We set off early after an odd breakfast of caramel buns, tea and raspberry lemonade, which we ate while admiring the Spanish-style scenic paintings on the walls of the breakfast room. After wandering around blurly and questioning several locals, we wind up on the squashy tram to Disneyland. We are crammed between several families, all American, one mum telling her small son to hold on to something or else end up flying across the tram floor, and one of the many Spanish-speaking families we encountered. Hispanics make up more than 40% of the population in California, which is a startling statistic. Spanish is more or less the second language here.
The ticket lady asks where we are from. "Singapore? Is that in China or Hongkong?" That woman needs geographical
help.
[I think we should be gratified that she actually knows the difference between China and Hongkong.] We are truly very fortunate to plan to arrive in Disneyland late 4th May and start visiting on 5th May- because the 50th Anniversary celebrations start precisely today, and the park was closed yesterday
to prepare the fireworks, floats, special Hidden Mickeys etc. What if we had decided to arrive one day earlier and ended up losing an entire day? The bad thing was, of course, it being extremely crowded. We couldn't move for a couple of minutes, because of the crowds of people standing around watching the opening ceremony. LeAnn Rimes was there performing. I could HEAR her singing, but I couldn't exactly see her.
[MMC alumni crawl out of the woodwork! But was LeeAnn actually from MMC?] Couldn't take a picture of the Disney statue today thanks to the area being blocked up and only to be entered by the media and invited guests. We'll have to come back tomorrow.Anyhow, Disneyland California is beautiful. I still am amazed by its atmosphere, the detail, the architecture. It must have taken years and years to build. And it is undeniably the Happiest Place on Earth - that's all you can feel there. Even though the weather was grey and drizzly, it was still fantastical with quaint little shops, odd people, silly rides and wildly-themed restaurants. Pretty much everyone was walking around with those special golden ears on. If there's one thing I really have to commend angmohs on, it's that they're never afraid to look foolish. The main square was teeming with media coverage staff - live broadcasting for radio stations, camera-men, important-looking people in black suits with media passes. A particularly cute DJ [At least I think he was a DJ]
with earphones around his head drew my attention as he was gabbing to his neighbour in Spanish and looked like Gael Garcia Bernal! Here is a poor photo of him.He's the one in the center with his eyes closed.It must be noted that a cute guy always has an extra body part - a girl draped over his arm
[either that, or he is gay, remember the rule]. I guess some things never change, no matter where you go. I saw so many couples today, old and young. If you think the PDAing in Orchard Road is bad it is ten times worse here. [I don't think PDA is bad. Here, it's an indicator - watch a guy-girl pair for two minutes and if they don't start PDAing, they are Just Friends. Back home, everyone likes to keep you guessing.] Anyway, the couples were cute. Lots of multi-racial ones. The first ride we go on is a new Buzz Lightyear ride which was extremely silly and enjoyable - you shoot targets from the moving, steerable car. Both Ning and I wound up on Level 3, which was rather mediocre [it was not! It was only slighly below average!] Then the nice jerky Indiana Jones ride at Aventureland [where we were gravely informed of mortal perils such as man-eating bugs and ceiling-high boulders] where we also ate spicy kebabs for lunch.One of our favourite "lands" would be New Orleans Square. It has elaborate architecture, classy open-air restaurants under trellises and umbrellas - one had a jazz band with a magnificent trumpet and a trombonist cum singer - and artists doing caricatures. The town bursts with creativity/starving artist vibe. [Which is what I picture Greenwich Village in New York to be like!] [Is it?] [Okay, so it wasn't in the least]Another cool restaurant was the Blue Bayou- it's inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride and is beside the water where the boats go past. One thing I particularly enjoy is the silly costumes the poor ride assistants have to wear for each ride- explorer uniform for Indiana Jones, hick outfits for the Pooh ride, dresses with puffed sleeves for the girls and Victorian rentboy getups for the guys for the Haunted Mansion. Ning ate an ice-cream sandwich in the shape of Mickey's head, mum and I munched on churros. Yum! Absolutely drowned in sugar. The Blue BayouWe then headed off to Tom Sawyer island on a raft. Later back on the main shore we headed to the Haunted Mansion nearby. We saw Funny People- the people we dub the Growing Up Gotti gang, beefy and in singlets, who still found the need to cut the fast-moving queue, and a bunch of 6 high school/college students- 2 PDAish couples, and another non-couple guy and girl. Can you imagine how uncomfortable they felt? They were making polite conversation and trying their best to ignore their peers. They were in front of us in the queue, and we could feel their pain. The Haunted Mansion is quite a riot, with holograms aplenty- I want to go again!
Growing up Gotti gangWe also visited the Pirates of the Caribbean. In the midst of the (water) ride we whooshed downwards and Ning's hat flew right off her head(!) We thought it had fallen into the water, never to be found again, only to discover it 2 seats behind after the ride ended! I guess we should be glad that the hat flies in a straight line. When we were in the line for this ride we were between 2 middle-aged couples (still PDAing, but milder). The couple behind us raved over our camera, over how small it was (I reckon it's a pretty average sized digicam). And they were amazed when I showed them how the lens could be rotated so one could take pics at any angle, it was just funny.
We later proceeded to the Winnie-the-Pooh ride, which is just so happy and colourful, we felt like we were stuck in a giant greeting card. I heart Pooh, though the classic version is still better. We watched the people dressed up in Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore costumes get tortured by small children. One kid tried to put his hand inside Pooh's mouth, so Pooh covered his mouth with his large paws.
"Get away from me!" Pooh is thinking, glad that he looks so cute and benign in that costume.We crossed by Frontierland again and caught a slapstick performance of
Rodeo & Juliet. It was pretty funny when the 2 sides of the crowd made feeble "bang bang" sounds at each other when we told to be feuding families.
We reached Fantasyland and caught a few more rides, and then lunched at a Pinocchio themed restaurant, which included Mickey shaped chicken nuggets. A friendly local pair asked where we were from after Mum offered them our pizza. "Singapore." "Wha?" "
Singapore." "Ohhh...?" [the kind of tone that you get when you tell someone what unknown primary school you were from]. Mum told the guy that he had a pretty girlfriend (she had sparkly eyeshadow). They were amused as they were merely co-workers.
We walked all the way back to the main square to get a good spot for the parade, a good hour or more early. But it was all right- people watching is fun. A blonde girl in an Ireland jacket and a silver-haired man in dark glasses chatted languidly in Spanish, little kids in fairy princess outfits bounced around. And we treated to the sight of two very cute fellows [brothers or cousins, no less!] who were scruffy haired, red-cheeked, and had beautiful eyes. In fact they were so good-looking it seemed almost unearthly. (They were probably younger than us, since dudes our age here look about 25, and if happened to be remotely good-looking, would, of course, have a girl glued to their arm) Anyway time passed quickly 'cos we had something to watch while waiting, haha. One of them looked like Diego Luna from the side (at least I thought so) :)
How to look hot even in golden Mickey ears and a Disneyland jumper.The parade itself was much shorter than expected, considering it's the 50th anniversary celebrations! But it was colourful and bright and fun, and had a good view. There was a rhino (probably two people or more stuck in costume) that clomped along to the beat.
After the parade ended the 2 dudes stood up- one is a full head taller than the other. That's pretty scary 'cos they look like twins when they're seated. Sadly I had to leave my eye-candy behind (HA) and we decided to buy a Winnie-the-Pooh concept art poster, though we favoured an oil painting of Pooh and his friends playing soccer because it is SO CUTE, but of course it was well beyond our financial means!
And now we're back after scarfing down newly bought cup noodles, seriously considered the
best meal of the day after 2 days of solely pizzas and burgers and other junk food. We have to make up by eating lots of salad. I realize that I quite enjoy watching the sensationalistic US news on TV (particularly Fox), where they even include Justin Timberlake's throat surgery.