As expected Alex woke up at 4:45am and started talking. We told him we could not get up until 5:30am and he sat and stared at the digital clock calling out a each new minute passed. If we were not so tiered it would have been cute. We went in search of breakfast and walked into "Goofy's Kitchen". It was a character breakfast but because it was so early they were able to seat us right away. It was going to be a $110 breakfast but the kids seemed to excited about it that we went for it. The food was good. They had tons of breakfast items as well as some lunch items for the kids (hot dogs and chicken fingers) as well as tons of dessert items. I have to say the service was not as good as other meals or character breakfasts we have attended at Disney World. Alex and Jonathan were having fun interacting with Goofy, Chip and Blu (from the Jungle book). Alex was talking to all the characters telling them all sorts of storys about them. When Alice from "Alice in Wonderland" appeared at our table, Alex had a lot of problems looking at her and conversing. His speech became very broken. Anne and I realized it was because she was not hidden behind a mask and it was very apparent he was having a problem. At some point during the conversation he said something that prompted the actor to pretend to cry and Alex immediately started to get upset and we had to talk him down. The meal ended and we all had a good time. I did have to search out the waiter to request more coffee which was a pain.
We then walked through Downtown Disney and entered the Disneyland Park at 9:10am. After we got through the gates I asked an employee where guest services was located and she told me we had to go back out through the entrance gates. That did not sound correct so we proceeded ahead and found it located in the town hall much like the Magic Kingdom except on the other side of the circle. I went in to try and get a pass so Alex would not have to stand in the lines. We had a letter from his doctor requesting that he not have to stand in the lines due to his disability. They issued us a pass and we headed into the park. We first went to Tomorrowland. The rides were not crowded this early so we did not use the pass. After about 2-3 rides it started to get crowded so we tried to use the pass on the Autopia (car rides) and the cast member said it was not the right kind of pass. The one we had did not allow us to skip the lines because it was only for wheelchair assessable rides. She instructed us to go back to the guest services and request a pass with a red arrow. She was nice and let us pass the line. After that I went to the front of the park and they issued me a new pass. While I was standing talking to cast member a young Asian man ran up in a frantic moment and started yelling "You have to help me!, I've lost somebody in the park!" The cast member said "Sir, you will have to calm down. How old is this person that you lost". "23" the Asian young man responded. The cast member calmly responded with "There is nothing that we can do at this time. If she approaches any cast member they will direct her to come to this office" That did not satisfy the man. "No, you don't understand. This is an emergency. I'm not sure she is in the right state of mind". At this point, I'm just standing to the side observing but the cast member was still filling out the pass for me. He handed it to me as the argument continued and I slipped out the door.
We rode some more rides and around 12:30 we meet Chris, Craig and Catlin. We continued to have fun the rest of the day. The popular rides for Alex was Space Mountain, and the Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. Jonathan's favorite rides was Space Mountain, the California Screamin' and the Peach (a swing ride).
The day ended with fireworks in front of the castle. The castle is so small it looks strange to me. The fireworks were very good. I think I liked them more that the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom at Disney World.
Overall, we had a great day and a lot of fun. The experience was surreal as I felt like I was in Orlando but then I would see differences and it would remind me where we were. I also noticed small details about the park that were different. For one, the parks did not seem as clean. Also, we encountered some rowdy teenagers at various points. Overall, I would say that Disneyland is certainly not at the same quality level as Disney World.
Tomorrow... another day at the parks.
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