A week in the magic kingdom
Wow! Disneyland at last!
The chaos that greeted us at LAX airport was overwhelming - probably unimaginable if you have never experienced it. We had forgotten what it was like. But even so, somehow, we followed the instructions that our flight attendant gave us to get to the luggage carousel (in a different terminal!)and found the carousel, our bags, and then the Disneyland bus. Even the scene outside was frantic - four lanes of rental car shuttles, friends and family pick-ups, buses, etc, but yes, within the scheduled time the Disney bus arrived and yes, there was room for us.
Day one
Our hotel room is great - we could see the ferris wheel and the roller coaster over at the California Adventure Park and the Matterhorn at Disneyland last night when we checked in (at 11pm). This morning we are all up early and can't wait to get over there. First stop Disneyland, we did all the rides we could and had a wonderful time. Crashed early, after the 3pm parade.
Day two
We were really tired today what with the time changes etc so we took a break and checked out the shops at Downtown Disney. Basically just shops and restaurants set in a pretty Disney-style pedestrian mall. We did see a nifty gadget in the Lego store, a timer in the shape of a Lego head. You know, one of those yellow ones that you push onto the torso piece. It was large, and very yellow and had pirate-type faces on it. Cool! Needless to say we didn't buy it because of luggage considerations ...
Day three
By now the initial excitement had worn off but we were still raring to go. Lots of rides again, including Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - this was really fun because you had to shoot things as you went along to get points and then at the end there were digital photos of everyone that you could email to yourself. Em and Al went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad a number of times and we stayed late to watch the fireworks display.
Day four
Okay, today we decided to try the other Disney Park, the California Adventure Park. We liked this one because it was a lot less crowded than Disneyland proper, so we had much less wait to go on the rides. We went on heaps of rides, and saw the Aladdin stage show. Em and Al liked Mulholland Madness and the Paradise Pier boardwalk games - she won a plush seahorse and a dolphin. We came back in the evening to watch the Disney Electrical Parade - she loved this.
Day five
The big hit of today was the Grizzly River Run at the Adventure Park. This is like a log flume but 8 people sit together in an enormous rubber tyre - you get the spinning sensation as well as the falling sensation and yes you do get wet! Em did boardwalk games again and came away with another dolphin (pink to match yesterdays purple) and an angel fish. Al joined in with the bluegrass band (and I didn't have the camera!) and the Muppet 3D thing was pretty good. We are starting to flag though, and went home early.
Day six
We are all starting to feel a bit Disneyed-out. It's hard to feel the magic when you are surrounded by so many people you can hardly breathe, when it's so hot you could just lie down and melt, when every shady seat is guarded by a stony-faced grandma waiting for her enormous extended family, all of whom suddenly materialise right in front of you 5 minutes before the show starts so that you can't see after waiting 45 minutes to get a good spot. It's true, I am having ungenerous thoughts ...
There is so much sensory input at Disneyland. There's always someone wishing you a 'wonderful day' or ride or evening, and even in a quiet spot there will be a speaker in a bush, playing jolly Disney music. It's fun at first but after a while I long for some peace and quiet. Even the aircon in the hotel is really noisy - at night it sounds like a truck playing music with a really heavy base.
And the shopping! For all these days we have been surrounded with Disney merchandise. After a while you start actually considering buying it. I was tempted to buy a t-shirt but realised that I would never wear it, and there was this really cute bag - I picked it up and started to walk towards the cash register before I caught myself ... mind you it was really cute, it was green with purple piping and had these neat retro symbols ... AAaaargh! I'm doing it again!
Today we are catching up on the rides we missed and re-doing the ones we really liked. A small world, Peter Pan's flight, Star Tours... It's 4pm now and we plan to go over to the Adventure Park for a last look there before we turn in tonight. And I have to say that Em has loved our time here, she is really sorry to be going.
Tomorrow we are off to San Diego. I'm looking forward to a less frantic time there, some peace and quiet maybe and the zoos and animal parks. And hopefully we will have time to check out the bookstores ...
2 Comments:
sounds like fun ..... I remember the Thundermountain railroad and river run in Florida - Busch Gardens/Disney etc - but come on ... admit it .... you've bought Minnie/Mickey ears haven't you?! Enjoy San Diego.
Yvette here - I'm at mum and Bruce's and they say that they enjoyed their stress-free travels! And look forward to travelling some more.
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