California dreaming, screaming and still beaming :) Day 16

[Cyclospora]

08/08/08 (Second Attempt! )

Start of the Olympics today so we were hoping that the parks might quieten down a bit when the opening ceremony was on?

He caught the shuttle bus at 7:30am as Disneyland was opening at 8am today. I have never been to the opening in Orlando but from Dibbers descriptions I gather that the characters appear too. This didn't happen at Disneyland. In fact hardly saw any characters all day!

I've made some amendments to day 15 when writing Day 16 - as I realised that I had 2 rides in the wrong park!

The other thing that I was slightly disappointed in was the castle!



Not very imposing is it? Here's a better view:



The first ride we went on of the day was Space Mountain! Brilliant! It was like going through the "star screensaver" if you know what I mean - or the title credits of Dr Who (older version! ) Loved it! All stars and no track visible! And you sit in seats of 2 instead of toboggan style - much easier to get out of and more comfy!

We then went to the Matterhorn which was VERY uncomfortable and rickety! I think you would only go on that again for nostalgic reasons -I wouldn't! Also - the queue was huge.

It was after this that I remembered that I hadn't made an ADR for the Blue Bayou which is a restaurant partly inside Pirates of the Caribbean and the boats go past the diners just after boarding - like Mexico in EPCOT. Tried for a table but all full - lunch and evening. Serves my right! Went on Pirates though.

Did most of the other rides including Pinocchio and Snow White (quite scary for little ones!), Star Tours, Buzz, BTMR and got drenched on Splash Mountain!

Didn't manage to get anywhere near Nemo or Indiana Jones and so decided to go back to hotel ro recharge batteries.

Went to Cap'n Kidd's (across from the park) for a buffet lunch/tea. It was awful!

Planned to have a dip in the hotel pool but the one near our tower was out of bounds as a conference had booked it and the other one was too full to enjoy!

Caught the shuttle back to the parks at about 6 and decided to go to California Adventure to do out favourite rides again. It was open until 9 - Disneyland was open until 12 - but we heard that people start leaving after the fireworks which were due at 9:30.

We did California Screaming and Soarin as single riders and we also went on HTH. Then it was back to Disneyland.



The queue for Indiana was still an hour so we went on Pirates again and were at a good spot for Fantasmic.

We went to get a good place for the fireworks - but were told they were cancelled because of wind! Tried Indie again - but there were tech problems this time.

The queues were getting bigger if anything! We went to Honey I shrunk the Audience (for a kip!) and then had a last attempt at Indie - which was now working - but had a queue of an hour again! In desperation to do 1 last ride... we ended up on the Jungle Cruise! In the dark... STILL with the bad jokes!

We went for a coffee in Main Street to recover and caught the shuttle back to the hotel.



I think I was a bit off sorts today as I didn't take many pics and I didn't go exploring as much as I should have - didn't even walk through the castle!

DS had 2 comments about his T shirt today - 1 from a CM. Apparently it is an "Awesome" T shirt! It's got a logo of a computer game called Portal apparently!

[Guest]

Lovely photos

[WTP]

Sounds like you had a lovely day. I can see what you mean about the castle. It only look a short one. Is it really like that - short and stumpy? I have enjoyed reading your reports. Thanks for taking the time to write them and sharing your fabulous photos.

[Cyclospora]

Originally Posted by WTP

Sounds like you had a lovely day. I can see what you mean about the castle. It only look a short one. Is it really like that - short and stumpy? I have enjoyed reading your reports. Thanks for taking the time to write them and sharing your fabulous photos.

See more...

Yes it is quite short and stumpy!

Thank you for your kind comments - only 1 full day (Block at Orange, Crystal Cathedral and DTD) and the departure day (Santa Monica and Venice Beach on the way to the airport) to write up. Probably tomorrow!

[Sarah84]

Originally Posted by WTP

Sounds like you had a lovely day. I can see what you mean about the castle. It only look a short one. Is it really like that - short and stumpy? I have enjoyed reading your reports. Thanks for taking the time to write them and sharing your fabulous photos.

See more...

Had to agree with this comment, its really nice when people take the time to write reports and share their lovely pics
I have really enjoyed reading this trippie too, sad to see it coming to an end.

[LizzyBear]

The castle does look very small, I guess the Matterhorn is more the main 'landmark' in DL I don't know what Portal is but i'm sure my bf does

[Strommie]

I was surprised by the castle too when we went, it's still lovely though. We weren't keen on the Matterhorn either

[Michelle]

This is the main reason for me for heading over the West Coast, just can't wait to go to Disneyland.

[Bellestar]

Disneyland looks great i know what you mean about the castles, each castle is mean't to be a different princesses am i right? Florida does have the best..

[Dizzy]

Is it the norm in DL that there aren't many characters around? I will be disappointed if so...I accept the park is not WDW but I still wanted to see the characters
Thanks for the report and photos