Curse You Playlist.com!

Even though some of you are probably happy that the blog playlists don't automatically start anymore, I am very unhappy because I can't find our playlist!  We try to login to hear it, but it never works!  Oh well, I guess there's always YouTube or the old fashioned thing of actually buying CDs.  Is it too early to start my Christmas list?  

The Great Mouse Detective

We are almost to the "rejuvination of Disney", or in other words, "The Little Mermaid". In the meantime we have to watch "The Great Mouse Detective" and "Oliver and Company". Samantha has always liked "The Great Mouse Detective" and Luke is enjoying it because he is comparing it to Sherlock Holmes. His THICK book, which contains all of the unabridged Sherlock Holmes stories is his pride and joy.

some last misc. pictures & our tips for a Disneyland trip

Tom Sawyer Island

Toon Town

Mark Twain's River Boat

Samantha's favorite souvenir

The ride there was part of the fun

Some tips to consider if you are taking a Disneyland trip:

1. You are allowed to take in your own food and drinks.  Water bottles and a couple of snacks can save alot of money.

2.  Consider staying at a hotel a couple of miles away.  We found that the ones closest to Disneyland make you pay to park at the hotel, and then you still have to pay to take the shuttle or park at Disneyland. 

3.  If you park at Disneyland they allow you to come and go, paying the fee only once a day.

4.  The "World of Disney" store right outside of Disneyland has a bigger selection of souvenirs than any store inside the park.

5.  USE THE FAST PASSES!  I didn't understand until I got there that the fast passes are available to everyone, at no additional cost.  Instead of waiting in a long line you can put your ticket into the fast pass machine and get a card telling you what time to come back.  When you come back you get straight onto the ride.

the shows

One of the best thing about Disneyland parks are the shows - big and small.  We enjoyed the various performers that went around the park, like a barbershop quartet and an All-Star college band that did an Earth Wind and Fire medely. At California adventure they had a band from the 20s era driving around singing "Aint We Got Fun" and other stuff.  So good!

Then there was the "Mickey's Soundsational Parade" at Disneyland:

The "Aladdin" play at California Adventure that had a whole theatre built just for it: It was a great play with a Genie almost as funny as Robin Williams himself.

The Muppets theatre where they had a 3D movie:

And then there were the biggest ones:  The Fireworks show over the Sleeping Beauty Castle and Fantasmic at the river at Disneyland, and The World of Color at California Adventure.  I have to admit, these shows caused us some stress.  I guess you can see the fireworks show from pretty much anywhere, and if your close enough you can see Tinkerbell, Dumbo, etc. flying around the castle.

 For Fantasmic and World of Color it is hit-or-miss to be able to see those.  We got some good seats for Fantasmic early on, but then a half an hour before the show were told no-one could sit there.  By sheer luck we were herded into a valid spot for the second showing, but it was an area where you sat on the ground.  It was worth it - with Malificent breathing fire onto the river and a pirate ship coming around the corner with the Peter Pan characters having a battle on top and Mark Twain's River Boat sailing by with all the heroes waving at you - but sitting on the ground for an hour and a half is not the easiest thing for my middle-aged self!  But like I said, I'm glad it worked out and we saw it.

At California Adventure it seemed that seeing "World of Color" was going to work out better.  Reggie got us a Fast Passes in the morning, meaning that an hour before the show started we were allowed into the best viewing area.  Here it would be standing only, but we got to sit down (on a softer ground) while waiting for the show to start.  We had fun talking to the other families in our area.  However, about 15 minutes before the show was to start I saw a family from far away pointing at our area.  I told the kids to hurry and stand up where we wanted to be so that people couldn't come and move in at the last minute.  That worked out for us, but the family did come and move in in front of alot of the other families that had been there for a while.  Since everyone was to stand to watch the show, any kids in the second row and beyond couldn't see past the adults in front of them.  That made me mad and I wanted to kick that family out of there, but decided that I needed to focus on my family and not worry about the rest.  Eventually I was able to make room for one more little one to move up to the front next to us.

It was an amazing show!  I didn't take any pictures once it got started because I didn't want my camera to get wet, but who knew that water could be so pretty and that you could use it like a movie screen?

Cars Land

A few days before we got there a new land opened up at California Adventure: Cars Land. It was impressive - you really felt like you were stepping into the Pixar "Cars" movie.

The down side of it was that it was SO crowded.  We got on a couple of rides, but the best looking one - "Radiator Springs" -  had more than a four hour wait to it at all times - with just as long a wait for the fast passes.  We expect that ride will calm down in a couple of years!

Some other things we loved about California Adventure was the Hollywood area, the "Soaring Over California" which was an IMAX kind of movie that made you feel like you were hang-gliding, the river rafting ride and the Paridise Pier, which had a beach boardwalk feel to it. They found a "California Screaming" roller coaster there that they just loved and I especially liked the new "Little Mermaid" ride.

Hospitality

We had 3 day Park Hopper passes for our Disneyland vacation, and we were determined to take advantage of them for as much time as we could.  We walked into Disneyland at 7:45 Monday morning even though they didn't officially open until 8. It was empty!  We figured this was because everyone was trying to get into the new land at California Adventure (Cars Land which we'll blog about later) .We got on some of our favorite rides right away:

INDIANA JONES:  Disney even makes standing in line fun by having the theme of the ride throughout the area were you are waiting.  Even though there was hardly any line at all, we enjoyed the decor. 

PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN

Even though this is one of the original rides it is very different now.  Most of it is centered around/decorated to represent the movie.  If you are a fan of Johnny Depp/Jack Sparrow you will love this ride even more.

THE HAUNTED MANSION

As fun and creepy as ever.  Samantha was a good sport about going on it.

BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD

 Samantha's favorite ride of all. They were able to go on it 4 times throughout our trip. (Once was enough for me, as I don't have the equilibrium for roller coasters anymore. But that made it convenient for me to take more pictures and get more Fast Passes, which we will blog about later.)


SPLASH MOUNTAIN

My favorite!

As we enjoyed the rides we noticed how clean everything was and how hospitable the workers were. Every worker was in a good mood and had a good attitude, whether they were working the lines, serving food or directing traffic.  It made a great vacation even better.  And I've only begun to blog about it!

Disneyland/California Adventure

I'm afraid I will be posting several of the 325 pictures we took on our trip - later.  But for now I'll just say that it's been a wonderful week!

More Disney movie reviews

The Rescuers was cute, The Fox and the Hound was sad, and the Black Cauldron was kind of creepy. Can't wait for number #28 - The Little Mermaid! But, we have a goal to watch all of the 50 animated feature legnth films in Disney's history, so we'll keep going! And even though it's out of order we decided to watch The Princess & The Frog, for the fun of it, since Reggie went to New Orleans.  I think that movie is one of the best - right up there with Beauty and the Beast and a hundred times better than Tangled. I'm surprised we don't hear more about it.

 But next up is one of Samantha's favorite: The Great Mouse Detective.

Luke's Promotion Ceremony

We made him 2 candy leis and then he got one from the
school as well.  His classmates thought he was pretty
lucky.  When I left (the kids are having an ice cream party)
he already had one open.  He wasn't hungry for breakfast
of course.  Oh well!

I don't know why he isn't holding up his promotion certificate like the other
kids are - I promise he got one!  But it actually meant me getting a really good
shot of him.

I had to get a picture of him in front of his favorite thing
about his classroom:  the smart-board.  It was great for
educational purposes, and for movies this last week of school.

I asked the teacher if Luke could take a picture with her
and she said "Oh Luke, my reader.  Promise me you will
remember me when you are a famous author".  I liked that.