Wonder on the West Coast: Day 3 - Disneyland, California Adventure, and Disneyland again

[Stewboy]

Index

Wednesday 23rd October 2019

Another day of excitement lay ahead of us, and to make the most of it we were up early and raring to go. After the usual early morning coffee at about 6:15am, Jo and I got ready, woke Isabella and by 7:30am were downstairs taking advantage of the breakfast buffet.

Isabella opted for porridge again; Jo and I went for a selection of pastries, chicken enchiladas, sausages, and pancakes with banana - all thoroughly enjoyable. We finished up, made a quick stop back at the room, and then took a short walk to the Toy Story parking lot.






Breakfast

By 8:10am we were on a bus, and by 8:20am we were making our way into Disneyland for our second day of fun - and today we wanted to ensure we hit the attractions we missed yesterday. First on the list - oh yes, there was a list - was Pirates of the Caribbean. Being early, we were fortunate to walk straight on. The loading area is reached quickly and the ride begins very differently to the Magic Kingdom version; starting as it does in an open Louisiana Bayou before gently floating past houseboats accompanied by the gentle strumming of a banjo - no long dark and winding walk to the boats here.


Sun rising over an empty Toy Story parking lot




Main Street traffic


Jo likes a list


First stop: Adventureland...


...for Pirates of the Caribbean

The majority of the ride is similar to Magic Kingdom, but overall I think enjoyed this version more.

We left Captain Jack Sparrow and headed to Fantasyland hoping to ride Storybook Land Canal Boats before the queue got too long like it did yesterday. This is a really cute ride - complete with an inboat narrator - that begins with the boat travelling through Monstro’s mouth into a canal that weaves through a miniature landscape featuring numerous Disney animation settings including The Three Little Pigs, Alice in Wonderland, Aladdin, Cinderella, Snow White and many more.




















Storybook Land Canal Boats

Next up was a trip to Toad Hall to ride Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Jo and Isabella watched The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad before we came on holiday, but I’ve never seen it, nor have I read the book so I didn’t really know what was going on and found it slightly surreal. However, that didn’t stop me from enjoying it and I can see why it’s sorely missed at the Magic Kingdom.








Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride

The fun continued with a ride on the Mad Tea Party teacups - now there’s a sentence I never thought I’d write! Having refused to ride the Magic Kingdom version of this ride since the one time I rode it and hated it, I decided to give it a try here. Isabella likes a lot of spinning, so I was only going to go if I could go in my own cup, and I must say it was actually a lot of fun - I even spun the cup a few times… slowly of course.






Tea cups!

We were ticking lots of rides off of the list, and our next ride was Alice in Wonderland - literally next door to the tea cups. It’s another fun ride that goes up and outside, affording some nice views of this corner of Fantasyland.

As we waited to board, the Mad Hatter made an appearance, stopping for photos and autographs on his way to his meeting place; we saw a lot more characters out and about in Disneyland than we generally do in Magic Kingdom.


Mad Hatter


Fantasyland view from Alice in Wonderland

After the ride we made a quick restroom break in the Alice in Wonderland themed restrooms. Now usually I wouldn’t draw attention to this, but like the Rapunzel restrooms in the Magic Kingdom, these restrooms have some really nice theming, including playing card cubicle doors. Apparently they are usually quite popular too so we were lucky to get to visit them when they were quiet.










Alice in Wonderland theming

We left the charm of Fantasyland behind and made our way over to Tomorrowland for our first FastPass of the day. This was to be a return to a galaxy far, far away with a second ride on Hyperspace Mountain - we might not ever get to do this overlay again so riding again was a ‘must-do’.



Once again we all thoroughly enjoyed this ride, and even without the overlay I’d definitely want to do this ride again. As we exited, Isabella did a pin trade with a cast member and then we headed out of Tomorrowland and made our way back to Main Street.


New pin