Monday, Dec. 15th2008: Rainy Day at Disneyland

Alright, our second day at the parks. We woke up to a whole lot of rain coming down outside. At 8:45 we left the hotel, all wearing our supposedly-waterproof coats. We got to the monorail station and discovered that the monorail was temporarily closed (due to the rain, I assume). So we kept walking. We saw lots of sensible people turning back or wearing rain ponchos. We forged on, and by the time we got to the ticket booths, the kids were shivering and crying and we were all totally soaked to the bone. We stood under the monorail beam to get out of the rain a little and discuss options (though I unknowingly placed Abe—in his stroller—right under a heavy drip from the monorail beam). By 9:30, we were back in our hotel room, changing into dry clothes and trying to figure out what to do.
Amanda went down to one of the stores in the hotel and bought us all ponchos, and by 10:30, the rain had let up enough that we felt like braving the weather again, better-prepared and in better spirits. However, we left the cameras back at the hotel, since I was worried they’d get soaked. Therefore, photos and video today are all focused on our hotel room. So before re-capping the rest of the day, let’s look at the hotel:

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel’s Wonder Tower, which is the southern-most building at the hotel. While the hotel room was good, and the hotel itself was very cool-looking with some fun perks, it was definitely NOT worth the money. The room had 2 balconies we could look out from, which was nice. And the hotel elevator had some serious gut-wrenching g-forces.
The beds all had Sleeping Beauty Castle on the headboard:

And the bedspreads were decorated with images of Disneyland attractions:

Art on the walls were also of Disneyland rides:

The dresser/TV stand had the original concept of Disneyland etched into it:

The bathroom lamps were held by Mickey hands:

Things I didn’t get pictures of: The top of the room is circled with pixie dust and an image of Tinkerbell. When we turned off the lights at night, the pixie dust glowed in the dark. The design of the wallpaper in the bathrooms included drawings of topiary plants which looked like Disney Characters.
Outside our building was a collection of waterfalls, which you could walk around. I’ve included some video of them below. There was also an old-time, British-looking telephone booth, which Maddy got in, hoping it was an entrance to the Ministry of Magic (that’s a Harry Potter reference for you Muggles out there).

In the lobby of the Wonder Tower was a Christmas tree:

And out by the pool they have miniature Jungle Cruise boats that you can pilot if you buy tokens (We chose not to spend the $ on it):

OK, so really, except for some light sprinkles, the rest of the day wasn’t so bad, and we put the ponchos away later in the afternoon. But it sure did scare away the crowds. On Sunday, we spent almost 45 minutes waiting in line for and riding Toy Story Midway Mania; On Monday, we rode it twice within half an hour! We then rode King Triton’s Carousel three times while Amanda rode California Screamin’ twice within 15 minutes!
At noon we visited the Blue Sky Cellar, where they have displays showing the changes/new rides coming to California Adventure in the next few years. Then we headed over to Disneyland.
We had made Priority Seating reservations at the Carnation Café on Main Street a few weeks before the trip. We’d been wanting to eat there for a while (since we’d never been before and they supposedly have an awesome chicken pot pie). However, when we got there for our reservation, we found that the restaurant was closed due to the rain. Something about an open-air eatery not wanting to serve people at wet tables…oh well. So we went over to the Plaza Inn, where we enjoyed their delicious Fried Chicken meal. Here’s a picture I got off the internet of the meal (since we didn’t have our camera, remember?):

At 1:20, we walked through the re-done Sleeping Beauty Castle Diorama Walkthrough. It was alright—a minor diversion, to be sure. And the new Goons Corridor scared the kids, which is always fun.
1:50: It’s A Small World. Not only is the outside of the building decorated, as you saw in the previous post; the whole ride is decorated in native decor and costumes from the various countries, and the characters sing “Jingle Bells” along with singing the original Small World song. I’ll have video of some of that in the next post.
2:15: Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin
2:40: We took the train from ToonTown to New Orleans Square
3:05: Haunted Mansion Holiday
3:20: Pirates (again)
4:00: We got some snacks from the bakery—I got a giant cinnamon roll; Maddy got a pumpkin muffin; Abe and Joel each got a snowman cookie; I can’t remember what Amanda got, but the kids are thinking it was a brownie…
4:30: Amanda and Maddy rode Space Mountain while I took the boys on Buzz Lightyear twice.
5:05: We rode the Storybookland Canal Boats. Here again, they’ve decorated a few of the little houses with lights and Christmas trees, as well as a few poinsettias here and there.
At 5:30, we were near Small World and suddenly the lights went down and they projected snowflakes on the Small World building. Then it began to snow all around us. Now, this is Disneyland snow, made of finely-chopped soap bubbles, but it was so fun and spontaneous. (Again, we’ll have video of that next time—since we did it again on Tuesday). You’d think, coming from Utah, a snowfall wouldn’t be that cool, but it felt magical and Christmassy there at Disneyland.
5:35: Casey Jr. Circus Train
5:45: King Arthur Carousel
5:50: Snow White’s Scary Adventures
6:05: Maddy and Amanda rode Thunder Mt. while the boys and I rode—you guessed it—Pirates!
6:40: The Jungle Cruise. Let me tell you, I never thought the Jungle Cruise at night could be fun, but it really was. With it being dark, the skipper has to point a spotlight into the jungle to show the different sights, and it made it feel more like an adventure into the deepest regions of the jungle. I recommend it.
7:15: We got some chimichangas from a food cart, and ate them over at the Plaza Pavilion, next to Sleeping Beauty Castle. While there, we got to watch the castle light up, icicle lights draped all over the castle.
7:45: We took the monorail back to the hotel and went to bed.
Well, that does it for the 2nd day at the parks. Here’s a video of the rainy morning (and its results); then some video of the hotel waterfalls, lobby, and hotel room. Enjoy (and forgive my sniffling—it was cold and wet, ok?) , and we’ll be back next time with lots more Disneyland video, photos, and adventures!