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Old 11 Sep 08, 05:19 PM  
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ali-s
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California without a car Day 14

California without a car Day 14 Anaheim Aug 22nd


So, today my itinerary says Disneyland, all day. Well, that's not going to happen ! I have come up with a cunning plan that will enable us to do the rides we've missed while being in the parks for as little time as possible.
We leave the hotel at 9.30am, arriving at California adventure just before opening. On entering, we power walk towards Toy story ( or should I say, the beginning of the line for Toy Story, as they are in 2 different places ! )DS9 is complaining of a stitch in his side, I tell him he'll have plenty of time to recover when we are stood in line ! Even first thing in the morning, the Toy Story line stretches right around the pier, but at least it's moving ( later in the day this line is at a stand still in the full sun, there's very little shade for the 'overflow' queueing area ) I leave DH and the boys in line, and hurry off to get fast passes for California Screamin, when I return, the line has moved about 30ft. It takes about 45 mins before we are being seated in our
cars, we enjoyed this ride, it's sort of 5 games in one, with the car stopping infront of each game . You shoot balls, darts, hoops etc at your targets to get points. I was with DS12 and we were aiming and firing - going for accuracy to hit as many targets as possible. DH and DS9 were seated behind us ( back to back ) and we could feel the car rocking as they went hell for leather firing their guns at anything that moved. If you want points, that's the method to go for- they both scored over 300,000 each, making DS12's and my scores of 80,000 look rather pathetic ! DS9 asked if we could ride again, I pointed to the now even longer line, and he changed his mind !







Over to california screamin to use our fast passes, this is still good, but feels slower and tamer after the coasters at Six flags and knotts, it was almost relaxing !

We leave the park now,I love the mosaics/murals just inside the entrance,various places in California are depicted, but everyone seems to walk past them, I insisted we stop so I could take a few photos.




As we leave, DS12 is behind us at the exit and holds out his hand for a hand stamp, we haven't bothered ( we never do - in all the park hopping we did in orlando, we never got hand stamps ) but DS12 acquires a luminous yellow blob on his hand, he has no idea what it's for, but he's quite pleased with it ! We cross over no mans land to Disneyland , here you can see just how close the parks are, Disney is on the left, California adventure to the right.Ignore the slope, that wasn't the ground, that was me after my Mint julep ( see later ! )



At Disneyland we meet our first disney jobsworth.It's all very pleasant as me, DS9 and DH go through the turnstile, as DS12 goes through, jobsworth notices his hand stamp and calls us back, where's our stamps? I tell her, we didn't bother as we have no intention of returning to California Adventure- expecting to be waved on our way, instead we get a lecture on the rules regarding hand stamping, and how EVERYONE leaving a park should get their hand stamped if they are planning on going into another park anytime that day, and how would she know if these were our tickets ( um, they're signed ? )etc etc, while she is lecturing us, I'm watching dozens of people who've walked across from california adventure and are entering Disneyland-
including the family who were beside us at the turn stiles, and none of them have had their hand stamped,and no one is being stopped. I can't be bothered pointing this out though, so I give her my best 'go swing' glare and off we go, but it leaves a sour taste and spoils our first few minutes in the park.

We go straight to Splash Mountain, it's about 11.30 now and the stand by wait is 25mins, we get in line and I think it takes every minute of the 25 posted, I love this ride at orlando, I think it sums up what Disney is all about, fun for the whole family and brilliant theming. For some reason, it seems to lose it's magic in Disneyland. The theming is almost the same, except for the paddle steamer bit at the end.It all falls a bit flat,and I'm alittle disappointed I didn't enjoy it so much, but at least we've ridden it.



Over to Space Mountain now, we aren't riding, the standby line is already over our limit ( think it was almost an hour ) but we get fast passes to use when we return this evening, they are timed 4.05-5.05, but remember, you can ignore the latest return time.


We leave Disneyland now, making a big show of getting our hands stamped - the guy at the exit didn't even offer to stamp us, we had to ask ! We turn right and enter Down town Disney.Now in Orlando, this is a mini town in it's own right, in Anaheim it's more like one street ! it's very compact and again, the theming is almost non existent.



We wander around the World of Disney store, this still has enough 'departments' for us to lose our way, DS9 is shopping for pressies for his friends, he finds some mini torches with a spinny thing on top, but wants to have a look around before buying, can we find the damn things again ? can we heck, we even have the staff join in a search, though one,when I ask her , politely, but honestly tells me, 'sorry Ma'am, I have no idea what you are talking about ' ! which I thought was quite funny coming from a disney employee.We never found the torches and DS ends up buying pens for his friends.

Lunchtime now and I have perused menus on the web and decided we are eating at Ralph Brennans Jazz cafe, luckily DH doesn't have his glasses with him, so has no idea that this menu contains 'unpronouncable, unidentifable' stuff !I have no idea what he eventually ordered, but it took him ages to decide- asking
me 'do I like that ?' at whatever I suggested ! The boys didn't fare too well either, DS12 was given 'proper' chicken again, much to his disgust, DS9 had his fail safe- fruit and ice cream. I had the most delicious 'catfish sliders' , little mini fish burgers, about 4 on a plate , served with mangoslaw, absolutely gorgeous, and as it was such a small portion, I actually managed to clear my plate ! Rather expensive though at $17 I also had my first Mint Julep, served in a large 'pint size' glass, it wasn't the usual 'splash of alcohol' drowned with soda/juice, this one, you could smell the boubon from across the table ( or so DH told me ) I wa barely a third of my way through it before I began to feel the 'benefit' ! I'm not a big drinker, and how I managed to walk in a straight line afterwards, I don't know. Certainly improved my mood though!



Back to the hotel now,I put a load of laundry on and then we spend a few hours in the pool playing tag with the boys( well, DH just sits by the pool and reads- he still manages to get his towel sopping wet, don't know how he does it ! )think I'm sober again by the time we're through.
We sit in the room watching trashy cartoons ( the boys have added 'Family Guy ' and 'Adult swim' to their favourites, not sure they're intended for viewing by 9yr olds, but I think the subject matter is way too 'abstract' to cause much damage - I mean, talking french fries, talking dogs and a disturbed toddler genius? someone was not on this planet when they wrote it !

About 8pm, we head back to disneyland, we try to show our hand stamps to the guy at the turnstile, but he gives us a strange look and waves us through without checking them, so much for 'jobsworth', the fireworks start at 9.25 and we allow just enough time to get something to eat ( icecream sundaes in the Gibson Girl place )and get a decent space at the end of Main st to watch the fireworks. DH is all set with the camcorder, when an announcement is made ' due to winds at higher altitudes, tonights fireworks may be cancelled'. I don't dare look at DH, this is just what he's been afraid of- missing the fireworks , I promise if we don't see them tonight, we will come back tomorrow evening, thank goodness we've got 5 day hoppers. 10 mins later, the lights go down, a cheer goes up , and the fireworks begin. The theme seems to be 'history of Disneyland' with lots of clips of narration from the rides and attractions with music thrown in, it all seems a bit disjointed and the fireworks are nowhere near as good as Wishes, DH gets it all on film, but I have no burning desire to watch
it again - sort of somes up my feelings towards Disneyland !



Fireworks over, we head against the rather large crowd ( why is everyone always going in the opposite direction ? )to Space Mountain to use our fast passes, to our horror, they are experiencing technical difficulties and ask us to return later, they also comment on DH's 'Awesome' Alcatraz shirt, as we exit,Eagle eyed DS9 notices the 'wait times' display come on,it's working ! we about turn and enter the fast pass line - getting another 'Awesome shirt' comment from the same CM ! this guy either has the memory of a goldfish or sees so many people they all look the same !

Space mountain is OK, not as rough maybe, as the one in MK, the seating in the cars is side by side, rather than in a row, I think this ride has been recently refurbished, but I'm not impressed by the 'stars ' we fly past, why couldn't they have thrown in a few planets or milkyways to add interest ?and the 'stars' looked yellow- I thought stars were white ? O.K, I know I'm being picky.



I have mentioned the 'Finding Nemo' sub ride to the boys, suggesting that late evening is going to be the best time to ride it, we wander over to have a look, a cm tells us the wait time is 50 mins ( this was actually quite good- I've heard that the wait times in the day average 1 1/2-2hrs) but no, the boys refused to queue, I'm sure it was the name of the ride that put them off, so I didn't get to ride in a sub and say hi to Nemo, I was surprisingly not bothered ! ( this would have been cause for a minor sulk in Orlando ! )

We watch a very 'Undisney' group perform nearby - Reunion they were called, and even DH commented that ' this isn't like disney' they were more rock than pop, very loud and very good !

We say a final goodbye to Disneyland, we won't be returning to this park, and head back to the hotel.

Tomorrow, Beach Bus Tour - Yippee !
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Edited at 08:19 PM.
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Old 12 Sep 08, 10:04 AM  
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Another amusing trippie

You don't sound that taken with Disneyland, any particular reasons? Did your feelings for it improve after the mint julep!
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Old 12 Sep 08, 12:54 PM  
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I think you've summed up how we felt about Disneyland with your comment about Splash Mountain! "It falls a little bit flat!"

Preferred Space mountain in DLC though!

Great pics again.
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Old 12 Sep 08, 02:50 PM  
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I agree with you about your comments on Disneyland. WDW is still the main one for me.

Another fantastic day with lovely photos.
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Old 12 Sep 08, 05:12 PM  
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Another great day! Love the photos!
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Old 13 Sep 08, 05:37 PM  
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Aww Ali, I am so looking forward to visiting DLR. I really hope I can feel the magic as much as I do at WDW.
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Old 21 Sep 08, 03:30 AM  
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Hmm I'd better make sure we get our hands stamped when we leave one park for another then Another really good report with great photos. Thnak you
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Old 30 Sep 08, 10:44 PM  
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Much as I loved Disneyland, I never felt the magic as much as I do at WDW. Maybe it's because I am more familiar with WDW. Anyway, I have been agreeing with a lot of your comments.
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Old 16 Nov 08, 06:48 PM  
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Hmmmmmm at least we are prepared for the fact that we won't get that wow factor that we have in Orlando. Luckily there is a whole lot more to see and do and Disney will be one tiny part of our holiday.
Thanks ali
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Old 7 Feb 11, 01:45 PM  
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sorry you didnt enjoy Disneyland that much. Greta piccies though. Looking forward to experiencing it and comparing it to WDW, which I adore.
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