Day 4 of our California Vacation

Day 4: Disneyland

We arived at the Disneyland Resort shortly before the park opened. However due to parking and the wait for the tram we didn't get into the park tell about 1/4 after its opening. We parked in the Pinochio lot and then caught the tram to the park. Thats where I finally got my first glance into the Disneyland Resort (Last time I went only Disneyland was there). We bought our tickets a few months before the trip so we went right to the gates and were in the park. We wondered Main Street for a little checking out the Christmas tree and decorations that were all set up.

Once we got to the Hub it was time to decide where we would be heading first. I already knew where I wanted to go. And that would be the last ride I rode on last time I was at Disneyland 13 years earlier. That being the Indiana Jones ride. The last time I was at the park was the summer Indiana Jones opened. At the time I was only 12 and me and my younger brother waited over 3 hours to ride it. All I can remember about the ride is that the wait was worth it. So I wanted to do that first thing to see if I still agree with the ride being so great that it would be worth a 3 hour wait. I must say it didn't disapoint. I loved the ride just as much now as I did that long time ago. I was also pleased that we waited about 5 minutes to ride it. Now that i'm older I don't know if I could ever stand to wait in a line for 3 hours again. But this ride is awesome and I loved it.

While we were in Adventureland we decided that we would start that and work our way around the park. So after Indy we made jumped over to Jungle Cruise. I never cared for this ride when I was younger. In fact it really bored me and I hated going on it. However now that i'm older I picked up more on the humor and how well themed the attraction is and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunatly with it being foggy still that morning and ride being pretty dark with the trees covering what light made it into the Jungle Cruise my camara was having a tough time capturing good pictures. The darkness would fire the flash on the camara and then it would blur from the movement of the boat. Oh well.

After Jungle Cruise we went to Tarzans Treehouse. Last time I went this was still the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. I have many fond memorys of it and always looked forward to going thru it when I was a kid. I remember hearing they changed it to Tarzan and thinking that might be pretty cool. But I was disapointed with it. I miss the simpleness of the original tree house and the feel that the Robinsons invited you to tour there house instead of filling it with life size cartoon characters. I think the Tarzan theme had good intentions but it was just executed poorly.

After the Treehouse we were done with Adventure land and it was on to New Orlenes Square. Of course the first thing we came to was Pirate of the Carabian which is a must ride. I was additionally shocked when we litterally walked right on to the ride. Admitadly I don't really remember this ride from the last time I rode. I have a old home video of it from like 1988 but other then that I didn't remember the full ride. They have added a few elements and characters from the Pirates of the Carabian movies also in the last few years. From what little I remember of the original attraction I really liked the new elements that they added from the movies. I thought they fit well with the theme and was glad to see they just added the movie characters to the story of the ride instead of turning the ride into following the plots of the movies. I unfortuantly didn't take any pictures of the ride though. So after Pirates we wondered thru new orleans square a little. We really liked there Christmas decorations and liked how this area was decorated the best.

Our next stop was at the Haunted Mansion. This is one of my favorite rides. During Halloween and Christmas though they redue it for the holidays to a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. A part of me was sad because its been so long since i've experianced the normal Haunted Mansion but the Holiday version didn't dissapoint. We enjoyed it and thought it was pretty fun and different. I would still perfer the original version though over the holiday version.

After the Haunted Mansion we headed into Critter Country and I Knew right where I wanted to go. That being my favorite ride as a child. Splash Mountain. Today I still love this ride. Maybe even more so then when I was a kid. Theres more drops and such inside the show building then I remembered and the ride is just a pretty good rush. My wife was prepared again with her poncho so she wouldn't get wet. But i decided to go without cause I couldn't ever remember getting wet on Splash Mountain. Well I got wet this time. Luckly it wasn't bad though. Just a few wet spots here and there. I really wish we could have gone on it again but we never got back to it.

Next was to the other ride in Critter Country. The Winnie the Pooh ride. I've seen a youtube video of this ride before so I was ready to feel like I was on drugs. Sure enough I felt like I was tripping out lol. It was just really really weird. My wife loves it though but i'm guessing thats cause shes a Winnie the Pooh fan. We never made it out to Tom Sawyer Island or even on the Mark Twain River Boat but I did take a picture haha.

We then made our way thru Frontierland. Unfortunatly Big Thunder Mountain was closed while we were there. I was pretty sad about it cause thats one of my favorite rides. But oh well theres not much I could change about that. Next time i'll make sure its going to be open before we go lol. We also went to Big Thunder Ranch where they had it done up as Santas Reindeer Roundup. Here we meet Santa as well as his Reindeer. They had the area done up nicely for Christmas time. We also ran into Woody and Jessie from Toy Story here.

Well we finally made it to Fantasyland. We caught our first glimpse of the Matterhorn (from fantasyland) and after that I attempted (and failed) to pull the sword out of the stone we started hitting the rides. First was Ponochio and Snow White. I don't ever recall riding ether of these rides in the past. And now I know why. I didn't care for ether of them. I thought they were pretty boring but I could imagine they were probably pretty cool at the time they were built. We also walked right on to both of them. I do appreciate the archatecture and design of fantasyland now that i'm older too. It looks really good.

We then saw that the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk thru was open. I guess this was an attraction before 9/11 happend also but I never remember doing it when I was younger. Anyways the new one just opened a week before we went so we checked it out. I thought it was pretty cool and the diaramas had some cool effects to them. I've never seen the Sleeping Beauty movie so this was my first real introduction to the story. I didn't take any pictures inside though cause it was way to packed in there. But heres a picture of the castle lol.

After the castle we then went and waited in our longest line of the day. And that was at the Peter Pan ride. We waited about 30 minutes to get on the ride. But I always enjoy this ride and its diffenitly one of my favorite dark rides in the park. After Peter Pan we rode Mister Toad which I too enjoy alot. I completly forgot about the "hell" part at the end and thought it was pretty funny cause I never knew that when I was younger. It was way hot in that section of the ride too.

We then headed over to Its a Small World. I always dread this ride. Its so annoying and boring to me. But with it done up for the holidays I figured it wouldn't be too bad. And suprisingly it wasn't. Its still not my most favorite but its not bad ether. They referbished the ride recently so the thing looked brand new. Plus with the christmas theme it had a few christmas songs thrown into the mix as well.

Next we went to Toontown. Toontown was only a couple years old the last time I went but I still enjoyed it. However I was sad to see all the lawyers taking out alot of the fun. For example the ball pits being gone at chip and dales house, Goofys house not being a bounch house anymore, and the trollys not running across the town anymore. But oh well. Roger Rabbit was still a blast and probably my favorite Dark ride in the park. Its so unique that you can make the ride be however you want just by how much you spin the car around. I also rode Gadgets Go Coaster for the first time. Yeah its a kid coaster. But its the funnest kid coaster i've ever been on. Even better the Knotts Jaguar coaster lol. We also went by Mickeys house and ran into Minnie and Goofy on the streets of ToonTown.

After Toontown we headed back to Fantasyland where we went on the Storybook Land Boats, Tea Cups, and Alice in Wonderland. Storybook land was cute. I liked how they added a few suttle christmas decorations to the mini houses. I also love the two Alice rides. I think Alice and Peter Pan rival for my favorite Fantasyland Dark Ride.

Our last Fantasyland is by far its best. That being the Matterhorn Bobsleds. I've always loved this ride and still do. We rode it on the tomorrowland side and enjoyed everyminute of it. I have a love for rollercoasters and the Matterhorn is ton funner then what I remember it being. It was one of the rides we tried to ride twice but i'll tell more about our second attempt in the next recap I do of Day 5.

Next stop was at my favorite land. Tomorrowland. I was anctious to see how the "new" tomorrowland looked sinse the remodel took place 3 years after the last time I went. I must say it was bittersweet. Its still my favorite land. But there were things I don't like. I guess first we will go over what I liked. It gets ridiculed alot but I thought the paint themeing worked well. It truely made me feel like I was in a land of the future. I also thought the Neon lights and bright colored lighting worked well too. To me the looks of the area worked well with one another. But there were things I didn't like as well. The land looks naked without the Rocket Jets atop the old People Mover platform. Thats the thing I remember most about tomorrowland. The Rocket Jets replacement now sits in the entryway to Tomorrowland which just seems to get in the way. It looks great but its just in the wrong location. Get rid of the satalite thing from the top of the platform and move the Astro Orbitor up top where it belongs. I also miss seeing nothing on the People Mover tracks that run all over Tomorrowland. They need to put something back up there or remove them all together. But other then that I enjoyed the things we did in tomorrowland. Now onto the attractions.

Sinse the parade was about an hour and a half away we decided to get a Fast Pass for Space Mountain. So after that we decided to hit rides with smaller waits. First we hit Star Tours. Man I love this ride. I'm a big Star Wars fan. It was exactly as I remembered it. But after riding newer simulators like the Simpsons Ride at Universal I saw how badly Star Tours needs to be updated. But it was still fun. Then we went across the way to Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. i had alot of fun on this ride. It was my first time experiancing a interactive dark ride and thought it was way fun. I thought I was doing pretty good cause I was beating Kieras score but then out of nowhere she beat me pretty bad in the last area. Oh well I guess i'll get her next time.

We still had about 40 mintus to kill before we could use our Space Mountain Fast Pass so we decided to go do the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I know it has a bad rep but I really enjoyed it. I thought it was tons better then the original Submarine Voyage. Yeah they could have done a better story but I thought it worked well. I really liked the new way the animation was done other then fish on strings. I don't know if I would wait for over 30 minutes to ride it but I thought it was pretty good and well done.

Right when we got off the Subs we could finally use our Fast Passes for Space Mountain. I looked forward to this the whole day. The last time I went to Disneyland it was broken that day so I didn't get to go on it. It had probably been 18 years since I had rode the Disneyland Space Mountain. I was happy we got the Fast passes cause we pretty much walked right on. maybe had a 5 minute wait. This ride was awesome. So much cooler then I remember it being. Everything was done perfect on this ride. It was one of the few that made me wanting to ride it again the moment I got off of it. But we had a parade we had to make it to.

So it was off to the parade route for the Christmas Fantasy parade. We found a spot right by the Castle. So since we had some time to kill before it started I snapped some pictures of the Castle all lit up in its Christmas lighting.

The parade was pretty cool. I like how it was all a Christmas/Winter theme. There was also a Bolt preparade for the new Disney movie.

After the parade was over we went back over to Tomorrowland and rode the Autopia. Also one of my favorite attractions when I was younger and I still loved it today. We then started making our way back to Small world to see it all lit up for Christmas. But before we got there we stopped and rode Dumbo. As we were walking to Small World they had there fake snow turned on. It was a pretty cool effect and the music they had playing with it fit pefectly. We kinda laughed seeing all the people playing in the fake snow cause we are use to having real snow since we live in Utah. But it was fun. I thought it was cool that the foam stuff they were using looked just like snow from a distance. After I snapped some pictures of Small World we started making our way towards the exit of the park. I don't know why but it seemed like only 2 trams were running so we waited forever to get out of the park.

A few people have asked me if Disneyland was as fun being an adult as it was when I was a kid. The answer is yes it is. I had a blast. Yeah there are some rides that now that i've gone on them I don't care to again until I have children of my own. But between Disneyland and California Adventure there are plenty of Attractions to keep an adult occupied. If you have the chance to go do it. Let the inner kid come out in you and have a blast. Going to Disneyland brought back so many fond Childhood memorys that I have. This time of year was the perfect time to attend the park. Yeah it was busier then I thought it would be but it wasn't bad at all. The longest we waited for a ride was about 25 minutes. Plus the oppertunity to see the park all done up for Christmas is an added bonus.