Our Trip to Disneyland California Day 1

I haven't had a chance to post in a few weeks, because first we had been away on vacation in California and Las Vegas. Once we got home I had to get back into my normal routine. So I am finally getting a chance to post about our trip to Disneyland! There will be a few posts to come about the parks (I can't fit everything in just on!). So for now I am not going to go into great detail on things I plan to blog about in a different post. 

This was our second time visiting Disneyland (we spent a day there back in Sept 2010). Firstly I must say that we enjoyed the parks much more this time than the last time around. After our first visit I remember feeling somewhat disappointed with the parks and pretty much thought "Meh". I didn't care if I ever went back. Maybe it was because we are so used to Disney World or because we had driven from Las Vegas in one day and we were a bit tired and felt rushed. We may have enjoyed it more this time around as well due to the fact that our expectations were lower. Not that we didn't enjoy Disneyland the first time, because we did quite a bit. But we really liked the parks a lot in California this time around (still not as much as Disney World). Although we did notice a few things we liked better at Disneyland than Disney World. 

We spent two full days at the Disneyland resort, using our Disney Vacation Club points to stay onsite at the Grand Californian Resort. The resort was gorgeous and we had a 1 bedroom unit that had a view of Paradise Pier at California Adventure Park. The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub that I loved having to soak in after each day in the parks. The resort exited into Downtown Disney which was just a short walk to Disneyland Park and also from the resort was a separate entrance for resort guests only to California Adventure Park. Staying here made everything incredibly convenient and much more enjoyable. We could take breaks back into the room with just a short walk and just go back to the parks when we were ready. I think staying right by the parks and for two days also made us enjoy the parks much more. 

Disneyland is much smaller than Disney World and everything is side by side. At Disney World everything is much more spread out and grander. Disneyland consists of Disneyland Park and California Adventure separated by a hub between the two with Downtown Disney to the side of the open area separating the parks. As well as a 3 resorts all within walking distance of one another. Both being close together like in California and spread out as in Florida have their advantages. 

 

The majority of our first day was spent at Disneyland Park. One lesson I did learn was do not visit on the weekend! We went on a Sunday and the park was PACKED! I have been at WDW during long weekends and it has not been this busy. And People were much less considerate there than they tend to be in Florida as well. So needless to say during the afternoon we did not accomplish very much except going on Pirates of the Caribbean (which is actually longer than the WDW version) and just walking around before taking a break back at the resort. 

In the evening we decided to go into California Adventure and saw the special sneak peak going on for the new movie Maleficent opening May 30th. This movie has to be one of the ones I am most looking forward to this year! The sneak peak was basically the opening scene as well as an extended trailer. It showed in the theater used for It's Tough to be a Bug. I honestly wish all movies were shown like this one as it was in 3D with wind and light effects that really immerse you into the movie! I can't wait to see the full version! Maleficent has always been my favorite Disney villain and I think Angelina Jolie will do a great job in the role. 

We then went back over to Disneyland Park for the remainder of the evening. Luckily the park was less busy than it was during the day. We were able to get on Big Thunder Mountain, which I will admit is a lot better than the version over at Disney World. We also managed to go on Haunted Mansion which is basically the same ride inside except for a few minor changes. The outside looks completely different as it is in their New Orleans section so it was designed to look like a Plantation. On our last trip we did see the Haunted Mansion with the Halloween overlay of the Nightmare before Christmas, which is only at Disneyland Park. Our last ride of the day was Space Mountain which is much smoother than Space Mountain at WDW. The Halloween overlay on Space Mountain at Disneyland called Ghost Galaxy is also phenomenal! 

At Disneyland Park there are two nighttime shows. The first one we went to was the park's fireworks show "Remember...Dreams Come True". I personally prefer Wishes over at WDW but this show was still great. Parts of the show was the same as Wishes with the classes music but was narrated by Mary Poppins instead of Jiminy Cricket. The show pays tribute to different parts of the park with music from the attractions such as the Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars. The show did include some pyrotechnics as well as at times 360 degree fireworks. What I did like about the fireworks at Disneyland better than Wishes at WDW is that Tinker Bell actually flies over and around the castle several times. Over at Disney World she only goes from the castle over into Tomorrowland. 

Immediately after the fireworks we made our way over to Frontierland to watch Fantasmic on the Rivers of America. At WDW Fantasmic is in Hollywood Studios and is an amazing show! On the other coast Fantasmic also does not disappoint. I actually enjoyed the Disneyland version better as well. The WDW version has a battle scene from Pocahontas which in Disneyland is actually changed to a fight on a ship between Peter Pan and Captain Hook (much cooler!). A couple of other sequences were also different. Near the end the dragon from Sleeping Beauty comes out onto the Stage but again the one at Disneyland is much better than the one over at Hollywood Studios. Either way both shows are amazing!! 

This concludes day one of our time at Disneyland. I was planning to do the entire two days in one post until I was half way through this one. I quickly realized it needs to be a 2 part blog!