Wednesday was our first full day at Disneyland. It was St. Patrick's Day, although I think McKay was the only one wearing green (we did see lots of people decked out for the occasion though). We decided to follow the advice of the "Unofficial Guide to Disneyland" book I bought and get there even before the park officially opened. Not too hard the first day when everyone is over excited! Here we are standing in line to get in (about 7:30am):
The guidebook also gave a suggested order of rides to minimize time waiting in lines, so we decided we might as well try that too. It worked the best the first day (the second day was "early entry" which kind of threw everything off). I also think the crowds were the smallest on Wednesday, especially in the morning. The first ride we headed towards was the Indiana Jones ride, one of the new rides added since I was last at Disneyland (almost 18 years ago - yikes!).
Hayley wasn't tall enough for this ride and Hannah didn't want to ride it. This turned out to be a common occurrence during our visit. Hannah just doesn't like rides that are fast or especially those that have any drops whatsoever. McKay and Courtney, on the other hand, can't get enough. Hannah is easily scared and gets anxious just thinking about what a ride might be like. I certainly wasn't going to push her to ride Indiana Jones, so the three of us waited at the entrance/exit for Brian, McKay and Courtney (another common occurence!).
I was a little worried about how some of the rides might affect my back (like this ride), but did end up riding it the next day with Courtney (using a Fastpass, which is very handy!) and it didn't seem to negatively impact me too much. :-)
From here, we went to Splash Mountain (a log ride), another ride Hannah absolutely refused to ride. Hayley, however, was willing to give this one a try, so I took her along with McKay and Courtney while Brian waited with Hannah. We walked right up to the front and Hayley was fine until we took a little drop. Then she started crying and yelling at me that it was "too fast" and she wanted to get off. She screamed during the huge drop at the end of the ride and told me she would never ride it again. They even asked us if we wanted to stay on and ride it again since there were no lines yet, but no way was she up for that. (I wish I would have known the trick then of taking a picture of the picture they show from the big drop as you exit the ride--in hopes that you'll buy a copy--so you could see her face.)
We finally got Hannah on the next ride (Winnie the Pooh), which is pretty calm but one of those "dark" rides that takes you through different scenes. She tolerated it but wasn't particularly fond of it either.
We hit "Jungle Cruise" and found that even after 20 years they still pretty much tell the same corny jokes.
We also convinced all the kids to give the "Haunted Mansion" a try (telling them what to expect), but Hannah and Hayley pretty much cried and closed their eyes the whole way through.
We took a little ride on the train over to ToonTown.
You know my girls wouldn't pass up the chance to try out the Dog Pound:
Hayley trying out one of the ToonTown cars:
McKay and Courtney were the only ones who wanted to ride the little kid roller coaster (a very low-key, extremely short coaster). They are in the third seat back. McKay told me it was one of the most boring roller coasters ever. :-)
Then we checked out Mickey's House:
At the end of Mickey's House we got to meet Mickey himself! And then imagine our surprise when Courtney wouldn't go get in the picture with him!
We finally coaxed her over for a quick shot:
She told us later she wasn't scared of Mickey, it was just that she didn't "like" Mickey. Hmm.
After Mickey, the girls and I went to visit Minnie and see her house:
We hit "It's a Small World," which is always a nice relaxing ride. McKay complained that the song was stuck in his head after that. :-)
I read that they "updated" the Small World ride so I was looking for what might be different from what I remember (I loved this ride as a kid). Overall, it looked the same -- the main thing I noticed was that they had added several of the Disney characters in with all the other children. For example, here is Cinderella:
We decided to try Autopia. Hannah was super excited because she was tall enough to drive her own car (they are gas-powered cars on a track). Hayley and I were in the car behind her -- Hayley got to steer while I worked the pedal.
Poor Hannah ended up hating this ride. She really struggled with having the strength for the steering (definitely not power steering!) and working the pedal at the same time. Even though the car is on a track, it's not the width of the car, so you still have minimal steering control. She stopped several times throughout the ride (the cars were piling up behind us) and by the time we got off, she was practically in tears. She told me she wasn't doing that one again. (She is in the red car here.)
We ate lunch in Tomorrowland at a pizza cafeteria-style place. Wow, it's expensive to eat inside Disneyland! I knew this, of course, but it's still a bit of a shock when they give you the total.
The kids really wanted to try out the little rocket-ship Orbitor ride (like Dumbo, only it's rockets that go a bit faster). It was a slow-loading ride so we had to wait quite a bit. The kids thought it was fun, but Brian and I didn't enjoy it or think it was worth the wait. I made the mistake of looking back once to see one of the kids and got hit with a huge wave a dizziness that gave me a headache for several hours. Blech.
We also went on Star Tours, the Star Wars simulation ride. Hannah was nervous, of course, but we explained how you just watch a screen and your chair moves you up and down a bit inside the building. There are a couple of parts that make you feel like you're going fast and dropping, so I was worried about her reaction. We were all amazed at the end when she said she loved it! (Hayley, on the other hand, didn't like it at all.) McKay kept pestering Hannah to try other fast rides since she liked Star Tours, but she still refused. There was something about it being a simulator that made all the difference to her. She even wanted to ride it again later and said it was one of her favorite rides. Go figure!
We rode the monorail over to Downtown Disney and decided to head back to the hotel for a bit. On our way through Downtown Disney, we spotted the big Lego store.
The kids really wanted to try out the little rocket-ship Orbitor ride (like Dumbo, only it's rockets that go a bit faster). It was a slow-loading ride so we had to wait quite a bit. The kids thought it was fun, but Brian and I didn't enjoy it or think it was worth the wait. I made the mistake of looking back once to see one of the kids and got hit with a huge wave a dizziness that gave me a headache for several hours. Blech.
We also went on Star Tours, the Star Wars simulation ride. Hannah was nervous, of course, but we explained how you just watch a screen and your chair moves you up and down a bit inside the building. There are a couple of parts that make you feel like you're going fast and dropping, so I was worried about her reaction. We were all amazed at the end when she said she loved it! (Hayley, on the other hand, didn't like it at all.) McKay kept pestering Hannah to try other fast rides since she liked Star Tours, but she still refused. There was something about it being a simulator that made all the difference to her. She even wanted to ride it again later and said it was one of her favorite rides. Go figure!
We rode the monorail over to Downtown Disney and decided to head back to the hotel for a bit. On our way through Downtown Disney, we spotted the big Lego store.
McKay looked for a bit and wished he had more money with him. :-)
After we got back to the hotel and rested a bit, we decided to drive to a grocery store we had seen the night before. We got a few things for breakfast (since the hotel breakfast didn't start early enough) and ended up getting a few microwavable dinners to eat in the hotel room (the kids actually thought this was a big treat since we hardly ever buy these -- ha ha!)
After we ate, we decided to try to catch the Pixar Play Parade over at California Adventure. What a fun parade! They had characters from all the major Pixar movies -- Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Cars.
The girls were excited when Bo Peep from Toy Story came over and blew them a kiss!
We never did manage to see the Celebration parade at Disneyland, so I was glad we made the effort to see this one.
We went back over to Disneyland and decided to see if the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was open (it had been closed earlier in the day while we were in that area). This ride was our biggest trauma of the day (probably the whole visit!). It was up and running and again, Hannah and Hayley were extremely nervous about getting on this ride, but we convinced them to try it. I told them that there is one small drop at the beginning to go down to where all the pirates are to look out, but you don't even have to wear seatbelts in the boat so you knew it wasn't a big drop.
We went down the first drop (with Hannah clutching me the whole time) and I started telling them how they could just sit back and look at the pirates. Then, what do you know, but we rounded a corner in some complete darkness and there was a second drop! Honestly, I don't remember there being two drops in this ride, but like I said, it's been a long time. That completely freaked Hannah out and she was a wreck the entire rest of the ride. She certainly didn't trust me any more when I told her there were no more drops to worry about. Every time we went around another corner, she would clutch me, pracitcally hysterical, screaming "There's going to be another drop!" Needless to say, I don't think she really saw much of the pirates. Hard to believe this is the same girl who loved Star Tours. (Hayley, on the other hand, seemed okay after the initial drops.)
Later in the evening, Brian, McKay and Courtney decided they wanted to try Space Mountain, even though the line was quite long by then (the park was definitely more crowded in the evening). We were planning to ride it first thing in the morning, but they decided to wait it out then as well. So we split up and I took Hannah and Hayley over to Fantasyland. Most lines were very long and some rides were closed getting ready for the fireworks, but we were able to take a ride on the Carousel.
After we ate, we decided to try to catch the Pixar Play Parade over at California Adventure. What a fun parade! They had characters from all the major Pixar movies -- Monsters, Inc., The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Cars.
The girls were excited when Bo Peep from Toy Story came over and blew them a kiss!
We never did manage to see the Celebration parade at Disneyland, so I was glad we made the effort to see this one.
We went back over to Disneyland and decided to see if the Pirates of the Caribbean ride was open (it had been closed earlier in the day while we were in that area). This ride was our biggest trauma of the day (probably the whole visit!). It was up and running and again, Hannah and Hayley were extremely nervous about getting on this ride, but we convinced them to try it. I told them that there is one small drop at the beginning to go down to where all the pirates are to look out, but you don't even have to wear seatbelts in the boat so you knew it wasn't a big drop.
We went down the first drop (with Hannah clutching me the whole time) and I started telling them how they could just sit back and look at the pirates. Then, what do you know, but we rounded a corner in some complete darkness and there was a second drop! Honestly, I don't remember there being two drops in this ride, but like I said, it's been a long time. That completely freaked Hannah out and she was a wreck the entire rest of the ride. She certainly didn't trust me any more when I told her there were no more drops to worry about. Every time we went around another corner, she would clutch me, pracitcally hysterical, screaming "There's going to be another drop!" Needless to say, I don't think she really saw much of the pirates. Hard to believe this is the same girl who loved Star Tours. (Hayley, on the other hand, seemed okay after the initial drops.)
Later in the evening, Brian, McKay and Courtney decided they wanted to try Space Mountain, even though the line was quite long by then (the park was definitely more crowded in the evening). We were planning to ride it first thing in the morning, but they decided to wait it out then as well. So we split up and I took Hannah and Hayley over to Fantasyland. Most lines were very long and some rides were closed getting ready for the fireworks, but we were able to take a ride on the Carousel.
The girls were pretty worn out by then and didn't want to stay any longer, so I took them back to the hotel. We got there just in time to watch the fireworks begin from the hotel roof. This time I tried taking a couple of pictures.
But they were so tired they didn't even make it through the whole fireworks show before wanting to go get in bed. (And we never did actually see the fireworks from inside the park, something Brian really wanted to do.) They fell asleep immediately and everybody else got back shortly afterwards, pretty worn out as well from the busy day!
1 comment:
Connor was okay at Disneyland, until we went on Splash Mountain and we think that ride ruined the rest of his visit. Maybe next time we go, he'll enjoy his visit more. It sounds like you guys had fun on your first day.
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