dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
Day 9
After the long day and the relatively late night the previous day, I did not actually set the alarm. However, I still managed to wake up in time to get up and ready to head over to the Grand Californian for Fitness in the Park. The same cast member checked us in and there was quite a big group. He took our order for our complimentary smoothie from Jamba Juice and I went with the Caribbean Passion smoothie again. He even remembered that I am allergic to bananas. Then there was a little spanner thrown into the works. He told us that the fitness instructor was not in that day and asked us if we were OK with him taking us for a power walk around the park. I was somewhat disappointed as I had already done this, but figured I was up anyway so I may as well join in.
The security guard let us into the park and the fitness instructor was coming the other way. There had been some miscommunication and she was in after all. She took us over to water front at Paradise Pier where she had set up towels, exercise balls, some water and our complimentary workout towel for each of us. It was a beautiful bright day, but not too hot at that stage. I did enjoy this, but this was a bit more of a challenge than the power walk. The first third or so was spent on hands and knees and by the end of this, my knees had to say a thing or two about this. What was a nice surprise was that I actually coped really well with the exercises that used the ball. We had to put this under our back and balance on this. I have always had issues with my balance and was a little worried about this. However, this was not an issue at all and it was only the extension exercises that I struggled with. I was pretty happy with this. We finished off with some exercises on the staircase and then we took our workout towels and headed back towards the Grand Californian. On the way, two cast members met us and handed us our smoothies. This time round, I had finished my smoothie before I even got back to the Grand Californian.
I had seen on Facebook that there was a Halloween tree at the Grand Californian. I had been in and out there a number of times, but did not notice this. So I decided to check this out. I did like it, but it is relatively small and when the lobby is busy, I suppose this is easily overlooked. This morning the lobby was empty so I took some photos and then I sat down for a spell. I love sitting in that lobby and just chilling. After a while I headed back to my hotel to get freshened up and changed and then backtracked to California Adventure.
My first port of call was to get a Fastpass for World of Color Celebrate! I ended up with a yellow Fastpass again. I stopped by the Grizzly Peak Diamond anniversary photo spot, but now that I have seen the photos, I wished I had left this until later in the day as the light was simply not right at that time of the day. The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel's Undersea Adventure was a walk on so I did this before heading down towards Toy Story Midway Mania. On the way is stopped at the California Screamin Diamond anniversary photo spot and this worked out better.
I then pushed on to Toy Story Midway Mania and this was the only time all day I had any kind of significant wait and even that was only 30 minutes or so. After this, I decided to be brave. Mickey's Fun Wheel had a waiting time of only 5 minutes for the non-swinging capsules. This ride is kind of borderline for me as I don't do too well with heights. However, this time it was fine. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that there was not a great deal of stopping and starting. I did reward myself for being brave with riding the Golden Zephyr.
Then it was time for some lunch. I headed over to Cars Land. I wanted to try a couple of things at the Cozy Cone Motel. Unfortunate they were sold at two separate cones. For my lunch I went with the Chicken Verde, which is chicken and Salsa Verde topped with Queso Fresco in a bread cone. This was full of flavour and very delicious. For a drink, I had set my heart on Ramone's Pear of Dice soda. This had quite an unusual taste, but again I enjoyed it.
As I was in the area anyway, I headed over to Radiator Springs Racers. Although the standby line was about an hour, the single rider line was very quiet. I managed to do this three times in a row. The car I was in only won once.
As I was already there, I decided to check who was out meeting people by the Cozy Cone Motel. It was Lightning McQueen and I got in line. Once I was done with him, I also had some Photopass photos taken on the street. One thing I did notice is that they have scaled down the presence of photographers. In 2013 and 2014, there were photographers near the entrance by the Cars Land sign, the on the street near the Cozy Cone Motel, near Luigi's and near the City Hall. This time round there was only the photographer on the street near the Cozy Cone Motel. The only explanation that I have is that those photographers were reassigned to the Diamond anniversary photo spots.
Speaking of Diamond anniversary photo spots, this was my next port of call. I was still missing one, which was located in A Bug's Land. Some of the photographers had mentioned that this is their favourite one of the six photo spots and when the photographer explained the concept behind this, it was rather clever. I also like how the photos have come out.
I crossed over into Hollywood Land. I had planned to ride Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, but unfortunately the ride was down. So I headed over to see Olaf instead. This could not have been more different from my first meeting with Olaf. This time round there was one family ahead of me and nobody behind me for quite some while. So I got some real quality time with Olaf. Once I saw another family approaching, I said my goodbyes and moved on.
At some point between Cars Land and Olaf, I had started to message with Erin, who is an admin of a Disney Facebook group that I belong to. She is local to Disneyland and was planning to visit Disneyland with her kids that afternoon. She wondered if I fancied meeting up. I definitely did. We messaged back and forth for a bit and then she told me she would be in touch once they had arrived.
I got some iced water and then wandered over to Buena Vista Street. I decided that I was going to get the Diamond Anniversary hoodie that I had been eyeing since my first evening there. Unfortunately when I went inside Elias and Co, they no longer had this in 2XL. I decided to check with one of the cast members if they may still have one out back. They did not, but she checked the inventory and it showed that they still had a couple at Star Traders. She asked me if I had the ability to park hop, which I confirmed and then offered that she could call them and ask them to hold it for me. I took her up on this offer and she made the necessary arrangements. I thanked her and headed over to Disneyland. On the way I took a couple of photos.
After the long day and the relatively late night the previous day, I did not actually set the alarm. However, I still managed to wake up in time to get up and ready to head over to the Grand Californian for Fitness in the Park. The same cast member checked us in and there was quite a big group. He took our order for our complimentary smoothie from Jamba Juice and I went with the Caribbean Passion smoothie again. He even remembered that I am allergic to bananas. Then there was a little spanner thrown into the works. He told us that the fitness instructor was not in that day and asked us if we were OK with him taking us for a power walk around the park. I was somewhat disappointed as I had already done this, but figured I was up anyway so I may as well join in.
The security guard let us into the park and the fitness instructor was coming the other way. There had been some miscommunication and she was in after all. She took us over to water front at Paradise Pier where she had set up towels, exercise balls, some water and our complimentary workout towel for each of us. It was a beautiful bright day, but not too hot at that stage. I did enjoy this, but this was a bit more of a challenge than the power walk. The first third or so was spent on hands and knees and by the end of this, my knees had to say a thing or two about this. What was a nice surprise was that I actually coped really well with the exercises that used the ball. We had to put this under our back and balance on this. I have always had issues with my balance and was a little worried about this. However, this was not an issue at all and it was only the extension exercises that I struggled with. I was pretty happy with this. We finished off with some exercises on the staircase and then we took our workout towels and headed back towards the Grand Californian. On the way, two cast members met us and handed us our smoothies. This time round, I had finished my smoothie before I even got back to the Grand Californian.
I had seen on Facebook that there was a Halloween tree at the Grand Californian. I had been in and out there a number of times, but did not notice this. So I decided to check this out. I did like it, but it is relatively small and when the lobby is busy, I suppose this is easily overlooked. This morning the lobby was empty so I took some photos and then I sat down for a spell. I love sitting in that lobby and just chilling. After a while I headed back to my hotel to get freshened up and changed and then backtracked to California Adventure.
My first port of call was to get a Fastpass for World of Color Celebrate! I ended up with a yellow Fastpass again. I stopped by the Grizzly Peak Diamond anniversary photo spot, but now that I have seen the photos, I wished I had left this until later in the day as the light was simply not right at that time of the day. The Little Mermaid ~ Ariel's Undersea Adventure was a walk on so I did this before heading down towards Toy Story Midway Mania. On the way is stopped at the California Screamin Diamond anniversary photo spot and this worked out better.
I then pushed on to Toy Story Midway Mania and this was the only time all day I had any kind of significant wait and even that was only 30 minutes or so. After this, I decided to be brave. Mickey's Fun Wheel had a waiting time of only 5 minutes for the non-swinging capsules. This ride is kind of borderline for me as I don't do too well with heights. However, this time it was fine. I think this had a lot to do with the fact that there was not a great deal of stopping and starting. I did reward myself for being brave with riding the Golden Zephyr.
Then it was time for some lunch. I headed over to Cars Land. I wanted to try a couple of things at the Cozy Cone Motel. Unfortunate they were sold at two separate cones. For my lunch I went with the Chicken Verde, which is chicken and Salsa Verde topped with Queso Fresco in a bread cone. This was full of flavour and very delicious. For a drink, I had set my heart on Ramone's Pear of Dice soda. This had quite an unusual taste, but again I enjoyed it.
As I was in the area anyway, I headed over to Radiator Springs Racers. Although the standby line was about an hour, the single rider line was very quiet. I managed to do this three times in a row. The car I was in only won once.
As I was already there, I decided to check who was out meeting people by the Cozy Cone Motel. It was Lightning McQueen and I got in line. Once I was done with him, I also had some Photopass photos taken on the street. One thing I did notice is that they have scaled down the presence of photographers. In 2013 and 2014, there were photographers near the entrance by the Cars Land sign, the on the street near the Cozy Cone Motel, near Luigi's and near the City Hall. This time round there was only the photographer on the street near the Cozy Cone Motel. The only explanation that I have is that those photographers were reassigned to the Diamond anniversary photo spots.
Speaking of Diamond anniversary photo spots, this was my next port of call. I was still missing one, which was located in A Bug's Land. Some of the photographers had mentioned that this is their favourite one of the six photo spots and when the photographer explained the concept behind this, it was rather clever. I also like how the photos have come out.
I crossed over into Hollywood Land. I had planned to ride Monsters, Inc. Mike & Sulley to the Rescue!, but unfortunately the ride was down. So I headed over to see Olaf instead. This could not have been more different from my first meeting with Olaf. This time round there was one family ahead of me and nobody behind me for quite some while. So I got some real quality time with Olaf. Once I saw another family approaching, I said my goodbyes and moved on.
At some point between Cars Land and Olaf, I had started to message with Erin, who is an admin of a Disney Facebook group that I belong to. She is local to Disneyland and was planning to visit Disneyland with her kids that afternoon. She wondered if I fancied meeting up. I definitely did. We messaged back and forth for a bit and then she told me she would be in touch once they had arrived.
I got some iced water and then wandered over to Buena Vista Street. I decided that I was going to get the Diamond Anniversary hoodie that I had been eyeing since my first evening there. Unfortunately when I went inside Elias and Co, they no longer had this in 2XL. I decided to check with one of the cast members if they may still have one out back. They did not, but she checked the inventory and it showed that they still had a couple at Star Traders. She asked me if I had the ability to park hop, which I confirmed and then offered that she could call them and ask them to hold it for me. I took her up on this offer and she made the necessary arrangements. I thanked her and headed over to Disneyland. On the way I took a couple of photos.
...but as you say, we had the meet at the Halloween Party coming up which was great fun!
