But I’m No Expert

Ok, so I’ve been hounded into posting my second day’s stuff. The day after Christmas the expert wife, her sister, brother/musician-in-law, and a very single friend from Nashville (originally from CA) all met up and went to Disneyland. Having gone to DisneyWORLD about 15 years ago, for some reason I expected Disneyland to be the forgotten, red-headed stepchild compared to Florida’s Disney. Not a chance. In fact, it seems just as big, if not bigger, and my feet will testify to that. Unfortunately, since I’m not an expert, I did not bring another pair of shoes for this trip. I expected it to be moderately cool, so sandels were out, and I wear the same pair of shoes, pretty much all the time; so they “should” do just fine. Ok, let me explain something for the clueless out there: if you’ve sprainged (spelling?) your ankle recently and plan to spend lots of time walking – bring good shoes! My Docs are awesome shoes, but are in desparate need of replacement are a little worn out for walking around a theme park all day long. So yeah, my footsies were killing the entire day. But that was the only real downside.

While visiting Disneyland, we discovered these beautiful things called Fast Passes. These ingenious little tickets allow you to reserve a time to come back and skip the lines for a ride. It was funny to me that everything didn’t have a Fast Pass (even though I understand the logic), because the ones that did have it seemed to be the ones where the lines were the shortest, even if you just waited in line without a Fast Pass.

The rides…ah, the rides. Several minutes of adrenalized bliss, followed by more standing, walking, and foot aching. But completely worth it. I could give you a ride-by-ride detailing of the day, but that would take forever, so I’ll just give you the basics:

1. Space Mountain
2. Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters
3. Matterhorn
4. Lunch at the Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. I highly recommend the chicken burrito!
5. Mr Toad’s Wild Ride
6. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
7. Pirates of the Carribean

Cool ride, but not Fast Pass and we stood in line for at least an hour. The movies, I’m sure, have helped this ride’s popularity and parts of it are really impressive considering it was built in the 60’s. They have updated it with the new Johnny-Depp-alike Jack Sparrow. One of the coolest parts is there is a restaurant that seats inside the swamp part of the ride (very beginning).

1. Coffee Break at Burr-r-r Bank Ice Cream
2. Soarin’ Over California – what iMax is supposed to be!
3. Monsters Inc, Mike & Sulley to the Rescue
4. Muppet Vision 3D
5. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror – interesting note – the hotel this building is modeled after really exists. I saw the “Hollywood Tower” sign while gawking at the Hollywood sign from Hollywood and Vine.
6. Splash Mountain

Ok, I have to interject here. First off, don’t ride this ride if you have electronics. I had a big scare with my Treo 650 (I thought I would need it at some point during the day – nope!) and it getting wet. I think my battery just died around the same time cause it works fine now… Also, don’t EVER ride this thing after dark…especially in December. It’s not that cold in Southern Cali at this time of year, but it is miserably cold this time of year when you soaking wet after dark…and it’s breezy…

1. Dinner at the French Market Restaurant
2. Jungle Cruise
3. Star Tours
4. Holiday Fireworks Display
5. Fantasmic – really cool fireworks / projection / live action show on the water
6. Indiana Jones Adventure

Whew! I’m tired just thinking about it all. It was a very fun day and we are very grateful to our very single friend, Chris Thomas, for being our guide. I’m sure we would have missed most of the cool things this park has to offer if he weren’t telling us where to go, but I’m no expert.