OrlandoMike
<font color=red>all I can say is beer hurts when i
- Joined
- Oct 11, 2005
- Messages
- 8,721
Well I arrived in LA around 9am and got my rental car. I headed out on the mess known as the LA freeway system for Knotts Berry Farm. I learned early on from a friend who lives in LA "Mike they are crazy, but not dumb! Put on your turn signal and they will let you in". Yikes, these highways are crazy! Well I managed to find Knotts, and got in with my Cedar Point pass. The park is small and old, but very nostalgic! It only took me three hours to do what I wanted to do there, now for the famous "Mrs. Knott's Fried Chicken Dinner!" I got in line and was at the hostess stand within 10 minutes. The girl asked me how many and I replied "one". "Only one?" she replied somewhat sarcastically. "Yep just me!" I snapped back! Well that's when I caught the eye of the young gay host! He grabbed me out of the line and said follow me! And boy did he hook me up! I swear my waitress was Mildred Pierce and her assistant was Baby Jane Hudson!
These gals have been here since day one, and boy did they take care of me! Fried Chicken, Homemade Mashed Potatoes, Cabbage, and Boysenberry Punch! What a treat! If you hit the Disneyland area be sure to stop in here for lunch or dinner! (They have parking just for that, and it's free!) I checked into my hotel and headed off to DCA and Disneyland for some nighttime fun! WOW what have they done to this place? I was completely turned around! It has gone from a park, parking lot, and a hotel to a resort with two parks, three hotels, and a Downtown Disney area that rivals Orlando's! I spent the night taking some pics, you can see them here....
Decent shots of the Electric Light Parade and the Columbia and Mark Twain during Fantasmic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl5-udrMFyg
Considering the time change, I was surprised I was still up at midnight LA time! I forced myself to go to bed as I had a really big day the next day! I was meeting my friend Mary Ann at Disneyland and we were going to have lunch at Club 33! I'm usually not a big "wardrobe guy" but I thought it only appropriate to wear my black Eagle Pines shirt for the day. They just closed Eagle Pines for good, and a very good friend from this site who is one of our regulars just lost his father. So I threw on the black shirt, headed to Club 33, and tossed down the first martini for a dear friend! I was so wound up I actually got to the parking lot before it opened!
What the heck, I can do the Nemo challange right? I don't know if there is an official name for the "Nemo run" yet but I did it. Nemo is awesome! Take the EPCOT attraction, blow it up, and put it in the sub ride at Disneyland! In order to ride it you have to get up at the crack of dawn, get to the park before they open, and run right past the rope drop! By the time I got off the ride the wait was over two hours! By now my friend Mary Ann called and said she was leaving, and would meet me there. "Go ahead and ride the fast stuff Mike, I don't like that anyway". So I took advantage of Space Mountain and the Matterhorn. Wow Space in California seems so much faster and with music! An awesome ride! And what can you say about the Matterhorn? A classic! By now Mary Ann called me and she was entering the park, we met on Main Street and had two hours till lunch. It was the longest two hours of my life! Mary Ann knew we had reservations for lunch, but she had no idea where. We finally started heading over to the club at 11:45 and I literally almost broke down! "Michael what is the matter?" I was laughing and tearing up a little at the same time! I explained what the Club was to her, and how much it ment to me, and she gave me a big ole "best friend hug" and said "I'm so happy you asked me to join you, let's go have some fun"! I took a few pics, but in order to fill out the video I did have to pirate some pics off of the Internet. But I wanted to share what a great experience this is! We were there for TWO HOURS! But it seemed like 5 minutes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSaB1KB59d0
The next three days were spent at the Rose Bowl, then I went back to Disneyland just to hang, enjoy, and take pics. I'll report on that hopefully tomorrow night.
Mike

Decent shots of the Electric Light Parade and the Columbia and Mark Twain during Fantasmic!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bl5-udrMFyg
Considering the time change, I was surprised I was still up at midnight LA time! I forced myself to go to bed as I had a really big day the next day! I was meeting my friend Mary Ann at Disneyland and we were going to have lunch at Club 33! I'm usually not a big "wardrobe guy" but I thought it only appropriate to wear my black Eagle Pines shirt for the day. They just closed Eagle Pines for good, and a very good friend from this site who is one of our regulars just lost his father. So I threw on the black shirt, headed to Club 33, and tossed down the first martini for a dear friend! I was so wound up I actually got to the parking lot before it opened!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSaB1KB59d0
The next three days were spent at the Rose Bowl, then I went back to Disneyland just to hang, enjoy, and take pics. I'll report on that hopefully tomorrow night.
Mike