My Disney Birthday adventure!
Ok, so I'm back to work here in AZ today, which sucks, but I had the most amazing weekend ever!
On Friday, I and my friend James departed AZ around 10am for the happiest place on earth. We arrived in Anaheim around 4pm and checked into the Marriott right across the street from Disneyland. Thanks to my sister-in-law, who works for Marriott, we got a really sweet deal. The room was awesome. I wanted to take the bed home with me.
We then went to The Block, a huge outdoor mall in the O.C. and shopped around for awhile, while waiting for Liz, Starr, Sara, and Kelly to join us for Epic Movie. The Block was really cool - so many shops! What was really awesome was how late everything stayed open. In AZ most places like that close at 9pm, but The Block was still open when we left after 10pm. I was excited about that...the little things make me happy, lol.
Anyway, James and I met up with Liz, Starr, and Sara in line at the AMC. Kelly was still on her way. So we bought our tickets, got some food, then went to get some seats. I think Kelly joined us while we were still watching the previews, and she brought sour Twizzlers! Yay!
Ok, let me just say this about Epic Movie, and it is my opinion only. Don't waste your money. Seriously. It was amusing in some spots and laugh out loud funny in others. But overall, I think I lost 20 IQ points. I didn't think it was worth the $10 to see it, whether Gerard says "epic" all the time or not. But it was fun hanging with some fellow soldiers, so it was all good. After the movie we went to Hot Topic (of course) then looked at all the sex toys in Spencer's (it's becoming an adult shop, I swear). We said our goodbyes, knowing we'd see Liz and Kelly again at Disney, and James and I went back to The Block to look around some more. We got back to the hotel around 11pm, I think.
So the next day, we get to Disney around 9:30am. It was right across the street from the hotel, so it was nice to walk in the mostly cloudy CA weather. This was the first time I'd been to Disney since I was 10, so I was uber excited and felt like a 5 year old. I couldn't help myself.
The first ride we went on was Star Tours. I am a Star Wars geek, so I loved every minute of it. I was glad I took some dramamine before I left the hotel though (I get serious motion sickness) cuz I sure needed it. The next ride was Space Mountain, now featuring music from RHCP. I could've done without that - not a RHCP fan at all. But the ride was killer! I had never been on it before and had a blast! Afterward, a lady stopped us to do a survey on what we thought of it, and for our participation we got Mickey Mouse stickers. I was like hell yeah a Mickey sticker!!! LOL.
From there we went to the Indiana Jones ride. That had the longest line, with about a 40 minute wait. It was so worth it though, cuz it is now officially my favorite ride ever. Next we headed over to Pirates of the Carribbean, and I held our place in line so James could check to see if we could get a reservation at The Blue Bayou restaurant. He came running back to get me, cuz someone had cancelled and they could get us in, but only if we were back in 2 minutes. So we hauled ass over there! LOL. I was happy to be able to get a vegetarian meal from a menu filled with meat - I had grilled portabello mushrooms with couscous and spinach. Yum! While eating, we could hear the scream from the Pirates ride, and I couldn't wait to be on it!
After we ate, we met up with Kelly - yay! But we never heard from Liz - what happened to you girl? lol. Anyway, we went on the Pirates ride, and for all the Jack Sparrow hype, I thought the original ride was better when I was 10. I remember it being more exciting when I was younger, but this time around...meh. Not the same.
Then it was off to Mr. Toad's Whild Ride, which again was much better when I was a kid. So I decided not to go on the other ones I remembered as being great, since I didn't want to ruin my memories. But the Teacup Ride - OMG!!! I laughed SO hard on that! We were spinning so fast, and every time I looked up I thought I was gonna puke! Soooo much fun!
We did some gift shopping and on the w*y out I met Mickey, which I didn't get to do when I was a kid, so I was very happy. We then said our goodbyes to Kelly, who gave me her contribution to my Rmy project, then it was back to the hotel to get ready to drive to Sunset for dinner with friends.
So the directions said the ride to Sunset would only be about 30 minutes, but Kelly had warned it would take at least an hour in LA traffic, and boy was she ever right! The freeways were CRAZY!. I don't know how you So Cal kids do it. And then it started to rain. We finally made it to Sunset, and we were gonna eat at Katana, but they were only taking reservations. So I called my friends and they picked us up by Katana and we went to Swingers instead, which was described to me to be a "Denny's on acid." It was so true! But it was cool, and they had a lot of vegetarian fare and a really good soy peanut butter shake. We hung out until past midnight, then it was back on the LA freeways in the rain to Anaheim.
We slept in on Sunday, then went to Downtown Disney for more shopping. They have a HUGE Disney store there. James and I couldn't help but play with all the Pirates merch. We were all like "ARRRRRRRRH!" all day. Ah, good times. Then it was back on the LA freeways to go to Sunset again to visit out friend Sarah. She just moved there last week from AZ to go to school and lives right near the Mann's Chinese Theater. So we met her there, put our hands into the hand prints of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, walked around the mall, then hung out at her studio apt. for a few hours. The rest of the night was uneventful. Went back to the hotel and watched movies until we passed out.
We left around 11am on Monday morning and arrive in AZ around 6pm. Back to normal. It was one of the best weekends of my life! :)
Here is a pic from Friday, after the movie with the Rmy kids. I'm the one in the hat. And yes, I know my face is red, so shut up.
On Friday, I and my friend James departed AZ around 10am for the happiest place on earth. We arrived in Anaheim around 4pm and checked into the Marriott right across the street from Disneyland. Thanks to my sister-in-law, who works for Marriott, we got a really sweet deal. The room was awesome. I wanted to take the bed home with me.
We then went to The Block, a huge outdoor mall in the O.C. and shopped around for awhile, while waiting for Liz, Starr, Sara, and Kelly to join us for Epic Movie. The Block was really cool - so many shops! What was really awesome was how late everything stayed open. In AZ most places like that close at 9pm, but The Block was still open when we left after 10pm. I was excited about that...the little things make me happy, lol.
Anyway, James and I met up with Liz, Starr, and Sara in line at the AMC. Kelly was still on her way. So we bought our tickets, got some food, then went to get some seats. I think Kelly joined us while we were still watching the previews, and she brought sour Twizzlers! Yay!
Ok, let me just say this about Epic Movie, and it is my opinion only. Don't waste your money. Seriously. It was amusing in some spots and laugh out loud funny in others. But overall, I think I lost 20 IQ points. I didn't think it was worth the $10 to see it, whether Gerard says "epic" all the time or not. But it was fun hanging with some fellow soldiers, so it was all good. After the movie we went to Hot Topic (of course) then looked at all the sex toys in Spencer's (it's becoming an adult shop, I swear). We said our goodbyes, knowing we'd see Liz and Kelly again at Disney, and James and I went back to The Block to look around some more. We got back to the hotel around 11pm, I think.
So the next day, we get to Disney around 9:30am. It was right across the street from the hotel, so it was nice to walk in the mostly cloudy CA weather. This was the first time I'd been to Disney since I was 10, so I was uber excited and felt like a 5 year old. I couldn't help myself.
The first ride we went on was Star Tours. I am a Star Wars geek, so I loved every minute of it. I was glad I took some dramamine before I left the hotel though (I get serious motion sickness) cuz I sure needed it. The next ride was Space Mountain, now featuring music from RHCP. I could've done without that - not a RHCP fan at all. But the ride was killer! I had never been on it before and had a blast! Afterward, a lady stopped us to do a survey on what we thought of it, and for our participation we got Mickey Mouse stickers. I was like hell yeah a Mickey sticker!!! LOL.
From there we went to the Indiana Jones ride. That had the longest line, with about a 40 minute wait. It was so worth it though, cuz it is now officially my favorite ride ever. Next we headed over to Pirates of the Carribbean, and I held our place in line so James could check to see if we could get a reservation at The Blue Bayou restaurant. He came running back to get me, cuz someone had cancelled and they could get us in, but only if we were back in 2 minutes. So we hauled ass over there! LOL. I was happy to be able to get a vegetarian meal from a menu filled with meat - I had grilled portabello mushrooms with couscous and spinach. Yum! While eating, we could hear the scream from the Pirates ride, and I couldn't wait to be on it!
After we ate, we met up with Kelly - yay! But we never heard from Liz - what happened to you girl? lol. Anyway, we went on the Pirates ride, and for all the Jack Sparrow hype, I thought the original ride was better when I was 10. I remember it being more exciting when I was younger, but this time around...meh. Not the same.
Then it was off to Mr. Toad's Whild Ride, which again was much better when I was a kid. So I decided not to go on the other ones I remembered as being great, since I didn't want to ruin my memories. But the Teacup Ride - OMG!!! I laughed SO hard on that! We were spinning so fast, and every time I looked up I thought I was gonna puke! Soooo much fun!
We did some gift shopping and on the w*y out I met Mickey, which I didn't get to do when I was a kid, so I was very happy. We then said our goodbyes to Kelly, who gave me her contribution to my Rmy project, then it was back to the hotel to get ready to drive to Sunset for dinner with friends.
So the directions said the ride to Sunset would only be about 30 minutes, but Kelly had warned it would take at least an hour in LA traffic, and boy was she ever right! The freeways were CRAZY!. I don't know how you So Cal kids do it. And then it started to rain. We finally made it to Sunset, and we were gonna eat at Katana, but they were only taking reservations. So I called my friends and they picked us up by Katana and we went to Swingers instead, which was described to me to be a "Denny's on acid." It was so true! But it was cool, and they had a lot of vegetarian fare and a really good soy peanut butter shake. We hung out until past midnight, then it was back on the LA freeways in the rain to Anaheim.
We slept in on Sunday, then went to Downtown Disney for more shopping. They have a HUGE Disney store there. James and I couldn't help but play with all the Pirates merch. We were all like "ARRRRRRRRH!" all day. Ah, good times. Then it was back on the LA freeways to go to Sunset again to visit out friend Sarah. She just moved there last week from AZ to go to school and lives right near the Mann's Chinese Theater. So we met her there, put our hands into the hand prints of Judy Garland and Gene Kelly, walked around the mall, then hung out at her studio apt. for a few hours. The rest of the night was uneventful. Went back to the hotel and watched movies until we passed out.
We left around 11am on Monday morning and arrive in AZ around 6pm. Back to normal. It was one of the best weekends of my life! :)
Here is a pic from Friday, after the movie with the Rmy kids. I'm the one in the hat. And yes, I know my face is red, so shut up.