Our first full day at Disneyland started early. We were up at 6:30a and went for breakfast at our hotel around 7:00a. We've gotten smart about the hotels we pick now. Free breakfast is important. It saves us $30 or $40 and saves us time too since we just have to walk from our room. This hotel has the best one so far with eggs, bacon, fresh fruit, hash browns and more.
The park opens at 8:00a throughout the summer and the most important rule at Disneyland is to get there early. The lines are surprisingly long getting in but once everyone spreads out in the park the lines are very short. We headed to Adventure Land to start which includes Splash Mountain. Kerry did this to me one my first trip with Indiana Jones. They take the new guys to one of the biggest scariest rides because the line is short. Ryan did not like his first ride and I don't think Kristen plans on going on it again either. They were both great the rest of the day though and kept trying new ones.
Ride number two was my nemesis. The Pooh Bear ride. Callie always has us go on it at least a half dozen times. At least the line is always short. Kristen and Ryan enjoyed it as well so I know we'll be back.
Ride three was the Haunted Mansion. I wasn't really expecting Kristen to want to go but she seemed to enjoy the challenge and found it more fun then scary.
We had Fast Passed Indian Jones earlier and went back at our assigned time. This is one of the few rides that Ryan is too short to go on so Corey waited while the rest of us took our turn. It's a very elaborate jeep ride which lot's of sharp turns and well done scenes from the movie. Once we were done Corey went on with Carmen and the rest of us wandered about. Callie and Kristen were lucky enough to find Aladdin, Jasmine and the Genie. A great photo opportunity. I don't think we've had pictures with them before.
The ride we knew that Ryan was going to like was the Jungle Cruise and we weren't disappointed. It was just a short wait and his favorite part was the snakes in the trees. I think this was one of the first years that Callie and Carter have realized that the zebra surrounded by the lions was not actually 'just sleeping'. We tried to leave Adventure Land and go to Fantasy Land around the back which is my favourite short cut because it's so quiet, but it's closed for the new Star Wars area construction. That should be a great place to visit when complete..
We finished the afternoon in Fantasy Land with rides on the Carousel and the Tea Cups. It was incredibly hot by mid afternoon and we'd already been there for six hours so I was happy to head back to the hotel for a swim and a nap. Disneyland in the summer time is an incredibly busy place by the afternoon. Everywhere you look there are at least 100 people in your direct line of site. Too many people.
Before we did head back to the hotel though we stopped off at Downtown Disney. As mentioned in my last post, Carter wanted to spend all his money on the first night and this included a stop at Ride Makers. (Though this one was on us since we owed him something from being a trooper during his recent surgery.) Ride Makers was exactly the kind of money trap that I thought it was going to be. I knew remote control was going to be more money but I didn't realize that batteries were not included. In this case a $29 rechargeable battery pack. We did not let Carter pimp things up. We are a stock car family.
At every restaurant we've stopped at for the past week they've asked us if there was any special occasions. Each time we've mentioned that Callie and Kristen have their birthday coming up on the 7th and this time it worked. We were at the Rain Forest Cafe and we got a couple of cupcakes delivered to the table. This was on top of the 'Volcano' that we had already ordered. (A giant brownie and ice cream dessert.) It's a good thing we only really have two meals on these trips. A breakfast, snacks around lunch and then dinner. It's very easy to over eat.
We finished off the evening in Tomorrow Land with Cory's family checking out Hyperspace Mountain while we did a bit of shopping. We followed that up with Buzz Light Year and then "It's a Small World" just before the fireworks started. We got off just as they were starting and the exit to the ride is front row for the show. Some people of course try to stop on the bridge of the exit to watch but the usher you off pretty quickly. Their favourite phrase was "We can see you!".
A very long first day.
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