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<font color=green>DH will do the laundry...when no
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2000
We are:
me, Lisa, 42 year old kid. First trip to disneyland when I was 30! First trip to Disneyworld when I was 35ish.
DH, Kim, 49 year old, grew up in Southern California, could see the fireworks from his back yard. First trip to Disneyworld when he was 45ish.
We have no children....
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Back in November, after saving up for a couple years, we decided we needed a trip. DH wanted to see a family member in California, we wanted to try a cruise, and I needed a Soarin' fix. I have a very stressful, yucky job (which I absolutely *love*) and use my memory of Soarin' to help me sleep when I'm having trouble. *Much* better than sleeping pills!! Anyway, we decided to try to do a couple quick days in Disneyland, even though Space Mountain wasn't open, and even though I knew it would probably be crowded from the holidays.
We (well, I) planned to do DCA the first day since our flight didn't get into LAX until late morning and since I really really needed my DCA fix. I also figured Disneyland would be more crowded on the Saturday than the Sunday. Plus we had two day park hoppers, so we could just *hop* over to the MK if we wanted to.
A week or so before we go, the threat alert goes up to orange. The couple days before we go a few flights are cancelled from France to LAX.... I'm a little concerned, but we've flown several times since 9/11, only once before to LAX, but we're ok.
I've been to Disneyland a few times, and the last trip, read a couple of guidebooks. I read some of the posts here about where to eat, what new things to do.
So, we're off. After a quick breakfast at Village Inn, we're off to the airport, where we check in, get our boarding pass, and then wait in line to get to the security gate. I take off my shoes, which sometimes go off through the metal detector, sometimes don't....
I'm excited, I can feel my heart beating faster and faster as we get to our gate. I don't mind flying into LAX because even though it's a huge airport, the terminals seem to be well divided, so it really isn't a problem. The terminals themselves are not *that* big. Our flight is quick - a couple hours, we get into LAX, get our luggage without a problem. Looks like one of our bags is searched - no problem.
We had pre-paid transfers with Airport Bus. The transfer slip aka voucher in our packet is really detailed about what to do. Go outside your terminal and look for "Airport Bus". Look for the bus that has Disneyland all over it. It was very easy to find the sign for our bus. You could feel the excitement at the bus stop. We had a large amount of luggage (three big rolly bags) since we were going on a cruise after our short Disneyland trip. We waited, and waited and waited and waited for our bus. Every so often one of us would step out into traffic trying to see if our bus was coming. Finally, what seemed likes hours later, our bus got there. The bus driver was fun and seemed as excited as we were. The sign above the driver said "gratuity included in bus fare". This was nice - although I had 40 or so one dollar bills burning a whole in my wallet. I had gotten a bunch of ones for tips.... We were at terminal one. For the next 45-60 minutes, we stopped at every other terminal at LAX. The bus driver would step out and say "disneyland, anaheim", look around, and then hop back into the bus. There was a huge amount of traffic, so every time we stopped, he had to get back into traffic. I WANTED TO GET TO DISNEYLAND!!!
When we finally got out of the terminal, we were on our way! Trip took about 45 minutes. We went to a bus terminal, where someone took our vouchers and then the bus driver took us to our respective hotels.
We had decided to stay at the Comfort Inn Maingate, although we had never stayed there before, and I could not find anything out about it. We had chosen it because it was the cheapest package we could find.
We were the 3rd or 4th stop. He dropped us off right at the registration desk, pulled out our luggage, and we went into the office to get our room!
Check in was virtually painless. Although it always surprises me - DH and I have different last names. I paid for the trip on my credit card. We use this travel agency all the time. We learned long ago that no matter whose card the trip is charged to to give the hotel both names because we have no idea whose name the room is under. And what do ya know! It's under DH's name! Room is pre-paid. no problem.
This hotel is on Harbor, but down two plus large city blocks from Disneyland. The outside looked fine - although it did have outside corridors, which I don't like particularly. We get our room number - it's all the way down the middle and to the left. Probably the furthest from the office that you can get. That's ok. We have rolly luggage. We can roll it through the parking lot.
Before our trip, I had read a little bit about the new transportation system (ART). I knew that there was not an ART stop at our hotel, but two hotels down. I asked the check in clerk about it. She gave me the schedule and pointed to the machine outside the hotel to get our ART passes. She told us that the stop was two hotels down. I wasn't sure about this....I'd have to investigate.
We drag our luggage to our room, and I am very pleasantly surprised. The room is VERY clean. Two queen beds. A good sized fridge. Small coffeepot with coffee - a must for DH. Two sinks, shower and tub. Again, room is very clean. Carpet looks new. We are on the ground floor, which, again, I don't particularly like. But I am not gonna lug our three very heavy pieces of luggage up a flight of stairs.
DH decides he needs some time to himself (not gonna gross you out here), so I walk down to the machine to get our ART passes, taking my wallet. I knew it cost $6 for two day passes. I've got all those ones. But when I get there, it takes credit cards! That's great because I have my webcertificate to use for our vacation....Save all those ones for tips for later on in our trip. It was very easy to buy our two two day ART passes. Very easy. They don't have any dates on them - you have to fill that in. I am still shocked how easy this was.
I get back to the room, and I am READY! I need to go to Disneyland.
We grab the schedule for the ART and walk down to our stop. It is within 50 feet of our hotel. There's a sign and everything! The only wierd thing was that the stop was between two small trees, so I'm worried the trolly driver won't see us. So, once again, DH stands in the middle of the street - Harbor Blvd mind you - and sees the trolly. The trolly got there within 5 minutes of us getting out there. Again, I am totally impressed. Our last Disneyland trip, we stayed at Best Western Park Place Inn because I wanted to walk to disneyland after having horrible experiences with hotel shuttles - waiting, and waiting, and waiting to get to Disneyland. Waiting and waiting and waiting to get back to the hotel.
The trolly was relatively empty. We made a couple more stops, and then were dropped off at our *stop*. It took probably 10 minutes from getting to the trolly stop to Disneyland. I was very impressed.
Because we had gotten a Southwest fun package, we had to wait in line with our vouchers to get our hopper passes. I was a little worried because when our documents came in to the travel agent, we were short one voucher for me for my park hopper. The documents looked fine, BUT I would much rather have the park hopper in hand than have a *voucher* which ain't worth much.
The line to get our tickets was very long, but moved pretty good. By this time it's early afternoon. DH is already complaining about being hungry. I want to ride rides. He wants to eat. We get our park hoppers. DH complains again about being hungry. Now, DH is pretty normal sized - I am *pooh* sized. But when we're on vacation, DH eats like a mad man. He eats and eats and eats..... Of course, he never gains an ounce. But he has to have four or five meals a day, plus snacks.
We go over to DCA - I love how close everything is. The CM goes through our back pack - and makes DH open his jacket. The search is not terribly thorough, surprisingly. We usually take one backpack and that's it - no purse or anything. But the "search" is minimal. We head over to Soarin to see what the wait is - 45 minutes. We get a fastpass.
DH is bugging about being hungry, so even though I wanted to try White water snacks, I wasn't sure exactly where it was, and I could not stand listening to DH any more, so we went to Tastepilots Grille. I convinced DH that we should share a meal since we had ressies at 6:30 for Avalon Cove (as part of our package, we got a character meal there). So we got a cheeseburger and fries and a soda.
We split the meal, 1/2 burger for me, 1/2 fries for me, and share our drink. The other thing that drives me crazy about DH is that he eats VERY SLOWLY. It takes him 10 minutes to just put condiments on his burger. By that time, I'm through with 1/2 my burger and fries. As we're sitting there, I look through the map, making sure I remember where everything is. I don't have that much trouble with DCA. I have a lot of trouble with MK - having been to Disneyworld - I always get lost at MK.....
Anyway, it's a bit chilly there, but eating always makes me warmer. After we finish, I thought we'd head over to mullholland madness. We walk over by Soarin', check the wait again, and decide to go around the GCH side. The Grizzly mountain water ride has a 5 minute wait so I convince DH to go on that. We didn't bring our ponchos - they are back at the hotel room in one of the suitcases. But DH has a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and leather coat on. I have a tank, tshirt and long sleeve denim shirt on. I convince him to go on it. He gets dragged into it. We both get very wet.
The thing I absolutely love about this ride is that because so many people fit onto the raft, we inevitably ride with a bunch of kids. We both work with kids - me with abused and neglected kids, DH is a school police detective. So, one of my joys in going to Disneyland is seeing all the kids laughing and having a good time. Our raft fills up. There's one cute little girl who is probably 5 or and wearing a nylon running suit. There are two kids (pre teens) and an adult in ponchos. It looks like they've been riding this ride all day long. The boy of the group has to tell us everything about the ride. I am laughing and laughing and laughing. I think Grizzly is better than the water ride at Animal Kingdom - it's longer and the raft twists and turns more. Very fun. I get soaked. I am laughing hysterically. DH gets a little wet, and complains....
When we get off the ride, I can wring my denim shirt and get water out of it. It was hilarious. I take the denim shirt off and stick it in the backpack. no way I'm gonna freeze like this. It is actually kinda overcast today - so chilly.
We decide to walk over to Mullholland, we get to the area by the zephers and I keep smelling what I thought was gardenias. I looked around - it was a pretty strong smell - one of my favorites.... I couldn't find the flowers it was coming from - I see a garden, look there, sniff - not coming from there.... I can't figure it out until I looked up and saw the Rose Parade float! WOW! We had actually watched the Rose Parade - and I had seen this float with the Tower of Terror on it. Boy did it smell wonderful! And it was huge! DH had bought a new digital binocamera (binoculors and camera in one!) so he got that out and started taking pictures. I was overwhelmed - what a cool thing to see that!
Both DH and I love tower of terror - and one of my disappointments in coming when we did is that Tower of Terror wasn't open. Last trip to Disneyworld we stayed at Boardwalk and went to TOT every single day and probably rode it 20 times. lol.
Anyway, we stayed there for quite a while - went by Mullholland - 45 minute wait..... Maliboomer had no real wait (5 minutes) but neither DH or I really like it for some reason - i think it's the scream shields. Too confining.
DH decided he would rather do the Sunwheel so he could take pics of the float. And to make fun of me. Last time, we rode a moving gondola and I screamed quite a bit. We wait in line for 30 minutes or so and finally get on. I like this ride, but it's too short. Only two rotations around. It was pretty crowded, so maybe with less people, you get more rotations around. This time I didn't scream - to my DH's dismay.... lol.
We walk around - DH wants to do Screamin - won't let me do it. I have problems because of my "pooh" size with restraints that come down over your shoulders. We watch for a bit. DH wants to go over to "It's tough to be a bug". We had been last visit to Dland, and DH loved it. There's a short wait, we get in, and it's nice to sit down. I have never actually seen the movie, but we enjoy this show. The kids laughing are hilarious.
By now, it's time to head back to Soarin for our fast pass time.
As always, Soarin is wonderful. I know it's silly, but it really is a romantic, calming ride for me. I love it. We go on it again, no fast pass this time, but that's ok. There's a bit of time before our dinner ressie, and I don't mind waiting. While we're waiting, some singers come by and sing - they were awesome! I sure do love the entertainment there. There's always something going on at DCA. It sure made the wait a lot less. I enjoyed it.
After Soarin, we walk around some more. DH is hungry again - I let him get some coffee but no snacks since I know Avalon Cove is like a four course meal.
We look in the shops - I am very tempted to get a sweatshirt. But being "pooh" sized, I don't find anything that I think will fit comfortably. This has always disappointed me about the Disney parks. There are plenty of folks who are pooh sized, and although I can wear an XXL, I sure wish there was a XXXL.... Anyway, Disney loses money because I sure would spend a lot if I could find something comfy. lol. I almost convince to get a beanie cap or some gloves, but DH wants to save our money for our cruise, so no beanie cap or gloves for DH.
One thing was kind of funny here - even though it was California, and much wamer than where we come from, I was shocked at how many people were wearing winter type coats and jackets throughout the park. I know it's January, but it was funny.
Anyway, we walk by Avalon Cove about 1/2 hour before our ressies. I tend to be an early bird - I never want to be late for anything. We walk in to see if maybe we can get seated early. The receptionist/hostess is just RUDE. She says no, we can't and don't come back until 6:30. Well, that turns me off. But it's a meal included in our package. I don't want to pay for another meal. At that point, I was very glad we made ressies. There were people waiting in line being told there was a 1-1/2 hour wait.
We decide to shop a little more - there really aren't many shops near there and I don't want to do something else waiting for our dinner ressie. We end up sitting in the chairs right across from the restaurant and go back in about 6:25pm. Our wait for a table is minimal (5 minutes) even though the hostess tells us it will be about 20 or 30 minutes.
We end up going down stairs, inside (too cold outside on the water!). I am shocked at how many characters are roaming around. We did not see the mermaid initially - she was on a break. DH was very disappointed. We get seated at a four top, kind of in the middle of things. DH has bad hearing and we're sitting across from each other, but it worked out fine. He couldn't hear anything I said, but I got to watch as characters came up behind him, and he got to watch as characters came up behind me. lol. Very cool.
Anyway, we had to order everything at once, including dessert. That was kind of wierd. I usually don't have dessert, but it was hard choosing. I just kind of chose.
We both had the cheesy onion soup. I had the Surf BLT, DH had the fish and chips. I had the rocky road dessert. DH had some brownie thing.
We got the bread. It was WAY TOO HARD. I had heard it was pretzel bread, but this was way too hard for too old people (US) to eat. We both gnawed at it. SErvice was pretty good, generally. There were lots of characters there - Chip and Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie. All of the characters, except Minnie, came up to our table and had fun with us. And there were tons of kids there! I love it when they pay attention to us, even though we don't have kids. They interacted with the other adults there too.
I have a laughing problem - that is, I laugh/giggle with just a look. Chip (or was it Dale) had a blast with that. Pretending to tickle me. Pluto came by and pretended to lick me. We had a blast.
Our cheesy onion soup was pretty lack luster. Not very hot. Not very cheesy. Plenty oniony.
DH's fish and chips were pretty boring as well. I liked the Salmon BLT, but there a bit too much bread. I ended up eating the second half of my sandwich without the bread. It was good - not great, but good.
Dessert was pretty small - but ok. My favorite part was the cotton candy, which I devoured. lol.
DH finally got to see the mermaid - I got a peek too. DH was not impressed. She was ok. not sure what the big deal was - although I laughed when they wheeled her out. The other characters were much more fun.
After dinner, DH and I walked back over to Soarin. We decided not to wait, no more fast passes for tonight. We walked back around by GCH and I saw a 2 minute wait for Grizzly. I decided to go. DH decided to go over to Screamin. Before our trip, we bought walkie talkies. We thought it would be fun - we usually hang out together at the parks, but I thought it would be nice for the ship. Anyway, he took off. I got onto the Grizzly. I had a blast. And I got even more soaked. lol. After I got off, I *thought* about going again, but I was just too cold. So, decided to walk over to Screamin. DH was still in line, almost ready to go, but there was a bit of a delay.
Apparently a pooh sized woman had ridden Screamin and had passed out. They were having trouble getting her out of the ride. Not sure what exactly happened to her, but they made an announcement that something was wrong, and several minutes later the ride was on again. I watched DH from the launch pad and then went to wait for him at the photo site. I *really* wanted to ride Screamin - maybe next time.
Part of the reason DH won't *let* me ride Screamin, and why I'm scared of it is because last time we went to Knotts, we went on one ride - Montezuma's revenge I think- with a over the shoulder brace - and I didn't think the restraint clicked. I was scared to death, thinking I was going to die. I was screaming and screaming to make sure they didn't start the ride until it clicked. The CMs ignored me. Because of that, I have a real fear of shouldeer harness rides.
Anyway, after Screamin, we decide to stop by Soarin again. DH is tired and wants to go back to the hotel. I'm pretty pooped to - maybe we can do Soarin again tomorrow.
We head to our trolly stop. We wait about 10 minutes. And are off to our hotel. Again, a very quick ride and back to the hotel. A short walk to our room, and we're at the room and asleep within 30 miinutes of getting back to the room. looooong day. But wonderful to be back to our laughing place. Tomorrow is the Magic Kingdom and our character breakfast at Storytellers!
Stay tuned!
me, Lisa, 42 year old kid. First trip to disneyland when I was 30! First trip to Disneyworld when I was 35ish.
DH, Kim, 49 year old, grew up in Southern California, could see the fireworks from his back yard. First trip to Disneyworld when he was 45ish.
We have no children....
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Back in November, after saving up for a couple years, we decided we needed a trip. DH wanted to see a family member in California, we wanted to try a cruise, and I needed a Soarin' fix. I have a very stressful, yucky job (which I absolutely *love*) and use my memory of Soarin' to help me sleep when I'm having trouble. *Much* better than sleeping pills!! Anyway, we decided to try to do a couple quick days in Disneyland, even though Space Mountain wasn't open, and even though I knew it would probably be crowded from the holidays.
We (well, I) planned to do DCA the first day since our flight didn't get into LAX until late morning and since I really really needed my DCA fix. I also figured Disneyland would be more crowded on the Saturday than the Sunday. Plus we had two day park hoppers, so we could just *hop* over to the MK if we wanted to.
A week or so before we go, the threat alert goes up to orange. The couple days before we go a few flights are cancelled from France to LAX.... I'm a little concerned, but we've flown several times since 9/11, only once before to LAX, but we're ok.
I've been to Disneyland a few times, and the last trip, read a couple of guidebooks. I read some of the posts here about where to eat, what new things to do.
So, we're off. After a quick breakfast at Village Inn, we're off to the airport, where we check in, get our boarding pass, and then wait in line to get to the security gate. I take off my shoes, which sometimes go off through the metal detector, sometimes don't....
I'm excited, I can feel my heart beating faster and faster as we get to our gate. I don't mind flying into LAX because even though it's a huge airport, the terminals seem to be well divided, so it really isn't a problem. The terminals themselves are not *that* big. Our flight is quick - a couple hours, we get into LAX, get our luggage without a problem. Looks like one of our bags is searched - no problem.
We had pre-paid transfers with Airport Bus. The transfer slip aka voucher in our packet is really detailed about what to do. Go outside your terminal and look for "Airport Bus". Look for the bus that has Disneyland all over it. It was very easy to find the sign for our bus. You could feel the excitement at the bus stop. We had a large amount of luggage (three big rolly bags) since we were going on a cruise after our short Disneyland trip. We waited, and waited and waited and waited for our bus. Every so often one of us would step out into traffic trying to see if our bus was coming. Finally, what seemed likes hours later, our bus got there. The bus driver was fun and seemed as excited as we were. The sign above the driver said "gratuity included in bus fare". This was nice - although I had 40 or so one dollar bills burning a whole in my wallet. I had gotten a bunch of ones for tips.... We were at terminal one. For the next 45-60 minutes, we stopped at every other terminal at LAX. The bus driver would step out and say "disneyland, anaheim", look around, and then hop back into the bus. There was a huge amount of traffic, so every time we stopped, he had to get back into traffic. I WANTED TO GET TO DISNEYLAND!!!
When we finally got out of the terminal, we were on our way! Trip took about 45 minutes. We went to a bus terminal, where someone took our vouchers and then the bus driver took us to our respective hotels.
We had decided to stay at the Comfort Inn Maingate, although we had never stayed there before, and I could not find anything out about it. We had chosen it because it was the cheapest package we could find.
We were the 3rd or 4th stop. He dropped us off right at the registration desk, pulled out our luggage, and we went into the office to get our room!
Check in was virtually painless. Although it always surprises me - DH and I have different last names. I paid for the trip on my credit card. We use this travel agency all the time. We learned long ago that no matter whose card the trip is charged to to give the hotel both names because we have no idea whose name the room is under. And what do ya know! It's under DH's name! Room is pre-paid. no problem.
This hotel is on Harbor, but down two plus large city blocks from Disneyland. The outside looked fine - although it did have outside corridors, which I don't like particularly. We get our room number - it's all the way down the middle and to the left. Probably the furthest from the office that you can get. That's ok. We have rolly luggage. We can roll it through the parking lot.
Before our trip, I had read a little bit about the new transportation system (ART). I knew that there was not an ART stop at our hotel, but two hotels down. I asked the check in clerk about it. She gave me the schedule and pointed to the machine outside the hotel to get our ART passes. She told us that the stop was two hotels down. I wasn't sure about this....I'd have to investigate.
We drag our luggage to our room, and I am very pleasantly surprised. The room is VERY clean. Two queen beds. A good sized fridge. Small coffeepot with coffee - a must for DH. Two sinks, shower and tub. Again, room is very clean. Carpet looks new. We are on the ground floor, which, again, I don't particularly like. But I am not gonna lug our three very heavy pieces of luggage up a flight of stairs.
DH decides he needs some time to himself (not gonna gross you out here), so I walk down to the machine to get our ART passes, taking my wallet. I knew it cost $6 for two day passes. I've got all those ones. But when I get there, it takes credit cards! That's great because I have my webcertificate to use for our vacation....Save all those ones for tips for later on in our trip. It was very easy to buy our two two day ART passes. Very easy. They don't have any dates on them - you have to fill that in. I am still shocked how easy this was.
I get back to the room, and I am READY! I need to go to Disneyland.
We grab the schedule for the ART and walk down to our stop. It is within 50 feet of our hotel. There's a sign and everything! The only wierd thing was that the stop was between two small trees, so I'm worried the trolly driver won't see us. So, once again, DH stands in the middle of the street - Harbor Blvd mind you - and sees the trolly. The trolly got there within 5 minutes of us getting out there. Again, I am totally impressed. Our last Disneyland trip, we stayed at Best Western Park Place Inn because I wanted to walk to disneyland after having horrible experiences with hotel shuttles - waiting, and waiting, and waiting to get to Disneyland. Waiting and waiting and waiting to get back to the hotel.
The trolly was relatively empty. We made a couple more stops, and then were dropped off at our *stop*. It took probably 10 minutes from getting to the trolly stop to Disneyland. I was very impressed.
Because we had gotten a Southwest fun package, we had to wait in line with our vouchers to get our hopper passes. I was a little worried because when our documents came in to the travel agent, we were short one voucher for me for my park hopper. The documents looked fine, BUT I would much rather have the park hopper in hand than have a *voucher* which ain't worth much.
The line to get our tickets was very long, but moved pretty good. By this time it's early afternoon. DH is already complaining about being hungry. I want to ride rides. He wants to eat. We get our park hoppers. DH complains again about being hungry. Now, DH is pretty normal sized - I am *pooh* sized. But when we're on vacation, DH eats like a mad man. He eats and eats and eats..... Of course, he never gains an ounce. But he has to have four or five meals a day, plus snacks.
We go over to DCA - I love how close everything is. The CM goes through our back pack - and makes DH open his jacket. The search is not terribly thorough, surprisingly. We usually take one backpack and that's it - no purse or anything. But the "search" is minimal. We head over to Soarin to see what the wait is - 45 minutes. We get a fastpass.
DH is bugging about being hungry, so even though I wanted to try White water snacks, I wasn't sure exactly where it was, and I could not stand listening to DH any more, so we went to Tastepilots Grille. I convinced DH that we should share a meal since we had ressies at 6:30 for Avalon Cove (as part of our package, we got a character meal there). So we got a cheeseburger and fries and a soda.
We split the meal, 1/2 burger for me, 1/2 fries for me, and share our drink. The other thing that drives me crazy about DH is that he eats VERY SLOWLY. It takes him 10 minutes to just put condiments on his burger. By that time, I'm through with 1/2 my burger and fries. As we're sitting there, I look through the map, making sure I remember where everything is. I don't have that much trouble with DCA. I have a lot of trouble with MK - having been to Disneyworld - I always get lost at MK.....
Anyway, it's a bit chilly there, but eating always makes me warmer. After we finish, I thought we'd head over to mullholland madness. We walk over by Soarin', check the wait again, and decide to go around the GCH side. The Grizzly mountain water ride has a 5 minute wait so I convince DH to go on that. We didn't bring our ponchos - they are back at the hotel room in one of the suitcases. But DH has a t-shirt, sweatshirt, and leather coat on. I have a tank, tshirt and long sleeve denim shirt on. I convince him to go on it. He gets dragged into it. We both get very wet.
The thing I absolutely love about this ride is that because so many people fit onto the raft, we inevitably ride with a bunch of kids. We both work with kids - me with abused and neglected kids, DH is a school police detective. So, one of my joys in going to Disneyland is seeing all the kids laughing and having a good time. Our raft fills up. There's one cute little girl who is probably 5 or and wearing a nylon running suit. There are two kids (pre teens) and an adult in ponchos. It looks like they've been riding this ride all day long. The boy of the group has to tell us everything about the ride. I am laughing and laughing and laughing. I think Grizzly is better than the water ride at Animal Kingdom - it's longer and the raft twists and turns more. Very fun. I get soaked. I am laughing hysterically. DH gets a little wet, and complains....
When we get off the ride, I can wring my denim shirt and get water out of it. It was hilarious. I take the denim shirt off and stick it in the backpack. no way I'm gonna freeze like this. It is actually kinda overcast today - so chilly.
We decide to walk over to Mullholland, we get to the area by the zephers and I keep smelling what I thought was gardenias. I looked around - it was a pretty strong smell - one of my favorites.... I couldn't find the flowers it was coming from - I see a garden, look there, sniff - not coming from there.... I can't figure it out until I looked up and saw the Rose Parade float! WOW! We had actually watched the Rose Parade - and I had seen this float with the Tower of Terror on it. Boy did it smell wonderful! And it was huge! DH had bought a new digital binocamera (binoculors and camera in one!) so he got that out and started taking pictures. I was overwhelmed - what a cool thing to see that!
Both DH and I love tower of terror - and one of my disappointments in coming when we did is that Tower of Terror wasn't open. Last trip to Disneyworld we stayed at Boardwalk and went to TOT every single day and probably rode it 20 times. lol.
Anyway, we stayed there for quite a while - went by Mullholland - 45 minute wait..... Maliboomer had no real wait (5 minutes) but neither DH or I really like it for some reason - i think it's the scream shields. Too confining.
DH decided he would rather do the Sunwheel so he could take pics of the float. And to make fun of me. Last time, we rode a moving gondola and I screamed quite a bit. We wait in line for 30 minutes or so and finally get on. I like this ride, but it's too short. Only two rotations around. It was pretty crowded, so maybe with less people, you get more rotations around. This time I didn't scream - to my DH's dismay.... lol.
We walk around - DH wants to do Screamin - won't let me do it. I have problems because of my "pooh" size with restraints that come down over your shoulders. We watch for a bit. DH wants to go over to "It's tough to be a bug". We had been last visit to Dland, and DH loved it. There's a short wait, we get in, and it's nice to sit down. I have never actually seen the movie, but we enjoy this show. The kids laughing are hilarious.
By now, it's time to head back to Soarin for our fast pass time.
As always, Soarin is wonderful. I know it's silly, but it really is a romantic, calming ride for me. I love it. We go on it again, no fast pass this time, but that's ok. There's a bit of time before our dinner ressie, and I don't mind waiting. While we're waiting, some singers come by and sing - they were awesome! I sure do love the entertainment there. There's always something going on at DCA. It sure made the wait a lot less. I enjoyed it.
After Soarin, we walk around some more. DH is hungry again - I let him get some coffee but no snacks since I know Avalon Cove is like a four course meal.
We look in the shops - I am very tempted to get a sweatshirt. But being "pooh" sized, I don't find anything that I think will fit comfortably. This has always disappointed me about the Disney parks. There are plenty of folks who are pooh sized, and although I can wear an XXL, I sure wish there was a XXXL.... Anyway, Disney loses money because I sure would spend a lot if I could find something comfy. lol. I almost convince to get a beanie cap or some gloves, but DH wants to save our money for our cruise, so no beanie cap or gloves for DH.
One thing was kind of funny here - even though it was California, and much wamer than where we come from, I was shocked at how many people were wearing winter type coats and jackets throughout the park. I know it's January, but it was funny.
Anyway, we walk by Avalon Cove about 1/2 hour before our ressies. I tend to be an early bird - I never want to be late for anything. We walk in to see if maybe we can get seated early. The receptionist/hostess is just RUDE. She says no, we can't and don't come back until 6:30. Well, that turns me off. But it's a meal included in our package. I don't want to pay for another meal. At that point, I was very glad we made ressies. There were people waiting in line being told there was a 1-1/2 hour wait.
We decide to shop a little more - there really aren't many shops near there and I don't want to do something else waiting for our dinner ressie. We end up sitting in the chairs right across from the restaurant and go back in about 6:25pm. Our wait for a table is minimal (5 minutes) even though the hostess tells us it will be about 20 or 30 minutes.
We end up going down stairs, inside (too cold outside on the water!). I am shocked at how many characters are roaming around. We did not see the mermaid initially - she was on a break. DH was very disappointed. We get seated at a four top, kind of in the middle of things. DH has bad hearing and we're sitting across from each other, but it worked out fine. He couldn't hear anything I said, but I got to watch as characters came up behind him, and he got to watch as characters came up behind me. lol. Very cool.
Anyway, we had to order everything at once, including dessert. That was kind of wierd. I usually don't have dessert, but it was hard choosing. I just kind of chose.
We both had the cheesy onion soup. I had the Surf BLT, DH had the fish and chips. I had the rocky road dessert. DH had some brownie thing.
We got the bread. It was WAY TOO HARD. I had heard it was pretzel bread, but this was way too hard for too old people (US) to eat. We both gnawed at it. SErvice was pretty good, generally. There were lots of characters there - Chip and Dale, Goofy, Pluto, Minnie. All of the characters, except Minnie, came up to our table and had fun with us. And there were tons of kids there! I love it when they pay attention to us, even though we don't have kids. They interacted with the other adults there too.
I have a laughing problem - that is, I laugh/giggle with just a look. Chip (or was it Dale) had a blast with that. Pretending to tickle me. Pluto came by and pretended to lick me. We had a blast.
Our cheesy onion soup was pretty lack luster. Not very hot. Not very cheesy. Plenty oniony.
DH's fish and chips were pretty boring as well. I liked the Salmon BLT, but there a bit too much bread. I ended up eating the second half of my sandwich without the bread. It was good - not great, but good.
Dessert was pretty small - but ok. My favorite part was the cotton candy, which I devoured. lol.
DH finally got to see the mermaid - I got a peek too. DH was not impressed. She was ok. not sure what the big deal was - although I laughed when they wheeled her out. The other characters were much more fun.
After dinner, DH and I walked back over to Soarin. We decided not to wait, no more fast passes for tonight. We walked back around by GCH and I saw a 2 minute wait for Grizzly. I decided to go. DH decided to go over to Screamin. Before our trip, we bought walkie talkies. We thought it would be fun - we usually hang out together at the parks, but I thought it would be nice for the ship. Anyway, he took off. I got onto the Grizzly. I had a blast. And I got even more soaked. lol. After I got off, I *thought* about going again, but I was just too cold. So, decided to walk over to Screamin. DH was still in line, almost ready to go, but there was a bit of a delay.
Apparently a pooh sized woman had ridden Screamin and had passed out. They were having trouble getting her out of the ride. Not sure what exactly happened to her, but they made an announcement that something was wrong, and several minutes later the ride was on again. I watched DH from the launch pad and then went to wait for him at the photo site. I *really* wanted to ride Screamin - maybe next time.
Part of the reason DH won't *let* me ride Screamin, and why I'm scared of it is because last time we went to Knotts, we went on one ride - Montezuma's revenge I think- with a over the shoulder brace - and I didn't think the restraint clicked. I was scared to death, thinking I was going to die. I was screaming and screaming to make sure they didn't start the ride until it clicked. The CMs ignored me. Because of that, I have a real fear of shouldeer harness rides.
Anyway, after Screamin, we decide to stop by Soarin again. DH is tired and wants to go back to the hotel. I'm pretty pooped to - maybe we can do Soarin again tomorrow.
We head to our trolly stop. We wait about 10 minutes. And are off to our hotel. Again, a very quick ride and back to the hotel. A short walk to our room, and we're at the room and asleep within 30 miinutes of getting back to the room. looooong day. But wonderful to be back to our laughing place. Tomorrow is the Magic Kingdom and our character breakfast at Storytellers!
Stay tuned!
