More of the happy place

 After yesterday’s epic journey of overdoing it and trying to break myself I had a lovely sleep in and missed the worst of the mid-morning humidity.  It was also the first time I’ve had breakfast, lunch and dinner on the trip, the excitement never stops!

I started off with a pretty good breakfast from IHOP, a different one this time, opposite Disneyland and all of 200m away from the one opposite the hotel.  I have at last had pancakes from IHOP, and they were quite good, although the strawberry syrup looked a bit too red to be anything other than chemicals.  I was ready to answer any questions about what I wanted with my coffee, but sadly I was given a bowl of half & half pots whether I liked it or not.  I did like it, America does make a good cup of coffee.

Eggs over easy (I’m learning the lingo), bacon that wasn’t gross, links (sausages to you and me), sliced ham (processed but again, pretty good) and great potato hash that was perfectly loose for mixing up with the runny egg yolk. And now I’m hungry again.

So tempted but my dignity said no.

I headed back to the park and had a look through a really cool gallery of Disney art and concept drawings.  The gallery included the “Great Moments with Mr Lincoln” show with the famous animatronic Lincoln.  Considering it was made 60 years ago it was pretty well done with lots of detail in his movements, down to his eyes moving. We were told we were lucky because it was the show that Walt Disney had directed.  I’m not sure lucky would be the word I would choose.  The show was a bizarre mix of over the top American patriotism and incredible insight and as applicable today as it was back in his day.   It was a stark difference between what Lincoln had written and what Disney had done.  The whole thing wrapped up with a crazy mix of Glory Glory Hallelujah, a sunset fading into an American flag, a large budgie flapping about (it could have been an eagle) and then ended with some wailing tune about America flying free.  I took the advice and fled to be free from this nonsense.

I was waiting for his eyes to go red and start shooting but sadly we had to sit through the rest of the show

Just begging for a rabbit shadow puppet but Americans are a bit touchy about this guy.

I couldn’t believe it – the reason Kennedy was assassinated!  

Here he is clearly pointing out the studio lights of the faked moon landing.

In the middle of the gallery this guy was busy doing custom artwork ordered from the outlines in the books to the left.

Because I hadn’t had enough mental trauma I went to the must see “It’s a small world” ride.  Truly horrific.  A nightmare of crazy smiling dolls and the one line from the song repeating over and over for 12 odd minutes. The New Zealand section was insultingly small and dark, which you can see below although I was delighted to see that they managed to cock up Australia as well and added a Moai from Easter Island which I’m not sure Chile would be too happy about.

The whole ride is by boat floating along a canal, which reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Lisa drinks the water from a similar ride and has a halucinagenic episode.  Before I could try, I saw a guy in the boat ahead put his hand in the water and then his fingers in his mouth.  He didn’t stand up and announce he was the Lizard Queen so the risk of dysentery was not worth the price.

Enjoy

The horrors that lie within

Lunch – once again they’ve managed to overcook the hell out of the coating of my chicken.  It was proper chicken though and pretty good.  I’ve discovered the delights of Minute Maid Lemonade – think flat Lift but more lemony, it’s so good.

The Star Wars marketplace.  Does what it says on the tin.

After the ride broke down and a bit of a wait (filled in by buying stuff and riding the sailing ship ride) I finally got to go on the Rise of the Resistance ride.  It is amazing.  You are in a group of people and are supposedly being transported before being captured and then escaping via a robot controlled cart thing that drove in all sorts of directions.  The ride itself is huge and combines a bit of walking with sitting in the cart and having the utter stuffing shaken and bashed out of you as you escape from holographic stormtroopers and Kylo Ren.  There is one bit where the cart is dropped from a ship and the sensation of falling is so real I wouldn’t be surprised if a little bit of wee didn’t escape most people.  I, and the two other middle aged blokes were grinning like delighted boys by the end of it.

Just after being captured you step out into this hangar which is huge.  The opening at the back is an entire screen with Tie Fighters and Star Destroyers buzzing past.

Some sort of chicken with a pretty good, and not overcooked coating, what used to be vegetables and Mac.  The cheese was pretty absent.

The Star Wars themed restaurant

Every night they have a parade and fireworks – at the moment it’s some sort of electric street theme.  Not sure why, it just is.  All the traditional Disney movies & characters are covered, with a scattering of some of the newer ones.  I managed to get Tinkerbell as she trundled past:

I highly suspect the people there stopping everyone crossing the road through the parade are there because some fool has done it.

The final part of the fireworks show – the whole thing goes for about 15 minutes.

Ever get the feeling you’re being followed?

Tomorrow I’m off to Disney Adventure Land, same place but you turn left instead of right through the main gate.  More of the newer Disney stuff, so a whole bunch more things to buy that I don’t have room for or luggage space to carry.