The Goble Family Christmas Vacation--Day 3--Susie can kick herself in the head.

[rgoble5972]

Saturday, December 13, 2004 – “Look, honey. Susie can kick herself in the head.”

CAST

Robin – 41 – Trip planner/recorder
Bill/Dad/Husband of Dianne – 66
Dianne/Mom/Wife of Bill – 63
Lisa/Sister/Wife of Lemuel/Mother of Michael – 43
Lemuel/Brother-in-law/Husband of Lisa/Father of Michael – 37
Michael/Nephew/ONLY Grandchild of Bill and Dianne – 11
Paula/Sister/Wife of Wes – 31 – Sparkly Princess
Wes/Brother-in-law/Husband of Paula – 31


I was up and into the shower by 6:00 this morning and, as had become our pattern, Paula followed me. We sorted through all of our sacks from the night before and discovered that no one could find the AP pin and Tower of Terror pins that I had purchased the night before. We had the free lanyards and pins that we had picked up at the same time, but couldn’t find the ones that I had purchased. We had put everyone’s packages in the basket of the ECV, so I figured that they had maybe fallen out unnoticed.

I was ready by 6:50 and Lemuel and I went down to the lounge for breakfast where Paula and Mother soon joined us.

The plan called for us to go to DCA, which opened at 10:00 today. Disneyland opened at 8:00 (which meant that the gates would open at 7:30. I thought it would be fun, for those that wanted to, to go to Disneyland first and maybe sneak in a ride or two on Indiana Jones before heading to DCA at its opening. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to want to go and, while I tried to be brave about it, I was disappointed. Paula, ever the sparkly princess but also a generally all-around good sport, said she’d be glad to go with me and we talked Lemuel into joining us. We arranged to meet everyone else in DCA at Soarin’ Over California at 9:30 and then we headed through Downtown Disney to Disneyland.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t too big of a crowd at the gate when we got there at 8:30, but it took forever to get into the park. We all agreed that they need a better entry system for entry. Here, you have to hand your ticket to the CM and they put it through the entry scanner for you instead of each person putting their own ticket through the machine like they do at WDW. So, a CM can only work *one* turnstile at a time (instead of one CM monitoring several open turnstiles) thus making fewer open entrances for guests to pass through. I don’t know if it’s because of the differences from WDW in the admission media that they have to do it this way, but I could see no good reason why each guest can’t be responsible for feeding their own ticket into the scanner.

Anyway, we *finally* got into the park (we were a bit impatient because we wanted to get in several rides before time to meet the others) and headed straight to Adventureland. Well, we *almost* headed straight for Adventureland. It seems the White Rabbit was out, so Paula and I had to get our picture made with him first.

Adventureland was deserted. I mean completely devoid of all human life. We stopped in our tracks and looked at each other in amazement. Yes, it was a Saturday. Yes, the park had just opened. Yes, Indiana Jones is where everyone goes at rope drop. Where *was* everybody? With a collective shrug of our shoulders we got Fast Passes for Indiana Jones and then hopped in the stand-by line. Actually, I should say we started on our pilgrimage to get on the ride (I still maintain that this ride has the longest queuing area, both the entrance and the exit, in the park—you walk *miles* before you get to the loading area!) as there was no one in the stand-by queue.

For this ride, I was on the outside of the vehicle in the next-to-the-back row. I don’t know if I had never been in this particular seat before or if I just hadn’t noticed in the past, but in the skeleton room (I don’t know if that’s the technical name for it or not but, seeing as how it’s a room full of skeletons, the name seems appropriate to me) a group of skeletons came out of the wall towards me and scared the living daylights out of me! Yes, I screamed (and yes, everyone laughed at me). We finished the ride and were greeted with the usual “Friends! I celebrate your arrival!” that I always like to hear.

We decided that we could manage a quick trip to the Haunted Mansion and still have time to use our Fast Passes on IJ before time to meet the family, so we went there next and got right on the ride. We went back to Indiana Jones (*now* the throngs had invaded Adventureland) and used our Fast Passes for another ride. We were off the ride by 9:20 and made our way out of the park.

Now I know what it feels like to be a salmon--it’s always a fun adventure trying to go against hordes of people just entering the park--most of whom are looking at you like you’ve taken complete leave of your senses for trying to go the wrong way. And, while it’s always painful to be clipped in the heels by a stroller coming up behind you, being hit head-on by one tends to make you fold faster than Superman on wash day (as Paula is often fond of saying)!

We made it out of the park without too many injuries and no loss of life or limbs however. It wasn’t quite 9:30 yet so we had to wait in line to enter DCA and then go through the painfully long process of each person in line handing their ticket to the CM. A woman waiting in line ahead of us did point out a hidden Mickey in the pavement though, so that was a nice discovery.

We called the others while we were waiting to get into DCA and were jealous to discover that they were already inside and were just about to go on Soarin’. They got in a bit early using the private entrance and were getting to take the first flight of the day, the dogs! We said that we’d head there as soon as we got through the gate.

We were finally through the gates, into Condor Flats, and in line for Soarin’. The others called us while we were inside the building and said they were off the ride and everyone loved it so much that they were getting Fast Passes and then hopping right back in line to ride it again. Woohoo. Score another success. Mother had been very apprehensive about riding Soarin’ and we had been equally insistent that she had to do it. She doesn’t like heights and Imax movies tend to give her motion sickness but we pleaded with her before the trip that she had to try it at least once, and we promised that she wouldn’t have a problem with either of those things. So, we were very relieved to know that she did, indeed, love the ride. I think we figured up that she rode it seven times in this one day!

We took our first ride on Soarin’ this trip (first ride ever for Lemuel). I always enjoy watching Patrick Warburton point out the safety features of the ride. I don’t know how he keeps a straight face.

After we got off the ride, I hiked over to the Tower of Terror (ToT) to get Fast Passes for us, while Paula and Lemuel waited in Condor Flats for the others to get off Soarin’. On the way, I ran into Sully from Monsters, Inc. and got my picture made with him. He’s pretty attractive if you’re into tall men with blue chest hair!

I rounded the corner at got my first look at the new Hollywood Tower Hotel. It’s not pink like the one at WDW, but rather a sand color. Since I was on a mission to get Fast Passes, I didn’t give it a thorough inspection, but the theming looked good. I do however miss entering through the gardens like the Florida version. I think the plants and mist and broken statuary all lend an air of creepiness.

By the time I got back to Soarin’, the whole family was back together. We all made our way towards the Tower of Terror so everyone could get a look at the new ride. Since Mother and Lisa weren’t joining us on our drop, they opted to wait outside the Animation Building where they snagged a bench to sit on. Wes won’t ride the ToT either, but he wanted to look at the building anyway.

Dad, Paula, Lemuel, Michael and I got in the stand-by line for the ToT. The lobby of the hotel was nicely done and very similar to the Florida version, and the library was almost identical. The pre-show film that you watch is the same with the substitution of the new building’s façade for the Florida one. There are two libraries in the lobby—one to accommodate the Fast Pass line, and one to accommodate the stand-by line. As space permits, they direct guests from the stand-by line in to the Fast Pass library in order to fill in all the spaces. Every time we rode the ToT, we were sent to the Fast Pass lobby, so we never got to experience the regular stand-by one. I’m sure that the libraries are similar but the stand-by library empties out into a queue that goes upstairs in the boiler room, while the Fast Pass line takes a shorter path that remains downstairs.

The boiler room/basement has more detail in this version. There’s a desk with an old radio (that intermittently comes on) and some papers scattered on it, and lots of chains, valves, switches, etc. There were three elevators that load on the ground floor and, I assume, three elevators that load from the upstairs, stand-by line.

The loading system is the same in both incarnations. In the California version, however, you don’t step directly into the elevator, but rather you have to cross a hallway and then board the elevator. This way, when you exit the ride, you step off the elevator into the hallway and follow the hallway out of the building, instead of unloading in a different area like they do in WDW. I personally thought that this distracted from the ride a bit.

Once you’re loaded into the elevator and the doors shut, your elevator moves backward into the drop shaft. The elevator is raised, the doors open several times to show you different scenes, and then the dropping commences in the same shaft unlike the WDW version in which the elevator opens to show you the poor “In-Limbo Family” and then moves forward into the drop shaft. Also, there appears to be no “randomizer” effect in the California version as all the drops were alike.

While the ride was very good, and the dropping itself was good, I have to say that Disney did not improve on the original ride, in my opinion. That being said, it didn’t prevent us from enjoying the ride and wanting to go again.

As an aside, I’m really not picking on Disneyland this trip--though it certainly seems like I am. I love Disneyland and there are many things about DLR that I prefer over WDW (Space Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean to name two, plus WDW doesn’t even have an Indiana Jones ride and, compared to Countdown to Extinction/Dinosaur (which I like, by the way—“Flash photography? I wouldn’t”)….well, there’s just no comparison.

After our ride was over and we exited (into a gift shop, of course), Paula, Wes, and Dad left to pick up Mom and Lisa and go back to Soarin’ to use the Fast Passes that they had gotten earlier. There wasn’t a Fast Pass for Paula, but she said she’d go back with them anyway to spend a little time with Wes instead of staying with Lemuel, Michael and I and using our Fast Passes for the ToT. We sent our park tickets with them, however, so they could get all of us another set of Fast Passes for Soarin’.

Lemuel, Michael and I took another drop in the ToT and then decided that our scream-raw throats needed a coke. We stopped at a stand and bought soft drinks (and a churro for the poor little junkie) and then started back towards Condor Flats.

In front of the Animation Building, we discovered that Mr. Incredible was out mingling with the crowd. Michael and I hopped in line to get our picture made with him and had the added bonus of Frozone joining him for our picture.

The rest of the group called as we were headed that way and said that they were ready for lunch. Dad was craving a hamburger (still needing his MEAT!), so I suggested that we eat at the Taste Pilots Grill there in Condor Flats. I noticed that they had a 10% AP discount there, so we figured out what everybody wanted then Dad, Mom, Michael and Lemuel left to find us a table and the rest of us stayed to figure out the ordering system.

Disney has installed kiosks where the guests place their own orders in Taste Pilots. The system was fairly easy to use and even special orders were accommodated. The system does try to up-sell quite a bit, asking if you want to add dessert or special drink cups or character straws to every order, which was a little annoying. Some families were a lot slower than others were and the process seemed to take longer than giving your order to a CM. They should have a CM-manned line for people who aren’t comfortable with the technology of placing their own orders to maybe speed up the process a bit.

Our meal of 6 burgers (with flyby fries), one chicken sandwich, and one supersonic salad, plus drinks came to $74.57 after my $7.70 AP discount. Am I saving money or what?

After lunch, we all got another Fast Pass for Soarin’ (with a return time of 3:15-4:15) and then rode Soarin’ (with our previous Fast Passes) for the first time all together. We were able to spot two of the three hidden Mickey's in the film. After our flight, Mom, Dad, and Lisa decided to go back to the hotel to rest. We agreed to all meet back up in front of Soarin’ at 3:45 to use the Fast Passes that we just got, and then to go to the 5:00 Aladdin show. It was very warm today and Michael had on a long-sleeve shirt, so Mother said she’d bring back a short sleeve shirt for him when they came.

We said our “good-byes,” and then the rest of us (Lemuel, Michael, Wes, Paula, and me) made a beeline for the Paradise Pier area and California Screamin’. (Can I just take a minute here to say how much I’m enjoyin’ gettin’ to use the apostrophe so much in this trip report? With rides bein’ named things like Soarin’ and Screamin’, my hands are fairly achin’ from pressin’ the apostrophe key. I’m wonderin’ if the keyboard is goin’ to start stickin’, but I’m feelin’ right at home, speakin’ my native Texan.)

When Michael saw the rollercoaster, he was very unsure about going on the ride. We all assured him that he would love it. Paula and I both told him that it was very similar to the Rock ‘n Rollercoaster at WDW (which he loves), in that the ride launches you from a full stop to around 50mph and there’s a loop, but it was outdoors. Despite our assurance, he was nervous all the way through the stand-by queue (about a 10-minute wait). Wes won’t ride this one either, so he waited for us at the entrance.

After the ride, Michael positively bounced off, saying how much fun it was. “You know what?” he confided in me, “That was a lot like the Rock ‘n Rollercoaster except that it’s outside.” Really? Is it now? Paula and I just exchanged glances and shook our heads. We all laughed at Michael’s hair which the ride had made stand up in the front like a pompadour. We teased him that he had Elvis Hair. Paula and I had dubbed this ride California Stylin’ the first time we rode on it because of how it re-arranges your hair. She and I were both smart this time and had pulled our hair back into ponytails/braids before riding.

We headed to the Sun Wheel next (which Wes also won’t ride—not in the slippy cars anyway). The Sun Wheel is, of course, the giant Ferris wheel. It has normal Ferris wheel cars that are stationary as the wheel turns, but it also has cars (that are on a track) which slide as the big wheel turns around. Paula, Lemuel and I got in line for a sliding car and Michael decided that he wanted to go ride the Golden Zephyr (which is a silly name to me as the cars are silver—what’s up with that?). The Golden Zephyr is very similar to the Astro Orbiter in Disneyland.

I sent my cell phone with Michael with instructions to come right back to the Sun Wheel when he was finished.

Our slippy car was *very* slippy this trip. So slippy in fact, that we all got a bit queasy from the rocking. Paula was so queasy that we accused her of actually making simian sounds as we swung back and forth over the water.

After our ride, Michael met back up with us and Lemuel, Michael and I decided to take another ride on California Screamin’ while Paula and Wes took a turn in one of the non-sliding cars on the Sun Wheel (Wes can sometimes be coaxed into riding on those).

As we got off the rollercoaster (and smoothed Michael’s Elvis hair back down) we got a phone call from Paula and Wes who were stuck at the top of the Sun Wheel. Their car was stuck up there for maybe 5 minutes before the CM’s got whatever problem there was fixed.

We decided to look around in some gift shops for a while in order to let everyone’s stomachs settle a bit. Michael wanted to ride the silver Golden Zephyr again, so we walked that direction. I stopped at the Corn Dog Castle to get a cheese on a stick (in my experience, there’s nothing like grease to settle your stomach). All the items on the menu have a medieval theme and I was amused to note that the cheese on a stick combo that I got “cometh with chips!” (cheese on a stick combo and a bottle of water $8.60) I met up with everyone as Michael was coming off the Zephyr and we all shared the cheese on a stick.

It was about time to meet up with Mom, Dad, and Lisa by now so we walked through the Golden State area and past Grizzly River Run (GRR) on our way to Condor Flats. Michael wanted to ride GRR (a white-water rapids ride) and I promised him that I would ride it with him before the trip was over.

We met the rest of our gang in front of Soarin’. Mother had brought the extra shirt for Michael and some bottled water for all of us (is she a mom, or what?). It was getting a bit cooler now, so Michael opted to keep his long sleeve shirt on. We all took another flight on Soarin’ (By now, you’d think the CM’s would know us by name!) and then went back to the Hollywood Pictures Backlot and to the Hyperion theater for the next Aladdin show.

One of the perks we got with our vacation package was preferred seating for the Aladdin show (they can also get the preferred seating for you when you stay on the concierge floor). We showed our tickets to the CM and he directed us to a waiting area right outside the doors of the theater. I had somehow been delegated to carry around Michael’s extra shirt (just lucky, I guess) so, as we waited, I put it on under my shirt (and on top of another shirt—it wasn’t like I was ever indecent—this is, after all, Disney) so I didn’t have to carry it anymore.

We were soon let in to the theater and had great seats, front and center. The show was very well done with lots of neat effects such as a magic carpet ride over the theater and a grand entrance by Prince Ali on an elephant. The show lasted exactly an hour.

Afterwards, we headed to the Animation Building to play around there for a while. Cinderella was inside as was Mr. Incredible (this appears to be the place to hang out if you want to see the characters). Paula and I would have been perfectly to stand in the main room and watch the movie clips but the rest of our group was restless so we took them to the Sorcerer’s Workshop section (with Mother and Michael taking a quick detour into the Drawn to Animation section where they found out that Buzz Lightyear’s original name was going to be Lunar Larry!). In Beast’s library, we stopped to see what Disney characters everyone was. Paula, Wes and I had done this when we were here before—you answer a series of questions which determine which Disney character you’re most like (Paula was Cinderella, I was Lady, and Wes was Jafar). This trip, Dad was Buzz, Lemuel was Cogsworth, Michael was Cogsworth (like father, like son), Lisa was Lady, and Mom was Jane. When you’re taking the little quiz, there’s one question that asked that determines whether you’re classified as a hero or a villain. This trip, Paula and I decided to see who our darker side character would be so we both took the quiz, answering like we normally would except picking the villain answer for that one question. Turns out, we were both Lady Tremaine (the wicked stepmother from Cinderella).

After our quick personality assessment, we went into Ursula’s Grotto for some voice dubbing. We got the entire family to sing both Hakuna Matata and Bare Necessities. Sadly, no recording industry agents were on hand to turn us into the next Partridge Family or Von Trapp Family Singers (Von Crapp Family Singers, more like). Musical, we’re not.

It was around 7:00 by the time we finished playing in the Animation Building. Mom and Dad decided to go back to the hotel and check out the lounge, while the rest of us opted to stay and get dinner in DCA in the Pacific Wharf area.

Sadly, the Lucky Fortune Cookery was closed this evening, as I am a big fan of Chinese food. Apparently it is rarely open these days and the fact that Paula, Wes and I got to eat there on our last trip was due to some miraculous alignment of the planets and conjunction of galaxies.

Lemuel and Michael decided on nachos from the Cocina Cucamonga Mexican Grill, Lisa was holding out for dinner at Downtown Disney, and Paula, Wes and I wanted fish and chips from Chips, Strips, and Dips (fish, chips, and a coke $10.53). While Lemuel and Michael ate their nachos, Paula, Wes and I ran over to Paradise Pier and got our food, then took it back to the Pacific Wharf area to join back up with Lisa, Lemuel and Michael.

Michael wanted a churro for dessert (shocker!), so Lisa, Lemuel and Michael headed back to the hotel with the plan of stopping and getting a churro for Michael and then going to Downtown Disney. Paula, Wes and I stopped by the toy store in DCA (I forget the name) to check on something to take home as a gift for the neighbor kids from Mom. We had no luck at the store so we decided to go back to the hotel to get our coats and some warmer clothes and then finish the night at Disneyland (which was open till midnight).

On the way out of the park we saw a family with a little girl who was doing high kicks. She was kicking so high, in fact, that her shin was touching her forehead (nimble little minx, isn’t she?). The mother was very impressed with this feat and said to her husband, “Look, honey! Little Susie can kick herself in the head!” Wow. That’s one for the scrapbooks, isn’t it? Honestly I was laughing so hard I had to lie down on the pavement. This conversation reminded Wes of an episode of Stupid Human Tricks that he had seen on David Letterman in which there was a man who could kick himself in the groin. His efforts to demonstrate this somewhat dubious “talent” prompted more pavement laying on my part.

At the hotel, we stopped in the lounge to pick up some cokes and then went to the rooms to check on Mom and Dad. I updated my trip report notes for a few minutes and we watched the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony at 9:30.

Paula was tired and would have been happy staying in for the night, I think, but Wes was exacting his revenge on her for getting him up early this morning by nagging to go back to Disneyland. I agreed that it seemed a shame to waste a perfectly good evening so we three put on a ton of clothes (I personally wore three long sleeve shirts, a sweater, a coat and gloves) and headed out to Disneyland.

When we stepped out of the hotel and into Downtown Disney we were amazed at the fog that had settled in for the evening. It had been clear just a few moments earlier when we watched the fireworks but now it was like walking through pea soup. Not that I’ve ever walked through pea soup, mind you. Not even so much as gone wading in it. But it’s what I’d imagine walking through pea soup would be like, except not green and with no unpleasant pea taste. Okay, so it’s not like walking through pea soup at all, but surely you get the idea. Gosh, I guess this means no Pulitzer Prize for me this year.

Once in Disneyland, we went to Fantasyland first and rode the Storybook Land Canal Boats. I don’t suppose I had ever ridden them at night, and it made for a nice experience. We did Alice in Wonderland next and then looked around in the Mad Hatter shop for a while. While we were in the Mad Hatter, I overheard a woman talking on her cell phone. She was repeating what her husband was saying on the other end of the line. When I heard her say that there was no wait at Indiana Jones, I told Paula and Wes and we decided to go check it out.

Apparently I had misheard the woman or they had a sudden rush at Indy, because the stand-by line had a 45-minute wait posted. We settled for a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean instead. The CM tried to put us in the front row but, as we were cold and didn’t particularly want to get wet, we asked if we could have another and he put us in the back instead.

There was still a long wait for IJ when we came back through Adventureland so we decided to look through the shops on the East side of Main Street as we made our way out of the park. Paula was so tired tonight that she didn’t even have a typical Planet of the Apes walk. Tonight, instead, she said it was more the walk of a drunken mummy!

We were back at the hotel by 12:20. Poor Michael was asleep in bed, all alone with the TV and every light in the room on—he looked so lonely. I ran down to the vending area to get some ice so that I could have a diet coke. Paula and Wes both went straight to bed while I stayed up and worked on my trip report notes and checked email until around 1:30.

We later figured out that Paula and I had been in the parks for 15 hours today.

 

[rgoble5972]

xxxxx

 

[lulubelle]

15 hours??? Kudos to you girl
I poop out after 8-9 hours unless we rest at the hotel for a good 3 hours in the afternoon. So glad you are all having such a great time. I am enjoying your reports, thanks!

 

[Judy from Boise]

I can beleive all that you packed into the day!

 

[Krispe]

I am totally enjoying your report! I really wish I had time (and the cash more like it!) to even take a short trip down to Disneyland. I certainly could use it right about now! For now I'm living through your trip report!! THanks!!