[Travel] Day 5 - Taking the Long Way to Hong Kong: Anaheim to Chicago

I woke up at 5:30 in the morning, safe in the knowledge that the longest haul of the trip was just about to start. The Super Shuttle was slated to pick me up at 9, leaving me a few hours to work on the trip report and enjoy breakfast.

At around 6:15 I decided to give the Hilton continental breakfast another try. The pastries were exactly the same as two days ago, but this time I had the presence of mind to order Diet Coke. At 6:15 AM. What?

The waiter was spot-on and he had the second glass out as I finished the first and the third glass out when I was only halfway through the second. From the surprised look on my face he must have known that I had only really intended on two, so he brought me a to-go cup for the third. Thoughtful chap!

Thankfully I was protected from the ice cold contents within by that lid

At around 8:30 I headed down to the lobby with the idea that I might use my last Starbucks voucher for an iced tea. There must have been a break in the California PTA conference taking place at the hotel because the Starbucks line practically stretched out the building. They quite efficiently handled us all and after only fifteen minutes I had my iced tea and was on my way.

The Super Shuttle arrived promptly at 9. Traffic, as per usual, was horrendous, but the HOV lane made it a bit more bearable. This would be my first time traveling on any airline other than Delta in about two years, so I was curious to see how American measured up.

Check in was smooth enough. I was hoping to upgrade to first using some American miles but once I started explaining that the original trip was booked using British Airways miles, the poor agent's eyes started to glaze over and I just asked for an exit row.

John Wayne Airport (aka Anaheim/SNA/Orange County) has an Admiral's Club, so I decided to check it out. It's located over the terminal, with interesting views of the rest of the passengers. Other than that it was completely unremarkable. Oh wait, they had Diet 7-Up, which I haven't seen in years. The food selection basically consisted of cookies and cookies. Mmm, cookies. In a rare moment of self-control I gave them a pass.

It's not a Delta club - do I dare be tempted by the vices within?

Nice view

Lots of comfortable seating

Heads down, thumbs up

I love how shiny the American planes are

It's coming right for us!

The flight was, um, interesting. My exit row window seat was configured such that there was nothing in front of me but the door. This meant no underseat storage, which was a fine trade-off for the legroom. What I didn't realize was that my seat effectively located me somewhere north of the Arctic circle. I have pretty awful circulation to begin with but, an hour into the flight, I literally could not feel my feet any more.

I asked the flight attendant for a blanket but they were only available for first class. Ironic in an Alanis Morrisette not-at-all-ironic way. I made do as best I could. On the bright side - always find the bright side - they gave out whole cans of soda rather than Delta's one pour and you're good to go. Two Sprite Zeros later all was okay. The onboard food seemed overpriced and awful even by airline standards. Oh Delta, how I miss your box o'mysteries. Yeah, let's just leave it worded that way, shall we?

I don't know what it is about flying from California but I always spend the flight in these really weird, introspective moods (hah - you thought this was a trip report but I'm actually an emo fourteen year old and you're reading my livejournal suckers!). I should make a new rule that I'm not allowed to listen to This Desert Life on California flights. I came out of it soon enough with a heavy dose of Big Bang Theory. I've known about the show since the first season and I've always enjoyed the episodes I've caught, but it has been carrying me through this trip so far. It hits a bit too close to home sometimes, but I am always ready to laugh at myself.

Weird seat arrangement. Even weirder camera angle.

The vanquisher of 7-Up

Not sure if you can read the sign. It says "Non-Stop to Hong Kong Daily". Why go non-stop when you can transfer in Montreal and then Zurich, right?

Dinner was at a McDonalds in O'Hare. Not proud of that at all. I think it was the first quarter-pounder I've ever had. I then proceeded down to baggage claim to wait for the shuttle to the Country Inn and Suites.

They say one of the best parts of travel is the people you meet on the way. I guarantee you that they did not have my shuttlemate in mind when they said that. I can't do her justice in words. The best I can come up with is that I am 99% sure she was hopped up on so many painkillers and other assorted drugs that her general rambling incoherence would have been amusing if it hadn't been so painful to experience. Plus she's an acting coach. Need I say more?

Check in at the hotel took less than 30 seconds as they just handed me a room key when I walked through the door. Country Inn and Suites is a Carlson chain (I used points from last year's giveaway, a promotion they are running again this year) that competes with Holiday Inn Express. The room was nice enough, though foot traffic in the hall was quite loud. The internet reminded me of my childhood, waiting for pictures to load line-by-line on our 1200 bps modem. It wasn't quite that bad at the hotel, but their throttling back the bandwidth to encourage you to buy the faster internet package was both transparent and unwelcome. Either way, I was asleep shortly after the Heat knocked the Knicks out of the play-offs in preparation for the two days of travel ahead.

Spacious entry area

This set was definitely behind Door Number 2 in 1977

Great amenities if I was staying more than 12 hours

Another picture of a toilet

Surprisingly comfortable bed

Not a view of Disneyland. Not at all.

[Disney] Day 4: A Last Day at Disneyland

It turns out these take a fantastically long time to write. I keep telling myself that I'll be glad in a few years that I've done it. Don't worry, gentle Reader, I will persevere for your sake!

Day 4 started at the gloriously late hour of 6 AM. I grabbed my now-usual Starbucks starter and headed over to Disneyland. I opened with a quick spin with my dear friend Toad. I then decided to try a few things that I'd not yet done at the parks on this trip.

We meet again 

Goodbye Castle...see you again in Hong Kong

Why were you closed? KAHNNNNN!

Classic

Goodbye, old friend. Till we meet again...

That meant, whether I liked it or not, that it was high time to have my once-per-trip encounter with the Happiest Cruise That Ever Sailed, aka It's a Small World (awww yeah, you've all got the song stuck in your heads now don't you? You can thank me later!)

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears

Awesome topiary

The outside of IaSW is so much more visually impressive at Disneyland that it almost makes it bearable, right until you get inside the ride and realize that they've horribly perverted Walt's vision by putting damn Disney characters in every scene. Let's review, shall we:

Ugh.

Fine.

Getting worse

"Listen Aladdin, if your idea of whole new world is getting me stuck on IaSW for eternity, you and genie can go f....

Mulan? Maybe? Did anyone even watch Mulan?

Possibly Lion King. Or just laughing hyenas. Your choice.

#*@& you, you EPCOT Mexico-ride ruining avian bastards!

This doesn't even make any sense. 

Speaking of characters who have ruined rides

Nemo's dad doesn't look quite right

Not a Disney character but he has a fabulous umbrella, ella, ella, ella

God make it stop.

Turns out that the only way I can truly enjoy a ride on IaSW is by being spiteful and taking photos of every character I can find. This is not something I needed to know about myself, is it?

I really wanted to ride Storybook Land Canal Boats (what? shut up) but the line was already 20+ minutes. The line at the Jungle Cruise was the same. 1.1  out of 10 my ass, Touring Plans. Pirates was down to boot so I fled to the comfort of Haunted Mansion.

Posted for those who know what it is

At that point it was just about 9:55. That meant it was Dole Whip time. For those who don't know, a Dole Whip is a delicious pineapple-flavored non-dairy iced dessert. It's fantastic. I was second in line before they opened. Did you know that if you order the first Dole Whip or Dole Whip Float of the day you get a special pin? I did not - but I soon learned it right after the guy in front of me ordered both so that he could get both pins. Thanks, Random Guy, for somehow making me upset over something that I didn't even know existed five minutes earlier. You know what makes everything better? A Dole Whip!

Disembodied hand says "go ahead, have one"

Already feeling like a little child with my non-ice-cream-ice-cream, I headed into Toontown. For those who have only experienced the thankfully departed Toontown in Orlando, the one in Anaheim is actually pretty cool. Rather than being a bunch of poorly thought out buildings thrown together in a barely-coherent theme, the Disneyland version hangs together as a town in which toons might live. Plus it's got a Roger Rabbit ride and if you aren't down with that, then I'm not even sure why I bother.

New family crest?

The low point of the day for me was having to witness some poor six-year-old kid freak the heck out in line for Roger Rabbit. He was basically convinced, in the way that only kids could be, that the taxi cab ride vehicle was actually a moving chamber of death that was going to take him and his loved ones straight to hell. Or at least one would have thought as much from the tantrum he threw. I felt genuinely awful for him and I'm glad that, for once, the parents displayed the good sense of not trying to force it on him.

Straight to hell!

Wish I could get a shirt with this on it. On second thought, that could easily be taken the wrong way.

And this is why I love Toontown at Disneyland

1 out of 3 tourists doesn't get this joke

Awesome building

Love the top part of this sign

While riding Roger Rabbit (that sounds vaguely dirty), I had a brilliant idea to but a Disney t-shirt and get it embroidered at each of the parks. I hitched a ride on the Disneyland Railroad, complete with a trip to the Grand Canyon and Primeval World.

The embroiderer (is that a word? It is now!) pointed out that while she could embroider the shirt she suspected that at other Disney parks they would refuse as it wasn't merchandise sold there. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. 

Here's a random shot of DCA. Because I don't have many. Because it sucks.

It was nearly time for a Cafe Orleans lunch but as I strolled down Main Street I realized I'd not yet had a corn dog. Glutton that I am, it was corn dog time. The breading on the corn dog tasted very similar to the breading on the three cheese monte cristo at Cafe Orleans. Hmm, three cheese corn dog with powdered sugar and raspberry preserves? Mine is a dangerous mind.

OHMYGODCORNDOG

Lunch at Cafe Orleans turned into an unexpected and fantastic surprise. They seated me at the same table I'd been at the last two days. I imagine they reserve it for folks such as myself dining solo. I noticed a woman sitting alone at a table next to mine. I am usually pretty hesitant to talk to random people when I'm at the parks alone - I'm a thirty year old guy and I don't know what assumptions people make about thirty year old guys who go to Disney alone, but I'm not sure they're the kind that lead to fun casual conversations.

That being said, I can't very well go the next six weeks not talking to people, so I struck up a conversation with Angela (hello Angela!). Turned out she was also a huge Disney fan and she had a wealth of knowledge about Disneyland Park from her many trips down from Washington. We ended up sharing lunch and then going on Monsters Inc. and Muppets together. Probably the only time on this trip I'll get to say "two" when they ask how many people are going on a ride.

Angela got something healthy from Cafe Orleans. Shocking!

Posted for those of my coworkers who will get why this is funny

Disney attraction theming at its best

Only here because I do a mean Sam the Eagle impression

Spending a few hours with Angela was the highlight of the day! On my way back to the hotel I stopped off and picked up my once-again-futile World of Color picnic. For the third trip running I've booked a World of Color picnic and, once again, I couldn't stay up to watch the stupid thing. But thankfully I now had someone to give my fastpass to so I did not feel as bad.

Still delicious. Who knows, maybe someday I'll get to watch the show?

I returned back to the room and did some work for the rest of the day. I finally had the presence of mind to keep track of my walking on my phone - 8.5 miles on Day 4. I'm sure I'll be paying for that in foot pain for the rest of the week!

Grizzly Peak looks like it needs to go to Pooh Corner. Too much?

Got better with the camera by Day 4

Beautiful. Goodbye, Disneyland.

I spent the last few hours watching the lights come on in Disneyland and listening to the Counting Crows. A great way to end the Disneyland portion of the trip.

Sometimes I sit here, looking down upon Los Angeles.

Sometimes I'm floating away