Adventures in Public Transport:The Return - Day 15 - Disneyland Park

[Disney Wishing]

After such a lazy day yesterday we were up at 6.45am this morning, recharged and ready to go. We got ready and packed up the last few things before heading down to check out and dropped our bags off with bell services. We headed through security and DTD and got the the DL park at 8.40am where they were already letting people in.

Our aim this morning was to tackle some of the things we still hadn’t rode in Fantasyland first. So we headed up main street and waited near the rope at the partners statue ready for the Peter Pan Dash. At 9am when they officially opened the park we joined in the speed walk to the right hand side, over the drawbridge and into the Peter Pan queue, we weren’t at the front but further forward then last year so we’re learning. I do love the ride but I wouldn’t queue the normal 45 minutes for it.

We were finished with the ride by 9.20am so we headed to Dumbo next, followed by the Carousel for DH and DS (Sadly this give me motion sickness). DS was pleased with himself to get Jingles, as rode by Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks and apparently Walt’s favourite horse. While I was waiting for them Peter Pan was out wandering around. He was playing games with the children and pulling funny faces behind parents back. It was very funny.

After finishing the Carousel Alice and the Mad Hatter were out doing meet and greets so we joined the short queue for them.

From here we headed into Toontown where we popped in to say Hello to Mickey and then DS rode goofys sky school twice as there was no queue. We popped in the gag factory shop as DS wanted some Tsum Tsums and they always seem to have a good selection here. After a quick meet with Goofy we had finished all we wanted to here so hopped onto the train at the Toontown Station around to New Orleans Square.

By now it was coming up 11am and as we had skipped breakfast we decided a snack break was in order. We decided to try some Disneyland classics so headed to the Mint Julep Bar where we order some beignets and a mint julep to share. We got three of the original powdered sugar ones and three of the special edition blueberry ones. Both were delicious but be warned the blueberry ones leave your tongue a vivid share of blue!

Next on our plan was to ride the Columbia but as the Mark Twain was in dock we had a little wait. We decided to use the time to grab some Thunder Mountain fast passes. At 11.32am we got a return time of 11.10 -12.40am. This worked out perfect as once we had finished on the Columbia we rode Thunder straight away.

We discussed giving the Canoe’s a go but by now the sun had broken through so we decided a ride on splash mountain was more in order. At 12.24pm we managed to get fastpassses for 12.40 to 1.40pm so we took a ride on Winnie the Pooh while we waited.

Suitability cooled off we headed to the Hungry Bear for some lunch. The balcony area was boarded up on our visit last year so it was nice to see it as it should be.

Once lunch was finished we headed over to the Magical Map Show. This was the fist time we had seen this and it was really good. The stage is pretty clever and I loved the choice of songs used.

By now it was just gone 2.30pm and getting even hotter so we headed to main street to look through the shops and enjoy the air conditioning for a bit. We were still looking for a christmas ornate as we get one every year but hadn’t found one on DTD the day before. We managed to choose that and also found a lovely new book based on the maps of Disney parks.

The Disneyland band were out playing a set in the Town Square so we stopped to watch then for a bit before heading into Great Moments with Mr Lincoln. Before you go in there is a small museum part that I had no idea was there. There were some interesting bits and pieces in there along with a model of the opening day park. We got chatting to some lovely cast members who told us some more about some of the items. With looking around and watching Great Moments with Mr Lincoln we were a good 45 minutes or more.

Once we were finished here we headed out the park and walked to the Paradise Pier Hotel which was to be our hotel for the last two nights. We thought we would give this a go to see the difference between this and the Disneyland Hotel and as our last two nights were a Friday & Saturday it was a lot cheaper rate than the Disneyland. We got checked in and were given room 611. We collected our cases from bell services as the Disneyland Hotel had sent them over for us.

We unpacked a few things and relaxed for a bit before heading back out to the parks around 6.45pm. We picked up a fastpast for Star Tours (at 19.16pm we got a return of 8.15-9.15pm) before heading to Plaza Inn for dinner. DS and I went for the fried chicken and DH went for the pot roast. All excellent and very very filling.

Once we were finished we rode Autopia first before headed to use our FP for Star Tours. DS decided to spend some birthday money add a few more build a droids to his collection on the way out of the ride.



We noticed the queue for Nemo was fairly low so decided to ride this. Its a cleverly done ride but takes up quiet bit of time especially if the line is long so we had this on our maybe list.

With most of the stuff we wanted to done and as we were right by the monorail we decided to head out the park. So that was the end of another fun Disney day.

[Melbatb]

Wow - you did so much! And used the fastpasses well too! What did you think of the new hotel compared to the DL one?

[Disney Wishing]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Wow - you did so much! And used the fastpasses well too! What did you think of the new hotel compared to the DL one?

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A bit mixed. The rooms were refurbishment before the Disneyland had its last refurb so there a bit more wear and tear showing and it doesn't have the grounds that the DL has. The Disneyland is more elegant where as Paradise Pier is more fun. That said the pool area was still good with a waterslide and very comfy sunbeds, towel service and drink etc and the walk to the parks wasn't much further. We went for a standard room which overlooked the pool but the park facing rooms have an outstanding view (for an extra cost of course). You get a taster of this view from the glass lift and walkways.

[mrsdjh]

Always nice to try out a different hotel for a night or two to see if you like it. Do you think you would stay there again?