We both slept really well last night, and were up early for our last day at Disneyland. Breakfast was so crowded and crazy that we took our disposable bowls and ate our cereal while we walked. It’s frustrating me how disposable everything is here. Even at restaurants, it’s all packaged.
When we arrived at Disneyland, the queues to get in were much longer than the same time two days ago. We lucked out when more queues were opened to our left and we were able to cut out half the queue.
Today, we went straight to the ‘Star Wars’ Smuggler’s Run ride. I did some research, and to make way for the ‘Star Wars’ area, Disney got rid of the Thunder Ranch (it had a kid’s zoo, restaurant etc) and some offices and warehouses. They had to purchase some surrounding properties to relocate the offices and warehouses.
This time, we got to be pilots and we rode with a family from Geelong who were VERY into ‘Star Wars’. They got so into it that it was lots more fun, and Rob and I drove the Millenium Falcon. We only crashed a few times!! Funnily, the Dad in the family attended the same high school as Rob.
Next we went on Pirates one last time, and had no queue. This was lucky as we found the crowds today to be much worse than Friday at Disneyland. Later in the day, the queue stretched all the way up to and nearly merged with The Haunted Mansion. Then we drove the Autopia cars, and then fast passed Space Mountain. After that, we went on the Nemo submarines and walked through the ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Castle.
Then we fast passed ‘Indiana Jones’ before doing a loop on the Disneyland Railway. It was closed last time I was here and we both really enjoyed it! It was at this point that the crowds got crazy. It was even hard to walk from place to place, so the train was a good option.
Next up we fast passed The Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain, before meandering leisurely down Main Street USA and checking out the shops. We watched the man in the silhouette shop carving silhouettes, watched some original Mickey cartoons from the 1920s in the cinema and then watched ‘Great Moments with Mr Lincoln’. Just as great as I remember - he looks like a real person even though he’s an animatronic from the 1960s. In the foyer here we found the exhibitions about ‘The Haunted Mansion’ 50th anniversary and the original layout of the park interesting.
Then we fast passed Thunder Mountain before waiting to watch the parade again. We enjoyed it so much last time that we decided to watch again! While we sat and waited, we marvelled at how clean and well organised the park is. It was so full today but still sparkling clean and full of happy, smiling staff. If someone spills something, a cleaner pops up within a minute and cleans it up. The parade was fantastic again, and I had fun watching the pure joy on various kids’ faces as different floats approaches. It was beautiful!
We headed to It’s A Small World, before just wandering through the Star Wars land. We discovered a couple of places we hadn’t seen, and Rob loved it. We checked out a few shops, then got dinner and headed back for a quick rest. At 7.30, we headed back to Disneyland for the fireworks. There were projections on the Main Street buildings and the castle, it was all magical! They also had fake snow in the streets.
We went on the Astro Blasters and then to a Star Wars bar that Rob was really excited about called Olga's. They wouldn’t let us buy a drink though as we didn’t have our passport with us. Our very last ride was Thunder Mountain twice more (no queue at 11pm!). So much fun! On the way we watched a bit of Fantasmic again.
So that’s a wrap on Disneyland for visit number three. As always, it was hard to leave. It’s such a happy and amazing place that transports you back to that childhood excitement feeling. I’m so glad I got to share it with Rob this time. By my estimates we had 52 rides, saw three night shows and various other acts in our three days here. Fast pass max pass was well worth it, as we used it for 24 of our 52 rides. As I always do when I leave this wonderful place, I wonder when I’ll be back. I hope it’s sooner rather than later, but there are plenty more amazing places to come on this trip!!
See you in Hollywood tomorrow!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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