Finally, Disneyland!
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My brother-in-law and I were waiting in line to get into the Indiana Jones ride when I turned to him to ask what must have been my most insightful question for the whole trip: “Do you think there are any more American carpenters who look like Harrison Ford?” The funny part was I really kinda wanted to know. 'The sis opted to pass on this one, having been to Disneyland once before with friends and being forced to go on rides with sudden turns and frightening dips. Not on this trip, she said. She insisted that she would only go on rides that made her feel safe. The new bro, who had been to Disneyland countless times, as a kid with his parents and then as a summer camp counselor, knew better than to force the issue.
I''m not much of a rides person too, so I didn''t mind the thought of having to miss the scarier attractions. In fact I was kinda relieved I didn''t have to put on a brave front! When it comes down to it, I just wanted to have a taste of Disneyland to find out why it was supposedly the happiest place on earth.
The first ride all three of us actually took then was the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland. It was a rather relaxing ride despite the crocodiles and piranhas in the water, and hippos, noisy monkeys and headhunters on the river shore. All of them were animatronic, and even the elephants which at first threatened to shower our boat with their tusks opted to spray the water they saved up elsewhere.
Then it was off to New Orleans Square for the Pirates of the Carribbean ride. I knew it was populated by animatronics but I wasn''t sure what else to expect. Would a pirate suddenly jump into our mini-gondolla at some point? Would Buccaneers throw gold coins at us? The ride it turns out isn''t interactive at all, and we just glided through scenes depicting everyday pirate life. At one point, we passed by what looked like a busy candlelit restaurant, and I wondered, were the people all animatronic too? It took a few moments before I realized that it was actually the Blue Bayou, the most popular restaurant at the park. And for good reason too: it must be interesting to dine beside a man-made river, with dim lighting casting random shadows on your faces. It was romantic and spooky at the same time; something I didn''t know was possible. But since we didn''t want to spend $39 a person just to experience eating there, we saught nourishment elsewhere.
We actually ended up eating in two eateries suggested by my trusty guidebook. First, we hied off to Carnation Cafe in Main Street for lunch where the newlyweds had excellent sandwiches and I had a pot pie. For dinner, it was Redd Rockett''s Pizza Port in Tomorrowland where I had a slice of an amazing Chicken Barbeque Pizza and about 400 calories from Nesquick Strawberry Milk. Well, Disneyland is supposed to bring out the kid in you, right, and kids don''t concern themselves with calories, do they? We also made a stop at Rancho del Zocalo where we split a delicious taco salad as our snacktime treat when the heat started getting to us.
But I''m going ahead of myself. We were kinda disappointed by the pirate ride, but ended up trying out a classic Disneyland attraction: The Haunted Mansion, which was also in New Orleans Square. They let in 20 people at a time. As soon as our group was ushered into the parlor, a deep voice was piped into the room and started telling us about the local ghost stories which have been told and retold from the 18th century on. We may see some of the ghosts which populated those stories, the voice said, and unfortunately for us, there was no turning back. The floor started to sink; the opaque “windows” elongated. After we''ve descended about one storey, double doors opened and we walked into a dark corridor lined with creepy pictures of the mansion''s residents from long ago. At the end of the corridor, we had to fall in line until we were assigned a pod which sits three. It took us to a tour of the rest of the mansion, where we saw melancholy ghosts in one room, a ghostly ball at the main hall, and near the end, when our pod turned around, we found ourselves facing mirrors which showed that we were already carrying an extra passenger! My new bro tells me that whenever he went to the Haunted Mansion, at least one kid will start bawling and screaming, and now I understand why!
Somehow, we were able to convince my sister to go on Tomorrowland''s Star Tours ride with us. It ws touted to be a “flight simulator” ride, just like Enchanted Kingdom''s Rialto. We would just watch what''s on the screen in front of us, feel our seats shift a bit here and there, and then we''ll be done. But apparently, our “ship” would be piloted by a first timer, so there were a quite a few starts and stops, sudden dips, and of course, we just had to hit an asteroid belt which pelted our intergalactic vehicle from all sides. By the time the ride finished, my sister was dizzy and said she wouldn''t let herself get talked into any more rides.
Because of this, it was just the new bro and I who zapped aliens with our trusty laser guns in Buzz Lightyear''s Astro Blasters ride. I ended up getting a paltry 9,000 points compared to his 18,000 I think, which was so embarrassing. After collecting my sister outside, the three of us walked around and caught the tail-end of a street parade complete with various Disney characters riding on two-tiered floats. We saw Goofy, Pluto, Mickey and Minnie, Donald and Daisy, Winnie the Pooh, Chip and Dale, the Mad Hatter, the kids from Peter Pan... they even had a cheering squad straight out of High School Musical.
It was enough to inspire my sis into going on another ride... but something she was sure she''d enjoy. So off we went to fall in line in front of the white castle which was made to look as if it was made completely out of cardboard cutouts. Every other group lined up with us seemed to have at least one child with them, but oh well, it made my sister happy. We boarded a boat and braced ourselves to see cutesy tableaux of dolls dressed in different national costumes. After this, It''s a Small World After All treated us to a very very long rendition of the popular song, sung in dozens of languages. I still wanted to get into the spirit of things, so I ended up taking a lot of pictures inside. I aimed my lens at he single Filipina doll we spied on the ride, but I ended up with a blurred photo. My picture of the Little Mermaid fared better, but I wondered what country she represented?
The new bro wanted to go on the Matterhorn Bobsleds or Space Mountain even if he had to ride alone, but he deemed the lines too long. It was a good thing the Indiana Jones ride didn''t disappoint. It had enough thrills and was plenty scary, but just when it seemed like it would be too much, the ride let up. We faced a giant stone ball for the finale. I wondered how they were going to pull it off... or where they going to kill us? The little “jeep” we were riding stopped for a dramatic pause... but of course, a sudden turn did save us in the end.
Disneyland actually sits side by side with Disney''s California Adventure. They actually give you the option of buying 1-Day Park Hopper tickets which covers both parks, but actually, one day isn''t enough to “conquer” just one. There was a lot to see, so when we weren''t on line or actually riding one of Disneyland''s many amusements, we were busy just taking pictures of everything: full-sized pirate ship and riverboat which sails across a man-made “river” found in the heart of the park, the wimsical buildings in Toontown, flying Dumbos and spinning teacups, and much, much more. By dusk, we only had enough energy left over to sit down near The Golden Horseshoe to listen to the big band play swing music that other visitors were dancing to.
By 9pm, we elbowed our way through Main Street to find a good spot to see the fireworks show. Narration and music enhanced the emotions that the show tried to convey. Tinkerbell “flying” over Sleeping Beauty''s castle capped everything, completely convincing everyone present to believe that dreams do come true.
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