Day Two - July 31, 2010

Ah, I have been waiting for this day for years.

If you know much about me, you probably know that I am a huge Disney freak. I absolutely love every part of it (well, okay, maybe not Disney Channel programming...). What I love most of all is Walt Disney World. It's huge, endlessly entertaining, and one of the things in life that can melt stress away from me like nothing else. So, naturally when I found out that I was going to Los Angeles, I knew that a trip to the Mother Ship had to be part of the trip. No ifs, ands or buts about it. I was going to Disneyland no matter what.

The thing with Disney parks? They aren't cheap. I'll admit that the admission prices are ridiculous, but it hasn't stopped me from going yet. I'm pretty good at finding bargains, especially when it comes to park admission. Disney came up with a wonderful program this year called "Give a Day, get a Disney Day." The basic premise was to encourage volunteerism across the country, with volunteers who had completed a sanctioned activity receiving a free day's admission to any Disney theme park. Well, well, WELL! You KNOW I was all over that! When I signed up in January to do this program, I had no idea that I would be in Los Angeles, much less Orlando, but I felt it was too good to pass up. I did my volunteering, received my voucher, and then was blown away by the fact that my trip to Disneyland was going to be paid for by a simple act of volunteering! Props to Disney on this one!

Our plan was to arrive at Disney around 10, but traffic messed with us, and we showed up a bit later. After getting our tickets, it was into the park! I was literally about to pee my pants over this one. This was DISNEYLAND, the first park! The model for all other Disney parks! The original! Oh, the excitement. I think Gerrad got a good laugh over it. My plan for the day was simple - seek out what the parks in Orlando did not have, and tackle those rides.

First stop was Indiana Jones. This one had the longest line of the day, so it was nice to get it out of the way early in the day. It was fun, but really jerky. It reminded me of the Dinosaur ride at Animal Kingdom. While in line, we decided to call Disney Dining to get a reservation for the Blue Bayou restaurant, which is also not in the Orlando parks. Unfortunately, the earliest reservations for the day were at 9:20 and 9:30 - that's PM, folks. We decided to pass. When we got off of the ride, we saw that we were very close to the restaurant - couldn't hurt to try, right? Guess what? WE GOT IN! Woo hoo! This restaurant was very cool, overlooking part of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and it served great Cajun food. What was really cool was the fact that our impromptu seating was amazing - right on the water, and you could see the ride boats passing along. I had the Monte Cristo sandwich, which I am pretty certain isn't quite all that Cajun, but you just can't go wrong with a deep fried sandwich. Besides, it was the cheapest thing on the menu, and I was trying to be good.

Stuffed to the gills, we then rode Pirates next, which is in many ways cooler than the Orlando version. There is a big drop at the beginning of the ride which was fun. Haunted Mansion was next, identical to the Orlando version with the major exception of the outside facade - here, a Southern plantation style home. We then wandered over to Critter Country to check out Splash Mountain, but it had a HUGE line, so we skipped it. Gerrad didn't seem too keen on getting wet regardless! After riding the Winnie the Pooh ride, it was back out to experience more rides - this time, in Fantasyland!

After stopping to get a frozen apple juice (extra tasty), my sights were set on riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, an attraction that could once be found in Orlando but had been shut down many years ago. I may have ridden it in 1979 (the first trip), but I remembered nothing about it. It was pretty aimless, but at least I could check it off of the list! We hung around Fantasyland for a while, riding the Storybook Canal boats (oh, the cheese factor here was off the charts), Gerrad got a churro, trying to figure out what was up with the Matterhorn Bobsleds (they weren't working) and why the line to It's A Small World was so long. Puzzled completely, we went to Tomorrowland to see the Captain EO tribute. Captain EO was a show that Michael Jackson did with George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola back in the 80s. Let's just say that the whole experience there was stupefying. It's about 15 minutes of my life I will never get back and I am pretty certain that I don't feel good about that at all. Weirdness. We tried to then ride Space Mountain, but it had broken down, so it was back to the Matterhorn Bobsleds, which were now up and running. That was so much fun!! I wish that they would put it in Orlando. We then tackled It's a Small World, which was different from Orlando in that there were Disney characters interspersed throughout the ride.

It was Dole Whip time after that, so back to Adventureland. Alice, these Dole Whips were not as good as the ones in Orlando, just so you know! I had done very well at watching my money throughout the day, so I felt completely justified in getting some shopping done!

We took the tram back to the parking garage, and Gerrad then mentioned that his stomach was getting that "Oh no, I've eaten nothing but sugar since lunch" feeling. After a brief stop back at the apartment, we headed to In-n-Out Burger, a regional chain that serves pretty amazing burgers and fries. By this point, exhaustion was once again taking over, and I very happily crawled into bed, happy beyond all measures of happiness. That's right, happy. It is, indeed, the Happiest Place on Earth. Thanks, Uncle Walt!

Song of the Day: Of course it is "It's a Small World." How could it not be??