When we decided to stay for an extra night at Disneyland, the concierge staff also included a free breakfast for us in the park, which was lovely of them. So on Thursday morning we were at the gates at 7:55AM again, ready to go in as soon as they opened, & then we went and had brekky at the Plaza Gardens restaurant, which is at the end of Main Street looking right out over the Disney castle. We planned to spend the day in the other park, Walt Disney Studios, but because it didn't open til 10:00 we went on the Peter Pan ride again & had a Buzz Lightyear rematch. Unfortunately I made the mistake of sharing my battle secrets with Nigel & revealed that there are some targets on the ride that are worth a lot more points that others…with that knowledge at his disposable I was not quite so triumphant this time round. But I put that down to my girly lack of video game experience!

When we got into Walt Disney Studios our first ride of the day was the Aladdin Flying Carpet ride, which is a bit like the Dumbo ride, only you're in a magic carpet, & you can make it go up & down and tilt forwards & backwards. And "Never Had a Friend Like Me" plays while you fly around, which is awesome! Next we went on Crush's coaster, which is based on the part in Finding Nemo where Crush takes them on the East Australian Current. You sit in a turtle shell with two people facing one way, and two people facing the other, & then you sort of whizz around in the dark on this roller coaster, which is really, really fun!! Definitely a new favourite :D

Next we went to Toy Story land, which is all decorated with toys, as though you are the size of a toy so everything around you in giant. We went on the slinky dog rollercoaster, & the RC racer ride, where you sit in a giant toy car and go up and down a really big U shaped track, like one of those swinging boat rides on a much bigger scale! We also went on a tram ride around the back lots of the Disney studios & saw where they keep all their props from films like Pearl Harbour, & also how they do special effects (we got caught in an earthquake/fire/flood!). One of my favourite attractions was "The Art of Animation", where you went inside a big theatre to learn about the history of animation. It started with a film showing all the best parts of all the Disney movies since they first began i.e., the funny side-kicks, the evil villains, the happy endings etc. then you went into a studio where a live presenter interacted with an animated Mushu (the dragon) to teach you about how animation happens and how characters are developed.

We had lunch in "Studio 1", which is decorated to look like a street in Hollywood during the golden era of film, with lots of retro cars, flashing signs etc. Then we went to another show called Animagique, which featured lots of Disney characters performing songs from different Disney movies & they were all glowing because they were lit with black lighting. So, for example, they did Pink Elephants on Parade from Dumbo & there were all these fluro pink elephants dancing around with Donald Duck! Then we went outside to watch the Stars & Cars parade with all the Disney characters coming past in retro cars that were themed to match their movies.

We also saw an interactive show called "Stitch Live", with Stitch from Lilo & Stitch, which was awesome!!! It's SO clever, I don't know how they do it, but Stitch is on the screen like a cartoon & he actually talks to the people in the audience, ask questions, & interacts with everyone. He asked people to put up their hands if they wanted to talk to him, & when only a few people did he bared his teeth & asked "why not everyone want to talk to Stitch??". At one point he instructed the host of the show to go down & talk to Nigel because he said he recognized him from somewhere…of course we were both thinking of the Ricky Ponting look-alike thing, but actually he flashed up a picture of Nigel's face on the screen & told us that he was "Crazy Nigel" who was a wanted man who had escaped from space prison! He told us all to stay away from crazy Nigel! It was hilarious & everyone was in fits of laughter…& I slid down the bench away from Crazy Nigel :P He also spoke to a lady named Kerry (which he said meant "garlic" in his language) & tried to convince her that he would be a better boyfriend/husband than her husband Daniel (which apparently means "ugly face" in Stitch's language :P). He made Daniel stand up and wave his arms and go "woooooo" to prove that he could do it better, which therefore made him a better boyfriend! Oh it was so, SO funny - Crazy Nigel & I both loved it :)

In the afternoon, while waiting for a showing of Cinemagique to start, I decided to brave yet another loop-the-loop & we went on the Rock and Rollercoaster, which is all set to music specifically written by Aerosmith for the ride. It's REALLY cool! Before we got on I was SO scared, & probably left fingernail marks in Nigel's hand because I was gripping it so tight, but once it started going I couldn't get the smile off my face. It was awesome! I actually didn't even know when the loop happened because it happens right at the start when you shoot out of a tunnel in the dark so you can't really tell whether you're up or down anyway! We went on that ride again :D We also went on an Armageddon special effects ride where you go inside a space ship cabin & there's fire & smoke & the floor moves, & lots of other cool stuff!

Cinemagique was an awesome show that spliced together all these parts from famous movies like The Wizard of Oz, a Fish Called Wanda, Titanic, Silence of the Lambs, Mary Poppins etc. to tell a story about a guy who got trapped inside film with a girl (played by Julie Delpy) & how he ventured through the history of cinema to try & get out. It was really clever & incorporated lots of special effects (which is really the theme of the whole park - the magic behind movies & how it all comes together!).

In the evening we went back to the Magic Kingdom again, just in time to see the parade again, then we went and had a glass of wine & a beer in the park at the Plaza Gardens while we waited for the evening show in the central plaza. I was even lucky enough to get a foot massage! :D We saw a little bit of the show where Mickey & other Disney characters came out & performed, then we ducked out before the rest of the crowds & walked back down Main Street and said farewell to the Disneyland theme parks :( We had dinner & cocktails (a Tropical Toucan & a Jungle Runner!) at the Rainforest Café again to console ourselves, then walked home to our lovely hotel room in the warm, balmy evening, when it was only just getting dark around 9:30PM.