Chapter 66
Just a Casual Day in the Park?

Previous Post | Next Post
Table of Contents

(Originally posted September 25, 2013)

Hungry for a snack, we actually decided to head out of the park. Tracy had taken an online survey for Haagen-Dazs a few months prior and had gotten a free $10 gift card as payment. Ready to get some free ice cream, we headed to the Monorail station in Tomorrowland. I always like standing on the ramp and watching the submarines go by below.

Disembarking in Downtown Disney, we went to the ice cream shop and ordered a small cup of Caramel Cone with whipped cream and gummi bears on top.

It was a slightly bizarre combination, but we had no problem devouring every morsel.

Refreshed after having a nice break from the crowds, we decided to brave the parks again. We went through bag check and hopped over to DCA.

Initially, we walked back to Hollywoodland to check when the Cheshire Cat was on the schedule at Animation Academy. He was being drawn at 8:00, so we doubted whether we would still be there. Next, we checked out the wait over at Monsters, Inc. and the line was posted at 30 minutes. That fact alone should give you and idea of how crowded it was this afternoon. Finally, we went into the store near Schmoozies (possibly called Gone Hollywood?) and felt like we hit the jackpot when one of the cast members there had practically every one of the new Duffy pins on her lanyard. We traded for at least three of them, almost completing our collection.

Feeling like we needed to find an attraction that wouldn’t have heavy crowds, we walked over to “a bug’s land” for the second time this week. We stopped and admired the butterfly garden at the entrance, which had several of them flying around.

We decided our safest bet to have absolutely no line was It’s Tough to Be a Bug.

Assuming correctly that it would have no wait, we enjoyed the show (though neither of us likes being stung by the swarm of hornets).

We were starting to get a little hungry for dinner, but it wasn’t quite time yet, so we decided to ride Luigi’s Flying Tires instead. As always, we loved it, and as always, we were some of the only ones who did.

By this point, we decided it was dinnertime (though I’m sure it was still pretty early). We finally went to a restaurant that had been taunting us every time we would go into Cars Land—the Cozy Cone Motel.

More specifically, we went to the Chili Cone Queso stand.

No, we weren’t there to get the traditional cone, but rather to try out the Chicken Verde cone.

Bringing our cone over to the seating area outside Flo’s, I took a few pictures of Cars Land.

Finally, we took a seat and dug in.

The cone was seriously delicious! It was very spicy, but had a great almost smoky flavor. We both really enjoyed it, and the filling combined with the cone was actually a pretty big meal even though we split it.

We also loved the view while we ate.

Taking a quick diversion over to Paradise Pier, where we rode both Jumpin’ Jellyfish and King Triton’s Carousel, we went back into Cars Land right before dusk officially fell.

We wanted to be in Radiator Springs to see all of the lights come on at the official sunset time. We positioned ourselves in the perfect spot to enjoy all the neon lighting and listened to “Sh-Boom” playing over the sound system. I love that they do this lighting every night. It’s another great nod to the movie that just makes Cars Land feel even more real.

Feeling pretty tired, we decided to go home after the lighting was done. We had a terribly long wait for a tram (in line with the crowd level on the day), but we finally made it home and enjoyed a pretty quiet night.

The next day, we again arrived after lunch and headed into Disneyland. We began the afternoon by pin trading at the wagon wheel in Westward Ho before heading to New Orleans Square for some attractions. Sitting in the front row on Pirates, we got VERY wet unexpectedly (I swear, it’s totally the luck of the draw how much of a splash there is). Next we went on the Haunted Mansion and then over to Winnie the Pooh, where I really enjoyed this little brook that flows through the queue area.

Heading into Fantasyland, we got in line for Casey Jr., but the attraction went down before we could board. Instead, we went over to the Storybook Land Canal boats and waited in the GAC line because the regular queue was upwards of 30 minutes. While we waited, a cast member named Johnnie noticed our Peter Pan and Wendy hats and remembered how he had pin traded with us the day before. He told us that if we could wait for a few extra boats, he had a surprise for us. It took a little while, but eventually, the boat named Wendy pulled up, and we got a special place in it!

After the ride, Johnnie also pointed out a Hidden Mickey on the boat’s rudder.

We made a mental note of how great this cast member interaction had been so that we could bring it up at Guest Relations later in the day.

Now, today happened to be the media previews for Fantasy Faire, so the entire hub had been transformed into radio row. As we walked toward the front of the park, I scanned the different tables to see if there happened to be any radio stations we recognized. As luck would have it, I noticed a station from Colorado that I had listened to before!

KOOL 105 was the oldies station in CO, and I thought it would be fun to walk up to the broadcaster at the table and tell him that we were Colorado natives. As you might expect, the guy working the table for an oldies station was a little on the elderly side himself and more than a little hard of hearing. Eventually, however, we were able to explain our connection to the Denver metro area. I pointed out that we had always used to listen to KOOL 105 on the school bus when we were growing up. I don’t know if he was quite amused by my anecdote. Anyway, after a few minutes of conversation, we bid adieu to our new radio friend, but not before he let us choose one of the Disney baked goodies that they had been supplied with to snack on at the tables. We picked a Cake Pop and were all ready to move along, but then the man told us we should go down to the MIX 100 table a few booths away because they were also from CO.

I don’t think I had ever heard of MIX 100, but Tracy claimed she had. When we approached Bo, the broadcaster for the station, he was quite interested in our story. In fact, he was so intrigued by the fact that we had moved here from Colorado with the hopes of being cast members that he asked if we wanted to be on the radio to talk about it. He wasn’t broadcasting live, but was putting together various packages to play back later, so he just had to connect with the booth before starting to record our conversation. He asked us a few questions about how we were from Boulder and then had us recount our story for eventual listeners. When he was done, he just put down the microphone and continued chatting with us as though the whole radio portion had never happened. I have no idea if and when the broadcast ever aired, but if any of you readers out there happened to have heard it, I would be EXTREMELY impressed with you.

Before parting, Bo wanted to take a picture with us to put up on the MIX 100 Facebook page. Obviously, Disney had supplied them with a few props as well.

He also insisted that we take a few of the treats he had at his table, so we grabbed a Marshmallow Wand and a Pretzel Rod.

Bidding Bo farewell, we started walking toward the front of the park once again. I wasn’t doing well at all—the radio diversion had been really fun, but it had been way too much standing and I was fading fast. We decided to take a break, so we took a seat at the Refreshment Corner. While there, we admired all the snacks we had gotten for free.

We decided to dig into the Cake Pop, both because it looked delicious and because we hoped it might help me feel better.

While we sat, one of the Disneyland Ducks came up to us, so we fed her some Goldfish.

I wasn’t doing much better despite sitting, but we decided we might as well try to enjoy someplace a little more exciting in the park if I was going to be dizzy anyway. We got up and started walking toward Tomorrowland with the intention of boarding the Disneyland Railroad and riding around until I felt better.

Suddenly, as we walked through the hub, from out of nowhere, a duck tried to land. He must have gauged his landing a little incorrectly, however, because instead of making it to the ground, he collided with my left cheek. I think I yelled out something along the lines of “What the &*^%” as I looked around a little stunned. The duck seemed unharmed, but my face HURT! It’s hard to tell by looking at them, but ducks are pretty heavy.

People around us who had seen the collision were definitely trying to stifle their laughter, but Tracy and I just burst out laughing. Getting hit by a duck was one of the more bizarre things that has ever happened to me, but now it’s just a funny Disney memory. Plus as an added bonus, all the commotion seemed to have knocked my body out of its cycle of feeling bad. As we reached the train, I was already starting to feel a little better, and we kept laughing about how weird the whole last hour had been as we rode around the Grand Circle Tour. As for my face? It continued to throb on and off for a couple hours—I’m telling you, that duck had some force behind it—but eventually the pain also faded into a hilarious memory.

Previous Post | Next Post
Table of Contents