Disneyland, March 2009

We spent 3 days in the Disneyland park area after our Mexican Riviera Cruise returned to Los Angeles. It was really interesting to finally see the differences between the two parks. Some of the rides are quite different... Pirates was longer and not completely Jack-Sparrowed. Small World had some movie characters inserted in such a way that they fit the theme very well. The submarines still run at DL, even if they are Nemo themed now. And finally, the Tiki Room has not been destroyed by the awful Iago remake they did in DW.

Sunday - Arriving at Disneyland

After we left our cruise and returned to the airport, we picked up a rental car and drove over to Disneyland. We went into Disneyland park first, taking photos as we went.

Sunday - New Orleans Side

We headed left into the New Orleans Square side, stopping to share a lunch at Rancho del Zocalo in Frontierland. We looked around mostly, as the park was very busy and the ride lines were long.

Sunday - Winnie the Pooh

The first ride we came to with a short line was Winnie the Pooh. It looked cute, so we rode it.

Sunday - Fantasyland

We had planned to have dinner in the Paradise Pier hotel, so we headed out there for a bit before deciding the restaurant wasn't worth waiting more than an hour for it to open. We rode the monorail back in to the park and wandered around Fantasyland instead.

Sunday - Evening

We wandered back over to the New Orleans side of the park and found our dinner at the Royal Street Veranda. We checked out the DL versions of Pirates of the Caribbean and the Enchanted Tiki Room before heading to the hotel for the night.

Monday - DCA Monsters and Muppets

We started our second day in Disney's California Adventure park. We came in under the Golden Gate bridge and headed left to the Monsters Inc and Muppet rides.

Monday - Grizzly Peak and Paradise Pier

We wandered around Grizzly Peak and through the nature walk/playground area behind it. Then we headed around the Paradise Pier area. I rode the Maliboomer with no wait for a single rider, and then a very short single-rider wait on California Screamin.

Monday - Bugs Life

After the coaster we found lunch at the Cocina Cucamonga and then wandered arouns the kiddie fair area for It's a Bug's Life. The we found a spot to sit and wait for the parade, but we were too far back for a good view. In mid-parade we left to redeem our Fast Passes for Soarin' and then left the DCA side to go back to Disneyland.

Monday - Around the Castle

As dusk settled in, we wandered around the castle area, rode a few rides, and took more photos. Kellie also stopped to get her fill of pressed pennies for her collection.

Monday - Night

Our last ride was on It's a Small World as night settled in. We followed that by wandering around Toontown after dark. Then we headed back to the center to find some corndogs for dinner and a seat to watch the evening fireworks.

Tuesday - Disneyland

On Tuesday we went back to Disneyland again to catch the rides that we had missed so far. We fast-passed Indiana Jones and rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds and the Finding Nemo submarine rides while we waited. We had lunch at the River Belle Terrace, did some more sightseeing and decided to end the day early.

Tuesday - Grand Californian Resort

We rode the monorail out of the park to downtown, then took a wander in to see the Grand Californian hotel. We mostly looked at the lobby and a few more downtown shops before heading back to our hotel.

Photos of Us at Disneyland

Photos of one or both of us from all around the Disneyland area.