Disneyland Day 2 - Part Two

We decided to check out some of the attractions at Disney's California Adventure this evening. We rode the Monsters Inc. dark ride, saw Muppet Vision 3D, and did Tower of Terror. Then we tried to use our Soarin FP, but thd ride broke down and closed right as we were about to get on. They gave us a special fast pass that was good for any one ride in the park (today only), but it excluded Toy Story Mania.

After that we went to dinner at Storytellers Cafe and they had both a buffet and a regular menu to pick from. We were starving, and the buffet looked good so we chose that. It turned out being good, but not the best Disney buffet by far.

After dinner we explored the Paradise Pier section. We rode Mickeys Fun Wheel, which has a very slow moving line but it was pretty fun - we chose to ride in a swinging gondola, and it moved pretty fast. Next we did the big coaster, California Screamin, and that was really good and it was only a 10 minute wait! The Toy Story line was still really long so we headed back to Soarin to try again. We used our special fast pass and got to ride.

Next we decided to head back over to Disneyland to catch the fireworks. We had some time to kill so we rode the Matterhorn again and then found a spot to watch the fireworks. Disneyland sets up the designated walkways and viewing areas much better than WDW. We waited for about 20 minutes, and watched the show. It was good- Tinkerbell's part is much more elaborate and Dumbo comes out too! We had to learn our lesson though, because our viewing spot was severely hindered by a big tree which blocked most of the big fireworks. So we have 2 more nights to do that better. After the fireworks it was a real crowd mess, so we decided to just find a snack and take it easy.

That's all for now! Sorry for the lack of picture this time. It's hard to remember to take a few with my iPhone since I'm always using the Canon. Tomorrow we are doing California Adventure at opening, and I'll get a few pictures to upload.

Sent from my iPhone

Disneyland Day 2 - Part One

Today was another great day in Disneyland. We decided to take advantage of the "Magic Morning" early entry. We got up at 6am and ate a quick breakfast in the room. By 6:45, we were at the turnstile line, and first in our line!

I got some awesome pictures of Sleeping Beauty castle and main street with no crowds. We rode A LOT!!

Here's the full list (in order):

Matterhorn Bobsleds
Peter Pan's Flight
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride
Finding Nemo Submarines
Space Mountain
Buzz Light Year Astro Blasters
Star Tours
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Pinnochio's Daring Journey
Storybook Land Canal Boats
Alice In Wonderland
Mad Tea Party
Roger Rabbit Car Toon Spin
Small World
Pirates of the Caribbean
Tiki Birds
Captain EO
Space Mountain (FP)
Indiana Jones (FP)

Here's a picture of Brad as we were waiting to ride Snow White.

We had lunch at Carnation Cafe on Main Street. The seating was all outdoors, which works well here because the weather is so nice. I had the Smoked Turkey sandwich (on pretzel bread) with fruit, and Brad had the Cafe Steak Melt with potato salad. It was very good! But then again, we were very hungry due to all the morning activity.

Right now we're back at our room, resting up for tonight's activities. I'll post an update when we get back tonight! Hope everyone is enjoying the pictures and trip report!

Disneyland Day 1

Today was our very first time to visit Disneyland Resort. It was a very long day!

It all started at about 3:15am (central) when my alarm woke me. We left the house at 5am to get to the airport for our 7am flight, nonstop to LAX. Our flight was on time and we even reached the gate 10 minutes early. We landed in Los Angeles at 8:25 (pacific). By 9:30, we were already checking in at Disney's Grand Californian Hotel. Our room would not be ready until about 4pm, so we checked our bags with bell services and walked right over to Disneyland park. We were amazed at how close everything is here. Our hotel has an entry point right in the middle of Downtown Disney, and it's less than 5 minutes to make it to Disneyland.

By 10am, we had made it inside. The crowds were still pretty light, so we were able to see several attractions. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean (much better than at WDW), then the Haunted Mansion (different than WDW but comparable), and Winnie the Pooh (not as good as WDW according to Brad because you don't get to "bounce with Tigger"). Then we took a break for lunch. We ate at the Golden Horseshoe, and saw a performance by Billy Hill & The Hillbillies. It was great! By now it was just before noon. We tried to get FP's for Space Mountain but it was closed, and the Matterhorn line was really long. So we headed back over to get FP's for Big Thunder and use our FP's for Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones is very similar to the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom (you're in a vehicle, taking quick turns and bouncing around). I liked it, but I think the story in Dinosaur is much better. Next we rode the train around the whole park, to kill time before our Big Thunder FP's. Finally we rode Thunder Mountain and it was very similar to WDW's version. We then headed back to the hotel to rest and explore, hoping that our room would be ready early (no such luck there).

We checked out the pool, the stores, the restaurants, and the lobby. Then we walked through Downtown Disney and got some Haagen Dazs ice cream. Finally our room was ready and we had just enough time to unpack and get ready for dinner.

We headed back to DL for our dinner reservations at Cafe Orleans at 6:00 pm. (Remember, I've been up since 1:15am pacific time!) So we were getting pretty tired. But we could not skip a meal! We had the pomme frittes for an appetizer (first picture). Then we shared a blackened chicken salad (2nd pic) and a gumbo crepe (3rd pic). And we could not pass up the Mickey shaped beignets (last pic). Everything was great! After dinner we used our Splash Mountain fast pass and then rode the Jungle Cruise. By this time we were REALLY tired, so we headed back to the room (it was about 8:45 when we got back).

So that's all! It's 10:10 pm, I've been up for about 21 hours, and I still had the energy to share this story! I'll try to give a full report tomorrow too!

I'm Somebody

I was mentioned (and pictured!) in the Houston Chronicle today. You can read the article here. One of our HR people at work decided to make some humorous recruiting videos based on the PC vs Mac ads that have been around for a few years. I play the Mac equivalent, which mostly means I play straight man to John, who practically does a vaudeville routine in suffering.

You can see the videos at our recruiting site dreamjobshouston.com.

New kitchen table

Our new kitchen table arrived today. It's from Dillards. It was setup
with the leaf and all 8 chairs, but I think we will keep it without
the leaf and 6 chairs most of the time. The leaf stores within the
table.

Epcot Day

Today we're at Epcot. Right now we are waiting to ride Test Track. We
just rode Soarin' and Tina Fey was on our flight! In fact she caused
us to be bumped to the second row. My mom arrived today and we have
been making our way around the park.

Jungle Cruise

We are on the Keys to the Kingdom tour. Got to ride Jungle Cruise and
skip the line.