Even though I paid $10 to use an adjacent hotel’s wifi, I am still going to give a short entry because I am sleepy. We got in under “Magic Morning” around 9:30 and went straight to Tomorrowland where we rode Buzz Lightyear, Star Tours, and Space Mountain. I am not kidding when I say that Space Mountain is the best ride I’ve ever been on. It was freaking amazing. I’m not sure the route we took after that, but we ended up on Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Matterhorn, Big Thunder Mountain, Peter Pan (long line but better than I expected), Finding Nemo (totally not worth the hype it gets or the 30 minute wait in line), and…um…other stuff? We had lunch at the Golden Horseshoe Saloon in Frontierland and watched a performance by Billy Hill and the Hillbillies; it was funnier than I expected. We ran around some more and I don’t even remember what else we did, I am just that tired!

We crossed over into Disney’s California Adventure around 4:00 and went on the Tower of Terror and Soarin’. There was a 30-minute wait for the latter, and that late in the day I knew I wouldn’t be able to do it. I approached the line guard and explained that I have arthritis, and asked if I could use the entrance for disabled guests. Well, it turns out you need a special pass for that, and you have to get it at Guest Relations. Fastpass for the ride had just closed, but she asked how many we were (two) and said, “Well, I have two Fastpasses for right now that I can give you.” Whew! The line was still long on the inside but we cut off probably 15-20 minutes by going in the Fastpass lane. That ride was pretty impressive, too.

We had dinner at Naples in Downtown Disney, and then we headed back to Disneyland. We wanted to go on Rockin’ Space Mountain, which is a different version they only show at night, but the line was 30 minutes and I didn’t think I could do it, plus we wanted to see Fantasmic, and we wouldn’t have had time. 15 minutes would have been bearable in both senses, but not 30. So we went over to the Rivers of America area and managed to actually find a table at the Stage Door Cafe. That was a spectacular show! Nothing can compare to the daytime Space Mountain, though.

I have managed to upload all of the Disneyland pictures for the past two days, and I have been tagging, describing, and titling them. Unfortunately I have only done some and I’m so tired! (I know I keep saying that. You’ll have to excuse me, I’m tired.) Oh, I also bought some Disney pins today. I already had #4671 because I bought it on eBay for $30, but today I bought #39935, #42975, and #59296. I don’t have a lanyard, I’m not sure if I’m really trading or anything, but I liked those so I bought them.

Not much of an update, because even though I booked a hotel with free wireless internet…it’s not working. So a Sidekick update is all I can do. I wanted to upload today’s photos but that will have to wait!

Today we woke up at 4:15am and took a cab to the airport. We were on JetBlue and I was really impressed with their overall product and service. We arrived at Long Beach on time, about 9:45am local time. I was surprised by how small the Long Beach airport is…it has a tiny building and is otherwise mostly outdoors, which reminded me of Grenada’s airport. Even the baggage claim was outside!

We headed straight for Anaheim, and after getting lost on the streets around Disneyland, we spotted our hotel and checked in. We walked from there to the Mickey & Friends Parking Structure Tram Stop, and got on our first Disneyland “ride” to get to the front gates. After we got our tickets, we headed straight into Adventureland! We got FastPass tickets for Indiana Jones, and then boarded the Jungle Cruise which had absolutely no wait. We watched the Enchanted Tiki Room show next, which I found quite entertaining, mostly because I was able to imagine what it was like when those audio-animatronics were state of the art! From there we went to Pirates of the Caribbean, which startled me with its short drops - when I yelped, the little boy in front of me said “have you ever been on this before?” I said no, I hadn’t! After that we peeked into a few shops before going back for the FastPass line of Indiana Jones. I was surprised that even with FastPass we had a 30-minute wait…and there were a lot of people in the standby line too! The ride was excellent, well worth the wait…we might make that our first stop tomorrow so there’s not such a line.

We stopped and got lunch/dinner - it was about 2:30 by this point, but for us it felt like 5:30! We ate at the Cafe Orleans and then wandered off toward the Haunted Mansion…which unfortunately is closed this week so they can remove the holiday overlay. We went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, and I swear that would be the best ride if you were on acid! From there we ended up in Fantasyland, where we went on Snow White, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, Pinocchio, and Alice in Wonderland. They are basically all the same ride, but they are done so well that you don’t care. It was also in Fantasyland that we bought awesome earrings featuring Marie from the Aristocats! From there we started heading back toward the hub. My feet, knees, and back were all hurting, so we stopped at the Plaza Inn and split a piece of cake and discussed how awful it is that I have far less stamina than my wife, even though we are equally out of shape, and even though she is 12 years older.

We went back along Main Street and ducked into and out of shops, and stopped for the First 50 Years presentation, which I actually liked a lot. (Hey, I’m minoring in history.) After that it was out the gates, back on the tram, and back to the hotel. The 15-minute walk back wasn’t as bad as I was expecting…the time spent sitting while we ate cake and watched Steve Martin and Donald Duck helped rejuvenate my feet enough to carry me home. And now I will say good night, because except for dozing on the plane, I have been up for 19 hours after only sleeping 5-6 hours last night.