10-21-02

I have no idea what we are going to do today. Jack says that we are leaving. I donft know if we are headed East or West. We are headed for LA. When we get ing the LA area Jack asks me how to get to the beach. But he suddenly pulls off an exit in Anaheim. He calls Disneyland to see if we can check in a day early. We find out we can so we take it and head for the Paradise Pier Hotel at Disneyland. We check in and head for the Disneyland Park. We board the monorail to take us there. We got a 5-day pass for the price of 3?$228! We are happy campers now! We ride several of the rides. I get to go on Indiana Jones ride for the first time. It is an awesome ride. The Haunted Mansion is decorated for the holidays after the movie, A Very Scary Christmas. It is really good. We see Nicholas Cage in front of it. I donft have a clue who he is but Jack recognizes him. So we take a couple of pictures of him. The park is only open till 8pm so we only had about 3 ? hours to check things out today. We stop by the ESPN for supper. Everything is about the Anaheim Angels since they are playing San Francisco in the World Series. ESPN is packed since it is Monday Night Football. We finally get our table with another couple, since it is so busy. They are there to celebrate the guys birthday. They are airing a live interview with Robert Orry from the LA Lakers. We got to be on TV somewhere. There is a really gdrunkh Pittsburgh Steeler fan next to us. His team just beat Indianapolis. We have a pretty good meal; I have a Mahi Mahi sandwich. But the plave is pretty pricey. We head back to the hotel after a long day.

10-22-02

We arrive at the new park, California Adventure, at 9:30am. There is one ride to go on before the park opens at 10am. We ride it, Soarinf over California. It is a really upscaled version of the Theater in the Round. Pretty impressive how they did it. We go down their raft ride and glad we have our Goretex jackets on to keep us dry. We at breakfast at an outdoor cafe. Everything is owned by Nescafe. We enjoy several other rides and attend Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It is a fun show to attend. The roller coaster is really fast on the takeoff so we decide that once was enough for it. We head back for the hotel in the early afternoon and eat lunch back there. We go back to California Adventure to try to see what we missed. I think that we go to Disneyland Park after we leave CA Advent since it closes at 6pm. We wander through the Disneyland Hotel and find The Lost Bar. We have nachos and beer and watch the ballgame. And so ends a fun day at Disneyland.

10-23-02

We have breakfast at the Carnation restaurant on Main Street. We go on a lot of the rides that we didnft get to a couple days ago. Sometime during the day we stop by City Hall to ask some questions. We find out that the night parade selects people to be in it so Jack decides that I should be in it. So when the bus comes down Main Street at 6pm, I ask how you get chosen and they tell me I can be in it. They have been doing this for 3 years. They choose 45 people to do it. 6 of us are in Michaelfs group to Mary Poppinsf penguins. We have to hold the rope at he end of the parade for crowd control behind Mickeyfs float and do several dan steps. We have a crash course on what to do on a back lot where the parade begins. It was lots of fun and we got a special pin for all our work. What a neat experience. We go back to the hotel and put on warmer clothes so we can go out for supper. We get some New Orleans food at Downtown Disney and eat outdoors and watch the game. We stop in at our bar at the hotel. Jack has a beer and I have coffee and we eat a blueberry scone while we watch a special on the Simpsons. We decide to extend our stay for another night so we can see Fantasmic which will be on Friday night. I get my key activated so I can go to the health club. I move the car to a lower level and lift weights for a short time. Thus the third day has ended and all is good!

10-24-02

We start out our day at California Adventure. We go on some things that we didnft get to the first day. We ride the raft ride a couple times. We go back to Millionaire and I ride the ferris wheel?it is a lot of fun. After we have pretty much seen all the park we decide to have lunch at the Disneyland Park. I am hungry for a barbeque sandwich and I find one at French Bakery in New Orleans Square. We go back to change to warmer clothes about 6pm. We get back at the park for some final rides. Since I had such a big lunch, I decide I want a hot fudge sundae for supper. So that is what I have. It wasnft as good as what I thought it would be.

10-25-02

I am writing this on 12-06-02 so I wonft be able to remember the details of the day. We spend our last day at Disneyland. We extended for the extra day just so I could see Fantasmic here since I have never seen it, BUT they call it off because of the rain. We go to the Lost Bar at the Disneyland hotel since they have entertainment. They have a good band so we have beer and nachos for supper. Our best find at Disney Downtown is that the bakery has all there yummy pastries for $1.25/each after a certain hour. So we buy a bunch for tomorrow and the road.