The Cost of a Family Trip to Disneyland

Stacy had this carne asada and chicken tamale.

Ferris had a kid's taco with rice and oranges.

June had a burrito with rice and oranges.


I opted for the Chicken Tacos.

After lunch, on the way to the Bug's Life-themed Bug Land, the Hollywood Tower of Terror loomed in the distance.

I hope this photograph fully portrays how awesome it looks. It was huge and creepy with an unsettling architecture, even if you ignore the lightning burns on the exterior.

We also got a look at the Cars Land attraction being built at the southeast corner of the park.

Workers were crawling along scaffolds, building a gigantic rocky painted desert.

We picked up Fastpasses for Tower of Terror and headed back to Goofy's flight school to make our second appointment for riding the tiny coaster.

This time Goofy himself made an appearance and engulfed Ferris.

 

Nick and I were both stopped and asked to complete a survey during our stay. I believe there were only 3-4 questions on the survey.

Back on the boardwalk to pick up some rollercoaster Fastpasses, we got a closer look at the giant ferris wheel, Mickey's Fun Wheel.

As you can see from this photo, the wheel actually dips to the level of the lake, with boarding taking place below the water level. I bet they did this so that they could make the wheel as large as possible without breaking high-structure building restrictions.

After we got the California Screaming Fastpasses, we gambled that the kids would probably rather spend time in Bug's Land than go on a bunch of terrifying rides.

Stacy and Alicia stayed with the kids while Nick and I continued through to the Tower of Terror, armed with six Fastpasses.

Tower of Terror is a drop ride, where riders sit in an oversized elevator car and zip up and down an elevator shaft in complete darkness.

Like Soaring Over California, it was a type of ride I had never experienced before. I was excited to try it, and with our first two Fastpasses, we'd only wait about 5 minutes to get in an elevator.

 

During the wait, we listened to a spooooky announcement about what to watch out for in the elevator. They we heard the announcement in spooooky Spanish.

I find it difficult to question the methods of Disneyland. I know the Disney team is amazing, and they have been doing crowd control for long enough to be world leaders in the field.

However, I didn't understand how the elevator car loading sequence was designed. Look how the numbers in the staging area are in six columns, but they pivot into rows when passengers take their seats.

Why didn't they make the staging area mimic the arrangement in the car itself?

Maybe figuring out loading charts gives the illusion of a reduced wait time.


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