I just want to warn you in advance that this post is quite long.
The Beginning of the Journey
Our journey began on Saturday, April 26th. My sister and I were supposed to be at our brother's old house by noon so that we could go with him to pick up the moving truck since he was in the process of moving. Our other brother was going to drive us down to Detroit so that we wouldn't be leaving a car down there since brother #2 was in the middle of moving. We were trying to make things less complicated. Well brother #1 showed up late, as we figured he would since he almost never shows up anywhere on time. He brought his best friend with him for some reason. We packed the car and were finally off. Though we would be lucky to make it down to Detroit by noon. Oy. On the way we stopped at the one scrapbook store since my brother had to pick up a few things for his wife and wanted us to help him pick it out. Grrrrr Then my brother made another stop. We tried to tell him to just take us to brother #2's but no one was listening to us. Well brother #2 was quite peeved. The movers had gone to the wrong place and he had to go pick up the truck by himself, leaving his car at the place, which is why he wanted us there at noon. And for once it wasn't our fault. We finally got to his place. We had brother #1 take us to the place where brother #2 had left his car, picked it up and went back to his old place while his few belongings were packed up in the truck. My brother has a very minimalist approach to furnishing his house.
After we got him moved into his new place we got some lunch and did a bit of last minute shopping for our trip. Surprisingly we remembered almost everything, unlike our trip to Gettysburg last year when we forgot almost everything! After that we spent the remainder of the night at his place watching TV and DVDs. My sister and I were both quite excited for our trip. We went to bed early since our flight was scheduled for 9:30, which meant we had to be at the airport by 7:30 am.
Leaving for LA!!!
I didn't sleep well the night before. I was nervous for the flight. This was going to by the longest flight I've done and since I just recently overcame my fear of flying, I was a bit nervous. We had no problems getting to the airport, checking our baggage or getting through security. Even our gate was right by where you enter the terminal, which meant we didn't have to walk all the way to the other end like we normally do. We waited impatiently at the gate. We were both excited and kind of hyper, despite the early hour.
Before long it was time to board the plane. It was going to be a full flight from Detroit to LA. Boarding didn't take long, but we noticed that quite a few seats were unoccupied. Soon it was almost time for departure and there was no sign of leaving. A few minutes after the time we were supposed to leave the Captain announced that there was a large group flying, and 8 of them were missing due to problems with security and we would wait for them. When they were finally found, most of the missing passengers were children, which is probably why they held the plane. We left about 40 minutes late.
There were no problems with take off, but there was quite a bit of turbulence when we were flying over Lake Michigan. My sister had the middle seat, while I had the window seat. For the first part of the flight you really couldn't see much out the window due to the cloud cover. I slept part of the way while my sister read. The best part of the flight was seeing the mountains and what I think was the Grand Canyon. I took quite a few pictures out of the window.
Welcome to CA!!!
It took about 5 hours to get from Detroit to LAX. When we landed in LA it was like 88 degrees!!! A vast difference from back home in MI. We got our luggage and found where the shuttles were. The traffic surrounding LAX is INSANE!!! I was glad that I had chosen not to try driving. Once we got in the shuttle we picked up several more passengers before finally leaving the airport. I'm not sure how long it took to get from the airport to our hotel in Anaheim, but it wasn't too long. There wasn't too much traffic, which was good.
We eventually got to the hotel, checked in and went up to the room. We decided to stay at the Castle Inn. This was my sister's choice. It was OK, nothing too special. We unpacked a bit then called home to assure our family we arrived safely and in one piece. We then passed out from exhaustion and each took a nice long nap. When we woke up from our naps we were hungry since we didn't have much to eat all day, so we decided to seek out some food. On the drive from the airport we noticed an IHOP just down from the hotel, so we headed in that direction.
My sister ordered a steak and I had pot roast. It was OK, but it was at least real food. We then stopped at subway to buy a sub for later so we wouldn't have to go out again. We returned to the hotel then and finished unpacking then rested some more. We watched some TV and a DVD on the laptop, but we both fell asleep while watching it. We went to bed early according to Pacific time, but late for Eastern time. We wanted to be well rested for our first day at
Disneyland.
DISNEYLAND!!!
It was supposed to be another scorcher, which I really wasn't looking forward to, but we got up early and got ready to head to the parks, full of enthusiasm. We walked to the main gate and arrived before the park was opened. They weren't letting people in the plaza yet so we waited with a group of other people like ourselves who were waiting to get in so we could make our breakfast reservations. We had reservations that morning at the Plaza Inn with Minnie and friends. We were kind of concerned about making it on time, but were reassured that it wouldn't be a problem. Once we got through the security bag check we went to the gates where others with breakfast reservations were waiting. They checked our names off the list and gave us a button to wear so that we could get passed the rope to make it to our reservations. At 9:30 we finally got to enter Main Street, USA. We quickly walked to the rope and found how to get to the Plaza Inn.
We waited in line with the others who had reservations and eventually got seated. When we got to the table Minnie was there and we got pictures and her autograph in our newly purchased autograph books. During the course of breakfast we also met Eeyore, Tigger, Gepetto, Chip and Pooh at the same time who got into a bit of a fight, Captain Hook, the Fairy Godmother, and Rafiki. The food was quite good, especially the fruit.
After breakfast it was time to go ride some rides. We started off with Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. My sister totally kicked my butt, which isn't unusual. She usually beats me. I always have trouble seeing where the heck my dot is.
After that we went to take pictures of Sleeping Beauty castle, which is what my sister really wanted to see since Sleeping Beauty is her favorite princess and she has always wanted to see the castle at Disneyland. We found several Photopass photographers in front of the castle and got our pictures taken with it in the background.
Once we had taken a million pictures of the castle from several angles we went to ride Snow White's Scary Adventures. We've gone on this ride at WDW before, but the DL version seems to go a LOT faster. There didn't seem to be much of a story as you whipped around through the ride.
Next we rode Pinocchio's Daring Journey. I really don't like Pinocchio, but there wasn't much of a line and since it is unique to DL, we thought we should ride it at least once. I had to shut my eyes for the one part that I hate in the movie, but it was an OK ride.
After that we rode King Arthur's Carrousel. My sister loves carousels, but they aren't my favorite rides. It was OK as far as carousels go, at least it didn't seem to go on forever unlike the one at Greenfield Village.
Next it was time to conquer a childhood fear: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. When we went to WDW when I was 7 that ride totally scared me. I couldn't remember why I hated it so much, but decided to brave it at DL to see what was so scary. It wasn't as scary as an adult, but I think the part where we were hit by a train and then took a trip to Hell was what scared me as a child.
After we conquered our childhood fear we rode one of my favorite rides, the Mad Tea Cups. My sister hates to spin fast, whereas I love to spin fast. This time we decided to ride in our own teacups so I could spin as fast as I wanted. It was fun, but it seemed smaller than the one at WDW. And it was strange being outside, but I liked the colorful lanterns overhead.
Once we were sufficiently dizzy we found the Mad Hatter, Alice and Queen of Hearts signing autographs and posing for pictures near the teacups. After getting pictures and autographs we decided to leave Fantasyland and head towards Frontierland.
While walking on the one path near Big Thunder Mountain there were two members of the Dream Team handing out Dream passes. The passes would allow you to stay an hour after the park closes. The passes are limited and I think one of the men handing them out said there were only 2,000 giving out that day.
After we got our dream passes we decided to head for our favorite ride, Haunted Mansion. The DL facade is so cool looking. We quickly learned the secrets to getting on the ride first, which was slightly different than at WDW. The hall with the changing pictures on the way to the Doombuggies was really cool. I just love this ride. I really liked the attic scene with the Bride at DL. I haven't gone to WDW since Jan. 2007 so I haven't seen the changes they made there to compare, but we were not disappointed with Haunted Mansino.
Once we picked up our hitchhiking ghost we decided to get some lunch. We ate at the Village Haus, since it had some indoor seating, though it was hard to come by. By this time it was getting really hot out so we wanted to get out of the sun a bit. My sister had pizza with a weird vegetable side dish that she didnt care much for. I had a turkey, bacon sandwich that was really good, though quite large.
After eating and resting in the air conditioning for a bit we did a little shopping then walked back to the hotel to try to avoid the hottest part of the day. Back at the hotel we took short naps to reenergize so we could go back to use our Dream passes.
When we went back to the park later in the evening the first ride we went on was Pirates of the Caribbean, which is one of our favorites at WDW. I knew going in that DL's was different, but quickly decided that I didn't care much for it. The bayou portion seems sort of boring and pointless. Then there are stretches of darkness where you can't see anything. And I didn't like that it was quite a bit longer than at WDW. It was OK, but I definitely prefer the shorter version at WDW, which also has less drops.
After the disappointment that was Pirates we got some food at the Golden Horseshoe. It took forever to get our Chicken fingers. I knew before we left that the food wasn't going to be as good at DL as at WDW, but it was disappointing that most of the restaurants had the same food. There didn't seem to be as much variety, especially for us since we tend to be a bit picky.
Once we finally go our chicken fingers and consumed them we worked our way to Fantasyland to stand in line for Peter Pan, which always seems to have a long wait. It was very similar to WDW and lots of fun. Though I think DL's figures look better than at WDW. It definitely seemed more up to date than WDW's which just looks old and faded.
After this we rode the Storybook Land boats. This was fun, though it was starting to get dark so I couldn't really get any pictures. Though I have no idea why this ride always seemed to have a really long line.
When our boat ride around Storybook Land was over we went to the area on the back of our Dream passes where we were suppose to gather. There was a very LONG line of people already waiting. It was quite a challenge finding the end of the long, but we eventually found it. We stood around for a while then were herded into an area where a bad wedding reception was in progress. They were playing a bad Disneyfied version of the Macarena. Ewwww. Then they did the Cha-Cha Slide. Yuck. Then they played High School Musical. Double Yuck. And followed that up with Grease. Ewwww. My sister and I worked our way towards the exit so we could make a quick escape once they let us go.
When we were finally released from the bad wedding reception we went straight for Dumbo which is one of my other favorite rides that unfortunately usually has a long wait time unless you get there early. It was fun as always. It was really cool seeing the park from the top of Dumbo all lit up at night. My only wish is that Dumbo was longer. The ride is much too short, but then if they lengthened it at all the lines would be even worse. Sigh.
After our flight on Dumbo we went back to ride Peter Pan again since most of the people who got the Dream passes went for the roller coasters. When we got off Peter Pan there was absolutely no line for Snow White so we went for a quick warp 5 ride on Snow White. Since we still had time we worked our way to New Orleans Square to ride Haunted Mansion again. There was really no one else at Haunted Mansion. We rode it twice in a row, which was lots of fun, though we had to exit and go back through, but that was just part of the insane fun. We thought about going for a 4th time, but decided since it was getting close to 9:30 and we were still on Eastern time we decided to go back to the hotel to sleep.
Thus ends our first day at Disneyland. Up next would be our first trip to California Adventure.
That doesn't include any of the photopass ones since I don't have that yet. 
I have to finish my 2007 New England scrapbook first before I start Disneyland. 
