Magique's Recent Disneyland Trip

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jun Sun 17, 2007 11:41 pm

I just came back today from our trip to Disneyland, and it was great! We stayed for two days at the Paradise Pier Hotel.

The first day was a little disappointing. We had been trying to contact my uncle to meet him at the park with my three-year old cousins, but there was no phone signal. We wasted about an hour of time trying to contact him with no success. We, luckily, found him in Fantasyland but discovered that he had gotten food poisoning and was not feeling well. Unfortunately, his daughters (my cousins) did not give him a break and kept pestering him. Poor guy. We ended up giving him the key to our room and we babysat them. We went on It's A Small World, but only one cooperated. (The other has been deathly scared of rides ever since she went on a roller coaster that she just wasn't old enough to ride ((tall enough, but not old enough))). So we were trying to keep her quiet, while the other one kept pointing at everything and seemed happy enough. We asked if they wanted to go in the Tiki Room. "Nooo! It's too scary. We aren't old enough," they say. "There is only a little storm. Nothing scary," we try to convince them. "Just a little storm," the good one repeats. "NOOOO TIKI ROOM!" cries the other. We ended up taking the monorail home. (We had to really convince one of them that it wasn't a roller coaster. She kept crying the entire ride back and insisting we walk there instead. ((or rather we walk and carry her)). Anyway, we stayed at the hotel trying to help out my uncle who ended up deciding to go home with the girls. By the time everything was said and done, it was time to eat a late lunch. But what to eat? We decided on the PCH Grill located on the first level of the hotel. At first glance, it seemed like the wait wouldn't be long at all. "The wait will be 15 minutes," the waiter says. Yet absolutely no one is in the restaurant. Odd, but we decide to browse through a nearby shop and wait to be called. I order the sausage pizza. (Delicious. I tried some of the Cobb salad which was good too). The "Everything and the Kitchen Sink" sundae sounded so good, but I knew there was no way that five people could possibly eat it. (Plus it was expensive and my mom said no). By the time we had finished, it was already night. We had already decided that the Finding Nemo ride would have to wait until tomorrow morning. So we went on our rides and called it quits at 11 so that we would be able to get up early enough to go to the park at 7 for early entry.

Yikes, this is taking a while to write. Part 2 coming later.

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Thu 05, 2007 8:04 pm

Is anyone bothering to read this? If not, then maybe I shouldn't bother writing the second day I had at Disneyland.

Post by **js3901** » Jul Thu 05, 2007 8:41 pm

I must've missed the post when you first posted it. I just read it, and it seems like you had a good time, besides the shrieking cousin...

oh, and people may have read the post, but just not responded. just look at the "views" column in this forum.

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Thu 05, 2007 8:43 pm

Yes. They are quite spoiled, those two. But so cute.

JWG · Post by **JWG** » Jul Fri 06, 2007 8:53 am

Magique wrote:Is anyone bothering to read this? If not, then maybe I shouldn't bother writing the second day I had at Disneyland.

I am reading...

foldmama · Post by **foldmama** » Jul Fri 06, 2007 9:30 am

No please tell us - I have not been to Disneyland in over 30 years and I am interested!!

disneylandmom · Post by **disneylandmom** » Jul Fri 06, 2007 9:49 am

Magique wrote:Is anyone bothering to read this? If not, then maybe I shouldn't bother writing the second day I had at Disneyland.

I am reading and waiting for the second part. Please continue.

Did early entry work for finding nemo?

Esmeralda · Post by **Esmeralda** » Jul Fri 06, 2007 9:50 am

Somehow missed the post too - share more!

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Sun 08, 2007 12:02 pm

Wow. Totally did not see all these responses! Alright, on to part 2!

So, we got up early to get to the park at 7 am. By the time we got there, the line had already gone past the Matterhorn. Nonetheless, we were determined to see Finding Nemo first thing. My sister and I looked at the short line for the Matterhorn, asked our mom if we could go while they stayed in line, and surprisingly, my mom said yes. Now, normally I don't like people who are lineholders, but the line wasn't going anywhere since they weren't going to open the Nemo ride until the park actually opened, so my sister and I went on Matterhorn which took a matter of ten minutes. By the time we got back, the line had moved tremendously! Disney decided to open Nemo early, since there were so many people. We got back in line and waited. In the meantime, a lady had been talking to my mom about anything and everything about her life. From how she used to love abusing the wheelchair system to her business as a lady who holds soap and candle parties (like Tupperware parties). Eventually we got to the front of the line and everyone was excited. Before we got on, a woman got off the ride and yelled to everyone. "IT'S WORTH THE WAIT!" I was afraid that the chatty lady would talk on the ride too, but she didn't. I could barely remember the old submarine ride, so seeing it again was like a whole new ride. I had a seat close to the front. The seats are similar to those in a theater or sports stadium. You have to push them down before you sit in them. So I sat there staring at the pretend starfish and other sea life that was sculpted into the wall. It took a while, but eventually the ride began. It was great! I don't want to give away too much, but it was amazing how they could combine computer animation with audio animatronics. At the very end of the ride, the "captain" mentions something about sea serpents and mermaids, a quote from the original ride. As I heard him talking I thought I saw a glimpse of the sea serpent in a cave, I did a double take, but by that time, bubbles obstructed my view. The wait to get off the subs was twice as long as the wait to start the sub. I guess it was because they were running all of the submarines at the same time. We got off and headed towards Tomorrowland Terrace. We had eaten there the day before, but we hadn't eaten since we got up, and it was the closest food shop. So, we sat in front of the stage where the Jedi Training show takes place. We had seen the show the day before while we were eating. Towards the end of the show, Darth Vader comes out to challenge little kids to a lightsaber fight. It was so cute watching these little kids follow the Jedi's directions as he told him to move his lightsaber "to the left, to the right, down right, down left, duck!, to his head!" in a pattern similar to that. Darth Vader would pretend to fight each one of the kids. (FYI, there were about 20+ kids, so it got a bit tedious after a while). Darth Maul was there too, swinging his lightsaber around while Darth Vader was fighting. Afterwards I realized that wouldn't make any sense. Darth Vader was only nine years old when Darth Maul was that age. Plus, Darth Maul is dead by the time Anakin becomes Darth Vader. Then I realized I was going too much into it and just shrugged. He looked cool, and that was all that really mattered for the show. After eating a croissant sandwich for breakfast, we decided to go over to California Adventure. Upon arriving we realized this was the place to go. There was practically no one! My mom wanted to stop at Soarin' Over California first, but my dad wanted to go on California Screamin'. After a quick poll, it was to California Screamin' we went. The line was short, and the ride was fantastic. I love how Disney puts soundtracks on roller coaster rides.

We went on it twice, there were so few people.

I shall continue this story later tonight. I have to get off the computer. But I promise I will finish it!

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Sun 08, 2007 9:19 pm

Alright, where was I? Ah, yes. After California Screamin', my mom went to get Fast Passes for Soarin' and we went on Grizzly Run. It didn't take too long and we were placed with a father and his two sons visiting from out of state. No matter how many times we go on Grizzly Run, you always end up making friends, at least temporary ones. We went on it a second time later and even though the people placed in our raft barely spoke English, we had a good time. After that, we went and got ice cream in a restaurant inside of a train. I had the Mint Express (Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream served in a waffle cone with oreo cookie topping, whipped cream, hot fudge, and a cherry). It was great! After that we used our Soarin' fast passes. We went to ride Monsters Inc. Mike and Sulley to the Rescue. There was nobody in the line. So we went on it twice. At the end of the ride, an audio-animatronic Roz says some kind of line from the movie. The second time we went on, we had to wait a bit since there was something slowing the cars in front of us. Roz told us, "Don't just sit there, scream!" We did nothing. "C'mon! Scream!" We half-screamed. "Whatever," she replied. We laughed and as the car began to move Roz called out, "Bye!" Later on we were trying to figure out how they did it. (We eventually turned to the internet and found out a cast member could control Roz's dialogue). We also went on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, which isn't as great as the one in WDW in my opinion. We got a kick out of looking for props from the Twilight Zone series though. (We found a fortune teller machine we recognized from one episode, a toy telephone from another, and a camera which shows the future in yet another episode.) My dad was getting tired, (he almost fell asleep when we went to see Muppet*Vision 3D) so he set off with my sisters back to the hotel. My mom and I stayed in California Adventure because she wanted to see the Aladdin show and I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to stay in a Disney park. (We had seen it before, but we didn't have very good seats). We still had some time before the show started, so I decided to take her to the Animation building and go to the Turtle Talk with Crush. I had seen Youtube videos of the show, and thought it would be interesting to see it. We both agreed it was very cute. Off to go see Aladdin, we got seats in the Orchestra, but it was just one step above so that no actors went through our aisles, but they were in front of us. We were right next to the door where the elephant comes out, so it was cool because we saw how they had to bend down and lower the elephant head to get it to fit. It was a lot better than I remembered! The best part was the actor who played the Genie. You could tell he was having fun and doing a lot of improv. There was one point in the play when he was talking to Jafar and he just kept going and going! Jafar just kept staring, obviously waiting for the actor to get to the script. The show was just fantastic! We headed back to the hotel to catch up with the rest of the family.

Part 4 to come! I hope these entries aren't too long. I'm putting in a lot of details.

I'd appreciate any comments/questions in the meantime!

foldmama · Post by **foldmama** » Jul Mon 09, 2007 7:44 am

Enjoying your posts. I have to get myself out to Disney in California. I am now realizing from your posts that they are many different attractions and shows that are not in WDW. Must see everything Disney!

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Mon 09, 2007 12:01 pm

I'm glad you're enjoying them. I've only gone to WDW once, several years ago, so I'm sure there are a lot of shows and attractions we don't have. (I'd love to go on Expedition Everest. It looks cool!)

foldmama · Post by **foldmama** » Jul Mon 09, 2007 2:34 pm

Everest is amazing! It's our family's favorite WDW coaster!

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Mon 09, 2007 8:12 pm

Well, I hope that one day I will be able to go and see it. Plus, I've never gone to Animal Kingdom.

Magique · Post by **Magique** » Jul Tue 10, 2007 12:05 am

Alright, well, I was hoping for more comments before I wrote more, but I guess one person will have to do. Thanks foldmama for the comments!

My Trip Part 4
Again, we ate at the PCH grill and had similar items as we did the night before. Rested and refueled, we walked to Disneyland. We went to get fast passes on Splash Mountain and went to Tomorrowland. We went on several Tomorrowland rides (one of the favorites in my family is the Buzz Lightyear ride. I guess the video game aspect is what attracts everyone, but it isn't my favorite because my hands feel so sore afterwards). So, we head back to Splash Mountain at our time we were supposed to be there and found out that the ride had closed. They were expected to reopen in an hour or so. There was still some light as we went back towards New Orleans Square. Everyone except my sister was willing to go on the Haunted Mansion. One of my sisters claimed she was "too hungry" to go on the ride, but really she just was scared. My mom gave her money to go get some food and told her to wait for us to get out. The refurb they did with the attic was great! The shadow playing the piano was extremely effective. We got out and looked around for my sister, but she was no where to be found. Given that the day before we had lost some members of our party, my sister's absence was taken with some anxiety. I thought it was kind of freaky that she was lost in front of the Haunted Mansion. (There was some song/story on Subsonic that I heard where a tour of the Haunted Mansion resulted in a member of the party being lost).

Did we find my sister? Or was she the "1,000" ghost, disappearing as silently as the family on the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror? Find out in part 5 of this long-drawn out series!

(lame cliffhanger, I know.)