California sure pulled out all the stops! Pt 3

[Mickey'sGirl]

Our Disneyland adventure July 26 to 30, 2008

Day 3 (Monday)

Cast of characters (and I mean characters!) Me (Jennifer), DH (Brian aka CanadianWDWFan), DS10 (Harry) and DS4 (Euan).

Today is a day we had been waiting for! We had special reserved seating for Fantasmic (Harry likes to call it “VIP seating” and liked to tell anyone we encountered that we were VIP’s who were going to have special seats for the show).

Unfortunately our start was not as early as we had hoped. We never received our wake up call, and woke a little later than we would have liked to. Whatever..that’s life. We took the Monorail over to Disneyland once more, and were once again boarded onto Monorail Red. The boys sat with me in the cattle cars this time. We wanted to get there early, ‘cause lines and our guys don’t mix well. There was already a 45 minute wait when we got to Nemo (and the monorail dropped us off right there!), but if we were going to ever ride it, this was as good a time as any. We were finally boarded after just over an hour. It was close down there, but not unbearable, as we each had our own window. Nemo is a cute ride, with many features from the original 20,000 Leagues ride still in use. It was much longer than I thought it would be (maybe that was the claustrophobia kicking in though!), and we all enjoyed it. Given the choice between it and Toy Story Mania, however, I would take TSM. We rode the Materhorn once again, then decided to hop on the Fantasy Land rides. We rode Alice in Wonderland, Pinocchio, Brian and the kids rode the Teacups (I don’t spin thanks!), then over to the Storybook Canal (which we all really enjoyed), and up to ride Casey. It was fabulous to do these things that Walt originally scoped out.

We swung up past the “being worked on” It’s a Small World (Harry said “Thank Goodness!” if you can imagine! What cheek!), and into Toontown. Toontown is absolutely FANTASTIC, and we had a tremendous time there! There were so many bells and knobs and doors and chains and buttons and plungers to set off…and they all caused some kinda reaction. Terrific fun! We rode Roger Rabbit first. I rode with Euan, so Harry and Brian could spin their car ad nauseum. We visited Donald’s place and Mickey’s place and Minnie’s place and Goofy’s place….then we lined up to ride Inspector Gadget’s coaster. It is a good little coaster, but we prefer the Barnstormer. We grabbed lunch in the square there, and right at noon, the bells rung, and a little door opened up next to where we were seated and out came Minnie and Mickey (without chaperones I might add!) for Meet and Greets. Fantastic! We meandered back to the Monorail, as we wanted to head back to the hotel for a swim and down time before returning for Fantasmic later on. On our way out through Downtown Disney, we passed a live action advertisement for Toy Story Mania (featuring the green soldier guys). They called Harry over to take part in the demonstration of what to expect on the the ride…and he ended up having many water balloons burst over his head. It was good fun!

We hung out by the pool, then headed back to the park at about 3. We headed over to Frontierland to get Splash fastpasses. While waiting for our time, we went to see the Enchanted Tiki Birds (wanted to see the original) and hung out there for a while. Then we rode Splash, where Harry got sooooooooooooooooo wet, we had to buy him new pants. We decided to try our luck at the Carnation Café. We had found that the mediocre fastfood was very expensive in Disneyland, and if we paying that much, we might as well try to eat somewhere better! The hostess seated Euan and I right away (Brian and Harry were still purchasing the aforementioned new pants across the street at the time). We had a lovely meal. We caught some of the parade after dinner, then we killed time out and about until we could check in for our Fantasmic package at 8. We checked in at 8, then rode the HM again, bought some sparkly light up toys, and went back over to claim our seats. We had a great row, centrally located. Our CM brought us drinks and our special dessert trays. I should have skipped dinner! There were absolutely chockablock full of sumptuous goodies. The strawberries were especially good. The show was terrific and Mickey saved the day! We love how they all came on the Pirate Ship. After Fantasmic, we were told we could stay to watch the Fireworks from our location, which we did. It was a really beautiful show, only Euan had fallen asleep just before the end of it. Thankfully when we left, we were permitted to wheel the stroller out as far as the security gates. We took turns lugging the “doubles his weight when he’s sleeping” Euan back to the hotel.

We had received a call from our friend John (HndrdPrcnt). We were due to meet up with John and his family in Yosemite on Friday night, but Yosemite was on fire for the first time in its history. Needless to say, we would have to make alternate arrangements. I think a huge forest fire is excuse enough to make new plans.

We had a really super night, and the Fantasmic seating made what could have been a harrowing experience for us, into something truly special. What a terrific day!

[NotaGeek]

Thanks again!

[Carol]

Excellent report.

I'm so glad you found the Fantasmic! private seating to be worth it. It's an amazing show in California and a do not miss.

[ChipnDaleGal]

I am so glad that you were able to get on Nemo and that you all enjoyed it. Another wonderful day for you and your guys. I love eating at the Carnation Cafe and watching all the activity on Main Street. Thanks for reporting.

[Melanie]

Another fantastic day! Makes me want to do the Fantasmic! seating so bad. Glad you enjoyed!

[Caroleh]

Another great day, Jenn!!! Maybe I should convince Gilles to go there instead of DLParis!!

[ElenitaB]

Every time I read reports like yours, Jenn, I really think that I need to somehow work in a trip to California just so that we can go to DLR (I tried this summer through work, but it didn't fly).

Thanks for confirming that a trip to the Left Coast is a must!

[Dsnygirl]

Sounds like another fun-filled day... glad to hear you guys had VIP seating! Sorry to hear about Yosemite, though... I'm off to read about what you did instead! (i think...)

[MegaDisney]

Wow you guys are really packing a lot in to everyday!

Fantasmic at Disneyland is one of my favorite shows and the VIP seating is the only way to go!

Thanks again for posting your trip report!

[offwego]

Loved your report! The fantasmic seating sounds so much better the the WDW version is it?

And the part with the Soliders must have been great. New pants from splash are a great way to increase the back to school wardrobe. Does that help at all?

[disneydrmr]

We did the VIP seating also and I'm with you - the strawberries were worth every penny!!!! You guys are having such a wonderful time! Your reports are bringing back so many memories and now I'm wanting to go back! Whe we rode Roger Rabbit the car my friend and I were in spun on it's own... we could not get it to stop no matter what we did.. we laughed ourselves silly!

[2Epcot]

Thanks for sharing ... I've been watching Fantasmic at Disneyland since it first started there, and never get tired of see it.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the report!