Disney Day 3

Saturday I woke up early to use the Magic Hour on my ticket. 

This turned out to be the best decision, even if getting out of bed was super hard. The park is open an hour early for selected people and so crowds are very reduced. It also means you are further into the park when the park officially opens so your lines are shorter in the rides further from the entrance. I was able to go on Mr toads ride, Dumbo flying elephants, Peter Pan, Storybook Land boats as well as Small World and Pirates again all before 10. 

There was a Tinkerbelle 10k run in the morning, that went through both parks before they opened. I saw them as I was walking to the park in the morning and then you saw people with medals and crazy costumes during the day in the park. I have to say the last thing I would want to do after a 10k would be walk through the park, but to each their own :). 

I watched the Rapunzel show and then did a wander through the Main Street which I hadn't done before. Found Goofy and Pluto to have photos with and then waited to see Princess Merida (Scottish princess from Brave). I was very impressed by the girl who played her, she was the best at staying in character I felt as well as having an awesome Scottish accent. 

In the afternoon I looked through Sleeping Beauty's castle.

A few times I went past the princesses castle again, but they always had the same princesses as there was on Thursday 'accepting visitors'. A little sad I didn't get to have photos with Belle or Jasmine (I really didn't hold any hope for Pocahontas) 

But I had fun looking through the different lands and soaking up the Disney atmosphere, as well as picking out a few gifts for some people back home. 

I caught part of the parade again, and then went across to Adventureland to be able to see the World of Colour display. I never used the fast pass ability on my ticket, if I'd realised how little space there was to see the World of Colour without a fast pass I might have tried to get a spot one day. There really was no good spots to see the world of colour without a fast pass, very different to the fireworks in Disneyland, I guess because it is a lot newer. 

When it was done I headed back to Disney, saw the fireworks again. 

And then that was the end of my Disneyland experience. It was  amazing! I am exhursted, and I don't think I have walked that much in 3 days in my life. Chances are it has been a once-in-a-lifetime trip, so I'm glad I got to do and see so much! 

Disney Day 2

On Friday I decided to check out California Adventureland as I had a park hopper ticket and can move between the two parks. 

I went on the Ariel ride, I love the slow easy rides that retell the movies, sucker for nostalgia. 

As I went around Adventureland were too many rides that warned against motion sickness. If I was with someone I might have gone on some of the rides but being by on my own I really had no desire to feel sick by myself. 

I joined a group 'workshop' to learn how to draw Minnie Mouse which was fun. I then saw a musical spectacular based on Aladdin that was amazing! There were puppets for the animals and dancing and all the songs from the movie. 

By this time I had seen everything I had wanted to in Adventureland so I went back to the hotel for lunch and a sleep.

Disneyland again for the afternoon. The crowd here seemed to have doubled from yesterday and most rides had a wait of at least 30min or more. I did go on the Alice in Wonderland ride, but couldn't be bothered to wait for the other rides. 

Most weeks in the slow season Friday - Sunday have the parades and fireworks (not last weekend, thank goodness I wasn't here last week!) I saw the parade, I got a curb side seat and it filled up pretty quickly. So funny to watch all the pedestrians walk through the street and have the waiting crowds cheer and wave at them. Some of the little kids thought it was the best and would grin and wave. 

The parade was a bit of fun, after it was done I then found a spot to sit and wait for the fireworks. I was right in front of the Castle, best spot ever!

 The castle at night is pretty spectacular. The lights on the castle with the fireworks were amazing.

Disney Day 1

My first day was a Thursday, and as it was off peak season Disneyland is only open 10-8. Which is good I checked because otherwise I might have been up at 6:30 to get there by 8 :). 

Awaiting in line to get my tickets we are surrounded by Disney music. The line moved very quickly, thankfully main gates open at 9:30 and you can explore main street before they open the rest of the park. (Or spend money, really). 

I walked straight in and saw Minnie Mouse. That was when I almost cried, I don't care if it's completely manufactured, it is so magical, all those years of day dreaming of coming here as a kid and it was finally here! The photo of me and Minnie I look way too excited. 

You can see Cinderella's castle, where I wandered first. The attention to detail on the castle is amazing. I wandered past the famous classic rides like flying dumbos, spinning tea cups and went up to Small World. 

I walked straight onto this ride. So cute. I wandered a bit further after this, and stopped at the Star Tours Star Wars ride. This was also a quick wait. 

This was fun, one of those simulation  rides, but I felt a bit sick afterwards. 

I realised then, after chatting to a few families in lines that today would be the least busy day I was here, as it was a weekday during the slow period. So I decided to go on as many rides as possible today and avoid lines in the next few days. 

So I went on; Pirates of carribian, King Arthur's Carousel, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White ride, Pinocchio ride, Jungle river cruise. 

I also went through Mickeys house and had photos with Mickey. In Critter country I also saw Tigger and Pooh. After these 2 I went to the castle to find the princess and had photos with Ariel, Aurora, and Cinderella. My 3 favourites were missing, (Pocahontas, Jasmine and Belle) but hopefully will find some of them in next few days. 

I was pretty tired at this point, ready to go back to the hotel and rest, but as there was a special souvenir that would be ready in a few hours and the park shut early I didn't want to go back to the hotel to have to turn around quickly. So when I saw that there was Beauty and the Beast play I sat and watched that. After that I got a second wind and wandered through all the other lands I hadn't gone through yet. 

The sun was going down as I left, making pretty lights on all the buildings. 

My legs were so sore by the time I got to the hotel. I sat and dangled my legs in the pool for about 30 min to be able to feel a bit better. 

Let me tell you a story …

Once upon a time there was a little girl with long red hair, who grew up on an island far far away. She didn't have a lot of contact with western media, but she did watch Disney movies. She knew most of the songs off by heart and would act out the stories she loved the most; Pocahontas, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, The Little Mermaid.  

This little girl day dreamed about one day going to the 'happiest place on earth' where there were castles and princesses, rides and people in costumes, mouse ears and fireworks. But she dreamed about it as someone would dream about going to the moon, a nice idea but not something that was ever going to happen. 

That little girl grew up, her hair got darker and shorter. She left behind girly day dreams and princess stories. She studied hard, got a job and lived her life. Disneyland was left back in her childhood. 

Then she had friends who now lived in Vancourver who she really wanted to visit them. And she was tired of always waiting, so she decided to just go. And if she was going to go all the way to Vancouver it really was not that far to then catch a plane down the coast to a certain magical theme park. 

About 6 months ago she bought the tickets. And today she walked through the gates and was so excited she almost cried (not that I'm proud of that, but hey it was an accumulation of a lot of expectation). 

And it was a beautiful day; filled with rides, Mouse ears, character photos, rides and princesses.