It was around 7.30am when I was eating breakfast and checking my bag before departure. I downed another can of Monster since we're gonna be there until midnight (no kidding, 15 hours at Disneyland already sounds exhausting). It was my aunt's policy that we stay till midnight to enjoy ourselves ttm. We reached Disneyland at about 9am-ish. The parking lot is some distance away from the Disneyland Park itself, which is why Disneyland has trams near the parking to take us to the Park. On the way to the tram I saw a little cute boy dressed up in a Batman suit. So adorable :3
Upon arrival, a massive crowd was already at the entrance. It was Disneyland after all, usually full all-year round regardless of the ticket pricing. Upon entry, we were given a map of Disneyland and I "studied" it just a little, since the main tour guide was my cousin so I didn't need to pay a lot of attention to the map.
As you can see on the map, Disneyland is divided into a few main areas with their own "themes". The place is rather huge and walking around the entire place can be very tiring. Upon entering Disneyland, visitors will find themselves at Main Street, which consists of rows of shops along the street. The marching band and the parade will occasionally march up and down Main Street. During the performance hours, the streets of Main Street are usually filled with people who want to see the performance. Further up Main Street is a roundabout which leads to the other areas of Disneyland.
Another thing to note about Disneyland is the use of the fast pass. At most of the rides in Disneyland, the queues are divided into two lanes. One lane is a regular queue up lane that everyone goes too, and the other is the fast pass lane. Users who go via the fast pass lane are able to bypass the main queue and go straight to the end of the line, hence the name FAST pass. Sometimes the fast pass lane has a crowd too, but you usually don't have to wait for more than 10 minutes as opposed to the usual 30 minutes or longer. The fast passes have a different time for different rides, eg 3pm-4pm for Splash Mountain means you can only use the fast pass during the stipulated timing for Splash Mountain. Using your Disneyland ticket, you can redeem fast passes for a ride at their respective booths. A single Disneyland ticket can redeem multiple fast passes, but you must wait for a certain time limit to pass (written on the fast pass you just redeemed) before you can redeem another one to avoid the mass redemption of fast passes. If you know what you're doing, you can skip extremely long queues for certain rides that peak during certain hours. Good planning and organization is vital to a fun time at Disneyland.
Without wasting time, we went to redeem a fast pass for Space Tours in Tomorrowland and went to Adventure Land where we went for our first ride of the day - Indiana Jones. I haven't been on any rides in years and my cousin wanted to see where my level first. This ride would be the determining factor. Since it was still rather early in the morning, we didn't have to wait long for the ride even though it was the basic queue. The ride for Indiana Jones was not really fast nor really slow, and relies more on the element of surprise (such as a sudden short drop after a long pause) plus a little darkness to give suspense. The ride was very visually attractive as there are a lot of things inside to see. I rated this as my second favorite ride in Disneyland.
We went to Autopia next to kill time since our fast pass for Space Tours hasn't started yet. Autopia is more of driving than a ride, as it gives visitors the chance to drive along a rail-guided track with specially modified mini-cars. It was a thrill to most of the kids since they weren't able to drive, and most of the people who come here are parents who let their kids drive instead of them. However, after riding it, I felt that it might not be so enjoyable for the kids, especially those who went alone. The main problem is the accelerator/brake. You press it, it moves, let go, it stops. The pad is SUPER hard and stiff, and by the end of the ride my right leg was really sore. I'd rather get stuck one hour in the jam with my manual car and my clutch leg wouldn't be as sore compared to this which happened in like 5 minutes. Another problem (apparently it was just my car) was that the engine kept dying, and I had to keep restarting it. Not really a pleasant experience but whatever. Its not like I never drove before.
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| Although it looks safe to bump, one of the main rules here is not to bump any cars. |
Our next ride was the Buzz Lightyear ride inspired by Toy Story 2. This ride is more of a ride combined with a shooting arcade game. Basically, 2 people get into a cart and compete against each other in a shooting game by hitting targets throughout the ride. You are of course, a space ranger hired by Star Command, and what are you going up against? Evil Emperor Zurg, duh. It was a rather fun and competitive ride. I went on it four times total (one in the day, three at night), with my score improving every round except for the last one. The worst part is, during the ride where I hit my highest score the system sort of crashed for a second and my score wasn't saved on the picture. I was so upset ._. Now that I know the game better and which targets give more points, I hope to get a better score the next time I come, probably in December when my parents come to visit.
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| Star Command, this is Buzz Lightyear! |
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| Second round |
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| Third round, and my highest score not displayed, which is 351,600 ._. |
Next up was Matterhorn Bobsleds, one my younger cousin's favorite rides. It was a mediocre ride with sharp corners and small tunnels. Either I was too big to be comfortable, or the seats was just uncomfortable because the ride hurts a little every time the sled bumps. It was good, but I didn't enjoy it as much as I did for Indiana Jones.
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| Matterhorn bobsleds |
Finally, it was time for the Star Tours ride, which is a 3D spaceship simulation based on Star Wars. We used our fast pass to bypass the main waiting queue and got in quick. 3D glasses were distributed to use and we entered the simulation room, or should I say, ship. It was a rather cool simulation and was really enjoyable to watch.
After Space Tours, my older cousin and I went to pull a fast pass for Space Mountain because my aunt and my younger cousin didn't wanna go on it. It was supposedly the fiercest ride in Disneyland. We had lunch afterwards - PIZZA! 6 huge slices of pizza, and I ate two of'em. Just two.
After lunch, we went to two other rides before heading to Space Mountain - Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. Pirates of the Caribbean was an indoor water ride (as in on water, not a ride that wets you) and its not a thriller ride, but a ride that shows awesome displays and models of characters related to the movie series. My favorite part was when a ship was battling with a castle. With the theme music playing in the background, it was very realistic. The Haunted Mansion is a more friendly version that is tailored more for kids and not scary at all, especially the graveyard part of the ride because it was all cartoonish with dancing gravestones and ghosts flying everywhere. A real haunted house will make anyone scream.
After that, we went to pull a fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain, but seeing as there was still some time left before we could get another fast pass, we went to the Winnie the Pooh ride to kill time. Totally nothing to say, just another kiddy ride seated on large beehives with lots of visuals throughout the ride.
It was then time for Space Mountain, and while my elder cousin and I went for it, my aunt and younger cousin went to watch Captain Eo, which is a short movie based on Michael Jackson. Using the fast pass, we were able to skip most of the queue for the Space Mountain ride, shortening our wait time to about 10 minutes. However, once we got on the ride, they shut it down for a moment because they apparently sent in too many rides. Since Disneyland staff had good organization, we were back on the track in no time and the ride continues. Rather than attractive visuals like Indiana Jones, Space Mountain utilizes immense speed and total darkness to excite riders. The ride takes place in a sphere shaped dome with the tracks going all over the place, and usually you won't be able to see anything other than little dots of light supposed to represent stars. Sudden drops, very sharp curves, and speedy downhill rides are all part of Space Mountain. This is my favorite ride at Disneyland, and I went on it twice with my cousin (once in the day, once at night).
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| Round 1 |
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| Round 2, and as you can see, I was less excited |
Our next destination was Fantasyland, marked by the Disney Castle that you see so often in every Disney movie. We first went to the teacup ride based on Alice in Wonderland, and my god that was a mood killer for me. Partly my fault, because I was spinning it so vigorously. I got dizzy for maybe an hour after that, and I cured it with a sugar rush by finishing an entire bag of sour gummy sweets that I bought later.
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| This isn't the ride, just a teacup that was outside. |
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| Disney Castle! |
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| Recognize that whale? Its from Pinocchio. |
Next up was Toon Town where I bought my bag of sweets, and everything here is mostly cartoonized. In the words of my cousin, "everything is so rounded and large and cute". Before I bought my candy we went on another ride called Roger Rabbit, and it certainly didn't help at all because it was also a spinning ride like the teacups, and at one point of the ride was a swirly line thingy that you see in hypnotism. It was after I finished my candy that I felt so much better.
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| Toon Town! |
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| Toon Town with the words in the far back. |
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| This was at the end of the Roger Rabbits ride. |
Our next ride was Its A Small World. You know that song right? Well, like my cousin said, it got drilled into my head and it stuck with us throughout our time at Disneyland. Just like Winnie the Pooh ride, it was another ride to be enjoyed - slow cruise through air conditioned tunnels with very nice things to see. There were even cards at the exit saying goodbye and they looked really nice. I think photographers will have a nice time on this ride.
I can't exactly remember when we took a fast pass for Splash Mountain, but I do remember that we couldn't get into Big Thunder Mountain even with the fast pass because it was closed, so they allowed the fast pass to be used until midnight. Before we headed for Splash Mountain, we went back to Main Street to wait for the parade to come by. Before the parade, there was the marching band which played songs and performed up and down main street. All of the band members looked very enthusiastic and were very interactive with the audience.
My cousins and I eventually missed the parade because the fast pass for Splash Mountain was almost expiring so our aunt stayed back and watched the parade while we went ahead to Splash Mountain. This was a very good example of fast pass usage. We bypassed a VERY, VERY, VERY SUPER LONG line of people. It was just shocking to say the least, that this many people would queue up. Checking the waiting time it was about 80 mins if you started waiting at the end of the line. Thanks to the fast pass, we only needed to wait 10 mins. Splash Mountain is a fun ride where you WILL get wet (duh, splash) and relies on long vertical drops (there is a really hard one in the middle) and a bit of darkness. And because I sat in front, I got wet the most. It was a really fun ride, and VERY worth to go on especially due to the fast pass.
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| Before the ride started. |
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| After going through water and all that. |
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| Drenched... |
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| Epic face I have |
Before we had dinner, we went to Big Thunder Mountain. This time it was a thriller ride and almost like Space Mountain, minus the darkness, a little speed, and less sharp corners or sudden drops.
We had fish and chips for dinner later at a place which name I have forgotten, but what I do remember is that there were birds pooping here and there from the trees above so we were scrambling to find a good and safe spot. The fish and chips were absolutely delicious, with 4 pieces of fish per plate. I had 6 because my aunt and my younger cousin couldn't finish one each. I finished most of their fries too.
This concludes part 1 of my Disneyland Trip. Part 2 will be coming up soon about the things that happened after dinner :)
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