Before this September trip, Robin, Frank, and I had agreed upon our approach to the philosophy of trying to "Win Disney". "Winning Disney" means orchestrating every move to maximize the attractions ridden and to cram as much as possible into one day in order to assure we "get our money's worth" to the point of utter stressed out exhaustion.
Monday September 16th at Disneyland we further improved on our relaxed attitude. We planned to repeat what we'd liked, with a back-of-the-mind awareness to optionally fill in any gaps of activities we may not have not gotten to the previous day. The morning started off slowly. There had been some Star Wars displays that Jeremy would have liked to dawdle over longer the previous day; two restless on-the-move kiddos would have hampered that browsing. Frank and I told them to go on ahead to the park when it first opened, just the two of them, and we would follow later. Robin in July 2019 had made Jeremy the Stormtrooper top he is wearing. Isaiah has one to match.
While their mom and dad indulged in each other's company a little, exploring the Black Spire Outpost of Star Wars at a leisurely pace, we intended to bring the kiddos to Disneyland for breakfast and eat Mickey Mouse shaped waffles at the Carnation Café on Main Street which brags “Carnation Condensed Milk, the milk from contented cows.”
Around 11:00 am we boarded the train to ride a full 360° around the park. The night before, we had gotten off before the stretch between Tomorrowland and Main Street and so we'd not been able to see the dinosaur diorama situated there. The train in the day seemed different than the train at night.
1 Disneyland Railroad
E Main Street Fruit Cart
36 King Arthur Carrousel
40 Peter Pan's Flight
45 Storybook Land Canal Boats
46 it's a small world
44 Matterhorn Bobsleds
38 Dumbo the Flying Elephant
29 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
O French Market Restaurant
9 Walt Disney's Enchanted Tiki Room
I learned a few interesting facts from the King Arthur Carrousel Wikipedia link. And, just in case you were wondering, carousel is spelled with one "r" but King Arthur Carrousel has two.
1) The carousel was built in 1922 and operated at Sunnyside Beach Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, until the park closed. ... 2) Inspired by the Griffith Park carousel, Walt Disney wanted something similar for his new theme park: a carousel consisting of all jumpers. ... 3) Because of the overwhelming popularity of the carousel's single white horse, since 1975 all horses have been painted white. ... 4) Each horse on the carousel has a name; a complete list is available at City Hall on Main Street, U.S.A.
We waited in line to see the Peter Pan's Flight attraction where pirate ships sail in the night-time skies over London; the queue wound in and out of the sun. The heat from the baking sun at mid-day was intermittently intense, and I personally began to wilt. Even after soaring within the serene surroundings of the Peter Pan's Flight, I needed more recuperation time.
So, when the gang suggested we ride the Storybook Land Canal Boats where you, "Cruise through the mouth of Monstro the Whale into a magical land of Disney movie locales—all in miniature," I begged off to find a cool shady place to wait. After all, I reasoned there would be no shade on the water, except when floating under arches during brief respites and initially when entering the mouth of the whale.
I found a comfortable niche nearby tucked away in a shady, cool corner beneath speakers along the wide esplanade leading to It's A Small World. I listened to some Disney melodies until Autumn and Isaiah came to find me and regaled me with their adventures entering the mouth of a whale and touring so many miniature kingdoms!
We then had some frozen lemonade with Smucker's Uncrustables® peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches in my quiet, comfortable hideaway.
Then around 2:15 we were up and off to ride It's a Small World again. It was a favorite from Sunday and today we were able to ride it twice in a row since the lines were so short. Waiting in the sunshine was not at all onerous. In fact you might say that it was even slightly amorous.
The first time I rode in a front row seat with Autumn and Isaiah on either side of me; the second time, Frank rode in a further back row with Isaiah snuggled next to him.
I am not a roller coaster type person but there is one roller coaster type ride at Disneyland that I enjoy, will ride, and am proud of myself when I do so. It is the Matterhorn. After floating along the melodic, colorful, relaxing route in It's a Small World I was invigorated enough for the adventure of the Matterhorn Bobsleds so we went there next. Per Wikipedia
The Matterhorn Bobsleds are a pair of intertwined steel roller coasters at Disneyland in Anaheim, California. It is modelled after the Matterhorn, a mountain in the Alps on the border with Switzerland and Italy. It is the first known tubular steel continuous track roller coaster. Located on the border between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, it employs forced perspective to seem larger. ...
Either the ride was not as I remembered it or I was not as I remembered me. As we plunged into a jolting darkness I initially had two simultaneous thoughts: "Was it really this black for this long last time?" and "I am so glad Isaiah did not ride this!" I did notice that the abominable snowman did not have red eyes as I had remembered them. Per Wikipedia, a 2015 refurbishment of the attraction included an updated, and more "anatomically accurate (?)" audio-animatronic of the abominable Snowman, without those eerie red eyes. By the way, his name is Harold 2. The original Harold had the red eyes.
But what struck me the most was how hard and jerky the ride was. Had they removed all the padding from the seats? My ribs hurt as they rammed into the side of the car; my back jolted as I was flung back and twisted, while rounding a tight curve. We were riding the Fantasyland side, not the Tomorrowland side and one is supposed to be tamer. I held a slim hope that we were riding the rougher side and that every other time I had ridden, it had been the tamer side. Minuscule chance of that... huh. True, I did not experience the nausea that roller coasters often inflict on me and that is probably why I am usually willing to ride this one. But that day was a historic occasion. It was the final, last-ever, never-again time I will be riding the Matterhorn Bobsleds Attraction at Disneyland. They are no longer age appropriate for me. I aged out of them. So convinced was I that the ride had changed, I located a YouTube video, Before and After review of the New Matterhorn and Yeti, from FreshBaked - The Best of Disneyland Every Day. Essentially, the speed and smoothness of the ride was purported to be unchanged. It was all in my mind – or rather all in my body. Sigh. Never again. Ancient history. Not ever even chancing the "other track". On the bright side, nearly 7-yr-old Autumn absolutely loved it – twice in a row!
I found a nice comfortable patio area with tables and chairs not far from the Bobsled loading and just across the way from Edelweiss Snacks (upper right corner of the aerial view). A salty bag of Lays Potato Chips was all that I needed to assuage my feelings of inadequacy after the Matterhorn experience.
Here in the adjacent waterway, beneath the Monorail tracks, a group of ducks were paddling about being fed popcorn by the guests. Their smooth streamlined wakes were much gentler and more my speed than the contours of those tubular bobsled tracks. Isaiah enjoyed watching them with me. It was a calm, companionable time.
I googled to get an image of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and found a fascinating article at https://www.livescience.com/56261-kidney-stones-roller-coaster.html. Experiments with a 3D model of a kidney and some sample stones of various sizes were taken along for the ride at the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Florida's Magic Kingdom (concealed in a backpack) and data collected to test the theory that this roller coaster helps people pass kidney stones. I cannot vouch for the veracity of a similar miracle cure on Disneyland's Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but, at the very least, it is a testimony to the anticipated vibratory signature of the ride.
When Autumn and Jeremy had rejoined us after their ride on the roller coaster in Frontierland we headed over toward New Orleans Square where we were to have dinner. Before leaving Fantasyland however, we had one last ride on Dumbo, another favorite.
I preferred my picture be taken on the ground and not going around in dizzying circles. See? I am back to smiling and waving!
We walked through Sleeping Beauty Castle again and past the commemorative Disneyland copper statue of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse holding hands titled Partners.
We browsed along a cafeteria style line to pick out our food and went outdoors to eat. A band was playing peppy jazz on a slightly raised podium area; the music was good and made for pleasant listening. I also liked their pink, pale blue, and lilac outfits.
The plaque below the statue in Disneyland quotes Walt Disney as saying, "I think most of all what I want Disneyland to be is a happy place...where parents and children can have fun...together."We were having fun as we moved on toward New Orleans Square to get dinner. We arrived at French Market Restaurant approximately 5:30.
We browsed along a cafeteria style line to pick out our food and went outdoors to eat. A band was playing peppy jazz on a slightly raised podium area; the music was good and made for pleasant listening. I also liked their pink, pale blue, and lilac outfits.
The blue velvet cake is topped with blueberry purée, rice croquette brittle, and a vanilla-blueberry crisp. Soft, gooey, and INCREDIBLE! This cake has us seriously considering becoming the 1,000th happy haunt. The blueberry purée soaks into the blue velvet cake, making the dessert melt in your mouth with every bite. The rice croquette brittle and blueberry crisp add a little bit of crunch to the cake, and the whole blueberries on top provide an extra burst of flavor. This is 100% worth making the res at River Belle, but be aware that your mouth will be blue the rest of the day!!
The blue tones of Autumn's Nightmare Before Christmas print dress matched the blue of her dessert, mouth, lips, teeth, fork...etc
I am kind of glad that I read this review after I enjoyed and shared this next delicious dessert. Per Walt Disney World News Today review of the Haunted Mansion 50th Anniversary Wedding Cake:
This cake is composed of buttercream frosting, cherries, cream cheese filling and finished with a splatter of cherry sauce. Of all the specialty food offerings we’ve tried, this feels like the most thoughtful of them all. It’s designed to look like a wedding cake splattered with blood.
The music was not the only entertainment. Ducks meandered under and around our table, fascinating and amusing Autumn and Isaiah to no end.
The boulders outside provided another photo op with Grandpa. See the small black velvet bag that Autumn is holding? It contains the souvenir she picked out for herself inside one of the stores – pink, blue and lilac rocks, as many as would fit in the bag. I recall when we visited the Oklahoma Science Museum in July of 2017 she also picked out a velvet bag of rocks as her gift there as well. Hmmm... I detect a pattern. I am grateful she had no desire to keep the BIG rocks they were sitting on! Oh, never mind. Those were just a dull boring gray.
Just around the corner from Frontierland was Adventureland with its Enchanted Tiki Room. The kids had enjoyed it the day before and wanted to repeat it. After the show – it was about 6:40 pm now –we asked what else would they like to do at the park or did they want to go back to the motel pool and swim. We had a resounding unanimous whoop and holler to go back and swim. So we did just that. Jeremy, Robin, Autumn, and Isaiah had to leave at 6:00 am the next morning for their flight back to Oklahoma so the pool option was a great choice to wind down the day.
The hotel pool was warm and inviting but we did need to keep a close eye out. It was 3 feet to 4 feet deep in the near area by the entry stairs but the depth dropped off rapidly along the line where the corner of the step alcove jutted out. But adults outnumbered the kids two to one, so we did OK with all of us in the water.
With everyone in jammies after the hour or so in the pool, we walked to the end of our hotel breezeway to watch the fireworks from the rooftop terrace. We did not see any (nor hear them). Perhaps the wind had come up and they had been cancelled but no one was disappointed. Bed sounded much more appealing.
Autumn resignedly said good-bye to her Aurora balloon creation, bravely not shedding even one tear. She understood it could not go on the plane and she had lots of photos to remember it by. Before we left, Frank and I gave it to one of the hotel employees who had a little girl and he assured us she would love it.
Once Frank and I had Uber'ed to the John Wayne Airport we looked at the decor to while away the ninety minutes or so before our flight to Oakland. These suspended cranes with maps as their wings were interesting.
Settled in on board and heading home Frank looks much more awake and cheerful.
Our luggage was not so pretty. It had not faired too well on the 1 hour 20 minute flight. It was a little worn out from the trip but still serviceable – just like Frank and me!
