On Sunday, June 29, 2014, the time finally arrived to depart on my first week-long vacation of the year. It was hard to believe how long it had been since I had taken a full week off (although my friends never hesitate to tell me that it feels like I am always on vacation). This particular trip was to attend the 19th International Sons of the Desert convention in Hollywood, California. It just felt like yesterday that my pal Bob was bidding on this at the last convention and I had pledged to help in any way that I could.
And I had. I had been busily updating the convention website, sending out email ‘blasts’, writing coverage for the Hal Roach display at the Hollywood Museum, reviewing the layout of Dick Bann’s screening notes, capturing screen images for then-and-now photos of the film locations we’d be visiting, setting up the autograph sale on the website, and offering Bob moral support and opinions during our routine chats. I was as ready as anyone to get on with it.
Unfortunately due to the fact that the convention was being held during a holiday week, Carolyn could not get off work to attend, but was relatively graceful about letting me go. I didn’t even have to tell her that I was taking a cruise for my health…
In fact she even volunteered to take me all the way to the airport in Cincinnati to leave at 4:07. It hadn’t been easy to find an affordable flight, but this one ran about $500 and was direct, so it’s what I went with. We spend the morning together finishing the movie Her, stopped at the library, and had lunch at McDonalds. I also watched Laurel and Hardy’s The Big Noise, while in the back of my mind I was storing the minutiae in the event that I’d be back in the Trivia Contest.
I drove to the airport, kissed Carolyn goodbye, and she took my car back home. There was free internet at the airport and better yet somehow the internet continued on the airplane via GoGo…at least for Facebook. Another perk was that for the first time in years, I didn’t have to remove my belt, shoes, or laptop from the bag as I went through the ‘expedited’ security. I sat next to a quiet man with a passport and iPhone in Arabic. I watched Jitterbugs on my laptop while in flight (gathering more trivia). Before I knew it, we were landing at 5:34 – gaining three hours – and Jimmy was picking me up at the curb.
Unfortunately, our first plans were stymied a bit when we drove to Manhattan Beach to eat the DD&D restaurant North End Caffe only to find that it had new hours and was closed. But never fear, we’d be back. Instead we took a walk down to the beach for some delicious California scenery, then ate at the restaurant across the street. It was called Four Daughters Kitchen, and although it wasn’t a DD&D location, it certainly could have been. The featured choice of the North End was spaghetti carbonara, so that’s what I had at Four Daughters. I can’t imagine that the North End’s would have had any better than this. Even looking at it again makes my mouth water.
Manhattan Beach…not too shabby
The carbonara of Four Daughters…even less shabby
It was late enough when we got back to Jimmy’s in San Pedro that Cate had already been put to bed so Jimmy and I worked on mapping out some of the tours that we’d be hosting and locations we’d be seeing (and finding…) We stayed up far too late trying to iron out the location of the house from Laurel and Hardy’s Helpmates. But we were back up early the next morning, as awoke to the pitter patter of Cate’s little feet. She had really blossomed into a cutie, but was rather shy. I never attempted to hold her since she didn’t quite have time to warm up to me, but we did get far enough where she would hand me one of her toys.
You might have guessed – quite correctly – that we’d be spending Monday at Disneyland. There was a Pre-Convention event going on that day, which was the Habeas Corpus cemetery tour, but considering I had pretty much been to all of them before, there was no point in doing it again. Yes, yes, I know…I’ve been to Disneyland a zillion times too…but hey, it’s DISNEYLAND!
Jimmy and I got on the road a little after 9am as we headed toward Anaheim. Even though David got there a good ten minutes after us, miraculously he was able to park his car right next to ours. This would make the luggage swap ideal to take care of right then and there.
We returned to our old haunt, Steakhouse 55 in the Disneyland Hotel, for breakfast. I had the meatiest omelet that I could build. It was a hearty way to start the day, as we then headed through Downtown Disney and boarded the monorail that took us around the park and then to the main gate. We swung by Sleeping Beauty Castle for our traditional photo.
Breakfast with the boys at Steakhouse 55. Nat King Cole looks on.
Travel by monorail
That sweet old castle
It’s pretty much a given that we typically start over in New Orleans Square with the one-two punch of Pirates of the Caribbean and Haunted Mansion. It looked to be quite a busy day, so we grabbed FastPasses to Big Thunder Mountain prior to that. The only unique thing on these two rides was that Haunted Mansion stopped during the graveyard scene and lost all sound. Once it started again, it continued without sound, so the last half of the graveyard was extra eerie as there were only the light sounds of the animatronics clicking and clacking as they moved.
Carl…the pirate
Up close and personal with another pirate during a brief boat stoppage
David admires a stranger’s bag
Is this haunted room actually stretching??
David looks noticeably concerned in his Doom Buggy
A ghost in color
The Pirates line had taken about a half-hour, but the Haunted Mansion was only about ten minutes. It was 1pm by the time we had finished this pair and by then it was time for Big Thunder Mountain in Frontierland. Like it’s WDW counterpart, this one had gone through some renovation – and had been closed when we last visited Disneyland. This refurbishment had included new tracks, trains, and scenery, but most important of all a dynamite explosion that would happen at the end of the ride. Unfortunately, the explosion part wasn’t working during our ride-thru. Oh well, at least I felt like they added to this one instead of taking away. I still miss that guy in the bathtub in the town of Tumbleweed at WDW.
Big Thunder Mountain
Jimmy takes it in like a Sunday drive
We grabbed FastPasses for Splash Mountain and then grabbed a ride on the Sailing Ship Columbia. This was absolutely my first time on this ride, which shares the Rivers of America with the Mark Twain Riverboat. Whereas the Mark Twain opened in 1955 at the park’s grand opening, the Columbia wasn’t added until 1958. Basically it’s the same ride I presume (and very similar to the Liberty Belle Riverboat at WDW), just a different vessel. But since I’ve never been on the Mark Twain, I haven’t seen it for myself. Next time…
With the pals aboard the Columbia
Avoiding bumps on the Columbia
You might be wondering…what’s the scuttlebut?
Cooking up some lunch in the Columbia
Native American scenery that can be seen from the Rivers of America
After our boat ride, we grabbed our traditional ice cream sandwiches and got our traditional picture taken. We ate them as we journeyed over into Fantasyland and took our ride on it’s a small world. While we were in Fantasyland, we queued up for the Matterhorn Bobsleds. It was a good 40 minute wait, but I’ve seen worse. I think we’re all beginning to feel our age on this ride, as it seemed to be jarring our lower spines to sit inside these ‘bobsleds’ and ride along the rough mountain terrain. I do love that Abominable Snowman, although getting a good photo of him has always eluded me.
The ice cream sandwiches are back
Lovely colors in it’s a small world
After the ride
Thrills…and bumps…aplenty on the Matterhorn Bobsleds
Jimmy had some stuff to take care of at home before the convention, so he took off after this, after we stopped in the Emporium and browsed for a bit. I noticed for the first time the static wax figures of a boy frightfully getting his hair cut at the barber shop. David and I said our goodbyes to Jimmy and then we headed over to Splash Mountain to exercise our FastPasses. As much as I hoped to avoid it, we wound up in the front seats again. I love the ride, but have hated the recent trend of getting soaked to the bone. This one was no exception, but I grinned and beared it. With the warm weather, it wouldn’t take too terribly long to dry out.
Jimmy considers bath toys. Not for him, but for Cate.
Emporium static figures. You have to look up to find them.
Jimmy and me in front of the great mountain
Splash Mountain. Splash indeed.
I’ve always enjoyed a bear butt
My oh my, what a wonderful day!
I’m wet…again
I’m a good sport. I welcome the water. Sure, come and get me.
It was about 4:30pm by this time, and David and I decided that we were ready for a really-late lunch or really-early dinner, so we checked out a couple of places and settled on the Carnation Cafe on Main Street. I ordered us some fried pickles with dipping sauce and we each had a sourdough bacon cheese melt, which was every bit as good as it sounds. We took our time to dry out and relax for a bit and by 6pm, we were heading over to California Adventure.
The sandwich was above par. Thank you Carnation.
It’s no surprise that our first stop was to see Muppet*Vision 3D. Again we sat in the front row and again we had the time of our lives. I think I could watch this film on a continuous loop for days and still find it funny and charming. The wait for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror was minimal so we boarded that next.
Beaker outside of Muppet*Vision 3D
More than ready for another show. Hey Waldorf, what are we going to see here?
It may be blurry, but I still wish I was there right now
The Street Set continuation of Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood Land
This, as you may recognize, is a maintenance service elevator…
Dropping
We then made our way to Paradise Pier and queued up for Toy Story Midway Mania! It boggles my mind that this ride yields hours of waiting time at WDW, but here it was a matter of 30 minutes, even without a FastPass. I eked out another victory over David, scoring 149,200 (with a 37% accuracy) to his 142,000. He was most certainly a worthy opponent. This didn’t get too close to my high score of 166,300, but it took my standing to 9-1. We did a literal walk-on – I mean literally, I don’t think we stopped walking at all – to board The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. This is another ride that yields relatively large crowds (at least, so far) at WDW, but here at California Adventure, people couldn’t care less...but I find it rather charming.
We came to win
She’s the girl who has everything…
These four rides comprised our time at California Adventure, and we went back over to Disneyland to finish our day. It was around 8:30 when we hit Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye. I’m beginning to like this ride more and more as I become more familiar with it, but it was ironic that, like my last visit, the scene stalled during the giant ball scene near the end, although not nearly as long as it had last Fall. Then we went back to Tomorrowland to catch Star Tours—The Adventures Continue. I continued to log my configurations of the ride, which in this case went like this: Imperial Probe Droid, the Kashyyyk forest chase, the Yoda halo transmission, and the asteriod field and Death Star. The main portions have thus been uncommon to me, so this was a cool ride-thru.
The new 3-D glasses on Star Tours that apparently allow one to shoot lasers form their retinas
I rest my case. I just don’t look good in hats.
The fireworks began to boom overhead and David and I walked onto our last ride of the day, the Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. I did well on this one and scored 93,400 to David’s 56,500. Setting new high scores was not in the cards for this trip. As we walked down Main Street U.S.A. toward the exit, we popped into the Main Street Cinema. I can’t recall ever entering this at Disneyland, but it had always been a staple stop at WDW – but sadly, they converted the cinema to a Disney Art Store in 1998. I still recall fondly going inside and checking out Mickey in Steamboat Willie and other black and white cartoons from the center section of the room. I was very please to see that we could still do this at Disneyland as it hearkened back memories of visits to WDW during the 1980’s. And I was even more pleased to see Mickey’s Polo Team playing – with an appearance from the animated version of Laurel and Hardy.
Lovely fireworks boom over the Matterhorn
Hey, it’s Stan and what’s left of Ollie in Mickey’s Polo Team!
And with that, our day ended. We made our way back to the parking garage via tram and then drove back to David’s house. This is where I’d be setting up camp for the next week. We still had one full day before the convention to take advantage of, which we did…
Our pre-convention activities will continue…
Bypass the trip and continue with 2014…
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