We drove down south right after Joyce's last class of the quarter. By
the time we were in the park, it was dark. Of course, we had to hit our
favorite buccaneer spot first. Then off to the ghostly manse next door.
For the first time in 12 years, Joyce said yes! to the mountain with the
splash at the finish. 
  And while we didn't watch the fantas-mic night spectacle, we saw parts of it from one of the pirate shops, and from the top of the splashy mountain.

[click on a thumbnail for
the full-size image]
 
 
  And the last ride of the
night was the cruise thru
the jungle. We couldn't
remember if we'd ever
done this one after dark
... very fun!		 The crowds were crazy on our second day in the park, so we just spent the day enjoying the ambiance of the place.   On our third day, we used our early entry, and we went straight to the "new" sub ride. It does not have a fast pass - bad idea - so we stood in line for 90 minutes!
  Once there, though, it was worth it. The vignettes from the movie that you get to see while under water are so fun!

We also rode the monorail which has a great paint job for the million dreams campaign.

     

Last year, we tracked this guy all over the square, but this year, they have
him contained on the island. First we thought he'd appear at the pile of
treasure, but instead we saw him at the bone ball. 

  He made a spectacular
entrance, going the wrong way on the bridge, and causing all it's occupants to have to turn around and go back! What a sight!		 Then he spent several minutes inside the bone ball signing autographs and snapping pictures. The transportation over to the island is a fun ride in itself!
  We got fast passes for a couple of our regular favorite rides too. And we always have to ride the big white boat.
  We don't usually watch the parades, but they had a new one, with all the  P i x a r  characters, and a water element as well. Joyce tried very hard to keep her video camera dry as she was videotaping the entire extravaganza. It was quite entertaining.

We always love to see the Muppet 3-D movie, and we saw the Aladdin musical too, for only the second time. Joyce videotaped that as well, so we can enjoy the current jokes and references that Genie always seems to have.
      We'd never done the Animation Academy before; our Imagineer Clyde showed us how to draw Grumpy! Very fun.  
  We also did the Crush Talk - very clever use of CG animation for entertainment. Crush the turtle actually interacts with the audience. Ana's natural techie curiosity was aroused. How do they do it!?

It took all week, but we finally got a fast pass for Soarin' Over California, one of our most favorite rides. Still awesome.

 All in all, it was a wonderful spring break at our favorite-est place on the planet!