Tales of the Mouse, Part 2

This being part 2 of our Disneyland trip: what happened on Friday the 10th! Main highlight: California Adventure!

Several of y’all out there very strongly advocating going over into California Adventure, and I assure you that that was absolutely on our agenda. We made that the overall point of Friday the 10th.

First up was Muppets 3D, which was pretty much mandatory because, well, Muppets. How could we not? So we popped in there and were mightily entertained by the room with all of the “pre-show” activity going on, which involved a lot of cutely labeled props as well as various video screens with amusing Muppet footage playing on it. Mostly stuff involving Scooter testing each screen and trotting around between them, but some chortle-worthy stuff involving the penguins going into the theater to rehearse for the orchestra. Hee.

But really, the main event was of course going into HOLY CRAP MUPPET THEATER. They did an excellent job building the place, and it was very, very much like walking into the set of the Muppet Show, complete with a balcony on the side for animatronic Statler and Waldorf. The penguins down front in the orchestra pit, also a Win. My 3D glasses were a little wonky but otherwise the whole show worked well, and there was a lot of humor involving a 3D creation of Muppet Labs escaping into the theater at large.

There were giggles on the way out as well, with the Muppet-themed movie posters they had hanging up for us to look at. Lawrence of Amphibia. Har!

After that we went over to Soarin’ Over California, which was also awesome. In no small part because of the intro video that shows while you’re in line being done by Patrick Warburton, who pretty much makes everything Funny; the man could be reading bus routes and be hilarious. The ride itself though was a lot of fun, and I was relieved and pleased that it did not actually make me motion sick. The various scents they queued up to add realism were a nice touch, although I spotted a flaw on the screen that kind of pulled me out of the experience a little. So did the fact that the scenes they showed you had no real transition between them; it was just “oh hey Golden Gate Bridge!” and then *pop!* “oh hey orange fields!” and then *pop!* “oh hey mountains!” It would have been a little neater if they’d done a smooth flow between the various locations.

Once that was done we popped back over into the main Disneyland park to get to the Blue Bayou for our lunch reservations. We were pleased that the service there was still splendid, and although they changed the breading on the Monte Cristo sandwich, it was still very, very tasty. userinfosolarbird and I split one between us, with each of us having our own side dishes, which was about the exact right amount of lunch. We figured that if we’d tried to eat a whole sandwich each, it very likely would have killed us!

Back then over into California Adventure, and the California Screamin’ rollercoaster. OMG big, big fun. One of the very few things I miss about the Midwest is the Kings Island amusement park, which is chock fulla rollercoasters. We don’t have anything remotely comparable in Washington state, since the climate here is generally not good for rollercoasters and big rides. So it was absolutely fantastic to get on a rollercoaster, and this one was a good one. Very good countdown to a hard punch of a launch, and the drops and the loop-de-loop were suitably scream-inducing. I squealed like a kid the whole time and bounced around repeatedly afterwards chirping “ROLLERCOASTER!”

Mulholland Madness was also more or less rollercoastery but not nearly as awesome. It got pretty much trumped by our going over to the Tower of Terror, which is set up with the theme of a Twilight Zone episode about a hotel that gets struck by lightning and OHNOEZ! You’re in the elevator and OHNOEZ! SUDDEN DROP! userinfospazzkat is not a fan of the OHNOEZ! Sudden Drop! style of ride, but Dara and I had great fun with this and more squealing like a little kid was done. I apparently had my eyes closed tight when they took us up to snap our pictures at the top of the Tower, just before dropping us hard. Har.

After that we did the Screamin’ rollercoaster a second time, since it was Just That Awesome, and a Monsters Inc. ride with the schtick of you going through Monstropolis while the CDA is on the hunt for Sulley and Boo. Speaking of Sulley, we did spot somebody in a Sulley costume with folks lined up for pictures and autographs, and that was kind of neat; later, while we were at the Tower of Terror, we saw the same costumed person slumping off into a “Cast Members Only” area. Whoever they were, they looked tired!

But it’s worth also noting that the whole afternoon had a Pixar-y feel to it. We were lucky enough to catch the Pixar parade that they do in California Adventure, and that was great fun. They had floats for just about all of the Pixar movies, except WALL-E and Up, and many of the appropriate characters were represented very well. There was lots of amusement with people squirting sprays of water onto the crowd–though Dara kept making faces every time they nailed her.

Back again over to the Disneyland park for another crack at both Pirates and Haunted Mansion, and then Thunder Mountain for more rollercoastery goodness. We found out though that the BBQ place we wanted to eat at only did reservations after a certain time in the evening, so we made reservations for Saturday night instead and wound up eating elsewhere.

I learned much to my annoyance though that my hiking boots were up to tromping around Disneyland only up to a point. My feet started getting very sore after a while and I had to bail while Dara and Paul stayed to watch the Electric Light parade, because I just desperately had to get my shoes off.

Still though, an overall day of California Adventure and Pixar-y Win! Part 3 and Saturday and Sunday tomorrow.