Disneyland

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Up at 6:30 and got to the park around 7:45 for the 8:00 opening. We were in within minutes of opening. Note, the early entry gates get changed over to normal entry at the last minute, so stay in a line next to those and be prepared to jump over. We found that out today.

First up was a fastpass to Indiana Jones and a ride on Splash Mountain. There was no line for Splash at all while Indy clogged up in a heartbeat. The line was still empty when we came around after the ride, so they let us stay in the log and go again. The family who rode with us went again too, although the mom jumped out.

Next, we got a fastpass for Splash and rode Big Thunder. Wandered around the treehouse and then used our first set of Indy fastpasses. I think we cut off about 40 minutes of waiting with that, I love fastpass.

Mike needed a coffee, so we got him one and went for a ride on the Mark Twain while he drank it. He finished it before we got off, so he went and got new fastpasses for Indy while I waited in line for the Matterhorn. We had to wait about 20 minutes in the sun. Ick. This was followed by a ride in the nice air-conditioned Small World where both of us felt as if it were putting us to sleep. So to change it up, we went to Roger Rabbit.

There was actually a line so we got to check out the queue, but about 2/3rds of the way through the ride broke. We decided to wait a little bit, and we’re glad we did. It was neat to see the process. They had to evacuate all riders and then do a restart which involved a bunch of big keys and a screen that looked like a DOS prompt. They didn’t type anything in, so hopefully it was just information. Eventually everything came back on and you could hear the people further back in the queue cheer when they saw parts of the ride turn on. They let all the cars go through once and then we could get on. We noticed that they really seemed to hurry people into the cars, and we asked about it. They say when the cars get too stacked up, that’s when the ride breaks.

We were hungry, so we headed out of the park where we picked up our tickets for Fantasmic and then went over to DCA for lunch. Taste Pilots Grill was yummy as always, and while Mike got our food, I used our tickets to get us fastpasses on Grizzly River Run and Soarin’ over California. By the time we finished eating, it was time for Grizzly. We were concerned about our stuff getting wet, so we got a bag from one of the stores and put our phones, etc in it and put that back in the backpack. We did end up getting wet, but no where near as bad as most of the other times. We probably didn’t need the plastic bag, but it’s nice not to have to worry about the phones getting fried.

The Soarin’ line was huge and the fastpasses didn’t kick in for a few hours, so we did It’s tough to be a bug and then headed back to the hotel for a nap.

We turned on the TV and found out that there was a big terror attack foiled in London and now all the airports have gone to high security. Since the plot involved liquid explosives, no one can bring liquids onto planes and in some places, they aren’t letting people take anything on. Everything must be checked. We’ve heard that no electronics are allowed in cabin, so we will likely have to buy a suitcase to get our laptop home safely. Oh well, thank heavens we flew here yesterday and not today and there were no problems yesterday (other than the purloined cherries).

After a shower and a long nap, we went back to the park and headed to the Disney Gallery for our Fantasmic! Dessert Buffet. We went into the courtyard of the gallery where at 8:30, they collected our tickets. At 8:45, they started seating, calling people in the order in which they made their reservation, so Mike’s name was called first. Our seats were in the front row all the way on the left. Very good seats. I’m sure everyone wondered what Mike had to do to be number one.

The buffet was so-so. It had chocolate cake (with surprise rum-soaked cherries), cheesecake, mini-eclaires, macaroons, cheese and crackers, and skewered fruit. They had beverages, soda, mint juleps, iced tea, etc, but there were no hot chocolate or coffee. It turns out the container/dispenser broke just before. That sucks, but basically you are told to suck it up. Fantasmic! was amazing. The view was great and the show is awesome as always. Seeing it from such a vantage point, with no crowds around made the price worth it. I wouldn’t do it all the time, but it’s great as an isolated splurge.

The other slight bummer about it was that we were supposed to be able to stay on the balcony to watch the fireworks. We waited a while and eventually heard the announcement that “due to high winds at upper elevations, tonight’s presentation of ‘wishes’ is cancelled.” It was rather entertaining to hear thousands of people all go “aww” at the same time.