Disneyland Part 2

WARNING: I tend to write novels. So this might take you a while to get through...

Tyson and I got up early so we could get to the park a few minutes before it opened. Our hotel was only about a 5ish minute walk to the entrance of the park. There was already a line to get into the park, but it wasn't too bad at all. We got in and made our way toward Tomorrowland. Our first stop: Space Mountain (the favorite of the trip for sure). We pretty much walked right onto the ride. It was awesome. And we had the very front seat. Which was also awesome. I forgot how great this ride was and that it was so dark. Like completely pitch black with fake stars. Since we were in the very front it felt like we were going so fast and the wind was blowing so hard that literal tears were pouring out of my eyes. We both had to wipe off the tears from our faces at the end of the ride. It was so great that we decided to go again, right after we got off. The line was a little bit longer, but honestly the longest we had to wait for any rides on Thursday was about 25-30 minutes, which is not bad at all for Disneyland.

After space mountain we hit up the rest of the big rides--Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, and Splash Mountain. Indiana Jones was great of course. One thing that Disneyland does well is create an authentic-ish atmosphere as you wait in line--definitely the case for Indiana Jones. Pirates was great too. I never remember getting wet on that ride, but I did this time. It was fun. I love that they added Jack Sparrow and Barbossa and other dialogue into it from the movies.

 I don't know why, but I love the Haunted Mansion. It's not super thrilling, but it's just fun. I love the creepy people that they have working there and their silly jokes and I love the music. I love the effects and I love that I had a fat ghost hologram in front of my body at the very end. Splash mountain was so fun! The last time I went to Disneyland it was closed, so it was good to go on it this time. We were lucky on Thursday and the line wasn't long at all. In fact, Tyson and I had our own log to ourselves. He made me sit in the front, so I would get wet and block him from the water. I was so scared the whole time, and Tyson kept laughing at me freaking out. Turns out we didn't get very wet. I predict it was because our log was so light that we didn't make big enough waves. I did get wet, but not as bad as I thought I was going to. After splash mountain we went to get lunch in Tomorrowland (Hamburger- Tyson and Grilled Veggie Sandwich-me) The place we ate at had a kids show going on at the time. It was adorable: "Jedi Knight in Training". All the little kids around were given brown Jedi robes and light sabers and learned Jedi moves. Then Darth Vader and Darth Maul (?? I'm not a star wars expert), came out and each kid got to fight Darth Vader with the moves they learned while training. It was super cute. Tyson took some pictures.

We headed over to Disneyland California Adventure next. First things first, they got rid of the California sign in front. That made me sad. Also, everything was under construction, so it took us forever to get anywhere there. They are building a Cars Land (which is going to be awesome--we went to the show they had up with information and videos about it). We headed all the way back to Paradise Pier and went on the huge roller coaster (California Screamin') that they have there. I love fun roller coasters and going upside down and going fast. So it was another one of our favorites.

After that we went to Tower of Terror. I LOVE LOVE this ride.  I think I lied before when I said Space Mountain was the favorite of the trip. It was Tyson's favorite, but mine was definitely Tower of Terror. We basically just walked right onto this ride as well. The atmosphere here is great as well. 1920s Hollywood Hotel. I love all the detail in the lobby and all the fake (maybe?) dust, showing that it hasn't been touched in years. The bell hop people were hilarious too and super creepy. That was great. One of the guys that loaded us into the rides gave a super creepy speech while rubbing his hands together and crossing his eyes. The best part was the reaction of others in the ride with you. Our first time when we started moving up a girl started freaking out (in the purple) and it was just so funny. Anyway, I just love the feeling of free falling, it's such an adrenaline rush. And although the drops were the exact same every time, I never could tell when we were going to fall and that was probably the best part. It was so much fun.

Our next stop was Soarin' Over California. It's this cool virtual flight over places in California. You sit in a seat that lifts into the air (like you are in a hang glider), and moves according to the way the movie is going. They use wind and smells--oranges and redwood trees-- to make it more realistic. It's a really neat ride and such a great idea. I loved seeing the beautiful scenery of California

The next stop was the Grizzly River Run. It was pretty warm, so we decided to do another water ride. I think my lack of getting wet on Splash Mountain gave me a misplaced sense of confidence. Needless to say, I got soaked. And I remained wet for many hours. Every drop and wave that we hit, hit me. It was great. The worst part was that my shoes got wet. Also, my sweatshirt (which didn't get dry until the next day). Tyson was super wet too, but I got it much worse. We then went over to the swings to try and dry off in the wind and also went on the Ferris wheel. We shared our cart with a young family and their daughter (probably about 7) was absolutely terrified. It was cute, but I felt bad. The Ferris wheel there actually moves (like a rocker) as you go around. That was what the little girl was most afraid of. It was fun, but it seriously took forever to get on it, and then when you were on it, they kept stopping it and starting it to let people on. Lame. So we only did it the one time. We went on the California Screamin' Roller coaster again and did Tower of Terror again and then we got dinner on the soup bowl place. I am in love with the soup bowl place. They make sourdough french bread right there, so it is fresh, and it is so good. My love of sourdough goes way back. It's my very favorite and definitely part of the Californian in me. Tyson thought it was ok. Haha.

We went back to Disneyland for the rest of the evening. Hit most of the same rides again. Tyson somehow convinced me to do the tea cups on the condition that he wouldn't spin the cup. He lied. We spun quite a bit, but it wasn't that bad. I guess. Haha. He had fun anyway. We also went on the submarine ride. They just remodeled it to be Finding Nemo themed. It was fun, but the people next to us were obnoxious. Oh well. We just did that once, too. We tried a few times to go on Thunder Mountain but both times we tried it had broken down. Around 8:45 or so we picked a spot and sat down to watch the Wonderful World of Magic show on the River by New Orleans Square (it was too dark to get pictures but it was great!). The show was awesome. And they do it twice a night. They had fireworks, fire, movies showing on mist and all of the Disney Princesses. It was a lot of fun. We were both pretty tired after that, not to mention the sore feet, so we headed home (around 10), stopped at a gas station to get Tyson some more food and snacks for the next day and then went back to our hotel. It was a very eventful and very fun day :)

A little burnt at the end of the day, and slightly nervous to be riding the tea cups...

Love :)