The final day of the vacation, a travel day and one that we don’t typically call a vacation day. We got up early and looked outside to see that it was raining. The thing about Southern California, it doesn’t sprinkle, when it rains, it pours. In Oregon we have sprinkles and deluges and everything in between and it happens often. California’s different, it may not for awhile, but then it don’t mess around when it does.

I was ecstatic to see the rain because it made me glad I wasn’t going to the park. That feeling and the rain continued all the way to the airport where we soared through security; there was no line, and rested in our chairs for 2 hours with nothing to do. I sat there and worked a little on my trip report then played Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks on my DS and waited.

While waiting we heard loud children, crying children, and a loud, annoying family made up of mostly teenagers, just talking. Needless to say, I was not looking forward to getting on the plane. Then God said over the loud speaker, “We have first class seats still available for $50.” Done. I was waffling as to whether an extra $50 was worth a 2 hour flight and then I remembered all the people that would likely sit next me and said let’s do it.

We flew home in first class and it was so totally worth it. We tend to fly first class when we go to Walt Disney World; because it’s such a long flight, I like to be able to stretch out and avoid DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis). Plus, you’re not seated with the riff-raff, the unwashed masses, the poor. I’m only kidding… a little. They fed us a salad, carrot and celery sticks with hummus. It was delicious and like I said before, both my mom and I craved vegetables. I did however snack on a Snickers bar and a Reese’s Whipps, don’t judge.

The plane landed early and we were greeted by my grandfather who was going to drive us home. Even though it’s awesome to be at Disneyland, it’s wonderful to be at home. Though as I type this, I’m looking forward to returning in June with my grandparents, aunt and a couple of cousins. I both hope and dread there are moments worth mentioning, since I expect there to be more moments of family disfunction than anything else.

This was going to be a really long day, the longest of the trip and undoubtedly the best and most memorable. It was our final day and it really couldn’t have been better. The only bad thing about it was we had to leave at the ungodly hour of 7am because the park opened at 8am. We got to the park having ridden the dreaded tram, which we had to get on the second one because of how crowded the first tram was. We eventually got there and it was really easy getting through security and getting in a turnstile line.

We started in one line and then we were told that they would be opening another line so a small group of us switched lines to gain a couple more seconds in the park. Since we were so close to the front of the line, I told my mom that I would be racing to the rope so that I might be able to get some good pictures of the castle without a lot of people in my way. Now, we were in line at 7:30am and I asked my mom if they were going to open the turnstiles at 8am thus we would have to wait in line to get into the park for 30 minutes. She didn’t know for sure and was hoping that wasn’t the case, because she didn’t have a lot of standing in her.

A couple minutes prior to opening the turnstiles, well before 8am they got several guests, whether they were part of the same family or not, I’m not entirely sure, but they helped count down with Bob, an exuberant cast member who does his job well. Once they reached one we all poured through the turnstiles and there was a mad dash to the rope. Coming into the park I was one of those rushing, not running but definitely getting my cardio right up to the rope where I was able to snag a few shots of the castle. Sadly there were custodian cast members littering the area. That meant that all the shots I did get had someone in it picking up trash. Whatever, they blend in nicely.

We had agreed that my mom would go to Market House and grab us some coffee and we would take it in with us to Carnation Cafe for breakfast where we had priority seating at 8:10am. When I walked back, giving up my premium spot right in front of the rop to go find her, I noticed she was just standing outside. Apparently Market House doesn’t open the moment guests arrive in the park so we were coffeeless. While it wasn’t ideal, we both agreed that we weren’t going to get coffee at Carnation Cafe, so we could always get it afterwards if we really wanted.

We looked over at Carnation Cafe and we noticed that they were taking people already, so thumbing our noses at the priority seating we had we wondered if they would take us early. They did. We were seated immediately and in a better location, not next to another family and we ordered. Our waiter this time was Carrick, a waiter we had in the past who was nice and friendly. We’ve had Randy a couple of times before, Desiree once, but Troy several times. I don’t want to give the impression that they know us, they don’t since we only go a couple of times a year. But it’s nice to go and see the same faces year after year, and from what I understand, each of these waiters have been there for years.

We both order our usual the Mickey-Shaped Waffle, consumed, paid and left. My mom wanted her picture taken with Oscar, but he never made it around to our table before we were ready to leave. Rather than wait for him to come over to our table, we discussed that we already had a picture with Oscar from previous years. So another wasn’t really necessary, but it would have been nice I suppose to grab another one in a much better resolution.

After not getting the picture of Oscar, we walked down Main Street on our way to Fantasyland. I stopped by Enchanted Tiki Room to try and get a couple of photos of the attraction with the Adventureland sign with the hopes that there wouldn’t be anyone in front. That’s asking a lot and I realize it wasn’t going to happen, but still it was nice to try and I got some shots that were relatively barren.

I caught up with my mom and we made our way up to Sleeping Beauty Castle. We got up to the castle and there was a slight commotion along the bridge. I didn’t see what was going on until I looked down, there was a mommy duck and her ducklings making their way across the bridge. People were standing clear as Disneyland Security was escorting the ducks across the bridge. It was hysterical and so super cute. Naturally I had my camera ready and I snapped more photos than was necessary, but c’mon, they were ducklings. Disneyland Security mentioned that this duck was very protective of her young because in the past there were some people who took them in the past.

After gawking at the ducks we got into Fantasyland and finally had the opportunity to ride Snow White’s Scary Adventure. The ride lived up to all my expectations which were very low to being with. I don’t know know what it is about this ride that just doesn’t connect with me. I find the movie to be absolutely boring and having to go on a ride inspired by the movie. Plus the ride just ends, it goes from the death of the witch to a mural of Prince Charming kissing Snow White awake. I think the ride ends lazily.

We got off the lazy Snow White’s Scary Adventures and walked over to Alice in Wonderland. Nothing of real importance happened on this ride other than me using my flash a couple of times. Don’t worry, I didn’t use it where anyone, except my Mom’s experience would be affect. It was at the end of the ride where you see the Cheshire Cat for the last time and the tea party. They were a couple of wasted pictures because they both came out terribly. There is a lot to be said for the lighting in these rides, they definitely make the characters look so much better. Once you light up the area, it looks pretty bad.

Then we went to Storybook Land Canal Boats. This is a fun ride and it’s usually a nightmare to get on because it’s usually quite crowded. Thankfully when we got off Alice we spied the line and it was short. We were able to get on immediately and float through the mouth of Monstro, the giant whale from Pinocchio. I can’t say that it’s my favorite ride, but I like going through it and seeing all the scenes of the different Disney movies like, Aladdin, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and many others in miniature. The suspension of disbelief is sometimes ruined when you have giant ducks waddling through London Park from Peter Pan. I didn’t get really good pictures of the ride but like I said before, they’re memories regardless of how bad the picture is.

When we got off the ride we made our way to Pinocchio’s Daring Journey another thrilling ride. That was sarcasm. It has become somewhat of a tradition for my mom and I to take a picture of the first scene you come to where Pinocchio is on strings and dancing with the other marionettes. We both take this picture with a flash. This time while riding I was determined once again to get a good picture of Jiminy Cricket. We go through the ride and I’m spying all the Jiminy Cricket’s that pop out, glide down or just stand there looking scared. I passed these all without a second look, I knew exactly the Jiminy Cricket I wanted to take a picture of, with flash. It was the last one, the one where Jiminy is holding his “Official Conscience” medal. We come to him, I snap the picture with the badge and the picture looks terrible. Why? Because there is a lot to be said for the lighting in these rides. I knew there was no way I would be getting a good, sharp picture of him without the flash. Maybe I can Photoshop it.

We walked along the pathway to Frontierland and wondered what we were going to do. Along the way we found there was only a five minute wait for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. My mom noticed that FastPasses were available at 9:35am and we got in line at 9am. We were seated in the best possible location, row 15, the very last row. This is a prime location when you want to do the goat trick. Here’s a tip, you can ask a cast member to be seated in the last row of any ride. What the cast member will do is have you step aside if necessary and place you in that row when it becomes available. You usually don’t have to wait long, most of the time it’s the next train or car or whatever ride vehicle the attraction has.

Once we got off BTMR we wandered forward a few feet then decided we would ride Pirates of the Carribbean. We both were looking for rides that focused on long periods of sitting down. We tired of walking, and that was probably due to a couple of things, we were tired, but our energy levels were down mostly because of the diet we had adopted being there. We spent the better part of the week eating nothing but fried fatty foods. Don’t get me wrong, they were delicious but…

Pirates of the Carribbean was nothing special this time around. There were no annoying teenagers ruining the beginning of the ride for us, there was just the ride. I’ve noticed this on previous trips but, I don’t know if y’all realize it. The first time you see Captain Jack Sparrow he is hiding behind a dress bust form wearing a dress. There is a point when passing by it looks as though Captain Jack Sparrow is wearing the dress because of how everything lines up. I think this was intentional to add some light hearted elements to a rather serious ride. We walked through Adventureland in hopes of riding Jungle Cruise, but it was down.

We were done at this point, we made the decision to grab a cup of coffee and sit down at the hub and just enjoy the atmosphere. I suggested that we instead it in the Town Square because that is where all the action is. If you want a picture of or with a character, the Town Square is the place to be. We each got a cup of vanilla coffee from the Market House and made our way to the Town Square. We sat down in the exact right place. I’m totally not going to tell you because it literally is the watering hole as my mom put it for characters. It is such a good spot that the characters actually come to you. How does that happen? But first, let’s talk about Vanilla coffee; other than smell, I can’t tell the difference in taste between the vanilla. hazelnut or regular. I have a theory that I’ve applied in my life, sugar for coffee is like salt for food, it brings out the flavor. I’m just sayin’. I didn’t put sugar in this cup so I couldn’t really taste the vanilla.

We guarded this spot for two hours sitting there taking pictures of characters like, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale, Donald, Burt and Mary Poppins. Each practically walking right up to you and posing in front of you so you can grab an awesome picture. AH-FREAKING-MAZING!!!

Of course there were a lot of kids walking with them to where they would be standing for all the pictures and autographs they would be doling out. Occasionally there would be a line that formed right in front of you, but it was only for a maximum of 20 minutes and the payoff is worth it. There was one such line and a very memorable moment that I am very happy to have witness. There was a line for Pluto right in front of me, my mom had scoped out a spot to grab a picture of Mickey over in another secret spot, and there is was woman, her daughter and a service dog in training. I’ve seen a lot of service dogs around the park this time, I used to never see them, but I guess if there is a great place to help train a service dog Disneyland is a good place to do it. I watched the line move down and then I looked to my left and there was the service dog and Pluto bonding. The service dogs was excited, wagging his tail and sniffing Pluto’s face, who had knelt down to greet the dog. It was insanely cute. The dog calmed down and sat next to a kneeling Pluto who rested his paw on the service dogs back for a picture with the rest of the family. That was the most memorable moment I had in those couple of hours sitting there taking pictures.

I wondered what the cast members were thinking when they would see my mom and I taking a serious amount of pictures of each of these characters. They probably don’t think anything of it because it’s such a regular occurrence that they don’t even notice or remember. Or maybe they do and they talk about freaks with cameras who essentially are stalking characters. Whatever, I have a lot of pictures of awesome characters, if that makes me a freakish stalker, so be it.

We sat there until we knew characters would no longer be regularly available. It seems this happens at abut 12pm. Mickey goes to his house in Toontown and the other characters do whatever they do backstage. I know how my descriptions are sounding of these characters, but I’m just trying keep the magic alive.
We get our butts off the bench and walk around looking for a new place to sit down. We walked down Main Street and stopped in to the Main Street Cinema to see if they installed seats so people could sit down. We both knew that was unlikely because they don’t want people loitering in one place long, because if they’re loitering, they’re not spending money. We took a moment and watched a couple of seconds of the various classic Mickey cartoons begins shown and then exited. It’s a nice spot to escape because it isn’t crowded in there and it’s dark and cool.

We walked down Main Street and stopped in at the Market House and got a free refill of coffee and made our way to New Orleans Square by way of Disneyland Railroad where we would sit and take in more atmosphere. Our first choice was occupied, it was an area between the Haunted Mansion and Cafe Orleans, right in front of the train station. There was some sort of team building activity with teens going on. They were all holding hands around the fountain and there was a orange hoop and a green hoop. The object was to try to go through the hoop without breaking the link between them. It was fun and entertaining to watch for awhile, but there is only so much interest to be had watching a group of teens struggle through hoops. Then we heard it! Princess Tiana’s Mardi Gras Celebration.

This is a small show where Princess Tiana, the first African American Disney princess comes out, sings a song then takes pictures and signs autographs for all the little girls. We moved from our spot watching the teens build their team, and went to watch and take a couple of pictures of Princess Tiana. Then we just sat their and watched the hoopla. A little girl ran around and a pin dropped off her sash or shirt or whatever little girls wear. This super annoying older woman started yelling at her son or some relation to come and pick up the pin and give it to the girl. The whole scene reminded my mom and I of a situation while we were at Walt Disney World with my grandfather. He had found a pin without a back just outside the exit doors of One Man’s Dream, a movie about Walt Disney. He took the pin and didn’t want to turn it in so that the person who lost it would be able to recover it. My mom and I were shocked! He then tried to con a back to the pin at the nearest shop that was just around the corner. They were happy to oblige him, but they didn’t have any extras. We warned him that karma was going to get him sooner or later. At the end of the trip we were turning the car in, and karma showed it’s ugly face, it rewarded his deceit with another pin that was lying next to the car. It wasn’t fair!!!! If it had been me who did everything my grandfather did, I would have been punched in the face, bitten and spat at by a disturbed psychopath. As for the girl who dropped her pin during our trip, everything was recovered and the girl and her parents were very thankful.

We had priority seating for Cafe Orleans, the poor man’s Blue Bayou. We still had 25 minutes to wait for our PS, instead we thought we would just see if they would be able to take us early. We checked in, waited 5 minutes although it felt like 30 minutes because we were waiting next to this loud and obnoxious family. I maintained my back to them and just tried to ignore what was going on behind me, but I think the dad was playing keep away with his kids. What was he “keeping away?” An empty water bottle. Clearly, these kids don’t have much to be excited about at home, where an empty water bottle holds their undivided attention. Whatever.

We were seated outside right next to the railing so we were able to people watch, something I love doing. Although this time we refrained from making fun of people. There was a slight issue with the water that was given to us. It tasted like soap. We talked at length about how we should handle this. The first thing that came to my mom’s mind was to just dump the water into the flower bed we were seated next to. I didn’t because if the water indeed had soap in it, we didn’t want to kill the flowers that were thriving there. Another thought was that it didn’t matter if they gave us new water, because the glasses themselves probably made the water taste soapy. We then joked that we would lean over the railing and just drink the water out of the water fountains that were located right behind my mom. We laughed and joked about the water… clearly, we don’t have much to talk about where the topic of water holds our undivided attention. Whatever.

Ultimately, we decided we would do each get a diet pomegranate lemonade. We couldn’t have chosen a more unexpected beverage for our tastes. First, I HATE the taste of diet drinks. My grandmother always says that “hate” means “kill.” In this case I would gladly kill the diet taste. Weirdly we agreed to pomegranate, a berry that we are relatively unfamiliar with. I have at one time drank some pomegranate juice a long time ago and from what I remember, I didn’t not like it. We took a sip and it was alright, but it certainly wasn’t worth the cost. Thinking about the situation later in the day, we both were disappointed that we didn’t just ask for some different water and instead paid a premium for a drink that we didn’t find outstanding. That’s a lesson we’ve learned.

Beyond the lemonade we ordered one Monte Cristo and split it. In some restaurants in the parks they will charge a split-plate charge. the most notorious restaurant on Disney property is the Blue Bayou which charges $12 for an extra plate. You each get the sides, but still 12-bucks is a steep price, it’s more than half the cost of the actual entree. Cafe Orleans, the poor man’s Blue Bayou, does not have a split-plate charge. This allowed us to split the Monte Cristo and get two cups of delicious gumbo. For dessert, we ordered the Mickey Beignets with two sauces, vanilla and berry. Everything was great, we had a great table, the food was delicious and if it wasn’t for the water and pomegranate lemonade fiasco it would have been perfect.

Following our meal we took the train to Tomorrowland to ride the Monorail and take in some of the other attractions. They have new monorails since the last time I was there. There are two, a red one and blue, they are very sleek looking and the new seating arrangements are interesting. In the middle of the car we got in, they had a bench facing the windows. This is a great benefit for people who like taking pictures, at least it would have been if the windows weren’t tinted a rose color. All the pictures I took have this rose colored tint to them which is super disappointing. I was able to reach the open portion of the window above the tinted, but it was so difficult because you have to remain seated the whole time. At Walt Disney World, the Monorail is a form of transportation so you can stand up, like you would on a bus. It could be because of how the attraction is classified that certain rules need to be in place.

We rode the loop and headed to…you guessed, Captian EO! I’m not going to go into again, how awesome this is, but compared to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, it’s genius. After getting out of Captain EO we got a FastPass for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and then headed over to “it’s a small world”.

I don’t like cheerleading. I can’t say that I don’t like the individuals who participate in cheerleading, but the culture of cheerleading is annoying. So much so that I want to stab myself in the ears and eyes with a fork whenever a group of cheerleaders come together. Which brings me to our “it’s a small world” experience. Cheerleaders were in line with us and in our boat. Just listening to their squeaky-cheerleading-teenage-girl voices made my skin crawl. Their laughs, their…everything was just annoying. My mom and I endured it like champs. We both paid close attention to the music around the Disney characters we couldn’t hear before and still couldn’t hear, not because of the cheerleaders but probably because there was no music attached to them.

We used our FastPass for Buzz, and then headed back to the Market House for another cup of coffee, and for me, my favorite cookie. We both got decaf. I’m finding, in my old age, that too much caffeine gives me a headache and makes me ill. We took our coffee to the Town Square. My mom bought a bucket of popcorn and we sat on the benches and watch Mickey & Minnie for awhile. The first time they were out, they were together and offered autographs and pictures to those in line. It was all standard fare until a group who were in their early 20’s came up dressed like rock/punk with a little goth thrown in. One of them had a scepter with a skull on it and he handed it to Minnie Mouse, Mickey looked at it, covered his eyes and cowered in fear, shivering. It was super cute to see this reaction. After getting over it pictures were taken and they spent a little more time with them than usual offering another picture of them while sporting the sign of the horns.

I found that to be rather interesting decision on the characters parts, this gesture has a very sordid past. While many believe it to be just an innocent hand gesture, it was heavily promoted by Anton Lavey, the founder and High Priest of the Church of Satan. In some countries, if you point that gesture at someone you are effectively cursing them. Though in this case it was referencing the “Metal” culture, that culture isn’t known to celebrate positivity and has instead embraced the darker side of life. Needless to say, I was surprised and of course snapped a photo.

We sat their a little long and watched as the characters go back in and then immediately come back out for more pictures. This time they separated and each had their own line. We watched a little longer and then decided it was time to go. A sad moment for sure as this was our last day in the park, however, we felt we had done it well and satisfied with what we came to do. Our goals? See Captain EO numerous times, have more Dole Whips, Cookies, take advantage of the free refills of coffee, ride some rides, and just take in the atmosphere. Mission accomplished.

We left the park, a bittersweet moment and headed back to the hotel via tram and car. Once arriving back at the hotel I bummed around transferring photos to my computer and just waiting for things to happen. My mom checked in for our flight for the next day and we walked to the lobby to print our boarding passes. There were people using the computers and so we decided we would have dinner at Mimi’s and use the coupon my mom was sent for her birthday.

It was busy! There was a 25 minute wait to get a table. We sat down and looked at a menu while we waited I decided what I wanted and then began working on my trip report using my iPhone. I don’t mean it sound like I wrote it, but dude, any phone that lets allows you to blog is totally worth it, especially if you do trip reports. You can, and I have worked on this report while at the park, waiting in line, sitting on a bench, waiting to get a seat. It has, during this trip been an invaluable.

I decided to get a Cobb Salad without Bleu Cheese and subsitituted American cheese instead. I don’t like dressing so I had it dry. My mom got a Blackened Chicken Caesar salad. Each entree came with a muffin. Neither of us finished our salads because we wanted to try the dessert. This is where things get a little awkward. We both definitely wanted dessert and so my mom ordered the Triple Chocolate Brownie and the waitress said, asked if she wanted the petite size, my mom said no, this was the last day of our vacation and she wanted to splurge. I ordered the Classic Trio Ensemble which included petite sizes of the Bread Pudding, Triple Chocolate Brownie and Apple Crisp of some sort. It came and we were both shocked. These desserts where relatively inexpensive and yet, what was brought to our table could have literally fed a family of six.

Before the deserts came, my mom and I joked about the how big this brownie could be. I laughing suggested it be about two inches thick and roughly five inches square. I kid you not, it was almost exactly those dimensions. This brownie was gi-FREAKING-normous and it included ice and whipped cream. It was crazy!
I powered through my dessert pretty quickly so I could get as much down before I would feel fuller than I already was from the salad, which I didn’t finish, and the cookie I had only 2 hours before. First I tried a bite of everything and then started on my sensiblish brownie. I didn’t eat the ice cream because I could get Vanilla Bean ice cream anywhere, I focused solely on the dessert. Brownie, done. Apple crisp thing, done. Bread Pudding, not done. I didn’t finish the bread pudding because the texture reminded me of scrambled eggs and I didn’t find that appealing for a dessert. Maybe I was looking for any excuse to not finish it.

We boxed up all the left-overs (muffins the rest of my salad and the rest of the brownie) in the misguided hopes of eating it the next day. We both knew it as never going to happen. We headed back to the hotel to print our boarding passes. We walk into the lobby and there were a brother and sister on the computers looking at the Facebook page. We knew how this was going to end, Facebook is crack no matter how old you are. We didn’t expect these kids to be off for quite awhile. My mom and I sat on the bench sitting right next to the boy. He caught the drift and asked if we needed to use the computer. My mom said for five minutes to print something out, and he logged off. It was only a moment later their parents came in and called them over. We printed the passes and headed back to our rooms. I worked on this trip report and then called it a night.

I woke up feeling good but then began to deteriorate as the morning progressed. After eating as much garbage as I did, I’m not surprised, I just wish it didn’t happen on day 5 of our trip, my mom’s birthday. Even though I was feeling bad I took some meds and was able to go to the parks. We left only 20 minutes later than planned so we didn’t miss much and there reached a point where I thought the moving around would make me feel better than just lying in bed suffering.

We left, and got to Disney’s California Adventure in the standard 30 minutes it usually takes to go 1 mile, went through the turnstiles and made our way around to Soarin’ Over California. The wait was too long and so we decided to each get FastPasses and come back later. We instead moseyed our way to Paradise Pier to ride Toy Story Midway Mania. It’s quite the trek to the back of that park. When I think about it it I’m always amazed that the park was built on this giant parking lot. I remember going in 1993 and having to walk from what was then the Saga Inn and now is the Ramada Main Gate to and from the park and just thinking how expansive the parking lot was. Now, it’s a theme park.

We had to wait a little bit, but you know what? The wait time to get on Toy Story isn’t as long as it used to be. I remember going when the attraction first opened and seeing the line at 70+ minutes and the line stretching around to almost to the entrance to Paradise Pier. I don’t think the ride is any less popular, I’m sure it has something to do with attendance. The attraction is so well made and designed that once you ride it you can understand why it’s so popular.

The first time through I was skilled enough to land me in the top 3 for the day with 200,700. Throughout the ride I thought I was doing terribly but that’s a pretty high score for me. I suppose I don’t pay close attention to where I usually stand at each of the different games I come across, but that makes these kind of victories all the more exciting a satisfying. The second time through… I should mention that I continuously take pictures of Mr. Potato Head with each time I go through the line. As I was saying, the second time through I was completely knocked off the leader board, but not by much. If I had grabbed another 5000 points I would have been back on the #3 spot. The thing is, I’m never disappointed, as it just feels nice to have been on the leader board at all. Both my mom and I can only handle two rides on Toy Story because our arms can only take so much constant and furious action. By the time we get off the ride we are in agony. Disney should post stretching exercises that guests can do prior to riding. I would imagine people would be in less pain.

After pausing for a quick bathroom break I suggested we go on Mickey’s Funwheel. I was wondering if my mom would even consider it again after her first time on it the day before. Surprisingly she agreed, and we made our way down the boardwalk. We got in line for the non-swinging gondolas and got on the attraction. My mom was nervous but as we rose to the top she realized it wasn’t as bad as the first time she rode. The important thing to remember is that you should focus in something else if your doing something way out of your comfort zone. She focused on taking pictures, as did I. I’m always looking to take that perfect picture up there and I don’t even know what it looks like, I’m just hoping to hit it one time. It’s difficult because they put that grating around the cars. With my other camera, the lens is so small that taking the picture through the grating was easy, with my new camera it became increasingly more difficult so I had to mess with things on the camera that I’m not used to and don’t really understand how the work. I think I’ve got some decent photos but what do I know.

We got off the ride continuing our way around Paradise Pier over to Mullholland Madness. We weren’t going to ride it if the wait was too long. This ride reminds me very much of a ride in an amusement park here in Oregon. I think they’ve since taken the ride out to add more thrilling coasters in it’s place. We basically walked right on and I had forgotten just how cozy the ride vehicles were. The seats literally hugged every inch of me. Before I let anything get that close to me I usually have to ask if they’re a cop and get cash up front. The ride was rough and we both agreed that this would be ridden only once.

At this point we were both feeling a little hungry, but because we remembered how full we felt, we wanted to take it easier this time with the food. Rather than get another meal we decided to instead go to the Mission Tortilla Factory to get my mom another 3 tortillas. The factory was practically abandoned and nothing seemed to be in working order. I think we only went through and appreciated the exhibits once, but I’m pretty sure the little video-people in the wall moved and talked. They weren’t alive this time. Also, the cast members were cleaning one of the machines so they were not in full production of tortillas; however, they were handing out corn tortillas.

We took the tortillas and sat outside at some picnic benches to eat them. Once we finished we thought we would go into A Bug’s Land and take some pictures of The Hollywood Tower Hotel. An interesting tid bit of information for you, when you are in A Bug’s Land look up at The Hollywood Tower Hotel and it will feel like you are the size of a bug standing in the “front yard” of the hotel. It’s a really interesting feeling because how the imagineers planned it, it does make you really small.

We walked completely through A Bug’s Land. It was nice that they opened up the back end of the land so you could walk through into Hollywood Studios. I don’t know why it took them so long to do it because A Bug’s Land was always this giant nightmare walking through. The thing is, there really was never anything there that an adult would really enjoy other than the interesting theming and seeing for yourself the incredible shrinking feeling. While there still isn’t anything for an adult to see, it’s a nice little shortcut to Tower of Terror.

My mom and I don’t ride Tower of Terror anymore because, it isn’t fun. We used to ride it every time we went, but there reached a point where we just didn’t want to do it anymore. We weren’t having fun and that was a time when we thought that we had to ride everything to get the most out of our trip. No longer, and so Tower of Terror was one of the rides we “dropped”.

To our delight as we were walking past Aladdin: The Musical we saw that it was going to start in 15 minutes. We had originally planned to see it on the first day we arrived, but were too exhausted to wait for it to start. This time though, we took the opportunity to see it. Originally we were placed in the Mezzanine, but because my Mom has trouble climbing stairs they stuck us in Orchestra. Like being stuck in Orchestra is a bad thing. This was the closes we had ever been to the stage and it was a different experience than we usually have. We typically are placed in the Mezzanine so we normally get to see the flying carpet sequence. This time we didn’t get to see that aspect of the show very well, instead we got a close-up of Aladdin on the elephant.

It’s kinda weird to be able to make out distinguishing characteristics of the actors. In addition, and I’m going to ruin some magic, you see cables a lot easier, you see the actors fall through the floor, you can tell the difference between the Aladdin that’s on stage and the Aladdin that is on wires, and you can see that the actor who plays the character at the very beginning also plays the Sultan. With all these different things that you notice, it in no way ruins the experience. It’s still a well produced and well acted show and should be a definite must see when you visit, while it lasts.

After Aladdin we walked over to Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sully to the Rescue! This was one of the best experiences we had that day and probably one of the most memorable one of the trip. We get in line behind a father and his sons and what appear to be friends of the father and their children. One of the father’s son, Jackson is freaking out, crying and begging his father not to make him get on the ride. this literally goes on throughout the entire time he is in the queue. They try and try to convince him that it isn’t scary, but Jackson wasn’t having any of it. He apparently only wanted to see plays and didn’t want to go on rides. My mom and I both wondered what ride he rode that made him so terrified of rides. The friend of the family told him it was a play and Jackson believed him and calmed down, literally a few seconds later they told him it was a ride and he began freaking out again. This child was so scared that I thought he was going to literally die of fright. His father asked him if he wanted to go home as a threat to get him to comply with just getting on the ride and stop making a big deal out of a ride that wasn’t scary. Jackson, so frightened that he said he did want to go home and his father laughed, bluff called. Good for you Jackson! We get closer to the loading area and cast member comes around asking if there is a group of two, I raise my hand and we were ushered to the front of the line. We were a little disappointed because we wanted to see how Jackson experience played out.

Once we got off the ride, we hung back and waited for them to disembark to see if little Jackson survived the frightening world of Monstropolis. He was smiling and hopefully it made him less frightened of rides in the future. As for my mom and I? We walked over to Soarin but stopped into Taste Pilot’s Grill to see about some lunch. It was too crowded in there and so we opted to use the FastPass for Soarin’ we got earlier. It just reaffirmed my belief that even with a FastPass your wait time is considerable. Regardless of the wait, we got some premium seats, Gate B, Row 2. I don’t know what they call it, but we were in the middle section, B in the second row. I know this is debatable, some people think that being in row 1 is better because you don’t get feet, but I contend that in row 2, you don’t get the curvature of the screen. I think you get a better wrap-around experience.

Getting off the ride, we again checked in to Taste Pilot’s Grill so if the line had gone down, it didn’t and with that we headed over to Disneyland to find some. We debated on what we wanted to eat. We had to make the decision fast because we were running out of time before we had reservations for Big Thunder Ranch and the feast they were preparing just for us… and everyone else. We talked about getting a hot dog at Refreshment Corner, but we were dying for something green and salady. We knew they had salads at Red Rockett’s Pizza Port, we made our way through Tomorrowland and saw the mass of people eating there. I suggested we see Captain EO first and then eat but my Mom said then it might be too late to eat and still be hungry for Big Thunder Ranch. She was right, the day was moving fast and it was already only a few hours before our reservation. Having lunch now was pushing it.

Pizza Port was crowded but we got and shared a Chicken Caesar Salad. It was the best thing I had ever tasted, and I think it was the same for my mom. It had been so long since we last ate a salad that it felt good and right. It was like the planets aligned and everything in life was finally becoming clear. I’m not even sure how good the food actually was, it probably was the worst tasting salad of all time, but I had no frame of reference, but it was what we needed at the time.

After lunch we took on Captain EO again. We just can’t get enough of this movie, it is just so corny and funny and people’s reactions to it starting are boisterous as well as the first time they see Michael Jackson on screen. Plus, the movie is amazing!!!! We got some great seats this time; we were in the middle of the theater and and there were absolutely no one in front of us. It was the best showing yet. The theater was full and it has been consistently full for each of the showings. After he movie finished my mom and I did something that we’ve been wanting to do for a couple of days, see back to back shows. We walked out of the theater, went around the corner in to the entrance and saw the next showing. What surprised us was that I think we sat in the exact same seats as we did the first show. If not, they were really close. The only difference this time was that there were some people in front of us. Considering we had no one in front of us the time before, it was acceptable.

We went to “it’s a small world” and rode that again. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I love that ride. I love it more than ever. This time however I am now madly in love with it because I discovered something that I never noticed before. While riding in the second room we passed Alice and the White Rabbit on the right side and I heard something that was very familiar and then it hit me, Golden Afternoon was subtlety playing in the background. I told my mom and she listened for a song from Cinderella on her left immediately following Alice and she said she heard Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo and then Pinocchio had I’ve Got No Strings. Later on there was A Whole New World playing when you come across Aladdin, Jasmine, Carpet and Abu. I think those were the only four we could hear. I thought there would have been more, considering there were so many characters. I was expecting something from Mulan like Reflection, and something from Toy Story when you come across Woody, Jesse and Bullseye. Maybe we are just missing them because of the strong “it’s a small world” theme playing over everything and children crying or talking. There are just so many levels to that ride now.

We got off the ride with something else to be excited over “it’s a small world” about. But the day had to progress. We were running out of things to do, and quickly so we thought that maybe the folks at Celebration Round-up & Barbecue at Big Thunder Ranch would take us early. The important thing is we had reservations for dinner and we weren’t sure when that actually started. We didn’t want to be stuck with the lunch menu because it didn’t have polish sausage, and I loves me some polish sausage. We get to the Ranch and and make some small talk with the host and they checked us in and we only had to wait a few minutes before they showed us to our park bench.

The show was already going on and I could tell immediately what this was going to be like. We sat down and watched the show, there were very big on audience participation and I told m,y mom that this was very similar Hoop-Dee-Doo Part 2. Even though Hoop-Dee-Doo was more of a production and this was just 3 people singin’ some country songs and tlaking with the audience, it was nerve wracking cause I didn’t want to be a part of the show, I just wanted to watch it and eat. It was a while before our serve came to get our drink orders and tell us what we wee going to be eating that evening.

Everything was served family style, meaning they would bring buckets of food and you would serve yourself. On the menu was, ribs, chicken, polish sausage, baked beans, cole slaw, corn and corn bread. The menu was very reminiscent of Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue nearly exactly the same except for a few minor things. It even tasted the same to me, they must have the same supplier. The show continued and they brought up some kids to join the show. What they did I can’t remember, so it must not have been that awesome. We got our food and the iced tea we ordered quickly and it seemed the show was over. It wasn’t one of the performers came around the tables and interacted with everyone, our worst nightmare was going to come true and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. You don’t come to these things without the expectation of having to talk to people, and that is something I hate. I don’t want to interact with someone everyone in the place is paying any attention to.

There was a guy playing the guitar and going from table to table grabbed a couple of kids and brought them up to the stage to help him with his song. He had one of them hit the triangle at specific moments in the song. The kids did very well and it was hysterically funny because the kid kind of knew what he needed to do, but wasn’t quite understanding that he wasn’t supposed to hit the triangle until the pause in the song. He would just tap it repeatedly, then he understood and started getting really into it and was doing a really good job. There was a woman taking pictures with a serious looking camera, a Nikon D3. This thing was no joke and it is for the serious professional. From what I could gather, she was employed by Disney, because after the kids came off stage a cast member with a clip board came to that family’s table and talked to them. I’m wondering if they are going to use those pictures for any promotional material.

We continued to eat and the guy with the guitar once again made his way around the tables and eventually came to us and asked if we were hungry. I honestly don’t want to go into the whole conversation because it is one that I don’t really want to remember. Thankfully the interaction only lasted a few moments and he was on to some other sucker out there. We finished eating and we ordered a couple of Cowboy Cone Cakes. These are cupcakes in a waffle cone. More specifically they take a waffle cone, put some sort of frosting at the very bottom, put in a spoonful of cherry pie filling then add the frosted cupcake. They bring it out in the giant, GIANT metal display holder that looks like a present that’s been opened and these Cowboy Cone Cakes come springing out with streamers. It looks ridiculous and more than a little embarrassing. It didn’t matter how embarrassing the whole spectacle looked, the Cowboy Cone Cakes were delicious and sine this was going to be the only time we would be doing the Celebration Round-Up & Barbecue, it was worth the extra expense to get them.

While everything about the experience was good, the cost of it all was not worth what you might get out of it. For the both of us with tip and tax including out 10% annual pass discount came to $80. That is a lot of money and probably would have been better spent towards the Fantasmic Premium Seating package. My mom and I did that last year and it was awesome and if Fantasmic was playing during our visit this year, I know I would have preferred that more.

After the barbecue we were both spent and full and we wanted to leave. So we walked around Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and took some pictures with the moon. While walking, I spotted a plane flying overhead and I thought that was unusual because after 9/11 I thought that was no fly zone. This was no small plane this was a commercial airline flying overhead, so I grabbed a couple of pictures…why? I don’t know, I just thought it was interesting. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen planes or helicopters flying over Disneyland, it happens more than I would have thought. But we continued to walk out of the park. I wanted to pause and take a picture of Enchanted Tiki Room while my mom continued to the front of the park. I caught to her and we were right in front of City Hall and that is when we were snagged.

We were snagged by a cast member wanting to survey us on our experience in the park. It was tough cause we had only been in the park for a couple of hours and so many of the questions we were asked we had to say, “Did Not Experience.” That was one of the options. I know this isn’t all that interesting but the next bit is. I look past Dorothy, the cast member that was conducting the survey and I notice there is a woman older, I wouldn’t say elderly but maybe in her 60’s lying on the ground. I inform Dorothy and she turns and you can tell that she felt torn about what she should do.

I spot another cast member helping the woman and say, it looks like she is already getting assistance. Dorothy seemed relieved but I know she was wondering how this was going to impact our experience. I mean she is surveying us on our experience. She continued the survey and then I hear a faint, “DOROTHY” coming from over where the woman was lying on the ground. I tell Dorothy that she is being called over and Dorothy turns to the woman and then turns back to us and thanks us for our time and runs over to the woman.

My mom and I turn and walk to the exit talking about what had just happened. Dorothy was clearly in a predicament. I’m trying to think what I would have done if I were in Dorothy’s position. I think I would have ended the survey and went and helped the other cast member deal with the fallen woman. I would hope that a guest would understand that helping someone who was hurt would be the priority. I don’t fault Dorothy for her decision to continue with the survey, she probably thought the other cast member had everything under control and if she was needed than she would be called. It seemed logical.

My mom and I thought about another time we witnessed someone take a spill in Town Square. It was about the time Finding Nemo Submarines had opened and everyone and the grandmother, which was literally the case for my family, was there to ride the attraction. There was always a mad dash to get there and I think they didn’t even do the rope drop but you were just able run to the ride when you got through the turnstiles. Well, this woman was running, in flip-flops no less, and took a dive head first. I thought this was funny, even though she got hurt because she was doing two things she shouldn’t have been doing, running in the park and running with flip-flops on.

That’s is my general rule, if someone is doing something they shouldn’t be doing and they get hurt doing it, then it’s funny. If they are seriously injured, then it isn’t funny. This lady wasn’t seriously injured she got right back up and continued on so everything was fine, but dude, if you’re going to break the rules you are going to have to suffer the consequences, getting hurt and having people laugh at you, it’s just the reality of the situation.

We exited the park and suffer the tram debacle. I freaking hate the trams, and I know I’ve said it a thousand times. It took us two trams to get back to the car and when we finally I felt a huge relief. I was feeling better, I had some vegetables during the day and it turned out be a good day.

The day started well enough, we left the hotel and headed over to the park. This was a Disneyland day and we were going to try and get into Carnation Cafe this morning rather than have lunch there later in the day. We had never had lunch there so we didn’t know what the menu was going to be like, plus I would have rather had a hand-dipped corn dog at the Stage Door Cafe than try something new at Carnation Cafe.

We get into the park and make our way down Main Street to Carnation Cafe. The first thing that strikes me is there was no one in line and there were only a few people seated. I’m not used to seeing this and I was surprised more people weren’t taking advantage of the no wait to eat. We are seated almost immediately right next to this other family. When I say right next to, I mean nearly to the point we we could share condiments and conversation.

I like the fact that the same server’s are there every time we go. We got Troy this time, a server we’ve had in past years, but looking around I recognized nearly every face there. It’s weird and goes to show the type of employer Disney is when people stay for so many years. From what I’ve learned from them all, they all love it there.

We each ordered the Mickey-shaped Waffle and we were served quickly. I looked onto Main Street while we were eating and I thought that we might actually finish before the rope drop. As usual Oscar came around to the tables and made sure everything was going alright as did our server Troy. We were able to get through our breakfast rather quickly, though we were not able to finish before the rope drop. I think that worked to our benefit because then we weren’t involved in the rush to the attractions and since there wasn’t anything planned initially it didn’t matter that we weren’t the first in line.

We paid, and set out into the park. Our first stop was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. The night before we talked about what attractions we would like to ride repeatedly and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters was definitely one that we wanted to ride. While this is a popular ride it isn’t the first one that people flock to so as we walked up we could see that it was only a five minute wait. We walked on and there were these two kids who… I’m not even sure what they were doing. They were walking through the queue hesitantly,as if they were looking for someone. My mom and I wanted to blast right through them, but cutting in front of a couple of kids is generally frowned upon at Disneyland.

Finally we reached the loading area and they just stopped dead in their tracks. This was the last straw, there wasn’t anyone in line, they should have just got on the ride, my Mom and I blasted past them, I saw they turned and never boarded the attraction. Whatever, their loss. We rode the ride and I did terribly, 390,000+ points. I just couldn’t hit Zurg which gives you 50,000 points each time you hit him in the right spot. I walked away frustrated with my score. Before reaching the exit I looked up at the scoreboard and noticed LGM was on the board. I’m so used to seeing LGM with really high scores and I noticed it was a really low score, then it got me thinking, is LGM even a real person? How could one person have such a wide variance of scores. Then it got me thinking again, could they stand for something indicating that the player didn’t enter their initials into the computer?

We made the loop and boarded the attraction again, and this time I was on top of my game. I hit Zurg a couple of times and left that room with 260,000 points, I didn’t do too well throughout the rest of the ride, but in the last room the ride stopped right in front of a triangle target. I hit that thing continuously until I reached 850,500 points. That is the highest score I think I ever got in my life. I walked away extremely happy, this was one I was definitely going to send to myself so I could forward it on to everyone I know and post it on Facebook and Twitter and any other social network I have.

After riding Buzz we headed to Captain EO. This time we were determined to get a seat further back and near the center of the theater. We got in the queue and stood at the side. Normally cast members will urge guests to move all the way down and around to the right to fill in all the available space. They do however open the side doors allowing people further back in the line to enter the theater at the same time those who are further along the line. It is these doors that offer the best chance of getting a seat near the rear of the theater providing you with the best possible viewing angle to enjoy Captain EO the way it was meant to be enjoyed, without the headache and temporary blindness. It has to be said, Captain EO gets better with every viewing and you also begin to see the flaws. My mom mentioned that Michael’s jacket opens and closes all by itself.

Following another awesome viewing of Captain EO we walked around to Space Mountain where we looked at the wait time and considered it to be longer than we wanted to wait. My mom sat down on a bench while I walked up and got us each a FastPass and walked back. I noticed when I got back that the doors into the theater playing Captain EO were still open and thought that it would be possible to exit the attraction and then immediately enjoy it again without waiting! I told my mom this and she agreed that it would be possible and that we should try it sometime.

We realized we hadn’t explored anything past New Orleans Square including the Haunted Mansion and Critter Country. To remedy that we took the train to New Orleans Square, along the way trying to take flashless pictures of “The Grand Canyon” and “Primeval World” all of which were hot blurry messes, but again, they’re memories. We also grabbed a photo of those heads that are stored in the back of New Orleans Square. I always wondered why those were there, what sort of decorative value do they hold other than being kind of creepy.

We got off the train and went to the Haunted Mansion feeling a few raindrops on the way. There was a time when we would only go on this during the holiday’s so we would only see the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay, which is ironic because that is usually the treat, for me it’s a treat to see it without an overlay. I kind of like the original better because I like when you go to the outside scene with all the ghosts and tombstones and then you see those busts singing “Grim Grinning Ghosts”. The overlay, instead of having busts, has pumpkins singing, this is something else that’s ironic, because you wouldn’t expect pumpkins being used for a Christmas overlay. I look for only one thing while riding this attraction, and that is see which place setting they make the hidden mickey in the dining room sequence.

I’d have to say that the scariest part of that ride for me, is right after the dining room where you go into the attic and there is that ghostly bride who killed all her husbands. That bride looks so creepy and seems to be the most realistic ghost in the bunch, you know, cause I’ve had so much experience with ghosts in my life. Either way that room gives me the shivers.

We got off the ride and it had been raining thankfully it had stopped raining but the ground was still wet and slippery. I know what you’re thinking, because I mentioned it being slick out there you think one of us bit it. We didn’t, but it wasn’t completely out of the realm of possibility. We did carefully make our way into Critter Country so my mom could use the facilities and then she could talk herself into and then out of going on Splash Mountain. The wait time for the ride was only 5 minutes, but getting wet on a cloudy, cool day wasn’t as appealing as the 5 minute wait.

Instead we opted to ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I don’t understand why people don’t like this ride, it’s better than Snow White’s Scary Adventures and Pinnocchio’s Daring Journey combined. We got in line and once we reached the loading zone we were place in the front row while a man and his young daughter where placed behind us. She made the executive decision to trade places with them so that his daughter would be able to see better. He thanked us and told his daughter to thank us as well. Whatever. Alright, she was kind of cute because she had good manners.

We go through the ride without incident but then we come to the end and the doors open and then we see it. Raindrops! It’s raining and neither of us are prepared for such weather. I mean, they’ve been threatening us with this weather all week but saw nothing of it, then all of a sudden, smack dab in the middle of our vacation it decides to rain and we left our ponchos in the car, a 45 minute trek and tram ride. I suggested that we just buy some ponchos, but we had talked about sharing a funnel cake at the Hungry Bear Restaurant.

Instead of buying a poncho or walking then riding a tram to the car, we walked the few yards to the Hungry Bear Restaurant, unintentionally stalking the gentleman and daughter we gave our seat to on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to eat and take shelter. We got in line and ordered the funnel cake, first though there was some heated discussion between my mom and I about which funnel cake we should get. I wanted to get the Chocolate Brownie on and my mom continually tried reminding me how we felt after we had it the first time. I didn’t care, if we were going to spend $5.49 for a funnel cake I want to get my as much for my money as I possibly can.We got the Chocolate Brownie Funnel Cake at my behest and we sat down to eat it. We easily got through it and we both agreed that it wasn’t as bad as we both remembered. I remembered that we each probably got our own the last time and that’s why it made us feel terrible. Here’s a tip, share that funnel cake, you’ll thank me later.

I mentioned on a previous day that I bought the iPhone app, Wishing Stars and now that we weren’t following an itinerary and we didn’t have anything on the docket we thought it was a prime opportunity to do one of these quests. We went through some of the quests available on the app, and wanted to choose one that didn’t require a lot of walking because my mom just didn’t have that much walking left in her. We started with a Medium quest entitled Disney Photo’s. We looked at the photos of the items we needed to find and noticed they were spread out throughout the park, plus ust looking at the photos we knew exactly where each of these locations were.

We went back to he drawing board and picked a different quest, one that was a little closer to where we were, so we chose New Orleans Shops. I’m sorry, but this was listed under Medium quests and yet it was ridiculously easy and we were able to get through it in about 10 minutes. Keep in mind that my mom doesn’t walk very fast so if she was able to hobble her way through this quest in 10 minutes, you can only imagine just how easy this quest was.

After completing the quest we sat down waiting for the disappointment to wear off and discussed what we were going to do next. It was decided that we would go to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and see what the line looked like. While on our way my mom suggested we see what time the next show at the Golden Horseshoe was, it was going to happen in like 10 minutes or so, but I needed to go to the restroom first. I had two choices of restrooms, the always crowded Adventureland restroom or the one by Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante which is less crowded. I didn’t choose the Adventureland restroom and I’m glad I did. There was a man and his son who were using the restroom, the father had just finished helping his son and told him to go wash his hands, the boy said, “But I don’t want to wash my hands!” Dad responded, “You always have to wash your hands!” I thought that was funny.

I walk back to the Golden Horseshoe and my mom gives me the bad news, Billy Hill and the Hillbillies don’t perform on Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s. Of course they don’t why wouldn’t they be available to perform the one time we want to actually see them. It doesn’t matter, it isn’t really our type of humor so while it might have been amusing to watch, I don’t think we would have truly enjoyed it as much as we would have liked. We sat for a little longer while I worked on my trip report via my iPhone and my mom was updating her notebook. After a few more minutes we got up and made our way to Big Thunder.

The wait for Big Thunder was short, so we rode it and then got off and rode it again. Both times we practically walked right on. However there was a slight misunderstanding. The man in front of us in line the first time we rode, said there was seven or so in his group, but his group wasn’t together so the cast member thought we were a part of the seven and put us in a row that was reserved for this family of seven. There were a few moments of confusion and once everything got straightened out we ended up in row 9, a better row than 5, 6 or 7.

I find it absolutely annoying that people don’t keep their group together. It is vitally important that you all get in line together and stay together. This is becoming a theme with people that think they can have part of their group go out and ride an attraction while another member waits in another line. Worse yet, when you can’t keep your family together while you’re in the same line is absolutely ridiculous! It not only affects your ability to get on the ride immediately, but it also causes confusion for others in the line as well as the cast member trying to keep their counts and rows straight.

The second time through Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, we were placed in the last car. The last car on a roller coaster is the best because it’s a more thrilling experience. You’ll notice that when you go up a hill you gain speed at the top because the front of the train is pulling you down the hill even before you reached the top. Plus, you’re whipped at every turn more fiercely than if you were in the middle or in the front. I have the bruises to prove this (that’s an exaggeration).

We walked off Big Thunder and decided to go on “it’s a small world”. It’s funny to me that I would always dread going on that ride, but ever since they made the updates to the ride, I find myself looking forward to riding it. We walked the path behind Big Thunder, and that’s a great place to find Woody and Jesse from Toy Story 2 hanging out. I got a couple of great shots of them together without any annoying kids ruining the shot. Jeepers, kids just have no courtesy when it comes to getting in people’s shots.

We get in line for “it’s a small world” and get on rather quickly. For some reason the lines for this ride are so short. We have been able to get right on or on within a couple of minutes throughout the entire trip. This time, I was going to attempt to take some pictures. Throughout the entire ride, there was a man and his father in front of us, and he was taking pictures with his flash. This is generally frowned upon. But you know what, I’m freaking tired of taking lousy pictures on these rides. I, for once in my life, would like to take a decent photo of these stupid dolls. Because I’m courteous to others, I don’t. So what I’m stuck with are a bunch of blurry photos. Sure I could play around with the settings of my camera, but I’m not quite sure how to do that yet.

After taking a bunch of blurry pictures, we got off the ride and headed into Tomorrowland to once again see Captain EO. We decided that we wanted to see this as many times as we could, because we didn’t want to look back and think, “I wish I had seen Captain EO more.” Honestly, how often do you look back and you say to yourself, “I wish I didn’t do [insert attraction name here] that many times.” Probably very rarely or if at all. We walked into the queue and sat down got good seats because we know how to work the system, and sat there enjoying yet another showing of Captain EO. This time I watched carefully how many times Michael Jackson’s jacket went from him ripping his jacket open to it mysteriously closing. The total? Five. Five times it went from open to close. One of those times, the jacket mysteriously opened by itself and closed by itself. I understand why this had to happen. How else were they going to show Michael ripping his jacket open unless they somehow closed it.

Following this final showing of Captain EO we stopped to see what the wait was like for Star Tours. I don’t like Star Tours, because there is a moment that near the end where I don’t think the ride and the movie sync up well and it makes me feel uncomfortable. Plus I rode that ride so many freaking times in my life, that it’s a movie that I’ve seen and I’m just not interested in seeing it anymore. Although I did read in a book they are selling on property called, Disney Challenges where you can see a blast from Disneyland’s past somewhere in the film. It might be worth checking out, but I’ll probably wait until the next trip to do it.

Realizing the line for Star Tours was longer than we were willing to wait, 15 minutes we moved on to Frontierland where we were planning on enjoying another hand-dipped corn dog at the Stage Door Cafe. I could sit here and talk about how awesome and delicious it was, although I was struck by the young cast member that took my order, his name was Leland. I thought that was a really interesting name, and he was rather an interesting fellow. He was upbeat and asked about where I volunteered, I told him we volunteered at our public library and then the conversation changed and it turned to the weather, he mentioned that he was stuck inside and would rather be outside, I didn’t blame him, it was a nice day out there.

The order came immediately and I took the food to where my mom was sitting, along the edge of the eating area so we could watch people as they walked by. I had a difficult time finding the condiment cart since it wasn’t in it’s usual spot. I walked all the wat to the River Belle Terrace to grab setups and mustard. I feel weird going into an establishment to raid their supplies when I didn’t purchase anything there. I don’t know why, but it feels like buying something at McDonald’s and then going to Carl’s Jr. and raiding their condiments. I know it isn’t anything like that… or maybe it is, I don’t know.

While we were eating the topic of little girls dressed in princess outfits came up. The whole discourse had us almost rolling in the floor we were having such a good time silently torturing these poor young girls. We were considering going up to them and telling them, “You don’t look anything like Cinderella, because Cinderella has blonde hair, and you have brown. So in order to maintain the integrity of the character we’re going to have to ask you to give back the costume. We went on and on talking about this and coming up with different scenarios that we could use. We even talked about people with Mickey Mouse ears on and how since they weren’t mice then they shouldn’t be wearing ears. It was just so fun to be talking like this and secretly coming up with ways to ruin peoples experience at the park. Of course we would never do it, but it’s fun to just think about it.

We made a very quick stop into Westward Ho Trading Post to glance at pins, then we walked back up Main Street, first stopping at the hub so I could snap a few shots of the castle and the Partners statue. Then we continued on our way to the Market House to get a coffee and a cookie. There we met a woman who lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. I’ve found now more than ever people engaging us in conversation. After telling this woman where we were from, she told us that she met her husband at University of Oregon and they moved to Seattle. Her husband isn’t liking the weather in Seattle so he’s trying to move them down south. She got her coffee and left. We met up with her briefly at the coffee preparation bar where she said she might see us again!

We took our coffee and cookie to the Town Square and sat down on the benches. Characters were all over the place and I had to go take some photos. Then most of them left and out came Chip who walked right past us and stationed himself right at the flag pole. He was being followed by some people, but then Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy came out and everyone abandoned Chip and raced over to the group of popular characters as did I and I snapped some poorly framed photos, but I have them or parts of them in some of the pictures.

They were all getting on the Double Decker bus and riding it up and down Main Street. As they were getting on there was a large group forming to get pictures and ride the bus with them. Chip was standing over by the flag pole by himself. I took a break taking pictures of Mickey and his pals and went back to my mom where I grabbed a bite of my cookie and took a sip of my coffee. Now there was a line for Chip who was then joined by Dale and Pluto. Because the line was right where my mom and I were sitting we decided to move. We moved to a location where we could see Chip & Dale and Pluto interact with the guests and have their picture taken.

We sat there for a while watching people and I grabbed some more photos of Mickey and his pals, they leave and then come back I grabbed some pictures of them trying to get off the bus, which was awkward. I thought that they all might then immediately go backstage so I briskly walked to where they disappear but to my dismay they decided that they would take some photos and sign some autographs.

The autograph books. I talked to my mom about this. I wondered how the characters felt about providing autographs to guests. You look at Pluto and the drama he has to go through just to sign his name, I thought what a pain it is, and whether they dread having to do it. I think it’s a super idea and I have even considered on occasion buying a book and getting their autographs too. It does hold up the line, and since they are only out their for a limited amount of time, I don’t necessarily think it’s considerate to others to hold up the line so someone can get a character’s autograph. Really, I don’t stand in those lines so it doesn’t matter to me personally whether someone asks for an autograph or not.

I came back and then we gathered our things and went into the Disney Gallery and checked it out. Looking around I saw a couple of things I wanted to get, and considered seriously next time I go in June to pick some art up, not that we have any room in the house for more Disney related framed “art”.

Upon leaving the Disney Gallery we noticed that the characters looked to be wrapping things up and so I raced over once again to where they disappear, joined by my mom where I attempted to take some decent photos of them without people polluting my shots of them. My mom seeing the potential of the pictures that she could take whipped out her camera begrudgingly and began snapping as well. I got a couple of good ones but, I’m generally unsatisfied with the results. Next time though, I know what I have to do, be prepared and get closer. Don’t rely on your zoom to get you close, it’s never close enough. I’m going to freaking get right up to their giant furry faces and snap some quality pictures.

We left shortly after that , but first we had to grab a refill on the coffee. It was roughly 4pm and the park was closing for a private party at 7pm. If we were to stay we would have just wandered and complained so we decided to call it a day and hit the trams before they got crowded with people all thinking of doing the same thing. It was a good thing we left when we did because shortly after arriving at the hotel I started feeling really nauseous.

If you look at what we ate throughout the trip so far it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I was feeling sick to my stomach. The only vegetable I ate the entire trip was a total of two stalks of asparagus on day 2 of the trip. That was it. The rest of the trip was filled with garbage and fried food and talking about the sheer amount of food I had on this day I was lucky to not be keeled over dead of a heart attack. I began feeling better at about 7:30pm. I remember because I remember how I felt when Kathy tried to spin out of turn on Wheel of Fortune and I jumped out of the bed I was resting on and mocked her to her face.

I worked on this trip report shortly after that then my mom and I called it a night. I went into my room and I have a tip for you. The TV’s at the Howard Johnson’s have RCA jacks in the back and so I was able to hook my iPhone up to the TV to watch a movie. You’ll have to dial “00” to get to the channel that will display whatever you have hooked up to the RCA jacks.

That was Day 4.

I wrote this when I was tired and so some/all of it may not make sense. I didn’t proof it because it’s long. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.

Waking up to news reports that people are already lining up to see the reintrouction of Captain EO: Tribute was a little disconcerting. We weren’t planning on seeing it today, in fact, we were planning on staying at Disney’s California Adventure the entire day and calling it an early evening so the crowds that we were anticipating at Disneyland weren’t going to affect us. Before dealing with the crowds at either park we were heading to Mimi’s for some breakfast.

Mimi’s is a restaurant right across the street from Howard Johnson’s, the food is good and the servers and staff are friendly. We had each had a coupon that basically made our meals free; to be kind we ordered a couple of drinks so we would pay for something. I got the Mixed Berry Pain Perdue (pronounced: pan pair due) which was a cream cheese and marmalade stuffed french toast topped with mixed berries. It also came with two eggs and four pieces of bacon. My mom got a hardy omelet with cubed fried red skinned potatoes and a muffin. It was all good and since it was free we couldn’t complain. It became tricky figuring out the tip since on the bill it didn’t show the discount of the meals so we couldn’t quite remember how much we would have spent on the food.

Here’s a tip on tipping. When you get discounts or free meals because of coupons, your tip should be reflective of the total cost of the meal before discounts. Also have some decent math skills, because we apparently weren’t able to add what the cost of our meals were and the cost of our beverages and figure the tip out. We realized our mistake before we left and corrected the bill, but it was close and we avoided another rather embarrassing situation.

After breakfast we had some time before we had to actually leave for the parks so we went back to the hotel and I continued to work on Day 2’s trip report until it was 9am when we left, got on the tram and made our way to Disneyland. Along the way there was a family sitting in front of us on the tram. It was a mother, father, their daughter’s first time and a baby. The daughter who was probably 3 years old began talking to me… I think we all know how I felt about this. It wasn’t something that I could ignore since she was looking right at me and the mother and father were right there, I had to interact and I think we all know exactly how I felt about this… I was not pleased. I was friendly and engaged the little girl about Alice in Wonderland and how she was going to see her and ride the ride. Then she went on and on about how she saw Mowgli along the tram route…Mowgli wasn’t on the tram route, she was wrong.

We get to security and you can tell who was there to see Captain EO and who was there to enjoy their times in the park. Well, I could definitely tell the two people who were there since they had Michael Jackson t-shirts on. I snapped a photo. Walking into the Main Entrance Plaza the lines into Disneyland were enormous, nearly summer length and the lines getting into Disney’s California Adventure were non-existent. We were able to walk right into Disney’s California Adventure without a wait, now that I think about it, that’s pretty much how it always is. I suppose that just goes to sow how popular that park is.

Since the park doesn’t officially open until 10am, they do have Soarin’ Over California open. We got some FastPasses and rode it for the first time this trip. Soarin’ at Disneyland is superior than the Soarin’ at Walt Disney World, not because of the quality of the ride like with Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters but because of the quality of the queue. I know that seems unimportant, and it is, but there is just something to be said for good theming. It doesn’t really matter because the ride is fantastic and one of the most popular attractions in the park and it is one of our favorites.

Following Soarin’ we piled up with the rest of the folks waiting for the rope to drop near Grizzly River Run. We only had to wait there a couple of minutes before the rope dropped and everyone started calmly, yet quickly making their way to Paradise Pier to get on the most popular attraction in the park, Toy Story Midway Mania! I don’t like walking quickly with a large group of people, especially when there are teenagers in the group texting or playing with their phones, not paying attention to where they are going. It’s a long walk from Grizzly River Run to Toy Story Midway Mania and we had to stop at Ariel’s Grotto so my mom could take a 15 second rest. We stopped, she took a breath and were continued on our way.

The wait for Toy Story Midway Mania was less than 10 minutes. One of my favorite things to watch is when people get in line without their family and are constantly waving and looking for the family further back in the line. This was the case with two people in front of us. One woman and her children were looking for her husband further back in the line, they finally stopped and let everyone else pass until he caught up with them, which is exactly what you should do. The other woman was looking for her kids yet she continued on through the line almost right up to the loading area. It was kind of hysterical because she started the line out waving and looking, then she stopped waving and just continued to look until she finally gave up and waited. I don’t know if her children ever met up with her, but my Mom and I both got a good laugh, thinking, “Looks like mom is riding alone.”

I did poorly only reaching a little over 187,000 points bringing me to my standard Cat level. Whatever. We got off the ride and got right back in line. The board said it would be a 20 minute wait but it was only actually 10 minutes to the second from us getting in line to reaching the loading area. This time I hit 187,000 points exactly, a little less than my previous attempt yet I felt like I did a lot better the second time around.
We got off the ride, went to the restrooms and then sat down for a bit of a rest. My mom updated her trip report log and I snapped some photos of her updating her log. To the left of Toy Story was California Screamin’, The big roller coaster of the Disneyland Resort. My mom had told one of her co-workers that she was going to ride it and that it wasn’t that bad. In comparison to the other coaster we had ridden at Walt Disney World, this one really isn’t that bad. I didn’t really want to ride it and neither did my mom but she said she would. We talked about it for a bit and considered getting FastPasses and riding it later, but the wait was only 10 minutes. So we both just bit the bullet and got in line.

I can’t say that I enjoy the ride all that much but it’s one of those things you do because… I don’t know, just because I guess. I screamed my way through it, my mom was dead silent but we both just gritted our teeth and bared it. After getting off the ride my mom wanted proof that she could take home to show she rode the attraction. We bought the photo. It’s not something we normally do since they are so expensive. I didn’t realize since it’s been so long but they totally cropped out the losers behind us! It’s a nice souvenir, but worth $14.95? I think not! The price we pay for memories.

I was already battling a headache and it never fails that going on California Screamin’ makes it worse. That was one of the reasons why I didn’t really want to go on it to begin with. I didn’t understand why I was getting these headaches, it could have been a bunch of reason, possibly the change of season or weather. Living in Oregon I get used to a certain kind of environment and then coming to California, everything from the weather to the water is different. Maybe it could have been me putting powdered milk in my coffee, whatever it was, it was making my life miserable.

This was a vacation where my Mom was conquering her fears. She was seeing the pictures I was taking on the Sun Wheel and wanted to take pictures like that herself. She said she wanted to go on it. I knew what that experience was going to be like and I accurately pictured it in my head. We walked along Paradise Pier to what is now called Mickey’s Funwheel. Even before we got on the ride, she looked up and exclaimed, “That’s really high!” It was indeed high but I reassured her that it would be fine and she should go on it anyway.

We both got on the Non-Swinging Gondolas because those provide you with the steadiest shots. As we got on the gondola I could tell my mom was getting nervous. We sit down in the gondola and there is panic in her face; I was suffering with headache; by the looks of things one or the both of us were going to be passed out unconscious by the end of the ride. We start are way up, my mom is glued to her seat and feeling very nervous, I was busy taking pictures, though I couldn’t concentrate on what I was taking pictures of because of my headache and I was using a camera I wasn’t familiar with so I spent a lot of time messing around trying to get a good result. All along the way I began feeling nauseous from the headache or just because I’ve been eating garbage the past couple of days. It was probably a combination of both.

After getting off the ride I confess my discomfort and want a drink of water. I didn’t want to drink water from a drinking fountain I wanted ice water and here is another great tip, you can get free cups of ice water anywhere they serve fountain drinks. We go to Pizza Oom Mow Mow to get me a cup of water and then I think that maybe I’m hungry and maybe we should just eat something. We look at the menu and nothing seems good. My mom suggest that we go to Schmoozies that serve smoothies. That sounded a lot better; cool and less heavy than pizza. It was agreed we would go there. Along the way we would stop by Mission Tortilla Factory.

On the way to the Mission Tortilla Factory we decided that instead of going to Schmoozies we would go to the Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream, first we stopped at the entrance to the Paradise Pier Bridge and sat down in the shade. There before us was the map for what would be the new Disney’s California Adventure. We looked at the map, took some pictures and just chilled a little while we notified family and friends with all the fun we were having. The nauseousness began to subside.

The Mission Tortilla Factory is a favorite place to go, especially on your birthday. It’s an unsupervised tour where you learn a little about tortilla’s and then you do a walking tour through a couple of rooms ending in an actual tortilla factory. It’s cool and they give you a free fresh from the press delicious tortilla. If it’s your birthday you get a generous 3 tortilla’s to take with you. That was a sarcastic statement. A couple of years ago they would give you a dozen. I remember my grandfather on his birthday passing out tortilla’s to us every chance he had till they were gone.

Next we went to the Blue Sky Cellar to check out all the work going into Disney’s California Adventure. They are really making the park infinitely better with all the improvements they are adding. There are a couple of things I’m concerned about namely Cars Land. I think it’s straying too far from the California theme, which shouldn’t have been a theme to begin with. It’s turning into Disney’s Pixar Adventure with A Bug’s Land and now Cars Land, half the park is all about Pixar. In any event, it’s going to all come together and be awesome. What I’m really excited about is the water show going in called Walt Disney’s World of Color opening later in the year. There’s also a Little Mermaid ride going in and what they are doing on Paradise Pier is wonderful.

Once we left Blue Sky Cellar I just wanted to get rid of this headache so off to the First Aid Station we went. It’s located to the left of the Mission Tortilla Factory. I love the First Aid Station because they give you ibuprofen, for free and they tell you to stay hydrated and drink lots of water. The only weird thing, and it kind of makes me panic is they watch you swallow the pills; I don’t know for sure because I don’t want to know if they are actually watching otherwise I would panic and choke on them. But honestly, they have nothing better to do than watch you swallow those pills.

Bur-r-r Bank Ice Cream used to have a Steamin’ Chocolate which was chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, nuts and a cherry on top. They weren’t fooin’ anyone, that chocolate cake was really a brownie, but that didn’t matter, it still was the best thing on the menu. Then they had the audacity to remove it from the menu, now we were stuck with a hot fudge sundae with two “freshly baked” Toll House Cookies shoved into it. We sat outside and enjoyed it. I noticed that there was a family sitting near us that were brazenly making sandwiches for their group and drinking Hi-C boxed drinks. It was amazing that they felt they could get away with that sort of behavior out in the open. My mom and I discussed it the next day and we both realized that if you don’t ride the tram there really are no signs or notifications telling people that they are welcome to bring their own food, but they have to eat it in the picnic area outside the park.

Once we finished our ice cream my mom and I stopped into Engine-Ears Toys so she could have them hold her picture while we continued with our day. We used the FastPass for Soarin’ we got earlier and it was an experience because we were passed over more than once for entering the ride early because they were looking for a group of two. It was a little frustrating but we tried to just let it go.

While we waited our turn, which seemed to take longer than average, we thought that we would just bite another bullet and go to Disneyland and just wait in whatever line there was to see Captian EO. It was settled. We finally rode Soarin’ and moved onto to the Animation Academy. There we drew Tigger the first time. I was more than a little disappointed that we drew Tigger, because I drew him before and he really isn’t all that interesting of a character to draw, him and Pooh also wasn’t interesting.

We went through again and this time we drew Pluto. Pluto is another one that wasn’t all that fun if you’ve drawn Goofy. They feel practically the same and sadly almost turn out identical. There are some differences, but if you look at the two characters side-by-side, they’re both dogs only one walks on two legs and the other on all fours.

We were done with California Adventure for the now and so we picked up my mom’s picture and headed over to Disneyland where we were going to get ready to battle the crowds of Captain EO. We dropped the picture off at the Newsstand and rode the Double Decker bus to the end of Main Street because my mom didn’t want to walk all that way. Our driver I think was named Irvine or something similar and he was funny to listen to. More unintentionally funny because he talked with such a monotone that nothing sounded exciting when you talked about it. The funniest thing he said was Captain E-O. He said it in a way that he really spoke each letter separately. Most people would say it like saying Theo, Irvine didn’t.

We walk to the end of Tomorrowland fully expecting huge crowds and at least an hour wait. We get to the attraction and there was only a 20 minute wait. 20 MINUTES!! Where was this giant crowd of die-hard Michael Jackson fans who should have been watching the movie from the moment they walked into the park to the moment it closed. We went through the queue and sat down on a bench and just waited. There was a lot of people in line sure but to our delight and surprise we were able to get a seat… in the 3rd row on the far left side of the theater.

When castmembers say there is no bad seat in the theater, they are utterly and completely wrong!!! We, and a large group of people around us had some of the worst seats in the house. This is a show and all 3D shows are best viewed if you are seated in the center or relatively near the center and further back than the third row. The show started shortly after everyone got seated and everyone applauded. I remember seeing this in the 80’s several times because well, I along with millions of others were obsessed with Michael Jackson. So when I heard that it was coming back, I was really excited and also filled with dread. When you see things when you’re little and then you see it again, most of the time it doesn’t hold up and you walk away disappointed. I didn’t want that for Captain EO, I just remember really loving it back then. It had to stand the test of time. Thankfully, the attraction came out in the 80’s and there is a huge 80’s comeback happening so people who were too young to remember it the first time might think it’s “cool”.

What did I think of it? It’s corny, really corny… cornier than I remembered, but it totally holds up. Even though I could barely see it because of the bad 3D effects we were watching from the 3rd row on the far left side, my mom and I laughed almost through the whole thing. Sure part of it was we both felt like we were going blind, but a lot of it was just from the ridiculousness of the movie. The key to unlocking the beauty within is with music and dance? Puh-leeze. This is one movie that I think epitomizes the 80’s. You look at it and everything you see screams of that era, the hair, the music, the style, the dancing even the thin plotline, it’s exactly what you would expect from an 80’s movie.

Satisfied having seen Captain EO we walked over to Enchanted Tiki Room and got ourselves a Dole Whip Float. My mom noticed that we were only charged for one float the day before and she wanted to make it right. That was one of the reasons why we went there. She told the castmember at the stand and he said not to worry about but consider it a birthday gift. We then watched the show and made our way back to the car. Before we could exit Main Street my mom was accosted by a castmember who asked her to take part in a short 5 minute survey. He told her there was only enough room for her and I would have to wait outside. My mom said later that if we weren’t at Disneyland and a strange man asked her to take a survey in a small room and I had to wait outside, she would be worried. Because we were at Disneyland she had no problems doing it. It’s weird when you think of it that way.

I waited outside with 5+ minutes to burn, so I took this time to take pictures. I got some of characters but was happy when I heard that the Dapper Dans were going to be performing the flag ceremony and so I got some pictures of them doing their thing until my mom was through with the survey. I saw she was sitting down in front of the Guided Tour building next to City Hall and we were off.

The tram ride was fine, we sat separately because we really just wanted to make this first tram so we took the first two seats we could find. We got back to the car and headed to El Pollo Loco. Only recently has an El Pollo Loco opened up nearish to our house in Portland, Oregon. Still we always look forward to going when we are in the area. They have great chicken and their instant flan is outstanding. I love their macaroni and cheese and so along with the rest of the meal, I got double mac and cheese and my mom got pinto beans and mashed potatoes and gravy. I know this is so super interesting but, my mom likes to make little burritos with the tortillas we get with our meal using the pinto beans and chicken. Alright, that’s it, that’s the end of day 3.

I wrote this when I was tired and so some/all of it may not make sense. I didn’t proof it because it’s long. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.

After a great nights sleep on the pillow-top mattresses at the Howard Johnson’s, the morning began with eating a donut and working on the previous day’s trip report. I was concerned at the length and as you may have already read, it’s quite long and I continue at this rate it could be about 42 pages long!!! I really don’t want to write a 42 page trip report, but if that is what it takes to relive the entire experience, I’m going to rethink doing this.

I was going to do more of a video trip report, but I’m finding it difficult to both hold a still camera and a video camera. I realized that if I take a picture, I time stamp whatever I’m doing at the time, so it’s actually a better way of finding out what I’m doing when then if I had taken a video, plus it takes a lot less time to import. HD video kinda sucks that way.

After working on my trip report for the entire morning and enjoying a cup of coffee from the fabulous Keurig coffee maker and a plain donut that had to be about 1000 calories and 15 grams of fat, we were off to the park at around 9am. The park opened at 10am which gave us plenty of time to get to the park and through the turnstiles before it opened.

Things to do on the docket? Make our 11am Carnation Cafe PS (priority seating). That was really the only thing we needed to do. I love Carnation Cafe and I always look forward to going and getting their Mickey Mouse Waffle. It’s a tiny waffle, but for me it helps to epitomize the Disneyland experience. Plus, Oscar comes around and greets the guests. He’s been working at Disneyland since the beginning and is a staple of the Carnation Cafe. He’s been talking about retiring for the last couple of years and has yet to do so, making him a liar… that’s okay though, I’m glad he’s lying about that because he is another aspect of the park that epitomizes the Disneyland experience.

We arrive at the Mickey and Friends parking structure and take the dreaded tram to the parks. It went smoothly aside from my Mom and I being separated on the tram. We got to sit in the same car, but there just wasn’t enough room to sit together. No biggie, it’s a short ride. We got to the park went into the Disneyland and waited for the rope drop. The rope drop takes place at the end of Main Street. Even though they let you through the turnstiles before the park officially opens, they don’t allow you to go past Main Street. Some people take this time to grab some breakfast at Carnation Cafe, the Blue Ribbon Bakery or get some coffee at the Market House. Most people just press themselves up against one another at the end of Main Street in order to be the first in the park and in line for their favorite attraction.

Once the rope drops it is speed walking race to whatever people are there to ride. It’s interesting to see people fan out, some go right into Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain; some go left to hit up Indiana Jones in Adventureland or Splash Mountain in Critter Country. Those with kids including my Mom and I race to Fantasyland and get on Peter Pan’s Flight.

Peter Pan’s Flight is one of the most popular attractions in the park. There is always a long wait to get on unless make it your first ride. It may interest you to know that it was also Walt Disney’s favorite ride in the park. Could it be some ghostly influence, coincidence or just because it’s a great ride? Maybe a little of all three? Who’s to know. Regardless, it is a great ride and has been one of my favorites even since I was a youngster. When I was little I always thought it was one of the more thrilling rides in Fantasyland. I mean, you are flying over London and Neverland, it’s a very rollercoaster experience.

The important things about Fantasyland is getting all the really popular rides out of the way first. So, first Peter Pan, then Alice in Wonderland or Dumbo, then Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. We did something a little different, after Peter Pan, we did Alice in Wonderland but skipped Dumbo is always a disaster and the experience wasn’t worth the wait.

Alice in Wonderland is another ride in Fantasyland that has a thrilling aspect and it’s another one of my favorites. It’s also one of my favorite movies. We were able to walk right on the right without a wait, which is unusual, but everyone was still trying to get through Peter Pan’s Flight and Dumbo. Throughout the ride you make your way up going through the movie, then near the end you come out above where you started, weaving back and forth on these leaves, before you go back in. It provides you a great opportunity to grab some pictures of the Matterhorn, and sometimes if you’re lucky the Monorail will come by. My mom and I both strained, twisting our bodies in unnatural positions trying to frame our shots of the Matterhorn (sans Monorail) while the ride car jerked left and right and weaving back and forth. It’s a frustrating ordeal, but when you can get the shot, it is totally worth it.

Following Alice in Wonderland, we rode Mad Tea Party. This isn’t a ride we have typically rode in the past, yet the last time we rode it we were able to get some great pictures of each other. Sometimes it’s difficult to grab photos of your family while on the ride, this is the one exception, because you sit across from them and when you take the picture you can definitely tell what ride you’re on. In order to get an interesting shot, my mom spun the wheel. This is uncharacteristic because we both don’t do well with spinning. I got a good shot, but we both suffered greatly for it.

The first time we had to really stand in a line was when we ventured over to Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. We waited in line for about eight minutes. I’m really glad they still have this ride here, because it is another one of my favorites. It is the only ride in the Disneyland park where they actually take you to Hell. When you go to Disneyland as much as we do, you end up taking the same pictures over and over again. I always try and find something new to focus on, but still there are those photo opportunities that you just have to take advantage of because they are so convenient, namely the Mr. Toad statue in the queue. I probably have a hundred photos of this statue, but I keep taking it. Now that I have this fancy-schmancy camera I thought I would take one to blow up into poster size (not really). I also grabbed some pictures of the Mr. Toad heads gracing the ceiling as well as that big colorful mural.

Upon walking into Fantasyland from Sleeping Beauty Castle, you are presented with some choices, you could ride the attractions on your right or the ones on your left. On the right you have Peter Pan’s Flight and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride; to the left there is Snow White’s Scary Adventures and Pinnocchio’s Daring Journey. On the right you have the thrilling “good” rides, and on the left you have the not-thrilling “okay” rides. My mom and I usually save those rides for last because there isn’t normally line you have to wait in. So after we took care of all the thrilling “good” rides we hopped over to Pinnocchio’s Daring Journey.

The only redeeming part of this ride are the Jiminy Cricket’s you get to see throughout. They are very will made and are a good representation of the character. I often wish they would sell these because I would love to own them. This is a dark-ride where you could get away with using a flash on your camera because there is never a moment where there is more than one car in a room at a time, so you are not ruining the experience for someone else. So throughout the ride I was looking for a great opportunity to take a picture of Jiminy. I ended up taking a picture of my least favorite because I was stupid enough to wait. Then I didn’t have my camera ready for the one that I really wanted; at the end where he is holding up his medal. Oh well, maybe I’ll take the opportunity to ride it again and really get some good pictures.

I’m always aware of when it’s a good time to take a picture with a flash. With this new camera though, I don’t even see the flash because I have my eye through the viewfinder instead of way from the camera viewing it from the LCD screen. I suppose it something I’ll just have to get used to and I will try in the future not to annoy anyone with this Martin Crane flash I have going on there.

We were going to ride Snow White’s Scary Adventures, but the line was too long. Why there was a line for this ride I’ll never know. It isn’t all that good, and I would say it’s rather boring. The most interesting thing about this ride is out front. If you look up at the window above the ride entrance the Wicked Queen will open and close the curtains every minute or so. Other than that there is very little that’s redeeming or worthy of your time. You might be asking yourself why we wanted to even ride it. Well, because it was there and right next to Pinnocchio’s Daring Journey.

Instead we started taking pictures of Sleeping Beauty Castle. We started by taking pictures of Princess Aurora and Prince Phillip dancing statue just inside and to the left of the entrance to Fantasyland. Then took some pictures of the hub through the entrance of the castle. Then we went out and started taking pictures of the castle itself. WI have a million pictures of this castle and so I decided I would take another million, maybe blow one up to poster size (not really).

My mom came up with a brilliant plan that I should run to the far ends of Tomorrowland and pick us up some FastPasses to Space Mountain while she walked to the Market House to grab some coffee that we could drink while we ate breakfast for our 11:10am PS at Carnation Cafe. I initially resisted because I didn’t want to have to traverse through the crowds all the way to Space Mountain, which by contrast to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World wasn’t really as far as I imagined.

Upon arriving at Space Mountain I saw they had the signage up for Captain EO: Tribute, I snapped a couple of pictures and went on to grab the FastPasses for Space Mountain. I also noticed that the ride had only a 15 minute wait and I was wondering if my mom had come if we would have had time to ride it and then make our PS. It didn’t matter because she wasn’t with me; I put the thought of my mind and met up with her at the Market House.

We stood in line and waited to be served. I looked my my phone and wondered if we were going to make our PS. I asked my Mom what time the PS was and she told me 11:10am. I could never remember these things and we had left our itineraries back in the rooms so I was a little lost. Whatever. We got our coffee and headed over to Carnation Cafe but was briefly interrupted by the Disneyland Band coming down the street lead by the one and only Mickey Mouse. I was able to snap several great photos of this beloved mouse and his band. After taking the pictures it was time to check in to eat.

My mom goes up to the podium to check in and she says they stopped serving breakfast at 11:00am. My mom explained that our priority seating was at 11:10am and why they would take a reservation for breakfast if they weren’t going to even be serving it. The woman was apologetic but there was nothing she could do she did tell us that the Riverside was still serving breakfast. We walked away disappointed because we were both looking forward to Mickey Waffles. We walked a couple of yards and then I suggested that we go to the Blue Ribbon Bakery and pick up something.

It seems we always get the same thing every time we go for breakfast. My mom will get a Cinnamon Roll and I’ll get the Sticky Bun with pecans and caramel sauce. They both are quite delicious and we will split them so we can have some of each. I grabbed us a table at The Gibson Girl Ice Creamery and after taking the requisite pictures, we ate. My mom wasn’t feeling extremely hungry so she ate half of her Cinnamon Roll and only part of her half of my Sticky Bun. She gave the rest to me and I knew while I was eating it that it was going to be a big mistake if I ate the whole thing. That would have been nearly a whole Sticky Bun and half a Cinnamon Roll and these pastries are quite large.

After eating, we walked down Main Street to City Hall to, not really complain but more to inform them of what happened with us at Carnation Cafe and that Disney Dining was providing breakfast reservations when they were no longer serving breakfast. That, and my Mom wanted her birthday button. The whole scenario was rather awkward. There’s nothing like asking for something fun and then souring the whole thing by complaining about something else. The castmember behind the counter was nice and took the criticism well and asked appropriate questions with the appropriate tone that made it sound like we were in the right. We left, my mom with a birthday button and the knowledge that, by bringing this to their attention, this wouldn’t happen to someone else.

Knowing we didn’t want to walk all the way back down Main Street we both decided it would be good if we took a Main Street vehicle. the Horse-Drawn Trolley Car was just coming down Main Street, we waited for it to park, the passengers to disembark and for us to get on with a couple of other people. Our driver was named Kirsten and the horse was named Brother. They took us to the hub where we ventured into Frontierland to check out the line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

This is another one of our favorite rides, but we didn’t actually ride it at this point because the line looked to long. That’s the thing about queues here, the line may look long, but they aren’t, they just haven’t adjusted the queue to accommodate the sudden influx of guests that arrived to ride the attraction. So it may seem like the line is so long that it’s extending well beyond the attraction, but it isn’t as long as it seems. Regardless, we decided still not to ride.

We walked over to Adventureland and checked out Bengal Barbecue and what they had there to eat. It looked interesting and we would soon eat there, but first we needed to get FastPasses for Indiana Jones Adventure, then go back to Pirates of the Carribbean and ride that.

Going into the queue I knew we were in for a really interesting trip. I’m just going to come out and say it, I don’t like kids or teenagers. I especially don’t like packs of teenagers and we were entering the ride behind a pack of 6 teenagers. They were loud and obnoxious through the queue and even at the beginning of the ride. It wasn’t until after we went down the falls that they quieted down and stopped begin their annoying selves. I know they can’t help it, it’s a flaw in their undeveloped minds, but it doesn’t mean that I have to like them or accept their behavior.

Next up: Jungle Cruise. This was one of those instances I was talking about before where the line looked longer than it was. The line extended out of the attraction all the way to Tropical Imports, that little stand where you can buy stuffed monkeys and stuff next to Jungle Cruise. Jarred our Jungle Cruise Skipper was adequately funny, giving us some jokes that I’ve never heard before. They weren’t major jokes but little ones that were funny, but not hysterical. It didn’t matter, it’s nice to hear something new come out of their mouths every once in awhile.

After Jungle Cruise we went to the highlight of nearly every trip, grabbing a Dole Whip and enjoy sitting down for a show starring singing parrots, flowers, and tikis. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I am of course referring to Enchanted Tiki Room. Dole Whips are awesome, but we usually get the floats because you get the best of both worlds, you get some whip and some pineapple juice. For my birthday last year we bought some Dole Whip mix to make at home and it was delicious, but there really isn’t anything like enjoying your Dole Whip and watching the show.

Throughout the show I took some pictures some of them good, most of them bad, but they are all still memories. That’s something I don’t understand, some people will just throw out pictures that maybe are blurry or not centered, or there is some stranger walking through the picture, I don’t. I like those pictures and they all serve the same purpose, as a visual representation of the fun time I had.

Then we wandered back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to check out the time. We got into the line and it just felt like there was so much queue remaining, but you know what, this was one of those lines that goes quickly. It helped that they had both sides of the attraction open. We love this ride and I would go so far as to say it is my favorite rollercoaster in the park, in part, because of the goat trick. The goat trick is a fun little tip(?) to make the ride more thrilling. When you are going up the second big hill you’ll notice there is a goat holding a stick of dynamite in it’s mouth. Lock you eyes on the goat and don’t break contact with it while you’re going down the hill. You’ll thank me when you’ve done it.

We got off Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and walked over to Big Thunder Ranch to see what was going on their. First we had to take the requisite pictures of Big Thunder Mountain while the runaway train car was at certain points. It’s all very generic picture stuff but something we do every time we come to the park. We got the shots and continued on. Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue was closed and this make my mom nervous because we were going to be doing it on her birthday and she didn’t want it to be closed then. I didn’t really follow what she was saying yet she will probably cover it in her trip report.

We walked, and walked, and walked until we got to “it’s a small world”. When I first heard that they were shutting the ride down to insert characters from some of their movies, I was extremely worried. I didn’t understand what they were doing and why they were doing it, but you know what? They fit in nicely. I thought they would all look like themselves but the Imagineers designed them to look like all the little children of the world so they blended in seamlessly with the rest of the dolls. It’s much like a scavenger hunt trying to find all the characters, there are 29 in total. Can you find them all?

We continued around into Tomorrowland where we would use the Space Mountain FastPasses that I got earlier in the day. Along the way snapping photos of Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage, I mean, come on, yellow submarines poking out of a amazingly blue water, it demands a photo or two, or ten. We arrived at Space Mountain and unfortunately for you, there wasn’t anything outstanding for me to talk about, other than we sat in front and it was a fun ride.

You want to know something about Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters? The attraction at Disneyland is so far superior than the one at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom it absolutely doesn’t make sense why they don’t do a complete overhaul. The attraction at Disneyland allows you to hold the blaster in your hand and it is only attached to the ride vehicle with a cable. The one at Magic Kingdom is physically attached to the ride vehicle giving you hardly any freedom of movement. It hampered the experience so much that we pretty much refused to ride it beyond the first couple of times. Anyway, I digress we rode Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. I didn’t score as high as I would have liked, but it has been a year since I last was on the attraction. I think I got a little over 300,000 which isn’t a score that would impress my grandmother.

On to the First Aid Station! I had been suffering with a headache for most of the day and so after Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, it was a prime opportunity to hit them up for some ibuprofen. This was the first time I had ever had the need to go to the First Aid Station and it was nice. It’s in a nice little out of the way location just around the corner of Plaza Inn. The ibuprofen is free which means YOU NEVER HAVE TO PAY FOR AGAIN!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAH! Shhhh, I’m going to tell you a secret, but you can’t tell anyone, it’s also a great place to wait for characters. The come out and go in that area all the time. While we were sitting just outside the station, I saw Alice and the White Rabbit as well as Wendy and Captain Hook. There are also a lot of castmembers that walk in and out of there as well, coming and going to lunch. I even saw out Jungle Cruise Skipper walk through there.

We spent some time sitting there while we rested and my mom updated her notebook of the things we did that day, then we got up and walked to the Market House to get a free refill on our coffee. Then we planned on riding the train around the park. We, so far had a day of walking and we were both getting a little tired, in fact I don’t think we both had recovered from the first day of travel and park enjoyment, and it carried over. So taking a few minutes to drink some coffee and ride the train was a welcome respite. The only thing was for the first leg of the trip we had to sit separately because my mom misjudged the spacing between two families leaving me out in the cold. So I say next to someone else.

At the next stop there was enough people to get off that there was room for her to move to where I was sitting and for the remainder of the trip we just sat down and chilled while I tried to both drink my coffee and take pictures. You have to know how hard it is to both drink coffee and zoom in and out with a camera while taking pictures. That’s where my mom came in, her punishment was having to hold my coffee while I futzed around with my camera. I showed her.

After coming back to Main Street we wanted to see Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. It had been at least five years since we had seen this show at the Opera House because they were running another film there starring Steve Martin and Donald Duck recounting the 50 magical years for Disneyland’s 50th Anniversary. They moved the Steve Martin movie out into the lobby and it tied in nicely with the Disney Gallery they moved into the bank building right next door.

Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln had some changes I noticed, I remember before we had to put on some headphones and really had this extraordinary experience of having my hair cut. I know that sounds weird but that whole sequence always made me feel uncomfortable because it felt like the barber was right there cutting my hair. Even without all those bells and whistles I still enjoyed it and it was really nice to have a place to escape and sit down for awhile. At the end of the show, they played the same song they play at the end of The American Adventure at the American Pavillion at Epcot. Then when you walk out of the theater, you are confronted with the photos they show at the end of the The American Adventure. That was a nice touch.

As we were leaving the theater and looking at the photos I noticed they were doing the flag ceremony outside. I think I had only seen this one other time and it’s a nice little ceremony they do in honor of the flag and our country. It’s really nice to know that this is continued and there is at least one company out there that at least pretends to respect and honor this country.

We didn’t stay for the whole ceremony, and so we we were off to Adventureland to make use of the Indiana Jones Adventures FastPasses we got earlier. You know what? This is a ride that we both felt we could ride once and that be it. It’s such a hassle and the FastPasses don’t seem to give that much of an advantage and I believe the queue is to blame. If it was designed differently I think they could have pushed the FastPass collection further into the queue. Maybe in the summer there is a better difference, but you don’t really see it during the off season.

Once we got off Indiana Jones Adventure we went to Bengal Barbecue and I got a Safari Skewer (bacon wrapped asparagus) and my mom got Bengal Beef Skewer in a sweet Zulu sauce. They didn’t have any seating so we went to River Belle Terrace and sat there. The food was good but I don’t think I would eat there again, it’s not a must have place to eat. Now the Hand-Dipped Corn Dogs we had from the Stage Door Cafe right after those measly skewers were fantastic and my mouth is still salivating from those. These things were big and they had so much of that awesome and delicious batter on the that…oh I just can’t explain how good these were. I must have them all the time and it is one of those things that wouldn’t make the trip complete if I didn’t consume them, much like Dole Whips and the cookies from Market House.

We finished eating and it was time to call it a night. It was before the park closed and right before the parade started so getting a seat on the tram was easy. We got to the car and made our way back to hotel. There my mom looked at the itinerary and noticed that our reservation for Carnation Cafe was indeed at 11am not 11:10am like she had thought. She felt terrible that she might have got someone in trouble because she made a mistake. I laughed and she’s embarrassed.

I wrote this when I was tired and so some/all of it may not make sense. I didn’t proof it because it’s long. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.

Exhausted. The morning didn’t start as early as most my mornings do, I actually think I slept in since 2-3 times a week I’m waking up at 3am, so rising to the sound of chirping birds is not something I’m used to. Usually I’m listening to the sounds of animals mating outside my window; always a welcome sound when you first wake up.

The day started like it normally did, except for this day, all my actions would lead me to Disneyland, usually that isn’t the case. Today was the exception, and I was excited yet put on a cool front. There used to be a time when I would get anxious before a trip in part because I wasn’t used to flying and going through security was always logistical nightmare. Only until recently have I become increasingly comfortable going through security, it is still a nerve wracking few minutes as you’re juggling a million different things at once. Did I remember to put my liquids in a 1-qt clear plastic bag? Am I wearing anything that would cause alarms to go off and see a herd of TSA agents hurtling themselves at me for the opportunity to pat me down? You know they enjoy it. In fact, the guy at security this time did take such an opportunity to feel me up pretty good.

This time through, security it was a breeze. I decided I would take my shoes off early so I wouldn’t have to futz around with them while also attempting to remove my laptop, Kindle, and any other article of clothing they require removed. Before we officially made our way to the screeners I grabbed five bins and we quickly got our acts together. I don’t think security has ever been this easy for the both of us. I think it was due to us combining our things. Both of our shoes were in a bin, both our coats were in another, etcetera. Everything worked aside from a TSA agent wanting to feel my mom up.

The flight itself was nice. It wasn’t too bumpy and I forgot to take my Ginger pill. These ginger pills are to prevent upset stomach due to motion sickness. I don’t know why I continue to think I’m going to get sick on a plane, at least so sick I throw up. That hasn’t happened since I was little, yet I remember it so vividly that I am nearly paralyzed in fear that it will happen again. It hasn’t happened since, so from this point forward, I’m just not going to let it bother me anymore. However, there were times at the beginning of the flight where it was bump and I lost my stomach for a moment. I was able to recover quickly and went on to enjoy the remainder.

I could feel my self slipping into exhaustion and I ended up falling asleep during the descent. I hate the descent, that is the absolute worst part of the whole flying experience. It doesn’t feel good and I feel queazy if I constantly feel like I’m losing my stomach. Sleeping through it was awesome. My mom mentioned that it was rough, but then she didn’t know if it was the descent or the gum she was chewing. She claims the flavor of the gum is strong, but it didn’t taste any stronger than gum I normally chew. Of course, I don’t normally chew gum, so what do I know.

We made noted what time it was when we reached the gate. Apparently Alaska Air has a policy that if your plane’s luggage isn’t coming down the baggage claim carousel within 25-minutes you get $25. So far, we have never received $25 because they’ve been so prompt. I’m always scared to see my luggage come down because I’m afraid that all the contents of my bag will be strewn out all over baggage claim and I’ll have to frantically scoop everything up and shove them in my bag. Thankfully this has never happened and more importantly, if everything came flying out of my bag, I highly doubt the staff at the airport would send it down to baggage claim…I hope.

After gathering our bags we got into our Chevy Cobalt rental and made our way to the hotel. This was an adventure, because my Mom’s GPS decided it wouldn’t give us directions in time to get off the freeway. Suddenly getting off a freeway in California is nearly impossible and quite dangerous. It’s frustrating to watch my Mom drive sometimes because it seems that everything is so much harder. I watched my grandfather make this same drive a couple of times and he was able to flawlessly navigate the freeway. Put my mom behind the wheel and it turns into this huge production where we seem completely lost even with a GPS.

Even with the freeway drama we were able to get to Howard Johnson’s. We checked in and a few hours later we would be able to get into our rooms. Checkout was at 4pm and so we had some time to kill. We decided that we would venture over to the Disneyland Resort to get our Annual Passes. We jumped at the opportunity to be a part of Disney’s Give a Day, Get a Day promotion to get a free one day ticket to one of the parks, but we were going to use the value of that ($72) and upgrade the ticket to a deluxe annual pass. This brought the total down to $227. this may seem like a lot, and it is, but my grandparents were planning on taking the family in June; us getting an annual pass would help quell the cost for them.

Getting to the park was easy enough. Since we knew we weren’t going to stay long we parked at Downtown Disney, aware of the forboddenness of theme park parking, but we weren’t going to stay long, we just wanted to get our annual passes and some chow. We pull into Downtown Disney and was forced to park almost as far away from the entrance to Downtown Disney as you can get. Mom wasn’t pleased since she suffers from bad knees and so walking long distances becomes quite painful. Ironic that she loves going to Disneyland where walking long distances is a primary requirement.

It seems the process of buying a ticket into Disneyland is rather involved. Some people were standing at the ticket windows forever and even our transaction required us to go through two different windows. I’m not entirely sure why that was the case, but in the end we got a temporary pass that would get us into the park so we could get our actual annual pass in addition we also got “Honorary VoluntEAR!” buttons. The nice woman at the second window told us to go to Disney’s California Adventure to get the pass because they had better cameras and lighting. It’s true they do.

Going into Disney’s California Adventure we were inundated with the sounds of High School Musical 3. I may finally get the chance to see it! The first order of business was to get the annual passes so we made our way to Hollywood Studios Backlot. Sadly they were doing some construction and putting in a rail car that would go up and down the street, so they had completely blocked it off. We, and the rest of the folks going into Hollywood Studios had to walk along the narrow sidewalk all the way to the end of the street and go into a building that I think at one time held the “Who Wants to be a Millionaire” game show. There, the woman took our picture and gave us our Annual Pass. We were officially official.

We were starving. When I get hungry I have a tendency to get irritable. To save the feelings of my mom it was imperative that we go to Taste Pilot’s Grill, a tradition of ours. Whenever my Mom and I go to Disneyland, that is the first place we eat. We split a Chase Pilot Cheesburger. Yes, we split it. Splitting meals where you can is a great way to make going to Disneyland even more affordable. More importantly, it allows you to have enough room to eat a better variety of things.

I struck me how busy it was and I wasn’t sure the reason. Then I realized, it’s still the weekend. That is always something to consider when you go to any Disney theme park, the crowds, weekends, no matter what time of year are going to be crowded. Taking into account the crowd and the time, we both agreed it would be a good idea to make our way to Food4Less to pick up some essentials, like breakfast foods.

I’m going to be brutally honest here, the areas outside the immediate Disney property are pretty run down so going to Food4Less in the dark is sometimes a scary endeavor. We wanted to avoid that endeavor. We left Disney’s California Adventure, not after I snapped some photo’s and made our way to Food4Less.

We both know exactly where Food4Less is… exactly, getting there was tricky this time because we both swear they put a divider up where there wasn’t one before. My mom turned in too early and we got trapped in this labyrinth of a neighborhood with no outlet. We wandered through this neighborhood trying to find a way out, noticing the fabulous ski chalet style houses. That last statement was loaded with sarcasm. The ski chalet style houses are hysterical and a tourist attraction all their own. If you have the time, from Katella turn right into S Bayless Street, it will feel like you are in Switzerland only without the charm and snow. In order to get out of this labyrinth we followed one side of the street until we found our way back to Katella.

We pulled into a less scary, daylighted Food4Less and did some shopping. Going to Food4Less is essential, because you need to pick up necessities like Cactus Cooler, Manzanita Sol (refresco de manzana) and !Sponch¡ (galletas con malvavisco coco y jalea de fresa). Then there are the non-essential items, like everything else. I did pick up something that I have yet to try, Choco Rolls (rollos rellenos con creme y mermelada de piña con cubierta de chocolate Saborizados artificialmente). They’re made by Marinela, the makers of !Sponch¡ so they have to be delicious, right?

We get to the register and clearly I choose the wrong one. Here’s a little advice, if you are standing in line that appears shorter than all the rest, it is more than likely the one line that will take the longest to get through. This was the case here. The customer at the register had clearly lost something, a coupon or whatever, and was looking for it. There was no urgency to her movements, she just sort of half heartedly looked for it with a blank stare on her face. The customer behind her was getting agitated and was drumming her designer nails against the cart. Her nails didn’t have sunsets or dolphins frolicking in the ocean but there as a subtle design.

The lady continues to look for whatever she was after and then finally gave up. Now, at Food4Less you have to bag your own groceries, and that lady was still looking for her coupon and not bagging. “Designer nails” was finished with her transaction and had already begun bagging her groceries and still the lady in front of her was looking for that blasted coupon. WHO FREAKING CARES!!! It was probably to save a quarter anyway, just bag your groceries so my mom and I can bag ours and get the heck out of here.

Finally she found what she was looking for and went back to Luis, the cashier to show him. He didn’t do anything about it and she went back and started bagging. Our groceries were backing up behind hers and she started moving a little faster, but not fast enough. I stood there trying to keep our groceries separated, she wasn’t going to get my Manzanita Sol or !Sponch¡ I made sure of that. She finished, we bagged ours and we finally left.

We went back to Howard Johnson’s and went up to our rooms. The rooms there are always really nice and clean as are the staff. The first thing my mom noticed upon entering her room was the lack of a safe. She called the front desk and they informed her that there are no safes in King rooms. It wasn’t critical because I was willing to share what room I had in my safe with her. She had nothing more than her iPod and netbook so there was still plenty of room for whatever I had to put in there.

I turned on my television with the supplied remote and the remote wouldn’t work well. I thought the battery might be dying and so I fooled around with it and then wondered if that was what it was like using the TVs here. I went over to my Mom’s room and tried her remote and the confirmed my suspicion that it was the battery. So I called the front desk, the guy came within 20 minutes and I was able to watch more of Pirates of the Caribbean.

We hung around the hotel for a while and then ventured back out to the parks. This time we parked in the Mickey and Friends parking structure and took the tram. I hate the tram because it just feels like a waiting game and I’m concerned that I’m going to have to wait an eternity to get on. This is more a problem in the evening just as the park is closing, or after the fireworks, or after the last parade of the day. Either way, it’s usually a nightmare and I can’t stand it.

We get to the park and go through security where they checked our bags and the fun was about to begin. The first thing on our docket was to get some coffee at the Market House. The Market House on Main Street is the only establishment in the parks that offer free refills on their coffee. All you need is you receipt and tell them the flavor you want and they hand you another cup. It’s nice and worth taking advantage of. The problem this evening was, the line was too long to make the trip worthwhile, so we skipped it.

Then we thought maybe we would ride Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters and there was a 20 minute wait. Again, the line was too long for our, at the time, impatient minds instead we each got a FastPass. Then we decided to see what was going on with Captain EO: Tribute. We walked over to where Honey, I Shrunk the Audience used to be and there was nothing there to indicate that Captain EO was coming. I was hoping for some signage or something exciting to take a picture of, but alas my desire to share am illuminated sign with the world on the Internet was foiled once again. We are so far, 3 for 3 on things we were planning on doing and then failing miserably.

It was at this point that we both felt hungry. We talked about what we felt like and got briefly distracted when we saw that floating ball thing in the middle of Tomorrowland surrounded by planters. We didn’t remember that being their before. It didn’t take long to decide then to go check out Pizza Port for dinner.

Upon entering Pizza Port a nice castmember thanked us for voluntEARing. This was the first time I had heard this and realized throughout the trip that castmembers frequently thanked us for volunteering upon seeing the buttons that we wore. I know that this Give a Day, Get a Day promotion was popular, but I didn’t realize just how popular. Everywhere I look there are people wearing these buttons, and I find it amazing that there were so many that took the time out of their busy schedule to “volunteer” their time.

My mom and I walked around Pizza Port looking at the menu and I just couldn’t spend $7 for a slice of pizza. Don’t misunderstand me, I’m well aware the cost of eating in the park, but $7 for a slice of pizza. I just couldn’t do it. I explained this to my mom and she agreed, she also said that she didn’t remember the pizza being all that spectacular and so that solidified our position that we would make other arrangements.

We sat down at one of the booths and began talking about what else we could have. Some funny things were said about various things, and we laughed until we both had tears in our eyes. It’s sad that we can’t remember what we were talking about because I’m certain that you would be laughing hysterically with us. Ultimately we decided that we would walk back to Refreshment Corner to get a couple of hot dogs.

Here I’m going to take this opportunity to whine about there not being corn dog nuggets. They have them at Walt Disney World, but they do not have them at Disneyland. Clearly they don’t see the immense value they would have on their menus. They’re a great snack to have with you as you are walking around the park. Or you could just enjoy them at the Refreshment Corner. Instead we had to settle for a couple of hot dogs and a bag of chips. Don’t get me wrong, the hot dogs are good, but they’re no corn dog nuggets.

Realizing what good of a spot we had, we decided to stick around for an hour so that we could be ready for the fireworks. This was an okay spot… actually it’s sort of terrible, but you could see them a enough to know what was going on. After we ate my Mom said that she would go get us some coffee and a cookie from the Market House.

I love the cookies there, I think they are the best cookies in the whole park. There is just something about them that make them not only taste awesome, but the texture and density of the cookie really make you think you are getting your money’s worth. These are some dense and heavy cookies. While she walked to the Market House I took this opportunity to play a little Doodle Jump on my iPhone. I bought it at the airport along with the WishingStars app and I thought I would have some time on the flight to play it. I didn’t but I had some time now. It’s a fun game and reminds me of a game I played online involving a penguin or a polar bear or some such arctic or antarctic animal.

It was a long while before she came back. Throughout this time we kept hearing over the loud speaker that due to weather, the firework’s may be cancelled. I found this frustrating because they were playing this 30 minutes before the fireworks would begin. They kept playing this announcement every 10 minutes or so until the announcement changed that the lights would be dimming for the fireworks. So what did I find frustrating about all this? Well, if they were going to cancel the fireworks, then tell people in advance so they aren’t waiting around in the “cold” longer than they have to. I don’t know, I think it’s a little inconsiderate.

My Mom came back with the goodies and we sat and watched the fireworks. It was nice and relaxing especially after having such a long day. Once the fireworks ended there was the grand exodus of guests, lightening up the park and the lines. The only thing we would do during this time would be to use our FastPass for Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, grab a free refill of coffee and head to the trams to go back to the hotel.

I talked earlier on how much I hate the trams. When it goes as good as it went for us this time, I love the trams. Occasionally, after parades, or fireworks, or when the park is closing, they have both tram stops open for loading and unloading. Most of the guests go to the first tram stop making it ridiculously crowded and they don’t think about checking to see if the second one is open for loading. Tonight, that worked to our advantage and we were able to bypass hundreds of people waiting to get on a tram at the first stop, to immediately boarding a tram at the second stop. Jason & Patty: 1; The Man: 0!

I wrote this when I was tired and so some/all of it may not make sense. I didn’t proof it because it’s long. If you have any questions let me know in the comments.

It’s amazing how fast time goes by. It was only a few months ago that I was at Walt Disney World touring each of the parks and engaging in some quality time with my Mom and Grandparents. Now, tomorrow I will be whisked away to Disneyland where I will spend a week relaxing in the very Oregon like weather of Anaheim, California, where we will be walking several miles a day and getting back to the hotel exhausted. I will take this opportunity to remind you that my Mom and I love going to Disneyland and Walt Disney World; you might call it an obsession; my Mom doesn’t care for the term, but when you go 2-3 times a year… It really is one of the only places where I feel I get so much experience for the money spent. What places do you go where you think you get the most experience for your money?

We will be there for a total of seven days, leaving Sunday and arriving the following Saturday. I expect this trip to be spectacular and I’m doing something that I don’t ever remember doing before; I’m not bringing my primary video camera. Instead, I will be bringing my Nikon D90, a camera I bought a couple months ago and have been awaiting an opportunity to really try it out. I am nervous about using it because it will solidify my suspicion that I can’t take a picture to save my life. It’s one thing to take bad photos with a point-and-shoot, you expect a low quality of picture and all you ever think is just how much better your pictures would be if only you had a better camera. Well, I bought one, and now I have no excuses, other than finding out once and for all I have no talent. Do you prefer video or still cameras when on vacation? Why?

Even though I’m not bringing my primary video camera, I will be using a Flip MinoHD to do some sort of video trip report. I did this a couple of years ago when I went to Disneyland with most of the family and it worked well, though, with a lot of people in the group it’s a little more dynamic of a report than with only one other. I’ll try it out, but I’m pretty sure there isn’t going to be as much camera interaction as there was when I had five people to record rather than just one.

Packing is always an interesting aspect of traveling. If I really set my mind to it, I could probably pull things together within 15 minutes. It’s, of course, never that way; I have a tendency to clean when I should be packing. This only makes packing last hours longer than it should. In addition to cleaning, I also attempt to do a myriad of other activities that in some really loose sense pertain to getting ready to go on the trip, but are in no way as important as throwing a weeks worth of clothes in a suitcase and calling it good. It’s always more important that I transfer movies onto my iPod, or make playlists or even begin a trip report. Are you a procrastinator like me? What do you do instead of pack?

Ahh, the trip report. For some this is a wonderful way to relive the vacation, and maybe for those reading they will learn a cool new tip or fact. For others, the trip report is an act of sheer will and possibly dread. I typically don’t write trip reports because I get into the habit of drowning myself in detail. The whole experience becomes so overwhelming, recounting and writing about ever minute detail that I literally bore myself to sleep. I find that if I’m bored writing it, then there is no way that someone would enjoy reading it. That’s probably why I want to focus more on a video trip report rather than a written one. What are you thoughts on trip reports? Do you write/read them?

Questions to Answer

What places do you go where you think you get the most experience for your money?
Do you prefer video or still cameras when on vacation? Why?
Are you a procrastinator like me? What do you do instead of pack?
What are you thoughts on trip reports? Do you write/read them?

The stories in the state-run newspaper are shocking and shows the level of addiction these people suffer and die from. The article provides several examples:

“…A fire in an unlicensed Internet café killed 25 people engaged in all-night gaming sessions…two kids from Chongqing, exhausted after two days of gaming, passed out on railroad tracks and were killed by a train…a 13-year-old from Tianjin finished a 36-hour session of World of Warcraft and leaped off the roof of his 24-story building, hoping to “join the heroes of the game”…”

It’s shocking to think that these people were so wrapped up in their game they couldn’t pull themselves out of a burning building or drag themselves off railroad tracks to safety. It makes me think how close to addiction I might be. I could sit at my computer for hours, working on this blog or interacting on Facebook and Twitter (@justjason), even reading articles like, “5 Ways to Avoid Sabotaging Your Personal Brand Online,” and in all those hours not thinking for once about eating or hydrating. I could be withering away right before your very eyes… actually, I could do with some withering away, but that is a different post altogether.

The Internet is everywhere and it’s hard not to be connected all the time. It’s at home, work and even on our cell phones. Many of you might be suffering from Internet addiction and not even realize it. I took an Internet Addiction Test at netaddiction.com and I was congratulated with a score of 48.

20 – 49 points: You are an average on-line user. You may surf the Web a bit too long at times, but you have control over your usage.

I’m just two points away from,

50 – 79 points: You are experiencing occasional or frequent problems because of the Internet. You should consider their full impact on your life.

How did you score? Where you surprised by your score? It seems the moment we begin taking something for granted it ends up killing us, as it did those people. It’s widely publicized that the Chinese government is cracking down on Internet addiction and have done everything in their power to quell this distraction. It seemed these unlicensed camps were the holy grail to their problems. However, with mounting evidence of abuse, torture and deaths, the Chinese government set up guidelines banning such techniques after much criticism from the public.

The whole article was very depressing and showed just how rampant Internet addiction is in China; how it’s affecting families and the Chinese government and what people are doing to take advantage of both. What are your thoughts on Internet addiction? Is it something that American’s should be more concerned about?

Originally recorded in 1985, We Are the World set the standard for a charity single, then to aid Africa. Now, when faced with the disaster in Haiti, it is only natural to gather more than 80 current artists to rerecord one of the most poignant songs of my generation. It is without a doubt, this new release will make a massive amount of money to aid Haitians in their time of need, but it’s a shame this mess of a song is the anthem for their plight.

Everything about the song is a complete disaster it’s hard to know where to begin. It relied heavily on so many different styles that none of it worked. The song sounded so complicated I couldn’t discern what I was listening to. It was as if a group of musicians came together to sing their own song. All of the artists over-sang their parts, screaming into the mic showing the world they were participating in something important. From Justin Bieber’s questionable pitch to T-Pain’s Auto-Tune pitch correction, the performances of “We Are the World 25 for Haiti” lacked any real authenticity aside from the one Haitian in the group, Wyclef Jean, who reminded us all who this was actually for, and why I was enduring this painful recording.

Ultimately, this fell short of not only my expectations, but also the expectations of most. From what I was gathering on Twitter (search: We Are the World), most of the glowing remarks came from Justin Bieber fans, the rest were from those 15 and younger who don’t know any better. Sadly, what should have been another poignant piece for charity has become a punchline. I, and probably everyone who watched thought the exact same thing when Kanye sang his solo and T-Pain’s Auto-Tune pitch correction was too gimmicky for a song like this.

The biggest mistake Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones made was rerecording a song that had such a profound impact in 1985. There was no way it would live up to the expectations of anyone who remembered the original. They had the artists, they had the talent, they just needed to write a new song that fit better with the musical styles of today, that didn’t happen and the result is unacceptable.