"That's my only goal. Surround myself with funny people, and make sure everyone has a good time and works hard." (Joe Rogan)
After winning the Piston Cup and cruising through CL, we make our way back towards the entrance. We want to get a locker to store our backpacks in. My back needs air from the heat of the day. Carrying a backpack is making my back sweat even more than what it normally would and I can feel it running down my back. No its not walking down or even trickling down. Its literally running down my back. Our bags are a little lighter now because we both finished the 3 bottles of water each of us brought with us. We didnt want to be like our friend Nebo and take a dive. Of course at the time we didnt know of his major accident. We just knew that we needed to keep hydrated ourselves.
On our way to the lockers, we pass Lady Hs favorite ride. Do do do do, do do do do. Yes the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. Only a 5 minute wait. I guess getting a locker will have to wait 10 more minutes then. Now Ive heard the ToT is better here. Personally, I didnt notice too many differences at all, but here is what I did notice.
For starters, the outside is different.
ToT over at DHS.
ToT over at DCA.
Notice over at DHS, the name Hollywood Tower is spelled out all the way across as to where at DCA Hollywood is above Tower. There is a difference in color and over at DCA, the tower seems to be set more towards the back as to where the tower is more towards the front at DHS. Next difference is the queues. Over at DCA, depending on how long the line is, you seem to enter directly in front. This gave it the feeling that you were actually walking into a hotel. Over at DHS, the entrance is more to the side. Next difference in the queues is the lobby. It seems you get a little bit better view of the entire lobby at DCA than you do at DHS. Get to see more of the props they use. At least thats the sense I got. Back to DCA, they have 2 rooms they use to see the video. One to each side of the desk. Theres a CM there to direct you as to which one you will go in. I only recall DHS having one room to watch the video. Just having visited DHS again, I looked to see if there is more than one room used. Nope. Still only use one room off to the right. The video is pretty much the same video. At least they remembered to put the right ToT for each location in the video. Can you imagine seeing the DHS ToT over at DCA and vice-versa. I wonder if anyone would even snap if they put the wrong ToT? After the video, its pretty much the same. You exit out into a boiler room and wait. Well we didnt have much of wait. We waited all of 2 minutes for our turn.
Now I really gotta give it to the CM that plays the elevator attendant. He really got into character. Of course he starts by having people take their seats by their assigned numbers. Once we were in our seats, he asked in a low, who cares tone of voice raise your hand if this is your first time riding? No one. You all came back? Did you not learn the first time? I pity all of you, and gave his best fake smile. Next he tells us I need you all to tug on the yellow rope connected to your seat belt, just in case theres a sudden drop in the elevator. We dont want bodies flying everywhere because theres a hole in the corner, and we had a hard time cleaning up the last set of bodies as he points to the lady sitting in the corner seat; afterwards telling her Good Luck. Next he points to me and Lady H, and asks us Would you like me to show your bags to your room? I tell him sure to which he replies I bet you would. If you want to see your bags again, you best find a way to hold on to them. After hes done with all the safety checks, the CM tells us Welcome to the Hollywood Hotel. Enjoy your fright, I mean your night does his best evil laugh, steps out and closes the doors.
Now as far as the ride itself, its exactly the same. You travel through the dark and see the video of the ghostly figures, exactly what happened that made them disappear and then. Wait for it. The doors to see outside open and you drop. You thank God for the seatbelt as youre going down, as you feel yourself coming out of your seat. The ride reverses directions and now youre going up, gravity sits you back down. This up and down action can get a little rough on the rear end. Hmm. That didnt sound right. Flying by the seat of your pants can be a real pain. The fun part was Lady H and I trying to hold onto our bags. We put our feet through the straps, but that still wasnt enough to keep them in place. I think we finally had to step on our bags to keep them from going all over the place. That was real hard to do when the ride would go down and our feet would leave the floor. After about 3-4 minutes of going up and down, the ride comes to a stop. Who better to greet us then the elevator attendant. You all survived, yippee. Please exit one row at a time and take no offense when I say, please dont come back. The CM sure made it fun and we had a blast on the ride as always.
Once we get back outside, we forgot just how hot it was getting already. We almost turned around and went on the ride again. Just because it was nice and air-conditioned. Finally we make our way to the front and get a locker. Storing my bag may help keep my back a little cooler. With bags securely locked away, Lady H asks where to next? I only had to say one word Well. I probably didnt even need to say that. I couldve given my best Cheshire grin and she would know what that meant. Every adventure requires a first step. Trite, but true, even here.
(Cheshire Cat) On to that monstrosity of a ride they call California Screamin. You remember it dont you. This not so bad boy.
Lady H told me I shouldve known and off we head to Paradise Pier. In my defense I tell her TSM is there as well. I want a shot at the title. All I got was the look. You know the look, all woman have it. The slight head nod and the word Sure. We get to Paradise Pier and to my horror. NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!! It cant be. Do you know how long I waited to ride this thing? Yup, it was closed. How can they close California Screamin? Dont they know how far I traveled just to come and ride that coaster? Hopefully it will be open later. Now what? Well I guess well move on to TSM.
STRIKE 2. TSM is also closed. I hoping we dont get a 3rd strike. You know what happens on Strike 3. Youre out. You must do the walk of shame back to the dugout. In this case, you must head straight to park entrance to the exit gates. Do not pass go and please leave us another $200. No wonder it didnt seem too crowded over here. All the good rides are closed. Only thing we can think of is theyre closed down because of the heat.
As we come to the end of Paradise Pier, we decide to skip Goofys Flight school and replenish our fluids. Ok, I know youre all probably wondering, what is Goofys flight school. It would be DCAs version of AKs Primeval Whirl. Since Cal Screamin and TSM were both down, the other rides were picking up the slackers and ride times were getting pretty high. I dont know what they were smoking, but they said we would have to wait 30-40 minutes if we wanted to ride.
We stop at the first watering hole we found the day we went on our recon mission. We grab a beer just as Phineas & Ferb come out to perform.
We follow them down because they are clearing the way in their truck. As we are following them I remember we need FPs for World of Color. We are right next to the viewing area so we might as well get FPs right away. We head down to the viewing area and on the way down, Goofy is conducting a water show to music. A prelude to World of Color. We stop to watch the ending of the show before heading down to see if we can find the FP machines. We didnt find them anywhere up top, so we figured they might be where he was conducting. Once the show is over, we head down the steps as Goofy comes up. We give each other a high five as we pass each other. Job well done. We get to the spot where Goofy was performing and still cant find the FP machines. Time to track down a CM and ask. Remember, they were out of English maps when we first walked in. We finally come across one of the CMs responsible for keeping the park clean and ask him for a map. Ive learned in the past that these CMs always carry them. We told him they were out of the English maps up front, and yo no hablo espanol muy bueno, much less able to read it. Plus there was no way am I going to even attempt to translate French, Portuguese, Chinese or even Japanese. Heck, my smartphone isnt even smart enough to translate these languages. He couldnt believe they were out up front and luckily he had one left to give. He was also kind enough to point us in the direction of the FP machines. Man we were far off. We were kinda close to the machines, but they were in a place we wouldve never thought of.
On our way to find the FP machines, we spot a little bar off to the side of the Wine Country Trattoria. Yes, we already finished the first beer. Its now getting close to noon and the temp is up to 96 degrees now.
Now I believe it was Queenbetsey who asked if we found her favorite bar. Its called the Alfresco Lounge. If this is the same bar shes referring to, then yes, we found it: and it became our favorite bar as well.
As we passed this bar, we thought at first it sold only wine. Little to our surprise they sold not only wine, but beer as well. BOTTLED BEER. Every other place at DCA seemed to sell beer on tap. You can see them bottles chilling in the chillers, and they were calling our names. At first we tried to walk through WCT to get to the bar, but came to a dead end. Seems the way up to this bar is through a short set of stairs to the right. Once we find the stairs and make it to the bar, there are only 2 people in line ahead of us. You dont get to drink the beer from the bottle itself. The bartender pours it into a cup for you. Too many husbands have probably been bashed over the heads with the bottles, so they probably figured this was a tad bit safer for them.
With cold beer in hand, we head towards Soarin by way of Grizzly River Rapids. On our way we spot the entrance to DCA from GC. I wonder if were allowed to go in and out of this entrance as well. Or is it only for guests staying at the hotel. We go and ask a CM if were allowed and she tells us yes. Just as long as we get branded with the hand stamp and have our park tickets.
Great. We still need to go back and get the postcard we saw for Ponzi in the gift shop. We saw it while we were doing our resort tour. Plus well need international postage to mail it to. We can come back later and buy the card, and see if they sell the postage. After we find out this useful information, we continue on our way.
All the DL fans are probably screaming at me through their computers right about now.
Turn back you idiots. Oh man, I cant believe they already forgot. What a space case. The beer and heat must be getting to their brains already.
You see, the CM told us the place to get WoC FPs is by the GRR FP machines. Half are devoted to GRR and the other half to WoC. Since I was more interested in keeping hydrated, I completely spaced the FP for WoC. Plus, if we wouldve had the park map earlier, it states on there where to find them.
So after absently minding forgetting to get WoC FPs, we make it to Soarin.
As we walk into Condor Flats, Minnie Mouse and some hotties; oh um, I mean some lady dancers dressed up as stewardesses are performing. We stop and check them out (well ok, so I was the one checking them out) for little bit before checking out the lines at Soarin. Its only a 25 minute wait here. Yup, thats right. Only 25 minutes. Not the 60+ that you would normally see at WDW. We decide since we still have to finish our beer, to just get a FP for it and start scoping the area for something to eat. Either the heat, beer or combination of both has me feeling a little light headed. We went inside Taste of Pilots Grill. CS restaurant right next to Soarin. It was nice and cool in here. We stood there for about 5 minutes looking over the menu. It wasnt too busy at the moment, so we decided it we find something that interests us, well get a bite to eat right away. Besides, even if we dont ride Soarin now, we can always use our FP later. Theyre not enforcing the return times here yet like they are over at WDW.
After staring at the menu, nothing sounded good to us at the moment. So we went back outside and found a couple of seats in the shade and finished our beers. Our FP time came up fast and soon we were off to fly over California.
Which I find a little ironic. Over at Epcot, which we all know is in Florida, you fly over California. Dont you think it should be the opposite for DCA? Shouldnt we be flying over Florida instead? Which brings me to my next comparison.
Again, other than the queue being a little different, its the exact same ride. I gotta say that I was a little disappointed with DCAs version though. More with the quality of the video. There was a lot of distortion in the video. Both Lady H and I recognized it. There were times in the video that it looked like you were flying with a flock of birds. Something we thought we missed the first time we rode it in Epcot. Then there they were again, skiing. Talented birds. Whoops, they just disappeared. Oh there they are. This distortion was distracting and really ruined the ride for us. Needless to say, this was the only time we would ride Soarin.
As we got out of Soarin, we heard some people mention they need to get their WoC FPs. Oh yeah. Already forgot those once, dont want to forget those again. Our luck is changing. We found the WoC FP machine. On a hot day like today, we also debated on whether or not we should go on GRR. It sure would be nice to get wet and cool off right about now. I think we still have the Curse of the Mummy with us. Brought it back with us from USH.
Looks refreshing don't it.
Only problem is, the wait time is 60 minutes and we just got a FP for WoC. What we didnt know at the time is, we couldve gotten a FP for GRR as well. WoC FPs dont count towards your FP collection. We discovered this later on in the trip. Now would be good time to go back to GC to get out of the heat.
Since we had already did our recon mission, finding our way around GC was little easier this time. So we thought. Once you come from the DCA entrance, you have to walk an eternity to get the gift shop. Good thing is, the front lobby isnt too far from there. Which is where we would inquire about getting postage. As we approach the guest services desk, there is only one CM working at the podium. Hes a new CM. How do I know this? There was a lady in front of me that kept going on about something. For the likes of me I cant remember what, but I give it to the CM. He did his best to answer her questions, because she was ranting and raving about something. After about 5 minutes he finally told her he would get someone else to try and help her because he was still fairly new. Now my issue was simple, all I needed as International Postage to send my friend up north, (the one who lives in Canada, whos Nebos favorite and didnt send us a postcard when he went to Hawaii) a postcard that we went out of our way to get.
The CM tells us we need to go 3 miles down the hall and we can get it there. Well it seemed like 3 miles anyways. On the way to the business center we pass the mailbox and I tell Lady H mark this spot on your phones gps. We made need it to find our way back here after we find the business center.
We find the business center and ask the nice lady if she has any international postage to sell. Were in luck, she does. This time we still have cash and we pay her for the postage. After we hand her the money, she disappears. Oh no. Deja Vu all over again. The last time we handed someone money for postage, we didnt see the guy for an hour. I was hoping for complimentary room because the guy took so long to come back. But this lady was good. She was back in 2 minutes with our correct change.
Heres your postcard Ponzi. You owe us one.
And with this, Ill call it a day. Short work day today. I'm the lone worker today in our division. The price I have to pay for wanting to go to WDW. And you know what, I wouldn't trade it for anything. I would do it again in a heart beat. I should be able to wrap up this day in the next chapter. The Ill turn it back over to Lady H so she can tell you about Sea World.
Thanks again everyone for sticking it out with us in this long, drawn out TR.
IDK about the Cozy Cone Motel - one item per cone? Can you imagine how long it would take to get all your items for a family? I think they are missing out on sales by doing it that way - who would stand in more than one line? Unless you all split up, I guess. 
J/K. Would like to ride California Screaming with him.
But i have a tendency that when I grow my hair, I grow it really really long. Anywhere from waist length to past my GM (using Nebo's term there. I kind of like it). But I get tired of sitting on my hair or only throwing it up in buns or pony tails, so I chop it all off. The short hair helps the headaches, that's for sure. 
. 
So I've just kept it there since. He is always worried when I say I'm getting a haircut.
