Day Three: One Week Later, It's Hello and Goodbye Again
Having had my brain completely fried by remembering mnemonics like "ELI the ICE man," I needed some pixie dust. BAD. The night after taking my exam I had a celebratory steak dinner and glass of wine via room service, and I'm pretty sure I was in bed, sleeping, by 8:30 that night. Thus, I got plenty of sleep for my next day!
I arrived at the parks about 8:45. This day I decided to try using ART again like Jeff and I had on our last trip. It wasn't as convenient to board from the hotel but the buses run more often. A day pass for ART is $5 so it's the same as the hotel shuttle. However, a 3-day pass on ART is $12, so if I were going to stay at this hotel again, and going to the parks 3 consecutive days, I'd do ART just to save $3 per person. ANYway... back to the parks.
The lines weren't bad at security or at the gate, which was nice. I rode a horse-drawn streetcar up Main Street USA. This is a good picture of the castle. A not-so-good picture of me.
Then I went to my favorite Disney movie... well the attraction based on it. The line was at about 40 minutes, and it keeps on moving, so it's not horrible. There isn't any way to avoid long lines at this attraction. It's really popular, and unlike WDW there aren't any FP's for it.
I zipped over to Hyperspace Mountain to pull a FastPass, and then it was on to the thing I miss most at WDW.
I somehow managed to escape Mr. Toad's Wild Ride unscathed, but did notice that the "hades" scene at the end had strong scent of sulfur and I couldn't help but think of Rome burning in Space Ship Earth at Epcot.
From there I went to Alice in Wonderland, and then what is becoming my favorite easy-going attraction. I think it's all the colorful scenes inside. It's not the music, that's for sure!
Selfie time! (Jeff kept asking for selfies of where I was. He was living vicariously through me.)
I had some lunch at Jolly Holiday Bakery - a pastrami Reuben and fries, and ice water. They won't give you a large cup of ice water, but they'll give you two small cups. Am I the only one that thinks that's really wasteful? I didn't take a photo of the food. Sorry. But it was neither awesome nor horrid. It was just a sandwich. Also got an eclair that had an odd chocolate filling I wasn't prepared for.
Next, it was on to ride Buzz Lightyear! At this point, Tomorrowland was INSANE. This was my score. I don't know if this is good or not.
By this time it was my Fastpass time for Hyperspace Mountain, so I rode, and left my sunglasses in the little pouch thingamabob! Dangfrackinabbits! By the time I realized it, my train had long since departed and there wouldn't be any good way to find them.
Bye bye 5-year-old, $10 sunglasses.
I walked to NO Square and got in line for Haunted Mansion, a 40-minute wait. Then I noticed on my app that Fast Passes were for 40 minutes later. So I bailed out of line, pulled a Fast Pass, and wandered around the railroad depot for a while. That was fun, being able to go "behind the tracks" and poke around a bit.
When it was time for my HM FP, I rode, again, enjoyed it again (tried to get a photo of me and my hitchiking ghost with my cell phone. Unsuccessful.) At this point, the park was crowded as frack. All the lines for everything I might want to do were 45 minutes or more, and I learned that my threshold is probably 45 minutes. Thus, I walked across the park toward the monorail station.
So you're not going to believe this.. there was a line to wait to get on the platform for the
MONORAIL!!! While waiting, I could see the cars from the currently-closed-for-refurbishment Autopia. They're just sitting there, getting full of leaves and junk. Are they going to refurb the cars, too? Or replace them? Anyone know?
Once I finally got on the Monorail, I exited at Downtown Disney to check that out. It didn't excite me much, but I did stop at the Jazz Kitchen Express for a Coke Zero and some beignets. Or, as I like to call it, fat, sugar, and caffeine. I made a MESS with all the powdered sugar! They were good but not amazing. I don't understand the fuss.
Walked back up to the Esplanade after doing a little shopping in World of Disney (found that handbag I liked last time, but it was now another $20 more expensive! So I passed again.). Went into DCA for a last trip on Soarin'. Wait, FP's are for 8:00 and I wanted to watch the fireworks, and the line was 55 minutes. Bailed. Went to ToT for a Fastpass. Again, 8:45, and the line was 50 minutes. Bailed. Went to Radiator Springs Racers in the single-rider line. I have to admit, I do like this ride. That took me about 25 minutes, which wasn't horrible. From there I went to ride California Screamin' again and had a BALL. I just love that coaster.
I did a little shopping and got Jeff an Oswald's key chain. I asked the Cast Member if they're going to release the fireworks and parade music, plus any other 60th anniversary music, on a CD. He hadn't heard but gave me a place to ask. He agreed with me that it would be awesome.
Then I left DCA and headed back over to DLR. I wandered a bit before deciding on a Dole Whip float and the Tiki Room. I like the float. The juice helps with the thirsty feeling from the icy dessert, plus it's juice so it must be healthy. Right? Would Dr. Len or Dr. Mark care to interject?
Even the Tiki Room was full.... it was a very, very busy day. TouringPlans.com rated it a 9. I'd have to agree.
My tasty treat:
After that, I caught the tail end of the 8:00 parade, and watched the Disneyland Forever! show from the middle of Main Street. This is, in my opinion, the best place. The crowd isn't really into it that much until the theme from Lion King plays, then everyone cheers, and suddenly it's a sing-along, and then when "I Wanna Be Like You" from The Jungle Book comes on, it's a sing-along dance-along party. By the time the Frozen effect happens (I won't spoil it so if you want to know, PM me) everyone is excited and loving the show. On my first night this trip, I did hear some hipster millennials criticizing the show on the way out of the park because it's going to be hard to top. REALLY kids?
I think they were just criticizing because it's not cool to like Disney because they're a corporation and blah blah blah. ANYWAY back to my last night... when the fireworks were over, the cast members are skilled (and maybe a little pushy) at routing foot traffic to help those who want to leave and those who want to stay. I wanted to head to the back of the park and ride Small World again. Turns out, so did most of the free world. And, you can't just walk through the hub, they push you into Tomorrowland, all the way in to the churro cart before you can u-turn, then back out to go to Fantasyland and up to Small World.
I caught a pretty shot of the fountain on my way through:
By the time I got there, the line was long. But the facade is nice at night.
Then people kept dropping cell phones in the water and making the ride shut down why they tried to fish them out. Then our side wasn't working but the other side was. And the little kid behind me kept walking into me and whining to his dad. By the time I got on the dumb ride I was irritable, tired, cranky, and I needed my blankie and bed. So I decided it wasn't worth it to stay in the park being irritated. So I decided to go. The parade had started down by the Main Street RR Station by then, so I could walk the parade route for awhile and then had to jump onto the sidewalk.
The castle is so pretty at night.
I boarded the ART bus and made my way back down Harbor. Back in my room, I packed and got ready for my trip home.
I'm really glad I went, though I do wish I had a family member along. I don't know when I'll be in SoCal again to enjoy DLR so I'm glad I took the time, crowds notwithstanding.
