Disneyland Day 01: Travel Day

Well, day 0 and day 1 collided without a bout of sleep to split them apart.  We were up till about 3AM. 

Enchanted Rose didn’t come home until 12:30AM because of some late shift excitement.  She brought home a couple #2’s from Mickey D’s to top off the ole tank before we dug into the nightly preparations.

Enchanted Rose finalized the packing while I got all the electrical components ready for the trip.  Most of that time was me prepping this nifty ASUS Eee PC 1000HE netbook with all the software that I need (Mozilla Thunderbird, Nikon Transfer, Nikon View NX, Nikon Capture NX 2, Picasa).  I was amazed at how few system updates were needed from the ASUS site (only the system BIOS), but the windows updates too most of the day to complete. 

I also needed update the firmware on my Nikon D300. Fellow D300/D700 shooters on  The Magic in Pixels have been talking about settings that my camera didn’t have that turned out to be available after upgrading the firmware.

It’s always stressful to get ready when Belle and Coco are not at the “puppy spa”.  Coco who gets insanely neurotic when there is a thunderstorm seems to take the hustle and bustle of packing in stride, but Belle, who normally is calm no matter what is going on, goes nuts.  She constantly wants to be held and if you sit down she’ll make sure she’s in your lap pronto.

Normally, we put them in the “puppy spa” the morning before we leave just to avoid this extra stressor, but this time we wanted to save the money of that extra day since we weren’t flying out till noon the next day.  That gave us plenty of time to get the dogs to the “spa” before we needed to be at the airport.

Even though we went to bed at 3AM we didn’t need to get up until 8am, so that meant at least 5 hours of sleep.  This is a whole lot more than we got on previous trips because Enchanted Rose got a new shift at work which has her punching out at 11PM instead of 3AM (granted she never really is off at the designated time). 

8AM came in with a roar and I was exhausted.  I really didn’t sleep well anyway and I am pretty sure it was due to a combination of excitement and knowing there are still things needing to get done in the morning.

After catching up on our e-mails and tweets that came in while we slept, I got up and got the dogs fed and let them out to do their part to water and fertilize the lawn.

A shower was had and it did a lot to revitalize but I was clogged up and was worried I was getting sick.  My sinuses wreak havoc on me when I don’t sleep enough.

We got the final packing done in record time and I loaded up the 4Runner with the luggage while Enchanted Rose got the dogs bag packed with all their medicines, food, and treats.

We loaded the dogs up and started our way out.  We ran into our neighbor at the foot of the driveway and she flagged us down.  I went out to see what she needed and she wanted to wish Enchanted Rose a happy birthday.  She also offered to pick up out mail and move our trash cans back to the bottom of the driveway after the collect the garbage later today.

She also offered to call us if she sees any mail from the US Department of Immigration or Department of Homeland Security.  We are waiting for one more form to finalize our dossier for the process of trying to adopt a child from China (to keep up with that adventure please visit Waiting for Xiao Hai).  We have such awesome neighbors!

We make great time to the Vet’s office (aka "the puppy spa”) due to the fact that everyone must’ve already been at work for the day).  Belle was being neurotic the whole way, but as soon as she saw where we were going she got really excited.  She seems to love staying here but freaks out every time the luggage comes out.

We made our way from the Vet’s Office to the airport.  Once again, the route was smooth sailing.  The covered garage was full (as expected) so we parked in the shuttle parking.  It took a bit to find an open spot, but we got lucky that the shuttle was coming by as soon as we got out of the car.  So, we didn’t have to wait long.

When we got the Southwest Airlines check-in there was no line which was great considering all the other airlines had from medium to long lines.  I guess the fact that Southwest Airlines doesn’t require you to pay for your 1st two checked bags means that the process of getting them checked in goes quicker.  This is another reason I love flying Southwest Airlines.

Security is always fun and they only have one X-Ray machine open.  But,the new netbook with it’s smaller dimensions really made things seem to go smoother.  The TSA seems to have implemented a new rule requiring that you put your shoes directly on the conveyor belt instead of in a bin.  But, I pretty much did that already.

We had a 1.5 hour wait for our flight.  Another passenger overheard Enchanted Rose talking to a family member about our adoption process and came over and asked if he heard correctly that we are trying to adopt from China.  We answered in the affirmative and that began a lengthy conversation about adoption since he too was an adoptive parent (he chose the domestic route).

Finally it came time to board and our first leg was to Denver. I got nice low boarding numbers for this flight (A20 & A21), but the flight already had a bunch of people on  it so we ended up sitting somewhere in the middle of the plane.  I had to chuckle when I saw that the guy in front of me in line was sporting a carry-on emblazoned with United Airlines Crew badges and embroidery.  I guess even some of their employees love Southwest too…ha-ha

Our flight to Denver was quick and uneventful.  It turned out the gate for our next flight was across the aisle from the gate we disembarked at.

We grabbed a couple seats and Enchanted Rose proceeded to call her sister, Julie, to see if a trip to In-N-Out could be arranged after she and her family pick us up at Orange County Airport.

We didn’t have to wait long before it was time to line up for boarding.  I didn’t score as good of boarding numbers on this leg.  We were A38 and A39.  I still don’t know how, when I check in exactly 24 hours before the flight, that I end up being that far back in the A’s.  I know the first 15 slots are reserved for the Business Select passengers.  Maybe this flight had a lot of members of their frequent flier program that award guaranteed A boarding after you log a certain number of flights in a year (I think it’s 16 flights).

They finally started boarding us and we quickly found our seats. Right after we got comfortable we hear people talking about alarms going of and the doors being slammed behind them.

It didn’t take long before we found out what was going on.  The captain got on the overhead and told us that the airplane has been locked down due to a security breach in the Denver International Airport.  That’s all that he knew and he was trying to get more information.

Enchanted Rose read her e-mail while I twittered the situation.  After about 30 minutes the captain informed us that someone had passed through a security checkpoint with an “dis-allowed item” and since he wasn’t apprehended at the checkpoint, they had to lock down all planes and stop all boarding until he was located.

Just as he was finishing his explanation, we were informed that the suspect had been apprehended and that boarding could resume.  At this point, we lost about 30 minutes of time.

I tweeted out a status that we were getting to take off just as they were asking me to shut down my iPhone.

The flight to John Wayne (Orange County) Airport was uneventful and I got to work on this trip report and my next article for Celebrations Magazine.

When we finally landed, we ended up only losing 5 minutes from the time were were originally supposed to land.  So, it turned out to not be really bad after all.

Enchanted Rose’s sister, Julie, was going to pick us up from the airport along with her husband Jason and their two lovely kids Collin and Regan (our niece and nephew).  When Enchanted Rose called to tell her we had landed, they were pretty much at the airport and she and Collin met us at the baggage claim while Jason circled around waiting for us to come out.

The luggage wasn’t the first, but also wasn’t the last but it did make it here.  Two years ago when we flew into John Wayne for a Disneyland Vacation (my very first trip report on this blog), our luggage didn’t make it to us.

We didn’t have to wait long for Jason to get to us on one of his laps, we packed the luggage between us and the kids and off we went.

During our Denver layover, Enchanted Rose had asked Julie if it was possible to go to In-N-Out burger.  That decision was up to Jason since he was doing the driving.  He decided that the traffic wasn’t bad enough to not allow it to happen so he took us to the closest one that my iPhone app, Yelp, told us about.

The line for the drive through was insanely long, but we got our burgers (we got the Cheeseburger meals) and they were tasty.  In-N-Out Burger is a tradition for us on our trips to California. 

While Jason was looking for the correct on-ramp to 22 West, poor Collin had one of his frequent vomiting spells and managed to not miss his clothes.  Fortunately for me, I have a really diminished sense of smell (not it wasn’t from Zicam, but from many many broken noses), but I was told the car not reeked to a nauseating level.

So, before we could get to the Grand Californian, we had to swing by Target to pick up Collin a new outfit.

After navigating our way to Target, getting a new outfit, and getting Collin cleaned up and changed, we were on our way and we weren’t really that far since we were already on Harbor.

We quickly got to the resort hotel and I hopped out and went to the registration desk with a couple of the bags to get us checked in since everything was in my name while Enchanted Rose, Julie and the gang hung outside (didn’t want the kids to get bored).

The check-in process was smooth and as I was finishing up, everyone else joined me.  Turns out that since the handicapped parking spaces were out of commission due to the construction for the DVC units there, Jason was able to get free valet parking.

As Enchanted Rose walked up I pointed out the Cast Member behind the desk that she was celebrating her birthday on this trip.  The Cast Member said she’d be right back and came back with balloons and a signed picture of Minnie Mouse for her.  Then she asked if Regan and Collin would like a balloon.  They answered in the affirmative (of course) and it didn’t take long before they scored some magic.

Next it was off to the room which was on the second floor and was facing the pool.  We didn’t really care about view on this trip and just cared about being in this resort hotel.

Not long after entering the room, housekeeping asked if they could turn down the room.  I saw that they had some “surprises” to put in the room (some towel art and a card which I assumed was signed by some characters).  But since Enchanted Rose was in the room,I didn’t want the surprise spoiled so I asked if they could come back in an hour.

We got Collin and Regan fed and then we were off to the parks.  I did forget to mention that Julie picked up a case of Dr Pepper for Enchanted Rose since you cannot get that libation anywhere on property.  We loaded them into our fridge.

I decided at the last minute that I didn’t want to take my camera bag. Even when it has nothing inside, it’s bulky and the sheer size gets in the way of many of the attractions here.  Since Enchanted Rose decided that she didn’t need anything with her in the park, I decided to confiscate her backpack that we got from MEI-Mouse Fan Travel during MouseFest 2008 and use it instead.  I put my tripod in it’s carry pack and put my Nikkor 50/1.8, flash unit, and other accessories needed into the MEI bag.  It really kept things more manageable.

I had sent everyone ahead of me.  Jason had left with Collin much earlier to go to Guest Relations because he needs to get his “Green light Pass” renewed every time he comes to the park.

I had taken awhile and apparently, Enchanted Rose didn’t have her room key so she was calling me from the entrance into DCA from the Grand Californian asking where I was cause they wouldn’t let her into the park without her room key.

I met up with them and we were the only people there.  Everyone went ahead of me because I knew I was going to need to get my backpack off and opened for bag check.  As I was walking up trying to take my bag off, the security CM barked at me that I needed to have my bag open before getting into line.  I looked around for a line, but I didn’t see one.  But, I’ve learned before, just take things in stride.

Once we were all in the park, we needed to meet up with Jason and Collin.  We walked to where they were located, and Julie conned another guest into taking a group shot of all of us.

Then it was off to Midway Mania Toy Story Spin.  We go into the attraction through a different entrance due to Collin’s pass so we had to wait a bit (but not as long as the regular line) for a wheelchair accessible car to become available.  Jason rode with Collin, I rode with Julie, and Enchanted Rose rode with Regan.  We had some difficulty because the Cast Member who put on the straps to keep Collin’s chair from rolling didn’t do it right so they had to stop and attempt to do it again.   After a few moments, Jason basically told them where everything needed to go on their own attraction to get him safely strapped in.  Jason was quickly told that isn’t how they normally do it, but he replied that is how they do it every time they’ve come before and they are here about every week.  He later told me that the thing that frustrates him the most is when a Cast Member tells him that they “don’t do something” when he knows that it has been done on multiple occasions in the past.  Collin comes to Disneyland so much that many cast members know him by name.

After Toy Story we realized that we forgot our traditional ice cream from Catch A Flav, but at this point, it was getting dark and we already knew we were under-dressed and I didn’t want to be colder than I knew I was going to be.

Julie asked what we wanted to do next, and Regan responded, “Horsies”, which meant King Triton’s Carousel.  I tried my best to get some pictures, but the lighting was killing me.  Plus, I was having some issues with the Nikon D300, or what I perceived as problems.  So, I was texting my friend Craig (a loyal member of the forums at The Magic in Pixels and Nikon D300 owner) asking for help.  He quickly determined that what I thought was a problem was normal.  He also walked me through some settings changes, via text messaging, to help make things a bit better for me.

After the girls got off King Triton’s Carousel, Regan played in the water features a bit while we figured out what was next.

We continued to walk the along the Boardwalk.  At this point, Jason and Collin went on Mulholland Spin and Enchanted Rose and Regan went on the Jumping Jellyfish (I think that’s the name of the attraction).  Julie showed me how going up the exit gave us a great spot to snag a photo of Jason and Collin as they were finishing up.  Then we ran over to where Enchanted Rose and Regan were.  We were able to get right in front of them to try and take some pictures.

After the kids got a round of rides in that they enjoy separately, we headed to the Golden Zephyrs for a fast spin around and around. I really don’t like rides that spin, but I cannot really get pictures from the ground.  So, I sit in the back and hope I don’t hurl.

From here, I got some great views of the new Wonderful World of Color that they are working on as a light and water show.

From here, we made our way to A Bug’s Land.  The first place we stopped off at was to visit Heimlich, but he wasn’t feeling well, so we kept walking.  The next stop was Francis’ Lady Bug Boogie (but he’s no Lady).  It’s like the Mad Hatter Tea Cups but the vehicles look like Francis the Lady Bug.

I also attempted to capture some video of them on this attraction since it was short.   One day, I hope to have a machine strong enough to actually process the video I’m capturing.

Afterwards, we headed over to the ride where you look like you are spinning around in cartons.  I cannot remember the name, but we found it fascinating that one of the cartons was Chinese food takeout and we made sure to get some pics of that.

Now, we decided to see if Heimlich was up and running again and it was.  I like how they pump the smells of the food you are near into this attraction.  The animal crackers scene makes you hungry

We decided it was time to head out of A Bug’s Land.  I don’t think we really knew where we were going from here.  What we did know is that Jason and Collin decided to hold our places for the Electrical Light  Parade.

While we decided what to do, we parked our but on some chairs inside the “land”.  At this point, Julie got a call from Jason requesting that we head to where he was because he was having some “issues” with other park guests.

So, we headed in his direction.  I took a few pictures on the way (of course).

When we got there Jason was noticeable frustrated.  Apparently, Jason had secured enough space for 3 adults and 2 kids (one kid in a nicely sized wheelchair that had been there the whole time).  Next to him were some other park guests who were also trying to hold space for an even larger group.  Every time Jason turned his back to them, they’d not-so-subtly try to take some of his space for their own by moving their stuff into our space and pushing our stuff out of the way.  He’s move his stuff back and words would get exchanged.

By the time we got there, the words were loud with the other guests being very loud while Jason stayed rational with them (I think that upset them even more).  The funny thing is that the kids and Enchanted Rose were talking to park security where this was happening.  They were telling the kids why it was   important to always know where mommy and daddy where.  They never really noticed the situation that was going on to their right. 

As I was setting up my tripod so I could video the parade (my shoulders just get tired trying to hand-hold through the whole thing), Jason decided to go get a few more rides in with Collin since the rest of us were now.

Now, they decide to start giving Julie grief.  Now Julie is used to getting grief from people because she comes to Disneyland at least once if not twice a week with Collin and Regan.  She’s also the queen of dealing with these people with a smile and a tone in her voice that would make Walt want to hire her on the spot.  No matter how nasty these people talked to her, she would stand her ground but do it in a way that was very polite.  I swear she could insult you and make it sound like she was complimenting  you.

Needless to say, once other people started filling in the turf war the other guests were trying to wage came to an end because the turf was gone.

During a 30 minute period while this was going on, Enchanted Rose and Regan headed over to the Bakery to get some food.  Fifteen minutes into it, I got a text to come get Regan because she was tired of standing in line.  I told Enchanted Rose I wasn’t leaving Julie there to deal with holding our space by herself and I didn’t want her to feel responsible for the camera equipment.  Plus, she only have 15 more minutes until the parade started.

Enchanted Rose and Regan got back in time empty handed.  She said the line was just too long.  I told her that we could try and get a chowder bowl at New Orleans Square after the parade.

The parade finally started and as I was afraid, while we had great “seats” for viewing, it was a tad too close for video or photography.  I did my best and hopefully the pictures look good on the monitor at home.

The one frustrating thing was that we were positioned near the “crosswalk” across the parade route.  So every time there was even the slightest break between floats, large throngs of people were crossing and blocking my shot…ha-ha

After the parade was over, it was time to see Jason, Julie and the kids off.  We were freezing at this point so we were going back to the hotel anyway to get our coats (glad we brought these for the flight).  We needed to go with them anyway to make sure they could get back through the hotel to their car.

After saying our goodbyes and getting our coats, we decided to head over to Disneyland.  That park was still open for a couple more hours.

As expected,there were a great number of people leaving after their fireworks.  We experienced this during our June 2006 trip to Disneyland.  What we didn’t experience was this volume of exodus.  It was so thick that we felt like salmon swimming up stream to spawn in our attempt to get to New Orleans Square for chowder bowls.

They had so much space roped off for Fantasmic! that we had to walk to Haunted Mansion and then double back in order to get to the Quick Service Establishment

The line for the food was long as well.  I waited for awhile while Enchanted Rose did a bit of window shopping.  Our friend Trace (from the podcast The Disney Dudes) had asked us to keep an eye out for some special Haunted Mansion Pin Merchandise and she was looking for it.  She didn’t find it and came back right before I got to the front of the line.

I decided that I didn’t want to deal with the creamy goodness of the chowder bowl and realized I never tried the steak gumbo.  So, Enchanted Rose got the chowder and I got the steak gumbo.  That plus a bottle of water was over $22!

We took our boxes of food and walked to the eating establishment next door, which was closed, but had a ton of outdoor seating.  We got to enjoy our food while listening to Fantasmic!

After eating the soup and bowl we decided it was time to try and get on Haunted Mansion before Fantasmic ended and the crowds returned.  As we were standing in the very short line for Haunted we got to see how Disneyland handled the fact that the new dragon feature of Fantasmic was still not working.  They basically put Maleficent at the top of the “pillar” that would rise up and housed the head of the old dragon.

We quickly were able to get into the stretching room of the Haunted Mansion, but while we were walking in we saw a really bad case of “Bad show” as a cast member seriously came out of character when she saw someone she knew in the line.

We really like the Haunted Mansion and it was down during our January trip to remove the Christmas overlay.  So, it was nice to make sure it was accomplished this time.  I also like how they have the changing portraits where we walk instead of where the doom buggies are.

After we got off of Haunted Mansion, Enchanted Rose decided that she’d like to ride Alice and Wonderland. Lisa Farry (from Those Darn Cats) wrote on Enchanted Rose’s facebook wall that she would like us to ride it at night for her.  Since we had never done that, this seemed like the  right time to do it.  There was still an hour left before the park closed so we thought, “What the heck”.

We made a few wrong turns trying to get from New Orleans Square to Fantasyland as we kept trying to go the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom way to get from place to place.

When we got to Alice in Wonderland, the line was kinda long.  So we decided that we’d enjoy this attraction and then call it a night. By this point, both of us had really bad cases of sciatica attacking us.  We eventually got to the front of the line and got to enjoy a trip down the rabbit hole.

On the way out of the park, we had to stop at the Disneyana store and saw a few items we’d love to have if money was no object.

Then, after leaving the park, Enchanted Rose had to swing by the World of Disney to see what kids clothes were there. Now that the potential for parenthood is 1-4 years away, we start to think about things like kids clothing.

After some very quick window shopping, the energy level quickly went to nil.  We very quickly got back to the room.  Just to tell you how tired I was (it was about 3AM back home) I didn’t want to work on my trip report.

I set up the computer to pull the pictures off my CF card and started getting ready for bed.  I’m loving the new card reader I got before the trip that was compatible with my faster card because it pulled 600 files off real quick (I decided to shoot both JPG and RAW this trip).

I shut the computer down, crawled into bed and crashed hard.  That is how day 1 ended.  Day 2 is going to be a day without any family members and we figure we’ll go to Disneyland and see what we can get done.

Till tomorrow.

Technorati Tags: Disneyland,Trip Report

Disneyland Day 00: The Attack of the Sandman

As look at my clock,I see we are T-minus 13 hours and counting till we board a Southwest Airlines flight to John Wayne Airport (aka SNA).

This trip is meant to be a celebration.  June 21st is Father’s Day.  I don’t know if we are really going to be doing much for that, but it’ll let me start getting in the mindset of parenthood since we are navigating the waters of adoption which means some day in the future I’ll find out that I’m going to be a dad.

On June 22nd, we are celebration the lovely Enchanted Rose’s 30th Birthday.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a woman so glad to be turning 30.  But in her case her 30th birthday breaks the dam that is preventing our adoption paperwork from heading to China.  They have a rule that both parents must be 30 before they can apply to adopt.

I hope there will be some surprises along the way as I try to make her birthday special.  Beci Mahnken and her fine folks at Mouse Fan Travel have been doing their part helping me navigate the less than familiar Disneyland waters.

I’m sure the crowds will be large and the heat will but up (but it’ll be a drier heat than Oklahoma City), but fun will be had by all.

Expect my usual barrage of tweets on my twitter account and Enchanted Rose should be throwing up some tweets too.

Also, we’ll be doing a little mobile blogging as we take some pictures with our mobile phones and throw them up on the blog

If everything goes well, then I should be able to also provide you all with the trip reports you all have grown to love.

So, I have given ya’ll fair warning.  The posts will be flying

Technorati Tags: Disneyland,Nancyfest,Trip Report

Disneyland Day 01

It wouldn’t be a trip to Disney without a trip to the airport without any sleep.  This trip is no exception.  We rolled out of bed at 5am following an hour nap because I we were both working.  Enchanted Rose came home a bit earlier than normal, but there was still some packing that needed to be done.  I, on the other hand, was trying to get some work done on my project so that my time away from work wouldn’t be too badly noticed.

Our flight was scheduled to take off at 6:30AM and since it only takes about 15 minutes to get to the airport, we figured getting up at 5am would be fine.

We got to the airport at 5:30am and we were greeted with a gigantic crowd.  We forgot that this was the same time that the Dance & Cheer competition was going on at the Walt Disney World Resort®, so the ticket counters were packed with OU family and students trying to get to Orlando.

Since we were flying on Continental Airlines OnePass miles we were going to have to pay to check our bags.  The line was long and it seemed like no one knew what they were doing.  I told Enchanted Rose to just head to the gate so that the plane didn’t leave without us.  She wanted to stay with me so she got to stay with me while I grumbled the entire time about how I wouldn’t be in this long line if I was checking into Southwest Airlines.  It seems that the fact that they are needing to collect payment is slowing the process down.

After getting our bags checked to Ontario, California, we made our way to the security gate.  The line wasn’t that long but it wasn’t moving to swiftly.  When I finally got to the bins, I had to unload my 2 laptops (I was also working on this trip) and it took me over 5 minutes to get all my contents into the X-Ray machine.  This was painfully long and I’ve never seen a TSA agent check bags that thoroughly before on the X-Ray.  It wasn’t just mine, it was the same way for everyone else who went before me.

I eventually made my way through security and was getting redressed when I heard over the loudspeaker that we needed to get to our gate in 5 minutes or they’d be giving our seats away.  So, I gave my wife a look and she gave me the look back to haul booty.  So, I was off like a shot and got to the gate.  Then I slowed down to allow Enchanted Rose to catch up.  Since I was there, they weren’t going to give our seats away.

We got on the plane and found our seats.  A gentleman was in one of our seats and insisted it was his.  I was ticked off enough and didn’t want to get thrown off the plane for losing my temper, so I let him have it.  But it meant that Enchanted Rose was going to have to sit in the aisle seat instead of the window which meant that she wouldn’t be able to lean against the wall when attempting to sleep.

Then we found there was no overhead storage.  But luck would have it that there was actually some space closer to the front of the plane.  Then, we found that one of our backpacks that has always fit under the seat wouldn’t on this plane. So, it had to be stashed in an overhead bin which was nowhere near the bin that had our other bags.  To add insult to injury, that bag was the one with my iPod and iPhone so there was no way for me to be entertained with my Disney podcasts such as The WDW Radio Show or Window to the Magic.

So, we were sweating and sitting there waiting to take off.  But we noticed that a good 10 other people got on the plane many minutes after us.  What happened to the giving seats away?

Then, the pilot gets on the overhead and tells us that there will be a delay because their hydraulic fluid was low and needed to be topped off.  If the flight was delayed, why even board the plane and make people like me have to run across the airport to catch a plane that is just going to sit there?

Well, after a few moments we felt the plane start to pull away from the gate, then it stopped.  The pilot, once again, fired up the mic and told us that the tug that pushes us to the runway broke down and they were going to have to solicit a vehicle from another airline.  Up to this point, they were telling us to not worry, that we’ll get to Houston in time for everyone to make their connections.  But now, that the tug broke down they stopped with these assurances.  It took 45 minutes for them to get us towed out to the runway.  So, at the point of takeoff, the time was pretty much when we should’ve been making our descent into Houston. 

We had a tight connect in Houston, so I was sweating bullets the entire trip and wasn’t sure if we’d even get on a plane to Ontario, California if we missed our connection because I noticed that all flights were pretty much full when I booked our tickets a couple weeks prior.  To top it off, the guy sitting next to me felt that he needed to sprawl out and his elbow was in my rib cage and his knee was jamming me in the thigh.

When we landed, I immediately fired up my iPhone, went to the Continental website and located what gate our flight was going to be taking off from.  Then we looked up the map of George H.W. Bush Intercontinental Airport in the in-flight magazine to see what our plan of attack was going to be. 

We were told that there would be electric carts waiting to take people to their gates because almost everyone was late.  We quickly found out there were no carts waiting for us so we decided to walk it since it really wasn’t that far.

We got to the gate in record time and sat down.  We saw the plane was there but no one was boarding.  So, I went up to the counter and asked how much time we had because Enchanted Rose wanted to see if she had time to get a bagel.  It turns out this flight was having mechanical trouble too and was delayed upwards of 20 minutes.  So Enchanted Rose darted off to get some carbohydrate love.

She just finished eating her bagel when they started boarding our plane.  We got on the plane and took off without issue.  There was room for our overhead bags and our backpacks fit under the seat.

So, at this point, Enchanted Rose drifted off into a deep sleep while I listened to podcasts and watched the onboard film, The Longshots.

When we landed in Ontario, we knew the worst was past us and the fun was going to begin.

We met up with Enchanted Rose’s mother who was going to be joining us at Disneyland.  Enchanted Rose stayed with her mom to chat while I stood at the baggage carrousel to collect our checked bag.

It didn’t take long to get our bag so it was off to the car.  Unfortunately, enchanted rose’s mom’s health requires that she need a handicap placard on her car, but it does come in handy when needing to find a parking place.  So her car was really close to the baggage claim.  We loaded up the bags and hopped in.

The first stop was going to be In-N-Out.  For those not familiar with this fantastic burger chain, it is a family owned, non-franchised burger joint which is primarily located in Southern California.  You can find one in Las Vegas and I heard rumor one is going to be opened near Phoenix.

We weren’t really sure which way to go to get there so Enchanted Rose’s mom asked the lady at the exit to the parking lot for directions.  About this time, I had found it with the help of the Yelp application on my iPhone and asked to get directions from Google Maps.  I used these directions as a backup to the verbal ones we received from the lady at the parking lot.

We found In-N-Out rather easily and ordered our usual #2 meal consisting of a cheeseburger, fries and a drink.  We waited for our food and ate it at some outdoor tables.

Once the food was over, we were off to Disneyland.  Since it was in the middle of the day the travel was quick to Anaheim.

As soon as we got to Disneyland we made our way to The Grand Californian.  My mother-in-law stayed with the car while Enchanted Rose and I went inside to check-in.

The check-in process was really smooth.  We got a really chatty and friendly Cast Member behind the desk who seemed to be really clued into fact that this whole Disney Community exists.

After checking-in, we went and unloaded the bags from the car and since we had quite a few we decided to use the services of a bellman to get our bags to our room.

I went with the bellman while Enchanted Rose and her mom went to park the car.  The bellman put our stuff away  and made sure we had everything we needed.  I gave him a nice tip and thanked him for everything.

At this time, I should probably point out that we were in a Theme Park view room.  I immediately went out to the balcony to see what my view included.  I had an excellent view of Grizzly Peak and if I went to the far right on my balcony I got an excellent view of the Hollywood Tower Hotel.  Also, the monorail ran right outside my room.

By the time I was done with taking my pictures, Enchanted Rose and my mother-in-law were walking into the room.  At this point, we quickly changed into some cooler clothes.  It was 80-something degrees which was a heck of a lot hotter than the 19 degrees we left in Oklahoma.

After changing, we headed down to the lobby to see if we could purchase our tickets at there instead of going outside to do it.  We went to the Guest Relations desk and asked and were told that resort guests can purchase their park tickets at the front desk.  So, we went and got into line.

When we got to the desk we asked if we could get the Southern California discount that was going on since my mother-in-law was a SoCal resident.  They graciously gave us the discount which was $20 per ticket.

With tickets in hand, we made our way to the entrance into California Adventure from the hotel. 

As we walked up to the bag check and turnstile tucked away in a little side alley of the Grand Californian, I was shocked and surprised to see the same gentleman that was working this position when we were visiting Disneyland in 2007.

It took no time to get our bags checked and get into the park.  We were surprised that we didn’t need to stick are park tickets into the machine.  The Cast Member manning the turnstile had a handheld reader and scanned our tickets and sent us on our way.  I was rather relived considering the comments that have been making their way around the internet about how Disneyland is forbidding dSLR cameras into the parks or anything that may look like “professional” equipment.  Well, I have my camera bag and my multiple lenses and tripod and to a rank amateur, I might look like a  professional.  Considering these measures were taken in response to increases  paparazzi presence when certain celebrities visit the park, I would have to say that I definitely don’t look like a paparazzi.  How many would be trolling for pictures to take and sell with their wife and mother-in-law decked out in full Disney geekwear (Disney hat, Disney shirt, Disney pins, etc).

We immediately hooked a right and headed in the direction of Grizzly River Run.   As we passed the entrance to Grizzly River Run we saw Jedadiah Jones and the Miner 49’ers playing.  Enchanted Rose felt this would make a great thing to video record for our nephew Collin.  Enchanted Rose took removed the video camera from my backpack and proceeded to record, while I took pictures of things around the area.

After a few moments of recording and photo taking, Enchanted Rose’s mom  pointed out that if we were going to ride Grizzly River Run now would be the time to do it since we would have a chance to stay warm while the still was still up.  But the sun wasn’t going to stay up much longer.  She offered to stand strategically to get some pictures of us.  We decided that since my wife’s camera had a “Green Box” mode on it, that it would be the best camera to leave her with.  So she took our two backpacks and the camera and went off to await our emergence.

In case I’ve never mentioned it in my trip reports before, I hate getting wet on  rides.  I don’t particularly like getting wet in rainstorms either, but the weather cannot be avoided.  But, I decided that if I did this attraction, then the desire to do it’s clone over at Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom would be less (Kali River Rapids). 

We didn’t have much of a wait to get on this attraction and we knew there was no way we were getting off of it dry.  This was made painfully clear by observing those getting off the attraction.  I suggested we tie our coats around our waists and sit on them to try and minimize how wet our rear ends got.  I got the lovely seat next to the opening which I heard was the one that got very wet.

I pulled out my iPhone and snapped a couple pictures and sent one of them to all my friends on Twitter.

Sure enough, we go wet, very, very wet.  Considering how quickly it was getting cooler now that the sun as going down, I really didn’t see the appeal to this attraction in JANUARY!

If it was sweltering hot and I had someone to hold my bags and cameras, I could see this attraction as being enjoyable in the middle of the summer.  I’ve been to Disneyland in June and know how hot it can get.  I could see it as a great respite from the heat.  But so does a trip to the pool or a nap in the room.

After getting off the attraction we slogged our way out the exit leaving a train of water behind us as it streamed off our soaked clothes.  I think the only thing dry on me was my butt because it was covered by my fleece pullover.  Enchanted Rose, on the other hand, was trying to shield hers with a sweater and it wasn’t much of a barrier between her and the water because she ended up as soaked as if she hadn’t been sitting on it at all.

We had to look a bit for Enchanted Rose’s mother.  We thought she  might still be where we saw her taking pictures of us, but she wasn’t  It didn’t take long for us to find her.  She apparently was sitting on a bench across the way from the exit and we had walked right past her.

At this point, we found out that Enchanted Rose’s sister Julie and her lovely kids Regan and Collin were parking the car.  We asked if we had enough time to get California Screamin’ in because that is one attraction that she cannot ride with her kids.  She told us to go and have fun and to call her when we were done.

Once again, there wasn’t much of a line.  There were 3 of us, so two people were going to sit in one car and another would sit by themselves.  Enchanted Rose’s mom LOVES to sit in the front car and requested such when we got to the CM that was assigning rows.  I asked Enchanted Rose if it was alright if I sat with her mom because I could get an unobstructed view to take pictures.  I wanted to try a feature on my camera that I didn’t get to try yet. It is a burst mode that pretty much lets me hold the shutter button down and it just keeps taking pictures until the Compact Flash card’s buffer fills up.

Whenever you ask to sit in the front, you typically have to wait a couple extra cycles to get on the ride vehicle.  This was true this time even though the lines were short.

At this point, I should probably point out that the lake is drained in Disney’s California Adventure.  So, it was weird pulling up to the launch spot and there not being any water around. 

It was really hard to keep the camera steady while we were whipping about but I think I got some good pictures. It was kind of cool hearing the camera rattling off shots like a semi-automatic pistol.

Enchanted Rose was sharing her ride vehicle with a young lady who was apparently visiting from New Zealand.  She  was quite chatty and polite.  Enchanted Rose said it was quite refreshing.

When we got off California Screamin’ someone called Julie to find out her location.  She was already in Disney’s California Adventure and was heading toward us.  To make the meet up sooner, we started walking toward her and met up somewhere near the A Bug’s Life play area. 

We all decided to make Toy Story Midway Mania our next stop.  Collin likes the attraction and we definitely have grown to love it at Walt Disney World and wanted to see what it looks like at this Theme Park.

On our way to Midway Mania we stopped off at one of Collin’s favorite spots at Disney’s California Adventure.  It’s the lookout spot near the launch location for California Screamin’.  He loves to just sit there in his wheelchair and watch car after car launch to the sound of guests screaming in glee.

After we felt like Collin got his fill, we headed to Midway Mania.  For those who haven’t been reading my blog since the beginning, Collin is a Make-A-Wish kid and has many special needs which gets him a “Greenlight” pass which, I believe, is for Make-A-Wish kids.  It’s like a Guest Assistance Card (GAC) but allows access even when a fastpass or wheelchair line isn’t available.

We immediately went to the wheelchair access for Midway Mania and the cast members were very friendly and accommodating.  We had to wait a bit for a car but we eventually were loaded up.  I rode with my mother-in-law, Enchanted Rose rode with Regan and Julie rode with Collin.

The reason my mother-in-law and I rode together was because we are both left handed and when two left handed people are in a car together, it’s not as important where people sit.  Enchanted Rose and I have found that where the right handed person sits can prevent a lot of elbow banging while trying to operate the cannons.

When my mother-in-law and I got to the scene where you are busting plates the screen was not working.  We couldn’t see anything.  But we found out that we were still able to rack up points by shooting blindly.  When we got to the unloading dock, one of the cast members asked us if any of us had problems with one of the screens which we replied to the affirmative.  They had us play some musical chairs and let us ride again.  I believe they were trying to leave the seat empty that would result in putting you in the screen that was “dead”.

The 2nd trip was without issue and I was able to increase my score from the previous trip.  It was definitely a  different queue experience because Midway Mania has an open air loading area while the attraction at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida is indoors.

After Midway Mania we hopped onto King Triton’s Carousel of the Sea.  I’m not a big fan of the carousel, but even I got on and attempted to take some pictures.

After the carousel, we headed to our most favorite place to go at Disney’s California Adventure……Catch a Flav for ice cream.

While we ate our ice cream we went to the handrail overlooking the drained lake and allowed Collin to continue to watch California Screamin’ from the other side of the “lake”.

After we were done with our ice cream, we headed over to the other side of the park to take a spin on one of Collin’s must-do attractions, the Golden Zephyr.  As we were boarding our Zephyr’s Collin and Regan were picked as the Flight Commanders for our trip and were given some nice stickers.

After being flung around on the Golden Zephyrs we all made our way to the Jumping Jellyfish.  Julie sat out since she isn’t too fond of heights.

My mother-in-law was seated with Collin, Enchanted Rose rode with Regan and rode by myself.

Of course, when you are 40’ off the ground you are going to try and take some pictures.  Who could turn down such a vantage point.

From here we decided we were going to ride Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!

On our way we ran into some characters.  First it was was Sorcerer Mickey, Woody, and Cinderella near the Off the Page store.

Then we ran in to Mr. & Mrs. Incredible.  In both cases, they made every accommodation to allow us to get pictures with them.

At this point we were standing very close to Turtle Talk with Crush so we walked in to see if we could get in.  Unfortunately, we were a bit late.  We figured we had enough time to ride Monster's, Inc. and get back to see Turtle Talk.

On our way over to Monsters, Inc. we stopped to get pictures of Regan and Enchanted Rose with WALL-E and inside one of the Monstropolis cabs.

After Regan got her fill of picture taking we hopped on the Monsters Inc ride which gave us a nice quick ride through the movie’s plot.

After leaving Monsters Inc, we high tailed it back to the Turtle Talk with Crush.  Unfortunately, we got there a couple minutes after they loaded the theater for the last show. 

There was a nice older gentleman working the attraction and walked us in the back door so we could get in to see the show.  We hadn’t missed much because the Cast Member working the show was still warming up the crowd.

I noticed that the show was different than the one that I am used to seeing at The Seas in EPCOT at Walt Disney World.  After talking with Julie about the differences, she informed me there were a couple different versions of the Turtle Talk show.

At this point Julie and crew needed to head home.  Julie would be coming back later to join us for dinner, but she needed to get the kids home and she needed to get changed into nicer clothes for our evening out.

On our way to walking Julie out of California Adventure we ran into the Pixar Play Parade.  Everyone quickly ducked underneath the rope to get a spot to view the parade.  I am short and couldn’t get a good vantage point to get any decent pictures so I decided to go sit on a bench back against a wall near a shop.  It didn’t take long before a Cast Member came up to me and told me that I couldn’t sit there.  I asked where I could sit, and was told that during the parade no one can sit anywhere.  I could go into a store and shop or I needed to get on the other side of the rope.  All traffic on the outside of the rope must stay moving.

Frustrated, I ducked under the rope to join the rest of the group where they tried to make room for me.  I attempted to take some pictures but the lighting wasn’t working in my favor.  There was a really bright spot light in my frame and it kept making the exposure come out too dark.

After the parade passed, we walked Julie and her family to the exit. 

At this point there were only a few more minutes before Disney’s California Adventure was gong to close so we made a quick dash to the Hollywood Tower Hotel so we could get a go on The Tower of Terror.

Being as close to closing at it was, we really didn’t have much of a wait to get onto our elevator car.  Even though  this is a smaller version of the version at Disney’s Hollywood Studio at Walt Disney World, the ride is just as fun.

At this point, it was about 6PM and we weren’t planning on meeting up for dinner until around 8:30PM.  So, we decided to head over to the Disneyland side to see what we could do before heading to the room to change for dinner.

When we left DCA to head over to Disneyland, I was preparing to get my bag searched again and came to find out that this wasn’t going to be the case.  Apparently, they now have it setup so you only get searched once.

The people at the gate had to manually scan our park tickets here too.  But, once we were inside we headed straight over to Adventureland.

The wait for Indiana Jones was kind of long so we kept walking toward New Orleans Square and hopped on Pirates of the Caribbean.  The wait wasn’t long and we were quickly able to get onto this oldie but goodie.

There is definitely a longer opening sequence to the attraction that I had forgotten about. 

After getting off of Pirates, we got a call from Julie to find out that she was close to leaving.  Enchanted Rose and her mom felt we had enough time to get onto Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye.  I felt that there wasn’t enough time, but the majority won out.

It became quite clear that the line wasn’t going to be moving quickly and I was worried we’ll end up making Julie wait a long time for us.

After quite the wait, we finally got on Indiana Jones and even though it uses the  same ride vehicle as Dinosaur at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, I find it to be a much more enjoyable attraction.  Granted the bumpiness of the attraction makes it downright impossible to capture any pictures.

After disembarking we made a beeline back to the Grand Californian to get ready.  Since California Adventure was closed, we had to use the Downtown Disney entrance into the Grand Californian.

Enchanted Rose has gone ahead of us because she was going to acquire another parking pass from the front desk that Julie could use since parking was sparse.

As my mother-in-law and I were entering the lobby, Enchanted Rose had just acquired the parking pass. 

While we waited for Julie to show up, we went to the Gift Shop to see if we could get a security tag removed from a clothing item that was purchased while we were in the park earlier.

When Julie called to inform us she was there, Enchanted Rose went meet up with Julie so she could show her where to park.

My mother-in-law and I went to the room to start getting ready for dinner.

After I got changed, I decided to setup my tripod and see what kind of shots I could get off the balcony.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have much luck.  All my pictures came out looking terrible.

  Even though we had an 8:55PM reservation at Steakhouse 55 the ladies wanted to try and get into Catal again.  When Enchanted Rose came out for a Girl’s Weekend in November 2008, they went to Catal for dinner and loved it.

We didn’t have to wait long to get a seat and were taken to one of the tables out on the balcony.  The balcony was enclosed with plastic to keep it more comfortable for everyone

We were immediately greeted by our waitress and got our drinks quickly.  But that is where the quality of the meal started to go down.  We hardly got any refills to our drinks and when I asked for my steak to be cooked rare I got it Medium Well and my mother-in-law’s steak was cooked medium-rare instead of well done (she claims it was rare, but most people’s rare is my medium rare).

We sent our steaks back and in typically kitchen fashion, the steak I got back was so rare there was no denying it.  It was cold in the center.  I have found that this is the usual reaction I get when I complain about the temperature of my steak being over cooked. 

Needless to say, none of us were too impressed with the service.  To top off the evening’s festivities, we had a couple of 20-somethings playing a rousing game of tonsil hockey behind us.

Even though the service wasn’t great, the ladies had a good time.  There was a lot of laughing going on and if one didn’t know better they would’ve thought all 3 of them were drunk off their butts.

When the bill came we ended up not tipping our usual 20% to voice our displeasure and left.

Since we didn’t get dessert at Catal, the ladies wanted to go to the Marceline Bakery to pick up something sweet to eat.  I was exhausted at this point (it was almost 1AM our time) and just kind of went along for the ride.

The ladies continued to giggle and laugh at nothing as they shopped at the Marceline Bakery.  Enchanted Rose picked up a Rice Krispy treat that had a chocolate coating.

At this point, we said goodbye to Julie and headed to the room to go to bed. 

On our way back to the room we checked to see what time Disneyland opened in the morning.  Since they weren’t opening until 10AM we weren’t in any real hurry to get up.

And with that we called it a day

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