Spencem & Angelmouse Live(ish) in LA Day 6

[spencem]

Christmas Day

The original plan for today had called for us to be in Disney's parking lot before sunrise, but in view of my sickness and common sense we changed the plan to 'do' Christmas morning and then go to the park. We got up around 7 am and we all sat in a circle unwrapping presents, as usual the adults ran out far before the kids.

Once breakfasted we left our friends to go to Teresa's parents for their Christmas and set off for Disney in cool light rain. 10 minutes later we were entering the largest multi-story car park in the world. The first sign that things were not as expected was when we did not queue to pay our $12 to park. We swapped our City Passes for our 3-day hoppers at guest services and joined the short line at the turnstiles. The time stamp on this photo of the small Christmas Tree says we were in Town Square at 12:08.



When we got to the top of Main Street this is the sight that greeted us on the attraction board.



This is lunchtime on Christmas Day

We set off in the direction of Haunted Mansion because I had heard so much about how great the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay that they add to it each Christmas is however, we were unable to resist the 10 minute wait for Pirates on the way past. We went off for our cruise past our dinner venue on the original, longer and better Pirates.

The word 'overlay' does not come close to doing justice to what happens to Haunted Mansion, it is more like a completely different ride that happens to share a building and track with it. It is fantastic.



By the time we came off it was just after 1 and we were getting peckish, but we didn't want to spoil our 17:30 dinner at Blue Bayou we just had a cookie and coffee each at the Hungry Bear over by Splash Mountain. It had stopped raining but was still quite cool so I couldn't tempt the other two onto Splash so we left it for later in the week. We took a walk around the lagoon to see if Thunder Mountain was up yet, it was but had a 25-minute line so we picked up fast passes for later and moved across the park to Tomorrow Land via the hub, I grabbed a quick castle photo while we crossed.



Once into Tomorrow Land we braved a 20-minute queue to defend the galaxy on Buzz, where obviously I scored the highest (by some margin). The window was now open to pick up another fast pass so we did for Space Mountain, so bypassing a 45-minute queue.

The sun came out for a while as we waited 15 minutes for Matterhorn, a bumpy but great old-timer.



The other ride to get a Christmas makeover at Disneyland is Small World, and again overlay does not cover it. The Santa hat is just the beginning.



On exiting the Parade was in full swing so we ducked into Toontown where for some reason we joined the back of the 30-minute queue for Roger Rabbit. I think we did this because the line didn't look that long from outside, however, it is extremely well themed and time passed well enough. The ride itself is a dark ride in Disney's finest tradition and particularly good for the younger ones.

Continued...

[spencem]

On exiting Roger Rabbit it was chucking it down so ponchos came out and we set off to see what was happening elsewhere. The rain only lasted a few minutes and by the time we were in Fantasy Land was down to spots. For some reason Angelmouse wanted to go on all the kiddy rides and started our torture on Story Book Land where we were the only people in sight. On this you sit in a small boat and ride around a small canal system with miniature models of famous (Disney) fairy tales while a guide narrates your voyage. To be honest with just the three of us, the youngest a 13 year old boy I'm not sure who was the most embarrassed us or the teenager driving. I'm sure with a 6 year girl this can be a great way to spend 10 minutes.

When we came off thankfully Alice in Wonderland was still down because of the rain, as were the teacups. This being California where it rains 10 days in a year nothing has a roof and so on the rare occasions it does rain everything stops. We moved over and rode Mr Toad's wild ride (another fine Disney Dark ride) as it is not there in Magic Kingdom, unlike Snow White and Peter Pan. After this Son and I took a walk through the newly re-opened Sleeping Beauty Castle, which basically goes in on the right of the castle, up some steps, over the top of the archway and back down on the right. There are animated panels as you go along telling the Sleeping Beauty story, very cute.

It was now nearly time for dinner, but we just had time to use our fast passes for the 'wildest ride in the wilderness' on Thunder Mountain.

Dinner was in the Blue Bayou, the restaurant inside the Pirates ride. I had booked this the full 90 days ago and got a good time. We checked in and asked how much longer we would need to wait for a table near the water, on being told an hour and only having had a cookie for lunch we said we'd sit anywhere. 5 minutes later they called us through. Angelmouse has an appetite to match her build and wanted to have salmon off of the kids menu, however in true Disney fashion the waitress said she was not allowed to take orders for kids meals off of adults. She did however suggest that Angelmouse and son split the adult version between them which they did. For some reason there are only two appetisers on offer here, neither of which I wanted so I just ordered the beef short ribs. The ambience in here is great, with a live band playing softly on the balcony above and the Pirates running around the outside through its bayou part. the tables are rather close together, but the staff are expert at moving among them and never bumped us once. there is only on dessert on offer, again that we didn't fancy, so half an hour and $104 lighter (including $5 to split that main) we were on our way. The food was very good, but I'm not sure I would rush back.

on exiting the restaurant it was cold and we began to think of going, son was not at all happy at the thought and insisted we go and use our Space Mountain fast passes. On the way past we couldn't resist walking straight onto Pirates for a second ride, I kid you not we did not stop walking up the line and straight onto the back row of a boat

Having seen this queue we tried for the Indiana Jones ride, but it had just broken down so that we will need to pick up later in the holiday. When we got to the hub the Castle lights were on.



We waited for a gap in the passing second run of the parade and crossed to Tomorrow Land again, where we decided to just take a look at the line for the Nemo subs. Now I should explain that there are normally people in camp beds in this line as it is generally measured in days not hours. Tonight it was showing 30 minutes so we quickly joined. I'd say it was more like 15 minutes later that we were climbing down the boarding ramp for our undersea voyage. This is a great and very clever ride, but I can't help but think a few real fish would add something to it among the plastic and hidden projection screens.

Once back from the EAC we went over to use our fast passes for Space Mountain. Angelmouse was not keen on coming on after her dinner and a long walk around the park but I managed to convince her that it is much smoother than the Orlando version, which once we waited 10 minutes for them to fix it she was glad about. We waited at the fast pass merge point for the breakdown and witnessed Disney magic as the CM calmly and seriously explained to each and every person who asked what the problem was that they had temporarily run out of rocket fuel.

Once back from outer space we called it a night around 8pm and made our way back to our accommodation at the Château D' 'Uffman in the Fullerton hills. Where the executive chef prepared a light snack before an early night ahead of our trip to San Diego on Boxing day.

[KarenG]

Wow! You were lucky with the queues. What a wonderful way to spend Christmas Day.

Love your photo of the castle.

[Jools]

What a fantastic day. I can't believe how few people were in the park. We had longer wait times when we were there in early October.

[budgie6741]

Looks like a good day great pics & fab report

[Guest]

A great xmas day!

[Guest]

what a wonderful Christmas day

[Guest]

What a fantastic way to spend Christmas Day.

[Sarah84]

What a lovely way to spend christmas day and ques times were good too love the photos

[Strommie]

A brilliant way to spend Christmas Day. You were very lucky with the lack of crowds We went to Disneyland in early December a few years ago and I loved the Haunted Mansion and IASW Holiday overlays