Buckimion
Purple Heart Park Commando
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2003
- Messages
- 859
Thursday, June 16th: An off day. Tammy didn't really want to do anything but stay in the room and rest. Tierney spent the day swimming. I kept eyeing the #50 bus to Long Beach that would run right past the motel on Katella but couldn't get up the nerve to risk getting on and not finding my way back. (I had wanted to see the Queen Mary and had originally planned on taking the ghost tour during our trip.) I also was suffering from internet withdrawal and located a branch of the Orange County Library in Stanton
on Katella and right on the bus line without risking getting lost. The bus driver was the most professional I'd found yet and actually managed to load 3 of us in wheelchairs / scooters on his bus without fuss. I was surprised when we lucked out and got the same driver coming back. Later, I decided to head out to a Popeye's (Love that chicken!) I'd seen and
surprise! Its the same driver again! Unfortunately, while I was picking up dinner, service went from every 20 minutes to every 40 minutes or so
and it was a cold night. I apparently just missed the last bus and guys were constantly coming up wanting to know if the bus was coming, usually in Spanish first. Sorry, its all Greek to me. (My Spanish is limited to what I can remember from Sesame Street. I know more Japanese (not much more) than Spanish.) Finally the bus did arrive and it was not my usual driver.
Friday, June 17th: Our final day in the parks. Tammy was still suffering from Disney burnout and just wanted to relax. She said she'd meet us later in DCA. Tierney and I headed out to Disneyland. On arrival we spent some time in front of the floral Mickey watching the band and some of the characters that had come out. Lucky for me, Tierney never picked up her mom's obsession for getting her picture taken with every character in a park. We moved on in and waited for the rope drop, trying to avoid getting run over. When the Disney Dash began, we hung a right out of most of the traffic which was primarily headed either for Adventureland or Fantasyland and headed for Star Tours. Tierney thought it was ok but wasn't overly impressed.
Next we headed for the Matterhorn (left side). The line was slightly shorter than it had been on Tuesday at about 25 minutes. As before, we waited in the standard queue until we reached the station, but instead of trying to negotiate the sharp turns in the station, we were directed to a holding area. I don't know if the lederhosen was going to the CM's head, but he wasn't exactly the warmest we'd encountered YOU VILL VAIT HERE UNTIL THAT PERSON YOU VER BEHIND HAS PASSED THOUGH THE LINE. ANY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE AND YOU VILL BE SHOT.
Jawol, Herr Commandant.
To be fair, when the person we were behind entered the car, the CM turned to us immediately... ENTER THE TRANSPORT - SCHNELL! SCHNELL!
After we made like the Von Trapp family, we headed over to Fantasyland where things went smoothly boarding all of the dark rides. Apparently, a lead was training 4 new operators on Snow White and I volunteered to be a guinea pig, training them on proper handicap load/unload procedures a couple of times. We also hit the Storybook Canal boats, lucking onto the golden boat. We then made our way back to Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Double ride on Indy, Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room. I like the WDW version and was actually skeptical if this was really better, but I'll take the Hawaiian War Chant over "In the still of the night" anytime. I still like Iago though. ("My how time flies, GET A LIFE YOU GUYS!") Lunch was at the Bengal BBQ where we had a 25 minute line. Our Disneyland day ended with one last pass through the Opera House.
***SPOILER WARNING***
On the Jungle Cruise we think we found one of the changes.
Tuesday's ride had gone pretty much as expected. This one had an unexpected twist. Most should be familiar with the part where the baby elephant pulls its trunk out of the water and looks like its going to squirt the boat but instead backs down. Well, You can't trust the elephant anymore. Instead of backing down as expected, Tierney got hosed! Or is that 'Trunked'?
***Spoiler Off***
Over to DCA to Tierney's horror, I made her go though the tortilla factory again as I found out that I'd been so entranced the first time I hadn't taken any pictures. I finally made her happy and headed back to Paradise Pier where she got to ride California Screaming, Orange Stinger and another solo ride on Maliboomer. I hate those space shot / drop rides. The only reason I ride Tower of Terror is the theaming. Tierney was reluctant at first to ride Orange Stinger because she has this morbid fear of bees. Right after this, it was nearly time for the day's Block Party Bash and there was no way I was going to miss it again. We walked back toward the front of the park trying to keep an eye open for Tammy. We never saw her but we did get a nice shady spot near the California Zephyr train where we saw the green army men going though their pre-parade drill. During the parade, the Toy Story float stopped right in front of us for a show. During Mr. Incredible's 'surprise' appearance, Tierney managed to catch one of the nerf balls that are fired out with his appearance. (It has the Block Party Bash logo on it.)
We caught the last Alladin showing, which had most of the same actors as Wednesday's show. Genie had a few different jokes but didn't seem as brilliant as before. One major difference we saw was that some scenes were supposed to take place on carpet as it flew over the audience. Apparently the mechanism wasn't working because they either eliminated the scenes or substituted others. (During the "Whole New World" sequence, Alladin and Jasmine were pushed around the stage instead of flying over the audience.)
After the show, I thought Tierney would start yowling for Grizzly River, but instead, asked if we could call it a day. I was torn between wanting to keep going and getting some rest. Rest won and we headed back to get ready to leave on Saturday. When we got back to the room, we found Tammy already there. She said she came out around noon and spent about 6 hours in the parks but missed the Block Party Bash again. She also picked up a bad sunburn and didn't want anyone to touch her. Naturally, Tierney thought this was a good time for a big hug.
Friday, June 17th: Our final day in the parks. Tammy was still suffering from Disney burnout and just wanted to relax. She said she'd meet us later in DCA. Tierney and I headed out to Disneyland. On arrival we spent some time in front of the floral Mickey watching the band and some of the characters that had come out. Lucky for me, Tierney never picked up her mom's obsession for getting her picture taken with every character in a park. We moved on in and waited for the rope drop, trying to avoid getting run over. When the Disney Dash began, we hung a right out of most of the traffic which was primarily headed either for Adventureland or Fantasyland and headed for Star Tours. Tierney thought it was ok but wasn't overly impressed.
Next we headed for the Matterhorn (left side). The line was slightly shorter than it had been on Tuesday at about 25 minutes. As before, we waited in the standard queue until we reached the station, but instead of trying to negotiate the sharp turns in the station, we were directed to a holding area. I don't know if the lederhosen was going to the CM's head, but he wasn't exactly the warmest we'd encountered YOU VILL VAIT HERE UNTIL THAT PERSON YOU VER BEHIND HAS PASSED THOUGH THE LINE. ANY ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE AND YOU VILL BE SHOT.
Jawol, Herr Commandant.
To be fair, when the person we were behind entered the car, the CM turned to us immediately... ENTER THE TRANSPORT - SCHNELL! SCHNELL!
After we made like the Von Trapp family, we headed over to Fantasyland where things went smoothly boarding all of the dark rides. Apparently, a lead was training 4 new operators on Snow White and I volunteered to be a guinea pig, training them on proper handicap load/unload procedures a couple of times. We also hit the Storybook Canal boats, lucking onto the golden boat. We then made our way back to Splash Mountain, Big Thunder, Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Double ride on Indy, Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room. I like the WDW version and was actually skeptical if this was really better, but I'll take the Hawaiian War Chant over "In the still of the night" anytime. I still like Iago though. ("My how time flies, GET A LIFE YOU GUYS!") Lunch was at the Bengal BBQ where we had a 25 minute line. Our Disneyland day ended with one last pass through the Opera House.
***SPOILER WARNING***
On the Jungle Cruise we think we found one of the changes.
Tuesday's ride had gone pretty much as expected. This one had an unexpected twist. Most should be familiar with the part where the baby elephant pulls its trunk out of the water and looks like its going to squirt the boat but instead backs down. Well, You can't trust the elephant anymore. Instead of backing down as expected, Tierney got hosed! Or is that 'Trunked'?
***Spoiler Off***
Over to DCA to Tierney's horror, I made her go though the tortilla factory again as I found out that I'd been so entranced the first time I hadn't taken any pictures. I finally made her happy and headed back to Paradise Pier where she got to ride California Screaming, Orange Stinger and another solo ride on Maliboomer. I hate those space shot / drop rides. The only reason I ride Tower of Terror is the theaming. Tierney was reluctant at first to ride Orange Stinger because she has this morbid fear of bees. Right after this, it was nearly time for the day's Block Party Bash and there was no way I was going to miss it again. We walked back toward the front of the park trying to keep an eye open for Tammy. We never saw her but we did get a nice shady spot near the California Zephyr train where we saw the green army men going though their pre-parade drill. During the parade, the Toy Story float stopped right in front of us for a show. During Mr. Incredible's 'surprise' appearance, Tierney managed to catch one of the nerf balls that are fired out with his appearance. (It has the Block Party Bash logo on it.)
We caught the last Alladin showing, which had most of the same actors as Wednesday's show. Genie had a few different jokes but didn't seem as brilliant as before. One major difference we saw was that some scenes were supposed to take place on carpet as it flew over the audience. Apparently the mechanism wasn't working because they either eliminated the scenes or substituted others. (During the "Whole New World" sequence, Alladin and Jasmine were pushed around the stage instead of flying over the audience.)
After the show, I thought Tierney would start yowling for Grizzly River, but instead, asked if we could call it a day. I was torn between wanting to keep going and getting some rest. Rest won and we headed back to get ready to leave on Saturday. When we got back to the room, we found Tammy already there. She said she came out around noon and spent about 6 hours in the parks but missed the Block Party Bash again. She also picked up a bad sunburn and didn't want anyone to touch her. Naturally, Tierney thought this was a good time for a big hug.
