Disneyland and Theme Parks

I went to Disneyland yesterday. I thought I would have hit the point of diminishing returns on it, but I guess not. It still seemed pretty cool. I guess maybe not quite as cool as the first couple of times, but as you get more experienced, you learn strategies so you can cram more stuff into a single visit. You would think a weekend day right before Christmas would be bad, but it seemed not too awfully crowded. Also, they've got new Star Wars themed rides which I hear they've made a movie about. You can maximize your time if your smart about it. Here's some free advice:

- Get there right when it opens and do the most popular rides first. There were other people there at the start and they were getting stuff to eat or in the gift shops. A waste of valuable time.

- Refuse to spend more than half an hour in a line. You can do other several other things in that standing in line time. They might not be as fun as that ride, but a lot more fun than the combination of standing in line and the ride.

- Rest in the middle. We weren't at a hotel, but if you are, go there in the middle of the day and take a nap or watch TV. You'll have more energy and you'll feel like staying until closing time, when a lot of people have gone home. Also, that is really important if you have kids with you. They asked a bunch of kids what their favorite part of Disneyland was and first place was the motel pool. Kind of a waste of money.

- Optimize parade times. A lot camp out half an hour to an hour ahead of time on the parade routes. Instead, you should get there as it starts. You'll have people in front of you, but the floats are so tall, you see most everything. Or, while the parades are cool, the lines for the rides are a lot shorter then. You might use that time to get on those.

- Disney has the Fast Pass system. Use that. It seems like cheating and I don't totally understanding it, but luckily I have people that do. That saves a ton of time.

I should write a tour book. I wasn't planning on doing a tour guide today, but I got on a roll.

I was at Universal Studios in  Orlando a few months ago. It was great too, but I've done that and don't feel any need to go back. I was in Dollywood a couple years ago. That was fine, but not quite as good as the others. It lacks the Nazi-like efficiency of Disneyland, but still is pretty well organized. I was at a Six Flags by San Fran once, that didn't seem very good at all. So they differ. California Adventure would probably be great if it didn't have to suffer from being compared to Disneyland a hundred yards away.