Chapter 45
Disneyland Is Your Land

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(Originally posted July 11, 2013)

We got in the shortest line into Disneyland, got to the front, and had our passes scanned. The cast member let us know that we would need to find one of the wandering PhotoPass photographers (the ones without a tripod) to take our AP photos. Then, with that, we were allowed to walk through the gates and into the Happiest Place on Earth.

We made our way through the tunnel under the iconic sign welcoming us into the worlds of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy.

As we walked through, we caught our first glimpses of Town Square.

And as we rounded the corner, we could see right down the middle of Main Street, U.S.A.

At the end of Main Street, the castle beckoned us and welcomed us home.

By this time, I had definitely started tearing up a little. The music was piping, the sights of Main Street were everything we had hoped for, and we were finally home.

We walked pretty slowly, just taking in everything we could.

Finally, we got to the hub, and we officially thanked Walt and Mickey for letting us enjoy their park.

Our first destination was clear. After all, we always do the same ride first at any of the Disney resorts. Since it had been closed on our last trip to Disneyland, however, this was going to be a brand new experience for Tracy and I.

We took the long way because we didn’t know any better yet, so we walked through Adventureland.

Coming into New Orleans Square, we saw a sight that had never greeted our eyes on our last trip—an open Pirates of the Caribbean!

The line was posted at around 20 minutes (which is longer than we try to ever wait for an attraction), but we had to make an exception to ensure that we started off our time as AP holders right with a ride through the place where dead men tell no tales.

We joined the queue and admired all the lanterns hanging from the tree.

Going through the left side probably wasn’t the best choice this afternoon because it had a few more switchbacks than the right, but once we made our decision, we had to stick to it.

Eventually, we got into the building and were greeted with the paintings of famous pirates—most notably one Captain Jack Sparrow.

The barker bird squawked at us while we waited, and luckily it wasn’t too long before we made it to the front of the line.

Many more eloquent people than I have expounded on just how much better the Disneyland version of Pirates is than its WDW counterpart, but I don’t think we knew in what way to expect it to be so good. Almost immediately, we were struck with just how long the ride is here. You really get to experience a story with a beginning, middle, and an end. We loved seeing all of our favorite scenes from the version we were used to, and everything about them seemed better too. Then there were all the scenes that don’t exist in the WDW version, which actually helped tell a story. One thing I remember noting to Tracy right off the bat was that it became much clearer how they had used the attraction as inspiration for the Pirates films. After we finally reached the ramp back up to ground level and were splashed back into the unload area, we disembarked feeling thoroughly impressed by this Pirates of the Caribbean. Already one of my favorite Disney rides, it quickly jumped to the front of the list.

Heading back out into New Orleans Square, we looked across the Rivers of America to see the giant crane erected at Big Thunder Mountain.

After missing out on Big Thunder at WDW because it was under refurbishment during our May 2012 trip, now we were here in Disneyland right at the beginning of the attraction’s nine-month overhaul. Tracy would have to wait a long while before experiencing her favorite ride.

The sun was already hanging low in the sky as we ventured toward the next classic attraction.

On our last trip, The Haunted Mansion was all decked out in its holiday glory with the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay. Now it was looking like the stately, eerie manor that it is meant to be for the other nine months out of the year.

Luckily, the wait to go into the Mansion wasn’t nearly as long as our line for Pirates had been, so we queued up and made our way through the graveyard.

Entering the Haunted Mansion, everything became very familiar based on what we were used to at WDW. Of course, it’s still a little jarring when you realize that the stretching room is actually descending, but everything about the buildup to the ride was exactly what we were excited for. As our carriage approached to take us into the boundless realm of the supernatural, we felt more than a little giddy to get to experience yet another true Disney classic. The ride definitely feels a little shorter than the Disney World version (since it is), but we really enjoyed it in its traditional form. We also enjoyed the “old school” hitchhiking ghosts since we hadn’t gotten to see them in years. I think we got Tracy’s favorite ghost (the bearded one) on our first ride, and we enjoyed poking him in the mirror.

“Grim Grinning Ghosts” permanently stuck in our heads, we moved back out into New Orleans Square, ready to continue our adventures.

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