Photo TR: A first time trip to SoCal Theme Parks

Living in Orlando, I go to Disney World a lot. It's probably my favorite thing about Orlando if I'm being honest. I go to ride things, I go to ride nothing. I go to walk off what I've eaten, and then the next day to eat what I walked off. It's a giant sprawling land filled of wonder. Where it doesn't snow like in the lands of my childhood and I'm told the temperature will eventually return to hospitable levels. But I've often wondered what other Disney parks were like and growing up adjacent to Six Flags Great Adventure, Magic Mountain always seemed like that cousin you always hear about but never see. Plus, Knotts always seemed like a really nice place. I've had their berries a few times and they were always seemed like berries. But alas, those place are 3000 miles away so they were just distant goals that repeatedly fell by the wayside as other, more convenient trips jumped the line.

But then the stars and my time off aligned and I realized it could work.

And what's that? TPR is having an event at a some of those parks?

This can happen! This must happen!

So it happened! It's been about a surprisingly long amount of time since this all happened but I want to try to capture some thoughts and maybe relive the trip vicariously through my own photos before the details become lost to time. Since it's already starting to fade I'll start at the beginning and work my way up to the actual West Coast Bash event later. I should probably also warn you that I have not done ever done a trip report but better late then never I suppose. Plus, it helps when the places are new and exciting!

The plan:

Wednesday: Late night arrival to Knotts Hotel

Thursday: Park Hop Disney (Link)

Friday: Do that again.

Saturday: WCB: Magic Mountain

Sunday: WCB: Knotts Berry Farm / Leave

Day 0

No Orlando! I won't stay! Nothing you can say will stop me!

But I do kind of have to pee...

No! My resolve is strong! I will push forward!

I had heard a lot about the Los Angeles airport. Slow service, crappy people, tunnels. I shuddered to think what I would find upon landing.

Turns out, I just found Garbels on his way back from a busy couple of days in Japan. If you haven't read that report, you should go do that cause it's a lot more interesting and features his extensive review of Journey to the Center of the Earth

Anyway, Garbels had to go back to Texas for like 30 minutes but he'd be back soon enough.

With LAX being surpassing expectations and being not awful, I found my way to the Knotts Hotel which would serve as base camp, even if I barely spent anytime in it. It was only 11 pm pacfic by this point but given how long I was awake at this point my mind began to grow worried at the sight of this long ominous hallway

As I laid sleepy head to rest,

images of coasters danced in my head,

probably cause they were hung over the bed

Day 1: Disney Land

That sleep was glorious. I slept in to the wonderfully late hour of 9 AM! The only caveat being that it was 9AM Eastern time so it was actually 6 in the morning. So I took a trip to IHOP, and Walgreens, and saw chickens. I learned that morning that the Knotts area is lousy with chickens for some reason. I would be told the actual reasons later in the weekend. That day though, walking down a road at 7 o clock in the morning, hearing roosters do that rooster noise that I forgot the name of at this moment but am too proud to look up, with roller coasters just across the street, was quite the introduction to southern California.

The pancakes were okay.

Anyway, back to that whole Disney thing.

Who wants to go to Disney!

Okay.....

Just me I guess....

That's cool....

Getting in to Disneyland is nothing like Disney world. There were probably some impressive arch ways somewhere else, but the way I walked in from my shuttle stop seemed a little anti-climatic.

And then there is this. Lots of jokes I want to make about this, really so many. But I will refrain from judging.

Held out for two whole weeks

But anyway, I made it!

Disneyland!

Magic Kingdom 1.0!

It's that plaque!

It's the train station! It's looking a little small though,

Hey, where's the castle anyway?

OH! I think I see it! It's all the way down there!

Sarcasm aside, I was legitimately to excited to be standing in the middle of Disneyland. The fact that I was standing here is no small wonder to me, unlike the castle.

Anyway, attractions, what I was most excited about was riding Indiana Jones, so I headed there first.

Dinosaur is basically ruined forever for me. Being one of those small children that were basically traumatized by the one two punch of terror that is It's tough to be a bug and what at the time was Countdown to Extinction; I can't help but wonder how much better my life could of been if we got an Indy clone instead. Oh well, moving on...

Some of this looks familar, a lot of it doesn't

Like, what the frak is this? Some sort of fancy smancy old timey printer thingamajig? Does it take Apple Pay? I don't even remember the last time I used a paper fast pass so I was a bit out of practice. So out of practice I accidently got a fast pass for Star Tours.

I eventually found my way over to the one mountain I didn't recognize in my "I sort of know where everything is because Magic Kingdom" mental map

Would you believe I either didn't know or had no memory of there being a Yeti in this ride?It moves and everything! At least I think it does, we went by it really quickly.

Moving on to Tomorrowland, Space Mountain loomed in the distance. One of the big benefits of coming at this time of year was obviously the Halloween overlays.

Sadly, I am one day too early. Happily, I will return!

This would be the part of the day where I take a nice relaxing ride on the people mover to slow my pace down. Maybe cool off a little bit and enjoy the nice California breeze.

Sadly, you don't have a people mover Disneyland.

And it was hotter in Los Angeles than Orlando that week.

So, thanks for nothing California!

I just went and rode Star Tours and Buzz instead.

Thus begin my second lap of Disneyland. Another couple stops at Indiana Jones were necessary, you know, for Science.

Getting on Pirates for the first time, I was not prepared for how much longer it was than Orlando's. It's basically double the ride and so much better. I never knew that Orlando basically got a cliff notes version. Pirates Orlando is one of the rides I really just avoid as it just does not do much for me but this version is great. The extra drops even caught me off guard.

Thunder mountain seemed pretty equal to Orlando. Bonus points to California for that last lift hill but minus 5 points for the completely outdoor queue and station. By this point, It was basically 10000 degrees out in direct sunlight.

Shout out to DisneyLand for this glorious hole which at this point I had no idea as to its purpose.

I didn't get eaten by a whale at all in my time at Disneyland so I guess I have goals for my next visit.

I hadn't heard to many great things about this ride, combined that with the idea of riding in a wierd submarine vehicle this ride basically got procrastinated on until it was skipped completely. Next time perhaps

Okay, I can't take it anymore! I need to go see what this California Adventure is all about!

Luckily Disneyland was super quiet that day so I was able to do a lot of the things I wanted to do in a pretty short amount of time. Ghost Galaxy and Mansion obviously had to wait till the next day. Fantasyland remained largely untouched as I felt it wiser to wait until my party consisted of more than a single adult male. Plus, I really wanted to go to DCA but in my mind, to get the proper experience, my first order of business on property had to be walking down main street USA.

With no real Florida equivalent, DCA loomed over as the first completely "new" park of the trip.

But I'll get to that, hopefully the next part won't sit in my saved drafts as long as this did.

Wow! That is a GREAT start to your report! And this... LMAO!

"If you haven't read that report, you should go do that cause it's a lot more interesting and features his extensive review of Journey to the Center of the Earth "

Shout out to DisneyLand for this glorious hole which at this point I had no idea as to its purpose.

I believe it was once part of the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland. Thunder Mountain replaced that ride years ago.

Now it's "theming."

Great report! Can't wait for the next parts.

Great start to the trip report Tom! Had a couple of good laughs at some of your comments. Really looking forward to see more!

This would be the part of the day where I take a nice relaxing ride on the people mover to slow my pace down. Maybe cool off a little bit and enjoy the nice California breeze.

 

Sadly, you don't have a people mover Disneyland.

And it was hotter in Los Angeles than Orlando that week.

So, thanks for nothing California!

And yeah, shame Disneyland doesn't offer the possibility of getting stuck on the Peoplemover!

Stuck on Peoplemover, exclusively at Magic Kingdom!

Thank you guys for the kind words! I hope to have the rest of that first day up tonight!

Shout out to DisneyLand for this glorious hole which at this point I had no idea as to its purpose.

 

I believe it was once part of the Mine Train Through Nature's Wonderland. Thunder Mountain replaced that ride years ago.

 

Now it's "theming."

Jumping right back in, it was time to cross the shockingly small esplanade to Disney's Hollywood Stu... Er....California Adventure!

This is a face that says “I can’t believe I went somewhere hotter than Florida on vacation”

As attractive as aimlessly wandering around the resort all day was, I had successfully had the alone time nerding out in Disneyland that I needed on a spiritual level and thus it was time to meet up with Derek and company in DCA. They were still finishing up lunch, so in the meantime I had a mission: Get a fastpass for Radiator Springs and World of Color.

“RR springs fastpass are by it’s Tough to be a Bug and World of Color is over at Grizzly River" was provided to me as a general guidance, but I think some sort of Disney instinct took over as my brain just assumed it had knowledge of these places, and walked past the map kiosk. “Oh yea,” my brain thought, “I’ve been to Disney hundreds of times, no problem!”

So needless to say I did not locate the Tree of life, but I found that machine pretty quickly regardless.

Grizzly Peaks though, that would be some circling, half a trolley ride, and a generally refusal to stop and ask for directions.

I saw this before I saw Grizzly Peaks. The classic photo, seen countless times, stood in front of me. Here It dawned on me that besides the half point I had assigned to Disneyland itself, this was the first completely new park I had been in since 2012. Sure some of the attractions were familiar but it was all new. I remember how excited that I was standing there 3000 miles away from home. I remembered right there and then, that I should probably go ahead and grab a map.

Anyway fast passes acquired, ranting completed, I met up with Derek and Lou. I’ve mentioned that too you that it was a couple thousand degrees outside so it was decided we would go see Aladdin. For them, it would be the last time before it closed. For me it would be the first time ever. Also the last time ever but that doesn’t sound as cool.

We have a Hyperion theater where I’m from too. California’s is definitely bigger.

How long is the show? 45 minutes!? Geez, is Ellen DeGeneres going to show up too?

Seriously though, I liked the show a lot. It’s the most elaborate Disney theme park show I have seen. Was I sad it was leaving? No. Truth be told I barely even remember watching Aladdin at all. I kept waiting for Prince Ali, Fabulous He, Ali Albawa to show up. Did you know for Prince Ali, Fabulous He, Ali Albawa is actually Aladdin?! Seriously, mind blown.

Anyway time to move onto some real rides right?

“You know what we need to get you on? Hemlich!”

“On what now?”

“You’ll see”

Oh gee.

So we got front row on a ride I did not know existed 30 seconds beforehand. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you Heimlich's Chew Chew Train.

You have not lived until you ride Heimlich's.

I can still here him even now. Him and Derek. In that accent.

If someone offers you a choice between brussel sprout way and Candy Valley. You go Candy Valley all the way.

This is one of those rides you would never end up on unless you are with the right people, this mediocre ride is still one of my more memorable experiences just because I was in such good company

Now the real secret motivation of this entire trip is that I really just wanted to do the Animation Academy again. Of course ever since they closed it down in Florida I had been crying myself to sleep every night wondering how any higher power could ever do anything so cruel.

But it had a five minute wait so we skipped it.

The next few stops reminded me of home. Mermaid followed by Soarin.

For some reason Soarin is nowhere near as popular here as it is back home. Do you not want to soar over your own houses Californians? Are you not entertained by a blurry flyby of Disneyland at Christmas time? It’s ok I feel the same but hey it’s Air conditioned.

I would ride this ride a lot more if it was only a 15 minute wait in Orlando.

Okay that's not true, I would still skip it 9 times out of 10.

But Krunk!

Moving on to something completely new to me now, it’s time for California Screamin!

I know you are in a hurry! hurry! hurry! But for your safety! safety! safety!

Toy Story was another ride I obviously expected to have a line out the door but you Crazy Californians apparently are just not interested.

I never really get to see Mr Potato Head since Orlando's line is always out the door and fast passes are so hard to come by for this ride. But here he is, visibly taunting any random passerby searching for french fries

Next it was time to tackle the Ferris wheel. Here you can see me standing in amazement at the strange swinging cars. This ride was actually the longest line of the day.

It Is shockingly hard to get good photos when you are constantly flying back and forth.

At last it was time for our Radiator Springs Fastpass!

This would be the first of many visits to Carsland

Hey Stanley, I’m a big fan of your parable! Oh, wrong Stanley, sorry.

Racers lived up to the hype. I rode it a quite a few times between fastpasses and the single rider line. I will give it to you California, I liked this more than Test Track, even if the Cars franchise is of questionable quality these days.

Alright guys, what hotel should we stay at? This nice safe cone place?

Or the Hollywood Tower? I hear they accept Drop ins!

Spoliers: I like my tower better. Though the spooky boiler is cool

Spooky spiral staircase!

Oh man, we are entering the spooky door!

And mood ruined, momentum killed. The butler did it.

Moving away from tower, we noticed the the bugs life area is apparently passive agressive. Bye? I'm sorry, did you want us to stick around a bit longer? Does Heimlich need some more help doing uh... whatever it is we were doing?

As our group began to grow in preparation for World of Color, we took a spin on Monsters Inc. I wish I could tell you this was a great ride but I have basically no memories of it. A victim of a tired and hungry mind.

Really a lovely place though.

So we grabbed dinner, and as night began to fall, I realized why we got a fastpass for World of Color

I don’t have a witty comment, this just looks really impressive.

NEIL! What are you doing! You are supposed to be on Screamin! Not the Ferris wheel! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

I liked World of Color. It’s not exactly what I expected in a grand finale to the day type show but I really did like how it was put together. It’s just the time commitment which bugs me, you can’t really walk up and watch it so you got to get that fast pass and then just stand there. Which by that point in the day, my legs did not have much left to give. I’ll probably skip it next time I get out there and just ride Racers a few extra times.

Speaking of Racers, I like that boulder, that’s a nice boulder.

That area is super pretty.

I shall leave you with this picture of Trader Sam’s. Which we did not patronize as the line was naturally too great.

So a great first day in California. I returned to the Knotts Hotel to find that the Alvey’s had made it. I was basically dead on my feet at this point, so after confirming that tomorrow we would be up bright and early for the first day of Disney’s Halloween time I promptly returned to my room to pass out.

So Disneyland adventures to come in the next update! There was still a lot of ground to be covered at Disneyland resort and questions to be answered.

Who is Sandy Claws?

How exactly can a Galaxy be both a galaxy and a ghost?

Who is Mr. Toad and why is his ride so wild?

Why am I asking these questions now?

^ Great California Adventure tour!

I would want my tour to go (some what) exactly likes yours did.

With more food involved.

Looking forward to your report, back on "the other side of the plaza"...

This TR has made my long dreary SoCal day at work better...I'm sorry that I did not meet you at all during WCB because I love anyone with humor of this nature...I can only imagine the wit soon to be directed at SFMM...

It’s just the time commitment which bugs me, you can’t really walk up and watch it so you got to get that fast pass and then just stand there.

This is my biggest issue with World of Color also. I *like* the show enough to put about 5 minutes worth of effort into if I could walk up and stand there and watch it, or even walk up half-way through and watch part of it, but it's that commitment of time that I just don't think the show is really worth. That and it closes down California Screamin which annoys me also. Because usually while the show is going on is when you can go hit up the big rides, but not in this case. Oh, well... For those reasons WoC will probably be a show I will only have seen once in my life. (and that was on media day when I didn't have to get the FastPass!)

Great report! Looking forward to the rest of it!

It’s just the time commitment which bugs me, you can’t really walk up and watch it so you got to get that fast pass and then just stand there.

This is my biggest issue with World of Color also. I *like* the show enough to put about 5 minutes worth of effort into if I could walk up and stand there and watch it, or even walk up half-way through and watch part of it, but it's that commitment of time that I just don't think the show is really worth. That and it closes down California Screamin which annoys me also. Because usually while the show is going on is when you can go hit up the big rides, but not in this case. Oh, well... For those reasons WoC will probably be a show I will only have seen once in my life. (and that was on media day when I didn't have to get the FastPass!)

 

Great report! Looking forward to the rest of it!

I've been to DCA twice since World of Color began and have yet to see it. I agree that the "time commitment" is a big turn off.

I loved the fact, that as it happened, we were able (Sept.) to walk into the main hub plaza area of Disneyland Paris,

and settle for what was one of the most awesome light shows and fireworks displays I have seen in a long,

long time, that being Disney DREAMS on the castle. We didn't have to rent space, or be there hours+

to get the right view of it all.

Same thing happened in Tokyo Disney Sea for us, back in 2013. We watched Fantasmic! from a very easy

spot, without having to be there a few hours beforehand. I have no idea if I'd want to do World of Color

at DCA that way, so much time in advance to see it. We did spend over an hour, waiting for Fantasmic! In

Disneyland back in... 1996. It was a wait but not as much internet involved (ha), and the show was awesome!

Disneyland sound like it's just gotten too small for the crowds who want to visit The Original, etc. And

there's no way it'll ever be able to handle increasing crowds through the years/decades. IMhO.

(And I love Disney, trust me.)

Racers lived up to the hype. I rode it a quite a few times between fastpasses and the single rider line. I will give it to you California, I liked this more than Test Track, even if the Cars franchise is of questionable quality these days

My two minor issues with Radiator Springs Racers is: 1. I'm just not a fan of the Cars franchise, and 2. I wish it went a little bit faster. The whole time you're "racing" it just feels a bit sluggish to me.

That being said, both riders are VERY good for different reasons and if Test Track and RSR were sitting in front of me and someone asked me to choose one, I'd probably just flip a coin.

^I think a part of the reason I give the edge to Racers is just how many times I've been on Test Track. Plus, I liked how more of Racers was outside, especially the first part which just seemed so scenic and relaxing. I agree though, a nice 65mph stretch would have been most welcome but both great in there own ways.

Racers is beautifully themed, as is the rest of Cars Land. But I do like the "Tron" version of Test Track a lot (it was a great way to freshen up an already great ride).

People's love of WoC is directly related to their relationship with the Disney movies they pump during the program in clip form. I'm not a Disney guy; I don't wear fursuits and get hardons for Robin Hood, I don't get misty eyed at every single Pixar film, I don't caress my pirate copy of Song of The South, I don't pay attention to how much money their animated stuff is making or how much it is supposed to make. I don't really give a crap about what Walt wanted; apparently he desired picnic tables before coasters, but he was forced to listen to the public on that. I watch it and it feels like the most expensive display of a Youtube montage ever. Some people feel different. That's cool.

I'm loving this report so far! Keep it up.

Great report. I'm enjoying it and smiling a lot at what you have to say about everything.

I'm curious about the shuttle from Knott's Hotel to Disneyland/DCA.

Do you know how early it starts, and how late it returned, back from the parks?

Great report. I'm enjoying it and smiling a lot at what you have to say about everything.

 

I'm curious about the shuttle from Knott's Hotel to Disneyland/DCA.

Do you know how early it starts, and how late it returned, back from the parks?

The first one left about 30 minutes before park open So I was on the bus at 8:30 for the 9:00 opening. The last one was about an hour-ish after the last park closed, so around 9:20pm that day. I had to contact the front desk to reserve a seat for both coming and goingso I just did that around 8.

 

Disneyland sound like it's just gotten too small for the crowds who want to visit The Original, etc. And

there's no way it'll ever be able to handle increasing crowds through the years/decades. IMhO.

 

(And I love Disney, trust me.)

Yea, that was a pretty big issue on the second day between the parade and the fireworks. With the crowds for "Halloween time", I shudder to imagine trying to walk around that place on Christmas!

Your review of World of Color is spot on. Its great! BUT... At the end of the day, I really would rather just sit than stand and watch the show.

Also, I wish it had more of a story to tie everything together

Loving your trip report. I love the way you word almost everything! Also, the photos are great! Can't wait to see, and read more!

Onward to Day 2!

Day 2 would be another full day at the Disneyland resort with some more clearly defined goals. The mouse had flipped the switch and it was officially Halloween time. That meant Ghost Galaxy and Haunted mansion holiday were set to open and half of Southern California was scheduled to make a bee line straight for them. Our mission was to beat them there. There are no pictures but we arrived at Disneyland's Glorious parking structure around 7:15 in the morning.

We arrived at the front gates about a half hour before opening. No super lines yet but it began to form behind us.

We were let in about 20 minutes later and it was time to form a game plan.

"Here Tom, take what basically amounts to a thousand plus dollars and run over to Ghost Galaxy and grab some fast passes! Remember, if you lose even one everything everywhere is ruined forever!"

Okay no one actually said that but you know, with great power, great responsibility, etc.

Okay, no sweat, this is easy enough, this area is pretty empty so I'll just wait for rope drop and casually stroll over to Space..... oh....

Well, crap.

So the rope dropped and as far as you know I briskly and safely walked to Ghost Galaxy like a responsible, level-headed adult. I would complete my mission at all costs! I would not be denied! I marched up to that queue that morning with purpose in my step and excitement in my heart!

And then they said it was broken and they didn't know when it would be up again and no you can't have a fast pass now go away. *paraphrasing.

"Well then, okay I shall rejoin my party at Haunted Mansion! I understand sometimes rides just aren't ready at park open, that's fine, that's cool. Cool, cool, cool cool, oh a text message! What news does it bring? What's that Robb? Mansion is down too?"

Great..........

They were still letting people into the queue at mansion so I had to uh... "quickly but safely" make my way over to Haunted Mansion so that we could actually get in the line that rapidly approaching out the door status.

Drenched in sweat before 8:15 but at least I made it to mansion in good time!

So the Haunted Mansion CM's had some internal disagreement as to where we needed to stand as a handicap party waiting to enter the stretch room. CM1: "Go wait up the ramp." CM2: "WHY YOU UP HERE?!" But confusion aside we got our first ride on Haunted Mansion Holiday. Thoughts: I love Haunted Mansion Holiday. I was expecting something so much less involved than what was actually presented. If you are familar with the Jingle Cruise, I expected something a couple notches above that in terms of additions. I knew there had to be a different narration but I could not believe just how completely taken over by Jack the ride was. I wish I could just pack it all up and ship it over to Orlando. Then when they come to take it down for the year I could just slap them; "NO! YOU CAN"T TAKE IT DOWN! This is the way it has to be now and forever!" I would pledge myself to Jack and we could have some sort of social media event thing. An idea I am totally not stealing from a certain other park. Okay it's late and this devolved into a rant, let's continue.

He seems legit, what could possibly go wrong?

He is the shadow on the moon at night.

Merry Christmas! Expect a few more photos in this post to be Mansion because as stated it is awesome.

After that, It was time to seek out a Fastpass for Space once again but we made a pit stop at Buzz.

I don't think I really talked about Disneyland's Buzz in the last part so let me just make in known how much better it is then at home. The gun isn't bolted down so you can actually point and shoot properly. And the trigger doesn't wreck my hand the way ours does. Seriously, I wish they could give Kingdom's a little retrofit.

And the ticket to Space was acquired. I'm pretty sure this makes us astronauts.

So why we wait for that to become valid, let's eat! He looks so happy! Are you hungry Mickey? Me too....

You can almost hear him begging for the sweet release of death.

So naturally, being eaten and all, Mickey was a very angry ghost. So we had no choice but to ride our rocket sled to escape from his chosen form: A Ghost Galaxy.

That is the plot I have assigned the ride.

You can't prove it's not true!

So the Ghost Galaxy overlay to me was pretty meh. It definitely reminds me of a paired down mummy in the "being chased by a demon" department. I have some concerns about how an entire Galaxy can be ghost, but that's not a thing I can actually complain about because it's just a ride and it doesn't need to make sense.

It still doesn't make sense.

But anyway, let me compare thee to MK Space. I like my toboggan based neighbor a lot but this version, kicked a bit of posterior. We flew down that track in what the group assures me was faster than it would be normally. They concluded that being fresh out of rehab probably had something to do with it. The ride was not the most reliably in my short experience with it. It actually broke down both as we got in line, and again as we got off it. I'd like to reserve judgment on it until the day when I ride it again, but if it goes that fast, or gives such a good illusion of speed at least, I would definitely give it the win over MK.

With the two Halloween attractions out of the way, the group was ready ride Radiator Springs Racers and I was perfectly happy to ride that ride as many times as might be requested of me. But before exiting Disneyland, I have read TPR long enough to know what I had to do.

NO TOM! DO NOT EAT THE CASTLE, IT IS NOT FOOD!

And so, once more unto the breach

"Watch the Tram Car Please! Watch the Tram Car Please!"

We grabbed a fastpass and got a ride on the single riders line because all's fair in love and Racers. Plus apparently you Californians don't like single rider lines either? No one was in it, so more for us then.

I'm still blown away by how amazing the whole area looked. Looking at this picture it's easy to forget that this is a ride and nothing in this picture existed a few years ago.

I'm just gushing about DCA again now because It's seriously awesome.

I was also gushing because it was still a thousand degrees and sweating to death was a real concern but you know mostly because of how pretty it is

It's such a pretty coaster, it had to be ridden again. It's also funny how with Disneyland across the way being devoured by crowds, DCA was still nice and peaceful

Look at all those happy people!

Neil Patrick Harris, we are go on your mark!

So at this point we were just about done with Disney's California Adventure for the trip. But before we could leave I was informed there was one more attraction that I had to experience. So before walking out those gates one more time, I was introduced to these guys:

These are faces of confusion as they thought the next picture was going to be a ride.

No ride! Just a bread tour! Because why wouldn't there be a bread tour?

Man, I wish I had that much dough.

We couldn't leave DCA without saying goodbye to Oswald!

Everyone say goodbye to Oswald, It's time to hop back over to the Land!

"Guys you dropped your brick!"

"Huh?"

"This brick it has your name on, you must of dropped it!"

"Go away Tom"

And that's why I am still trapped at Disneyland till this day.

true story.

Time for mansion again! This time with photos!

Vomit Snake knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake!

Do you like pumpkins?

Do you like singing pumpkins?

Well then boy do I have an offer for you!

If you act now, we can offer you singing pumpkins and holy angel pumpkins! That's twice the pumpkins of our previous offer! So come on down to real fake pumpkins!

Oogie Boogie was nice enough to offer tricks and treats instead of murder. Which is nice of him, I always hate being kidnapped and murdered.

Next, we tried to use the single rider line at Indy. We did not succeed. We somehow lost the single riders line and just ended up back in the normal line at some point. Then I looked in to they eyes of Mara and it was just all downhill from there.

Remember a few seconds ago when I told you how much I like not being kidnapped and murdered? Well it was time for Mr Toad's wild ride.

Someday TPR may release another POV of that ride, and if you listen closely to the end of that video you will hear me exclaim the entirety of my thoughts on that ride.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED? DID WE DIE?"

I liked Alice in wonderland. Wish that girl would stop licking whatever is causing her all these fever dreams but who am I to judge?

I still never did figure out who framed Roger Rabbit. Maybe I would have if I stopped spinning the car for a few seconds

Then it got dark.

That's a pretty big small world after all.

Since it's dark I guess there should be a parade coming by any minute now, oh there we go!

I don't really like to take to many pictures during parades so here's the title in case you forgot.

The Paint the night parade is superior in every way to our electric light parade in my opinion. This is definitely a modern upgrade that is sorely needed in Orlando. Although. I am sad I didn't get to do any painting of the night.

Fireworks followed shortly afterwards.

This is no wishes. Wishes is very much a fireworks show that happens to have some projections. This show seemed like the reverse. It would be extremely difficult to follow the plot if you were not in view of the castle or Small world.

So Orlando wins fireworks. Of course we have the benefit of not being in the middle of a city but still, points to Orlando.

So that's how I ended my stay at Disneyland, with a parade and fireworks as Walt intended. We walked out past the castle beautifully lit for the Diamond Celebration

Your castle is still puny though

And it only took 40 minutes to get from the back of the park to the exit!

Your park is small and cramped and is clearly not intended to be visited at any high traffic day.

Of course, high traffic day in this case means a random non-holiday Friday in september that just so happens to be the unveiling of two yearly repeating overlays but I digress.

So that's Disneyland. I do want to stress that I had a great time at the resort regardless of any sarcastic quips I may have made while writing this. It really does feel different then Orlando. At the same time, I can now appreciate the Magic Kingdom that I love and frequent here in Orlando. It's very firmly a 2.0 release and all the major bugs got fixed.

Still, it's great to see how everything started. To visit Disneyland itself is to visit history, it's a visit to the source. And once you are done at the source, you can cross over to DCA and just appreciate how far we have really come.

I'll leave you with this blurry photo of the crowds still pouring in that night. It's okay that it's blurry cause that's how everything looked to me by that point.

Coming up: I wake up even earlier to go to an amusement park for even longer! West Coast Bash at Six Flags Magic Mountain is next!

^

Great report! Having only been to MK, it's interesting to read about the differences between the parks. Radiator Springs really is an amazing looking ride/area. I can understand those who wish it was a bit faster, but overall it looks extremely well done!

Oh and that Mickey pancake looks delicious, I'm hungry and I want one LOL!

Racers lived up to the hype. I rode it a quite a few times between fastpasses and the single rider line. I will give it to you California, I liked this more than Test Track, even if the Cars franchise is of questionable quality these days

My two minor issues with Radiator Springs Racers is: 1. I'm just not a fan of the Cars franchise, and 2. I wish it went a little bit faster. The whole time you're "racing" it just feels a bit sluggish to me.

Not to echo you entirely, but I feel the same way about it. I'm not very big on the franchise, and the ride could use some pep! For a ride that is simulating racing, albeit family friendly racing, it's pretty slow. I like to ride it for the overall theming of the ride, which is fun. To me, it's a dark ride on steroids and I'm okay with that. BTW, the steroids are probably what shrunk the balls on this ride

It’s just the time commitment which bugs me, you can’t really walk up and watch it so you got to get that fast pass and then just stand there.

This is my biggest issue with World of Color also. I *like* the show enough to put about 5 minutes worth of effort into if I could walk up and stand there and watch it, or even walk up halfway through and watch part of it, but it's that commitment of time that I just don't think the show is really worth.

Echoing again! My regular group of Disney go-ers have the same feeling about it, and sometimes we don't feel like getting a fastpass for it since the FP station is across the park from most of the major rides. We kill two birds with one stone and get the WoC Fastpass dinner at Carthay, because we are fat kids that like the food there, plus booze. The centralized viewing area for the dining FP's also help seal the deal for us, but to each their own.