When I came past the Gazebo with Captain Mickey, I saw that he now had a Photopass photographer with him, so I got back in line for some more photos.
I continued to walk around just enjoying the park and came across a photo opportunity with Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater. This was another new thing for me, so I got in line. There were only four or five families in front of me and the line was moving really quickly.
I decided to cut through A Bug's Land on my way to Hollywood Backlot in order to avoid the worst of the construction. I saw Mickey and Pluto near the entrance, but they were unfortunately just finishing up. However, I was told that Chip and Dale were coming out shortly , so I decided to hang around. Unfortunately they did not have a Photopass photographer with them, but their escort took some photos with my camera.
With the photos all out of the way, I headed onwards to Hollywood Backlot. There is a lot of construction going on there, but this area got a new ride since I had last been to
Disneyland. I definitely wanted to try this out. It is a dark ride and is called Monsters Inc Mike and Sully To The Rescue. Again, this was a walk on. The ride works on the premise that Boo has somehow gotten into Monstropolis again and Mike and Sully have to find her and take her back home. Again, this is sweet rather than exciting and would not warrant a long wait, but some of it is rather clever.
At this point I had done everything that I had come to do. I decided to ride Soarin one more time on the way out. The posted wait time was 15 minutes, but I still decided to head through the single rider line. This was the one occasion where I don't think that it actually saved me any time, but a 15 minute wait for the ride is pretty amazing. This time I ended up in row two in an end seat.
I headed back to the hotel and had a bit of down time. It was pretty hot and just stretching out in the relatively cool room felt heavenly. I checked my emails and read my book for a bit, before heading out again. The original plan had been to ride the monorail. The monorail links Downtown Disney with Tomorrowland. I did not plan on staying at Disneyland, but just wanted to ride the monorail there and back. Unfortunately the monorail was down so I explored Downtown Disney instead.
Downtown Disney at Disneyland is quite different from Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World. To start of, it is much smaller. It links the main entrance plaza for Disneyland and California Adventure with the Disneyland Hotel. The Grand Californian Hotel also has an entrance from Downtown Disney, which is about half way. There are a number of restaurants and quick service restaurants. Downtown Disney also has a multiplex cinema and the ESPN Zone, which combines a restaurant with arcade games. Most of the shops have nothing to do with Disney. There is Build A Bear, Sephora, various fashion shops, a book shop, a shop selling flip flops, a shop selling sun glasses, a
Lego store and Ride Makerz. Unfortunately Basin has closed as have some other of the more quirky shops that used to be there. It does feel a bit like a main stream shopping mall nowadays. They also have an Alamo office, a Travelex office and a Disney Travel Company office at Downtown Disney. There are also a number of kiosks selling anything from puppets, t shirts to pick a pearl. One of the kiosks sells trading pins. Apart from this pin kiosk, the only shops that are at least vaguely Disney are the big World of Disney shop; D Street, which sells Vinylmation and Vinylmation themed accessories; Disney Vault 28, which sells kind of offbeat Disney fashion and accessories; Studio Disney 365, where kids can have a rock star make over and Marceline's Confectionary, which sells chocolate dipped Mickey Rice Crispy Treats and pre- packaged Disney themed confectionary as well as all kinds of chocolate covered goodies, truffles and fudge. On the whole, downtown Disney did not inspire me and I am more than just a little concerned that this is the vision they have for Downtown Disney at Walt Disney World.
Once I had spent enough time browsing, I headed over to the Disneyland Hotel. I wanted to check out where Goofy's Kitchen and Steakhouse 55 are, as we had reservations for both at a later stage during the holiday. I also needed to find Trader Sam's Tiki Bar as we would have a pre-cruise meet there the evening before we got on the Wonder. I found them without any trouble. Goofy's Kitchen and Steakhouse 55 are next to each other. Trader Sam's Tiki Bar is in a different area, but was also no problem to find. What defeated me was finding the Disney Vacation Club Preview Centre. The DVC rep at the hotel had invited us to go over there one morning to check out the Aulani models. So I thought I have a look where it is, but could not find it.
Once I had done enough exploring, I headed back to the hotel. I decided to make another attempt to locate the missing package and fortunately, it had now been found and was waiting for me. Graham saw me at reception and came over. Once I had finished, we headed back to the room. We were both hungry and decided to check out the restaurant options at Downtown Disney. We ended up at Naples, an Italian restaurant that was right opposite the hotel. The food there was lovely. We both fancied pasta. Graham went with Garganelle - Quill shaped pasta, chicken, spring peas, cream, Parmesan cream sauce and I had Candele - Baked candlestick pasta, sausage ragù, meatballs, béchamel. We both had ice tea to start off, but then decided to try the Italian Margarita, which included the normal ingredients, but also added a shot of Amaretto. It sounded a strange combination, but it really worked. We even had left some room for dessert. Graham had Cheesecake with poached berries and I had Tiramisu. Once we had finished our dinner, we headed back to the hotel. We were stuffed, tired and happy and headed straight to bed.