I last left off with lunch in New Orleans Square and our first foray into DL's Pirates of the Caribbean. Now, this was the second ride I was stoked to experience due to the overwhelming agreement that it was far superior to our version here in Florida. As we got into line, once again I was slightly fascinated with the concept of all the queues being outdoors. I can understand why this may be: Limited space, older designs, lack of necessity. However, to us here in FL, if we see a queue outside, that usually means that
omg we're going to wait
forever because the line has surpassed its capacity indoors. If I stop and think about it, this would again be my only main complaint about DLR. Not only is hardly any shade provided for when the weather
is less than wonderful, but it takes away from the beauty of the buildings themselves.
The entrance to Pirates at DL is lovely and completely different from WDW. Thematically it's different, too. At WDW, you feel like you're entering a Spanish fort. At DL, you're taking what seems like a secret entrance to access the Louisiana bayou. Again, completely different experiences. It was such a shock to walk in to the building and boom! There's the ride! Hardly a few minutes later and you're in a boat. But how weird it was at first to see the filled boats ride through to the load/unload station right along side the queue! I'm not quite sure how I feel about that but hey, different!
Unlike Space Mountain, DL's Pirates did
not disappoint in any way. I can confirm that for certain, it is
much better than ours here at home. While I did not expect the 2 drops to be so close together, going through the cave and seeing the additional scenes at the end were awesome. I loved the bayou at the beginning and seeing the fireflies. Kris exclaimed that omg she would have
loved to have eaten a meal *in the ride.* I explained our reasons behind passing up the experience (expense, mixed reviews). Besides, it's pretty much an identical experience in the Mexico pavilion at Epcot. My only other comment on this version of one of my favorite rides ever is the odd trip back upstairs to the load/unload station. Disney could certainly add more to this dark, plain trip up. Nevertheless, we joked that we would be "taking this ride home" with us back to WDW.
WDW Trivia: Apparently, the reason
why WDW's Pirates only has 1 drop is because of our water table. Florida's water table is much higher than in California, so the Imagineers could not dig as deep as they could at DLR. Hence why there is only 1 drop. As to why to make the ride shorter than the original? Not sure. I'm only sad that when I ride it again here, it will be with a feeling of lacking!
The crowds make the wait appear longer than they were.
BOOM! There's the ride the moment you're inside!
After Pirates, we fought our way through New Orleans Square to our next destination, the Haunted Mansion! I loved how more immersive NOS is compared to the lackluster Liberty Square we have here. The crowds, on the other hand, made it difficult to enjoy the nuances. It's almost like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal: They made everything so authentic, that it's not very compatible with crowds.
Haunted Mansion, more than any other ride, really hit home with the "close factor" of the attractions. It was also the
only ride I didn't like better, or the same as, our version at WDW. There is no arguing that the building is beautiful. But that was part of the issue for me; it didn't look scary at all. Throw in how you could spit over to Splash Mountain, and I dunno. We did take way too many photos of the pet cemetery:
Yet again in the DIRECT SUN
The birds looking adoringly up at the cat is a bit disturbing, lol
I loved the: Here lies my snake whose fatal mistake was frightening the gardener who carried a rake
While I can't wait to return to see all the changes made for the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, I wasn't impressed at all with the normal version. It's essentially the same as WDW's but with less scenes and some, like the graveyard room, seemed smaller and not as detailed for some reason. If I had never been on WDW's version before, I think it would be a non-issue. But I love the theme of WDW's version better and all the enhancements it has experienced. This was probably the only ride, aside from maybe Space Mountain, that got a critical comparison out of me. My companions, though agreeing with my points, still had no problems--and even insisted on riding it a second time on our second day in DL.
From there, it was time for Fantasyland! We had our first up-close look at the Castle and found Snow White's fountain and wishing well:
I love all the animal statues
Has this been here since the park opened? It had the feeling of nostalgia to it.
Seeing the Wicked Queen peek through the curtains was awesome
Here we were hit with another reminder of "same but different." First off, all of the rides are
right there. Almost to the point where you can't tell at first where one ride ends and the other begins. Each facade is distinct, yet all belong to a theme of an old European village. Considering nearly all the fairy tale stories belong to such a theme, it works. And it looks considerably more distinct than the "carnival" facades still dominant in WDW's FL. I'm hoping that with the expansion, they'll go back and fix this--as they've already changed the theme over Pooh's ride.
At first I thought the carousel was bigger, but that might be because FL at DL is smaller and closer together. The first thing we did was Pinocchio, since we don't have that at all at WDW. I really liked it! It's your typical FL dark ride, though the differences in how DL handles their load/unload areas are the most obvious in this land. At the most, we saw 2 CMs taking care of the ride, while there could be as many as 4 or 5 working the same rides at WDW. We were amazed that only
one CM controlled the loading and ride operation, and most people actually
listened when told to stay behind the simple yellow line.
After Pinocchio, we did Snow White (shorter but better than WDW), followed by a trip down memory lane with our pilgrimage on Mister Toad. During this period I also had a Mickey ice cream bar (I rarely get these, shocking I know):
Dumbo is pretty much in the same spot, and the exact same ride. We opted to forgo experiencing it at DLR.
The "inside" of our Mister Toad was a lot less elaborate but I do remember the huge mural we had--this seems to be a much smaller version
Time for a little story: When I was little, my first real memory of riding Mister Toad was when I was with my parents and when we got into the car (which were much bigger at WDW), they made a big show of allowing me to "drive." I was probably somewhere between 7 and 10 years old (I can't really remember but I was young). Well! When that car took off, I was 100% completely
convinced I was really driving the car! I was absolutely freaked out of my wits! I remember feeling like we were going 60 MPH and those trick walls would pop out of nowhere then open at the last possible moment, thinking I was plowing right through them! I turned that wheel every which way, literally screaming at the top of my lungs, while my parents laughed themselves to tears. Let's just say, for a long while, it was
not my favorite ride!
I have a lot of memories similar to that, so when I would ride these rides later on in life, I marvel at how sensitive a child I was and how your perception as a child is a lot different from the reality you see as an adult. I honestly can't remember if I rode Mister Toad again after that before they tore it out and replaced it with Pooh (much to the extreme outrage of loyal Toad fans). So, riding it at DL, I was amazed at how less "scary" it really was; how much slower it really was, and how the doors don't really pop out of nowhere! I do remember, though, that at WDW, Mister Toad went to heaven (like in the book) just before you got off the ride. At DL, he's stuck in hell!
The line for Peter Pan was massive; we love the ride, but will never understand why it is SO consistently popular with the longest FL wait. I just, don't get it. I was content to pass on the ride completely during our visit, since we have it here, and we all agreed to move on to another DL exclusive: Alice in Wonderland.
Loved the Monstro!
We loved the Fairy Tale Script art! WDW does not have this and we had a fantastic conversation with the artist. As a previous art major, I was fascinated with how she achieved the images. This was one of the only truly unique DL souvenirs we came across, and all of us but Kris bought our names with custom characters. Expensive, but worth it.
Unique ride set-up. I loved the ride, but the outside area could've been done better.
Waiting for Alice in Wonderland was one of the few experiences with guests at DL that was less than tolerable. I had read a lot on the DIS about how "line cutting" was a serious problem at DLR and more prevalent than at WDW. This was an observation I found to be surprisingly true. I hardly notice people cutting at all at WDW, and the number of families who split up and then try to allegedly re-join their family in line are much higher at DLR. In fact, in nearly every single line we waited in, this happened. It was pretty annoying, actually. Especially when you have folks that go out of their minds, jumping, waving, climbing walls, and screaming to get their party's attention. For the most part, this was really the only annoyance with the public we had (other than the crowds). It was all I could do not to tap their shoulder to say calm down, you can meet them after the 2 minute ride; send them a text to let them know what you're doing. We had to tell several children to get down off of the ledge, or rope, or whatever surface that was not meant to be climbed--all in front of the parents, who were oblivious. Then aside from the young teen who decided to
literally lean up against Myna in line (like,
her whole body weight as if she were a wall), we had no other problem with the public other than the family behind me waiting for Alice. (Note: Myna was so gobsmacked over this girl leaning on her that she actually stepped aside and the girl nearly went crashing to the ground--then glared at Myna as if how dared she move!!)
This family behind me consisted of 3 children, the oldest of which was 12, and their mother. From the moment they got behind us in line, they were complaining about the heat and the time needed to wait for the ride. I was the last one in line in my group, so I was directly in front of them. The eldest child was a girl, her brother was 10, and I'm not sure how old the youngest was. But
all of them fought, bickered, and fidgeted for the entire 20 minute wait. The mother occasionally would tell them to stop then threaten to make them leave the line, but after doing this
5 times her empty threats fell on deaf ears. The 12 yr old was apparently in 7th grade, and had she been in a class I was teaching (I interned for middle school and hope to teach 7th) she would've been sitting by herself in front of my desk! These kids were so ill-behaved, loud, and more annoyingly--they kept bumping into my back and tromping on my heels. I was growing more and more annoyed, and my usual laid-back attitude was growing thinner and thinner. I would look back and give them all pointed looks, then make a quiet comment to my group, but it wasn't until we were nearly next to be on the ride that the mother finally took notice that I was now turning on them with a p'd expression and halfheartedly told her brats that they were bumping in to me. The kids briefly stepped back to actually look at me, but it didn't hold them off for long.
I promised myself that a minute more, the next time I was touched I would actually say something ... and I wasn't sure how polite I would manage it. Fortunately, we were next on the ride, and realized as the ride was ending that that "family" had to wait longer because there was a different family in the car behind us.
I was happy the ride was cool ... short but cool ... I wish we had something like it at WDW. I was even happier I never saw that family again, and it was the only negative tourist experience I had. But honestly, I don't understand some people and what they allow their kids to do ... and how they never do anything about it!
After Alice, we went into one of the many hat shops I saw at DLR. I was happy that nearly every shop had an embroidery machine ... only a few locations do so at WDW. But again, the souvenir of choice appeared to be hats versus plush, and yet I noticed far fewer souvenir hats being worn around the parks than I do at WDW. From there, it was back to Adventureland. Indie was down
yet again and we began to worry that we would never get on this ride. Plus, dude, how old is this ride and why was it having so many issues? But we decided to go on the Jungle Cruise. The 2-story queue was interesting, and our skipper wasn't the best, but I loved the minor differences. Not to mention, the piranha part actually made me jump! I wish they would add that here!
Now, Dixie is a woman on a mission when it comes to Disney. She has a plan in her head and she does not like to be idle. Despite our casual approach to the parks, she powered us through
everywhere. From Jungle Cruise, we were back through to Critter Country, where we took a picture of her and "her restaurant" then decided to experience DL's Pooh.
Loved the honeycomb cars
I agree that DL's version of Pooh is weird. The story makes no sense, while it follows a more linear path at WDW. Plus, was the ride not working right, or do the cars always sway throughout the ride like in the flood scene? That was weird. Still, we ultimately rode this ride twice during our stay.
After a stop in the gift shop, we went to claim our spot for the parade. Now, Dixie and I had been looking forward to this new parade for months. We went looking for our spot with about 40 minutes to go, and most of the good places were taken. We manage to grab a small spot right next to a crossing point on Main Street; I ended up taking Myna back to the Fairy Tale script booth to pick up her order. Dixie and I had picked ours up earlier. When we returned, the family next to us had squeezed down the furthest they could without making it obvious, so I ended up sitting behind my friends and as result, gave my camera to Dixie for good shots. Overall, I loved this parade! I would like something like it to come to WDW. The floats were colorful and the music was great.
Loved this rose cart--I don't notice the parks selling the light roses anymore; though why they were selling light toys so early was beyond me
I have a
ton more photos of the parade on my Photobucket gallery:
here
After the parade, we made another attempt at riding the Matterhorn. Now, here is another observation about DLR: Hardly any wait times. The queue for the Matterhorn was really
weird. First, it basically wraps all the way to the back of the mountain, where we finally found a wait sign. The outside queue really does make the wait look longer than it is, though I doubt the sign is changed often enough to reflect the truth since they're not digital and there's no CM supervising it. We noted that at DLR, CMs are not concerned about efficiency
at all. According to Dixie, the name of the game at WDW is efficiency and maximizing the number of guests processed through the rides. At DLR, all the CMs were a lot more laid back, hardly concerned about whether or not they've counted the right number of guests that can actually ride, and over all seemed actually
happier and friendlier than WDW. And the guests seem equally as unconcerned about wait times or efficiency. We were constantly looking for wait time signs; if WDW did not have them, the usual guest would drop into a fetal position and cry--or pummel the first CM they saw. WDW guests tend to not like waiting -at all-. Dixie has horror stories about irate guests over fast passes and the lack of.
But, we were determined to ride this iconic classic unique to Walt's park, so we waited about 20 minutes to ride the Matterhorn. And we were so glad we did! We rode the Tomorrowland side, and opted out of doubling up in the seats. Just looking at them and knowing that the ride was infamously rough, I commented that "babies were made on this ride." To which Myna replies, "You know when a kid has the middle name of 'Matterhorn'!" I'm glad we did that too, because it really was an insane ride! First, the ride up to the top in
complete, utter, total darkness took us by surprise. Then BOOM! You're barreling down and whipped in every possible direction! This was the speed I was looking for! It was incredible fun! Painful at times, but fun! Easily one of my most favorite rides at DLR. I agree it could be a less painful ride--I think if they re-design the seats and smooth out some of those abrupt dips it'll be less of a chiropractic nightmare. This was another ride I proclaimed I would be "taking home."
After the Matterhorn, we caught dinner in Tomorrowland (loved the different choices; had the mahi sandwich) then decided to ride the Storybook Canal Boats. This was lodged as one of those "good idea at the time" scenarios, because we were coming up on our Indie FP's and thought hey, the line looks short let's fill in the time with this. Well, darkness was falling fast but the line was
not moving. One of the longest waits we had, it was about 30 minutes or so, and they only had one boat loading at a time. When we finally made it on, it was dark, so we got to see all the scenes with the lights on--which was cool, but bad for photos. Once we were off, we fought our way back to Adventureland.
Enter attempt #3 to ride Indie.
Foiled yet again. We're kept away with yet another apology that the ride was "temporarily" closed.
By now, we're utterly exhausted. It's nearly 9 PM and we had been going strong since 5 AM. That's midnight eastern time. We were nearly ready to accept that we'd have to try again for Indie when we went for our second day in DL on Friday. But we decided to hang around, look in the shop across the salmon run, and see if the ride would open for us before we passed out.
Here's another pro-tip: I generally wear my Sketchers Shape-Ups to theme parks. I have a tricky right knee that likes to pain me after a lot of walking and standing, so they're good shoes for walking. Just not for standing. And we did a
ton of both that day. My knee was *killing* me at this point, and since the Alice ride I had been taking my shoes off just to be on flat ground (the shoes' soles constantly has you correcting your balance) while waiting in line. Kris and I found the little sitting area next to the Aladdin's Oasis thing and camped there while the others mingled in the shop. Those shoes were off and I realized that these sneakers are meant for exercising for brief periods and not a marathon of inconsistent walking. I'm going to be investing in a regular pair of sneakers for future theme park visits.
By now, the fireworks were going off. We could see a bit of the show over the enormous trees. Meanwhile, Adventureland flooded with bodies, most coming from the now-ended Fantasmic! (I couldn't get over the people that were camped out in that area since
5 PM. I mean, how old is this show now? Frankly, in my personal opinion, it's not my favorite show and not worth the hassle but hey, to each their own.) Dixie decided to check Indie and see if a 4th time was the charm.
Lo, she ran back: "IT'S OPEN! QUICK! BEFORE IT BREAKS AGAIN!!"
With a surge of adrenaline, we mustered the last of our strength to beeline for the FP queue and gratefully made our way through the 20 minute walk back into the ride, LOL. I thought the FP queue had it's fair share of interactive themeing. When we finally made it to the load/unload zone, our stroke of misfortune with the ride had ended and we were escorted to the front row!
Now, I can't convey just how awesome this ride was. I knew what kind of ride it was and how it was similar to Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom (formally Countdown to Extinction pre-
Dinosaur). While I still like the latter (hey, why all the Dino hate?), Indie blew our minds! Being in the front row made it even that much more epic! We absolutely loved it and immediately vowed we would be taking it home and wishing they would remove the tired Indiana Stunt Show and replace it with this ride!
Elated and happy, Indie wrapped up our first day at
Disneyland. We returned to the hotel exhausted but looking forward to our first visit to California Adventure and World of Color!
Myna is convinced that Mickey is convinced that she's "crazy" because she asked him that!
I know for a fact, though, that Dale is a Gators fan! 
DL vs WDW Comparison: Unlike at WDW, nearly all the rides at DLR have queues that are completely outdoors. Much of them also have no cover, and none have fans of any sort. We realized this was due to CA's more tolerable weather. However, the first few days we were there, it was uncharacteristically hot by mid-day and surprisingly humid. Not quite to FL levels, but it was still uncomfortable. Add to the ZERO cloud cover, and we were baking. We wondered what they do when it does rain and bemoaned the lack of shade and fans that are so crucial in FL. If you go in summer, pack an umbrella and/or buy one of those spray fans--outside of the park. Kris bought a cheap umbrella from the hotel gift shop and while it only lasted a day and a half, it saved us when we were trapped under direct sun.
That's odd to say, too, because I started going to 
