Disneyland trip Part 2 - Friday

[sugarplumkitty]

Friday, we all put on our special shirts and headed for Disneyland via Downtown Disney so we could get our lanyards to hold our fast passes and room keys. As we entered the main gate, a Disneyland employee took our picture with about five different cameras! LOL


With Beth N and Donna added to the "Wild Babes" group, we got fast passes to Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain for later in the day. We rode the train to Tomorrowland and rode Star Tours, went to the Tiki Room, rode Indiana Jones then headed up to Splash Mountain. The logs hold six people and we had seven. They split us into two groups and there was a log between us because of the two loading stations. That log was full of middle school aged boys who were loud and obnoxious, splashing each other and whooping. The first time the ride stopped, it was only for about 30 seconds. We were just about to head up the last hill. The second time we were the second log from the first splash down. It didn't start back up. We amused ourselves by looking for hidden Mickeys. There was one definite one in the rock face. After several minutes, a mechanic and a ride operator appeared. The mechanic told the boys "It was you who did it. We saw you on the cameras." I wasn't sure if he was serious. He was. The ride operator and the mechanic helped all of us climb out of the logs. While we were waiting, Karen and Joyce got my attention and wanted me to take their picture. I did. I've labeled who was in it. After the logs were empty, they led us down stairs and issued us fast passes to come back later when the ride was working again. They said it would take at least 30 minutes to clear all the sensors. That's when I asked if the boys really had stopped the ride. They said it was. There are sensors down under the water to stop the ride immediately if someone gets or falls out of a log. By scooping water to throw on each other, they tripped the sensors. "Thanks a lot!" I growled at them. The boys seemed to think it was funny and I got angry. I gave them "the look" and told them to stop messing around. They'd just ruined it for a LOT of people. They got quiet after that because a bunch of people were glaring at them. We got something cold to drink from the slowest booth in the world and Donna bought us all ice cream. Then we heard Splash Mountain working again. When the logs started having people in them again, we went back and rode it without incident. One of our party decided not to ride it because the seats hurt her tailbone. We were able to have our own log. We chipped in to get the official picture. I'll scan it later. Then we went to the Haunted Mansion. I rode with Joyce and we pointed out the hidden Mickeys we'd found. We met up with the "Mild Babes" to watch the fireworks from the main square. Hey! I'd forgotten to describe them in the Friday night post! The "Mild Babes" had insisted you could see the fireworks from the balcony of the hotel and they didn't think you needed to be there in the crowd to see them. We "Wild Babes" were on the Adventureland side of the main square for the fireworks on Thursday night. Once we'd been completely awed by them, we insisted the "Mild" group join us for Friday. The voice of Julie Andrews opens and closes them. Walt's own voice is part of it. The theme is 50 years of "E" ticket rides with the only non-ride being the electrical parade. The new paint job on the castle makes the show work REALLY well, because they do a lot of effects on the castle itself. They've added gold to all the turrets and trim. I really don't know if I can adequately explain how they make fireworks fit perfectly with the rides, but they do. Each ride is introduced by the introductory words you hear when the ride begins, then the theme music starts perfectly punctuated by appropriate fireworks. The electrical parade has vividly colored fireworks. Pirates has a jolly roger projected onto the Matterhorn and it is one of the "ships" that fires cannons. The other ship is somewhere near Indiana Jones. Fireballs fly over the crowd. Haunted Mansion has ghostly fireworks and projected ghosts on the castle with fire and blood red lighting near the end. Splash Mountain has happy face and swirly fireworks and pinwheels on the castle. Star Tours has a laser battle over the crowd with explosions where the lasers hit. It seems like I'm leaving some out but I can't remember them right now. The fireworks don't just happen over the castle and from far away. They also ring the square so there are times that you're surrounded by them. Far and away, the thing that amazed me most is how Tinkerbell doesn't just fly from the top of the Matterhorn to the top of the castle anymore. She flies back and forth over it! Until the fireworks were bright enough, I had no clue HOW she did that! She's flying with fireworks exploding not far away! WHOA! She disappears once the ride themes begin and reappears for the finale! WOW! After the fireworks, we tried to stay together to see Fantasmic but got separated in the insanity. Lordy, I wouldn't want to have a kid there for that. I'd be terrified of losing him or her! Three of us stayed in one group. We found another five before it began thanks to our cell phones. We couldn't hear them ring but could check for messages. After Fantasmic ended, the last two found us. Four of the group went back to the hotel and the rest of us went to Fantasyland to ride the kiddie rides. Only two of the group wanted to ride the teacups. Beth M kept trying to get me to ride with her, but I know once I ride them I'll be sick to my stomach for hours. I had to laugh after she and Donna got off. Beth said she's too old to do that anymore. They couldn't get their teacup to spin plus she got a bit queasy.

	Joyce and Me in our suite
	Group photo on Friday morning entering Disneyland
	Stuck on Splash Mountain
	Donna & Beth M. in Teacups

We rode Peter Pan (our favorite), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and the Storybook canal ride which is really cool at night. Then the park was closing, so we took the monorail back. Gena was hungry so five of us wandered in Downtown Disney looking at food. Gena got some jambalaya and the place that had that also had begnets (sp?). I'd never had one, but Karen and I saw some people come out to eat some. They said we HAD to try them. We decided to do it. I was wanting to try their bread pudding but decided to get the begnets so we could all try them. To our surprise, the menu said you got four of them in an order. I decided to get bread pudding to share instead. Gena didn't want a begnet, so it worked out. Mmmmm! I cut the bread pudding into five pieces and had five forks. It was ok, but not the best bread pudding I'd had. After that, all any of us had to do was to say "begnet" and the others would groan an "Mmmmmm." I got silly (punchy with exhaustion) and started blowing powdered sugar that was scattered on the table toward Carlene as she talked to Karen about something. I tried to get Joyce's attention and suddenly it all seemed incredibly funny. I got the giggles and couldn't stop for a while. Now, Eric is quite familiar with this phenomenon but it's a fairly recent thing for me. My girlfriends hadn't seen it before. I giggled halfway back to our room. "No more sugar for me!" I told them between fits.

We went back to our suite and talked until about 1:30AM. We debated about going to early toon town at 7AM. Terri was going and wanted all of us to go to pose with Mickey wearing our ears. We set our alarms for 5:30AM. My feet liked my new sandals very well and I didn't have any new blisters. In fact, the one blister I had from my running shoes disappeared. But still I was having some swelling from all the walking and my feet kept waking me up by aching.

Comments

[jenny-rambles.livejournal.com]

I've gone to DisneyWORLD a bunch - but never Disneyland. THose fireworks sound incredible - you make me wanna go just for that! :)

[sugarplumkitty.livejournal.com]

I wonder if Disneyworld is giving the same show? They've advertised that it's a world-wide celebration. I've never been to any other Disney park. Someday I hope to make it to Disneyworld. I hear my favorite old Carousel of Progress still lives there.

[jenny-rambles.livejournal.com]

I LOVE the carousel of progress. I heard they were removing it though - which would be a shame. I love the little song they sing. :)

[sugarplumkitty.livejournal.com]

Someone said they changed the song years ago. Does it still go:
"There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of every day
There's a great big beautiful tomorrow
and Tomorrow is just a dream away..."

[jenny-rambles.livejournal.com]

I think thats how it goes - I know it has "great big beautiful tomorrow" in it. I love that dog! :)

[sugarplumkitty.livejournal.com]

Me too! The one thing that sticks in my mind is the "boy-powered" vaccuum. LOL Kids back then worked hard.