Disneyland!!!! - July 11/12

Ok, are you ready for the happiest place on earth? Got you trainers laced up? Water and sunscreen? Tickets? Are all small and possible lose-able things accounted for (ie small children)? Well then you might be ready for disneyland.

We decided to hit the park for when it opened to get to the more popular rides first before the huge crowds with small children showed up. It worked in our favour because we were able to walk onto a number of rides with virtually no line. It was great! Indiana Jones Adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted mansion, Astro Blasters and Space Mountain; no waiting. It was as if no one wanted to go to the park on a Sunday, which is odd because that is often one of the busier days. The park only started to get a little busy around lunchtime but the longest we waited for a ride was maybe 45 mins. Teacups, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise we did it all. You can't help but feel excited, like you are twelve years old again and on a sugar high. When the crowds started to get a bit much on the Disneyland side we headed over to California Adventure to play. They have some very cool rides there but my two favourites were the California Screamer and Midway Madness. The Screamer is a fast, high, looped roller coaster, and the Midway is a 3D shootout ride with unlimited ammunition. So much fun!! We bounced around trying different rides and snacks (smoked turkey legs, yum), and made our way over to the Tower of Terror. None of us had ever ridden that ride so we were going in blind. It was creepy, fast, scary and fun all at the same time. Loved it :) We went back to the hotel for a quick rest and swim before our dinner reservations. We had booked a table at the Blue Bayou in the french quarter area, near the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The garden area of the restaurant is actually on the edge of the bayou that the ride passes through on the way to pirate town. The food was amazing and the service was excellent. I had the Jambalaya with just enough of a kick to make you think, but there was also filet mignon, southern chicken, and tasty crab cakes. Our waiter, Aszmar was like a server/ninja, he took such good care of us and he moved so fast that you couldn't help but love him. I can not stress how good the food was and the mint juleps were to die for. After dinner we hit a few more rides to kill time before the fireworks and the Fantasmic show down by the river. We found a sweet spot to watch the fireworks, hidden back by the carousel in Fantasyland. You get to see the fire works that go off around the castle but without the crazy crowds on main street. Also it was very convenient for slipping away to get to Fantasmic before the crowds did. Unfortunately for us the fist show had some difficulties and had not cleared out by the time we got there. After getting separated trying to find a good spot to watch the show, everyone settled in and the lights went dim. Fantasmic is a show that mixes light, live character, robots, and water to take you through Mickey's dreams and nightmares. It was similar to the fantasia film when he is the sorcerer's apprentice. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and watching the show and the crowd was in a great mood. Loved the show, nobody does lights, pyrotechnics and all your favourite characters like Disney. Afterwards a very tired group hit a few more of the smaller kids rides and then headed back to the hotels for some much needed sleep.

The next disney day got off to a bit of a rocky start. It seemed as if we were now paying for our great lines from the day before. A couple of the rides we wanted to go one were having technical difficulties, we couldn't get into toontown to see the characters due to a special event, and we couldn't get fast-passes for the ones that were having difficulty. So we decided to go and meet the princesses and then hit toontown. We were lucky and met Ariel, Belle and the fairy godmother in the priness garden and then met up with Mickey and Minnie at their house. You know you are a kid at heart or a disney geek when you willingly stand in line in the hot sun to get a picture with a cartoon character. :) After toontown we hopped the train back to main street and headed into California to go back to the midway and play on the swings. Aside from the roller coasters, I think I like the sings the best. You just sit back, relax, and fly over the top of the park. Everyone was starting to feel the heat so we decided that seeing Aladdin on stage would be a great idea. There is very little better than Disney on stage. It was a mix of a broadway production and an audience interactive show. The genie was a hoot to watch, all his jokes were up on the latest current events and no one was untouchable. The music and songs were entertaining for the whole audience, many of us sang along without shame. Best part? Air conditioned and comfy seats. After the show we decided to split up for a couple hours to let everyone do their own thing, whether it was shopping, another ride, or a nap. Sopping mid-afternoon is great for avoiding the shopping crowds that appear later in the day, I was able to find everything I wanted. My new teacher mug is a grinning skeleton head. The girls and I headed back towards Pacific Pier to meet up with A & E for our picnic dinner and to pick up our passes for the World of Colour show that night. We took turns waiting to get into the seating area, some going off to the midway for one final spin. A found a perfect viewing spot for the show, right at the waters edge with a dead centre view. There were very friendly families around us, one with a extremely cute little girl who gleefully informed us that we were going to get soaked during the show. She was right but it was well worth it, and the show was so amazing that you barely noticed. About a half hour before the actual show was the pre-show to get the audience warmed up and in a disney mood (as if you could be anything else at that point). They had giant light characters to lead the different seating groups in songs, our section won with Mike Wazowski as our leader. Then the real show began. Words fail me when I try to describe it. The combination of lights, fountains, projected images, and music is indescribable. The whole crowd was singing along, not caring that the water was misting over them. they took images from so many of their cartoon films and blended them perfectly with the pulsing and spraying water. The pictures in the album don't even come close to what we saw. At the end everyone was smiling and cheering, wishing that the show wasn't quite over yet. It was the perfect way to end our time at Disneyland. Tomorrow we are back on the road headed for Phoenix AZ and points beyond.