Hooray for Hollywood....

Well, today was going to be a day of firsts for me… I had planned to see Hollywood when I first arrived, but as we know, that got cancelled, so I was really excited to finally see those big white letters perched high on a hilltop where dreams are made.

Like a lot of little girls, I fancied myself as a famous actress in Hollywood for a good 10 years of my childhood, but just being on this hallowed ground as an adult with half a lifetime under now under my belt, this will be as close as I get at this point.

So the day started early as they tended to do, and in already scorching heat, dressed in unison in our ‘Travel Dominatrix’ shirts we boarded our bus for the trek through the LA traffic and over those massive, eye-popping, 4 lane over passes that surely must the be hardest thing in the world to navigate, and arrived right on time out the front of Universal Studios with the help of our favourite driver Don.

Naturally, the first stop was to take a gazillion photos of the iconic Universal Studios globe while it rotates in the mist – which sounds easy, but getting it with Australia in the right spot, and without other tourists proved a trial, but me being me, I persevered and ended up with a few shots I was happy with.

This place was not high on my list of must do’s but it turned out to be a fun day of things that I really didn’t expect.

We trouped through the turnstiles and made a long B-line through much of the upper level of the park, towards the corralling area to board the bus for the Studio Tour – and even at the beginning of the day, the lines were formidable.   But one thing that Universal has ALL over Disney is the misting bars that are in most of the outdoor areas.  With this glorious mist of cool water periodically landing on your shoulders it made the wait bearable and before too long, we were aboard the convoy of little trollies and off to see where magic is made.

Now while this is a long tour, it’s a very interesting one if you love movies like I do.  Many of the sets were recognisable from both TV and movies and it was cool to see them IRL.  Down Wisteria Lane we went, past a small chunk of Whoo-ville, through the carnage of War of the Worlds, past the clock tower from Back to the Future, down ‘any street’ New York and other sets that could be any town in any part of Europe.  We drove past the huge warehouse sets of Pitch Perfect and Guys with kids, and through a VERY scary 4D King Kong recreation with dinosaurs fighting 20 foot spiders, not to mention the gorilla himself throwing themselves at the trollies and making us lurch like nobodies business.  We saw the massive green screen with lawn all over the base of it, which when filled with water, was used to film a lot of the last Pirates of the Caribbean offering.  And that blew me away that such a boring bit of nothing could become cinematic wonder.   Jaws, of course, leapt out of the water to take a crack in interestingly, the same set where Murder She Wrote was filmed.  A wall of water hurtled towards us on a back street to nowhere, conveniently stopping before we got soaked. 

But the best part of the tour was by far the times when we were told in no uncertain terms to be ‘quiet on the set’ as we passed through the filming area for ‘Saving Mr Banks’ which for me as a massive Disney fan, was a real treat to see the extra’s in costumes and some of the set pieces. 

After the tour, we explore the lower part of the lot, as the Park is split into two parts, one part on top of the hill and the other way down a lot of steep escalators to more rides and exhibits below.  We started at the Jurassic Park ride, which when queried about the ‘get wet level’ I was informed that it was ‘nothing more than a sprinkle’ and I trustingly loaded into the second row with other equally ignorant first timers. 

Now, while the ride was interesting, and yes fun, given I am a big fan of the movies, the end bit is literally a tidal wave and I climbed off that ride soaked to the skin, but more devastatingly, with wet hair and makeup running down my cheeks.

Drowned rat-like.

I was not happy.

So after a lengthy drying session in front of the hand dryers in the ladies, I emerged recovered, and ready for lunch.

From here, we split up and explored, me going in and seeing all the movie props that I so love, and a big chunk of the others riding The Mummy ride – which given that I hate the movie, was not going to happen.

Meeting back up at the Transformers ride we rode as single riders – the regular line went on into next week – and it was SO GOOD that I promptly threw myself back into the single rider line and did it again.  AWESOME doesn’t cover it, and hands down, my favourite ride of ALL TIME.  Brilliant in its execution and so immersive that it was hard to tell you were not actually part of the scene.  Loved it with a capital L.

After a quick photo op with Optimus Prime, it was time to hit the associated gift shop, and just enough time to do the Shrek 4D experience on the upper level before meeting back up the City Walk shopping mall outside the park.

The Shrek show was fun, but the waiting area was a bit freaky.  All in the dark, in the quiet, rather like hundreds of herded cattle.   I couldn’t help the scene from Twilight where tourists were rounded up in Rome to be lunch for the vampires in the catacombs popping into my head, and just as that thought was really starting to take hold, they opened the doors and we took our seats for the show… just in time… I have a vivid imagination.

The funniest part of the show was when the spiders ran across the floor ( or felt like it) I was too short for my feet to reach the floor in the special seats, so I missed that bit all together – which I was delighted about.

Out of the park, I wandered down the outdoor mall of City Walk and as always over here, I marvelled at the array of stores.  After dining at the famous Pinks Hot Dogs ( which I probably won’t do again as it was just ok, but you gotta do it right?  cos its an institution over here) I shopped a while, buying souvenirs and a Hollywood Hard Rock Café T shirt – as you do.

Back at the bus, we boarded for our night tour of Hollywood BLVD and Rodeo Drive.

This was also a bucket list moment for me.  Just walking along the Boulevard of dreams seeing all those stars was a highlight for me… and while Hollywood is a bit seedy at that time of the night, we were fortunate enough to be there right as the premier of Disneys new movie Frankenweenie, with some of our number seeing Tim Burton himself.  I was more focused on getting as many stars in my camera as possible.  Old Hollywood has an endless fascination with me, and the stars I ended up taking photos of reflected that.  Along with Drew Barrymore, I also found Ethel Barrymore – her great Aunt.  Along with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis, Marilyn Monroe and a great deal more.    These are the people I still think of when you say Hollywood… They built this town. 

In all my fervour to photograph famous stars on the walk, I really didn’t give Graumans Chinese Theatre as much attention as I wish I had now. 

Back on the bus just in time, we headed for Rodeo Drive, and drooled over shops that most of us will likely not visit again or be able to afford to shop in.

I love fashion, and while I did recognise most of the labels, it impressed me less than I expected it to… which I guess is a good thing.

After the long drive back, it was time to hit the hay because another big day was just around the corner… just enough time to eat the delicious cake pop that Sandie gave me and off to sleep. 

And I did see those Hollywood letters, from a very misty distance out of windows on the other side of the bus… so that is still on my bucket list to do properly.  

Iconic shot of the globe

Our girls and our shirts - note that most say "I' m with"  but one says" I am the Travel Dominatrix" - that would be our leader.

set for Tokyo Drift

Believe it or not - this is where they filmed much of Pirates of the Caribbean on Stranger Tides. 

Odd pic I know, but these are the escalators up to the top level of the park.

Jurassic Park ride

Amazing but freaky window treatment on Rodeo Dve - these were ceramic

Stupid is as Stupid does...

Well, I’m kind of starting where I mean to finish today, with the title being a fav quote from a movie that I have always loved… ok, well, yes, when its on the TV … again… I do tend to roll my eyes and utter something like ‘again?’… but I always end up watching it because it is a landmark movie.

I’m referring of course, to Forrest Gump… and ultimately the lovely dinner we had at Bubba Gumps -  a direct spin off from the movie.

But before I get too far ahead of myself, lets go back to the beginning to see what happened today before all that shrimp was consumed…

As was the  case with all the other days, today dawned hot, hot, hot, and the girls all split up doing various activities… some headed to the County Fair, others went on an LA tour and still others – including myself – had factored in a ‘rest’ day…

But ‘rest’ is a misnomer in this instance, because while I did move through the day at a more leisurely pace, it was anything but restful.  So I hit the parks early as I’d intended, but today was different in that I wandered at a slower pace, taking a billion photos of window treatments, inside shops and other details I knew I’d want to remember.  I ‘did’ the whole of Main Street, shopping as I went, and stood for a good while deciding if I were going to have a caramel apple or not…but this time not – I’ll grab one on the way out of the park. 

From here my aim was to ‘do’ Tomorrowland  so I boldly went where I hadn’t been (yet) before and rode Star Tours, Buzz Lightyear  - not quite reaching my high score from last time – and then lunched at the only burger joint left in the park.

Then it was a quick whirl on the Nemo Subs ( and as always, the fake Aussie accents annoyed me) and then Fast Passed Space Mountain.  

Now this is usually a top 3 ride for me, but with the ghost overlay for Halloween, it was way downright scary and my screams were of genuine terror as I flew through the dark at break neck speed with ghostly fiery red bony hands clawing at me as I passed. 

Nup… once was enough till next time. 

So what would counteract the shaking as I exited that ride?  Small World of course… dolls and a repetitive song ( and air conditioning)  was just what the doctor ordered. 

Now I know this ride can drive people to distraction, but I love it, and it was closed last time I visited, so I enjoyed this immensely.  On my way out, I decided to line up and meet and greet Merida ( from Brave) and a scorching half hour in 40C sun later, I had my photo taken and was on my way… only I was disappointed that a strong New Yorker accent greeted me rather than the Scottish one I’d been expecting.

Hot and bothered I made my way to get a Dole whip, but the line for this delectable pineapple sorbet was longer than most rides and after half an hour of the line not moving, I left it still overheated and went and rode the teacups – my all time fav ride.

Now somehow in my heat affected state, I ended up at the Big Thunder Ranch, and wandered around here watching the pumpkin carvers making magic happen from a vegetable I detest and listening to the bluegrass band who were hilarious and fabulous all at the same time.

Goofy and Donald were there entertaining the kids and in their Halloween get ups – which turned out to be the only time I saw them dressed this way.  

As I made my way back to Adventureland, to ride the Jungle Cruise, I stumbled across a little area decorated for Dia de los Muertos… Day of the Dead, which is a Mexican holiday celebrating the lives of those gone before, held the day after Halloween.   The bright colours of this display were just gorgeous and I plan to celebrate this holiday when I get home too, cos it struck a chord with me. 

After a very long hot wait and a quick ride on the Jungle Cruise, it was back to the hotel for a bit of internet time catching up with family and friends,  then off to walk with the girls the 1K to Bubba Gumps. 

I really loved this restaurant – the food was great, our servers were a lot of fun and the drinks were sparkly.

All of the Aussie girls presented our one American traveller with a mountain of Tim Tams – which aren’t readily available in the US - and Sandie was presented with gifts from the girls for all her hard work arranging our trip. 

After almost buying out the gift store, we walked off our desserts by trekking back… all except Sandie who got to hoon home on Pats motor scooter… mono’s were not out of the realms of possibilities it seemed. 

did I remember to get one of these beauties?  umm.... nup :(

C3PO on Star Tours

Out the window on the Subs  ... recognise this little poppet from Nemo?

Its a Small World... love that ride

you're hearing the song now right?

Just one of the many Halloween inspired decos in Disneyland - this one at Big Thunder Ranch

Goofy hammin' it up at BT Ranch.

And Donald gets into the act...

Dia de los Meurtos  - Day of the Dead decos... LOVE  the colours

Whats for dinner?

Forever 35

Today wasn’t such an early start in comparison, but it still takes an effort to be up and trek to the foyer by 8.30am to board a bus to take us to various shopping mecca’s.

The problem with today is that I took zero photos so the following is purely on memory and I hope at my age, it still serves.

So we squeezed ( and I mean squeezed) onto our mini van, attempted to buckle up and as you would imagine, a bus full of women with heavy wallets heading on a shopping day, the atmosphere was one of varying degrees of elation and expectation of finding treasures untold and those treasures coming to us cheap as chips.

The first stop was at a place that looked like a warehouse city, and each ‘shop’ nearly required a gopher to get around in the allotted time.

Here the big drawcards were the Disney outlet shop and Michaels ( think mega scrapbooking/craft store).

And on arrival, despite it being marginally past opening time, the Disney outlet was still closed, so I dragged myself away and walked down to Michaels with my heart beating wildly as any scrapper’s would, promising myself to leave a little while at the end of our 1 hour stop to dash back to the Disney outlet…

OMG… I was barely in the doors and I was piling things in my arms with wild abandon. Not only the vast array of choices but the stunningly low price points of things I KNEW the cost of back home, had me almost hyperventilating and I gathered with gusto without a thought of how much the Martha Stewart punches were going to weigh down my luggage or how many sparkly things I actually need.

This was the first of only a few dent-worthy shopping efforts and I definitely bolstered Michaels bottom line today.   Given that I was travelling in the land of Halloween frenzy, most of my photos and therefore the resultant scrap pages will feature this holiday heavily, and as a result, much of what I purchased had that in mind.  ( see… I didn’t just grab any ol’ thing… I had a plan… of sorts)

I charged down every isle gathering loot as I went, candle melts that smelled edible, multiple cup cake sprinkles that I could not live without, candy corn, Halloween decorations, candy corn, multiple (cast iron centred) Martha punches, candy corn and of course, sparkly/glittery/goulish embellies that I will lovingly sprinkle on the countless pages that will be my trip album that helps me relive my adventure when I get home.

By now, the time limit was looming and I still had so many aisles I hadn’t traversed so on questioning  some of the other girls if I came across them as to the ‘worth’ of time in the Disney outlet, I made the decision to give it a miss all together and stayed in the welcoming arms of craft heaven till about 2 minutes to departure.

So it was back onto the bus we squeezed, and talk turned to the gargantuan outlet mall we were about to encounter.  Much of the chat centering around a store called Forever 21- the chicky babes store of choice for their clubbing gear.  Now I hadn’t heard much about it before, other than a meme I’d read once where ‘old ducks’ shopped there and renamed it Forever 35.  I giggled at the thought and was sure it was going to be a store I just bolted through to get to the ‘good stuff’…

OMG…how wrong was I? 

As it turned out, our meeting point was going to be in  the carpark outside Forever 21, and on disembarking our little bus, we were immediately aware of the stunning BARGAINS that this store was going to offer with the racks that lured us inside within minutes promising sale prices at $8.99 or less. 

And discovering that it didn’t just cater to size 0 was where I fell in love with this place and became a ‘Forever 35’.   The second I walked in the door, a very helpful attendant handed me a MASSIVE fold up basket, that I had a secret giggle to myself about not filling .

 Joke was on me… I filled that baby to the top.

  I spent almost a third of our available time in this mega store that I actually had to ask which room the check out was in.  I bought jewellery, hair accessories, summer sun hats, gorgeous vintage inspired clothing for my 18 year old, and lots and lots of clothes for myself.  And the kicker was, that when I finally DID locate the check out, they informed me that everything I had in my bulging basket was 50% off the marked price… most of it between $2.99 and $8 ….

Heaven!!!  I’d spent the princely sum of $55 and the huge plastic bag I carried out was bursting at the seams.

So with a little guilt ringing in my ears, I headed off to the Nike outlet store to assuage some of the guilt by buying 2 pairs of shoes for my 21year old. 

I was really starting to sit well into the whole ‘shop till you drop’ and multiple pairs of shoes, chocolate covered cherries, a wetzels pretzel and countless other tidbits later, it was time to drag my shopping bag laden self back to the meet up point and then try and figure out how all the other girls with the same amount of shopping were going to fit back onto that little bus.

Loot packed literally all around us and up to our chins, we swapped shopping conquest stories all the way back to the resort and it is embarrassing yet satisfying to say, that today’s purchases alone covered my queen-sized bed meaning I’d crossed the point where another bag for the trip home was now no longer a possibility but a given.

I could have (and probably will do next time) spent a full day here, and still not seen all the streets of stores full of end of season bargains. 

Some of our number had booked a sunset dinner cruise so they headed off on that adventure and the rest of us chilled for the evening.  I have zero idea where we ate dinner – or if in fact, we even had any, I seem to remember eating a sinfully sugary cinnabon roll one night for dinner and I suspect this was the night. 

Fast Cars, Flouro's and Fountains....

 ( get comfy, this turned out to be an epistle... )

Up early again today, and the group assembled to visit Disney California Adventure for the first time of this trip… and for most of our group – first time ever.

But given the changes that have occurred to this park in the last 5 years, almost half the park is vastly different from the last time I saw it as well.

The changes are not subtle either –

*the huge letters out the front of the park – gone.

*the ‘post card from California’ theme of the entry way to the park( which I loved) – gone, replaced by the same era that Walt himself encountered California for the first time – a little Santa Fe like with beautifully detailed mosaic seating.

*The introduction of the Red Car Trolley. 

To name but a few.

*All the little curio shops at the entrance of the park – gone, replaced by one huge Five n’ Dime store that on the outside looked like lots of stores, but inside, one feeds into the other , presumably for easy spending.   Actually, this is very similar to the Emporium in Disneyland across the road. 

So, once we were all safely through the new Xanadu-like turnstiles, past Oswalds Tires ( a nod to Oswald the Lucky Rabbit – and the only place you could actually buy Oswald Ear hats… which I contemplated buying the entire trip), we headed towards the most popular section of the park – the new Cars Land, with all our park tickets gathered for a mad dash for fast passes, we waited by the entry to the new fabled land for an excruciatingly long time for Jeannette to surface with our precious fast passes ( for which we were all VERY grateful – because without them, getting to ride today would have been hours long or just ‘forget it’ stage). 

At this stage, our group split with many going off to explore whichever part of the park was calling their name.  For me, there was no question… I had heard so much about Cars Land that I could wait not a second longer and turned my heels towards Radiator Springs and all its photographic and souvenir-acquiring opportunities with my heart beating a little faster than it should.

This new land is truly immersive, and took my breath away, despite having seen many, many photos – it still was a work of genius.  You truly were entering Radiator Springs when you walk down the road stamped with Route 66.    There’s the Cozy Cone motel( each cone sells a different snack food),  Flo’s V8 diner, Luigi's tires ( yes, I know that is spelled the American way – and this was actually the entry point of another ride) and Ramone's Body Works- which fittingly, was a store where you could pimp yourself or your ride… There are of course, more recognisable landmarks, but this is what took my attention first.

So I wandered along, taking what would be the first of MANY photos of Cars Land, and realised that the lines for every ride were already way past what I was willing to spend in a hot sweaty line.  So the shops beckoned and I did a little ‘detailing’ before heading out to explore elsewhere in the park to fill in time before I could ride Cars with my Fast pass. 

As it was still relatively early in the day, I headed to ride another favourite ride – Soaring.   Then hit the gift shop to embark on my pin collecting campaign.   Then it was a wander down towards Hollywood Studios, naturally stopping into all the shops along the way. 

When I got to Tower of Terror, I was delighted to find it a walk on, and before I knew it, I was strapped in, and being dropped more stories than I care to think about… and loving every second of it.

Then it was a short cut through Bugs Land to wander the new changes at the Pacific Wharf eateries and then another new ride for me – The Little Mermaid… which again, lucky for me, was a walk on.

I LOVED this ride… its very simple in its concept, but there are some really sophisticated elements that lift it out of the ordinary and make it memorable… I took the opportunity to ride it again seeing as it was so quick to load.

In the Ariel gift store, I overheard a conversation that reminded me about the space shuttle relocation that was supposed to happen over the past ¾ of an hour… but still hadn’t… and it was then that I noticed almost EVERY park goer gathered around the pier to get the best vantage point for viewing.  What a hot crush that would have been… The temps today were very high 30 C and I was glad I hadn’t stood there all that time.   The excitement and patriotism was palpable and truly, I could have been at a 4^th of July march with the vibe that was pulsing through the crowds. 

As it was near our meet up time, I headed back to the ‘spot’ and most of the girls were there waiting in the shade.  And then it happened….

I heard this wave ( and that is the only way I can describe it, a increasingly loud wave of  clapping and cheering) sweep through the crowd coming towards to me and I looked up, ( and for some reason pointed my camera where I was looking) and directly overhead flew the space shuttle on the back of  a plane, so unbelievably low that I really didn’t need too much zoom to get the both planes in my sights.

One of those ‘where were you when’ moments, and something I’ll never forget.  The tears and emotions gushing all around me were infectious and I felt part of something WAY bigger than myself.

Once the excitement had dissipated a little, we headed down towards Radiator Springs Racers to ride for the first time, only to find when we got there, that the ride was ‘down’ for who knows how long.  So we decided to snack and then try again.

While a few of us snacked, the others tried their luck again, but with the ride still down, we all went our separate ways vowing to try again later.  While I sat there in the shade, tucked around the back of Flo’s cafe with Jacqui, Sue and Deb, we were lucky enough to have Mater drive right past us as he was heading back to the garage, and the camera’s came out and got some great shots.

We checked again to see if the ride was ‘up’ but alas, it wasn’t, so we headed to Tower of Terror for Jacq and Sue to ride with me for their first time.    That was seriously fun and I had two converts by the time we exited into the gift store. 

The girls headed to see the Aladdin Show while I went over to check out the Mad Hatters T Party venue - a grown up playground that comes alive after dark - making a mental note to NOT miss coming back here and experiencing the fun before I left.

After riding Monsters Inc, and sitting in on Turtle time with Crush, and checking out the stop motion exhibit of the new movie Frankenweenie, I made my way back to Cars Land but nope, the ride was still ‘down’ so I made my mind up to ride some of the other headliners.

All this walking around was exhausting in this heat but I was determined to ride a few more rides before taking a break.

So off to Screamin’ I went – nope… ride down.

Off to Toy Story Mania – nope… ride down.

By this time, I was getting a bit hot under the collar, so what does one do then?  One shops!!!

Into the air-conditioned deliciousness that are all the shops on the Disney resort, and I shopped my little heart out… buying my first ever Duffy and picking out his traditional sailor costume to dress him in.  Along with other Halloween goodies, my ‘Glow with the Show’ ear hat for tonight’s viewing of World of Colour and multiple other things I couldn’t live without. 

Heading back to try my luck at Cars Land again, I stumbled upon a little ‘mini-show’ with Goofy conducting the fountains in the lake to music… it was short and sweet, but I was glad I didn’t miss it.

Back to Cars Land, and this time Radiator Springs Racers was UP!!! And because I had a fast pass, it was honoured and I zoomed past many many folk with dour looks on their faces( who had no doubt been there a long while) on my way to the very short wait to the ride of the day.  And who should wander in about 15 people after me? Sandie and Jeannette, so I waited for them to catch up and we rode the ride together, squished into the little yellow car and loved every second of it.

 All too soon, we had zoomed our way around the track through Ornament Valley and putting in a good showing for Team DUD, we won our race convincingly.   

Then it was onto Maters Tractor ride for myself and Jeannette which was surprisingly rough and I couldn’t take photos cos I was too busy hanging on for dear life and making sure I didn’t get flung out of the cabin on what was mercifully a very short ride. 

The light was starting to fade and all the girls met up once again, for our pre-paid World of Colour picnic dinner and priority standing space.

With nearly an hour between dinner and the show, I wandered pack down to Cars Land to get some shots of the neon signs that the land is famous for – and they didn’t disappoint – and then, thinking I’d get a good spot for photos, headed straight to area ‘yellow’ to stake our claim… little did I know, that many had the same thought and I got a spot at the back of the section, but with a little manoeuvring managed to get myself and Jacqui up to the railing to make the most of our photo opps.

Words fail me to try and describe this show.  Essentially, it’s a massive curtain of water, with other jets spraying in unison in various other directions that are all lit in appropriate and often multi coloured hues, or have movie clips projected onto them, in a seamless extravaganza of water, light music and movies. 

Yes, you do get a little wet, even at the back, but the whole thing is mesmerizing, and my photos really really didn’t do it justice.  Even having taken over 655 photos today alone, there were only a couple I was happy with from this show, it was so difficult to capture moving water.   Also the kids on their parents shoulders didn’t do much for my shots either. 

The crush of humanity leaving the park when it was all over is truly overwhelming, but sadly, there is nothing for it, but to throw yourself into the forward traveling mass and try not to trip over in the process.

Another night where one falls into bed knowing that the morning is going to come waaaaay too soon. 

Entry sign to Cars Land

Flower Pots  near Luigi's tires.

Five n' Dime Jazz band performing at Carthay Circle - they were fantastic

The Space Shuttle being transported to its final resting place as it flew over the parks today

Mater going for a drive back to the garage - he looked so like a real car, I was very impressed.

random acts of mosaics on walls in California Adventure totally fascinated me

Ornament Valley - Radiator Springs Racers track

another view of Ornament Valley  - this place rocked

Neons in Cars Land - so well done

Another Neon from Cars Land

Ornament Valley at night - a little blurry but anyhoo...

One of my snaps of World of Colour

When You Wish Upon a Star....

Getting up at the crack of dawn ( or before) is the norm for this trip, but today, I was keen as mustard to be up and going on time.

             

This of course, takes some doing with the group dynamic, so when all were assembled, we headed across to the hallowed ground that is Disneyland , en masse. 

It was a relatively quick task to line up and exchange vouchers for our 14 day hopper pass, and then it was through the turnstiles and immersion in the magic.

Under the bridge we went, and it was hard to miss that Disneyland was all dressed up and ready to party for Halloween.  The rust, orange and yellow décor was on every possible vantage point and really gave the place a festive look.   It was like Halloween was going to be ‘tomorrow’ and it was hard not to think like that as well.

Other changes I’d noticed straight up were the recent renovations to Main Street, the most disappointing of which, was that the Penny Arcade was now essentially a lolly shop with just one or two of the old machines I used to love feeding those annoying coppers into to get rid of them.  I was actually quite disappointed by this change.

All the shop windows were decorated in the Halloween theme too and they are at their usual intricate brilliance – and in hindsight, I didn’t photograph nearly enough of them.   The regular ‘need to be somewhere’ really curtailed my more creative photographic efforts, as they take the time we just didn’t have.

The idea was that we’d hit a few of the headliner rides as a group, have lunch and then disperse, and by and large, that’s kind of what happened.   Its very exciting when the first ride you choose is a walk-on, and having ridden Pirates multiple times, I was quick to choose a seat to the back – cos I am opposed to getting my clothes too wet on the rides.  

But of course, the newbies were none the wiser and exited the ride with wet butts from the front rows…   I was sitting with Sandie and it was a hoot to call out ‘he wants the redhead’ at the opportune moment – and only our Disney-file Club friends who read this will understand just how funny that truly was. 

From Pirates we headed to ride Haunted Mansion with its Nightmare before Christmas overlay for the Halloween season.  This was the most decorated part of the park in my estimation and it was truly spectacular. 

It is well known, again, amongst my Disneyana Club friends that I am not a fan of the Haunted Mansion ride, and so I did sit with Sandie who was going to monitor my terror level.  As it turns out, I LOVED the new Halloween overlay with Jack Skellington all over everything( Sandie was probably disappointed with my lack of panic) and I knew I was going to ride this one again, multiple times if I could swing it.

The next one on the list was Splash Mountain, but it was down at the time, so we did a quick ride of Winnie the Pooh and seeing as the ride was still down for an indefinite time,  lunch at the Hungry Bear was the go… Now today was also my ‘Izzy day’.  Izzy being our trip mascot and today being my turn to show him some of the sights.  I believe I set the bar pretty high today, as he had his first romantic encounter ( with an amorous praying mantis at Lunch)  and later on riding the tea cups – my fav Disneyland ride.  Although, I think I might have spun him a little too much cos he was looking a little green for a while after that.

Another attempt was made to ride Splash, but alas ( feigned distress here) the ride was still down and to the great amusement of other park goers, we donned our shower caps regardless and judging began in earnest.  It’s a long story, but the need for shower caps centred around some of us not wanting to get wet hair on this ride.  So caps were supplied with the instructions that the best decorated one would win a prize at the park.   It was a hoot listening to passers-by fully convinced this was a challenge being arranged by some of the HUGE Disney-fied Internet based forums – but no, just a bunch of funny women from Australia.

So with the shower caps having been judged, and the winner to be announced at dinner, we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain, another of my top 5 rides.   Always a winner in my book.  Its fast, its smooth, and the mining town theme is so well done that you feel you are ‘back in the day’.   Apart from that, you get to clear your lungs out with a good scream most of the way around .

From here we kind of zig zagged a bit, and rode the teacups, just cos we could, and took a group photo in front of the castle… and then it was on to the Bobsleds ride to see if all the alterations at the newly renovated Matterhorn were indeed as rough as is often said. 

Well, the answer to that would be … yes.  The ride is rougher, but the new bobsleds, in my opinion, are better to sit in than the older ones.   Or maybe its just that they’re shiner… who knows.

At this point, a few broke away from the group, me being one, and I headed to the sanctuary of air-conditioned retail therapy.  The heat was unbelievable and was taking its toll on me so an hour in the shops was just what the doctor ordered.

Mid afternoon, we all met back up at the Plaza Inn to celebrate our Unbirthday with Pat E Cake, Mickey and Donald.    Interestingly, I would put money on every other group in the place were ACTUALLY celebrating a real birthday and under the age of 10, but anyhoo…. We were all presented with a Mickey shaped cake, a few squirts of psychedelic coloured icing, a paddlepop stick to apply said icing and little cups of sprinkles and lollies to decorate our unbirthday cakes.   Well, turns out with that many women in a group, we were decorating for sheep stations and the competition was fierce.   I was going for the whole ‘hidden Mickey’ theme, but fell short, as the heat was melting all my icing and it just looked pretty hideous by the time I was finished. 

After some singing and dancing by Pat E , M and D, the birthday boy/girl was invited up to take photos, so naturally, the whole 15 of us trooped up and gathered for a shot. 

So with cakes having been consumed, and little cups of lollies having been swallowed as sugar shots rather than being decorating items, we again headed out into the park to various vantage points. 

We piled onto the train and tootled around to Tomorrowland, where some of our number decided to ride Autopia and the rest of us stayed on the train till Main Street and called it a day at the park, me being one…. Being on the go all day, the heat in the high 30’s had taken its toll and I needed a break so headed back to the hotel for a bit before we all met up again to head to Down Town Disney to dine at the Rainforest Café.

Wow, LOVED this restaurant, that is more shop and show, than purely about the food.   This place buzzes with a frenetic energy, with sudden thunderstorms that set off all the animatronics beasties around the levels, and lively waiters who travel in packs and get very excited when someone orders the volcano looking dessert. 

The food here was amazing…HUGE… but really delicious  - as were their cocktails.  I’ll definitely be dining here again in the future. 

And drum roll please… I was the lucky winner of the ‘decorate your cap’ challenge, and happily spent my gift card later in the trip on a set of Minnie Mouse ears… 

Another massive day, another late night… time for bed before another early start tomorrow.  

All the light posts were decorated with this cute Halloween ensemble

Iconic shot that must be taken...the train at the Station. 

This gigantic pumpkin pile has a smiling Mickey on one side and a winking Mickey on the other.

Pumpkins and Halloween decos everywhere you looked.

The entry to Haunted Mansion.... ready for Halloween

A Santa Jack-o-lantern scarecrow at the HM.  suitably spooky

The horseless hearse out decorated for Halloween

Izzy (still clean and intact I might add ) having a moment with a praying mantis at the Hungry Bear Cafe.

Awwwwwe.... a kiss for Lisa from Donald..... at the Unbirthday Party

My sorry attempt at cake decorating....

A look at our time at the Rainforest Cafe...