The second day was the low of our trip. We’ll get to that when we get there though.
After another shorter night of sleep than we’re used to, we headed to the Grand Californian Hotel for breakfast at Story Teller’s Cafe. It is my favorite place to catch a bite before an exciting time in the parks.
I got the absolute must have that is the buffet. They have everything you could imagine for breakfast and then some! The decorations all around are still based heavily on wood tones and a homey feel. And they have characters!
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| I love the decor! |
We met Chip & Dale, Meeko (Pocahontas) and Kenai (Brother Bear). Some of you may not be as familiar with the last two friends. The family sitting at the table next to us thought Meeko was a skunk (he’s a raccoon) and had no idea who Kenai was. It’s a good thing he’s smiling, or I think their little one would have been more than a little afraid.
Suffice it to say, when I called to each of them by name, I could tell they were pleased to finally have someone know who they were. The cast member serving our table was kind enough to take pictures of me with a few of them as well as some group pictures. Here are my favorites:
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| Chip with the family next to us |
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| Chip and Harry |
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| Chip and I |
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| Harry and Meeko with a "photo bomber" |
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| Kenai and Harry |
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| Kenai and I growling |
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| Dale! I'm kneeling while Harry is sitting. |
We then stopped by the Grand’s gift shop Acorn’s Gifts and Goods for some bandaids and some sunscreen. While we had packed sunscreen, it was a very large bottle, and I did not feel like carrying it around with me, along with everything else I was carrying. As for the bandaids, the dress shoes I wore to mom’s wedding had rubbed pretty nasty spots into the back of my ankles, and I was also starting to feel the hot spot of a blister starting and wasn’t going to have any of that! (And I’m proud to say that we were both free of those the entire trip!)
We made our way through the hotel to the Resort Guest entrance into DCA. It was a pretty long line wrapping around past White Water Snacks just after park opening (We were geniuses!) Anyways, we rode the wonderful Soarin’ Over California (Before the Planes change). My love for that ride cannot be expressed enough! It’s a wonderful ride, and I would say that it is up there with other Disney classic attractions!
After seeing the impossibly long line of Radiator Springs Racers, we park hopped into Disneyland. Having gone under the left tunnel into Main Street, we made a point to go under the plaque and towards the Disney Gallery. (Have I told you how much I miss it’s old location above Pirates of the Caribbean?) I loved the gallery. All of the figures and artwork. I wanted to take so much of it home. But alas, none made it here.
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| I'd love to have my very own Jose! |
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| So many to choose from! |
Sadly I was distracted by the wonders of the gallery by a cast member who had had the last straw. They have cast members hand paint cells that you can watch them paint and buy. I wanted to capture this man at work and took his picture. Two seconds to complain about my camera. It has flash bipolarness. Sometimes it will, and sometimes it won’t take a flash. I still cannot figure it out. Well, now of all times, it decides to flash on me. And the cast member, irritated, requested that I inform him before I take any flash pictures. While I know he was only trying to do his job, and probably has to say the same thing over and over again, it made me truly feel like complete crap that you could sweep up and put into the nearest “Waste, please” can.
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| I really do like the paintings though. |
The rest of the gallery went by as I tried not to be the little cry baby that I am. Suddenly, out of the blue, I walked in on a replica of the Capital. I had completely forgotten that the Disney Gallery had moved in with our 16th president, Abraham Lincoln. What made this a delight was the fact that I had been meaning to find this and see the famed audio animatronic for myself. And bam! Without even looking, there I was.
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| Detailed Miniature of the Capital. |
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| Figures of some of our nation's greats. |
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| The pre show area. |
Pictures of the exhibit do not do it justice. Seeing the film and presentation on YouTube fails to capture the sheer awe that I felt while watching Mr. Lincoln stand to his full hight of 6’4”. I do honestly wonder what he’d say if he saw the government today. As we exited the theater, it was interesting to see photos of recent powerful men and woman, accompanied by celebrities. While I feel that certain people of fame belong up on these walls, there is one who I will not name, that I feel needs to be taken down. Celebrities in the 21st century have sadly become fads, coming and going with time. A few stand that test, but not many.
We next entered the hat shop, where Harry and I tried on several Goofy looking hats, hehe. And then another surprise greeted us as we exited the shop. It the Mad Hatter himself along with Alice from Alice in Wonderland.
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| Harry looking a little goofy. |
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| Alice and the Hatter! |
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| You're as mad as a hatter. |
As we headed towards the Main Street Train Station, we saw Pinocchio and a very long line to get pictures at the giant Mickey Jack-O-Lantern.
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| I love all of the fall colors. |
The cast on the train made everyone laughed after he scared us with “ALL ABOARD!!!!” I mean, it was very loud but so funny to see people around us jump. They added funny bits of banter with the prerecorded spiel as we headed around towards Tomorrowland. Our first stop on the way was New Orleans Square. The decorations there are so intricate and detailed. You see someone’s laundry pass over head, and in the distance, you can see someone’s porch with their personal affects.
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| A porch on the back side of New Orleans from the train |
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| The detail they put into every knook and crany of Disneyland is astonishing and truly adds to the overall feel. |
Our second to last stop was Mickey’s Toontown. I’ve always loved this section of the park, and it’s only gotten more magical with the addition of Mickey and the Magical Map. But this stop was made extra special by the conductor of the train himself. I’m getting teary just thinking about it. There was a boy with special needs who wanted to get his picture taken with the conductor. The conductor of course obliged, but made it a magical moment when he placed his hat on the young mans head. Speechless, I grabbed my camera to capture this truly wonderful moment.
I’m sure that made the boy’s and his family’s trip. After some applause, the train whistled and we were on to the future! I don’t pay nearly enough attention to Tomorrowland. For starters, the layout has always confused me. I can get around fine, but I’m pretty certain that any first time guests would have to study their maps to figure out which way is up and which way is down here. It seems that the other lands have logic to them, but not Tomorrowland.
Case in point: The queue for Space Mountain. I couldn’t direct someone how to get up there even if I wanted to. YouTube has plenty videos of the queue and it’s maze, so I won’t go on and on about it. More on that later.
First stop was Autopia so that Harry could learn how to drive. With a small mix up from the cast members, we were soon in our very own gas powered cars. I wish they would update this cute attraction with more fuel efficient vehicles. Sadly, there were issues with the cars ahead of us, so a majority of the ride was me driving instead of Harry. We meant to go back and ride again, but didn’t get a chance to.
Our second stop was Space Mountain. After the before mentioned head ache of the Space Mountain queue, we both agreed to find the handicap entrance. With a little guess work, and some help from a cast member, we found our way to the launch pad. Now here is where I wish I had had the brains to use my camera! We were all loaded onto a separate space ship and then shifted over seamlessly to another space ship ahead of us. It was a rare mini ride.
Space Mountain was in it’s Ghost Galaxy makeover. Some say it’s scary. I have to disagree. It is noisy, especially in the beginning. The loud buzzing sound was enough to make me cover my ears in surprise. Every time we rode after that, I made sure to cover my ears before the effect started. But Space Mountain proved to be every bit as fun as it was hyped up to be. However, my body no longer wanted to agree with the fun my brain was having. I didn’t feel sick, but I had slight motion sickness. And then, we were told we were riding again. Normally, I’d be 100% onboard with that. But Harry didn’t feel all that great either. All that to say, we rode it again. And boy did we have a headache after the fact!
We stumbled out of our rocket and took a breather outside of Captain EO and the gift shop. We drank water and relaxed for a bit. It made both of us upset that we couldn’t handle Space Mountain. No, the double wammy didn’t help, but we both looked forward to trying it out. We had later confirmation that this just wasn’t the ride for us. But more on that when we get there.
After relaxing for a half hour, at the request of Harry, we became Space Rangers with Buzz Lightyear on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters! It was a lot more fun than I remembered, and we got decent scores to boot. Next up was Star Tours. The queue is just as fun as the ride, if not a little more so. I loved the not to Captain Rex on the side, and the banter between C3P O and R2D2. I don’t remember the journey after that, but it included Darth Vader and a LOT of shaking.
We were so thankful that there were benches just outside of the ride. We sat down and didn’t move or talk for the first 5 minutes. Now we both had head aches and our stomachs were yelling at us. Add that on top of: not sleeping well for the past 3 nights, no routine for 4 days, and less than optimal nutrition. We were a mess. After sitting down for a while, we decided to stick with mild rides for the rest of the day.
So, we paced ourselves, took the train back to Main Street through the land of the Dinos and hopped back over to DCA to ride The Litte Mermaid Ariel’s Undersea Adventure for the very first time. It was a beautiful ride and I enjoyed it to the last drop!
We were a bit hungry so we headed over to Boardwalk Pizza and Pasta that opened shortly after I left in 2009. It was large and spacious, and there was hardly anyone there. I chose a salad with a ranch packet and water. When I sat down in the shade to eat it, my body shut down. I put my head in my hands and sat there. We had reservations at Arie’s Grotto in 4 hours so that we could get premium fast passes for World of Color. Not to mention World of Color started in 8 hours.
My body laughed at me and said, “Not today.” After discussing our options and how we both felt, we called it quits. We shuffled over to Ariel’s Grotto to try to reschedule. I wish we had called in advance, because their computer system was down, and there was nothing they could do for us. We were asked to call Disney Dining to reschedule our meal. Despite our best intentions, we never did.
We went through Downtown Disney and into the World of Disney. One, it was cool inside and didn’t have much traffic and two, I was a smart person and only packed three shirts. So, I had to go shopping for at least a few more. Being in the crisp cool environment did me a world (hehe) of good. After buying a few shirts ($$ ouch!) and a few other small goodies, we crawled up and up to our tower and sank into the bed.
The cleaning ladies did an amazing job each and everyday, and it made the return to the hotel that afternoon so welcoming with the bed made, and everything so fresh and nice. I can still smell the cleanliness of the air and the texture of the patterned carpet under my feet. Stepping on the hidden Mickeys also had a different feel than the rest of that carpet.
Originally we planned to take a small restful nap and then head across the way to the Rainforest cafe. After an hour, we decided to rest up and get room service. It was about 7:30pm on a Monday when we ordered, and it arrived just after 9pm. We were more than a little hungry! Harry got the Grilled Chicken Sandwich, and I got the French Dip. Both were good, and had we had the chance, even though it was pricy, we would have gotten room service again.
And so our second day at Disneyland came to a pleasant close. I cannot wait to share with you the rest of our trip.
What do you think of the trip report so far? Am I too wordy? Do I give enough description. Do you want me to give more detail about what we ate and the prices? Any comments are welcome. Have a magical night!
