Trip Report, Day 6

Day 6 was our third and final day in Disneyland Park. As always, we were up at the crack of dawn and at the park when it opened. We spent a few minutes on Main Street to get our pictures with Goofy and Mickey,


and I stopped in for a souvenir at the Mad Hatter.


Because of the Space Mountain technical difficulties the previous day, we headed straight for Tomorrowland. As is the beauty of getting to the park early, we walked right on to the ride. Twice.

If you look really hard, you still can't see Seth.

Stacey and Grandma skipped the second ride (actually, Grandma skipped them both) and headed up to get in line to meet the princesses at the Princess Fantasy Faire. We caught up to them and the girls were able to meet Belle, Tiana and Ariel.




While the girls were with the princesses, the boys got a head start on ToonTown and rode Gadget's Go Coaster something on the order of six times. When the girls and grown ups caught up, we went to Mickey's and Minnie's houses (where we met both the mice),




then took a spin on Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin (twice), outside of which we met Pluto.

Once we were done with ToonTown, we took a spin on the Happiest Holiday Cruise that Ever Sailed.


After Small World Holiday, the girls went back to the Princess Fantasy Faire for the Coronation Ceremony with Aurora, Cinderella and Snow White,

and the boys went and rode the Matterhorn Bobsleds again, followed by the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (twice).

We met up again at the Golden Horseshoe, where we sat and had lunch (corn dogs, chicken, fish and chips)while being entertained by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. After lunch, it was time for Pirates of the Caribbean, followed by the Haunted Mansion Holiday, the Jungle Cruise and the Enchanted Tiki Room.




After hearing the birds sing the words and the flowers croon, we grabbed some Dole Whips, then we took turns riding Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (the one ride in Disneyland Park for which Seth is too short) while Seth played at Tarzan's Treehouse.


As we completed Adventureland, we noticed that the park was getting CRAZY busy, so we headed out for a little while and got some dinner at the International House of Pokey Service.

We got back into the park, which by this time was wall-to-wall with people, in time to catch the "Christmas Fantasy" Parade (from the train station platform--not the best vantage point, but we did see everything).





We figured out that the reason for the sudden craziness in the park was this--we were there on the last day before blackouts for Annual Passholders, and the park got inundated mid-afternoon by all the locals who had put off coming to Disneyland for the Christmas fireworks (and the parade, I suppose).

Because we had pretty much done every attraction that we had wanted to by that point and were not interested in 60-minute (or even 30-minute) lines, we dropped into the "Disney Story featuring Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln". In truth, it was really cool. We loved looking at the displays of the Park's history, and the Mr. Lincoln presentation was extremely well done. We really felt like our experience was enhanced by having done this--we got the "Full Disney", if you will.

After Mr. Lincoln, we headed up and snapped a few photos of the pretty castle, swung by Pixie Hollow to check it out--even though Tinkerbell wasn't there (much to Seth's chagrin--he's got a serious crush)--then over to It's a Small World to check out the AMAZING amount of lights on the façade. They even had a little projection show that took us off guard. The lights and decorations were what we really wanted to see by going in December, and we weren't disappointed!

After seeing Small World, we went and staked our claim around The Hub for a spot to watch the fireworks (we even lucked into four seats on the benches). Since Seth really doesn't do standing around very well, Stacey and David took him to Tomorrowland to check out the Star Wars souvenirs. He came back with his very own green lightsaber that he built himself. His skills are complete.

At long last, the fireworks show began and it was, in fact, spectacular. I'm not a big fireworks guy, but this was a really great show. The fact that the castle is included in the show with some really good music makes it a very enjoyable experience.


After the show, the streets were trashed, but in true Disney style, the cast members were out in full force and the place was spotless within about 10 minutes. Magic.

After the show, we tooled around the park a bit, not wanting to leave, then made our way back down Main Street where we ducked into the Main Street Cinema for a few minutes. After that, we made our way out of the park for the last time (this trip, anyway). Three completely magical and wonderful days were complete, and we were sated. It was absolutely worth it.