Secret Mission to the Mouse - A He Said She Said DL TR - DAY FOUR

[Buttercup Roberts]

Hiya folks!

Because we only go around once on this little ball of rock, there's just no time to waste doing all those things you always wanted to do, right?

So how about a secret mission to true romance, a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway in a convertible, and a surprise trip to Disneyland and DCA? I didn't say no and neither should you!


DAY FOUR

Buttercup:
Another full day of fun with the Mouse and Marcus. Heaven.

We’re not exactly getting up at the crack of dawn on our trips; I think my days of making it to Extra Magic Hour at 8:15 a.m. at WDW are looong gone now. We didn’t leave the room until 10 a.m. this morning. Which is really early for Marcus!

He had a bit of a blister from yesterday, so he wanted to use our still-good free shuttle passes and skip the hiking. I checked the shuttle schedule posted in the lobby and Marcus checked his sporty Rolex-esque Mickey Mouse watch, and we sat down for a supposedly short wait on the wild west themed bus-waitin’ benches under the hotel’s awning. We waited through the appointed time. We waited past it. Just when we were about to chuck it and walk, the shuttle came, around 12 minutes late.

I don’t know how Marcus got a blister, he was in his most worn-in Reebok sneakers. I should have been worse off in my pretty suede clogs that I insisted on wearing because they’re cute and new. LOL I did have sore ankles after two days of that.

All the hotel shuttles here appeared to be one company, with over a dozen routes covering the “good neighbor” hotels in Anaheim. They’re fakey diesel trolleys with teeny tiny wood and iron bench seats, but thankfully the ride was short, with just two other stops.

The landscaping Disney did around this area is nice. Every hotel has a matching sign and matching plantings, giving the entire area a unified and quite lovely look. It’s a mix of hotels and residences. I am not sure why some of the homes around the perimeter look run down, but they sure do. It’s not the greatest looking neighborhood. I would think the real estate here is insanely inflated, so I can’t understand why the houses aren’t fixed up better. I like L.A., but heck if my little WWII era two bedroom cottage was worth $450,000 I’d be selling that puppy and moving to another part of the country and enjoying my fortune. I guess it’s all relative.

We disembarked and noted the number stop we’d need to get home, and then went straight to DCA. It was lunch time (good morning!), and I was in the mood for pizza. Actually, I was in the mood for sushi but Marcus insists he’ll hurl if he ever sees me eat that.

We walked through the hub straight back to the area we’d not visited yesterday, Paradise Pier. There’s a reproduction of the World’s Fair pavilion in San Francisco, and a theater showing a movie about California that the cm’s seem to be begging people to go and see. We didn’t. The whole area looked abandoned, actually.

Paradise Pier was ok looking. A lot cleaner and nicer than any Six Flags I’ve visited, but just not very Disney. We rode some zeppelin things that flew out over the water in a way that felt great. Then we went to Pizza Ooo Mow Mow (cute name!) and waited for about three minutes for it to open at 11:30 a.m.

Marcus wasn’t sure about this new pizza place. I tease him about his caveman routine with new things: something strange in Grog’s cave, Grog no like. I told him eat a bite of mine, and if you hate it, go next door to McDonald’s. Grog agreed and mmmm Grog like! Grog was strangely silent for the next ten minutes as he consumed much cheese and pepperoni.

I sang my heart out to all the great surf music in here, and enjoyed the kitschy surf décor, and the pizza was o.k. Not enough garlic flavor. Huh, Marcus? LOLOL

Back out in the weak, cloudy, almost cold, drizzly on and off Southern California “sunshine”, I told Marcus I was definitely not getting on any swings or something that drops me twenty stories with no theming, so that killed this whole side of the lagoon for attractions.

We had to stop and ask a fellow guest to snap our photo in front of the “Jumpin’ Jellyfish” sign. Marcus has this inside joke about tentacles from years ago, and it’s become a bit of a photo essay theme for our new relationship. Anyways, nevermind. LOL

I had agreed to go on California Screamin’, so we wanted to get that done before it started raining, which appeared imminent. A very short wait, and we were at the front of the completely unthemed queue. I mean, completely unthemed. Whatever!

Marcus loves the front on any ride, but he gets shy about asking for favors from cm’s, so I asked for us and yaay, we got the front. Good grief, what have I gotten myself into? I was expecting big steep gut wrenching drop hills on this ride, but I’ll do anything once, I guess.

Surprise, surprise, there was my favorite launch from Rock ‘n Roll Coaster here, a sensation I adore. And then the ride itself was amazing! Every sensation was downright pleasurable, not gut wrenching at all. Well, except for the loop, but my aerobatics-flying baby told me we were approaching it, and then right as we climbed up he hollered “Take a deep breath… hold it… and PULL!” It actually helps a lot to hold your breath and strain a little when you’re inverted. Who knew? I love Marcus.

After that I was a teeny bit shakey but nothing serious, and extremely proud of myself. On to the Sunwheel! Thankfully Marcus wanted the stationary cars, like I did. The roll-y ones looked like vomit comets to me. It started to drizzle for real now, but one side was kind of protected and we stayed dry.

After checking out the kind of ugly Anaheim area from way up high (but pretty hills in the distance, of course), we headed off to look at the new kids’ area they created to replace the old watch-bread-bake-and-grass-grow attractions.

We had time to go do Soarin’ again, before that afternoon’s last Aladdin show. It wasn’t as big a thrill the second time, the novelty of the ride vehicle had worn off quickly for me, but maybe I’ll enjoy it more if I get the top row and go higher. We had the lowest one this time and it wasn’t as good as yesterday’s ride.

Crossing over the hub, we almost stopped to see Minnie but I’m glad we didn’t, because I had the time for the show incorrect in my head, and if we’d stopped we’d have missed the best thing here! As it was, we had to run in with the last group of ten or twelve people as an announcement came on for cast to take their places. And we had to run up some SERIOUS stairs, all the way to the top of the theater. Phew!

Wow, this is a real theater, this Hyperion. I thought it would be another cheap outdoor amphitheater like at the Studios in WDW, but this is a lovely old fashioned movie palace style venue. It’s drop dead gorgeous, right down to the velvet seats. I’d love to come back and just wander around the theater.

And the technology!!!! I don’t think there’s a theater on Broadway that can top the capabilities here. It’s just so state of the art, it’s insane.

The show started about two minutes after we sat down, and I’m afraid it was a bit of a slow start. We were both getting a bit let down with the pedestrian opening number, but then the Genie showed up and the whole show perked up. “Perked up” is an understatement. The show got wonderful!

I won’t give out spoilers, just go go go. Whoever was playing Genie that day needs to be rich and famous.

Time to hit the MK for the rest of our stay, and get in our old favorites again. Plus we needed to get a photo of a Hidden Dickey Marcus said was in It’s a Small World.

I honestly have no idea what order we did anything in, today. That’s what I get for not taking trip report notes. I know we had a wonderful time sitting eating fried chicken and cheese cake at the New Orleans restaurant again, with a great jazz combo playing for us.

After Marcus was done eating, he pulled his chair around to sit right up next to me, and put his arm around me. I could have sat there all day and listened to the band, but they took a 30 minute break and I didn’t want to lose that much ride time. We should have stayed, but the commando in me won out and we went to do Indy (down), Haunted Mansion (down for a while but then we got on), BTMRR (another wiiiiiild ride), and Pirates.

On Pirates I was getting mega sleepy. I really felt like I needed to go to take a nap but again the commando in me wasn’t going to let that happen, and with such a short trip as this, going back to the room was out of the question, I didn’t even suggest it.

We took a walk over to some restrooms and I was doing something bent over in there, and when I stood up, bang-o, I got a sudden blinding headache that felt like I must be stroking out or something. I made it out to Marcus and had to sit down and we spent the next half hour on a bench in the hub with me holding my head as still as possible. I’ve never been a migraine sufferer, but I think that’s exactly what this was. It was really awful. Marcus was a total dear about it, as usual. He takes great care of me, he really does. I felt terrible, because I could see the rest of our time here, on our last day, slipping away.

We went and got some ibuprofen and I downed it and tried to take my mind off things. I was feeling a little better. I managed to make it onto Small World.

But after Small World, it was dark, and I was done. I felt terrible. We got the shuttle back, I think my head was buried in M’s shoulder the whole wait and the whole way there.

At the Holiday Inn, I thought maybe the hot tub would make me feel better, but Marcus was like, are you nuts? It was pretty cold outside.

Instead, we got in our jammies and Marcus fired up his laptop for us to watch a dvd he brought of one of his favorite movies, Princess Bride. Cuddled up together, I made it through about half the movie, and then I was down for the count and… out.

I woke up around 2 a.m. feeling a lot lot better and had some more ibuprofen and a bottle of water, and got probably 11 hours of sleep tonight. I guess I needed it!

I’ll never forget how kind M was to me today. He stroked my forehead for like 30 minutes while we watched the movie. Baby, you’re the bomb.

 

[pumba]

here in Disneyland. Thanks for posting it

 

[Buttercup Roberts]

Thanks, there's day one through three up in the wrong place too, I guess!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

I love your posts so far. Please hurry up with day 5.

 

[MNDizNut]

Reminds me of a story about mustard from a few years back on these boards! Absolutely delightful!!!

 

[lulubelle]

Great reports Buttercup - Sounds like you are packing a lot into one day. So sorry about the migraine - DD18 gets them - they are the worst!

 

[Alysa]

I know you posted on the wrong board but don't forget to finish there as well - love your report.

 

[Buttercup Roberts]

Hiya Folks!
Below is the same tr day as above, but now with Marcus' comments, and also some funny comments from a friend of ours who read this and replied on another board.

And Day Five is up, and that's it! :-( I wish I could go back in time and do it all over again, but we're going to WDW in just a little while here, so who's complaining!


Day Four

Buttercup:
Another full day of fun with the Mouse and Marcus. Heaven.

We’re not exactly getting up at the crack of dawn on our trips; I think my days of making it to Extra Magic Hour at 8:15 a.m. at WDW are looong gone now. We didn’t leave the room until 10 a.m. this morning. Which is really early for Marcus!

He had a bit of a blister from yesterday, so he wanted to use our still-good free shuttle passes and skip the hiking. I checked the shuttle schedule posted in the lobby and Marcus checked his sporty Rolex-esque Mickey Mouse watch, and we sat down for a supposedly short wait on the wild west themed bus-waitin’ benches under the hotel’s awning. We waited through the appointed time. We waited past it. Just when we were about to chuck it and walk, the shuttle came, around 12 minutes late.

I don’t know how Marcus got a blister, he was in his most worn-in Reebok sneakers. I should have been worse off in my pretty suede clogs that I insisted on wearing because they’re cute and new. LOL I did have sore ankles after two days of that.

All the hotel shuttles here appeared to be one company, with over a dozen routes covering the “good neighbor” hotels in Anaheim. They’re fakey diesel trolleys with teeny tiny wood and iron bench seats, but thankfully the ride was short, with just two other stops.

Marcus:
The ride was *short*? Pshaw! Between the interminable wait, and all the stops, it still would have been quicker to walk the circuitous 1.5 miles to the Disneyland entrance. This reminds me of why I will not ride the buses at WDW.

Buttercup:
The landscaping Disney did around this area is nice. Every hotel has a matching sign and matching plantings, giving the entire area a unified and quite lovely look. It’s a mix of hotels and residences. I am not sure why some of the homes around the perimeter look run down, but they sure do. It’s not the greatest looking neighborhood. I would think the real estate here is insanely inflated, so I can’t understand why the houses aren’t fixed up better. I like L.A., but heck if my little WWII era two bedroom cottage was worth $450,000 I’d be selling that puppy and moving to another part of the country and enjoying my fortune. I guess it’s all relative.

We disembarked and noted the number stop we’d need to get home, and then went straight to DCA.

Marcus:
Actually I don't remember noting what stop we'd need. The driver communicated that the bus would not run until park close, so we figured we'd hoof it back to the hotel.

Buttercup:
It was lunch time (good morning!), and I was in the mood for pizza. Actually, I was in the mood for sushi but Marcus insists he’ll hurl if he ever sees me eat that.

We walked through the hub straight back to the area we’d not visited yesterday, Paradise Pier.

Marcus:
Actually Buttercup asked a CM near the gate where the best pizza was, near Aladdin, and the CM said there was no pizza near Aladdin, it was only in Paradise Pier. So we decided to go there first then come back to see the Aladdin show.

Buttercup:
There’s a reproduction of the World’s Fair pavilion in San Francisco, and a theater showing a movie about California that the cm’s seem to be begging people to go and see. We didn’t. The whole area looked abandoned, actually.

Paradise Pier was ok looking. A lot cleaner and nicer than any Six Flags I’ve visited, but just not very Disney. We rode some zeppelin things that flew out over the water in a way that felt great. Then we went to Pizza Ooo Mow Mow (cute name!) and waited for about three minutes for it to open at 11:30 a.m.

Marcus:
Actually I think we went on the Zeppelins after the pizza place.

Buttercup:
Marcus wasn’t sure about this new pizza place. I tease him about his caveman routine with new things: something strange in Grog’s cave, Grog no like. I told him eat a bite of mine, and if you hate it, go next door to McDonald’s. Grog agreed and mmmm Grog like! Grog was strangely silent for the next ten minutes as he consumed much cheese and pepperoni.

Marcus:
Yes, the pizza there was delicious. I was having flashbacks to the horrid pizza they have on Sunset Boulevard at WDW, but as usual, Disneyland food outshone WDW food by a factor of 10.

Buttercup:
I sang my heart out to all the great surf music in here, and enjoyed the kitschy surf décor, and the pizza was o.k. Not enough garlic flavor. Huh, Marcus? LOLOL

Marcus:
It had no garlic, which is good, because if it did, I probably would have honked. And if it had garlic and only you ate it, then no more French kissing for the remainder of the trip.

Buttercup:
Back out in the weak, cloudy, almost cold, drizzly on and off Southern California “sunshine”, I told Marcus I was definitely not getting on any swings or something that drops me twenty stories with no theming, so that killed this whole side of the lagoon for attractions.

Marcus:
We have to go back. I'll up the ante and get her to ride Maliboomer with me before I'll set foot in the Tiki room.

Buttercup:
FOUL!!!!! FOUL!!!!! You are so going in the Penalty Box for this.

Rodney:
Hmm, no as a completely and totally impartial third party, I'd say this is a fair trade. Think about, Buttercup, it would mean *another* trip to DL!

Buttercup:
OK, I talked to my agent, and here is our offer:
Marcus gives Buttercup another trip to Disneyland, to include TWO
rides, back to back, at the Original Tiki Room. We feel this is a
generous waiving of the aforementioned six rides which had accumulated
due to repeated disappointments and trips to Space Mountain.
Buttercup will then 1. Ride Space Mountain at Disneyland twice, 2.
agree to one ride on the Maliboomer, *if* she is allowed to take Bonine
and there is no grumbling or pouting if the Bonine makes her groggy and
she has to go back to the room for a nap.
Rodney:
I think you just bought yourself a deal! We have just a few minor
clarifications:
1. Marcus agrees to give Buttercup another trip to DL. Said trip will not
have to be as secretive and surprising as the first trip.
2. Marcus agrees to *ONE* visit to The Original Tiki Room, unless it is
raining, in which case he will agree to TWO visits.
3. If by chance The Original Tiki Room is unavailable or has been altered in
any way, such as if it has been the victim of a hostile takeover by a
certain unnamed obnoxious parrot, then only item 2 of the agreement shall
become null and void and all other parts and sections will remain in full
force. This is known as a savings clause.
3. Buttercup agrees that there will never be any further mention of any
alleged "accumulated" or "repeated" disappointments, especially in reference
to the previous Secret Mission, but not limited to such and certainly not
limited to any such future events that may or may not occur.
4. Buttercup agrees to two rides on Space Mountain in Disneyland.
5. Buttercup agrees to one ride on the Maliboomer, but if she decides to
take Bonine, which subsequently induces her to require nap, it means that at
some such time in the future when she is no longer under the influence of
Bonine but is simply tired and would *prefer* a nap to other bedroom
activities, and at such time when Marcus would prefer some other activity in
lieu of a nap, that Buttercup must then willingly and joyously participate
in said activity as chosen by Marcus and forgo the nap until a later time.
Marcus:
DEAL!
Buttercup:
We had to stop and ask a fellow guest to snap our photo in front of the “Jumpin’ Jellyfish” sign. Marcus has this inside joke about tentacles from years ago, that he shared with me in a rather bold and somewhat suggestive way before we started going out together romantically, last December, and it’s become a bit of a photo essay theme for our new relationship. Anyways, nevermind. LOL

Marcus:
You'd have to see the movie "Better Off Dead" to understand this joke. You know, that line... "there's a *big* difference." lol

Buttercup:
I had agreed to go on California Screamin’, so we wanted to get that done before it started raining, which appeared imminent. A very short wait, and we were at the front of the completely unthemed queue. I mean, completely unthemed. Whatever!

Marcus loves the front on any ride, but he gets shy about asking for favors from cm’s, so I asked for us and yaay, we got the front. Good grief, what have I gotten myself into? I was expecting big steep gut wrenching drop hills on this ride, but I’ll do anything once, I guess.

Marcus:
We got into the ride vehicle, and Buttercup looked very nervous, so I asked if she wanted to chicken out, but she said "Hell, no!" Quite frankly, I was doubting the wisdom of Buttercup's plan to eat pizza first and *then* go on California Screamin', but if she was up for it, who was I to say anything?

Buttercup:
Surprise, surprise, there was my favorite launch from Rock ‘n Roll Coaster here, a sensation I adore. And then the ride itself was amazing! Every sensation was downright pleasurable, not gut wrenching at all.

Marcus:
Yes, we were expecting a clanky hill at the beginning of the ride, but I was happy that it was a launch as well. It wasn't as much of a rush as the Rock n' Rollercoaster launch, but it was a very cool coaster in my opinion, save for the lack of theming. It was the smoothest coaster I've ever been on, including the loop.

Buttercup:
Well, except for the loop, but my aerobatics-flying baby told me we were approaching it, and then right as we climbed up he hollered “Take a deep breath… hold it… and PULL!” It actually helps a lot to hold your breath and strain a little when you’re inverted. Who knew? I love Marcus.

After that I was a teeny bit shakey but nothing serious, and extremely proud of myself. On to the Sunwheel! Thankfully Marcus wanted the stationary cars, like I did. The roll-y ones looked like vomit comets to me.

Marcus:
My problem with the rolling, swaying cars were that the line for them was about 8 times longer than the line for the non-rolling ones. We have to go back!

Buttercup:
It started to drizzle for real now, but one side was kind of protected and we stayed dry.

Marcus:
We tried to go back on California Screamin' again, but as we got into the queue, they closed it due to the rain.

Honey, you forgot to mention riding the dolphin! We rode the dolphin carousel next. Only people who know Buttercup's old e-mail address will see the significance of this. <evil grin>

Buttercup:
I don’t remember how it started, but we were on our Hidden Dickeys kick by this point, seeing naughty things in all sorts of inappropriate places (hmm, did we have it on the brain?), and I saw the grandpappy of them all over at the California Golden Dreams pavilion across the lagoon! Maybe it’s up on the site by now, http://www.hiddendickeys.com Marcus was supposed to scan in my photo I took of it, and zoom in a little.

Marcus:
I haven't scanned it yet. I'll e-mail it to the hiddendickeys.com webmaster after he puts up the sound clip I contributed to the site.

Buttercup:
It blew our minds. I think the muralist must have been REALLY pissed at DCA at that point, and honestly I can’t wait to go back and look at it close up to see what it’s *supposed* to be. Marcus thinks it’s just a coincidence. I think this is the greatest new is it a phallus or isn’t it debate since the Little Mermaid video release box.

After checking out the kind of ugly Anaheim area from way up high (but pretty hills in the distance, of course), we headed off to look at the new kids’ area they created to replace the old watch-bread-bake-and-grass-grow attractions. My son will love this, I can’t wait to bring him back. We’re big Bug’s Life fans!

Marcus and I found another Hidden Dickey and I had to get a photo of him pointing to it… a frozen banana at an ice cream cart. We are so mature.

We had time to go do Soarin’ again, before that afternoon’s last Aladdin show. It wasn’t as big a thrill the second time, the novelty of the ride vehicle had worn off quickly for me, but maybe I’ll enjoy it more if I get the top row and go higher. We had the lowest one this time and it wasn’t as good as yesterday’s ride.

Marcus:
Yeah, being on the lowest row was what made it less exciting. We don't have to go back though, we'll just go on it in Epcot after it opens there. Hey, does anybody know if they're going to have the Epcot version fly over the Disneyland castle at the end of the movie?

Buttercup:
Crossing over the hub, we almost stopped to see Minnie but I’m glad we didn’t, because I had the time for the show incorrect in my head, and if we’d stopped we’d have missed the best thing here! As it was, we had to run in with the last group of ten or twelve people as an announcement came on for cast to take their places. And we had to run up some SERIOUS stairs, all the way to the top of the theater. Phew!

Wow, this is a real theater, this Hyperion. I thought it would be another cheap outdoor amphitheater like at the Studios in WDW, but this is a lovely old fashioned movie palace style venue. It’s drop dead gorgeous, right down to the velvet seats. I’d love to come back and just wander around the theater.

And the technology!!!! I don’t think there’s a theater on Broadway that can top the capabilities here. It’s just so state of the art, it’s insane.

Marcus:
It definitely reminded me of a Broadway theater, and the show was better than the Lion King show on Broadway in my opinion. It was just a little too short to be a Broadway show.

Buttercup:
The show started about two minutes after we sat down, and I’m afraid it was a bit of a slow start. We were both getting a bit let down with the pedestrian opening number, but then the Genie showed up and the whole show perked up. “Perked up” is an understatement. The show got wonderful!

I won’t give out spoilers, just go go go. Whoever was playing Genie that day needs to be rich and famous.

Time to hit the MK for the rest of our stay, and get in our old favorites again. Plus we needed to get a photo of a Hidden Dickey Marcus said was in It’s a Small World.

Marcus:
Buttercup honey, you know, they don't actually call it the Magic Kingdom in California.

Buttercup:
I honestly have no idea what order we did anything in, today. That’s what I get for not taking trip report notes. I know we had a wonderful time sitting eating fried chicken and cheese cake at the New Orleans restaurant again, with a great jazz combo playing for us.

After Marcus was done eating, he pulled his chair around to sit right up next to me, and put his arm around me. I could have sat there all day and listened to the band, but they took a 30 minute break and I didn’t want to lose that much ride time. We should have stayed, but the commando in me won out and we went to do Indy (down), Haunted Mansion (down for a while but then we got on), BTMRR (another wiiiiiild ride), and Pirates.

On Pirates I was getting mega sleepy. I really felt like I needed to go to take a nap but again the commando in me wasn’t going to let that happen, and with such a short trip as this, going back to the room was out of the question, I didn’t even suggest it.

We took a walk over to some restrooms and I was doing something bent over in there, and when I stood up, bang-o, I got a sudden blinding headache that felt like I must be stroking out or something. I made it out to Marcus and had to sit down and we spent the next half hour on a bench in the hub with me holding my head as still as possible. I’ve never been a migraine sufferer, but I think that’s exactly what this was. It was really awful. Marcus was a total dear about it, as usual. He takes great care of me, he really does. I felt terrible, because I could see the rest of our time here, on our last day, slipping away.

We went and got some ibuprofen and I downed it and tried to take my mind off things. I was feeling a little better. I managed to make it onto Small World for our Hidden Dickey pics, which we needed for the website I had decided we should make, much to Marcus’ chagrin. He couldn’t believe I seriously wanted to make a website, but was like, why the hell not? LOL Hey it’s just nature.

But after Small World, it was dark, and I was done. I felt terrible. We got the shuttle back, I think my head was buried in M’s shoulder the whole wait and the whole way there.

At the Holiday Inn, I thought maybe the hot tub would make me feel better, but Marcus was like, are you nuts? It was pretty cold outside.

Instead, we got in our jammies and Marcus fired up his laptop for us to watch a dvd he brought of one of his favorite movies, Princess Bride. Cuddled up together, I made it through about half the movie, and then I was down for the count and… out.

I woke up around 2 a.m. feeling a lot lot better and had some more ibuprofen and a bottle of water, and got probably 11 hours of sleep tonight. I guess I needed it!

I’ll never forget how kind M was to me today. He stroked my forehead for like 30 minutes while we watched the movie. Baby, you’re the bomb.

Marcus:
Thanks, sweetie!

 

[actormcfamous]

On to the Sunwheel! Thankfully Marcus wanted the stationary cars, like I did. The roll-y ones looked like vomit comets to me.


Oh, trust me, they are. That was probably the worst mistake in my Disney life.