Tiggerific Trip Report - Day 3 of 4

[BronxTigger]

Disneyland & California Adventure
Day 3, Thursday, April 24, 2008

See the pre-trip report here.
See the Day 1 report here.
See the Day 2 report here.

My mom and I began this day, like yesterday, at 6am. We went to breakfast at 7, again right as they opened. Yesterday, we had breakfast at 7 but didn’t leave until 8:30 so we had some extra time in the morning, but this day there was early entry at 8 so we ate and then left right away.

When we got to the entrance plaza, I snapped a photo of the entry to California Adventure. FINALLY, I got a photo without anybody climbing on the letters! I was joking with my mom why couldn’t it have been Ohio Adventure or Iowa Adventure, because then we wouldn’t have to stand so far away to get all the letters in the picture.

The lines for early entry were SO LONG. I was not expecting this, because the day before we had been held on Main Street before the rope drop. We had a moment where we reconsidered doing early entry based on the lines, but we decided to just go for it. I took this picture of the lines while standing on the compass thing in the ground in the middle of the entry plaza.

Once the line started moving, it moved pretty quickly and we entered the park. We headed off down Main Street to go to Fantasyland, since we had accomplished Nemo the day before. On the way to Fantasyland, I stopped in the Hub to take a few photos of the preparations for the Quinceneara.

We headed first to Peter Pan, because, like WDW, Peter Pan draws large crowds all day long. Unlike WDW, Peter Pan at DLR does not offer Fast Pass. The line was already about 10 minutes long first thing in the morning during early entry! Later, it was 45 minutes or more. On the way to Peter Pan, I saw the horse that was dedicated to Julie Andrews. It has JA on it and also the Mary Poppins umbrella. While on the line for Peter Pan, I was watching the window on the Snow White ride across the way for the queen to appear, and she did.

We rode Peter Pan, and there was something about it that made me enjoy it more than the WDW version. I think it was darker inside so you got more of a feeling of flying than you do at WDW. After Peter Pan we went on Snow White and Pinocchio. They were both walk ons; we did not have to wait at all. Then, we went on Alice in Wonderland. I thought this was cool because it is a dark ride but also has an elevated track portion outside.

After riding Alice, I wanted to go walk through some of the gardens around the castle that I had seen the other day. We started out on the right side of the castle, where there are statues of Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. The statues sing and the well echoes. I’m wishing…I’m wishing….

As we approached the walkway to Snow White’s well, I saw this guy getting up and this lady looking at her hand. I told my mom “Look! I think they just got engaged!” And as we got closer, this CM was standing right there and was so excited. “That man just proposed to her! In front of the castle!” It was pretty cool. We watched the statues sing for a few minutes and then left out the front again, past the CM. We heard her tell some other people “A few minutes ago a guy just proposed to his new wife right here!” I think the CM was almost as excited as the newly engaged couple!

We walked through Ariel’s Garden on the way to ride Buzz. It was a walk on so we did it twice. The first time I got to level 4 (109,400) and the second time I only got level 3. It was fun both times, but the first time was more fun because I got a higher score. It made up for the last time when the rode broke down halfway through and our zapper wouldn’t work.

We were needing a "snack" by now (it was 10a LOL) and so my mom got a Dole Whip and I got a soda. We hopped over to California Adventure so we could be there close to their opening time. We got a Fast Pass for Soarin’ while we were on the line. We rode it (got row 3 of the C section) and it’s always so great. We only had to wait about 20 minutes for it. It’s exactly the same as at WDW, but it never seems to draw the same crowd levels as WDW.

After Soarin’, we walked all the way over to California Screamin’, which is the big white roller coaster with the Mickey head on the side. I love this coaster and we get there to find it’s CLOSED and the CMs don’t know how long it will take to get it up and running again. So we start walking through Paradise Pier and on a whim decide to go on the swinging portion of the Sun Wheel. When you are looking at the Sun Wheel, it doesn’t seem too intense; the cages are just rocking back and forth a little bit. But when you are IN the swinging cage, the perspective is just a little bit different! It feels like it is rocking so much that you are going to flip over! Not only that, but you are suspended quite a bit over the water! Of ALL the rides in Disneyland and CA combined, THIS RIDE was the only one I thought like I might throw up on! I was so queasy on this. At least I got a good view from the top! Next time I’m at CA I’ll probably have forgotten about how freaky this ride is and I’ll get on it again.

Then, we went on two very similar rides: the Orange Stinger and the Golden Zephyr. The Zephyr is also a little scary how you are tilting so much over the water, and the only thing holding you in is a plastic seat belt. Both rides were fun though, with the breeze in our faces and the flying sensation.

We had noon reservations at the Carnation Café on Main Street in Disneyland, so we hopped back over there for lunch. We got in right away and we both really enjoyed our meals. We both had a club sandwich on pretzel bread and a cup of potato soup. I forgot to get pictures because I dug in right away and couldn’t stop eating once I started. The bread really does taste like a big soft pretzel and the soup was FANTASTIC. We also got a 10% discount using Disney Visa. I want to eat here again!

After lunch we took the Disneyland Railroad for a full circuit. Note to self and others: try to sit on the right side of the train. We were on the left, only to discover that most of the things to look at are on the right. One irony is that Disneyland is physically smaller than the Magic Kingdom, but Disneyland has 4 train stops and MK only has 3.

After the train ride, we decided to go to DTD and do some shopping since we had not done any yet, and we needed to get the stuff BEFORE we packed. So, we headed out to DTD. We started out by walking all the way to the end. On the way there, we stopped into Department 56 but didn’t buy anything. We went down to the Disneyland Hotel and looked at the pool and the lobby. In the lobby, the tv crews were interviewing the same girls we saw the day before outside the dream suite. We headed back to DTD, and we decided to take a monorail ride. Before getting on the monorail at DTD, you have to use your park entry ticket and go through bag check again. We didn’t have to wait too long for the monorail. One difference with the monorail at DLR is that there are more seats than at WDW. Also, the windows open and they require everyone to remain seated the whole time. Another note to self and others: If you board at DTD, they require everyone to get off at Tomorrowland. However, if you board at Tomorrowland, you apparently can stay on the train. They did not make people get off at the DTD station. When we got to Tomorrowland, we had to get off the monorail. However, the line was very short so after we started going down the ramp and didn’t see anyone coming back up, we just turned around under the railing and we were able to get back on the monorail to go back to DTD.

(For those counting...we have officially entered and exited CA once so far today, and DL THREE times...and we just ate lunch!)

[BronxTigger]

When we took the monorail back, we got a quick view inside the Lego Store. I decided I needed to visit there because I had seen a big giraffe made from Legos. So, we stopped in there first for some pictures and I saw a bunch of Lego sets I would love to own, but not for $150.

Then, it was snack time (yes, again!) so we stopped at Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen Express for my beignets (finally!). My mom was going to get them too until she noticed they had bread pudding. So, she got that and I got a small order (4) of beignets. Well, they had to make them before I could get them. I watched them roll out the dough and cut it and then put it in the deep fryer. I had to wait 5-10 minutes for them, but I knew they were very fresh! When they came out, they asked me what size order I had gotten; I told them small, but he gave me 6 beignets (a large order)! They were so good! I was full after about 3 of them but I finished 5, and my mom had one. (She only wanted one after that bread pudding. Really, I promise!

After our snack, I had to stop at Basin. I first read about their bath bombs here on Intercot. Now, I have to get some every time I go to Disney. I had a 15% coupon that came with our package, so that was nice. A side note about Basin stores: there are only 3 of them. And I have been to all three...in a year! I was at their Mall of America store in April 07, Downtown Disney @ WDW in August 2007, and Downtown Disney @ DLR in April 2008.

Then, we decided to look inside the Grand Californian Lobby. It’s very reminiscent of the WL at WDW. They had a nice window display of wedding gowns.

Then, it was time to go to the World of Disney. We were looking for ornaments and shirts, and some scrapbooking things. To our surprise, they don’t carry ornaments unless it is Christmas time. So, we just got the shirts. I also got a few scrapbooking things, but their selection is limited. We decided that we needed to go back to the hotel to drop our things off. We stopped into California Adventure to get the free 5x7 from the Meet & Greet yesterday morning.

We took our things back to the Candy Cane Inn and then decided to stay for an hour to rest our feet and legs, which were really sore by this point in the trip.

We left the CCI around 5:30 and went back to California Adventure (yes, for the 3rd time this day) and had dinner at Taste Pilot’s Grill. I’m not sure what the deal was with this cheeseburger, but it was really good. They had waffle fries on the side. Yum.

Then, we went and used our fast pass for Soarin’ that we had gotten that morning. We had intended to use it before going to lunch, but we were running short on time. We were happy they let us use it past the hour window. After our flight, which we ended up in A-2 (we were in the other concourse from the morning and the B section was not working at all….it stayed behind when we rose into the air!). We tried to go on Mulholland Madness, but it was broke down. So we went and got fast passes for California Screamin’, which was up and running. The line was short so we walked on and rode after a 15 minute wait. Then, we walked on to Triton’s Carousel while we waited for our fast pass window. It was time for our fast pass so we rode Soarin' again. We were near the front on the first trip and we requested the last row for this trip.

On our second trip, my mom and I both noticed that it sounded funny on one of the lift hills, but neither of us said anything; we both just figured maybe it was because we were at the back this time. But within 5 minutes of us getting off, they shut the ride down. There were people stuck on one of the trains part way up the lift hill that we thought sounded funny. We were glad we got off when we did!

We then hopped to DL, entering the park for the FOURTH time that day (bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, bouncy, FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN!) The Quinceneara that they had been setting up all week was taking place, so we watched it for a few minutes. The girls were coming in on the red carpet and they said it would be televised later on the Christina show and also they said Andy Garcia would be in the show (we didn’t see him).

We went to New Orleans Square because we were still on a quest to find ornaments. A family tradition is to get an ornament from each trip we take; our tree becomes like a timeline of family events over the years. It turns out that the ornament store in NOS is only open on weekends. We walked around the park and didn’t really ride anything, but we did watch Steamboat Willie in the little theater on Main Street. We also found some ornaments in a store on Main Street (yay!). Then, our quest complete, we returned to the Candy Cane Inn around 9:30.

Click here for all of my (uploaded) Day 3 photos.

[Christine]

Bethany, I love how detailed your reports are! Thanks for sharing!!

[BronxTigger]

Bethany, I love how detailed your reports are! Thanks for sharing!!

Christine!!!! You came out of lurkdom!!!!! Please stay!

Thanks for the kind comments!

[drummerboy]

I don't pop over here much so I nearly missed this report. Where's the pictures of you and Mom?

Makes me want to be there for sure. Maybe somed day. Closest we've been was a trip to San Francisco several years ago.

[MegaDisney]

The eagerly awaited Day 3!

Thanks for posting and giving me my virtual Disneyland Fix for the day!

I think there is a full time ALL Christmas shop in Frontierland next to the Shooting Gallery, although the shop shuffle at Disneyland is almost constant now and it may not be there anymore!

Thanks again for continuing your report!

[disneydeb]

Bethany,

Thanks for the report! Someday I will get to go to Disneyland. But for now I can visualize it through these reports.
I have only been to Los Angleses 2X and both times the people I was there with wanted to go to Universal.


Could we use this as a motto for the December meet?

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[tinkwest]

Your reports are so visual! Thanks for another good read.

...
I think there is a full time ALL Christmas shop in Frontierland next to the Shooting Gallery, although the shop shuffle at Disneyland is almost constant now and it may not be there anymore!...

Now a Pin Shop.

[ChipnDaleGal]

Your report highights one of my favorite aspects of the Disneyland resort... being able to walk from each Point A to Point B!! Isn't it nice not to wait in line for a bus? You and your mom put a lot of miles on your shoes this day and they all sounded fantastic!! You are giving us wonderful little nuggets of Disneyland magic in your reports and I want to thank you for that. I am so glad that you two are enjoying yourselves so much.

[disneydrmr]

Sooo.. how many of those yummy beignets did you eat for me? And you just had to put that picture of them in your report.. oh the torture! You're making me wanna go back to DL soooo bad!!!!

[offwego]

What a great report!! thank you so much for all the effort you put in to taking us with you!

[ElenitaB]

Great report, Bethany!

You know, if you want a fix of wildly swinging ferris wheel cars, I can always take you over to the ferris wheel that was the model for the Sun Wheel, Deno's Wonder Wheel at Coney Island. Having observed it enough throughout my life, you would NEVER ever find me on anything even remotely similar. You're a brave woman! And a mean one at that too... posting that pic of yummy beignets!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the report!