I started this blog about a year ago in order to document my trip to Europe and I was pretty successful in doing just that. However, almost a year has gone by and there hasn't been an entry. Thanks to the Facebook, I'm able to keep track of little trips or excursions I've done in the past year. A trip to Chicago, a few trips to Disneyland - one with the entire family - and that's about it. Far cry from 2 weeks in Europe. I still dream about the passageways of Venice, the vastness of St Peter's and the laid back persona that is Amsterdam. Not to mention the German production of "Starlight Express". A new cast recording of that show was released late last year and documents the show in its current incarnation - and you know, even though it's in German, I remember everything.
So here we are, August 13, 2015. A year ago I was enjoying Venice, this year, I'm spending a few days at my get-a-way of choice, Disneyland. This is my 3rd outing this summer enjoying what the 60th anniversary of the Happiest Place on Earth has to offer, and it still does not disappoint. Earlier in June, I came down to Disneyland to spend a few days with Amy and her mom and boys and then spent 3 days with the kids from the Hillbarn Theatre Conservatory. Both arms of that trip were exciting in themselves. The Hillbarn kids did a few classes with Disney and got to play in the park for a few days. During that trip, I saw my first "Paint the Night" parade - which is the new Disney evening spectacular. Briefly reminiscent of my beloved Main Street Electrical Parade, Paint the Night immediately had my attention with its soundtrack and its amazing brilliantly lit floats - not to mention friends that are in this parade - it has become my new obsession.
Here is the link to the parade, if you wish to watch it.
I came down again with my pal Asa over the 4th of July Holiday. We had a great time which included a great dinner at the Carthay Circle Theatre Restaurant. It was a fun few days.
Between the trip with Asa and last Sunday (August 8) I opened 3 shows - "West Side Story", "Cinderella" and "Rent" All were great and all had extremely talented casts. It was my first time running mics for a show (Cinderella) and that was fun also. I got to do "West Side Story" with my niece, which was fun!
So, here I am, again, in sunny Anaheim. So, what's happening this weekend? Funny you should ask.
For the first two trips this summer, I drove down to Anaheim. This time, I decided to fly. I think having those two trips so close together (2 weeks apart) and driving both times really encouraged me to fly. Don't get me wrong, I love the drive to Anaheim, maybe a little too much, but two weeks like that was too much. So, I booked a Southwest flight out of Oakland.
Oh, I moved to Union City in April this year... that's a whole other blog post.
Anyway, I decided to fly out of Oakland, so I booked a flight out of Oakland. I figured since I lived near a BART station, I would BART to the the airport. Then I thought I'd try a super shuttle, and that was WAY too much $$. Then I thought I'd take the "Uber" or "Lyft" plunge as I've avoided using these services as I thought I'd feel weird getting into someones car. So, in the end, I took BART to the airport and it was just perfect. So perfect, that when I went through security, I ended up in the pre-checked line and basically walked through. No questions asked! The flight was easy. When I got to Orange County, that's where the adventure started. I decided to call for a "Lyft" - and I'll tell you.... it was the easiest thing in the world, and much cheaper than a taxi and more reliable. I may be sold. I'll be using them on the way back to the airport
I check into the Candy Cane Inn - my hotel of choice - and got settled, went to 7-11 for supplies and then did some work before I headed into the park for the evening.
Work.... well, that's another blog post soon, I promise.
I went into Disneyland and headed to the back of the park and found a place for Mickey's Soundsational Parade. It's a great parade, full of energy and great music. One of my favorite things at Disneyland - especially if James and/or Clarissa are in it - which they weren't this time :-(. After the parade, I went on It's a Small World and of course sent my usual bevy of text's to friends while on the ride. I've been doing that for a quite a long time now. People actually track me down and ask why they didn't get their text from It's a Small World if they know I am here. Afterward, I got in the single rider line for Splash Mountain. Single rider lines are sometimes longer than the real lines these days. However, I got on pretty quickly. I just love this attraction, it's always a lot of fun.
After Splash, I went and picked up some pins.... oh, the pins. Maybe I should talk about the pins for a bit....
I've never been a huge Disney pin collector, but I have my share of pins and last summer, Veronika and Michelle helped me put them in order. In doing that, I kinda became a pin collector. However, I'm rather picky about the pins I buy. Usually, they are things like Splash Mountain, Mickey Heads, Main Street Electrical Parade, Olaf, Resorts, etc. So, when Disney came out with Paint the Night pins, it was very exciting. However, in true Disney style, there was a catch. There are 12 pins in the collection, and 6 are revealed and 6 are mystery. So, one box has two pins in it, one you can see, one you can't. And of course, I have 10 of the 12 and the two I don't have are mystery pins. So, I took the chance and bought 2 more boxes - and in one of those boxes, I got one mystery I didn't have. So, now I only need one more mystery pin (Belle, if you must know). Today, I tried again and got no where. I'm going to have quite the collection of Paint the Night pins to trade if I don't get Belle soon!!
Anyhow, after some pin shopping, I met Rosie for dinner at the Big Thunder Ranch BBQ - this dinner is 4 years in the making and we finally went. It was all you can eat, and very yummy. After dinner we walked around and watched the fireworks near It's Small World and then got in line for Peter Pan.
And that's it for today.
I'm out...
