My week at Disneyland

Here is the full list of the rides, and whatever else, I did while at Disneyland/California Adventure this past week. I had a 5-day park hopper pass and did just about everything. The only major and semi-major things I didn't do were:

The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (65 minute wait? No thanks)
California Screamin' (big roller coasters and me don't mix)
Mickey's Fun Wheel
Animation Academy
Grizzly River Run (the ride was closed all week)
A Bug's Land
Autopia (why wait 50 minutes to drive a go cart when I can drive a real car)
Matterhorn Bobsleds (the ride was closed all week)
Enchanted Tiki Room
Mark Twain Riverboat (because I did the Columbia instead)
Mad Tea Party (I fucking hate spinning)
Astro Orbitor (again, I hate spinning)
Innoventions (I did it in 2008 and thought it was lame)
Disney Monorail (I rode it every morning in 2008. There's only so much monorail you can take)


Now for the stuff I did do...

Disneyland:

Indiana Jones Adventure (2x)
The Jungle Cruise (2x)
The Haunted Mansion (3x)
Pirates of the Caribbean (4x)
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (2x)
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Star Tours 3D (2x)
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Captain EO 3D
Alice in Wonderland
Peter Pan's Flight
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (2x)
Snow White's Scary Adventures (2x)
Pinocchio's Daring Journey
Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln
Main Street Cinema
Dreams Come True Fireworks (3x)
Fantasmic
Disneyland Railroad
It's a Small World
Storybook Land Canal Boats
Sailing Ship Columbia
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage


California Adventure:

Toy Story Midway Mania (I originally said 45-50 minutes. It was more like 60. The line takes forever but it's worth it)
Muppet Vision 3D
Turtle Talk with Crush
Character Close-Up
Sorcerer's Workshop
Soarin' Over California
Monster's Inc. Mike and Sully to the Rescue (3x)
The Little Mermaid - Ariel's Undersea Adventure (2x)
Aladdin - A Musical Spectacular
Boudin Bakery Tour
elecTRONica


Let me just comment on this first and foremost... elecTRONica. From what I understand this is only going to be done for another month or so and I have no idea why they are stopping. This event is so much fun. If you don't know what it is, it is basically a Tron & Tron: Legacy themed party/rave in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area of California Adventure. On the nights that they do it (Friday-Sunday) it starts around 7pm and goes until the park closes at 9pm. There is a replica of Flynn's Arcade where you can play arcade games, there are two bars serving alcoholic drinks that glow in the dark, there is a laser show with a performer they call Laserman Reconfigured, there is an opening show with dancers, the employees in Tron costumes play glow in the dark frisbee with you, and there is a DJ in the middle of it all. Your host is Eckert (similar to Zuse in Tron: Legacy) and he basically walks around and checks in on everyone from time to time. There are glow sticks, light sticks, video projections on the walls, black lights, etc.. Disney basically throws a 3 hour rave for you three nights a week and it is fucking awesome. I think I'm 10x as tired today as I should be because by the time I got back to my hotel room last night I was so hyper that I didn't sleep well. I could have gone on dancing and whatever for 2 more hours. It's kind of a shame they don't do it inside Disneyland because that park is open longer.
Here are some pictures from elecTRONica held on Friday, March 16th.

Other than that, you can probably tell Pirates of the Caribbean was a favorite of mine seeing that I rode it 4 times. I also love the Matterhorn Bobsleds but it was closed for refurbishment all week. Oh well. The Haunted Mansion and Indiana Jones are good ones, too.
I also loved the new Little Mermaid ride inside California Adventure. It's really well done. The Monsters Inc. ride is really fun as well.

I had hoped to do Fantasmic twice, but I unexpectedly saw my aunt and uncle the night I was planning on going back into the park to catch it again. Once is better than none.
I did manage to get a FastPass for World of Color and it was really an extraordinary show. What I could see of it, that is. I found the major flaw in Disney's planning of World of Color... the viewing areas. It is one thing to have standing viewing but it is another to have a bunch of flat surfaces. Especially when these surfaces are only used for World of Color. I was stuck behind about 5 rows of people and I couldn't hardly see shit. I kept having to hold up my camera and look through the screen to see what was going on in the lower half of the water screens and the lake. They had like 3 years to plan this show and they should have made the viewing areas layered like stairs so shorter people, like me, and children have a better chance of seeing all of the show. I felt sorry for the people with small kids because the employees won't let you put your kids on your shoulders during the show. Kind of a catch 22. It's nice to not have people with kids on their shoulders blocking your view, but it sucks for the kids because they can't see anything. Oh well. What I could see of it was fantastic. Definitely a must see if you do California Adventure, but make sure to do the FastPass. Go into the park as soon as the gates open and get the pass for a designated viewing areas close to the water. It guarantees you a spot if you get there an hour or two before the show.

Speaking of FastPass, use this service. I can't stress this enough, especially for the major rides. I got a FastPass for Splash Mountain and it turned what would have been a 50 minute wait into a 10 minute wait. If you try and ride any major ride (especially Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Tours 3D, and Indiana Jones) after 9-10am you will be waiting in line a minimum of 40-45 minutes. The average wait time I noticed for Indiana Jones alone was 50-55 minutes on any given day of the week. The same goes for Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. The lousy thing is the rides that are popular but don't have FastPass, like Pirates of the Caribbean and Toy Story Midway Mania. The line for Pirates moves pretty quick because they can put up to like 20 people in each boat, but Toy Story takes FOREVER. I don't know why they haven't made FastPass available for that one yet. I think Tower of Terror has a FastPass option but when I saw a 65 minute wait yesterday before elecTRONica I laughed and walked back to Flynn's Arcade.


Anyway, I am a big kid at heart and I love Disneyland. It's one of my favorite places to be. I've been back home for like 6 hours and I am already missing California. My cousin is getting married in August so maybe I'll be able to go back again this year. I can only hope. =^D