Disneyland is the first theme park that I have visited. Disneyland is pretty big - I think it’s a bit bigger than the Adelaide Royal Showgrounds. It’s filled with lots of rides and souvenir shops. Unfortunately I lost the map and don’t have that as a memento and a reference for the rides we went on. However, we did go on most of the rides there.

I found the Star Tours ride (a Star Wars based ride - Lucasfilm must be a sponsor of Disney) a bit annoying. The 20 minute lineup (earlier in the day it was more than an hour long) guided us through a new age spaceport, where there were lots of posters and televisions advertising the moon of Endor (Ewok country) as a destination of travel. However, when we got on the ride (a film-ride, like the Venturer) the robot pilot announced that it’s his first time and instead of going on a tour to Endor to meet the lovable ewoks (as was advertised) we ended up crashing through the spaceport (apparently out of control - would be quite horrifying if it was actually real) and then escaping and getting trapped by a space cruiser’s guidance beam while TIE fighters roamed around. The hydraulic movements also weren’t syncronised with the screen… Oh well - it wasn’t the best ride.

The Cinderella castle tour was basically a tour of a dungeon underneith the castle and was quite freaky for many young kids. No castle tour in that - but the acting of the tour guide was fun enough
Other highlights were the spinning teacups, Haunted Mansion (great 3D video holograms of and other technical illusions), kids rollercoaster (we went on it twice, as the waiting queue was basically non-existant after sunset), Roger Rabbit ride and Splash Mountain (We got a photo of us going down it [scream!]). I also quite enjoyed the cartoony style of ToonTown.

When it got dark, there was not many lights to guide people along the footpaths and open areas. I also found some areas of rides very very dark (eg Haunted Mansion).

There was way too much Christmas stuff and songs. They were even singing Jingle Bells interwoven into “It’s a small world after all” in the It’s A Small World After All attraction. That ride is meant to be how everyone in the world can get along no matter the culture difference, but then they put christmas songs in the middle of it, and there’s no way that everyone in the world is a Christian and celebrates Christmas.

We got a few things there including personalised shot glasses, and might go again sometime in the new year.

When we got home my legs weren’t working. I’m 95% over the sickness, but I started getting chesty yesterday - I think that’s because of lack of sleep three days in a row and lots of delicious creamy cakes

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