Disneyland - Day 2, April 17, 2010

Sorry to disappoint avid Disney fans, but I did not get to Disneyland (DL) when it opened, not even for Magic Morning (when the park is open 1 hour early).

The Doubletree shuttle leaves for Disney half hour before Magic Morning (7:30am in this case), then every hour on the hour.  It drops you off at the "Silver" drop-off zone.  It's the furthest shuttle stop from the Disneyland gates.  Even the cast member shuttle drop-off is 20 feet closer.  But it wasn't a long walk.  The return shuttle picks up from the same zone starting from 2:15pm and every 15 after the hour until 10:30pm, then picks up every half hour until 12:30am. (this was for park hours that go from 8am to midnight)  The shuttle ride only took at most 15 minutes and I liked that it was exclusive to Doubletree guests, not like the other hotels on Harbor Blvd where they stop at two or three different hotels.  The shuttle wasn't full at all when we departed and returned either though your mileage may vary. (YMMV)

We were to meet up with my brother Ed and his wife Angela at California Adventure (CA) park opening at 9am, so we took the 8am shuttle.  (okay, technically I did get to a park at opening but it doesn't count)  I was starving (this is quite common), so we entered DL to grab some breakfast at the River Belle.  Standard eggs/pancakes/country potatoes/sausage/bacon/fruit offerings.  Mickey-shaped pancake for kids.  Ed calls around 8:45am...they're running late.  That's fine, because I'm still stuffing my face.  After satisfying my stomach, we head over to CA.  This weekend started the Food and Wine Festival, which lasts until May 31.  I've never attended Food and Wine here or at Disney World, and since I enjoy food, I was looking forward to tasty treats.  There were booths and areas set up just for the festival, and I noticed a long line of people waiting at the Showcase Stage.  They looked like they were going to be there for a while, as I saw blankets laid out on the ground just like when people wait for hours before a Fantasmic show at DL.  I found out later that Guy Fieri (ie. Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives show on Food Network) was the featured chef.  I didn't know he was popular enough to have people line up and wait 6.5 hours.

We head to Soarin' and the wait was just 10 minutes.  I forgot to ask to sit at the "top", so people's legs ruined the view, but oh well.  Then, we  headed over to the Toy Story 3D shooting game.  Lots of fun, though I am not very quick at pulling the cannon string to fire.  I think guys would do lots better than girls, because the pulling motion is similar to what guys do in private, ahem.  I'll let you figure out who was Player 1 and 2.

Ed calls again; he and Angela are in the park.  They meet us at California Screamin' roller coaster and we get on.  I didn't think about asking for the front car, but it worked out that way anyway!  I really like this coaster, so smooth.  No wait, maybe 5 minutes.  Getting in the park early helps with the lines.  We avoid the Maliboomer since Ed isn't too fond of drop-rides.  Neither am I, but I tolerate them better than he does because I psych myself out to ride.  People believe we must have been dropped at birth.  I still have qualms riding the Supreme Scream drop ride at Knotts (too tall) and Summit Plummet water slide at Blizzard Beach, never done either of them.  Don't know if I ever will.  Maybe one day, way way in the future.  We end up riding Mulholland Madness, a "wild mouse" roller coaster.  It looks tame, but it actually has some exciting turns and drops.

Ed somehow agreed to ride the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, despite it being a drop.  Maybe I bullied him into it.  The wait was again very short, maybe 10 minutes.  As luck would have it, we're in the front row, didn't have to ask for it.  My brother was so funny, he kept on screaming "Air time!  Air time!" when the ride was randomly taking our car up, down, up, down, down, up, down, and so forth.  You can tell from the picture that he was really enjoying the experience. ;)
 After these stomach-churning rides, it was a perfect time to look for lunch!  ;)  The Food and Wine festival was showcasing tapas-sized entrees for tasting, so we went over to the "Taste of California" Marketplace located at the Festival Showplace at Stage 12.  It was a bit hard to find, as the signage wasn't very inviting.  No big arrow or sign directing the way; Stage 12 looked like it was a private event and we were hesitant to walk in until we crept up a bit closer to see the menus posted outside.

I order the quesadilla, ahi, and the profiterole.  Turned out Ed and Angela also ordered the same thing but added the slider.  I had considered it, but it didn't look as juicy as I'd liked.  Good thing I didn't, as Ed confirmed the dryness.  The quesadilla was tasty as well as the ahi, though wished there were more pieces.  The profiterole was decent.  I forgot to take a picture of the slider, but the menu has a picture anyway.  I took pictures with my digital camera, so I was unable to post these food pics on Facebook, sorry foodie friends!

While we were eating, a cast member came up to us and asked if she could shoot video of us for an internal promotional piece.  We agreed, and she said to just eat and she'd tape us.  It was a bit unnerving because I kept thinking to myself, "Am I eating too sloppily?  Taking too big a bite?  Do they see teeth marks on my quesadilla?"  I think she focused a lot on Angela, so I was glad, because she looked the best of all of us, and ate very lady-like.

You could buy wine and beer.  Stella Artois was prominent everywhere.  I thought it was strange that the beer sold at the booths in the park cost less than the beer sold here inside the "Taste of California" Marketplace.  Maybe it was because you got to sit in the "Star Lounge".  We intended to try some of the wine and beer tasting.  It was $10 to do the wine flight, and I think it was the same to do the beer flight.  But we noticed that there was no food offered at the wine or beer tasting tables, so we skipped it.  I'd get drunk very quickly without some food to munch on.  Maybe you were supposed to purchase the "Artisanal Cheese" plate and take it to the tasting?

After lunch, we went to do Turtle Talk with Crush inside the Animation Building.  Crush is the turtle from the movie "Finding Nemo".  This ride is copied from Epcot; Crush is on a screen that looks like the glass wall of an aquarium and he interacts with the audience.  It's pretty cool technology.  You definitely have to be a good improv person to be Crush, because you never know what kinds of questions you will get from the audience.  One girl asked him, "Do you speak English?"  Crush paused for a moment, and responded, "Si."  That was a creative response.

Inside the Animation Building is a Toy Story "zoetrope".  It's pretty much a 3-D cartoon flip book.  It spins and then strobes help your eyes see the cartoon.  It was so cool, I had to watch it 3 times.  I took video of it, but I can't store video on my picture site; the following YouTube video shows it quite well: 



We trotted over to the "Bug's Life" 3D movie.  It was hilarious watching everyone jump from the effects.  We hopped over to Disneyland and tried to get a Fastpass for Indiana Jones, but the ride was broken down.  It was like that throughout the day.  Ended up going to Big Thunder Mountain roller coaster instead.  The entire Rivers of America was fenced off for renovations so no Fantasmic show, plus four attractions were down, so the park felt a lot more crowded than normal.

We went over to Tomorrowland to watch the Captain EO 3D movie.  I have never seen Captain EO.  Michael Jackson is the star of the show.  It was replaced years ago by Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3D movie, but with Jackson's death and fan requests, Disney brought it back for a limited time, so I had to go watch it.  This movie was definitely shot in the 80's.  Mullets, leg warmers, big hair.  At least I can say I saw it once.

Buzz Lightyear only had a 20 minute wait so we did that.  I didn't have to take a picture of a picture there, as you can email the photo to yourself...that's a nice touch.  Assuming you can grab an available computer.  The night before, I didn't bother emailing the photo due to the long lines.

We tried again to get a Fastpass for Indiana Jones, but it broke down right when we were approaching the Fastpass machines.  Consolation prize was getting a pineapple whip from the Dole stand near the Enchanted Tiki room.  By this time, it was close to 4pm and we wanted to catch the shuttle back to the hotel to drive over to visit my brother Allen's family, especially see my niece Alison, who is just over 10 months old.  Ed and Angela wanted to maximize their time at the Disneyland resort, so they stayed.  Really, they wanted to have the fried chicken over at the Plaza Inn.  ;)

Allen and his wife Lisa live not too far away from Disneyland; in fact, you can see the fireworks from the backyard of their hillside home.  We had play time with Alison.  She has a lot of toys!  The house is like a mini-Toys'RUs, like most families with young children.  Alison has a fascination with mirrors.  It was cute when she saw my reflection in the mirror, then turned around to look at the real me.  She's getting it.  We just chilled out at the house, enjoyed Thai take-out and fresh strawberry pie from Polly's.  Lisa joined us in the evening after she got out from work.  We thought we'd be able to make it back to Disneyland to squeeze one more ride (Indiana Jones?), but by the time we got back to the hotel, we were tired, and Ed called as well to let us know they were done for the night.  The time was 10:45pm.  DL doesn't close until midnight!  What is this madness?

Time for beddy-bye.  Tomorrow is a big day...