A late afternoon trip to Disneyland was in order on June 12th. We arrived to the Disneyland Resort around 4pm.
Our first stop was the Disney Gallery to take another look at the Mary Blair exhibit. I really took the artwork in this time and it’s wonderful. Blair has such a unique style. Any animator could make drawings and storyboards, but Blair did it with her own personal touch. She was remarkable.
Then we looked at the little museum they have set up in the lobby of Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. I really love the things they have set up in there including vintage park tickets and models of Splash Mountain and Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.
Walking through Adventureland really let us know how crowded the park was that day. An unbelievable amount of strollers were parked right in the middle of Adventureland which is already on the small side. Fortunately, the lines weren’t too bad at the parks. It was just a lot of traffic to get to your favorite attraction.
And with that, our first attraction was Pirates of the Caribbean. In the scene where the Mayor is being dunked in the well, there are usually three other people tied up waiting for their turn to be dunked. This time, the man in the middle was missing and some crates were put in his place. He must have escaped the ropes! You know, this is another reason of why I love Pirates. Even when pirates are missing, you can make a story up in your mind on what happened to them. The amount of detail put into Pirates lets your mind run.
Then came the Haunted Mansion and guess what! Madame Leota was floating! It is always very exciting when she floats as more often than not, she is stationary. During the ride, our doombuggy was stopped right in front of the hitchhiking ghosts. It was great to get a good long look at them. I love those guys!
Evening was now upon us and we were hungry. We all decided we would head over to DCA and enjoy Broccoli and Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl. The line at the Pacific Warf Cafe was huge! Fortunately, it moved fast and it ended up being only 20 minutes. The bread bowl was delicious. I love the sourdough bread at the Disneyland Resort. One day, I would like to buy a huge sack of bread bowsl and eat away!
It was now 9:00pm and World of Color was just starting. We thought this would be an excellent time to get in line for The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. It was great being able to watch World of Color while in line. The queue didn’t last too long as it was late. It was maybe a half hour long, which was perfect as we got to see most of World of Color. The ride was once again great and this time we spotted Mr. Limpet. I wonder why Mr. Limpet is in the attraction. It’s not a Disney movie… Maybe the imagineers are just big Don Knotts fans.
Then we headed over to the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. It was a fun ride. I noticed that the spiral effect on the elevator doors as the ride begins and ends was not working. I could see the outline of the spiral, but it was not spinning. Other than that, everything else looked and sounded perfect. We had a very good Bellhop load us in our elevator. He was very effective with keeping to the 1939 Haunted Hollywood Tower Hotel theme.
We then headed back to Disneyland to see how long the line was for Star Tours. At 10:00pm, it was still 100 minutes. So we decided to pass on that galactic adventure.
Instead, we went to Storybook Land Canal Boats. I can’t say enough about how much I love this ride. It is so nice, relaxing, and quiet. The detail of the miniatures is amazing. It is even better at night as each scene is lit perfectly. I especially love Pinocchio’s village and how the mini mountains in the background blend perfectly with the Matterhorn.
After our boat ride through Monstro the Whale, we went over to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. I was surprised to see that the fireplace scene had been updated. The fire seemed to be projected much more clearly now and the floor is now painted to look like a brick fireplace. The fiber optic burning embers never looked better. That was always my favorite effect in the ride. The rest of the ride was amazing as always. Going to Hell is one of my favorite things to do at the Disneyland Resort!
We ended our night with a ride on King Arthur’s Carousel. It was a perfect way to close out a wonderful trip to the Happiest Place on Earth: Disneyland.
