Disneyland!
I haven't been to Disneyland in something like six years, and before that I hadn't been in several years. I went all the time when I was a kid but growing up in Southern California tends to do that to you. I usually enjoyed myself a good deal for a decent amount of the time. The two major roadblocks to enjoyment were my dad and exhaustion.
Whenever my dad took us to Disneyland, he became like the ultimate kid. He'd rush us from ride to ride and wouldn't lose energy at all. We always went on weekends (the most crowded times) and there was no such thing as the FastPass system so lines were just long and there was no way around it for the major rides. After a while though my dad was bound to have one of his temper tantrums. This usually got bad toward the end of the day. He always wanted to stay till closing but by that point his wife, my half brother and half sister and I were all exhausted. We wanted nothing more than to have been in bed a few hours before. So he would rail at us for not having fun.
Well, my dad wasn't a part of Disneyland yesterday; no other adult worked out the details or drove me anywhere. I got some free tickets from some excellent friends of mine and since Nathan's now out of work, we went. The drives over and back were pretty decent and the huge parking structure they have is so damned organized it amazed me. That structure wasn't there the last time I went (then again, neither was California Adventure) but they still have the trams that lead you to the park. They even sound the same.
We decided to try out California Adventure first since neither of us had been there and we had tickets that let us into both parks. We also found out that it was closing at 6, so we figured we'd do everything there first and then go into Disneyland. The new park has some almost carnival-like rides (like the swings that are raised up in the air, and a Ferris wheel) but we weren't very interested in those.
The real gems of the park are California Screamin' and flying over California. The California Screamin' ride is one of the few real rollercoasters on the property and it's pretty neat. It has bursts of speed where you don't expect them, some decent drops, one loop, and it doesn't seem too short. The flying over California ride did seem too short but was very, very cool while it lasted. The people in front of us had just gotten done and got right back on. It's like Star Tours in that it's all based on illusion; unlike Star Tours its motion isn't violent. Even though I can have problems with heights, once I realized how close the floor we were going to remain, I was perfectly content. And it was beautiful!
We had lunch at this lovely Italian place and could have had all the wine we wanted to drink, provided we felt like paying wine prices. It was nice to have the option, though. There weren't a whole lot of rides in the new park but it was cute and we were glad we tried it out. We were happy to go back into the old park, which I remembered like the back of my hand. Nathan mentioned that the park used to seem so huge to him; when we were kids, it was a real trek from one side to the other. Now it seems smaller all around - the lot isn't as huge, a lot of the rides have smaller seating, you get the idea. We weren't exactly like Gulliver but we felt the difference. We also both noticed that the Matterhorn wasn't as fast as we remembered (whereas the Peter Pan ride was way shorter than I recalled).
One of the things that was most awesome was that I got to show Nathan some rides for the first time. He'd never been on the Indiana Jones ride (which is okay), but he'd also never been on Star Tours or Space Mountain. Star Tours is always cute and a little brief, but to be able to see his first reaction to Space Mountain was perfect. For the record, since I first tried it out, Space Mountain has been my favorite ride in the park. It still is, with California Screamin' coming in a close second. But it's always as good and fast and neat-looking as I remember. The first time I went up the ramp into a room full of swirling stars I just gaped at it, and it still makes me happy. Nathan had a lot of fun on it, too.
We only had to get one FastPass the whole day since the lines were usually short. (This was the first time that Nathan had seen the FastPass system; he liked how it got us to the front of the line so smoothly.) Most of the rides now have displays that estimate how long the wait is, which is a great new addition. Going on a Thursday and getting started around noon worked like a charm for avoiding the crowds. It also helped that I remembered where everything was, and I guess I felt a bit like my dad in that I had all kinds of energy. Nathan said he wasn't used to having to keep up with me but I buzzed around the park smiling for most of the day.
Though we stopped to have something refreshing to drink, we only ate at the park once; we just weren't hungry. I wish I had been so I could have gotten a funnel cake, but oh well. We had to use some sunblock but not a whole lot and for most the day there was just a tiny hint of chill in the air. It got cold at dark, though.
I did get to rediscover why I hate Disneyland parades. I have never been a parade person and so many of their parades cut the park in half, blocking my ability to get to rides. It's always frustrating to have to deal with the walls of people and the slow moving veins of traffic that don't really go anywhere until the parade is completely done in that section. I really miss the Skyway sometimes because it would take you over the whole park and bypass all of that crap. We did manage to get to Star Tours just in time for a very short wait. We would've capped the day with Space Mountain but it was closed. We noticed that some of the signs said that they were going to close some of the rides early for the fireworks. They never did that when I was a kid and I didn't like the idea at all. Not everyone is interested in the fireworks and while some folks hang around to watch, the others could be merrily dashing from one ride to the next. But it was okay, because we were exhausted anyway.
We had to wait in line to get onto the trams; there was a decent crowd of people already gathered to go back to the parking structure. We were so tired that there was no way we were going to try to walk it and it's set far enough away that it would have been a rather decent walk. The folks right in front of us had a big stroller and when they saw they wouldn't fit, they let us go ahead of them. All in all we were obscenely grateful to be sitting down in the car and heading home. I think this was the most fun I've ever had at Disneyland and I know a lot of it was due to Nathan being with me.
P.S. - Thank you again Infomom!
Whenever my dad took us to Disneyland, he became like the ultimate kid. He'd rush us from ride to ride and wouldn't lose energy at all. We always went on weekends (the most crowded times) and there was no such thing as the FastPass system so lines were just long and there was no way around it for the major rides. After a while though my dad was bound to have one of his temper tantrums. This usually got bad toward the end of the day. He always wanted to stay till closing but by that point his wife, my half brother and half sister and I were all exhausted. We wanted nothing more than to have been in bed a few hours before. So he would rail at us for not having fun.
Well, my dad wasn't a part of Disneyland yesterday; no other adult worked out the details or drove me anywhere. I got some free tickets from some excellent friends of mine and since Nathan's now out of work, we went. The drives over and back were pretty decent and the huge parking structure they have is so damned organized it amazed me. That structure wasn't there the last time I went (then again, neither was California Adventure) but they still have the trams that lead you to the park. They even sound the same.
We decided to try out California Adventure first since neither of us had been there and we had tickets that let us into both parks. We also found out that it was closing at 6, so we figured we'd do everything there first and then go into Disneyland. The new park has some almost carnival-like rides (like the swings that are raised up in the air, and a Ferris wheel) but we weren't very interested in those.
The real gems of the park are California Screamin' and flying over California. The California Screamin' ride is one of the few real rollercoasters on the property and it's pretty neat. It has bursts of speed where you don't expect them, some decent drops, one loop, and it doesn't seem too short. The flying over California ride did seem too short but was very, very cool while it lasted. The people in front of us had just gotten done and got right back on. It's like Star Tours in that it's all based on illusion; unlike Star Tours its motion isn't violent. Even though I can have problems with heights, once I realized how close the floor we were going to remain, I was perfectly content. And it was beautiful!
We had lunch at this lovely Italian place and could have had all the wine we wanted to drink, provided we felt like paying wine prices. It was nice to have the option, though. There weren't a whole lot of rides in the new park but it was cute and we were glad we tried it out. We were happy to go back into the old park, which I remembered like the back of my hand. Nathan mentioned that the park used to seem so huge to him; when we were kids, it was a real trek from one side to the other. Now it seems smaller all around - the lot isn't as huge, a lot of the rides have smaller seating, you get the idea. We weren't exactly like Gulliver but we felt the difference. We also both noticed that the Matterhorn wasn't as fast as we remembered (whereas the Peter Pan ride was way shorter than I recalled).
One of the things that was most awesome was that I got to show Nathan some rides for the first time. He'd never been on the Indiana Jones ride (which is okay), but he'd also never been on Star Tours or Space Mountain. Star Tours is always cute and a little brief, but to be able to see his first reaction to Space Mountain was perfect. For the record, since I first tried it out, Space Mountain has been my favorite ride in the park. It still is, with California Screamin' coming in a close second. But it's always as good and fast and neat-looking as I remember. The first time I went up the ramp into a room full of swirling stars I just gaped at it, and it still makes me happy. Nathan had a lot of fun on it, too.
We only had to get one FastPass the whole day since the lines were usually short. (This was the first time that Nathan had seen the FastPass system; he liked how it got us to the front of the line so smoothly.) Most of the rides now have displays that estimate how long the wait is, which is a great new addition. Going on a Thursday and getting started around noon worked like a charm for avoiding the crowds. It also helped that I remembered where everything was, and I guess I felt a bit like my dad in that I had all kinds of energy. Nathan said he wasn't used to having to keep up with me but I buzzed around the park smiling for most of the day.
Though we stopped to have something refreshing to drink, we only ate at the park once; we just weren't hungry. I wish I had been so I could have gotten a funnel cake, but oh well. We had to use some sunblock but not a whole lot and for most the day there was just a tiny hint of chill in the air. It got cold at dark, though.
I did get to rediscover why I hate Disneyland parades. I have never been a parade person and so many of their parades cut the park in half, blocking my ability to get to rides. It's always frustrating to have to deal with the walls of people and the slow moving veins of traffic that don't really go anywhere until the parade is completely done in that section. I really miss the Skyway sometimes because it would take you over the whole park and bypass all of that crap. We did manage to get to Star Tours just in time for a very short wait. We would've capped the day with Space Mountain but it was closed. We noticed that some of the signs said that they were going to close some of the rides early for the fireworks. They never did that when I was a kid and I didn't like the idea at all. Not everyone is interested in the fireworks and while some folks hang around to watch, the others could be merrily dashing from one ride to the next. But it was okay, because we were exhausted anyway.
We had to wait in line to get onto the trams; there was a decent crowd of people already gathered to go back to the parking structure. We were so tired that there was no way we were going to try to walk it and it's set far enough away that it would have been a rather decent walk. The folks right in front of us had a big stroller and when they saw they wouldn't fit, they let us go ahead of them. All in all we were obscenely grateful to be sitting down in the car and heading home. I think this was the most fun I've ever had at Disneyland and I know a lot of it was due to Nathan being with me.
P.S. - Thank you again Infomom!