Disneyland Adventure

Warning: This is a four-day kwento, so it will be long :) Am doing this because I do not trust my memory.


Monday, 11th of June

We woke up just before 6am to catch our 840am flight. I was still sleepy because we slept late last night. We got to SJ airport at 7am and immediately checked-in. We got some breakfast from Burger King and waited at gate4. The news was on at the boarding area and there was a story about a roller coaster in Arkansas that was left hanging upside down. So Ane and I decided not to ride the roller coaster anymore at California Adventure. We can't be too sure eh? (We're just paranoid, hehe).

Our plane left on time and after an hour or so, and a very bumpy flight, we landed at LAX already. We got our small luggage and asked where we could find the center island. We knew we had transportation already included in our package. We just didn't know it would be a big bus where all tourists from all hotels within Anaheim Resort can ride. We thought someone with a placard will come and get us to our hotel. Hehehe, paimportante pa. The bus ride was about 45mins long. We got to our hotel and our room simply exceeded my expectations! I didn't know there were two Sheratons in that area (Anaheim and Park at Anaheim), and we got the better one (Sheraton Anaheim got really ugly reviews)! I was so happy to get this room. Yup, there were two queen-sized beds! You bet, Ane and I was so glad to have two big beds. But we ended up using just one, hihihihi. We were on honeymoon mode! Our package didn't include breakfast though, which wasn't a big deal anyway.

By then, we haven't eaten lunch yet (around 1pm) but we decided to go the Disneyland right away and get our three-day parkhopper tickets (Disney and California Adventure). We told ourselves we will just go in and check the place out first then we could get food outside. We entered Disney and you bet we can't get ourselves to go out anymore for food! Not to mention the long walk going to the park, we felt we belong in the "happiest place on earth". There we were, mesmerized by all of it. :) We got to Main Street and saw the left-handed Pluto right away! We got our pictures taken and we noticed some kids having his autograph taken, which was cute. Ane's eyes met mine and after talking about it, we got ourselves our own authograph book with matching pen! [Later, we found Pluto again, and guess what, ours was a right-handed Pluto...hhhmmmmmm] You know, one thing we realize the minute we got there is that -- it is okay to be silly...Silliness is accepted in the place where parents, not kids, get lost.

Our agenda for our Day1 was to stalk the characters for pictures and signatures (hehe), study the map, find a way to ride Pirates of the Carribean, and watch the Parade and Fireworks that night. We did all that and more! Although we didn't see all the characters on day1, we were able to do most of the things we planned to do plus all the unplanned ones. We almost forgot to eat but somehow, we were able to grab some pizza and soda. The Pirates ride had a long queue but we got in in less than 1hour. Twas a pretty cool ride if only the girls riding behind us in the boat did not scream just before the short drop in the darkest part of the ride! Talk about spoiling the adventure for us, tsk. We also did the Haunted Mansion, Tiki Room, Jungle Ride and Indiana Jones (among others) where we didn't mind waiting in line. We knew there were fastpasses in some of the attractions but we were happy just as it is waiting, because that meant some talk time for us. :)

We caught the 330pm Parade near "It's a small world" and we were like kids in awe. Disneyland has always been a dream. And just being there, one of our dreams came true right before our eyes. Call it silly (even if I wrote earlier that silly is not taboo there) but I almost cried. I wondered at what age we will ever be capable of bringing our kids there. The Fireworks display at 925pm was equally awesome, it sent goosebumps all over me. I was choking and trying to keep the tears from falling. I was just sooooooo elated!

The park's closing was at midnight but we decided to leave and rest after the Fireworks show. We grabbed some dinner at Mcdo and headed to our hotel room. We called it a night after showering. It was a long day!

Tuesday, 12th of June

There is a newly re-opened attraction at Disney, the Finding Nemo Submarine Ride, so the lines were obviously mighty long. Since our tickets included one-day early entry, it meant we could enter the park at 7am. We planned on waking up early that day but alas, we woke up at 10am, even with the alarm and all! We jumped out of bed and arrived at the park just before noon. We failed to grab some brunch coz we hurried to "Find Nemo" (no fastpasses here). When we got to main street, Mickey, Donald and Minnie (whose authograph we got yesterday already) were there for photo-ops! I hurriedly fell-in line for Mickey but he left even before I got to him. The attendant said we could find him in his house in ToonTown. Sayang, we should have lined up for Donald instead since Ane wanted his signature badly! But we missed him too after Mickey left. Sigh. But we were able to meet up with Mickey behind his house in the Barn.

We headed on to Tomorrowland and found that the waiting time for the Nemo ride was 3hours. Three hours! We definitely wouldn't want to wait that long, noh? We promised ourselves that we should be in the park by 8am the next day, no excuses whatsoever, hehe.

We hopped on over to California Adventure where the crowd was much more tolerable :) We did the Monsters's Inc ride and then we got curious and queued at the Hollywood Tower Hotel, which turned out to be the Tower of Terror where riders are seated in elevators, and dropped abruptly! Now of course, we didn't know that! Had we known, we wouldn't even dare at all but we enjoyed it immensely! The 4D show, "It's hard to be a bug", over at Bug's Land was a nice surprise and instantly became my favorite. We rode the rapids (an Indian family cut our line but then nobody complained anyway, so we just let them) and got wet a bit then met Tow Mater and Lightning McQueen by the streets. By 530pm, it was time for the Block Party Bash which was as fun as the Disney Parade :)

That night, we were also scheduled to meet up with a childhood friend of mine, Weng, who is currently based in Van Nuys. She texted that she'll be late for our 730 agreement and told us to expect her by 8pm. To be more productive of our time, we stayed in CaAd and lined-up for Soarin' over California, a must-try according to my sister and BIL. Just before our turn, a sign was posted saying that people who are afraid of heights should not ride. That is me, certainly! I would have backed-out but Ane promised it would be okay. It was not. I did not enjoy it at all. I was stiff and holding on to my seat and was just looking straight all the time. The ride is a simulated tour, as if one is riding a glider, and one's feet are suspended on air. I was freaking out, I tell you!

By the time we were done, Weng already texted that they were already outside our hotel. So we ran to Sheraton and found her there in her car with her two friends, Rusty (who I also know from grade school) and Malou. We drove along Harbor Blvd, looking for Red Lobster but didn't find it so we settled for Tony Roma's. It was a nice dinner and chat session. It's been years since Weng and I saw each other. We parted ways around 1015pm and we forgot to take pictures! Ugh!

Because I had too much to eat, we dropped by 7-Eleven to get some coffee before we headed to our hotel room. We got ready for bed and fell immediately asleep as soon as Weng texted they were already home as well. :) We were so thankful that she was able to see us and drove 45mins (one way) just to treat us to dinner.

Wednesday, 13th of June

We did get up a bit past 7am and were able to enter the park at 810am. We were already at the end of the line at the gates when we got there so naturally, the line at Nemo was already long when we got inside. We were told it would take an hour and 20mins for our turn, but we were ready for that. I left Ane at the line and bought ourselves some breakfast :) When I got back people around us were teasing -- "That's not fair!", "Share your breakfast!", "Oh, thank you for breakfast", "That was smart of you to do that!" etc etc. It was so funny because people are obviously clamoring to ride the sub that some missed to eat their first meal. The Nemo Sub ride was the longest attraction in Disney at the moment, lasting for 14mins. But sadly, I believe that it is a bit overrated as the other attractions were better, IMHO. Talking with Crush, Live at CaAd was more entertaining! Ane and I enjoyed the sub ride just the same.

The rest of the day were spent stalking some more characters, re-riding some of the attractions (in both parks but not Soarin' again, heheh) and just enjoying ourselves. We also bought ourselves (and Joaquin) a pair each of Mickey Crocs and some Jibbitz to go with it. We are not really Crocs fans (Go Havis!) but the Mickey Crocs are worth the memories we could keep so we grabbed 'em. :)

We were really tired by 3pm so we decided to head back to the hotel. But only after we strolled in Downtown Disney where we went into various shops. The Anne Geddes store took my attention and there I found some newborn baby dolls being sold. The dolls looked so real and if they were not too expensive at $215, I would have bought one right away! I have my Sissy already and I guess it's about time she gets a baby brother, eh? Ane said if it is that steep, maybe we should just make our own baby? Hehe.

After the stroll, Ane didn't want to go back to the Harbor exit because it was far. So we found a map that leads to Katella Ave access to our hotel. Now if the map we saw didn't have too many "you are here" marks, then we would have found our way fast enough. We got lost in Downtown Disney and found our hotel a bit after 5pm. Because we were just walking (and have been walking the past three days), my legs were already shaking I was just glad I did not collapse. We bought some hotdog sandwiches at 7-Eleven and stayed in our hotel room all night long. I was in pain and could not move my legs anymore. I felt paralyzed! Hehe. So it was a long restful sleep for us.

The next day, we were San Jose bound. Checked out of the hotel at 930am, we were already at LAX by 11am. We were so glad to see Joaquin waiting at the Arrival area with his Dad. The boy was happy to see us again, and even welcomed us with "Hey, you're back!!!!!".

There, I am done writing about our Disney Trip :) This is a loooong entry, I hope my grammar and spelling errors are minimum hheheheheh. Next on my agenda is to scrap, scrap, scrap and/or post our pictures (including the other pictures form our previous trips here)! But after am done with the wedding album I was paid to do mwehehehehe...