Thumping Our Way Through Disneyland. The Dream Begins.

[Thumper_Man]

Originally Posted by smidgy

a dole whip float is really good with rum....well, I imagine it would be.. not that I would know....

I'm curious to know how you would know. I remember someone getting busted and had their bottles confiscated. Must've been a different trip. Yeah, that's it.

[Thumper_Man]

Originally Posted by dwheatl

We rode the new Matterhorn early in the day, and it was super-bumpy. It jarred my joints. People told me it gets smoother later in the day. Don't know if that's true or not.

Oh now you tell us. Kidding of course. You'll have to ride it and let us know. Don't think we'll get the chance anytime soon. Hopefully next year.

[Thumper_Man]

Originally Posted by cp'ersmom

It's almost impossible not to compare the two parks so don't apologize or blame Nebo, it's uncontrollable.

This is very true. We found ourselves comparing a few things here and there. LIke PotC. We would say, "Oh this is different. Did they have this at MK? I don't remember." I think we did it mostly to take mental notes for this TR.

And I can blame Nebo all I want. Don't mean he's going to take the blame. He knows it's all in good fun. I hope. If he didn't, then I'm sure he would've cancelled our meet by now.

Originally Posted by cp'ersmom

I've only ever had one dole whip and wasn't impressed but I like Smidgy's rum idea!

Me to. Going to have to give this a try in December.

Originally Posted by cp'ersmom

Ponzi, the castle really is that small but you can walk through it and t tells the tale of Sleepy Beauty. It used to be a hidden gem.

Hey, now you're getting ahead of us here. Kidding of course. I'm sure many know this already.

Originally Posted by cp'ersmom

Sounds like you guys had a great day, nothing better than not having to go commando and still getting to see the whole park in one day.

So far it started out to be a great day. Would it last though?

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Anybody remember where we left off?

At that place, with the thing, and the stuff, and the ride and…You member!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

I've been busy at work and at home I haven't had much time to post.

What is life thinking? Getting in the way of Dis’ing!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

(Insert Jeopardy Theme Music Here)

Oh great, Now I got that stupid tune in my head!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Ok, I'm back. I remember now.

Phew…I was afraid you were gonna ask me, and we know how well that goes over.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

After climbing the Matterhorn, I figured Lady H may be getting a little lonely waiting for me to come back down; so I jumped off the mountain so we can continue on with our DL day. Hey, if Secret Ponzi Man can stop the purse snatchers, I can climb the Matterhorn.

Wait a minute, if your making stuff up here…How come you got to do it and I didn’t?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Smidgy, you don’t have to worry about the heights too much on this ride. You spend a lot of time going in and out of the mountain, that you hardly ever notice the height factor. Just make sure and wear knee and elbow pads. It wasn’t completely horrible. There were a few parts that were pretty smooth, but overall I found it to be a rough ride. Might have been a little smoother if I wasn’t trying to take video and actually held on.

I held on and I think it was still kinda rough. Looking at it from the ground, it looked a lot higher than it really was once you got on it. After riding Everest at Animal Kingdom, I expected worse, so I was happy that I got through this and lived to tell the tale. I would ride it again without repeating my mantra too, so that should say something.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

After suffering whiplash, (ok that may be exaggerating just a little) we toured the rest of Fantasyland. I had heard about Mr. Toads Wild Ride and how people miss it over at WDW. We had to see for ourselves what the hype was about. The wait again was only 5-minutes. On the ride, Lady H drove and she kept wrecking into all the walls and stuff. See if I ever let her drive again. If really was a cute ride.

For some reason the one thing that stuck out on this ride were the people in front of us. I want to say they were from England if I remember the accent correctly. But it was 2 small children, probably no older than 7, and the grandmother. And as they got up to the front of the line, the grandmother actually wanted to see if one of the kids could ride by themselves while she went with the other child. Talk about picking favorites. You have to wonder what that conversation went like before getting in line…

“You go on and ride that car there, I’ll go with my favorite, if you fall out or anything, we’ll come back around and pick you up OK?”

Needless to say, the CM didn’t allow that to happen, and they all had to ride in the same car, together.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Well the only picture that didn't come out blurry. We couldn’t get our camera settings right while on the ride itself. We would eventually figure them out, but until then we had a bunch of “what were we trying to take pictures of here” pictures that got deleted just as fast as they go uploaded.

In my defense, My camera was pretty new. I won it at a training I went to and had only used it once or twice before this trip. So I was still learning all the settings and what it could actually do. Your camera on the other hand, is the one you use all the time. So you have no excuse Mr.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Needless to say, Lady H had never tried a Dole Whip and I learned where in the Land to buy them. There’s a stand close to the Enchanted Tiki Room that sells them. Well at least we thought that’s where we could get one. We walk up and it’s CLOSED. I hope it’s not closed all day. We’ll try again a little later.

T-Man has hyped up these Dole Whips so much I was excited to try one. I don’t mind Pineapple, and while I may not be as enthusiastic as he is on the subject matter, but I had to try these things and then the place is closed. And evidentially this is the ONLY place to find them at DL.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Don't know what these tablets were or said. Probably some kind of warning to turn back and run for your life. Since I don't read hieroglyphics, we pursued on.

Looks like Nebo had that one covered for you. We may need to take lessons from him when we meet up in December.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Again, we figured out why the wait is 10-minutes. This another LLOONNGG queue. Felt like we were never going to reach the ride.

We noticed on a lot of the major attractions, the wait times were posted as 10-15 minutes but by the time we got to the actual ride, we walked right on. After walking through the crazy queue’s we realized the wait time wasn’t so much wait time as it was walking time.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Now there are some similarities and major differences between MK and DL PotC. The first major difference is the queue. MK’s queue gets pretty dark, pretty quick. Not so much at DL. Most of the queue is outside. Even when you come in, it does get dark, but not like at MK. The Blue Bayou restaurant is also part of DL’s queue. It adds a nice touch for the beginning and ending of the ride. Once you enter the ride, it feels like you’re in a swamp. As you go through, you enter a little room before taking not one, but 2 drops. After the 2nd drop, you see a bunch of skeletons. I don’t remember if there’s any at the beginning over at MK, but there were sure a lot more at DL. This is one of the major differences from the MK version. As you go along, you soon see the mist and the projection of Davy Jones. Blackbeard has yet to be added. The next few scenes are pretty similar. Barbossa on the pirate ship, the village call girls, pirates chasing wenches around the village, village on fire and the jail cells. If my memory serves me correct, after the jail cells at MK, you get to the end where Captain Jack is sitting in a chair surrounded by riches. At the end at DL, you have one more scene before getting to Captain Jack. Once you pass Captain Jack, a big conveyor belt takes you up, up and away. You have to jump ship and swim back to shore. So all you WDW fans, turn away again; score one more for DL. At least in my books. The added scenes seemed to make PotC at DL just a little better.

If my memory serves me correctly (and we all know how accurate that can be ) I believe it was Blackbeard in the mist. I remember this because I commented on trying to remember who it was, because I have yet to see all of PoTC 4. We even commented that there were a few added scenes from the 4th movie and that I would have to see the whole movie now to understand it all.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Sorry folks, I thought we had pictures, but I guess not. I guess we actually decided to enjoy an attraction. Bad Thumpers, Bad. Don’t you know the readers will need pics. I pulled a semi-Ponzi on this one. For some odd reason, one of the batteries to my camera didn’t charge up completely. By the time we got to PotC, my battery was quickly dying. I did have a spare battery with me, but I thought I would save it for later in the day. Besides the battery in Lady H’s camera was still showing a good charge, so I thought I would let her take the pics for a while.

Obviously I was not informed that I was now the cameraman for this ride, and didn’t take any pics. Of course it’s always hard to get good pics on the ride when you can’t use your flash because of how dark it is inside.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

I heard from a good source that this attraction would be closing on Aug. 27th for about a week so that they can do a holiday refurb. Today would be our only chance to see it. And what do you know, only a 5-minute wait again. I feel like I could hit the lottery today.

We knew we had to get in at least one ride today, since it was going to be closed the rest of the week. The queue was a little different from what I remember from MK, but once you get to the actual ride, it’s exactly the same in regards to the moving walkway. I had completely spaced this out until I stepped onto the moving walkway and almost biffed it.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Now since the last time we’ve been to MK, I know they have done a refurb on HM. I don’t know what they changed, but I hear the queue is different. Other than the outside, I can tell you the ride itself is the same.

Well now we will definitely have to ride the one at MK in December to make a better comparison. This may be why I thought the queue was different.

Regarding the actual ride, I noticed a few differences, the graveyard to me was a little different than I remember. Wasn’t as “lively” as I recall from MK, but again, it’s been a while since I’ve been on the one in MK so I could be mistaken.

And I can never get a picture of that darn hitchhiking ghost. I’m pretty sure it’s because of the holographic image, and trying to take a picture of a holographic image is almost impossible. But one of these days I am determined to do it. That way when odd things start happening around the house, and things go missing, I know who to blame.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Anyone read Riglee’s report? Remember what they would do on dark rides? We’re on our anniversary. So we only did some snogging on part of the ride. If you know where to look for Hidden Mickey’s, some of the same one’s are here as well.

Hmmm…Maybe this is why I don’t remember the graveyard as much…

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Once we finished walking through the queue, we waited all of 2-minutes to get on the ride. Lady H graciously let me have the front and she sat right behind me.

I forgot you took this picture. The sun was directly in my eyes so I was squinting to even see what was going on. I thoughtfully stored my sunglasses in my bag instead of on my face! And of course T-Man has to take an over the head shot of my dimple…Lovely!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

First difference you notice, you sit single instead of side-by-side.

This was a little uncomfortable, but I think it was more so because we also had our bags with us, so we were trying to hold onto our bags in a way so they wouldn’t get too wet, or at least so the stuff inside will stay dry. I had graduated to raising my hands in the air on the drop at the one in MK, this was whole new territory for me, with the new sitting arrangements. My hands were securely holding on for dear life.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Getting off SM totally soaked, Lady H and I take a few moments to dry off before taking a quick ride on Winnie the Pooh.

I was quite proud of this picture, I finally found the anti-blur setting on my camera just as the ride was about to end and snapped it.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Only attraction we rode was Roger Rabbit’s (no relation) Car Toon Spin. His wife is one hot............................

Hi Lady H. Don’t worry, she’s not real. I only got love for you.

Now I understand why you weren’t so upset with me when I dyed my hair red recently!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

The ride, very similar to Mr. Toad and WtP. Only difference here is the car spins and you control how it spins. After the ride, we looked around Toontown for a while.

Yeah, this ride I let T-Man drive since I got to drive on Mr. Toad…Not that great of an idea. If he thought I was a crazy driver… (no smiley). He had us spinning in every direction. To say the least, I couldn’t get any good shots of this ride. The minute I had a shot lines up in the lens, there we go spinning again.

If I remember correctly, you can’t spin the whole ride, which is good. There are certain spots that you have a little control over the spin. It was rather fun to watch T-Man trying to spin the heck out of the thing on the straightaways and then let out a whoo hoo when we would go into a major spin because he had the wheel turned all the way to one side when the spinning sections came up.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

SCORE! 2 Dole Whip Floats all for me.

Given the opportunity, he would have had both of them. Don’t think he’s kidding here. And I did like it. I will do another comparison later on the whip vs. the float, but I really did enjoy it, except for the fact that I was getting it everywhere but my mouth. It was literally melting faster than I could eat it.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Remember the first picture we showed you of Space Mountain's wait time? Here is the current wait time 3 hours and 45 minutes later. We took the picture before climbing up the ramp to Innoventions.

It was interesting to see the lines and the wait times now as opposed to when we first got there. If I remember correctly, even Star Tours was up to a 40 minute wait when we were walking out. .

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Well, we weren’t that impressed with Innoventions. Probably because all the adults were hogging the good games. One of the funnest (funnest? more fun? most fun?) things we did inside was design our dream home. It did one heck of a job and I wish I had the money to build it. I would need to hit the lottery and then some.

I really wanted to try the aging computer. It would have given me an idea of what T-Man would look like in a few years…but alas…other people were thinking the same thing I guess, because there was a wait to get to this…where’s the fast pass when you need one!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

After we snapped back into reality and realized that the dream home was just that, a dream, we decided to go and wait for the monorail. We went round and round in circles trying to figure out how to get out. Kept looking at all the exit signs and they all kept pointing to the left. We walked around in circles before we finally figured it out.

Literally walked in circles. We kept seeing the exit sign, and there were doors, but we had no clue where they would take you or if you could walk out of them and land up still in the park. I was afraid I would end up in the backstage area, and security would be there to throw us in Disney jail for trespassing. So we kept bypassing each exit until we came to the exact area we began. At least it was familiar. The only problem now was hoping that the door that lead back to the center of it all was making its way around with us and we didn’t have to stop and wait for the rotating door.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

This is Manny.

Manny was fun! And he was very proud of his new look from Ramone. He kept mentioning it as we went.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

12 noon and we finished DL in half a day. Well most of DL. EMH and low crowds really helped us get through the lines quick throughout the morning. As you can tell, they were really starting to pick up so we decided now was good time to take a break.

I couldn’t believe that we did it all in half a day. By the time we sat down for lunch I was already pretty tired, and now I know why. But it was nice to be able to see the park without the massive crowds we are used to seeing.


Great chapter!

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Originally Posted by smidgy

a dole whip float is really good with rum....well, I imagine it would be.. not that I would know....

Never thought about this…Will save info for future reference. By this time we still hadn’t made it to the store for mini’s.

Originally Posted by cp'ersmom

Ponzi, the castle really is that small but you can walk through it and t tells the tale of Sleepy Beauty. It used to be a hidden gem.

We have some info on that coming up later actually. This also includes pictures

Originally Posted by cp'ersmom

Sounds like you guys had a great day, nothing better than not having to go commando and still getting to see the whole park in one day.

It was definitely fun and exciting.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

You didn't fail. You were just as excited as I was. We'll just have to remember for next time.

Awww. Thanks!

[queenbetsey]

did you find our favorite bar while you were at DCA? they have a great little place above the itialian restraunt there called the alfresco lounge, quiet and really pretty. they also have on that overlooks screamin but that is really kinda loud, fun but loud

[Thumper_Man]

Originally Posted by queenbetsey

did you find our favorite bar while you were at DCA? they have a great little place above the itialian restraunt there called the alfresco lounge, quiet and really pretty. they also have on that overlooks screamin but that is really kinda loud, fun but loud

I'll say this. We saw both. I think I know which one's you're referring to. There was one particular bar we were rather fond of. You'll find out which when we get there. It may or may not be one of these you mentioned.

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man's Wife

Oh great, Now I got that stupid tune in my head!

Yeah, give him a little "love tap" for the rest of us will ya?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man's Wife

I forgot you took this picture. The sun was directly in my eyes so I was squinting to even see what was going on. I thoughtfully stored my sunglasses in my bag instead of on my face! And of course T-Man has to take an over the head shot of my dimple…Lovely!

That is a lovely dimple! And a very nice natural looking candid pic. Now for the big bunny, is that fur in the foreground getting a bit thin?!?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man's Wife

I really wanted to try the aging computer. It would have given me an idea of what T-Man would look like in a few years…but alas…other people were thinking the same thing I guess, because there was a wait to get to this…where’s the fast pass when you need one!

For that, check out the picture above and extrapolate...

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Originally Posted by nebo

Yes, we left off where you were going to send my 200 Disney dollars cuz they were going to expire in 2013 anyway, and you knew that we could use them.

Right…that’s it. Somewhere down the line, we must have blown it on the ridiculous rate of postage to Canada. (Yes)

Originally Posted by nebo

Every time I try mentally, I keep coming up with Green acres.
"Oh, Olivah"

Between you and T-Man, My head is going to explode. Now not only am I going through the Jeopardy theme music, but randomly Green Acres starts creeping in and it’s not pretty!

Originally Posted by nebo

Right. Since we are playing pretend, can I also pretend you then fell off and were dashed on the rocky tourists below? Or would that be the trusty rocks below?

Sure. Anything can happen in the land of make believe…didn’t you ever watch Mr. Rogers?

Originally Posted by nebo

Gee, I wish I could exaggerate stuff like that once in a while and make things up. Gotta be a lot less painfull.

Less painful for whom?

Originally Posted by nebo

Ok, now right here it sounds a lot like Everest. Yes? No?

Kind of. Well…No, but in a way…Yeah…Hmm…Technically, It’s as close to Everest as you will get here. The drops are not as steep, and you don’t get attacked by a Yetti, you get attacked by an Abominable Snowman. His arms move and his eyes glow, and he does growl at you. But I think that’s pretty much where the similarities stop. Matterhorn isn’t as tall as Everest, and you don’t get the big knee buckling drops you get at Everest…Of course I’m not the best person to compare the two, since I’ve yet to open my eyes all the way through Everest

Originally Posted by nebo

I miss it. I'd rather have the Toad, warts and all over Pooh and his honey pot.
Hmm, that whole sentance sounds like it's fresh out of Hustler, doesn't it?

I forgot all about Mr. Toads Wild Ride until we came upon it and then we just HAD to go. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything majorly exciting for T-Man. His idea of exciting is Space Mountain. I’ll take Mr.Toads any day.

Originally Posted by nebo

that's just great. As compared to me who ends up crawling into/onto most rides.
Or being carried.

Hey, How do you get carry-on service?

Originally Posted by nebo

Hold on a moment, I can read Hiero,,,,,uh huh, yes,,, ok, I got it.

"Road construction next 24 miles."

Originally Posted by nebo

Yep, might as well, they're still blaming the dinosaur extinction on me.
Oh, and if I hadn't milked Mrs. O'Leary's cow.......

Let’s not bring up that poor cow again…I think the poor things been through enough.

Originally Posted by nebo

Right, from snoggin immediately to hidden Mickeys.

Obviously I wasn’t as exciting as the hidden Mickeys.

Originally Posted by nebo

Fool. One thing I have learned in Disney; the closest to the front you sit on a water type ride, the wetter yoiu will get.

I’m no fool. That is exactly why I let him have the seat in front of me. Needless to say, I still got pretty darn wet.

Originally Posted by nebo

Oh boy, something new.

I love Roger Rabbit’s ride. It’s fun, and you never know when to expect those spins.

Originally Posted by nebo

Yeah, great chapter my friend, I even learned something.

Then we did our job…There will be a test at the end of this TR.

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

Originally Posted by bankr63

Yeah, give him a little "love tap" for the rest of us will ya?

You got it!

Originally Posted by bankr63

That is a lovely dimple! And a very nice natural looking candid pic. Now for the big bunny, is that fur in the foreground getting a bit thin?!?

Thank you for saying my dimple is lovely. As for the fur getting a bit thin...We don't talk about that. It's a sore subject for T-Man. Just kidding. he considers it a sore subject. I just laugh every time he brings it up...he's threatened shaving off his hair numerous times now.

Originally Posted by bankr63

For that, check out the picture above and extrapolate...

[Thumper_Man]

Something feels funny. I must be thinking too hard. (Winnie the Pooh)


And thinking too hard we were. We were hungry but didn’t really want to eat CS. We wanted to sit down for a while, relax. Ok, what we really wanted was an ice-cold beer. Two options: A. we head over to DCA and get one there; or B. go to Downtown Disney and get one there. Obviously we had already decided that from the last chapter.

Lady H and I board Manny and let him take us back to Downtown Disney. We’re leaving the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy, today; only to come back later since we won’t be going there tomorrow but later on in the near future.

Another reason we’re headed to downtown is so we can go to Paradise Pier and buy postage for the postcards. When we bought the postcards, we asked the CM where we could get postage. She let us know that PP sold it. We figured we can sit down and have lunch, have a beer and explore the resorts.

Manny is cruising along and tells us how Ramone gave him and the other monorails a new pimped out paint job. We should go check him out over at the new Carsland. On our way to downtown, Manny also cruises us through the Grand Californian. Looks nice. Might have to stop by and check this place out as well. We may never afford to stay here, but at least we can see what we’ll be missing out on.

Manny pulls in to the downtown monorail stop. We hop on out and start going down more stairs. At the end of the stairs is a CM with something in her hand, and she’s smacking people’s hands with it. Lady H and I pause afraid we might lose our hand until we examine the situation. Everyone seems to be getting through with both their hands and all their fingers intact, so it must be safe. We finish proceeding down the stairs and stick out our hands and hope for the best. 10 seconds later I’m through and so is Lady H. We both have our hands and fingers but are now branded with this invisible mark that can only be seen with a special flashlight. We’re told if we want to get back into the park, we needed this special hand stamp.

Let me refresh your memory here a little. I said there would be a love/hate relationship with the tickets. No finger scans, but they use a stamp. Keep this in mind as we move along.

Lady H and I walk through downtown trying to figure out what we want to eat. Don’t want to do Rainforest Café because we have reservations for later on in the week for dinner.

Tortilla Jo’s is out of the question. One thing about living in New Mexico, we get accustomed to the local Spanish cuisine. It’s very rare that we will eat Spanish food when we travel, unless we take some along with us and make it ourselves. Which we’ve been known to do in the past. The chili here in NM is much different than most states. Anyone ever heard of Hatch Green Chili? It is grown in the southern part of our state. Leave it growing long enough and eventually it will turn red. So if you ever have been in NM, or come to NM, the famous question you will here is “Red or Green?” Anyways, since we’ve become so accustomed to this NM favorite, canned chili just isn’t all that great to us.

Still trying to decide on a place, we spot the ESPN Zone. I read good reviews about this place so we agree to give it a try. We walk in and give our name the hostess. She says give her a couple of minutes and she’ll seat us right away.

Cool. We walk in with no reservation and get a table almost right away. People weren’t kidding when they said you don’t really need reservations here like you do at WDW. Lady H and I each order our much needed beer along with a soda. Ok, our much desired beer. We look over the menu (because it would’ve been too simple to put it down and watch the games on all the tv’s) and try to figure out what to eat.
After a looking at the million and one things they have on the menu, we decided to get only appetizers. The Ultimate Tailgate Appetizer Platter that is. Comes complete with hamburger sliders, buffalo & bbq chicken wings, chicken tenders, bbq riblets and dip.

Now the dip I have never tried before so I was little leery about it, but it turns out I would absolutely love this dip. I could’ve eaten only this and I would be content.

I’ve never tried artichokes before. Thought they would do just that, make you choke. Turns out I was wrong. If you ever want a good artichoke and spinach dip, I would recommend it here; unless of course you don’t like artichokes, spinach or even cheese for that matter.

A fair warning if you’re going to order this platter as well. Take an army with you because it is a lot of food. That or don’t eat all day and have this for dinner. For 4 people, this could probably be a decent appetizer. For 2 people, it’s a meal and then some. I think we managed to finish half, but that was about it. Price wasn’t too bad either. $39.99 for the platter.

While sitting down and enjoying our beer, I remember that the battery in my camera died. Now would be a good time to switch it out. We’re headed over to the hotels and it would be nice to get some pics. Waiter comes over and hands us the bill. Lady H has so graciously offered to treat me to lunch. A woman after my heart, although she already knows it belongs to her. She glances at the bill and sees it’s less than $30. Wow for a $40 pile of food, 2 beers and 2 sodas, that’s cheap.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Some of you are thinking we need to let the waiter know he charged us wrong. Others are thinking like me. Cool, he screwed up let him take the loss. We did what was right and brought it to his attention. Turns out he handed us the wrong bill. Trust me, we thought about not saying anything and just pay for the bill he handed us, but then we would feel guilty the next hour or so. While Lady H is waiting for the proper bill, I excuse myself and go the restroom.

Now guys, is this the coolest thing you’ve ever seen in a restroom?


Even above the used beer department.



I’ve read advertisements and the sports page, but never have I been able to stand (or sit for that matter) to do my business and WATCH sports.

I showed Lady H the pics and she started laughing. “Only you would think to take pictures of that,” she told me. I told her I want to do this at home now. I got that look. Guys know the look. "Uh-huh. Sure. Go right ahead" she tells me. "Where you going to get the money to do that?" Always a catch.

After lunch, we set out for Paradise Pier Hotel.



I tell Lady H “I wonder if Earl of Sandwich is open yet?” So we head out in search of EoS. We’ve yet to eat EoS so we thought maybe we could try it for lunch later on in the week. Get to where it’s supposed to be and they’re still working on it. I think. You can tell it’s almost done, but I didn’t see any workers actually working on it at the time. So who knows how much longer it will be until it’s open.

We walk to Paradise Pier and enter the back way. Again we must try to navigate our way through the hotel. Wasn’t as hard as the DLH and we find our way to the front desk. We ask the CM where we can buy postage stamps for postcards.

"I can sell them to you right here."

"Great we’ll take 10."

"That will be $3.20"

I had him over my debit card.
“Oh I’m sorry we only take $CASH$ for postage. I have no way of ringing them up on our computers so it has to be a cash only transaction.”

We knew this would come back to bite is in the rear. We tell the CM we don’t have any cash at the moment but we saw the ATM as we walked in the building. We’ll have to go get cash and we’ll be right back. Off we go to surrender ourselves to the enormous ATM fee we knew we would eventually have to pay. Knowing Disney, it’s probably going to be something like $10 on the top of the fee my bank is going to charge me. Since we knew we would have to pay the fee, might as well make it worth our while and get the max we’re allowed. Turns out, the fee wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Between the ATM fee and my banks fees, I think I paid $3.25.

Now that we finally have cash, we head back to the front desk for our postage. The CM that was helping us the first time is busy with someone else. Another CM comes out from the back and helps us. Younger CM. Looks like he would be a college student. We tell him that the CM next to him was helping us prior but we would like purchase postage for postcards. He asks the CM next to him and he tells him “Oh yeah. I put them back in the money bag” and he hands him the bag.

Now junior starts counting out 10 more postage stamps. Grabbing the ones that the prior CM had already counted out probably didn’t sound like a good idea. After counting out 10 postage stamps, he finally realizes there were already separated. Shrugs his shoulders and says “I didn’t realize there was already 10 there. Oh well. That will be $4.50.”

“Huh?! $4.50 for 10 postcard stamps? Shouldn't it only be $3.20? That's the amount he told us.”

“Oh, you were needing postcard stamps and regular stamps?"

Ok. Now junior is really lost. I think we finally tell him twice that we only want the postcard stamps. Not regular letter stamps before he finally gets it. So now that he has the right amount of stamps and the right total, I hand him one of the 20’s that ATM machine just made for us.

Ok this next part is so true. Stuff like this I can’t make up even if I wanted to. After I hand him the $20 bill he just stares at it with this blank expression on his face. Almost like he’s never seen money before. Of course with all of today’s technology, he probably hasn’t. You can see the hamster running in the wheel as he’s figuring out what to do with it. Finally he realizes that I’m using it to pay for the postage since they don’t accept credit or debit cards for postage. Next problem, junior doesn’t have change. Which I can understand. Since it’s the check-in/check-out desk, most people pay with their credit/debit cards and they don’t have any need to have cash on hand. Unless you’re selling postage stamps. So off junior goes in search of change for a $20. Must have to go to the bank or US Treasury to get change. Took him a while to come back once he disappeared. At least he came back with the right change.

After 30 minutes, we were finally able to get postage and mail the first batch of post cards.



Because it took so long to get postage, we lost our interest to look around the hotel. This time we went out the front door and across the street is the Grand Californian.


Since it was on our way back to the parks, might as well go check it out. We crossed the street and went in to the GC.


I have to look back at our pics and see if we have more. I thought we took quite a bit here. I guess I missed uploading some. Oops, my bad.

We also looked in some of the gift shops, restaurants and pool (through the security gate). Not too shabby of a place. I wouldn’t mind staying here. It’s the closest hotel on property to both the theme parks. Anybody want to contribute to the “Thumpers Wanting to Stay at the Grand Californian Charity Fund?”

Anybody?

No.

Darn.

It was worth a shot.

After touring around the GC for a while, we decided to head on over to DCA and prepare ourselves for Tuesday’s visit. Little did we know that you could get into DCA directly from GC. We saw the entrance during our quick tour. Our first thought was you needed to be staying at the hotel to go in and out that way. We would find out later in the week that anybody may go in and out through here. Still we weren’t too from the main entrance.


Now here is where the love/hate relationship of the tickets comes in to play. We had the huge platter over at ESPN. It was all finger foods. What do you do after you eat finger foods? You wash your hands. What was on our hands?

I felt like a kid again when we tried to enter DCA. The CM scolded us for not having our stamps, even though we did have them. The system clearly tells her that we have park-to-park privileges on our tickets. She could probably also tell this was the first day we used our tickets as well. We explained that they must have washed off when we washed our hands. She let’s us off with a warning and makes it crystal clear that we need the stamp to go in and out, and from park to park. Ay Ay Captain. No stockade for us today.

I understand the reasoning behind the stamp. Since you ticket isn’t tied to a fingerprint scan like at WDW, anyone can just use the ticket. Neither Lady H or myself ever signed the back of our ticket; and not once were we ever questioned about it. Since all we received was a slap on the hand, anybody probably still could. Regardless, we got in and that’s all the mattered to us.

Once inside, we could see why the wait times over at DL were so short. The crowds are here. Our plan for DCA is just to look around. We'll save riding the attractions for Tuesday when we come back. This being the first time to DCA for either one of us, we look for a park map. Can you believe they ran out of park maps printed in English? Well in the front of the park anyways.

Oh well, we'll wing it. We'll follow the road and see where it takes us. We walk until we reach the crossroads. Straight, left or right. Right it is. Along the way we pass Soarin', Grizzly River Rapids and the entrance from the GC. Now we're seeing it from the other side. Wait time for GRR was 40 minutes and Soarin' it was 30 minutes. Definitely not doing rides this afternoon. Besides by the time we finished lunch and toured the resorts, it was already close to 3:30 by the time we got to DCA. We want to head back to DL to watch Fantasmic. Now that summer has ended, they shortened the days when it would be showing. Tonight would be one of the only chances we would get to see it.

Continuing on our way we land up at Paradise Pier.


Isn't this the one picture everybody just has to take. Us included.


Once here, Lady H and I go searching for another beer. Again we head to the right in search of a place to quench our thirst. We pass Ariel's Undersea Adventure and see Goofy's Sky School up ahead. We stop when we get close to GSS because we have found what we came looking for at the Bayside Brews.

To answer Betsey's question from earlier, this would not be our favorite watering hole. It would do for now.

With beer in hand, we see where Carsland is. Might as well go see what all the hype is about. We were really impressed with Carsland, but couldn't believe the crowds.

Out of curiosity, we went to go see what the wait time was for Radiator Springs Racers. Yikes!


Wandering aimlessly through Carsland, we saw a famous race car. The real Lightning McQueen this time. He had his own secret service and everything.


We even saw an old tow truck. We were told he's a real knight. Sir Tow Mater is what they call him.


This concludes our brief tour of Carsland.

What you wanted to see more pics? Well we have plenty to show you. Just not at this moment. It's time for another beer. From the Pacific Wharf this time. There's a beer truck that sells microbrew beers from a San Diego microbrewery called Karl Strauss. Sorry, we missed taking a picture of this beer truck, but you can do a google search and easily find a picture.

There were some pretty good brews here. I got the Amber and Lady H got the Endless Summer Light. Both were pretty good, but this would be the only time we would get a beer from here. We found a place where we could get beer much faster. We sat down and just took in the sights of DCA while we killed a little time and killed these beers so we can head back to DL. Kill is such an awful word isn't it. Maybe I should rephrase that.

We sat down and waited for time to pass by and enjoyed our microbrews so we can head back to DL. We want to stake out a piece of real estate so we can build a home and live at DL forever. Since we really can't build a home there, we'll settle for is a good spot to view Fantasmic.

We're done with this beer and I'm done with this chapter. I'll tell you a little more about our night at DL and finish up this day. Once I'm done here, Lady H will take you through the next day.

Have a good weekend.

[Thumper_Man]

Originally Posted by bankr63

Now for the big bunny, is that fur in the foreground getting a bit thin?!?

Yeah. Getting thin 'cause of all the love taps.

Now for sure I'll be shaving it off. Thanks bankr, that's the extra push I needed.

[bankr63]

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Yeah. Getting thin 'cause of all the love taps.

Now for sure I'll be shaving it off. Thanks bankr, that's the extra push I needed.

Oh welcome to the club (the "he-man gettin' older club", not the "Nebo's throwin' out the hairdryer club"). I'm a few years ahead of you; still got full coverage, but i can see more scalp each time I go for a cut. Why is it that gravity takes over and our hair starts migrating south? By the time I'm 100 I'll be a giant hairy toed Hobbit.

The wake up bell for me was the first time I burned the heck out of my scalp while at Canada's Wonderland a few years back. I've always had thick thick hair and had never considered that I could burn up there. I always try to wear a hat now, but I look stupid in most ball caps and I often rely on the kids to remind me to put one on. I now own 3 Disney caps caused by forgetting to bring one along; for some reason I do like Disney caps over all others.

[nebo]

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Yeah. Getting thin 'cause of all the love taps.

Now for sure I'll be shaving it off. Thanks bankr, that's the extra push I needed.

Mike, yu don't have to shave it, i've got a 12 dollar buzzer thing I'be been using for 8 years now and I just set it on the lowest setting and it get's really close, and no, never been cut yet. Heck, I hate shaving my face, if I had to shave my head too, uh uh, never happen.

Originally Posted by bankr63

Oh welcome to the club (the "he-man gettin' older club", not the "Nebo's throwin' out the hairdryer club"). I'm a few years ahead of you; still got full coverage, but i can see more scalp each time I go for a cut. Why is it that gravity takes over and our hair starts migrating south? By the time I'm 100 I'll be a giant hairy toed Hobbit.

I was 22, getting dressed for my buddy the groom's weding at his house as I was best man, when he suddenly told me, Neeb, holy cow, you're losing your hair, man.
First time I heard of it or even thought of it, and no, you don't want to hear the "Best Man's Speech" he made later that night.

Mike, a great chapter again, but wow, a 40 dollar appetizer tray and you don't mind the price? Boy, I really must be a cheap ***turd. Boy, I can't wait to go there, I hope I hope I hope we can rent points and stay at the Grand Cali, I think it is.

That strikes me odd that they don't have the finger imaging thing going on threr, I remember so well having to get your hand stamped on the way out.

I also think your style works just great, the two of you switching off like this.
I'm not sure if you mentioned it yet or not, but I've heard that unlike World, Land is definately more crowded on weekends, your thoughts?

Looking forward to hearing about that big coaster in teh background you took a pic of, you DID go and ride it, right?
I don't care how many "Dumb wife, Dumb wife" Heather had to chant!

[pkondz]

Darn... now I've fallen two chapters behind! Time to lace up the boots and wade right in...

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Anybody remember where we left off?

Well, it's been a while, but I think you were in DisneyLand.

Could be wrong.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

(Insert Jeopardy Theme Music Here)

I'll take Disney trivia for $500, Alex.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Last we left our traveling duo, EMH was over and they were setting out for the Matterhorn.

See? I was right.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

I did it. I actually managed to climb the Matterhorn.

Oh, yeah! There you are, up at the top.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

See for yourself. I’m the person in the red hat.

I know! I saw you right away.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Still can’t tell that’s me? Here’s a closer look.

No, no. I saw you. Really.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

What that’s? Still don’t look like me? Well it is kind of hard to tell it’s me since you can only see my head.

Okay, now you're just getting annoying. I see you! I see you!


sheesh.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Ok, for good TR reporting sake, let’s pretend I’m managed to climb the Matterhorn Mountain.

For excellent TR reporting sake, let's not pretend. Be firm T-Man.

Be firm.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Hey, if Secret Ponzi Man can stop the purse snatchers, I can climb the Matterhorn.

I didn't say anything... I believed you.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Anyways, after climbing the Matterhorn (as I stated before)

You did? Must've missed it.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

I wasn’t prepared for the beating I would take on this ride. After riding a smooth Space Mountain, this ride was rough.

Was it as rough as MK's Space Mtn?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

It wasn’t completely horrible.

A ringing endorsement if there ever was one.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

After suffering whiplash, (ok that may be exaggerating just a little)

Says the man in the neck brace.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

On the ride, Lady H drove and she kept wrecking into all the walls and stuff. See if I ever let her drive again. If really was a cute ride.

Emphasis on was a cute ride. Now that it's been destroyed by Mrs. T, neither coast has this ride.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Plus my stomach was starting to scream for food.

I'm sure it's embarassing when your stomach screams... probably scares the little kids too.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

“Feed me Seymour.”

Your stomach is a plant?

Odd.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Dole Whip! Yummmmmm.

Man, I miss those.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

I never ate 2 Dole Whips so fast in all my life.

Gee that's so sad. Forced to eat not one but two dole whip floats. Oh, the humanity!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

No wonder people were staring at me funny.

That or the fluffy tail sticking out of your pants.


just sayin'

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Don't know what these tablets were or said. Probably some kind of warning to turn back and run for your life. Since I don't read hieroglyphics, we pursued on.

Really? You don't know them? They're quite well known.

The one on the left is a depiction of the wheel of life (Not to be confused with the circle of life) which represents man's journey from life through Limbo, Nirvana and Heaven and then returning to the earth. I might have left out a step or two, it not being my faith.

The one on the right says "Party rock is in the House, Tonight"

A lot of people prefer the one on the right.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Truthfully I really don’t know how to compare these 2 rides.

But you're going to anyway, right?

Right.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

This comparison is best experienced in person.

You did a pretty good job of comparing them, I thought.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

“Another one? He sure is doing a lot of comparisons considering he commented that he would not commit to comparing.”

That's right you did... or didn't... You know what I mean.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

I pulled a semi-Ponzi on this one. For some odd reason, one of the batteries to my camera didn’t charge up completely.

I have no idea what you are referring to. My battery was completely charged up. Sure the camera was at the beach and the battery was in the hotel... but still. All charged up.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Anyone read Riglee’s report? Remember what they would do on dark rides?

Yes. I believe it was sing, was it not? No? Could you elaborate?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Dare to take a guess how long the line was?

Okay! I'll play! Ummmm..... how about 45 minutes?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

If you said 45-minutes, you’re wrong.

Shoot! Okay, wait! Lemme have another chance. Uhhh.... 30! 30 minutes!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Anyone for 30-minutes? You’re closer, but still wrong.

D'oh! Okay I'll take one more crack at it. I'll guess.... 15 minutes.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

How about 15-minutes? Well, you would be wrong to, but much closer. 10-minutes was the wait time.

Man! I just can't catch a break!

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

First difference you notice, you sit single instead of side-by-side.

I think I knew that... but interesting nevertheless.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Only attraction we rode was Roger Rabbit’s (no relation) Car Toon Spin. His wife is one hot............................

Hi Lady H. Don’t worry, she’s not real. I only got love for you.

Yeah... but I hear ya.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

We had lots of fun pulling on door handles, ringing door bells, checking the mail.

You guys look like you're having a blast.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

SCORE! 2 Dole Whip Floats all for me.

Nice.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Ok, I shared. It would be un-gentleman like of me not to do so. That and I would’ve probably landed up with a black eye. Or worse.

But you probably spent some time trying to decide if it'd be worth it.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

To catch the monorail, you have to super lightning speed and be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Or you can just walk to Tomorrowland and wait for it to stop there. You’ve seen my picture; does it look like I can run super fast? Much less leap tall buildings.

Why not? You can climb mountains, right?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

We opted for choice 2. Wait for to stop at Tomorrowland.

Oh, of course. You had Mrs. T with you. I'm sure she could leap tall buildings but then how would you hold her hand?

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

We went round and round in circles trying to figure out how to get out. Kept looking at all the exit signs and they all kept pointing to the left. We walked around in circles before we finally figured it out.

You spin me right 'round, baby
Right 'round like a record, baby
Right 'round, 'round, 'round,
You spin me right 'round, baby
Right 'round like a record, baby
Right 'round, 'round, 'round

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

Manny would be our chauffeur to Downtown Disney today. Looks like families still get to ride in the front on this monorail.

I noticed that right away and immediately wondered if you saw it. Interesting that they'd allow it there after what happened.

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man

And with this break, we’ll break so I can write the next chapter.

Okay, but first I've got to catch up.