Our next stop was Frontierland.
I was hoping to eat lunch at the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ, but unfortunately it was closed. We did have fun meeting the animals at the ranch though. The goats would have to be the fattest and laziest I have ever seen; they were adorable. Ive never met a goat that didnt try to eat my clothes before!
There was no effort going into that headbutt, he just stood there with his horns resting on his friend!
I was ready to tackle my next big rollercoaster with Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Once again I found the climbing in the dark bits scary but loved the ride itself. I also thought it was more comfortable and a bit less jarring than the Matterhorn. This ended up being DFs favourite ride of the day.
DF is very proud of this shot where he caught the train in action
We were getting pretty hungry by now so stopped for lunch at the counter service place next to the Golden Horseshoe for lunch. I cant remember what we had but I know it wasnt healthy! We finished lunch by sharing a choc mint ice-cream sundae inside the Golden Horseshoe Saloon which was delicious.
Feeling refreshed we made our way into New Orleans, walking past this on the way.
Once again we just loved the theming! We browsed some of the shops although we didnt buy anything.
We rode Pirates of the Carribean which was one of my favourite rides as it was exciting but not scary! I loved the look of the Blue Bayou Restaurant with the tables overlooking the start of the pirates ride and we considered having dinner here, but since the park was closing fairly early and we werent hungry yet so we just couldnt make it work. We tried to see the Haunted Mansion but it was temporarily closed so we vowed to return later and kept moving to Critter Country.
We want to be on the OTHER side of these gates!
Unfortunately with Splash Mountain closed for maintenance there wasnt a lot to do in Critter Country (or at least we thought so initially) We rode Winnie the Pooh and then had a look around the gift shop. Im a big Winnie the Pooh (especially Eeyore) fan so I couldnt resist buying my first Disney pin and a cute little plush Eeyore to add to my collection at home. As we made our way out of the shop intending to head over to Adventureland I was beside myself with excitement to see Eeyore himself! I have loved him for as long as I can remember. There was a bit of a queue forming to see him which we joined, but then fortunately for us three quarters of the people disappeared because Tigger arrived and we didnt have to wait at all!
I became quite nervous when it was my turn to meet Eeyore! It was like meeting my idol! DF took some great photos for me, which are now very treasured. This had to be one of my favourite moments of the day; he was so soft and cuddly! I was too excited to really interact with him but he was very sweet and blew me lots of kisses and gave me a huge hug.
I think I was a bit dazed after meeting my favourite donkey but we eventually made our way to Adventureland. We explored Tarzans tree house and rode the jungle cruise and Indiana Jones. Indy was probably our longest wait of the day, but we really enjoyed the queue so it wasnt a problem. I really enjoyed all of the rides in Adventureland, we had a great captain on the cruise and Indiana Jones was good fun, I was so scared when the car stalled and the boulder started rolling towards us!
View from the tree house
We considered checking out the Enchanted Tiki Room but for some reason decided not to. I was very interested by the stand selling pineapple juice and ice-cream though as Im a huge pineapple lover, so we decided to get a juice. As we were waiting I realised everybody else was buying juice with ice-cream on top and decided we just had to try it, so we split one. This was of course the famous Dole Whip float that I had never heard of before. Oh my goodness I just loved it! I am a total devotee now and cant wait until I can taste that pineapple-y goodness again..
By this stage it was starting to get dark. We were relieved that we had made it through each of the lands and decided to go back and finish off the little bits we hadnt done earlier. We started with the Haunted Mansion (which I was worried would be terrifying, but thought was really fun) followed by the Mark Twain riverboat and then the carousel.
A CM told me Id picked Walts favourite horse on the carousel (unfortunately the photo isnt the greatest)
Then we went back and repeated a few of our favourites from earlier in the day; such as Buzz Lightyear and the teacups. DF pointed out to me that there was still one rollercoaster we hadnt done yet, and feeling confident I agreed to give Space Mountain a go.
I really wish I hadnt! I didnt enjoy this ride at all and found it really scary. Definitely outside of my comfort zone. The photo from the ride (which I dont have) is hilarious as I have my eyes squeezed tightly shut and look sick! DF said he wasnt cared but didnt particularly enjoy himself as he didnt find the dark very stimulating. I must admit the very start of the ride; overlooking the stars is gorgeous.
It was approaching closing time now so we made our way back to Main St, stopping for a photo in front of the castle on our way.
We only ended up having 3 photopass photos taken, as I wasnt really prepared for this, but I was happy with the shots that we got and would do it again. I ordered a photobook from the photopass website after we got home, and we really love it! The park was beautiful at night, I really liked riding the tea cups in the dark.
We had a look through the shops on Main St and bought a nice photo frame. I was quite interested in the pins and a CM suggested we check out World of Disney at Downtown Disney as they had a bigger selection. The park was closing very soon anyway so we sadly headed out, stopping for one last photo on the way!
I have to admit we werent hugely impressed with Downtown Disney. I did buy a few more pins, but we werent particularly interested in any of the other shops and none of the restaurants really appealed to us. In the end we walked across the road to Dennys for dinner and had some great burgers. We had such a fantastic day and loved looking through our shopping and the photos on our camera while we ate.
After dinner it was a very short walk back to our hotel for our very last night in the US! We were so glad wed included DL in our itinerary and that day was definitely the start of a Disney obsession for us both, including me joining the disboards of course!
Next: Our last day! LA