Day 10 | Disneyland
Up at 6.00am to shower and get ready for Disneyland opening at 8.00am. With it being cloudy we didn't know what the temperature was going to do. Might even rain. The backpack is pretty full.
From Long Beach, Anaheim and Disneyland are to the south so we’re going out of town so we should have okay traffic wise.
The trip was quick and with only a couple of changes the GPS got us to the carpark of the happiest place on earth. They are experts of shifting cars in and getting people on their way. We got the tram from the car park to Disneyland and started in California Adventure. The park seems quite quiet but it's early.
First up we got a fast pass for the Cars ride and then headed straight to the tower of terror. Neither McKay or O'Regan enjoyed that ride. Shame since it was Rosie's favourite.
Then it was off to California Screaming. Definitely a crowd favourite. We rode that a couple of times then back to Cars. We decided to take the queue as our fast pass wasn't for another hour or so and it was only a 35 minute wait. The ride was a neat combination of animatronics and projection and finishes with a storming car. As a kids ride it is a fun one. It’s set in a whole Radiator Springs area and we even had a Lightning McQueen drive through the area when we were walking through.
The scenery and ambiance of this park is something that makes it special. There are rides and an area of the park dedicated to the many cartoons and now includes the whole Star Wars thing. There’s a kids area for A Bug’s Life with all of these gorgeous massive fibreglass bugs and plants with a water playground seemingly more popular in the summer.
Time to use our fast pass and we pass the long queue of people waiting and get all the way up to being next to board and the ride is shut down indefinitely. Bugger! Oh well it's over to the Disney side.
Mysteriously when we were taking our family selfie at the floral entry a big bloke in a Disney uniform came up and asked Angus where he got his boots (his King Gee slip on work boots) and was disappointed it wasn’t from the US. He knew they were really comfortable as he spent many months in Australia and remembers them (still has red dirt coming out of the seams of his jeans). Can’t seem to find them in the US.
This part of the park contains the original rides and the Frontier-,Tomorrow-, Adventure-, Fantasy-lands and New Orleans Square. We raced around many of the rides but unfortunately due to seasonal maintenance a couple were out of action and a couple had just broken down. It’s low season which is why even the iconic Magic Castle was shut for painting.
Rosie and McKay were even delayed getting on Space mountain. Luckily Thunder Mountain was open, one of the best roller coasters IMHO. Notable also was the Indiana Jones ride and the cheesy Haunted House and Pirates of the Caribbean.
We had pre-booked dinner weeks before hand at Cafe Orleans and so were lead in past the line up to our table at the raised patio, great views.
The food and service were outstanding. We tried Gumbo with dirty rice and the famous Monte Cristo Sandwich (OMG so good) and later Beignets (which are a bit like donuts).
Every night there is a show on the lake just in front of the Cafe which included parts of the Fantasia sequence as well using the pirate ship, paddle steamer, Peter Pan, fireworks, lasers and everything else. It was pretty cool sitting at our dinner table with all this happened in front of us.
We left the park at 10.30pm suitably tired and happy with our big day at Disneyland.
Highlights
Beignets at Cafe Orleans, nom nom nom. Angus
Whole day was good but the Monte Cristo was amazeballs. Rosie
Star Wars simulator ride. McKay
California Screaming. O’Regan