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Anne Campbell -- May 2000 -- DisneylandDay 1 of 3 - Saturday, May 20, 2000
Those of you who have been faithful readers of my trip reports (thank you, all *two* of you) may have noticed that although I live in San Francisco, I go to WDW in Florida a lot more often than I do to Disneyland right here in my home state. I decided this spring that the time had come to even the balance a little bit, so I suggested a quick weekend Disneyland trip to my charming spouse, Drew. Actually, we used to go to DL quite often. I took three trips in 1997, one of which was with Drew, and went with him again in January and April '98. But preparations for our wedding and our WDW honeymoon took over the rest of 1998, and once we had a taste of WDW, we kept going back - so it had been over two years since we'd been to our "home park." We settled on the weekend of May 19-21, since we figured the pre-Memorial Day crowds would be relatively light. When I tried to find flights for those days, though, there wasn't anything suitable, so we shifted to Saturday through Monday, the 20th through 22nd. I made a reservation at the Park Vue Inn, directly across the street from the pedestrian entrance to the park, for $59 a night plus tax - not bad! We had stayed there once before and found it perfectly adequate. When the big day arrived, we got up early (but not *too* early - it was a 9:35 flight, thank goodness), cobbled together a strange breakfast of oyster crackers and leftover tomato-pesto crepes, and headed out to take public transit to the airport. We had only a small rolling suitcase and small backpack, as we're now masters of packing light for Disney trips (thanks largely to Lani Teshima and her Travelite FAQ - http://www.travelite.org/ ). Unfortunately, our miserable San Francisco transit agency, Muni, lived up to its reputation, and the underground streetcar lines weren't running yet. Drew hit full panic mode (he likes to be *very* early for flights), and we decided to take a cab to the commuter-rail station. $10 and 10 minutes later, we were at the station, 25 minutes early for our train. Drew breathed a sigh of relief. We took the train and then the free airport shuttle without incident, but when we arrived at SFO, our flight was running 25 minutes late. We picked up a slightly less bizarre breakfast (pastries, latte and juice) and checked in at the gate. The plane pulled away more or less when they had expected, but we had to wait a little longer for the ground crew to clear a computer problem, so we ended up landing at Orange County just before noon, about 45 minutes late. The good thing was that we actually spotted Disneyland from the plane! I'd never seen any Disney park from the air before. It was remarkable how many more trees there are in the park than in the surrounding area - it was like a little wooded island in the desert. We bought tickets for the AirportBus and waited about half an hour for it to arrive. Since we had only carry-on bags, we didn't get to tell the driver (who was loading luggage under the bus) which hotel we were going to, so we ended up being the very last stop. It took almost an hour and a half to get from the airport to our hotel, when in the past it had taken about 20 minutes! We realized that it had taken a full seven hours from leaving the house to arriving at the hotel, when it's only an hour-and-a-half flight. But we weren't on a rigid schedule, so we just shrugged it off, checked into the Park Vue Inn and tossed our bags in the room. There's an International House of Pancakes right next door, and we figured that was as good a place as any to get lunch (or breakfast #3 for the day). Drew had sausage, pancakes and an egg and I had a Belgian waffle. I asked for it with no butter, as I always do, but the server brought it with a big scoop of butter on top and asked if I wanted more. I tried not to giggle. Then it was time to head to the park! We dug out our three-day Flex Passports ($76 each at the Disney Store, a good deal) and made the trek across the tram loading area to the park entrance. Boy, did it look different since we were last there! There are construction walls everywhere, a new costuming building behind the Grand Canyon/Primeval World dioramas, and new ticket booths. The new California Adventure park is nine months from completion, and many of the major landmarks are already up, including Grizzly Peak, California Soarin', most of the boardwalk area, and a big model of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a tad strange to come all the way from San Francisco and be greeted in Anaheim with the Golden Gate Bridge...plus, there was a worker standing on top of one tower, so we could clearly see how forced perspective was used to make it look taller. (Either that, or he was a giant.) I'm not too excited about this new park, but I'm willing to give it a try and see how it comes out. Once inside DL, I did a major double-take. Main Street looked so small! The Bank of Main Street and the Opera House had mysteriously replaced the Exposition Hall and character greeting area. Stranger still, the castle had lost most of its turrets, turned pink, and apparently been through Professor Szalinski's shrinking machine! But I quickly got re-acquainted with this small and charming park, and we headed straight for the Tiki Room, our traditional first attraction. We got there just in time for the nifty little pre-show where all the gods and goddesses introduce themselves. The Room itself was nearly full, which was fun, and we enjoyed the show as ever. My favorite figures are the drumming tiki gods over the windows, with their flashing eyes, and the birds of paradise. After the show, I couldn't resist taking a gander at the (semi-)new Tarzan's Treehouse. Drew expressed his doubts about the new tenant, wondering what had become of the poor Swiss Family Robinson, but I reassured him with the reminder that they still have their other place in Florida, so they're by no means homeless. There was no wait to climb the tree, so we went on up. A cast member on the stairs advised us that oxygen would be available at the top if necessary, but gave the cheery news that at the rate we were going, it would only be another couple of weeks before we got there! Huffing and puffing aside, the treehouse was wonderful. I loved seeing all the characters, especially the interactive little touches, like the magic lantern that showed slides of Tarzan, and the book that held brass pictures of the characters, and when touched, showed images of them in a magic mirror. We heard Sabor the leopard growling softly as we passed by, and when I pointed him out to Drew and accidentally moved my hand too close to him, he let out an earsplitting roar! We scurried on. At the bottom, we played a little bit in the "Trashing the Camp" area and then got in line to meet Tarzan and Terk. As we were waiting, a cast member with butterflies on her hat came by, holding a creepy-looking critter. At first I thought it was a snake, but it turned out to be a black African millipede. They get to be up to a foot long and an inch and a half across. Ugh. I watched it from a safe distance and then went up to have my picture taken with the characters. Tarzan was a very nice guy! We looked around in the Adventureland shops for a little bit and got some advice from Shrunken Ned. Then we waited ten minutes or so for Pirates, which was as good as ever. There was a big Pirates special event going on that night, but it hadn't started yet, so everything was as normal. We did notice a couple of touches that hadn't been there when we were last at Disneyland, like the fighting shadows (how *do* they do that?). Drew got himself some steak gumbo in a bread bowl at the Royal Street Veranda, and then took a seat by the Haunted Mansion while I went off to get us Fastpasses for Splash Mountain. The return time for Fastpasses was 11:25-11:55 PM! This was around 5:00. So I skipped it and did the HM with Drew instead. As we got to the load area, a group with two adults and four kids held up the ride by trying to squeeze all six of them into one Doombuggy. They couldn't seem to understand the cast members' instructions that they split up. After that little debacle, though, everything was normal. This was to be the first of *many* HM rides for us over the weekend. We decided to check the ride board to help us decide what to do next, so we made our way to the Hub. Just as we got there, I spotted Mulan in her soldier's armor and took a quick picture. (I'd only ever seen her in her kimono before.) The ride board painted a dismal picture of long lines all over the park (it was, after all, a beautiful Saturday afternoon in May), so we decided to take our chances on Fantasyland. We waited 10-15 minutes for Mr. Toad, Drew's favorite dark ride, and then another 10-15 for Casey Jr., which I secretly love. We were starting to drag from our long day of travel, so we shared a Coke at Pinocchio's Village Haus (I don't think I'd ever been in there before) and then headed for the Disneyland Railroad station outside Toontown. As we waited, we watched the *huge* crowd waiting for the beginning of the Pirates event at the Fantasyland Theater. Drew wanted to make a complete circuit of the park before leaving, so we went around 1 1/2 times (thus seeing the Grand Canyon and Primeval World twice) before disembarking at Main Street. In Town Square, Drew got a churro and I waited in an endless line for popcorn. By the time we were done with that, the 45th Anniversary parade was about to start, so we decided to wait. We found a great spot to sit on a wall in front of the "Lost Parents" sign, and when the parade began, we simply stood on the wall. It didn't block anyone's view because City Hall was behind us, and we could see just fine. It was a wonderful parade! I had been a little skeptical about the idea of guests marching in the parade along with the characters, but I think they did quite a good job of outfitting everyone in goofy animal hats and tutus, and actually choreographing them all. The guests themselves looked like they were having a blast, which was fun to watch. The floats were gorgeous, all gold-leafed and stylized. Drew's favorite was the whales from "Fantasia 2000," and I liked the one with young Simba pulled by giraffes. It was also nifty seeing some obscure characters, like Clarabelle Cow, in the Noah's Ark section. When it was done, we scooted out of the park for the night. For a moment, I almost said "If we go quickly, we can beat the crowds to the bus stop," but I'd forgotten that we weren't at WDW and could just walk to our hotel! Shortly after we collapsed in the room, the fireworks started and I went out on the outdoor walkway to catch a few of them. We were sound asleep by 10:30. Day 2 of 3 - Sunday, May 21, 2000 We woke up at 7:00, grateful that Disneyland doesn't have early entry on Sundays. We got ready much more quickly than I'd expected, though, and we were at the gates by 8. As we stood in line waiting for Main Street to open, we noticed a great many kids and parents in "Riverside Young Californians" t-shirts, and wondered what kind of group it was - but we found out later in the morning. Another oddity I noticed was that a family in line near us were carrying WDW park hopper passes. I almost went up to them and asked if they knew that the passes weren't valid at Disneyland, but when we went through the turnstiles at 8:30, they simply exchanged a few words with the cast member. He seemed to stamp their passes and exchange them for Disneyland tickets, and they were in. I wonder what the deal was with that. Once on Main Street, we headed straight for the Blue Ribbon Bakery and got a baguette, croissant and iced coffee for Drew and an orange and croissant for me. (We had skipped the free continental breakfast at the hotel, since it had been unbelievably horrible the last time we stayed there.) By the time we were done, rope drop had already happened, so we made a beeline for the Rocket Rods in Tomorrowland. We still had about a 15-20 minute wait, but it was certainly better than what the lines would be later in the day - 60-90 minutes. Drew was a little nervous about this ride, since he'd *detested* Test Track at Epcot last fall. I assured him that it was different and not quite so fast, and he ended up enjoying himself pretty well. We both thought the Rocket Rods were fun, but certainly not worth waiting endless hours for. Really, it's just a glorified PeopleMover, and the lines should reflect that. Nonetheless, we enjoyed our zippy little tour. There really wasn't anything else we wanted to do in Tomorrowland at the moment, so we decided to go pick up a Fastpass for Splash. On the way, we ran into the aforementioned Young Californians marching around the Hub - they were *hundreds* of baton-twirling and pompom-waving girls, aged about 5 to 10. They marched to a techno tune with the scintillating lyrics "Uh-huh, you're dancing with the Mouse - hey-hey, uh-huh, you're dancing with, you're dancing with Mickey." (Repeat ad infinitum.) They were cute and did a very good job. I zipped down to Splash Mountain and got Fastpasses for us; then we joined the line at the Blue Bayou to make lunch reservations. They had an 11:30 table, which was just what we wanted, since breakfast had been a little skimpy. As we were waiting, we saw a girl with a "Gryffindor Quidditch Team" t-shirt, which tickled us both, since we're big Harry Potter fans! It more than made up for the *worst* shirt we saw on the trip - the words "Fit for a King" over a picture of a crown of thorns. We just thought that was a tad tacky. We had time for both Pirates and the Haunted Mansion before our Splash time came up, and the Fastpass line there was minimal. Drew says he likes the Disneyland Splash Mountain better, but I still prefer the one at WDW. It's longer and tells the Brer Rabbit story more cohesively. It was already time for our lunch reservation. There were two lines at the Blue Bayou, and we blindly joined the larger one, not having any idea which was which. After a few minutes of standing still, I left Drew in that line and got in the shorter one, which led to the podium. It turned out that that was the one we should have been in (the big line was for standby), so as soon as I got us checked in, we waited about a millisecond in the waiting room and then were called in to lunch. This was our first time seeing the Blue Bayou from the inside, rather than just cruising past it on Pirates. I wasn't terribly hungry, so I checked out the appetizer section of the menu. They listed a meat gumbo but no veggie (I'm a vegetarian), but I asked our server if he could get me some of the veggie kind from the Royal Street Veranda. He asked in the kitchen, but either they didn't know of the veggie gumbo's existence or they just weren't able to procure it for me. I thanked him and said never mind, and just ordered the Mardi Gras Salad. Drew had clam chowder and jambalaya. It was strange that there was no wine on the menu, but they did offer a nonalcoholic beer! As we waited, another server came in and seated a party of 28 (!) at two tables. Three other tables near us held another group, a boys' soccer team and their families, and one of the mothers kept getting up and videotaping them all eating their lunch. Maybe it was just us, but it seemed like the Loud Family Reunion was going on all weekend - everybody was running about 50 decibels higher than normal. The mom with the camcorder also used it to take a bunch of still pictures, so there was lots of "Okay, everybody move closer together! Take off your hat! Now say cheese!" yelled halfway across the restaurant. We just ate quietly and tried to ignore them all. My salad came with caramelized, spiced pecans, which added an interesting bit of Cajun spiciness to the dressing. Drew said his chowder and jambalaya were quite good, and we shared a tasty caramel-apple pie for dessert, but I have to admit that we were both a little disappointed by the Blue Bayou. The food was just not as high-quality as we'd expected for the price (it was almost $50 for lunch for the two of us, and remember, I only had a small salad). It wasn't on a par with our favorite in-park restaurants at WDW, like Le Cellier, Chefs de France and the Brown Derby. The atmosphere is unbeatable, though, Loud Family or no. After lunch, we put on our sunglasses and reemerged into the daylight. We waited in line at the Frontierland railroad station behind a huge tour group - we noticed at least half a dozen over the weekend, in fact. They weren't rowdy people or anything, but they refused to be separated even for a minute. They insisted on waiting for the next train so they wouldn't have to ride in two cars (not separate trains, mind you, but different cars on the *same* train). Eventually we all piled on, though, and Drew and I got off at Toontown. We picked up Fastpasses for Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin and took a few pictures around Toontown. Drew went to the men's room, and while I was waiting for him, I heard a mother excitedly beckoning to her child and yelling "Yupi! Yupi!" At first I thought "What a horrible name for a kid," but then I remembered that it's Spanish for Goofy and that he was signing autographs by his Bounce House. This multicultural moment was brought to you by..... ;) There was about 45 minutes till our Fastpasses, so we waited in a short line for It's a Small World, which is one of Drew's favorites at WDW. When we were through, we both realized that we probably hadn't been on the Disneyland version when it *wasn't* dressed up for the holidays. There were so many elements that were unfamiliar, but we could hardly believe we hadn't done it before. We headed back to Toontown and sat by the Roger Rabbit fountain for a few minutes to reapply sunblock. A group of junior-high kids asked me to take their picture with about half a dozen different cameras, and I gladly did so. Then we walked right onto Roger's ride with our Fastpasses. That's an awfully fun ride. I love the "portable hole" at the end. Back outside Small World, I bought a frozen banana and we found a place in the shade to eat it. There seemed to be a great many very young kids in the park that day (say, under 4), compared to the numbers we see at WDW, and we speculated why that was. Maybe the locals are more likely to bring their little ones down the freeway to Disneyland than parents in other parts of the country are willing to go all the way to Florida. I bet a lot of people use the reasoning of "Why go when they're too young to remember?". My philosophy is, "Why go just once? Bring them when they're little and then more times as they get older." But not everybody is that lucky, I guess. When I was done getting melted chocolate all over my shorts (it's a curse! it happens every time I go to Disney. I should wear my Mickey poncho when I eat those things.), Drew bought a frozen lemonade and we stood in the shade by the exit of the Storybookland Canal Boats and watched some guys climbing the Matterhorn. Jeez, what a scary climb, but I bet the view is fantastic. Refreshed, we took a second ride on Mr. Toad and then one on Peter Pan's Flight. Just as we exited Peter Pan, the Sword in the Stone ceremony was starting, so we stopped to watch. It was a lot of fun! Merlin was extremely funny, and he picked a studly guy named Mario to try to pull the sword from its anvil. Mario had no luck, so Merlin made him stand to the side and flex his muscles, trying to look like a Knight of the Round Table. Then he chose a skinny, geeky little girl named Sydney to try, and lo and behold, she pulled the sword out halfway and was crowned Temporary Ruler of the Realm! Mario and Merlin knelt before her and howled "We're not worthy...we're not worthy." We enjoyed the whole spectacle very much. Drew and I were ready for a nap, so we made the long trek out of the park and to our hotel. We slept like the dead from 4:30 to 6:30 and then headed back. Just as we stepped onto Main Street, the parade was beginning, so we watched it all over again. I had heard great things about Redd Rockett's Pizza Port, the semi-new restaurant in Tomorrowland, so we decided to try it for dinner. When we got to Tomorrowland, I wasn't entirely sure which direction it was in, so we asked a CM who was sweeping the street. He had no idea what we were talking about! We thanked him, blundered off on our own, and found it immediately. There are several different stations from which to order: a salads and sandwiches line, a pizza line, and so on. Drew found a big deli sandwich and I ordered a kids' spaghetti meal without the meatballs. At the cash register, we also discovered a huge pie-shaped chocolate chip cookie, so we got that as well. The total was about $18 with a Coke. We sat in a quiet corner of the old Lunching Pad, by the Space Mountain entrance. Everything was very tasty! I had wanted just a plain pasta with marinara sauce that night, but there were plenty of other choices (both vegetarian and not). I was particularly impressed with how adventurous some of the pasta dishes were - it was definitely not standard theme-park fare. I wish they had this place at WDW. After supper, I picked up a Fastpass for Space Mountain and we went to check out Innoventions for a little while. We didn't find anything that completely engrossed us, and while we were waiting for the General Motors virtual-reality demonstration, I noticed that it was almost time for the fireworks. I remembered a tip from Al Lutz's Disneyland Information Guide ( /dig/ ) that the outside balcony at Innoventions was a good spot to watch from, so we did just that. The fireworks were spectacular! The music was a great medley, the shells themselves were high-tech (I especially liked the ones shaped like stars and hearts), and there was a wonderful surprise in the middle that I won't spoil for you. It was definitely a romantic moment, especially since we didn't have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with everybody on Main Street. It was already time for my Fastpass, so Drew waited for me on a bench outside the arcade while I took a trip through Space. Unfortunately, more members of the Loud Family were in front of me in line, and then my rocket didn't have the music working. I was a bit disappointed, but I decided not to make Drew wait any longer for me to go through again. We made our way to the Matterhorn, which only had about a five-minute wait. That's one of Drew's favorites, and I like it too. Alice in Wonderland, my favorite dark ride, had a bit more of a line, but I think it's well worth it. We also did Pinocchio and Snow White without much waiting. Then Fantasmic was about to begin, so we took advantage of that by riding the Haunted Mansion with no wait. The famous CM Maynard was our host in the stretch room! I had always heard about him, but never had the pleasure of seeing him in action. He was a complete nut. As the doors to the stretch room closed, he latched on to a lady with an Eeyore backpack and started a little spiel: "Ladies and gentlemen, some people like to bring their little pets with them to Disneyland. This lady has a leeeetle pet donkey, which she carries on her back." Then he noticed that she had an Eeyore hair scrunchy as well. "Oh, and look! The leetle donkey has an iiiiiitty bitty baby donkey!" I can't do him justice, but we were all in hysterics. As we left the stretch room, he produced a flashlight and a Laverne finger puppet (one of the gargoyles from "Hunchback of Notre Dame"). He shone the flashlight under Laverne's chin and in an evil cackle intoned, "The Evil Finger Puppet says, 'Have a happy day!'" After that auspicious introduction, the rest of the ride couldn't quite stack up. Just as we exited the Haunted Mansion, they were starting one of my favorite parts of Fantasmic - the snakes and jungle drum section - so we stood and watched for a minute. Then we walked right onto Splash Mountain and had a great drop into the briar patch. We tried to make a beeline for Indy before it closed, but we were a bit too late and just made our way back to the motel. We got to sleep around 11:30. Day 3 of 3 - Monday, May 22, 2000 We woke up at 7 again, with good intentions of getting to the park for early entry, but by the time we packed up our stuff and checked out of the hotel, it was about 8:00. We took our luggage (just one small suitcase) to the lockers on Main Street, but it was just a *little* too big to fit in the larger lockers, so we asked the Lost and Found CMs what we could do. They suggested going to the Kennel Club, and also gave us our dollar back for the locker token. I left Drew at the Blue Ribbon Bakery and trotted out to the main entrance. At this time of morning, I was the only one exiting, so they had to open a special gate for me and dig out the hand stamp! At the Kennel Club, I wheeled the suitcase up to the door, and a very nice CM came over, saying "It sounds like you have a cart." Within two minutes, I had filled out a card with my name and phone number and turned over the suitcase to her. This service was free, which was a nice surprise! Back at the bakery, I found Drew engrossed in a scone and iced coffee. He thought it was a little peculiar that the Disneyland iced coffee was just hot coffee poured over lots of ice, making it a bit watery, but it was caffeine, anyway. We wanted to do Indiana Jones first, but it wasn't open yet, so we went to Fantasyland and discovered that the lines there were already quite long. We did Mr. Toad, though, just for old times' sake, and then joined the throng waiting for rope drop in front of Adventureland. As 9:00 rolled around and the throng started to hustle, several people around us joked that it felt like we were all in the Boston Marathon. We had a 10-15 minute wait, but it was worth it - that is just a great ride, no doubt about it. We picked up a Fastpass for Splash Mountain and intended to do Big Thunder Mountain while we were waiting, but in our sleepy haze we forgot that the two aren't next door to each other, as they are at WDW. Drew bought a scary-looking neon green Fruitopia drink and drank it as we walked to the Haunted Mansion one more time. We tried for Pirates after that was done, but it was having technical difficulties (or maybe they were still tidying up from the big Pirates event the night before), so we sat down for a while and watched the world go by. Our Fastpass time came up, so we took one more trip over Slippin' Falls and down Chickapin Hill. As we zipped through the Fastpass queue and got close to the load area, a big group of teenagers in the standby line started cheering at the top of their lungs and giving high-fives to all the Fastpass folks who passed by! We never quite figured out why, but it was a nice ego boost. Then Drew needed a real breakfast, and I needed *any* breakfast (since I'd been stowing the suitcase instead), so we went to the River Belle Terrace. Drew had the Mark Twain: scrambled eggs, sausage, home fries and fruit. I just had a side order of home fries and one of fresh strawberries, which was very tasty. It was about $13 after the Magic Kingdom Club discount - I was proud of myself for having actually remembered to use the card. We checked out the line for Thunder Mountain, but it was 20 minutes and we didn't feel like waiting. We were both dragging a bit, so I suggested the new Woody's Roundup show at the Golden Horseshoe. Drew was very skeptical about the whole thing, but once we got into the air conditioning and found a quiet seat on the top floor, he felt a little better. We both enjoyed the show very much! It's very tongue-in-cheek - basically a parody of all those cheesy '50's kids' shows. There's a live and very melodramatic narrator; a Stetson-wearing guitarist named Tex; Jessie the yodeling cowgirl; Bullseye (he's Woody's horse); and Woody, the man himself, of course. They led us in a rousing chorus of "Hey Howdy Hey" and then the "filming" began - the sets and characters were all in black and white! It was extremely well done. My favorite part was when Woody was trying to get Jessie out of yet another impossible situation (she was trapped in a cave after a landslide). He tried a few different tricks, but nothing worked. Finally, a hand reached out from backstage and handed him a jackhammer - and the hand was Buzz Lightyear's! Drew forgave me for dragging him to the show, since he liked it just as much. Next, we were ready for something even more low-key, so we headed to Main Street and poked around in the shops for a little while. I was hoping to find a watch for myself and a t-shirt for a little friend of ours, but we had no luck on either count. Drew shocked me by asking if we could see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. A show was about to start, so we wandered in to watch the old fellow give his stiff little speech. I had forgotten that the movie at the beginning includes the songs "Two Brothers" and "Golden Dream," which are also in the American Adventure show at Epcot. I *HATE* "Golden Dream" and I swear it's going to follow me for the rest of my life. Nonetheless, it was nice to sit in a comfy seat and watch Abe go through his motions. I always remember his sentence "All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge," since it was on a "Disneyland/WDW Official Album" that we had when I was a kid. There was time for one more ride, so we went back to New Orleans Square (our favorite land) and sailed through Pirates again. Drew got some fritters and I got veggie gumbo from the Royal Street Veranda, and then it was time to head out. We made a quick stop on Main Street because I wanted to pick up some pins I'd been coveting (a Haunted Mansion one with the hitchhiking ghosts, and one of the Disneyland main entrance plaque), but then we got the suitcase from the kennel and boarded the tram to the Disneyland Hotel. We were a few minutes early for the AirportBus. Once again, it took forever to get to the airport (almost an hour) - it was much better when the Disneyland Hotel was the last stop before going directly to John Wayne. I think we'll just take the SuperShuttle next time and save a bunch of time. Yet another branch of the Loud Family was on the bus with us, with the dad singing an old Bon Jovi song at the top of his lungs. But our flight was on time, and we had a pleasant (if long) trip home on Caltrain and Muni. Final Thoughts It was great to get back to Disneyland after two whole years! It made me realize how much better it is than the Magic Kingdom at WDW - there's so many more attractions packed into a smaller space. There are also a lot of great, out-of-the-way little corners in this park - real hidden treasures. As I mentioned, I think we won't take the AirportBus again. It saves a few bucks, but it's really not worth it if it's going to take so dang long to get to and from SNA. We *will* happily stay at the Park Vue Inn again, though. $59 a night for a good basic room that's quick walking distance from the park is just fine by me. There are also a few amenities that could come in handy for some folks, like a refrigerator and coffee maker in the room - and if you're brave enough to handle the scary free breakfast, that can be a perk too. The crowds on this weekend before Memorial Day were a little bit much at times, but we know how to avoid most of the crush of it. We didn't wait more than about 20 minutes for any rides (although there were plenty of 60-90-minute lines to be found). We're going to have to be back before another two years goes by! I have a WDW trip planned for this November with my friend Paksen, but I may just sneak in a day or so at Disneyland later this summer. Thanks for reading! Anne Campbell waxwing@sirius.com Mail a Comment to Anne Campbell |
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