Las Vegas/Disneyland Trip - Day 5: Disneyland Again

Thursday brought us back to Disneyland for our last day in the parks.  No hurry today - we started the day at 10:30am with breakfast at the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney.

Once in Disneyland, we went to Tomorrowland first and rode Star Tours, got FastPasses for Space Mountain, then spent an eternity in Star Wars Launch Bay:  a temporary exhibit hall that had a film, replica props and models, and lines to meet either Chewbacca or Kylo Ren.

We sat down to watch the "behind-the-scenes" film, but it was just a lengthy, talking-head, commentary type, dvd extra-ish snoozefest featuring the producer(s), director, etc.  So incredibly boring.  I got up after 5 minutes and walked around while Todd watched the rest of it.

I like Star Wars, but I'm not a big enough fan to have needed more than 10 minutes looking at the models and merchandise, so I went outside to wait until Todd was done.

Rey's Speeder from The Force Awakens

Darth Vader makes an appearance to menace the crowd at the "Jedi Training - Trials of the Temple" show 

After suffering through Star Wars Launch Bay, we then headed to Fantasyland and rode Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - a first for us.

Welcome to Toad Hall - fasten your seatbelts and start your engines

We were surprised to find that at the end of the ride your car "crashes" and you go to hell.  Literally.
Photo from www.finddisney.com

Next we did the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough, which is just that:  a walk-through experience inside the castle retelling the story of Sleeping Beauty.  After that it was time for lunch, so we went to Rancho del Zocalo again.  Remember in my earlier post when I said it was good for breakfast, but not for lunch?  Well, this is when we found that out - the carne asada and red chile enchilada platter sounded great, but in reality was closer to school cafeteria quality when compared to an actual Mexican restaurant.  It wasn't horrible, but one mouthful and we had instant regret.  Oh well.

After lunch we rode Pirates of the Caribbean and Indiana Jones.

Pirates of the Caribbean

Tarzan's Treehouse - we skipped this one

Entrance to Indiana Jones Adventure

Shaft of light over the vehicle boarding area - great theming here

By this time we were ready for a snack, so we walked over to the New Orleans Square area and had beignets and mint juleps from the Mint Julep Bar.  So good!  Then we went back to Tomorrowland and used our FastPasses to ride Space Mountain.  Unlike the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World, Disneyland is small enough that it's quick and easy to criss-cross the park.

Stormtroopers patrolling Tomorrowland

I'm drawing a blank here, but I think we rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad again, then sat around for a while people-watching.  At any rate, around 3:30pm we went back to the hotel for a rest, and on the way out of the park stopped in the Candy Palace for english toffee and fudge (because why not?)

We went back to the park around 7pm for the parade and fireworks.  We watched the parade a little further down the street this time, but moved right up to It's a Small World in the break before the fireworks.

Our parade-watching spot

On with the show!  Peter Pan follows behind the Tinker Bell float.

Here comes Slinky Dog

Woody and Buzz Lightyear ride Slinky Dog down the street

Taking our spot in front of It's a Small World

It's a Small World during the day

The Disneyland Forever fireworks show really is something

A great view

The "Let it Go" segment from Frozen

It's like looking at the stars

Another galaxy maybe

Oooh...

Aaah...

A quick shot of Tomorrowland on our way to the front of the park.  They keep the lights throughout the parks really low after the fireworks - it's kind of cool.

A look back at Sleeping Beauty Castle