Honeymoon Day 9:

Disneyland!!!

We got up with the sun, grabbed our free coffees at the terrible little hotel breakfast nook, and walked to the main gate with a few minutes to spare. All things considered, the crowds weren't that big. We knew there was a good chance of rain, but I layered quite a bit, and we weren't giving up that easily.

The first part of the day was wonderful. We dashed to Adventureland and went into Tarzan's Treehouse and then on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. Then we got into a short line for the Indiana Jones Ride, which wasn't open the last time Alan went to Disneyland.





We stayed for a while in New Orleans Square, checking out merchandise to souvenir later, and finding the restaurant that had crepes mentioned on a cooking show on the Food Network. We went to the Haunted Mansion ride next. I usually love that ride, but at Christmas it becomes the "Nightmare Before Christmas" Mansion. I've never loved that movie for starters, and the last time I was on it at Christmas, the ride stopped for ten minutes next to a set of deranged "feed-me-seymore" plants singing the nightmarish theme. LAA la la LA LA LA. LA LA la la LAAAAAAAAA. LA la la LA LA LA. LA la LA la LAAAAAAA! Over. And Over. And Over. I'm over it.

Next we went up to Pooh Corner to go on some kiddy rides before the place packed out. We went on Pooh's Honey Pot, a silly little ride, but a fun one. We bypassed Splash Mountain, opting not to get wet that early in the day.

We made our way to Toon Town, looking for (Please, God!) an espresso stand as we went. We felt like true Seattle-ites wandering Disneyland in an increasing drizzle, searching for "real coffee." We finally found a stand next to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. I got a latte and a gingerbread cookie, Alan had a Mocha. We walked through the castle diorama to get a break from the rain for a moment.



In Toon Town, I love touring Mickey and Minnie's houses! The line for Minny's house was the longest line we saw all day. Minnie was greeting guests at the front door. Little girls with Mouse ears were lined up around the outside. Mickey's welcome sign said he was greeting, too. We went to Mickey's, and pulled the things that said "pull," pushed the things that were meant to be pushed, and sat in the dog bed. At the end of the walk, there was a Disney Cast Member who invited us to meet Mickey. So we did.




We stayed in Toon Town, doing all the walk throughs, playing with the zany cars, and then went on the Roger Rabbit Ride. It's one of Alan's favorite movies. There we hit our first snag of the day. The ride broke down right as we made it past the first corner. The announcement told us to remain seated until a cast member released us. We stayed. And stayed. They had to get the people furthest away, and then walk us all out in a line. We would have made out, but there was one more car in the room with us. I took pictures of the stilled characters.








We opted for It's A Small World. I LOVE that ride at Christmas! All the little bobble head puppets sing Jingle Bells with It's a Small World. YAY!!! Alan would have been happier had the ride been a shooting gallery.

Next we took a left to the newly remodelled "Finding Nemo" Sub Ride, which was our personal longest wait of the day. The Star Wars Ride was being repaired, but we spent time in the gift shop anyway. Then we went into the Toy Story shooting gallery. I sucked. Alan rocked!

Then we went back to Adventureland to take the Jungle Cruise. The second-oldest ride at Disneyland, and still one of the best! Our guide was really quite funny. As we left the boat, it began raining in earnest. We began regretting the Seattle mentality that had prevented us from purchasing ponchos at the first sign of trouble.



We went across the lot to the California Adventure. Alan had never been. It isn't that great, in my opinion, on a good day. Mostly it's a water park, which is useless when it's raining. As the rain worsened, I voted for spending some time in the Aladdin show, which is very good, and all indoors. We dried our coats on the seats next to us as we watched their production, lamenting the size of their budget and the coolness of the special effects. Then we braced ourselves for the outdoors and went to the Muppets, but it was broken down for the moment. We went on the Monsters, Inc ride. We went into the almost identical Toy Story shooting gallery, and this time, I. Kicked. Alan's. Ass.

We made the circle of the boardwalk, which was mostly closed in the rain, and then went into the Bug's Life 3-D show. It was cute, but so scary for a little kid! Outside, there were Bug Musical Posters which were pretty cute. We decided that we were tired of being wet with nothing to do, so we left the park after dashing back to see if Miss Piggy was "over her tantrum" and caught the Muppets in 3-D.



It was dark, now. As long as we were out of the park, we decided to head into Downtown Disney to let Alan have a look around. We ended up eating dinner at the Blues Brothers Restaurant, and watching part of the Seahawks game. We went into a few gift shops on the way back - including the Disney one. I bought some Shortbread with a picture of Mickey in a Kilt for Alan's parents.

We went back into Disneyland. The rain had turned into torrential downpour with sideways driving rain. We barely made it into the park before we had to turn into the Abraham Lincoln show to get out of it. We, and a handful of other people also escaping, watched Abraham Lincoln's lifesize sculpture come to life and deliver a stirring patriotic speech with bald eagles flying across a screen behind him. We gift shop hopped our way back up main street, and then hit some kiddie rides with no waits. Our second snag of the day - Snow White broke down on us as soon as we got into the first room. Once again, we were the last people extracted from the ride.

Wet and miserable, but determined not to wuss out now, we ran to Adventureland. On the way we stopped in at the Saloon and had tea.



At Indiana Jones we could run up and get onto any car, any row we wanted. At Pirates of the Caribbean, they asked us if we'd like to stay on for a second turn. As we left, we decided that we'd eeked out enough fun from the day, and it would be nice to be dry again. At my insistence, we hopped a bus instead of walking, which turned out to be the wrong bus. Which meant we had to take the whole route, then return to Disneyland and catch a shuttle, which didn't go to our hotel, but one down the street. Alan was right. We should have just walked.

We picked up our car and drove to Burbank to find a hotel, found a really shady one, and fell asleep after draping our clothes over the heater to dry.