The happiest place on earth....disneyland!

For many years it had been a dream of mine to visit disneyland in california, it was the "original" first disneyland that walt actually oversaw and got to see it open and make many people happy :) it was also the disney that was in a sing a long video me and my sister used to watch religiously when we were kids ! And now her kids watch it! We always visited disneyworld in florida and i used to think "this main street looks nothing like the one on our video!" And thats because it wasnt! However now i get to walk down the main street that was always well known to me as a child and i was very excited ! 

 We arrive in california!

We got to LAX in the afternoon after leaving fiji that night ! Flying back in time....definately an experience! And that evening after settling into our great hotel we had a wonder to down town disney a place known well to us at florida, it was an area where there were many restaurants, a HUGE world of disney store that just went on forever! This is Where i bought my disney autograph book one of the first things i buy when i get to disney! And other amenities.....cinema, bars, other shops it was a great place to spend the evening! We enjoyed just wondering around :) We headed back and stopped at a souvenir shop where i got a minnie tshirt to wear for the disney day! We returned to our hotel thinking we would go to bed early ready for our early start for disney but we were planning our day so much we didnt get to bed until gone midnight! And we were up again at 7am and at disney front gates by 8.30am! It didnt open until 9am but we were allowed in to a certain point, a crowd was begining to form ready to quite litrally run when the staff said the word! We heard parents saying to there kids "remeber what i said, just run, dont stop get to the que" or ride or whatever they wanted to go on first! There were adults doing leg stretches ready for the "run" it was so funny! I remember running as a child but for now we will be conducting a fast walk!! 

There were two disney parks at california the disneyland with the castle and disney adventure park, it was disney adventure park we decided to enter first, it was something unique to california and we wanted to do things in here that were popular before it got busy! They had recently had a multi billion doller make over where new rides/lands were created including a cars land which had a new ride radiator springs racers ride! It was the most popular and had ques of up to 3 hours if you didnt get a fast pass! And the fast passes would be completely gone within 90 minutes of the park opening! We had researched so much to get the most of our day as we did both parks in one day it was more cost effective that way ! So when the park fully opened we took a fast walk to get a fast pass for that ride, the que formed so bloody quick by the time we got ours and where onto the next thing the que was right back towards the entrance! We then went for a fast pass to the evening show of world of colour, then back to get a fast pass for the ride soaring! This all took about 30 mins and then we were free to start riding the rides! It took just 30minutes to get a good start to the day going! Naturally we went straight to the roller coaster ....california screamin! It was a old style wooden coaster that went up side down! There was only a ten minute que! And it was a great ride!  We would return later if we had time! Next was a swing ride which i went on and luke took pics etc! We then went for goofys flying school! Pretty fun ride ! then it was off to get our badges at wilderness explorers which is based on the film up! When we got there he said it was aimed for children twelve and under! I looked at him like ......and! I wanted to earn my badges! So i did.... well most of them anyway! It was now time for us to return to soaring with our fast pass time, this ride makes you believe you are flying its much more then just a simulator. 

....the view of paradise pier :)

There was a few other lands we wanted to visit so we headed over to hollywood land, it was here i met my first character....sophie the first! I had no idea who she was but knew my niece millie loved her! So got a pic for her :) we had a wonder here took some pics then headed over to radiator springs .....it was absolutely amazing ! It looked just like radiator springs in the film! We even saw tow mator driving past us! We headed over to the much anticipated radiator springs racers! And the que was stupidly long! So long that if you had kids and didnt get a fast pass you wouldnt be waiting! We walked straight on! And had a nice drive through radiator springs and then had a race with another car! It was a Good ride and very like the film! We headed back through its a bugs life land! And i went on a bumper car style ride! Which was fun! 

 Radiator springs!

We wanted to see the Aladdin musical before we went over to disneyland it was suppose to be a really good show! So we took a slow walk back through the main street...this is where we met pluto! And micky mouse! I was most pleased! We went to the Aladdin show which was really really good! The genie was so funny and it was nice to sit down and have a rest ! By this time it was 1pm! We watched the show and then headed over to disney land at around 2pm. We met chip and dale on the way out!

I was very excited to be walking into this disneyland i love disney but experiencing the park for the first time was so bloody exciting! The first thing we noticed was the disney train that was there as we walked in just above the micky mouse flower display! We then continued walking and came into main street USA the one i remener in the video! I was like a kid in a candy store looking at everything pointing at things and then we saw minnie mouse! I very quickly went over to her que to meet her!.....

Then micky came out and was infront of the main street where you can also see the castle! But we was already in this que and had met micky already so stayed put! When i had gotton over the initial excitement we began to walk down main street USA! And the main thing that we noticed was that the castle was the smallest one we had seen! It kind of looked squashed! It was still a great castle and we loved it but compared to the huge one in florida and even in paris it was realatively small! We saw cruella devil as we walked but were getting hungry by this point so deicded to go get a fast pass for space mountain and then sit and eat our pack lunch! We had some pizza and crisps and also a micky mouse pretzel!....

We decided after lunch to take a general wonder around we were starting to get tired! From a combination of lack of sleep and jet lag! And disney land was much more packed then disney adventure park! We headed over to toon town!!!! I was so excited to show luke this ! years ago during the first few times i went to disneyworld florida there was a toon town, which had micky and minnies house and you could go in and look around! However It had sadly been taken away for a new land to be built and i missed it so wanted to show him! Unfortunately for us micky and minnie were in there houses and so the que was huge to just get in and look around and as we had already met minnie and micky we didnt want to wait so just took a few pics of the other houses.....chip amd dales and donalds! And then went on through to fantasy land which was the most popular land! Half because it was the original land of disney with the original rides such as dumbo and the merry go round, it also had the small rides like ponochio, snow white etc so was very popular with the kids it was also the location to meet anna and elsa from the new very popular film frozen! The wait was 5 hours! Yes 5 hours and they had had to close the que due to the que time! We couldnt really do a lot in this land due to the amount of people there but got some great pics.

We walked back to main street to get a pic of the castle and the walt statue and also to find a place in the sidewalk for the parade! We found a small gap and luke had a sit down and i stood ready to take the pics! I loved the disney parades they were just magical to me and it was quite emotional! I dont know why i just find it so magical and it makes me tearful ! I think it just Brings back great memories of when i was a child! The parade was great as we thought it would be! Luke liked the parades aswell but as a boy he could take them or leave them, but he did enjoy them which was nice.

There was one particular ride we hadnt been on but had walked passed a few times this was a bobsled ride! It was a old ride and quite bumpy and uncomfortable and unfortunately luke hurt his back on it :( so he was pretty much uncomfotable for the rest of the day :( it was getting rather late and we knew we had to be back in a couple of hours for the show at adventure park! So we went over to look at the other lands we hadnt seen yet....critter country, frontierland and adventure land! And we ended up going around the park on the disney train which took around 25 minutes! And this is where luke fell asleep he had a lovely little nap! we got off and headed to the winnie the pooh ride! No trip to disney was complete without a trip on the winnie the pooh ride! I was hoping to meet winnie the pooh but he only makes appearances until 17.00pm and it was around 18.30 now :( was gutted but knew i would see him in florida! We knew we had to get over to adventure park soon but wanted to go on big thunder mountain! However the que was long so we decided to come back to that later this evening, the park had extended it hours until midnight so we would come back after the world of colour show! 

We headed back to adventure park the show was starting at 20.45 and we wanted to go on a few more rides before it started including mickys fun wheel and california screamin again! They close all the rides on paradise pier about 30 minutes before the show so we would have to move quick! We went to mickys fun wheel first this was a ferris wheel all lit up with micky in the middle! And you could either ride on a stationary carriage or one that slides from side to side! We chose the sliding one! I dont know why because when we got on it i didnt like it! It was sliding from the outside in and vice versa! And was really swinging! It was pretty scary! Luke didnt mind it tho! And it was quite a nice view! Next we headed to california screamin and it was just as good as when we went on it the first time! Only this time we went on the front and it was dark! Loved it!! We had about 20 minutes before the show was due to start and decided we had better go and get a place to watch it. We had got fast passes but so had many others and it was packed! We found a good spot and waited ......and obviously as loads of people stood waiting for this show the heavens opened and it pissed down! Luckily we had a umbrella ! So we didnt get to wet ! 

The amazing world of colour show!

The show was called world of colour show and it was a show over the water with lots of water fountains, special effects and lights. As water shoots up the lights portray disney characters and scenes in front of the ferris wheel and the music from that particular film is played! It was a amazing show and beautiful, disney has amazed us yet again with another spectacular show :) it was just mesmerising you didnt want to look away for a second incase you missed a bit! We left just a few minutes before the end as we knew only to well the crowds that appeared after a show and it could take up to an hour to get out of the park sometimes more! We headed back to disneyland for a final two hours of riding time! Poor lukes back was really hurting now and he was struggling but he went on all the rides with me :)

It was still raining hard so we were quite wet by this point ! But we went on space mountain, buzz light year ride, star tours and big thunder mountain! There were no ques at all and we went on big thunder mountain 3 times in a row! It was a great end to a magical day and we left feeling absolutely shattered, wet, cold and in need of our bed! But we wouldnt have changed the day for anything!

Disney is a magical place for me and now for us together as a couple :) it brings back fond memories of my childhood and now me and luke can create some of our own memories here in disney together, it holds a special place in my heart. I was so lucky to have been taken to disneyworld more then once when i was a child and now as an adult it will continue to be a special place/holiday for us :) 

Disneyland california was just as good as the other two we have visited, our day was great, one of the things i loved here was that there were characters everywhere all day! we met many characters and some unusual ones like the queen from snow white! I got 11 autographs i think in that one day which is quite a lot considering all the other things we did! We would of liked to have more time there as doing both parks in one day was exhausting and we didnt get to do everything, we did the things we wanted but having more days we would have taken a slower pace! I came out with blisters and we both could barely move the next day! Maybe our age!?!? 

Meeting the princesses!

 Some other characters we met

A disney holiday is something that takes a lot of planning ! People that think they can go there and not plan a thing especially with children they are kidding themselves! You WILL MISS THINGS That you dont want to! Its hard to explain to people that have never been there because they just dont understand the size of the place or the amount that goes on! Even if you are not a person that plans disney is a huge place with so many attractions, characters and shows that if you do not do some research first you will find yourself either missing things completely or not being able to go on rides as the ques can get stupidly long and the kids just wont wait that long! And if you go in the school holidays just forget it if you havnt planned! It will not be fun it will be stressful and the kids will be fed up! There are many tips and hidden treasures at all the disneys, things that the general public wouldnt know, places, character meets, tips for rides and times for shows etc. its a fun process planning for a disney holiday and very exciting for all involved, dont look at it as a strict itinary look at it as seeing as much as you can with the time you have there! As you just dont want to miss a moment of that magic! 

We just loved it here and will definately be returning and hopefully one day we will experience all this magic with our niece and nephew ....millie and chester :))) we also want to visit disney in hong kong! However In only weeks time we will be at disneyworld florida and we couldnt wait!