First Timers to Disneyland - Day 1, Part 1

[Magic Smiles]

Wednesday, 12 August 2009 we or should I say rose from bed to begin our journey from Los Angeles to Anaheim, CA. Once I was ready I woke up DH and DS. We had decided to sleep in this morning after reading about how long it would take to get from Los Angeles to DL during rush hour. Figured we would wait until rush hour was over. I am so glad that we did. We left our room at 10:55 am and programmed our destination of the Grand Californian into our GPS. It stated that it would take 35 minutes. I am thinking, yah, right. Much to our surprise it only took us 45 minutes to get from the Hilton Universal in LA to the Grand Californian in DL. It was a smooth and uneventful drive.

I have to say that driving into the Disneyland area is not the same as driving into Walt Disney World. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020704web.jpg No BIG archway that can be seen from a great distance. No BIG signs, until you are right there. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020706web.jpg We checked in and that went very quick and smooth. The CM was wonderful. I asked about any upgrades that might be available, as we had only booked the cheapest standard view room. I was willing to pay, but there was none as they were fully booked. Our room was on the 6th floor, but not concierge. After seeing the location of our room, which was just around the corners from the elevators, I was perfectly happy that we had not been able to upgrade. We were looking out over the front entrance with a view of both the Monorail and we could see part of Downtown Disney. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020718web.jpg It was quiet and perfect for us. After all we are not in DL to be in our room unless we are sleeping. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020713web.jpg http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020721web.jpg

The first thing that was on our agenda was to get some food. We were starving, as I don’t think we had had any breakfast before we left Los Angeles. We headed over to the Downtown Disney area and spotted Napolini. We went in and all ordered pizza. It was okay, but I thought very expensive for a relatively small slice ($4.95 each). http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020732web.jpg Now it was off to see Disneyland Park. Walking through Downtown Disney brought back all the feelings of excitement of being in Disneyworld, very similar, but smaller in size. The true vacation feelings were kicking in. We arrived in the park at 1:30 pm, http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020739web.jpg through the archways and onto Main Street. But wait, where is the castle? I have to say that we were all taken aback at how small the “castle” is in Disneyland. I am not too sure if DH ever got over just how small Sleeping Beauty’s castle is. After strolling down Main Street trying to take it all in, (I loved it), snapping a few shots and having our first photopass pictures taken we headed over to one of our favourite attractions, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020862web.jpg to get fastpasses. Fastpasses in hand we then went and loaded onto Star Tours. It was fun and somehow seemed better than I remembered it from WDW. As our fastpasses for Buzz weren’t until 2:30, we decided to wander around Tomorrowland, which gave me the opportunity to take photos. I have been known to take many photos. Maybe more than many, maybe thousands! We headed back over to experience Buzz. Buzz has got to be one of DS’s favourites and we probably ended up doing Buzz more than any other attraction while in DL. I have to say that I love how you can email your Buzz Lightyear ride photo home. When we got back home we had many Buzz emails.

We were done in Tomorrowland for now and wanted to get fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain, so we headed over there. On the way, we spotted this http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020907web.jpg. Of course we could not pass up the opportunity to have a Mickey Ice Cream Bar. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020917web.jpg It had been over a year since we had had one and we were in need of a Mickey Bar fix. It was shortly after this that we spotted Rancho del Zocola Restaurante. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020927web.jpg The theming around this place just blew me away. I thought that is was one of the most beautiful places on earth. There is not one spot that has not been themed. AMAZING! http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020938web.jpg I don’t know how it happened but we never did end up eating there. Probably just too much Mexican food on the first part of our vacation. All Mexicaned out! We finally made it over to Big Thunder Mountain for our fastpasses after snapping a few (hundred) photos of New Orleans Square. AMAZING place! While we were waiting for our return time for Big Thunder we decided to have a tour on the Mark Twain Riverboat. I really would have preferred the “Pirate ship”, http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020958web.jpg but it had already departed and we were becoming pooped. Mark Twain Riverboat was relaxing and enjoyable with more photo taking. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020987web.jpg Now we headed back to Big Thunder Mountain. http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1030031web.jpg We all really enjoyed Big Thunder and I videotaped our adventure. Even though I have read that it is suppose to be the same as WDW only reversed, it seemed to be so much better than WDW. DH and I both thought that. Big Thunder is our 2nd most ridden ride.

Part 2 of Day 1 coming soon.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

What a great start to your DL trip.

I really hope we can visit there one day

[Phantod]

Great start.

But here are a couple of things. You apparently missed the big Disneyland sign. It's on Harbor Blvd and tells you that you are at the happiest place on earth. And it's true.

And I'm with you on Thunder Mtn. The last time I had done the one at DL was back in 1999, and had been at the WDW version many times since then. I forgot, until we went 3 times in the last 12 months, how much better the DL version is. It seems to be a lot faster, and way cool. Glad you enjoyed it.

Looking forward to your next posts

[Magic Smiles]

Great start.
You apparently missed the big Disneyland sign. It's on Harbor Blvd and tells you that you are at the happiest place on earth. And it's true.

Looking through my photos I guess we did see this sign http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...1020697web.jpg but, we obviously didn't drive under it and I guess I was really looking for something like this http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/a...4/DSC01385.jpg which you had to drive under to get into Walt Disney World. Guess we will just have to go back and look for the sign again so that we can drive under it.

[Disneymom4ever]

What a nice start to your day! It's funny, because my boys have seen DW's castle many times, and only that. They have seen pics of the DL castle, and I just know I'm going to hear many comments about it when we go! I keep reminding them it's the original, which makes it special in itself.

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[mouseketeer mom]

Oh! I love this! We will be first timers next August! Thanks, and I can't wait to read more!