FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Shopping Frenzy

Today was meant to be a rest day but we couldn't help ourselves. We were at breakfast at 730 and in the park by 8am. It was fortunate that we did as those were the only hours in the day when the rain did not pour down. We indulged Jonah and went on his favourite attraction AGAIN. Embarassingly, my score on Buzz Lightyear was lower than Jonah's. How was a score of merely 3300 possible?!?! After we had our fill of rides we caught the horse drawn streetcar back to the entrance. We had morning tea to eat and a loo stop to make at Salon Mickeys. This had become a routine as we discovered sadly that the toilets in most of the park were dirty and smelly. A real shame.

By the time we finished and re-entered the park, it had started pouring. Although highly inconvenient, it also brought warmer temperatures. Autopia in the rain, though, was not fun. The course just had to be the longest one we had been on, or at least it felt that way! The kids still loved it and would've gone round again if we let them.

Malcolm had a haircut at Dapper Dan's Haircuts. Elliot was annoyed that he had his haircut at Eastwood just before we left. It is an olde worlde barber shop where they still shave mens' necks with a naked blade.... 20 minutes of Jonah free indulgence! The instruction of "very short french style" worked out alright! And the shareholders card accepted for a discount...even better!

The characters during breakfast

Walking through the Sleeping Beauty's Castle

Her story told within the Castle wall in a series of stained glass windows and tapestries

Statue of Aurora and her Prince Charming

The magic kiss

The ceiling within the castle

Each section accompanied by a story book page

Some of the tapestries were amazing!

Walking along the second level of the caste with no one else with us was very nice.

Finally we get to go on Dumbo!

Happy children

Horse drawn car, an easy way to get back to the entrance

What's the fuss about?!!

One of our favourite place

Not a quartet but a real barbershop

Gorgeous interior!

The children watching Daddy getting a haircut

"Very short french style" the brave man says

The final result

It was now completely miserable and so we abandoned the rides and unleashed ourselves on the shops instead. We started on Main street and continued on to the Disney Village. Whilst I thought that it was great the parks had beautiful shops round every corner. The merchandise found across all the shops were much the same. This also held true for the shops within the Disneyland Hotel, the Disney Store and the World of Disney. The exceptions were the specialty shops such as Disney Fashion and Disney Gallery. This made the acquisation of merchandise a rather quick affair. We stopped at Annette's for lunch where we were served by roller skating waitresses in a 1950's styled diner. Eating cheeseburgers to the soundtrack of Grease whilst it was pouring outside was comforting!

As it says...

Our venue

The 1950's interior

Our booth

We returned back to hotel for a swim and a nap in the hope that it would help bring Jonah down from his hyperactive state. It failed. We are eagerly waiting for the cavalry to arrive!

The night ended with dinner at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Spectacular - think Medieval Times meets the Easter Show in French accents. Banging plates with cutlery and being encouraged to boo at the other teams undid all our wind down work on Jonah. Our kids went a little wild. Their enthusiasm was infectious! The food was plentiful but was average in taste. The show was a lot of good fun and a great way to end our third day here. We were all happy that we got to keep our cowboy hats. Now to get it past customs and quarantine...