Day 3 - Disneyland again.
So today was our last full day in the parks and had decided to complete the other half of the park we hadn't seen yet.
We started by trying ( quite frustratingly) to find the atm that took foreign cards for a top up of Euros but it took us a good 20 minutes and a lot of walking back and forth past it, as it was actually tucked into the corner of a shop and not separate like we were imagining, before locating it and ensuring our fluffie spree could continue.
That accomplished, we then headed towards Frontierland and with a very wet day forecast, we wasted no time getting to our first port of call - Big Thunder. With a couple of quick snaps of the very photogenic area where it is located, we walked straight on - the 5 minute posted time was literally how long it took to walk through the line to file straight onto the ride. As always, this was fun, but I think a much tamer version than both Tokyo and Anaheim... even Miss M commented that it had a lot of almost stopped moments and very slow sections. We were also fortunate to get the front seat of the train too so we had an amazing view. We toyed with riding it again, but with the sky looking very threatening, we opted to do some more outside rides before re-do's. So it was onto the Indy ride, but I have to say, this is not nearly as much fun as the other parks versions imho. Its vastly different, outside and very rough ride had me vowing not to go back on it, but Miss M did enjoy it. The forecast had clearly held a lot of punters at bay ( until lunchtime anyway), and so she rode again.
From here we doubled back to do the Phantom Manor, which was also a walk on. The outside of this ride is amazing, but we both felt the ride itself was a bit of a let down. We both enjoyed the Anaheim one more. The grounds and walk up are truly amazing and the imagineers did their job well, but we found the ride a little lack lustre, a bit too dark to see the 'attractions' and seemed to just be skeletons hanging everywhere instead of the ghosts we were used to. For those who love the whole zombie thing, you would probably find it great, but because neither Miss M or myself like that stuff, we didn't. There were a few 'rooms' that were good - like the bride looking into the mirror and seeing a ghost.
From the Manor, we headed through to Adventureland, and were fortunate enough to stumble on a 'just arrived' meet n' greet with Rafiki and Timon. We lined up and as it turned out, were VERY fortunate as the line was closed soon after us. Again though, we were rushed through, and the Characterisation of the actors was lack luster and the CM's actually wouldn't take photos for us, so we had to snap a single shot of each of us ourselves instead of getting into the shot together. I really think that if you are going to line up to meet the characters, then you should not walk away feeling disappointed with the interaction. It doesn't have to be much, but it should leave you feeling happier for the experience. Anyhoo... moving on.
So from here we went to Pirates, and this area is just so beautiful. Really well done with the ship in the harbour. Miraculously, the rain was still holding off, but the crowds were almost non-existent, so it was a walk on again. I always try to get the back seat in this ride to avoid getting wet, but we were ushered into the front seat which made me a little worried about how wet we'd get. This Pirates has a few extra 'log-ride-downward-waterfall-thingy's' which I usually try to avoid like the plague, but despite my reservations, we made it through the significant waterfalls without getting too wet, and enjoyed the ride. Interestingly, all the scenes are in a different order to what I'm used to seeing, which threw me a little.
We came out to another meet n' greet underway with Peter Pan and Wendy, but the rain was finally having its say, so we bolted for cover and lunch at the Hot Dog place back in the hub.
OMgosh, the hot dogs were like two foot long and had we realised, we'd have ordered one and split it. It was massive. I made the mistake of ordering cheese, which turned out to be the plastic US style cheese, but it was ok once I scraped 90% of it off.
The hot dogs were as good as I've had anywhere though, and on a cold day, was just perfect.
The rain had really set in so we decided to walk both sides of the Main Street shops from the inside, which took us hours, and was a lot of fun.
We stopped at a little 'bakery shop' along the way for yet another french pastry and warm drink in the afternoon, and then braved the outdoors again and headed to Discoveryland. This area was almost entirely blocked off with only Star Tours and Buzz and two shops open... that was it... zippo else was open including restaurants and shops. Miss M really can't handle the movement on Star Tours so she busied herself in the shops while I rode. This was the first time I have had the ice planet scene so I really enjoyed it, but again, it was so gentle that I didn't even put my arms on the arm rest - usually I'm grabbing them as the ship tilts, but it wasn't ever necessary. Miss M probably could have ridden it and enjoyed it.
Buzz was down by the time we came back so that was out for another ride.
So at this point, we'd done pretty much everything we'd wanted to do and it was POURING rain so we headed back to Main Street to wander any shops we'd missed or wanted to return to before heading out of the park as the Parade had been cancelled and we suspected the Night show on the castle Dreams would be too ( turns out it wasn't, but we didn't want to stand in the pouring rain to see it again) so just before the park was due to close we headed out to the Disney Village and had dinner.
It feels so odd that the park closed so early, but its winter so I guess thats to be expected. We ran from shop to shop through the rain purchasing a few things we'd held off on earlier, and then went back to the bus stop to catch the next shuttle back to the hotel.
The thing that stuck with me today was how crowded the few open food outlets were when it was raining. Many of the restaurants were closed, so everyone was funneled into a few which made them crowded, the waits long and frustrating and everyone was dripping so even if you had managed to stay dry to that point, waiting in line soon ended that.
Having experienced Japan on just as rainy days, it was a vastly different experience - the food vans were all open, people still queued for the van food, the restaurants were all still open and I never felt squished into any area that was dry. I guess comparison is useless, but I found myself doing it none the less.
We were very fortunate that the rain held off until lunch time, which ironically, was when the park filled up. We had ridden all the outside rides dry and happy and it certainly made the day more fun as a result.