Brett & Jo's Pilgrimage to Where it All Began: Day 4 - Disneyland at Last!

[Happyhaunt1000]

Hello, hello, hello… and here we are again!

We’ve made it to the main reason for this trip and the day I’ve been looking forward to most… it’s our first day at the Disney parks!

So are you sitting comfortably?
Then I’ll begin…

Even though I’d set an alarm for 6:45, I don’t need it as I’m wide awake at 6am. Considering everything that went on yesterday, I’m surprised that I’m feeling bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at this ungodly hour, but I’m not knocking it. Jo is still sound asleep but at around 6:30 she wakes up. Today is the day that we finally get to set foot in Disneyland for the first time. We’re both really excited and full of energy this morning.

Having packed our smaller suitcase the previous night, we’re both pretty relaxed and not in a rush as our cab isn’t coming until 7:45 to take us to the Disneyland Hotel. (Oh, if only every morning felt this calm!)

I’ve made no mention in my voice memo of eating anything for breakfast, but thinking back I might have had a Ding Dong, as I’m sure there was a lone one floating around the room somewhere and I wouldn’t have left it to go off! At 7:40 (on time for once) we’re leaving our room and heading down to the car park.

We were expecting Madan to be there, but after his long day/late night with us yesterday he’s sent his son instead. He doesn’t have quite the same charm that his dad does… or seem to share his need for footwear, as he’s driving barefoot! I can’t help but notice how massive his big toe nail is! It looks like the head of a shovel!



At just before 8am we’re pulling up to the DLH drop off point, and there sitting on the benches looking a little worse for wear are Jon and Lisa. I should clarify… Jon was looking worse for wear… Lisa was looking lovely as always.

I get out of the cab, grab our case and in Jon’s direction let out a rather noisy call/shout of “‘ello boy!” He chuckles but I can tell he’s in pain. We learn very quickly that yesterday’s drinking of copious amounts of alcohol has had an effect on young Jon. Bless him… he’s feeling very fragile this morning.

Did I feel sorry for him?
Did I offer words of comfort?
Or did I just say “that is what you get for drinking with the big dogs… go Team Harding!”?
I’m sure those of you familiar with me from reading my TRs will know that of course it was the third option!

The plan had been to drop off our suitcase into J&L’s room then collect it later tonight and check in. Jon suggests heading to the front desk to see if they did have a room available for us. So we do, and they did! The CM at reception puts us in a room just a few down the corridor from J&L and we make our way to the lift and head up to the 5th floor. It’s always (well, hopefully) a nice moment when you open a door to your new hotel room… but that feeling is multiplied when it’s in a Disney hotel! And with this being ‘the’ Disneyland Hotel, I’m even more excited to see the inside of the room in person.

Now I’ve said loads of times that I’m not one for fancy hotels and all I need is somewhere to rest my head at the end of a long day in the parks. And that is still the case. BUT… this was a really nice room. A lot of space, a nice view of the pool and two huge beds. The thing I loved most though was that the beds have all these little LED lights in the headboard, and when you press a button they light up and you hear the song ‘A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes’. It wasn’t an actual recording of the song, but instead sounded like when you open up a fancy jewellery box with a ballerina inside and it plays a little tune. Even for someone as miserable and angry as me, I think my heart melted a little!





But it’s our first day in the parks… so let’s not waste it in the hotel room, (even though it is lovely) it’s time to have some fun! We head downstairs and begin the 10minute walk to the front of Disneyland.



We get there and are faced with huge wait lines outside the gates! Turns out it’s not only those staying at the Disney Hotels that get to go into the park early! I can’t remember the exact details of who and why they were allowed in, but it clearly didn’t apply to everyone, as a CM was telling two Japanese tourists in front of us that they weren’t allowed in yet and had to wait 30minutes as they didn’t have the right ticket and he had to tell them this about 5 times before they moved out of the queue. It was here that I noticed the first difference between CMs here and those at WDW, because he turned to another CM that was standing near him and said loud enough for us to hear “how many times did I have to say that? What was he… stupid?”

I know you get good CMs and bad CMs but there isn’t one incident from all our trips that leaps to my mind of where a CM was being anything other than professional and courteous at WDW, even in the face of sheer ignorance, stupidity or downright rudeness from park guests. You’d think that CMs on the gate would have to have the patience of saints dealing with the everyday idiot who can’t remember which finger they used when they first registered the ticket… or doesn’t know how to insert a ticket into a machine to gain entrance. Clearly the Japanese guy didn’t speak or understand English very well at all, but the CM (at 8:30 in the morning) was already acting like a grade-A c**kwomble. We obviously go through without a problem and finally we’re in the park! Yahooooooooooo







(Before I continue, obviously this is the first time me and Jo have been to DL… so I warn you now, I know I’m going to be comparing a lot of the rides/parks with WDW and DLP as we did a lot of that whilst we were there.)

As we walk under the Main Street Station and into the park, the shops immediately as you enter are not quite the same as those in either WDW or DLP. Everything about the park feels the same… but also a little different. One thing that isn’t different is that people still fall over because they aren’t looking where they’re going and inevitably trip up, or fall down the kerbs! (Should I feel bad for taking this picture?)







The town square itself looks like those of WDW and DLP, but as you get to the top of Main Street you get to see the castle for the first time… and without wanting to sound like a real miserable sod, I was a little underwhelmed! I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I was expecting more.


Marc Davis’ window on Main Street









Cinderella Castle obviously has the size, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle in DLP is very ornate… but this was neither. Being the Disney history nerd that I am, I know Walt wanted it so that the castle couldn’t been seen until you were actually in the park and there on Main Street… he wanted there to be that moment of wonder as you saw it for the first time, but I guess I’ve been spoilt by numerous WDW holidays and I don’t get that feeling when I see this one for the first time.

I can see straight away though just how heavily DLP is based upon DL. Just from seeing Main Street alone, it’s quaint, ornate and there appears to be a lot more greenery. Now I know that WDW has changed the way the Hub looks at Magic Kingdom, but I haven’t seen it yet, so I can only compare it to the MK I saw last, and the way I remember it was very sparse.

Now because we’re in for EMH they are herding the crowd down Main Street and you either go straight forward, through the castle and into Fantasyland, or right towards Tomorrowland. I’ve never experienced EMH at WDW but in DLP they don’t open Frontierland in the morning, so you have to head to Fantasyland or Tomorrowland, and it would seem the same thing is going on here.







On the right near TML (Tomorrowland) you can see the looming Matterhorn and I’m reminded that I won’t actually get to go on this attraction as it’s under refurbishment until a week after we leave… which I’m absolutely gutted about! We make our way to the Partners statue though and take a few early morning pics of that and the castle.















From here we walk through the castle, and to our right is Mr Toad’s Wild Ride. I’m fully aware this attraction was at WDW but when it was there, I never went on it. I know that Jon loves this attraction and seeing as I’ll be dragging his scared ass onto Space Mountain in a little bit, I think it would be nice to do an attraction that he loves first of all. The wait time says 10minutes, which is pretty acceptable.

The start of the queue is outside the building… and standing there you get a view of the DL version of Dumbo, which looks like it’s just been dropped in the park when they had a bit of space left over in Fantasyland!





A grown man has decided to plonk himself into the Mr Toad car that’s outside the attraction to wait for his family (we assume) and he’s not moving. Even when little kids come running up to the car and stare at him… he doesn’t move!











Inside the building, Jon spots this Hidden Mickey in the eye of the Mr Toad statue. Either he read up that it was there… or he’s done this ride a hell of a lot of times and he’s spotted it before. After a little less than 10 minutes me and Jo are climbing into our car and our first DL attraction is beginning.













For those who never got to experience the Mr Toad ride when it was at WDW, it’s a dark ride that reminds me of the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, minus the animatronics! Instead everything is 2D painted plywood! It’s an odd choice for a first ride, and when the 2 minute ‘wild ride’ is over, I’m struggling to see the attraction and affection people have for it. Maybe if you went on it a lot as a kid I could understand it from a nostalgia point of view… but because I wasn’t that kid and my first time on it was as a 39yr old, I’m not wooed by it in the slightest.

[Happyhaunt1000]

We leave Fantasyland and are now on our way to Space Mountain, and once again I see the similarities between DL and DLP in the buildings that we walk past in TML.

















When we get there we see the current wait time is 40minutes, but as very little else is open we decide to bite the bullet and wait. Jon is claiming that he’s not nervous about going on this, but I have a sneaky feeling that he is… just a little bit. To get into the Space Mountain building itself you have to go upstairs and onto a big concourse area where (for some reason) they are making everyone queue outside.











The wait is long and tedious with literally nothing to look at… but we’re just chatting amongst ourselves trying to make the time pass much quicker. I’m a September WDW visitor, so I don’t normally do 40min wait times. If it’s more than 20mins me and Jo have to decide how badly we really want to do the attraction… so having to wait 40mins during EMH first thing in the morning is a bit of a shock. It’s also an ominous sign of things to come with regard to wait times!

After about half an hour we reach the entrance to the building, and eventually we’re let through the door. I assumed that once we got into the building the long line would continue inside… but actually, there’s no queue at all! In fact, it’s not till we reach the loading area that we actually have to start queuing again.



















The ride vehicles for the DL version of SM are different to those in WDW, as you sit in twos, side-by-side, rather than in single file. If I was to hazard a guess as to why it’s different I’d say it was because they have the Matterhorn at DL which looks like it uses almost identical ride vehicles to the WDW SM.

We get into our seats and I’m heckling Jon non-stop (I’m sure he wanted to punch me at this point). I keep telling him to get his arms in the air and pull a muscle man pose for the camera… but he’s having none of it. Now, I’ve always heard people say that the DL version of this attraction is much better than the WDW version. But honestly, I thought they were much of a muchness. I failed to see how people can make a strong enough case for either of them. Now I’m thinking about it though… if I had to rate the attraction overall (including the vehicles and the building), I’d say WDW edges it for me.

When we get to the photopass booth and we all get to see exactly how scared John was while on the attraction!



Eyes screwed so tight it looks like he’s straining while having a poop, and hands holding on so hard that his knuckles are white! As you can imagine, he got a proper ribbing. I can’t remember the pork pies he was telling to try and explain what we were seeing in the photo… but I’m sure it was along the lines of “oh, I was just blinking at that point” and then something about following the safety rules! Whatever it was, the abuse carried on long after we left TML and was back in the Hub.

It was now a little after 10am and this meant the rest of the park was open… so we make our way through Frontierland to go and ride Pirates of the Caribbean.



































The look of the attraction building is obviously completely different to the one in WDW, as this one is located in New Orleans Square. There are two queues set up, one right and one left… but when you get to the doorway of the building, you’re just merged into the same line that leads to the loading area.

I’m not impressed by this… but what impresses me even less is the parenting skills of the people in front of us. There are four adults and three kids, and one of the kids is crying her eyes out and screaming “DON’T MAKE ME DO IT MUMMY… DON’T MAKE ME DO IT MUMMY!” This goes on right up until the point where we’re boarding the boat and the mother finally relents and takes the child outside!

I really wish she’d taken the other three adults in her group with her because they didn’t stop talking THE WHOLE WAY ROUND! I tried to not let it wind me up, but non-stop chatter on an attraction (especially when it’s your first time) is just as bad as flash photography.

Anyway, the ride itself is good. It has the bayou scene at the start where your boat lazily floats past the Blue Bayou restaurant (DLP has a version of this as well). The ride is a little longer than WDW but I still don’t feel like it has all the scenes in quite the right order. For me… the DLP version of POTC is the definitive version. It has all the scenes that DL and WDW has and it has everything in the right order to tell the story.

[Happyhaunt1000]

We’ve decided that Haunted Mansion will be our next attraction which means we get to walk through the rest of New Orleans Square. I really like this area, and make a mental note to come back here at night because I have a feeling that it’ll look amazing. I stop and take a quick picture of the entrance to the infamous Club 33 (oh, how I wish I knew how to get an invite to this place!)





















We’re walking past the Rivers of America on our right and they have not one but two boats that go around this stretch of water. One is the Mark Twain Riverboat (a paddle steamer, similar to the Liberty Bell at WDW) the other is an old fashioned piratey looking ship. It’s called the Sailing Ship Columbia and is cool as hell!







The ROA is also where they hold Fantasmic of an evening. We didn’t get to see that show but I can only imagine how packed this area gets when it’s on!

We arrive at the entrance for HM and the wait time is showing 20minutes. The line into the mansion is similar to how it used to be at WDW before they added the interactive queue, but the building is very much in keeping with the other building in the New Orleans themed area so very different to the one at WDW.

















Once inside, the stretching room and loading area are almost identical... the only real difference is that the stretching room actually does move! Unlike WDW, the DL stretching room is an elevator taking you down to the doom buggy loading area. The ride is also very similar to WDW, although it’s missing a couple of scenes (the library scene with the busts, and the staircases leading to nowhere). We pass by Madam Leota and then the ballroom scene… and then we’re in the attic… and I’m super excited. The reason for this excitement is the recent return of The Hatbox Ghost to the attic scene.

If you know who the Hatbox Ghost is and why his return is exciting then you can skip the next paragraph. If you don’t know, then carry on reading. So, the story goes, back in 1969 they had an animatronic figure who’s head was meant vanish and then appear in the hatbox he was carrying (hence the name). But the effect didn’t work properly as the head that was meant to vanish from his shoulders was still visible, thus spoiling the effect. It was then removed from the HM and the story of the HBG became folklore. But in recent years the push for the character to make a return has been huge… and for once, Disney listened to the fans and decided that with the upcoming 60th Anniversary of the opening of DL, the Hatbox Ghost (with new fully-working vanishing head) would be back.

As we weave our way through the attic we see the bride on the left, and then to the right, just as you leave the attic… there he is. I took as many pictures as the shutter on my phone would allow (I was also recording on my Go Pro strapped to my chest) and then we were past him and descending into the graveyard scene.

Once outside I checked the photos I’d taken and although they were ok, they weren’t great. Luckily though, Jon had also been taking pictures and his came out much better than mine.





I’m a huge Haunted Mansion fan, and love everything about the attraction… so comparing this version to the other two that I’ve experienced is hard. I really like the outside of the building… I think it’s as good as WDW, but I think Phantom Manor in DLP is even better. The actual attraction is shorter than WDW and has missing scenes… but it does have the HBG. (I wonder if WDW will ever get their own HBG). DLP version of HM is very different from both of the other versions, and may actually be my favourite of the three!

Once we’re outside in the land of foolish mortals, it’s time to decide what to do next. Me and Jo fancy Splash Mountain, but Jon isn’t feeling good. He’s still feeling pretty hungover from yesterday’s drinking exploits at Trader Sam’s. He seems to be the only one that’s really suffering so decides he’s not coming on. Lisa, doing her dutiful wife bit, stays with him so me and Jo make our way to the entrance.









It’s only showing a 10minute wait and I decide that now is the perfect time to do a quick VM about everything that’s happened so far this morning. The queue (which is almost identical to its WDW counterpart) moves quickly and it’s only a few minutes before we’re loading into our log.





Once again we have a difference in ride vehicles and unlike the side-by-side seats in WDW, we load into single file logs like Dudley Do Right’s at Islands of Adventure! Being the gentleman that I am, I go in front so that I might protect Jo from getting soaked (I’m good like that). I’m a big fan of Splash Mountain as it’s the only attraction that really sticks in my mind from my very first visit to WDW. The DL version (for me) does not come close to the WDW ride. There are areas where you’re going through a forest scene and there’s literally nothing there except the painted scenery. In Orlando there seems to be at least an animatronic or projection, no matter where you look.

What I did really like about the DL version is the drop into the laughing place… it kinda comes out of nowhere! One minute you’re turning the corner, the next you’re descending into darkness! Jo really liked the scene just before you make the climb for the final big drop. It has little animatronic mummy rabbits and mummy possums (as in mother, not dead and wrapped in bandages) singing a song to their kids about Old Br’er Fox and telling them to beware of him.

The final drop felt the same, but I didn’t get as wet. In fact I was pretty dry apart from a few drops on my shoulders. The big boat in the final scene has a lot of different characters/animatronics that WDW doesn’t have… my favourite of which being the ‘Jazz Hands Fox’.







Overall though, my heart is with the WDW version if only for constant entertainment you get all the way through the attraction.

J&L are waiting right outside the attraction and Jon looks even rougher! The boy ain't good! Me and Jo are getting a little peckish so grab a couple of churros.











I also grab this picture of Jon. If I had only snapped it a second earlier you would’ve seen the face of death… but he somehow manages to change his expression at the last second and he doesn’t look quite as bad.

Next for the group is the Indiana Jones Adventure – Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I say ‘group’… I should’ve said for the three of us, as Jon’s suffering even more now. He’s decided that he’s going to sit out this ride and instead plonks himself at a table opposite the attraction. So the three remaining intrepid explorers make their way to join the 20min queue for the ride.







Once again, the Cast Members seem to be keeping the queue of people outside the building, and we find ourselves winding back and forth through a line that’s meant to represent a dense forest. After 10minutes we’re at last in the building and it’s themed really well. It reminds me of line for The Mummy at Universal Studios. They have spikes poking down from the ceilings, messages on the wall about not setting off booby traps and staying off of the diamond shaped tiles on the floor. There are also some rather phallic looking rocks that both me and Lisa noticed, and then chuckled like children about!





















It’s taking longer than the predicted 20min wait, but it’s nice and cool inside and there’s plenty to look at as you move through the line. Finally though we’re by the loading bays and the vehicles are exactly the same as those used by the Dinosaur attraction at Animal Kingdom.

The story is that Indy is in a ‘forbidden temple’ and we’re down there with him… when obviously something gets awakened and we have to race to get out alive. You really do get thrown around a lot, and on this first go on this attraction, there’s so much going on and you go through so many rooms, I couldn’t take on board everything that was happening! I did come off thinking it was really good and wished that they would either give Dinosaur a major renovation, or (and this will never happen) they brought this ride to Orlando.

[Happyhaunt1000]

We come back outside into the sunshine and there, sitting exactly where we left him is Jon. As we approach I’m not even sure he’s alive… let alone awake! He looks like Bernie from Weekend at Bernie’s!



We enthuse over the attraction and say that he should’ve come on it, but straight away I can tell Jon’s feeling even worse than when we left him 30mins ago! It’s at this point I feel like I have to try and talk some common sense into him. He clearly isn’t feeling good, and the day is just getting hotter and hotter. So I suggest that he go back to the hotel and lay down for a bit. It might make him feel better getting a few hours’ sleep in an air conditioned room, and with very little resistance he agrees. I say to Lisa that she’s more than welcome to stay with me and Jo, but she says she’s going back with Jon. We agree to meet back by the Partners statue at 2pm and we bid them au revoir.

We decide to walk through Adventureland and have a little look at some of the merchandise they’ve got on offer… namely the cool retro mugs, plates and glasses. Any normal couple would think that taking home glassware and china was a ridiculous idea… but not Team Harding! We’re spotting so many cool things that we want to buy that in my head I’m already thinking we’re gonna need to buy another suitcase to get it all home. We don’t spend long window shopping and pretty soon we’re on our way to Big Thunder Mountain (stopping briefly to take pictures of all the cool Tiki statues outside the Enchanted Tiki Room).

















Unfortunately for us, BTM is down, so we keep on walking… not entirely sure where the path we’re on will lead us, but eventually finding ourselves at an area that’s similar to the ‘Affection Section’ at Animal Kingdom. It’s called the Big Thunder Ranch and there are goats and horses there… Jo instantly turns into a 6yr old child and gets all excited… but we’re not stopping.























I’d made a suggestion that we should head over to Disney’s California Adventure and have a wander round over there, so we’re currently making our way out through Main Street to the park exit.

Getting out of Disneyland and into Disney’s California Adventure takes less than 10 minutes. I find my eyes darting all over the place… trying to take in the details of this new park. I think my overwhelming thoughts as we walked down Buena Vista Street was how much it looked like DHS.





















We’re not really making our way towards anything in particular but very soon find ourselves at the Pacific Wharf area and looking out over the lake towards Paradise Pier. Instantly I fall in love with the look of this area. It’s one of those places I could spend a day just wandering around photographing the place from different angles and at different times of day. I fire off a handful of pictures straight away and then veer to right and carry on walking around to the PP area proper.













We walk past a huge building on the right and didn’t notice at first that it’s where the Little Mermaid attraction is housed. Obviously in MK the building (and area) is very much themed to the attraction. Well over here it isn’t! I don’t even ask Jo if she wants to go on it… instead choosing to speed up in the hopes she’ll just catch up to me.









We’re like meerkats glancing left and right as we walk, and we spot a place called the Corn Dog Castle. We’re both a bit peckish and decide to share a corn dog. It was ok… nothing amazing… but the few little bites we had filled a hole and we carried on round the Pier.

Now you may be thinking ‘why didn’t they get one each? It’s only a corn dog!’ Well, that’s true… but at this point we didn’t know if J&L would want to get lunch when we met up with them at 2pm, so we were erring on the side of caution. Not hungry, but peckish enough that two bites of a corn dog wasn’t going to do any damage.







Walking round to the opposite side of the boardwalk takes no time at all and pretty soon we’re standing beneath Mickeys Fun Wheel and again my mind goes to taking pictures of this and the rest of the area at night while it’s all lit up!

The wait time shows 20minutes and knowing that Jon has no interest in riding this we decide to get in line. You have a choice to make when queuing… go left and get in one of the static carriages, or right and get in a carriage that swings and drops as the wheel rotates. Of course we chose the right hand side!



After 10 minutes of queuing it was quite clear that this wasn’t a 20 minute wait as we’d hardly moved. Turns out it was more like half an hour, and even though it was a nice sunny day there was little to do except watch people load and unload which made it feel a lot longer.

Finally, it’s our time to get on and we’re ushered into a cabin with another couple. To me it seemed like they were on a first date, as the questions they were asking one another weren’t quite what you’d expect to hear from a couple that actually know each other very well. They could’ve been work colleagues, but there was just an awkwardness about them as if they’d only just met. (Jo seemed to think it wasn’t only a first date, but a blind date and they’d been set up by friends… she does love a back-story). Whatever their relationship, talking to one another clearly wasn’t as stimulating as they would’ve liked as they suddenly start a conversation with me and Jo.

I don’t recall what the woman’s first comment/question was, but as soon as she hears our accents she asks where we’re from… and then the normal line of questioning begins:
“How long are you here for?”
“Have you been before?”
“Do you like it?”
“Have you been to WDW?”
“What’s the weather like in the UK at the moment?”

Now as you’ll have no doubt gathered by now, I don’t suffer from Stranger Danger and have no problem speaking with people I don’t know. But, on this occasion, I really wished they’d carried on with their uncomfortable questioning of one another as I’d planned to take some pictures while we were at the top of the wheel… but because of the interrogation we’re currently in the middle of I don’t get to do that, and didn’t want to just leave Jo talking to them while I looked out the cabin and took photos.

Suddenly while in the middle of asking one of her questions, they cabin swings wildly and then drops a little bit! The woman must’ve forgot what side she’d queued up for because this takes her by surprise and she lets out this laugh/giggle/scream thing… which was almost as entertaining as the swing and drop itself! She then proceeded to make the make this noise of excitement every time the cabin did the same thing. I hope the guy who was with her made a mental note of that noise… because the way the date was going… I was pretty sure he wouldn’t be hearing that noise again any time soon!

Out of nowhere, the woman then says “oh, congratulations on the baby!”
WHAT… EY… ?
I had no idea what the hell she was talking about, and I guess our faces must’ve told her that because she then added “the new princess, she’s so cute!” It took a few more seconds but then Jo twigged… she’s talking about the new royal baby. We quickly nip that in the bud by saying we don’t really pay attention to the royal family and aren’t that bothered… which in hindsight seems a little rude to answer her question like that, but it was the truth.

[Happyhaunt1000]

After a few rotations of the wheel it’s time to get off and we say our goodbyes to the other couple. We continue round walking round Paradise Pier passing a huge line waiting for Toy Story Midway Mania (nothing new there then!) and then see the entrance for California Screamin’. Knowing that Lisa really wants to ride this we decide not to go on it at this point and instead decide to make our way out of DCA and go back into DL, snapping even more pictures as we go.





















Once back inside DL I tell Jo that I want to have a quick look around inside Ghostly Materials. This store is my idea of heaven! They have so much Haunted Mansion merchandise and artwork that I’m quickly trying to figure out how I’d get it all home! Some of the paintings they have on show here are one off pieces, so they are pretty pricey, but in my eyes totally worth the money. It’s not all just HM merch in the store though… there’s actually a second room that has all sorts of Disney themed artwork, and in the centre of the room is a Disney artist sketching away at a drawing board.











After a little look around and a mental note made of things I’m not leaving California without, we exit the store and walk up Main Street. We have a little nose around in a few more of the stores, not looking for anything in particular, more just curious to see if they have specific park/attraction related merchandise instead of the generic stuff that’s on offer in a lot of the stores in WDW. The stores here do seem to be more individual as opposed to one big store running the length of MS. We’ve still got a little bit of time to kill before meeting J&L so we wander through Adventureland, and the smell of cooked meats wafts into my nostrils and reminds me I’m getting a little hungry. The smell is coming from a place called Bengal Barbeque. They sell little chicken and steak skewers and we decide to get one of each. They’re only about $4 each… and as a snack, pretty good value. I know they don’t look that appealing, but they tasted great.





It’s about 1:50 and we take a slow amble back to the Partners statue and wait for J&L to arrive. A few minutes after 2pm we can see them approaching and Jon looks a little more human than he did earlier! He confirms he’s feeling better so I suggest riding Space Mountain again and he says no! We instead choose a slightly more relaxing attraction to be our first of the afternoon… and that’s Pinocchio. Obviously they don’t have this attraction at WDW, but it they do have it at DLP and it seems to me to be identical.

From there we head over to It’s a Small World. The queue line is mainly out in the open air (like the DLP version) and while waiting the 15 minutes to board our boat, we spot a celebrity passing by in a boat with his wife and little girl. The guy is Blake Anderson, and he’s one of the stars of a show we watch called Workaholics. We point him out to J&L but they have no idea who he is or what show I’m talking about!






Blake Anderson… anyone?

Pretty soon we’re on the ride. There’s not much to say about this… the music is the same, and aside from small differences in the layout of the scenes and in some cases the inclusion of Disney characters into some countries, it’s much of a muchness to the WDW and DLP versions. (Although I do think the final scene at WDW is better than DL).













Once off this, we take a walk into Toon Town, and located in the far right of this area is a DL exclusive attraction… Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin. Before I start telling you about that… I have to draw your attention to this photo I took in Toon Town. It looks like the sky is actually part of the background. It’s so perfectly blue compared to the green mountain backdrop that when I looked at the picture at home, I seriously thought that Disney had gone to extreme lengths to make Toon Town look super cartoony… but then realised it was the actual sky!





Anyway, back the story… the wait time says 20 minutes and because 20-30 minutes seems to be the average wait time we go inside and start queuing. What follows is one of the most annoying, painful and angry queuing experiences ever for me (and maybe Jo, Jon and Lisa)! In front of us is a big family. There are mums, dads, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, sons, daughters, grandparents (have I missed anyone out?) All in, I reckon there’s about 20 of them. They keep trying to herd all the kids together into one place and take a photo, but the youngest one isn’t looking so nan is making whooping noises to try and get the kids attention. It’s not working… so she tries waving her arms and clapping. She now sounds (and looks) like a bloody owl! Hooting and flapping clearly isn’t working so they resort to calling the kids name over, and over, and over, and over, and over again!

While this is going on, the other kids are getting restless waiting for the picture to be taken. They give up trying to get the youngest kid to look the right way… and just start taking pictures. Now, we’re inside, in a low lit queue line so obviously they have to use a flash. It goes off once… twice… three times. It’s then that I realise they are taking a photo with everyone’s phone, and then everyone’s camera! So after at least 10 pictures have been taken they turn round and see the line has moved on considerably since they began attempting to take this photo.

I thought that would be it. But no! The process starts again with a different backdrop. The hooting, the arm waving, the whooping, the clapping… the same name over and over again… and then the multiple flashes. 20 minutes pass and I ask Jon if we’re near the loading area. He says he can’t remember for sure, but doesn’t think so!




I think Jo’s face says it all!



All in all, we wait 40 minutes to get onto this attraction. The family in front carry on with their photo taking. And when the kids aren’t being herded, they are climbing over everything including everything that says ‘Do Not Climb’ and ‘Do Not Enter’. At one point they sent the kids under a barrier and have them climb through a cage (the cage is part of the scenery that has a giant barrel of ‘dip’ next to a street lamp) and up onto the barrel of dip! It’s basically the equivalent of queuing for Pirates of the Caribbean and getting your kid to climb through the bars of the cell and have them sit with one of those chained up pirates!





Finally… after having to bite my tongue for 40 minutes we’re loaded into our little car and the ride begins. I’m still too wound up to truly enjoy it… but even if I wasn’t, I doubt I would’ve thought much of it! It’s basically like a cross between the Cat in the Hat and Winnie the Pooh (neither of which ever manage to break into my ‘Top 5 Attractions’ list!) The steering wheel of the car allows you to spin your car like you’re on the tea cups. So I spend the entire ride spinning our car. Then, a minute later… it’s over and we’re getting off!

So after 40 minutes of queuing behind the human equivalent of the seagulls from Finding Nemo, and the rubbish attraction that followed we decided to call it a day at Disneyland. It’s only 4:45 but the plan is to go back to the hotel for a bit and recharge our batteries before going to watch World of Colour at DCA.

First order of business, though, is getting Jon a hotdog! We stop at Casey’s Corner (which isn’t actually called Casey’s Corner here… it’s just called Refreshment Corner) and even though I’m not hungry, I split a cream cheese pretzel with Jo. With food purchased we walk down MS and out towards DTD.

Jon is quite clearly feeling better following his lacklustre performance this morning because when we get to DTD he wants to eat something else. And top of his list is to try the beignets from Jazz Kitchen Express. Ironically, we’ve decided to eat at the Jazz Kitchen tonight (which is just next door). Jon buys a bag of 6 beignets and we all take one.







They’re covered in powdered sugar, and every time anyone takes a bite and exhales at the same time, clouds of sugar fly into the air. Everyone thought they were lovely… everyone except me! They just tasted like the mini doughnuts you get on Romford market… and I’m not a fan of those either! I just don’t really do doughnuts (although I do make an exception for Krispy Kreme or Dunkin Doughnuts). Jo thought they were great though and during the VM I recorded back in the hotel, she made a point of saying they were bloody lovely! We pop into the restaurant and book our table for 9:30pm this evening, and then it’s on to the hotel. With a 6pm meeting time, that gives us 45minutes to have a better look around the room, unpack a little bit, do a quick VM about the afternoon’s events and change clothes!

So, when we dropped our bags off this morning I told you all how there is this beautiful headboard that lights up and plays music when you push a little button… well, I keep pressing the little button! I’m obsessed with it! Who would’ve thought that 20 seconds of twinkly music could hypnotise a grown man so much?

Jo goes into full investigation mode… opening drawers, cupboards, wardrobes… everything! Within the wardrobe I spy two Disneyland Hotel bathrobes. “Ooooh they’re nice! I bet you’d get charged a bomb if you nicked those!” Of course… while I’m saying this, Jo is picking up all the Disney smellies in the bathroom and saying “I like these ones… we can use them as our travel smellies in the future!” This obviously makes us seem like we’re a couple of magpies… but I promise we’re not.

After doing a 15minute VM I have a little lay down on the bed and it’s possibly the most comfortable bed I’ve ever laid on! Jo’s in agreement… these beds are amazing.


















After a quick spruce up and a change of shirt we meet up with J&L in the hallway and walk back to DCA.

[Happyhaunt1000]

It’s 6:15 and once inside the turnstiles we see a sight you would never in a million years see in WDW. Mickey Mouse… just walking down the street… without an attendant… and without being hassled by everyone! He fist-bumps one guy, high-fives (or is it a high-four?) a guy and his wife as he walks past them. He then stops at a bench where a woman is sitting and bends down to her, making her jump!







Our first ride of the evening is going to be Tower of Terror. Oh no… wait… it isn’t! Jon’s still wearing his Little Boy Pants and won’t ride it, so instead we choose to go on Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! Excellent, another dark ride! I hope there’s a big annoying family in front of us again.

Before we even get to the ride, Jon says he wants to stop and get a drink from Schmoozies. It’s a fruit smoothie place, and at the counter being served are two obnoxious teens. Just from looking at them I instantly dislike them (I know, I know… ‘book by its cover… blah blah blah’) but what Jon tells me when he gets back from the booth confirms I was right to dislike these two witches! One of them was complaining about the drink she just ordered and was saying in a lazy Californian “I didn’t think it would taste like this… I don’t like it… can I get something else… I want to pick something else”.

Jon tells me she’d ordered something ‘mocha’ and didn’t realise it was going to taste like coffee! She then started asking “how many strawberries do you put in a Strawberry Banana Sensation?” It’s lucky that mild mannered Jon was at the booth next to her, because I would’ve lost it and she’d have been on the end of a cockney verbal putdown!









Once Jon’s got his giant beverage we’re off to Monsters, Inc. He offers everyone a taste but none of us are thirsty or in the mood for frozen smoothies. When we get to the attraction entrance there’s a sign saying ‘no beverages’ so Jon’s trying to guzzle down this giant drink before we go in. At this point we’re only in the outside queue line so he figures he’ll have enough time to drink it before he gets to the inside portion of the queue. He figures wrong!





His drink doesn’t appear to be going down and now he’s got brain freeze! Being the good friend that I am, I step up and take some hefty swigs… which results in my teeth hurting to boogery and getting a mild case of brain freeze. Jon thinks this is funny so I tell him to poke his drink and he can get brain freeze on his own. He also finds this funny too.

We get into the building and we’ve got a 5 minute wait before we hop into our vehicle. I loved this ride. It’s probably my new favourite kid’s attraction/dark ride. (Not that I had a previous holder of this title!) You basically move through scenes which tell the story you see in Monsters Inc. The animatronics are really good and I was pleased to see Jo make an appearance at the end… I might have been known on occasions to call her Roz!



















Once we’ve helped save Monstropolis, we head over to Paradise Pier. On the way we see that the wait for Little Mermaid is only 5 minutes so we jump in line. It wasn’t even 5 minutes, it was pretty much a walk on. Aside from the exterior of the building, I saw absolutely no difference between this and the one at WDW. We leave here and carry on walking round PP.



Being the thrill ride enthusiast that Jon is(!) he suggests getting Fastpasses for the Goofy's Sky School coaster! We grab four FPs for an hour’s time and continue. Our next ride of the evening was the Silly Symphony Swings. It’s the sort of thing you see at fairgrounds around the country, but at least you know that while you’re riding these swings, it’s a bit more likely that the bolts are tightened up correctly and you won’t come flying off!



It was an ok ride… and I can see how kids would get excited about going on this. The funniest thing I saw on this was the adults trying to get on and off the swing while maintaining a modicum of dignity! I saw at least three people nearly fall over when trying to sit down and one person nearly miss the swing seat entirely!

Once those two minutes of excitement were over we decide to have a look in a few of the shops around by Mickeys Fun Wheel. Of course, we’re in a shop with hats so I’m gonna try some on!











It wasn’t until after I returned from this trip that someone pointed out how unhygienic it was and that kids get nits, so the likelihood of me trying on a hat that some nitty kid has tried on was pretty high. I agree… but will it stop me from trying on hats in September… I doubt it!

After walking up to TSMM and seeing that the wait time was 45minutes we decided to about turn and slowly walk back to the Goofy attraction. After a quick wee break in the toilets near Paradise Garden Grill and J&L seeing the menu and proclaiming they’d like to eat here one of the days, we patiently wait around outside GSS waiting for our Fastpass time to tick over.







We’ve still got 10 minutes to kill so once again I slip back into my most mockney of accents and begin barraging Jon with terminology and words, most of which he hasn’t heard before. One of the favourites over this trip was “What’s ‘appening dough cuzzy!” (dough as in ‘though’… and cuzzy being cousin).

The second our FP time ticks over on the screen we’re all off like a shot and into the line. Anyone would think we were rushing onto something amazing. This ride was over even quicker than Flight of the Hippogriff! By the time I’d got comfortable it was over and I was getting off again. It is what it is… a kids’ coaster and a great way to get little ones interested in riding proper grown up coasters. Unfortunately, I don’t think this worked on Jon though!

It’s now around 8:10 and we make the decision to get a place to watch World of Colour which is due to start at 8:30. All the best spots to view this ‘water, lights, projection, and firework extravaganza’ are given to those who got a Fastpass for it! Because we’d been in DL earlier in the day, when we arrived early evening there was never any chance of getting one.

Our spot is ok at first… but we all know what it’s like. You pitch yourself in a position, stand there for 15-20mins… and right before the show/parade/fireworks are starting, some paradewomble bowls up and tries to get in front of you!







Something like this was happening to Jo. There was a girl next to her that kept edging forward and Jo was getting annoyed and turning round to me and saying “SHES PROPER WINDING ME UP” through gritted teeth. At one point of edging forward Jo turned and glared at her and the woman stopped… she said something to Jo… there was a quick exchange of words, then suddenly the pair of them were laughing! Turns out the woman was edging forward so she could form a wall next to Jo and block out anyone else from trying to get in. Jo was ok with that so now suddenly they were best mates!

Finally the show began. In the beginning, the projection onto the water jets along with the old World of Colour TV show music was very impressive… but after a few minutes, my attention and enthusiasm was dropping. I know people rave about this show… but I just didn’t think it was that good. Projection onto water isn’t a new thing anymore. Using coloured light to make the water look different looks good for a few minutes… then then you feel like ‘ok, but what else is there?’ And the answer is… nothing. Oh no… wait, I take that back… there were also some fireworks as well.

My overriding issue with this show is that there is nothing new in it. And by nothing new, I mean it uses Pirates of the Caribbean movie music and images and ships are projected on the water… cannon blasts are heard… and then it’ll switch to something like the Little Mermaid so we get projections of Ariel and ‘Part of this World’ starts playing… which is then closely followed by ‘Under the Sea’. You may be saying to yourself “that sounds awesome!” but I need a little more than projected images and coloured water to impress me. I’ve seen this sort of thing at WDW and DLP and I don’t know what, but I expected something more… something bigger, something grander from DCA.

I get that it’s Disney and they are going to trot out their characters at every given opportunity… but even though this was the first time of seeing this show… it felt tired, and lazy and like I’d seen it all before. Maybe that’s my own problem, maybe that’s part of society’s problem in that we always want something bigger, something more jaw dropping, and things get tired and old too quickly! I just wanted it to be better than it was. I think I would’ve been happy if they’d used some more obscure Disney music… done something similar to Fantasia where classical music is used with the lights and the projections.

Towards the end of the show, they started playing a slow song… I can’t for the life of me remember what it was… but it was from a Disney movie. Anyway, this couple next to us turns to each other and starts slow dancing like they’re at a wedding and this is their first dance. A few people around us giggled and pointed… hell, the guy standing behind us said that if me and Jon wanted to dance he’d be ok with that.

Now, I’m about to say something that may surprise a lot of you…
I didn’t laugh.
I didn’t point.
I didn’t think it was funny.
I thought it was kind of sweet!
A couple so happy and in love with one another that they could just forget where they were and have a little moment to themselves… regardless of being in a Disney park and surrounded by people… they just didn’t care! See people… occasionally I’m not a massive douchebag and I do have feelings!





It wasn’t long before I switched back to my normal angry self as the woman behind me whose buggy had been smacking into the back of my calves throughout the whole show, did something that made me shout out in pain. I don’t know exactly what had happened, but after turning round and looking I could guess.

The kid she was holding put his weight on the handles of the buggy, causing it to tip up. Unfortunately it didn’t just tip up in the air, it flipped and the footrest bit at the front dug into my leg and scratched upwards as the kids weight tipped the buggy. I cried out coz it felt like I’d been stabbed, spun round and shot daggers at the mum and dad. She quickly passed the kid to the dad and apologised. I thought it best not to say anything and just turn round. Thankfully there was only a few minutes of the show left and the disappointment that was World of Colour was over!

As you can imagine, once the show finishes everyone makes a beeline for the exit and like a mass of lemmings, we make our way to the exit with everyone else. When you see that many people leaving at once and flooding towards DTD, it makes you glad you’ve reserved a table at a restaurant!

We get to the Jazz Kitchen at around 9:10 and I tell the host at the desk we have a table booked for 9:30 and ask if it’s possible they could seat us now?
“You’re early” he tells me… as if I didn’t already know.
“Yeah I know, I thought it might take longer to get out of the park and round to here, so I booked 9:30.”
“Yes, your table is booked for 9:30.”
“Well… can you seat us now?”
At this point a look around the downstairs and it’s completely empty! I assume they are seating all the guests upstairs and it is probably heaving up there.

The host picks up the phone… tells someone on the other end that we’re here early for our reservation and wants to know if they can get us a table yet. He gets off the phone and tells us they can seat us now and to make our way upstairs where someone will greet us and show us to our table. We head upstairs and my assumption of it being crazy busy is incorrect. There’s hardly anyone up here!

We are greeted by a server who leads us through some doors and into another dining area. This appears to be where they are seating everyone. Clearly Tuesday nights aren’t particularly busy as the room is quite small compared to the rest of this building and only about two thirds of the tables have people sitting at them. We all sit down and the server asks if he can get us any drinks. After the previous day’s exploits, none of us are keen to partake in any alcohol, going instead for a round of soft drinks.

We’d all looked at the menu earlier and had a fair indication of what we wanted. For our starter me and Jo shared a Bourbon Street Sampler, which if I'm honest… at $18 wasn’t really worth the money and wasn’t that nice! I don’t recall if J&L had starters or what they had as there are no pictures!





For my main I ordered the Sothern Fried Chicken which was some of the best SFC I’ve ever had. Moist chicken, full of flavour with a really crispy coating. John ordered the same as me and really liked it too. Jo ordered the Jalapeño Cornbread Crusted Salmon which she said was really nice and was a big sized portion… and Lisa had a salad. (Sorry, I know that’s a very short, four word explanation… but I have one picture on my phone of a salad… so I'm assuming that was Lisa’s!) I also know not if she enjoyed it… sorry!







While we’re eating there is a family sitting on the table to my left who seem to be having some difficulty with a certain family member. For once though… it’s not a child playing up… it’s the grandmother! The party consists of a woman, her two kids and her mother. The problem seems to be that the woman’s mother is saying her food isn’t hot enough. She doesn’t mean hot as in temperature… she means hot as in spicy.

Apparently she’s ordered something off the menu that is meant to be spicy, and when the woman tasted it she said it wasn’t hot enough so they took it away. When it was brought back, it’s the temperature they’ve increased, not the spiciness. I can hear that the grandmother keeps saying the word ‘hot’ instead of spicy. So when she’s complaining the server is saying that the kitchen can’t make it any hotter, but the woman is still saying it’s not hot enough.

The server then brings over the manager and he starts talking to the woman… finally, the guy understands that the woman is asking for spice, not heat… so they take the dish away again. The woman is then complaining to her mother that HER food has now got cold because of her not explaining herself! The manager returns with a third bowl for the woman. She tries a spoonful… and I sh*t you not… says it’s still not hot enough! At this point the younger woman loses it with her mother, and grabs the tabasco bottle from the centre of the table and tells her to add this to her meal and just eat her food! Ahhh the fun you can have people watching in restaurants!

Clearly we’ve been seated in this room as there’s some live entertainment in the form of an old guy playing an electric keyboard and doing his version of jazz hits. It wasn’t bad, and Jon was definitely enjoying it as he made a point of stopping eating and clapping the guy… which made me feel bad that I wasn’t clapping, so I stopped and gave some half-hearted attempt at a clap too!

Seeing as this is actually our first proper meal since arriving in California, we decide to push the boat out and get a couple of desserts to share… the New Orleans Bread Pudding and the Bayou Banana Split. Both were good, but I think the banana split just edged it!





I quite like this restaurant, and I'm sure the place is jumping of a weekend. I think it’d be nice coming here, getting an outside table and watching the world go by! That really would make for some interesting people watching.

We pay our bill and head outside, and it’s just after 11pm at this point. We decide not to go back to the hotel just yet, but to have a little look round the World of Disney store to let our food go down. Well, that was the plan at least... except we couldn’t because they were closing up! In fact, every store was closed or closing up! Actually, that’s not entirely true… there was one store that was open… a makeup store! A MAKE UP STORE! Of all the things to remain open, how was that the only one?!

With our plans of late night shopping scuppered, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel. We bid a good night to our friends and arrange to meet in the same spot at 8:30 the next morning.

Once in our room we get the things ready for the following day and get ready for bed. It may seem like an anti-climax to a fun packed day, but pretty much as soon as we got into bed, we both fell asleep listening to the twinkly music once more for good measure!



And so ends another extremely long-winded, photo-packed trip report day. I hope you all understand that the reason for these lengthy reports is that I'm trying to explain the differences (and similarities) between the West Coast/East Coast parks as a lot of people won’t have been to DL before. Over the next few days though, where we re-ride attractions I won’t have to do the lengthy explanations if they’ve been included in today’s report.

So… our first taste of the original Disney park. The most surprising thing for me was the similarity between it and DLP. I think in a way it makes me appreciate DLP even more now that I know how closely it resembles the original. The one thing I couldn’t get used to at DL was the wait times and the crowds just milling about. Because it doesn’t have the space like at WDW parks, you find yourself a lot of the time being funnelled through streets and walkways that are rammed, and there’s no short cut or alternate route… you just have to shuffle along with everyone else and just wait until the path opens up a little. Overall my first impressions of the parks are generally positive... you’ll have to keep reading to see if that changes though!

As always, thank you for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed it… and thank you in advance for your comments (be they on here, on twitter or on IG).

Coming up tomorrow… more Disney’s California Adventure, more Disneyland and, oh yeah… it’s my birthday!

I love you byeeeeeeeeeeeeeee xxx

#dibbafteryouvedrunkwithbrettandjothepreviousdayan drealisedhowhardcoretheyare

[Pussycat Doll]

Fantastic day! Poor Jon, he does look a little worse for wear at the beginning! Pussycat

[Buffton]

Awesome read again, thank you! Really enjoying looking at all the photos, there seem to be some really cool parts of the parks. Will you give us an update of some of the things you bought at some point?! Especially the HM stuff?!
Thanks again
Lizzie

[caj]

Wow that was a long day to read! Must have taken hours to write up! Thank you

I wasn't very impressed with DLP so may struggle with California then?

[ely3857]

What a day! #awesome