Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Disney Day 3

Okay so on day 3 we could not get into Disney until 9 a.m. so we kind of slept in a little later than usual and then went to PoFolks restaurant for breakfast. It was tons of food for the price and very good. It was kind of like a Cracker Barrel. So we ate and headed back to Disney. Because we didn't get there until about 10 we parked in the Chip and Dale parking area and took the tram to the park. We headed right over to California Adventure. This is a part of the Disney park that is okay but not something you need to go to. We did go on a few great rides but all the time I was thinking "it's not Disneyland."

The first ride we hit was Soaring over California which was friggin' awesome. It is almost like you are hang gliding over the best parts of the state of California. The Golden Gate Bridge, Napa Valley, Pacific Ocean, golf courses, and you end your trip at Disneyland. We got off the ride and went immediately to get a Fastpass ticket to ride it again without standing in line again. From there we went over to Grizzly Peak and rode the river rapids ride. We checked our gear in a locker and put on our ponchos and rode the rapids. It was hella fun, but as soon as we changed we went back and Soared over California again. In my opinion, this is the best ride over at California Adventure. We walked through the rest of the park and went to the Bug's Life Theatre which was really cool and in 3D. As we were walking around High School Musical 3 was doing a street performance which was pretty good. We had a giant corndog for lunch and headed back over to Disneyland. On the way over we checked again on my cell phone. I told the girl at lost and found that I lost it on the Matterhorn and she said very little is recovered from the Matterhorn. Good thing I only have 6 weeks left on my contract. LOL!!!

So back at Disney we headed over to Toontown. It was really cool because all the Toon houses looked like they came out of a cartoon. We were walking around and who do we see again but Minnie Mouse. I was hella excited because I had just fallen in love with her the night before. So Tom and I had our picture taken together with Minnie. She was really in awe of Tom's tallness. She was so cute. I just love her. It was great to feel like I was 12 again. From there we went to her house and Mickey's house and we went past Goofy's gas station. When we left Toontown we rode Peter Pan again and Tom and I rode the Teacups again and he did the spinning. The colors around us were blurring we were going so fast. Dianne said she didn't think we were going all that fast, but I think we were. When we came out of Peter Pan's ride, Cindy looked up and saw the Evil Witch in the upstairs window of Snow White's castle. So we caught a glimpse of her but only for a moment before she left the window. It was cool as we had read that she sometimes appears in that window.

Since A Small World was closed we didn't get to ride that but we did hit the Monorail ride, and hit Pirates and the Haunted Mansion again. By this time, the park was getting ready to close as the park closes at 8 on Mondays. There were a couple of shops we wanted to check out before we left, because there was just an awesome photo album that I decided I had to have. It is stinkin' cute. It is a 12x12 scrapbook with Tinkerbell on the cover and when you open it, you hear Tink's wand noise. It is frickin' cuter than shit. So we hit a few more shops in the park and then headed to the gate as we were planning on hitting Downtown Disney for dinner and more shopping. So we loaded up on the tram and headed back to the Chip and Dale parking lot to get the van and head back to Downtown Disney.

When we got to Downtown Disney we went in search for something for dinner. We stopped at the Jazz Kitchen and Tom and Cindy got gumbo and jambalaya and some popcorn chicken. Dianne and I opted for beinets (little donuts) and coffee. Then off to the Disney store. It seemed like we were there for hours but I guess we weren't. Tom, bless his heart, found Disney Crocs in my size. However, that is also Cindy's size and we both wanted a pair because they were 40% off. I told Tom that if they didn't fit Cindy I would buy them. They didn't so now I have Disney Crocs. So Dianne and I decided we were tired of shopping and went to get in line to check out. Here's the thing, Disney is great at moving people until it gets to the cashiers at Downtown Disney. The cashiers there were slower than shit. There were a couple of Japanese girls in line ahead of us that were taking forever.

I don't know if any of you have plumbing trouble when you travel, but I seem to. And while I was shopping I started getting cramps and knew I would have to find a restroom soon. Dianne was in line ahead of me when we were checking out. I asked if I could take cuts, which I did, and pinched my cheeks as best I could. Luckily Dianne noticed a restroom to the left of the cashier. So I paid for my stuff and left a toxic cloud of gas as I fled to the toilets. I feared the dreaded rocket powered butt pee but I was lucky.

After that we all dragged our tired asses back to the van and back to the room we went. Dianne was out shortly after hitting the bed, but Tom and Cindy and I stayed up talking. Before we knew it was 2 a.m.

Well I have probably bored the crap out of you if you read this far. Tomorrow I will fill you in our trip to Napa. Bye

California Adventures

Greetings from California!!!

Well here I was telling everyone that I was going to update this blog on a daily basis and then I didn't. That is just too bad because I have so much to tell everyone.

We had an amazing time at Disney!!! It truly is "the happiest place on earth." Tom and Cindy are natives so they have been to Disneyland numerous times and know all the ins and outs of navigating around the park. On day 2 we were able to take advantage of the one early entry that we had on our 3 day park hopper pass. So we got up early and got to the park and rented the carts and rode some rides (Teacups and Peter Pan, of course) and then had breakfast at Riverbelle Terrace. From there we hit one of my favorite places...Frontierland. We took the Mark Twain riverboat cruise and soaked up the atmosphere of the old west. Tom and Cindy rode on Thunder Mountain and Dianne and I did a little shopping. We just kind of bummed around on day two until about 2pm and then headed back to the room to rest up and get ready to eat at Medieval Times.

We had a 5pm reservation at the restaurant and we were able to walk right in and enjoy a drink at the bar. When we were seated for dinner we were in the blue knight's section which was directly across from the knight's entrance into the arena. For those of you that have not been to Medieval Times,it is a dinner theatre with horses and knights, jousting and sword fighting. The only food you are served is food you don't need utensils for as you don't get any knives or forks. We had garlic bread, 1/2 a roasted chicken, a beef rib, and half a roasted potato. We were also served tomato bisque soup but I passed on that as I just don't like tomato soup. But back to the show. The blue and yellow knights really knew how to play to the crowd. These guys have to be really athletic as they are falling off their horses and sword fighting and those swords are heavy. The horses were gorgeous and there was even a little horse show where they showed some battle moves that they used to teach the horses. Kind of like a mini Lipizzaner Stallion show. We all agreed that the show was excellent but the food sucked. If you go, don't plan on getting a great meal but the show is definitely worth it. (Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this...one of Tom's friends hooked us up with 2 for 1 tickets to the show. That made it even better!!!)

After dinner we headed back over to Disney. We thought that they were going to have a parade and fireworks and one of the cast members lied to me and told me that the Christmas lights were supposed to be turned on at 5pm. The lights were not on and there was not a parade scheduled and because of the winds and wildfires in the area, the fireworks show was cancelled too. The fireworks were not cancelled until right at 9:30 so we had waited around for a while waiting for them. The closer the time got, the more crowded Mainstreet became. Dianne and Cindy were sitting in their carts and I was sitting on the fence behind them. There was a couple with a little girl right next to us. I wasn't paying particular attention to them, until the mom used the phrase that sends me into orbit whenever I hear it. I'll try to set up the scene for you as best I can. So where we were seated, we could kind of see a little bit of the fireworks that were going off from the Fantasmic show on the Rivers of America where the Mark Twain is docked. These fireworks do not go up very high, but you can catch a glimpses of them in other parts of the park because there is not any wasted space at Disneyland. So anyway, the little girl got super excited because she saw a couple of fireworks through the tree limbs and thought they were standing in the wrong place for the show. Her mom bends down and says to her "Honey, we are not waiting for THOSE ONES, we are going to see THESE ONES." Then she kind of made a motion towards the castle. I was like in shock because I often don't get a double whammy on poor grammar in one sentence. Dianne looked up at me immediately because she knew I was going to have some kind of a reaction. She was not disappointed. We laughed our asses off and I made some comment about the mom making sure her daughter grew up with bad grammar. For those of you that know me, you know that this was like a nails on the chalkboard moment for me.

After the fireworks were cancelled, we decided to make our way back to the entrance of the park and head back to the room. We did take our time and Tom and I kind of strolled back while Dianne and Cindy went ahead on their motorized transportation. When we got up to the town square, Dianne was very excited. She said "Look Bev, it's Mickey." Mickey had come out to mingle with the crowd but was posing with kids to have take pictures. I had to have my picture taken with Mickey!!! But while we were waiting out comes Minnie. OMG!!! She is gorgeous!!! Dianne saw her first and said she stuck her shoe out of the door and kind of waved before she came out. She said it was hella cute. So anyway, Dianne and I got to have our picture taken with Mickey and Minnie. And now we have become huge Minnie fans too. She is so nice!!! Both of them blew little kisses to us. It was great being 12 again for a few minutes. After the highlight of my night, we dragged our asses back to the room and got ready for bed so we could do it all again on Monday.

So anyway, I know this is a lot of reading so I will sign off for now. Dianne, Cindy and I have to get ready for our spa treatment this morning. (We got into Napa last night and we are staying at the most amazing place. But I will tell you about that later.) Bye for now.