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Riding Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Nathan's favourite and we did this one twice.In case if you didn’t know, Disneyland is a big place. In fact, it is so big that it is two places. That’s right there is Disneyland and directly opposite there is Disney California adventure. So, Leanne, Nathan, Ray and I spent a day at each park and I can safely say that we didn’t see all that either park had to offer. Eleven hours is just not enough time. The theme parks are not the only big things here. The cars are bigger (noticed that more so in Wyoming and Montana), the burgers are bigger, all drinks are bigger from coffee to beer to giant bottomless soft drink cups and the shops are much bigger too.
Our two days at Disney were great fun for everyone. There are rides and roller coasters, most of which are suitable for a six-year-old, there are shows and performances, we saw the first ten minutes of the next Incredibles movie and each night they put on a parade and fireworks show to rival new years eve. This place is great family entertainment. The people that come here aren’t too cool to dress up a bit with many adults wearing Mickey Mouse
Day time parade at Disneyland
It is a pixar parade. Lots of Monsters inc and Nemo. ears and those are the adults who don’t some with kids. Your inner child is allowed to come out in a place like this. It’s not just clothing, its attitude and in the case of the most hard-core fans, they even have Disney themed tattoos.
We also had a day at Universal Studios. As well as having rides and shows it is about how the movies are made and they do a tour of the sets and movie making part of the lot. We saw a show about animal actors and how they train dogs to perform for the camera. There was also a special effect show which we were part of. Whilst we were lining up they got the four of us to learn to make the special effects for a scene from a movie. We thumped on boxing gloves, beat rolled up phone books, rolled a wheel that made crashing sounds, jangled hand cuffs and hit a cow bell in front of the audience.
For me, at least, the rides are the best part of Disney and Universal. There were some roller coasters, but not the extreme type that scare kiddies. There are lots of 3D
The castle
At night when we were waiting for the fireworks rides where things like dinosaurs jump out at you. There are the ones where you sit safely strapped into a seat which moves ever so slightly as you watch a big screen and feel as if you are flying, falling or riding a roller coaster. It is amazing how your mind fills in the missing sensory information based on the little bits that it is given. My favourite ride was Harry Potter at Universal. You imagine you are on a broom stick following Harry and Ron and the ride seamlessly merges physical and video special effects as you maneuver around Hogwarts fleeing the many characters and creatures we know from the stories. That was one of the rides that Nathan couldn’t do, but they have a parent’s wait room where we can swap between the three adults in the group so we all have a turn without lining up twice.
And then there were five. Craig joined us during our stay in West Hollywood. He and Leanne had an adrenaline hit yesterday at Magic Mountain, a roller coaster adventure park. Not suitable for little ones. Ray, Nathan and I wandered around the walk of fame and did a tour
Guardians of the galaxy ride
At California adventure. It is one of those vertical drop rides. Leanne and Ray loved it. I rode a tame tractor with Nathan. of the Chinese Theatre, where big movie premiers take place. This is the one with celebrity hand and foot prints in the pavement out front. We also saw “Ripley’s Believe It or Not Odditorium”, “The Hollywood Wax Museum” and “Guinness World Records” before catching up with the other two for a meal at night. We decided to embrace the American culture and went to an all you can eat buffet. When the five of us walked out the table had 20 dirty plates and bowls. Good value there! Then Ray kindly took Nathan home to bed and Craig showed Leanne and I his favourite bar in the universe, The Abbey. He said it was not a gay bar, but an “inclusive bar”. Well most of the dancers hanging from the rafters in sparkling undies were male, but there was some eye candy for everyone. He told us there would be celebrities there and our interesting Aussie accents worked a charm. Before we finished we had been invited into the rapper and his dancers private booth (they performed earlier in the night) to share a few drinks and we also met a contestant from Americas Next Top Model, Chica.
Today
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Nathan loves cars at the moment and they had a whole Radiator Springs set up for little and big kids to enjoy. we will drive to Vegas for the next chapter of this adventure. And Craig just informed me that we had a leak on the lawn of the police station next door to the club last night. Lucky that no one saw that. And more stuff is coming back to me now too. Leanne was in a twerking competition on stage. She should have won too. I think the drag queen in the Jane Fonda get up and yellow wig cheated her. I don't remember all of the details.
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