Where's the Mouse? Day 7 - In Anaheim

[Guest]

Where’s the mouse day 7 – Magic Kingdom Anaheim

Thursday 1st September 2006-09-03

Dollr Bill and Jools.

Written by Jools, posted by Bill.


After a good night’s sleep we were up and ready for our first proper assault on the MK in Anaheim. We had a snack breakfast in Starbucks in the hotel before setting off for the resort bus. Our luck was in as the bus was waiting at the stop. We were at the park entrance within 5 minutes (made sure we were at the right park this time) and we in the park very quickly, just as rope drop occured.

We walked up Main Street and got our first view of Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

We turned left at frontierland and quickly came accross the Junge Cruise. We think we may have done this on our very first visit to WDW in 1995 but are not certain of this. We went on the ride. Now I know this gets ridiculed on this and other boards but we thought it was an absolute hoot. We loved it because it was so funny. The tour guide really hammed it up and the whole experience was fantastic.

From there we went to the Indianna Jones. We have definately not done this before. I had no idea at all what to expect and was a bit sared when I saw it involved going in Jeep things as I could hear people screaming. “Don’t worry it’s just like The Mummy” said my unkind other half. Anyway we did the ride, got flung about a lot and thankfully it was nothing like the Mummy! We then did “Pirates” which like the Orlando attraction has been updated to include Jack Sparrow. This was great fun. We then did Big thunder Mountian and it was still only 10am. We reckoned 4 rides in the space of an hour was really good.

We walked around a bit untilwe found the Haunted Mansion. This was also good fun, quite different from the Orlando attraction, not better or worse just different scenes inside.

We then went to Tomorrowland. Bill was keen to go on Space Mountain but I wasn’t so sure. In the end we gave it a miss. We went on Star tours and were seated in the front row.

There was a man and a woman behind us who insisted on talking on a mobile phone. All we could hear was “HELLO, HELLO YOU ARE BREAKING UP, YES YES WE ARE ON A RIDE”.This really was most annoying and in my opinion very rude.

We then went to the Innoventions Plaza. This is housed inside the revolving building which once housed Carousel of Progress before it was moved to WDW. Innoventions started off with a fitness demonstration which was quite amusing. However, I could see the sides of the place revolving and the ground was also moving which made me feel really sick and dizzy so we made a quick exit. I was OK after a short sit down in the shade with some bottled water to drink.

I had read about an attraction at the Opera House on Main Street. – “Disneyland; the first 50 years” and I was really keen to see it, so off we went to Main Street. Now this attraction was fabulous. The best thing in the park for me. It showed Walt’s original scetches of what the park would be like and also had lots of old photographs, drawings, tickets and the history of the rides that remain as well as those no longer there. There was also a film presented by Steve Martin who used to work in the Magic Shop on Main Street in Disneyland.

It was 1pm by the time we finished looking at The first 50 years, and we headed out of the park in search of some lunch. We went to DTD, had a look to see what was on offer and settled on Tortilla Joes, which is a Mexican restaurant. We both hd fajitas – chicken for me and steak for Bill. It was scorching hot by the time we came out of the restaurant so we went backto the hotel for our afternoon swim. As this was the start of the Labour day weekend the hotel was becoming quite full and so was the pool area. Still very pleasant though.

Later on we went backto the room and after showering I went down to the lobby to get a coffee from Starbucks (yum yum vanilla latte!). I shared the lift with 6 priests/vicars and two of them were wearing Crocs (I kid you not). I felt like I was in a scene from Father Ted and wondered if it was a fancy dress thing they were going to or if it was for real. It turned out there was a Jesus Convention on at the hotel so it was for real – Crocs an all!

We had intended going back into the parks that evening as they were open until midnight, but when we saw the lines at the bag search and then again at the gate we changed our minds. It had been really quiet during the day but it was going to be heaving that night. Again we went into DTD and looked for somewhere to eat.

We came accross a place called the “Jazz Kitchen” which had a burger on the menu so we went in there. We were taken upstairs to be seated and as soon as we were I remarked to Bill that it did not seem like a burger place as it seemed pretty high brow for lowlife like us. There were crisp tablecloths on every table and everyone was smartly dressed. Our server was nice enough and Bill asked for the burger. She explained that was on the lunch menu only and would he like to select an alternative? It was mostly Seafood which neither of us like, or steak. I ordered the New York Strip (well done please) with garlic mash and Bill ordered 2 starters rather than a main course – French onion soup and garlic bread with cheese. We both enjoyed our meal and I was pleased Bill had not ordered steak, as mine was not well done as requested, but was quite bloody in the middle. I ate it anyway, and it was very tasty, but I know Bill would have sent it back.

We then had a walk around DTD and got the (very full) bus back to the Anaheim Hilton. As I mentioned earlier there was a Jesus convention on and they must have just finished for the day as we returned to the hotel. We thought at first that the lifts must be out of order as there were so many guests returning from the parks, as well as men and ladies of the cloth waiting for the lifts. The lifts were working, they were just very busy so we sat in the lobby and waited for the crowds to clear before taking the lift to the 7th floor and to our room. We got into bed soon after and were soon zzzzz. We were rudely awakened at 1pm by a couple of very noisy American women discussing at length their breakfast arrangements for the following morning. I reached for my ear putty (fabulous American ear plugs) and wondered if one of them was the woman who had been shouting into the phone on Star Tours?

Tomorrow – we find Irvine (not the little Scottish town where Bill was born but Irvine California).

[Cinders Mum]

another fantastic day ...

rolling on the floor at the mental image of the priests in crocs ...!

[Bob_and_Dawn]

What a great day Bill and Jools. Lots of exciting new things to do at the park.

Jools it's a good job you didn't have Bill and Bob in that lift with you with the priests... can't believe they were wearing croc (what colour and have YOU bought some?)

Thanks

Dawn

[Guest]

Another good day - did you think the drop on POC was bigger than in Orlando? LOL at the priests/vicars and the crocs!

[highlander447]

Another good day

[Michelle]

Lovely photos

LOL don't get me started on well done steaks

[dcmax]

Do space mountain, its slightly different , has a hammed up 60s techno soundtrack and you sit side by side at least, so you can hold on to each other .. Did you notice the huge difference in length in Pirates as well (like the french version its far longer than the orlando one) and the fact most of the rides actually leave the boundaries of the park in subtle ways so you dont notice..

Have not noticed any mention of Fantasmic yet, the best and ultimate version but pick a good spot. Visit TSawyers Island first and try to figure out where everythings hidden and where the lighting rigs must be hidden in New Orleans square.

PS cnt praise CATAL enough if your looking for a good restaurant in DTD

[Guest]

A great day. Pity you don't have a photo of the priests in their Crocs.

[Jools]

Originally Posted by dcmax

Do space mountain, its slightly different , has a hammed up 60s techno soundtrack and you sit side by side at least, so you can hold on to each other .. Did you notice the huge difference in length in Pirates as well (like the french version its far longer than the orlando one) and the fact most of the rides actually leave the boundaries of the park in subtle ways so you dont notice..

See more...

Bill was keen for us to do Space Mountain because of the sitting side by side thing. He reckoned he's only hear my screams in one ear that way. Yes the Pirates was far longer (as you say like the French one). I hadn't noticed the rides go outside of the park boundaries.

We never got to see Fantasmic. It was cancelled the other night due to high winds. We are on our way back to Vegas today so we'll miss it. I really do thinkk we'll return to California though. Maybe next time?

[Jools]

Dawn,

I was relieved I was alone in the lift with the vicars, but really wasn't sure if they were for real or not (mainly due to the Crocs). Thank goodness (or should that be thank God) Bill and Bob were not there! The Crocs were black. It would have been even more surreal if they had been brightly coloured. There were loads of Croc wearers in the parks where I spotted a huge range of colours!

No I have not bought any.

Jools xx