The Happiest Place on Earth, Day 2

On Saturday, we didn't get up quite as early, because we'd decided to start the day at California Adventure, which doesn't open until 10:00. If it opened any earlier, I'm not sure we would've been able to drag ourselves out of bed to get there. So this was perfect. Our enthusiasm was much lower than it had been on Friday, and no one seemed to be able to bring themselves to pack another lunch. However, our hosts for the weekend, as if they needed to top their own generosity, offered to meet us at the park and buy us lunch! We were flabbergasted but had our wits about us enough to say, "Yes, thank you!"

BJ got us to the park without any trouble ($11 more for parking), and we made our way to California Adventure. I am not a huge California Adventure fan; there are basically only three rides that I like. (Wait...nope. I lied. Two. Two rides that I like.) The other three wanted to ride California Screamin', so they abandoned me immediately, and I went off to get fast passes for Soarin' Over California. (Apparently the letter "G" is banned in this park.) It took about three minutes, so then I had a dilemma. I didn't want to just sit around waiting for my friends, but I didn't know how long they were going to be, so I didn't want to start in on something and make them wait for me if they finished first. But, then I remembered how much sitting around I'd done the day before and said, "To heck with this," and walked right into the "single rider line" on Soarin' Over California, right down to the spot where people were waiting to load the ride. (As an aside, I think more rides should have a single rider line. Splash Mountain is the only Disneyland ride that has one. Lame.) Then a cast member said, "Ok, aviators, come this way," so I started walking with the rest of the line. She said, "Not you. Go back." Dang. Once they had been put into their rows, she let me in. The people I was next to on the ride kept looking at my suspiciously. I guess I don't blame them. Who goes to Disneyland alone? No one.

After the ride, it said, "Please exit to your somethingmuffled." I got off and headed back the way I'd come in. The same cast member who'd sent me back the first time saw me and said, "Other way." *ahem* My bad. I turned around and saw every other person filing out the correct way, so I sheepishly followed. I caught up with the people I'd sat next to, and their looks had changed from suspiciousness to pity, as there was obviously something wrong with me.

I then got a text message from Betty Lemon telling me they were riding Screamin' again, but I didn't really feel like getting right back on Soarin'. I couldn't face that cast member lady again. So I went over to Grizzly River Run, which was our appointed meeting place. I tried to call my mom, but she was busy and couldn't call me back until my friends had already rejoined us and we were heading over to the Tower of Terror. (Oh, and by the way--the main attractions at California Adventure are all spread out along the very edges of the park, maximizing walking time.) I went on the Tower of Terror two years ago with my friends after buckling under the extreme amount of peer pressure they were placing on me. I figured I could handle that--a straight drop-- better than a tipping forward drop like Splash Mountain, plus my friend had let me cling to him for dear life as he gave me running commentary the entire time ("Ok, we're going up. We're about to have the first drop. Now we're going to go back up. Look out the window! Ok, get ready for the drop! One more! Ok, that was the last drop.") It was very soothing, so I didn't die. BJ gave no indication that he would be that accomodating; in fact, he made it pretty clear that he was NOT going to be that accomodating, so I was much more apprehensive this time. I went in with BJ and Betty Lemon (Duchess refused), but I really, really did not want to ride it again. I kept telling them I didn't, and then I started to panic to the point of not being able to breathe. Once I started getting lightheaded, I said, "Ok. I'm out of here," and went back outside. I feel no regret over this, by the way. I sat down next to a little girl and her mom, who were talking about how the Tower of Terror is a "big scary Daddy ride." Then the little girl looked at me and said, "Are you a little bit sad?" It was sooooooooo cute. They kept me company until BJ and Betty Lemon got out. I felt somewhat lousy for quite a while after that, though. A lack of oxygen is no picnic. That made walking around less than enjoyable. (You know, since I was such a fan of it before then.)

We walked alllllll the way back to Soarin' Over California to use our fast passes. I enjoyed waiting inside in the line, though, because they have posters of famous historical aviators on the walls, and it's surprisingly interesting. I would've liked to ride it again just for that. It's a cool ride, but apparently not cool enough, because we only rode it once. By then it was time to meet our hosts for lunch, so we found them out by the California Adventure sign, posed for a couple of pictures, and went into Disneyland to eat. I'd said at the very beginning of the trip that I'd eat anything except pizza, so when she asked if we wanted Italian or Mexican, I said, "I'd choose Mexican over Italian." So, of course everyone else immediately declared their love of Italian food, and we went to the pizza place. However, Betty Lemon and I shared pasta and salad, and it was good.

And, here's where I forget the sequence of events for the rest of the day. Oh well. I remember wandering around for a while trying to figure out what we wanted to do. (I guess that was something negative about making such good time on Friday; we'd already done everything we wanted to.) The attractions schedule told us that Captain Jack Sparrow would be on Tom Sawyer Island that afternoon, so you bet your buttons we were going to be there too. I don't think the others were as committed to it as I was, but they were good sports. We waited for the little raft thingie and rode over to the Island. When we got there (just across the pond), Betty Lemon said, "That's it?" Ha. It was actually quite an appropriate comment. Duchess, who has an endless supply of energy, took off to explore the island. Sure, it looked like it had fun things to do, but by then, the only way I would've been able to explore was if everything had been placed on a conveyor belt and floated past me as I sat on a bench. Instead, I sat on a bench and watched the canoers while Betty Lemon sat on the bench listening to her Ipod and BJ lay on a rock, listening to his Ipod. Thank goodness for those canoers, man. Duchess came back to report that she thought she'd found the spot Captain Jack would be appearing, so we went over there to wait. He didn't come. Then Duchess looked a ways over and said, "He's up there!" so up we went. It was kind of a dream come true to have my picture taken with Captain Jack Sparrow, even if he was a lot quieter and less funny than he is in his movies.

On Main Street, they have a show about the history of Disneyland, and it's hosted by Steve Martin and Donald Duck, so it's interesting and highly entertaining. I insisted that we watch it. No one seemed enthusiastic about it, but after we'd watched it, Duchess and Betty Lemon agreed it had been worthwhile. (BJ diplomatically remained quiet.)

We also went back to California Adventure in the afternoon to ride Grizzly River Run. (We'd decided against it earlier because we wanted to wait till it was warmer before we got wet.) Thank goodness I'd gotten fast passes, because the line was so long. At the front of the line, the cast members were asking for parties with fewer people in them to come forward so they could load the tubes to full capacity. They'd say, "Party of three? Party of three?" Then three people would come running down the aisle, and the people at the front of the line (who had probably been waiting for at least an hour) clapped and cheered and held up their hands for the people to run under. We got on our tube without any sort of excitement. We were joined by a guy and three boys, who were probably around 11 years old. They were awesome. We were all nervous about getting wet, which, for some reason, made us giddy. (Betty Lemon and I were really having a hard time holding it together, unbeknownst to everyone else.) The thing that really brought us together was the fear of going over a drop backwards. Obviously someone was going to have to, but no one wanted to be that someone. As we approached the drops, the people facing backwards would yell and scream, and the rest of us would cheer (because it wasn't us), but then, inevitably, the tube would rotate at the last second, so there was really no way of truly knowing who'd be going backwards until we were actually dropping. As for getting wet--it started with little splashes lopping over the side of the tube into our laps, or--my favorite moment of the day--BJ got a very pained look on his face and exclaimed, "My SOCK." I laughed really, really hard at him (until about three seconds later when a big wave of water went right down my underwear). The waves got bigger, and there were overhead waterfalls that dropped huge drops all over us, but I didn't necessarily feel drenched. After we'd already been over the last drop, the guy in the tube with us said, "That's the one I'm worried about." I turned and saw a little fountain shooting up out of the river. As we approached it, however, its intensity increased, so by the time we passed over it, it had turned into an incredible geyer, soaking us all. As the water was coming down on us, I brilliantly put my head down so my back got the brunt of the spray. This meant that as I wore my backpack for the rest of the day, the water from my shirt soaked into my backpack and kept me wet for the rest of the day. Hooray! (Note: That was sarcasm.)

My friends decided to go dry off on California Screamin', so I went off by myself. Again. The pleasantness of independence was really wearing off by then. One of the things I'd learned from my friend two years ago is that they give out free torillas at the Mission Tortilla Factory, so I went off to get my tortilla. I'm not that into tortillas, but I was hungry, and they're FREE. This is the only free thing at any Disney park that I know of, so of course I'm going to make the most of it. I thought about going to see the Muppets' 3D show, but it would've been a long walk, so partway there, I changed my mind and went back. My friends rejoined me right around the time the Pixar parade was starting. Duchess and I wanted to watch it, but BJ and Betty Lemon went off exploring on their own. It was fun to see all the Pixar characters, and I was grateful to sit in the warm sunlight. We regrouped after that, and they decided they wanted to ride Screamin' again. I'd had it. I was tired of sitting around, and I was tired of California Adventure, so I left them and headed back to Disneyland. On my way out, I looked ahead and saw walking toward me my friend who'd taught me so much on my Disneyland trip two years ago! I couldn't believe it! I should've told him I'm implemented everything he'd taught me--he would've been so proud. Instead he asked me if I was there by myself. Doh.

Disneyland on one's own is not nearly as cool as Disneyland with a bunch of one's favorite people. It was a Saturday night--all the lines were long, and I didn't want to stand in a long line to ride something alone. I already felt like a big enough loser as it was. Instead I went to the Pirates of the Caribbean gift shop and looked around, which I'd been wanting to do the whole time, and then I poked around Main Street because I had nothing else to do. My friends eventually called and said they were coming to meet me; however, the parade had started, so manuevering was practically impossible. They ended up on the opposite side of Main Street, and there was no way to cross, so we just had to wait for the parade to end. Betty Lemon waited for me at the entrance to Frontierland (Frontierland!) and took me to eat with the other two. We were right by Pirates of the Caribbean, and when we finished eating, the line was only five minutes long, so we went on it one last time. Betty Lemon and Duchess wanted to ride Space Mountain again, so they went off to do that, and BJ and I tried to find something else to do. Everything I would've liked to have done was in Fantasyland, though, and that closes early to get ready for the fireworks show, so we ended up just sitting on Main Street and waiting. Somehow the subject of funnel cake was brought up, so as soon as the girls were off Space Mountain, we told them, "We're going to get funnel cake. Come on." We walked back to New Orleans Square through the Fantasmic! crowd and found some funnel cake. It was blessed. We scarfed it down in about five minutes. Not surprisingly, we were all a little cheerier after that. However, we couldn't decide on what we wanted to do next, and finally BJ pointed out that we were all tired, and we could just go home. We agreed and headed back to Main Street to stop in one last shop on our way out.

Suddenly thousands of people came pouring down Main Street, and I will never know how she knew this (unless I ask her), but Betty Lemon said, "The fireworks show was cancelled." BJ realized that all those people were leaving the park, which meant the tram was going to have a huge line. DOH. We killed some time by looking around the museum where we'd watched the Steve Martin video and then decided to brave the lines at the tram.

Two years ago, after an exhausting 16-hour day in Disneyland, the guys decided they didn't want to wait for the tram, so we all had to walk back to the parking structure. (That's a looooong walk, by the way.) I'd shared this story with my friends at the beginning of this trip and went into great detail about how tiring it was and what a ludicrous suggestion it had been. So when we got in line for the tram and BJ said, "I'm considering just walking back," I said, "Are. You. Kidding me?" THIS time it was three girls against one guy, instead of three guys against one girl like last time, so we waited for the tram. We got back to our car, and BJ got us home safely to our beds.

It was quite the trip. I'm still surprise we pulled it off. It seemed like the idea was too good to be true--my favorite place with my favorite people! With Betty Lemon living in a different city, Duchess moving out, and BJ soon to be leaving forever, this trip meant a lot to me, and I am extremely grateful that we had this experience together. Thanks for the memories, my friends.