(w/apologies to any bovines I may have offended)
You know it's crowded at Disneyland when you have to wait more than 20 minutes for the Jungle Cruise. Why would anyone want to wait more than 20 minutes for the Jungle Cruise, you ask? Well, so that you can hear announcements such as "Ladies and gentlemen, due to circumstances beyond our control, we're sorry to inform you that the Jungle Cruise will be operational for the rest of the evening." If that's not enough reason, there's also: "Ladies and gentlemen, please do not take pictures while in line...they're nailed to the wall for a reason."
Just in case you haven't been on the ride nearly a bazillion times like I have, I won't spoil any of the other "jokes", but here's a couple of the lines you won't hear anymore (banned): "...to your left is a Bengal Tiger. Bengal Tigers can leap up to 30 feet...lucky for us the extension cord is only 20 feet long." And "to your right is Indiana Jones: Temple of the 4-hour Line" (though I only remember it being 4 hours when it first opened...and no, I didn't go on the ride that day).
And the Buzz Lightyear ride is actually pretty cool. At the end of the ride, you can email yourself your picture for free (in contrast to those overpriced pictures sold at the end of many rides these days). I scored over 950,000 points, saving the galaxy from the evil forces of Emperor Zurg. But to get that many points, the ride has to get stuck for awhile. The posted top score for the day was over 1,700,000 points...I don't think I'd want to get stuck for that long though.
We also sat through the Tiki Room show, which a friend of mine once (all in good fun) described as "polynesian hell." I remember as a kid that it was kind of freaky when you sat next to one of the tiki-poles...I think my kids felt the same way :-)
And since it was Disneyland's 50th Anniversary, everyone received collectible bright shiny golden 14kt. plastic Mickey ears upon entering the park. My head was too big, otherwise I would have worn them...really :-)
Update: I almost forgot the most exciting part...although we arrived too late to see him that day, I noticed in the schedule that Farley the Fiddler is back at the park, wandering around Frontierland. He's my old fiddle teacher (but please don't hold that against him :), so stop by and say hi if you get the chance.
