Our Disneyland Trip: Day Four

Today, Disneyland was the park available for early entry. The extra hour didn't go to plan. I know all of the Fantasyland dark rides get really long lines due to their limited capacities. We headed to the Matterhorn first because Eli has been bugging me nonstop about riding it since we got here. After waiting a few minutes for it to open for the day, they announced it would be opening later. We headed to Peter Pan's Flight and its line was already back to Sleeping Beauty Castle. I knew it wouldn't get any better so we got in line anyways. By the time we got off, the remainder of the Fantasyland rides had lines. We should have darted to Peter Pan and then hit as many of the other rides as possible.

The Matterhorn was open though and got our ride on it. We rode on the Tomorrowland side. The ride was a little rough, but it's not like it is Mean Streak. I enjoyed it. I got Fast Passes for Space Mountain. We still had over an hour before they were good. We all rode It's A Small World. I am going to be bold here and admit, I like It's A Small World. I know everyone makes fun of it, but I think it is a very well designed ride. The colors are fantastic and I know that even though it is ridiculed, the song is a very clever composition from the Sherman Brothers. As far as the difference between the two versions, I prefer Florida's flooded rooms as opposed to the flume chute of Disneyland's. I had also forgotten about the Disney characters that were added to the ride. For the most part they didn't bother me. I really don't think they are needed. The one exception was the Little Mermaid. I thought that addition was intrusive and very out of place in the ride.

We took a stroll through Toontown and rode Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. The boys haven't seen the movie yet, so I had to explain a lot to them. Our Fast Passes were ready and we headed to Space Mountain. It has its Halloween Ghost Galaxy overlay right now. I wasn't happy about that, but it turned out all right. I was very surprised by Space Mountain. I prefer the queue and setting of the Florida ride, but the actual coaster is superior at Disneyland. It was smooth, fast and very thrilling. Just like the WDW ride which has its largest drop in the middle of the ride, Disneyland's version does likewise. It is a great drop also. The audio track blasting from the in-car speakers also adds tremendously to the ride.

The boys and I also enjoyed the new Star Tours. I thought the 3D effect was marginal and the storyline was just as incomprehensible as the old Star Tours. Still it is a fun ride and Jonah loved every minute of it.

We ate lunch at The Hungry Bear Restaurant. While walking completely across the park takes a long time in Florida, it only takes minutes here. I had the Fried Green Tomato sandwich with sweet potato fries and it was delicious. The sandwich was recommended by Touring Plans on their YouTube channel. Touring Plans has been very beneficial for this trip and I recommend anyone heading to either Disney park to buy a subscription. It is very reasonable. The phone app has helped determine what ride to hit next many times already for us.

Bethany and Jonah headed back to the room and Eli and I stayed in the park to hit a few rides. I got 4 Fast Passes for Splash Mountain before Bethany and Jonah left. This allowed us to ride it twice in a row without waiting. I told Eli it was the best log flume and he agreed. He loved it. I thought it was definitely not as good as the Florida version. The WDW version is longer and its Laughing Place sequence is far superior. We also took another ride on Pirates and the Fantasyland side of The Matterhorn. The Tomorrowland side is better.

We headed back to the hotel taking the Omnibus down Main Street. I used to drive this monster when I worked at Walt Disney World. It was a pain. You had to start the thing in second gear and it is amazing how people don't think to get out of the way of a double decker bus that is heading right at you.

After a short break at the room, we headed out to dinner. We went to Trader Sam's at The Disneyland Hotel. It is a small Tiki Bar and it was great. We all shared a few appetizers and I had to have some tropical concoction. I had a Krakatoa Punch with a take home tiki glass. The atmosphere was incredible. It was like a small piece of The Adventurer's Club lived on in a tropical setting. If I lived here, I would frequent often.

We rode the monorail back into the park and after much coaxing by us three boys, we convinced Bethany to ride The Subs with Nemo. The storyline made absolutely no sense, but the effects were very good and it was nice riding a sub again so may years after 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea was sabotaged by Magic Kingdom management.

We capped off the night in the park with a Dole Whip and The Enchanted Tiki Room. I prefer the Citrus Swirl in Florida, but being able to enjoy the Dole Whip while watching the show is great. Rolly Crump's tiki garden outside is very cozy and it is nice to enjoy the longer show still in California as opposed to the truncated version in Florida. By the way, I love the Tiki Room.