You really do need at least a week in Disneyland!
Thanks to Allison and her friend Donna we scored free tickets to Disneyland today! Thats a saving of a whopping $79 per person! And it included California Adventure!
We had to get there at 1pm to meet up with the guy who works there who got us in. And we left at about 9:30pm after having dinner. Josie was knackered and fell asleep in the car.
California AdventureSo first off we went into California Adventure park and specifically the California Soaring glider simulation ride which takes you all over California on a sight-seeing glide. It is really well made with the rows of seats hanging from an armature rather than being bolted to a moveable platform like similar things we have at SeaWorld on the Gold Coast etc so it was really smooth in it's movements.
Unfortunately both Josie and Tony experience fast- acceleration- giddiness which scares the poo out of them.
We thought Josie would quite enjoy it actually as she hasn't been frightened or experienced the problem for over a year and has gone on increasingly fast, spinning type rides without any issues. But this ride is designed for maximum realism and sensation and depicts a flight over many parts of California from a sometimes not insubstantial height with frequent accelerations (simulated) to breakneck speeds. So it managed to push her buttons. And it took quite a while to convince her to close her eyes when she felt bad. Tony was closing his eyes frequently from the moment the seats rose into position, before the movie even started!
In the end though he couldn't watch parts of it, Tony actually really enjoyed the ride and wishes he could tolerate the whole experience. He had to admit that Allison made a good call tricking him onto it (well more just keeping him in the dark until it was too late) as it was something he definitely would have simply refused to do if he had not found out exactly what it was right before they entered the ride.
Josie on the other hand was a very unhappy camper for another hour or so. And taking her to the A Bugs World thing right afterward turned out to not help so much as it was 3D and like all 3D movies they have to have things shoot out at you to show off the 3Dness and the audio was REALLLLY loud. So while that didnt freak her out more than the ride it did keep her the freak that she already had going on. Luckily we were there for about 9 and a half hours so the vast majority of the time she was having a ball. And it's a shame because the Bugs World thing was actually quite good. Just bad timing.
After a rather more sedate ride on the Heimlich (the caterpiller from A Bug's Life) train ride she had calmed down considerably (though she was still determined to find fault with everything at that point so agreed that the ride had been ok but despite demanding Daddy's presence when entering the train then proceeded to lament the absence of Mamma when leaving it.
Next we went and walked through an area which showed off some American farming stuff and I swear they had cow poo smell going on the approach but when we go to the display area the cows were fake!!! In this area we went through tours of how both Tortillas and Sour Dough are made.
The Tortilla tour was very informative but the Sour Dough one had Rosie O'Donnell and another commedian doing a schtick presentation to explain the process and it was heavy on the schtick and extremely light on the explanation. Absolutely no idea how Sour Dough is made or why it is any different from other bread. Something about a patented strain of yeast bacteria.
But the tours made us hungry (man! Corn Tortillas taste gross on their own!) so we then decided to stop for lunch and let Josie continue to decompress from the false start. She was actually really interested in the Sour Dough baking machinery so she was well on her way to enjoying the rest of the day already.
After lunch we hit the Muppet Show 3D experience for out last thing at California Adventure before heading over to Disneyland!!! The muppet thing was really good for Tony as he was an avid fan as a child and we got him the DVDs for his Birthday one year. Josie is starting to like them too but they were for him originally. It was again quite loud and things jumped out at you so Josie was not completely taken with it but she had settled down considerably by this stage so she seemed to enjoy most of it.
Disney LandFirst stop in the wonderful world of Disneyland was a picture in front of the Mickey Mouse floral clock and then on into the park. Inside we immediately hit a shop where we bought Mickey Mouse ear hats for Josie, Rachel and Miriam. They shall hence forth be known as The Three Mouseketeers.
Well once we get back home and give them to them that is. While Allison and I were in the shop Harri, Tony and Josie had lined up to get a pitcure with Mickey but it turns out Josie was still not happy enough to have a picture taken with him and refused to exit her pram that Hari had precured for us. Even the reverse psychology failed us as Tony's leaving Harri behind in line failed to spur Josie to leap from the pram to rejoin the line. So Harri got her photo taken with Mickey instead!
Hat's secured we went onto the Walt and Mickey statue and took photos in front of them and each little statuette they had of other characters around that little area. While Tony and Josie and I were about this Harri and Allison headed off to the Space Mountain rollercoaster and we proceeded through to Sleeping Beauty's fabulous, HUGE, PINK!!! castle. Inside we found the promised Merry-go-round that we had been instrumental in bringing Josie out of her funk. She immediately started to jump up and down and shout "horsey!! horsey!! mewwy-go-wound!" at the top of her lungs and was her normal self again. Tony took her on while I took pictures and I should mention at this point that all these rides and experiences we had been on so far had had no more than a 5 minute wait to enter! At Disneyland!!!! The number of people there today was just fantastic! Not deserted but not packed to the gills either. Cos really a funpark that is deserted is an interesting experience (we've been to Australia's WonderLand when it was well and truely on the way to the scrap heap) but not what you want for your first time at freaking DISNEYLAND! We didnt feel the amount of people that were in there with us until closing time when everyone was packed onto Main Street all heading in the same direction. Even then it wasnt what it would be on a busy day but it did show you how many people you can pack in there without it looking very full.
Anyway, the merry-go-round went well and then after an abortive attempt at the Dumbo ride (one of the ones that you sit in little containers - in this case in the shape of dumbo - on the end of an armature and they start to go round and round and also up and down) which once it started up and Josie saw how fast it went (not one of the sedate versions this one) was quickly turned down. She was definitely not up for any more fast-paced action today thank you very much. I was still quite proud of her because on the way into the line for it she was saying she was scared but she wanted to go on anyway. So at least she had the gumption to face her fears when it was anybody's guess whether the ride would actually be scary or not. And if she knows she's not going to like it then why go on it. I say she did well to face her fear and made a good decision in the end to boot.
Instead we took some pictures in a peter pan sky sled, a tea cup and found the spinning tea-cup ride which Josie did go on with Tony and had a ball (she always loves that one) and came out absolutely back to her old self and excitedly yelling for Mummy and telling me all about how she went on the "spinning tea-cup wide!". Of course she proceeded to act very silly and increasingly looney for the rest of the day. Wack is a mild description of our beloved daughter when she is in high spirits.
By this time Harri and Allison rejoined us (Josie really must have been feeling better after her fun ride on the teacups because she immediately abandoned Daddy - her usual refuge when she is 'out of sorts' and attached herself to "Auntie Hawi".
Im so happy with the way Josie has absolutely bonded with her Auntie Harri on this trip and simply loves to be with her. And Sven is turning out to be a big hit too. Both Harri and Sven are very young at heart types who get the most out of life and Josie responds to that. And they are both exceptionally good with kids - based on their interaction with Josie at least.) and we headed off to find the ToonTown area and this is where we spent the rest of the day in the park itself (about 2 - 3 hours).
Josie really loved everything in this area and completely sparked up and we thought why not just let her go on whatever she chooses in that area rather than rush around trying to see little bits of the other sections and not really have time to enjoy them. So we turned her loose and she just went for it.
She climbed all over the ToonTown Trolley (which was an excellent find because we had promised her we would go ont he Waikiki Trolley and we never got the time to do it), went through Minnie and Mickeys houses and at the end of the Mickey house tour we found Mickey waiting to take photos with us! And Josie agreed to pose with mummy and daddy for photos with Mickey. She even kissed his nose. And I have to say, the guy in the Mickey constume was really very good at expressing that happy, positive Mickey vibe with just physical movement. He made her completely relax and giggle and enjoy her time with Mickey. Although she still refused to leave the safety of Daddy's arms for a one-on-one with him.
After the photos she returned to the main section of ToonTown, played on some kiddie cars and went into Goofeys Backyard for some playground action. Where she (and mum and dad) found Allison and Harri already sitting on a bench like two old grannies watching there grandkids play.
Josie had a ball playing on the slide and climbing through the watermellon tube and the boxes and drinking water from the sprinkler out of the air (which Daddy was not thrilled about but managed to restrain himself from interfering with - Go Daddy! Progress!) until it was time for the park to close.
We got halfway out of the joint when we remembered we had to take family pics on the steps where Kye's family always take family pictures every time they go to Disneyland. I think they have pics from their honeymoon up to having both grown up kids in them. It is a really wonderful tradition and Kye asked us to continue it on our visit and we were happy to oblige. I only hope there will be occasion to add to the first one at some point in the not too distant future. And with more kids too!
After a brief stop for magnets and a hoody for Tony and shirt for Mat we exited the park and had a lovely dinner in a restaurant attached to the park.
All in all Josie behaved beautifully all day. Even when she was out of sorts she was not overly cranky or willfull or naughty. She was a real champ today and overcame a good scare to have a great time. My only one regret is that you really cant do Disneyland in one day. It takes at least 5 I reckon! Hopefully we'll get the chance to finish what we started.
~Later Dudes~
Shaaaaa...MU!
The first show we got to see, after having some lunch, was the Dolphin Show, which Josie absolutely loved. The jumps and heights they got to were just amazing. There was a gag thing that we saw last time where they pick a family out of the crowd and the mother does a thing with the dolphins and everyone claps, and then the mum and dad watch while the little kid does a thing with the dolphins and while everyone is watching the kid, the mum falls in and gets saved by the dolphins and everyone applauds and it turns out the mother is one of the trainers. It was funny the first time we saw it, a bit less amazing the second time ;-)
We then headed over to the Pets Stadium for the Pets Rule show and on the way we ducked into Shamu's Happy Harbour Playground where Josie had a wonderful time on the equipment. The playground itself was just amazing, catering to kids of all ages, down to little crawlers with a supervised area.
Finally we got to the Pets Rule show. It was utterly amazing, and I htink one of my favourite parts of Seaworld. They had the most amazing trained dogs and cats and pigs and even pigeons! The dogs did everything from clean the house in preparation for a date, to catching a boat across a pool. The cats ran up a huge pole and across tightropes to run into small doors, and they all just ran from one place to another, absolutely coordinating with eachother.
After that it was time for the Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue show at the Sea Lion and Otter Stadium. On the way we saw some sharks and Manatees but they we in dark rooms so picture taking there was difficult.
Clyde and Seamore's Risky Rescue show was as awsome as the last time we saw it. The Sea Lions were amazing, the Otters were very cute, and the Walrus was just magnificent.
And then it was time for Shaaaaa.....MU!
The show was just awsome. Josie had wanted to sit in the soak zone, where you get wet, but it was 530pm by this time and getting a bit too cold so we sat the the topmost section of the soak zone and didn't get wet, much to her chagrin.
By the time the Shamu show finished the park was closing so I quickly got a couple of magnets and a tshirt for Josie and we were off.
I suggested to Harri, as we were leaving, that we should grab some dinner asap because Josie would fall asleep soon, but Josie and I were so exhausted that we both fell asleep about 3 minutes into the 2 hour drive home and didnt wake up at all. I was just so knocked out that I remember Harri parking the car back at home, bolting inside to go to the loo, and Tony coming around to wake me up. He kept poking me in the arm and the head and the cheek, and I remember thinking "I need to wake up", but I just could not make myself wake up, or open my eyes! I felt absolutely drugged and it took probably a full 5 minutes before I could move. Most bizarre.
Now on a completely different note, we got home to find Sven with a very funny story! Should anyone receive an email with an mpg of someone driving off with a petrol bowser sticking out of their little red Mazda MX5, that would be Sven. He had stopped into a petrol station to get some fuel, and because in the USA they are able to just lock the bowser into place while fueling, well, he kinda forgot about it and drove off. You hear about it happening, but personally, I have never known anyone who actually did it! Especially someone who works in the automotive industry, *designing cars*.
