Does it look like we had a good time? We did, we had a really good time. We also did it the right way, because it turned out I really did need to just stop and go back to the room periodically, and for an extended time on Day 2; we went to California Great Adventure on the second day, and I was feeling fairly crappy, overly tired and pretty achy, with my back and feet fighting for Most Awful Feeling, so we headed back and I was able to rest up. We intended to go back to Disneyland to be in the park for the fireworks, but that never happened, mostly because right about the time we were thinking about heading back, it started to rain...which didn't really matter because our room had a perfect view of them.
The nice thing about going to Disney without little kids? You don't have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn because they're pinging off the walls and wanting to get there already. You get to sleep in and take care of all the aches and pains and medication issues, and wander over when you feel like it.
On Day Three I don't think we hit the park until after 11 a.m. and the first thing we did was hit Space Mountain to get a Fast Pass, and then we wandered for a bit, mostly so I could get a feel for how I was really feeling. By the time we could go back and bypass most of the line I was feeling pretty good, and man, that is my absolutely favorite ride.
We rode it on Day One, of course, and decided to go back to it later again on Day Three, because I must have my Space Mountain! And while we waited, the Spouse Thingy mused about how he would really like to see Space Mountain with the lights on.
So we really shouldn't have been surprised at what happened less than a minute into the ride.
Mike broke Space Mountain.
Right before we should have gone into a wicked turn, the ride stopped and the lights popped on, and there was an announcement that a ride attendant would be right with us. This was actually kind of cool, getting to see what it really looks like, and getting to watch as other cars were released manually and then pushed down the track. One good shove by this girl I probably could have snapped in two with my thumbs literally shoved each car along, let go, and we watched as one by one they picked up speed and headed to the and of the line.
Since we were so high up, we were the last car to be released and had the longest ride in the light, which was pretty trippy. In the light Space Mountain is kind of a lame roller coaster, just a couple notches above the kind you see in the little-kid areas of theme parks. But it was still fun, and when we got to the end, they left us all on and let us ride through again.
It's definitely a trip I want to take again. Or maybe try Disney World in FL. But next time I think we'll fly...the drive kicked my ass, and on the way home we got a screw in one of the back tires, and ya know what? There are no full-service stations along I-5. It took a few places, but Mike finally tried a truck stop with semi service, and while they couldn't plug the tire for us--because they just didn't have a plug kit--the kid there jacked the car up and put the spare on so that Mike didn't have to, and pointed us to Bakersfield.
For free.
We headed to Bakersfield about 35 miles from where we were at, very slowly, to an America's Tire, where we waited nearly 3 hours all in all (9 cars ahead of us...but what we were going to do?) and they plugged the tire, put the spare back in the well in the trunk, mounted the good tire, reloaded our luggage back into the car and got it all arranged for us so that we didn't have to worry about it.
For free.
Seriously. For free.
We got home 3 hours later than we expected, but hey... in a warped way it was worth it to experience just how nice people really can be.
More pictures up at Flickr. I don't have them organized well or descriptions on most of them yet, but they are there for your perusal if you so choose ;)
And yanno, Disney is a lot like a SGK 3 Day. People stop what they're doing when they see you taking a picture, and offer to take a couple so you can be in it together.
5 comments:
I always wanted to go to Disney Land or world. When I had the opportunity to go to Land, we did not go because we had little kids and they were not with us. It was a guilt thing. Then years later, we were in Florida and went to Busch Gardens, instead. The last time I was in California, we took grand kids to Lego land!
Glad that you had a great vacation! And it is amazing to discover how nice people can be. We had a similar experience when we had a nail in a tire - great place in Gillette Wyoming fixed it for about ~$8.
Mom Sue to The Furry Bambinos
It sounds wonderful. The Woman stayed there once in high school for some Key Club thingy they had there and it was great to get to overlook the park!
Glad you enjoyed your stay and that the place is not totally for those with kids.
Sounds like you had a great fun time! The inner workings of Space Mountain I find that very interesting with all the smoke and mirror stuff missing. Nice set of photos and good to hear that people still are nice and helpful.
jan
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