[Disney]: Day 3 - More Disneyland!

So much for that sleeping in until 6 bit. But hey, waking up at 4:30 has its merits - lots of time to write these posts, for one. It didn't help that I ended up going to sleep less than an hour after eating last night's massive multicourse meal. I'd like to say lesson learned but I'm pretty sure that's exactly what will happen on every longhaul flight on this trip. Lesson not even remotely learned?

Since I was already up, I decided it would be a good day to use the Morning Magic Hour that came with my Disneyland ticket and head into the park an hour early. That still left me with 3 hours to kill, so I took advantage of the complimentary Starbucks breakfast and enjoyed a muffin while reading USA Today. Does anyone read USA Today anywhere other than at a hotel or airport?

When I arrived at Disneyland it immediately became clear that today was not going to be an orderly day at the parks. Their systems were down. I'm not sure what the problem was, but it affected a broad range of things from their ability to scan tickets, to the Fastpass system and even their ability to accept credit cards. Mild disaster. Later in the day when I tried to get into Disney California Adventure it took 20 minutes just to make it through the turnstiles because they had been reduced to checking photo IDs.

If only every morning was a magic morning

Blissfully empty

The day did not start at Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (don't worry - tomorrow's would), but instead I made a beeline for Peter Pan. The woman in front of me in line was also on a solo trip and she had a way fancier camera. I almost asked her if she could e-mail me her photos so I could pretend like I took them and amaze you all. We ventured over together to Mr. Toad as well, where I saw the craziest hidden Mickey. I am absolutely awful at spotting them but yesterday someone had tipped me off that there were two small, painted Mickey's in the eyes of the Mr. Toad statue in line. Sure enough, there they were!

Never do I feel as weird as when I'm riding Peter Pan alone

I can see my house from here...yeah, I just made that joke

I forsee a new Facebook icon for me

Wish I was an Imagineer so I could put Hidden Mickeys everywhere

Alice in Wonderland is a great ride but I literally refuse to ride it solo

Wait a second, this doesn't exist in Orlando. Sadly it was down for renovations.

I ended up taking a bunch of photos while in line for Snow White and Pinnochio, prompting the gentleman in front of me (also here by himself by the looks of it) to ask if I was a Disney blogger. No sir, just a man determined to take the internet along on his vacation.

At that point it was still only 8:30 and I had 30 more minutes of relative peace and quiet in the park as part of the Magic Morning hour. I headed over to the Finding Nemo submarines, located on the former site of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. In Walt Disney World they have a similar ride at EPCOT except that it sucks and no one goes on it, whereas the Disneyland version is pretty spectacular. I hear that when the ride first opened you couldn't find a wait less than 60 minutes because of how slowly it loads. Thankfully that does not appear to be the case any more.

It's not 20,000 Leagues but it will do

Another awesome dark ride that's not at Disney World

Absolutely. Fucking. Terrifying. (Expand to see why if you can't otherwise)

Little known fact: Wicked Queens can be appeased with pennies.

If I told you all my wish then it wouldn't come true, right?

I spent the rest of the morning doing a variety of my favorite rides, including the far superior DL version of Pirates of the Caribbean, the virtually identical to WDW but much less popular here version of Winnie the Pooh and the basically the same but better themed version of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. On Splash Mountain I ended up sharing a log with another single rider - a middle-aged Hispanic woman who was up for the day from San Diego and whose 21-year-old son decided that he was too cool to go to Disneyland with his mom. When we finished the ride she gave me her still-in-the-package-unused emergency poncho, which will come in handy during the rainy season at Hong Kong DL and Tokyo Disney. Thank you, random lady in line!

The morning also involved a snack of mixed berries and a mint julep. Dammit all, why doesn't the Magic Kingdom have a New Orleans Square so I can get a non-alcoholic, sugared-up mint julep any time I want?

Ah, so that's where my students but their papers from

FIBER

We have 999 happy haunts, but there's room for a thousand. Any volunteers?

Mint julep. Bonus: Creepy disembodied hand!

It would take an emergency to get me into it

Remember this one for later

I <3 maps

Nicest secluded spot in Disneyland

Fantastic recreation of the French Quarter

Lunch meant more pomme frites at Cafe Orleans and this time I sprung for the three cheese monte cristo. You want to take out the turkey and ham and instead put in creamy brie? Yeah, I can go for that.

This jazz band played during my Cafe Orleans lunch every day

Damn straight I'm posting a photo of the fries again!

Even better than it looks

After lunch I made the one mile (literally, thank you iPhone) trek from Cafe Orleans over to Monsters Inc. only to find out that it was down. Again. Will I ever get to ride it? Only time will tell.

Having sated my need for rides, it was time for some shopping. My plan is to get a pin and a t-shirt at every Disney park on the trip. Here you can see my Disneyland purchases. It took 30 minutes in line to get these as they had to write down every purchase and then call in any credit cards to central processing because of the system problems.

Wait a second...what the heck is Hollywood Studios doing in Anaheim?

What our dog looks like when she's Pooh'd in the Corner. Aww yeah, the payoff for that joke was totally worth it.

Classic.

A Disneyland shirt I'd actually wear - not easy to find 

The afternoon entailed trip report writing, doing a little work, a quick nap and a walk to the local Target, conveniently located right across the street from my usual Anaheim hotel, the Sheraton Garden Grove. It was awkward seeing the Sheraton; I felt like I was cheating on it. Look, Sheraton, I love you. It's just the Hilton is closer, has a better breakfast, and doesn't charge for internet or the awesome views. Maybe we should just see other hotels for a little while? Y'know, take a break? Awww, don't be like that, Sheraton. A part of me will always love you but did you check out the views on the Hilton?

The Target stop involved purchasing a new backpack. I had hoped my old backpack would make it through the trip but it became clear within the first two days that there was no way that was happening. Thankfully Target had basically the exact same backpack, just eight years newer. Thus ends a good run for my old Targus backpack, just a few months after the laptop it was originally purchased to house also bit the dust at the hands (paws?) of my roommate's dog. Goodbye old laptop. Goodbye laptop backpack. You both served me well. Rest with honor.

As a final note, my relatively new laptop has already suffered some damage on the trip and I am a bit concerned. The base of the screen appears to be cracking open. I have the crazy thorough Dell warranty because I am not kind to my laptops, but I hope it can make it through the next six weeks first. Let's hope the luck of the Irish (note: I'm not Irish) is with me.

[Disney] Day 2: Disneyland Park, Napa Rose

This is a ridiculously long update. I doubt that many of them will be this long in the future, but there was a lot going on today.

Day 2 dawned at 6 AM, which by my usual West Coast standards is luxuriously late. I can remember my second trip to Anaheim when I simply could not sleep past 4 AM. Driving around the streets of OrangeCounty at 4:30 is about as boring as one can imagine.

Warning: soccer talk ahead this paragraph. I spent the first few hours watching in delight as first Newcastle and then Spurs blew their opportunity to take the commanding position for third place. My beloved Gunners, despite their best attempts to choke it away, still control their own destiny. It should be interesting watching the last game of the year at 11 PM in Hong Kong.

This was my first opportunity to try out the Anaheim Hilton's continental breakfast. The voucher was good for one of two options. Since the nice clerk at check-in had given me two vouchers per day, I decided to try both. I started at the hotel's restaurant, which I believe was called Mix. They tried to upsell me on the full breakfast buffet, but I had my fruit cup, cranberry juice and assorted pastries and headed back up to the room.

Breakfast of champions

 On the way to Disneyland I decided to stop into the Starbucks. I think I prefer that option for the breakfast voucher. I was not especially hungry but I realized I wouldn't be eating again for a while so I had half of a scone and an iced green tea courtesy of the Hilton. Thank you, Hilton.

More carbs for my morning

The walk to the park went quickly. I'd say at most it is fifteen minutes from the door of the Hilton to security at the entrance to Disneyland. I found this a welcome change from my usual ten minute drive from the Sheraton followed by the tram. When I reached the parks I realized I'd left my camera (and my sunglasses...that would be a recurring theme) in the room. So apologies for the all of the iPhone photos. I worked with what I had.

In detailing my three days at the parks I'm going to take some liberties in rearranging things otherwise today's entry will have pretty much everything and the next two days will be a steady stream of "and then I went on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride shfifty-five times".

Disney had the park scheduled to open at 9 but, as is often the case on busy days, they allowed us all through to Main Street at 8:30 so that we could spend lots of our hard-earned dollars on their goods and services. While walking to the parks that morning I had experienced some doubts as to how much of an idiot I was for basing a round-the-world trip on going to Disney parks. Then I stepped onto Main Street USA and I could not stop smiling for like thirty minutes. All was right in the world.

Happiest place on earth

 Touringplans had today at a 4 out of 10, with Disneyland Park coming in at a 3-something. The crowds definitely seemed heavier than that to me but I'm also used to the far more spacious Magic Kingdom. It can see how similar crowds in a smaller Disneyland Park space would seem more crowded.

Awww, there castle is so tiny out here in California - adorable!

Damn straight I made a wish

 I headed off to Star Tours to grab a Fastpass. Awkward admission time: despite my being an avowed geek, I don't actually give a damn about Star Wars. There, I said it. Give me Jean Luc Picard and his sexy bald dome over Luke, Leia and the lot of them. Perhaps because of that, I've not actually been on the "new" Star Tours/Star Wars attraction since they redid it last year. I'll give you my reactions in a bit, because I am sure you are all dying to know what random guy on the internet thinks about Star Tours ;)

My first ride of the trip had to be Mr. Toad. I <3 Mr. Toad. I would ride that all day if it wasn't likely to attract the attention of the mental health professions. I can't explain why - perhaps it's because I have these really fond memories of the ride from my childhood trips to WDW but because it no longer exists there I have to get my fill at Disneyland. A plurality, and possibly even a majority, of the photos on my iPhone are of the ride from various Disneyland trips. 

Perhaps that will be the new family crest?

This was my phone wallpaper for years

Greatest hidden mickey ever

 After a wonderful trip through Hell (for those who don't know, MTWR has the satisfaction of being the only Disney ride I can recall that takes you to Hell as the closing scene), I headed over to Snow White's Scary Adventure. Holy heck that ride would scare the crap out of me if I was a kid. Now that the Magic Kingdom version has gone the way of Mr. Toad and left my life forever, it makes me happy that the remaining version in Anaheim is legitimately frightening.

As an aside, there is absolutely nothing in my life that is half as embarrassing as being a grown-ass man who enjoys Fantasyland rides. I am lucky when I can get people to go with me to Magic Kingdom so that I don't look completely creepy going on Peter Pan at 9 AM. And the Fantasyland rides at Disneyland are, as a lot, much stronger than the ones in Orlando so I really can't help myself. I had a delightful interaction with the cast member working the Pinocchio ride as I tried to share my sense of shame with her. She wasn't having any of it and encouraged me to own my love of the dark rides. I can't wait until I hit the Asia Disney parks, where I'm sure I will stand out for so many other reasons that I'll hardly even notice everyone staring at me riding Dumbo.

After enjoying the wonders of Fantasyland it was off to the Single Rider line at Indiana Jones. This was the first time I've ever been on it where all of the effects worked properly. The ride goes down more often than...well...this is a PG-13 trip report so you finish that metaphor however you'd like, but I'll be damned if it's ever worked right before. It is such a strong ride when things are clicking. It's like Dinosaur at Animal Kingdom except less frightening to kids and more fun for everyone. Plus it's got Indiana Jones theming. What more could you want?

Snakes. Why did it have to be snakes?

Now that Disney is enforcing the return times on Fastpasses I had to make my way back to Star Tours. Having now ridden it twice (once on a later day in the trip), I can say that it's an improvement on the old Star Tours but not so much of an improvement that I'll mind giving it a pass in the future. Must be really cool if you're a Star Wars fan, though. I eagerly await the day that someone finally builds a Discworld simulator ride.

You aren't Lieutenant Commander Data

Lunch was still about 90 minutes away so I decided to stop for a snack. I have been impressed by how many healthy snack items they have for sale at Disneyland. Definitely more than I remember from the Magic  Kingdom. This morning's snack contained some mango slices. I'm not going to lie and say that I thought them tasty mango slices, but at least they had some fiber which the alternative snacking choices (churro anyone?) lacked.

Rather not remember these, thanks

The Jungle Cruise beckoned from next to the mango stand. I have a complicated history with the Jungle Cruise. Being a Jungle Cruise skipper is my dream job and I am quite serious on that. You want to pay me to stand up there and tell really corny jokes with just enough self-knowledge to draw the guests in and make them enjoy their eight minutes? Yeah, I think I can do that. Heck, it's basically what I do now when lecturing except minus the political science, and I think everyone wins from that exchange.

Every time I go on the Jungle Cruise I can't stop myself from judging the skipper's performance, which is not exactly fair. Today's skipper, who even shared my name, was off his game. That's being nice about it. I'm guessing he was relatively new as he even managed to screw up some of the really basic jokes (I don't think I've ever seen anyone mess up on Schwitzer Falls). I felt bad for him.

Now that's my humor!

 I spent the next hour or so taking photos and enjoying the ambiance of New Orleans Square. It kills me that there's no New Orleans Square in Orlando. I've read the justification - Disney worried that with the real New Orleans so close to Orlando it wouldn't be as appreciated - but it's easily my favorite part of any Disney park that I've yet been to.

Here's a picture of the Club 33 sign. If you have no clue what Club 33 is, feel free to google it. About a day before I left they announced that they were opening the waiting list for memberships back up again and I sent my fax in. I had the pleasure of going in there last year as a friend-of-a-sister-of-a-friend is a member. I loved it and hope to someday go back.

Maybe if I ring the bell often enough they'll let me in?

 It was just about lunch time. That meant a trip to Cafe Orleans. Cafe Orleans is my absolute favorite restaurant. Not just in Disneyland or at a Disney park, but period. I tried to talk my friend Jaime into taking a side trip from Vegas to Disneyland just so I could have these fries (sorry Jaime - the truth finally comes out!). If I somehow found myself in a Kafkaesque world where I was on death row, Cafe Orleans would be my final meal on this earth and I'd die happy.

Here is a photo of some food. I'm not going to even describe it because thinking about how long I will have to go before having it again is making me die a little inside. Damn you all for that.

The actual happiest place on earth

Guess

Oh god oh god oh god so good

Not really beignets but are you complaining about donuts?

Posted without further comment

 The afternoon was spent wandering Downtown Disney with two of my good friends who live in the area. We spent an hour or so enjoying the Hearth Stone Lounge in the Grand Californian Hotel. We then made our way through Downtown Disney to the House of Blues. Finally we returned to the Grand Californian for one of the culinary highlights of the trip: the chef's counter at Napa Rose.

We started dinner in the bar area while we waited for the restaurant to open. For the many of you reading this who have never met me, I am not a huge drinker. There are all sort of good reasons for that (hmm, that does make me sound a bit of a recovering alcoholic - I'll leave it a mystery), but I've decided to relax it a bit on this trip not least because there will be a few opportunities to drink things that I'd never otherwise be able to have and to do so on someone else's dime.

I decided to start the meal with a glass of wine. I was raised on soda and so I basically only drink things that are sweet (well, at this point it's all diet soda, but that is at least artificially sweetened). When people offer me a sweet wine I have to explain to them that to my abysmally unrefined alcoholic palette, Mr. Pibb is sweet and anything short of Manischewitz isn't rising to that standard. About the only wine I enjoy is ice wine.

Thinking I would be sophisticated, I ordered a glass of ice wine. Lesson learned: look at the wine list first. Let's just say that I paid more for that glass of wine than I am likely to spend on the rest of my booze this trip combined. On the bright side it was absolutely delicious and if I could get it for a quarter of the price I'd have a serious drinking problem.

Dinner was fantastic. I've done the chef's counter before at Napa Rose and came away even more impressed this time. The restaurant features an open kitchen with twelve seats broken into three separate counters. The vast majority of the restaurant's customers sit in the regular dining area, but up to 24 people a night (12 seats X 2 seatings) can sit at the chef's counter and watch the kitchen in action. Seeing as how the chef's counter costs nothing extra and you can order the exact same things as you can in the rest of the restaurant, I can't understand why anyone wouldn't sit there. Plus sitting at the counter allows you the option to order something that isn't on the regular menu: the chef's tasting menu. Basically you fork over a small handful of cash and the chef makes whatever the heck he or she feels like for you.

As soon as I knew I was starting my trip in Disneyland, I invited my friends Jesse and Sam to join me at the chef's counter. Unfortunately the two main counters were booked at 5:30 and considering my history with not being able to adjust to time zone changes, the 8:30 seating was going to be a disaster. Thankfully they did have some seats at the pastry chef counter and that ended up being a blessing in disguise as our conversation during the night frequently veered into risqué topics that would likely have gotten us a few stares had we been sitting at a more central location.

Once we were seated the waiter came over to take our orders. All three of us decided to leave our fates in the hand of the chef. Chef Francisco (hoping I got his name right - I did a horrible job of documenting the dinner) introduced himself to us and asked if we had any allergies or preferences. We were not a picky lot and he rewarded our open-mindedness.

Unfortunately the photos came out really poorly and my complete lack of documentation on the food means I am going to pass on uploading those. Suffice to say the chef wowed us with his abilities. He served each of us something different for every course. We decided to share, meaning that we each got to try fifteen different dishes instead of five. The highlight for me came during dessert. We'd spent the night watching the pastry chef put together these awesome plastic treasure chests for boys and girls celebrating their birthdays at the restaurant. Fairly early on my desire for a pink treasure chest became a running joke among the three of us and when I asked tongue-in-cheek for one as part of my dessert I definitely did not expect to receive one. Let's just say that it's my new prized possession and it's coming around the world with me :D

After dinner I said goodbye to my friends. Hopefully I can lure them to Florida with the promise of an even more spectacular feast at Victoria and Alberts. We shall see. I then returned to the hotel room, watched the fireworks from bed, and shortly thereafter collapsed, grateful to be getting some much-needed rest.

The Precioussssss

[Travel] [Disney] Day 1: Tampa to Anaheim

Mega trip began where so many of them do for me, the Delta lounge at Tampa International. I showed up at about 8:30 and was frantic to have the Arsenal match put on ESPN2 (that's soccer for those of you who don't know, although if you don't know you almost certainly don't care and probably want to skip ahead a few paragraphs like this is your own, personal choose-your-own-adventure). The man at the bar insisted that he had to watch Sportscenter but thankfully the gentleman watching Fox News elsewhere in the lounge was amenable to switching.

View from the TPA Delta Lounge

I doubt the lounge has heard such a racket as that which I made in the 8 o'clock hour on a Saturday but dammit, this was a huge match! Sadly the trip got off to an absolutely atrocious start as we drew with Norwich, possibly costing us a spot in the Champions League. I was so depressed that I couldn't even bring myself to steal five or six of the little fig cookie/bars they have in there. That's a new low for me.

Delta 1472

Tampa (TPA) - Atlanta (ATL)

Depart: 11:00 AM
Arrive: 12:30 PM

Duration: 1hr30min

Aircraft: 757-200

Seat: 27C (Coach)

How many times has this poor plane flown to Atlanta?

Soccer talk is over; it's safe to resume reading. The flight from Tampa to Atlanta was both short and uneventful. One of my friends has asked me to keep track of how many diet sodas I drink on this trip and, while I'll abstain from running a counter on the bloghead, for posterity I had a Fresca. Mmmm, Fresca.

This is a coach seat - try not to be too amazed!

Delta pleasantly surprised me by only having Biscoff cookies onboard for a snack. Usually the Biscoffs are the things they keep hidden in the galley and you can only get them if you ask really nicely and sacrifice your firstborn. I'm all out of firsrborns but damn did I enjoy that cookie. I was going to take a picture for all of you but that would have delayed consumption by up to 20 seconds and we can't have that, now can we?

I arrived in Atlanta with three hours to kill. That's just about my shortest layover on the entire trip. I had realized on the flight over that I'd forgotten a few odds and ends so I ran around the airport tracking all of them down as best I could.

For lunch I decided I wanted to eat healthy. I am determined to lose weight on this trip. Vacations are not usually the time for such things, and I have at least six or seven dining reservations that are going to do their best to foil my plans, but if nothing else this gets me out of my eating routines at home and I'd like to take advantage of that as best I can.

I ended up in the E terminal at Nature's Table. Behold this picture of Balsamic Chicken.

What the hell was I thinking? Seriously.

 The best thing I can say for it is that it didn't suck as much as I thought it was going to. I would not order it again. Eating Healthy: 1 Danny: 0.

With an hour-and-a-half left I headed off to the Delta Lounge in the C terminal. I've never been in this one before. It is tiny and was quite busy at 1:30 on a Saturday but I'd still choose this over any of the others I've yet visited in Atlanta. The decor is nice and the environment is extremely relaxing. Plus the views of the runways are excellent. The food and drink selection is otherwise standard Delta Lounge fair. I somehow managed to hold off from having any more diet sodas, much to everyone's disappointment I'm sure.

Very relaxing Terminal C Delta Lounge

You want planes? We got planes.

 As I arrived at the gate I discovered that the inbound flight from Key West was running a bit late and we'd all be sitting there for an extra thirty minutes. I made the best of it by getting some last minute charging done on my electronics.

Delta 1167

Atlanta (ATL) - John Wayne International/Orange County (SNA)

Depart: 3:20 PM
Arrive: 5:50 PM

Duration: 4hr55min

Aircraft: 737-700

Seat: 17C (Coach)

Boarding was relatively smooth considering everyone's general anxiety about running late. I managed to snag an aisle exit row seat and the middle seat remained vacant.

The flight went by quickly. I availed myself of one of the food options courtesy of Delta's food voucher. The variety pack, while not amazing, actually struck me as a good value even if one was paying the full $5.50 for it. I also had two Frescas. That's right, more Fresca. I spent the flight watching two NBA play-off games and a very exciting Kentucky Derby while also trying to get in some good 16-bit RPG time.

I love Delta for having satellite TV

All the exit row space I could ever want

Very neat box of snacks

Do I really need to caption this one?

All this for $5.50? Not half bad!

After landing in Anaheim I whistled for a cab and when it came near the license plate said "fresh"...no, wait, that's not right at all. The license plate probably said "get ready to pay me too damn much because you're too lazy to wait for the Super Shuttle". I sucked it up and we were off.

I knew I was in Anaheim because, after a brief five minutes in the cab, I wanted to kill myself and everyone else in Southern California. Trips to Anaheim remind me of why I hate the number five. I hate the 405. I hate the 55 (not sure if it's called the 55 but I'm calling it that). You'd better believe I hate the @*$&ing 5 with the passion of a thousand undying suns. I don't hate the 215 but that's only because I've never been on it or I'd hate that too. Seriously, what the hell do Southern Californians do all day? Just drive around the highways thinking "haha, deal with that traffic, suckers"? Yeesh.

I've never stayed at the Anaheim Hilton before and I was excited by its proximity to the parks. Normally I rent a car and stay down the road at the Sheraton Garden Grove. It's a two-mile walk to the parks so a car becomes a necessity. I'm all for a two-mile walk in the morning but not at 5 PM after walking ten miles around Disneyland all day.

The kind woman at the check-in counter let me know that I'd been upgraded to a Disney view because of my HHonors status. Score! She also gave me two breakfast vouchers for every day because the standard room allotment is two per night. Seeing as how they can be used at the local Starbucks for a free breakfast item and a grande drink I expect difficulties ahead for the healthy eating plan.

The following is a rough approximation of what was going through my head as I left the elevators and headed for my room. "Wow, this hotel looks like it fell asleep in 1978 and just woke up. I wonder where my room is. Huh, my room is not even in the same hundred as the block I'm walking through. I knew I should have made a left at Albuquerque. Holy crap, is this room actually at the Sheraton in Garden Grove and they just didn't tell me? Oh, there it is. Hmm, bathroom is kinda small. Room looks nice, though. Is that the Disney view? That's a view of a parking lot. Oh wait, there are windows on this wall t....HOLY @*#& I'M NEVER LEAVING THIS HOTEL ROOM EVER AGAIN THIS IS THE GREATEST VIEW IN THE WORLD".

Yeah. I almost called my boss and quit on the spot but I couldn't think of anything I'd be qualified to do that would pay the bills and wouldn't require leaving the hotel room (insert your own joke here; lord knows I did). I know most people reading this will not even remotely understand my love of Disney theme parks, but there is no place else in the world that inspires instant happiness and peace in me the way a Disney park does. And from my hotel room I could see basically all of California Adventure and even a bit of Disneyland Park. I mean, Space Freaking Mountain was right outside my window. How cool is that? I did leave a voicemail for my brother telling him I was cancelling the rest of the trip and I was just going to stay here. When he checked the voicemail he accidentally called me back and so I could hear him say to someone (probably my sister-in-law) something to the effect of "what kind of dork is more excited about seeing Disney than going to Tokyo?" I'm okay with being that dork. :D

View from the entrance hallway of the room

That's a toilet. Yup. Sure is.

Ample room!

Greatest view of my life

The view was probably even better before the DCA expansion

View at night

I spent the rest of the night sitting in chair looking out at the park and reflecting on how much had happened in my life since the last time I was at Disneyland this time a year ago. I fought the urge to go to bed at 6 PM because I wanted to see the fireworks. I never quite know what to do with time changes because my body hates to adjust, but I've taken Ender Wiggin's advice that the enemy's gate is down or, translated to time zone changes, that I should basically force myself to act like the current time zone is the only time zone I've ever known (no that reference made no sense, but if I can work in an Orson Scott Card reference I'm going to do it!). We will see how that goes when the changes get a bit more extreme in a few weeks.

I am sad to report that I did not make it all the way until the oh-so-late 9:30 fireworks but fear not, they were loud enough that they woke me up instantly. Despite being half-asleep it was pretty amazing to see them from the hotel room. At that point I called it a day.