blackmoondog

Day Two of our Disneyland adventure started out with breakfast at the Storyteller's Cafe where we were greeted by Chip in the lobby. They have the more woodsy characters wandering about the restaurant & have fun stuff like playing follow the leader. Mark & Z both got the buffet breakfast & I ordered eggs benedict because that's all I eat at the buffet anyway. :) Our table was visited by Turk from Tarzan, Koda from Brother Bear, & Br'er Fox.

We decided to walk through Downtown Disney this time instead of entering via the Monorail so we could make the morning walk up Main Street. After saying "hallo" to Burt from Mary Poppins, we took a photo with Mickey and moseyed up Main Street to the new Jolly Holiday Bakery & Cafe in search of caffeine. The decor at the new Mary Poppins themed bakery is lovely and I definitely need a stained glass penguin window somewhere in my house.

While drinking our tasty beverages, Z decided that despite the chance of rain she really wanted to have her face painted over by the Princess Fantasy Faire so we set off for Fantasyland. The line for the PFF was the shortest I had *ever* seen (it ended up being about 12-15 minutes) and we could not pass up that opportunity. We visited with Belle who told us that Ariel was going to teach her how to swim after seeing Z decked out in her Ariel outfit. The other princess at the time was Ariel herself. They had a little chat, we snapped some pics and were on our way to the face painting. Z chose a unicorn mask that turned out great. The gal even moved the unicorn so it wouldn't be hidden under unruly long bangs (they are growing out to be more easily incorporated into a pony tail for parade season).

Now that Z was happily painted, we ventured into Toon Town where Mark & she played around and rode Gadget's Go Coaster while I took a break to rest my feet & spin for a bit.

Once Toon Town had been thoroughly explored we went back toward Fantasyland and had a dilemma on whether to ride Mad Tea Party or King Arthur's Carousel. Chivalry won out over madness. After dismounting our steeds, I noticed they already have some lovely tulips blooming.

At this point we were approaching lunch time and decided to meet our friends at the French Market in New Orleans Square. On the walk toward Big Thunder Ranch it started to sprinkle. By the time we reached the Mark Twain dock it was coming down pretty hard & was time to pull out the umbrella. Lunch was nice and after we parted so the littler one could go back to the hotel for her nap. We decided it was time to board a boat for a salty adventure at sea. After the ride I found some plunder in Pieces of Eight that had to be added to my treasure.

The rain clouds moved on and did not return leaving us with a lovely, breezy afternoon on the Rivers of America. We arrived between sailings of the Mark Twain steamboat and were able to ride up in the pilot's cabin where we signed the log book, signaled the docks with bell & whistle, and had Z steer us on our voyage. Upon safe return to the docks we were presented with a pilot's certificate. Since piloting a steamboat is hungry work we stopped in at the Golden Horseshoe to split a mint chip sundae.

After venturing through the past, it was time to move on to the future and visit Tomorrowland. As a perk of staying on property, we received three super fast passes that were good for two immediate boarding fast passes per person. I used the first one for a ride on Star Tours while Mark & Z took a rocket ride on the Astro Orbiter. The new Star Tours is such a great ride and this round took me & my fellow travelers to the Wookie planet, through an asteroid belt fleeing from Boba Fett, and through the dilapidated Death Star before shakily settling back down at the rebel base.

Afterward we took a quick ride through Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters and then took the Monorail back to the Downtown Disney station to take a break at the hotel & get ready for our next adventure: dinner at the Napa Rose chef's counter. Thus ended day two in the parks and the dinner experience definitely deserves its own post.

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.

(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.

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!

Well since there are a few things I'll be participating in over the next few months, I thought I should probably warm up ye olde blogg here.

Since my last post in January, I have been to Disneyland twice, Stitches West, & the Conference of Northern California Handweavers. I have bought a 2nd spinning wheel (a lovely Majacraft Rose), driven 200 miles alone with my 3yr old, lost 15lbs, put in the summer vegetable garden, read/listened to 9 of 10 books in the Outlander/Lord John series by Diana Gabaldon, knit two sample pieces for Miss Babs, won a blue ribbon for beaded yarn I spun and got fiber geeky personalized license plates for my car.

Soon there may be posts about the Drums of Autums swap and the upcoming Tour de Fleece.