See also:

Disneyland 2007 Flickr Set
California! Part 1: The Arrival

California! Part 3: California Adventure
California! Part 4: Mom goes home
California! Part 5: The Expo

This is going to be long and picture heavy.

We woke up early. We're talking in the 5am hour. Nice, get a jump on the day, right? Not so much, as the park opened at 10am. I figured maybe we could get some breakfast and I could upgrade my ticket since we were up so early. With my gung ho attitude we got there at 7:40 and had to wait until 8:30 for the WDTC to open

because we had purchased 2 day tickets and I decided to stay another day! Meanwhile Lindsay was having some health drama so mom spent time on the phone walking her through it.

I got my ticket sorted out, mom got lindsay to a safe place, we both bought a jamba juice, so we decided might as well wait for regular folks entry.

Then we're in! Tiny castle and all! We head right for Nemo because we've heard SO much about it and that the later in the day the longer the lines and hype hype hype so that's where we go. After about an hour wait (the longest during our trip) we're on! Several minutes later we're off! And unimpressed I might add. It's fine, but the line is too much.

During the line we did get to see the seagulls (MINE! MINE! MINE!) and a little bit of the Jedi training which seemed lame until Mr Darth Vader arrives! The kids kept him at bay so we were safe.

I won't do the big ride by ride, blow by blow trip report, so I'll put in some bullet points here:

• Space Mountain is SO much better here, it's so smooth! The only problem is I don't have a single memory of riding it in 2005. Not a terrible problem, as it was just like the first time, assuming it wasn't the first time.


• I absolutely hate the stupid Haunted Mansion Holiday. For those of you who don't know every year Disneyland puts this huge Nightmare Before Christmas overlay on the Haunted Mansion. It's a classic and they've f'ed it up. I am not happy. I've never been on the Haunted Mansion as GOD intended it.


• Tom Sawyer Island is now the Pirates' Lair. Not too much of a difference, except some of the dioramas in the tunnels (they've added the chest holding Davy Jones's heart!) and a pirate themed band that performs sailor songs. Yes, I stopped and listened to music at Disneyland.


• Didn't there used to be a golden apple at Snow White? It wasn't there. The book was, though, and we stuck around long enough to see the wicked stepmother pop in and out


• Storybookland Canal Boats were closed (insert sad face here)


• We stopped at the Rancho del Zocalo, we were pleasantly surprised! And a little nervous for our stomachs since Big Thunder was to be next.

Too much text. Time for a picture.

Mary and Burt! Not an easy couple of face characters to find, and when you do and there's no line YOU ARE THERE. Those ears light up, by the way. Cute, right?

We were very happy with the addition of Jack Sparrow to Pirates of the Caribbean. It works and the animatronic fits in very well. Again, Pirates CA PWNS Pirates FL.

Toontown closes earlier than the rest of the park but we decided to see if it was still open, and yes, it was! This land is so much fun, so much interactive stuff: talking water fountains, rigged doors, crazy doorbells. We enjoyed Minnie's house

so we decided to check out Mickey's house. Now, we did know that Mickey's house is the place to meet Mickey, but we decided to go through just because it's cute and fun. Imagine our suprise when there we were, face to face with the Mouse.

Having done most of the rides we decided to wait for the parade. We'd seen this parade before but Mom likes them so we waited. It was cute, but again, seen it!

I put my hat down for this picture and when I picked it up I realized tht I had put it down in a puddle. This caused some hat-based issues and it didn't dry out until the next day.

It was time to leave. Dinner at the Jazz Kitchen, mom had her first hurricane, and then we decided to do our shopping at World of Disney.

Then the long walk back. By long I mean a mile or so. So nice being close!

Labels: disneyland, vacation