Since we only got to a tiny piece of California Adventure on our first day (and the park really is a lot bigger than you think it will be), we spend most of the morning exploring it. And this one truly is new for all of us, so “exploring” more than once became “getting lost”! The park is sprawling and they’ve done an excellent job of theme-ing it. It feels more like a carefully laid out city than a park. Besides, it’s always amazing to just wander through somewhere that’s really brand new – well, at least it’s brand new to us. Most of the people in the area don’t even remember when it used to be the parking lot! Human memory is very long in some ways and tremendously short in others.
After years of just looking at video clips on various websites, I finally got to whip my way through “California Screamin’”. And yes, I screamed. Classic response to roller coasters I suppose. Besides “California Screamin’” is based on the classic wooden rollercoasters, and it goes bloody fast; and there was only a ten minute wait, which is nearly unheard of considering that it’s one of the main draws in the park.
And then of course, there’s the Aladdin musical that runs at the park’s 4000 seat theater. It’s a compressed version of the Broadway musical, and it features someone flying on a carpet over the audience and an elephant parading through the aisles!
Most of the day though was spent on the specialty “Walk In Walt’s Footsteps” tour, which took us through the whole park, bypassed at least two queues, and gave all sorts of really interesting facts about how the park was built and what Walt envisioned it to become, what the original opening day was like (which was pretty horrific apparently, the asphalt melted and women’s heels kept sinking into it!). At the end of the tour they gave us a guided visit to Walt’s private apartment above the main street fire station, which is only open to the public eye for this particular tour. Yup, got to go backstage! But sadly there was a strictly enforced “no photography allowed” policy while we were there. It was really enchanting to stand in that space though, and know that you were standing where Walt Disney himself once stood and watched the park unfold…
The tour ended just n time for us to line up for the premium “Fantasmic” seats that we’d reserved months ago. Technically the seat assignments don’t actually start until 8pm, but as always with Disneyland there’s an early bird queue, and the seats are assigned on a first come first serve basis. All I could think of at the time was Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “I’m British, I know how to queue”.
But queues in Disneyland are kind of different than anywhere else, particularly when they’re several hours long. We ended up behind a group of people who worked at the park (one in the park itself, one in the resort hotel), and hanging out with off duty cast members can be pretty entertaining. So this whole crazy conversation started about backstage stuff and customer service and crazy questions you sometimes get asked,
What time is the 3 o’clock parade? Oh it’s at 4 it just celebrates the *time* 3 o’clock
Heh, we get that too, except with us it’s “what time is the midnight buffet”
Oh and one other thig:
They told me that the line up to meet Elsa and Anna from Frozen? It’s usually 5 or more hours long! Two hours at the shortest, and that very rarely. So the chance sof me getting a photo with those girls? Not looking very on the likely side!
Eventually we snagged our seat reservations and got them recorded (at the recommendation of those cast members we ended up behind! See, it pays to talk to people in line sometimes, those seats they told us to get were the best seats in the house!) and were free to wander about until we had to return for the show at 10. Despite the fact that there are Grad Nite celebrations going on, the park was not all that crowded, so the line-ups for things like “Star Tours: The Adventure Continues” were only 20 – 30 minutes long. Which is pretty amazing considering that usually the lines for the E-ticket attractions go as high as (or sometimes over) an hour.
Nothing but good things to say about the upgraded Star Tours by the way, all they’ve really done is brought the tech aspect of it up to modern standards, which is where it should have been in the first place, oh and they’ve made it 3D, so Princess Leia’s transmission beams in practically next to you.
Help me Star Tours, you’re my only hope
Hee!
R2! R2 what are you doing, we’re not cleared for take off! You know I don’t know how to fly this thing!
We’ve snagged a pod racer! Which gives us TWICE THE POWER!
Aaaanyway…
As we ambled our way back towards New Orleans’ Square for the show we suddenly found ourselves engulfed by the stage and firework smoke flooding off the rivers of America from the conclusion of the 9pm show, which made me and my Mum cry all over again because not only does the show itself just have memories attached to us, but the smell of firework smoke will forever be associated with when we used to light them off. So we stood there listening to the finale music thunder through the air and catching little glimpses of the show through the trees, until it wound to a stop…
We actually saw the show an hour or so later, when we settled into our seats in the very front row of the premium seating section, sipping hot chocolate and nibbling at the dessert tray that came with the seating package. The Rivers of America dropped to darkness, and then the low, slow hum of the introduction made its way across the water, and one single spotlight swept against the black LA sky, and I felt my breath catch in my throat in spite of myself. You see, this show, or more specifically, this show’s soundtrack – it has gotten me through so much. It’s my last method of escape, when I can’t focus to read, when my fingers won’t hold a stitching needle, I can put on that soundtrack, and just…go somewhere else.
I never honestly though I would see it again. And when the Mark Twain steamed around the corner for the finale, with all the characters from Steamboat Willy and the Mary Poppin’s chimney sweeps to Tiana and Rapunzel lining the decks, and those four tell tale trumpet blasts ripped through the air. I think it was only then…that I realized…we really pulled this off. We really did this, we are REALLY here.
When out of the night dark forces ignite, to blind you with frightening speed! You use your might to brighten the light, creating a night of wondrous deeds…
Oh…and there is one more thing….which is important…at least to me…
On our way to the show, there was a tremendous teeth rattling explosion from somewhere to our left, and everyone stopped dead and turned their eyes towards the sky “high above sleeping beauty’s castle” for the start of the fireworks, even though we were seeing them from the back (we’ll probably stay to see them properly on our last evening), you can’t not watch as you can see them from anywhere in the park. And, after four years of standing in front of a similar-but-oh-so-different castle in Hong Kong, watching a never-quite-the-same show, I reached for a hand under those exploding stars, and there was one there to find…
And that alone would have been worth the price of admission.
