Disneyland Trip Report - Day 3 (AKA the day we park hopped a gazillion times)

Thursday, May 30 ... Thursday morning I had to wake up early because I had online office hours from 6:30-7:30am, which just means I needed to be awake and logged into my classroom in case any students had a question and could IM me. They rarely do, so it’s just a matter of being online and logging the hour. Meanwhile, we got ready for our day.

This morning we met with the photographer, and we spent about 2 hours with her. You can see those pictures here.

We finished up our photo shoot around 10:30am over in DCA, and stopped on our way out and grabbed fast passes for Radiator Springs racers. Our return time was between 8-9pm – we were excited to experience this attraction at night! We said our goodbyes to the photographer and entered Disneyland again. We definitely took advantage of the park hopper option today, and had our hands stamped so many times they couldn’t even make out what it said under the light!

Jeff ran to get fast passes for Space Mountain, and the return time was after 1pm. Yikes! I really wanted to go back to our resort to relax in the afternoon, but it looked as if we would have to change our plans this day. We hopped in line for the Finding Nemo Sub Voyage, and waited approx 30 minutes. Again, outdoor queue area without much to look at except the people in line. The ride was nostalgic as I remember the submarines at WDW when I was a kid. Otherwise if I was in that sub much longer I would have had a panic attack – it’s just a tad claustrophobic in there!

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

Next we headed over to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters which is pretty much the same ride as in WDW except here your laser gun is free to hold in your hand. In WDW it is firmly attached to the rocket ship and it rotates but that’s it. We could move this puppy wherever we wanted. Fun!

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

After Buzz’s space adventure we could see that the line for the Matterhorn was relatively short so we hopped in the standby queue, and waited about 20 minutes. This was Sean’s most anticipated ride, and he was pretty excited. As we neared the front of the line I asked Sean where he would like to sit, and he said he wanted to be in the front of the car (it’s single file). Whoa! I asked if he was sure, and he nodded enthusiastically. It’s been a long while since I was on the Matterhorn and I didn’t remember that the very first part is in complete darkness as you climb up the middle of the mountain. I started to get really worried that Sean might be scared. As we neared the top and started to enter the light I leaned over to ask him if he was OK. And before I could get the question out I saw two little hands creeping up towards the sky. Not only was he OK, the little guy was ready to ride! He undoubtedly loved it.

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

Next up was a walkthrough of Sleeping Beauty’s castle. It was fun to be able to see inside the castle and learn more about the story of Sleeping Beauty. Having a boy we don’t watch princess movies very often! I realize now that we’re home that I never did get any pictures of the castle. Yikes! What kind of photographer am I? I’ll have to rely on the stock photos I received with my Photopass+ subscription.

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

Photos courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

We decided to have lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus. I ordered the BLT Flatbread and it was super yummy. Then again, I was really hungry so just about anything would have tasted good. But honestly, I would order it again it was that good. And it was a good size to fill you up. Jeff ordered the pepperoni pizza, and I think Sean had the kid’s pizza. All in all a much-needed fuel stop.

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

Finally the time had arrived for Space Mountain. Sean didn’t really want to go on it because he rode it in WDW for the first time in December, and he said it was too scary. WDW’s version you sit by yourself single file, and I couldn’t even reach him to give him a pat on the shoulder. It was a terrifying experience for a mother – I couldn’t see, hear or feel my four year old. So I can only imagine how scary it was for him. But in Disneyland you sit two by two, so I could hold his hand the whole time. Even with this in mind Sean said “no”… so I did what any Disney-loving mother would do. I bribed him with a souvenir. And he said “let’s go!”. He didn’t want me to hold his hand because he wanted to hold on to the bar with both hands. I can’t blame him. So I promised to hold his knee the entire ride.

He loved it. And I quote, “that was the best ride ever! I want to do it again!” He almost forgot we promised him a souvenir, but then we were dumped into a gift shop and it all came back to him. We decided to build a droid which is a Star Wars thing. He built one that looks like R2D2 with mickey ears. Pretty cute!

As if we weren’t tired enough, we decided to head into Innoventions to see the Iron Man exhibit which featured all of the Iron Man suits from the movies. Very cool. But you know what was awesome? You could get in line to get virtually suited up in a Mark 42 armor, which Sean did. The wait was kind of long, about 30 minutes but well worth it to see Sean virtually transformed into a mini Iron Man. He could shoot blaster targets and even fly around. So cool.

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

Sean REALLY wanted to capture each Iron Man suit on the video camera

Then he had the chance to virtually BECOME Iron Man. So cool.

Finally we went back to our resort around 3pm for a much deserved nap. Ahhh.

We were back in Disneyland in the evening, hoping to start our evening seeing Great Moments with Mr Lincoln. But strangely it was down. Weird, huh? They told us to check back later. Instead we made our way towards Fantasyland and waited to see the new show, Mickey and the Magical Map starting at 6:30pm. We loved it. It was an amazing live show but with incredible screen technology behind them. Mickey appears both live and digitally. At one point he transforms from digital to live, and it was so seamless we didn’t even see the transformation happen. Really incredible. Great songs, dancing, live music, everything. We all really enjoyed it. I would say put it on your “do not miss” list.

We had planned to get fast passes for Indiana Jones, but sadly they were already gone for the day. So back to Main Street to see if Great Moments with Lincoln was back up and running – and it was! It was a nice break in a cool room. Very similar to the Hall of Presidents in Disney World in the movie section, and then the animatronic is simply just Abe Lincoln. I found out after the show that he is not the original from the World’s Fair exhibit, but updated in 1984 and then an entirely new electronic Lincoln premiered in 2009.

Over to Adventureland where we rode Jungle Cruise – always fun, and I think the exact same as in Florida.

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

  

And then Jeff and Sean went up into Tarzan’s Treehouse. It looked pretty high. What do you think?

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

For dinner we ate at Harbour Galley. I originally planned to get the baked potato but completely spaced and ended up getting the broccoli and cheese soup in a bread bowl. So did Jeff. I can’t remember what Sean ordered – whatever was on the kids menu. The soup was good as was the bread bowl (because of course we ate the whole darn thing!), but nothing to write home about. We’ve had better broccoli and cheese soup at Panera Bread.

After dinner we hopped in line for the Haunted Mansion. The wait wasn't too bad, probably about 20-25 minutes. But the most aggravating part was there were a TON of high school graduates in line since it was a Grad Night. They were rightfully rowdy (heck, I would have been too if I was 18). And once we were inside on the ride, girls were screaming their pretty little heads off. ARGHHHH! Luckily they stopped because this 40-something momma would have gladly told them to zip it!

I had no idea how different the outside of the mansion looks from it's Florida cousin. However, the ride itself was nearly identical. 

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+

Can you believe we left Disneyland park again? I swear I can’t tell you how many times they stamped our hands this day. We had fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers, so back over to Cars Land. Unfortunately as we approached the entrance we found out the ride was down, and they had no ETA. UgghhhhHHHHHHH! We trekked all the way over to find out it was down. How aggravating. We waited around about ½ hr to see if maybe it would start running again, but no luck. Although we did capture a few nighttime shots of Cars Land.

 

Jeff stopped by Guest Services on the way out to inquire about validating our fast passes for another day. And they said to stop by the next day and they would give us fast passes we could use at any time during the day. Our name was on the list. Disney magic, baby. They rarely fail to make guests happy.

So we headed back over to Disneyland where we claimed a spot for the second showing of Fantasmic. Since we were fairly late arriving for a good spot, we set up camp on the far left of the river. It was an OK spot but definitely not the best. We enjoyed the show and the dragon here is really awesome. However, overall, we have enjoyed Fantasmic in Disney World more and I think it’s mostly due to there’s not a bad seat in the house… and there’s an actual seat. Nuf said.

Oh, and Sean was asleep during the whole show. Glad we brought the stroller.

Photo courtesy of Disney's Photopass+