We’d been on property for over 24 hours and had yet to step foot inside Walt’s original park.
If someone came along and read only this chapter, they would've thought you were nuts!
You can’t park hop like that at WDW.
Well.... You can.
You just need a portal gun.
Or a portable worm-hole.
We entered the park right at 4 pm. And how do I know that?
Watch? Clock? Phone?
Even the 3 o’clock parade is late there. It doesn’t start until 4.
Or that.
Maybe they just got their time zone mixed up.
Or daylight savings.
DD looks like she's having a completely chillaxing moment.
That to me, was the big difference between WDW and DL. This was Walt’s park. You really could feel his presence.
That's cool.
I've been to (other) places where I've had similar experiences.
"This is where ____ stood or where _____ happened."
It's always a humbling yet gratifying experience.
It sounds corny, but I saw a picture in DLH that showed him standing on Main Street, right next to the trolley tracks. And I just had to go stand in that very spot the next day.
Awesome.
But enough of that, you want parade pictures? We’ve got ‘em… although they’re crappy cell phone pictures so the focus and quality leaves something to be desired.
I dunno, I thought the pictures were pretty good!
Man, those DL sidewalks are tight.
I would think that they were never designed for the amount of people that visit now.
well a castle that might just be smaller than some of the toy castles at your local Toys R Us.
I can picture the scene.
"Oh, Phillip! I'm so happy! Where is our new home?"
"It's right there, Aurora. I hope you'll be happy there."
"Umm... Where, Phillip?"
"Right there, my darling.... look down... lower.... lower... there!"
"Is it behind that cottage?"
"It
is the cottage!!"
"Oh... Phillip... it's.... umm..... wonderful?"
I just had to grab this picture on the way in to give you an idea of how small it actually looks once you’re in the park with the Matterhorn towering above it.
That really puts it into perspective.
We enjoyed the DL version of the Jungle Cruise. It is essentially the same schtick that you get at the WDW version, but there are some different scenes and animals in this cruise. It isn’t hugely different from the WDW version, but there are some subtle differences that make it worth checking out if you’re ever in DL and have time.
Interesting.
But of course there'd be different scenes.
Animals are unpredictable ya know.
A few minutes before the FP was good, we found a spot for DW and the kids to wait and I headed off to ride.
Yeah, selfish move on my part.
Nope.
We do so much for our kids.
Sometimes you just have to take care of yourselves for a second.
it is very similar to the Dinosaur ride at AK.
Only way better.
Way better!
I've heard nothing but great things about this ride.
We arrived at Aladdin’s Oasis and they were turning people away who didn’t have an ADR.
They say that the vast majority of Disney guests don't preplan like we do.
I can't even imagine what that must be like.
"We're going to Disneyland kids!"
"Yay!"
followed by...
"We're going to eat down the street at McDonalds kids!"
"Yay?"
We explained that we had one, but were 10 minutes late. It wasn’t a problem and they took our order.
Bet you were a little worried, though.
They only had 3 options to choose from. Roasted chicken, lasagna or vegetarian lasagna.
That's it? Just three options?
Seems odd.
I love Italian food and I was kind of dead set on eating some lasagna by that point, so in a moment of stupidity, I told them to bring me the vegetarian lasagna.
You WHAT????
And you want me to join the DISDads thread?
To paraphrase Groucho: I don't want to belong to any club that will accept people like
you as a member!
They did bring me an Olaf cupcake as a peace offering for not having what I wanted, so that was at least nice.
Real men get something else.
Probably a cigar.
DS ordered the kids macaroni and cheese and seemed to have his appetite back.
That's good.
And Momma Bear and Poppa Bear looked at each other and breathed a sigh of relief.
She told us if we arrived at 6:30 we should be able to get in and get a spot near the front where we can sit.
And you believed her.
Yes! We were going to be front row!
Right behind the Tom Sawyer Island dock.
Yes! Uh... oh... shoot.
We were going to be waiting for over an hour, with a less than ideal viewing location after paying for a Fantasmic! package.
Money maybe not so well spent.
That really sucks.
That was literally the longest hour of our time in Disneyland.
Wasn't it literally exactly as long as any other hour... ever?
But compared to the DL version, the show isn’t even in the same league.
I'd heard that too.
I don't anticipate ever going there, but Indy and Fantasmic would be reasons to.
My favorite part was definitely the use of the Columbia serving as the stage of a fight between Captain Hook and Peter Pan. They were swinging on ropes and just all over the ship. It was incredible!
Thanks for taking the pics, too!
We brought jackets and blankets for the kids and DW and stuffed them under the stroller.
You stuffed them all under the stroller?
Weren't they uncomfortable squeezed in like that?
It did start to get cool by the end of the show, so they were comfortably bundled by the time we were ready to head out.
Well, okay. So they
were comfortable under there.
If I were to go back, I’d take a good hard look at all the other dining package/FP options to see if we could get something better.
What kind of options are there?
DW pushed the stroller and I carried DD
Got her out from underneath, huh?
You’ll see my new shirt later. And I was pretty proud of it until I saw one I liked even better on our last day.
The shirt is always keener on the other side.
and then sat and ate the last couple of cold pieces of Naples pizza that were in our refrigerator before settling into bed ourselves.
And yes, after 24 hours, still awesome.
I don't care for cold pizza, but it does speak well for it if you still enjoyed it 24 hours later.
Thanks for the update!