Hi there! I am back on the (abandoned) blog thing (that no one will ever read--Ha!) because I am BACK from my super duper road trip-a-go-go (I have been wanting to go on this trip for more than a year!). I had originally sent this out as a series of emails, but thought I'd post them HERE so I'd have them handy for future reference. It was a H-U-G-E (but still "low budget") trip (So much for my tax return...) and super fun and adventurous. My best friend Erich went with me...although he grumbled about some of the itinerary. Actually, I think even he had a good time---and he walked away with the best story to tell from the whole trip. (But that will have to wait for later...)
Our trip started off on Thursday, April 27th. Someone gave us a really late start (I won't say who, but he's retired and doesn't get up very early often. Hmm... Who could that be?), so we didn't have a chance to stop and visit anything interesting on the way down to Southern California, but we did arrive in time to be stuck in some majorly heavy LA traffic for several hours. UGH!
We finally reached Anaheim and checked into the Anabella Hotel, one of the hotels I prefer to stay in when down there. (It has only come to my attention since my return home that the Anabella is soon closing to make way for some super resort hotel of some kind.)
Our plan was to visit, NOT Disneyland, but Disney's California Adventure. Erich hates Disneyland...but had never been to California Adventure. I had only been once before---and there had been several changes since that time, so I was curious to see those.
Erich wanted Mediterranean food for dinner. We did a Google search and saw that, although there was a Mediterranean restaurant in the area, we'd have to drive to it...and I was hesitant to give up our hotel parking space. Apparently there was also one within walking distance...in Downtown Disney. So we opted for that.
I was rather disturbed to see that security check points now flanked either end of Downtown Disney. But, the way the world is going, I guess it was only a matter of time.
Dinner was at a restaurant called CATAL, which Erich quickly realized was Basque---NOT
Mediterranean. But we tried it anyway.
We dined on the long terrace that overlooked Downtown Disney. The menu was a bit pricey...$18 for a martini? $15 for a mojito? Jeepers. I forgot what we had for dinner exactly (Ha!). I'm pretty sure I had a salad of some sort. After dinner we went on a wild goose chase looking for a credit union. Nope---Google maps was wrong and we never found one. Hmm. We called it a day after that. After the L-O-N-G drive (and post-drive cocktails) we were both pretty tired. The next day dawned early--even for Mr. Retired. Believe it or not, we got to California Adventures while it was opening.
We made a beeline for the fast pass machines for the Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land. The Racers are the newest attraction there and I've heard from several people that it is the best ride and that the lines are crazy long. Once we got our fast passes (which were not valid for several hours still), I dragged Erich along to Cars Land, so we could catch the ride before the lines got really bad later on. From what I had heard, we'd really want to experience this ride more than once. So off we went through Cars Land...
I was delighted with the detail of Cars Land. If you've ever spent any time on Route 66 (or read about it), you'd "recognize" several landmarks, such as the "Cozy Cone Motel" (which is clearly modeled after the Wigwam Motel with its teepee-shaped rooms) or the "Here It Is" sign (which are up and down route 66, advertising the Jack Rabbit Trading Company--only using a car silhouette instead of a rabbit). We got to the Racers ride and got in line. It wasn't too bad of a line, but it was already starting to get hot. Erich was complaining that he needed breakfast and COFFEE. Calm down. Let's just do the ride and get it over with. The ride was a bit of a let down. After building it up in my head based on everything everyone had told me about it, I was expecting to be blown away. It was fun...but not incredible. It was a hybrid of sorts of a typical Disney dark ride (think Snow White, Peter Pan or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride), with a kiddie-sized rollercoaster of sorts added on at the end.
After the ride, we walked straight over to Flo's V-8 Cafe and had breakfast. The Disney people pay amazing attention to detail. It was such a cool little place.
After breakfast, we decided to walk across the "street" and see what Luigi's Casa Della Tires was all about. We were clueless. It turned out to be the facade for a ride called Rollickin' Roadsters, which consisted of these little car things that did synchronized line dancing (!!)--with you in them. It was kind of dumb, but what the hell? It must have been controlled with magnets or something. We were all over the place car dancing...not steering at all.
Following our car dance, we ventured into Bug's Land...which was stuff mostly geared for very young children. But we did find the "It's Tough To Be A Bug" 4-D movie thing---which was great fun. I got a snap of me in my bug-eyed 3D glasses before turning them in. Ha!
From there, we road the California Screamin' Rollercoaster...and then went to the Toy Story Midway Mania, which is a dark ride with virtual midway games (darts, ring toss, shooting gallery, etc) in 3D. While there we saw (gasp!) Woody and Mr. Potato Head was doubling as a carnival barker, trying to get people on the ride. The rollercoaster was great. Toy Story Midway Mania was good...but certainly NOT worth the exasperatingly long line.
Erich really wanted to go on the Ferris wheel, which, as you can see in the photo above, is the tallest ride in the park. I have a severe fear of heights. Hmm. How was this going to work? I did NOT want to go up in that thing. So we compromised. Instead of getting in a car that slides back and forth and swings all over the place on these giant paperclip-like tracks, we got in one of the more stationary gondolas. I'm sure Erich would have rocked it back and forth and scared the crap outta me, had it not been for these three people visiting from someplace (Ohio?) who were put in the same car as us. EEEK! The only way I survived was to stare at the floor of the car the whole time. I took pictures (blindly) while we were in it though...and I DID stare out briefly when the Ohioians (?) asked where Space Mountain and the Matterhorn were (I pointed them out across the way at Disneyland next door).
Following the Ferris wheel, I led Erich over to Goofy's Flying School, which is a Crazy Mouse-like little coaster that was high-flyin' fun.
From there, we went to The Little Mermaid ride---which is the typical dark house ride telling the story of The Little Mermaid. Yes, believe it or not, I DID want to go on it. Why? Because it was NEW since I had last been there. I wanted to check it out (much to Erich's dismay...).
Following our undersea adventure, we BOTH needed a drink...of the alcoholic kind. (HELLO!?!) So we stood in line for 40 minutes to get into the restaurant/bar (one of only two in the whole park) that really serves COCKTAILS! Because we had to wait so long, we each ordered TWO drinks. Erich had the Moscow mule and the red thing (which he liked best but I can't recall the name of). I had the mojito and some crazy milkshake-like thing that was yummy and gave me a nice buzz. (**** INSIDER ALERT! The Cove Bar has a SECRET menu! I'd tell you to Google it, but here's a link: http://diningatdisney.com/secret-menu-at-cove-bar-in-disney-california-adventure/ . Not only are there drinks on it that most don't know about, BUT if you have a drink in the bar, you can get ANY cocktail to go. Otherwise, there is a walk-up service that will only get you beer, wine or sangria. PASS! I need my cocktails. Erich got another of those red drinks...and I got a Zombie from the secret menu to GO! Whoo hoo!)
The Zombie may not have looked all that appealing, but I am sure Brair Fox and Brair Rabbit were uber-jealous.
With drinks in hand, Erich and I went into the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which was a crazy obstacle place full of swinging bridges (that Erich went out of his way to really cause them to sway--women and small children and best friends with bad legs and carrying a cocktail be damned!) and rope bridges that were difficult to walk across--especially while holding cocktails!
Chip (or was it Dale?) was there--also amazingly jealous of our drinks. Ha!
The line for the Grizzly River Run was crazy long---so we got a Fast Pass and headed back towards Cars Land (via the Hollywood area) to use the Fast Passes for the Racers. The old TWILIGHT ZONE TOWER OF TERROR was closed and had been repainted for the upcoming GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ride.
Aside from the defunct TWILIGHT ZONE/ as-yet-to-open GUARDIANS attraction, the only ride in the Hollywood area is the Monster's Inc. ride. I'd been on the Monster's Inc. ride before. It was built quickly (and it kind of shows) to replace another ride about Hollywood that was considered a flop when the park had first opened. As cheap as Monster's Inc seems, it is still cute.
After the ride, as we continued on our way to Cars Land, we ran into--gasp!--Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! Zowie!
We went back on the Radiator Springs Racers again. Erich was grumbling that it wasn't the best ride in the world and he really didn't like the dark ride section of the ride at all. It was too kiddie-ish. He was just being an old fuddy duddy. However, the park takes photos of people on the rides at key moments and offers them for sale. I had to buy ours. I have never seen Erich (the older guy in the middle of the rear seat) look as happy as he does in that moment. Whoo hoooooo!!!!
We made our way back to the Grizzly River Run...and proceeded to get wet---but not TOO wet. Certainly not as wet as the people on the other side of the raft-thing from us. But it was a good ride---it just should have been a little longer and....
...I still feel that "Grizzly Peak" (shown in the photo below) looks more like a howling Wolf's head than a bears...but no one asked me.
We were running out of steam, but had time for one more ride. I really wanted Erich to see this one, too. The Soaring ride is a unique experience. For me it would be novel too as it had changed from Soaring Over California, which it had been when I had previously been there, to Soaring Over the World, which it is now. It was amazing. And even though I know it's just a ride and we are not really "flying"--my fear of heights/flying really had me hanging on. Ha!
Once we left the park, we made the trip to Trader Sam's Tiki Bar. Although it is far from the best tiki bar in the world, I wasn't going to let a chance to get my tiki on be missed. Amazingly, we had the same bartender I've had every (?) time I've visited. He is AWESOME. I ordered a drink (just one) that came with a mug...and he let me buy another mug withOUT having to buy the drink that goes with it. Groovy! And, of course, the volcano erupted several times while we were there. I'm not sure if the ship in the bottle sank or not though. I don't remember it getting stormy. My stool did shrink down though---as my drink was a zombie...I guess the shrinking stool is to simulate being buried or six feet under? Ha! That was a new gimmick since the last time I was there...or maybe I just never noticed before having always had plenty to drink in the past. Ha!
After that, it was back to our hotel for a mediocre dinner and then to bed. It had been quite a day. But the next day would bring all new adventures!
Stay Tuned for the next chapter. (Or skip ahead to it HERE.)
CHEERS!
Mediterranean. But we tried it anyway.
We dined on the long terrace that overlooked Downtown Disney. The menu was a bit pricey...$18 for a martini? $15 for a mojito? Jeepers. I forgot what we had for dinner exactly (Ha!). I'm pretty sure I had a salad of some sort. After dinner we went on a wild goose chase looking for a credit union. Nope---Google maps was wrong and we never found one. Hmm. We called it a day after that. After the L-O-N-G drive (and post-drive cocktails) we were both pretty tired. The next day dawned early--even for Mr. Retired. Believe it or not, we got to California Adventures while it was opening.
I was delighted with the detail of Cars Land. If you've ever spent any time on Route 66 (or read about it), you'd "recognize" several landmarks, such as the "Cozy Cone Motel" (which is clearly modeled after the Wigwam Motel with its teepee-shaped rooms) or the "Here It Is" sign (which are up and down route 66, advertising the Jack Rabbit Trading Company--only using a car silhouette instead of a rabbit). We got to the Racers ride and got in line. It wasn't too bad of a line, but it was already starting to get hot. Erich was complaining that he needed breakfast and COFFEE. Calm down. Let's just do the ride and get it over with. The ride was a bit of a let down. After building it up in my head based on everything everyone had told me about it, I was expecting to be blown away. It was fun...but not incredible. It was a hybrid of sorts of a typical Disney dark ride (think Snow White, Peter Pan or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride), with a kiddie-sized rollercoaster of sorts added on at the end.
After the ride, we walked straight over to Flo's V-8 Cafe and had breakfast. The Disney people pay amazing attention to detail. It was such a cool little place.
After breakfast, we decided to walk across the "street" and see what Luigi's Casa Della Tires was all about. We were clueless. It turned out to be the facade for a ride called Rollickin' Roadsters, which consisted of these little car things that did synchronized line dancing (!!)--with you in them. It was kind of dumb, but what the hell? It must have been controlled with magnets or something. We were all over the place car dancing...not steering at all.
Following our car dance, we ventured into Bug's Land...which was stuff mostly geared for very young children. But we did find the "It's Tough To Be A Bug" 4-D movie thing---which was great fun. I got a snap of me in my bug-eyed 3D glasses before turning them in. Ha!
From there, we road the California Screamin' Rollercoaster...and then went to the Toy Story Midway Mania, which is a dark ride with virtual midway games (darts, ring toss, shooting gallery, etc) in 3D. While there we saw (gasp!) Woody and Mr. Potato Head was doubling as a carnival barker, trying to get people on the ride. The rollercoaster was great. Toy Story Midway Mania was good...but certainly NOT worth the exasperatingly long line.
Erich really wanted to go on the Ferris wheel, which, as you can see in the photo above, is the tallest ride in the park. I have a severe fear of heights. Hmm. How was this going to work? I did NOT want to go up in that thing. So we compromised. Instead of getting in a car that slides back and forth and swings all over the place on these giant paperclip-like tracks, we got in one of the more stationary gondolas. I'm sure Erich would have rocked it back and forth and scared the crap outta me, had it not been for these three people visiting from someplace (Ohio?) who were put in the same car as us. EEEK! The only way I survived was to stare at the floor of the car the whole time. I took pictures (blindly) while we were in it though...and I DID stare out briefly when the Ohioians (?) asked where Space Mountain and the Matterhorn were (I pointed them out across the way at Disneyland next door).
Following the Ferris wheel, I led Erich over to Goofy's Flying School, which is a Crazy Mouse-like little coaster that was high-flyin' fun.
The Zombie may not have looked all that appealing, but I am sure Brair Fox and Brair Rabbit were uber-jealous.
With drinks in hand, Erich and I went into the Redwood Creek Challenge Trail, which was a crazy obstacle place full of swinging bridges (that Erich went out of his way to really cause them to sway--women and small children and best friends with bad legs and carrying a cocktail be damned!) and rope bridges that were difficult to walk across--especially while holding cocktails!
Chip (or was it Dale?) was there--also amazingly jealous of our drinks. Ha!
Aside from the defunct TWILIGHT ZONE/ as-yet-to-open GUARDIANS attraction, the only ride in the Hollywood area is the Monster's Inc. ride. I'd been on the Monster's Inc. ride before. It was built quickly (and it kind of shows) to replace another ride about Hollywood that was considered a flop when the park had first opened. As cheap as Monster's Inc seems, it is still cute.
After the ride, as we continued on our way to Cars Land, we ran into--gasp!--Mr. and Mrs. Incredible! Zowie!
We went back on the Radiator Springs Racers again. Erich was grumbling that it wasn't the best ride in the world and he really didn't like the dark ride section of the ride at all. It was too kiddie-ish. He was just being an old fuddy duddy. However, the park takes photos of people on the rides at key moments and offers them for sale. I had to buy ours. I have never seen Erich (the older guy in the middle of the rear seat) look as happy as he does in that moment. Whoo hoooooo!!!!
We made our way back to the Grizzly River Run...and proceeded to get wet---but not TOO wet. Certainly not as wet as the people on the other side of the raft-thing from us. But it was a good ride---it just should have been a little longer and....
...I still feel that "Grizzly Peak" (shown in the photo below) looks more like a howling Wolf's head than a bears...but no one asked me.
We were running out of steam, but had time for one more ride. I really wanted Erich to see this one, too. The Soaring ride is a unique experience. For me it would be novel too as it had changed from Soaring Over California, which it had been when I had previously been there, to Soaring Over the World, which it is now. It was amazing. And even though I know it's just a ride and we are not really "flying"--my fear of heights/flying really had me hanging on. Ha!
Once we left the park, we made the trip to Trader Sam's Tiki Bar. Although it is far from the best tiki bar in the world, I wasn't going to let a chance to get my tiki on be missed. Amazingly, we had the same bartender I've had every (?) time I've visited. He is AWESOME. I ordered a drink (just one) that came with a mug...and he let me buy another mug withOUT having to buy the drink that goes with it. Groovy! And, of course, the volcano erupted several times while we were there. I'm not sure if the ship in the bottle sank or not though. I don't remember it getting stormy. My stool did shrink down though---as my drink was a zombie...I guess the shrinking stool is to simulate being buried or six feet under? Ha! That was a new gimmick since the last time I was there...or maybe I just never noticed before having always had plenty to drink in the past. Ha!
After that, it was back to our hotel for a mediocre dinner and then to bed. It had been quite a day. But the next day would bring all new adventures!
Stay Tuned for the next chapter. (Or skip ahead to it HERE.)
CHEERS!
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