Read part 1.

Read part 2.

Kevin Linn wraps up his Disneyland trip report with a fantastic finale. Take it away Kevin…

Disneyland!
On-site hotel guests are treated to Magic Morning hours at Disneyland but unlike Walt Disney World, the extra hour starts at 7:00am. I was so excited for getting to the park that I woke up at 5:00 and couldn’t have gotten back to sleep if you had hit me on the head with a hammer. I did my best to shower and dress without waking anyone up. My biggest problem was the explosion of  9 and 7 year-old on the floor so dodging clothes, shoes, stuffed animals, and Pokemon cards in total darkness took some skill.

Once I got dressed and cleared my mind I remembered that I hadn’t done my Touring Plan for the day so I got on the laptop (free wireless) and figured out our day. I didn’t have a printer so I meticulously wrote down the entire touring plan on hotel stationary. Then I remembered I have a Blackberry.

In our family there is one rule: keep Mommy happy. So, before I did anything else I snuck out of the room and went to find coffee. Note to coffee drinkers: the Disneyland Hotel has no coffee maker in the room. After searching through the construction I found the coffee shop just outside the door of Goofy’s Kitchen and Steakhouse 55. There, I was able to secure the valuable liquid gold and cinnamon rolls! Walking back to the room I noticed the FREE coffee in the lobby right next to the Disney Fantasia Shop. 5:00 am, remember?

After getting back to the room and making Mommy happy we were able to rouse the kids and get them ready for a full day at Disneyland. Our plan called for staying at the park until 3:00 or 4:00 and then relaxing and swimming until our dinner reservations at Ariel’s Grotto at 7:30 in California Adventure.

At 6:45 we were off to the races. Our first stop was the Monorail station at Downtown Disney. Just before 7:00 we were boarded and ready to go. The horn gave a blast and the cars began to rumble and 20 feet later we were suddenly at a dead stop. My thoughts turned to that extra Taco Bell Chalupa from the night before and how I had just broken the Monorail. Fortunately, our wait was short and the cars started moving once more.

 

Taking the Monorail into Disneyland delivers you next to the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. I am used to the rope drop ceremony so my normal Disney routine was thrown off a bit. Actually, it worked well because getting a Fast Pass to Space Mountain was the first agenda item on our Touring Plan, followed by the Matterhorn. Unfortunately, the Fast Pass machines aren’t turned on until 8:00. So we skipped that step and ran to the bobsleds.

My baby girl is seven years old and we never know if she is going to love a ride she or absolutely hate it. Please note that a screaming Yeti with bright, glowing green eyes lurking near the fast moving vehicle is not a great idea first thing in the morning. Traumatized by the adventure we acted quickly and ran to the Dumbo ride just a few steps away.

When 8:00 hit we hooked up with our friends Erik and Jackie and their kids, consulted the Touring Plan and hit the ground running. The rest of the morning was fabulous hopping from ride to ride and soaking in the atmosphere of the only park Walt Disney had a personal hand in creating. The kids didn’t care but I was in heaven looking at all of the details of each attraction and taking pictures of seemingly idiotic things. My lovely wife was getting mad at me for taking pictures of things without people. She is also a Disney enthusiast but the depth of her affliction is nowhere near mine so I had to promise that I would separate the Daddy special pictures from the family pictures so she wouldn’t see them.

The oddest thing for a Walt Disney World person is that Disneyland feels exactly like the Magic Kingdom but is entirely different. You turn one way expecting something and it’s not there. To battle this issue it is my recommendation that you sit down with Google Earth before your arrival and familiarize yourself with the differences. That way you won’t be freaked out by the giant mountain sitting in the middle of Fantasyland.

Our two families had a wonderful time perusing the lands and the rides. The best investment I made was signing up for the Lines app on my Blackberry. Whenever we got to a particular ride I would pull out the phone and see what the wait time was on Lines. For fun, I started my stopwatch to check its accuracy. It is amazing. Even though the particular attraction told us the wait was 25 minutes, Lines would tell us the wait was only 13 and every time the actual wait was much closer to 13 than 25. This helped guide us through the park with minimal line waiting.

My only failure on this trip was getting Erik to join me in riding It’s a Small World. He would rather bungie jump into a pool of hungry alligators than set foot on this ride, and all my coaxing and prodding didn’t help. I will have to work on his inner child some before we make our next trip.

Despite the park being very busy with spring break visitors we were able to catch every ride. At about 3:00 the kids were starting to wilt a bit so my lovely wife took all four kids in our party back to the hotel for relaxation and swimming. Meanwhile, my friends Erik and Jackie were hankering to burn the last two Fast Passes we had for Space Mountain, so we stayed in the park.

While they were off on the ride, I took the opportunity to fulfill my real mission. Now that you have read this far I must confess my real reason for coming to California and Disneyland. It was not to visit my brother. It was not for the sun, or the beach, or even Disneyland. No. My real reason for making this trip was to find and procure the last three items I need in my collection of Star Wars Mr. Potato Head characters. You read that right, Mr. Potato Head. My name is Kevin and I am a potatoheadaholic.

 

The Star Wars versions have great names like Yam Solo, Luke Frywalker, and Darth Tater. My mission was to fulfill my collection with Chipbacca, C3-Potato, and the ultimate prize, Mashter Yoda. I have been following the prices on eBay and Laughing Place and I couldn’t find them for less than $19.95. My lovely wife is fully on board but even that price seemed a bit steep. Since Star Tours and Start Traders are closed for renovation, my only hope was the shop attached to the Captain EO Tribute attraction. My heart was filled with anticipation as I passed light sabers and Yoda masks and suddenly I spied my prey. All three items were in stock and each was only $12.95! I quickly grabbed them and walked directly to the checkout stand, ignoring the strange looks I was getting from fellow shoppers. At this point I didn’t care. I purchased my toys and watched helplessly as the poor cast member tried to them in a very large bag. I totally ignored the fact that I had no idea how to get them on an airplane. My mission fulfilled and my life now complete, I sat down and waited for my friends to finish Space Mountain.

I had never been to California Adventure. In fact, the last time I had been to Disneyland, California Adventure was the Goofy and Pluto section of the parking lot. Built ten years ago, the DCA is now going undergoing a $1 billion reimagineering, which means there are a lot of construction walls to meander. We arrived at Ariel’s Grotto and checked in at the hostess desk. She then informed us that they were very behind on their seating and if we wanted to be seated earlier, we would have to dine outside. It was a little cold and windy at this point but with four kids under 9 years old at 7:30 at night we would have taken this option if it was snowing.

We were seated in the section closest to the World of Color fountains. We asked our waiter if they allowed people to sit in this section during the show. He let us know that if the fountains didn’t soak you, the burst of flames would surely dry you off very quickly. We took that as a no. Our dinner was interesting. The food was absolutely wonderful but it became very apparent that sitting outside, next to water on a windy 50 degree night with one heater not working made it very difficult to grip a fork. The kids took turns running back in to the restaurant to get warm while the adults simply sat and complained about being cold. When it came time to get our dessert, we let the waiter know we’d like it to go.

One of the perks of eating at Ariel’s Grotto is that it comes with Fast Passes to stand in a special section for the World of Color. If you haven’t heard about the World of Color, think Bellagio fountains on a colorful LSD fantasy trip. Because our dinner reservation was a little late we arrived about five minutes before the start. Unfortunately this meant that we weren’t in the front row. It would have been fine but everyone in front of us with kids decided that they should put their kids on their shoulders. Not wanting to be one of those people, I just tried to maneuver so we could get a good glimpse. Every time I found a good spot, another kid would be hoisted on the shoulders in front of me. It was like trying to view the show through a Whack-a-Mole machine.

Site lines aside, the World of Color is absolutely incredible. I had viewed the show about a thousand times, no lie, on YouTube but videos truly do no justice to the live version. The park comes alive with water, color, lasers and fire and is well worth the trip. If the rest of the upgrades to Disney California Adventure come out as well as World of Color then the Disneyland Resort with finally have a most worthy second gate.

Rope Drop with Rosie and Disney California Adventure
Since we only had two days at the Disneyland Resort, I wanted to get a little more Disneyland in before we started our day at California Adventure. Because DCA doesn’t open until 10:00 am this afforded me the opportunity to experience the rope drop I had missed the day before. The only member of our group awake enough to join me was my 7 year-old daughter Maya Rose. Rosie and I walked through Downtown Disney and arrived at Disneyland just in time. After the opening ceremonies, we took a stroll through Main Street. I had my camera with me so I decided to have a little fun. Each morning, cast members line the street and welcome guests into the park. So, each group of cast members we passed, I placed Rosie in their group and snapped a picture.

 

The cast members were all very wonderful and treated my baby like one of them. I even got a cast member to give up his broom so I could snap a picture of Maya cleaning the street.

 

The best part of this adventure was when one of the cast members pulled out a brand new Jasmine princess pin and attached it to Rosie’s shirt. My daughter’s smile always makes my day and this one almost made me weep.

We spent the rest of our Disneyland time riding the Storybook canal boats, the Casey Jr. train, and our second turn on It’s a Small World as well as Dumbo, Peter Pan, Mr. Toad and Snow White’s Scary Adventure. While walking out of Snow White I noticed something moving in the window above the entrance. We stood there for a few minutes and suddenly, the curtain opened and the Evil Queen peered out, a little creepy but a lot of fun.

 

We then met the rest of our party at the entrance of Disney California Adventure. Equating this park with Walt Disney World, it is part Hollywood Studios, part Animal Kingdom, a tiny bit of Epcot, and one part Atlantic City without the casinos. Our first quest was to ride Soarin’ over California. While we waited in line, our friend Jackie walked to California Screamin’ and got Fast Passes. She had plenty of time because the line for Soarin’ was about 35 minutes. This version of Soarin’ is an exact duplicate of the one at Walt Disney World so you get a strange feeling when you exit and you’re not in Epcot.

After a stroll through the Paradise Pier section we arrived at California Screamin’, a very large roller coaster that was built in tribute to the great wooden roller coasters at Coney Island and other seaside amusement parks. I really didn’t like the idea of riding this coaster because it has large loop in the middle and I’m not big on being upside down, but I manned up after some goading from my son Griffin and away we went. While this coaster was meant to look like its wooden cousins it is anything but. It is an all-steel thing of beauty. Like Rockin’ Rollercoaster, Screamin’ starts from a dead stop and goes from zero to 60mph in about 200 feet and let me tell you, it is awesome. Besides being very fast, it is also very smooth, and very long, and I loved every minute of it, even the part where we went upside down. Griffin loved it too. In fact he loved it so much he went twice.

After this excitement we stood in line for 45 minutes to ride Toy Story Mania. The frustrating thing is that there are no Fast Passes, so if you want to improve your score, you’ll have to wait in line again.

We spent the rest of our morning and afternoon walking through the park and experiencing It’s a Bug’s Life, Muppets 3D, the Monsters Inc. ride, and checking out the construction walls for Cars Land, the Little Mermaid and the new entrance to Buena Vista Street which will be the new Main Street for DCA that depicts an idealized version of Hollywood from Walt Disney’s arrival in 1923.

We chose Grizzly River Run as our last ride of the day because it has the potential to get you very, very wet. Much like Kali River Rapids at Animal Kingdom, Grizzly sits you on a boat with 7 other victims and takes you down a raging river on a perilous journey of near-death and mayhem! It’s not that scary, but it can get you wet if you aren’t prepared. Before we departed on our journey I went to WalMart and picked up ponchos. I decided to spend a little more than usual because the 88 cent versions are more akin to wearing cheap Saran Wrap. Think condom more than poncho. Let me tell you, the extra money was well worth it because those not-so-forward-thinking members of our boat got drenched. This ride was so fun that we decided to go twice. Short lines, great ride!

The ladies and the kids headed back to the hotel and my friend Erik and I were headed back to Disneyland. Before we could get there, my lovely wife somehow struck up a conversation with one of the sales cast members from the Disney Vacation Club. She told them no way, but in order to make a stealthy exit, she pointed to me and said, “…but there’s a sucker over there!” and then dashed away before I knew what happened. It wasn’t bad, though, because I have been exploring DVC for a couple years so I already had an interest in the product. In fact, I apparently knew so much that I was freaking them out. I asked them about the rumored DVC location at the Grand Floridian and also about the new Disney Cruise Line sailing out of Seattle. Their mouths hit the floor. “How do you know so much?” I then pulled out my Blackberry and showed them my Twitter feed and they quickly understood the depth of my illness.

To get Erik back for not riding It’s a Small World, I agreed to take a tour of the new Aulani mockup at the DVC sales office near the Disneyland hotel. I felt he owed me and the look on his face when he knew he couldn’t escape was priceless. Besides, if we played our cards right this little side trip would score us Fast Passes to any ride we wanted. We met with Tony and he walked us through the DVC points system and how it might help us save money on our future Disney vacations. We had a really nice discussion and we were very impressed with the Aulani studio and 1-bedroom models. I also love that Disney applies absolutely no pressure in their sales pitch. They gave us the facts and then let us go. Erik was impressed and also very happy that we exited the presentation with 16 Fast Passes! I still haven’t forgiven him for not riding Small World with me.

Go Out with a Bang, or Three
For our last night at the Disneyland Resort, we decided that we would end our visit by going back into Disneyland and ride Thunder Mountain in the dark as many times as possible. Our timing was excellent. We rode the monorail back into the park and as fate would have it we arrived in front of Small World two minutes before the Magic, Memories and You show was to begin. We found the perfect spot. What a wonderful presentation, absolutely breathtaking. Jackie knew nothing about this show and was blown away. That was fun to watch, too.

We rode Small World one more time and headed to Adventureland. Riding Thunder Mountain in the dark is one of those special thrills that beg to be repeated often. While Maya Rose normally loves this ride, experiencing it at night was akin to the glowing green eyes of the Matterhorn’s Yeti. Therefore, my quest to ride until I dropped was dashed. My disappointment quickly dissipated when the Remember Dreams Come True fireworks show started right above our heads. We left the rest of our party at Thunder Mountain and found a great spot in front of the Mark Twain Steamboat entrance. One of my great joys in life is seeing my daughter’s eyes light up during a Disney firework show and Remember is one of the best.

While watching the show, I struck up a conversation with a cast member. She let me know that right after the show, I should head over to Pirates of the Caribbean and park myself on the bridge above the entrance. This would give me the best position for the final show of the night, Fantasmic. My cast member friend was dead-on accurate. We parked ourselves on the bridge and I texted the rest of our party to let them know our position. Once they arrived, we stood back and watched our third great show of the night. Because of its’ location on Rivers of America, Fantasmic at Disneyland buries its sister show at Hollywood Studios. In my humble opinion it feels more natural because it can incorporate the Mark Twain and the Columbia sailing ship. One word, incredible.

 

As we finished watching the show, I was reminded that a 7 year-old is not built to survive a late night at a theme park. So, with the clock just touching 11:00 pm, I picked up my 60 pounds of beautiful, sleeping princess and carried her through Disneyland, Downtown Disney, and back to the Disneyland Hotel.

For a Daddy, this was the perfect ending to a perfect vacation at the Happiest Place on Earth.