Sept 2012 - Disneyland California (Part 4)

So, breakfast finished and we headed back to the hotel quickly before going to Disneyland.

The plan was to get on the Matterhorn first as it has no fast pass. Well, that didn't work so well as it was broken down on arrival.

So, we hopped on Space Mountain quickly as it had a short wait.

Then we decided to go over to Big Thunder Mountain to complete the set....we like this ride but only if it has a short wait cos it's a little bit bumpy :)

We still need to do Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean so we went over to see how the lines were.

Got to Pirates and the wait was only 5 minutes.....so off we went. This was a great ride and I will concede that it is better than the WDW version :)

Over to Haunted Mansion next and I think the wait was 10 or 15 minutes...but that's OK to see the Holiday version.

As we were waiting in line we saw a character meet nearby....definitely needed to see if we could catch them on the way out.

Jack Skellington......how cool is he?!

Having managed to get a few of the must-do's under our belt we decided to go back and see if the Matterhorn was working yet.

On the way we had a quick look at Tarzan's tree house.

We also stopped in Aladdin's area (not sure what it is called) and were happy to see Aladdin and Genie :)

Got across to the Matterhorn and the posted wait was 10 mins....I don't think they update this very well though and we probably waited 15 or 20. I'm glad we did the ride but it was much more bumpy than I was expecting.

Next up was Toon Town....I really wanted to have a look at Mickey's house although I wasn't really looking to go on any of the rides here :)

We decided to take the railroad for a little bit so went to the stop to wait. We encountered the most grumpy cast member ever here (but didn't see what her name was).

A guy ahead of us got on the train and put his stroller in the wrong place...she blocked the entrance and yelled at him to move it. Then shut the gate and told those of us waiting...that we should have just got on the train.....how?!

The train then left without us.....now we are adults so not a big deal....but there were children ahead of us in the line who could see empty seats and couldn't figure out why they weren't allowed on!

We got off the train at Main Street and took a wander before ending up at the Jungle Cruise....this is always fun :)

We rode the Mark Twain riverboat on Friday and so we decided to see if we could have a go on Columbia.

Luckily it was sailing today and so off we went :)

Once we were off the boat we headed over to the Big Thunder Ranch to see if there were any different characters out. Pumpkin Donald was there but he seemed to be playing some kind of game :(

I did however meet this guy:

I was hoping to meet one of the villains and there was a show happening in about 15 mins so we took a quick look at the animals.

Back to the villains and we went inside to find out who would appear. They do a little 'magic trick' and then the villain is suddenly there :)

We got Hook! I was pleased as I hadn't managed to meet him before....will have to wait for photo as we got the photopass guy to take it :)

Afterwards we headed back across to the hub and as we arrived there was a fire engine about to leave. So we took a little ride down Main Street :)

As we arrived we spotted this fellow doing a meet and greet :)

And then just across the way we saw someone else :)

We were getting hungry and so we had a look around for somewhere to eat. We decided to try the Carnation Cafe - this was a nice meal and a bit of a surprise....we walked in expecting a quick service location and then realised that it was table service :)

We went back for a break and did a bit of shopping at Downtown Disney as well.

When we returned in the evening we headed across to see what the wait was like for the Nemo submarines.

We grabbed a fast pass for Star Tours on the way so we could ride that before we left.

Got to Nemo and there was only a 5/10 minute wait. This was a fun ride and it's a shame they don't have something similar at WDW. Disneyland Paris has a submarine thing but it is a walkthrough....this was much more entertaining :)

So, Nemo done we went across to Star Tours. I would have ridden Space Mountain again but it had a long wait...so Star Tours would be our last ride :(

It was a different version than the other day which was nice :)

We finished up in Disneyland and had a quick look in the shops.

I was looking for some pins to add to my collection and had seen one I liked earlier....but couldn't find it now.

We looked in World of Disney and even they didn't have it....so we walked down to Pin Traders and thankfully they had it!

So, all pins got.....up tomorrow....Universal Studios!