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).
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| 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.
