First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 6

My photos have helped me remember what we did next--hallelujah! I had bought myself two SparkleSkirts the day before at the runner's expo--they're good for walkers, too. Unfortunately, I did not get the correct size which meant another trip through Downtown Disney to the Disneyland Hotel. Or so we thought. Jenna and/or Sharon remembered that the monorail went close by the hotel, so we sought advice of one of Disneyland's information booth employees, a handsome young man named Estaban. Not only a handsome young man, but a gracious one who explained that we could board the train at the New Orleans Square station, get off at Tomorrowland and walk a short way to board the Monorail, then get off not too far from the hotel. Excited, we made it all happen and planned to return to Disneyland by Monorail. Unfortunately, both units of it were down when we had taken care of business at the expo. More about what happened next tomorrow! Little did I realize when I took this photo that I would have a way to show you what I meant about the train tracks being up on a berm which I had mentioned in yesterday's post, raised about the rest of the Disneyland acreage. You can easily see that the brick street is much lower than the place where the train tracks are located. You can see the earth piled up around and above the tunnel, too. Just to the right of the tunnel stands the Haunted Mansion; just to its left stands the huge show building that houses the scary and fun ride that is the Haunted Mansion. Neat-o! Doesn't bother me one bit to not have actually been inside the antebellum building throughout the entire experience. In fact, I felt much less confused than I had been when trying to figure it out later on when we sat down for our second meal of the day, after dark. More about that tomorrow, too. We missed this particular train but soon boarded the one we'd already been on twice earlier in the day. Here's some info about it's engine: No. 3: Fred Gurley, a 2-4-4 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1894, went into service at Disneyland March 28, 1958. The locomotive, named for the then-current chairman of the ATSF, Fred G. Gurley, is the oldest single piece of railroad equipment in use at any Disney theme park. The 2-4-4T tank locomotive, used in Louisiana to transport sugar cane, was purchased in working condition for US$1300; nevertheless, more than $35,000 was spent on its restoration. A commemorative plastic plaque celebrating the Gurley's centennial was mounted under the engines running board in 1994. In 2008, the Fred Gurley returned from an extensive overhaul and was featured as a static display at the Fullerton Railroad Days. I love these saloon-gal-singing-and-dancing chickens that one sees not too far after entering the tunnel on the train. I've just read online about this scene: Shortly thereafter passengers catch a glimpse of Splash Mountain's "Zip-a-Dee Lady" riverboat finale scene ... All sorts of fun seems to be going on, but I wouldn't know how it actually relates to Splash Mountain because I couldn't bring myself to give that ride a try--fear of heights, motion sickness, fear of getting drenched, I confess to all three. This time while we waited at the Mickey's Toontown station (which is right next to It's A Small World), being in the front rail car allowed us to see Mickey Mouse's float in the afternoon Mickey's Soundsational Parade! You know, if I were a child, I'd be overwhelmed with the amount of excitement every time I turned around. It was so cool, energizing, thrilling, loads of fun. Also, notice that the people standing close by the float are looking to their left which means the parade is moving across the photo left to right. I didn't notice that then, but, boy, did it turn out to be extremely beneficial to us later on that day. More about that tomorrow. We pulled out of the station, rolled through the It's A Small World attraction, and came upon more floats on their way to the parade itself. More excitement! Folks in line for Autopia. Just a few of them. When I looked at the rest of the lines for the ride, I wondered if I'd get a chance to do it later on or on another day. I surely wanted to drive one of those cars! Autopia cars waiting for drivers, seen from the walkway to the Monorail. Cool. Monorail station and sign. Hard to believe that I was headed for it. Wow! Quick photo before it was our turn to board. Queen Mum Leah at the SparkleSkirt venue. Nice lady. Very busy. Graciously OK'ed my putting her photo on the blog.

First visit to Disneyland! Day One, Post No. 5

Recognize this place? Haunted Mansion! Look at the short line. Hooray! It turned out to be a lot of fun! And afterwards, we happened by the nearby souvenir stand where the lady working turned out to be the scariest "human" we came across. When she turned around to answer a question from me, I don't know how I managed to get my mouth to shut 'cause her harridan-like countenance shocked me! All I could think of was: She's perfect to be selling the Haunted Mansion souvenirs! Surely this is her real face, wrinkles and all, and not something Disney did! I mean, we'd already seen a whole lot of senior citizens working at various jobs and we'd only been at Disneyland for about four hours, so it made since to me that a senior citizen would be working the stand. Sharon thought the same thing, too. I didn't sneak a photo, although I was tempted to try to get one. No real reason to invade her privacy. Love the wrought iron and the moss-like cedars growing on the grounds. I know the Haunted Mansion ride had to be scary and had to manage to move gobs of people quickly, but I surely would have enjoyed a few moments on the upper level of this mansion's porch. Inside the first part of the Haunted Mansion. Scary sounds and darkness and motion, then more standing in line until time to get into the ride compartment and travel here, there and everywhere, going forward, going backward, being frightened. A whole lotta fun! I read in more than one place online that the stretching room is actually an elevator which goes down and that we in line had to be moved from this building, under the railroad tracks which are raised up from the street level of the park on a berm that rings the entire park, and into a large show building nearby where the ride takes place. Then at the exit, once we've stepped off our doom-buggies, we make our way back out of the mansion in the photo and back out into the real world.  I believe that to be true, because I've looked at the Google Map image of Disneyland and can see the large show building just behind the Haunted Mansion and on the opposite side of the tracks. Neat-o! Also, I read that at Disney World since there is so much acreage, there is no need to transport ride-goers to another building, so the stretching room actually has a ceiling that rises instead of an elevator that does down! One last view of the Haunted Mansion, and then we were off! I hope seeing my photos will help me remember what we did next, ha, ha!