Pee Before Pooh- It's a Real DIVE! (10/29)

[All7OfUs]

My dear readers- or whoever is left of them...

I deeply apologize for the lack of attention I've given this report! It is not like me to neglect things for so long, but now that school has started things ought to settle down into a more steady and predictable routine! God willing!

Believe it or not, that is the end of Day 1. The task of writing a TR for a 3 day trip is so much less daunting that one for a 12 day trip, especially given my writing style (ie, verbose!). Bear with me as I try to keep up both reports AND my blog; all of which take up an enormous amount of time and effort.

Thanks for understanding!

Liesa

 

[kaoden39]

Liesa, I am still here. I am enjoying your trip report a lot. I find your writing style real fun.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I'm all caught up.

 

[All7OfUs]

Nothing beats Southern Californian weather, and even better than that is being in a Disney Park under the bright Californian sun, soft wind swaying in the palm trees, and wispy clouds floating around in a perfectly blue sky. That’s the way it was when we woke up on Day 2 of our Disney Adventure- Mom, Aunt Cherrie and I. But today was not destined to be a threesome; today would turn into a foursome- but not quite yet.

Getting up and out with a handicapped person takes extraordinary amounts of time, but far less than I thought it might going into the trip. We were up at 7:00 and out the door by 8:30, skipping breakfast. But that wasn’t entirely on purpose. When I booked the room at the Anabella I thought that a breakfast came with our room; sadly, it did not. Slightly disappointed that we wouldn’t get a freebie, but rather happy, on the other hand, that it would get us to the park a WHOLE lot faster, we set out. To Disneyland.

Big Mistake!

Or a rather cruel:

Ok, here’s the scooperoo on that whole debacle… My aunt who was is a California resident was able to purchase discounted tix for up to 6 guests with her ID. We ended up saving about $15 per person which in my book equals a pretty decent meal somewhere. So that’s what we did. What we didn’t do was read the fine print (lawyers and advertisers love me). And just to leave you hanging just a tad longer, I’ll leave it at that by saying we waltzed right into Disneyland for breakfast and to wait for my mom and Cherrie’s cousin, Dorothy.

All of us agreed that a light pastry and some tea or coffee sounded like a perfect to start our day, so we headed for here:

The fare was fair; tasty but not “homebaked”.

But apparently, it had all been to the Fair?

Useful factoid that we learned while waiting a bit later (yes, I carry my coffee cup around for hours…) while talking to some CMs at the Lincoln attraction: At THAT bakery and ONLY that bakery, if you save your receipt and your cup, you are entitled to bottomless coffee! Bank that, ok!

One of the things I LOVE the very most about the vibe on Main Street is the music. I adore ragtime, and listening to it played live is like going to Nirvana! So we headed towards those happy sounds. But just about then, tragedy struck…. Well or at least a quite long, very inconveniencing circumstance that rattled my nerves pretty much. Somehow, while walking I stopped just long enough to take a couple of photos (these, in fact):

The next thing I know… they are GONE!!! Utterly and totally gone! No purse, no phone, but ticket, no NOTHING except my lovely, lovely coffee in my hand. I searched INSIDE the gates for quite a while for them, and then resigned myself to checking to see if they had gone over to the entrance to CA Adv. to see if Dorothy had arrived, for the last I had heard and understood, we wanted to spend the day over there. <cue the foreshadowing music>

I took the long hike over across the wide expanse of the “plaza” and searched some more… and discovered they were nowhere to be found there either. On the way out, I had explained to the CM manning the exit turnstile my dilemma and she assured me she’d let me back in if I could not find them. So I did. I went back in, hunted for them again, all to no avail. I was lost. Or they were lost. Either way, I was screwed. Big time. I felt like that little lost child who’s gotten separated from her parents in a huge crowd, and panic started to arise.

But then, genius struck me (because sometimes genius takes FAR too long to show up). I headed over to Guest Services nearly in tears. By now it had been about half an hour and I was nearly in meltdown mode. But true to most CMs working in Guest Services that were chosen for their calm natures and plentiful smiles, she told me, “No problem! We can just call her from here”. DONE! Except I didn’t have her number memorized. But I remembered my dad’s and luckily he answered (in Kentucky). He was rather befuddled as to why I’d be calling from Disneyland asking for Mom’s number, but gave it to me, likely hanging up and scratching his head.

Ring, Ring…. Ring, Ring. “WHERE are you??!!”

“I’m outside looking for you!”

“We’re sitting here, listening to the most incredible set of Ragtime. Come on in and join us!”

DOH!!!

Slightly irritated, I made my way back through the gate with the nice CM who said she’d let me in if I needed to be and found the bench they had been planted at since I went astray. They had been happily munching while I had been wandering…

Wanna a bite??

And enjoying this:

Just about then, Dorothy calls and says she’s arrived, and asks what kind of ticket to buy: regular or PH. “Oh go ahead and buy a PH, we’ve got all day! We’ll meet you over there in a jiffy.”

We say goodbye to the lovely band playing under shaded umbrellas and scurry over to the entrance to California Adventure. Along the way, we all got a kick in the nostalgia pants when we saw this:

With appropriate amounts of oohing, aaahhhing, and wishing we were all decades younger, we recalled the many happy times we arrive at the Katella entrance and start prattling on about which rides we HAD to go on that day, where we were going to eat, and all that other stuff that Disney trips are made of. Imagine our shock when we saw that our beloved sign had been hijacked with this:

WHA..!!??

Promos are good and all that- but just don’t mess with the icons!! They are to be venerated not tampered with!

So we get up to the turnstiles, stick in our tickets and are told we don’t have tickets. Ummmm… ok, then what are these. Oh, those have already been used today. The shoes drops. It is then that we realize that we in our haste to save money, we had not gotten PH tix and were stuck with going back to Disneyland yet again today. Worse yet, we had told Dorothy to buy a PH, that was now useless. I know they would likely have traded it, but by now she (and all of us) was just itching to get on with our day and into the park. Any park! Now don’t get me wrong, being in ANY Disney park is not a bad thing, so we made the very most of that day we got together. Stay tuned for the rest of DAY 2’s adventures!!

 

[All7OfUs]

Liesa, I am still here. I am enjoying your trip report a lot. I find your writing style real fun.

I'm all caught up.

So glad you guys are still with me!!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

Hey there lady!

I am still here as well. Just late to the party. As usual.

The only thing I have to say about the non PH tickets is, it could be worse. You could have no tickets. I'm sure that you and the girls will make the very best of the situation.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh I think I would have cried. How awful.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Wow!!!

 

[All7OfUs]

We last left off with a frustrating half hour of re-connecting. Starting a morning off with a hefty dose of panic is never fun, but with a full day of Disney fun ahead, it was sure to get better… much better. We finished up watching the band round out their delicious set of ragtime (along with those delicious pastries and bottomless coffees!), and it was time to head off to live out some Fantasies of our own. But we all know that before Fantasyland comes Main Street, and Carol told us she’d been wanting to hit up Great Moments with Abraham Lincoln for a while, so that’s where we journeyed first.

I wasn’t sure how many “great moments” this would provide us with, as I remember being pretty bored with that particular attraction as a kid. But we all have to grow up sometime; with maturity comes the ability to appreciate that which doesn’t necessarily provide sensory overload and laser guns, but rather experiences that make one think and reflect. GMwAL is certainly one of those attractions which can stir up a variety of deep emotions- all of which I felt; patriotism, sadness, joy, and appreciation of just how well this show is done. No wonder it’s had a long run of almost 50 years!

After the show, we spent some time in the current exhibit being displayed in the Art of Disney area: a HUGE exhibition of Mary Blair’s works! There were walls and wall of her concept art. I had no idea she was such a prolific artist who supplied Disney with such great talent. I just love her bright, happy colors and angular style of smiling children.

Now on to Fantasyland?? Nope, not yet… one more detour. The group of 60-somethings wanted to next check out “the submarine ride”. Ok. It was definitely one my personal favorites growing up, but did it have a way for my aunt to do it? I had visions of us waiting in the 30 minute queue only to find that we could not hoist her chair down the hatch. So we sauntered up to the exit, as per usual, to inquire about our possibilities. And because Disney bends over backwards to help make the parks an amazing experience for EVERYONE, they offered an “alternative” attraction, which we immediately decided to enjoy. Instead of actually going in one of the subs, the entire party is escorted to a room where a video of an actual voyage was filmed and played for you. The audio track is piped in, there are no stairs, no claustrophobia, no other guests to be worried about. Basically, it was a private viewing, just not underwater, and quite possibly WAY more comfortable. We really liked it a lot! Two thumbs up for the handicapped version of “the sub ride”.

DIVE, DIVE!!!

Now can we get on with gettin’ to Fantasyland?? Yes, I’m certain we can, but you’ll have to join me next time for those Fantastical Adventures- for the Great Moments of this voyage are over.

 

[kaoden39]

I am glad they have that option on the subs. I am claustrophobic so I cannot do them. Now I know I can do a version of them thank you. I love Mr Lincoln on a warm day. It is a great place to sit down and cool off. The patriotism rush is a good thing too.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

That is awesome!! I got to go on it before it even opened.