A couple of months ago, I found out that my friends, Tony Phoenix and Adrienne Vincent, were going to marry at the end of August. Their bridesmaids (Adrienne Krock, Jennifer Weaver, and Rebekah Mosely) announced that they were hosting a late wedding reception on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend (this way people could take more time off to make the trip) at Kevin Krocks' parents house. In addition, Kevin's parents said that folks who needed a place to stay for the night, could stay over. Even though that was the weekend of Cal's home opener, I decided to attend the reception -- after all, I can watch Cal play often; this was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
I drove down on Saturday morning, since the reception was not until 5 in the afternoon. The drive began with a shot! I was about to leave when I turned on the TV to see that Fox was showing the Cardinals - Reds game. It was the bottom of the first, so I decided to wait and see if McGwire would hit his 60th. Sure enough! POW! I was glad I waited.
With a start like that, I knew this would be a good trip The drive itself was uneventful, though I was thankful that my air conditioning was working; it was humid (for California) all the way down I5. During my drive I listened to the Cal-Houston game on the radio. Fortunately the Bears' football games are broadcast on powerful KGO 810, whose signal can be heard up and down the west coast at night. It was a little tough during the day though. At certain points the signal would fade in and out, and lose track of the game. I'd say that it was fortunate that the game did not have much action, except that Cal was losing 10-7 when I reached the Grapevine. I listened with frustration as the Bears blew an opportunity to score. Fortunately, the defense stood firm, and as I was driving past Pyramid Lake, the bears got the ball. Then, as I was driving down the grade towards Castaic, the signal faded out completely. Talk about a frustrating drive. I almost picked up my cell phone to call my best friend who was at the game. But I didn't. I switched to the FM band, and had to laugh as the first song I heard was U2's "Mysterious Ways". My friend Liz, who I was going to see on Labor Day, has this psychic power of being able to find U2 songs on the radio.
But back to our story. I arrived at the reception just before 5. I was in my driving clothes (a lose shirt, shorts, and sandals) and I was going to change clothes. Adrienne (the bride) said "No, stay casual". I said "At least let me change this sweaty shirt." She said "OK."
The reception was a lot of fun. Quite a few of our friends showed up, and some who showed were pleasant surprises (none were unpleasant ones). The living room was laden with gifts while food was slowly set up in the dining room, and seating was arranged out back. The part decorations were supplied by Adrienne herself, and she did a wonderful job.
As we waited for all of the guests to arrive, photos were passed around, and stories were told. Since Adrienne and Tony have their own web site to describe the wedding, I'm going to leave the stories to them.
There were some highlights of the reception which I'll share:
As people started to leave, Adrienne K said "Hey! You need to take some party favors!" So, people did. But they didn't take all of them.
A small group stayed later, and Adrienne Vincent-Phoenix remembered that she had bubbles for people to blow. We all stood in the dining room and started blowing bubbles. The room has a ceiling fan and with the bubbles going, this caused someone to remember the "Fizzy Lifting Drinks" scene in the movie "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". This person went "burp". This caused everyone else to recall the movie. Then, someone else suggested reversing the fan so that the bubbles would be drawn up instead of pushed down. So, Kevin reversed the fan and we amused ourselves for a few minutes. We wondered if Kevin's parents would say "Uh, Kevin, why is there soap film on the ceiling?" (Actually there wasn't any soap film)
At this point, it was time for everyone else to go, but not me. I was staying over with Kevin and Adrienne Krock. I was quite grateful that I did not have to drive anymore that evening. Six hours was quite enough. After helping put stuff away, and chatting, I went off to sleep.
I wanted to arrive at the park in time for the 11am classic princess storytelling, so I set my alarm accordingly. One of the oddest things that happened was a dream I had. I dreamt that I had arrived in time for the opening of the gates. I was hungry, so the first thing I did was dash off to the Blue Ribbon Bakery, where I got a Really Big Cinnamon Roll and some orange juice. I enjoyed my "breakfast" while sitting on the Main Street porch. It was quite pleasant, and when I awoke, I was in the mood for a cinnamon roll. To my pleasant surprise, that's exactly what Adrienne had made for breakfast! I like it when dreams come true.
I arrived at the Pinocchio parking lot at about 10:30. There was a long line of cars, and we were parked in the area usually reserved for busses. This told me that the day was going to be crowded. When I entered the park, I made my way to Tinkerbell's Toy Shoppe so I could watch Belle tell her story. During my last trip (which was three weeks earlier), Belle was fantastic and really got all of the audience involved. A few of the things she did to stand out were:
After such as standout performance, I dashed off to city hall to leave a compliment. So, after that experience three weeks earlier, I was hoping that I would get to see her again.
The room was not too crowded, so I took a seat in one of the corners of the room. I then found out that the storyteller's assistant was Justin, who's one of my favorites. Well, either Justin recognized me, or I was sitting in the right spot, because as he and my favorite were telling the story, he came up to me when Belle was "looking for her father". Justin said "hold up your arms [as if you were behind bars]" and say "No! Belle! You must leave this place." So, I went along and played Belle's father. I must admit that I am a ham. Maybe it comes from the fact that my mom used to be in community musicals.
Anyway, the Belle was indeed the one I had seen three weeks earlier. She was just as good as before, and even snuck in a one liner. When she asked "And what do you like for dinner?", one kid replied "Winnie the Pooh!". In response Belle asked "You like Pooh for dinner!?!" which made all of the kids laugh.
After the story I thanked Justin and found out that he did recognize me. He asked me how my summer was. I told him that I visited the park a few times, but I noticed that he wasn't there. He said that he spent his summer in Santa Rosa doing some theater work. I told him that I wish I had known that; Since I live in Berkeley, I would have loved to have visited. After that I noticed the time and said "I'll be back at noon."
Even though it was 11:30, I saw that there were a couple of a.d.ders waiting at the hub. I went over to chat and inform them that Al was taking the day off, that a few other folks were at sea world, and still others were blocked out. During our chat, I saw someone walk up, and to my surprise that someone was Paula Deiker from Phoenix. I had "talked" (over the net) with Paula a few days earlier, and she didn't mention that she was coming to the park; Then again, I never told her that I was going to the park either. She told me that this was a last minute decision, and that she and her daughter were in the park for the day. By this time it was almost noon. I bid farewell to everyone at the hub and returned to Tinkerbell's Toy Shoppe.
I watched Justin assist Cinderella at noon and Snow White at 1PM. It had been quite a while since I had done a "storytel-a-thon". I remembered that I had some photos of Justin from almost a year ago, so I showed them to him and said "they're yours." He was really surprised. (I'm going to have to bring more photos for CMs my next trip.)
After the final story, I was in the mood for the Country Bear Vacation Hoe Down. Not only because the show is rumored to be going away, but also because it was a muggy day, and I could use a cool place. On the way to the Country Bear Playhouse, I noticed that the line for the Haunted Mansion was short, so I decided to be haunted for a spell. Surprisingly nobody echoed the narration of the ghost host, even though the stretching gallery was full. I always take my time when walking through the morphing portraits' hallway. It was with sadness that I noticed a small hole in the ship painting. Some number of months ago, they had finally mended the tear which had marred the painting for months on end. Hopefully my eyes are just playing tricks on me. The ride through the mansion gave me one more surprise. Despite all of the times I had been on the doom buggies, I had never noticed the floating tea pot in the graveyard. I'm sure that there's other stuff I still haven't seen.
Following my exit of the haunted mansion, I went over to the playhouse. There were still fifteen minutes before the next performance, so I decided to explore some of the critter country shops. I first peered into the Brer Bar, which was not open (is it ever?). Someday I'll go in there, but instead I went into Teddi-Barra's Swingin' Arcade. I have to wonder if, when they replace the Country Bear Playhouse with a Pooh Ride, they will change the name. The arcade has one unique item that's worth paying attention to -- a gunfighting machine in which you battle an audio-animatronic gunfighter. He insults you if you cheat, urges you to play if you handle the gun without putting any money in, and probably plays dead if you get him (I didn't play, and I didn't see any players shoot him).
After passing the time, I returned to the playhouse. There were still five minutes left before the show, but I wanted that air conditioning now! The playhouse lobby includes several games; I got caught up in watching a child play with the Tap Dancing Bear machine. Watching that made me think back to Walt's original "Dancing Man" miniature. Just as the kid finished, the doors to the theatre opened, and everyone made their way inside. As always, I enjoyed the show...of course any show that manages to get the phrase "I wish they all could be California Bears." is going to please me.
Unfortunately, after I exited the Country Bear Playhouse, I was treated to three examples of "bad show". The first was when I walked under the trestle in Critter Country -- There was a hot dog cart, clearly designed for use next to the Indiana Jones Adventure (the cart said "Jones Expedition" and had the following list of unavailable items: Broiled Bugs, Crunchy Crickets, and Snake Surprise). Had the hot dog cart not been attached to a regular outdoor drinks cart, I would not have noticed it, but with the clashing of themes, it just stood out.
I then wanted to visit Tom Sawyer Island. There's a bench on the island that I enjoy sitting at, and thus I've called it "Sean's Thoughtful Spot" (at first I called this spot, Cindy's spot, because I thought it was a spot she enjoyed, but when I found out that her spot is up on the rocks, I renamed it.) Anyway, before catching the raft over, I saw a calculator and clipboard set down on one of the "crates" in the loading area for the rafts. This gets a bad show, since calculators were not around in the days of the "Old West. When I boarded the raft, I asked one of the CMs, "So, what's the calculator and clipboard for?" She replied, "Oh, we use that to keep track of ridership." It was interesting that when I returned, the clipboard and calculator were out of sight.
Just after my raft reached Tom Sawyer Island, the Mark Twain steamed past. As it past by, I noticed a popcorn container sitting on the "running board" between the paddle-wheel and back of the lowest deck. I hate it when guests drop their garbage like that.
Oh well, after the bad show, I went over to my thoughtful spot, only to find it occupied by a woman. The woman was a park regular who packed a loaf of bread for feeding the birds. She had names for each of the birds. She told me that she's an annual pass-holder and loves to visit "my" spot to feed the birds. She said that it's a great spot to relax.
After relaxing, I returned back to the mainland, and arrived at the hub just in time for the second Hercules Victory Parade. I decided to look and see if one person I knew was performing; I didn't see her, so I went on to Tomorrowland to ride the Monorail to the hotel. While I was waiting for the monorail, I saw that the tent which had been up all summer over one of the submarines was gone. Still, there was nothing special that I could see about the Sea Star -- the sub which had been under the tent, and which has been modified to demonstrate what the proposed submarine voyage replacement would be. Soon the monorail arrived, and I was off to the hotel. After some exploration (I hadn't explored the hotel grounds in some time) I returned to the park. I laughed as the narration made a reference to Rocket Rods, which is not operating right now.
I closed out my afternoon with rides on Pirates of the Caribbean and a visit to Fortune Red. Fortune Red had this to say:
Ye be in a proper clover hitch, matey, with the Divil, hisself, followin' in yer wake. Beset by money problems, sez ye. Har! Put yer helm aweather and hold her so. Disneyland Ho! . . . a p'int off the port bow. Put in and careen, matey, cares and woes have no passport here. This be the long and the short o' it, matey, 'tis yer trustin' nature that be yer problem. Beware o' foc's'le swabs standin' by to take advantage. Repel boarders, matey, and mark well me words: Trust not the glutton with the pantry key.
Well, Red was right. I did have some cares and woes, and I had brought them with me. So naturally, I let my cares and woes fade away until I left the park.
My next stop was the Main Street Cinema. I always like to remind myself that it all started with a mouse. Well, I ended up being reminded six times, as I watched all six shorts that are shown inside the cinema. Following that, I went over to Coke Corner, where I bumped into Paula and also Patrick Jandorf. I sat and chatted for a bit before heading off to Redd Rocketts for dinner. Redd's is one of the few places where you can get dinner and watch the fireworks. It was perfect...just as I finished my chicken ceasar salad, BOOM! I was surprised not to hear any music, but I later found out that for the past few days, the fireworks music was not being played in Tomorrowland. This made for a different show. It was kind of nice just watching the fireworks and listening to the explosions; Don't get me wrong, I prefer the music, but this was a different experience.
Following the fireworks, it was time to stake out a spot for the second Mulan parade. My favorite spot is right across from where it steps off at Town Square. I arrived early enough to watch a couple of Main Street Vehicles cast members set up the ropes. Then, Mushu started to make his announcement that the parade was starting soon. As Mushu's announcement began, one of the cast members acted as if he was talking. The last time I had seem a CM do that was before the Hunchback of Notre Dame Festival of Fools. It was entertaining then, and equally entertaining now. Afterwards I wanted the CM to walk over so I could get his name and compliment him at City Hall. He must have felt what I was thinking, because he walked right over. Dwyne (that was his name, and he pronounces it "Dwayne") and I chatted with me and several other guests. He then went on to entertain us further with a couple of card tricks. It was all quite fun.
The parade then began, and as always, it was a lot of fun. I really enjoy the parade, and I'm glad that guests will get to see it in the off-season. My next stop was Toon Town. It was near closing time, and I wanted to ride Roger Rabbit's Car Toon spin. After my spin, I noticed that there was still time left, but with what ride would I close the park. The answer came to me as I exited Toon Town -- it's a small world. I enjoy the ride a lot. As someone I know once said, "it is one of the rides which embodies the Disney spirit."
Following my excursion on the happiest cruise that ever sailed round the world, it was time to leave. After a stop at city hall to leave my compliment for Dwyne, I hopped the tram to the Pinocchio parking lot and drove to my hotel -- the Travelodge in Buena Park, where I had a good night's sleep.
I got to Pinocchio at about 10:30 (just like Sunday) and when I
boarded the tram, the host said "Welcome aboard the Lion King tram.
I hadn't had any breakfast, so I stopped and got a muffin from the Cappucino stand at the hub. The muffin was a nice start for the day. I then walked into Tinkerbell's Toy Shoppe, where it was much more crowded than Sunday. I saw that there was a clear spot along the video tape wall, and started to make my way around the kids who were sitting on the rugs. before I could get there, I heard Liz say "Sean!" I turned around, and there she was. I wasn't expecting to see her until after the storytelling, but this was a nice surpise. I actually walked into the shop and walked right past her. She had warned me that she had changed her hair color since I had last seen her, but I guess I wasn't prepared to see her as a brunette instead of a blonde; She looks good.
While we were greeting each other, Michael came out to begin the storytelling. Liz had never seen the storytelling before, so we stayed and watched. She really enjoyed it. Once again we had the same Belle! This time she didn't pull plush off the wall, because she didn't need to. One of the kids was very enthusiastic and tossed plush at Michael for the wolf attack. Michael also did something quite clever -- When Belle got to the part where she finds the rose, Michael wrapped two Maleficent dolls around his head to form a rose! Michael also got a little enthusiastic during the wolf attack. As one of the kids tossed plush at him, he batted the plush away. One of them struck Belle's wig and we thought it could have knocked it off (but it didn't). Belle reacted by commenting "Oh my, that almost got my hair."
Following the story, Liz wanted to check out the Disney Pop Hits CD to see what it was (A CD of the pop versions of movie songs including "Can You Feel the Love Tonight", "Beauty and the Beast", etc.) and the new Pocahontas video. While she did that, I asked Michael about Rupert. He told me that Rupert is now doing other things in the park and does not make it to storytime that often. He also told me that Rupert is not Rupert's real name. Oh well.
After that, we walked through Fantasyland and saw that the Matterhorn had a short line (at least on the Fantasyland side). While we were on Matterhorn Way, we were surprised to hear Main Street music over the loudspeakers. While we were waiting in line, we saw Kevin (MrLiver) who told us that the Main Street loop was playing over the entire parade route. (This is just wrong.) After we exited the Matterhorn, they solved the problem -- We didn't hear the Main Street loop anymore. About the Matterhorn, Liz, as an ex-CM, was able to point things out to me, such as CMs she worked with, the differences between the male and female costumes, and where to find the elevator.
At this point it was time for the meet. I introduced Liz to everyone who was there, and then presented her with an a.d.d pin, which she promptly put on. Liz got a chance to talk with Al and a few others before the entire group was asked where to eat. Al said "Casa Mex?" I and a few others were not in the mood for Casa, so we asked "Big Thunder BBQ?" A couple of folks went over to the information board and asked if the BBQ was open; They were told that it was. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the BBQ, we found it closed (argh!). We still didn't want to go to Casa, so the next suggestion was New Orleans Square. Cafe Orleans was closed (though for some reason, the doors from its seating area were open) so we went to the French Market instead. (Folks who wanted cold sandwiches went over to the River Belle Terrace and then walked back with their trays to the French Market.)
I opted for the Cajun Shrimp Angel Hair Pasta Salad, while Liz had no choice on what to get. Since she's a vegetarian, her only choices were a side salad, and the fettuccine with Marinara Sauce. She opted for a child's Fettuccine, and some chocolate cake (which we agreed to split). We both opted for Mint Juleps.
During our lunch, people were talking about Adrienne's due date, and Jennifer set up a betting pool for the due date. Liz and I were two of the last people to enter. Liz got September 10, while I got September 24. Emma is due on September 20, so it was agreed that if she is born on her due date, she gets the money! While the pool was being filled, Andrew, Tony, and Matt Mendenhall decided that it would be cool if we could create a web site for the betting pool, and it would be really cool if it could be created from Innoventions! Andrew started writing out the HTML during lunch.
After lunch we went over to Aladdin's Oasis in the hopes to catch storytelling. Our hopes were dashed as we found out that the storytelling now only runs on the weekends. Oh well. After a brief chat with Aladdin, who was greeting guests outside, we went over to the Jungle Cruise exit. Three of our group were in wheelchairs, so we were going to backdoor onto Jacob's boat. Again, our hopes were dashed, as Jacob was being rotated to the Enchanted Tiki Room. We decided to follow Jacob anyway.
It had been a while since I had been in the Enchanted Tiki Room, and Jacob was a terrific host. During the introduction he managed to fit the word "enchanted" into every description. "If you need to leave the Enchanted Tiki Room during our our enchanted performance, be sure to use the enchanted exit on the enchanted far end of the enchanted room." As usual, the show was enchantingly fun.
Our next stop was Tomorrowland, where the web site team went off to Innoventions, while we all hung out in the Premier shop. Liz, who was also a Circlevision CM, went to the rear of the shop, looked into the old Circlevision building and said "Bring back Circlevision". Sadly, it was exactly one year ago that day that Circlevision closed. We also browsed the collection of Disneyland Forever tracks and put in requests for Peoplemover music, and Circlevision queue music.
We moved on to Innoventions where we found the web site team had been interrupted. They said that they would return later to finish working. After a brief exploration, it was time for Liz to go home. I went along with her back to her car. She said that she had a great time and was looking forward to doing this again. I was really glad that she could join us.
My next objective was to meet everyone to watch the final Hercules Victory Parade. However, before rejoining everyone else, I stopped at the Carnation Plaza Gardens for some Fantasia ice cream. The line was a little long, but I wanted my fix, and I knew that since the Plaza Gardens was closing, this would be my last chance to get something from there. (For those of you who are asking, "What? You didn't get funnel cake? You can get Fantasia ice cream at other locations!", I'm just not a bug funnel cake fan.) While I was waiting in line, a family got in line behind me. As the mother was trying to read the description for Fantasia ice cream, I explained what it was -- a mixture of burgandy cherry, pistachio, and banana -- and mentioned that it's only available in Disneyland. That was enough to convince her son that he wanted a scoop. I guess they must not have been selling that much Fantasia, because I was given quite a large scoop. I had trouble eating it because it started melting. It was still delicious.
As I ate my ice cream, I walked towards it's a small world, and found everyone waiting in the disabled seating area, which wasn't crowded at all. That later changed when Merlin, Mushu, Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, and Mulan (dressed a warrior!) came up to us. Merlin explained that they wanted to join us to watch the final Hercules Victory Parade. As soon as they joined as, kids flocked to where we were sitting. The guest control CMs were quick to send them back to their parents since the parade was about to start. I wish that we could have gotten a photo of the characters with us, but as the parade was about to begin, it was not practical. Having the characters sitting with us gave us an extra bonus -- All of the parade CMs played up to us. Hades gave us the Pixey wave! Others winked. Meg walked up and waved. We were close enough to see tears in the eyes of some of the performers. After the final float passed us by, we joined the procession behind it. As the float reached the gates at the end of Small World Way, Herc and Meg went to the top, faced the procession behind the float and waved goodbye. I really enjoyed the Hercules Parade, but like the Lion King Celebration a little over a year earlier, I think it had reached its time to end. I know that it will be odd to no longer hear the 5 muses singing to us, or watch Pain and Panic on their roller coaster, or be amazed at how fast the guy can spin inside the Orbitron, but all good things must come to an end.
After the parade, I expressed my desire to ride the Mark Twain. The Twain is going into rehab before my next trip, and some people wonder if it will ever emerge from rehab. I had to get one last ride. It was a different experience too! For some reason, the narration was not working. Instead of hearing the "Captain" and Mark Twain exchange banter, we were treated to banjo music. I must admit that it was quite pleasant. There was only one unpleasant part -- seeing the beginning of the destruction of Cascade peak.
Following our cruise, we went over to Rods to meet up with other a.d.ders before going to dinner and then our final ride on the Submarine Voyage. We had dinner at the Plaza Inn. We ended up waiting a while before dinner, because, even though it was 6PM, only one side of the Plaza Inn was open (sigh). Was my dinner of Rosemary Chicken, Salad, Carrots, Potatoes, and Coke worth the wait? No. Oh well. We also found out that the Plaza Inn is going to change serving styles from a buffeteria to what's used at Redd Rockett's Pizza Port (we later found out that this is called the "scramble" system).
After dinner, the web site team dashed over to Innoventions to finish writing the web site, while the rest of us got in line for the subs. The line was 45 minutes long, which gave the web site team enough time to finish their job. When they joined the folks who were waiting at the disabled persons' entrance, they gave a big thgumbs up to tell us it was done. You can access the baby pool web site right now.
Twenty-eight of us boarded the Sea Wolf. Our captain, Jade, was kind enough to not board anyone else onto our sub, so we got to be a little more rowdy. She played up to us, welcoming us on board, telling some jokes, and singing a song. We had a great final voyage, and she seemed to enjoy us as a crew. (Which made us decide to leave her a compliment.) I'm not that sad to see the submarine voyage close. For a long time, it's been in serious need of upgrading. What bothers me is that it will be at least five years before we see a replacement.
At this point, the group split up, with some people heading over to watch the Mulan Parade, and others heading off to the restroom. While we were waiting for the restroom folks to return, we heard music. It was a dull rumble, which made us wonder if the Observatron was starting. We then found out that it was coming from the Tomorrowland Terrace stage instead. The stage rose to bring up the Magic Kingdom Korps, which played an arrangement of Meeco's Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back dicso tunes. It was quite cool.
After the performance, twelve of us dashed over to Space Mountain, where were loaded into single train of rockets. Those folks with cameras who were in the front of their cars, got ready. We all knew that twelve adults would be too heavy, and that we would be routed towards "the Pit". Sure enough, it happened. I wasn't in the front, so I did not get a photo. They split our group into two. For some reason, all the heavy guys (myself included) ended up in the second group. At first, all six of us were going to be in the front rocket, but when I saw that the front of the rear rocket was left empty (they purposely only put four in the rear rocket so that we wouldn't be too heavy), I moved to front row of the rear rocket so that I could hold my feet up. The loader still felt that we might be too heavy. We were moved up to the station just before the lift hill and watched to see if the red light on the console came on. It did, prompting us to feel that they were going to reroute us again. Instead, they held us as long as possible before dispatching us. When we reached the top of the lift hill, the rocket containing our first group was well on its way down. It was a good thing too -- our journey down the mountain was fast! I wish I had timed it. One member of our group thought we came close to catching the first group, but we didn't go that fast. Still it was fun!
Our next stop was the Disneyland Forever kiosks. Jennifer was showing off which songs she wanted in hers and Andrew's wedding. Following that, we went over to Alice in Wonderland, since it's about to go into rehab. The ride was fun, and left me with the desire to ride the Mad Tea Party. However, Andrew said "Let's honor Florida by riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride." In Florida, that day was Toad's final day of operation; It's being replaced with a ride themed to Winnie the Pooh in which you ride down a "river" while in a honey pot.
Just as we exited Hell, the voice of God announced that Disneyland was closing, but that Main Street would be open for one additional hour for our shopping convenience. We started to make our way out of Fantasyland, when Andrew waited to see if the Evil Queen appeared. When she opened the drapes, I shouted "Hi Cynthia!" (in reference to Cynthia Harriss, the Disneyland VP of Operations, who has said "It's not about the Magic anymore, it's about the profits."). It garnered a chuckle.
Following the Snow White Coin Toss, we walked over to Main Street, only to be impeded by a line of outdoor vending carts selling various types of glow. Cindy Yan likened them to tollbooths. With so many people leaving the park at the same time, we stepped aside, waited, and chatted until the exiting crowds died down. Then we made our way to City Hall to pay our compliments to Jade, and then take off for the Pinocchio parking lot.
As I left everyone else, I was touched at their concern that I drive home safely. Not wanting to disobey my friends' wishes, I ended up stopping for the night at the Motel 6 in Lost Hills before completing my journey the next day.
It was definitely quite a day and a memorable trip.
Thanks go to: