Tuesday, April 4, 2006
Today is our last day at Disneyland. We used our early entrance and went first to Space Mountain, but the ride was temporarily closed—"check back later" we were told. We backtracked to Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, which we saw had long lines on previous days, and we got on the ride in about 5 minutes. The ride is fun, but I think my gun was broken because my score was a lot lower than Patrick's and I would aim and shoot and aim and shoot and only half the time things would seem like I hit them. At the end of the ride, a digital photo kiosk lets you e-mail yourself a photo of your car taken inside the ride. It was quick and easy and they included a note about privacy—perfect. Back to Space Mountain, and yes! it's open! The wait is a little longer, maybe 10 or 15 minutes, but the line moves quickly. The ride has been remodeled since I last rode it, and the giant chocolate chip cookie is gone. The ride is much darker now, and there's cheesy (I think) music playing inside the car throughout the entire ride. I don't remember there being music in the past. After Space Mountain, we were done seeing things we wanted to see in Tomorrowland, so I took Patrick over to ToonTown, but it was closed temporarily. We went to It's a Small World and we got on that ride in about 5 minutes. As our boat exited the ride, it started to rain. We were the only people on our boat who had brought an umbrella, so it felt weird to be riding in a Small World boat with an umbrella and rain coming down overhead. We took the train from ToonTown station to Main Street, passing through the Grand Canyon and Dinosaur dioramas. The rain was light but steady by now, and people everywhere were putting on translucent, white, plastic, hooded Disney rain jackets for which I suspect they paid too much money. Patrick and I had our umbrella, but I had only sneakers and our legs were getting wet. We hadn't had anything to eat yet this morning, so we stopped in at Blue Ribbon Bakery for a bite to eat. The line was long and slow, but eventually we got a cinnamon roll, 2 yogurt parfaits, and a grande cinnamon latte out of the place. We stepped next door into the ice cream parlor (no one was serving ice cream) and sat at a table near the arcade to eat. In the room, a giant (glass?) elephant sits atop a raised platform, lit from underneath. Next we headed over to Frontierland to the Golden Horseshoe Stage where we saw the 11:15 am show of Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, which was described as "musical madness that's one part rock'n'roll, one part bluegrass, and ten parts comedy!" The show was about 30 or 40 dlpms (dozen laughs per minute), judging by the audience's reaction—we had a blast. Afterwards we stumbled upon the Concord High School Symphonic Band from Concord, California playing at the Plaza Gardens Stage. We stopped to listen for a few minutes and to catch a breather from walking around in the rain. We return to ToonTown, and it's open! We walk through Mickey's house and take photos with Pluto. It's fun, but we had had enough of Mickey's house before we even get to see Mickey, so we duck out a side door exit. I buy taffy and lollipops for the office at The Gag Factory. Patrick bought some popcorn. We take the monorail to Downtown Disney and from the monorail station I get some photos of the new submarine ride under construction. We were hungry, so before heading back to the hotel for a nap, we ate at Uva Bar and Cafe in Downtown Disney. Patrick had a chicken salad and I had fish and chips. I buy gifts for Tina's birthday at Marceline's Confectionery. Hotel. Nap. Coffee at the hotel Starbucks. Since it had been raining today, we weren't sure if there would be a fireworks show tonight—they cancel it if the weather's not good. We hadn't yet gotten to watch the fireworks from in front of the castle, so we were hoping there would be a show tonight. By the time we got inside the park, they had announced it was canceled. So instead of eating inside the park, we left and got dinner at Hook's Point (Disneyland Hotel): I had grilled scallops with spinach risotto, Patrick had grilled tuna with broccolini. We enjoyed dinner very much, but I would have done the lighting differently.