Still Disneyland!!!!!

We left Tomorrowland and crossed in front of the castle.  This time we decided to head to Frontierland because the boys wanted to find Splash Mountain (their favorite ride at the Magic Kingdom).  There was a line for it, so we kept going down to New Orleans Square.

Well, look what we found!  This queue is completely different from the Disney World version.  The line winds through a courtyard and then into the building.

And that's pretty much it.  You have a short walk up the ramp to the loading area.  I was trying to get a picture of the boats going by while we were in line.  See the waist-high wall?  There's water on the other side of it.  The boats float by, close enough that you could reach out and touch them.  It was weird, but fascinating.

This is another version that kicks WDW's butt.  It is a longer, more detailed ride.  I didn't take any pictures on the ride because I didn't want to be *that* person, but it was really good.  Lots of familiar scenes, but then more scenes that were new to me.  Excellent!

We decided to hit the other attraction in New Orleans Square.

Haunted Mansion, baby!

It has that southern antebellum mansion feel to it and the line leads you right up the front steps, on the porch, and into the door.  Very cool.

You are loaded into the stretching room.

Which is virtually identical to Disney World, but then you walk out into the art gallery where you walk down the hall and through the library.

It's after that point that you climb aboard your doom buggy for the ride.  There were some familiar scenes and some different ones.

The "Hatbox Ghost" had recently been added, so I was on the lookout for him.

Not the best picture, but I'm glad I got something!

After that, we made our way back to Frontierland.  We were ready for a break, so we stopped in at the Golden Horseshoe.

I remember when there used to be a Diamond Horseshoe Review at Disney World, but that was long before my kids were born.  I was glad to find a spot to sit and we decided to get a snack and watch the show.  The boys wanted to head upstairs and find a table while we bellied up to the bar to get some snacks.  Something that looked like lunch, but was mostly chicken strips and ice cream.

We watched the show, ate a snack, and had a few laughs.

It's silly and corny and lots of fun if you are willing to enjoy it.

We decided to try something new, so we headed to Adventureland.

I wanted to do the totally new (to me) Indiana Jones ride.

Okay, so it's not completely different.  It's the same ride vehicle as Dinosaur in Disney Hollywood Studios.  Probably the same track too, but the theme is much better.  I am bummed that there is clearly as spot for a ride photo near the end of the ride, but apparently they don't do that anymore.  I love my pictures, dammit!

Next up, Jungle Cruise.

This was, oddly, one of the longest lines we waited in.  My boys love this ride.  I hear the corny jokes repeated many, many times after our cruise.  I always hope for a good skipper with new ones for them.

We got a good skipper and I've heard his routine several times since.  Several times.  Like, a lot.

Disneyland!!!!!! (There aren't enough exclamation points for this!)

Monday, June 29th -

I have wanted to visit Disneyland for, well, ever.  I grew up watching the Wonderful World of Disney every Sunday night and sometimes catching glimpses of Disneyland in the opening credit montage or when there was a special segment about the animatronics or whatever.  I started visiting Walt Disney World when I was about 10, just a few years after it opened.  I love Disney World.  I can't even count the number of times I've been.  I have watched it grow and change and have enjoyed visiting it over and over, but somewhere in the back of my mind was that childhood dream to see the park that Walt built.  The original.  Disneyland.

Brad had made the brilliant decision to find a convenience store the night before and pick up some muffins and fruit, so we ate that in the room while we were getting ready.  This is what we normally do on theme park days.  We cycle through the bathroom getting showered and all that, while in the meantime those that aren't showering eat or get dressed.  It means we are all doing stuff at the same time and we get out of the room SO much faster, plus we don't have to stop and eat after we leave the room.  It works for us!  We had scoped out the path from our hotel to the parking lot the night before and decided that we needed to drive.  Yeah, we probably could have walked it, but starting the day tired and ending the day with a long walk didn't sound like a good idea to me.  Instead, we hopped in the van, circled the block, and parked in the Mickey & Friends lot.  We were early enough that we wound up parked in the open lot right near the tram station.  I can't remember what character it was, but I want to say Pinocchio?  Anyway, I had heard horror stories about traffic and parking and we didn't experience any of it.  Maybe we were too early?  I don't know, but it was a breeze for us.

We parked, grabbed our drawstring pack, and headed for the tram.

We had ordered tickets online, but had decided to add a 4th day.  I wanted to make sure we saw and did everything without having to rush or worry.  We stopped by the ticket booth and had the nicest CM help us.  She asked us lots of questions about where we were from, what we wanted to see, etc.  Then she asked if it was our first visit.  Yes!  At least for me, Joshua & Daniel.  Brad went when he was a kid.  That got us buttons.  Any birthdays?  Yes!  Daniel's is in a week.  Here's a button for him.  Any other celebrations?  This is our anniversary present to ourselves.  Here's a button for that.  She covered us in buttons!

With our tickets in hand and buttons on our shirts, we headed for the entrance.  This being the first day on these tickets, we each had to stop and get a picture taken.  It only took a minute each and then we were in!

I sent Brad to get our Photopass card (no Magic Bands at Disneyland) and spotted Goofy while we were waiting.

Once Brad had our Photopass card, we set off down Main Street.

Why wait?  Let's put that Photopass to work.

And I do mean work!

The guys started whining that I was wasting time (as if pictures are a waste of time?!?!) and so we moved on away from the castle.

We had no plan.  No touring app.  No pre-scheduled Fast Pass times.  No nothing.  I looked at my guys and said, "Where do you want to go first?" I swear, that set the tone for the whole trip.  It was so relaxing to just say "What now" or "Where do you want to go next" instead of "We have to do this, then this, then this or we won't make our FP+ times and ADRs".  Joshua said, "Tomorrowland!" So, we headed to Tomorrowland.

They didn't have the Astro Orbitor running yet, but we decided to skip it anyway.  It's so... just right there.  It's on the ground, not up in the air.  It's in the middle of the sidewalk, so you'd have no view.  It just didn't appeal to me at all.  Daniel spotted Buzz Lightyear and immediately wanted to ride.  There's no line, so why not?

The queue was similar, but not exactly the same as Disney World.

The ride itself was also similar, but I'd say better.  Why?

You can hold the blaster in your hand!  It isn't fixed to the front of your vehicle.  You've got a full range of motion.  That means you can shoot up, down, beside you, and even behind you if you want.  I kicked butt!  I don't know why the photo shows both Brad and myself with zero points for some reason, but both of us had personal best scores.  It was awesome.

Across the way was Star Tours.  Okay, no line there either.  Let's give it a shot.

The queue in here looked identical inside.

We boarded immediately and got Yoda, Hoth, and Naboo.  Naboo was new for us.

After Star Tours, we picked up a Fast Pass for Space Mountain, then headed to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.  There was a short (15-20 minutes maybe?) line for it.

We were herded into our gate and then released onto the sub.  I was hit with a memory of climbing down those spiral stairs to ride 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when I was a kid.  Then I hoped this was a better ride, because 20,000 Leagues pretty much sucked.  We used to call it the "fish on a string" ride.

We settled onto our fold down disk seat and soon we were on our way.

It was definitely better than 20,000 Leagues.  It was cute and well themed to the Finding Nemo movie.  I doubt it's a ride that I'd rush to see visit after visit, but it was well worth the wait for us.

We were in our FP window by the time we got off, so we went back to Space Mountain.

Here, let me say that the Disneyland version kicks the WDW version's ass.  See the comfy side-by-side seats?

No squashing my legs into those miserable single-file cars.  Yay!  My only complaint is the spiraling lights on the climb uphill actually made me dizzy.  I couldn't keep my eyes open or it would mess with my head.  Other than that, it was fabulous.  Plus, the ride itself is much smoother.  At Disney World, it's almost teeth rattling around the curves with a *clunk* bounce landing. Yiyiyiyiyiyiyi... clunk... ouch... yiyiyiyiyiyiyi... clunk... ouch.  Repeat it all the way down.  The Disneyland version gives you a smooth *wheeeeee* on the curves, with a tummy tickling bounce at the end of each one.  Wheeeeee... bounce.... giggle... wheeeee... bounce... giggle.  So much better!  I'm kinda pissed at the version at WDW now.  Harumph.

The boys decided to skip Autotopia for now and we headed off for another section of the park.