Disneyland Park Anaheim - Here We Come
By traveltripz on Apr 25, 2008 in Disneyland, USA, Featured
On Wednesday 9th April, we arrived in Anaheim from Vancouver for the final leg of our holiday. We have been away from Australia since 20 February and have managed to fit in so many great sights and visits and now we are at Disneyland. This is a smaller theme park than the Disney World theme park in Orlando and as we have 5 days here we intend to take advantage of the time to fit in as much as possible.
There is a special on Theme Park passes and we are able to purchase a 5 day pass for $174.00, which is usually the price of a 3 day pass. We brought the passes at the Holiday Inn & Suites reception area which was really convenient.
There are two theme parks - Disneyland and California. We have decided to start at Disneyland, so after going through the bag check and picking up a map at the entrance gates we take a moment to plan what we are going to do.
Okay we’re off maneuvering skillfully through the crowd towards Space Mountain to pick up a Fastpass. After getting the ticket we realise that we have made a boo-boo. We can’t get on the ride until 3:10pm which effectively stops us from getting another fastpass until that time.
Oh well not to worry, it just means we will have to queue for the other rides. So we head to Frontierland and the first ride is the ‘Matterhorn Bobsleds’. This ride is okay, lots of twists and turns but lacks any of the drops that would make it spectacular. More a ride for kids moving up in the scare scale before tackling the more advanced rides.
Okay, next comes the ‘Big Thunder Railroad’. This is better, definitely has a scream factor. This is followed by ‘Splash Mountain’ which is a favorite and is situated in Critter Country. We went on this a number of times in Disneyworld last year and it is well worth the hour wait even though Paula complained continuously. This ride has a couple of teasers where you are pulled up a hill and expect a long drop only to continue gently down the waterway, there are a couple of turns and some splashing of water. Then you continue through a twisting waterway where animated characters sing and send you on your way to a 50 foot drop which is the really exciting part. Lots of laughter and screaming and we are at the bottom of the drop. An excellent ride.
Then it’s a cruise around the ‘Rivers of America’ on the Mark Twain Riverboat. The boat takes you around Tom Sawyer’s Island where there are all sorts of things to do including a pirate show. We spot Captain Jack swaggering around entertaining the crowd on the island.
We have lunch at the River Belle Terrace and order roast beef sandwiches which are enormous and so they should be for $12:95 each. I had ordered smaller portions at $:95 each but the serving staff didn’t feel that would be enough for us and gave us the larger serving. The sandwich came with a side salad and was very tasty and filling.
Deciding not to take another turbulent ride after having just eaten we head to ‘Tomorrow Land’ to see the ‘Honey I shrunk the Kids’ 3D show followed by ‘Star Tours’ where you take an animated 3D ride with R2D2 into space and around the Death Star from Star Wars.
At last it is time to head off to ‘Space Mountain’ and as we have the fastpass we are able to walk past all the people waiting in the regular queue, to the head of the line. This ride is amazing. You are on a very large roller coaster with lots of drops, twists and turns and the whole thing takes place in total darkness so you are unable to anticipate when the drops will come. Awesome.
As we are here for 5 days we decide to take it easy and not try to do everything in day 1 as we usually do.
So we head off back to the hotel. Even though we have taken it relatively easy we have still managed to cover everything except Mickey’s Toontown.
But before do leave we come into Main St where crowds have gathered to watch the ‘Walt disney’s Parade of Dreams’ which is led out by Tinkerbell.
This parade makes it’s way from “It’s a Small World’ to Main St every day at 3:30pm and back from Main St to ‘It’s a Small World nightly at 6:30pm.
Be sure to keep hydrated by drinking plenty of water in the warm weather and wear comfortable shoes.
