Trip Report – Southern Adventure January 2014

It’s not a circus without a few clowns, right?

Pam & Mike’s Southern Adventure 2014

Jump to:

Day 1: On the road from Terrebonne to Laughlin
Day 2: Pig-in-a-poke and how the other half lives
Day 3: Two clowns visit ghost towns. And donkeys. Lots and lots of donkeys.
Day 4: Taking the dam road to Las Vegas, with a stop in a dam town for a little antiquing along the way.
Day 5: Scary Clowns and Elvis is in town.
Day 6: Old school tech day with pinball and fusees, and we totally ignore the possibility of Stranger Danger.
Day 7: “More, Please” at Red Rocks and CarsLand Vegas Style.
Day 8: This Circus has no clowns, but I hear the high wire act is pretty good.
Day 9: What kind of clowns go into Mexico just for cheap booze? That would be us.
Day 10: Capybaras and Condors and Red Pandas, oh my.
Day 11: California Mis-Adventure?
Day 12: Disneylast

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This all started because we were channel surfing.

A few years ago we sat bored in front of the tv on a rainy Saturday. This doesn’t happen often as Mike never sits still. Even when he’s sleeping he’s still moving. The cats find him decidedly un-cuddle-worthy on that account.

Basically, the only way I can get him to relax is to feed him massive quantities of beer and Chinese food.

I, on the other hand, am a cat’s dream – overly warm, with plenty of extra padding, and I can sit for hours without moving. At least someone appreciates my Zen-like skills.

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Day 12 – Disneylast

I can’t believe I’ve actually milked this trip report out so long! I thought at first that I’d just do a quick synopsis with a few photos, but then I realized, DUH, nothing I ever write is a synopsis. My synopsis aren’t even synopsis’s (is that even a word?). See, I can’t even write an opening paragraph about nothing without getting all wordy.

So, here we are at the last day of this vacation. Well, of course it’s not really the last day, that’s tomorrow, but I’m definitely NOT going to bore you with a report of our drive home (booo-ring).

We got up bright and early and headed to the parks. I did forget to mention the one other nice thing about Fleabag Flats, there’s a Starbucks next door. I had a freebie Birthday drink waiting for me, so we stopped in and I got a gigantic Frappuccino. I don’t usually drink this much caffeine in a day, so by the time we get to the gates I’m jittery as heck. I probably should have eaten some breakfast to soak up a little of that sugar and all. Fortunately I’ve got some protein bars in the pack so I eat one of those and the DT’s go away.

We used our Disney-fu to find a gate with no line and created our own. Of course soon we had a bunch of sheeple behind us, while the gate next to us remained without a line until they actually opened and people finally realized “hey, that’s an entrance too!”

Last thing I told Mike as I handed him the camera, “Don’t forget to get the top of the building in the picture!” Either I was talking Swahili, or he’s deaf.

Day 11 – California Mis-Adventure?

The last time we visited Disney World Lite (Mike’s term) was prior to my discovery of Tour Guide Mike and EasyWDW and the revelation that there is actually a way to tour that helps avoid lines and all that jazz. Although we visited often and I understood how to use FP and had a general idea of what needed to be done early to avoid lines, I was still an infant when it came to touring plans. I was really excited to be back here and see how all my education about the right way to tour would change Mike’s mind about this place.

See, in Mike’s mind, Disneyland is made up of fun rides, crowds, and long wait times. California Adventure is the boring place where he can get in a nap while his wife rides stuff.

Looking at the schedule for today and tomorrow, morning EMH today is over at Disneyland, tomorrow it’s California Adventure. Also, Radiator Springs Racers is down for maintenance today and open tomorrow. Putting on my WWJD (What Would Josh Do) thinking cap, it wasn’t hard to figure out where we’d start this morning.

As we walked up the center promenade, I pointed out to Mike the long lines for DL while there were just a few people on the CA side – his response, “sure there are, people LIKE Disneyland, NO ONE likes California Adventure”. Grump. My plan here is to get in and grab FP for World of Color, then head to TSMM and hopefully get in a few rides before lines build.

Mike kept asking me what was so special about this nighttime water show. I knew from experience that if I try to talk things up too much it just gives him more ammunition if it doesn’t live up to expectations, so I just said that there were lots of people on EasyWDW who said the show was incredible, and they were all people whose opinion I trusted, so I think we should see it. He grumbles about the hassle, but since there’s no fireworks at DL either of the days we’re here, he finally accedes to my wishes.

Getting FP for WoC was quick and easy, and we were on to TSMM at a fast walk. We got there in front of most of the crowd…and the ride is down.

Really?