We haven't been to Disneyland since early December when we saw the "snow" on Main Street. Michael's water polo schedule coupled with his class at Moorpark College have just made the trek to Anaheim too much of a PITA to deal with.
So Michael's water polo season is finally over, and we've been seeing commercials like crazy for the two roller coasters with new music--California Screamin' and Space Mountain. Zoe has proclaimed "Space" as her new favorite ride of both parks, and Michael and I were really curious to see which songs a place like Disney could actually use (what no "Catholic School Girls Rule" or "Californication" or "Suck My Kiss"?).
I will have to remember not to attempt the drive on the Friday of a holiday weekend, because traffic stunk. We did stop at the Citadel for a few minutes because when it takes two hours just to get to Commerce, you begin to wonder if the bathroom stop you made hours earlier would hold up. But we arrived just at 6 pm, and the park was as crowded as we predicted. For the kids across the country that get a week off in February for no reason, they sure picked a great place to be this week--the 85 degree weather in SoCal is the stuff that fills U-Hauls.
We wandered over to Soarin, and there were no fast passes, and a 70 minute wait. The great thing about annual passes, is we get to be pretty picky about ride lines. We decided we'll do that another time. At Mulholland Madness we got the happy surprise that Zoe is officially as tall as she needs to be--finally. And she loved it. The child is a little daredevil, so long as it's all done on her terms. No biggie, I'd rather wait and have her on board than try to push like the idiots we saw later taking a toddler screaming onto Matterhorn. Zoe wanted to go on it again immediately (always a good sign), but given our timeline for both parks, we convinced her to hold that idea for our next visit.
We did do California Screamin' with its new soundtrack, "How Long" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Since Zoe needed a good six inches before she was eligible, I didn't feel bad about her not riding it. She might be near college before that happens, but hopefully she'll get a growth spurt and surprise us all. It was definitely smoother than the last time I remember riding it, but now I've ridden it, I wouldn't wait in anything but the single rider line for more than 10 minutes for it.
We went over to Disneyland because I had heard (and had a strong hunch) that Space Mountain would be a bigger issue. We usually get Fast Passes, but someone in line at Screamin' said they had a Fast Pass for 11 pm, and it was pretty clear we'd be in the Stand by line. All I can say is it was worth the hour. It's a completely different ride. Michael and I had pretty much guessed that "Higher Ground" would be a song for one of the two rides, and we guessed right. The DJ/announcer was a great surprise--Joe Benson. When was the last time I listened to KLOS, 1990? Inside, I could see the track, and the lights flashing and moving pictures showing all over the walls made me think this would be a great year round attraction. I'll settle for it during the winters, though.
We'll definitely be going back soon--not sure if we can swing next week or not. But Zoe's birthday is coming up, but we'll try for one more visit before then.
Gotta split,
Angel
