{"id":3154,"date":"2014-06-06T22:07:47","date_gmt":"2014-06-07T06:07:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3154"},"modified":"2014-06-06T22:07:47","modified_gmt":"2014-06-07T06:07:47","slug":"a-dream-is-a-wish-anaheim-california-06062014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3154","title":{"rendered":"A Dream Is A Wish \u2013 Anaheim, California \u2013 [06\/06\/2014]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Castle2014\"<\/a>\u201cI just can\u2019t, the sky\u2019s awake, so I\u2019m awake so awake!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

You remember how Christmas morning felt as a kid? And your parents would never get up quickly and always<\/em> wanted another cup of coffee before opening the presents? Multiply that by nineteen years<\/em>\u2019 worth of anticipation and you have me this morning.<\/p>\n

Yes, kitten on the ceiling\u2026<\/p>\n

Come on come on come on come on come ON!<\/em><\/p>\n

Things have<\/em> 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\u2019s 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 \u2013 and the parking lot is a thing of the past (to give an idea of how big the parking lot really was, they didn\u2019t have to purchase any new land to build Cali Adventure) \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

The tears came later, somewhere between the gate, the line up for Peter Pan\u2019s Flight (which is still the first ride we go on, no matter how long the line), and finally walking through sleeping beauty\u2019s castle. But they came, as they always do \u2013 as I suspect they always will.<\/p>\n

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\u2019t<\/em> 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:<\/p>\n

The first thing to remember about Disneyland is to pace yourself. Now this is a mistake that a lot of first timer\u2019s make. You\u2019ve got all these unbelievable rides and cool stuff to do \u2013 you try to do it all at once, you\u2019ll be sleeping like a baby by lunchtime. <\/em><\/p>\n

Much to my amazement and delight the Columbia <\/em>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\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been so long since we\u2019ve 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<\/em> way to ride;<\/p>\n

Guys, give me your tickets<\/em><\/p>\n

Why?<\/em><\/p>\n

They need to scan the tickets to get the fast passes. Just trust me.<\/em><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s interesting how, when see something as a kid, it becomes larger than life in your imagination \u2013 or perhaps your memory \u2013 as an adult. Mum and I have nicknamed it the Christmas Tree Complex (if you get a Christmas tree that\u2019s 5 feet tall when you\u2019re 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<\/em> as I remember it, which is to say it\u2019s exactly how it didn\u2019t used to be<\/em>. They\u2019ve upgraded it, and it now fits the image I have in my head which \u2013 most likely \u2013 wasn\u2019t entirely accurate. Mum pointed this out to me as we were going through<\/p>\n

Whoa, they\u2019ve really upgraded this<\/em><\/p>\n

They have?<\/em><\/p>\n

They never used to move before
\nThey didn\u2019t?
\nNope.
\nThen why is it *Exactly* as I remember it being?
\nChristmas tree complex<\/em><\/p>\n

When we made our way back to Big Thunder \u2013 my fingers still cold from my long awaited lemonade slushy (lemonade tastes different here, I don\u2019t 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 \u2013 but we did end up in the last car!<\/p>\n

And I\u2019m very glad I remembered to \u201chang on to my hat and glasses\u201d, because the new revamp definitely does a lot to bring the ride up to its tag line of \u201cthe Wildest Ride in the Wilderness\u201d<\/p>\n

*especially* if you\u2019re in that last car.<\/p>\n

*GRIN*<\/p>\n

However, one thing we hadn\u2019t really accounted for was the California sun. For a little while we sought refuge in the relative coolness of the Golden Horseshoe Saloon<\/em> (ridiculously funny show, and pretty decent food come to think of it), but by about three o\u2019clock 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.<\/p>\n

We did go back of course, the park doesn\u2019t close until midnight, and we had fast passes for 6:30 entry to Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye<\/em>, 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 \u2013 as I recall some of them translate into things that relate to the \u201cstory\u201d of the ride, others translate into the slogan for ATT which sponsored the ride \ud83d\ude1b<\/p>\n

Oh, and since the real New Orleans is currently well out of my reach, we at least took a turn around New Orleans\u2019 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\u2019s taking up most of the area at the moment) \u2013 but the Haunted Mansion is still open, and it\u2019s nice to revisit the classics. Of course, if I actually think<\/em> about the fact that the \u2018stretching room\u2019 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!<\/p>\n

Since the park was getting a wee touch crowded again (it\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Oh\u2026my goodness.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been a long time since I walked into something completely new. This? This was completely new. It\u2019s something of a cross between Universal Studios and Disneyland and\u2026it 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\u2019 Over California<\/em>. 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\u2026aerobatic planes\u2026.yeah, I have cool parents)\u2026so 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.<\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n

And as I looked back at the lights of Main Street glowing over my shoulder I realized I wasn\u2019t crying\u2026<\/p>\n

Because this time? I could leave\u2026knowing I was coming back in the morning\u2026<\/p>\n

Goodnight neverland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI just can\u2019t, the sky\u2019s awake, so I\u2019m awake so awake!\u201d 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 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[76,21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-california-dreamin","category-vacation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-OS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3154"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3156,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3154\/revisions\/3156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}