Monday 21 September 2015

Disneyland and California Adventures - Day Three



It's our last day at Disneyland and the holiday is almost over.

Monday had been spent in Disneyland and Tuesday we had spent the entire day in Disney California Adventure, for the third and final day we planned to take in both parks and stay until the fireworks at the end.

We shared a bagel for breakfast from the concession in the hotel and made our way into the park and entered Disneyland doing a little shopping on Main Street before rope-drop where we went straight to the Alice in Wonderland ride and were on after only a couple of minutes in the queue. Exiting the ride we went around the corner to the Toad Hall where we boarded Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and careered through the streets of London avoiding jail and weasels.



A brisk walk through to Frontierland and we were again riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - yee haw! One of the few rides we actually think is better in Paris. As an aside, sat right behind us was a bloke who sounded like that annoying kid from Polar Express all grown up. Next we were in Advetureland and queuing for about ten minutes to get on to the Indiana Jones Adventure, fortunately we avoided the Eye of the Idol and broke out of the temple to safety.

Not having been in the park for an hour yet and we next boarded a crew of scurvy pirates for the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and then an all together more sedate Jungle Cruise although the hippo attack is very scary!

I had to have an obligatory photo with the cannons.



Back to the Central Plaza we had photos in front of the castle before walking up Main Street and boarding the Disneyland Railroad, this is quite different from the one in Paris in that you can actually get on it and the cars are not compartmentalised but instead are two rows of stepped benches facing into the park so that everybody can see. After a full lap of the park we went into Star Tours using the fast-passes we had picked up earlier and this time we were pod racing on Tatooine. Exiting the ride, Victoria bought a rather fetching R2-D2 dress at Star Traders.




It was now time to use the first of our 'front of the queue' passes from the previous day and we were soon straight on to the Matterhorn Bobsleds and sliding down the mountain front, having never been able to ride this on our previous visit we had now ridden three times in two days! Having had nothing to eat since the half a bagel each at breakfast we were getting quite hungry so it was off to Hungry Bear for a fine Fried Green Tomato sandwich, probably our last ever as they are now discontinued.



The Haunted House was closed, but we took the opportunity to peek over the fence at the Halloween preparation make-over.



It was time to try our second 'front of the queue' ticket, however, arriving at the Peter Pan ride it was closed due to a technical fault, Mrs Scrivs face dropped! To console her we went to the Tiki Juice Bar and purchased a lovely Dole Whip in a souvenir Tiki bowl. If you've never tried a Dole Whip you should really give it a try.



We left the park by boarding the Monorail and riding out to Downtown Disney before retiring to our hotel for a short rest.



Eagle eyed readers will notice we have changed into our Disney Tokyo Seas shirts, these attracted many admiring comments and enquiries as to where they could be purchased.

After a couple of hours loafing it was back to the parks, this time entering Disney California Adventure where we went straight down Buena Vista Street and after a very short queue boarded the Monsters Inc. taxi to check on Mike, Sully and Boo. In Cars Land we opted for the single rider line on Radiator Springs Racers and were fortunately in the same car together as we raced around the track.




Stopping off at the Cozy Cone Motel we had photo-pass snaps done with Mater before heading off to Paradise Pier and again riding the Golden Zephyr.




Our time in California Adventure was drawing to a close, we made our way back via the Cosy Cone Motel again for a photo with Red and stopped to eat some lovely pretzel bites before making our way back to Buena Vista where we waited a short while to have our photo taken with Mickey Mouse and I got myself a huge ice-cream from Clarabells before making our way into the main park for the final leg of our Disney tour.




We went straight to the Peter Pan flight and to Victoria's delight it was open, we flashed our  'front of the queue' pass and were soon flying out of the window, over the streets of London and on to Neverland, Mrs Scrivs was so excited! We then made our way to New Orleans Square for another ride on Pirates of the Caribbean before our second Dole Whip of they day, I'll say again, they are lovely.



It was now time to pick a spot for the Paint The Night Parade and we found rather a great one by the Mad Hatters Tea Party, purchasing popcorn to fortify myself through the event we sat and waited while dark fell and the fantastical parade began.












The parade over we had at least another hour before the park closed and were able to cross into Tomorrowland and board straight away on Autotopia although I insisted that she had a go I drove - have I not done enough driving this holiday? Next we boarded Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and after a hard fought duel Mrs Scrivs easily came out on top.

Our last ride in Disneyland was to be Star Tours after a brief sojourn to Hoth we were under the sea in Naboo in a very similar mission to one we had on the first day, there are apparently 56 combinations so we shall try to experience them all.

We left the park and headed to Downtown Disney where we bought a Wetzels Pretzel and a Cake Pop to share before retiring to our room exhausted. It's been a great, but very tiring three days.




Sunday 20 September 2015

Disneyland and California Adventures - Day Two



Following our great day in the Disneyland Park yesterday it's time to spend a day in the Disney California Adventure.

We awoke early and skipped breakfast arriving at the park nice and early and were very near the front at rope-drop and made our way straight to Toy Story Midway Mania and after a short time in the queue were soon in our cars tugging away on our cannon to fire balls, darts, custard pies and whatever at the targets. It was a close run thing but Mrs Scrivs was beaten into second place.

Exiting Midway Mania we went straight on to Mickeys Fun Wheel where were chose a fixed rather than a sliding gondola and were soon enjoying the view as we completed three circuits.



Walking along the boardwalk we took the opportunity of a photo with Jessie before boarding the Silly Symphony Swings for a spin and then straight on to Ariels' Undersea Adventure for a trip to Tritons' undersea kingdom.

We had our photos taken by the waterfall then picked up a set of fast-pass for Radiator Springs Racers before having another set of photos by the Partner status.

All this in an hour, it was now 1100 and time for a light breakfast at Starbucks, Victoria had a 'Grande Iced Cinnamon Dolcelatte with Soy, only two pumps of syrup please!' with Pumpkin Loaf and I had the Banana Loaf, very tasty they both were too.

Coming out of Starbucks we made our way along Buena Vista Street stopping for a meet, greet and photo with Olaf before boarding our taxi and riding Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue! you will be glad to know that Boo was returned and upon exiting the ride Roz complimented Victoria on her nice ears!.

We then made our way into 'A Bugs Land' where we had a spin on Francis' Ladybug Boogie and then a more sedate ride on Heimlichs Chew Chew Train before stopping for a photo with Flik and then another on the Bugs Life false perspective shoot.








Walking through into Radiator Springs we again used our photo-pass on the main strip and then had our photos taken with lightning McQueen himself before queueing a little longer for Soarin' so that we could board car Bravo 1 for the best views and then we were up and away over California. Exiting Soarin' we used our photo-pass as the old plane and then queued for only a short time to board the Grizzly River Run and were careening around the rapids, getting well splashed into the bargain.





Back onto the boardwalk we boarded the Golden Zephyr and were soon spinning around in our 1950's retro style space ship. After disembarking we carried along Paradise Pier having a photo opportunity at the California Screamin' perspective shot before Mrs Scrivs sat out a ride on California Screamin' where Mr Scrivs was hurled about at great speed!





We picked up another fast-pass for Radiator Springs Racers and then went to use our first pass and were soon buckled in and racing around the track after having the tires changed in Luigi's Casa Della.

It was getting time for lunch so we visited the Sonoma Terrace, picking up a beer each along with a cheese board and a pretzel to share at a quite eye-watering $36.00! Although it was all very tasty and this is decent craft beer served in a theme park so cannot complain too much.



Following our lunch we paid a visit to the Animation Studio and visited the Animation Academy where we rather disappointingly learned how to draw pictures of Phineas and Ferb, whoever they may be! We spent a little while longer in the Animation Studio looking at the other attraction.



Our fastpass was now active again so we picked up tickets for the Tower of Terror again later that evening before walking back into Cars Land and riding Mater's Junkyard Jamboree and then straight into Paradise pier where we rode Goofy's Sky School a wild mouse style roller-coaster with sharp turns and steep drops.

Leaving Goofy's Sky School we grabbed a Coke and an ice-cream and found a good place to watch the Pixar Play Parade, the most recent film is Inside Out so a float featuring Riley's five emotions Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust preceded proceedings followed by a host of Pixar favourites!.









After the parade our Tower of Terror fast-passes were now active so we checked into the Hollywood Tower Hotel and were soon riding the service elevator to oblivion in the Twilight Zone! After a quick photo opportunity we realised that our second fast-pass of the day for Radiator Springs Racers  was active so we again boarded our car and were again in the left-hand lane so our car was again pimped at Luigi's Casa Della, hopefully we would be seen to by Ramon next time!



Exiting the ride it was getting quite late and we were feeling rather hungry so it was into Flo's V8 Cafe where we shared a Veggie Tater Bake with mac & cheese and a fruit salad before more photos on the photo pass.





The night was drawing to a close so we skipped over to Paradise Pier and noted that the queue for  Toy Story Midway Mania was only 15 minutes, ending the day as we began, we were soon tugging away at the cannon blasting all before us.





It was time to leave the park, stopping off at the Trolley Treats to pick up some goodies one of the staff noticed our 'Just Married' and 'Celebrating 25 Years' pins. They made a great fuss of us and presented us with Mr & Mrs Caramel Apples which were delicious and the manager did us a great favour presenting us with 'Front of the Queue' passes to use the next day on both the Peter Pan ride and the Matterhorn. What lovely people!.