Disneyland and the 30 year old knee

FYI-THIS IS GOING TO BE A LONG ONE.

Hhahahaha, I can't even BELIEVE my body was an issue on a freaking theme park vacation. I work out 5 days a week! Come on now! More on that in a minute...
Do you watch Biggest Loser? I do. Dude, what is up with the Blue Team? Are they missing a few IQ points? Your team loses a weigh in even though 4 of 5 members did great, so you vote out your strongest man? You keep the almost 400lb crippled guy? Ron is a sweet heart but seriously, all this sacrifice for his son but then he doesn't do the same for his new team. LAME! He seriously pissed me off this week almost as much as the stupidity of the 4 team members who didn't vote for him.
One last tv show, American Idol. Last night was the second group of 12 and can I just say, wow did they mostly really suck. It wasn't just a bunch of mediocre, average, "forgettable" performances...I mean, they SUCKED! Why did all the singers insist on picking songs completely different than what got them there? Stupid. Alisha (the 16 year old with pink hair) totally smashed Heart's "Alone". Thank goodness because to sing that song bad would have been painful. Adam "emo broadway twilight pete wentz wannabe with the pretty eyes" was my second fav. Still a little over the top but boy, he wails like the 80's rockers I loved.

Joe and I had so much fun on our vacation. Seriously, whenever Joe and I do get a chance to spend more than 3 hours awake together, I remember why I married him. We really are bffs. Everything is just easy (most of the time). Anyway, we had no rain and it was 73 degrees. Disneyland was just as magical as I remember. At first my grown up brain kind of resisted the kiddie stuff but by the end of day two I was enjoying the storybook rides as much as the coasters. Dland has this thing called Fastpass where you get a ticket at the entrance to the ride and it says to come back at a certain hour and you can go right up front. It was awesome. During the interim we would go on the less demanded rides then the hour on our ticket would roll around...we'd book it over to Space Mountain or whichever ride we'd gotten the ticket for and legally cut in line! Day one we were practically running around the park trying to go on as much as possible so we were starving the whole time (yay! we got to gorge on junk with no guilt). I think we hit Space Mountain 3 times the first day. So the goal of day one was to get on every ride we absolutely could not miss and we did that. At about 1? we headed over to California Adventure and went straight to the Tower of Terror.


Me and Mr. Toad, one of my favorite storybook rides


Space Mountain, our first ride of the trip. (Joe was using multiple 4 letter words)

Let me give a little backstory; as we were arriving in town, I could see the tower and I said to Joe, "I hate rides that drop, but I hope you talk me into that ride." I don't know where that came from. My family would think I'd lost my mind or something. I have never been on Drop Zone or the Edge. I avoid them like the plague. Something about being with Joe and I think my age was telling me to do it just once. So, I did. I was freaking out and hyperventilating in line (surrounded by kids half my size, so VERY small). Everyone around me could tell I was a mess. Anyway, we get to our elevator (the story is you are going to relive an event that a family lived through 60 years ago...lightning hit the hotel while they were in the elevator and it plummeted to the ground). Anyway, our car arrives and the attendant can tell I'm more scared then anyone in the car because I'm talking to Joe and not listening to the rules and the whole car gets quiet and I look up and he's just staring at me with this "you're really scared and I'm going to stare at you and make you even more scared" smirk. So I shut up and find my totally insignificant handles and GRIP. The doors closes and you get a virtual reality screen telling the story and then basically you just DROP FAST. The first one is short though so I didn't even really get to let out a full scream before you are SHOT BACK UP FAST. Up is worse than down in some ways. And you go WAY UP and then the doors open in front of you so you can see how high you are. I knew that meant the fall was coming because you can see the doors opening from the line outside. Then you just FALL REALLY FAST. I just screamed and crammed my eyes shut and then as soon as you stop you GO UP AGAIN! So this happens three times and each drop is a different distance. My right leg started to spontaneously shake (like when you scratch your dog in the perfect spot) and I had no control of it. Somewhere during the ride my sunglasses flew off my collar and landed at my feet. When the ride was over I picked them up and they were bent from the impact of the car I think. I survived. I can't tell you if Joe was screaming or quiet or anything. My entire body was shaking as I got off and I was wondering how to get down the stairs without embarrassing myself. I ended up on the curb outside with my head down just trying to deal with the adrenaline in my body. That was basically the end of Dland Day 1. I was emotionally and physically spent. Joe and I walked back to the hotel, our legs sore, and passed out on the bed for 2 hours.

We woke up and showered...headed out to Sonic Drive In. Their damn commercials play all the time in San Jose but the closest one until recently was like 2 hours away. So we gave it a try. It was good I guess but not as good as I hoped.

The next day Joe suggested we alternate parks and head to Universal. My legs were so sore, especially my hamstrings. The 40 minute drive to Universal took over an hour. I hate LA traffic. Its horrendous. After we got in the park and battled the photo guys and the credit card "you get a free bag!" guys we did a quick walk through their haunted house. It was pretty good. One room had a chain saw murderer and Joe decides to egg the guy on and bolts out of the room like a girl leaving me to fend for myself. I was not impressed by my prince. From there we went straight to Jurassic Park. Poor Joe had a stomach bug the last time he had been at the park with his family and missed the whole day. So, this would be his first time. It was as fun as I remember. I love that they play the movie soundtrack...I get all sentimental because I played that music in marching band. We made it down the totally fun hill without too much water hitting us. Lunch was next...we ended up eating burgers and fries. Joe suggests the Mummy ride next. He says the pamphlet doesn't really say what it is...ok, well, I'm up for new stuff right? So, there is no line and we're walking up and I see the safety sign and it mentions something like "rapid backwards motion" and I hit the breaks. I think my shoe even squeaked on the pavement. The attendant goes "It's not that bad." So, I go in. I still don't know what kind of ride this is. I just hope its not a vomit machine. There is a monitor showing a video of riders right as you get on the ride. You can tell three things, its dark, its a fast roller coaster type ride, and people look terrified. Ok, well I can handle roller coasters in the dark right? That's what Space Mountain is. So Joe and I get front row (which we are told is less scary) and there are no shoulder harnesses so we know there is no upside down (plus its within a building) so Joe assumes it can't be that bad. The ride is themed and its all creepy like the Mummy movie with bugs on the walls and a freaky mummy king and its dark and scary and the kings voice is low and evil, its cold...I mean, regardless of what's coming, you are kinda nervous. The ride takes off and its soooo fast and its pitch black and you have no clue what's happening and well here is what you look like (pic is at the beginning unlike most rides)



Uh yeah. Need I say more? Most people would be embarrassed to post a pic of themselves like this but I feel like it's my duty to warn people. If you go on the Mummy ride, you'll make an ugly terrified I'm going to die face. Oh oh oh but it's not over! The ride stops! And GOES BACKWARDS! Just as fast and just as long. Every surge and turn made my stomach clench and I really thought I was going to be seeing my burger and fries again. Backwards and me just don't get along, even if its a roller coaster. Then...the ride stops again. At this point, Joe and I were pretty freaked, I was hysterical in a quiet sort of way and we're facing another wall and...the ride rotates 90 degrees and...there is the beautiful light of the docking station with victims waiting to ride. Another ride that had my entire body shaking. Seriously, maybe I am gettting to physically old for this stuff.

Guess what? Joe loved it and wanted to go AGAIN! I held him off for 4 hours or so and we did go again...and it was almost worse because I knew what I was voluntarily doing to myself. That day we checked out the Backdraft show...which was ok but disappointing. We also did the tram tour and I was bummed because they didn't do the California earthquake part. At least we got to sit for 45 minutes, lol. I got soaked on it during the flood scene. I was one of two people sitting in just the right spot. We also watched Shrek 4D and it was really good. You wear 3D glasses. The 4D comes in when you get splashed with water or hit with blasts of air from the seat in front of you. Donkey sneezes, you get water in the face. That kind of thing...and the seats move around. At the end of the day we decided to check out the Simpson's ride even though we both hate the Simpson's. It's a virtual ride like Star Tours at disneyland but about 10 times better.

So, we considered leaving the ride a couple times because being stuck in Simpsons was really obnoxious. Cartoons everywhere. Vulgarity with children present. Crusty never shutting up...but we toughed it out. You get locked in a little room with a total of 8 people and you have to watch more Simpson's followed by a Simpson's style safety guide...you can imagine. From there you crawl into your virtual roller coaster car. Let me just say, I felt like I was going to throw up on this fake roller coaster it was so good. The entire room in front of you is a screen and the car moves so it felt REAL. Joe was cheating and looking at the wall behind us and going, "it's only moving 5-10 feet". I just said told him to stop ruining it and enjoy the ride. Such a mechanical nerd. It ended up being one of our favorite rides of the trip. Day two was ending and my left leg was really starting to bother me. When we got home I soaked in the tub and then iced the back of my knees. I think we ordered in that night...I may be mixing up my nights. Oh well, lol.
Day 2 of Disneyland-we started at California Adventure. The park is going to be so cool when its all done. Each section of the park looks like a part of California and its done really well. We did the Condor Flights ride first. It was another virtual ride. It was mellow ( a nice change) and beautiful. There are fans mounted in front of each seat so the wind blows on you and you really feel like you are flying. The rows of seats are massive and they lift off the ground so your feet dangle as they tilt you around and you virtually fly over California. Definitely worth checking out.

We were now Fast Pass masters so we managed to go on California Screamin 3 times! Awesome, old skool with new technology giant dipper coaster. The best part is it launches you straight ahead rather than dragging you up a hill and then letting gravity take over. It was so refreshing to ride a coaster outside in the sunlight, lol.



I think the only other ride we went on was Mulholland Madness...kind of a kiddie coaster that ended up scaring the crap out of us. It hold 4 people per car and is full of sharp turns that don't bank...so you totally feel like the car is just going to topple off. I think we annoyed the teenagers behind us with all our screeching, lol. We had lunch and decided to go back to Dland.

But first, Joe wanted me to pose with the N for New Kids!

Well, it was Friday so the park was packed. The Fast Pass wait for the rides was 3 plus hours. We spent most of our time riding the smaller rides, Astroblasters, Peter Pan, Small World, Alice in Wonderland. On the way to Small World I felt sharp pains in my knee like I'd never felt and got a little worried. I had to stop walking it was that scary. We ended up at the nurses office and they gave me some pain killers. After two more goes on Space Mountain, we left and went and had dinner. Super Mex....mmm yummy, low prices, sneaky margarita! It was great! Walked over to Target and got me a knee brace for the rest of the trip. We had a 9:30pm Fast Pass for Indiana Jones so we did that again and then Joe said, "Let's go to the Haunted House again." Sure, ok...just as we pass the river/lake in the park...they announce Fantasmic. Joe gets all excited and asks if I'd like to watch. I can sit, so I say yes. Let me tell you, it was a show beyond anything I thought it was. Lights, water fountains, disney movie scenes projected onto mist so they were floating, a live Peter Pan pirate ship fight, Princesses dancing, EVERY Disney character on the steamboat, an evil queen, a dragon!

So, our trip was ending. Fantasmic represented everything I loved about being a kid and being in Disneyland. I literally started crying, I was so overwhelmed with emotion. It really caught me off guard. I looked up at Joe and said, "I don't want to go home." He said, "Me either."

So, we had one last appointment with space mountain at 11:05pm. We took it. Then just because we are grown ups and we can, we went and got ice cream right before the park closed. So, I limped and Joe walked, and we ate full fat sugary ice cream with waffle bowls at almost midnight as we headed back to our hotel. It was great.

The last day we did check out Downtown Disney and the resort grounds. My legs were shot. Joe was disappointed I didn't want to head to Knott's Berry Farm but I think he got over it. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe which was very cool. One teary jerking moment that happened for me; a wedding was going on and we saw the bride and we saw CINDERELLA'S CARRAIGE! Omg, the little girl in me just about died with excitement. The attendant saw me and Joe and told us to take a pic so we did. He asked if we were already married then said to Joe, "Oh, your off the hook then, lol". I said, Tahoe was beautiful, I'm just fine.

So, that's pretty much it. Our drive home was uneventful and the rain started up again. We are happy to be home but we keep saying we want to go back. It's Disneyland...can you blame us?