We're going to Disneyland!!

Sean is undoubtedly not a morning person. And after a late flight from San Francisco and a long drive to Anaheim (involving circling the LAX loop twice), you could understand anyone wanting to sleep in.

Unless...................

YOU'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even at 6am, Sean is stoked!

What's more, we had a three day pass, which included a "Magic Morning". This enabled us to enter the park an hour early on one day of our visit. Given our adrenaline levels were right up there, we thought, why not Day 1?

So Sean was up and at 'em!!

We were staying at the most excellent Candy Cane Inn, which is less than a 10 minute walk from the main gates. Go us! In no time, we were at the park.

WHOO-HA!!

The Magic Morning atmosphere was electric! At 8am, the crowd counted down, the gates opened, and we cheered as we entered "The Happiest Place on Earth".

Okay, if I'm totally frank about it, I hadn't been overly thrilled at the idea of Disneyland.

Having been to Disneyworld (Florida) in 1994 on Spring Break when I was the University of Miami, I thought I'd "done" Disney - and the bigger, better Disney, at that. And I'm not 19 any more, so I thought I'd find it superficial and saccharine this time around. Plus, I was a little jaded by the whole Australians-go-to-Disneyland-and-think-they've-seen-the-U.S.A. attitude. It's kind of like the reverse, when the U.S. folks fly into Sydney en route to the Great Barrier Reef and think they've seen Australia, only worse, because Disneyland isn't real.

So it was really only because Sean was keen to check out the Disney thing that we included Disneyland on our itinerary.

And I have to totally hand it to Sean.

Disneyland ROCKS.

For a start, it's the original park, so the atmosphere is so much better than at Disneyworld. Second, because it's smaller, it feels more intimate, and you can really immerse and lose yourself in each of the "lands". Thirdly, the staff are super friendly. Fourth, it's amazing what a total suspension of reality can do to your mood. It's impossible to be down in Disneyland. Finally, I was afraid it would be tacky and crass. It's not. It's so well done, to the extent that the designers ensure you cannot see any other "land" from the one you're in. The music in each "land" gradually fades as you leave and segues into that from the "land" which you are entering. The landscaping is superb. The maintainence is first class (I've never seen cleaner public toilets). And with that California sun beating down, it's great to have water fountains everywhere, and healthy, reasonably priced food options. 

You can be cynical, aloof and sophisticated about it, but you'd be missing an incredible experience.

It was insanely brilliant, and we both had an absolute ball. There wasn't a single minute of the three days that we didn't enjoy ourselves. By the end of the three days, we were singing along to every song on the rides, and we were waving happily to animatronic characters. Cynicism and sophistication be damned.

Caveat: I took over 500 photos on EACH of our 3 days in Disney, but fear not, I've cut it to la creme de la creme. As such, this is not a chronology of each and every ride (particularly because we went on some of them, ahem, four times).

Okay, so we skipped through the gates on Magic Morning, straight onto Main Street, where Sean's jaw hit the deck. Yes, Sean, Disneyland is no ordinary amusement park. The colours, the level of detail and the theming are like nothing else on earth. But hurry along, it's time to make the most of the empty park and get on the big rides. Sean's head was rotating like a gyroscope, but I gently poked and shepherded him in the direction of the biggest attractions.

Unfortunately, Adventureland, home of the Indiana Jones ride, wasn't open until 9am, so it was straight to Space Mountain.

Novelty shot: NO QUEUE!!!! Rare sight at Disneyland.

(Actually, the queue logistics themselves are quite fascinating. I was enthralled trying to nut out their rat maze algorithms for making the most of the space and for changing the stucture of the queue according to the crowd intensity. It was kind of like a ride in itself).

As we headed into Space Mountain, Sean said, "I'm not actually sure what Space Mountain involves".

"Do you want me to tell you?" I asked. "Sure", he replied. "Okay. It's a rollercoaster in the dark".

I really dig Space Mountain, and it was certainly the ride of the 80's and 90's, but it's perhaps been eclipsed by the likes of Indiana Jones. Sean had fun, but we agreed once was enough.

Next up, we headed to the new Buzz Lightyear right, where we rode in little carts and tried to shoot at targets with ray guns. Sean whipped my butt.

We then hopped over to Fantasyland and the Matterhorn bobsleds. I really like this rollercoaster/semi-flume through a replica of Switzerland's Matterhorn. It's like a combination of Splash Mountain and Indiana Jones, with about a tenth of the drenching and about a third of the thrill.

It was almost 9am, so it was time head over to Adventureland and a date with Indy. We passed Storybook Land on the way:

It seems everyone had the same idea about getting into Adventureland right on 9am:

Nonetheless, we basically walked straight onto Indy and loved it so much we vowed to ride it as much as possible for the duration.

So we grabbed a Fast Pass. This is a relatively new concept at Disney, and it is the best thing since shaded queue lines. Basically, you stick your ticket in a vending machine, which gives you a "Fast Pass" coupon allowing you to return to the ride within a specified hour. You then have access to a priority queue that is much faster than the "standby" queue. Fast Passing saves you so much time in the park. Most excellent.

Okay, next up was Finding Nemo. This ride used to be known as "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" aka Jules Verne, and I recalled it as being pretty lame. But another great thing about Disney is their constant updating and re-badging. This quasi-submarine ride was now themed to "Finding Nemo" and it was far more fun, although it was perhaps the only time I was put off by the artificiality. All that fake coral made me homesick for the real Great Barrier Reef, which is far more beautiful than any copy.

While in the queue, these seagulls constantly caw "Mine, mine, mine", like in the movie. The hilarious part was, there was a real seagull on the buoy! Look below the fake gulls:

The Finding Nemo lake afforded great views of the Matterhorn!

Then it was back to Tomorrowland, because we had a Fast Pass for Autopia.

But I don't really know why we bothered. Autopia = driving around in a little car on a rail track, with a maximum speed of maybe 15kph. The motorway is fun, but it was probably the only really "meh" ride we experienced (including the kiddie rides). 

On the way to Mickey's Toon Town, we passed "It's a Small World". This ride drives me kind of berko, because of the endless repetition of the first verse of the song, and because this is perhaps the only instance of crassness in all of Disneyland. It's Walt's interpretation of the world's different cultures. Walt was a tad messed up, methinks. I couldn't stomach "It's a Small World" in the morning, so I told Sean we'd return later.

Meanwhile, in Toon Town, it was colour and fun to the max. In fact, it was hard to tell where the cartoons ended and reality began. For example, the sky below is real. The hills are not.

Toon Town is hilarious. You can blow things up!

How do you like my stylin' new look?

 We visited Mickey's house.

Once we'd toured the premises, we got to meet the mouse himself! Today he was dressed in his "Fantasia" incarnation:

Starstruck, we headed back outside. This is Mickey's house and car:

And this is Goofy's. 

On to Roger Rabbit's Toon Spin. This is another Fast Pass ride, but we were so early, we practically hopped straight on. This was a wild "taxi ride" through Toon Town, being flung at crazy angles while being assaulted with riotous colour.

And here I am with a fountain likeness of Roger.

More stylin' head gear. I like this one!

Back out in the middle of the park, here's Walt with Mickey. We salute thee, Walt (Small World notwithstanding).

And here we are in front of the infamous Sleeping Beauty Castle. See what I mean about the gorgeous landscaping?

Back on Main Street, we ran into Minnie! (In Disneyworld, I remembered it being really hard to meet the characters - and Minnie refused to have a photo with me because her meet 'n' greet stint was over. Here, we were almost bumping into characters on every corner).

Ninety minutes before the parade, we grabbed a prime, front row, in-the-gutter spot on the shady side of Main Street and decamped.

It was worth the wait. We kicked off with Mickey and Minnie, who apparently keep very busy schedules!

Here's Ariel (I still have "Under the Sea" going through my head - but infinitely preferable to "It's a Small World")

The Princess Float, with Cinderella, and Belle from "Beauty and the Beast".

The Lion King - my favourite.

An alligator and his trumpet on the "Peter Pan" float. 

A butterfly!

We headed back to Adventureland after the parade, and ran into none other than Jasmine and Aladdin. I asked them if they ever accidentally sign their real names in kids' autograph albums, to which they repeatedly affirmed that they really were Jasmine and Aladdin. I guess the first rule for Disney cast members is to never break character!!!

Me in a teacup. I liked this one. It didn't spin.

In the ones that DID spin!! Luckily Sean took it easy with me.

So I'm actually loving it, as opposed to throwing up!

This has to be one of the most photogenic of the rides:

But I have a super-soft spot for Dumbo. If it wasn't for Sean helping me edit the photos, you'd be seeing about a dozen shots of the Dumbo ride. Thanks, Sean!

Fly, Dumbo, fly!

You can't be in Fantasyland and not ride King Arthur's Carousel. Sean also had a go at pulling Excalibur from the stone, but no dice. Guess he's not the future king. 

Once Fantasyland had worked its magic on me, I relented and agreed to go on "It's a Small World". We sat behind one of the Disney I.T. guys, who was there with his daughter. He told us there were 38,000 staff at the parks. Amazing!

Anyway, yes, "It's a Small World" is colourful and fun, I'll give you that.

But here is Walt's representation of Australia. I ask you.

Please find in the above photo: one pink kangaroo, three gaudy koalas, some weird and culturally incorrect totem poles and one poor Aboriginal doll wielding a boomerang.

The cultural crassness and the endless repetitions of that darn song were getting too much!! Get me off of this thing!

Dusk was falling on Sleeping Beauty's castle as we left Fantasyland.

We decided to have a quick burrito here at Racho de Zachalo over in New Orleans Square.

 Yum!

But before that, we decided to have one quick match up with my favourite, Splash Mountain, in Critter Country. Did I mention how each ride is themed? Each and every one is visually spectacular. "Splash Mountain" is themed to "Song of the South", with Brer Rabbit being pursued by Brer Fox, with cameos from Brer Bear (and his butt). 

I asked for a front-of-log-seat!! LOVING IT!!!

The best bit was, it's so warm in southern California that you dry off almost straight away. Sadly, Sean got his shoes wet, which may have been responsible for the cold he started a few days later. But so much fun!

Although we were both soaked, we couldn't help but sing gustily along to "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" all the way to the end of the ride.

Brer Fox, you can throw me into the Briar Patch any time!!

Here's the Haunted Mansion, looking spooky at dusk. We rode it straight after "Pirates of the Caribbean", which messed with my body clock because you complete the ride in an artifically generated Blue Bayou night, with twinkling stars. Then you come out into daylight and it's super confusing on the old pineal gland! There was more singing on "Pirates" - "Yo ho, ho ho, it's a Pirate's Life for Me". The animatronic Jack Sparrow looked SO much like the real Johnny Depp that we were almost convinced he real!

Back at Racho de Zachalo we hastily ate our burrito and squelched our way to the Frontierland lake in time for the Fantasmic Show. This was amazing! Pyrotechnics, buccaneers, mist projections and effects galore!

All the Disney characters were aboard the "Mark Twain" and waved to us.

 Mickey defeated all the bad dudes and worked his Fantasia magic!

And then it was time to dash to Main Street for a prime view of the 9:30pm fireworks. These were totally lavish and utterly magical. By the time Tinkerbell flew to the top of the castle, you almost could believe that, when you wished upon a star, your dreams would come true.

The fireworks finished around 10pm, which still gave us 2 hours until the park closed. Never mind that we'd been there since 8am. It was time for MORE RIDES!!!

Back to Indy on a Fast Pass.

Can you tell I'm having the time of my life?

Awwwww. How can you not get sentimental when you see this?

Into Tomorrowland for a ride on the rocket ships! It's just like Dumbo's Flying Ride, only for boys.

We were tempted to Build Our Own Lightsabers. Unfortunately, the new and improved "Star Tours" ride was due to open on the Friday that we were leaving. I tried to whore our nationality to get a preview ticket, but Aussies are a dime a dozen here, so no dice.

Towards the end of the night, I convinced Sean to check out the retro but much-loved 3D movie "Captain EO", featuring Michael Jackson when he still had a nose and brown skin.

Main Street by night. It was hard to leave! Thank goodness we still had two days ahead of us.

Five minutes later, we were back at Candy Cane Inn, which was lit almost as prettily as Main Street. We hit the sack after 16 hours of non-stop Disneyland fun. Tomorrow, California Adventure!!!