Disneyland

Over a month has passed and I’m just now getting around to posting about our Disneyland Trip (October 18-21). At first I was waiting to get my hands on the pictures from my Dad’s camera to post and then I got busy (hence the general lack of posting seen here). So without further adou… Disneyland.

Griffin and I drove down to LA on Saturday morning. Leaving SF at 9:30am and arriving at LAX to pick up my parents at 5:00pm with a short stop for lunch and gas in San Luis Obispo in the middle. We took Hwy 101 instead of I-5 even though it’s slightly longer (~1 hour) because the scenery is sooooo much better. I’ve only driven I-5 once on my way North from Las Vegas when I moved out here in June of 2007 with my Mom but figured just about anything would beat it. 

After scooping up my parents at the airport we drove accross town to Anaheim to check-in, get some dinner (Mimi’s Cafe x 1), wander around Downtown Disney, and watch the fireworks from outside the park. After that it was off to bed to rest up for the first of our two big days in the parks. However, as you can see below, I didn’t sleep all that well…

Our plan was to see all of Disneyland in one day (Sunday) and then see the new park, California Adventure, on Monday. We were in Disneyland on Sunday from opening to closing, an endurance feat considering it opened at 10:00am and closed a midnight! But we successfully saw everything we wanted to do in one day. 

• Splash Mountain – We put Griffin in the front of the boat and he got SOAKED.

• Big Thunder Moountain Railroad – One of my first roller coasters ever when I was at Disneyland when I was 9 years old that my Mom put me on and I was TERRIFIED by. Little less scarey now.
• Indiana Jones Adventure – New attraction that is very well done. One of Mom’s favorites.
• Matterhorn Bobsleds – Everytime I’ve been to a Disney park these have been closed so I was excited I finally got to ride. Very fun.
• Space Mountian – Griffin’s favorite. It was re-done in 2005 from the original 1977 version since the track had become unstable. The new version has bigger cars and a soundtrack, very cool. They also make it seem like you’re traveling faster though the darkness by blowing air at you with fans.
• Star Tours – Delciously retro.
• Toontown

• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters – Way fun interactive ride where you shoot lazer guns at targets inside the ride and recieve your score at the end. The cars held two a piece and Dad had gone back to the hotel so Mom and I made Griffin ride by himself. He started dual-weilding the lazers.

• Enchanted Tiki Room
• Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage
• Haunted Mansion Holiday – The Haunted Mansion is decorated and significantly altered from it’s normal state for Haloween and Christmas with a “Nightmare Before Christmas” theme.
• Jungle Cruise
• Autopia (sponsored by Chevron!)- When I drove the cars at 9 years old I remember thinking, “Wow, driving is hard, I’m really bad at this.” Going back at 23 shows me that it wasn’t me, the cars are just ridiculously hard to steer.

• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
• Tarzan’s Treehouse – Was the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse.
• Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride
• Pirates of the Caribbean – Yo ho, yo ho.
• Snow White’s Scary Adventures – We found this ride’s ending humorous. It’s all perilous and dark and then BAM they live happily ever after. One minute the Witch is pushing a boulder on top of the dwaves then getting struck with lightening, screaming, and dying. Next thing you are thrown out into the loading/unloading area with a sign that says “And they all lived happily ever after.” It’s like they ran out of space for the ride and just said “eh, close enough.”
• Alice in Wonderland – Attempt #1: Standing in line and the ride broke, gave up and left. Attempt #2: Got three quarters of the way through the ride and it broke. Had to wait for the cast member to come release us from our little car and walk the rest of the way out of the ride.
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Peter Pan’s Flight – Mom’s all-time favorite.
• Pinocchio’s Daring Journey
• Monorail – I love the Monorail, Griffin thinks it’s stupid and likes to remind me how inefficient they are. Spoil-sport.
• Railroad

California Adventure

On Monday we set out to tackle California Adventure for the first time and ended up being kinda disappointed. The park is not very Disney themed, it’s stlyed after a 50’s boardwalk, and the attractions weren’t all that exciting. However, any park, no matter how good, it going to look pretty pale compared to Disneyland.

Griffin and I did enjoy the California Screamin’, and medium sized, one loop roller coaster. Instead of pulling you up a large hill to get the cars moving, this ride brings you to a dead stop on a flat piece of track and then uses magnetic propulsion to accelerate the cars up the track.  We also enjoyed the Toy Story Mania ride where you wear 3D glasses and use a toy gun to shoot at a series of 3D arcades. Of course, Griffin beat us all.

Due to being generally underwhelmed with California Adventure we headed back over to Disneyland for the afternoon. Following park closing we sought out nourishment at Mimi’s Cafe (x2).

Club 33

Both days in the park we dined at the private Club 33. It’s a secert restaurant hidden in the New Orleans square area, near Pirates of the Caribbean that is accessable only to members. Lucky for us, Chevron is a corporate memeber and employees can gain access to the club. If you want to joint the club by yourself the current waiting list is 14 years long and they are not even accepting new membership applications until 2010! If you can get in there is a $10,450 membership fee and an annual fee of $3,275. Needless to say, it’s a pretty classy place!

For corporate guests, you and your party recieve complimentary park tickets when you dine at Club 33 and spend a certain minimum on the menu (~$70 depending on the day of the week and if it’s for lunch or dinner). I made reservations for both days though Chevron, picked up our complimentary tickets outside the front gate in the morning, then entered the park and enjoyed the rides until lunch time.

At our reservation time we arrived outside the secret enterance (above) and rang the intercom. Once identified we were allowed inside. It was like stepping into an oasis, so quiet and calm compared to the bustle of the park.

Lunch is served as a appetizer and desert buffet with several different choices for a main entree of the menu at a flat price. The food was very good (not amazing, but good), the service was excellent (our waiter had been working there for 25 years), and the desert buffet was beyond good! On Sunday Mom and I shared one of everything on the desert table so that we could scope out our favorite items and have a plan of attack for Monday. Mom’s favorite were these little chocolate cups filled with tiramisu so you can imagine the disappointment when they weren’t there on Monday! As I was perusing the rest of the desert table a chef asked me if I had any questions so I told him we loved the tiramisu cups yesterday and were wonder if there were any more in the back. He said he’d try to find some and ended up personally bringing seven to our table! (Also note the Donald Duck cream puff on her plate!)

Our lunch reservations on both days turned out to be not only a great way to gorge ourselves on delicious deserts but also to rest and recharge form the morning and prepare to attack the park in the afternoon. It was also a pretty good deal ticket wise. A single-day Park-Hopper ticket at the ticket window will cost you $94. I could get ticket deals though Chevron at $63 per day on a 2-day Park-Hopper pass. But lunch (including tax and tip) came to about $90 per person and also got us park tickets. So essentially we got a really, really nice lunch for $27 ($90 – $63 = $27) and the chance to visit this private club. Nevermind the fact that you’d probably spend $15 on chicken fingers in the park normally.

Plus, on Sunday, Mickey and Pluto stopped by for lunch!

Halloween Time

Oh, and I forgot to mention that the parks were all decorated for Halloween! Really cute…

Disneyland Main Entrance

 

Main Street U.S.A

 

Giant cany corns replace the “A’s” in the giant “California” spelled accross the entrance to the California Adventure park.

 

 

Candy corn “crops” inside California Adventure

On Tuesday morning it was time for Griffin and I to head back to SF while Mom and Dad stayed another day in Redondo Beach. We first hit up Mimi’s Cafe (again, for the third time in 4 days because it was accross the parking lot from our hotel, is one of my favorite chain restaurants, and has items Mom can eat) and then dropped Mom and Dad off at their hotel. Griffin and I took the desolate and boring (yet faster) route home: I-5. Not a drive I’ll be looking to repeat soon.