Sunday, April 2, 2006
Daylight saving time ended (started?) today, so we lost an hour—why did I make our vacation during the day we lose an hour of sleep? In the morning we took the shuttle to Disneyland. At the rental station just outside the main gate, I had never seen such a large fleet of motorized wheelchairs, so I stopped for a quick photo. Patrick and I took the requisite "I'm here in front of Disneyland" photos. The day was sunny and warm. Before we went in the park, we went back to Brennan's. Next to the restaurant is the less formal, cafe-style Brennan's Jazz Kitchen Express which served beignets, we had noticed last night. It's not often we see restaurants serving beignets, so of course Patrick had to try them to see how authentic they were. We got a large order (6 beignets) as well as a large chicory coffee. We both enjoyed the mini breakfast. Patrick pointed out that these beignets were a little smaller than you get in New Orleans, and the dough was denser and less airy than it should be, but they still tasted great. After eating, we made our way back to the Disneyland park entrance but stopped for a quick peek at the Grand Californian Hotel—a super-expensive, beautifully designed hotel right on the Disneyland property and with an entrance directly to California Adventure. The hotel has been described as Frank Lloyd Wright meets the Pacific Northwest, and it's definitely grand. We got in the park (the lines look long, but they move quickly), took another "I'm here!" photo. This was Patrick's first moments inside any Disney theme park, and I didn't want to rush his virgin experience, so I let him choose whether we should go through the left tunnel or the right tunnel. Amused, he chose the left tunnel and we ambled through slowly, soaking in everything we could see. I pointed out City Hall, the fire station, and Walt's old apartment. Patrick took a photo of the commemorative plaque at the base of the flagpole in the main square. We sat on a park bench soaking in the sun and the pleasant atmosphere for several minutes, and Patrick struck up a pleasant conversation with a man doing the same thing. It made me happy just to be back. It wasn't long before, coincidentally, the 50th anniversary rededication ceremony began, right near where we were sitting. It was a great way to start off our first day at Disneyland. Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald emerged from backstage doors along with a marching band. The Mayor of Main Street (I think they called him) presided over the ceremony, said some sentimental and historical things, and at the end of it they pull the same trick the Pope does, but I leaned over to Patrick and said, "The Pope stole that idea from Mickey!" We walked down Main Street, and I pointed out the names on the windows for Patrick. Patrick was excited seeing the different things on Main Street. I forced him to duck in to the cinemas for a minute, and then we continued on our way. We got to the hub, and again I let Patrick choose where we went. He chose Adventureland, and I was so surprised and excited to find they still ran the Tiki Room that I insisted that be our first ride. I didn't remember the pre-show from my childhood at all, and I didn't remember a lot of the show inside either, so I was surprised many times and had a blast reliving it. Patrick enjoyed it very much. Next we rode the Jungle Cruise, still a favorite—those jokes are corny but they still make people come back. Next we rode Indiana Jones which Patrick liked a lot. Well, we both liked it a lot. Next we did Tarzan's Treehouse. This led us into New Orleans Square, and we happened upon a jazz band playing on the street. Patrick insisted I stand near the band while he took my picture, so there's a photo of me looking like I don't know what I'm doing next to a jazz band. We took a quick photo next to the railroad station, and by now we were hungry, so our first meal inside the park was at the French Market: fried chicken, french fries, and salad for me; fried chicken, red beans and rice, roll, and salad for Patrick. Lunch was delicious, and a different live jazz band was playing on the restaurant patio stage—at Disneyland it seems you're always surrounded by great artistry that life just seems so rich and full and worth it. Once stuffed, I got a photo of Patrick with the Columbia sailing ship even though we didn't ride it. We walked around to Critter Country and took a photo of the Splash Mountain entrance, but the line was around an hour long and we weren't sure if we'd be back in this area timingwise to use a fast pass, so we passed it up thinking we'd catch it on another day. The wait for the canoes was short by comparison—10 minutes—so we got in line and soon had fun paddling down the Rivers of America. Someone's little kid sat in front of me, and he couldn't paddle very well at all, but I was having so much fun I just kept laughing every time his paddle would hit mine or he would paddle with his oar at bizarre angles to the water. I was lucky that he didn't splash me very much at all. Next we rode the Mark Twain steamship, which was the same trip around Tom Sawyer's Island except you don't have to work as hard. After this, we took our afternoon break. I'd read on one of the Disneyland fan sites that it's a good idea to take a break in the early afternoon away from the park otherwise you wear yourself out a lot quicker, and this sounded like great advice to us. We took this advice every day we went to the park, and so it felt as though we went to Disneyland 6 times instead of 3! We took the shuttle back to the hotel, napped for an hour or two, freshened up, and returned to Disneyland. Up Main Street and through the castle into Fantasyland. We rode the Snow White ride since the line was short. The Peter Pan line was much longer than we wanted to endure, and while we were contemplating it, a bickering family entered the line, so that decided it for us. Who wants to spent even a minute next to parents swearing at their kids? At Disneyland even? We fled the horror. My favorite observation of parent-child behaviors at Disneyland: the mom who berated her daughter for stepping in front of her while she (the mom) wasn't looking where she was going anyhow. Where is the justice? We had dinner at Zocalo, which I remember from my childhood as Casa Mexicana. We both had enchiladas dinners and a soda (no photos). After dinner, we saw that the first Fantasmic! show was starting, so I thought now would be a good time to try to get on some rides but as we got to the hub, people were sitting everywhere waiting for the fireworks show to start and we didn't feel like worming our way through the crowd. Toward the Rivers of America crowds were watching Fantasmic!, so we were trapped. We waited out the first Fantasmic! show in the Frontierland gift shop and after it ended we worked our way to the front to get good seats for the next show. I'd seen this show before and it hasn't changed much that I can remember but now that I'm older I realized it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and that was rather disappointing. You can very loosely tie everything together based on Mickey's imagination, but there's no clear, strong story being told here really. The technology is still great and wondrous after a decade (?), and it's fun to hear the snippets of music again, and they certainly put on a great show.