Yippee! Finally, the day arrived for us to leave for a wonderful week at Disneyland. My dad very graciously agreed to drive us to the airport, so he was at our door bright and early at 5:30 AM. At this time of the morning the drive the airport was quick and we encountered no traffic. There were no lines to check our bags and we passed through Security quickly and without incident. We departed right on time and due to a nice tail wind, we arrived in Ontario about 15 minutes ahead of schedule. After retrieving our luggage, we stepped outside and boarded a bus to the Ground Transportation Center. There was no line at the Avis counter and it took only five minutes to square everything away with the car. I had requested a sub-compact, because that’s what I’m used to driving. As usual, they didn’t have any so they gave us an intermediate instead. The Avis lot is right outside the door so it took us about two minutes to find our car. It was a Pontiac G6 and it looked kind of like a futuristic silver bullet. It was also a two-door which we didn’t like. The doors were so big and heavy it was really difficult getting in and out of the car in the narrow parking spaces in the Mickey and Friends Parking Structure. We were so anxious to be on our way that we didn’t want to go back and try to switch to another car. We put everything in the trunk and headed to Anaheim.
By now we were starving. I had eaten a bowl of oatmeal at 4:30 that morning, but Jason hadn’t eaten anything except the two tiny packs of “Sunrise Mix” that they gave us on the plane. We each had a package of honey roasted cashews in our carryon that we had brought with us, but those were locked away in the trunk and we didn’t want to pull off the freeway to get them.
It was an easy drive to HoJo’s and in less than a half hour we were there. Even though our rooms were not yet ready, we pre-checked in and were given a parking pass. Happily, they were able to accommodate all our requests and we had two connecting rooms on the second floor of building 2. We were still starving so we pulled around to the parking area near building 2 and got out the honey roasted cashews from the trunk. Munching on those, we retrieved the sunscreen and slathered it all over the exposed parts our pale, northwest bodies. We also put on our name badges that we had made during our October 2004 visit. Mine is the pink “Everyday Princess” badge and Jason has the red “Guest of Honor” badge. We love wearing these because many Cast Members greet us by name. We didn’t realize this would happen when we bought the badges, we just thought they were fun. It completely threw us the first time a CM called us by name. Although we don’t expect every CM to do this, it really makes our day when they do. Sometimes a guest will ask a question, thinking we are CM’s. We politely explain that we aren’t, but if we’re able to answer their question, we do. After donning our lanyards with the fastpass pouches, we were now ready to head over to Disneyland.
We parked on the Daisy level of the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure and made our way to the tram station. It was very crowded. At the turnstiles we saw the new machines that display your picture when they scan your AP. We picked up a park map and entertainment schedule and headed to Main Street. We just stood there in Town Square taking it all in. It was so great to be back at Disneyland after 10 months. The decorations for Halloween Time were wonderful and we loved the big Mickey pumpkin. The park was really crowded. There were a couple of special events going on that weekend that brought in thousands of extra guests. Also, Arizona and Utah schools had some time off that week so it seemed like they all headed to Anaheim. Not that I blame them. I was doing the same thing.
We walked up Main Street enjoying the decorations and headed into Tomorrowland, where we picked up Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear. We then walked over to Adventureland and noticed the line for Dole Whips wasn’t too long. We had our first Dole Whips last December and decided to try the Dole Whip Floats. We found a bench in the waiting area of the Enchanted Tiki Room and enjoyed our floats while we waited for the next show to begin. After the show it was time to use our FP’s for Buzz. Usually, we each ride in our own vehicle so we each can control the direction of the car, but because the standby line was so long, we decided it would be more considerate to ride together. My score was horribly low, Jason did better, but we were both out of practice. We didn’t bother to email our pictures as it wasn’t anything to be proud of.
By now it was almost time for our rooms to be ready so we decided to head back to HoJo’s. We snagged a couple of FP’s for Space Mountain with a return time of 7:50 PM. We’ll use them later in the evening when we return. On our way out we stopped to browse a little at the Emporium.
Before heading to HoJo’s we decided to make a grocery stop. We usually shop at Food4Less on Katella when we’re here, but had heard about an Albertson’s up the street so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be waaaay up the street so in the future we’ll stick with the Food4Less. We picked up a case of bottled water, milk, juice, snacks and a 12-pack of Cactus Cooler. We can’t get Cactus Cooler up in our part of Oregon, so it’s become an important part of our trip to always get some when we’re down here. Cactus Cooler, if you’ve never heard of it, is pineapple orange soda and very tasty.
Once back at HoJo’s we lugged everything up to our rooms and checked things out. Jason took the room with the two queen beds and I took the room with the one king bed. We were both happy with our rooms. As usual, everything was very clean and cheerful. Each room had plenty of closet and drawer space, a desk, table with two chairs, a mini-refrigerator, iron/ironing board, 27” TV, and coffee maker with both regular and decaf coffee and a couple of tea bags. The AC units looked fairly new and did a great job of keeping the rooms cool. The first time we stayed here, my room had an older AC unit that tended to rattle. Fortunately, it was pretty cool that trip and I didn’t need to use it very often. The remote for the TV looked new as well. There’s nothing more annoying that a remote that’s worn out and requires you to push down really hard to change the channel. Jason noticed that the security latch on my door was broken. I called down to the front desk and they said they would send someone over to fix it.
After unpacking, we decided to pick up some dinner at El Pollo Loco and bring it back to the room. This is another thing we can’t get in Oregon so we make a point to eating there at least once when we’re here. We picked up an 11-piece meal so we’d have some to snack on over the next couple of days. While we were eating, the maintenance guy came to fix the lock on my door. Happy and full after our first real meal of the day, we decided to rest for a while before heading back to the park. It had already been a long day and we were both tired.
Around 8:00 PM we headed back over. At the parking structure, they weren’t taking money or checking parking permits, so we just drove in. Again we parked on the Daisy level in a spot pretty close to the escalators.
Even though DCA would close in 30 minutes, we headed over there first. We were pleased to see the Halloween decorations here as well. Our plan was to ride Soarin’, my very favorite ride in that park, but the standby line was 60 minutes and no more fastpasses were available. Instead, we rode the new Monster’s Inc. ride for the first time. It was a walk on. We both enjoyed it and thought it was really cute. Near the end of the ride, Jason thought he spotted a hidden Mickey. Of course we had to ride it again to verify it. There still wasn’t any line, so we walked on again. Sure enough, we spotted what we’re sure is a hidden Mickey on Sully’s left leg near the very end of the ride.
In spite of our nap, both of us were exhausted. It had been a really busy week at work for both of us. We knew that Disneyland was most likely even more crowded than it was earlier in the day and neither of us had the energy to fight the crowds. We decided to head back to the hotel and get a good night sleep so we could be back first thing in the morning. We made a quick detour to Engine-Ear toys to check for new Mr. Potato Head parts, but didn’t see anything that we didn’t already have. This was a relief as the Mr. Potato Heads we have just sit in the closet.
Once back at HoJo’s, we snacked on brownie bites and watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone for a while before calling it a night. It wasn’t more than five minutes after my head hit the pillow that I was sound asleep.
