31st December

Disneyland: "The happiest place on Earth" Well almost, if it weren't for all the people!!

We had our first day at Disneyland today. We have the 2 day hopper pass so that we can access both parks, but decided to start with the big one. We had to get here first though, which was a 2 hour bus drive from Downtown LA. We decided to skip the shuttles that run for anywhere between $20 and $4o pp and use the buses and trains as we were quite confident and it only cost $3.70 each. By the time we did the bus, the train and the half hour walk we got into the hotel about 11am. I stayed in and had a rest for an hour and Phil went adventuring down the road at Walmart.

Whilst Phil was out adventuring he discovered that Disneyland tickets were sold out. Luckily we had purchased ours ahead of time! Looking at our paperwork though we discovered that flight centre had issued the tickets to begin on the 1st of Jan, not the 31st of December. Luckily, the ticket office issued them anyway and we did get in. Other people who had driven into the park for the day were unable to purchase day passes and had to buy an annual pass if they wanted to enter as the numbers in the park were at capacity.

Once we got in there were people everywhere! You could not join a line that had less than a 75 min wait, most were longer, to get on any ride or attraction. As the night wore on, the lines got shorter, especially during meal times, parades and whilst people were waiting for fireworks. The fireworks show for 9:45 was cancelled due to wind conditions, but we managed still to have some at midnight. The fireworks spectacular was disappointing though with only one big bang. Although the park was open til 2am, we had had enough by midnight and Phil wanted to be up early to get on the rides before they got busy in the morning. Took another detour on the way home, Phil must stop listening to my opinion on direction; I might sound confident but anyone can see I really have no idea.

The rides and attractions in Disneyland are very well done, they look spectacular and there is a good variety. Most are fairly tame, although the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was certainly scary enough for me. I think Phil is looking forward to the rides with bigger thrills in the adventure park tomorrow. We did most rides including Dumbo, Winnie-the-pooh, Toad Hall, the Storybook Canal and Pinnochio's Daring Journey

There is much still to do, including the whole of the California Adventure Park, some parts we missed in Disneyland and a better look at the shops, including the large Lego store.

Highlight of the day: Getting Phil in Happy New Year Mickey Ears with his name on the back. ;o)