Five Countries Four Marlboroughs: DISNEYLAND

We were up bright and early for our first day at Disney! I'd researched a lot about Disneyland and knew we had to try and get there early to take advantage of the smaller crowd and cooler morning. We caught the 7:20am transfer bus and were at the gates 15 minutes later, ready for the 8am open. There were HUNDREDS of people doing the same thing. I'd heard along the grapevine some lines were a two hour wait so we were prepared for a lot of waiting.

With our three day pass I'd planned on doing Disneyland the first day, then Disneyland California Adventure the next day and then cover between the parks the rides we hadn't gotten to on the last day. I really didn't know what to expect of Disneyland - I wouldn't call myself a huge Disney fan but i suppose I've always wanted to see the castle - and of course who doesn't love Snow White?

While we were waiting to go through the gates the the song, 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah' was playing.

Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Zip-A-Dee Ay
My, oh my, what a wonderful day!
Plenty of sunshine headed my way
Zip-A Dee-Doo-Dah Zip-A-Dee Ay!

We all couldn't help but get more excited - we were going into the happiest place on earth!

It seemed like perfect timing - we walked through the main street of Disneyland - just as they opened for all the rides. Now, no running at Disney, but parents and kids were doing the quick walk to the rides! I couldn't stop laughing - i had tears rolling down my face. Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah was on repeat play - I just found it a surreal moment. I was so happy and excited!! We were at DISNEYLAND!

We followed the crowd onto the Peter Pan ride - it was just amazing. Then we went onto Dumbo, then the teacups - I'd always wanted to ride in a pink one. We'd also heard that if you see a ride with a small line to go for it - so that's what we did. I also knew to go on the more popular rides first as the lines build through the day. At the front of every ride they show how long the wait would be which is good to know. We'd been on about 8 rides and the lines were even less than a 5 minute wait - YAY!

We then tracked down the Star Wars ride (I was only slightly scared) and then there in front of us was 'Space Mountain'. Bree had told me, 'You've just got to do Space Mountain' - I still wasn't so sure. The last time I did a scary ride it was the Zipper - I was 22 with Gilmour at the Newcastle Show and both Gilmour and I thought I'd had a heart attack. I swore then and there I'd never do that to myself again. I saw a young Disney worker at the entry to the ride so I asked her, 'how scary was the ride?' 'Oh it's just fine and not scary at all' Satisfied, off the Marlborough family went, into Space Mountain, ready to enjoy the non-scary ride. I wasn't even that nervous - she'd put my mind at ease.

We got into our carriage, James and I were at the front. The ride started and we were in a tunnel with dimmed lighting. I don't remember much of the beginning - I think I've blocked it out - but then i heard, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!!!!!!!!! We were in total darkness, flying through the pitch black on a rollercoaster, stars were flashing in front of my eyes, turning right angled corners at high speed - I wanted to scream but there was no time for the words to come out. James started screaming, "help Mum" but there was nothing i could do - i was frozen with fear, hanging on, clinging for my life - it was every man for themselves. Halfway through the ride I thought of Terry and Will behind me - how were they coping? - they were silent! Then just when i didn't think i could take anymore, the ride came to an end with a FLASH - a camera went off, somewhere. I'm not sure how long the ride goes for - probably a minute - but it felt like an eternity. We all got off - traumatised - and saw the photo they had taken. Now i never usually buy these photos but this one was hilarious - every time i look at it I still laugh.

My take of the photo is:

Me: I could never again replicate this face - total fear.
James: experiencing G-force
Will: not really enjoying this at all - it took him an hour to recover
Terry: reminds me of the guy from "Weekend at Bernie's"

I've also now learnt never ask a 16 year old kid how scary a ride is - and Bree i am gonna kill you when i get home. Having said this, I suppose I am kind of happy I've done the ride but it is something i will NEVER EVER do again!

We went on slower rides after Space Mountain - let's face it, nothing could compare to it. We kind of all felt that nothing could be as bad as that ride so were willing to give anything else at Disney a go.

If we saw a character James would say, 'they are not real you know Mum' and I'd say, 'I know but you know Mickey Mouse is real' He'd go Muuuummm. All day this went on. I just kept telling him Mickey Mouse was real! We then were in Mickey Mouse's house and there was Mickey! James didn't know what to think!

We went home around 2pm - I knew it gets really hot after 2pm and we were stuffed. We chilled out til 4:30pm then back to Disney for the parade! We watched the pixar parade and then had dinner at the Wine Country Trattatori - I knew by doing this we would get reserved seating at the World of Colour show. We then went on more rides and went to watch the 9pm show.

World of Colour was fantastic - it is a light and water show to clips of Disney movies. We were right at the front and knew we would get wet - after such a hot day it didn't matter one little bit. Getting wet kind of made you feel 'part' of the show, we were Disney! - or was that all the drinks Terry and I had had?

We made our way home, it was about 10pm and exhausted we all fell asleep within seconds. Our first big day at Disney - the happiest place on earth!

I changed our plans that night - there was no way we could go back for the next day for another day - we were absolutely well and truly exhausted!