A Dream Is A Wish – Anaheim, California – [06/06/2014]

“I just can’t, the sky’s awake, so I’m awake so awake!”

I woke up so far in advance of my alarm this morning that by the time it did go off I was already dressed and ready for breakfast.

You remember how Christmas morning felt as a kid? And your parents would never get up quickly and always wanted another cup of coffee before opening the presents? Multiply that by nineteen years’ worth of anticipation and you have me this morning.

Yes, kitten on the ceiling…

Come on come on come on come on come ON!

Things have changed of course. I mean, with this long an amount of time no place could be exactly the same. Space Mountain and most of New Orlean’s square are both closed for renovations for one thing. Moreover, the last time we were here the parking lot stretched for what seemed like miles in front of, and it seemed even further when I had little eight year old legs. Now the ART (Anaheim Resort Transportation) shuttle drops s off in of the expanded entrance – and the parking lot is a thing of the past (to give an idea of how big the parking lot really was, they didn’t have to purchase any new land to build Cali Adventure) – but the feel of the place is still the same. And when we finally turned the corner and the Main Street Station came towering into view, I felt the tell-tale pricking at the corners of my eyes.

The tears came later, somewhere between the gate, the line up for Peter Pan’s Flight (which is still the first ride we go on, no matter how long the line), and finally walking through sleeping beauty’s castle. But they came, as they always do – as I suspect they always will.

The difficult thing for me is not to try and do everything at once, my Mum has the same problem. Dad keeps having to remind us to pace ourselves, and to remind me in particular that I don’t have to fit everything into just a few hours (it goes with ship life everything gets shortened to a tiny wee time frame). And like the old commercial for the park says:

The first thing to remember about Disneyland is to pace yourself. Now this is a mistake that a lot of first timer’s make. You’ve got all these unbelievable rides and cool stuff to do – you try to do it all at once, you’ll be sleeping like a baby by lunchtime.

Much to my amazement and delight the Columbia is running! This is, actually, very usual. The Columbia is likely solely responsible for influencing my modern day love of tall ships, but until recently she’d not been in operation, not since a tragic dock-side accident over a decade ago. Now, pressed back into service, she makes her slow and majestic way around the placid waters of the Rivers of America, in rotation with the Mark Twain river boat.

It’s been so long since we’ve been to the park together that my parents had no knowledge of the (often life-saving) Fast Pass system. So when face with the nearly hour long wait for the newly revamped Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, I had the perfect opportunity to introduce them to what really is the only way to ride;

Guys, give me your tickets

Why?

They need to scan the tickets to get the fast passes. Just trust me.

Five minutes later I bounce back to them and hand with said passes in my hand and we use the intervening time to confirm our various reservations for the next day (we have priority seating for the nighttime show tomorrow), and take a nice easy ride on the railway that circumnavigates the park.

It’s interesting how, when see something as a kid, it becomes larger than life in your imagination – or perhaps your memory – as an adult. Mum and I have nicknamed it the Christmas Tree Complex (if you get a Christmas tree that’s 5 feet tall when you’re a toddler, you will remember it as being 9 feet tall when you grow up). So as a result the primevial world diamorama in the Disneyland Railway is exactly as I remember it, which is to say it’s exactly how it didn’t used to be. They’ve upgraded it, and it now fits the image I have in my head which – most likely – wasn’t entirely accurate. Mum pointed this out to me as we were going through

Whoa, they’ve really upgraded this

They have?

They never used to move before
They didn’t?
Nope.
Then why is it *Exactly* as I remember it being?
Christmas tree complex

When we made our way back to Big Thunder – my fingers still cold from my long awaited lemonade slushy (lemonade tastes different here, I don’t know why, it just does), the wait with the fast pass was barely ten minutes. The cars hold three people, though it was a bit of a tight squeeze – but we did end up in the last car!

And I’m very glad I remembered to “hang on to my hat and glasses”, because the new revamp definitely does a lot to bring the ride up to its tag line of “the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness”

*especially* if you’re in that last car.

*GRIN*

However, one thing we hadn’t really accounted for was the California sun. For a little while we sought refuge in the relative coolness of the Golden Horseshoe Saloon (ridiculously funny show, and pretty decent food come to think of it), but by about three o’clock the growing crowds (it was after all a Friday), and the ever-present California heat, finally convinced us it was time for a breather. Even as a kid I remember doing this when the crowds got to be too much. And that hour and a half back at the hotel made all the difference.

We did go back of course, the park doesn’t close until midnight, and we had fast passes for 6:30 entry to Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, which is still one of the most brilliantly crafted rides in the park. Just the thought put into the pre-line of that ride still floors me, when we went years ago and it had just opened they gave out cards to translate all the hyrogliphics on the walls – as I recall some of them translate into things that relate to the “story” of the ride, others translate into the slogan for ATT which sponsored the ride

Oh, and since the real New Orleans is currently well out of my reach, we at least took a turn around New Orleans’ square, well, what there is of it at the moment as the whole thing is being renowned (the uber-exclusive Club 33 is being relocated and expanded and that’s taking up most of the area at the moment) – but the Haunted Mansion is still open, and it’s nice to revisit the classics. Of course, if I actually think about the fact that the ‘stretching room’ in the Manor is in fact a giant very slow moving elevator I start panicking, so I try and focus on the amusing/unsettling paintings instead!

Since the park was getting a wee touch crowded again (it’s grad season in California after all), we decided to venture across what used to be the parking lot and take in a tiny bit of California Adventure.

Oh…my goodness.

It’s been a long time since I walked into something completely new. This? This was completely new. It’s something of a cross between Universal Studios and Disneyland and…it works. However, it was getting late, and much as the vintage streets and flashing lights were calling us to stay, we were all starting to wear thin. We did, however, make time for Soarin’ Over California. Aaand, I can definitely see why so many people say that this is the best ride in the park. Utterly incredible. Both my parents used to fly (not commercial pilots, private pilots…aerobatic planes….yeah, I have cool parents)…so something like this? Right up their alley. I think that if it were possible my mother would simply live on that one ride! At one point you swear your toes are going to dip right into the water.

Normally we would have stayed at the main park until it closed at midnight, but it was only the first day and when California Adventure closed at ten we all were forced to admit that while our minds were wid awake our bodies were tired (it had been a long day), so we made our slow way back to the bus and from there to our little home for the week…

And as I looked back at the lights of Main Street glowing over my shoulder I realized I wasn’t crying…

Because this time? I could leave…knowing I was coming back in the morning…

Goodnight neverland.