We're going to Disneyland!!!
We woke up bright and early the next morning......without an alarm!!! I think we were
a bit excited for the day to begin! Today we were headed for Disneyland!!!
We packed up our belongings, ate breakfast, and hit the road. We headed for LAX because we were not going to have transportation in Anaheim, since we were staying so close to the parks. We had pre-purchased tickets for the
Disneyland express, so we were ready to go as soon as the bus arrived.
We waited, and we waited, and we waited.........the time SLOWLY went from 9:00 a.m. to about 10:10 a.m. We were not overly thrilled with the wait time, since it was taking up precious Disney time, but were excited to FINALLY see the bus! We hopped on and headed toward Anaheim. The bus stopped at two hotels and then ours, the Candy Cane Inn.
It was a cute, little hotel, with beautiful grounds.
Even though we still had a few hours before the check-in time, we were promptly given a nice room on the 2nd floor. The staff was extremely friendly here!
We
quickly unpacked a few things and then we were ready to head out to the parks. The Candy Cane Inn has a shuttle that leaves about every 1/2 hour. But, since it was just after 11:30, we didn't want to wait until noon for the next one. So, we set out walking. The walk was actually pretty nice....only about 10 minutes. We found it quite pleasant.
As we reached the parks, huge smiles were set on our faces as we took in the atmosphere around us and listened to the Disney music that filled the air. To our left was California Adventure and to our right was Disneyland. We decided to head right. We wanted to start our adventure by seeing the castle first!
Our first view of Disneyland!
I love, love, love this sign!!! As we walked under it, we both felt like we stepped back in time to when we were children. We were kind of giddy and so excited to start our time in the parks!
We walked down Main Street, U.S.A. toward the statue and the castle. Now, I had many people warn me about the size of the castle before we headed to CA. Yes,
it was small, when compared with WDW's castle. However, we found it to be both beautiful and cute! And, we knew that this was the
original castle, so it had to be special!
After having our picture taken in front of it, Chris did joke that he covered most of the castle in the photo...
We headed into Tomorrowland to pick up some Fastpasses for Space Mountain. Then, we were off for Fantasyland. Together, we had decided that we would make use of Fastpass, but we also wanted to take it easy in the parks....if that was indeed possible!
Disney is not generally a
relaxing vacation for us, but we really wanted to soak up as much as we could in the parks, and just enjoy ourselves. Now you have to understand, I am a planning freak, and this was really hard for me to do. Chris is the kind of person who takes things as they happen.......so, I told him I was willing to try my best!
We headed for the Matterhorn Bobsleds and were surprised to find a 10 minute wait.
Here we were only a few days away from the 4th, with very little crowds. This would tend to be the trend for the rest of our time at Disney...
This ride was fun, but very bumpy! The yeti is so funny looking compared to the one in Expedition Everest at WDW.....but then again, this is one of the original rides!
We continued walking until we reached the Storybook Land Canal Boats. This looked like a cute ride, so we joined the line. Little did we know what we were about to encounter......
As we hopped on our boat, I got my camera ready for some shots, and Chris held on to the video camera. We positioned ourselves at the front of the boat, sitting across from each other. We smiled at each other, knowing that we would be able to get some great shots since we had prime seats.
A huge family proceeded to join us on the boat.....no problem, right? There were about 4-5 adults, and the rest were children. Now, being a teacher, I love children......so, I didn't think twice about anything that was happening. Ryn, our guide, mentioned that two of the children could sit up in front of the boat......Chris and I gladly helped them find their seats.
We started our tour and headed for the whale's mouth. This is when everything went from good to BAD!!! One of the children began throwing an absolute tantrum because he was not able to sit at the front of the boat. He was screaming, kicking, and standing up on the boat. Ryn, our guide, had to repeatedly tell him to sit down, and was looking for support from his parents. They were laughing about the situation, and not doing much. The boy's crying set off a couple more children in the boat. Soon, we had one throwing a tantrum, and two SCREAMERS..........and no parents helping the situation. This went on for the ENTIRE ride......I whispered to Chris that this was the WORST experience that I've EVER had on a ride. We didn't hear any of the commentary due to the screaming, and couldn't enjoy the sights because we were getting kicked.
As we were exiting the boat, Ryn pulled us aside and profusely apologized. We smiled at her and told her that we knew it wasn't her fault. She then asked if we wanted to ride in her boat again so that we could ENJOY the experience. We agreed and reboarded. This time around was completely different. We had a couple of nice families on board with us and we thought it was a cute ride.
Upon exiting, we thanked Ryn for the "Disney Magic" that she had given us. We also jotted ourselves a note to stop at guest relations to rave about the treatment that we received from Ryn. We thought it would be appropriate to give her special acknowledgment, seeing as though she had already made our day more magical.
We continued on and came to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. I remembered this ride from my childhood and was excited to ride it again.......it was one of my favorites!!!
The wait was only 10 minutes.....another good sign!!! We were almost to the front when we heard...."This ride is experiencing technical difficulties...etc." Next thing we knew, the lights came on and the ride stopped. We looked at each other and rolled our eyes. What could we do? This seemed to be the pattern for the day....
Many people started to leave the line......we debated, but ended up staying. I snapped a picture of the "broke-down" ride.
Within 5 minutes, the ride was back up to par. Whew! We breathed a sigh of relief and quickly boarded our car. It was as good and as fun as I remembered......Chris loved it too!!!
Up Next: Disneyland Continued... - Post #104
) I'm loving the pictures of San Fransisco and along the coast. You're hitting places I hope to go to in the near future!
to my TR (even if you are a Wolverine! 
) !!! Wow...Rochester Hills, MI...that's only about 45 minutes from where I live in Livonia. 
I'm glad you're enjoying my pics too! I hope that you are able to make it along the coast in the future......the sights are truly spectacular! 
Thanks for sharing!
When I saw Half Dome I instantly thought of Ansel Adams. I am sure the exhibit of his work was outstanding. I have always admired his work very much. Your photos are wonderful as well.
Not really sure why.
It scared me a bit......but, they really seem unaffected by humans.$475 for one round of golf. i would just stand next to the 18th whole too
His home is the "pink one" high atop the hills.
