Friday, December 6, 2013
We were up a little later than yesterday, but not by much.
The parks opened at 9am for us today, so there was no rush. We arrived for
breakfast on the 5th floor about 7:20am and walked right in. Today
was a repeat of Wednesday’s breakfast, maybe they alternate. Today I had
oatmeal and waffles with a sausage pattie. The warm syrup is awful. It is not
maple, nor even maple flavored, in fact it isn’t even terribly sweet. They were
out of forks when we arrived but eventually they supplied plastic ones. They
were out of sugar and I had to use brown sugar from the oatmeal area for my coffee.
Interesting. Still it is not bad for an included hot breakfast.
We arrived at the park right after they opened the
turnstiles and just walked right in through bag check and ticket scan without
any waiting. That was convenient. We were entering Main St. as the Disneyland
marching band was exiting. Today’s crowd
on arrival was the largest we had yet seen and that was a cause for concern.
I was determined to ride Peter Pan and Alice today no matter
the wait times or lines. We also hoped that Pirates of the Caribbean would be
open today. So, we started in Fantasyland. I got distracted by Pixie Hollow and
went there first. I met Tinkerbelle and another fairy, Fawn, an animal talent fairy who was thrilled to meet Bob and asked to keep him. That stopped my heart for a moment! Then I just said, no. Of course, Tinkerbelle was happy
to meet Bob too! Oh, I also loved the dancing fountains outside Pixie Hollow as well as the tall grass!
We saw a great big bird of some kind, maybe some bird of prey on top of the Matterhorn from there. We had an interesting conversation with the couple in front of us about our dilemma with ABC’s Once Upon a Time and Peter Pan being evil and being Rumplestiltskin’s father. We were all now conflicted about Peter Pan and didn’t like that feeling at all. Also, where is the show going now that Pan has Henry’s heart. I mean Henry has to live, but ABC can’t kill Peter Pan can they? Anyway…
Then we walked over to
Alice in Wonderland and waited about 15 minutes. It was the shortest line we had seen there.
It was just OK. Again, I don't understand the long wait times for this ride, other than the fact that it isn't in Orlando. The bathrooms associated with the Queen of Hearts and King of
Diamonds were much cooler and no wait! I think these were the best restrooms in all of Disneyland, both parks! Plus I loved the White Rabbit statue.
After that we walked around to Peter Pan’s Flight! It was
about a 20 minute wait and again actually the shortest line we had seen there.
It seemed different to me than the one in Orlando. I don’t remember the star
room. I found it very disorienting, but that is probably the Meniere’s Disease
talking. Otherwise it was magical. You couldn’t miss Tinkerbelle and I
remembered her being easy to miss in Orlando’s ride.
That done, the pressure was off! We walked to Tomorrowland
and did the alternate experience at Finding Nemo Submarines. It was a good
choice. There was a long line and I don’t think either of us would have enjoyed
the cramped submarine experience. The private TV room version was entertaining
and enjoyable. I have no idea how it compares to the actual ride experience.
Then we went to Innoventions. I loved the Stark Industries display of
various Ironmen. If we had had more time it would have been fun to play with
the video interaction things, but there were lines and we had some shows to see
on their schedules. We had thought to see Thor: Treasures of Asgard, thinking
it would be movie props and costumes or something and it may have been, but
there was a long line to get inside the exhibit and meet Thor for a photo op and we weren’t
interested it that.
So, we were there for the noon show of Honda’s ASIMO robot.
We had some extra time and walked downstairs to the dream home of the future. It was
interesting and well done. We got caught in the living room and got a guided demonstration of it and the guy took our photo (badly) with his phone and printed a copy and gave it to us at no charge. We sped through the rest of the house without stopping or making eye contact.
The ASIMO show was good. He is 4’3” and 119 pounds
and runs off lithium-ion batteries. He danced and walked and ran and kicked a
ball and went up and down stairs. If only he had made a bed, cleaned, run a
load of laundry or unloaded a dishwasher, I’d have signed up for one!
Time to
go to another show. This one at 12:30pm, in Fantasyland Theater for Mickey and the Magical Map. I don’t remember how long it lasted but I want to say about 20
minutes. It was very entertaining and well done.
We walked by the back of the Sleeping Beauty Castle and I finally found the entrance for the walk-through. I loved it! I don't remember anything like this at Cinderella's Castle in Orlando, even though it is much larger. On the caddy-corner side of the Castle from there is a little fountain grotto place with a wishing well that was very quaint and cozy. Again, I don't remember anything like it in Orlando.
By now Clay was ready for lunch and I had picked out Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland based on the information in the December 2-8 schedule that they had some
new dishes for Celebrando las Fiesta Navidenas. Clay had Carnitas Soft Tacos
and I had a Burrito Guadalajara with carnitas and black bean refritos and rice in a flour
tortilla with zesty tomatillo sauce on top. It was a massive burrito, as big as
my head. Clay’s dish was normal sized and he helped me eat mine. We finished it
all as it was very tasty. We shared a plate of dulce de leche crepes for dessert. That
was a weird disappointment. It was like
some kind of dulce de leche flavored instant pudding had been wrapped in crepes. It was
flavorless and not even very sweet. It was as unsatisfying as the warm syrup
this morning. The other thing was that we couldn't find a way to get a paper cup of water here and so spent the equivalent of an extra entrée on 2 sodas. When we got to the cashier, she had small clear plastic cups there that you could take and go get water at the napkin and flatware and condiments station in the sitting areas. But that was too late to help us and I guess you had to just drink tap water without any ice in it at that point. Just sayin'.
Lunch over it was over to New Orleans Square and on to Pirates of the Caribbean. It was open and we got in
what we thought was a long line. It was longer than the line we got in
yesterday when it broke down for the day, but not as long as it was later
today. Anyway, we waited about 25 minutes. This is a very different ride from
Orlando’s. The drops are major and not nice. It also starts and ends on
display. First past a restaurant that appears to be in a swamp and then past the
ride queue. It also seems much bigger and longer than the one in Orlando. I
don’t know about it. This is one of my favorite rides in Orlando, but I wouldn’t want to
repeat it here.
Speaking of repeating… We rode Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters twice
more today. Clay loves it. He loves Toy Story Midway Mania too, but I can’t
tolerate the jerky spinning around on that one too much. This one is easier on
me. So Clay beat me 3 times at these games. I won the first game and the last. TSMM
doesn’t take a photo and email you your score, but BLAB does. So he has
photographic evidence of his 2 victories there. I miraculously won the last
round there and we had a transmission failure and they did not have our photo
for my victory. Boo!
After Pirates, we walked down to Critter Country. I didn’t think there was anything there for us except The Many Adventures of Winnie thePooh, but since there isn’t a ride like that at Orlando to my recollection, I wanted to do it. There are so few rides I can tolerate that I hate to miss one! We waited about 20 minutes for a quite short ride there, but I liked it. As we were in line, I pointed out to Clay that there seemed to be a lot more space and people past the ride than what it looked like on the map. We were studying that situation trying to figure it out, when we saw Tigger, Eeyore and Pooh down there doing greetings and photos. I was in! Next stop.
Clay wanted to sit on a bench now and ponder our next move
but I had other plans. What, he wanted to know, could be better than sitting on a
bench? Sitting in New Orleans Square with a batch of Mickeyhead beignets from
Mint Julep Bar at the French Market. We shared six with some drinks and some
live jazz. Best Christmas carols of the trip! The beignets were good, but would
have been better served hot. I had a peppermint mocha for the season and it was
delish. Clay ordered the hot caramel apple cider from the seasonal drink menu
but they were out. He picked their virgin mint julep instead even though it
was chilly out and they did not have heaters on their outdoor seating. We also got to see Jack Skellington and Sally
walk past. It was so entertaining and enjoyable a break that we never did get out the map and
schedule and ponder.
It was getting close to parade time though and we needed to
get where we would be for an hour or more. Clay was antsy about dinner and we
checked menus as we made our way. Clay was non-committal about everything and I
didn’t see anything I wanted at any of the reservation restaurants' menu, so no bother, but I
also didn’t see anything at the counter service places. Until I saw grilled
cheese sandwich and tomato basil soup at Jolly Holiday Bakery Café. Good, we’ll
be back and it is counter service so no need to sweat a reservation.
Then, we fought our way back to Main Street
and had dinner at Jolly Holiday. I liked mine and so did Clay. He had the
Caprese sandwich and was not happy with it. It was advertised as toasted and
may have been at some point, but not right before being handed to him. He liked
my soup though which was a little too fibrous for my tastes. My cheese sandwich had been grilled right before I received it. I forget what we picked for dessert, but we didn't love it. We both regretted not picking the green whipped cream looking stuff in the ceramic Christmas Mickey head cup that you could keep because that would have made a much better souvenir than the plastic Santa Mickey popcorn bucket. Desserts just seemed to be poorly signed everywhere we ate and we weren't sure what we were picking. The other downside here is that all seating is outdoors and it was dark and cold and they had no outdoor heaters as far as we could tell. You had to eat fast to get a hot meal!
Now it was time to use the restrooms and go stake out our
spots for Fantasmic! At 9pm at the Rivers of America in front of New Orleans
Square. We picked a spot earlier when we were there after the beignets. It was
on a ramp just to the side of Pirates and below Royal Street Veranda. We stood
at the railing and hoped it was a good spot. There were people sitting on
blankets at the waterfront rails while we were having beignets at 4pm! I had
read on Disboards (a great resource, btw!) that those closest to the water had to sit down on the
ground, while those farther back had to stand up. We planned to stand at the rail.
After a while, the workers roped us into the area by the rail and I sat down
with my back against the rail to wait. Clay spoke to one of the workers and
asked him if it was a good spot and he explained how Fantasmic! worked and that it was a good spot for standing.
There were people sitting against the wall below the rail when we got there and
we don’t know what happened, but suddenly they were gone and the area had become
a stroller corral! Eventually, a Cast Member named Chauna came up and started a
conversation with me about my birthday and our first visit and our first time
to see Fantasmic! And it being our last night and she asked us repeatedly if it
was just the 2 of us. She handed me a First Visit pin (I wasn’t wearing mine
today!) and then an Honorary Citizen of Disneyland pin. She asked Clay if he’d
like one and he agreed to take an Honorary Citizen button, because we hadn’t
seen them before and wouldn’t have even thought to ask for such a thing or if
they would give it for the asking or it had to be conferred. Finally she left
and then she came back she invited us to go sit in a reserved section that
would be even better viewing than what we had staked out, according to her,
because no one would be walking back and forth in front of us and we wouldn’t
be forced to stand. (I was sitting on the ground leaning on that railing at
this point.) We said sure! She led us down a level and right against that
level’s railing. We alternated between sitting and standing for the rest of our
wait. Most of that time we were all alone in the reserved corral. By the time the
show started about 20 people were in there. I am not sure how the others got
status. At least one that visited with me was a Disney vacation planner and
former Cast Member. Fantasmic! was fantastic. It is similar to the Orlando
version, yet different, maybe mostly because of the different setting.
We tried to make our way out of the park during the
fireworks and that was a mistake. We finally made it to City Hall and stopped
off to leave thanks to Chauna. We were about to leave when I asked Clay if
there was anything else he wanted to do since this was the end and the park was open for
another 2 hours. He said no, but I looked up at the train sitting at the Main
Street Station and said I’d like to do a night time circuit of the park. Clay
agreed and we hurried up there and just missed that train. We sat on a bench
and waited about 10 minutes for the next one. We sat right behind the steam engine
on that one and had a great view especially of the clock tower show at IASW at
10:14pm. You would think they would get the time set right on that clock! IaSW is spectacularly lit up at night and around the time of the clock show, there is also a video show projected on the façade. So,
it was lucky for us. The big surprise was between Tomorrowland and Main Street
that the train passes by the giant bizarre dioramas that must be original to
the park. The first one was of the Grand Canyon and was filled with taxidermy
animals. The second one was of dinosaurs that were animatronic. It was a trip!
They were indoors and behind glass like the backside of some buildings or
something. There is nothing there on the map! What was that all about and how come
I had never heard or read anything about it before?! That was the finale of our
Disneyland 55th Birthday Adventure on a surprising high note as Disneyland Honorary Citizens. We
walked off the train in amazement and walked on to our home at the Desert
Palms Hotel.
Well, it is past my bedtime and we check out of here in the
morning to drive up the coast for a couple of days near San Simeon. More later.
Photos
Photos
