The kid in all of us

Anaheim, CA

Yesterday was time for me to leave all the yucky stuff going on in the world behind and enter into that “happiest place on earth”, Disneyland. I was about the 20th guest into the park at the 9 opening and I didn’t leave till 11:30 pm. I was exhausted, had really irritated my SI joint and eaten too many calories (yes, I had a churro), but I was happy.

I’m sure many of you have experienced Disneyland or Disneyworld so I won’t go into too many details here. It’s been a long, long time since I was there last, and really, things haven’t changed that much. Which is a good thing. It’s Disneyland’s 60th anniversary this year, and the Sleeping Beauty Castle is decorated in diamonds, silver ribbon and the “60” is on the castle, banners and at the entrance.

What was different this time, is that given the time of year Christmas has taken over some of the attractions and their decorations. “Jungle Cruise” has become “Jingle Cruise” and their theme is all about missing Christmas decorations. “It’s a Small World” has more Christmas songs than their annoying theme song and many of the scenes have been augmented by Christmas decorations. The Haunted House has Halloween and Christmas touches as well and the afternoon parade is totally Christmas themed, (aptly named “A Christmas Fantasy”), including dancing reindeer and of course Santa as the finale.

The evening parade was called Paint the Night and I’m sure Chris Hatfield could have seen the lights from outer space. I hadn’t planned on sitting on a cold, cement curb for over an hour waiting for the parade among the hordes of cranky kids but I got talking to a grandmother from Omaha, Nebraska who was there holding a spot for her daughter, son-in-law and three kids, and she offered me a piece of their curb and I ended up talking to her non-stop for the hour and a half about everything under the sun. She was really interesting and I was impressed she even knew about our new Prime Minister. And the parade was great.

I stayed around for the 9:30 fireworks and the Fantasmic show at 10:45pm. I watched the fireworks from the Rivers of America plaza (to be near my designated Fantasmic watching spot) instead of Main Street, and enjoyed both. I was glad that I’d lugged my fleece around all day despite the afternoon temps of 28 degrees or so, because by 9:30 it was really cool. The fireworks were great, and so was Fantasmic. Amazing effects, but hey, it’s Disney!

Disney California Adventure is a new park located right next to the original Disneyland property. In fact you enter each through the same plaza and security checks. (Oh yeah, that was new too-just a quick bag search). I didn’t even venture into the new park. Will save that for the next time I come to California to check out the Missions I haven’t managed to see.

Logistics things I discovered:

Single rider – if you are willing to go as a single rider you can get in much quicker on some of the attractions. I did that on Splash Mountain and I was on the ride in about 10 minutes when the regular wait was at least an hour. You enter through the exit and then are fed into the loading of the line when they have a single seat available. A couple in front of me took the single line and ended up in the same log anyway.

Fast Pass and early opening – Disney has a system where on some of the most popular rides you can use your Park entry pass and go to the Fast Pass kiosks to get a ticket to come back later in the day. They assign an hour of time that you have to come back and when you do come back you go in the Fast Pass Entry line where there is no or minimal line up. You are feed into the regular line at some point. If you pay extra for the early opening ticket you could get a bunch of Fast Passes.

Sore SI joints really don’t like the Matterhorn ride

Fantasmic- Is a great show taking place on the Rivers of America. I watched the fireworks from the Rivers of America plaza instead of Main Street, and you get the added benefit of a presentation on the water at the same time as the fireworks and it’s less crowded. You can also book reservations at some of the restaurants around the Rivers of America and have a seat and watch the show over dinner instead of standing in corals or sitting on cold cement.