June 14, 2011

California Dreamin' (Day 3)

And so we come to Day 3, my last full day in California. After getting up early the previous two days, we allowed ourselves to sleep in on Sunday. We had no activities planned, so when we finally awoke, we were at the mercy of whatever we could dream up to do. That turned out to be acting like children at Disneyland!

During my last trip to California, we were hoping to squeeze in an afternoon at Disneyland. Unfortunately, the weather was crappy and the park sold out (ironic right?), so it was not to be. Therefore, I was thrilled to be able to visit this time around. I've also had the pleasure of visiting Disney World and Disneyland Paris, so the trifecta was now complete.

We piled into the car and made the drive to Anaheim, ready for a magical day. If you are not familiar with the overly perky nature of Disney, they insist you have a magical time when visiting the parks, so we kept a magic tally. When we arrived, we boarded a tram that takes you from the parking deck to the park. But it turns out our tram was broken. We putted along at about 1mph for a while before another tram was finally brought to rescue us. Our driver was great about it, though; a truly hilarious guy. He turned our crawl into a nature watch, pointing out such exotic flora as a tree and a bush. He also kindly tried to divert our attention away from the pedestrians who were walking faster than we were traveling. I found the whole experience far funnier than I probably should have. Ah, Disney, you brought the magic early.

Once we finally made it into the park, I was disappointed by the lackluster Disneyland castle. I appreciate the pink, but it was just so... small. Come on, Disney, you can do better than that. One point was deducted from the magic tally. Anyway, we made our way to Tomorrowland and got things rolling (literally) with a ride on Space Mountain. We were looking to ride Star Tours, but the wait was almost three hours - the shortest wait time for that ride all day. Having been on Star Tours in Paris (yes, I realize the rides differ slightly at each resort), I can safely say it is not worth waiting three to four hours to ride. I'm not sure I could justify that for any ride.

I won't take you through every ride we experienced, but we bounced around hitting the Matterhorn, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, Indiana Jones (not the same as Paris and no where near as cool), Space Mountain again, Buzz Lightyear, and finally got soaking wet on Splash Mountain (+1 magic point for each). I was disappointed Big Thunder Mountain wasn't running (-1 magic point), but I suppose I can wait til August when I visit Disney World (blog foreshadowing!).



I wish we could have stayed for the fireworks, but we were already freezing, and we still had packing to do before our flights the next morning (lame!), so we called it a day and headed back to Burbank. On the drive back, we got to see LA by night and experience what California drivers are like when it "rains." I use the term loosely, because frankly, it was a light drizzle. Nonetheless, we went from 80mph to 40mph in about 6 seconds flat. Oh, LA, you slay me.

We also got to experience LA rush hour the next morning on our way to LAX. That was an experience I could have done without, but what's a trip to California without a little traffic? It's good for me since our idea of traffic is seven cars waiting to pass a tractor on a two-lane road. But again, I digress.

Nothing much to share about Day 4 seeing as it was just a travel day. I spent two hours sitting around LAX hating the idea of leaving and then another six on a plane wondering if my seat-mates would judge me if I weeped the whole way home. Now it's back to life as usual. Sad. Am I the only one who ends up with post-travel depression (PTD if you will)? No matter how exhausting it is to travel, live out of a suitcase, and get up early to sightsee, I never want it to end. Fortunately, I have more travels coming up soon.

P.S. For anyone doing the math, the final magic tally came to... some number around 10. I lost count between the delicious ice cream sundae I consumed on Main Street USA and the rude Disney employee who accused me of breaking a pen. NOT magical, sir.

2 comments:

  1. Pardon this interruption... you're going to Disney World?! A place I've longed for for so crazy long? Disneyland I do not want. I need DW. Take me with you!

    Anywho, I'm glad you had a fun Disney day! I love the hilarious driver guy.. people like that are my faves. I am a PTD sufferer, too... even when my "travels" only land me 45 minutes away from home. Oh to be you, Sweets. ;) In all sparkly honestly, you deserved this lovely trip and I'm so happy you have this blog to share it. You rock AND roll... and chew bubble gum. All at the same time!

    Hugs and blessings! :o) You make me smile.

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  2. You make ME smile, Sweets! Thanks as always for your lovely comments.

    And yes, I am indeed going to Disney World! My friend is shipping off to med school at the end of the summer, so she wants to get in one last hurrah. She asked if I would accompany her to Disney where we could be immature and let loose. It was rough, but I decided to take that bullet ;) Come with!

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