Disneyland!

We went to Disneyland! After a good drive from Hollywood to Anaheim we checked in to the hotel, which was however, still being cleaned, and went to buy our Disney tickets. As we stood at the desk ordering our 2-day, 1-park tickets, a random lady came over and gave us some coupons. In a flash of magical fairy dust (a taxi) she disappeared. Turns out we had 20% off in two of the shops, and some money to spend on a pre-paid hotel card! If you ever see this, mysterious coupon lady, WE THANK YOU!

We made it into the park by about 2pm so, after lunch, we were ready and raring to experience Disney's finest! Our first stop was Indiana Jones: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. This was a ride that Julie actually went on! The bumpy jeep ride with Harrison Ford was really good. The build up to the ride which was themed with statues and sound effects got you pumped and ready to enter the world of Indy

After that we went to experience the ride that sparked an incredibly successful film franchise - yes, Pirates of the Caribbean! This gentle water ride took you deep into the underbelly of Port Royale, where you followed the search for infamous pirate Captain Jack Sparrow. The majority of characters inside the ride were anamatronic robots which looked amazingly realistic. We also experienced another film springing ride, the very tame Haunted Mansion. We were 'haunted' by some lovely ghosts and not jumped out at by anything (unlike the House of Horrors) 

Later on we went over to splash mountain, but the wait for this was really long (like 1 and a half hours!) Of course without Julie (big drops = no-no!) We boarded our little log boat and braced ourselves for the events that were about to unfold. We all survived the 50 foot drop, and I came out the wettest - being at the front did have it's disadvantages...

After we left the park to eat, we returned to experience the magic of the daily fireworks display. The show was absolutely spectacular. We watched in awe as fireworks exploded directly over the classic Disney castle and Tinkerbell swung across leaving a trail of sparkles behind her and the magic of Disney was really alive.

The next day, we returned with more of a plan to utilise the fast-pass system where you effectively save your spot in the queue and return at a later time to go on the ride. Our first adventure was on Space Mountain (without Julie, who had her first taste of Star Tours) after a very quick queuing time we were taken on an another white-knuckle thrill ride, this time through the depths of space. Juliet and I enjoyed this one a lot, however, Peter was a little taken aback....

This was kind of like his reaction Picci from here

After our first inter-galactic adventure we entered our second: Star Tours. This is a Star-Wars style flight simulator, where you are infiltrated by a rebel spy and taken on a wild flight through the galaxy. After the ride we browsed the Star Wars shop. I bought a Chewbacca/Wookie rucksack which is awesome! We all loved this ride and while Juliet & I went back to Space Mountain for another turn, Julie went back on Star Tours. She was very pleased, as when the ride initiated and the rebel spy was identified (by a photo taken at the start) it was her! As we heard for the rest of the day "I WAS THE REBEL SPY :)" and ''MY LIFE IS COMPLETE!!

RAWR! Picci of chewy from here

We enjoyed every aspect of our trip to Disneyland, which we topped off with the spectacular parade. The characters and actors performed 110% and gave us a brilliant show!

Disneyland Parade Part 1

Disneyland Parade Part 2

Watch out for the next post to see our trip to the RMS Queen Mary

Caroline :)