Slipping a Mickey

Most people go to the Disneyland Hotel to spend the night, and spend the day at the amusement park. But you can spend a perfectly amusing day at the hotel itself, without the high cost of park admission. Many activities revolve around water. Some, such as remote-controlled tugboats, require tokens; others, such as feeding the koi fish--they tickle!--and the Fantasy Waters show, are free.

MORNING 1

You’ll be in the Disney spirit before you know it. Notice the giant Mickey Mouse ears set into the walkway just outside the hotel’s Marina Tower lobby. Just inside the doors are statues of Mickey and Minnie. Mickey’s fans will appreciate the wallpaper’s mouse-ears motif.

At Queen’s Berth, using steering wheels along the perimeter of the Marina Dock, you can negotiate miniature tugboats around a Queen Mary replica; foghorns go off, or lights go on, when you successfully maneuver your craft through various tunnels. (Tokens are $2, 4 for $5, 10 for $10; 2 1/2 minutes per token.)

A new 12 1/2-foot-tall Mickey looms at the end of the dock. You can cruise the small marina in two-seat Pedal Boats ($5 for 20 minutes). Around the perimeter you’ll find eateries including Stromboli’s Ristorante and the Shipyard Inn (and perhaps a bird’s nest beneath the pilings). Below dock is the Video Adventure; games include Virtual Cop and that old standby, the Simpsons, wherein Marge clobbers assailants with a vacuum cleaner.

LUNCH 2

Check out old Monorail photos (and a 1957 shot of Walt Disney in a Monorail precursor, the Viewliner) in the ‘50s-style Monorail Cafe. The Monorail itself, definitely worth a spin around the park, is down for maintenance until April. (When it’s up, the 2.5-mile, 10-minute trip is $3 for those without tickets to the park.) More interesting meal choices await at Disneyland Pacific Hotel.

A “Practically Perfect Tea” offers delicacies such as apple pillow and orange scone with sweet cream and raspberry jam in the Tea Room. (Adults $18.50, children 12 and under $12.50.)

Children create their own pizzas ($5.95) at Disney’s PCH Grill. Adult pizzas include moo-shu duck ($9.95) and Mongolian chicken ($9.50); entrees include sake-infused sea bass ($15.50).

Yamabuki rates menu items with chopsticks icons ranging from one icon for new-style cuisine (such as sea eel and avocado, $7.50) to four for traditional dishes (oshinko mariawase, crunchy pickle assortment, $4). Multi-course set lunches range from $6.95-$12.95.

AFTERNOON 1

More than 200 brilliantly colored fish inhabit the Koi Pond, and you feed them. In fact, the koi keeper will literally have them eating out of the palm of your hand. He provides the pellets, you put your palm face up in the water, and--voila!--you’ll be squealing for sure as hordes of carp come at you mouths agape. “They suck your fingers, Mom!” exclaimed one little boy. “Good thing these guys don’t have teeth,” agreed the keeper.

Also in the Seaports of the Pacific area, don’t miss the Waterfalls just below the Koi Pond, a series of stone stairways, bridges and grottos. You can walk behind the falls, just like Niagara, only lots smaller. The Off-Road Raceway offers model race cars at the same rates as the tugboats; the modest Oriental Gardens are worth a peek too.

Because this is Disney, shopping is boundless. In the Plaza Building, Mickey’s Toy Box offers dolls, games and books, and Team Mickey is a cornucopia of sports-themed products including Mickey golf balls ($3), Tigger and Goofy jerseys ($20) and Willie Mays autographed baseball and photo ($340).

EVENING 1

The California Wine Cellar opens for wine tasting at 4:30 p.m. Granville’s Steak House is one of many dinner possibilities. The just retooled Fantasy Waters is a spectacle of fountains and lights featuring 80,000 fiber-optic strands, tunes from classic and modern animated films, and theme music from Disney attractions including the retired Main Street Electrical Parade. You can wind down at the Neon Cactus Sports Bar and Grill; it features sporting events on 20 screens and live entertainment, and it’s open until 1:30 a.m.

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1) Disneyland Hotel

1150 W. Cerritos Ave., (714) 778-6600.

Marina Dock: Queen’s Berth open 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; pedal boats operate 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Plaza Building and shopping mall: Shop hours vary.

Seaports of the Pacific: Off-Road Raceway 10 a.m.-10 p.m.; koi fish feeding at Koi Pond and Waterfalls 1:30 p.m. daily. Fantasy Waters show nightly, usually 8 and 9 p.m.

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2) Pacific Hotel Disneyland

1717 S. West St., (714) 999-0990.

Breakfast with Minnie and Friends served 6:30-11 a.m. daily in Disney’s PCH Grill.

Practically Perfect Tea served in Tea Room at 10 a.m., 12:30 and 3 p.m. Saturday; 12:30 and 3 p.m. Sunday and 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Disney’s PCH Grill open for lunch 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. daily and for dinner 5-10 p.m. daily. Yamabuki open 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays and 5-10 p.m. daily.

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Parking: $2 per hour, $15 maximum per day. Shops and restaurants validate: three hours free parking per validation, two validations maximum.

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Buses: OCTA Bus Nos. 39, 43, 46, 50 and 205 serve Disneyland Hotel.