Day 9- Disneyland

Day 9: DISNEYLAND!


The morning started bright and early with Ms. V speaking in her Minnie Mouse voice letting us know that we needed to hurry up and get to the park if we wanted to get the full Disney experience. We had another beautifully prepared breakfast of great value cereal. There was a short announcement session with people giving their research on California, Disneyland, and more. Around this time we all received our day passes and started the long walk towards the parks (around 1.5 miles). We made it to the park around 8, and we waited in line for all of us to get through to check-in for our cliché Disneyland picture.
 




 Once inside, the group made their way over to the Indiana Jones Safari Adventure ride and we barely made it out alive (due to the boulder chasing us LOL). After regrouping, our next stop was the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which had us screaming during the drops and dripping afterwards. The wait times for both of these rides were long enough to force the staff to forfeit our last group activity, which was the “Noontime Show.” However, the TWB’ers still found a way to make waiting in line enjoyable for everyone, with chants, cheers, and all around laughs at every corner (JAYES WE DID).


Jack had a special visit from his sister! 




         This was around 11:30 when we all broke up into our individual groups and traversed the Disney landscape; however, scores of people found themselves purchasing TWB leather bracelets at a store suggested by Ms. Vickie. Later people found themselves eating at all sorts of places both in and out of the park. About 30-35 people found themselves at the IHOP across the street from the park, where our very own Ian Faulkner ordered himself not one, but two plates of food for himself (he was famished), and we almost single-handedly drained the whole IHOP of its water supply.






Getting back into the park was easy for some, but definitely presented challenges for others. For example, one of our groups went through bag checking and got stopped because the security guards found the sneezy mascot in one of the bags (we had been previously instructed to keep our mascots on our person AT ALL TIMES). Long story short, security threatened to get management involved because they did not know what to do with a large block of wood. 









As the day went on, more and more rides were ridden. Rides like Thunder Mountain Railroad, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, etc. were all highlights of everyone’s trip, but none of which were as monumental as the wait times. The beautiful Ms. V herself commented that she had been coming to Disneyland for 37 years and the crowds she saw had been the biggest ever. With everyone traveling around, grabbing water and snacks wherever they could, TWB took on Disneyland and they killed it.














Later on in the day people started taking advantage of the Fast Passes that they had picked up earlier in the day, and the rides became more and more enjoyable. It was around 6:30 when groups of people decided it was time to stop and grab dinner. Again, we had a split decision to make on whether it was a good idea to stay in the park and pay more for food, or go outside the park and grab a cheaper dinner. Tony Roma’s and The Captain Kidd’s Buffet were two very popular choices amongst everyone, with both groups getting great food at lower prices than any food that could be found in the park. The final countdown began for people that wanted to get last-minute rides in before it was time to head back to the campground and get some shut-eye. Unfortunately, the fireworks show was cancelled due to windy conditions, but for people still in the park after 9, there was a huge parade and light show that entertained people of all ages.






After around 10 o’clock, everyone met up in their groups at the McDonald’s across the street from the park, and Heather, Caitlin, and Ms. Vickie came to the rescue in the vans. By this time everyone was feeling the effects of over 14 hours in the park with sunlight and hot weather beating down all day. When we got back to the campground people took turns showering, journaling, and setting up their sleeping areas. I think the Sleepy group can speak for all 82 participants when we say that the night after Disney was one of the best nights of sleep on the trip so far.