Alright, lets start off with the way we are getting there. Our local community center is having a one day bus ride to Disneyland and back from Arizona. Not too shabby for a ticket and ride at 60 bucks a piece. The date, July 29th, 2006. A Saturday in the summer! Yowza! We are going to make the most of it anyways!
11:00 PM Friday July 28th, 2006
We take a taxi to the community center to get on the charter coach. The luggage bays below have ample space for strollers and whatnot. I have just one big duffle bag that holds changes of clothes and stuff for later, then the pillows and blankets for the snooze on the bus tonight. All families are checked in and we are off. It is just me and my DS5, Stitch. Tale of the tape says this fighter measures in at 46 tall! Good enough for everything except Autopia. But we will have to see for later. On to Disneyland! It will be his first time!
6:30 AM Saturday July 29th, 2006
We are already here! Woohoo! We stop at a McDonalds near Disneyland to change into our day clothes, eat breakfast and get everything ready. Tummy full! Clothes Stylin! Trusty backpack full of tricks check! I AM SO READY TO GO! Alas, but no! We are STILL WAITING AROUND at the McDonalds till 7:35 or so! We should ALREADY BE IN THE PARK waiting for the rope drop. Well I assume they would open early, but wasnt there to witness if that were true or not. Minor setback aside, we arrive in the Pinocchio lot and take the Mickey and Friends tram to Downtown Disney and walk to the entrance.
8:00 AM Esplanade
Made it into the park right at 8:00 AM and I am jealous of the others that got a jump start! Oh well, as Sean Connery once said, The DAY is MINE! Time to take the park Commando Style before it heats up. First up, Horseless Carriage. Conserving energy already! Ha! Driver takes us to the end of Main Street and we head into Tomorrowland. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters will be the first victim. It is new to the both of us. I grab the FPs for later and get right into the ride. Nice short queuing area and I liked the AA of Buzz explaining the story. Stitch was playing the online game beforehand and couldnt wait to see how he was helping people out at Disneyland! We both got L-3 status our first time. Cool! On our way out, we make sure to send ourselves an email from the picture taken on the ride using the supplied kiosks and then head into the Little Green Store Command to buy a pin and get the Happiest Celebration on Earth Pin VMK Card. They ran out, but one of the CMs goes in the back and gets a new card box. Phew! Stitch cant wait to add it to his VMK character.
Next is Star Tours. Doing a brisk walk through the queuing area, Stitch takes a moment to remember all the characters from Star Wars. R2! is all I hear after pointing to it as we immediately get onto the ride. Some big lug is in front of the little guy, we switched and now he could see the screen. For him it was awesome. For me, the great debate of adding in my vote for various Star Tours scenarios! A Hoth one and maybe an Endor one where you just happen to "stumble" into those battles liked the Death Star one. Daydreaming aside, it is a great ride still. We exit the ride and head into the Star Trader Shop to buy a shirt and get the Retro Mickey T-shirt VMK Card. They had plenty of them available. If the T-shirt is not on your budget and you can do without the card, but would still like to get the Retro Mickey Shirt for your VMK character, you can create a new born in park character at either of the two VMK booths inside Innoventions and choose that T-Shirt to start off with.
Time for Space Mountain! It will be new for me since the renovation. We make the hike around the whole queuing area to immediately get onto the ride. Its different, Ill give it that much. No more sun or something like that. Its all darkness and stars now. The pics at the end of the ride werent good ones either. Que lastima! This is the only ride all day that had Stitch a little shaken up. Poor thing! I had to do something quick to get him out of this funk.
8:35 AM VMK Questing.
Alas, the much hallowed VMK Booth. Right outside Innoventions, this little stand was a beacon for VMKers much like Stitch and I who were picking up their VMK Quest cards and had their printed ones ready to go. We picked up the Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland and the Critter Country Quest. We already printed out the 50th Celebration, Tomorrowland and High School Musical Quest as well as the Hidden Mickey 2 in game PDF. Time for Trivia Answer Hunting and good times. Leaving Tomorrowland, we got our first Character meet with Buzz! Stitch exclaimed, We beat Zerg! and they high fived.
8:45 AM Snowy Peaks to Ghoulish Freaks
We got to see the Finding Nemo advertisement that was up for the new submarine voyage ride in 2007 on our hop along onto the Matterhorn! Stitch really liked this one even though the Yeti was trying to scare him rather than being friendly like in VMK. From this point, we skipped south across Fantasyland down toward the castle answering as much VMK Quest Trivia as we could. We took some pictures of Stitch and the castle, then headed onward to Adventureland and picked up a dole whip on our way in! Yummy! It is a must have treat! Our FP time window for Astro Blasters came up already, so I went to FP Indy as we passed it. We noticed a huge line already for Pirates of the Caribbean as we were passing it up. Will have to do that one during the first Fantasmic. Haunted Mansion was ready to be just walked into. We all huddled into the foyer and I couldnt wait to see the new bride stuff. Stitch really liked it as well and tried to hug the ghost in the mirror at the end!
9:15 AM Pooh Bear! Denied!
Critter Country follows up on the agenda. Splash Mountain was surprisingly minimal wait. We got the back of the log and I was telling him the story. I never got to rent Song of the South before the trip. He loved the flume drop. We didnt get wet at all which I signed relief at because he always wants to change clothes when he is. The flume drop picture was ruined by another big lug in front of us! He completely hid Stitch in the picture. We rolled a penny in the Splash Mountain Penny Press and went to the Pooh Corner Store. Stitch picked a lollipop and we got the Red Penny Press Chocolate Dispenser VMK Card. Outside, we lined up to take our photos with Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. He didnt want to take his picture with Pooh for some reason, but he liked Eeyore and Tigger . We had some confusion with Tigger. I guess he was waiting to take a snapshot instead of doing a video recording. But all was well and they both got a good bounce in too!
10:00 AM Tom Sawyers Island
Heading back to the Rivers of America, we get on the Raft to Tom Sawyer Island. He had a crazy time going through everything like Injun Joes Cave and the Tree house. We went over all the bridges. Sadly, Fort Wilderness was not open. It was a good setting to take a snack in the shade. We took a good amount of time to check everything out and got back to the mainland by the end of the hour. We strolled along The Rivers of America and the Mark Twain was just about to set sail. We made it in just the nick of time and headed all the way up for a birds eye view. Departing the Mark Twain, I was able to get FPs for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad now. We headed north out of Frontierland to Fantasyland into Toontown.
11:30 AM Hey! Haha! Im Mickey Mouse!
We FPed the disconnected Roger Rabbit and explored Toontown. He had a blast . Enabling all the town gags was really fun for him. We bypassed Minnies House and had to succumb to the Mickey line. Not too bad. Got into the movie barn at least before hitting the line. Moved fairly quickly. Got our hug and snapshot and took off to Chip n Dales Tree House. He made me laugh when Gadgets Go Coaster elicited an, Eh! So we went on toward Donalds Boat to get some cool wet clothes. He stayed there awhile. By the time he came out the FP for roger rabbit was already good. That cab is a bugger to keep from spinning the wrong way!
We could hardly determine the storyline. That one left him very puzzled even though we saw the movie.
1:00 PM Run for Cover!
The heat was now starting to beat on us. Our first refuge was the Snow White Musical at 1 PM. Following that, we made a mad dash for Tomorrowland again. Time to submit the VMK quests. I submitted one of each of the completed quests and the CM gave us 1 card for each ticket and let us keep the filled Quest cards for souvenirs. Sweet! He totally made out like a bandit . We even got two FPs for our choice of ride. We selected Autopia. I really thanked the CM and wished upon him many blessings for standing out in the relentless sun. We went to check the times for Honey I Shrunk the audience. Apparently, they were closed, but they just opened back up and we were the first ones to wait in the A/C queuing area. Woot! The doors opened and he got a kick out of the environment simulations and actually thought the dog sneezed on him, Ew! Doggie gross!
2:30 PM Refuel and Recharge
Redd Rocketts Pizza Port fit the bill because it was hot and close. From there, the wonderful A/C of Innoventions was ready to be explored while the outdoors were still blazing. We just took off straight out of the product demo and into the first floor displays. There were some computer games, but the main draw were the two VMK booths which had at least 10 computers each for logging into VMK. For VMK nuts like us, we were quick to take out the cards we just got and start accessorizing! We had to make a couple of new accounts to so we can get the born in the park stuff! Totally awesome! No disconnecting either amazingly! That took up a good one full hour. We went upstairs to check out the goings on. We got to relax in the virtual vacation, throw down some crab scratches and some flares on the music mix station, play all the Disney interactive games and then talked to Stitch while waiting for the Asimo show to start. The interactive Stitch was on the money. I dont know if it was a computer program or some dude out back, but my Stitch really licked it. This is a must see for Stitch fans. The Asimo show started up. The lady went on about how Asimo was so cool because he could walk. Oddly enough, he made me long for Push. Sigh
I was really hoping to see Push that day, but it did not come to fruition. I would have really enjoyed a little trash talk with Push, I really would.
5:00 PM Pulling the old-switcheroo!
Leaving Innoventions cooled down; we head out into the heat again. We burn rubber for Autopia to use those VMK Fast Passes. They do well for us to get on the ride quickly. As quick as I can, we switch in the car and then Stitch peels out! Yes, I know. Shame on me, but this ride is just not worth it if I had to drive. Exiting the autopiabahn, we decide to cash in another FP for a second go round on Astro Blasters! Space Rangers! L-4s baby! We email the second ride photo back home as well. We had a big wait for Astro Orbiter, but he did not want to pass it up.
6:00 PM Enchanting A/C A/C A/C A/C Room!
Getting heated once again, we cross the central hub into Adventureland once again. This time, the Tiki room is about to go on. We spring for another dole whip, wait and learn from to the idols which one answers VMK question on the Adventureland Quest. We head on in to cool off. Entranced by the birds, he likes the beat of the tiki drummers. We skip along out the exit saying, tiki tiki constantly ready for more Tropical Shenanigans. We cruised right onto the Jungle boats and I was rooting for our CM to bring on the funny. I dont know, maybe it was his timing, but he did not elicit much laughter from our group. Stitch did not try to reach out and touch the baby elephants to my pleasant surprise, we instead named each VMK room during the ride. We made our way out of tropical river danger to only go into more with the troop transports! There was a huge line to get Indy FPs which was surprising because I would have thought they would have run out by now. Weighing the decision, we skipped waiting for another FP and used the Indy FPs we had to go right on in. We made our way through most of the queue area and just had to stop at; you guessed it, The BAMBOO OF THUNDER !!! I urged Stitch to shake it. It takes a little more motion this time since they fixed it, and we thought it was still on the fritz, but yes the Thunder gods smile upon us and we get a startled reaction from the crowd behind us waiting for us yahoos to get out of the way! Woohoo! Continuing on, we reach the end of the line near the movie screen. We are moving along at a steady clip and we get on the transports and go down the left door. Nuggets! Stitch hangs onto the hand rail for dear life and is fascinated by the sights and sounds to belt out, Whoa! I just have to bust out with the Indy theme song during the ride, but somehow find myself ending with one of the Stars Wars songs? Hmmm?! Still charged up by that thrill, we have to get on another one! Running with the Thunder theme, it is now time for BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN R&R. This one brings back memories! He points to the dinosaur bones just like I did back in the day. This one is just a plain good old fashioned thrill ride. Awesome!
7:45PM Dinner Eats and Nightly Treats
Rancho Del Zocalo was right there and super fast. No fuss, no muss! We had to take a breather. We sat and looked at some of the video we took, then after some ample feet rest went to search for Captain Jack! People were already getting ready for Fantasmic. The POTC line was now manageable. I liked the new painting of Sparrow just inside the doors. The new AA of Jack and the mist projection of Davy Jones were pretty cool. It was a nice relaxing ride.
8:30 PM Decision time.
Stay in New Orleans and wait for Fantasmic or go to Fantasyland. We opted to stay and take refuge at French Market where I hustled an outside table right after someone left! Sweet! Cheesecake for me and cake for stitch were for dessert as we enjoyed Fantasmic as best as we could. Still those big lugs are blocking our view! Boosted with sugary goodness, we now have to plow through the crowd to Fantasyland. I had to lead block and Stitch was right behind me. Or so I thought! He got distracted by the Lion King picture in Adventureland and we said hi to a new friend. We gave a little boy one of our extra glow sticks from Dollar Tree. We make our way back into the Central Hub and head back to the castle. The Fireworks are well under way but still a site to behold. Looking up and trying not to bump into anyone during our careful stroll to the castle, the fanfare is wonderful to behold.
10:00 PM Fantasyland at Night.
Passing through the Castle again, we just start off clockwise riding all the rides here. He slowly remembers all the Disney movies I prepped him with before the trip. We go on Snow White, Pinocchio, and go round and round on the King Arthur Carrousel. We decide to opt for the Storybook Land Canal Boats rather than Casey Jr. after riding Dumbo. Someone already nabbed the Golden Dumbo, but he was excited anyways to be on the ride they show on the Disneyland website. Small World was next; I loved the CMs for having that one hopping along quickly. Fortunately, I did not get the song stuck in my head. We went into the Mad Hatter to get his first pair of ears. Unfortunately, they were out of the VMK Card for the Golden Mickey Ears. Unfazed, we looked towards the Mad Tea Party. The line was insane for this one. We were running out of time and it seemed it was better to look at than ride. We headed for Alice, then Toads and finally, Peter Pan! We were graced with the golden ship and felt it was a perfect ending for the night. We can fly we can fly we can fly!!! We head south out of the castle again into Main Street. He wanted one of those robot hand grabber things from the magic shop and that got us the Fantasyland Magic Mirror VMK Card. It was decision time once again between Disneyland Rail Road or The First Magical 50 years. We go for the Rail Road and the poor guy does not make it out awake. He dozed off somewhere around the Fantasyland stop. I succumb to it as well and I totally missed the dinosaurs and stuff. Carrying him out into the Esplanade, I look back and smile and then wonder what he is dreaming. Piggybacking all the way to the tram, I finally get some relief as we head back to Pinocchio lot. Neither of us had any trouble sleeping on the bus or Disney dreaming all the way back.
11:00 PM Friday July 28th, 2006
We take a taxi to the community center to get on the charter coach. The luggage bays below have ample space for strollers and whatnot. I have just one big duffle bag that holds changes of clothes and stuff for later, then the pillows and blankets for the snooze on the bus tonight. All families are checked in and we are off. It is just me and my DS5, Stitch. Tale of the tape says this fighter measures in at 46 tall! Good enough for everything except Autopia. But we will have to see for later. On to Disneyland! It will be his first time!
6:30 AM Saturday July 29th, 2006
We are already here! Woohoo! We stop at a McDonalds near Disneyland to change into our day clothes, eat breakfast and get everything ready. Tummy full! Clothes Stylin! Trusty backpack full of tricks check! I AM SO READY TO GO! Alas, but no! We are STILL WAITING AROUND at the McDonalds till 7:35 or so! We should ALREADY BE IN THE PARK waiting for the rope drop. Well I assume they would open early, but wasnt there to witness if that were true or not. Minor setback aside, we arrive in the Pinocchio lot and take the Mickey and Friends tram to Downtown Disney and walk to the entrance.
8:00 AM Esplanade
Made it into the park right at 8:00 AM and I am jealous of the others that got a jump start! Oh well, as Sean Connery once said, The DAY is MINE! Time to take the park Commando Style before it heats up. First up, Horseless Carriage. Conserving energy already! Ha! Driver takes us to the end of Main Street and we head into Tomorrowland. Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters will be the first victim. It is new to the both of us. I grab the FPs for later and get right into the ride. Nice short queuing area and I liked the AA of Buzz explaining the story. Stitch was playing the online game beforehand and couldnt wait to see how he was helping people out at Disneyland! We both got L-3 status our first time. Cool! On our way out, we make sure to send ourselves an email from the picture taken on the ride using the supplied kiosks and then head into the Little Green Store Command to buy a pin and get the Happiest Celebration on Earth Pin VMK Card. They ran out, but one of the CMs goes in the back and gets a new card box. Phew! Stitch cant wait to add it to his VMK character.
Next is Star Tours. Doing a brisk walk through the queuing area, Stitch takes a moment to remember all the characters from Star Wars. R2! is all I hear after pointing to it as we immediately get onto the ride. Some big lug is in front of the little guy, we switched and now he could see the screen. For him it was awesome. For me, the great debate of adding in my vote for various Star Tours scenarios! A Hoth one and maybe an Endor one where you just happen to "stumble" into those battles liked the Death Star one. Daydreaming aside, it is a great ride still. We exit the ride and head into the Star Trader Shop to buy a shirt and get the Retro Mickey T-shirt VMK Card. They had plenty of them available. If the T-shirt is not on your budget and you can do without the card, but would still like to get the Retro Mickey Shirt for your VMK character, you can create a new born in park character at either of the two VMK booths inside Innoventions and choose that T-Shirt to start off with.
Time for Space Mountain! It will be new for me since the renovation. We make the hike around the whole queuing area to immediately get onto the ride. Its different, Ill give it that much. No more sun or something like that. Its all darkness and stars now. The pics at the end of the ride werent good ones either. Que lastima! This is the only ride all day that had Stitch a little shaken up. Poor thing! I had to do something quick to get him out of this funk.
8:35 AM VMK Questing.
Alas, the much hallowed VMK Booth. Right outside Innoventions, this little stand was a beacon for VMKers much like Stitch and I who were picking up their VMK Quest cards and had their printed ones ready to go. We picked up the Adventureland, Fantasyland, Frontierland and the Critter Country Quest. We already printed out the 50th Celebration, Tomorrowland and High School Musical Quest as well as the Hidden Mickey 2 in game PDF. Time for Trivia Answer Hunting and good times. Leaving Tomorrowland, we got our first Character meet with Buzz! Stitch exclaimed, We beat Zerg! and they high fived.
8:45 AM Snowy Peaks to Ghoulish Freaks
We got to see the Finding Nemo advertisement that was up for the new submarine voyage ride in 2007 on our hop along onto the Matterhorn! Stitch really liked this one even though the Yeti was trying to scare him rather than being friendly like in VMK. From this point, we skipped south across Fantasyland down toward the castle answering as much VMK Quest Trivia as we could. We took some pictures of Stitch and the castle, then headed onward to Adventureland and picked up a dole whip on our way in! Yummy! It is a must have treat! Our FP time window for Astro Blasters came up already, so I went to FP Indy as we passed it. We noticed a huge line already for Pirates of the Caribbean as we were passing it up. Will have to do that one during the first Fantasmic. Haunted Mansion was ready to be just walked into. We all huddled into the foyer and I couldnt wait to see the new bride stuff. Stitch really liked it as well and tried to hug the ghost in the mirror at the end!
9:15 AM Pooh Bear! Denied!
Critter Country follows up on the agenda. Splash Mountain was surprisingly minimal wait. We got the back of the log and I was telling him the story. I never got to rent Song of the South before the trip. He loved the flume drop. We didnt get wet at all which I signed relief at because he always wants to change clothes when he is. The flume drop picture was ruined by another big lug in front of us! He completely hid Stitch in the picture. We rolled a penny in the Splash Mountain Penny Press and went to the Pooh Corner Store. Stitch picked a lollipop and we got the Red Penny Press Chocolate Dispenser VMK Card. Outside, we lined up to take our photos with Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. He didnt want to take his picture with Pooh for some reason, but he liked Eeyore and Tigger . We had some confusion with Tigger. I guess he was waiting to take a snapshot instead of doing a video recording. But all was well and they both got a good bounce in too!
10:00 AM Tom Sawyers Island
Heading back to the Rivers of America, we get on the Raft to Tom Sawyer Island. He had a crazy time going through everything like Injun Joes Cave and the Tree house. We went over all the bridges. Sadly, Fort Wilderness was not open. It was a good setting to take a snack in the shade. We took a good amount of time to check everything out and got back to the mainland by the end of the hour. We strolled along The Rivers of America and the Mark Twain was just about to set sail. We made it in just the nick of time and headed all the way up for a birds eye view. Departing the Mark Twain, I was able to get FPs for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad now. We headed north out of Frontierland to Fantasyland into Toontown.
11:30 AM Hey! Haha! Im Mickey Mouse!
We FPed the disconnected Roger Rabbit and explored Toontown. He had a blast . Enabling all the town gags was really fun for him. We bypassed Minnies House and had to succumb to the Mickey line. Not too bad. Got into the movie barn at least before hitting the line. Moved fairly quickly. Got our hug and snapshot and took off to Chip n Dales Tree House. He made me laugh when Gadgets Go Coaster elicited an, Eh! So we went on toward Donalds Boat to get some cool wet clothes. He stayed there awhile. By the time he came out the FP for roger rabbit was already good. That cab is a bugger to keep from spinning the wrong way!
We could hardly determine the storyline. That one left him very puzzled even though we saw the movie.1:00 PM Run for Cover!
The heat was now starting to beat on us. Our first refuge was the Snow White Musical at 1 PM. Following that, we made a mad dash for Tomorrowland again. Time to submit the VMK quests. I submitted one of each of the completed quests and the CM gave us 1 card for each ticket and let us keep the filled Quest cards for souvenirs. Sweet! He totally made out like a bandit . We even got two FPs for our choice of ride. We selected Autopia. I really thanked the CM and wished upon him many blessings for standing out in the relentless sun. We went to check the times for Honey I Shrunk the audience. Apparently, they were closed, but they just opened back up and we were the first ones to wait in the A/C queuing area. Woot! The doors opened and he got a kick out of the environment simulations and actually thought the dog sneezed on him, Ew! Doggie gross!
2:30 PM Refuel and Recharge
Redd Rocketts Pizza Port fit the bill because it was hot and close. From there, the wonderful A/C of Innoventions was ready to be explored while the outdoors were still blazing. We just took off straight out of the product demo and into the first floor displays. There were some computer games, but the main draw were the two VMK booths which had at least 10 computers each for logging into VMK. For VMK nuts like us, we were quick to take out the cards we just got and start accessorizing! We had to make a couple of new accounts to so we can get the born in the park stuff! Totally awesome! No disconnecting either amazingly!
That took up a good one full hour. We went upstairs to check out the goings on. We got to relax in the virtual vacation, throw down some crab scratches and some flares on the music mix station, play all the Disney interactive games and then talked to Stitch while waiting for the Asimo show to start. The interactive Stitch was on the money. I dont know if it was a computer program or some dude out back, but my Stitch really licked it. This is a must see for Stitch fans. The Asimo show started up. The lady went on about how Asimo was so cool because he could walk. Oddly enough, he made me long for Push. Sigh
I was really hoping to see Push that day, but it did not come to fruition. I would have really enjoyed a little trash talk with Push, I really would.5:00 PM Pulling the old-switcheroo!
Leaving Innoventions cooled down; we head out into the heat again. We burn rubber for Autopia to use those VMK Fast Passes. They do well for us to get on the ride quickly. As quick as I can, we switch in the car and then Stitch peels out! Yes, I know. Shame on me, but this ride is just not worth it if I had to drive. Exiting the autopiabahn, we decide to cash in another FP for a second go round on Astro Blasters! Space Rangers! L-4s baby! We email the second ride photo back home as well. We had a big wait for Astro Orbiter, but he did not want to pass it up.
6:00 PM Enchanting A/C A/C A/C A/C Room!
Getting heated once again, we cross the central hub into Adventureland once again. This time, the Tiki room is about to go on. We spring for another dole whip, wait and learn from to the idols which one answers VMK question on the Adventureland Quest. We head on in to cool off. Entranced by the birds, he likes the beat of the tiki drummers. We skip along out the exit saying, tiki tiki constantly ready for more Tropical Shenanigans. We cruised right onto the Jungle boats and I was rooting for our CM to bring on the funny. I dont know, maybe it was his timing, but he did not elicit much laughter from our group. Stitch did not try to reach out and touch the baby elephants to my pleasant surprise, we instead named each VMK room during the ride. We made our way out of tropical river danger to only go into more with the troop transports! There was a huge line to get Indy FPs which was surprising because I would have thought they would have run out by now. Weighing the decision, we skipped waiting for another FP and used the Indy FPs we had to go right on in. We made our way through most of the queue area and just had to stop at; you guessed it, The BAMBOO OF THUNDER !!! I urged Stitch to shake it. It takes a little more motion this time since they fixed it, and we thought it was still on the fritz, but yes the Thunder gods smile upon us and we get a startled reaction from the crowd behind us waiting for us yahoos to get out of the way! Woohoo! Continuing on, we reach the end of the line near the movie screen. We are moving along at a steady clip and we get on the transports and go down the left door. Nuggets! Stitch hangs onto the hand rail for dear life and is fascinated by the sights and sounds to belt out, Whoa! I just have to bust out with the Indy theme song during the ride, but somehow find myself ending with one of the Stars Wars songs? Hmmm?! Still charged up by that thrill, we have to get on another one! Running with the Thunder theme, it is now time for BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN R&R. This one brings back memories! He points to the dinosaur bones just like I did back in the day. This one is just a plain good old fashioned thrill ride. Awesome!
7:45PM Dinner Eats and Nightly Treats
Rancho Del Zocalo was right there and super fast. No fuss, no muss! We had to take a breather. We sat and looked at some of the video we took, then after some ample feet rest went to search for Captain Jack! People were already getting ready for Fantasmic. The POTC line was now manageable. I liked the new painting of Sparrow just inside the doors. The new AA of Jack and the mist projection of Davy Jones were pretty cool. It was a nice relaxing ride.
8:30 PM Decision time.
Stay in New Orleans and wait for Fantasmic or go to Fantasyland. We opted to stay and take refuge at French Market where I hustled an outside table right after someone left! Sweet! Cheesecake for me and cake for stitch were for dessert as we enjoyed Fantasmic as best as we could. Still those big lugs are blocking our view! Boosted with sugary goodness, we now have to plow through the crowd to Fantasyland. I had to lead block and Stitch was right behind me. Or so I thought! He got distracted by the Lion King picture in Adventureland and we said hi to a new friend. We gave a little boy one of our extra glow sticks from Dollar Tree. We make our way back into the Central Hub and head back to the castle. The Fireworks are well under way but still a site to behold. Looking up and trying not to bump into anyone during our careful stroll to the castle, the fanfare is wonderful to behold.
10:00 PM Fantasyland at Night.
Passing through the Castle again, we just start off clockwise riding all the rides here. He slowly remembers all the Disney movies I prepped him with before the trip. We go on Snow White, Pinocchio, and go round and round on the King Arthur Carrousel. We decide to opt for the Storybook Land Canal Boats rather than Casey Jr. after riding Dumbo. Someone already nabbed the Golden Dumbo, but he was excited anyways to be on the ride they show on the Disneyland website. Small World was next; I loved the CMs for having that one hopping along quickly. Fortunately, I did not get the song stuck in my head. We went into the Mad Hatter to get his first pair of ears. Unfortunately, they were out of the VMK Card for the Golden Mickey Ears. Unfazed, we looked towards the Mad Tea Party. The line was insane for this one. We were running out of time and it seemed it was better to look at than ride. We headed for Alice, then Toads and finally, Peter Pan! We were graced with the golden ship and felt it was a perfect ending for the night. We can fly we can fly we can fly!!! We head south out of the castle again into Main Street. He wanted one of those robot hand grabber things from the magic shop and that got us the Fantasyland Magic Mirror VMK Card. It was decision time once again between Disneyland Rail Road or The First Magical 50 years. We go for the Rail Road and the poor guy does not make it out awake. He dozed off somewhere around the Fantasyland stop. I succumb to it as well and I totally missed the dinosaurs and stuff. Carrying him out into the Esplanade, I look back and smile and then wonder what he is dreaming. Piggybacking all the way to the tram, I finally get some relief as we head back to Pinocchio lot. Neither of us had any trouble sleeping on the bus or Disney dreaming all the way back.
