entertaining, so we gave that a ride and enjoyed our enhanced night vision as the ride seemed to glow more than the morning before. With still a few minutes before needing to hit the road, we gave the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough a visit. It’s been ages since I’ve seen the film, but the scenes are nicely done and cover pretty much the entire story. Besides, it’s just plain cool to be walking about inside the castle.

It was in the neighborhood of 7pm, and despite the prospect of waiting almost an hour to see a 25 minute show, we were both eager and excited to make our way over there. It was a long but straight shot from the center of Disneyland to the center of California Adventure, though in reality it’s just over a half mile.

Beside the lagoon, we saw the viewing area slowly filling in, and it looked as though yellow was pretty much centered as we followed the color-coded lamps to pretty much the exact spot we had scouted out early in the day. One level down from the top, we found a quiet area next to a handicapped viewing section, with only a one row of people ahead of us against the rail. I was surprised how light the crowd was, and was convinced the early show is the way to go, allowing a more thoughtful selection of location instead of the more stressful "line up for 30 minutes and then all rush to your spots at once."

Playing the waiting game wasn’t especially thrilling, but cell phone games and the ability to post and track statuses and pictures on Facebook kept us sane. It wasn’t all that long until the area started to fill in, and with about 30 minutes to go I stood back up and began positioning myself for the best possible view. I was initially worried because the guy ahead of me was pretty tall, but once everyone stood up, they were taking up much less space. With the shorter people in front of the taller people there was more than enough room for us, as well as the family who arrived just after us to have a perfect view against the rail by the time the show was about to start. I tried not to feel guilty about pretty much everyone else who came later and had to look at the back of our heads - these viewing areas are disappointingly flat.

As for the show, I can’t deny it was even more enjoyable than the first time. The view was slightly better (we had been on the Paradise Pier bridge for our previous viewing), nice and centered, and due to being towards the front of one of the higher rows, we could see most of the surface of the water. Really, we couldn’t have asked for a better spot, and the lower and closer vantage point gave an amazing perspective on how high some of the water geysers got. On the bridge we were a good deal back, giving a nice sense of the whole scope of the show, but having to strain your neck to look up at a huge plume of water really impresses you when you’re up this close.

Another advantage was that we weren’t nearly as close as you could be, and we avoided what must have been a pretty unpleasant mist in the cool night air. We only noticed that momentarily, though it was a complete shock to us as a water geyser came shooting out of the shrubbery directly in front of our section. Neither of as had any idea whatsoever that this would be coming.

The show itself was mostly the same, relying heavily on the typical classics, and using a bit more of the projections than the absolutely jaw-dropping geysers than we’d prefer. Even so, we would be walking away a second time still not able to believe what we just saw. There’s absolutely nothing like it. As a final surprise, it turns out the Tron: Legacy post-show scene was still running, and it was just as stunning, especially incorporating the structure of California Screamin’ as it interrupted the post-finale rainbow scene.

I’m willing the bet that this Tron segment was better than the movie, and the truly exciting thing about it was not the scene itself, but the flexibility it demonstrated in what the show can be programmed to do. To think that this system is so dynamic that scenes can be added and changed, perhaps seasonably or based on other theatrical releases or even ride premieres is really exciting. Who knows what this show will look like in 10 years, and given Disney’s penchant for constantly attempting to top themselves, I’m excited about the future. Then again, I won’t mind seeing this version once or twice more.

As for other additional viewings, we were still brave enough to try to see another showing of the fireworks. It took some effort to stay ahead of the crowd and make our way out of California Adventure, into Disneyland, and up Main Street into the hub. Already thinking ahead to our next stop (Thunder Mountain), we got a spot on that side of the plaza with several minutes to spare, impressively. Sure, we squeezed in and cut through people who may have been there for ages, but no one angrily pushed us aside, so we were good to go. Oh, one tip on how to be courteous to your neighbors. Take off the stupid mouse ears. If you want to look like a moron by day that’s your business, but have some awareness that there are other people in the world by making sure you’re not unnecessary blocking anyone’s view. That’d be peachy.

Aside from that minor obscuring, it was just as awesome as the night before; I could watch this a million times. I couldn’t help but remark to Megan, during the show that it embarrasses the fireworks done at Disney World. I mean that quite literally. If I had worked to put the Magic Kingdom show together and came to see the Disneyland version, I would actually be embarrassed, and rightfully so. The homage this version pays to the park itself is stunningly more interesting and creatively implemented than the somewhat generic music and pyrotechnics in Orlando. The difference is beyond noticeable.

Again, we did our best to stay ahead of the disbanding crowd and, again while Fantasmic! was about to start, we used our final Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain just as planned. Also like the night before, we wanted to get our last ride on Space Mountain just before the end of the day. This left us with a good 40 minutes until the queue there closed, and we swung around into Fantasyland to help make our decision. Megan smartly suggested Matterhorn, having missed it earlier in the day, and we got what is actually quite a great night ride - not quite as awesome as back on Thunder Mountain, but a rare treat for us as we almost always hit it early in the day.

We intentionally shot for the Tomorrowland side both to mix it up as well as put us ever so slightly closer to Space Mountain. At the station split, we heard a cast member describing the difference between the sides exactly as we had come to understand it, a good bit more jarring and aggressive on the Tomorrowland side, and a slightly slower pace and tamer layout on the Fantasyland side.

It was with this that I was finally convinced to consider these as two separate coasters. Similar to Space Mountain in Orlando, they are not clones or mirror images, and with the divergent characteristics of each side noticeable to almost everyone after only a few rides, I can’t deny that they are indeed unique experiences. I can’t explain why rcdb.com doesn’t split the listing, but if it says WDW’s Space Mountain, or, heck, Batman and Robin the Chiller are difference coasters, I can’t see a reason not to count these similarly. With that technicality, I unceremoniously added the 267th coaster to my official count. Technically, it was added back in 2007 when I likely first rode that side, but it’s an increase in the total count either way.

All went according to plan again as we were joining the Space Mountain queue with less than 30 minutes in the operating day. In an unfortunate similarity to the night before, it was again mobbed, but having ridden only once at the very beginning of our day, we didn’t think twice.

Throughout the day I had been texting with a friend (a former classmate from grad school) who was coincidentally in town making a Disneyland visit of her own with her family. They had joined the queue behind us, just shy of the 10pm closing actually, and once we were on and off the ride, we had a good head start to again savor the awesomeness that is Main Street after closing. We still didn’t pick anything up, but we did make a quick traditional visit to the Main Street Cinema where we momentarily reflected on some pretty humble yet ambitious beginnings.

Our friends met us by the Casting Agency doorway, and we chatted a bit before heading to Downtown Disney to grab a drink together. They were traveling with two young (aged three and one!) kids who were asleep with a grandparent at the hotel, so they seemed relieved to have some adult interaction as we settled in for a round at the Uva bar.

It was great to catch up and we couldn’t help remark on the irony of getting together for a drink in Anaheim, some 350 miles from the Bay Area, where we all live not even an hour apart. The coincidences continued as we walked across the esplanade together, seeing that they were staying a mere two hotels down Harbor Boulevard at the Tropicana.

At this point it was well past midnight and, and with the later opening tomorrow (or so I thought), we were glad to sleep in. The wake up call was set for 8:30am, giving us a nice, leisurely morning before we would start our day at 10am.

Day 3

It was great to be able to sleep in a bit, though it made sense to get to it a little earlier than we had been, to get some better positioning at the front gate. With that, we were heading out just before 9:15am. It was again a surprise to see the sidewalks and bus area pretty crowded, though it was another gorgeous day, if slightly cooler.

Past the security checkpoint, it was apparent that the gates were open and they were letting folks in. I was glad to see it; it was something they did on occasion, though I’ve never been able to figure out when or why it happens. No question, it’s modestly more efficient to start your day in front of a rope at the top of Main Street than outside the entrance.

There was, however, no rope to wait for as it looked like the crowd was spreading freely into the park. I was a bit confused by the early access, though glad to see some extra time. I wasn’t entirely thrilled when we saw a 15 minute wait already posted for Nemo, thinking that it was slightly unfair, but seeing as were into the subs, found Nemo, and were back on the surface just 10 minutes after the top of the hour, I shrugged it off because we were still ahead of the game.

Similarly to Nemo, we weren’t too happy to see Space Mountain with a moderate wait, and with Fastpass finally operating we had no interest going standby for a third day in a row. The construction was now gone (actually, it had just shifted slightly, now adjacent to the Tomorrowland Terrace) and there was a clear path for me to run up to the entrance and get our Fastpasses instead.

It’s at this point that I need to come clean about what really happened that morning. I screwed up. It turns out, there was no early entry or unfairness or getting ahead of the game. The park opened an hour earlier that I thought it did. When we thought we were getting into the park about a half an hour early for a 10am opening, we were actually there a half an hour after it had opened.

The real surprise is that I just figured this out, as in, while writing this trip report. I often refer back to the itinerary I had put together (e.g., times for flights, opening/closing, shows, dinner reservations - nothing too insane) as a reference when putting this together, and there I saw that the park had indeed opened at 9am.

A quick ping of regret for missing out on some sweet Disneyland morning action was quickly replaced by a mild shock that this was even possible. How often I chide others for not being smart about their touring or not doing the basic research to make the most of a visit. No one can doubt the homework I do, checking the calendar before a visit repeatedly for the occasional schedule change is one of my more obsessive preparations. Even Megan seemed surprised that I let something like this happen. In reality, it didn’t really cost us much (maybe a repeat tour of Fantasyland, so, meh), but the irony of my lapse was as jarring as it was funny. I’m trying not to be too hard on myself about it.

Gleefully ignorant of it at the time, we were off on another abbreviated loop. It was our customary jaunt from Tomorrowland to Indiana Jones, with the requisite apple in hand. Even without realizing my mistake, we weren’t surprised to see a 20 minute wait listed at our destination, but we knew it would only get worse throughout the day, and that Fastpasses aren’t especially ideal here.

There was even a bit of an outside wait, something we tend to avoid - though our normal tendencies were somewhat adjusted due to the larger crowds than we were used to. The couple curls in the queue moved quite quickly, and once we were inside the temple we found that the wait there didn’t start much further back than the morning before. It wasn’t even 15 minutes all told, and we got our last ride here of the visit, excited to compare it to the version at Tokyo DisneySea.

Cutting through the Liberty Belle Terrace we made our way to Thunder Mountain, finding a similar moderate wait like the morning before. Since our freshly acquired Space Mountain Fastpasses were blocking us from getting another set for a little longer, we looked like we’d be going standby next time as well. That was pretty easy to rationalize away though; we had been going standby on Space and fastpassing Thunder all weekend, and it was ok by us to switch that up for our last day. Besides, as I described in painful detail, the standby wait here is almost always a better bet.

Not wanting to endure an entire loop around the mountain while waiting for Matterhorn, we headed there and tried to slip through Fantasyland without incident. I did take the opportunity to note and point out the old Skyway station, still standing but overgrown, directly across from the bathrooms and next to Casey Junior. It’s a wonder they haven’t turned it into a character meet and greet location - though Megan smartly suggested that’s probably why it has yet to be razed.

Our wait for Matterhorn was the shortest it had been all weekend, and we kept up the proficiency by receiving and redeeming Fastpasses at Space Mountain, our last stop before lunch. Continuing the trend of new dining experiences, we found ourselves at the Tomorrowland Terrance. Here the wait to get food looked worse than it was because most of the crowd in front of the counter was waiting to receive their order, not make it.

The fare here isn’t especially remarkable - I went with a BBQ Bacon burger, though probably should have skipped what was a disappointingly unappetizing onion ring included in the sandwich. Megan had a Portobello and veggie sandwich, and we found a somewhat quieter spot to enjoy the meal around the side from the madness of the main seating area.

Happy with our morning, we knew it would be best to save the higher capacity Disneyland attractions for later in the day when crowds would be doing their thing. It was worth a shot to make a trip to California Adventure to catch the highlights one more time, hopefully ahead of the curve.

I think it was less a matter of our genius strategy than simply lighter crowds, as the reported wait times at the information booth were the best we’d heard all weekend. Tower of Terror was listed at its minimum, 13 spooky minutes, and I popped over to Soarin’ to pick up the customary Fastpasses there before making our last tour of the park.

A glorious walk-on was found at the end of Hollywood Boulevard, and we were even able to enjoy our visit to the Twilight Zone with the same enthusiastic bellhop we’d had on our first day. This is another ride that will provide an interesting contrast at DisneySea, as their version has no such thematic tie-in with the Rod Serling show. Apparently it’s just not shown there, though we have no doubt the amazing park will have done it up nicely regardless.

Slightly against the grain we walked back to Monsters Inc., and again found it without a wait. We were two for two so far. Tokyo Disneyland is the only other Disney park with a ride remotely similar, though theirs involves an interactive shooting system a la Buzz Lightyear. Oddly, they don’t having any scoring system as you go through and play virtual flashlight tag with the monster - and just as quirky, the ride is in Tomorrowland.

For what is a completely one-of-a-kind experience, we made the long trip over to California Screamin’. The wait time was again on our side as five trains and a quiet queue meant less than 10 minutes. We doubled up for the third straight day, and savored one of the few true rushes Disney offers. An odd encounter in the queue took us out of the Disney magic momentarily, however.

An adult and a child were slipping past waiting guests, and after the child bumped someone, the adult scolded him quite loudly, imploring him to be courteous say "excuse me" - as they were cutting. She was attempting to teach the child to be polite AS they were doing something completely inconsiderate. I suppose cognitive dissonance is lost on people who don’t waste their energy on thinking in the first place. At the very least, I got a chuckle from the group ahead of us as I pointlessly called after the woman and sarcastically complimented her on her wonderful parenting skills.

Such me-first obliviousness is constantly on display at amusement parks, and Disneyland is no exception. Megan suggested that Disney provides such a personal and emotional experience, that despite its supposed wholesome values, probably fosters an attitude (i.e., delusion) that guests are enjoying and living out their own singular fantasy. It really does go a long way in explain a lack of personal awareness that is painfully present throughout the various parks and resorts. Not that there aren’t assholes who treat the park like their living room at Six Flags parks - but those morons are easier to pick out. (Ahem - teenagers)

We do our best to not dwell on such things, and while it isn’t always easy, there is so much to distract you from it. One such spot in California Adventure is the newly updated Blue Sky Cellar. This former wine education spot had been transformed to a preview center for the park’s massive overhaul quite some time ago. As much as already been implemented (e.g., Toy Story Mania, World of Color, re-themeing of the unsightly Orange Stinger), the entire place had been updated to keep pace with the changes.

Now it focused on the Little Mermaid dark ride, as well as the aforementioned updates to the entry plaza and Paradise Pier restaurant area. But the main attraction is certainly construction of Cars Land, which was quite impressive in its scale. Even before entering the cellar, a map lined up with the new land pointed out several already visible landmarks and others yet to be started. The immense rockwork towers over the area, and the track for the E-ticket Radiator Springs Racers is visible, along with a good number of other shops and restaurant structures.

I’m not all that fond of Cars (the runt of the Pixar litter in my mind), but seeing what this immense new area has to offer was actually quite exciting. Nothing will come close to such major changes as Disneyland from decades past (e.g., adding the Matterhorn, Monorail, and Submarine Adventure in 1959 and adding New Orleans Square in 1966), but it will be quite a treat to visit these new attractions for years to come, all the while thinking back to a time when they were still being created, let alone just a dream in an imagineer’s mind.

Surprisingly optimistic about the future of this oft-maligned park, we were about ready to head out, only able to imagine what it would look like the next time we step foot inside its gates. Hopefully those gates won’t still be under construction. Of course we couldn’t say goodbye to the place without our visit, via Fastpass, to Soarin’ Over California.

Once again we were facing the throngs of people back at Disneyland as we made our final entrance into the park. Things were just barely less crazy than they had been on Saturday and Sunday, but no doubt Space Mountain was sporting a huge wait. We had our Fastpasses in hand, thankfully, though we were worried we might not be around to pick up another pair. The return window was of special concern since we had reservations at Napa Rose for 8:30pm, and would need to leave the park around 8pm. It was currently around 3:30pm, and the new Fastpasses we got were usable starting at 7:40pm, just barely in time - perfect for a last ride, actually, or so we hoped.

In the meantime, we had some missing rides to fill in before our visit was up. We’d held off on riding the Monorail so far, thinking we may take it to a lunch stop in Downtown Disney. Seeing as we had run out of meals, we settled on a scenic roundtrip instead, filling all available seats on the next train. It was an odd to see that the second train was ready to enter the Tomorrowland station as we were finally departing, and it was still in the station after we made the complete circuit. Still fun though.

Across the park, we found and waited through the pretty consistent horde at Thunder Mountain, figuring with the late Fastpass situation, we may not be able to avoid a standby wait here later anyway. As you may know, the Fastpass system will allow you to get another one no later than two hours after getting your current one. Since this really only matters when there is an exceedingly long time until the redemption window, it’s not something we’re used to seeing here. It was easily our longest such wait since enduring the colossal summer crowds at Disneyland Paris in late June of 2008, some five Disney park visits ago.

The good news was the redemption window was currently only about an hour away (likely thanks to everyone clamoring for Space Mountain passes). This meant that we might actually be able to get and use Fastpasses here before riding Space Mountain. It takes a little deeper understanding of the system, but even with the two hour wait to be able to get more, if the window redemption window was still only an hour ahead then, we would be in good shape. That is, theoretically, we would be able to get Fastpasses starting around 5:30 pm (i.e., when we were finally eligible again) for around 6:30pm (i.e., with plenty of time left in the evening for Space Mountain). If this madness isn’t an indication of how much I hate to wait in line, I don’t know what would be.

Starting what would essentially be our last loop of the trip, we headed to New Orleans Square and took our farewell voyage on Pirates and made our final arrangements on Haunted Mansion. Both were auspiciously the quietest we’d seen all weekend, but even that didn’t quite mean they were walk on.

Not wanting to be entirely famished come dinner time, a snack was in order, and we returned to the nearby Royal Street Veranda. Megan staked out a place in line while I, now that it was possible, got us those finishing Fastpasses for Thunder Mountain. She was still at the end of the line when I rejoined her, though we were able to each get an order of fritters without waiting too much longer.

We found a spot on a ledge overlooking the Rivers of America and rested up for the home stretch as the park was in that wonderful limbo between daytime and nighttime. It really felt as though we weren’t quite as worn down as in past visits. Not that feet weren’t sore and backs didn’t ache, but we seemed to be managing a bit better. The prevailing theory was that we actually had the larger crowds to thank. Yes, we were spending extra time on our feet in queues, but it was that spent time that kept us from circling back and making multiple loops and more or less darting around the park at will. It’s pretty obvious that we wouldn’t spend the extra time sitting and conserving our energy - we spent it going on more rides. Heck, just read the trip reports and you’ll be exhausted just thinking about how ambitious we were.

As I thought about the huge number of attractions we still managed to have under our belt, I started to notice a pattern. It seems we have a pretty consistent approach to which rides we want to hit, and how frequently. There are those we go after multiple times per day (e.g., Space, Thunder, California Screamin’), some we ride at least once a day (Splash, Pirates, Soarin’), others at lease once a visit (Nemo, Matterhorn, most of Fantasyland), some only once a visit (Tiki Room, Railroad, Monorail), a few we’ll try every other visit (Bugs Life, Mullholland, Muppets), and a bunch pretty much not at all (Dumbo, Carousel). I’m amazed how consistently we adhere to this, though certainly without any conscious forethought. I guess after six visits in the last four years, you get to know what you like.

The beautiful dusk and some spare gas in the tank were the perfect impetus to hit a nearby diversion we’d never actually experienced - Tarzan’s Treehouse. I always say a walkthrough with stairs is not very appealing, but if they can make the castle walkthrough worth the effort, it was about damn time to try this. The story is still laid out in a handful of scenes akin to Sleeping Beauty, though they’re more life-size and less artistic.

But the real highlight here is the view. So rarely to you get to take in such high views of the park. Sure, Matterhorn and Splash Mountains do give you momentary glimpses from their higher vantage points, but here you can really take in the beauty of New Orleans Square, Frontierland, and Adventureland for as long as you like. The bouncy suspension bridge is a fun touch and the stairs intricately wind up the treehouse and back down to ground level. Keep an eye out in the final scene for the old-timey victrola playing a Swiss polka - a clever and subtle throwback to the former tenant of the treehouse. It was another unseen area of the park finally explored by us. We’re running out of those.

There was still some time to spend before our Fastpass window on Thunder Mountain, so we stayed nearby and savored some more of the early evening with a night ride on Jungle Cruise. It’s a little bittersweet that the more I ride this, the more familiar it, and the jokes, become. Corny is one thing. Predictably and corny is not something I look forward to. Then again, the joke that Schweitzer Falls is named after Dr. Albert Falls will never, ever get old to me.

Making our cut-over from the Jungle Cruise exit directly to the side entrance of Frontierland smacked of déjà vu as it was now time for our 10th and final ride on Thunder Mountain. I’ve got to say, seeing so many Disney coasters so high up on my "most ridden" list is a bit odd. Trips to Disney parks are (or used to be) such a rare treat. To have 45 rides on the current Space Mountain here, 38 on Thunder Mountain, and even 24 on California Screamin’ reminds me how much these visits add up. (Yes, I keep track of how many times I ride each coaster. Don’t act like this surprises you.

Unfortunately our ride wasn’t in the cards, at least not yet. It was down, though supposedly efforts were being made to bring it back up. Since we were going to spend a little time in Fantasyland on the way to Space Mountain afterwards anyway, we jumped to that and considered our options. Thanks to the larger crowds, we’d really only done one really thorough tour of this area, and that meant just one ride on Mr. Toad, Peter Pan, and most regrettably, Alice. We didn’t have enough time to remedy that entirely, instead we decided on one last ride on Alice in Wonderland, and luck was on our side as the posted 30 minutes ended up being just half that. This remains my favorite "kid ride" in the park, even if they never address the unsightly ad-hoc safety walkway on the outside portion of the ride.

On the topic of kid rides, one of our earlier visits to the wait time board/information booth had us overhear a woman asking the cast member, and I quote, "Where are the rides for children?" She also added insult to injury with, "And where do I get my Fastpass?". The second question was easily answered with "At each ride." But I can only imagine how much the cast member wanted to respond to this woman, "You’re at freaking Disneyland, they’re ALL kid rides." While that’s obviously hyperbole, it goes to my point about people not doing even the most basic preparation. How does one spend all the time, money, and effort to get to Disneyland, and only once there, think about what they should do and how they should do it. Do these people not have the internet? These are the kind of people that still use a travel agent.

Time was dwindling, so we backtracked to Thunder Mountain, and smartly scouting things out from the Rancho Del Zocalo dining area. Oddly enough, the effort to get the ride up and running was audible as a voice over a loudspeaker described the location of various trains on the course and warned folks to be aware. We briefly considered filling in with other Fantasyland ride, but thought it would be better to wait things out here and hope for the best. There wouldn’t be time to ride this after Space Mountain, so we had to chance it.

Luck was on our side as we heard the voice say they were returning the scenes and lighting to show ready mode - an interesting insight into the inner operations of Disneyland - and that was our cue to head around the corner to the entrance. We timed it perfectly as we pointlessly cashed in our Fastpasses despite the fact that the standby line was all but empty. I think the cast members may have mocked us for it, but it saved us a few steps, if nothing else. Actually, it ended up being slower than standby, as that side of the station filled up first and dispatched a train, though we were shortly next out of the gate and taking in our nighttime circuit through the wilderness.

Since it wasn’t even 7:30pm yet, we had time for a short ride that had a short wait, and the only ride that fit that description (and was one we wanted to ride) was a second visit to Buzz Lightyear. Lightning most certainly did not strike twice as scores were down to their usual unimpressive levels. It was a bit anticlimactic to be honest. On the plus side we did pick up a charming souvenir for my newborn niece, though I hate to encourage a park for having ride exits through shops.

It all was leading to the capstone trip into space, but as I alluded to earlier, things would not go smoothly. First we saw the wait time and Fastpass return signs blanked out, a sure sign of a breakdown, and moments later we saw a huge crowd headed away from the queue. More than just hopeful riders being rebuffed, it was what had probably been a nearly full queue emptying back out the entrance.

That was not something I’ve seen before at a Disney park, and seemed a bit odd. Usually most parks will make you aware of a breakdown, attempt to estimate it, and leave the option of waiting or going up to guests. Disney is especially strict about their breakdowns, though kicking everyone out was new to us.

It was just past 7:30pm, and we had dinner reservations in 60 minutes. At a nice place. The kind of place where you show up on time. Doing the math, and even factoring in giving up what we’ve come to enjoy as a slow final walk down Main Street, it meant that we could wait until just after 8pm. That would leave us just enough time to get through the queue, ride the ride, and make our way down to and through the Grand Californian just in time.

We were already giving up the last 30-45 minutes of park time to be able to eat at a more pleasant hour, so we tried not to think about how this added onto that. Either way, we were again playing the waiting game, crossing our fingers for some final Disney magic to help us end our trip in style.

The clocked ticked down, and for once I was expecting the worst thanks to the unusual sight of the queue having been emptied. Folks still came up to the entrance to get the details for themselves, but for a good 15 minutes already, everyone was turned back. We’d gotten a spot on a bench and watched the Captain EO pre-show as we waited. Hey, if nothing else, this breakdown probably provided a temporary spike in its pathetic ridership numbers.

It was hard to not constantly glance up hopefully at the entrance. We were about halfway to our turnaround time. Suddenly there was some action, a few groups surged towards the entrance and even I was overeager as I sprang to my feet. It was opening. Like the night before, the wait was instantly posted at 30 minutes. We knew that was not the case, and even so we had Fastpasses in hand. Once to the entrance we passed the crowd of confused people who didn’t understand that even though the ride was running, they weren’t up to their redemption window.

We were, and we headed right for the mountain after climbing the entrance ramp. Here having Fastpasses in hand was an advantage, as they held the standby line for us to enter the building first. It was a bit of a surprise to see the ramp in the station mostly full - apparently they didn’t kick everyone out after all.

There’s no better way to end a visit on the iconic Space Mountain, and this version is coincidentally almost identical to the version in Tokyo, so there was that to look forward to. For all we know, that may be our next Disney ride. Our last one for this trip was another fantastic mix of themeing and thrill, and we walked out the exit completely satisfied with how things had worked out.

While that concluded the ride portion of the trip, we always try to schedule in some Disney-related fun at the very end: beers and pretzels after our day at Disneyland Paris, dinner at Epcot’s Café de Paris to finish up the visit to Disney World, and plenty of memorable meals on various final nights here at Disneyland. To help ease the transition back to stupid reality, and to do it in style, we planned on celebrating Valentine’s Day at Napa Rose, the premier fine dining option at the resort, and one of the finest in all of Southern California, if not beyond.

First we would make our exit from the Magic Kingdom. Through all the luck listed above, we were able to take our time as we strolled down Main Street. I took a moment to check on a couple Disneyland secrets - the supposedly rushed brick wall and audible piano lessons, both on the locker side of Center Street off the main strip. There was time to get a few postcards, (which of course would be sent a week after arriving home) and a passing viewing of the window displays outside the Emporium.

There wasn’t much time to dwell on our departure; we still had a major highlight ahead of us. The combination of our farewell meal with Valentine’s Day worked out perfectly. Napa Rose offered a special prix fixe menu, as well an official wine pairing - though at $45 for the latter, we were smart to pair our own wines by the glass. We made our way through Downtown Disney and into the Grand Californian, where the restaurant is found just off the lobby. The setting was impressive but refined, the real opulence was found in the thoughtful and mouth-watering options presented for our meals.

Megan started with a "lobster martini", which was something of a lobster salad presented in a martini glass, topped with a fried olive, and also had a hearts of palm salad. To drink she had a Viognier. I went with some pineapple chili glazed duck as a starter and a shrimp chili broth soup. My wine was a nice Meritage. Our entrees were sautéed john dory and lobster gnocchi for her, and a roasted filet mignon for me. She paired hers with a Grüner Veltliner and I had some great California Zinfandels, quite predictably.

Dessert was as decadent as one could hope for. Megan had the world’s fanciest s’more with marshmallow ice cream along with a glass of the Meritage I had earlier. I opted for the chocolate route with some fudge and hazelnut brittle dressed with irish cream. I paired it with a glass of tawny port, adding a great nuttiness to the chocolate.

All told it ended up being one of the best meals we’ve ever had, and certainly the most extravagant Disney dining experience, despite its stiff competition. The price tag was steep for sure, but this isn’t the kind of thing you do every day. We were glad to take advantage of the opportunity and we would worry about finances later.

After a momentary visit to the massive hearth in the lobby, it was an uneventful stumble back to our humble hotel, while we tried not to think about yet another short night of sleep. It was well past 11pm and the shuttle was scheduled for 6:45am. The alarms were reluctantly set for 6:15am.

We were quick to check out and the shuttle came as expected, getting us unceremoniously to the airport with plenty of time to spare before our 9:15am flight. It would have been entirely forgettable if not for the unfortunate bout of car sickness suffered by a little girl in a shared van. For better or worse, it didn’t seem like the first such incident endured by the family. There were no delays or hiccups in getting back home, and the afternoon was salvaged for work as planned.

And with that, we completed yet another successful and fulfilling Disney retreat. It was stunning to see crowds unlike those we’ve encountered here in years - still no concrete explanation of why, really. But what was even more remarkable was how little it impacted our enjoyment at any point. What we came away with was first-hand experience with Disney’s abilities to both handle crowds and still make any old guest feel like they had their run of the place. Not that we didn’t already know they could do it, we just rarely see how they’re really masters of it.

Thinking back is always a little bittersweet, but I’ve learned long ago that the best cure to any post-vacation malaise is to simply start planning the next one. Of course our calendar is starting to fill up with an exciting and busy 2011, and it’s even more exhilarating knowing that one of our possible excursions includes a visit to an entirely new Disney resort. Of course there will be hundreds of memorable moments from a trip to Japan, but it’s that much more exciting knowing, especially after leaving Disneyland for what may be quite some time, that a few of those moments will be oh so familiar despite being in such a faraway place.

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