We pulled up to Disneyland Hotel and I was a little worried. It looks like an office block. It clearly gets better, Gab is bursting with excitement next to me. I walk through the front door to the lobby, I'm thinking the guys at Novotel took points in office looking hotels from this designer. Then I notice the hidden mickeys, everywhere. Instead of Le corbisuer imitations, there are half-tea cups as lounges lining the foyer. Then Gideon (the cat from Pinocchio) comes up to greet us. He hangs with the kids for a few minutes then whisks them over to a special kids are to watch some cartoons with him while I check us in. Novotel could benefit from sending their staff to Disneyland hospitality school too. This hotel looks just like it was finished last week, nothing tired, nothing warn. Just 60's style, I'm very impressed.

The other thing to note - Disneyland resort is tiny compared to Disney World. Californian's like also like to stay inside if it might rain, the place was empty today. We didn't arrive until 2:30 in the afternoon, and by park closing at 9pm had done almost everything we wanted to - we didn't wait more that 15 minutes for any ride, mostly straight on.

We had a ball of an afternoon going around like we'd unlocked the secret to the place. Attractions that took hours to agree queueing strategy were empty, you just walked right on. Biggest problem for the day was that the Matahorn is closed for renovations.

We left mainstreet almost an hour after closing (they left the shops open) we have a photo of us on Mainstreet with an almost empty street behind us, surreal after the rest of our Disney park experiences.

Downtown also shuts early, it was open until 2-3am on the east coast, but here it shuts down at 10pm too. We got a table at the rainforest cafe with 10 minutes left in their service. Emerson had crashed by this stage, but Max loved it - playing with the elephant & gorilla dummies.

Tomorrow its California Adventure, wahoo!