Well, my wife's mom and her husband came into town for the dinner we had at the Napa Rose and had planned on spending the day with us today. We had an exciting day planned.
This day was an early admittance day for Disneyland Resort guests. So, we got up early. My wife showered and then we ran to the parks. We didn't get there quite at 7AM, but got there close. We were planning on meeting my mother-in-law and her husband for breakfast at 8AM.
My wife and I jumped on Peter Pan and got that out of the way. It was another checkmark on our master list of "must do" rides. After getting off Peter Pan we ran to the Matterhorn. It's a classic, but it's a very bumpy and jarring classic. I have to admit that it's been 2 or 3 years since I've ridden this ride, but it seems as if the ride has been cleaned up a bit. Plus, I didn't remember there being 2 Abominable Snowmen as I saw when I rode it this time.
By the time we got off this ride, my wife's phone was showing several missed phone calls from her mom. Apparently, they tried to see if their Annual Passes would've gotten them in early, but it didn't work. So, they were wanting us to run to the River Belle Terrace and order breakfast for all four of us. That way we wouldn't be late for our Tour.
We went to the River Belle Terrace and I got my usual pancakes, egg and sausage breakfast and my wife got the Mickey Mouse pancake.
After breakfast we needed to check-in for the "Walk in Walt's Footsteps" walking tour. I must say that this wasn't what I was expecting. After doing the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour at Walt Disney World in Orlando, this was anti-climatic.
If you aren't a Disney Fanatic who is subscribed to multiple podcasts and visits such Disney Communities such as Lou Mongello's Disney World Trivia, The Disney Geeks blog, Mouse Extra and various other sites (there are so many), you might actually learn something on the tour.
I was so, so, so bored, but I tried to keep it to myself. It's usually in the presence of my wife's family that my true Grumpy nature comes out. It's not deliberate, it just seems to happen that way.
I was already pretty familiar with everything we were being told and actually could expound on the details that were being given. To make matters worse we had a grandma on a motorized scooter that was just running people over and her grandson was asking inane questions to the tour guide ever 5 seconds. One thing that I did get to do that couldn't be satisfied by reading forum posts was getting to see the inside of the lobby of the elusive Club 33. By the way...... it's tiny.
We got a so-so lunch but the collectible pin was nice. After we got done with the 3.5 hour walking tour we got our tickets for our Preferred Seating for Fantasmic later that night.
After we got those details settled, my wife and I went back to our Hotel Room and her mom and husband went back to theirs. My wife took a quick nap before she had to meet her mom at the Spa at the Grand Californian for a Swedish Massage.
When she left for her massage, I went to Disney's California Adventure for a picture taking excursion. I killed a couple hours trying to find things to take pictures of to gain more experience with my camera.
Around 5:30PM, I met up with my mother-in-law's husband and we set out to figure out how to get checked in for the 9PM showing of Fantasmic!. I turned out that people started lining up at 6PM for a 7PM check-in time. We were 3rd in line, but the 2 people in front of me were representing 20 people. When you check-in you also pick which seats you want from a seating chart. We still got good front-row seats.
Before we got in line to check-in, we ate some Clam Chowder from New Orleans Square....yummy!
To kill time before the 9PM showing of Fantasmic! We went shopping. Well, my wife and her mom went shopping. I took pictures and annoyed everyone in my party because I "couldn't keep up"
We showed up at our Preferred Seating at 8:25PM and sat down. We were given a choice of drinks and a box of assorted desserts. The deserts were tasty, but not my speed. I'm strictly a chocolate dude! I had hot chocolate for my drink. Believe it or not, it was chilly and had been every night we were there.
I decided to give it a go with my 50mm lens that I bought. I tried with my other lens on the first night and most didn't turn out. This time it seems like I may have gotten a good shot or two, but I'll have to do some cropping to get it to look large enough.
After Fantasmic! was done, we were allowed to stay in the Preferred Seating area for the Fireworks. I didn't have my tripod but I was going to give it a go. I really won't know how those turned out until I get them onto a bigger monitor.
After the fireworks, we walked around a bit to allow the crowds at the entrance/exit to die down and then headed back to our room for some much needed rest.
By this time my feet are killing me!
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