cindy's world

I had a great time at Disneyland! Mr. W and I got there right when the park opened at 8a; the crowd was thin, and we (along with my gym trainee and her son) managed to hit all the rides we’d wanted to in 45 minutes, i.e. the revised Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Adventure, revised Space Mountain, and Buzz Lightyear’s laser shoot-at-targets ride.

REVIEWS: The Pirates ride is revised by making it more Jack Sparrow-themed. The pirates talk about Jack Sparrow, and Jack Sparrow mechanical dolls make 3 appearances throughout the ride. But other than that, it’s pretty much the same. Oh, and it’s wetter. As far as the new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest movie goes, apparently this 2nd Pirates movie was just the interlude to the 3rd Pirates movie. There’s no payoff in the end. The entire movie was pretty much just a set-up to announce the 3rd movie. Johnny Depp, as usual, was entertaining and completely dissolved into his eccentric character.
The Space Mountain ride is updated in that the red pulsating laser beams that twirl around the coaster as you make your first ascent is gone. Other than that, it’s still completely dark inside save for the “stars”, the coaster still does a lot of drops and spirals. The music is still 70s “techno” meets 80s detective show theme songs, like “Simon & Simon” or “Hawaii 5-0”.

The hour-long scavenger hunt was successful. The winner, my bailiff and his girlfriend (who had annual passes to Disneyland for years and used to go 2x/month) got 8 out of the 10 items. One they didn’t get was a cameraphone photo of them rubbing Aladdin’s Lamp, because that show wasn’t open and they didn’t think to grab a fake lamp at a store for the photo. The other one they didn’t get was to get a cameraphone photo of them with an employee named Cindy. They ran around asking employees whether there was a Cindy who worked there, and they kept being redirected to different stores until they got a definite confirmation where a Cindy works. They ran into that merchandise store and the manager pulled out the work schedule and that employee doesn’t get on shift until later that night, way after the scavenger deadline would be up. I can’t believe that in all of Disneyland, there’s only 1 Cindy employed. So anyway, they won $80 cash. The 1st runner up, my trainee and her son, got 6 items and $40 cash. My childhood friend Vicky, who got to Disneyland late when the scavenger hunt was already in full swing, said that she was at the Carnation Cafe on Main Street hanging out while waiting for me to go fetch her, when she looked across the way and saw Esmeralda, the automated fortune teller doll, at the front of the Penny Arcade. She decided to walk over there and get a fortune. Right before she could, however, she saw some people run up to Esmeralda, read frantically from some colorful piece of paper, and get a fortune. She saw over their shoulder that the paper had something about “Cindy’s birthday” and “Treasure Hunt” on it. Haha!

The 50th Anniversary Fireworks Show was amazing. I wasn’t that interested at first, since parades and shows had always been the perfect time for me to hit all the rides with shorter lines while other people were clustered around the streets waiting for the shows. Well, I still did that with Navy Girl Vanessa, her boyfriend, and our jujitsu friend Josh; while the rest of our party were holding up the perfect spot for the show facing the Castle, the four of us rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. That in itself was a hilarious experience. Vanessa’s boyfriend and Josh were deeply involved in a conversation about martial arts and self-defense on the streets, so Vanessa and I sat together on the train with the guys behind us. As the coaster went, for about 30 seconds all you could hear were the roar of the train on the tracks and the screams of the other passengers, then it quieted down, and from behind us drifted, “…So anyway, when you’re grappling…”. They continued the conversation in totally normal voices in pieces in between coaster roars and other people’s screams! It was sooo funny to overhear.

Anyway, I was a bit nervous about mixing work people, childhood people, and jujitsu people, but it worked out really well. Everyone got along, and people were arriving and going home at various times but when we were at Disneyland, we all generally stayed together (except during the scavenger hunt and lunch). The 4 of us early arrivers stayed until midnight when the park closed. Oh, and Mr. W and I got annual passes, so we’ll be back. Good times!

This is probably the best birthday (month) I’ve ever had, with last year’s birthday up north coming a very close second. Oh, and the birthday celebrations still continue… Josh is going to pull people together after jujitsu today to take me out for my birthday drinks. I guess I’m going to jujitsu today! Vanessa promised to, too. And other friends who were unable to join us at Disneyland offered belated birthday meals and drinks, which I’m going to take them up on. Vanessa had always advocated “milking” your birthday, but I didn’t expect to milk it to this degree. Haha!