Our 1st Proper Halloween - Disneyland Leg **COMPLETED** About This Page:

[Big Sister]

To read about the second leg of our trip (cruising the Pacific Coast on the Disney Wonder), please click here

Sunday, 7 October 2012: Cruise ends Disneyland starts

Woke and got up at 6.19am. Couldn't sleep, as I couldn't relax with what was ahead, plus there was a weird tapping sound coming from the airvent in our room As soon as I got up, I looked out the window and saw a scene I didn't recognise. When I next looked out, we were at port already! I was shocked! The transition was so smooth and unnoticeable. Now we were right back where we started from.

Nest got up at 7am to get ready, while I did last minute tidying up and finalised our day bags. Our guest account summary was delivered around the same time, and was nowhere near as much as I was dreading, thank goodness!

We left our stateroom for the last time a bit before the deadline of 8.30am I was relieved to see other people only just leaving their stateroom's also. Loaded up with our day bags (six in total!), we gingerly made our way downstairs (I say gingerly, as we were both awkwardly balanced with day bags) to the Promenade Lounge to wait for our red Mickey luggage tag group to be called, to signal it was our turn to disembark

When we arrived, I checked the announcement screen, and saw that our tags had already been called Putting our comment card in the box provided at the entrance to the gangway, we left the Disney Wonder for the last time this holiday The people who would be boarding her this afternoon for the last Pacific Coast sailing of the season, were very lucky indeed Once again though, like last time we changed base camps, this time we had a great week at Disneyland ahead of us, which we were greatly looking forward to after 2010's disastrous stay there

Once off ship, we arrived at a long line for Customs On learning we were non-US citizens, an officer pulled us aside and took us to a virtually non-existent line We were allowed our big stash of taffy and Twinkies

Going down these long escalators, we found ourselves in a large warehouse type area. There was no way we could manage the four suitcases waiting for us in addition to our plethora of day bags , but thankfully a very friendly porter was heading straight for us, and did all the heavy lifting and wheeling

The bus transfer to the Grand Californian Hotel was leaving from platform nine. There was already quite a line for it, which made me glad we hadn't attended our last breakfast sitting at 8.15am (it was around 9am at the time.) When we went to get our names checked off the passenger manifest, they weren't on it! Luckily, we were still allowed to join the queue due to the PR sticker on our Key to the World cards. The transfers were also itemised on our guest account summary I had with me, but no one asked to check it. We said goodbye to our friendly porter, and told him how much we appreciated his services (it would've been so hard without him!) There were heaps of suitcases already amassed for the Paradise Pier and Disneyland Hotels, but ours were the first to join the queue for the Grand Californian - how exciting! (It's the little things that count as well as the big things! )

We got to board the coach at 9.30am, and got seats together right up the back. As it was another stinking hot day, we were really appreciative that the air conditioning was going full whack.

From where we were sitting, we could see the Disney Wonder being cleaned in preparation for that afternoon's sail.

While waiting for everyone to board, the driver put on a video about now our Disney Cruise is over, and what we could do now. For such a depressing subject, the video was quite positive. It showed Mickey and friends giggling away and boarding a bus just like we had (except there was no giggling on our part ), and talking about future Disney cruises available for us to take. The video ended with all the characters in Mickey's living room, laughing lots while watching their holiday videos. It made going home and back to reality seem fun and exciting in itself - that's Disney magic for you!

The bus was chockers by this stage, with parties having to separate just to get a seat As we pulled away from the pier, the next video to screen, was the season finale of America's Funniest Videos. I don't know for what year though. My favourite video by far, was of all these kittens milling around near a vacuum cleaner. Some of the kittens were on top of it, doing a more thorough investigation, when one of them just happened to turn it on, sending them all scurrying off at the speed of light. Nest's favourite one was of a little dog wanting to go outside, and to get his owner's attention, it rang a bell on the ground with his little paw - it was so cute. I also enjoyed the segment of people being surprised with the news of Disney holidays. The two that stuck in my mind the most, were:

· Two little girls were standing in their phone area. The youngest of the two was on the phone, relaying a message to her slightly older sister, who was standing next to her. When she (the older sister) found out they were going to Disneyland, she just stood there squealing, as if she was on a rollercoaster (or had just seen the biggest spider in the world.)
· A brother and sister had just boarded a flight to Orlando, and buckled themselves in. The Captain came on over the loudspeaker and welcomed them by name, saying that they were actually on a flight to Walt Disney World, Orlando, and not Detroit like their father had said. What a great way to surprise someone!

The video that won the grand prize, was of a boy crying about having lost the video camcorder someone had leant him. The majority of the video is white due to it being lost in the snow, with coloured subtitles of this boy and someone else trying to find it. While on first viewing Nest and I found it funny, we wouldn't preferred the poodle video to have won. It was of these three poodles, with their owner in the background asking who had made the mess (which you didn't get to see.) You could tell the white poodle was responsible, as he was looking incredibly guilty, and the two innocent-looking brown poodles kept looking at him. Our suspicions were confirmed, on further questioning, when the white poodle slowly backed away and disappeared into a nearby room.

The grand prize ended up being a Disney Cruise, an Adventure by Disney, a trip to Walt Disney World, and a trip to Disneyland. Wow, what a prize!! Far more exciting that Australian's grand prize of $200,000! The show had been hosted from aboard the new Disney Dream, and the grand finale presentation took place at Disney's California Adventure near where World of Colour is held.

No sooner had the show ended, did we realise we were in Disney territory ourselves! (The video had kept us in the Disney bubble, 'protecting' us from the rather 'ordinary' scenery whooshing by our window, whilst transferring us from the pier to Disneyland.) The first noticeable landmark I spotted, was Space Mountain, and later on, the mountain peaks of the new Cars Land. Paradise Pier was the first Disney hotel I spotted, so I was surprised when the bus pulled into the Grand Californian first instead.

Even though the check-in line was long, it didn't seem to take long for us to be seen to. Thankfully there was a room available to check-in to straight away (it was before the official time of 3pm check-in), which meant we could dump all our bags in our room and be care-free from then on in The guy checking us in gave us a few tips, such as lining up at 6am for the 7am early morning madness for hotel guests ... which I knew wouldn't be happening without even conferring with Nest first

It was so good to be back at the Grand Californian - it's the definite place for us to stay when we come to Disneyland! Our room, which was number 4440 on the fourth floor, was absolutely gorgeous, and we were so happy and on top of the world as a result The view from our window was wonderful also - we could see the Hollywood Tower Hotel (very important, as its a favourite!), the new Carthay Circle building, Grizzly River Run, and the tips of California Screamin' and Mickey's Fun Wheel above the tops of the trees. Also, the monorail ran right outside, which was exciting too (and not noisy at all like you'd expect.)

On dumping our bags, we didn't even stop to take photos of our new home for the next week , before hitting the Disneyland Park running! We were so super happy to be back, that on leaving our room, we skipped arm-in-arm down the hallway, excitedly babbling about finally being able to go on Splash Mountain and dine at the Hungry Bear Restaurant after all this time! It was around 11.30am at this stage.

We took a shortcut down some stairs, which deposited us right next to the World of Disney store in Downtown Disney, so we popped in for a super quick look on our way to the Disneyland park. Nest found a pocketwatch, and a cast member got it out for him to inspect. Nest was pleased to find it was a wind-up one, and not battery operated, but forgot to check if it was made in Switzerland. (He left purchasing it for later after more thinking about it, as it cost $400 , where-as his others from 2007 were only around the $100 mark.) He asked if there were any other designs, but was told no, as they had just sold out of a train design )

Once through the bag check line, we found ourselves at the Disneyland Park entrance , which had been beautifully decorated with jack-o-lanterns and orange, yellow and brown ribbon ruffles in preparation for Halloween. Main Street was decorated in the same style, and had a giant Mickey jack-o-lantern where we're used to the big Christmas tree going. When I told one of my friends that there's around 200 in Main Street, and not one of them is the same, she told me that she wanted me to take pics of them all so she could check for herself!

We zig-zagged down Main Street, quickly checking for stuff, but not planning on buying anything at this point in time so we wouldn't have to lug it all around with park with us (it was so hot and the most crowded we'd ever seen it!) The first shop we stopped in at, was Disneyana, to check out the gorgeous light boxes. Then we zipped over to the Penny Arcade, as it's one of our favourites.

And so the hunt for Splash Mountain begun. Who could've imagined we would get ourselves so hopelessly lost?! We did two laps of Frontierland in hot crowded conditions, adamant that Critter Country was right next door ... before slowly realising that that's only in Walt Disney World! On our third attempt, we went in the opposite direction to the way we had been going, as it seemed to be the only other possibility at the time. At one stage, we excitedly thought Splash Mountain was right in front of us, but that turned out to be the tiny version of the Matterhorn in the Storybookland Canal Boats! Standing helplessly by It's a Small World, wishing we hadn't left our maps in our room, and not particularly wanting to pick up new copies from the park entrance, seeing as we were so far away from it, I spotted a Cast Member with a fanny pack full of them - talk about being relieved! I asked for a map, and she gladly gave me one. When she asked what we were looking for, she said we couldn't be further away from it if we tried, and we all laughed! Who moved Splash Mountain next to the Haunted Mansion?! (On hearing it's location though, the penny did drop! )

We were massively disappointed to learn that Splash Mountain was temporarily closed (we wanted to cool down with a big splash), but we kept a sunny disposition, and headed for the Hungry Bear Restaurant right on 12 noon (Nest owes me a couple of meals from there.) We ordered chilli cheeseburgers and iced water, with Nest also getting himself an ice cream sandwich. All the shaded tables were taken. We scored one that was only half in the sun, and did our best to cram ourselves into the shaded area! Once settled, we went to eat our burgers, suddenly realising they were plain cheese ones, and not chilli cheese. We still ate them though, and they were really nice.

The first attraction we tried to experience, was the Haunted Mansion, but the line for that disappeared somewhere off into New Orleans Square , so we headed for Pirates of the Caribbean instead, wondering what it would be like to stay in the Dream Suite situated above the attraction The line was deceptively long, as it coiled around in a snail shell pattern, but once inside the doorway to the attraction, it was nice and cool and the wait not as noticeable.

I absolutely loved the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction. As we hadn't been on this version since 2007, it was like riding it again for the first time. I loved it how it started off with us sailing through the dark quiet bayou surrounded by the odd firefly (Nest and I were in the very front.) You could just make out some little shacks on stilts, where there was a man on his porch in a rocking chair, lazily plucking away at a banjo. It was so relaxing, but at the same time, Nest and I were hoping it wouldn't attract any zombies like it did in Zombieland when Woody Harrelson played the banjo in the supermarket scene.

Another thing we loved about Pirates, was after the relaxing beginning, there was a totally unexpected drop in the dark - how thrilling! And we got splashed a bit - bonus! This led us to a ship deck scene with a crew of skeletons sailing a ship through a storm, to haunting music - the scene was periodically lit up by lighting. I quite liked this scene!

Another drop (a bit more expected this time, seeing as we could actually see it coming this time!) led us to the battle between two ships. As I was still relaxed by this stage, the splash of water to my right simulating a canon ball landing, made me jump. Luckily nobody seemed to notice

As for the 'main' part of the ride, there seemed to be a new donkey near a new crate of chickens that I can't remember from before. I also loved sailing by the Blue Bayou restaurant. I think another reason I enjoyed this ride super much for, was because it made me totally forget just how hot and crowded it was outside.

Next, we headed on over to Tomorrowland, as Nest was busting to go on Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters - it's one of his favourite attractions, as he's so awesome at it! The line from this was deceptively long also, and mostly in the sun - I estimated we waited for about 45 minutes. At one stage, we were next to the new (to us) Pixie Hollow, and I noticed some beautiful bronze fairy statues in the garden, that I made a mental note to come back and take a photo of (today was a no camera day, so we could just relax and enjoy the attractions. Nest did bring his small one for emergency shots though.)

Nest scored a level 5 (unfortunately I can't remember the level of this title) and I scored a level 3 (Planetary Pilot.) We quickly e-mailed the resulting souvenir photo to our eldest bro, and set off on our way to the nearest refreshment station - a Sprite for Nest, and a water for me.

Our next stop was Space Mountain, which had been made into a Ghost Galaxy for Halloween. The two hour wait broke poor Nest (it was half in the sun, and half in the shade - the fast passes had already been distributed for the day), and made my feet ache badly for the remainder of the day (despite wearing sensible shoes.) The actual ride was AWESOME (Nest noticed my glow-in-the-dark Mickey Halloween shirt glowing brightly, and brought it to my attention.) The addition of the ghosts added to the excitement of the ride, which seemed to greatly accelerate in speed more so than usual, as it went on.

As we exited through the giftstore, Nest and I picked up a Space Mountain character pressed nickel each (good job Nest was with me, as I was trying to insert a dime - ) I also noticed awesome things to display my pins in, which I made a mental note of to purchase later.

Nest soldiered on for a bit more, eventually coming to Autopia (another favourite) after much help from the map. I thought it was good how they've made part of the waiting area shady, and have included cute little thirty second scenes within, since last having ridden.

Nest drove an orange convertible, and I followed him around in a brown convertible. It was a super fun ride! For some reason, he kept on getting away from me, even though I had the pedal to the metal all the way. I loved the big dip we went down at one stage, though it didn't seem to make me go any faster.

Nest shouted me to further refreshments afterwards (I was out of cash due to constant tipping, and was on a desperate look out for an ATM.) We found ourselves at a healthful eating stand, where Nest picked up a container of mango slices for himself, and a container of raw vegies (cherry tomatoes, carrot sticks, celery sticks, and flowerettes of broccoli) with ranch dipping sauce, for me. It was a surprisingly tasty snack.

Nest wanted to go back to our hotel, so we wandered down Main Street and towards the exit. Nest stopped at a crystal store, where he bought me two pressies, and himself a little glass creature, while I waited out front where I wouldn't drip ranch dressing all over the valuables. I packed my vegies closed to accompany him into a bookstore (I work in a library, so must check these sort of things out ), where I came across an interesting holiday cookbook to check out on a future visit when I had clean hands. Then we walked through the magic store, then the general store attached to that. I loved the purple glitter spider baubles for sale, and the shop was decorated beautifully also. Wished those decorations had've been for sale too - gorgeous Halloween tinsel and other assorted Halloween props.

Finished off my vegies just inside the park exit, which is when Nest showed me the pressies he had bought me - a super cute tiny jewelled Donald ornament, and a super cute tiny jewelled Pinocchio ornament (Donald's my favourite Disney character, and Pinocchio is my favourite Disney movie ) On passing through the exit turnstile, we got our hands stamped for re-entry (the park closed at midnight) in case Nest got a second wind of energy. I could've kept going in the park despite my sore feet, as that was the kind of mindset I was in. Nest said he didn't mind, and was happy for me to keep going, but I would've felt bad letting him go back by himself, so I went too. It was around 7.30pm.

I seriously didn't realise how pooped I was, until we got back to our room (it was so hot in there, as I had accidentally left the balcony door open in our rush to get to the park!)

Nest turned on new episodes of The Simpsons, and I went almost immediately to sleep while reviewing that day's photos! (The beds are so comfy!) Nest complained about a fly buzzing in his ear as he layed on the floor watching TV. It turned out to be a bee! I freaked out a bit, due to having been stung by bees before, so Nest caught it with a glass and piece of cardboard, and let it go out on the balcony.

I forced myself to wake up and order dinner. Before ordering dinner, I thought having a shower would help me wake up. While I was in the bathroom, Mum rang to see how we were going She said that Byron had taken a photo of our plane from atop the reservoir near home. I should've asked if he had used his telephoto lens and was able to see us looking out the window When it was my turn to talk, I asked for them to tape Turtleman for us, as I hadn't made it clear to do so when we had left, as so much was going on at the time. We had already missed out on two episodes as a result I learnt that Johnny had tried calling us while we were on the cruise, but was told it was $7 a minute and required his credit card details, which he declined to give, so wasn't able to get through to us a result

I was thrilled to see my ultimate favourite dish still on the menu - spaghetti with meat sauce I got a glass of red wine to go with it

Nest had spaghetti with meat sauce too, as well as chicken tenders with a bunch of grapes, and a slice of New York style cheesecake.

It was soooooooooooo relaxing sitting on our huge comfy beds after such a big day, chillin' in front of the TV while eating great food and, in my case, drinking a fine glass of wine. I couldn't have been any happier! I attempted to write while waiting for dinner, as well as after dinner. It was a bit of a challenge to concentrate though, as The Big Bang Theory, Seinfeld, and Bloopers were on the tele. Somewhere along the way, I fell asleep big time. I got to bed properly at midnight. So much for going back to the park with a new lease of energy

Next entry: Going solo at Disneyland