After parking in the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure, we decided to walk to the parks. While walking across Disney Way, I noticed a few weeks back that they removed the grass from near the crosswalk. There was never any hope in twarting the kids from taking a shortcut to make the light.
I had also never noticed this sign letting guests know the distance from Downtown Disney to the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure.
We arrived to the DLR pretty early (for us: 11:30am) this past Sunday. Crowds seemed rather light.
We decided to first go over to the Matterhorn where, unfortunately, it had just shut down for 45 minutes.
We then went on Snow White’s Scary Adventures. I would say this is my favorite Fantasyland attraction. And with the recent enhancements, it hasn’t looked better! And that plot-hole at the end: perfection!
Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride was up next. I noticed the train-crash scene was missing some of the strobe and visual effects that can be seen in our “Star Tours 1.5” video where a miniature Starspeeder 3000 takes flight through the attraction.
Next, we took a trip down Main Street on one of their horseless carriages. This party of 9 crammed its way into the original 5/8 scale horseless carriage and proceeded to get high-fives on our way toward the Main Street station.
We then headed over to DCA and the new entryway is really taking shape! It looks like they’re laying on the outer shell (maybe drywall?) and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was ready to go on June 3rd for the opening of “Ariel’s Undersea Adventures” — but don’t quote me on that.
When we entered the park, we could see the construction of the new “hub,” if you will. I am very excited to see this park transforming so quickly!
We first rode The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror which was running perfectly and an absolute blast for the first-timers we were with!
We then headed over to the Mission Tortilla Factory. One person in our group was celebrating his birthday and for the occasion, the Tortilla Factory gave him a whole stack for free!
We then had lunch and I had my favorite Type-O Blood-Type approved salad: The Chinese Chicken Salad (which you can read more about in our Disneyland Diets post). And since I cannot eat the bread bowl in which it comes, I got to take it home in a bag and share it with house-guests.
After lunch, we wanted to shake things up so we headed over to California Screamin’. I was upset because a kid behind us flipped off the camera and it made the posting board! I love California Screamin’ to view progress on Goofy’s Sky School and Cars Land. I also noticed that there was not a lot of progress where MaliBoomer once was.
We followed that up with a ride on Grizzly River Run, but we sat that one out. Our friend enjoyed themselves, however.
Then it was back to Disneyland where we rode Space Mountain. I was surprised how rickety the car felt. It made the ride twice as scary! Space Mountain is one of a handful of coasters where I like to ride in front and being in the first seat, but I was sure we were about to fall off the tracks. It made the ride incredibly scary and intense. The photo-finish was so exciting on this trip because we lived! Not sure if I was hyper sensitive for some reason, but I could have sworn I was hearing sounds I had never heard before — and the music was abnormally loud this particular go-around. We ended up riding Space Mountain again later in the night, but all was back to normal. Very strange…
After a trip into the deep dark void of super space, we set sail with the wildest crew that ever sacked the spanish main; Pirates of the Caribbean. Pirates looked and sounded great, but I did notice that the parrot next to the pirate with the hairy leg is once again missing. He had been missing for many months and he finally came back a couple weeks ago. But he wasn’t there this trip. Perhaps he flew away to visit his friends in the Tiki Room… The funny thing is you can still hear him singing!
We then entered the creaking doors of The Haunted Mansion. We ended up doing it twice. All of the 999 happy haunts were there to do their thing, but Madame Leota was not floating. It’s funny… I always thought that she would be stationary when the internal projection of her face would not be working correctly. But this time, she was stationary and had the internal projection… I wonder what the problem was. We also noticed a small tear in the foyer wallpaper. Those crazy hooligans hurting our Mansion! Also, the lighting of the ballroom scene seemed to be a bit brighter than usual. The ghosts entering from the outside had shadows that one usually does not see.
The Jungle Cruise came up next. Of course night had fallen by this time, so it was a night cruise. The skipper was hit and miss. There were a few good lines in there though. The elephant that threatens to squirt our boat was missing. He must have found a hot date.
Then it was off to dinner at a favorite: Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port! I had just remembered as I reached for a salad that the Disneyland Celiac Menu offered a gluten-free pizza at Pizza Port. I figured that there were no slices readily available and that we would have to order a whole pie. Boy, was I wrong. Out came the chef and she took my special order. 5-minutes later, out popped my very own personal pizza — Type-O approved! We went to go eat outside where a Disney Cast Member said “How did you get here?” We told her that we walked through the doors. It was weird. I guess the area was supposed to be closed, but no one locked the sliding door. She was awfully upset and rude.
Then came a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It was great! Big Thunder is best experienced at night and especially during the fireworks or “Fantasmic!” We got on right as “Fantasmic!” was beginning.
And the final ride of the night was Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. We had FastPasses and made our way quickly to the front. The queue always blows us away. It’s one of the best queues Disney has ever done. Unfortunately, a few things were not working correctly on the ride. The Chamber of Destiny room wasn’t working. The middle door was always open, so cars didn’t have an option for the other two rooms. Then the music did not play through a lot of the ride. I’m not sure if that’s a glitch or another ride profile since every ride is slightly different. It’s much better with music though.
After our adventure with Indy, we walked down Main Street, USA and drove carefully on our way home.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
One of the coolest parts of this visit was early in the day just before Snow White’s Scary Adventures when a hawk was flying low over the castle. It was quite the sight and our hopes were up that it might land on one of the spires of the castle. We soon realized that it was hunting and it dove straight into the right-side pond. A friend and I ran up to the benches to look over the bushes just as the hawk emerged from the pond and flew right over our heads! And in its talons, facing straight forward with an excellent view of Main St., was a rather large koi. While that koi met an untimely death, what a way to go out: flying over Main St., USA! I wish I had snapped a photo of that avian wonder. Maybe next time!