Unexpected Disneyland.

Mickey Welcomes you to Walt's Happy Place!

Sometimes all is right with the world and lady luck smiles down upon you.  Sometimes, the stars align and everything falls in place.  The weekend of February 22 was one of those times.  I had been planning with my boss a quick trip to one of our branch offices near Los Angeles California. The office was using outdated network equipment and we needed to swap it out with better, newer, more secure equipment.  That gave me my chance to fly out to LA.  The nature of the equipment that I needed to swap was such that it was best to do it when the office wasn't busy or not working at all so we chose to do the swap out on weekend.  With the onsite folks, who were very accommodating, I was able to install my new switches during the day on Friday and cut the users over to the new equipment late that afternoon.  This gave me Saturday as a fall back day in case the cut over had problems or if I needed extra time. The cut over went smoothly and there were no problems with connectivity at the office, thus I was free on Saturday and Sunday.  Hoping that this would be the case, I has sort of planned in the back of my mind to go to the two parks at the Disneyland resort in Anihiem.  How lucky I was to be able to spend one unexpected day in the original Disney theme park and get a bonus day in Disney's California Adventure park.  I would get the chance to do attractions that Disney World didn't have and compare some of the attractions that were at both parks.  Also, for a few of the attractions, the lines were a bit shorter when I came across them, making attractions like Toy Story Midway Mania much more accessible.  How could i go wrong.

Main Street USA The horses were out

This same statue exists at WDW

I wanted to arrive early at Disneyland on Saturday because there was a certain amount of Disney business to which i needed to attend.  First, I needed to find the park.  I was staying north and a little west of Los Angeles in the Agoura Hills area.  I had seen on the map that finding my way to the Disneyland Resort area should be pretty simple.  My hotel was just a few yards off of US 101 that goes through downtown L. A. where it soon connects to I 5.  I 5 runs right past the Disneyland resort.  Even so, I programmed my GPS to take me there.  Sure enough, it put me on US101 to I5.  It was still fortunate that I had planned my route ahead of time because the rental car company gave me the wrong charger for the GPS and it was soon out of juice much to my dismay on the way home that evening.  The trip from my hotel to the park only about 1 hour and 15 minutes or so.  The traffic on the freeways that I was taking hadn't gotten too bad at 7:00 am on Saturday so the drive was relatively easy.  I had heard that on busy days the wait just to buy tickets could be as long as an hour.  This fact was one of the reasons wanted to get to the parks a little bit early, along with the fact that usually the parks were not as crowded in the morning hours.  What I didn't know was that Disneyland offers a half day ticket that would dramatically affect the crowds in the afternoon.

My parking location.

I arrived at the park and found my way to the parking structure.  When I was in Disneyland 45 years ago, i don't remember the Mickey and Friends parking structure.  Maybe that wasn't much of a priority for a 10 year old.  Parking only cost 16 dollars a day. In my book, parking may be the least expensive part of the trip.  We made our way to the top of the structure and I parked in Level "Minnie", row 8, Section D.  In order to remember where I put the car I took a picture of the sign nearest my car.  Disney has cleverly designed the escalators to the parking levels on the structure so that every two levels is serviced by a main escalator with a shorter one form the upper level to the lower.  Level Minnie was the top floor.  I took a short escalator down to level 5 and then a longer one down to the transportation area, where the trams that take visitors to the parks are located.  The trams are a bit of an engineering feat as well.  All of the Tram engines are powered by Natural gas.  Natural Gas, as a fuel, has very few emissions and reflects well upon Disney and its concern for the environment.   As a matter of fact, I saw quite a large number of filling stations that had Natural Gas as an option so I imagine that there are many vehicles in Southern California that use natural Gas.  The trip from the parking area to the Theme parks was not long.  Trams always seemed to be available either to just walk on or after just a short wait.  Handling the parking is something and transportation to the parking is something that Disney has down.

Even the trams are pretty cool.

The trams whisked us away to the park entrances.  The lay out of the entrance area is kind of interesting.  The trams drop visitors off near the Downtown Disney area.  I didn't take the time to explore Downtown Disney on this visit, I had business with the theme parks and my first order of business was to get my Ticket.  I had heard that the wait to purchase tickets could be as long as an hour. So, i wanted to arrive early enough that the line wouldn't be so long.  The strategy worked pretty well. My wait to buy a ticket was only about 15 minutes.  I didn't plan on going from park to park, My feet probably couldn't stand the stress, so I purchased the two day single park ticket.  I wanted to visit both parks and I also knew that there would be enough in each park to keep me busy all day.  I had some Christmas money with me hoping I would get a chance to go to the parks and I used it along my debit card to pay for the ticket.  The whole two days cost $175.00  that makes each day cost $87.50 each day.  The cost for any Disney ticket isn't cheep, but as you add days it gets cheaper.  a one day non park hopper ticket costs $92.00 so i saved about $4.50  and about $9.00 over all.  I was happy to pay the cost because I was going to Disneyland!

Looks the same but  I assure you its slightly different 

After passing through the Iconic Disney gates with the big picture of Mickey in flowers on the front.  I wandered into Main Street USA.  At Walt Disney World,  Its usually pretty hot and humid.   The Horse drawn trolleys do not operating in that kind of weather as it wouldn't be good for the animals.   But in the beautiful weather in Southern California,  The horses could work without causing them a problem.  I had never seen the Horse drawn Trolleys working and it was quite a treat to see them.  However, I didn't take one because I wanted to take in the sights with a slow wander down the street.  Disney Engineers use Forced Perspective to make the buildings appear taller than they actually are. The floors actually grow shorter than the one below tricking your mind into thinking that the building is actually taller.  It works pretty well. Another pretty well known fact about Main Street USA is that Walt Himself had an apartment over the Firehouse in the town square.  He would stay there especially during the construction of Disneyland.  Now the apartment  is being preserved as sort of a shrine to Walt's Memory.  The occasion is rare indeed when someone is actually allowed into the apartment and nobody is ever allowed to stay there, which I think is altogether fitting.  In Walt Disney's memory, a light illuminates his apartment window above the firehouse entrance all the time.

The Matterhorn  45 years before conquered.

The first thing on my list was a bit of unfinished business that was 45 years in the making.  On my first visit to
Disneyland I was only 9 years old.  I remember being excited about going and doing lots of the attractions.  I remember its a small world and Peter Pans Flight, both are still among my favorite attractions.  But the one attraction I didn't get to do back in the late 60's was the Matterhorn Bobsleds.  When I first went to Disney with my parents all the attractions were rated.  Before visitors entered the park, they purchased a booklet of tickets of various value.  Some of the attractions were Valued as A attractions with increasing excitement through E attractions. Even now, things that are very exciting are often called E ticket rides. The Matterhorn Bobsleds were an E-Ticket attraction and when the time had come for me to ride The Matterhorn, we had no E coupons.  So,  i didn't get to ride the Matterhorn.    Finally, after 45 years I had found my way back to Disneyland and I didn't need any tickets to ride the attractionss.  Fortunately for me, the line was really short first thing in the morning.  So I took the opportunity to ride on the Matterhorn Bobsleds first.  I will be the first to admit that the Matterhorn might not be the most exciting of all the Disneyland attractions, and I can't say that I spent every waking moment regretting a chance to ride on the bobsleds.  In fact I was really wasn't thinking about getting the chance to ride at all until until I leaned that I was going to make this trip to California, and an opportunity existed to visit Disneyland.  Even so,  after 45 years,  between visits I chose this attraction to be  first on my list.  The attraction was fun and I wasn't at all disappointed in my ride, however, anyone that has ridden the Matterhorn Bobsleds knows that there are faster, better coasters in Disneyland and in the rest of the Disney properties across the US.

I wish It's a small world would have been open

So, after taking care of that bit of nostalgia I set off to do more of the park.  Very near the Matterhorn was the original Small World attraction.  What makes this attraction great and always worth a ride is that Small World was one of the two attractions Disney's WED company did for the 1964 worlds fair.  Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln was the other worlds fair attraction that would eventually move to Disneyland.  Small World has made its way into Disneyland Paris, Hong kong and Tokyo. However, Disneyland Shanghai will not have an iteration of It's a small world when it opens in 2015.  To be honest,  Its a Small World After all is one of my favorite attractions at Disney World and I was a little disappointed to find that the attraction was closed when I was in Disneyland in February.  Oh well, you can't win them all. Great moments with Mr. Lincoln was truly breaking edge Technology in 1964.  The natural movements made by the animatronics of 1964 were amazing for the time and the characters were not computer controlled at the time.  This makes the attraction even more amazing in my book.  Great moments with Mr. Lincoln is the direct ancestor for the Hall of presidents at Disney World which is a not miss attraction for me.

C3PO at Star Tours

And R2D2 As well.

By this time my stomach was telling me that it was time for breakfast.  I had no idea how big an issue eating would be before 11:30 when most of the Disneyland restaurants would be open.  My hunger was still on Indiana time which was some three hours ahead of California time, so at 9:30 California time my belly was telling me that it was past time for breakfast and getting into lunch time.  I had hoped to grab a bite at the hotel.  The Residence Inn where I was staying offered a hot breakfast buffet every morning.  Unfortunately for me, on the weekends the hotel didn't start serving before 7:00 am, which was some time after I wanted to leave for Disneyland.  I thought at the time,  "No problem,  I'll just pop by the Tomorrowland Terrace for a Mickey waffle."  Little did I know at the time that the Tomorrowland Terrace didn't server breakfast.  So, I though that I would catch my two favorite attractions in Tomorrowland.  Disneyland is obviously set up differently than the Magic Kingdom in Disney World, and there are a few additional attractions that exist in other Disney World parks that have found a home in Disneyland.  I really enjoy Star Tours since its redesign a few years ago.  In Walt Disney World, Star Tours is located in Disney's Hollywood Studios. In Disneyland you could find the attraction in Tomorrowland close to The Tomorrowland Terrace.  I was happy that Disneyland had put a version of this attraction in Disneyland and happily waited the 15 minutes or so it took to work my way through the line.  One of the features of the Star Tours attraction is that one person on the attraction is chosen as the rebel spy.  I have actually been the rebel spy twice in Disney World.  No such luck on that day but I still loved the ride.

Buzz give the lowdown on the Attraction.

Just down the walkway a bit from Star Tours was Pixar Favorite of mine.  Buzz Lightyear's Space Rangers Spin is a shooting game that gives the riders laser blasters to take out various targets scattered through the ride.  Seeing an Anamatronic Buzz was almost worth the wait in line in itself, but it was still pretty early in the day so the lines were not bad, YET.  Just to make a quick comment about the Queues and switchbacks in Disneyland,  most of them are outdoors.  The beautiful Southern California weather must be responsible for this because in Orlando the humid weather during the summers makes it very important for the Queues to be inside with fans and air conditioners for the most part. Anyway,  waiting in line for Space Rangers spin was not unpleasant and the line wasn't long,  and again I say YET.  when the later afternoon came, the lines were getting pretty long but they were still good when I rode the Space Rangers attraction.  I'll say right now that it was a good thing I was riding by myself.  Anybody and I mean anybody could have beaten my score.  Fortunately, It wasn't about how many points I could score on the game, but how much fun I could have playing.  I'm sure I could have easily won any match using that as the criteria for victory.  I finally got the hang of controlling the car and shooting toward the end of the game.  I could am much better with both hands on the blaster, requiring me to choose a direction, move my car that way and start shooting targets, moving the direction of the car only when I needed to change the angle for my shots.  At the beginning, i was moving pretty wildly, not able to concentrate on any single target or target area.  Once i settled down, My score began to improve, but the attraction came to a close before I could really start scoring points.

The Queue wasn't bad at all.  25 minutes.

I was still hungry and getting hungrier as time went past so I made another trip past the Tomorrowland Terrace, with no luck.  I hoped to improve my chances of finding something to eat by changing lands. besides the time had come to hit one of my favorite attractions at any Disney Property. I wanted to find the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction.   Instead of Adventureland like in Disney World,  the Pirates of the Caribbean attraction is in New Orleans Square.  The line was only about 20 minutes at that time so I thought I would take advantage of the shortish queue and do the attraction before eating.  Almost the whole queue is outside for Pirates very unlike Orlando where riders go through most of the switchbacks indoors, in cool air  and sort of traverse a tunnel down to the loading area.  only the last few switchbacks were inside at Disneyland.  I didn't care that we were outside because the weather was so nice.  About half way through the queue we found a door that opened on both the inside part of the queue and the outside part. Actually the door was locked but lots of riders amused themselves by knocking on the door to see if they could get people on the other side to answer.  Lots of "Shave and a Hair cut, Two Bits" was heard resounding around the lines on both sides.  It was kinda fun. I'm not sure but I think the attraction is longer and even better in some ways that the Disney World version.  I think there are more Scenes at the beginning of the attraction and riders float past a restaurant much like riders of the Grand Fiesta Toure attraction in Mexico at Epcot's world show case.  It was pretty cool to see the lights of all the candles on the tables as we floated past.  Of course, The restaurant wasn't open yet.  A vignette of a old man playing a banjo on the porch of a bayou house was the first scene.  I am almost Pirates of the Caribbean in Disney World doesn't have that.

The Streets of New Orleans

This is the restaurant

Actually looked better on the menu.

After riding Pirates, I couldn't take it any more, I needed to eat. Food in New Orleans is legendary.  I hoped that the food that was served by restaurants in New Orleans Square would be at least comparable.  So I decided I would eat in the New Orleans Square area. The time was 11:00 so I hoped that some of the restaurants would be opening soon.  I actually wanted to eat at the place where the Pirates attraction floated by.  I wasn't really sure of the Restaurants name so I wandered down the streets of New Orleans Square.  By this time it was 11:00 PST and I was pretty hungry.  I went to look at the menu of a little place called Cafe Orleans that had outside seating about halfway between the Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion.  Interestingly, the Haunted Mansion is in New Orleans Square as well.  In Disney World the Haunted Mansion is in Liberty Square not far from the hall of Presidents.  Anyway, I overheard someone asking about the wait time for people that didn't have reservations for Cafe Orleans. The person at the counter said it would be about 15 minutes.  I thought that I could easily wait that long to get a place to sit and eat.  Cafe Orleans is a table service restaurant which means that a server will come and take your order. Quick service restaurants don't accept reservations and diners wait in line to order and pick up their food.  Most table service restaurants take reservations and sometimes they are booked months in advance and the wait times for people that don't have reservations can be very very long indeed.  After hearing about the wait time I decided I would get my name on the list as well.  I was excited about getting to eat in something less than a half an hour.  Well,  as we all know, even the best plans can come crashing down about our ears.  What I failed to realize was that the wait time was figured in after the restaurant opened, and much to my dismay, the restaurant opened at 11:30.  I didn't catch onto this until after the 15 minutes had elapsed and no one had gone into the restaurant at all.  I decided to stick it out anyway, because I had no better plans.  So, About 11:45, very close to the check-in desks estimate, I got to go into the restaurant.

View from my table.

I was very hungry by then.  I kind of looked around me to see what others were ordering and noticed that the main meal of choice for most diners was the Monte Cristo sandwich. I had plenty of time to look the restaurant and check out the menu since the Wait staff was pretty slow getting around to me.  Reading the menu, I thought the Monte Cristo sandwish looked pretty good so I chose it to be my entree. I also was kind of in the mood for a cup of gumbo.  I ordered that as well.  Then, the next round of waiting began.  The restaurant was pretty busy, but not so much that I thought my food would take a long time to get.  I was wrong.  The gumbo arrived after a near 20 minute wait.  My thoughts at the time were, "How long does it take to ladle up a cup of gumbo and bring it out."  The wait time was much longer than I had ever envisioned it would be at the Cafe Orleans.  The taste of what was brought to me was good, However,  I have had a lot of gumbo over the years and I've even made my share of Gumbo in my own kitchen.  What I received at Cafe Orleans wasn't really gumbo.  The broth was too thick making it more of a gravy like you would put on mashed potatoes.  The classic veggies were there and the sausage and other components were right as well. But I really had a hard time getting over the broth.  But, I was hungry so I devoured the Anti-gumbo with some gusto.  Like I said, I was willing to over look the dishes un-gumboness because it tasted pretty good with the rice that was served with it.  Next began the wait for the entree.  Another 20 minutes passed before my sandwich arrived.  I started out liking it very much,  The sandwich was served with some berry preserves and the whole thing tasted really good together.  But after a while, the heaviness of the breading on the sandwich began to intrude on my enjoyment of the meal.  In the end, I pealed back the breading and ate the meat and cheese.  The entree came with grapes that, while on the small side, were pretty sweet and made a nice side dish.  At the end of the day, I might have to rate this meal as among the worst I've had at a Disney resort.  The food was good but not spectacular, The wait was long and if  I hadn't been at Disneyland and could look out at the crowds and the river boats in the Rivers of American, the whole thing would have been tedious. In addition to the lackluster food, I was unhappy with the whole experience, which, through a combination of my errors and the slow service, had lasted over two hours, robbing me of time I could have better spent in the park.

Cast Member managing the queue at the Haunted Mansion

Whats a good Haunt without a hearse.

After a slow start to the afternoon, things picked up as I went on down the lane toward the Haunted Mansion.  Like Pirates, this is one of my favorite attractions in the Magic kingdom in Disney World.  as i approached the cast member at the gate of the attraction was turning people away saying that the attraction was down for maintenance problems. I don't think peak season for Disneyland includes late February. So i guess it shouldn't be surprising that a number of attractions were not operating or being refurbished.  I had wanted to do "I'ts a Small World"  and hear the insidious song the Sherman brothers wrote for that attraction.  Like "Its a great big beautiful tomorrow", "Its a small World Afterall" gets into your brain and is difficult to exercised.  Splash Mountain was also closed.  Splash Mountain is a tough ride to get on sometimes at the Magic Kingdom.  Wait times for all the Magic Kingdoms Mountains often reach over an hour.  But since Splash Mountain was closed, the wait time didn't matter.  To be honest however, when I heard that the Haunted Mansion was broken, I was a little unhappy.  With all the other attractions down, hearing that the Haunted Mansion was having problems wasn't welcome news.  But as I was walking away, overheard the cast member the gate talking on the radio saying that the attraction was running again.  I immediately went back and asked him.  He let me get into the now moving line. The line was much shorter because of the delay so i was very quickly able to negotiate the queue and get on the attraction.  I guess it was a bit of luck, because I didn't have to wait very long at all before I was in one of the famous Doom Buggies.  I really enjoy the special effects on this ride.  How the Disney Imagineers were able to do some of the effects are still a mystery to me.  Not knowing how they do every effect in the Haunted mansion is OK though. Not knowing enhances the experience. I think that the Haunted Mansion is a bit creepier in Disneyland than in Disney world. Since creepiness isn't a liability for a Haunted Mansion, I liked the attraction in Disneyland just a little bit more, but I love the Haunted Mansion in both locations.

65 minutes didn't feel all that long.

Disney provides lots of stuff to set the mood for an attracion

This looksl like it came from the jungles of Belize

Inside the attraction had more of an Indian feel.

Frontierland didn't have a lot in it that I wanted to do. I have done the Country Bear Jamboree on several occasions and while it is entertaining and and a great place to rest your feet in air conditioning for a little while, I wasn't all that interested in seeing it again.  So I walked around to Adventureland where  The Jungle Cruise,another one of my favorite attractions, and The Indiana Jones Adventure, an attraction not offered in Disney World, was located.  The Indiana Jones Adventure in Adventureland is very new compared to the other attractions in Disneyland.  The attraction opened on March 3 1995 as Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye and the attraction still uses that story line.  The vehicles used in the Indiana Jones Adventure are the same as those used in the Dinosaur attraction in Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom.  As a matter of fact, These programmable Vehicles were used first in Disneyland in the Indiana Jones Attraction and were later used in the Dinosaur Attraction.  These two attractions remain the only two  that use this system in the world.  The Indiana Jones Attraction is very popular. And by this time in the afternoon the crowd was really building.  The wait time, when I entered the line was right at 65 minutes.  The queue snakes up next to the Jungle cruses queue when the line gets especially long.   I could have fast passed this attraction but, as I had time and was on my own, I entered the standby line.  They has a line labeled single rider which would have fit me fine but the cast member said that it wasn't open at that time. The line moved pretty quickly and when I moved from the switchbacks that were borrowed from the Jungle Cruise, i had noticed that the wait time had increased to 75 minutes after we passed the entrance to the attraction again.  That might have been enough to get me to not do the attraction. However,  I was already deep in the line by that time so the only real choice was to stick it out.  It was shady in the line and Disney had provided lots of stuff to look at while in the queue so the wait wasn't unpleasant.  The ride itself is exciting and a lot of fun.  The attraction can be a bit jerky at times, like the Dinosaur attraction in the Animal Kingdom.  I like the fact that Imagnineers can tweak the ride if they feel it needs adjustment.  They can make Indiana Jones more exciting or less jarring as they see fit.  It was a fun attraction.

Loading the boats for the Jungle Cruise.

On Board the boat.. (what did that guy see?)

The crowds were really getting heavy

After having fun With Indy, the time had come to do an Old Classic standby. If the Indiana Jones adventure is one of the newest rides in Disneyland, the Jungle Cruise is one of the oldest. This attraction has been in Disneyland since it opened in 1955. As a matter of fact,  when the Magic Kingdom opened in 1971, Aventureland in Florida had a version of the Jungle Cruise. Because of the popularity of the Attraction and because the Load times for the attraction are long, the wait times can be long.  On my visit, they weren't too bad yet so I jumped into the queue. The Jungle Cruise by itself is OK.  The anamitronics are pretty cool and the river was certainly beautiful, but what makes this attraction is the banter the Guide gives while you float along the river. The girl guiding our cruise was very funny and genuinely seemed to enjoy doing the attraction. Like most things at Disney, cast members made all the difference whether at a hotel or doing an attraction. The Head hunters, the hippos and even a few of the passengers were not spared the sharpness of her wit.  There was nothing offensive about what she said but, like all the other times I have visited the Jungle Cruise, the guide made the ride.  because of our vantage point i could see how the crowd were really starting to build in the park.  Disneyland offers a discounted 1/2 day ticket of which many Californians take advantage.  I mean, if you could catch a few rides,  maybe see Fantasmic or the fireworks then it would be worth while to make an afternoon of it.  But the half day Ticket also produces a big spike in the crowd size.  Out of Town visitors on vacation would be better served to come during a week day and plan to do the attractions for which the lines get the longest in the morning.  While i got a lot of my favorites done in the Morning, I didn't have a choice as to what day of the week to go to the parks.

Mr. Toad has been at Disneyland since it opened in 1955

From Adventureland I went back to Fantasyland.  Disneyland's Fantasyland has several attractions that the Magic kingdom doesn't have or have closed over the years to make way for new attractions, and Peter Pan's flight, of my all time favorite attractions, has a much shorter Queue in Disneyland than in Walt Disney World. The first attraction I found was one that I don't think I did when I was a kid. Mr. Toads wild ride is based on the much loved children's story The Wind in the Willows. by Kenneth Grahame.  Disney made a move from the book in 1949 which they released along with an adaptation of the Legend of sleepy Hollow.  The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was well received by reviewers and the public alike. Mr Toads Wild Ride opened in Disneyland in 1955 when Disneyland first opened. In 1983 Mr. Toad received a face lift and has been there ever since.  Also, as one of the original attractions in The Magic Kingdom Mr Toads Wild ride opened and stayed in service in Walt Disney World from 1971 to 1998 when it was replaced buy the Adventures of Winne the Pooh.  As a side note, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a great ride in of itself.  Mr. Toads wild ride starts at Toad hall where Mr. Toad wants to take a car ride.  Mr. Toad is not all the greatest of drivers however and soon farmers and  bakers and Policemen are dodging the careening vehicle as Mr. Toad terrorizes the English countryside. Mr Toad soon finds himself crashing through the streets and some of the shops of London.  The car even causes an explosion at one point.  This is an older attraction and it really is starting to show it's age.  Still,  it is an original and should have a home in the original happiest place on earth.

Here is where you fly over London.

Next up was another ride that has been around a long time.  Peter Pan's Flight was another of the original attractions in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World.  Both the Disneyland and Magic Kingdom versions were refurb in 1983 and both are still going strong and even though both are among the Walt Disney's oldest attractions, Peter Pans Flight remains one of my favorites to this day.  The single criticism I have about the attraction is the slow load times for people getting on the ride. Lots of people love the attraction so 70 to 80 minute queue times are not unusual at Walt Disney World.  The 50 minute wait that I had to board the ride didn't seem so bad. I spoke with a young couple that was bringing their son to Disneyland for his birthday.  They had visited California adventure the day before.  They both were very pleasant people and our chat helped make the wait time go fairly quickly.  Soon I was on one of the flying ships and after finding my happy thought and getting a sprinkle of pixie dust,  we set sail over the roof tops of London.  We soon found our way to Neverland (first star to the right and straight on till morning) We visited pirates and mermaids and the lost boys.  I now have to acknowledge that some people might take offense to the way Native Americans are portrayed in both the Peter Pan  movie and the attractions at Disneyland and Disney World.  Personally, I feel that in the context of the time and place and when the book and movie were done it could have been a lot worse.  Soon,  with captain Hook vanquished again we were safely back in Southern California.  By this time it was starting to get late in the afternoon toward evening.  The park was really filling up by then.  I wanted to stay for the fireworks but the crowds were such that I didn't want to stay. After a quick dinner of chicken strips in frontierland's Golden Horseshoe  I worked my way back to the parking garage and went back to hotel.  It was a wonderful day, full of old and new memories and great Disney fun.

Good night Disneyland!