Check your park map for the attractions that have FP marked next to them. In Disneyland these attractions are:-

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Splash Mountain
• Indiana Jones Adventure
• Autopia
• Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
• Space Mountain
• Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin

So decide which of the attractions you want to get a fastpass for and do this first.  Either check the Times Guide located in Main St for a list of the waiting times for the Fastpass attractions or simply go to the attraction and check out the clocks that show what time you need to return to take the ride.

There is a clock that shows the time for the regular queue to reach the ride from a pre-ordained entry point  and sometimes you may be lucky enough to find that there is only a 15-30 minute wait in which case it is just as easy to join the queue.

However, if you find the wait is going to be too long, find the FASTPASS kiosk for the ride you are interested in and make sure each person in your party who is going on the ride, inserts their Park ticket into the Fastpass kiosk. A green light will come on and a FASTPASS ticket showing what time you need to return by, will be dispensed.  Now you can go and play in the Park instead of waiting in line.

You will find that the FASTPASS ticket will give you an hour in which to return to take the ride. You may obtain the FASTPASS ticket at 10am and it may show a return time of between 2:00pm-3:00pm, so this is the time you need to get back to take the ride.

On your return to the ride you go to the FASTPASS return line and hand over your ticket. Now you walk into the ride with little or no waiting, right past all the people standing in line and once you are at the head of the queue you board the ride before the people in the regular queue.

On the bottom of the ticket will be a time printed that lets you know when you can obtain another FASTPASS ticket. This is so easy and convenient and allows you to get the most out of your time in the Park.

Before you head off to the Disneyland park check if your hotel is on one of the bus shuttle routes, if it is then one of the first things you should do is purchase a shuttle pass from the hotel before boarding the bus.

You cannot purchase a shuttle pass ticket on the bus and if you don’t purchase a pass it will cost you $3.00 for a single trip for adults and $1.00 a single trip for children 2 years and over.

An Anaheim Resort Transport (ART) pre-purchased Day Pass allows you to travel on any of the shuttle buses. This means that once you reach the drop off point at Disneyland you can then board any of the other shuttles to visit other points of interest such as one of the many shopping areas such as Target or the Block at Orange, the Convention Centre or Crystal Cathedral. 

A pre-purchased shuttle pass gives you unlimited travel on the shuttles for as long as the pass is valid and will cost you the following:-

Adults                              Children 2 and over
1-day        $3.00               1-day   $1.00
2-day       $6.00                3-day  $2.00
3-day       $8.00                5-day  $4.00
5-day       $12.00

Children under 2 years of age travel for free.
Chilren 12 years and under must be accompanied by an adult.

If you do not have a pass remember that trips to the Disneyland Park will cost you for each time you travel on the shuttle. Drivers do not carry change so be sure to have the correct fare when you board.

The shuttles are all painted in different colors and themes. There are also Disneyland Cast Shuttles for transporting the many, many staff.

We had heard about a brand of handbags specifically made for travelers so this is what we were looking for. These bags had a number of benefits although it also meant paying double the cost of a regular handbag but the benefits appeared to be worth it in the long run.

The bags have wire reinforced shoulder straps and bottom and side panels which mean they are slash proof. And they also have tamper proof zippers and a facility to attach the handbag to a secure item which I guess is when you are sitting at a restaurant or cafe and don’t want to have the handbag sitting on your lap for the entire meal.

What I love though is that it has plenty of compartments. I love compartments!!

The shop didn’t have the colors we wanted but will have them in today so I will add another post with more info after we pick them up.

The only time you will see anything in the window seat is at take off and landing and on a long flight you will really want the aisle seat as you won’t need to climb over your fellow passengers every time you need to take a trip to the bathroom. It will also mean that you can just get out of your seat at any time to exercise your legs and get the blood flowing again.

This morning I waited in a line of thousands to get one. Well I might be exagerating a bit - there was probably only about 50 people queued up but fortunately I was about 10th in the queue. We all stood there discussing what we were going in to purchase. Some were there for the bargain upright freezer but it seems most were there for the camera. This concerned me a bit as even though I was tenth in the queue if I didn’t go to the right part of the store I could still have missed it. I had also heard that they sometimes only have about 6 of an item available for sale. So consequently I spent most of my time thinking about all the strategies I could use (apart from knocking down the little old gentlemen in front of me) to get to the cameras first.

The strategy I thought would work the best was to go straight to a sales person and ask where the cameras were located. This worked a treat. As we entered the store most of the shoppers rushed to the back where the electrical products would normally be found. Me and a couple of others went straight to a sales person at the front of the store and she happened to have a box of the cameras at the checkout ready to sell. Woohoo, I shouted. Well I didn’t actually say woohoo, it was more in my head than anything as I didn’t want to cause a riot from the back of the shop as they all surged to the front as a result of my excited cries.

So now I am sitting here working out how to use it and so far it looks like a great little camera. I am not expecting miracles here as it is only $179 but as long as it does the job I am happy.

It is so tiny and can easily fit in my handbag or backpack so this is definitely going to be a new addition to my travels.

Being a book lover I picked up some fantasic history books in London which then of course also had to be posted home as we were only at the start of our trip and I didn’t fancy lugging books all round Europe.

My advice to anyone going to London and Europe is to take as little as possible, there are plenty of Laundromats to do your washing, and it keeps the weight down to a manageable level. Especially when you have to lug cases up many flights of stairs.

Believe me you soon learn what is essential and what can be done away with.