It's a Jolly Holiday with Larry--The Goble/Wilmot Holiday--Day Four

[rgoble5972]

CAST

Robin – 42 – Trip Report Writer, Hostess, Bringer of Butterfingers
Larry - 46 - Trip Report god, Weary Traveler, Stayer in Parks After Hours


Thursday, October 20, 2005

“That’s a nice picture of the doobrie on the whatsit.”

I woke up at 6:00 this morning and spent some time updating my trip report notes and watching the lights at Paradise Pier. The plan for today was to be at the hotel entrance to California Adventure at 9:10 to see about getting on Soarin’ Over California early (yes, more time in the park before official opening).

When my family and I were here in December of last year, we stumbled into a little-known perk of staying in the Grand Californian. One morning, some of my family and I had gone to the Magic Kingdom (because it opened earlier than California Adventure) to do a few rides. We were supposed to meet up with the rest of the family at Soarin’ Over California once California Adventure opened up.

We finished our rides at the Magic Kingdom and crossed over to DCA. We were waiting in line for them to open the gates at DCA when the rest of the family called my cell phone to tell me that they had already gotten to ride on Soarin’ before the park even opened up.

As it happens, they had shown up early at the hotel entrance to DCA because they didn’t know how long it would take them to get to Soarin’ to meet us. At the entrance, there was a CM and about half a dozen other guests. When they walked up, the CM asked if they were here for the Soarin’ Over California Tour. My brother-in-law paused for a moment and then said, “Yes. Yes, we are!”

The CM checked their hotel keys to be sure they were guests at the GC and then led them and the rest of the guests into DCA. It seems that each morning Disney has a little preview of Soarin’ Over California that it allows guests of the GC to take (my sister Paula says that the tour has been extended to guests at any of the Disneyland hotels now however, as they were at Disneyland in November of this year and they stayed at the Disneyland Hotel but were allowed on the tour). The tour is not advertised at all and relies solely on word-of-mouth. The CM said sometimes they’ll have only a handful of guests and some mornings they’ll have as many as 20. They don’t like to have more than 20-25 on any given morning.

On the tour, a CM leads the group into Condor Flats, tells a little about the history of the park, points out some neat facts about the area and then takes the group onto Soarin’ for the first ride of the morning. The tour finishes up right at 9:30 when the park is opened to the public.

So, that’s why Larry and I came to be at the hotel entrance to DCA around 9:00. While we waited for someone to show up, I walked down to White Water Snacks and got a coffee for Larry and a diet coke for me. (Can’t face the parks without caffeine, though you can tell which one of us comes from the cold climate, (Scotland) and which one comes from the hot region (Texas) by our choice on how to administer the drug. – L.)

A bit after 9:00, Dave one of the CM’s from the Fitness Walk yesterday showed up. I asked him about the sneak peak of Soarin’ and he said that yes, he would take us into the park.

Larry and I were the only ones for the tour today, so we followed Dave to the gate, went through the security check, ran our tickets through the turnstiles, and went into the park. Since it was just us two, we didn’t really have the official version of the tour but rather talked to Dave about Disney in general as we walked to Soarin’ Over California and through the queuing area.

The CM’s working at Soarin’ this morning were very nice and teased us about our private showing of the ride. Dave took us down to the pre-show area and took his leave. After viewing Patrick Warburton’s pre-show Larry and I, feeling very much like VIP’s, were led inside and got to sit in the middle section, front row, directly in the middle with the entire ride to ourselves. Now that’s what I call service. (If I remember rightly I told them that I was Mike Eisner’s brother, and that’s how we got to ride alone on Soarin – L)

After our private ride we decided that some breakfast was in order. The only places in that park that were open just had pastries so we went back to the Grand Californian (first handstamps of the day according to the CM’s working the gate!) and went to White Water Snacks for something a bit more substantial.

I had a bacon, egg and cheese biscuit and another diet coke while Larry had a breakfast burrito (see, I’m going to make a Texan out of him yet). (Yup I’m trying hard on the southern food. My favorite so far are quesadillas, I like the chicken and ham ones they knock up at the All Star Movies at WDW, which is as good as any reason to go back to WDW if you ask me. Not asking? Shame. – L. )

After breakfast, we went back to DCA and headed to the Paradise Pier and California Screamin’. As we went around Paradise Bay, Larry took out his camera and said, “That’s a nice picture of the doobrie on the whatsit.” Huh? Could you be more vague? Whipping out my English to American dictionary (and noticing what he took I picture of), I was able to deduce that the correct translation of that sentence was “That’s a nice picture of the reflection of the Sun Wheel on the lake.” I was also able to answer him properly by saying, “Blimey, just pop ‘round the gorn and scumbles.”

There was very little line this morning for California Screamin’. We asked if we could ride in the very front seats and only had to wait for the next coaster in order to do so.

Next, we decided it was time to check out the Maliboomer. Yes, the ride with the puke guards (okay, they’re actually scream guards so you can’t hear the screams all over the city of Anaheim, but it sounds so much more effective if they’re called puke guards). This ride is kind of like the Tower of Terror, only outdoors. Its one of those rides where they pull you rapidly up a tower and then drop you down again, and I had never ridden it before. After a moment of really questioning my sanity when they took the breaks off the ride and allowed our seats to float free right before we shot the tower, this ride was not bad at all. The initial take-off and the first drop was breath taking, but after that the ride was actually quite gentle as it dropped us back down to the ground.

Actually if I’m being brutally honest, this is a bit of a disappointment, I quite like these whizzy uppy and downie rides, but this is a bit well how can I put it……… vertically challenged. Now the best one of these I’ve been on is Dr Doom’s Fearfall at Islands of Adventure at Universal in Orlando, that must be almost twice the height of this one, and certainly puts a stride in your step after you have been on it. And the puke guards do distract from it. Though interestingly enough my new dentist seems to wear her own personal version of the puke guard when she is filling teeth – good grief they will be washing their hands and cleaning the instruments next!!!!! – L.

Our next ride was the Sun Wheel, only this time we rode in one of the non-slippy gondolas because they go higher than the slippy ones. Quite a bit higher as it happens. – L.

We finished walking around the Paradise Pier area and made our way to the Golden Dreams attraction. It was about 10:50 and a CM informed us that the doors wouldn’t be opening until 11:00, so we backtracked a bit and took a quick ride on the Golden Zephyr (though why they call it the Golden Zephyr when its obviously silver is beyond me).

The Golden Zephyr is a old fashioned fairground attraction, and is a carousel, with five or six, large gondolas in the shape of silver (not gold as Robin rightly points out) rockets, it doesn’t do anything very exciting, but I wanted to go on it, because they have one at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, and it kinda made me nostalgic for my childhood in the 60s, and how we always went to the pleasure beaches at Morecambe and Blackpool. Dunno why we always went to Lancashire when there is perfectly good places in Yorkshire to go to like Scarborough and Filey. – L.

We made it back to Golden Dreams just in time to be let into the theater. This show is like American Adventure-lite in that it’s only about the history of California instead of America. It even has the same teary montage of famous people at the end of the show only they’re all Californians. The really terrifying thing about the attraction was the huge statues of Whoopi Goldberg. Whoopi narrates the film and on either side of the screen there are these big statues of her (dressed as the “spirit” of California). Now these statues would be frightening enough even if they just stood there, however, the truly disturbing thing about them is that Whoopi’s face is projected onto the face of the statues, giving the impression that the statue has come to life. The eyes blink, the lips move and, considering the fact that--and I don’t think I’ll be surprising anyone by saying this--I doubt if Whoopi has ever won any beauty contests (I mean, she’s funny and all, but I don’t really think of her as attractive), the whole effect is really, really unsettling.

Since we were so close, we decided to go back to the hotel and have a light lunch from the lounge. I went to the room while Larry went to the lounge for some drinks. By the time Larry came to the room I wasn’t feeling very good and asked if he cared if I lay down for a while. I was freezing cold so I got into bed and slept while Larry had some of the food from the lounge and then napped a while too.

After an hour or so, I was feeling worse and had to rush into the bathroom and throw up--ick! (I truly think it was a bad reaction from those Whoopi statues--okay, maybe not, but they were very disturbing.) I got back in bed and slept some more while Larry very patiently watched over me and rubbed my back for me and slept some as well. Though I was seriously wondering if I should slip out to Paradise Pier and see if I could borrow one of those puke guards, it may have come in handy. – L.

Around 5:00 (yes, I slept for 4 hours--that’s what I do when I’m sick: sleep!) Larry went back to the lounge and got some water for me because I woke up very thirsty and dehydrated. I drank a bottle of the water and immediately threw up again. This time, however, I felt a bit better afterwards and asked Larry if he was ready to go do something since he had been so patient to wait in the room with me. He was worried that I would overdo and get sick again but I assured him that I felt a little bit better and that I thought the fresh air would do me good. Granted, I did really want a ride on Space Mountain or the Tower of Terror, but I thought a nice walk might clear my head and make me feel better.

So, I got up and got cleaned up a bit and Larry and I slowly walked through Downtown Disney to the monorail station with the plan of taking a round-trip ride to Tomorrowland and back. It seemed like a simple enough plan at the time but here’s where we ran into the only snippy Cast Member of the trip.

When we arrived at the Tomorrowland, a CM said that we would need to get off the monorail. We explained that we were just riding it around back to Downtown Disney but the CM said that they were putting this particular monorail out of service, so they were clearing out all the passengers. Not a problem. Larry and I got off the monorail and began to exit the platform. However, we then noticed that they were letting passengers back on the monorail to go to Downtown Disney. Huh?

We started back towards the monorail but were met by a CM who said that we would have to exit the platform, come back in through the Tomorrowland entrance and wait to board the next monorail. We politely explained that we had just been on that monorail and had intended to ride it round-trip back to Downtown Disney. The CM said that he couldn’t let us back on because they had to leave some spaces empty so they would have room to pick up some passengers at Downtown Disney. Okay, let’s try this again. We explained that they would still be able to pick up passengers at Downtown Disney because that’s where we were getting off, but the monorail Nazi was not to be moved. Larry and I shrugged our shoulders and exited the platform, re-entered the station, and waited for the next monorail.

Luckily, it was only a matter of minutes before the next monorail came so we hopped aboard. We watched a woman and her little boy (probably around 3 years old) and her baby daughter (9 months—we asked) come onto the platform. The woman had her daughter in a stroller and she stopped to take her baby out and was about to fold up the stroller and bring it on the monorail with her. A very nice CM was there to help her and, when the mother told the CM that she was just riding the monorail “round-trip” and that she would be coming right back, he told her that she could just leave the stroller here with him and pick it up when she got back. Larry and I exchanged looks that said “why couldn’t we have gotten *that* CM!

We talked to the woman and her little boy on the ride to Downtown Disney. The little boy never would tell us his name so Larry called him “Eric” the whole time, much to the child’s amusement.

When we arrived at Downtown Disney, Larry and I got off the monorail. We had almost exited the area when we heard a CM telling the woman that she was going to have to get off the monorail here, exit the station, come back through the entrance, and wait for the next monorail. What’s wrong with these people?

Larry went back and explained to the CM that the woman had been told by another Cast Member that it was okay to ride the monorail round-trip, but his arguments didn’t do any good. So, they made this poor woman and her two children, who had left their stroller in the Magic Kingdom, get off the monorail. Can anyone explain the logic in this system to me? I mean, if they have an actual reason for being so anti-round-trip, I’d be happy to hear it.

I have a theory about this, due to the anti discrimination laws of California, Disney is forced to hire not only nice, kind, helpful people to staff its parks and resort but also has to hire Meemos. I think there is a 2% quota, so that accounts for why very rarely you come across nasty horrid yukky CM’s. However, if you go to guest services and say, I spotted a MEEMO working on X ride, they give you a Mickey sticker and a voucher for an Ice Cream as compensation. – LWW.

From the monorail station, Larry and I walked to the Disneyland Hotel to have a look around. We looked through their gift shop and around the main lobby and then we wound up having a nice little self-guided tour of their convention area (Did I mention that Larry likes to look around places that he doesn’t belong? Yes? Okay, sorry.) I like gate crashing medical conferences best because the drug companies always have nice tables full of give-aways…. Just a tip. – L Next, we walked from the Disneyland Hotel to the Paradise Pier Hotel via several parking lots and back roads for a quick tour of it as well.

After looking around there for a while, we went back to Downtown Disney by going through the Grand Californian. Larry was worried that I might have a relapse and offered to call it a night when we got to the Grand Californian but I assured him that I was feeling better and was enjoying the nice evening. I wanted to pick up a few big candles from Illuminations (their Dulce de Leche candles are wonderful) so we went there to look around. Larry bought the candles for me as a little impromptu housewarming gift since I had just moved into a new apartment the week before. Is he a doll, or what?

I also need to pick up another present for my nephew, Michael, whose birthday was this coming Saturday, so we went to the Lego store next where I found the requisite items.

I didn’t want to test the limits of my stomach with anything heavy due to the earlier events of the day but I hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast and ice cream sounded good to me so we stopped at Haagen Das. I got a dish of strawberry ice cream and Larry got a chocolate shake. (Gosh it’s no wonder I became a diabetic this trip if I was eating chocolate shakes as main meals – L.) We ate our treats as we walked to Disneyland.

It was 8:45 when we arrived at the gates and the park was scheduled to close at 9:00. (I think Larry was gearing up for another evening of avoiding Disney security. Should I be worried about his criminal tendencies?) We walked to Tomorrowland where we found that Buzz Lightyear was a walk-on. Since Larry was such a patient and kind man and such a good nurse to me today, I won’t even mention the fact that my score was again more than double his. (I can’t remember but I may have deliberately done badly as part of my nurse Robin back to health plan. – L.)

After Buzz Lightyear, we wandered around behind Autopia and the train station. We found a partially secluded bench under the monorail track and we sat there for a while watching the park empty of its guests. Larry was in heaven. We went virtually unnoticed for a long time after the park closed. I honestly think we could have stayed there longer without being asked to leave. By 9:25 we saw a Security CM making her sweep (though she didn’t notice or say anything to us) and, since we had broken the previous night’s record for staying late in a park, we decided to start making our way out of the park.

I understand why Larry likes to stay in the parks after-hours. It’s very peaceful without so many people around and you notice more little details than you do when the park is busy and crowded. We walked through Fantasyland and looked at all the different weather vanes on top of the buildings (Mr. Toad, Snow White, Peter Pan, etc.), which was something I had never noticed before. I pointed out to Larry the Evil Queen that appears in the window above Snow White’s Scary Adventure.

I’ve read several trip reports that talk about staying after-hours in Epcot and seeing them burn off the extra propane in the big globe that is used for Illuminations. Larry and I decided that was something we needed to try next time we’re at WDW.

We left the park and walked back through Downtown Disney to the hotel, making it back right at 10:00 with just barely enough time to duck into the lounge and pick up something to drink.

 

[Linxzy]

*bump*