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tigga please
08-28-2006, 10:24 AM
"the blow by blow" 8/26-8/27

well, here goes my first "official" not so mini, trip report. i hope i do it some justice.
to start, the end of friday rolled around. my fiancé called to let me know she
was on her way to my house, packed and ready to go. i did my best to "man pack",
although i had at least an hour to kill. the plan was to leave at, or after 7pm from San Jose.
but we were too excited and left a lil early (around 630).
we only caught traffic around the beginning of I-5 due to an accident.
soon, we found ourselves passing by magic mtn... id say around 11:15pm. it looked
so pretty, all lit up. i wish we could have gotten off work earlier and drove before 3pm.
maybe we could have stopped for some thrills. but i digress..
before i knew it, we passed the Halloween store - that's my landmark! WE"RE SO CLOSE!

after 4hours and 37min of serious driving, we accidentally passed the candy-cane inn.
now let me start by kissing all of your feet. the CC inn was amazing. the location,
the grounds, the shuttle, and not to mention the beds...UMF! my back never really
acted up on this trip, and i lay claim to the super comfortable digs. i owe ya all
a drink at the lost bar ;)

so, its obviously to late to hit the parks - so we hit the sack. mmm comfy beds.
the alarm goes off around 8, but we don't get to the park till 10:30. the crowds
were heavy, and the weather was WARM. the lines to get into either park cascaded each other
to the center of the Disney keystone. so we went with DCA to start off the trip.
even with the long lines, we got in with minimal wait. it takes a keen eye, but most people
visiting didn't notice that each line had a left and a right side. NO ONE was taking the right sides,
so we jumped out of line and into the park! heh. i stopped at the lobby to get my stairs pass, and
off we were. we decided to start with some speed, so we hit screamin. i LOVE this coaster, but i
could use a lil more intensity. there wasn't a line at all so we went on it again. the first
train (yellow) didn't have their speakers on. the second time around we scored the orange train.
the speakers were the loudest i had ever experienced, and i think i found my sweet spot!
second train from the front, second row. i could feel the G's a lil bit more, which made
the second time around even better, and more memorable experience. after screamin, we walked over
to the Orange Stinger - hitting some shops up along the way and contemplating the Maliboomer.
the lady wouldn't go, but promised she would for my bday. anyone love this ride? any comments on airtime?

on our way to the Stinger, we saw the CARS preshow parade. loved the Stinger, however i must say this about
DCA. DCA is always better at night. with the Pier lights and the open water, it gives room for the breeze to
pass through the hussle and bussle. not like DL, which seems to lack the over all space for a good breeze.
NOS is the best place in DL for a nice cooling wind, i suspect once they remove the Finding Nemo construction
wall, we'll start feeling more soothing breezes and less stagnant air. anyways, back on track...
we caught some Soarin fast passes, and decided to hit Monsters INC and TOT. but out of my periff,
i saw a familiar face and hair (dude has some serious dreadlocks and some piercing - cant mistake that).
the familiar face has band that practices 3 doors down from us, walks right out of the condor flats bathroom scratching his back.
while the lady is using the girls room, i walk up behind him...he doesn't notice me at all..
so i reach out with my best ninja skills and start scratching the spot he's so desperately trying to reach.
that flips him out, yadda yadda, hugs all around etc. it was his daughters bday so they took her to the park
for her first time. after making loose plans to hit the lost bar after hours, we hoofed it over to the Hollywood lot and
and ran the rest of the gauntlet.

ONTO DL! now i wont take up the rest of your time by going into vast detail about this part of the trip since
we spent most of our time here. but ill give you some really really cool points.
the Jungle Cruse at night....AWESOME. it gave it more of an adventure feel for me. plus, we saw
some non-animatronic wildlife. a cute lil fox was making its way through the foliage, towards the
bathing elephants. that was a nice surprise :)
Pirates: now ive been there twice since the refurb and additions, and i noticed some additional changes.
as the mayor is being dunked in the well, there is a flute player..his track was turned WAY up, this time around.
in the burning city scene, the pirate balancing all the pillaged hats on his head - trying to step into the one man
boat...gone. maybe he malfunctioned and was in repair, but we definitely noticed. i had to notice, my concentration
was fixed on the ride..if i didn't focus, i would have ended up getting kicked out and possibly banned from the park for dunking a girl into the water.
she was behind us in the second row and was on her cellphone for the first 6min of the ride.
"OMG SO IM LIKE SOOO ON PIRATES RIGHT NOW! AH HUH! JOHNNY? YA HES HOT! NO WAY..." etc.
*rubs ears* - woooosaaa, woooosaaaa. ah rage subsiding..

heres a tip if you want to bypass that long, cant escape the sun, line for Peter Pan. warning, you will encounter
the crazy peter pan lady. we did..oh man. walk to fantasy land while everyone is waiting for the fireworks at 9:25.
you have to go around the Matterhorn, and dodge people right and left. but its better than cooking in the sun.
facing the carousel, look to your left. you will see a lamppost that has a "MR.TOAD" sign. that's where
the line starts for Peter Pan/Mr. Toad - you line up against the railing. you get a really great, close view of the
main fireworks display, and you get the opportunity to be one of the first ones back on the ride when fantasy land opens.
downside? you get to hear the crazy peter pan lady narrate the fireworks display. i told my lady that for my bday, id like to be
the last one on Peter Pan. knowing the situation, my over active imagination took over. it would be a showdown to end all showdowns.
like newman vs. seinfeld, custard vs. general lee, mano-E-mano. "after you", "..no after YOU", "no after you!" LOL.

..well i better get back to work..people need their systems fixed..
if more comes to mind then ill definitely update the thread. all in all, another great impromptu road trip under the belt.

ghoofie
08-28-2006, 10:39 AM
Glad you like the candy cane. It's the only place we stay. Comfy is right !

tigga please
08-28-2006, 10:53 AM
Glad you like the candy cane. It's the only place we stay. Comfy is right !

yup! i think its going to become our staple place to stay!

annieb727
08-28-2006, 03:28 PM
sounds like you had a great trip!!! thanks for sharing it with us!!
i'll have to try the Candy Cane someday :)

momuvseven
08-28-2006, 03:35 PM
We were there last week 21st-27th and encountered the Peter Pan lady every night, sooooo wierd!

We also saw the couple, the lady with her mile high hairdo and her sweetie holding her sweater. She wore the same dress every night.

One night there was a couple with them dressed straight out of Grease.

Just made the time in line all the more interesting LOL.

tigga please
08-28-2006, 03:57 PM
We were there last week 21st-27th and encountered the Peter Pan lady every night, sooooo wierd!

We also saw the couple, the lady with her mile high hairdo and her sweetie holding her sweater. She wore the same dress every night.

One night there was a couple with them dressed straight out of Grease.

Just made the time in line all the more interesting LOL.

wow! thats a long time to spend there! we ran into someone from new mexico in the jungle cruise queue who had been there for 7 days. his exact words were "if you've been here for 7 days and havent done everything, then somethings wrong with you."
of course he was riding the jungle cruise for the first time on their trip. im sorta militant when it comes to my DL visits. i can usually squeeze in every ride in both parks at least once or twice, sans the shows. if i were paying the big bucks to stay there that long, i think id have to spend half the time in the spa's just to mix it up ;) *thinks.*...maybe thats why im so sore today haha


sounds like you had a great trip!!! thanks for sharing it with us!!
i'll have to try the Candy Cane someday :)

if you booked and didnt end up liking it, i would give you my first born

GrouchoMarx
08-28-2006, 04:23 PM
"the blow by blow" 8/26-8/27
and i noticed some additional changes. in the burning city scene, the pirate balancing all the pillaged hats on his head - trying to step into the one man
boat...gone. maybe he malfunctioned and was in repair, but we definitely noticed. .

My son got to ride POTC a week or so before l did and the first thing he told me, with sadness in his voice, was that the guy balancing the hats on his head was gone. l've since been on the ride and l'm okay with all the changes (not that anyone asked), but l have to say that one leaves me a little heartbroken. l'm no hardcore preservationist, but that was, to my memory, an original element of the ride and worth keeping, given that little corner of the ride is wanting for something anyway.
Well, here's hoping the guy with all the hats on his head is just in need of repair and will be back soon.
Thanks for sharing your trip with us. l enjoy reading other guests' experiences and take on things. The girl with the cell phone on POTC is hilarious. Annoying, l know, but still hilarious.

annieb727
08-28-2006, 04:42 PM
if you booked and didnt end up liking it, i would give you my first born

uhhh...I don't think I could handle another kid - wait...how old? old enough to be worked?? LOL mine are 2 & 4 and they're SO busy and active and exhausting!!! how about if I don't like it, you can take my first born - but just for a week while i go back to DL LOL

tigga please
08-28-2006, 05:32 PM
uhhh...I don't think I could handle another kid - wait...how old? old enough to be worked?? LOL mine are 2 & 4 and they're SO busy and active and exhausting!!! how about if I don't like it, you can take my first born - but just for a week while i go back to DL LOL

i havent had any kids yet but i bet it could plow a field or two :)

velo
08-29-2006, 03:50 PM
Actually, I know what happened to the hat carrying Pirate! He fell over! When we were there during the week of the 6 - 12 of August we rode Pirates and just as we passed the pirate he fell into the boat he balances on~ It made a very loud "boom" and the boat behind us started laughing because they thought it was a planned effect. There was even a hat or two floating in the water. I'm hoping he isn't "hurt" too badly, but it was quite a fall! I thought he'd be back by now, too! (we did report it as soon as we got off the boat)