Day 9 - DISNEYLAND

Disneyland park gates open at 8:00am. Earlier if you have an Early Entry ticket (7:00am). Most forums even advise to be at the gates 30 minutes early to be the very first in line for that much sought after ride. I decided that I will not be cruel to my husband and kids, we are not waking up that early on our big vacation.

So there we were again at the gates at 10:30am. There were lots of people but the short line was moving, so no problems there. I should mention that it was a Sunday of a long weekend (the following Monday was Columbus Day).

I was armed with my RideMax itinerary once again, plus the Disney map and show guide. Once you get the orientation of how the different sections are laid out, send your partner to get your FastPass for the very first ride you want. Make sure he knows where he can catch up with you. If you have time before the Fastpass return window, I highly recommend that you take a ride on the Disneyland Railroad which has a stop at Main Street. This is an enlightening narrated ride. We passed through a replica of the Dinosaur Age and other displays that I haven't read about in my research.

These are the rides and attractions that we did:

1 - Indiana Jones Adventure - a bumpy and jolty fun ride. Amazingly, the way to the ride is a very long snaking maze. Even with a Fastpass, it took us ages to reach the actual ride! Don't ever queue up without a Fastpass on this one.

2 - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - another worthwhile ride

3 - Autopia - the kids loved this! They get to drive cars, but need a grown-up to step on the gas/brakes pedal.

4 - Sailing Ship Columbia - a must do! A full scale replica of the first American ship to sail around the world.

5 - Tarzan's Treehouse

Lunch was Mexican fare at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante located at Frontierland. They have plenty of tables even on a busy lunch hour.

Finally, the Disneyland Monorail takes you out of the Park and into Downtown Disney. Downtown Disney is just adjacent to the park. It has all the Disney merchandise and other shops and food outlets. What a pleasant surprise to find a Lego shop. So of course, the kids' tiredness vanished!

The list above may not sound much. But believe me, with two children in tow plus a husband who would rather be elsewhere with no people preferably, this day was very big and quite draining (bring sunblock!). I was glad that we did Tomorrowland the previous night. It made our second day at Disneyland less painful than it would have been!