Disneyland Farewell

I looked at our Disneyland passes the other day and realized they would be expiring shortly - June 2nd. Since we had Emma for the weekend, we thought it would be appropriate to make one last visit, since we wouldn't be renewing in the near future.

I prefer Disneyland in the evening - Fantasmic and the fireworks, all the early birds already dragging their tired children home, and not standing in the hot sun when in line. I looked at the schedule and found they were open until midnight, so we figured after dinner would be perfect. We left the house around 7:30, and still had plenty of time.

Although the park was quite busy, none of the lines we waited in were too long. We also tried to do things we didn't normally do. We started with Tarzan's Tree House, then took the train to Tomorrowland. We finally convinced Emma to go on the Matterhorn Bobsleds, and although she was very reluctant, by the time it was over she was chanting, "Lets go again!" Next was Space Mountain, another ride we have to practically drag into, although this time she wanted to go on that one again as well.

One ride we always go on is Star Tours. This time we loaded into the cabin, but the ride didn't start. We just sat there, locked in our seats (you can't release the seat belts), waiting for someone to start the ride. After a few minutes, an attendant finally came in, and explained that they were going to switch us to a different cabin. That took another few minutes or so, and once we finally switched, there was a family from the previous run looking under all the seats for a missing camera bag. When the ride finally started, all the passengers burst into applause. We had waited longer for the ride to start than we had in the line!

Although it had been open for nearly a year now, Bobby and I had yet to go on the new Finding Nemo submarine ride. Emma went on it when she came with her aunt, but Bobby and I never wanted to wait in the 70+ minute line. We really wanted to check it out before our passes expired, so we checked the line - it was only about 35 minutes.

Emma had told us that the ride wasn't worth the line; when she had gone on it with her aunt they had waited in line over 2 hours. After a slight panic feeling as we were going down, I have to say I really enjoyed it. The ride felt long (at least 10+ minutes, maybe even 15+ minutes), and the easy pace was nice. You essentially float around the lagoon and hear audio and see projected images on underwater screens that are blended into an underwater coral reef facade. I can imagine loving this ride on hot days, when you just want to be out of the sun in the cool cabin, or when you've been walking or standing for hours and just want to sit and rest.

When we got off of that ride, it was around 11:45, and we decided to call it a night. It had been a lovely, low stress visit, and we were all tired. Emma was asleep before we made it home.