I hadn't been to Disneyland in several years - I think my last visit was in December 2011 with my friend Michelle who was here from Texas. Consequently, several rides had undergone renovations since I'd been on them, and I can honestly say they were all better than before.
Big Thunder Mountain railroad is my all-time favorite ride. It's followed very closely by Space Mountain, the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion. Within the last year, Big Thunder Mountain has undergone a complete refresh including replaced track, added visual and audio components and overall a higher degree of sensory overload. I don't think there was much of the structure of the ride that was actually changed, but there were significantly (in my opinion) more animatronic decorative aspects to view. In fact, in watching the video below, I realized there were a few things I missed or didn't fully appreciate during the ride.
Space Mountain is always great. The ride broke down briefly just before our Fast Pass time, but we waited for about ten minutes and it opened right up. I would say our total wait time in line was probably less than ten minutes, and most of that was us walking through the ropes to get to the actual line.
The Matterhorn was out of operation this weekend, which was a bit of a bummer. Although, with the wet, drizzly weather, it's unlikely that we'd have enjoyed sitting on damp seats and getting our butts cold and wet.
Pirates of the Caribbean was different from the last time I was on it in that they had toned down much of the movie's influence on the ride. For a while, Davy Jones was projected onto a smoke screen at the very beginning prior to the first drop. I'm very happy to report it's gone and guests are again greeted by the skull and crossbones giving its original message. Bravo to Disney for changing the ride back (mostly) to its original glory.
Ali, Brock and his girlfriend, Gabi, had never seen the Haunted Mansion when it's decorated for The Nightmare Before Christmas. They were really into the attention to detail and the great care taken by the imagineers to completely overhaul the ride. I told them we're lucky they could see it because the decorations go up in September and come down in January, taking the ride offline for several weeks each time.
One ride I was really impressed by was Radiator Springs Racers. Talk about some really talented design and engineering. Apparently the wait time for the ride can exceed four hours, but when we arrived it was just over 60 minutes and we opted to go in the Single Rider line which was less than a ten minute wait. Score! For those of you, like me, who haven't been on it yet, enjoy this awesome video:
The ride I disliked the most was California Screamin' and let me tell you, we rode it enough times for me to be sure. The first time, it was raining and the water was literally pelting me in the face. Ugh. The second time, the forces against my body caused my head to hurt and my stomach to become unsettled. The third time, I opted out and let the kids go instead. I have no interest in riding that again, certainly not when I'm feeling headache coming on from the outset.
We also rode the Tower of Terror, which I enjoyed more than I did the last time I was on it. Now, that's not really saying much because last time I refused to ride it more than once. This time, I was a little more prepared for the general plan, but still, it wasn't my cup of tea. I don't like being so disoriented with the pitch black and the falling, rising and quickly falling again. It really unsettles my stomach.
All in all, it was a great weekend trip to The Happiest Place on Earth, especially given that the weather was a little less than ideal and that kept the lines shorter than they could have been. We definitely enjoyed ourselves and Ali said it was a great way to spend her birthday.
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