April 2007 Trip Report

Sunday April 15th
We were up at 5 a.m. anxious to start another adventure. We got ready, jumped on the shuttle and got to the Toronto airport about 7 a.m., everything was on schedule and we arrive at LAX at 11 a.m., took the shuttle to the car rental place, picked out a nice Malibu and drove directly to The Candy Cane Inn. What a charming place, so pretty with all the flowers and trees and vines. Our room was ready and we were surprised that we got the same room as we had last year. We tried to have a bit of a nap since we had lost 3 hours crossing the country and knew that the park would be open until midnight. That just wasn’t going to happen, I was like the little kid in the Disney commercial who squirms saying, “I’m too excited to sleep”. We took the complimentary shuttle over to Disneyland.

After a quick “Photo Pass” stop in front of the train station, we entered the park. People were lined around Town Square waiting for the 3:30 parade, so we found a good photo spot on the upper level of the train station. When the parade was done we hopped on the train and rode over to the ToonTown stop and got off. We rode the Alice in Wonderland ride and then walked through Frontierland and got to the Golden Horseshoe just in time to catch the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show. It is a great shoe, lots of laughs. By the time the show was done it was time for our priority seating at the Blue Bayou, we were able to get a waterside seat and had a wonderful meal.
After dinner we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride before going over to Disney California Adventure. We found a good spot to watch the Electric Parade and settled in with a coffee. The parade came by about 9 o’clock; it is such a wonderful parade, I miss it being at Walt Disney World. After the parade we rushed back to Disneyland to see the fireworks but they cancelled them due to high winds. We finished off the evening with a ride on Mr. Toad. We were both exhausted; it had been a very long day.

Monday April 16th
We were both awake before 6:30 a.m., it takes a day or two to get used to the time change. We got ready and went down to the pool for the complimentary breakfast. They have lots to offer and it is quite charming sitting around the pool amid the flowers.
	After breakfast we took the shuttle to Disneyland. We rode the Main Street horse drawn trolley to the castle and then went directly to Peter Pan. Just like at Walt Disney World this is one of the most popular rides and is always lined up. After Peter Pan we rode Storybook Land and then the Matterhorn, got a fast pass for Space Mountain, and rode Buzz. I beat Gary - yea! It wasn’t quite time for our fast pass for Space Mountain so we grabbed a snack at the Pizza Port and wandered through Star Traders. We rode Space Mountain with the music by Red Hot Chilli Peppers and it was great. I’m sure we will do it a couple more times before the week is over.
We decided to head over to New Orleans Square but stopped a the Golden Horseshoe to see Billy Hill again, Gary really does enjoy that show. After the show we rode the Haunted Mansion and Winnie the Pooh.
	I had told Gary I was going to ride California Screamin' this year so he was anxious to get over there before I changed my mind. We walked through DCA and enjoyed the sights. I did ride Screamin’ and I will probably do it again, but once was enough right then so Gary went through the singles line for a second ride. We then walked through the Tortilla Factory and the Bakery before going to Ariel’s for our Priority Seating. We weren’t all that hungry so we gave our PS to a lady and her little girl who were waiting standby since the place was totally booked.
We went back over to Disneyland and rode the train over to Tomorrowland where we had a light meal at the Pizza Port. We thought about doing a couple of rides but we were both pretty tired so we made our way down Main Street through the stores and walked back to the hotel. We both had a nice soak in the hot tub and then it was lights out.


Tuesday April 17^th
Today was tourist day; we got up, had our breakfast and hopped in the car. Our first stop was the Disney Character Outlet store . . . I got some good bargains.
	We then drove to Hollywood and found a parking lot just behind the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. We walked directly to Disney’s El Capitan Theatre and wandered through the theatre, it is very impressive.

We then went into the Disney Soda Shop next door and had a very nice lunch and a scrumptious ice cream treat for dessert. I bought a few pins and we took lots of pictures.

	After that we wandered around taking pictures and being typical tourists. We took a Double Decker bus tour of Hollywood and then took another bus tour of the stars homes. About halfway through the second tour I was tired of the tourist stuff and ready to head back to Anaheim. We both decided that the tours were “must do’s” but now we don’t need to do them again.

	Back in Anaheim we had dinner at Mimi’s, across from the main gate to Disneyland, and then back to the hotel for a nice long soak in the hot tub, a swim and a relaxing night in the room.

Wednesday April 18th
We started the day off with a nice breakfast at the Candy Cane Inn and then walked over to Disneyland. We were headed to ToonTown but stopped on the way to ride Alice In Wonderland, I just love that ride.
	After the ride we finished our walk over to ToonTown and rode Roger Rabbit. It was a " walk- on" and it’s the first time we had gone on this ride, I’m not sure how we missed it before, but it was a hoot. We got of and went directly through the queue and rode it again. Then we walked around ToonTown taking lots of pictures. It is very different than the one at WDW, I think because it was built as ToonTown and WDW was a couple of other things before it was converted to ToonTown.
When we had taken every picture possible we walked over to Fantasyland and rode It's a Small World, on the way to Pinocchio and Snow White, both really fun rides. We also go two Dreams in that short period of time, we got the pin lanyard with 2 dream pins and we each got a free photopass 5x7 picture of our choice. It was then time for lunch so we tried the Carnation Café, another first for us. We had the highly recommended “All Dressed Potato Soup", it was awesome, and it’s my new favourite soup. After lunch we wandered through the Emporium and a few of the stores, making our way over to the Tiki Birds. We got there just as they were opening the doors. I still like the original show the best.


	To Gary’s delight we got out of the show just in time to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies again (third time) this time there were two different Billy’s and they did the skit with the fiddle bow in the nose act, Gary laughs tears over that one.
Next we rode Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones and Jungle Cruise then walked over to Tomorrowland to catch the train to Main Street so we could see the Grand Canyon section of the train ride. Once we got to the Main Street station we got off and rode the horseless carriage back to the castle and then walked over to Tomorrowland to catch the monorail to Downtown Disney.
	We wandered through the Disneyland Hotel and decided to have dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen, it was a good choice, the food was delicious and the characters were fun. After dinner we walked through Downtown Disney and did some shopping, then walked back to the hotel. Gary went to the hot tub, I was too tired to accompany him, it was a long day but we really had fun.

Thursday April 19th
This was a non-Disney day. We got up, had breakfast and hopped in the car and headed to Palm Springs. We had no agenda or really any purpose other than we had both heard so much about the place and just wanted to see what it was all about.
	It is a lovely town in the middle of the desert. When we got there the first thing we did was ride the cable car to the top of Mount San Jacinto, the view was amazing. The cable car rotates as it goes up and down the mountain, we got off on the top and walked around a bit, it was pretty cold up there since it’s elevation is 8516 feet and we could feel the lower level of oxygen.
When we got to the bottom we had a bite to eat and then drove to Indian Canyons, we were able to see both Andreas and Palm canyons without doing any hiking.

	The oasis in the middle of the rock and desert is very tranquil, the palms tower above you and the birds and the sound of the running water in the stream is all that can be heard. After that we just drove around the town and looked around.

We were going to stay for the evening but we were both tired and decided that we had seen enough. We drove back to Anaheim, had dinner and Gary had a soak in the hot tub while I wrote up the trip report.


Friday April 20th
We woke up to a very cold rainy day. We had breakfast and then caught the shuttle over to Disneyland. There was a special pin released at Downtown Disney so we walked over there to get the pin and then caught the Monorail to Tomorrowland.
	We walked to the Photo Pass shop and picked out one of our free Dream photos. After that we went over to California Adventure. We went directly to Hollywood Back Lot and rode Monster’s Inc., then went into the Animation Building where we saw the show and learned to draw Goofy (not very well I might add). We really wanted to see Aladdin and figured with the rain it would be quite crowded so we went and got in line.
It was pouring rain and by the time we got into the theatre we were cold and wet but it was worth the wait, the show is great, we will see it again before we leave. After Aladdin we rode the Tower of Terror and then went in search of lunch. California Adventure has a lot of outdoor seating but with the rain we wanted to sit somewhere warm. We ended up at Pizza Oom Mow Mow, it was pretty good.
	By the time we finished lunch the rain had stopped and Gary took a ride on Screamin’. We walked out to the shuttle as it had started to rain again. Back in the room we both got dried and had a nice long nap.
When we woke up it was time for our dinner reservation at PCH Grill in the Paradise Pier Hotel, we drove over since I had my pin trading stuff. Disney was holding a special pin trading night in the Pacific Ballroom. After a really good dinner we went into the pin room, it was packed and there were future releases on display. I was able to get quite a few new lanyard pins. We left about 8:45 and drove back to the hotel, had a nice soak in the hot tub and a swim and called it a day.

Saturday April 21st
It was as sunny day, a nice change from the day before, we got and early start and arrived at Disneyland about 8:45. We knew it was going to be busy since it was a Saturday but we had no real agenda so we just went with the flow. We took the Omni bus to the castle and headed towards Tomorrowland. There was no line for Buzz so we jumped on and I beat Gary again; we then went over to Space Mountain and grabbed a fast pass, the wit there was already up to 45 minutes. We then walked over to Alice in Wonderland and waited, it wasn’t too bad and I wanted to make sure I had at least one ride before we left, I had heard rumours it was going to close for rehab, plus it doesn’t run in the rain. After Alice we rode Mr. Toad then walked over to Frontierland. We arrived just in time to watch the outdoor show.
	I got a us Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain before we went to Pirates and Haunted Mansion, both had fast moving lines so we were done both rides by 11:30 which was the time Blue Bayou opened so we took a chance and asked if they were taking any walk-ins, we go lucky and were seated within 10 minutes. It was a little early for lunch but we didn’t want to pass up the opportunity. Gary had the famous Monte Cristo and it lived up to its name in his books. After lunch we took advantage of our fast pass for Thunder Mountain, I am quite sure this ride is longer than the one at WDW. When we got off the ride I got another fast pass before walking back to Tomorrowland where we rode Space Mountain.
By this time the park was very busy so we decided to walk over to California Adventure, we got in the line but decided that if we were going to stay late that night we should go back to the room and have a bit of a nap, plus it was just very crowded and we needed a break. After a short nap we caught the 5 o’clock shuttle back and went directly into California Adventure, we wanted to catch the last Aladdin show and it started at 6 p.m. Before we got in the line for the show I got a fast pass for the Tower of Terror. We stood in the line for the mezzanine and when we were let in we managed front row seats, the seats were the best in the house as far as we are concerned . . . and we really enjoyed the show. After the show we walked over to Paradise Pier to go on a few rides but the lines were too long so we got a corn dog and sat down and watched Screamin’ for a few minutes and then went back of to ride Tower of Terror. When we got off we had just enough time to ride Monsters before the Electric Parade started.
The parade was a little late and we wanted to make sure we saw the fireworks since we hadn’t seen them yet this trip and it was the only night they were showing so we left the parade halfway through. We just got to Main Street when the fireworks started, I am so glad we made it, the Remember the Dream is the best fireworks show I have ever seem, I like it better than Wishes. After the fireworks we went to the Ice Cream Parlor for an ice cream and just sat and watched the people for a while. We were trying to decide if we had enough energy left in us to make one more trip to Frontierland to ride Big Thunder Mountain. We decided to go for it but after the ride we knew it was time to head back to the hotel and call it a night.

Sunday April 22nd
We got up, had breakfast and packed the car with a few essentials and headed up the highway towards Santa Barbara. We drove along the Pacific Coast Highway and stopped in Malibu to walk out on the pier. While we were out there we saw a small school of dolphins swim by. We continued our journey up along the coast and the closer to our destination we got the grayer the skies became.
		As we parked the car at Stearns Wharf it started to rain. I was disappointed as I had wanted to see the artisans and vendors that normally set up along the water front, but with the rain the started packing up. We walked out on the wharf and had a nice lunch at Moby Dicks. We were going to take a trolley ride around the town but we missed it by 2 minutes. We didn’t want to hang around in the rain so we got in the car and did a little self-guided tour before heading back to Anaheim.
We stopped on the way back in Malibu again and walked down to the beach just so we could say we had.
We got back to Candy Cane Inn about 6pm and decided to walk over to Downtown Disney for dinner. It was so crowded that we couldn’t get into any of the restaurants so we thought we would try Storyteller Café in the Grand Californian. We were lucky and got a table. It was an excellent meal. By the time we left the hotel it was raining so we rushed to the bus stop to catch our shuttle. Gary decided to have a soak in the hot tub even though it wasn’t very nice out and I started to pack. Only one day left before we leave for Las Vegas.


Monday April 23rd
This was our last Disney day; we had one early entry that we had not used so we caught the 8 o’clock bus over to Disneyland. It was a beautiful sunny day, just a little on the cool side but that suited us. The first thing we did was stop for a photo pass and then went directly to Peter Pans Flight; it was lined up already but moved quickly. We then went to Mr. Toad and it was lined up but we waited anyways since we knew it would be worse later in the day. After those two rides we went in search of some breakfast before the park opened at 9am. After breakfast we rode Space Mountain and picked up a fast pass for later on, we then went on Buzz and I whooped Gary this time. The next stop was Alice in Wonderland, I just love that ride, and then we rode Pinocchio, another favourite. After Pinocchio we walked over to Frontierland and got a fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain before riding the Pirates.
		We walked over to the Haunted Mansion but it was shut down and they didn’t know how long it would be so we went back to the Golden Horseshoe to watch Billy Hill and the Hillbillies for the fourth time. We were able to get the little box seat at the side of the stage and Gary was in his element. After the show we rode the Indiana Jones Adventure and decided it was time for some lunch. We had plans for a big dinner so we went back to the Carnation Café and just had a bowl of the loaded potato soup, it is a meal in itself.

After lunch we wandered through a few shops, I did a little pin trading and then went over to California Adventure. We both rode Screamin’ again and I decided that it was enough for me so Gary went through the singles line and rode it again. We then walked over to Hollywood Backlot and watched the show called Drawn to the Magic, it was kind of cute. Monster Inc. is directly behind it and there was no line so we walked onto the ride, about halfway through it stopped and they announced for everyone to remain seated and a CM would be there shortly to assist you in leaving the ride. We have never had this happen and it was kind of neat seeing the ride with all the lights on and walking through it. We got some great pictures you wouldn’t normally be able to get.
		We decided to go back to Disneyland, we had 2 hours before our dinner with Goofy. We hopped on the train to ToonTown and rode Roger Rabbit and then walked over to the monorail station. We took the monorail to Downtown Disney and walked over to the Disneyland Hotel. We had been give 2 vouchers for the Dinner with Goofy from a fellow Canadian pin trader I had met at the September Pin events, they were leaving the day before and could not use them. We were seated right away and had a wonderful “last supper” at Disney. It was excellent food and the characters were quite interactive.

After dinner we took the monorail back to Disneyland and used our fast passes for Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. We walked up the back path to Fantasyland and rode the Teacups; yes I rode the Teacups, why? Because it was Disneyland and I had never done it there before, now I don’t have to do it again! Our last ride fro the night was It’s a Small World and then we walked down Main Street and out to the bus stop. It was over, I love Walt Disney World but Disneyland has my heart.