Tired Today...

I’m tired, exhausted, and feeling totally drained. My muscles are sore, my back aches, and I have a slight headache.

Still, overall, I’m great.

I had a lot of fun yesterday. Had a nice time with some good friends. Rode on some favorite old rides, including the newly-reopened Space Mountain. Even resisted the evil, siren aroma of the cinnamon-sugar tastiness that is the churro. And ended up the day with a nice dinner with some friends.

So, here's how it went...

The day started off with me waking up a little on the late side, and a phone call. My friend Feo was ready to go, and waiting... but sadly I wasn't ready yet. And Torias, who was the one supposed to be doing the driving, hadn't arrived to pick me up. I called Tori, who apparently hadn't slept much, and was in a very groggy (read: still asleep) state. Somehow he managed to make his way to my house in said state... one look, and I determined I would be doing the driving.

I wanted to ride the fun rides AT Disneyland, not have a scary ride TO Disneyland. >_>

Upon reaching Feo's house (and delivering a couple boxes of books for him, that they may find a good home), we all went to have breakfast at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. It was different from anything I'd ever had before, but surprisingly good. After breakfast, one of our friends had to leave - her car was in the shop and her hubby needed the car in the afternoon - and the rest of us trouped off for the Magical Kingdom.

We started off with the newly reopened Space Mountain. It was a long wait, sadly. An hour. We did talk to some cool people also in line. But for the wait, the ride was still... eh. I never was much of a fan of the Space Mountain, and despite everything, it was the same ride as before. The taru is happy for all those folks who enjoyed the ride, but if ever the taru finds her way back in the realm of the Mouse, the taru will just skip this one and go ride something else.

Next up we went to the Haunted Mansion. Feo was excited about, 'cause that's just his kind of thing, but we were all kind of let down by the "Nightmare before Christmas" thing they set up for the holidays. Instead of graves in the graveyard, they were all Christmas presents, and the ghosts were all wearing fake beards and Santa hats, and it just wasn't the same ghoulish kind of feel. I do think it's probably great for all those little trick-or-treating kids out there, but for me, it was just ... eh.

Then we backtracked a bit to go on the Politically Correctified version of the Pirates of the Carribean. It was fun, but we did note several changes - the talking skull at the drop now tells you to keep your hands and feet in the boat; the "pirates chasing the wenches" area has been reduced to one woman (holding a platter with a bottle of alcohol) being chased, while the woman with "the wonderful personality" is now holding a rolling pin and chasing two pirates now; and the fire scenes now have a lot less billowing flames.

Since it was close by, we also went on Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I love that ride, and Feo had never been on it. I especially love how all the jerking and movement feel real, but the track itself is utterly flat. Oh, and the darts. Gotta love the darts. I almost bought a fedora after the ride, but managed to resist.

Also went on Big Thunder Mountain. And Splash Mountain. Feo graciously let me sit in the front seat.

...

...

...

-_-;

Needless to say, I'm so very glad I took along a change of clothes. I was so soaked after that ride. I was literally squeezing my shirt sleeve and water was pouring from it. I was dripping from head to ankles, because somehow the only parts of me that DIDN'T get drenched were my feet. Which I suppose was nice, as I absolutely HATE walking around in wet socks.

After a light meal (soup and salad for me), and a quick change of clothes for me, we went off for the Tower of Terror. Now first off, I must note that this was NOT my idea, as generally I hate vertical drop rides. But Feo wanted to ride it, and explained how his friends were involved with the project, so off we went. What we didn't realize that the California Adventure park was closing early... so we had to seriously hustle to get to the ride before they closed. We did manage to get there in time. While it wasn't as cool as the ride he was describing (the one in Disneyworld), it was still interesting and surprisingling I really did enjoy it. I may not ever ride it again, but I did enjoy it.

After that, we made our way back to the main park to assault the Matterhorn Bobsleds. It was fun... until the car started making strange noises at the fast turns, and Feo started saying stuff like, "Gee, it would really suck if the train went off the track... because it's not unknown for these kind of rides to do that..." Nothing like a little fear to make a ride more... umm... "interesting."

Thanks, Feo. Thanks a lot. :P

Finally, we headed out to Downtown Disney, to meet up with more friends for dinner. Ended up getting a few CD's from the musicians performing on the "streets" there, and had a nice dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. It was cool in there - they have animatronic animals and "rain" that falls right next to your tables (but not on you,) and occasional "thunderstorms" that go off every 30 minutes or so. And my friends even got me a nice light but warm jacket for my excursion into the wintery lands of the far north. (Okay okay, I know it's not THAT far north, but it does rain there, and they have the occasional bout of that strange, cold, white stuff they call "snow.")

Tired. Sometimes that’s okay though. Now off I go to sacrifice some coffee beans to the gods of caffeine, in hopes that the scalding of said beans will please them, and lift this curse of an aching head from my shoulders...

... damn though, I have a craving for churros now...

^_^;