L.A. Trip - Day 5: Disneyland, A.M.

Welcome to "The Happiest Place on Earth."  It's going to be a great day!

I woke up at 6:30am and headed down to The Coffee House at the hotel for a takeaway decaf coffee and blueberry muffin, and a cinnamon roll for Todd.

Disneyland opened at 10am to the public, but as hotel guests we got an "Extra Magic Hour" and could get in at 9.  We got cleaned up and headed over, arriving at the gate right at 9am.

Lines at the gate are not bad at all

Entry gate decked out in 60th (diamond) anniversary finery

Looking down Main Street, U.S.A. to Sleeping Beauty Castle, which is shockingly smaller than Cinderella castle in Florida

Cinderella Castle for comparison

Looking back to the train station

Sleeping Beauty Castle, up close and decorated

Reflected

The wires behind the castle are for Tinkerbell's flight during the fireworks, but other characters also make use of them (more on that later).  Unlike Disney World, where Tinkerbell zips from the castle down to a rooftop in Tomorrowland, here she flies back and forth behind the castle, changing height and direction.

What was especially great about the day was that we had no wait longer than 20 minutes - most were 10 minutes (and the weather was great, and everything was so clean).  When planning the trip we did some research and intentionally picked the Tuesday and Wednesday before Labor Day for Disney - it was during the week, two weeks after the local schools were back in session, and just ahead of the holiday weekend which was also a half-marathon weekend.  The crowd level was perfect.  We were really able to take our time, relax, and still see everything.

We started off by riding Star Tours, which had a 5 minute wait.  This is still one of my favorite rides, with a ton of different destination/event combinations.  On this ride we experienced Naboo underwater and were in a pod race.

Space Mountain was next and had only a 10 minute wait.  It was amazing!  The ride was smooth, unpredictable, and the on-board soundtrack just sealed the deal.  I would have loved to have ridden it again, but not yet knowing how the day would turn out, we headed on to other attractions.

First glimpse of the Matterhorn.  It'll have to wait though, as we're headed to Tomorrowland.  Take a right, Todd.

Space Mountain

Ready to blast off!

After Space Mountain came Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, which was also a 10 minute wait.  It was also where, despite the warning to watch our heads as we were boarding the submarine, I proceeded to the end of the row and whanged my head on the underside of the stairs as I went to sit down.  Ouch!

Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage

A Matterhorn bobsled passes the waterfall - are those the Yeti's eyes watching from the cave?

Monorail

Submarines, Matterhorn and Monorail

The ride was cute and the Finding Nemo theme made it more fun, but it was sloooow.  Definitely would not have done this on a busier day.

We actually didn't realize it until afterward, but the pilot is standing in the middle of the submarine with his upper body through the roof

From Finding Nemo we went to the Matterhorn Bobsleds, one of those "I never thought I'd actually be here" sort of things; it's just so iconic.  After a 10 minute wait we ascended and descended the mountain, barely escaping the clutches of the Yeti.  It was a lot of fun.

Matterhorn Bobsleds

Hi!

The queue

Receiving final instructions

Across from the Matterhorn was Alice in Wonderland (10 minute wait) where we rode a giant caterpillar through scenes from the movie - a cute dark ride.  Across from that was the Mad Tea Party - spinning teacups - but we decided to skip that one.

Alice in Wonderland

Do the cups fill up when it rains, I wonder?

Of course we couldn't skip It's a Small World.  We arrived right as the clock was (not striking, I guess) animating 11:15.  The front and sides of the clock had opened and toy figures were marching out.

Just in 'time'.  Har har.

Show's over folks, nothing to see here

This one is notably different from Disney World's in that it has some Disney characters mixed in with the international children.  Here apparently is a Gloomy Bear stalking The Three Caballeros:  Donald, Jose and Panchito, in Mexico.  

Farewell to "the happiest cruise that ever sailed."

Famished from our long 'round-the-world voyage, we backtracked a little to Tomorrowland and had lunch at Redd Rockett's Pizza Port.  They're set up cafeteria-style, where you grab a tray and choose the food you want from several stations before heading over to the cashier to check out.  I had a slice of Hawaiian pizza, split a Caesar salad with Todd, and then had a banana.  The food was fine, but what made lunch great was that we had the place pretty much to ourselves.  There was an indoor and outdoor seating area.  It was 11:45am and there were only a few people inside - we sat outside and were the only ones on the patio.

Maybe the cast member sticking his hand down his pants scared everyone off?