Disneyland Everyday

 I once rode Indiana Jones and got to sit as the driver of the Jeep.  That was my favorite time riding this ride. With a bit of imagination I made like I was actually driving.  It made the ride so fun for me!  This is one of few rides where Disney made the line kinda cool.  The bulk of the lines we wait in are switch-backs marked with chains covered in germs. Now if they could keep the ride from breaking down so much...

 Jumpin' Jellyfish is a ride that some of the kids think they like.  For some reason, we keep going on this ride. Here's proof:

 Merch at the park is expensive, but still fun to play with! Here's Trevor holding a bear-type animal from that one movie.  You know the one. I like to get a magnet every time we go.  I don't have pictures of the magnets from every trip, but here's a few: Have you noticed that for most of the newer rides there's a gift shop at the end of the ride? Like, you have to walk through the ride-themed gift shop to get back out and on to the next ride.  That is a smart move by Disney.  You have the time of your life on a ride and while the endorphins are still flowing you find yourself in a gift shop looking at all kinds of great trinkets that would be awesome reminders of how much fun you just had.

 Little Mermaid is a good ride. A few years ago I asked Kaiden if he had a guilty pleasure ride at Disneyland.  He said Little Mermaid.  I wasn't sure if he knew what I meant.  Not only did he know, but he didn't hesitate to answer!  It's certainly not a manly ride, but it is good.  The ride is 7 minutes long, which is nice because you get to sit down for 7 minutes.  The clam shell cars are comfortable.  The climate control is on point. The music takes me back to my childhood.  All good things.

 This is the dumbest post on this blog.  It's about Luigi's Rollickin' Roadsters.  I've never been on this ride.  Dad has, though: This is the only picture I have of this ride.  Is it good?  It must not be great or we would talk about it more.

Today is Titan's birthday.  Happy birthday!  I have a few pictures here that show just how much he loves Disneyland.  Take a look:

 This ride's official name is Matterhorn Bobsleds.  The immortal words spoken by Patti after she rode this ride for the first time: "I think it shook my liver loose." She did not enjoy the ride.  I mean, she did, but she found out what we already knew: it's a rough ride.  It's cool, but rough. You know who likes it? Brandon! You know who else likes the ride? Lissa! Now, even though the ride is just okay, the photo ops are outstanding!  It's an icon, everyone recognizes the Matterhorn mountain at Disneyland. Here are a few more pics, just because:

 It has been a few days since we last saw a post about all the wonderful snacks the park offers.  Lissa and her family have tried most of the snacks.  Zac once got a churro at nearly every churro cart in Disneyland. I've said it before and I'll say it again: a large part of why I like to go is the snacks! One thing I want to clear up is the difference between a macaron and a macaroon.  First, notice the spelling.  One little "o" has led to so much confusion.  Let this blog post be your guide as you try to learn the difference between two snacks. A macaron is a sweet meringue-based confection made with egg white, icing sugar, granulated sugar, almond meal, and food coloring. A typical Parisian-style macaron is presented with a ganache, buttercream, or jam filling sandwiched between two cookies.  Here is an example: Now let's consider the macaroon. A macaroon is a small cake, typically made from ground almonds, coconut, or other nuts.  Disneyland us...

 Until Lissa and crew discovered the Toy Story parking area we would always park in the Mickey and Friends parking garage and ride the giant escalators to the tram. You may be wondering why I'm doing a post about the parking area.  Yeah, me too.  Maybe because when we get to the parking it starts to feel really exciting because we're about to enter the park. The garage holds 10,500 cars.  More cars than in all of Blanding! It's good to get there early.  If you do, you get to park out in a regular parking lot, next to the Mickey garage.  That means you don't get to ride the escalators, but you are really close to the trams. It's also a good idea to take a picture by the pillar where you leave your car.  The structure has several levels and they all look the same.  The place is huge and if you're not paying attention it's really easy to lose your car!

 Today we're going to look at some fun pictures. First up is a picture of the castle that I took way back on our first trip.  I like the picture because I think it's good.  I also like it because it reminds me of my old boss, Scooter Howell.  He wasn't too happy that I was going to Disneyland for a week and on our first morning, while we were taking pictures by the castle, he texted me asking for some spreadsheet or something. I took this picture and sent it to him, along with an explanation that his precious spreadsheet would have to wait until later! Next up is another picture from the first time we went.  This time we're eating pizza and spaghetti at the worst restaurant in the park: Alien Pizza Planet.  We wound up eating here because we were going to ride Space Mountain and this place is right by that ride, and some of our kids were getting intolerably hangry.  I spilled my blue Powerade on my pizza.  A few hours later Jenna started throwing ...

This is a fun ride.  I love that you break the law, go to court, go to hell, and die.  It's a great ride!

 This is arguably the most lame ride in all of Disneyland. I say it's arguably the lamest because there are a couple of other rides that rival this one.  If you can think of one please let me know in the comments. Here's a bit about the ride: first of all, when I was a kid I thought the submarines really went under water, until we waited in line and I saw that they don't go under AT ALL.  The ride lasts 13 minutes and 45 seconds. The subs hold 40 people each.  Don't get in this ride if you are claustrophobic-you will freak out a bit.  What I do like about the ride is looking at the lake, with the birds and stuff.  I think it looks cool: Here's one where we're actually on the ride:

 Peter pan is a rail-suspended dark ride that most people like.  I think it's just okay.  It feels cool, like you're flying.  The ride is only 2 minutes long.  It makes sense to ride this one before or after Mr. Toad's because they are right next to each other. That's about all I have to say about this one.

  The ride tells the story of a band of pirates in the  West Indies  islands around the  Caribbean Sea  in the 17th and 18th centuries with the saga of their voyages, troubles, and exploits. The original version of the ride opened at Disneyland  in 1967, and was the last ride whose construction was envisioned and personally overseen by  Walt Disney , who died three months before it opened. The ornate initials of Walt Disney and  Roy Disney  (W.D. and R.D.) can be seen entwined in the wrought iron railings above the ride's entrance at Disneyland. I have not noticed this.  If I think of it, I will look for it the next time we go. An overhead sign at the boat dock names it for the famous pirate  Jean Lafitte  (although his name is spelled  Laffite  as the pirate himself originally spelled it, rather than with the English spelling which has now become standard), who fought alongside the U.S. Army at the  Battle of Ne...

 Rise of the Resistance is a great ride. It's one of my favorites, for sure.  It is done really well and it's really cool.  The ride is a combined trackless dark ride, a walk-through, a motion simulator, and a drop ride system.  In other words, it has everything you want in a ride. At one point in the ride we get arrested by the First Order.  Brandon doesn't seem too alarmed by the fact that he's about to be ushered into a holding cell. One part of the ride that I think is really cool is during the walk-through.  As you know, I don't like attractions where you just walk, because all we do in the park is walk, but this one is good.  The walking part is part of the ride and part of the story.  Seeing the storm troopers is awesome! Here's one more video:

This is the best ride in Disney California Adventure.  It's so fun!  It's fast.  It has big drops and fast turns.  It goes upside down.  It makes me sick to ride it.  It's too much motion.  But it's so dang fun!  On one trip I rode it a few times in a row.  Never again.  I can ride it once and that's all I can do.  When we go this fall I will ride it.  I will love it.  I will ride it once and once only.