Let The Memories Live Again! – Day 7
After a few days break from Disney, we bravely woke up today with the intention of going back to Disneyland Park. We woke up to another breakfast, consisting still of the same spread. We weren’t quite sick of it yet, but decided that the breakfast from Drury’s was probably still better. We packed up our belongings and headed back off towards Disneyland. This time, however, we were lucky enough to park nearer to the park, in the Toy Story lots. This wasn’t a parking lot that Disney took over, but rather a designated parking lot for Disneyland. We hopped up a bus, decorated with Toy Story decals and headed towards Disneyland yet again. This would be the second time we were going, but we still had some rides to cover, namely the recently re-done Hyperspace Mountain. Disneyland has taken the normal Space Mountain, a familiar favorite among Disney regulars, and given it a makeover during the Season of the Force.
We approached Disneyland, and immediately headed towards the Fastpass distribution for Hyperspace mountain. We learnt that the queue times for Hyperspace mountain was much longer than we imagined, reaching almost two hours in the queue. We decided that we weren’t going to spend that much time queuing for any ride, so we rushed to get the fastpasses, and went off to do other rides.
We headed towards the Matterhorn, where we accidentally ran into Mary Poppins, and Ashley wanted to take some photos with her. After a quick session, we went off to the Matterhorn for another time round the exciting bobsled ride. We were given rows closer forward this time, and we were allowed a much better view of the Yeti in all his glory. We enjoyed this ride as much as we did the first time round, although we still enjoyed Big Thunder more than this. We then headed towards the Big Thunder Mountain Railway, where we met the Evil Queen. Ashley took another set of photos before we headed back out to the Railroad once again.
After yet another Big Thunder session, we headed to Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blasters. This time was a little more enjoyable as it didn’t have as many interruptions to our shooting experience. We still preferred Toy Story Mania by a large margin, due to its supreme 3D Visuals and less tiring shooting mechanisms.
After this, we headed for lunch. We picked up a Turkey leg for sharing, and headed back to Plaza inn for some of the Fried Chicken that we enjoyed very much from the last time. We also tried out their Carrot Cake, which was placed at an awkward position that made me wonder if it was simply a dummy. Fortunately our meal was very enjoyable, but I think that the Turkey leg was still better at Orlando.
After lunch, we took the opportunity to head towards Fantasyland. We didn’t have the opportunity to explore this portion of Disneyland the last time we had visited, so we were excited about visiting Fantasyland. Walking towards it, we were greeted by the majestic sight of the carousel. The carousel was gigantic and very well decorated. But before we got distracted, we decided to head to some of the rides that we did not take the first time we were at Disney. First up was Pinocchio’s Daring Journey. This was a slow ride that retold the adventures of Pinocchio. It was similar to Winnie The Pooh’s ride, and we enjoyed this one very much, especially since Pinocchio isn’t a Disney character that we commonly see, so it was refreshing to see a ride specifically made for him.
Next up was Snow White’s Scary Adventure. This was another slow ride, also similar to Winnie The Pooh’s ride. This ride, unsurprisingly, told us the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, this ride was shorter and had less special effects, therefore we didn’t enjoy it as much as Pinocchio’s or Winnie’s rides.
Next up, we headed to the gigantic carousel in the middle of Fantasyland. Dubbed the “King Arthur Carousel”, we waited through the twenty minute wait, and we boarded the Carousel. Even though I came off feeling a little dizzy, Ashley loved the ride, and I had to admit that it was well decorated and very pretty to look at. After this, we headed back to the fantastic Indiana Jones Ride, Temple of the Forbidden Eye. We enjoyed this rife very much, and soon, we were about to reach the main attraction for us.
Next up, Hyperspace Mountain. Hyperspace Mountain was a face-lift of the existing Space Mountain, inserting Star Wars graphics and audio to the classic Space Mountain. We took on the role as a X-Wing Pilot. We dodged enemy fire under excellent graphics and audio fidelity, and we managed to take down the enemy Star Destroyer. We loved the ride, and I had finally found a ride that took over Test Track in terms of it’s fun factor. We shuddered at the 90 minute wait, and decided that it wouldn’t be worth waiting that time for, even though it was an excellent ride.
Moving on, we headed to Main Street to catch the Disney Christmas parade. We went to grab some Ice-Cream and we headed towards the Parade. It was similar to all other Disney Parades, that is, grand and magical with all our favourite characters. This parade was a little shorter than the others, but Ashley still enjoyed it as much as the others.
We had only a short amount of time, so we decided to head to a show that we didn’t catch the first time we were here. This show was called Mickey and the Magical Map. This show entailed Mickey’s adventure to become a Map Maker, by painting the remaining spot on the magical map. It was a spectacular show, cleverly making use of the stage props and graphics I enjoyed this show, and we took the remaining time to take the Disney Railway. We crossed by New Orleans, where we stopped by New Orleans Cafe for our DInner.
We ordered only 2 of their Monte Cristo sandwiches, one with cheese, and another with ham. We couldn’t even finish 2 of them, and Ashley still ordered the same Mac N Cheese. We left extremely full, and felt lucky we only ordered 2 entrees.
We then headed to It’s a Small World ride, where we were treated to a festive version of the ride. It was themed after Christmas carols and we enjoyed the ride. This was also the only time my Dad didn’t sleep during this ride.
However, our greatest surprise came when the ride was finished, and we were treated to a front-row show of the fireworks scene. We couldn’t resist but stay and watch the fireworks go off in front of us.
Afterwards, we were exhausted, and headed back home. We had another tiring day planned tomorrow.