Danny and Jackie: Anaheim

After a good night's sleep in the quiet rooms of the Hojo we cross the road and search out breakfast opportunities. Mimis restaurant is on the doorstep and what a fine establishment this turned out to be, setting us up with various omelettes, eggs benedict, waffles and pancakes over the course of our stay. Delicious and just what you need before tackling a day of non stop walking otherwise known as the Disney experience. Having sorted out tickets we entered a rather deserted Californian Adventure. It was actually a little before official park opening time so only Soarin is open yet. As we enter the hanger that forms the queuing area I found myself wondering again why the imagineers in Florida seemed to think it was acceptable to have put little thought into themeing the ride's entrance and queue area in EPCOT.

We bordered the first ride of the day. I still have a problem with the rerun value this ride gives. It's a wonderful experience the first time but its replay value seems limited; in fact I think I enjoy the music more than the ride and can now happily nod off whilst being gently rocked from side to side. On the plus side at least here in California they seemed to be using a freshly struck print of the film. The last time we saw it in EPCOT in April the image was marred by a totally unacceptable amount of scratches and dust marks.

When we leave we can see people starting to gather at the hub so we head over to await the rope drop heading for the Tower of Terror which we ride fanatically no matter which park we are in. In fact our Christmas plans have now been totally re adjusted for this year due to the opening of Disneyland Paris's very own Tower on December 22nd. They will inherit the same interpretation as the Californian Adventure version (with some minor storytelling differences and a couple of architectural tweaks). I had actually forgotten some of this Tower's unique points: such as the mirror, as it's a couple of years since we were here last, so I really enjoy it. However I still think it's not quite the full experience compared to the Floridian version.

Jackie wants to head over to get onto California Screaming now that our breakfasts have been shaken about as much as possible, so we set a steady pace and head to the far side of the park. However when we arrive we discover its not set to run until a little later so to pass the time we decide to hit a ride we have never bothered with before as it always had lines over a mile long and no fastpass. Im talking about that odd looking Ferris wheel that sits overlooking the lake. I say odd because the swinging cars on this don't just pivot on the outside of the frame like any normal ride, but ride a track inside the wheel as well and at certain times get thrown out along these rails. It's hard to describe and the effect on the rider is well illustrated with these two photographs of Jackie.

Here we see Jackie looking calm and swinging gently over the park

And here the car has started to slide out.

After being shot in the air on the Maliboomer then launched on California Screaming its time to take in the more civilized side of this park and in my opinion no Disney park does it better than the Hyperion Theatre at the California Adventure with its production of Aladdin. A full blown musical production in a purpose built enclosed theatre with three levels of seating; this show is worth the price of admission in itself. With great timing we arrive for the first show of the day. I am always staggered by the quality of the shows that Disney puts on in its parks but this one just has everything and should not be missed. Never make the mistake of thinking this is for kids, if anything it's too good for them :)

For lunch we head into Downtown Disney for an instantly forgettable experience at the Jazz Kitchen. The food is best described as bland and boring, in fact it must be quite an achievement to make the cooking of the deep south taste so dull. I don't think I'll be wasting blog space reviewing this at all. After dinner we head into the Magic Kingdom but I'm going to talk about that more in the next entry, its very slow in here too with no Fast Pass machines operating at all and only the new Nemo ride attracting any sort of line. After a full day its time to get back and rest before heading out to Stanton to Park Avenue restaurant. I'll put the review up as soon as I can.

I'm finally including a link to our Californian photos. At the moment it's not a full album but I will be updating it on a daily basis.