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February 12, 2012

A Grand Day Out

Today we departed home for another visit to Disneyland this time staying at the place we'd like to call home: the Grand Californian Hotel. We don't stay here often because of the expense but when we do set foot in this hotel it feels like home (as designed). Both Mark & I actually can feel our muscles relax when we approach it from the parks.

We stopped for lunch at In N Out in Camarillo with intentions to make a visit to the Disney & New Balance outlet stores but one doozy of a tantrum from the little miss derailed those plans. Thankfully things settled down before we got back in the car & the drive itself was uneventful.

At check-in I was able to switch our room from a double queen to a single king configuration. I was glad to see that we also have a sofa bed so nobody has to sleep on the floor. Our room is a really easy walk to the elevator (unlike last time when it felt like we had to walk 5 miles) and we are facing the courtyard that the Monorail runs through. Sadly, either because of the orientation or being on the third floor rather than the fifth we can hear the music from Downtown Disney rather loudly with door shut. I believe that the music will be playing into the wee hours as Disneyland is open until midnight which means they don't really shut down until 1am. Possibly a high price to pay for the better bed configuration.

Today's plan was to head to New Orleans Square to check out the Bayou Bash entertainment that has been added to celebrate Mardi Gras since it only plays on the weekends. We rode the Monorail in and while waiting in line (and on the ride) I pulled out my tiny drop spindle and spun some superwash merino singles. It worked well enough that rather than taking pictures of said Bayou Bash I spent the time spinning. The show lasted about 15 minutes and started via a parade through NOS down to the Rivers of America just right of the rafts that take you to Tom Sawyer Island. Princess Tiana, Prince Naveen, & Louis the Crocodile were joined by a krewe arrayed in green, gold, & purple & sang selections from the songs in The Princess & the Frog. We saw the show twice & both times Z went out to dance with a tambourine.

In between the two shows we explored Tom Sawyer Island which is now called "Pirate's Lair" or somesuch nonsense. Once across the river via a raft ride, there is a cave called "Deadman's Gulch". Neither of us adults wanted to squeeze through it but Z was adamant that she had to go through it. I recalled it being rather scary so I went around to the exit and made my way through until I found her. I think both of us were relieved at that point. We wandered the island for a while, had a snack, & rode the return raft just in time for the final Bayou Bash show.

We had dinner at Rancho del Zocalo before heading over to It's a Small World so I could spend the entire ride spinning in the front of the boat and Mark could spend it torturing his friends, family, & coworkers by calling them & playing the dreaded song.

Photo

(Speaking of dreaded songs, it appears the Downtown Disney music turns off at 10pm. Yay!) After we disembarked it was approaching time for the Soundsational parade. We've seen this parade before but never with as good a view as we had tonight. During our wait, Mark got a call from one of the friends we were planning to meet up with. It was the Small World song. They ended up joining us for the parade.

After the parade, they headed to dinner and we made our way over to Disney California Adventure to catch what was left of ElecTRONica, the Tron-themed dance party. We arrived just in time to catch a bit of the Laserman show. Good thing too, as the second show was canceled due to technical difficulties.

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Tonight's DJ, Adam Auburn, did a bit of a Whitney Houston tribute by mixing "How Will I Know?". That took me back to the days when that was my favorite song in, what, 6th grade? Anyway, we hung out there until they canceled the Laserman then bid farewell to ElecTRONica. This summer it will be replaced with a Burton-esque Alice in Wonderland dance party called Mad T Party.

We returned to the hotel and nixed plans to head to the view deck to watch World of Color because once my shoes were off, I was done with a capital D. Sadly, my plan to upload photos and post the day's summary here isn't going quite as planned as I can't seem to get all the pics to upload properly. Bummer. I may end up switching back to Twitter tomorrow even though it feels good to think in more than 140 characters for a change.

On deck for tomorrow, we are breakfasting at Storyteller's, heading to the parks until 4pm or so then coming back to get ready for our dinner at the chef's counter at Napa Rose while Z pays a visit to Pinnochio's workshop. I better go to sleep!

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This page contains an archive of all entries posted to blackmoondog in the on the road category. They are listed from oldest to newest.

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