Disneyland

Packing up the old family truckster and hauling down to Disneyland (6 hr drive from SF) :wave: this weekend, so I thought I'd start a Disneyland thread.

For those who aren't aware, the Anaheim Disneyland has a companion park, "California Adventure", now adjacent to the original park. More adult-themed rides and activities, and a beautiful "Grand Californian" 5-star hotel next door.

So, what flashlight should I bring--y'know in case of power failures in Pirates of the Carribean?

Have any impressive Disneyland trivia to help me sound like the smartest guy in unbelievably long lines?

Is is true about Spash Mountain and the all-day peep show?

Tips & tricks for managing the park appreciated too...

guncollector said:

Tips & tricks for managing the park appreciated too...

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Water, lots of it.

Don't shine your torches in darkened events where others are present.

If you make it to the California Adventure side, I highly suggest you make sure to ride the Hollywood Tower of Terror. That ride had me in hysterics. I was laughing the whole time.

guncollector said:

...6 hr drive from SF...

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..if yer drivin' pretty FAST....

It's been a while, but bring some unobvious munchies along if you want to save a little money. Food is expensive in there and I don't think backpacks are allowed.

Hope for a rainy day, it'll shorten the lines...

If you want to get an extra surprise for someone, you can buy one of the paving bricks in the "Disney Walk of Magical Memories." It's like $150, you can get it engraved and it supposedly lasts forever. (My brick location is C43-266.)

I brought my radio scanner and programmed it with frequencies I found online. Pretty interesting listening if you're waiting in a loooong line. Last time I went I totally geeked-out and brought binoculars and an infrared monocular too. The binos revealed a lot of things about the exterior of the attractions you can't even come close to seeing with the naked eye. The NV mono was kinda neat inside Pirates of the Carribean since the whole thing is flooded with IR for their security cameras. (Most of the rides are flooded with IR, but Pirates has the most interesting things to see.) If you go to California Adventure and ride the Hollywood Tower of Terror you can see the IR LEDs on the security cams in the initial portion of the ride before you enter your "elevator." I think they cheaped out and used those $49 IR CCD cams and it kinda screws up the effect because they're totally visible.

As far as lights I brought a Surefire M4 and E2e. The E2e came in quite handy as portions of the park are very dark at night... too dark to see what you're doing when rummaging through a day pack. The M4 was more of a geek comfort item in case I had to fight off a barbarian horde...

Be sure to eat lunch or dinner at the restauraunt in the Pirates of the Carribean ride. I think it is the best place in the park for a meal. But, reservations are a must so talk to your concierge or make a reservation as soon as you get to the park.

SRMC

It never really takes us much longer than 6 hours even with a bit of traffic coming into LA. I don't speed much either.... We just don't make too many stops on the way.
Bring a lot of water and snacks. We've been to Disney 3 times in 3 years and they never say anything to our water and snacks when we get searched at the gates.

I hope you had fun, I'm taking my younger brother there in a week or so. For those that are thinking of going try www.ridemax.com It was set up by my uncle. It has gotten pretty good reviews from large news networks.

blue byue is closed cause pirates is closed the park hasn't been bad hey if any one makes there give me a haller I'm alway wan't to meet other flashaholics in person I'm the guy in white cleaning the park W/ no less than 3 but some time 5 flashlights. at least and arc aaa. maybe a 3watt mag aa.

Had a great weekend with the kids at Calif. Adventure & Disneyland.

Rides I enjoyed: California Screamin', Space Mountain, Tower of Terror...followed in a far fourth by Indiana Jones.

Give yourself an extra hour or so of travel time. As far the your question about Splash Mountain, it was true about 10 years ago but I think most of that fad has died out. Do a Google search for "Flash Mountain".