so yeah, went to disneyland last month while we were in southern california. miranda hadn't been before, though she had been to the magic kingdom in florida, so the fate of SoCal and the Original happiest place on earth was at stake...
first things first, if your going to go to disneyland, you MUST first head on over to RideMax.com. i don't know how they do it, but by paying a small fee and entering in both the day you will visit and the rides you wish to enjoy, RideMax will output a specific schedule with proposed wait times for each ride. accurately.
it was unreal. we told it we'd arrive about 11:30am, and gave it a list of rides we wanted to go on as well as what time we'd be willing to go on our last ride, and it spat out an amazing little schedule, taking full advantage of fastpass, where we didn't wait more than 25 minutes for any given ride.
a couple observations:
matterhorn is matterhorn, and the only thing they've changed over the years (and i'm talking over maybe 15 years) was adding a strobe light to the ice-monster-guy. loved it. always have. love how it knocks you around, love how you're 'racing' the other track at times.
space mountain is still the same, yet with updated 'rockets' (most noticeable are the hi-fi speakers, two installed at the rear of each seat) and a somewhat different 'blast off' and 're-entry'. but the ride, and the effect (roller-coaster-in-the-dark) is the same. thankfully.
they added some piranha mess to the end of the jungle cruise, as if it needed it. (however, our tour guide was a bit younger than all i had previously remembered. and he was struggling...)
small world, big thunder railroad, star tours, splash mountain and haunted mansion were essentially the same.
biggest disappointment of the day - pirates of the caribbean. the movie was brilliant, the first one i mean, because it was based after the ride and it didn't seem forced. i haven't seen 2 or 3 yet, but after going on the ride, and seeing some serious changes (when did 'jack sparrow' get in there?), i left disappointed. seems over-done when the movie, based on the original ride, in the end, changed the original ride.
anywho, just some thoughts about the big dland, effectively distracting me from thinking about packing and preparing to move overseas (in 28 days!). we had a great day, and thanks for coming along, mom! happy early birthday! (in the pink shirt)
