Good times at California Adventures

Today was our last day at Disneyland before heading south. We had actually done most of what we wanted, so today was about finalising some gifts and doing the last few things we had missed or wanted to do again. Rather than bombard you with more ramblings, let me summarise it a bit more this time…

1. Magic Mornings

Top Ten for MAT!

So we had a “magic morning” this morning, which is early entry on one day if you have a four day or more ticket. We used it this morning, and gets you in an hour early. To be honest, not sure it was too worth it. Only 2 lands are open, and as quite a few people have early entry you don’t save too much time. We did walk straight on to Astro Blasters though, where I got to be placed in the top 10! At least for a little bit anyway. What magic morning did help for was lining up early for some things that usually take forever.

2. Princess Photos

Awww… cute

Like Princess photos! This is usually 75-90 minute wait, but with the early entry Kate was lined up just before 9am, and got in pretty quickly. So she got to indulge in photos with Cinderalla, Snow White and Aurora. Nice to see the classics get some respect! I of course had to get at least one photo…

3. Radiator Springs Racers Fast Pass (and Park Hopping is Good)

More Racer Action!

We found out that California Adventures has magic morning on Wednesdays, which explained the crazy line for fast passes for Radiator Springs Racers yesterday. All the early entry people could line up! Well, we park hopped at about 9:30am over to get some fast passes for ourselves. Tip… get yourself a fast pass first thing in the morning. We had to line up but it went super quick and got passes for mid afternoon. Perfect!

4. Shopping at Disneyland

The next thing was to finalise all our shopping. Here is a big tip. We found that Disneyland will ship anything you buy in the park home for you. It costs, but we were able to send quite a bit of stuff back for about $50. Soooo much better than shlepping around everywhere! And they told us if there is ANY hassles they will sort it out… that they take full responsibility and insure it. Win! Everything sent was itimised, so this sounds like the way to go I have to say. Remember this one!

5. Be Prepared for Ride Closures

Kate’s Favourite (while it was open)

Next tip… if you have time to do a ride you really want to do, then DO IT. I think over the past few days almost EVERY ride was closed at some point. This was hammered home when we went back to Radiator Springs only to find the ride closed when we had our fast passes. Sad face. But we were able to get straight back on later in the day IF it opened. Fingers crossed! Well, OK, you know from the pic further above… it did reopen 🙂

But still, we missed out on Toy Story Mania for a third time (we did get on for a second time) because it had to close. So you are warned!

6. Disneyland Resort has good Shopping

The Hulk (and some guy made of lego)

If you want more gift ideas, Disneyland Resort has some quite cool stores. Lots of different Disney stuff, including some great artwork. They also have a big Lego store where you can buy any colours and types of bricks you want! Nice.

7. Trader Sam’s is Awesome and Evil

Good times at the Tiki Bar!

Our last thing we wanted to do was visit Trader Sam’s Enchanted Tiki Bar at the Disneyland Hotel. We knew it was all tiki themed but also did crazy things when some drinks were ordered. Drinks? Kitsch? Of course we had to go!

We were super tired and knew we had an early morning the next to get to the airport. But surely one drink wouldn’t hurt? And of course it had to be triple shot of run cocktail in a Zombie Head mug! How could I not get that? And boy it went down easy. I knew it was strong and going to kick me later, but it was exactly what I needed. Kate had a rum cocktail to in a special mug, a Hippo-Poto-Mai-Tai, which was also super strong and tasty.

Drink number 2

Next thing we knew we were ordering more drinks. Uh oh. An different mai-tai for Kate, and another souvenir tiki mug for me. This was going to get rough. Tasty, but rough.

Kate gives Trader Sam’s the thumbs up!

We loved being in the tiki bar, there was things going off everywhere and everyone was having a great time. Even though we were well boozed up from our two strong drinks each, we knew to call it a night.

Farewell Disneyland! For the time being anyway…