I mean, I know I got laid off, and I know that I need to get a job, and quickly, too. But 4 days of nothing has been sweet. Well, not technically nothing, I suppose. I've been playing the shit out of FFX, and I saved enough money to buy The Simpson's: Hit & Run.
It's pretty fun. Think GTA: The Simpsons. Lots of voice samples, all original actors. That alone makes the game worth the $19.82 +tax I paid for it.
Ok. There's way too much Disneyland stuff for a single post, so I'm going to break it down day by day.
Sunday:
We left Carson City at about 7:30 a.m., headed southwest through the Carson Valley. Highway 89 is rather picturesque, and it was even more lovely blanketed in the 5 or 6 feet of snow that lined the road. I must sadly report, that due to battery/film issues, I have no pictures from this leg of the journey.
We stopped a couple times, but for the most part, it was a straight-through. We got to Pismo Beach around 3 or so I think, and walked out to the end of the pier. Then, we got one of those rare pleasures. We saw a pod of 5-8 dolphins go swimming by. It was so cool.
Dinner with the ex and family was cool. We went to Alex's, a good bbq house in Shell Beach, just North of Pismo. Good eats, good times. We went home, and then there was a late-night run to Wally world. I got film, batteries, and an sd card for the dig I borrowed.
Heh. I was trashed. Crashed, and up early the next day. Daylight savings time was fucking with me hardcore. I'd woken up at 4 on Sunday, and I woke up at 3:30 Monday. My son was crashed on the living room floor, and we watched some ATHF. The troops got up, coffee, doughnuts, you know, all that morning shit. We hit the road around 8 or so, and got to Dland at about 11.
We hit the hotel, dropped our bags off, and headed to the park. Pirates first, followed by Splash Mountain. Big Thunder was next, and then we headed to Lunch. We ate at The Rainforest Cafe.
Pretty good food, and not too expensive. I ran the leftovers back to the hotel, and met the crew back in the park. A couple more rides, and my mom called to say that she and Summer (my daughter) were at the hotel. We headed back, took a mid-afternoon break, and headed to California Adventure.
They have a ride there called Grizzly Peak. It's one of those white-water-innertube-rafting affairs. We've ridden it countless times in the last 4 years. We decide to make that the first 'we're all together' ride. Near the end of the ride, there's a 'geyser' in the middle of the stream. I was sure at that point that the geyser was timed to never hit the raft. We'd never been hit, and I'd spent a fair amount of time just watching, seeing if anyone got hit, and never saw anyone.
Two words. It's not. The geyser was boiling up, maybe 4-5 feet over the surface of the water. All of a sudden, as we're nearing it, it shoots maybe 18-20 feet up, filling our tube with water. We go over it, and I can feel it hitting the bottom of the boat. We pull off it, and it shoots even higher, again, filling our boat. From fairly dry to absolutely fucking soaked in about 3 seconds. I was in shock. Not just from the ice cold water, but from the fact that the geyser had hit us.
Needless to say, that set the tone for the rest of the trip. Not twice, but 3 more times we'd be subjected to the geyser. We (the kids and I) got hit 2 times in a row. It was insane.
Then it was time for California Screamin', the kick ass coaster. We rode that twice, and then went to Soarin' over California. It's one of those bigscreen motion picture things. The hook is, you sit on a bank of seats that gets raised about 20 feet ( the high bank) off the floor, and hung over a curved screen. It starts in a cloud bank, and then you break out, soaring over the North tower of the Golden Gate Bridge.
I won't spoil it by going into too much detail, but it's a blast.
Next on the list was The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This ride is sick!! Again, I'm not going to spoil it, but I say this : Fucking Ride It!!!
After doing that twice, CA was closing, so we headed back to Dland, and did the Haunted Mansion. They redo it in Nightmare Before Christmas motif for the holidays. It was cool, but they've speeded up the cars, so the ride's not as long. We then did Mr Toad's Wild Ride (one of my faves), and the Teacups. I'm sad to report that they've nerfed the cups. I could barely get mine spinning, and I'm the king. After that, it was Indiana Jones followed by the Jungle Cruise.
I highly recommend doing the Jungle Cruise after dark. It's much better. We did Splash, and then Big Thunder again, and that was pretty much it for the first day.
Tune in tomorrow for more.
Later,
T.
