I took a little vacation last weekend… I went to Disneyland with some friends of mine (Erik, Sue, and Emma). It was the first time I’ve been down to Disneyland in about eight years, so it had been a while.
Our first day we spent in California Adventure, which I had never seen before. People kind of pooh-pooh it, but I enjoyed it. If nothing else, it isn’t nearly as crowded as Disneyland proper, and it’s more like a traditional amusement park with coasters and all. California Screaming is especially fun: it’s their induction coaster and is very fast. We also went on the Soaring Over California ride, which is an IMAX movie with moving seats and, yes, Smell-o-Vision… very fun. One thing to miss in the area: the Rainforest Café. It’s in the area they call Downtown Disney near all the hotels and is a themed restaurant complete with thunderstorms, animatronic elephants, and gift shop. It is also a place where it is impossible to have a conversation.
The second day, we met up with two friends of Sue’s from work, and Sue delivered her master-stroke: a character breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen. For those who have not experienced the true horror of a character breakfast, it’s a buffet breakfast (pretty good, actually), in a restaurant where several of the characters are out wandering about and meeting everyone. The interesting thing was that many of the kids there were actually pretty terrified, so far as I could tell.
After the breakfast, we had pretty much of a death-march through Disneyland proper. The day was pretty fun, but I have to say that the original imagineers must have been pretty freaky… and on some sort of serious medication. I thought the Alice in Wonderland ride was an LSD-fuelled journey until we got to It’s a Small World. I’d been one the one in Florida ages and ages ago, but I wasn’t really prepared for the full experience (which was only helped along by being stuck on a boat with four adults singing the song at the top of their lungs).
The last day we took it fairly easy. We mainly revisited our favorite rides at the two parks and did a little shopping. I managed to escape without bringing anything home except for a lovely head-cold.
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