California Adevnture

There simply wasn’t much to say – March 24, 2014

Posted on by jasonalanunderwood

Sometime in between this entry and the last there was a trip to Disneyland and California Adventure for my youngest nephew’s birthday. Unlike before when I offered a detailed account of my time with the family, I chose to sort of keep quiet. I wanted to enjoy this visit more. That meant a tighter focus on quality and a lot less technological reliance.

Based on this vague introduction and how much time has passed, I can’t offer any bit of explicit details. My ability to retain memory isn’t what it used to be. Rides like Pirates and Haunted Mansion were the same. Not much has really changed. Although, I did finally spot the Lego Jack Sparrow figure.

Star Tours was alright. I believe we went on it twice. The second time Darth Vader showed up on the screen. It was bad ass. Talking with Crush had been another high point. Learning how to draw Perry from Phineas & Ferb, also cool. Went on the Matter Horn, never did that before.

Now Becky and I are going back tomorrow, by ourselves. Just for fun.

Knott’s Berry Farm Day 6 – February 16, 2014

Posted on by jasonalanunderwood

10:37 a.m.
Unpacking only what’s necessary in the new room for now. About to go to Knott’s for the first time. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

10:55 a.m.
In a bit of pain, so I’m hoping it doesn’t interfere too much in whatever activities we have planned for today. My body is at its breaking point.

10:13 p.m.
The first (and only) character we met was Lucy. The rapids ride at Knott’s, which I initially dreaded, turned out to be very slow. I didn’t even get as drenched as I did at California Adventure. The scrambler was also lame. One of those attractions that needed to run longer. Pony Express, same thing. The disappointment just kept on coming. I wanted to have fun but it wasn’t happening.

10:19 p.m.
Knott’s redeemed themselves a little with their version of Bumper Cars. Boomerang? Great ride, but it scared the hell out of me. I’m usually not afraid of thrill rides. I go on them even though I probably should keep walking. I didn’t hesitate with this one, and now I really wish I had. Going forward wasn’t terribly frightening. Going backwards made me feel like I might fly out of the seat. Had a similar experience with the Xcelerator. I don’t see myself getting on anymore thrill rides anytime soon.

10:31 p.m.
Ate pizza for lunch. It was made with marinara instead of tomato sauce. Kinda tasted like a big pizza pocket. Because my family and I are a wee bit nuts when it comes to water rides (apparently), we rode the Logjammer twice in a row. After that I failed miserably to win a giant South Park plush. The pirate ship was fun. Daniel once again showed his feminine side when he started to scream and cry. Altogether I went on the hat dance ride four times. Those Mexico-themed teacups were so fast I was practically being tossed around in my seat. The Ferris Wheel at Knott’s was smaller, slower, and ultimately unimpressive in comparison to the one at California Adventure. I’m sensing a theme here. I had such high hopes for this particular wheel, but they fell flat. To add insult to injury, I missed meeting Snoopy while on it. Granted, I wasn’t that interested in Knott’s to begin with, but I still wanted to have fun.

10:40 p.m.
Nothing about the Balloon ride was memorable. Seriously, I’ve already forgotten what it was like. The end of the night consisted of random shop-browsing before dinner at Del Taco. Their shrimp and fries were pretty good. Upon arriving back at the room, I was fortunate enough to see the last thirteen minutes of the Ducks-Kings game. Ducks won 4-3 in overtime. I cheered, everyone else was just bored. I feel bad, but hockey makes me happy. Now settling in for the night. I’m anxious to return home and finish the moving process. Here’s to hoping I have a good night’s sleep.

Disneyland/California Adventure Day 5 – February 16, 2014

Posted on by jasonalanunderwood

7:27 a.m.
I got up before everyone else and I’m only dragging ass because I lost this Goofy pressed penny I found on Grizzly River Run last night. I can buy a new one today, no big deal. Have to get ready.

9:00 a.m.
I got up at 7 in the morning and we haven’t left yet. Not off to a great start today.

3:03 p.m.
Admittedly I wasn’t in a good mood when we got to California Adventure today. Our arrival had been delayed due to the dryer still being out of order. Becky and Melanie found a laundromat, then grabbed more sandwich meat from a grocery store. Upon our arrival, (as we did yesterday), we rented automatic and manual wheelchairs. I’m in the manual, because my legs are slowly freezing up. Got in line for Radiator Springs. That took almost an hour. The ride itself was awesome. Amazing, life-like details. Fast cars, thrilling turns. I’d definitely go on it again. Luigi’s Flying Tires on the other hand? No. Not a chance in hell. It was too confining in a tire with Melanie and Daniel, plus the damn thing broke down. I was not impressed. I dis get to meet Donald, though. He pointed at my Kingdom Hearts shirt and got even more excited when he saw the Donald hat I was wearing. Truly my favorite part of the night.

11:11 p.m.
The line for Toy Story was longer than I anticipated. To be honest I never knew what the ride actually consisted of. Turned out to be a lot like Astro Blasters. I went into it thinking “Ok, maybe now it will be my turn to beat Daniel at something.” Nope. He won 74,400 to 56,000. One of these days, little dude. One of these days.

11:19 p.m.
Daniel gave us such a hard time at the Ferris Wheel. I understand that he has a terrible fear of heights, but come on. Dirty looks, excessive pouting, refusal to join in on the fun with the rest of the family… it was ridiculous. We get all loaded up in the Pluto cage and before the major swinging can even begin Daniel started screaming and crying like a two year old. He’s thirteen. It was embarrassing. People in the nearest carts could hear him yelling “Let me out” at the top of his lungs. Towards the end Daniel decided to try this weird Native American meditation crap and it worked. He calmed down, and all was right with the world.

11:43 p.m.
The pizza I ate on the boardwalk wasn’t altogether warm, which sucked. Little Mermaid is hands down my favorite Disney film and so it can’t be too surprising that I found the ride to be quite entertaining. We were about to go on Goofy’s Sky School next when the cast members informed us that it was closed. The news was mildly upsetting, but this feeling didn’t last. Soaring Over California more than made up for the disappointment. Melanie screamed her head off the entire time. It was pretty funny. Once that ride was marked off our checklist, Becky took me to do a little last minute shopping. I picked up a Twilight Zone 50th Anniversary novel with nineteen short stories in it. Becky got a new badge holder for her season pass because her old one broke. At the end of the night, there was a quick walk through Cars Land to look at the lights and go on the Mater ride one more time. This was the last day of the Disneyland/California Adventure vacation. Tomorrow is a one day visit to Knott’s Berry Farm. I honestly never had any desire to go there. To me, it’s a day being taken away from a couple parks we were already enjoying. However, I have to be more lenient in regards to what others want out of a family outing. My willingness is irrelevant. If I’m not at least somewhat open-minded, the only thing I’m accomplishing is ruining the fun. I got ready what I could in terms of gathering our stuff for checkout in the morning, but I’m starting to fall asleep. My whole body hurts and I need to rest. I can finish this later.

Disneyland/California Adventure DAY 4 – February 13, 2014

Posted on by jasonalanunderwood

8:52 a.m.
Woke up late again, but thankfully not as late as yesterday morning. Getting ready for another fun-filled visit to Disneyland.

9:10 a.m.
Taped up the battery compartment on my camera, and it worked. Now I have to be careful not to burn out the battery today. I won’t have any tape on hand.

1:46 p.m.
World of Disney was the first stop. Becky, Melanie, Daniel, and Elijah got new Disney hats. I opted not to get anything because I couldn’t make up my mind. Went on Indiana Jones twice, and Pirates once. I got to sit behind the wheel on Indy, that was pretty cool. Melanie couldn’t stop screaming. The best part so far was getting to meet Goofy, Daisy Duck, Captain Hook, and Minnie Mouse all in a row. Hook even chased Goofy around. I laughed so hard. I’m having a blast!

9:01 p.m.
Another round of the teacups went as expected. Lots of spinning and loud screaming. It actually didn’t turn a whole lot this time. Alice in Wonderland was a lot better. Surreal, dark, and highly entertaining. After Alice was Peter Pan. I had only been on this ride once before, and barely remembered it. Earlier, I felt as if everything was new again. Flying in that boat over a three dimensional model of London left me speechless. I wouldn’t mind a return visit, if the line isn’t too long.

10:03 p.m.
There wasn’t a ton of rides left to go on at Disneyland, and the heat today was becoming unbearable. We mutually agreed to head for California Adventure, and Grizzly River Run. On the way there we ran into Chip n Dale. Twice. On the second occasion we got their signatures and pictures taken with them. Stopped at the Monsters Inc section of the park. Met Sully, and went on the ride. It was cute, but not one I would consider going back to. Next up was Mickey Mouse ice cream bars before walking through Off the Page. Daniel and I got bookmarks. Becky got stickers for the car and a cookie cutter (though those might have been bought at World of Disney, my memory’s a bit foggy at this point). Overall, I’d say that we were in serious need of some out of the box thinking for our next activity. The day was just moving way too slow.

10:47 p.m.
Remember earlier how I mentioned that I normally don’t go on water rides? Well, because the weather got up to the early 80’s today (everybody was beyond miserable), it was decided that we should go on Grizzly River Run. Yesterday Becky only went on it once while Melanie, Daniel, Elijah, and I went on it three times. Three, in that particular moment, seemed like more than enough. Today we were only going to brave the roaring rapids once and move on to the Ferris Wheel. Daniel has a thing about heights and so the adults in the group bribed him with five turns on Grizzly River Run if he went on the wheel. He caved. After we finished the first three turns, everyone was ready to give up. Then we heard one of the cast members say the most he’d ever seen a party go in a row was twelve times. Immediately I jumped in and suggested that we break the record. It took a LOT of convincing. Eventually Becky said it was alright. Later we discovered that the record was in fact fifty six consecutive turns. For us that was completely out of the question. We compromised, and settled on ten turns instead. That would give Melanie, Daniel, Elijah, and I thirteen total. Becky would have eleven – her lucky number. It was quite honestly the most fun I’ve had on this trip so far. Loud, borderline obnoxious laughter shared by all. Constant guessing as to who was going to get most of the water. Crude behavior and humor that was absolutely hilarious. The highlight of this little adventure? Becky’s new hat flew off before one of the drops and landed in the water behind our boat. It then followed us down the stream until the last checkpoint. There was a brief opportunity to grab the hat, and that’s when Daniel sprang into action. He unbuckled (a huge no-no) and practically dove over the side. Becky and Melanie held onto his pants. He successfully retrieved the hat and gave it back to Becky. When she put it on, the people in the other boats up ahead were cheering. I bet none of them had ever seen anything like it. We knew the cast member in the tower saw us. None of the workers complained. We got lucky, in more ways than one. This is a memory that I think we’ll cherish for many years to come.

10:58 p.m.
It goes without saying that all of our clothes are soaked. Daniel doesn’t have clean underwear, and I don’t have clean pants or shoes. I took the dirty stuff to the laundry room at our hotel. Roughly three hours later and the dryer broke. There’s nothing that can be done to fix the machine after hours so we’re screwed. We’re going to eat at Denny’s and then find a laundromat that is (hopefully) still open. So aggravating.

11:03 p.m.
We left the park earlier than usual, for obvious reasons. It was hectic trying to figure out how to ride in the car back to our room without running the leather seats. Thankfully a retail cast member was kind enough to give us plastic bags to sit on. That helped a lot. With the dryer breaking down, that sort of defeats the purpose a little. Wet clothes, plus no more plastic, equals a potentially stressful situation. Hell, it already is one. Nothing we can really do but try to move forward. Can’t let this ruin our night.

11:09 p.m.
The inserts came loose from my shoes between the water and the broken dryer. It’s an inconvenience for sure, but nothing I can’t handle. I’m wearing them as we speak and they’re not that uncomfortable to wear. Perhaps next month I’ll buy new inserts. More cushiony ones.

11:18 p.m.
I am incredibly grateful that my wife took money out of her pocket to give my sister, her boys, and I this time to get reacquainted. She’s spending a lot of money and sacrificing more than just monetary gain to make us happy. I can’t stop thinking about it like this. Melanie and I haven’t been to Disneyland since I was three years old. We have NEVER been to California Adventure together. The boys haven’t been to either park in eight years. If Becky hadn’t done this, we wouldn’t be getting this close so fast. I’m loving how selfless she is, and I’ll won’t soon forget it.

Disneyland/California Adventure DAY 3 – February 12, 2014

Posted on by jasonalanunderwood

10:31 a.m.
We slept in later than intended. Yesterday was extraordinarily rough on our bodies. Daniel and Elijah had fallen asleep almost instantly. Melanie wasn’t far behind them. Poor Becky wound up getting blisters on her feet after a little over nine hours of walking. Me, I was the last to nod off. It’s not like I was overly excited about the next day, I just had a lot of fun and wanted to relax before I actually went to bed. At the moment everyone’s busy getting ready. I’m almost done. All I have left to do is figure out what else is going in the bag. I’m not bringing my Donald Duck Through The Years hat. I paid almost $20 for it, and I don’t want it to fly off my head when I go on California Screamin’. Looking forward to seeing Daniel and Elijah’s reactions to that ride. I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

1:04 p.m.
Entering California Adventure was business as usual. Very little pictures were taken, if any. We headed straight for Cars Land, and went on the Mater ride. Daniel looked miserable the entire time while everybody else was having fun. Melanie and I were screaming, but not nearly as much as Becky and Elijah. At least one of my nephews thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Shortly after that we met Lightning McQueen. Ran into a fellow Ravens fan while waiting in line. Then, we sat down for our first break at Cozy Cone. Becky, Daniel, and Elijah had Chile Con Quesos while Melanie and I were eating ice cream. As Becky pointed out, I just had to get the biggest cone that I could – a large Vanilla/Chocolate Twist. That thing was melting all over my hand and making a giant mess. I didn’t care. Daniel ran to get me a cup and spoon, as well as some napkins. When I finished I washed my hands. Easy fix. So far, this day has been great.

1:26 p.m. The Ladybug ride didn’t go as fast as it did last time I went to California Adventure. Probably a good thing.

2:18 p.m.
Bugs Land is always kind of underwhelming. I attribute this to the fact that A Bug’s Life was only the second Pixar film released. A lot of Disney fans were still high on Toy Story at the time and when they saw this new animated feature, people generally didn’t know what to think. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still cool in its own way. I just feel as if this section of California Adventure could be a lot better.

2:20 p.m.
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is hands down my favorite ride in this park. It’s wicked and dark, like the Haunted Mansion, but infinitely more thrilling. Plus, it was fun to see Daniel screaming like a little girl during the free fall.

3:56 p.m.
Took in two shows back to back – Muppet 3D Vision and Disney Junior. The bright lights and colors kinda gave me a headache. It happens on occasion because of my seizure disorder. No worries, though. Nothing majorly bad occurred so it’s all good. Currently stopped for a bathroom break and then we’ll be on our way.

11:12 p.m.
So, I decided to do something completely out of character. I’m always so afraid of going on water rides because I don’t overly enjoy getting soaked – partly due to MS (extreme cold hurts like hell) but also due to the fact that it would take forever to dry off. Rather than succumb to irrationality, I just went for it. We got on Grizzly River Run, following a fast-moving line that could have gone a lot slower. Becky got hit by most of the water, while the rest of us still got fairly drenched. By the time we got off the ride, my poor wife said not again. Melanie, Daniel, and Elijah were eager to go right back. I went along while Becky stayed behind. As fate would have it, I was the one getting hit by the waves more than the other people in the boat. A few minutes later, we brave four snuck back around for a third ride. I use the term snuck loosely. Melanie, Elijah, and I went the normal route while Daniel hopped a gate. What started in nobility ended in foolishness as I was still kinda soaked at the end of the night. Oh well, at least I conquered my fear.

11:33 p.m.
Just before dark, I dropped my camera. I didn’t realize there had been any damage sustained until I attempted to close the battery compartment while waiting for the Play Parade to start. It wouldn’t shut. One little piece had broken off. I’m going to have to use tape to keep it closed until I can afford to buy a new camera. It’s alright. It sucks of course, but there’s not much I can do to fix the problem. The parade itself was cool, but definitely one of those things that could have been better. Case in point, the Monsters University float. Mike’s eye was broken and none of the cast members seemed to notice. I also feel bad for those poor women being forced to dance around in skimpy outfits when it’s freezing cold outside. This lackluster viewing would soon be balanced out by a much grander experience. Melanie refused to go on California Screamin’ and Daniel chickened out. I got on with only Elijah in tow. He screamed half the time, but I was laughing my ass off. I couldn’t help it. The thrill of not being in control of the speed or direction of the coaster was exhilarating. My fear of heights? Gone. Elijah’s? Not so much. He emphatically stated that he’s never going on it again. This is ironic because I said the same thing about the Zephyr on a prior visit to California Adventure, and there I was riding it not once but twice with the rest of the family tonight.

11:46 p.m.
We capped off the night with The World of Color. You know how they say if you’re standing in the Wet Zone, you’ll get wet? Well, there we were all lined up for the show and when it started there was barely any sprinkles. However, the pillars of water did go pretty high and at the end the condensation amounted to my entire group being very uncomfortable. As a matter of fact, I got back to the room over two hours ago and my clothes are still wet. Despite the drenching, the show as great. My favorite part was the Pirates segment towards the finale, with the towers of flame going as high as the water did. Simply fantastic. The perfect end to another awesome day.