Disneyland, February 2010

While it feels like we just returned from Disneyland the last time, we went again last week. This time we took my brother Dean, his wife Sara and their youngest son Brian.

Each time we go it is fun to watch the others and see the park through their eyes. Dean and Sara had not been to Disneyland for 15 years and had never been to California Adventures. Brian has not been in a couple of years and there were new rides he had not yet experienced. I was looking forward to seeing his reactions from Toy Story.

Brian and Sara at the new Troubadour Tavern. It's a new counter service restaurant we found back between It's a Small World and Toon Town. It has actually replaced a different restaurant, but the menu is new. They feature kielbasa sausage with sauerkraut, and three different kind of baked potatoes. Since I've never seen baked potatoes at Disneyland and I am a big fan of potatoes, I really wanted to try this out. It was not too bad. The location was certainly not very busy since it is a little out of the way. But I hope this place stays as I am looking forward to returning and trying some of the other potatoes.

Dean enjoying It's a Small World. They have added a few Disney characters, such as Donald Duck, Arial, Nemo, Stitch, and so forth in various settings throughout the ride. But it's still a fun ride to take people on to annoy them.

DeeAnn and I enjoying It's a Small World. I am still in a good mood so it must be before we have entered the "zone".

There is quite a lot of construction going on in both parks. At Disneyland they had just reintroduced Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, but with a version without the headphones one used to wear. They have emptied the lagoon and are replacing tracks meaning all the ships, canoes, rafts, island and Fantasmic are all down. At California Adventures they have walled off the street in front of Turtle Talk with Crush to lay tracks for the new red trolley, have opened a shortcut path from Tower of Terror to Bugs Land, are still working on the new Little Mermaid ride (replacing the old show with Whoopie Goldberg), are working on the Silly Symphony Strings (replacing the Orange Zinger), and have almost finished the new World of Color nighttime water show. Besides all that they are making good progress on the new Cars Land portion of the park though you can't really see much of it from the park.

This was my 14th visit to the parks, DeeAnn's 51st visit and our 8th visit together since we were married 5 years ago!