Secret Mission to the Mouse - Day Five

[Buttercup Roberts]

Day Five

Buttercup:
Oh bother, it’s time to leave. I don’t mind leaving Disneyland as much as I mind leaving Marcus, as we each fly to our respective corners of the U.S.A. today. Gotta do something about that…

I got a LOT of sleep, but we still were late getting out of the room. We haven’t made it out of a hotel room by the official check out time, yet. I think when we’re together, it’s like entering the event horizon on a black hole.

We were hungry and had a wee bit of time to kill before our flights out of LAX, so I told Marcus about Mimi’s Café, which is much touted by DL visitors to Mouseplanet.com, and also by Mary Waring of Mousesavers. There’s one of these opening on 192 by WDW, I hear, maybe it’s already open. That’s great, because they have a very extensive menu full of stuff Marcus would actually eat!

The food was good for a chain restaurant, and not too expensive. Marcus had a burger he proclaimed excellent, and I had what was basically Thanksgiving dinner, complete with home made cranberry sauce! It was bland but healthy and nicely presented. I think everything, everywhere, is bland, though, so don’t listen to me.

We got a few photos of eachother posing one last time in and on the *****in’ Ford Mustang convertible, and then it was time to hit the freeway. We went by the Hollywood sign like twice this trip, and Marcus missed it both times. It was just a little fleeting glimpse. But we did get a good view of the home of the Rodney King riots on the way to LAX. That area is incredibly flat and ugly.

We returned the car (bye bye car) and took a shuttle over to the airport. My flight was about 45 minutes before Marcus’, in the same terminal, so I had the treat of having my love stay with me until I had to board.

Then I got on the plane and left and picked up my son from his dad and went home and pet the cat who hadn’t trashed the place in my absence, and went to bed. Real life, tomorrow! Boo!

So that was it, the best date of my life, that’s for sure. Since then, Marcus and I haven’t done anything to top it, though seeing the World of Outlaws sprint car racing at a local yokel dirt track near where I live, a couple weeks ago, was a close runner up. LOL, what can I say, I’m weird, Marcus is weird, we’re meant for eachother.

Anyways, what do you care, you’re here to read about Disney. So here’s some high and low points re. Disneyland!

Lows:

*Cast members – Doesn’t anyone like their job? This does NOT apply to the very very nice man working the chicken cages (ie the non-rolling cars) on the Sun Wheel; he needs to transfer to WDW before he gets turned into a sour puss like the rest of his co-workers!
*Holiday Inn – No fridge in the room, shuttle was late, room temp was never right
*Closings – Lots of stuff closed; we expected the Disneyland closings but hadn’t looked up any closings at DCA, and I was disappointed to not get to ride Grizzly River Run. Maybe we were lucky there was so much down at Disneyland because we barely had time to see what we saw, but I want to go back and take Marcus on Space Mountain at DL, because I think it’s way better with music in the ride vehicles!
*Resorts – Not impressed with the Grand Californian, surprisingly. It’s kind of a ripoff of the Wilderness Lodge, but not as big or as nicely laid out or landscaped. It was also full of people off the street just hanging out and there was *trash* laying around, in the lobby. The pool was dinky! If I wanted to stay onsite, I’d go for the Disneyland Hotel or even the Paradise Pier one, for the lower rate. For a real Disney theme park resort experience, stick with the hotels at WDW. After what I saw, I’d never blow $200+ a night on the Grand Californian.
*Tiki Room – If I don’t get into the Original Tiki Room sometime before I die, I’m going to haunt somebody.

Highs:

*DCA – No matter how imperfect, it was a kick to be in a totally new-to-me Disney theme park!
*Holiday Inn – Breakfast in their café was excellent, and our room rate was a steal, bed was perfectly comfortable, the room was quiet, and it was a kind of long but nice walk to the parks
*Food – The food in the park eateries was all pretty good, and some of it was really good. What a pleasant surprise!
*Live entertainment – Perhaps because it’s so cheap and plentiful out in L.A., the live entertainment at DL is light years above what’s offered at WDW. There’s acts you can see included with admission, like the jazz combo at the New Orleans Square counter service place, or the Aladdin show at DCA, that are absolutely top quality. I’d like to go back at a more “peak” time just to see all the extra live acts I bet they add into the parks, it would be worth it! The best of the best are here.
*Attractions at Disneyland – It was awesome to see some of the original attractions from back in the day, done Walt’s way. I particularly enjoyed Mr. Toad, Small World, the Matterhorn, Peter Pan, the Haunted Mansion, and the whole Adventureland area.
*Marcus – Marcus; everything about him.

Thanks for the trip of a lifetime, baby. Now let’s top it! LOL