Day 5 - Disneyland Park
Alright, time to wrap this up in a bow--sorry it's been a while since the last post. On the plus side, it was because I was distracted planning and enjoying a 3-day trip to Tokyo Disney! It's been a great Disney summer.
By this point in the trip, we were down to a small handful of "must-dos" for our last day, all in Disneyland. If we didn't get in Matterhorn, Pan, and seeing Dumbo fly we were going to be just a little disappointed.
We went directly to Matterhorn, finally getting to the park at the beginning of the early hour. But as luck would have it, down it was for mechanical difficulties--argh. Of course the CMs would not commit to a time, and I totally get that. Time to start improvising right off the bat. We learned it was down while approaching it in the queue, but got pretty close to the front so that once it did open we wouldn't be waiting long. We decided to send DW and DD over to Pan to see what the wait had built to already over there, while I remained in line at Matterhorn. They called me from there a few minutes later to say it was already at 50 minutes, but in the meantime I heard an internal PA announcement from within Matterhorn that indicated the CMs were working on something. I gambled and had the ladies return to me. Sure enough, about 20 minutes later guests started to load. The ride itself was as bumpy as I had read about, and we all agreed once was enough for that beast. I enjoyed it and am glad I can say now I've been on it, but it was worse than WDW MK Space Mountain for roughness. I think I felt a tooth coming out during it.
With most of EMH already gone and the primo Pan window long over, we headed over to get another ride in on Casey Junior and then on to Small World for a few pictures in front of the facade with no guests--both DW and DD were wearing 50th Anniversary shirts for it that even the CMs there admired. And we got in another ride there too.
Toon Town was next, we hadn't really explored it much since our first day. Crowds were growing at the gate as it hadn't opened just yet, but Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy soon appeared and mingled a bit with the crowds before the area opened. As we walked inside, we were just behind Mickey holding hands with a couple of young girls who hopefully were thinking how lucky they were. A great sight that reminds us all of what a great place Disney is for all ages. Goofy was walking alone, but just in front of us and I convinced DD that if we followed him I was sure we'd be his first customer of the day. Sure enough, he stopped in front of his house and enthusiastically greeted DD as the line quickly built behind us.
We explored TT as much as one can, while DD got not one, not two, but three quick go-rounds on Gadget before tiring of it and moving on to something else. We went over to Roger Rabbit to hop on after maybe a 5-minute wait--DD doesn't particularly like the movie but thought the ride was better than she expected. Jessica didn't appear as much as I had hoped so that was a bit of a disappointment for me.
Once off of that, we looked around for another 20 minutes or so before heading off to our Minnie and Friends ADR, the lone character meal of our trip. On the way, I broke off and "ran" over to Big Thunder to pick up FPs for later.
We got our picture taken on our way in to Minnie and Friends and were directed to a table in short order. It wasn't long before the likes of Eeyore, Chip, Dale, Minnie, Pooh, Hook, and Tigger were passing by every few minutes. I stuffed myself on all the hot breakfast fare I could find and enjoyed the meal very much. It's really no different than any other character breakfast I don't think, the food is not awesome when you think about it but it was good enough for me, especially since I don't get many hot breakfasts myself. By the end of our meal, breakfast hours were almost up (nearing 11:00a I think) and the restaurant was bordering on empty but the characters were still about. As we were getting up from our table, I noticed that all seven of them were together near the main entrance, and I quickly told DW and DD to get over there With A CAMERA! I stayed behind to gather our belongings. When they returned, DW said they didn't think they were supposed to be there and that the characters were getting their picture taken with a CM on their last day. Once that pic was taken, DW asked quickly if DD could do the same and was ushered in to do so while another CM was reticent. Pooh wandered off, but otherwise we got the coolest character picture we've ever had (over 400 M&Gs under our belt) with six disparate characters! It wasn't until later when I noticed Dale was taller and blurrier than Chip too--DW had caught him perfectly in mid-jump! After our pic the characters left and the few other guests around were understandably disappointed. Sorry folks, but we were happy!
After going back to Big Thunder to use our FPs, next up was the Railroad--the nostalgia factor of this one attraction made it a very high priority for us--we understand the importance of it in Disney lore. We made a complete circuit from Main Street to Main Street (unlike our brief run a few days prior), and I had forgotten about the dinosaur dioramas before returning to Main Street--WDW doesn't have this at all. Very cool.
We hit a few more characters and PP opportunities around Main Street, and DW did a silhouette while I ran off to get Autopia FPs. DD had a sudden urge to see Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow, so we lined up for what was probably a 35-minute wait. Right after entering, we saw Fairy Godmother and Perla walk by on their way to the Fantasy Faire area, so DW and DD chased them down (we've never managed to get Perla before) while I waited in line. We don't usually "save" places in line like this, but this day we didn't care and neither did anyone around us appear to either. So sue me.
Iridessa was the visiting pixie at that time, and she liked how her yellow outfit matched that of DW's and DD's yellow Small World shirts. Tink followed and was her usual sassy self.
Also while waiting in line for Pixie Hollow (and after DD and DW returned), I hopped over to Jungle Cruise to see if I could get one of those souvenir maps I heard about. I had no intention of riding, so I went to the exit and meekly asked the CM there if I could have one. She said they weren't supposed to do that and she didn't have any on her, but said she would see what she could do and left. A few minutes later, she returned and told me I could have one...but only if I made the noise of a jungle animal! I'm not one to do goofy stuff like this, but I figured what the heads and made a load roar like a lion might. She smiled to herself (probably satisfied to make a grown man look so stupid) and handed me one. Mission accomplished.
We did Autopia next, and thought it was better than WDW's version. The cars and the terrain were both more interesting at least.
We bit the bullet and headed over to Fantasyland to see what Pan's wait was like, and we were a little surprised to see it at "only" 40 minutes. We decided to hop in and get that done. We were glad we did as it was just a little different than what we were used to at WDW--I remember the part with the stars was much more immersive at least.
DW and DD did the carousel next, and while leaving DW noticed a horse that looked a little different. As we headed over to Pooh to ride that one last time (DD enjoyed that a lot more than MK's), I buried myself in my phone and learned the history of that horse. Many of you already know it is Jingles, supposedly Walt's favorite, the lead horse, and the one dedicated to Julie Andrews a few years ago. Especially after seeing and loving "Saving Mr. Banks" a few months back, DW made it a point to return and ride that horse after we did Pooh. I advised her how to be first in line to get to it, where it stopped after each cycle, and off she went. She did everything perfectly, except a young teenager walked past her at a quicker pace and boarded it before her. When she realized DW was headed for that same horse, she graciously offered to let DW get on instead. I want to think she was a local and would have plenty of options to ride again--that she headed for that particular horse suggests that was the case.
After that, we headed back towards the exit, shopping a little on the way and seeing Soundsational pass by one more time. We returned to the hotel to swim a little more before turning around quickly to see the night's fireworks and finally Dumbo fly. I stopped by concierge upstairs to ask about the chances of fireworks that night also--it was windy--and while talking the CM there shared their nice secret spot by Casey Junior and Dumbo (the ride) to watch them from. We monorailed back over and took up that position, only to find the fireworks would be cancelled completely that night. Our titular quest had failed! DD (and truthfully, all of us) were pretty bummed about that. Looks like we'll have to come back sometime.
Fantasmic was still an option at 10:30p, but we had an early start the next morning. Should we or shouldn't we? Yeah, you already know the answer. Using the info the CM from the Red Car Trolley had shared days prior, we took up a spot on the Pirates bridge about 40 minutes before the show and had what I thought was a great spot. Yes, Fantasmic is better at DLR...the incorporation of the SS Columbia and the actual Mark Twain into the show made a surprisingly big difference to me.
I guess that about covers the DLR portion of our trip, we had an uneventful (and very sad) departure the next morning for LAX and Hawaii. Hawaii had a lot to live up to! If enough of you bug me enough, I might do the Hawaii days too, though in far less detail. Suffice it to say it was a different kind of fun for all.
My oldest boy would have been blown away!
