Fantasyland
Pinocchio's Daring Journey - Not the best of the dark rides but not the worst either. I think it's telling that despite having also ridden this in Tokyo two years ago I had to watch a YouTube video to remind myself of what it was like. It's fun if the wait is not too long but not outstanding.
Snow White's Scary Adventures - Another mediocre dark ride. Again, it's a nice diversion if the wait isn't long but I wouldn't stand in a long line for it.
Sleeping Beauty Castle - The castle at Disneyland is noticeably short compared to Cinderella Castle in Disneyland. It was all decked out for the 60th anniversary.
Casey Jr. Circus Train - It was kind of fun to ride in a monkey cage, but the train went too fast to get a good look at Storybook Land. In the future I would skip this for the Canal Boats unless I was travelling with young kids.
Dumbo - Classic ride that's still a bit of fun. Not a high priority but I enjoyed it.
Mr. Toad's Wild Ride - After riding this I'm not surprised that it has been scrapped at Disney World. I think there was a vague plot but it was difficult to follow and there was nothing interesting about the sets.
Peter Pan's Flight - I think Peter Pan is the most magical Disney ride. It is certainly my favourite of the dark rides. I think there is something special about the flying aspect of it. The Disneyland version has recently been refurbed and although there weren't any major changes, I think it added a bit of extra sparkle. Unfortunately the refurb has made the ride even more popular than normal, and therefore bumped up wait times. I rode it twice and both times my strategy was to ride at rope drop, which helped a bit. It's important to be as close as possible to the front of the crowd though, since the wait climbs to 30-40 minutes within the space of about 5 minutes.
Alice in Wonderland - This is a fun dark ride that is unique to Disneyland. It's not impressive technically, but it has a more upbeat tone than most of the Fantasyland dark rides, which I think made me enjoy it more.
Matterhorn Bobsleds - This is primarily a rollercoaster although a recent refurb improved the theming. I had never ridden it before because it's unique to Disneyland and was down for refurb the last time I visited. It's more jerky than any other Disney rollercoaster and I wouldn't want to ride it with a headache, but otherwise it's fun. The line can be long but I never waited more than a couple of minutes with single rider - for some reason this didn't seem to be a popular single rider line but was very straightforward (entrance right near the loading area).
Storybook Land Canal Boats - This provided a much better look at the Storybook Land miniature scenes than the train did and included a narration explaining what each scene represented. Not the most exciting ride but I thought it was very well done.
it's a small world - Unlike a lot of adults, I actually like the music on this ride, and I love the ride itself. I like trying to figure out which country is represented in each section (although I am woefully bad outside Europe), and the Disney characters in the Disneyland version added an extra element.
Mickey's Toontown
Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin - This was the only Toontown attraction I went on. I rode this at Tokyo Disney as well and I still have no idea what is supposed to be going on. I don't know if it would make more sense if I watched the movie first. Still it's fun if there is no wait (I rode shortly after Toontown opened at 10).
Tomorrowland
Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage - I don't remember ever riding the original 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ride so I can't compare the two versions, but this was fun. Unlike 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea at Tokyo Disney, this ride is actually under the water. Was funny to hear Australian accents in the voiceovers. I rode towards the end of Magic Morning and waited about 15 minutes - the queue was outside and unthemed so in hindsight I should have headed here first.
Disneyland Monorail - This can be used as transportation between Disneyland Park and Downtown Disney but I just rode it as a round trip. I think there was supposed to be a narration but the audio was so bad that I couldn't hear anything, so the ride wasn't really very interesting. I noticed that the route went very close to my hotel - it would be nice if they added a couple of extra stops (perhaps one in DCA and one near Harbor Boulevard).
Space Mountain - This is probably my favourite ride at Disneyland Park in terms of the actual ride component (as opposed to the theming). I prefer the Disneyland version to the Disney World version largely due the in-vehicle music. This is one of the few rides at Disneyland with long lines and no Single Rider - I used a fastpass once and also rode early in the morning without much of a wait.
Star Tours - I had only been on the new version of this once before, when it was in soft opening at Tokyo Disney. The new version is only really better if you ride it several times and can enjoy the fact that it is different every time, so it was nice to be able to do that here. I rode this early in the morning and was able to walk straight through the queue, but the queue is quite interesting so I wouldn't have minded a short wait here.
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters - There is a really good Buzz Lightyear animatronic in the queue, but for some reason there was a cast member holding everyone in the hot, unthemed outside queue instead. Unlike the Disney World version of this ride, in Disneyland the targets have different shapes indicating how many points the target is worth. My aim is terrible though, so that doesn't help me a huge amount. Still a fun ride though. Unfortunately the kiosks to view the on-ride photo weren't working while I was there.
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