LA: the Disney Day

Ok...let's see if I can get this post written before Squarespace crashes this time.

So here's the deal: Collin, Carol, Greg, Becky and I spent the night in Newport Beach because we were going to Disneyland the next day! All week the forecast had been saying it would be rainy all Monday and when we woke up that morning it was indeed savagely stormy at the beach. The rain pounded and the wind howled like the Cloverfield monster. In anticipation of this weather I had bought a bunch of ponchos, but by 8 the weather had let up and by 8:15 we were on our way to the Happiest Place on Earth and by 9:00 we had entered California Adventure. While Collin got our Radiator Springs Fastpasses the rest of us headed for Midway Mania as this is a line-beating strategy that has proven to work well.

The beach once things calmed down. A little earlier it had looked a lot spookier.

Something learned: you're not allowed to photograph the ticket takers, no matter how slow they are at their job.

Five people, three cars. Sometimes that's how it has to be. You wonder for a minute if meeting up at the park will be tricky, but no. Turns out it's not.

One of Becky's trademark one-legged poses.

You know, even if Midway Mania is just a video game, it sure is awful fun. It's just got that Disney magic going on big time!

Then we dashed past Grizzly Rapids (which I'm not sad to say I've never been on) to Soarin' Over California where we ran into an unexpectedly long line. I don't know what it was, a lot of people trying to avoid a big line for Soarin' by hitting it early and then there we all were, stuck in line together.

Dazzled by all the California aviation history

Lengthy line time was also good Team Building time.

Soarin' over California and beyond the infinite

After Soarin' we still had a little bit of time before our Radiator Springs fast passes kicked in so we dashed over to the Tower of Terror where the line was so short that Greg, Becky and I practically walked on. That's how lines were all day: either surprisingly long or just about non-existent. Nearly nothing in the middle.

The view from just before the drop

Look at the fun we're having!

And then it was time for our Radiator Springs ride. I cannot conceive of waiting in line for this ride for two hours, but that's how a lot of people choose to spend their day at Disneyland. 

Look at this good picture of us, Mom! Also, Dear Readers, if you're wondering about that plastic hat: Grandma had given it to me to wear in the rain with the condition I not bring it back. But I liked it so much I brought it back to her house to wear again on my next trip.

Me, clutching my pearls. And see that kid in the back? No idea who he is, he just appeared in our car like one of the Haunted Mansion hitchhiking ghosts.

After Radiator Springs Racers we took a backroad out of Cars Land and I took advantage of our path to finally ride the sea otter on King Triton's Carousel. 

At last!

Making pals with this lovable scamp

Ok, ok. There's more than one sea otter on the carousel.

There's also seals and stuff on the carousel and a lot of people are perfectly happy riding them

Next Up: the Ferris Wheel, with exercises while we wait

If you haven't been on the California Adventure Ferris wheel you wouldn't understand the California Adventure Ferris wheel

And then: Right on over to one of my favorite California Adventure attractions...

Were both of these for me? Can't remember. Let's just say they were.

And then we wrapped up our California Adventure Adventure with the revisionist history of the Little Mermaid ride and a bumping into with the Army Guys

And then, Disneyland proper!

First Stop: Star Tours. Last time I went on this, even though it was the new version, there was just about no line. This year, however, great big line! Everyone's got Star Wars fever now, thanks, Force Awakens!

But Collin loves a good line because it means he can do his sketching

In the giant gift shop after the ride you can buy one of these gross guys

Or build your own pair of R2 units for $22.

We got Space Mountain Fast Passes before Star Tours, but those wouldn't mature for another, uh, FOUR HOURS so we tried to tackle most of the rest of the park before then.

The Jungle Cruise was down for planned maintenance. And then Indiana Jones was down for unexpected maintenance. And Pirates of the Caribbean was closed for unexpected issues, as well. BUT the Haunted Mansion was open, so on it we went.

I've photographed this cat grave before, but didn't notice the little bird tributes around it before.

As the Haunted Mansion is right next door to Splash Mountain that's what we rode next. Surprise! No line! Which is outrageous but I'm not complaining.

Before.

During. (Hold onto your hats!)

After! (Poor Becky...we had done a good job of putting all our group's weight in the back but we weren't expecting an anchor of a stranger to join us at the front of the log. The dousings were significant...good thing we had those ponchos!)

Spying on some Disney magic as we leave Critter Country

Carol didn't ride Splash Mountain with us, but she DID buy this BB8 Rice Krispie treat

Then we played catch up by riding the then open Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones...this guy in his 4th Amendment Assault Riffle t-shirt was kinda spookin everyone out

Then we crossed Frontier Land for a ride on the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad 

A duprass?

Golden Horseshoe golden hour?

Ask me what my favorite ride at Disneyland is and I won't be able to not give you a list, but Thunder Mountain will definitely be on that list. It's so fun and you get to chant "Goat! Goat! Goat!" (or at least I do that).

In which of these two pictures do Collin and I look more like pals?

Group photo, best effort.

Big Thunder fauna

GOAT among goats

The ladies took a churro break

And then it was back to Tomorrowland to use those Space Mountain fastpasses.

Because we've all got Star Wars fever, Space Mountain has been turned into Hyperspace Mountain and there's projections of X-Wings and Tie Fighters flying around in there. Which is cool. But this Star Wars fever that has seized all of the park has got me in the mood to downplay my own Star Wars fever, Matthew 6:6 style.

The ride was Star Wars themed, but the original traditional Space Mountain infrastructure remained. You just have to accept that this is some form of Corellian corvette now.

Becky loved it. I spent the days after Disneyland showing off ride photos of me, but Becky was the secret ride photo MVP

While we rode Space Mountain Carol got us a good spot in line for the Little Nemo Submarine Voyage, what a zen follow up to so much hectic adventure.

Goodbye, Tomorrowland

Hello, Matterhorn

With so many great rides to love at Disneyland you might forget for a moment that you love this mountain without a country. But the Matterhorn is amazing! Riding at night is so fun, as your sled zips in and out of the mountain, catching sparkling glimpses of the rest of Disneyland, roaring past the new wilder Abominable Snowmen...it's grand. Don't forget it.

We dipped into a little bit of Fantasyland, commandeering our own Storybook Land canal boat and getting our pilot to go off script and then checking out Mr. Toad's Wild Ride to confirm that, yes, the ride ends with you going to hell.

Blurry boat friends! Oh what a day we had! Were that it just was that day again today!

There's a new little bit of an annex to Fantasyland where I guess you meet princesses during the day but there's a really cool animatronic Figaro napping on a windowsill there you should check out

At this point that creeping realization came upon me that our Disney day was winding down. We were getting tired. We were getting hungry. All our big check boxes were checked off. We were milling around Mainstreet and that is NOT a good sign that you've got much Disneyland left. While everyone was, I don't know, buying stuff or eating ice cream I watched the end of the current parade.

Then I was kind of lost but remembered everyone was with Collin so it would be easy to find them

Then it was a dark time. Carol and Collin decided it was time to go, but you know me, I'll stay at Disneyland forever. So it was adios to my amigos

Followed up Astro Blasters and another Star Tours adventure with Greg and Becky and then we were all like "Okay, that was enough Disneyland" and we headed our own ways home, five hearts aglow with the Spirit of Disneyland.