Way Out West - Day 6 – Disneyland

Today was Magic Morning (extra magic hours) which meant the park opened to Disney Hotel guests at 7:00. I had decided that I didn’t want to be up and out that early but even so we were both up by 7:00 and out by 7:30.

Thanks to the compactness of the resort we were inside the park within minutes and soon walking up Main Street, which was already starting to seem familiar. Just for a laugh we poked our heads into Tomorrowland to see what the queue was like for Finding Nemo. We took one look at the queue, didn’t bother looking at the wait time and turned back towards Fantasyland.

The plan for today was to tick off the rides that are not at WDW so with that in mind first stop was Alice in Wonderland, which had a posted wait time of 10 minutes. Sure enough around 10 minutes later we were on. This is a combination dark ride and outside ride which takes you through Alice’s adventures in Wonderland.

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From Alice we made our way round to Mr Toad’s Wild Ride, which was also around a 10 minute wait. This was one of the few rides I remember from my first visit to WDW in 1992 and I always remember being quite surprised that I could see the track that the car was running along.

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From Mr Toad we went round to Casey Jr’s Circus Train which is a cutesy train ride along the lines of Big Thunder Mountain railroad at a snail’s pace.

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After our train trip we went round to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey, which is your typical Disney dark ride in the same league as Snow White.

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By now the time was still only around 8:30 and the only thing we hadn’t been on was the Storybookland Canal Boats, which had a large queue and only seemed to have two boats running so we left that and did Snow White’s Scary Adventure. We also had a look at Peter Pan’s Flight but that also had a large queue so we left Fantasyland and headed off towards Frontierland.

On the way I spotted that Pirates of the Caribbean had only a 5 minute wait time so we rode that and found it pretty similar to WDW. Next ride ticked off the list was Pooh and from there we went to Haunted Mansion. The one thing I noted here was that it is easy to tell the difference between how the “stretching room” effect is done here to how it is done in Disney. Some of you may know the difference and some may not want the illusion spoiled so I won’t say any more.

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From Haunted Mansion we went round Tarzan’s Treehouse

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The picture of Tarzan was actually being ‘drawn’ as we walked past.

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and then to Jungle Cruise, which is one of those rides where the script never changes but cannot be avoided. Once we got off the cruise it was 10:25 and we stopped off in a nearby shop for a limeade each which we sat and drank in a nearby shady spot.

We had an 11:30 Priority Seating for Blue Bayou so I decided that we could fill the time by going down to Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years, which is a short exhibit and film outlining the history of the first half-century of the park.

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Disneyland as it appeared on opening day with just 22 attractions.

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The track layout of Space Mountain.

This filled the time nicely and at 11:20 we were back at Blue Bayou checking in for our reservation. We were seated after just a couple of minutes and, as requested, we were at a table by the waterside where we could watch the Pirates of the Caribbean boats being despatched.

There was only one reason for eating at Blue Bayou – the Monte Cristo Special, which is a turkey, ham and cheese sandwich deep fried until golden brown. We both ordered one, mine with Blue Bayou potatoes and vegetables and Dad’s with Blue Bayou potatoes and spinach. We were told that we also had a choice of soup or salad and we both chose the salad – this was what I’m sure must have been a quarter of a lettuce in one big chunk and was a meal in itself! By the time the sandwich was brought out I could only eat half of it although I declined the offer of a box to take the rest away in.

After eating we left the park and had a quick browse around World of Disney before returning to the room for a midday break. I spent some time uploading some more photos to Photobucket, browsing the hotel shop and updating my trip report before going back out at 5:40.

We had a wander down to the Disneyland Hotel and had a look around the shops there before strolling over to the Paradise Pier Hotel for a look around their shops. From the Paradise Pier we walked back to the Grand Californian and stopped off in the Hearthstone Lounge where Dad had his usual Margarita and I had a Zen and Zang, which is a concoction of Vodka, iced tea, cucumber purée and a dash of hot chilli sauce – it was something different and had a bit of a kick to it which was nice.

After our drink we went back upstairs for another break before going out again at 8:25. We headed back to Disneyland and towards the Rivers of America arriving at 8:45 for the 9:00 showing of Fantasmic. Thanks to a fantastic tip from a trip report I read on Disneyland trip report boards we had a great spot for Fantasmic and a pretty decent spot for the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks that followed straight after. The spot in question is opposite Café Orleans and is right behind a pillar that supports lights and speakers for the shows. Up until 10 minutes before show time these lights and speakers are on the ground blocking the view so people walk past thinking they are not going to be able to see. Once the lights are raised there is a perfect view across the river to where the action takes place.

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After the fireworks we made our way round to Tomorrowland and at 9:55 entered the queue for Finding Nemo. Just 45 minutes later we were on the ride, which follows the plot of the film and is pretty similar to the old 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea attraction from WDW.

Once we came off the ride we returned to the hotel and were in bed by 11:30 knowing that we could have a lie-in tomorrow as Disney’s California Adventure doesn’t open until 10:00.

Tomorrow: Day 7 – Disney’s California Adventure

Oh, an Alice and Wonderland ride. I didn't know DL had one of those, that's awesome. Thank you for posting the pictures.