My Time in San Diego and Disneyland: Disneyland

Feature image photo credit: Joel Varughese
To continue with the San Diego and Disneyland trip, we’ve left San Diego were headed up to Anaheim.

Anaheim

We drove along I-5 (passing the nuclear plant that locals “the boobs”) until we reached the hotel.

Anaheim Majestic Garden Hotel

The Anaheim Majestic Garden Hotel looks like a village castle and it’s kind of adorable, especially if you’re bringing your kids. While this hotel is not one of Disneyland’s resorts, it is considered a good neighbor hotel which means, it meets Disney’s standards of quality. It’s close to the park and offers a free shuttle to it which is why I choose it.

Downtown Disney

Although, we ended up not really needing shuttle since we had Lawrence. Lawrence wouldn’t be staying with us at the hotel since he lived close by but he did meet us there that night.

We all went to Downtown Disney in his car, wanting to eat dinner together and maybe do something before our day at the park the next day.

As we walked past the various shops, we decided to bowl in Splitsville. We ended up eating there in between rounds, my leftovers forgotten. From my memory, I don’t think either of us did well but I was the worst.

At the end of the night, Lawrence took us back to hotel and Celeste and I settled in to get ready for the day.

Disneyland

The next morning, we skipped breakfast and had Lawrence meet us at the hotel before going to Disneyland.

Driving in, we played some Disney music that included Disney classics and Disney Channels songs. I was tempted to do a video as we drove into the park but I decided to live in the moment (honestly, that’s what I tried to do for most of the visit).

We parked but still used another shuttle to take us to the gates of Disneyland.

My Amusement Park Past

As I mentioned in the last post, I was apprehensive about going to Disneyland because I wanted to ride thrill rides and wasn’t sure (and couldn’t remember) what Disneyland offered.

I grew up riding roller coasters at Six Flags in Georgia. My mom and I even went to the Six Flags in Missouri and California (in conjunction with a longer trip or another reason). We were roller coaster girls and took trips to other amusement parks like Knott’s Berry Farm, Dollywood, and Universal for their coasters.

Since Disney is more so catered to smaller children, there aren’t too many thrill rides (and if there are they aren’t that thrilling).

Rides

Once we were in Celeste and Lawrence turned to me and asked what direction I wanted to go in.

“I don’t care; as long as we can get some fast roller coasters in,” I said, “Go in whatever direction you think is best.”

With that, we went to the left. We bypassed Jungle Cruise because of the line and went to Pirates of the Caribbean ride. The wait was short enough to be bearable.

One thing I will say about going to Disney in January, you don’t have to worry about waiting in line under a hot sun.

Pirates of the Caribbean was a slow “water” ride, not exactly thrilling but we didn’t have to start or off with something exciting.

We went to get Mickey-shaped beignets afterwards, making that our breakfast. I remember Celeste and I talking about how we really wanted to try the beignets. They were bigger than I thought, soft, pillow-y, and covered in powdered sugar.

Once we had our snack, if memory serves me correctly, we went to Splash Mountain. I distinctly remember getting wet while there but I didn’t get soaked. Lawrence may have been the unlucky one to get soaked.

Getting to the Thrills

We headed back towards the center of park (I don’t remember us even setting foot in the Star Wars section of the park) and got on the Indiana Jones ride. Not exactly a coaster but still exciting.

Finally, we got to our first coaster of the day which was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. It wasn’t too intense, definitely a good beginner coaster if you or your child is wanting to graduate from the kiddie rides.

Next, we ended up going to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride since there wasn’t a long wait and it was actually more fun than I thought it would be.

Fuzzy Memory

When trying to recollect all the rides my friends and I went on four years ago, I reached out to them for assistance. Because Celeste and Lawrence live in California, they’ve been to Disneyland at least 3 more times since we all went together. I can imagine the visits getting blurred together. Celeste said we went on the Roger Rabbit ride together but even after watch a video of the ride in action, I don’t remember this at all.

I do however remember us riding the Disneyland Railroad. We were tired of walking and just wanted to sit for a moment while moving around the park. It was also a way for us to dry off fully from our water ride.
We got on in Fantasyland and got off in Tomorrowland. I wanted to ride the Matterhorn Bobsleds because I knew it would be fun coaster but it was closed that day. So, we went to Space Mountain instead.

I remember riding it in Disney World in 8^th grade so I knew I’d have that adrenaline kick.  Our wait I think was two hours or less but it was such a good time. I remember Celeste, nearly left her ears in her seat.

Winding Down

The day was starting to come to a close but we still had energy to ride more rides. Since the line was short and it was right there, we went on Buzz Lightyear Blasters.

I almost fell on my face as we walked on the treadmill like platform to get on the ride. We tried our best to defeat Zurg and I’m pretty sure there was a point system and Celeste definitely got the most.

Walking in the center of the park, we went back to ride Jungle cruise, wanting to get one more ride in before getting something to eat. If I remember correctly, they said it was more fun to ride it at night.

 Afterwards, we got some food from Bengal BBQ towards end of day. Lawrence went to get a giant turkey leg. He let me try a piece and it was steaming hot and delicious.

Walking around and munching on our hand held foods was how we spent our last moments in the park. I’m almost positive we left before the firework show (mostly because I don’t remember it) to beat the traffic getting out of the park.

Lawrence took us back to our hotel and I said my goodbyes since I knew I wouldn’t see him again for a while.

Last Morning

The morning after the park Celeste and I had breakfast at Denny’s since it was so close to the hotel. My mom and I usually avoided Denny’s and I was never sure why. The food I had was pretty good.

There was Disney memorabilia all over. Celeste and I talked about how we wish we did have one more day to spend more time together. Even though the last two days were packed and long, it felt like they flew by.

After breakfast, Celeste dropped me off at the John Wayne Airport and we both headed home.

Writing this made me realize my memory is absolute terrible and the exact reason why I probably need to journal more.

However, my recent trip to Disney World in Florida – which was a little over a year ago – will be a different story. Look out for the first post of that trip later this week!

How would you spend a day at Disneyland? What rides do you think we should’ve gotten on?