Disneyland

Another early start this morning as Pete and I woke for a day of fun at Disneyland. We purchased the two day park hopper pass that will allow us any two days entry between the two parks between the date of purchase and end of Dec 2017.

We ended up catching the shuttle bus to Disneyland as it only cost $5 departing every 20 minutes from outside of the Hotel with the last bus leaving at 12.30am - half hour after the park closes tonight. Easy done.

We arrived at Disneyland, a 5 minute drive away and made our way through security. We had to have our bags searched and walk through a metal detector before being granted entry. They also had sniffer dogs walking throughout the entry of the park, that was pretty cool!

Usually I have no issues going through the security checks but this time they stopped me and chucked out my selfie stick..poop.
I was a tad annoyed but mostly because I didn't even plan to use the selfie stick at Disneyland I just hadn't thought to take it out of my handbag...damn it - oh well will have to hunt down a new one before we head to Vegas and the Grand Canyon.

Disneyland was very pretty, they had a huge Christmas Tree right at the entrance to the park and all the streets and shopfronts were decorated with fake snow and Christmas decorations. It was amazing.

I was extremely disappointed with the rides though, the lines for them were huge some having up to an hours wait and once we got on the rides they weren't actually that fun. Maybe I'm just getting too old and my ride thrill factor may be too high but they were all little kiddy rides, no rollercoasters at all in the park. I was surprised because everyone comments on how amazing the rides are. We ended up going on most of the rides, I did enjoy some of them and have to give credit to America for having amazing sets both inside and outside of their rides. They really know how to put on the full experience but as far as the actual rides go, DreamWorld and MovieWorld run rings around them.

We had some lunch in the park, ticked off the final few rides then did some window souvenir shopping keeping in mind what we wanted to come back for later in the day. We were going to be in the park until midnight to watch the lighting of the castle and the paint the night Christmas parade so will grab them then.

We then headed on over to California Adventure Park, the name says it all and after being less than satisfied with the kiddie rides at Disneyland I was keen to get some adrenalin pumping with the massive rollercoasters and hectic rides that I'd heard so much about.
Unfortunately again, I was disappointed.

Most of the rides were shut either due to high winds or mechanical problems and the remaining rides were again little kiddie rides. We walked the whole park looking at all of the rides and there was only ONE rollercoaster "California Screamin" and it was closed.
I was super disappointed, I had heard that the rides at the theme parks in Australia have nothing on the ones in America yet here I was at the biggest theme park on earth and between the two parks the scariest/only thrill seeker ride was one that was closed.

As disappointed as I was, I didn't want that to damper my experience there. I was at Disneyland and I wanted to have an amazing time regardless of how great the rides were so we tackled every ride in the park that was open. They still weren't amazing but by this time it was dark and being on the rides seeing the park all lit up was fabulous. We went on the massive Ferris wheel and it was huge! They had an option on the Ferris wheel to ride the stand still carriages or the carriages that swing the whole way around the Ferris wheel. Given my lack of adrenal satisfaction today, the swinging carriages was a no brainer.

The Ferris wheel was amazing, the way it lit up was such a fantastic sight and it went super high - much higher than it looks on the ground. The swaying carriages especially as your coming around the side of the Ferris wheel was crazy and that's something you don't get in Aus. I try my best not the compare the two countries but I often find it interesting observing the difference between the different ways.

After getting off the Ferris wheel, all luck came our way and the California Screamin roller coaster opened up for the final few hours of the night. We were one of the first few in line so only had to wait about 10 minutes to get on it. Once we did it was great, not the scariest roller coaster I have been on, not even close but it was definitely fun and long. Probably one of the longest rollercoaster rides I have been on, it felt like it went on for a decent amount of time.

After this we headed back over to Disneyland to watch the lighting of the Castle at 9.30pm. It was packed and crowds were huge even at that time of the night. We were advised that the lighting of the castle would still go ahead but due to the high winds they couldn't let off the fireworks along with it. Lucky we got the two day pass, hopefully we get the chance to see it again in it's full spin.

The Lighting of the castle was beautiful, they play Disney songs while the castle slowly lights up until the whole castle is lit right up until the little candles on top of the castle. It was absolutely amazing to see and I cannot wait to go back to the park on Monday night to see the display again, hopefully this time with the fireworks being let off above the castle to really light it up - that would be just amazing to see.

We then went and took a seat waiting for the Paint the Night Christmas Parade to start. It was absolutely freezing at this point but we were told that this particular show only happens a few times a week so we just had to stay and watch it. Boy are we glad we did, it was beyond amazing.

The characters get right into it and their costuming, dancing, music and transport were lit up like you wouldn't believe. It is definitely something I will remember for years to come I am sure.

We finished up the night with a bit more souvenir shopping then headed for the shuttle bus back to the Hotel. All in all it was a great experience and as disappointed as I am with the rides at both Disneyland and California Adventure Park I'm totally glad we went. I'm looking forward to returning to the park on Monday night for a few more rides and watching the lighting of the castle with the Fireworks display to finish it off - fingers crossed.

A quite day of shopping is planned for tomorrow, they've got massive factory outlets here with over a thousand stores and it's an outdoor mall. I am looking forward to shopping for some bargains and having a relatively relaxing day.