It was a very different experience walking through first thing in the morning on a Sunday instead of the previous Saturday night!  There were people, but it was not overly busy at all!

I’m So HAPPY!!!

I was literally bubbling with excitement as I entered the park, walked down Main Street USA and saw Sleeping Beauty Castle for the first time during the day!  Jason kept laughing at me because I had this crazy smile plastered on my face!!! It wasn’t just me either.  Everyone around us was very happy too.  There was even singing… no kidding, someone was singing songs from the movies to entertain us all while we waited.

First stop… Indiana Jones!

We arrived about 30 minutes before the park opened at the gates of Adventureland as our first stop was planned to be the Indiana Jones Adventure ride.  They make the announcement and we all make a mad dash under the sign and into the jungle.  I love walking into each land in that they all have a very unique feel.  As soon as you enter Adventureland, the sounds of the jungle surround you.  It sounds like there are bugs buzzing everywhere and the music has a distinct jungle sound to it also.

We make our way through the crowds…  Have you ever noticed that no one ever hits the Enchanted Tiki Room at rope drop???  And walk up to the entrance of Indiana Jones… and it’s down!  So we switch gears and go to get a FastPass instead.  Just kidding, the ride is up again!  So back to the main line we go and we dash through the queue in no time at all.  This is what I LOVE about rope drop!  Walking on a ride that normally has an extremely long wait!

First, let me say how detailed this queue is!  You are walking through a cave and it really feels and sounds like a cave with dripping water and bats… yeah bats.  Well, not real bats, but you can hear batty squeaks, so you think there are bats around you.

This ride was a great as we expected it to be!  The track is the same as Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom, but the story is 1000 times better.  I loved the different rooms you traveled through as the story was told.  And it was great how the giant boulder appears to be rolling right at you and it feels like you are having blow darts shot at you.  So much fun and what a perfect first ride of the day!!!

999 Happy Haunts

Since we began with a ride unique to Disneyland, our second was a classic we know and love… Haunted Mansion.  Each Disney park has a Haunted Mansion and each is very similar on the inside but vastly different on the outside!  The Magic Kingdom version we are used to is in Liberty Square so the mansion looks like a house in old New England.  But the Disneyland version is in Orleans Square, so the house looks like an antebellum home in the Garden District of New Orleans.

There are differences on the inside as well.  Once you make it through the ‘stretching room’ there is a walking path before entering the doom buggies with lots of interesting tid bits to view.  The ballroom scene, which is my favorite, had some different ghosts than what I am used to, but I loved the differences!  And of course, there is the HatBox Ghost!  Upon exiting Haunted Mansion, we felt at home (being from Louisiana) with the Jazz music playing all around us.

Keep the thrills coming!

We head into Frontierland to grab a FastPass for Big Thunder Mountain, but the wait time was so short, we just hopped on instead.  There is something to be said for roller coasters in the morning… it just sets the right tone for the day.  Jason even says it is better than coffee.  I will have to take his word for it since I don’t drink coffee though.

I have always loved this ride and it is my favorite coaster at Magic Kingdom.  We were told that the Disneyland version is better… and it is!  Climbing up the track into the mountain with sparkling TNT trails all around you ending in an explosion… yeah the Magic Kingdom revision has nothing on this!

Back to Adventureland

Since this was our first trip, we decided taking the park one land at a time might be a good idea.  So we head back to Adventureland to see if we can ride all of the rides, visit the Tiki Room, have classic snacks, etc.

First stop is for a Dole Whip Float.  Because it is not truly Adventureland until you have a Dole Whip!  The Dole Whip stand is right outside of the Enchanted Tiki Room… and they let you bring it inside!!!  YAY!  So treat in hand, we grab a spot for the next show.  We listen to the birds tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet, tweet and the tiki gods roar as we enjoy our tangy pineapple goodness. This show is so underrated too if you think back to the technology in the 1950’s, it is truly amazing!

Climbing a tree?

If you want amazing views of the park, then climb to the top of Tarzan’s Tree House!  Of course, it is not a real tree, but they did a great job of the tree bark an leaves looking real.  There are cute elements all through that tell the story of Tarzan from the Disney movie.  I really loved the sounds.  You can hear baby Tarzan as he swings through the trees along with the growls of panthers and the snorts of elephants.  There are some great photo ops at the end once you have made it back to ground level with a playground for kids and some beautiful landscaping.

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The funniest skipper ever!

Next up, a ride on the World Famous Jungle Cruise.  We timed it perfectly and it was a walk on!  As we board for our adventure tour, our skipper tells us to watch our arms and legs and kids… because he won’t.  If you have ever ridden the Jungle Cruise, you will know the unique humor of the skippers.  Some are ok, some are not funny at all and some have you cracking up even after you have gotten off.  We had the latter, he was hilarious!

I could put more of his puns in this post, but they just aren’t the same unless you hear them on the ride.  The best though was when we were getting off.  He tells us to watch our heads, but if we hit our heads then watch our mouths… there are literally kids EVERYWHERE!  Yeah, maybe you had to be there, but he was funny!

We got off and were just laughing and laughing.  By far the best ride ever on Jungle Cruise!!!

We conquered Adventureland!!!

What a great morning in Disneyland!!!  We managed to cross everything off the list in Adventureland!  Indiana Jones Adventure… check.  Jungle Cruise… check.  Enchanted Tiki Room… check.  Dole Whip… check.  Tarzan’s Tree House… check.  I call that a success!

On to Fantastyland…

If a picture says a thousand words, then a video says a million!  Here are our adventures from this morning:

Want to see more from this trip?  Here is the full Disneyland & Disney California Adventure playlist.

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Thanks,

Alisa

EECC Travels

The post First Trip to Disneyland – Rope Drop & Conquering Adventureland- Day 2: Part 1 appeared first on EECC Travels.

We begin our adventure

After some crazy heavy rain in Louisiana on our way to the airport in New Orleans, it was clear sailing from there. And when I say clear, I mean EVERYTHING went right for us!  First off we park in the garage in the airport and get a spot super close to the elevators.  Then we make it through security with basically no line at all.  We walk into the terminal and ours is the first gate on the left… no searching, no waiting… It was the best airport experience we have ever had.  Since we are very cautious we arrived very early and with the ease of getting through the airport, we had a couple of hours to kill before the flight.  So we stocked up on flight snacks and relaxed.

This was our first time for a lot of things on this trip… first to Disneyland… first to California and first flying with Spirit. We were nervous because it is a budget airline with mixed reviews, but we had a fantastic experience.  It was a four-hour flight from LA to LA… It’s not often you can say that but what I mean is Louisiana to Los Angeles.  We flew over parts of this beautiful country that we had never seen before.  We saw desert and mountains the likes of nothing imaginable in flat, wet Louisiana… it was amazing!  

California baby!

Once we arrived in LA, we quickly grabbed our bags, grabbed an Uber and headed to Anaheim to start our magical adventure!

After we arrived at our hotel, that was in walking distance from the parks, we dropped our bags and grabbed a bite to eat next door at Coco’s,  With full tummies, we walked for the first time over to Disneyland!  Where we were staying, the Best Western Stovall Inn, was on the back side of Disney California Adventure with an incredible view of Paradise Pier including California Screamin’ and Mickey’s Fun Wheel (also known to us as Mickey’s Death Wheel)… But this is not the park we were heading to first, we had to go to Disneyland!  

Downtown Disney 

From the angle we entered, we walked through Downtown Disney to be able to enter the parks.  We quickly make it through security and walk into the huge crowd of people on a Saturday night… in June… in Disney… Luckily we came expecting this crowd level so we made our way through without a second thought.

This area is teeming with life and people everywhere.  There are so many shops and restaurants but right now we walk on past.  We do stop to catch some of the live music that catches our eyes and ears.  It does a great job to get us excited for what is to come. 

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Thanks,
Alisa
EECC Travels

The post Disneyland Through the Eyes of a First Timer appeared first on EECC Travels.