"So, it's Saturday, and you don't have to work. What're you going to do?"

[plunkybug]

My date with Chas yesterday.

So, yeah. Chas got us 4 day park hopper passes to Disney and the other parks. We got up somewhat early and headed down the road and had a nice breakfast at Sonic. Yeah, Sonic. Pancake on a stick rules! We wanted to save our money. Plus, it was really nice outside...it was in the mid 70's ...warm with a cool breeze. Anyhow, we left and made the trek to Disney shortly after. Traffic actually was pretty decent going that way.

We eventually made it from parking lot to the ticket and transportation center. It has been years since I last visited Disney, and I don't remember this place. But I remember the monorail. We took the monorail to the park, and decided to take the ferry on the way back later. Got our tickets from guest relations and away we went! I felt so special, like I was a kid going to Disney for the first time, because it had been so long since I went last. Since Chas was there for research, I let him take the reigns and direct us to what we were going to do and see. We were limited on time, as we had dinner plans at 6 back near the apartment.

The first thing we did was tour the Swiss Family Treehouse, modeled on the story of the Swiss family Robinson, with a few embellishments. We were going to see Pirates of the Caribbean, but they closed it, so on to the next. We got a FastPass (FP) to Splash Mountain which allowed us to come back later and get on the ride faster since the wait time was more than an hour and we were limited on time. We went next door to the Big Thunder Mountain ride...a fairly tame roller coaster. Then it was on to The Haunted Mansion. We saw Chas' dad's headstone there. All the engineers that worked on the ride like his dad are immortalized in the headstones near the entrance with an epitaph of some sort. I don't remember what his said, but we took a picture of it. The nice thing about this ride, cheesy as it is, is that there is never a really long line. It always seems to move quickly. By the time we got off this ride, it was near time for Splash Mountain, but we went and got our FP to Mickey's Philharmagic...you can only get one FP at a time, unless you are in a time window for one of them. So when our Splash Mountain window opened, we were allowed to get another FP ticket. See? While we were in Fantasyland, we grabbed drinks and an ice cream cookie sandwich. It was really good, but messy, as the chocolate chips and the ice cream were rapidly melting. But we didn't care. It was tasty, and fun. :) We made our way back to Adventureland to ride Splash Mountain. The FP system is such a godesend. I mean, we did have to wait in lines, but we got in so much faster. The only thing bad with the ride is that there were a bunch of teenagers who thought the world revolved around them, and they began splashing each other from water outside the log flume, totally neglecting to see us in the back row. And thus soaking us more than if we had gone through the ride as normal which doesn't actually get you that wet. Chas yelled at them, and they apologized. They thought they filled the whole log, but they were wrong. In the end, it wasn't so bad, because it was warm outside and we dried fairly quickly. But still. When that ended, we went to get our FP for the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorowland, and then back to Mickey's Philharmagic in Fantasyland. It was a decent show. They gave out 3-D "opree glasses" at the entrance. I've never been good with 3-D because of my vision impairment, but I could still kinda see 3-D. Nothing really jumped out at me, but the objects had more definition than normal. They enhanced the experience by subjecting us, the audience to a few things to make us feel like we were there. In the loosely contrived plot, Donald duck gets stuck in a vortex trying to get Mickey's magic hat back, and thus lands in other Disney stories with songs. We feel the wind on our faces as he spins in the vortex. He first lands in Beauty and the Beast where the next special effect, and perhaps the best, is employed. Smellovision as tv chefs call it. There is a scene in which an apple pie is thrust at the screen and there is a scent in the air, reminiscent of apple pie, making us all hungry now for pie. :) In a later scene, we get water sprinkled on us. We have some time before Buzz Lightyear, so we visit the Timekeeper show in Tomorrowland, which is alright. The Timekeeper is voiced by Robin Williams and can be funny at times and painful at others. The object is that a 9-eyed robot is sent in a time machine through history, and has cameras for eyes, so you see what she sees on 9 screens around the room. Neat, but by then, we did not want to stand anymore, and this show on had lean bars. There were no seats so one could turn around and see the screens around the room. FP prevails once again and we gained fairly quick passage into Buzz Lightyear. I think this was the most fun ride. This was sort of a game combined with a ride. Each car seated 2 people. There were 2 guns, and a "spin" lever in between that moved the car around. as the ride moved, you aimed your guns at the floating batteries and the bad guys to gain points. Early on, I managed to hit the jackpot of batteries and instantly got like 20,000 points or something. i ended up with 27,700 and Chas at 27, 400 I think. He hit a jackpot later in the ride, but I still won by 300 points. Yay me! :)

It was nearly 5:00 by then, and we had to leave so we could get to dinner on time. We did nt end up leaving til nearly 40 minutes later. Not sure if it was the ferry taking longer to get back or not, but whatever. We were only about 15 minutes late, with Chas at the helm.

We met our company at a fondue place near our apartment...their treat. Woo hoo! I started out with an almond coffee amaretto mixed drink...yummy. We ordered the Big Night out, with started with a Spinach and Artichoke cheese fondue, with vegetables, bread and apples. Our guests had a cheddar fondue. We all had different salads. For the actual meal, our dinner included fillet mignon, terriyaki beef, chicken, black tiger prawns, asian potsitckers and ravioli that were filled with a spinach and artichoke mix. Our guests had the Pacific Rim meal that had some of the same things, but they had pork and duck. An assortment of vegetables came with both, including red bliss potatoes, mushroom caps, and yellow squash. An assortment of dips, batters and sauces were also served. We decided to have one oil fondue, and one coq au vin broth style. We used that for the veggies and ravioli, and the the oil for the meat, though I did use the broth for some of my meat. for desert, ours came with a fluffernutter chocolate fondue and the other we all decided was the white chocolate amaretto. like everything else, we shared with each other. The latter fondue was to die for. it was so good!

We got home at nearly 10:00. I took some TheraFlu, because at some pint during the day, my throat had gotten sore, and increasing so at dinner. That, plus the events of the day, had tucked little old me out. which brings me today, all sore, congested, and generally feeling blah. But it had to come sooner or later. All the allergens out there had to get in me, and now they have to get out. Plain and simple. I may have to skip one or both of today's parties...I just hope I am ok by next Saturday for *my* party.

I think I am going to go to the store and see what I can find to make me feel better.