Laura had called Syk3 earlier on her cell phone, and he promised to call back later, which he did while we were transferring from California Adventure to Disneyland. I talked with him while we wandered around the entrance of the park. It was nice to catch up, because it's been so long since I spoke with him! He seemed interested in how far theO has come over the past year or so (the celebrity chats especially impressed him), so I am hoping he finds the time to come here again soon. (I'll do whatever it takes to get him into the chats. xD)
While we were speaking, I tried to get a picture with Belle, but it wasn't happening. Apparently she was immune to the charms of my Donkey Kong shirt. :( (There was a funny moment earlier when, in the middle of our chat, I exclaimed, "Holy shit, it's Belle, and she's hot!!" and Syk3 laughed for a minute or two.)
While all this was going on, I followed Laura and Derrick via instinct and peripheral vision, and we ended up in Tomorrowland, where we tried hunting down an animatronic WALL-E with which 'Gome wanted me to take a picture. However, every Disneyland worker seemed dumbfounded when we brought this up, so we had to give up on our WALL-E plan, much to our chagrin. But we did make it up later, sort of.
From there, we picked up a Fast Pass -- something that, when it's available for use an hour or two after you obtain it, allows you to bypass the long ass lines for whatever ride your Fast Pass is for -- for the Indiana Jones ride, and, after gaping at the prices at the Blue Bayou and eating at a more reasonably priced (for Disneyland) place, we killed some time by going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.
But not before taking a picture of Laura and Derrick with a pirate ship in the background! (This turned out way better than I expected. I was afraid I had the focus wrong when I first took the picture, and the viewing screen is too small to tell if you got it wrong after you take the photo, unless you got it really, obviously wrong.)
It says 15 minutes, but the wait was at least twice that, as you might be able to tell from the line. But Capt. Jack Sparrow awaited us when we got inside. There is also this neat picture of Laura under the glow of one of the lanterns.
Now, once you are on the rides, if you are inclined to take photos, then you have a problem. Flash photography is prohibited, and lack of light is the enemy of photographers. Lack of light (which leads to low shutter speeds) + constant movement (which leads to blurry pictures) just adds to the troubles. However, though not all of the ride pictures are perfect, I think the drawbacks of the environment actually made some of them into bizarrely enjoyable, trippy photos. (This is especially the case, amusingly enough, regarding the Alice in Wonderland ride we went on later in the day.)
That said, here are some of the Pirates pictures: The cackling skull before the plunge at the beginning. Another skull, hidden behind a mini-waterfall. And I do not at all remember what this is, but it's weirding me out.
After the ride, we had a good ol' time ransacking the Pirate shop and being generally goofy. Like in this photo. I make a good pirate, right? And here's Laura and Derrick pirating it up.
Then came the Haunted Mansion, which is maybe the most enjoyably campy ride at Disneyland, with loads of silly puns and goofy horror. I liken it to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, actually -- the fun is more in the experience with other people than the ride itself. If you're with a bunch of people who are too cool to play along with the beginning, then the ride is going to suck. It just will. But we were with a fun group, so the ride was enjoyable.
