After the night of the Pirate and Princess Party, we'd resolved to sleep in. No alarms, alarm clock or cell phone or TV (if it had a timer). We would get up whenever our bodies told us it was time to get up.
My body told me it was time to get up at six. After having fallen asleep at around 1:00 or 1:30 that morning.
I tried to tell my body it was
not time to get up. My body did not agree. I finally gave into it at 7:00 and got up to take a shower. Melneth and Nevi remained asleep. I finished my morning ministrations by around 8:00. They were still asleep. I got out my Bible (remember, I mentioned it in my packing list way back when) and read a little.
Yes. While I spent Sunday morning communing with God, Nevi and Melneth slept. But I do not judge.
After my communing, I copied pictures from my camera to my laptop. Then I wrote in my trip journal up through the Pirate and Princess Party and that morning: "... copied pix to comp to free up space on memory card, started this, & they're STILL asleep. It's about 9:30. Uh oh. I think the TV may get loud."
That last is a reference to ZZUB's early TRs (and even now I haven't finished the fourth and fifth ones) and how his TV would mysteriously turn on in the morning and gradually get louder until it woke up his wife and daughter.
The TV, however, did not get loud, since I elected to go out into the hall to talk to my mom and let her know I hadn't died or been kidnapped (not that she worries about this type of thing, but I do kinda like to let people know I'm still alive; that way then can worry if I ever need them to). But I later discovered that the phone call was just as good, since it seems the hotel has thin walls and they could hear me through it. Which I never suspected. Honest.
Anyway.
Melneth and Nevi woke up eventually, and we were ready to leave around 11:00. We elected not to have a restaurant breakfast (sobsobweeping; I love breakfast) since it was so near lunchtime. So they ate nothing. I, mindful that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, had eaten yogurt earlier. Yes. I am that virtuous.
Now, this was the point at which I, due to the fact that my body insists on waking up at roughly the same time each day regardless of how little sleep I've gotten, started to drag. In World of Disney, we went our separate ways and set a time limit to return to the candy room at a set time. I purchased candy for my brother since he hates souvenirs but would at least eat overpriced confections and a travel mug for my dad. Nevi also purchased a travel mug for her dad (who actually has the same first name as mine).
From World of Disney--or was it before World of Disney?--we went to the Christmas store so Melneth could get some ornaments for her parents. And I think she got at least one for herself; unlike yours truly, she has a Christmas tree. I haven't yet been able to convince myself that the cost is worth it when I live alone. Although maybe I should have bought myself a Disney ornament as motivation to purchase said tree.
What can I say? I don't think well when sleep-deprived.
We also stopped in at Art of Disney since Melneth wanted a sketch of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. They didn't have one. So after some deliberation (they're not cheap) she decided to have a sketch commissioned. She'd pick it up later in the day.
At some point we went to Pooh Corner (I think), where Nevi purchased a cute fuzzy baby Eeyore for her new niece.
Then we went to Arribas Brothers because I wanted to. I was looking for some sort of animal musician for my mom since that's what she collects, but I didn't find any in my price range. I did, however, find a nice pair of on-sale earrings for me. And though they cost only $5, they don't bother my ears, which don't do well with nickel or even surgical stainless steel, sometimes.
I was so out of it, though, that when I picked up my earrings and then was looking around for an available cashier, I walked right past a CM--are they still called CMs when they work in stores--who had asked me if I was ready to buy. Melneth later informed me of this. When the cogs in my head at last ground enough for me to understand what she was saying, I think I grunted in acknowledgment.
Oh, shoot. The World of Disney should really be down in this section (I'm looking at the DTD stores online to remember where we went) because I remember that when we stopped in Basin, also at my request, Melneth and Nevi left early to go into World of Disney. Or maybe we went to WOD twice. Hmm.
Anyway, having been thwarted in Arribas Brothers for my mom's gift, I got her (and myself; it was a 6-for-something deal and I, ahem, "knew" she wouldn't want six) some bath salts. I also bought bar shampoo for me because it was shampoo and it was in a bar! Seriously, right up there with soap on a rope! How could you see bar shampoo and not buy it!
...Now ask me if I've used mine.
And at some point we stopped in at the following stores, though we didn't buy anything:
- Disney's Pin Traders
- Disney's Wonderful World of Memories
- Hoypoloi
- Magnetron Magnetz
- Mickey's Mart
The bulk of our shopping completed, we dropped off our purchases in the car. I vaguely remember thinking that the candy would be okay for a little bit, but I'm not sure if that was on this day or on our last day, when we stopped at DTD again briefly. But I'm reasonably sure that we left our purchases in the car because I wrote that in my journal. On June 13th, which was nearly a full week after we got back, but still.
After dropping/not dropping off our purchases in the car--wait. Yes, yes we did put our purchases in the car, because we didn't have them at DisneyQuest. So I think the candy was there, too. Probably.
ANYWAY.
After depositing our purchases, we headed to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. Nevi and Melneth, non-breakfast-eaters that they are, were starving by this point. I could've lasted a bit longer.
Melenth ate the Ultimate Grilled Cheese, I had the Hawaiian BBQ (and Nevi mocked me for calling it the "BBQ" rather than actually saying "bar-be-que," because, as she told me, "No one says "BBQ") and Nevi had the mumblemumbleIdon'trememberandthat'swhatshegetsformockingme.
We all agreed that the sandwiches were tasty.
It was about 1:00 when we got to DisneyQuest. Since we had the Water Park Fun & More option on our park tickets, we congratulated each other over getting our money's worth, since we only needed to go to a Water Park or More twice for the addition to pay for itself. And this was our third use.
First stop in DisneyQuest was Ride the Comix, a VR game where you enter a comic book to do battle with the evil villains who have kidnapped the stupid hero. Or at least that's what I remember from the set-up video that played on a constant loop for the queuers.
Quickly bored with Mistress Khan's repetitions, I watched some of the current players and noted that we humans tend to look pretty stupid when wearing large apparatuses on our heads and waving around plastic sticks meant to be swords.
I resigned myself to looking stupid as well.
At last it was our turn. I have a small head, and so the "sleeve" for my helmet (the thing you're supposed to wear to connect your skull to actual VR helmet) was too large. Even the sponge thingy the CM gave me to add more girth to my diminutive cranium was not quite sufficient. So for the next five minutes, I proceeded to wear a heavy helmet that reemphasized to me just why gravity isn't always my friend--aside from the whole keeping anchored to the planet so I don't go floating off into outer space where there is no air and no one can hear me scream, that is--sweat into said heavy helmet since it had no circulation, contend with the stench of the helmet, and wave my stick to do battle with the All-Villains.
My ending screen told me I had gotten second place out of our group (there were six of us total who played, I think) but I don't know who got first. Though I felt somewhat vindicated after my low Buzz Lightyear scores, it wasn't enough to make me want to do another VR game.
Melneth and Nevi agreed. They didn't like the heavy, stinky helmets either. Grandma in the Carousel of Progress must have no sweat glands.
Well, of course she doesn't, unless the Imagineers are far more thorough than I ever suspected.
We also went on the Invasion! An ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter, where (as described by allears.net) "In your virtual-reality spaceship, you and your friends will team up to steer the ship over an alien planet, rescue the human colonists there, and destroy hostile aliens." Nevi and I made Melneth be the navigator. Neither one of us particularly likes geography. Nevi was the front gunner, "riding" with Melneth, and I was the rear, riding with my Invisible Buddy Who Never Shot Anything.
This was more fun than Ride the Comix. We didn't have to wear icky helmets and two of us got to shoot things. I shot slightly more aliens than Nevi, but I never told her that was probably purely dumb luck because for the vast majority of time, I couldn't tell where my crosshair pointer thingummy was. And luckily the game never "let" you kill the poor colonists running to the spaceship, or else I probably would've done more harm than good.
Anyway, assuming she ever catches up with this TR, she'll know the truth. I feel better, having gotten that off my chest in that passive manner.
We also stopped by the DDR-like games, where all of us proved that we suck at it, but I was the suckiest. Likewise I was sucky at a drum-rhythm thing. I think it's because I'm more visually oriented than audio, so I try to follow the colors/floating shapes when, since they are rhythm games, after all, you're supposed to follow the rhythm. If they could isolate the sound, I might do better.
Hear that, DDR-ish game-makers? Cater to Jiri and make her feel better about her video dancing/drum beating!
Once I'd been humiliated on the glowing dance floor, it was time to be humiliated in the Create Zone drawing class. A friendly CM attempted to teach a bunch of us how to draw Mickey using the art of circles.
My Mickey looked like he'd been eating a few too many doughnuts and the odd entire cheesecake. Though I had the option to buy my sketch, I didn't.
(Speaking of cheesecake, a moment to mourn that DisneyQuest had done away with its contract with Cheesecake Factory and no longer offered their yummy deliciousness when we were there. mournmournmourn)
Melneth's Mickey had been on a weight-loss program, but seemed to have gotten caught in a scene from
Raiders of the Lost Ark because part of him was lopsided or "melty."
Nevi's Mickey actually turned out pretty decent. She bought her sketch.
And I later turned out her Mickey had turned out decent because she had already had experience in drawing circles due to one of her friends having bought her a book on how to draw dragons. Which are also based on circles, it seems. So. I say she cheated. If I'd had a how to draw dragons book, or had known to practice my circles, my Mickey might have looked good too.
On the whole, Disney Quest wasn't as fun as we'd thought it'd be. The best part is really the Virtual Jungle Cruise and the Pirates of the Carribbean--Battle for Buccaneer Gold, both of which we did twice. Virtual Jungle Cruise was noncompetitive but also a "water ride" as you sit on the boat on a pad that fills up with water, and bars along your giant cubicle spray you with mist on occasion.
The dinosaur never ate us, so that was a plus. But we never found the "device" the idiot time-traveling cruise director loses at the beginning of the-- I'll call it a "video game segment."
For Pirates, the goal is simple: sink other pirate ships and battle a ghost ship! Our first time out, we made Melneth be the captain and steer us toward the other ships. We were also paired with another couple. The male portion of that couple was very adept with the cannon and aware of his surroundings. When his side didn't have any ships, he came over to my and Nevi's side to help sink whatever ship. Knowing a good idea when I see it, I followed his example and crossed over as the opportunity presented itself.
We sunk the ghost ship too, BTW. Though I'm still confused as to how we were able to sink an intangible ghost ship with presumably tangible cannonballs.
Of course, as the three of us discussed later, if Disney were going to be accurate with how cannons actually work, we would've had to have loaded each cannonball into the cannon one by one rather than pulling the cord at a certain angle so you could shoot nearly continuously. It would have taken much longer to sink
any ship, pirate or ghost or otherwise.
But of course it's Disney, and therefore not based in true reality, but rather in the "hyperreal," as Jean Baudrillard calls it in "Simulacra and Simulations."
Hey. I was an English major. Some of the stuff actually stuck with me.
I believe we left DisneyQuest at around six. And I think all told, the average queue waiting time there was longer than we experienced in the parks. Once again,
The Unofficial Guide's touring plans rock.
Upon calling our quests of the Disney sort complete, we headed over to Wolfgang Puck Express for some pizza. We ate it. It was good. I didn't fall asleep and wind up with my face in my meal. That was good, too.
And it seems I should've checked this portion of my notes sooner, because they tell me that it was
this night when we did the early show of the Comedy Warehouse, and it was for
this show that Kelneth placed us near the phones, but to no avail since we weren't called.
Again. I blame my sleep deprivation.
I don't think we did anything after Comedy Warehouse, or if we did, I don't remember it because I was wiped. And it was back to rising for rope drop the next day, so I think we elected to have a somewhat early night.
And no, this post had no pictures. Because either (a) I forgot it the hotel room due to sleepiness or (b) forgot to take pictures due to sleepiness or (c) couldn't fathom going through the effort of taking my camera out of my bag, turning it on, and snapping a picture. Also due to sleepiness.
Yes, you are sensing a trend.
Up Next: Testing Tracks and Green Spaces. Among other things, but I know I'll get to those first two.
Hard to motivate myself to do it.
We had fun giving it right back to him too.
(aside from you, of course)
I probably wouldn't get a fresh one (too much work to clean up after and care for--you should see the state of my live plants!) but could look into a small artificial one. What I should've done last year was hit up the post-Christmas sales to get one on the cheap. 
