2 1/2 days in Disneyland, part of our California Adventure (with added Las Vegas)

[Lizzybear]

I thought I would post the Disneyland portion of our California and Las Vegas trip here. Here are the basics (more info about us and our trip HERE if you're bored)
Lizzy: (that's me!) 24 and the main vacation planner/Disney fanatic.
Steve: 26 and the long suffering boyfriend. Says he's just along the ride but I know he enjoys it really!
This was our first trip to Disneyland, though we've both visited WDW and DLRP before.

Pre-trip
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11

28th September 2008

Up early today as we wanted to set off handy for Six Flags Magic Mountain, so at 8:45am we were on our way and arrived at 9:20am (the traffic isn't bad at all going out of LA, plus it was the weekend) We had to queue for a bit before the park opened at 10am so, armed with maps, we made a beeline for the Flashpass pickup point as soon as we were through the turnstiles. Now would be a good time to mention that it was 99 degrees farenheit today! Six Flags is basically in the middle of the desert and there is very little shade in the park itself so the heat is intense to say the least. We decided to go on X2 first which already had quite a queue built up. I have to say that I hate how Six Flags force you to pay $1 per locker rental for every single ride, plus you have to exchange 4 quarters for a stupid token which is inconvenient when they only have one machine and the person in front can't follow simple instructions (not that this happened or anything, hmm!) I know they charge much less for admission than Disney but in my opinion there's just something nice about not having loads of hidden extras once you're inside a park (I don't count souvenirs as they don't affect if you can go on rides or not!) Another thing is that the Flashpasses aren't valid on most of the 4 very popular rides and in hindsight I wouldn't have bothered buying them as I only used one ticket for Tatsu but of course you live and learn! Six Flags is only open at weekends during 'off season' but it wasn't horribly busy on the Sunday we visited and I get the impression from others that this is pretty usual. We ended up giving the rest of our tickets away to a family with 7 kids who were arriving as we were leaving so hopefully they found a use for the remaining 7 tickets..! Right, back to X2: We rode this (awesome and really different to any other coaster i've been on) and then Scream before Steve started to feel ill. We decided to stop for a drink and a brownie as we hadn't had any breakfast and also to plan which rides to do (to be honest in the excitement of Disneyland planning, Six Flags sort of fell by the wayside) Steve felt the same in Busch Gardens last year, I think it's the combination of intense heat and coasters. I rode Colossus and Riddler's Revenge on my own and queued for Deja Vu but it started having technical problems so it wasn't to be. After that I used a Flashpass for Tatsu and since Steve thought he was feeling better we rode Viper together but afterwards he felt ill again. Although it was only 2pm at that point we decided to just call it a day.. Steve said he didn't mind waiting while I went on more rides but my heart wasn't really in riding coasters alone and if i'm honest the promise of Disneyland later that day was almost more than I could stand! Six Flags hadn't originally been planned for this day as I didn't know about the weekend only opening but this ended up being the only day I could swap it to, not ideal but since the tickets were nonrefundable it seemed a shame not to use them. On the way out I went on the Carousel and we both got a T-shirt from the gift shop (only $10 each and good for smug wearing purposes at Alton Towers!) and I got a California state magnet. Hopefully we can return at some point and really do the park justice.. I know not every day of a holiday is going to be perfect and a total success so I try to include the good, so so and bad in my reports. We stopped at

for some lunch/dinner (meatloaf and mash for me and veggie burger for Steve, really lovely and the bill was $36) before driving to Anaheim. Traffic was variable.. If you hit this route at the wrong time you can be at a standstill for ages so I was pleased that we did the drive in just over an hour. We arrived at our hotel for the next 4 nights (Fairfield Inn) and checked in, freshened up and headed back out to Disneyland (yay!) Even some very rude people with no 'lift etiquette' didn't dampen my spirits!

Picture in the hotel room

Disneyland is unlike Walt Disney World in that it's right near a main road, not tucked away in the least!

Crossing the road, so excited!!

We queued at the ticket window to exchange our vouchers for 3 day hoppers and the man who served us was very nice, even when some woman pushed in to ask a question he politely put her in her place and rightly so! Since Steve works in customer service aswell they had a little rant about 'some people' and the man gave us both 'honorary citizen of Disneyland' badges, yay!

The Halloween decorations were fantastic

We're definitely here now

The parade was actually due to start at 6:30pm and as it was 5:50pm we decided to stake out a good spot. Whilst it was busy it wasn't unbearably so and certainly not 'peak season bad' Steve got us some drinks and a CM came anc chatted to us for a bit which all passed the time really quickly and it was soon time for the parade which was very cute..

If i'm honest i'm disappointed with our Disneyland pictures.. I let Steve take them all as he has the better camera but now I wish i'd taken them instead, lesson learnt I suppose!

 

[Lizzybear]

Typical Disneyland Sunday

Once the parade had finished it was time for some rides! Some had long waits and Pirates of the Caribbean was down, much to my horror, so we decided on a couple which had shorter queues: Jungle Cruise and Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (where I bought my long-awaited Tigger Tail -basically marshmallows on a stick coated in caramel and orange chocolate- and a chocolate caramel pretzel thingy for later)

I actually had a coffee cup in my pocket here because I thought you needed to keep it to have free refills, yes you may all laugh now!

Next we went on the Carousel, where Steve spotted a minor celebrity, probably won't mean much to most people reading this but it was one of his favourite holiday memories!

Hey look a hidden Mickey (or something!)

 

[Lizzybear]

This picture and the next few were taken earlier, in case you're wondering how it got light again so fast!

It was getting close to fireworks time so we got a coffee refill and and staked out some seats (well, bits of pavement!) for waiting on before they began. I'd been listening to the Remember Dreams Come True theme on mp3 for ages before our trip and knew it off by heart but it goes without saying that it's totally different with the fireworks in the background, definite goosebumps!

After the fireworks we headed towards Tomorrowland and went on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage (both had rare short waits!) I also bought a Boo doll and 2 pins and managed to trade some of my lanyard pins for some really cool ones. The rest of the evening was spent wandering around taking in the atmosphere as well as more night time pictures, since we had two more full days at Disneyland yet and didn't feel the need to rush around at this point. At about 11:30pm we called it a day and Steve got an IHOP meal to take out on the way back to the hotel (pancakes, hashbrowns and scrambled eggs.. Or brinner as they would say on Scrubs!) First impressions of Disneyland were excellent and I couldn't wait to return.

Just a few more pictures I found from this day but forgot to include earlier...

Apparently these letters will be going soon in the DCA overhaul, aww =[

There's no S in California!

 

[Lizzybear]

Pre-trip
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12

29th September 2008

The original plan for today was San Diego Zoo but SOMEONE overslept..! To be fair yesterday had been a long and tiring one so it was decided: Disneyland today instead (oh the hardship!) We went to Millie's for breakfast: Cheese blintzes with blueberry topping for me (nice but veeery rich!) with a side of bacon and a mushroom and cheese omelette for Steve, bill was $32. We arrived at DCA just after opening and made a beeline for Toy Story Mania which already had a 25-30 minute wait, it's a really fun ride and we both liked it more than Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters.. Hopefully they will add Fastpass to it at some point as the queues later on were an hour minimum, eek!

The Halloween decorations in DCA were really cute, lots of candy corn!

Next up was California Screamin' and the Sunwheel which i'd thought was supposed to be down during our visit (not that i'm complaining!) I of course chose a swinging gondola (the Sunwheel looks like a normal ferris wheel but it has both static and swinging gondolas which are on a set of elongated tracks within the wheel itself) which was definitely an experience..

Yes it had rained that morning, though not for long thankfully

I bought a retro looking hoodie and Minnie Mouse plush and a 2008 magnet from a nearby store and we headed towards the other side of the park to go on Tower of Terror, Monsters Inc and of course my favourite Muppetvision 3D.

Next we shared a vegetarian chilli bread bowl from the Pacific Wharf Cafe (feeding the leftover bread to the conveniently located ducks of course!) before heading back to the room for a break.. The park was pretty busy, more than we had expected for the time of year for sure, and it was nice to get out of the sun and crowds for a bit.

Suitably refreshed, we headed back to Disneyland and went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Star Tours, Casey Junior (where I had the pleasure of sharing a carriage with Obnoxious Kid.. He was standing up the entire time despite CMs and other guests telling him to sit down! Stupid thing was the kid's father didn't say a word, irresponsible much?!), Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Carribean (definitely the best one of three i've gone on so far) I may have bought a pin or two along the way aswell..!

At 7:30ish we headed to Downtown Disney for dinner at House of Blues. I had the Monday Special which was a turkey burger with sweet potato fries and Steve had a mushroom pizza (there was no other option, despite there being more on the website.. He doesn't mind pizza sometimes but it was a bit disappointing when he was expecting more choices) I also had a frozen melon margarita and the bill was $40ish. I bought some more pins from a nearby stand and a Disneyland shirt and ears set for my bear from the Build a Bear store and Steve got some Lego character keyrings from the Lego store before heading back to the hotel, we were bushed!!

I would love the meet the person who doesn't think the Lego store is one of coolest places ever!

 

[Lizzybear]

Pre-trip
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
Day 7
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13

30th September 2008

Today was to be our last Disneyland day (booo!) and was also a 9am 'Magical Morning' (people with 3 day or more tickets are entitled to one on certain days of the week) However, I think the concept is sort of negated when the entire population of Anaheim are in the line for the turnstiles!! It was almost reaching DCA so there was only one thing for it: Run! Once through the turnstiles we did just that (well, more of a brisk pace if i'm honest!) towards Space Mountain and it was great, definitely the best Space Mountain i've been on. I bought our ride picture in the overpriced 3D frame (which has actually ended up being one of my favourite holiday souvenirs =) and we headed to the Matterhorn, Mad Tea Party and then Indiana Jones.

By now the park had officially opened and the line was really long so we ended up getting fastpasses for Indy then rode on Splash Mountain and bought another ride pic (cheaper frame this time..!)

On the way to SM we found Jack Sparrow with no wait for pictures, score!

There was a Halloween themed area near SM which had some awesome pumpkins so I had to snap a few pictures.

Toontown had just opened so this was our next stop, for the Roger Rabbit ride and a look around the character houses. The whole Toontown area in DL is much more detailed than the one in WDW, we didn't even scratch the surface!

Clearly a girl after my own heart!

 

[Lizzybear]

It was finally time for our Indy fastpass so we headed there next (awesome!!) then decided to have lunch at Cafe Orleans. Since we hadn't had breakfast that day we were starving, though of course this was all in the name of sampling the monte cristo sandwich (meat one for me, cheese one for Steve) and some pomme frites to share. Bill was $40ish and the meal was delicious but I had to admit defeat with the monte cristo and ended up leaving a small piece! We decided to have a break in the hotel again so we headed there, with me buying a Monsters Inc snowglobe on the way out. It was another reeeally hot day and tons of people were commenting on it (not just us cold blooded brits!) After a nice break we returned to Disneyland and had a look at the 50 years exhibit which was really interesting and the movie with Steve Martin and Donald Duck is worth a watch.

All these tickets were part of a private collection that someone had lent Disneyland, how cool!

There was a gallery bit at the end of the exhibition where you can actually buy the art on display, if you have a spare few grand!

I think this one is my favourite!

Next, we crossed over to DCA and went on Soarin' using the single rider queue then shared a frozen lemonade while waiting for the Pixar Play Parade to start. It was cute but the whole spraying the crowd with water thing seemed unnecessary.. Discouraging photography maybe?!

 

[Lizzybear]

After the parade we crossed back over to Disneyland and did some more Fantasyland rides as by this point a lot of the families with young children had called it a day and the lines were much more bearable. We racked up Alice in Wonderland (in DL they have 2 Alice rides, the teacups and this one which is similar to Snow White, Winnie the Pooh etc), Snow White's Scary Adventure, Peter Pan's Flight (where we encountered the most blatant queue jumping i've ever come across: When we were nearly at the front a woman and her daughter asked the CM if their SEVEN family members could join them and they let them in through the wheelchair entrance!! I think an adult taking a little kid to the toilet is one thing but 7 people?! I know CMs try to defuse/avoid conflicts with guests but it's a bit unfair when loads of other families were waiting, including many with young children) and Pinnochio. We decided to call it a day around 7pm and headed to Downtown Disney where I got a DCA T-shirt, pin, earrings, keyring and Christmas decoration (tradition for every Disney trip now!) from World of Disney before we went back to the hotel room. Steve got takeout from Millie's (brinner again!!) but I wasn't very hungry so I just got some snacks from the hotel store before we both flopped.