DAY FIVE: Just More Disney

Well today I was a little more relaxed with my Disney experience. I just went around and casually visited what I could. Day five is Sunday, Valentine's Day, and the parks are packed (especially for this season of the year). So, I'm utilizing being alone and using single rider lines to get into rides that have an hour to an hour and half wait time (if not more). I started off the morning at California Adventure and arrived just before they opened. The park has the ride Toy Story Mania (which I've mentioned earlier, I think). It is fun, but doesn't have a fast-pass or a single rider line, so the wait time is always bad. I headed there straight off and waited only for about 10 minutes. One of the games wasn't working when I rode, so I received a pass to get right back in front of the line and ride again. After that, I headed over to Disneyland Park. I ate at the Carnation Cafe. I had a bit of a wait, but it was alright. I wanted to try the cinnamon roll french toast. Boy, that was yummy.

After this, I went to Pixie Hollow and waited in line to meet Tinkerbell. Tinkberbell doesn't greet guests at Walt Disney World, so I had never had picture taken with her before. She had a friend from the newest movie with her, but I haven't seen it yet, so I'm not sure who he was. The family in front of me was from Washington State and they seemed to know who he was. :) I'm wearing one of my new shirts with Tinkerbell on it. It has a cute twisted knot in the back that kind of forms a racerback top with holes on the sides. Nice.

After visiting Tinkerbell and friends - I headed over to Mickey's Toontown (where Mickey and Minnie have their houses and there is a more kid-size atmosphere with play gyms and houses that kids fit in a lot better. I hadn't been there yet this trip. While Mickey and Minnie's houses looked similar to WDW, the actual Toontown was bigger and had more buildings and fun stuff for kids. I waited in line through Mickey's house to see the Big Cheese himself. He had a cute Steamboat Willie outfit on (he wears his main outfit at WDW) and we posed in front of the boat.

Minnie was out on her front porch posing for pictures, but there was a long line (not as long as Mickey's though), but I didn't feel like waiting. You have to see Mickey when going to Disney (it's His park), but Minnie can be by-passed because I'd already met her.

After this, I headed over to Splash Mountain since I hadn't ridden yet and because it was the early afternoon and it was edging in the high 70's. I waiting in the single rider line for about 15 minutes (actual wait time for others was about 80 minutes). I didn't get too wet on the ride. Just a little bit on my shoes and legs (I was smart and wore flip-flops, because I knew I'd be doing the water rides - and I didn't wear my jeans either). After Splash, I headed over to Space Mountain to get a fast-pass (they do not have single rider lines), and then headed back to California Adventure. I was also going on their water ride - Grizzly River Run. This is more of a get yourself soaked water ride. It's make-shift white water rafting with a tall hill and big geysers that shoot up. I only got about half soaked, but it was refreshing with the weather. I headed back to my hotel to change clothes (since it's only a ten to fifteen minute walk back there).

I headed back to California Adventure to see the Pixar Parade. It was cute. Nice that it only had the Pixar characters. Jack-Jack's hair lit on fire and there were a bunch of people doing acrobatics on the floats. I video-taped the parade, so I have no pictures as of yet. Immediately after the parade I went to the Hyperion Theatre at the back of the park to see Aladdin - the musical. It's similar to the Beauty and Beast show as WDW, but a lot more elaborate (and performed on a larger stage - an actual theatre that has orchestra, balcony and mezzanine levels). I had a rather good seat (again being alone comes in handy sometimes). The performance took what it could from the Disney movie to fit everything into a 45 minute show. There was no Abu, and the carpet was played a girl dressed as one. That was good. The Genie was the best though. He cracked jokes the entire time that dealt with recent events ("No more wishing for more wishes - it didn't work for The Colts, it won't work for you"). Quite a few like that. He was obviously the audience favorite and received quite a bit of applause throughout the show.

By the time I had exited the theatre, it was dark. I headed over to the Paradise Pier area to get some pictures of the roller coaster and ferris wheel all lit up.

It was time for me to head back to Disneyland Park and go on Space Mountain. I did just that. Then, I headed over to the Indiana Jones ride and rode that on Single Rider, and waited in line to have a Dole Whip (my favorite! Pineapple soft-serve ice cream, basically - they need to sell that in Ohio). By this time, it was about 8:30, and I didn't want to be in the park for the fireworks, so I went to Hungry Bear restaurant and bought some french fries. Then, I headed to Coke Corner and got a hot dog and a cherry coke (which would turn out to be my last - apparently I took the last shot of cherry syrup - she told me they only had one shot to give me, and I said that was fine, and when I went back on Monday, they were out). I took my food back to my hotel room and ate there while watching The Holiday on TV. It was then that the Fireworks came on and I realized I had a perfect view from my room.

All done for the day.