Disneyland 2011

Mom and Loren and I went to Disneyland.

We were there for part of Wednesday, all of Thursday and part of Friday.   Here are some pics.

We started Wednesday with a buffet breakfast with the characters.   This is the photos they sold us.  [Hey, I didn't buy either of the photos from the roller coasters, getting one of Mickey Mouse is de rigueur.  ;-)]

Minnie Mouse was there too.

Stitch

And Pluto

Pluto puts the card on his nose to sign.

The end of Wednesday was a parade down main street.   Sadly, my camera batteries had gone flat, so no parade photos, but I did get one of the castle all lit up.

Our favorite rides were the Star Tours one and the Soaring over California.   The first was a simulated trip through Star Wars.   It turns out there is more than one version that they run, but we don't know how many.   They might change them by the day, or by the car, or just have a set they run randomly -- or something else.   We went on the ride twice and got two stories, so there is more than one.

The Soaring over California took us on a simulated hang glider ride over several parts of California.

Loren and I went on Space Mountain and I went on the Screaming California -- the latter being the roller coaster that sends you on a loop the loop.   We all went on the ferris wheel.   The ferris wheel has a variation of swinging cars, in which the car slides within the wheel.    Here's a pic from the web:

The paddle wheel boat was not running, but the sailing ship was.   It is a full size replica of a boat that went around the world.   It must take some nerve to do such a thing in a ship that size, but that was how it worked then.   More info on the ship is here.

Below decks -- the galley:

The captains quarters:

We rode on the railroad.

Some characters ...