After breakfast at Steakhouse 55, we jumped on the monorail and went to the Magic Kingdom to enjoy our last day in the park. We flew out here on Friday and it’s now Sunday, so we will have to go back tomorrow.
We walked over to Downtown Disney and got on the Disneyland Monorail to head into the Magic Kingdom …
They reopened the old submarine ride and modeled it after Finding Nemo! That’s cool, and it looks better, but I liked the old Disney ride … it just needed to be updated, not thrown away … times change, though, I guess. Look at the color and quality of the paint job on the handrails and the attraction … they really are doing extraordinarily well on the small details.
I cannot tell you how happy these scene made me. I want waterfalls on my property whenever I build an estate for my old age. The sound and visuals are wonderful. I could stand here for hours.
The new Disneyland submarines do look much better than the old ones …
There was only a 5 or 10 minute wait for the Matterhorn, so Aaron, Ian, and I went to ride it. They upgraded the bobsled design so the seats are more like a regular roller coaster.
I love this ride …
After we were done, we went to get Ashly, where Darth Vader made an appearance and they had all the little kids train to be Jedi to vanquish him. It was adorable.
Aaron went to get Fast Passes for the Indiana Jones ride for us, and I ended up wandering off by myself to watch the tea cups because the colors were so beautiful. I love that there isn’t a single scratch of paint wrong with any of them. That is what separates Disney from everyone else in my mind.
While Aaron was still getting the Indiana Jones Fast Passes, Ashly, Ian, Evan, and I rode the Pinocchio ride in the little kid section. It brought back so many memories of my childhood. I remember living in Lee’s Summit and we had it on VHS. I remember the first time I saw the Blue Fairy, and my mom watched it with me one night. I also remember thinking, even at that age, that Pleasure Island was way to chaotic for me as nothing good was going to come of it. Our personalities are partially engrained; at least mine was.
When he came back, Aaron and I went off for a couple of hours on our own, paddled canoes on the water, we went into Tarzan’s tree house, had a cookie and Coca-Cola, went on the Indiana Jones ride (one of the best ever made), called home to talk to our families, and then, six hours after we had brunch, it was time for our dinner reservation at the Blue Bayou, where we met back up with Ashly, Ian, and Evan. Aaron and I had mint juleps, a salad (in my case) and gumbo (in Aaron’s case), and steaks. I really do love the inside of that restaurant.
The waterfalls in the Tarzan tree house area (it used to be the Swiss Family Robinson … I’ve apparently lived through generational changes, now) was really just modified concrete with a pump system. Aaron and I were trying to figure out the engineering because it would not be hard, nor particularly expensive, to build something like this into a backyard if you had the land.
After that, we headed over to Disney’s California Adventure and shopped for awhile before Ashly showed us the Zoetrope. You have to see this! Watch this video right now! You won’t want to miss it! It’s amazing the shortcuts the human brain has that can be manipulated.
At this point, we split up again and Aaron and I went to use the Fast Passes on the Radiator Springs Racers attraction everyone loves.
Disney really did an amazing job of bringing the world from the Pixar classic Cars to life …
I love the Cars motel!
They even have little kid rides based on the Cars movie, like Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree:
But here is what we were waiting to try …
Entering Radiator Springs Racers …
They went all out and made the experience encompassing …
Lining up in our car …
The verdict? The Cars ride is amazing. The entire 3D Pixar Cars movie comes to life and are crazy realistic, then you race on a high speed track. This right here is what separates The Walt Disney Company from its competitors. Wow. Just, wow. One of my nephews loves the Cars movie so this would be the coolest thing in the world to him.
When we were finished, Aaron and I walked to Paradise Pier so I could go ride the giant iconic Mickey Mouse Ferris Wheel.
The California Screamin Roller Coaster Paradise Pier Disney’s California Grand Adventure … We watched the riders blast off, up and over the first hill …
The Paradise Peer was one of our favorite parts of Disneyland.
When that was over, we met back up with Ashly, Ian, and Evan, said our goodbyes, and then Aaron and I headed over to Downton Disney to pick up some gifts for people. Once it was dark, we walked back to the hotel, talking, and listening to the finale fireworks go off in the background. We’ll fly out of Orange County and back to Kansas City, through Phoenix, tomorrow. There was a lot more this trip, and thousands of images, but that covers the basics. It was a lot of fun.
[mainbodyad]
