Disney Pics here.

Anaheim/Disney:
The drive into the valley was barely without incident (I got us lost on one turn – No Amazing Race for me!) and we were at the hotel, unpacked and scooted over to Disney before it opened!

We entered the gate and damned if we didn’t get in exactly when a train pulled into the station, just like my first time in Florida. But stepping onto main street, I was surprised at the smaller size compared to DisneyWorld. Our first ride was The Enchanted Tiki Room (I now love all things Tiki and totem) and the rest of the day went fast. We thought we’d be forever waiting in lines due to Spring Break but we did the park within 13 hours with an average wait for rides around 10-15 minutes. I think we did 99% of all the rides at least once. We even got SharkBoy into an animation class! His Pooh looked a bit squished but very good first try!

We decided to call it a day after the fireworks. The California Tinkerbell-on-a-wire was much more active and animated than Florida’s (she flew around behind the castle) but her harness and wire apparatus was more visible. Back to the hotel and out like a light.

The next day our first ride at California Adventures was the Monsters Inc ride with a personal message at the end of the ride: The whiskey and cigarette voiced dispatch character, Roz, singled us out by yelling “Hey, you two, third row in the back… Are you guys twins?” It made my day. Then I cold-cocked Goofy right in the mouth. Actually in my excitement I rammed my head into his plastic mouth by accident and instantly he went into a whole “ow!” pantomime. The Character Host was instantly beside Goofy, whisper something into his mouth. Goofy responded silently by a small thumbs up. Professional!

We did all the rides (except the spin-on-swings rides in the fairground) and wandered forever through the park. I got a bit barfy after the Mali-Boomer, the one that shoots you straight up and down a couple times. A few moments sitting in A Bugs Life and I was right as rain. Back to the hotel for a sweater and we came back for the Electrical Parade.

I was a bit disappointed with Disneyland only because after experiencing the size and expanse of Disneyworld, it was hard to feel the same grandeur. Also some of the rides at The Land looked like they needed a bit of a brush and polish (see gopher animatronic). But, I never stare a gift Disney in the mouth. I did have fun! Especially when you get behind three Japanese Harajuku girls who love screaming on the log ride.

Our weather threatened to give out as we scanned the news for our arrival into our last destination, West Hollywood…