We woke around 8:30am, and went down to experience American Breakfasts. My goodness they were crap. The only thing that was worth eating was the bran-flake cereal with raisins, even then I’m sure the raisins had frosting on them.

Other options for breakfast were: Cheerio’s, Fruit-Loops, (round) different flavoured donoughts, white toast, and jelly (which really is a jelly type mixture, not jam as I thought it was). Also there was no butter, just the whipped butter that you put on top of pancakes. Apparently that’s what you put on toast here.

One woman, who was huge (maybe 130kg I’m guessing), got two plates and piled them incredibly high with donoughts. Then her son (about 8 years old) came along behind her, and she gave him one of the plates. He was just about as big as her. Boy, that was scary. It is scary thinking that she did not know enough about food at nutrition to see what she was doing to her son.

I have also developed a theory from what I saw. My theory is that poor nutrition when a young childs brain is growing, and the overly large expansion of the fat cells, probably results in lower mental ability when they’re older, because they do not have the nutrients needed for their brain to develop healthy synapses. Possibly an underlying reason why stereotypical Americans (ie the TV versions that we see) are €˜dumb’? Would be interesting to research, however I don’t think I could ever be the person that researched it. I’d be too much with “you need to be eating healthy… look what you’re doing to your family!” I’m trying to decide which is worse, being underfed, or being overfed. Both have their good and bad sides. I guess (without reading any research) both ends of the spectrum end up with the same results; lacking in energy, lacking the capacity to think clearly, memory retention less etc etc…

Ants and I tried fruit-loops while were having breakfast. I put one mouthful in, expecting a lovely fruity taste, and what I got was a processed cardboard and chemical taste with a bit of sugar frosting. I spat it back out very quickly, and I wondered how many people feed that shit to their kids and don’t even realise how crap it tastes.

Soon after “breakfast” we headed over to Downtown Disney. It’s funny to see how hard it is for pedestrians to get into. There was no easy way, and you have to walk through a carpark, and around the back of a hotel to get to the entrance. It’s very obscure. You can see here on the map; you walk in behind Paradise Pier hotel, then round this little corner thingee, then where you see the pink path in Downtown Disney, just under the D’s is where you come in. Weird as weird. But the good thing was… look to the left hand side where the main road in meets with the edge of the map, that’s pretty much where our hotel wa.

On the way in, we saw this awesome Hummer which had “TonysH2″ on the number plate. Because it had Ants’s name (Anthony… Tony for all you who don’t get it) we had to take a picture of it.

We also spotted this police golf-cart which was both weird, and practical. I wondered how much crime happened in the Happies Place on Earth?

We had decided to go to California Adventure Park for the day. We found out that it closes a couple of hours earlier than Disneyland, so we would do CA, then shoot over to DL until closing.

A very nice American took the photo of Ants and I in front of the sun.

This area was the entrance way. It is called Sunshine Plaza, and is meant to look like a Californian postcard (so Wikipedia says). There is also a model of the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as huge letters just outside the entranceway spelling CALIFORNIA, meant to look like a postcard.

We then walked around a bit, and went to the Grizzly River Run – basically a round boat that goes around rapids and down hills.

Yes, you do actually go down this waterfall.

While waiting in line, we discovered we were behind the American that took our photo. We got chatting and found that he was over from Washington, on holiday with his wife. He told us about a couple of clubs that we should go to when we get to Vegas, one of them his daughter works at.

We waited about an hour to get on the ride, despite the wait sign saying it would be about 30 minutes. However, it was a good time for me to catch up on my travel diary!

The line. We had to go right around where those people are standing at ground level, then back up to the top, through the ‘cabin’ and down the bridge.

Finally we got on, and were in the boat with the American we were talking to, and his wife. We all got very very wet. Ants and I were glad that it was a hot day! The ride was pretty cool though. Very much worth the wait.

Grizzly peak, or Wolf Mountain.

After that ride we wandered down to the back of the park and found the California Screamin’ roller coaster. We waited another 45 minutes to get on that ride, and again this was defiantly worth it. I then found out that it was Ants’s first time ever on a rollercoaster! The coaster was awesome. Had lots of good twists and turns in it, and the G-force was fantastic. I really really wanted to go again, but with so much of the park to go, we didn’t have enough time.

Source of picture above: Wikipedia.org

We then went on the Sunwheel, which is basically a ferriswheel, but some of the carriages aren’t fixed in place. They slide along bars and rock as the wheel goes around. It looked far more exciting than it was, and defiantly wasn’t worth the 20min wait time. It had good views though.

On our way to find some lunch, we waited in line for Mulholland Madness – a mini rollercoaster. You sit in little cars, and they go sharply around corners and suddenly down dips. It was good for a little thrill.

Finally we found a little bakery called the Boudin Bakery. I ordered a Vegie Chilli in a sourdough bowl, and Ants ordered an apple salad. I didn’t want to share my food, but we’d decided that we’d always buy something different each, and then go halves so we could experience more food. *wah!*

We walked through Ariel’s cove and got fished up.

Then we wandered past ‘A Bugs Land‘ which had oversized bugs from bugs life, but was a playground for young children.

We stopped in at the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and took these cool photos in front of the amazing 3D backdrop. It looked like it went on forever.

The next ride we went on was the Tower of Terror. Please don’t do this if you’d just had lunch, like we did. It’s the only time I thought I was going to spew. It had a Twilight Zone theme to it. At first you lined up through the lobby, then you go into the study and you get shown a video about how the place was a connection to the twilight zone. You are then led through to line up to the service elevators. You go in, sit down on these very small seats and put your seatbelt on. You’re looking towards a screen that shows another movie talking about how people have gone into the twilight zone and not come back. It had some awesome 3D effects and it looked like the hallway went on forever. Then the elevator started to move. It went through the hallway, then up a few floors normal elevator speed. Then it dropped suddenly a few floors then raced up high. The doors opened, and you could see out the whole park, then the elevator dropped right down. I was squeezing Ants’s leg so hard [later he told me he hadn't noticed]. Then it went up again, and down again, and a few more up and downs for good measure. Then it went back to the little room to let you off. Man, did I want to do that again! It was so good! But we had so much else to see.

We were off the ride in time to find a good place to see the Pixar parade. While waiting I took these pictures.

Mike and Sully

Mickey in Fantasia water fountain.

The parade was totally cool. We’re probably a bit bias, because Ants and I like Pixar heaps.
[I will post a video that I put together, asap I promise!]. The actors were dressed in costumes that looked just like the characters, and where they couldn’t dress up like the characters, there were puppets.

The parade was so cool, the puppets mouths moved in time with the music and things they were meant to be saying. The sound coming through the speakers was fantastic. Whenever a particular float went past, the sound matched, so I think that they had all the speakers on a separate loop type thing, and as the float went past, they were in time to that particular speaker. Poor performers, it meant they were listening to the same music over and over, but it worked out great for the crowd. It meant that the crowd didn’t miss out on anything, because if they did something, like a special dance, it was repeated a little further down. Tell you what, it beats the floats in the Christmas Parade!

After the parade, the park was closing fast (but the crowd was thinning which was great). We only had one more ride to do, which was the Soarin’ over California ride. I was a bit sceptical about this ride, but some people had said that it was the best ride of the whole park, so we lined up. We’d rushed there, so we were fairly close to the front and a whole bunch of people filled the line soon after us – good work!

The ride was pretty awesome, and yes, easily the best ride in the entire park. You sit on little seats (the same small seats as in the Tower of Terror) that are attached to this hoist and you’re in front of this huge circular screen. We were in the front. When the ride is about to begin, the hoist lifts your row of seats up. Because we were at the front, we were the highest. That in itself was a bit scary, because you have no idea how high up you are (can only guess because you can see how big the screen is, and how many rows of seats there are behind you), and you are only sitting in these tiny seats with tiny seatbelt. Then the screen turned on, and the wind was blowing, and the hoist was moving you around so that you felt like you were flying. The first scene was a river scene, and we were flying down it. It was spectacular, but I couldn’t work out what was making it so lifelike. Then Ants said “Can you smell the river?” and I realised that scents were being blown around the room, and it smelt exactly like a river. As you flew down, the filming showed us coming up quickly on a kayaker, and it felt like you were going to kick him with your feet! There were several different scenes, all with simulated wind and smells. Over the beach, over hills, over an orange field where you could smell the oranges, up high with a paraglider that you thought you were going to crash in to, and over a golf course where some people hit a ball towards you, and you think you’re going to get hit (yes, I ducked). The finish of the video is flying in over Disneyland at night time, with fireworks were going off over Sleeping Beauty Castle. It felt like you were going to get hit by them! Absolutely awesome. If you go, make sure you go on this ride (unless you’re afraid of flying).

When we got out, the park was closing, so we headed over to Disneyland.

The entranceway to Disneyland

We were in time to get a good spot for the Disney Character Parade which went around Main Street USA.
[insert video]
This was done just as well as the Pixar parade, with lots of dancing and lots of puppets. My favourite float (if you know me well enough, you’d know this!) was the Ariel the Little Mermaid float. Ursla was awesome, and when I put the video up, you can see her mouth moving and everything in time to the words that she was saying.

Not long after the parade, the park was starting to close (well at least the rides were closed, the shops stayed open). We jumped on the train that goes around the perimeter of the park. It was the last ride for the night, and it was to collect people from all the other stops – no hopping off. For this reason in itself I couldn’t understand why they let people on at the first train station, and by the time they’d gone around, I really couldn’t understand it. The train was completely full, and we were turning people away. On the other hand, I’m glad they let us on, because we were able to see the whole of the park. It felt so small when you’re going around it on a train!

Ants and I on the train

Looking both ways down the train

We hopped off, back at the station, and we decided we’d have a roam around the shops. It was so packed because everybody was using this time to buy their goodies before leaving the park. Absolute rush-hour. Most of the shops are interconnected, despite their façade, so you could almost wander down the whole of main street inside the shops.

There were so many beautiful things in the shops that I wanted to buy, especially a fantastically lovely scrapbook that had a metal design of Sleeping Beauty Castle on it. But at the price it was, I sighed and put it back. Anthony found more Star Wars Mr. Potato Heads. He was surprised because he’d never seen them before. At US$14 each, not too expensive either (at home they’re NZ$40+). He hummed and haarred a little, but thought better of it, because we really didn’t have anyway to take them with us – our bags were already too heavy for the Contiki (shh don’t tell). There was also, again, the beautiful Mickey and Minnie Mouse wedding cake topper. There was a large one, which was about US$90 and a smaller one that was about US$30. Sadly I had to stop nagging for that too :’0(
While in the shops though, we tried on some Mickey Mouse ears. We decided against buying them because they would only get crushed in our luggage. So we took photos instead.

Notice the Pirates of the Caribbean ears? I luffed them lotz and lotz and wanted them heaps!

Beautiful window displays

Sleeping Beauty Castle

The Train Station

Disney by night

We fought the crowds to leave the park, and we realised that we were starving. We found a called Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen that made Gumbo Ya-ya; a dish I’d seen recommended by Denny to Alan on Boston Legal. So we tried it. It was okay. I think the next time I try it, it will be from New Orleans though, because original is always best.

We then went to Häagen-Dazs for dessert. I got Baileys and Cookies & Cream, and Ants got Deep chocolate, and Peanut & Brownies. Very rich, very very yum.

We heard it was supposed to be cooler tomorrow – hurrah! No more melting in the heat!

~~*~~

Current Fashion: Pirates of the Caribbean Mickey Mouse Ears.
Point of Interest: Californian American accents do not suit men, and makes them all sound gay.

Current Mood: envious & flirty

Tags: California Adventureland, Disneyland, Theme Parks, travel