2015 Holiday Day 5 - Disneyland & California Adventure

Thursday 22nd October 2015

So today we used our Magic Hour to get early entry into Disneyland. We have a 5 day pass which gives this to us once during our stay so we headed on down for 7am (oh my that's early!) to try and get on some rides in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. We weren't the only ones - there were loads of people there. We headed straight for Peter Pan, but after queuing for a few minutes the board changed to a 45 minute wait time and we decided to use the Magic Hour elsewhere...

We 'hopped' next door to Mr Toad and there was about a 5 minute wait to board this ride. It was OK - one of those cars taking your round cut scenes rides. Quite good fun.

Same story for Alice in Wonderland which was pleasant enough and then on to the big one... The Matterhorn... This was pretty much the only roller coaster I was prepared to go on as it had been described as similar to the Seven Dwarves Mine Train in Florida - and I quite like that ride. Well it's not... It's bumpy, twisty, bumpy, uncomfortable and did I mention bumpy? Awful. Mrs and Master B thought it was good, but for this old bird - nope...

So I limped away from that one nursing a headache and a sore back (such a light weight!) to head for something more sedate. We found it in Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage where you board a sub to head down to the depths to find Nemo. It's a good this one. You look out of portholes and all the action takes place on video screens underwater. Very clever.

I was now in need of coffee and pastries, so I headed to Starbucks while Mrs and Master B went on Space Mountain: Ghost Galaxy. There was no line for this so they went on twice in the time it took for me to get my coffee and meet them back there! They both loved it, so that was good. It's much smoother than the Orlando version. My chocolate croissant was pretty good too!

Next we all went on Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters which is very similar to the Orlando one - but better. The guns detach and the scoring hits are easier to see. I went for a walk whilst the others went on Star Tours. Exactly the same as Orlando, but the queuing area wasn't as good.

After a quick stop at the Jolly Holiday Bakery we then headed to the Railroad for a nice tour of the park. We managed to see an impromptu dance by Cruella De Ville to one of the bands in Main Street from our vantage point on the train - which was fun to see!

Then we queued for a little while to get on to Splash Mountain. The queuing area was good, better than Florida, but the ride itself wasn't. There wasn't much of the story so definitely prefer the Orlando version.

Next it was California Adventure to get some Fast Passes. We bagged some for the World of Colour show that evening and also, miraculously, for Radiator Springs Racers. It would be dark when we rode it, so would be a different experience.

Master B wanted to ride Goofy again which he did. Three times! Then we headed back to the hotel for a dip in the pool.

Around 6:30pm we headed back to California Adventure to watch the neon come on in Radiator Springs, which was great to see.

We then rode Radiator Springs Racers - which was excellent in the dark and well recommended. Because the 'race' is set at night it felt absolutely right to be charging round the track with our headlights blazing. We lost this particular race, so it was interesting to see how that altered the ride slightly at the end.

We then went to see the World of Colour show and it was pretty good. The 60th anniversary edition had some of the history of the park, which made it more interesting. Please keep this version Disney!

2015 Holiday Day 4 - Universal Studios

Wednesday 21st October 2015

So today was going to be a bit of an adventure. We were doing the following:

• Taxi from hotel to ARTIC train station
• Train from Anaheim to Union Station, LA
• Metro from Union Station to Universal City
• Bus from Universal City Metro to Universal Studios (it's provided by the theme park and just gets you up a steep hill)

So it was quite an adventure. It's interesting, because the locals thought we were mad, I think. Both the concierge and and the taxi driver thought we were going to the station for San Diego, and when we said we were going to Universal they asked why we weren't getting the bus. Well there is a bus that picks up from the hotels and drops you at the Studios front door but it takes ages going through the LA traffic and it doesn't get to the studios until late in the morning. Plus you then have to wait for that bus to take you home - at whatever time of day that is. You might be finished earlier or want to stay later...

Anyway, we got to the train station, got our tickets from the machine and where on board the 7:49 train to Union Station. In England, a train at that time of the morning heading to a large city would be packed with standing room only if you're lucky. This was a double-decker train and had loads of seats free. The journey took about 45 minutes and was most pleasant.

We then weaved our way through Union Station, found a Starbucks for breakfast on the go, then headed off to the Metro. The 'Tap' tickets (similar to our Oyster cards in London) were easy to get from the machine and we waited about 5 minutes for our Metro. It seemed clean and easy to ride and about 25 minutes later we were waiting for the bus to take us up the hill to the park.

We arrived not long after 10 and were immediately inside and heading for the Studio Tour - one of two reasons we wanted to visit. It didn't disappoint. We got straight on to a tour bus and off round the studios we went. There are a couple of 'experiences' en-route - 3D simulations if you will - that Universal are famous for on a lot of their rides. The King Kong was very good and we got a good explanation of how it all worked. The Fast and Furious was a bit - well - meh... Not that impressed. Which was a shame as I love that franchise. Still, the tour behind the lot made up for it. It was a pity on International Back To The Future Day we couldn't see that set - but it was closed ofr a private party.

It was a pity Universal missed a trick and didn't make more of the October 21st 2015 date to do more. I was expecting the DeLorean to be out at least, but it was hidden away in the back lot - barely visible. No Marty's or Docs wandering round for photo ops. Not clock. Nothing. Pity. There were lots of fans in the park wearing outfits and T-Shirts. There was only a tiny amount of merchandise as well.

Universal - you cocked that one right up!

Anyway, after the studio lot we walked around the park and stopped for something to eat. Master B had a hot dog from Springfield, and I got a sandwich from a bakery - which was pretty good. We then went to ride on Despicable Me to kill some time whilst waiting for the second reason we wanted to visit... I should explain a lot of the rides are the same as in Florida so were of limited interest.

We wandered down the escalators to the lower lot to walk around and had our photo taken with a raptor!

It was then time for the Waterworld show - which was an amazing show filled with stunts and action! Well worth watching. Lots of explosions and soaking of the front rows of the audience!

We then headed to Johnny Rockets for a meal before heading back home. Before going back to Anaheim, we stopped off to see the Chinese Theatre, El Capitain and take a picture of the famous Hollywood sign. Also, there was a cool Toyota display outside the Metro station where they'd recreated Marty's famous pick up truck from the movie. Toyota had made an effort! Shame on you Universal!

Once back in Anaheim, we decided to take the ART bus back to Garden Grove and had a beer in the Irish bar there.

A good day all in all - the transport was easy and I'd recommend it to anyone staying in Anaheim and wanting to visit Universal!

2015 Holiday Day 3 - California Adventure

Tuesday 20th October

Today had one mission - to get to Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land as quickly as possible. We knew this was a popular ride, so it was important we got there quickly otherwise the queues would be massive. Even on a week day. We were through the gates and power walking and we got there with only a 20 minute wait in front of us - so pretty good (when we left it was 45!). The ride itself is well worth it. It's a bit like Test Track in Epcot, but with the Cars theming and more interest in the race track part itself. Well worth it!

We then explored Radiator Springs, which is just like the movie in pretty much every way (even the amber light blinks slower every third blink!). We met Red the fire truck and had a few photos taken along the way. Can't recommend a visit enough!

Mrs B did California Screaming which she enjoyed. Too terrifying for me! It's a good, long roller coaster and she declared to be one of the best she ridden. Mrs B and Master B then did the Silly Symphony Swings, which are chair swings that spin round like a merry-go-round and Goofy's Sky School which is a kiddie coaster. Master B declared it to be very good.

We stopped and had lunch at Flo's V8 Cafe which served American home-cooked fare. The food and the shakes were excellent.

We then went to the Aladdin show. Now I didn't hold out much hope for this as I'd been to a few Disney shows and they were all a bit too singing and dancing. But this was much more like a pantomime and it was actually very, very good. It was a compressed version of the movie and the actors were great and the songs were really well done. I can't believe they are shutting this soon to make way for more bloody Frozen stuff. They are going to use the theatre for a Frozen show. So there goes another attraction for families and replaces it with something for little girls. Like there isn't enough for little girls in Disney already... Moan over :-)

We then went back to the hotel pool for a dip and a cool off as we were planning on heading back into Disneyland to see the night time parade.

It was much busier in there than we thought it would be, but we got a spot near the start of the parade and watched a fantastic set of floats and characters. Another one that beats Orlando. We then had the fireworks afterwards, which were great, whilst we watched projections on the small world building.

2015 Holiday Day 2 - Disneyland

Monday 19th October

It was Day 2 and back to the same park again. California Adventure had early opening and we had to bag "it's a small world" yesterday as it was closing from today so we didn't really have much choice. Well, we did have a choice, of course - but this park was most likely to be the quieter of the two.

We decided to head for one of my favourites The Haunted Mansion which over Halloween is refitted to have a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. The ride is different to Orlando's version, and with the different theming, it was very good and I still love that ride!

We then went to do a Jungle Cruise and this was still as entertaining as Orlando. Again, slightly different, which is good. Probably prefer the Orlando one if I'm honest, but not much in it.

However Pirates of the Carribean is a much better ride in California than in Orlando. It has a lot more detail and is a longer ride and the special effects are much better. It's pretty creepy during the start of it - very dark - and it's a much better experience all round. Dead men tell no tales!

Tarzan's Treehouse was quite a pleasant climb through the trees to see different scenes from the Tarzan movie and then we stopped for a snack in the Jolly Holiday bakery. I'm a big Mary Poppins fan, so couldn't miss this. We all agreed the baked goods were tasty and we enjoyed sitting on the terrace watched the world go by for a bit.

We then went to look at Sleeping Beauty's Castle. It's not obvious, but there's an entrance to the side where you can actually go into the castle and see scenes from the movie done with models and videos. It's extremely well done - a hidden gem - and well worth seeking out. BTW, if you are used to Cinderella's castle in Orlando this is tiny in comparison!

Next was Pinnochio's Daring Journey. Not very daring, but a journey through the movie nonetheless using models and animatronics. We had an interesting experience on this ride as it broke down towards the end and we had to be escorted out by a cast member. It was all done very well, and we didn't mind as it was practically finished for us anyway - but an interesting experience.

We then went back to Toon Town to ride the coaster there and meet Mickey in his house. Got to be done! Classic photo op!

We headed for a show called Mickey and the Magical Map which was the usual fare of singing and dancing to tunes from popular movies. I'm sure lots of people like this sort of thing, but it's not my cup of tea. It's a bit boring and safe. How about an original show with original songs! C'mon Disney - imagination is what you are famous for - right?

We then did a couple of very tame rides. We rode the Casey Jnr Railroad which was a little train ride and was OK - good for very young children - and then the Story Book Land Canal Boats which is a little boat taking you round models of the Disney movie locations.

We then had a chance encounter with Captain Hook! A little word on character meets. Nothing like Orlando. Characters just randomly turn up in places. There are no schedules, no huge queues, you just keep your eyes peeled and you will spot loads of them just wandering about. Very different, very cool. Not sure it would work in the packed out parks of Orlando, but in these smaller, more local parks, it works very well indeed!

In the evening, we went to Downtown Disney for a Star Wars: The Force Awakens event. Basically, the final trailer was being shown at halftime during the Monday Night Football and Disney had set up a big screen so fans could see it together. It was a great atmosphere down there with lots of people dressed up and waving glowing lightsabers. There was a DJ playing music, warming up the crowd with the previous trailers and documentaries from the recent San Diego Comic Con and such like.

Americans are far less cynical about these things than us Brits so there was lots of whooping and cheering after the trailer was shown and everyone had a good time. It was definitely worth the experience...

2015 Holiday Day 1 - Disneyland

Sunday 18th October, 2015

In a departure from our usual trips to Orlando we decided to go to California instead and stay in Anaheim in order to visit the Disneyland complex of Disneyland and California Adventure parks.

We are staying at the Sheraton Park, Anaheim, which is about 15 minutes walk from the parks and is a nice hotel with a good pool, pool bar and restaurant. They are refurbing the shop at the moment, but it looks like it will be quite big when it opens - serving up snacks, souvenirs and basics (toiletries, etc).

The California parks are mainly filled with locals, unlike Florida that seems to be filled with Brazilian tour groups and loads of Brits and visiting Americans. This means the parks are relatively quiet during the week. These parks are also much smaller than the Florida ones as they are essentially plonked on the middle of Anaheim (a busy suburb of LA).

We started our first day by visiting Disneyland. We had a bit of a wait to get through security, but once through we were quickly into the park and heading to Indiana Jones Adventure along with everyone else it seemed! The aim was to try and do all the rides over the next few days that were either not available in Florida, or would be shutting down imminently. The queue was only about 10 minutes. We knew it would be busy today as it's a weekend, but this was OK. The ride itself is in a jeep around a track and you view various cut scenes of Indy's adventure long with the obligatory bumping and hard braking all narrated by Salah. It's good fun and was enjoyed by all.

We did quite a bit of wandering today. We went to Tom Sawyer's Island which has more of a pirate theme than Orlando.

Big Thunder Mountain was preferred by the rollercoaster fans in our family - more slow inside scenes with atmosphere and exploding dynamite rather than a short intense coaster that is in Florida.

We then rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh which was OK, nothing too amazing, good for the little ones and pretty tame. There are some dark moments, as in the stories, but it was done quite well.

We then headed to "its a small world" which is a proper classic Disney ride. Mrs B has heard this was better than the Florida version and it absolutely was. The facade is amazing to look at, with loads of intricate details and a clock that chimes on the quarter hours and has small world figures emerge to play a little song. The ride itself is longer and more detailed, so more of that song! Wasn't even spoilt by a girl throwing up over the side at the end of the ride. It's a bit trippy in there, but hardly terrifying. Perhaps she'd had a bad Churro... Churros, BTW, seem to be the state dish of California and look revolting. No idea what they are made of, but they are a stick of something wrapped in sugar and god knows what else... Will probably have to try one before the holiday is out - just to say I'd tried on...

Then it was on to Mickey's Toon Town where we had a spot of lunch. This is a crazy place of cartoon houses and a mini coaster.

We then wandered round some of the other bits of the park, but the queues were building so we decided to call it a day.

2014 Holiday Day 11 - "Spare Day"

So we had nothing planned today. It was going to be a day where we went back to a Disney or Universal park where we felt we may have missed some stuff out, but we all agreed over breakfast we had pretty much done everything we wanted to do (except at the Magic Kingdom, but we will go there tomorrow). So we all list out the things we would want to do where ever they were...

Matthew wanted to go and see the tigers at Animal Kingdom. We hadn't really seen them much and hoped we would be able to see some more of them. Clare wanted to visit another resort - Fort Wilderness - and hire some bikes to ride round the RV and campsite to see the Halloween decorations. I wanted to ride the monorail through EPCOT. I'd seen it whizz round EPCOT, but couldn't ever recall us acutally riding it ourselves. So, with a bit of planning, we had our day mapped out...

We drove to Animal Kingdom first and then headed straight for the Maharajah's Jungle Trek where the tigers were based. The first viewing area yielded no sightings, although Matthew talked to the guide there and found out some interesting information about the tigers and the work they do there to help conserve them. The second viewing area we had better luck. Two sleeping tigers. These were the older pair - they are about 18 years old and sleep for about 16 hours a day so it wasn't too surprising...

A bit further along we saw no tigers, but Matthew got chatting to the guide again (I think as he was wearing his conservation badges, this helped them to know he likes his animals). As he was chatting, one of the younger tigers came out from the undergrowth and proceeded to prowl around her area. She went into the water and continued to prowl sniffing the air and baring her teeth. There was a lady there studying the tigers for her college degree and she reckoned the tiger had smelt food from one of the visitors. Anyway, we got some great viewing of her stalking around and some good pictures too. She is a Sumatran Tiger - there are only about 600 in the world and are on the brink of extinction. Disney are getting a male from another zoo and are hoping they will breed about 3-4 cubs each year to be placed in other zoos to help swell the population.

Matthew was very happy with his visit, so we headed for the car and drove to The Magic Kingdom in order to get to Fort Wilderness Camping ground. Clare had read this was the best way to do it, but even then it was a bit of a trek. We got the land train from the car park to the transportation terminal, the ferry from the there to the Magic Kingdom, then a boat from there to the resort. Fort Wilderness is massive, and we got a bit lost. We were debating whether to give up when we found the bike hire shop was just a short bus ride away. Phew! Bikes hired we enjoyed a pleasant half hour cycling round looking at the Halloween decorations. Some of them are truly bonkers. No photos I'm afraid, as cycling and photography don't mix, but there was on inflatable of a ghost in an outhouse with a pumpkin outside holding it's nose! There were giant spiders, and graveyeards and all sorts!

We stopped for some drinks in the shop before heading back to the boat to the Magic Kingdom where we caught the monorail to the transportation centre and then another monorail to EPCOT. After the bike ride and being out in the warm sun it was nice to sit back, relax and let the monorail do the driving as we toured round the loops. The monorail goes right inside EPCOT so you get a great view of some of the attractions.

It was then time to drop off the car and get a ride from the rental company back to the hotel. We then changed quickly and Matthew went to the main pool whilst Clare and I ate something in the Artist's Palette (a turkey club sandwich and brownie for me and a pepperoni flatbread and cheesecake for Clare). We then went to the Grandstand pool together and caught the last few rays of the Florida afternoon sunshine and we all swam for a bit and dried off in the sun. Matthew had a hotdog and ice cream and then we headed back to shower and change.

Then it was over tot he campfire to make S'mores. These are roasted marshmallows with Hershey's chocolate between two crackers. I thought they would be really sweet, but they weren't. I wasn't actually that fussed by them - a lot of Americans like them. Matthew thought they were OK, and Clare was the same as me - not fussed. Glad we tried them though. The campfire was busy tonight, which was nice to see.

Then it was Jeopardy, Wheel Of Fortune and the last baseball World Series game. Our last full day on holiday. It has been a good one, and we've all enjoyed it.

2014 Holiday Day 10 - Disney's EPCOT & Winter Summerland Mini Golf

Not such an early start this morning, which was a nice change from the last couple of days. We were heading out to EPCOT again today as we had breakfast booked with Donald, Goofy and Minnie over at the Beach Club resort, which is a short walk from one of the EPCOT gates in the Broadwalk area.

We arrived around 9:05 and after a short queue we got into the park. We headed over to The Land to ride the Living With The Land ride. This is a tour centred around farming and food production and you get to see the greenhouses at EPCOT where scientists are researching ways to grow more crops more efficiently, without the use of a lot of chemicals and water. We got straight on this ride, which was convenient.

We then had a Fast Pass for Test Track so we headed over there and designed a different looking car as our test vehicle. We scored quite highly with it, and the ride was as fun as always. That's our third time riding it!

It was time for a walk over to the Broadwalk area and breakfast at the Beach Club Resort. It's a buffet breakfast over there, so we could treat it like a brunch. I had sausage and egg then French toast with banana and strawberries. Clare had egg and bacon followed by French toast and maple syrup and then some fresh fruit. Matthew had sausages, a pastry and a bagel. We had to wait a little while for the characters to come to our table. It's just the luck of the draw, we must have arrived not long after they had been round our section. After some tea, we left the restaurant and headed to the water taxi dock. We decided to ride the boat back to EPCOT as a change and it was a pleasant little ride.

We went into the shops in the United Kingdom and Matthew and I had fun seeing what British food and merchandise they had. Matthew was able to get a Dairy Milk bar on a snack credit, which he savoured. Clare had a couple of pieces too.

After a quick visit to Club Cool to sample the sodas on offer (still the same as last time) we then queued for 5 minutes for Spaceship Earth and then left the park. It was getting warm now, but we decided to go and play a round of Mini Golf before heading back to the hotel at Winter Summerland Mini Golf.

We played the Summerland course, having done the Winter course last time we came. It was pretty quiet over there and we played our way round the course without seeing many people. Those we did see were mainly British as we get a round of golf included with certain packages from the UK. I won. Enough said :-)

Then it was back to the resort where we hit the Paddock Pool. The Paddock is the only place to get a burger in Saratoga Springs, so I ordered a couple for Clare and I. Not thinking we were too hungry, we thought we'd have a bit of it and leave the rest... We ended up wolfing the whole thing down! Followed by cheescake for Clare and chocolate cake for me! Themes parks really build up the appetite!