Day 131 - Disneyland and adventure land - Anaheim, CA
Anaheim, CA
We did our best to be up early today as we expected it to be a pretty long day trying to get around Disneyland in one day. We didn't have free breakfast so we had to walk down to Starbucks and eat before calling a cab. We didn't get going as early as we wanted to as we were pretty tired from the last few big days. We got to the park and purchased tickets and were in by 11am. Being Halloween today, the park was decorated with lots of pumpkins and Halloween things, not too scary as it is mostly for kids. We walked down the main shopping strip at the entry to the park to the middle area around all the different themed places. First we went into the Galaxy land area, with the Space theme. We did the 3D Star Wars ride which was ok, not as good as the transformers or King Kong ones at universal. Then we went on space mountain which is a very fast and intense indoor roller coaster that like the mummy is in the dark and has scary things and images on screens popping out in front of you trying to scare you, it was much bigger than the mummy and lasted longer, it was pretty intense and heaps of fun. After that we watched a short 3D movie in a big cinema that was a tribute to Captain EO a movie Gorge Lucas made in 1986 staring Michael Jackson, it was a short 15 minute movie that had MJ staring with a bunch of muppet like characters, it was pretty weird, Michael did a few songs and dancing at the end it was all in 3D and the cinema moved as well, it was cool, not great, but it was the 80s and MJ was in it so of course we liked it. A lot of the rides and attractions at Disneyland are for kids, so there was many we didn't go on. We did the Indiana Jones ride which was in a car that goes flying around in a cave with all this craziness from the movies, I was the driver and we loved that ride. We wanted to go on the big mountain roller coaster the most out if anything but to our disappointment it was being repaired and won't be open until next year. We went in the snow mountain coaster which was ok, it was in water but you didn't get really wet, it wasn't too fast but I still liked it. We had lunch and then went exploring toon town, this place is really for the kids, it has Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy's houses and a few rides. The ride we went on was the gadget coaster, it was pretty small and lasted 30 seconds and was pretty much for kids but we had a go. We went through Mickeys house and Bobbie met him and had her photo taken. She was more keen to have a photo with Donald but we couldn't find him. We returned to space mountain and had another go on that as it's the fastest ride in the park that's working. We went out the front and Bobbie had a photo with goofy, but still no sign of Donald. I asked a guy who said try his house at toon town, we went back there and he wasn't there, as we had done all the rides that aren't the child rides like tea cups we decided to leave and go to adventure land across the road that is more for adults, Bobbie was a bit ****** she didn't get a photo with the only character she wanted to see, Donald Duck. We had to pay a bit more to enter adventure land. To start with we had a look around, then went to a medium sized coaster called Goofy's flight school, it wasn't very big, it had sharp turns and a few drops but nothing major. Next Bobbie wanted to go on the big roller coaster, I was keen until I noticed it had a loop involved and then I chickened out, I'm not keen on being upside down, so I left her to go it alone while I watched. She loved it and told me it wasn't even that fast and you don't notice the loop, I know she was lying, trying to get me on it, I was a bit disappointed in myself that I chickened out so we went to get a frozen daiquiri, where for the 2nd time while being in America I didn't get served because my drivers license is from another country and they only except passports, luckily Bobbie had hers and we got the drinks but what a stupid rule, clearly I'm over 21 and my license isn't fake, it put me in a worse mood. After that we walked over to the cars area, the town is set up like the movie cars. We went on a dodgem cars type ride, it's like a huge air hockey table, air blows out from the floor and we sit on the big tyre that floats and you steer them by leaning and run into one another, it was ***********trol and not that great. I wanted to go on the hollywood tower of terror which is an elevator that drops, it looks like a hotel and you get into an elevator that goes up then breaks down, Bobbie didn't want to because she doesn't like sudden drops or being in the dark so we didn't bother, I could have gone solo but I wasn't that keen. Next we went to watch muppets vision 3D, a short 15 minute movie presented by the muppets, it was pretty good, the hecklers where in the theater and the Swedish chef was working the projector and the big hairy monster even came out, the rest was on the screen in 3D, we enjoyed it. While walking around we got given front of the line passes for the cars racer ride between 6.30 and 7.30pm, we had gone to go on it earlier but the line was ridiculous so we waited until 6.35pm so we could use our passes. The lines were even bigger and we still had to wait a bit, but we got in within 15 minutes. If you are a kid that loves cars this ride would be the best, even for the adults it's good, I can see why the lines are long. You get into one of the cars which fits 6 people and go for a drive around the mountains like your in the movie, you meet all the characters along the way, it's not a screen with video or 3D they are actual cars that look just like the movie, it's really impressive, heaps of things from the movie are in it then at the end you go through the workshop and get ready for a big race, then you go flying around the track and race another car next to you, it was pretty fun and if I had a child that loved the movie it would blow their mind. After that it was getting late and we were getting tired, Bobbie wanted to go on the big roller coaster one last time and I thought I might even have a crack myself until we got there and the line was massive, she didn't feel like lining up for ages which I was stoked about. We went to get on the massive Mickey Ferris wheel but that had cut off the entry and was finishing up. We then went to leave but noticed heaps of people lining up to get down to the water front area. There was going to be a big fire works display and water show like at Las Vegas Belagio fountain. We waited for 30 mins thinking it would start at 8.30pm but then heard it was until 9.15pm, we couldn't be bothered waiting any longer so we headed out. We went across the road to an IHOP for dinner before getting a cab. We had spent nearly 10 hours at 2 theme parks and were pretty tired and had sore feet. After dinner we got a taxi from the cab rank and headed back to the hotel. Not long after we got back the fire works started, we could hear them but couldn't see them from the hotel. We chilled out watching movies and using the wifi for the rest of the night.