Day 19 - Sun 7th Apr 2024
Participants: Tam & Kev
We've come to
the end of the cruise and we are off to Disneyland for 3 nights.
Up at 6.00 am and we're off the ship as soon as we're allowed at
7.30 am. It's not busy at that time and we're through immigration
swiftly. Tam calls an Uber and the drive to the Disneyland Hotel
costs $59. The hotel is a new DVC resort and I managed to book 3
nights using our points. Disneyland DVC resorts are notoriously
difficult to get at the 7 month window and I suspect that we were
lucky because it's so new.
Our room is ready and we see why when we enter - we're on the
ground floor and we have a lovely view of some utility pipes. We
don't care much as the room is nice and we won't be in it much,
the fact that it's available at 8.30 am is a big benefit.
I rather liked this illuminated panel above the bed.
I also liked this mural in the lobby.
This would have been a nice photo if some dopey old man had wandered into the picture.
We drop the
luggage and walk to the Disneyland Park at 9.00 am. Everything at
Disneyland is much closer together than WDW and the walk to the
park entrance takes about 10 minutes and goes through Downtown
Disney.
We have Genie+ for all 4 days. This is a paid for way of booking
rides in advance, but only when you are in a park. You can book
another ride once you have used your pass or after 2 hours
whichever is the sooner - if it's a Tuesday and you're wearing
blue underpants while stood on one leg singing 'I've got a lovely
bunch of coconuts'. It must be complicated as hell if you're a
first time visitor or haven't done any research beforehand.
We book Indiana Jones for 11.20 am (you have a one hour time slot to ride after the start time) and head to Big Thunder where there is only a 10 minute wait. We then head to Smugglers Run, but this breaks down just as we reach the front.
Pirates is next with a 20 minute wait. We have noticed many people dressed very smartly and it turns out that it's Dapper Dans Day. This is a fan led event that takes place a couple of times a year and the local Disney fans turn out in force dressed amazingly beautifully, some like characters. We ask a couple if we can take their photo and they happily agree. It certainly added to our enjoyment of the day.
We stop at Harbour Galley a share a Lobster Roll and Clam Chowder Bowl for brunch. It's a nice quiet spot if you go round the back away from the main walkways.
Over the next few hours we wander round the Treehouse and ride Indiana Jones, Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway, Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin and Buzz Lightyear all using Lightning Lane. This is what you get with Genie+, the ability to use Lightning Lane to bypass the standby line. We head over to Space Mountain, but it's down. I say to Tam that we should hang around as it will have a really short queue when it comes back online. Sure enough, 15 minutes later it reopens and we walk straight through to the ride vehicles. It's actually Hyperspace Mountain at the moment where they theme the ride to Star Wars. It's great fun and something very different to normal with the theme music playing and the whooshing of Tie Fighters zooming past. It's longer and faster than I remember and I come off feeling a little unsteady. I just can't ride rollercoasters like I used to, just getting old I guess.
Tam took this photo from the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse.
The Tomorrowland DVC lounge is close by, so we go there for a sit down and a free soft drink. It's very nice with an inside lounge as well as a terrace with a great view. The weather helps as it's nicely warm (around 70 degrees) with a gentle breeze. I've just noticed that I swap between Centigrade and Fahrenheit at will. Sorry about that. It's what comes of being European.
This is the view from the DVC lounge terrace.
We also met these ladies in the lounge who were all dressed up for the day.
We leave the park now as we've got a reservation at the GCH Bar. This is a lovely bar around the pool in the Grand Californian Hotel. I have a maragrita and Tam has a passion fruit cocktail. It's nice to have decent cocktails again. They are ok on the ship, but often too sweet and definitely inconsistant. We share the chicken wings and it's very pleasant as there's a couple playing guitars.
Next is the Hearthstone Bar inside the Grand Californian. Another very nice bar/restaurant and we enjoy a beer and a Chardonnay with some free olives as we chat to a couple of ladies next to us that are all dressed up for Dapper Dans Day. It's getting cooler outside and they tell us they are off to their room to get changed into tracksuit bottoms for the rest of the evening.
Back into Disneyland Park where we jump on the train and ride a full circuit. We wander around for a while as it gets dark before going on the Jungle Cruise, which is real fun in the dark. It seems to me that Genie+ works quite well at Disneyland. The rides don't get booked up so fast as WDW and we've been able to do a lot on our first day. I still fondly remember the free Fastpass system though.
This band are just floating by as you do.
We go to the hub at 8.45 pm and wait there until the 9.30 pm viewing of Wonderous Journeys, the firework and projection show. It's a lovely end to our day in Disneyland.
We walk back to the Disneyland Hotel and go to Trader Sams. It's in the grounds of the hotel and only a few feet from the DVC block, so it's very convenient.
We both have a Chardonnay and share a Pu Pu Platter - wings, beans and macaroni cheese. Our server, Nathan, tells us he's not allowed to make jokes about the name of this dish and Tam tells him I already have. He says I've broken rule number 2 (tee, hee).
The coated beans were very good.
We're both pretty tired by now, so it's back to the room and bed at 11.30 pm. It certainly has been a lovely first day in Disneyland.