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Published: January 25th 2012
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Wow, what a day. We started up waking up late, And rushing down to the breakfast buffet that had already been run by the other students, and was now deserted. We had disgusting bacon that had been almost deep fried in grease, sausages, eggs and stale croissants. We made a plan within our group to visit an IHOP tomorrow, which promises the best pancakes in America. Well, we shall see. Right now, We have Jeremy, Joe, Tori and Anna in the room, a few are skyping, a few on Facebook, the rest chatting. So I guess it’s time to recall today’s craziness, piece by piece.
After the quick breakfast, we rushed upstairs to get dressed in 15 mins to reach the bus in time that was departing for Disneyland. We were advised to wear a polo shirt, which I just could not track down, so instead I wore a California t-shirt I bought in a tourist shop yesterday. Turns out that it was just in a pocket I hadn’t checked in the morning that I found once we got back, which was convenient. Anyway, having assembled and got on the bus, we drove to Disneyland, and got great easy parking
in ‘Chip and Dale’ parking lot. I thought it was pretty clever the way they gave each parking lot a character, so that it was easier to remember where you parked. From there, we took a tram for 15 minutes that took us to Disneyland. When I arrived, It was a bit shittier than I expected, however I was only in the blank space between Disneyland and California Adventure, I soon discovered. The first thing that struck me was the immense attention to detail EVERYWHERE. The first ride we went on which was Indiana Jones, was unlike anything New Zealand has to offer. We climbed into jeeps that were on a pre-designated path that was engineered like crazy to make it feel like you were in control at least a little. I didn’t get any pics of many rides, because I heard that there may be unexpected water blasts on the ride that would just love to eat up a brand new Sony camera. So I didn’t take my chances. That ride was a total blast, and there were amazing combinations of like projections, lights, props, and even live actors that made it.
From there we did the Splash
mountain, a log ride that you were guaranteed to get soaked in. So out came the poncho to wrap up our bags, and we were off. That was just a pure adrenaline rush, speed and dips and dives. We also did the Pirates of the Caribbean, which was cool. The Disney castle was a massive highlight, and the cameras were snapping for that. It really is just like being in the movies and books. Dimensions and the way building materials look is all fantasy like, and it’s nothing short of amazing the way they look, combined with the massive size of them, and their durability. Anyway, that’s not fun. So from there, the girls insisted we stopped at ‘Winnie the Pooh’ Corner, and took pictures with tigger, eyore, and pooh. Didn’t really appeal to me, but if I was 12 years younger, I’m sure I would’ve loved it. Then after a quick ride with an annoyingly nasal-speaking American man on a boat down ‘storybook land’, we were off into ‘tomorrowland’, which was where we put up our feet and got a real American meal. I got a ‘Californian chicken sandwich’. I was expecting a decent meal for 9 American dollars,
but what I got was…… shit. The chicken was horrible, the bun was old, and the avocado salsa was spew-worthy. But I was hungry, so down it went with some American fries. This was when I met Steam, to dump the food. He was a cheerful, smiley janitor that caught my eye by his downright amazing name. I couldn’t resist, and asked for a photo, which he happily accepted to my delight, and made one of the funniest moments of my day.
So having done Disneyland, we went to the second half of the theme park, California Adventure. This was the faster of the two sides, and proved to have the better rides. The first one was the scariest shit of my life. It was called the ‘Haunted Hotel’, and was what I was told a free fall type ride. I hate the feeling of falling uncontrollably, and this what this ride was precisely. A 20 minute wait later, and we were strapped into our seats which were slowly hoisted up and dropped from about 5 meters. I thought that was it, but no, in complete dark we were hoisted up to around 15. And dropped. That made my
stomach uncomfortable, and I gripped the available handholds with strength. Hoping it was over, my wish was discarded, and we went flying upwards to a view over much of California Adventure, where we were held out to scream our last wishes into the air. Unknown to me at this point a photo was taken just before the massive drop downwards, at which point I was well done, and ready to retire.
Keen for a lower key ride, we qued up for the Mickey mouse Ferris wheel, and had a relatively easy ride to relax at, and gather our thoughts. Having less than an hour left to go till rendezvous, we decided to have one last go at a ride, and chose grizzly mountain which we ended up doing twice. So being super drenched we watched the Disney parade, and then ambled back to the bus, to get back to the hotel, and make the rotary meeting. There I met a great guy called Herman who is a financial advisor originating from Germany. I remember him as Herman the German. We had a big feed of nachos and salad, and met more students from the club. We then gave our
gifts to the club and introduce ourselves. Our haka was okay, and the girls did a wait that was well received. I heard afterwards that the unsuccessful women trying to tell us to take our shirts off were the single Cougars. Blaaaaah. So after that we went back to the hotel and crashed.
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