Our Disney Vacation - Part the Third

Well, before I completely forget what we did at the end of our cruising vacation - and with Michael's able assistance recalling events - here's the last part of our vacation which began on our way to Vancouver in September and ended with our return to Mexico in October.

Once we made it off the ship, we wended our way through immigration (again) and customs, found our luggage, and trekked outside to wait on the curb for our friend, Diane, to pick us up and thence to Disneyland.  There was only one little snag in the process, when Michael realized that we were missing a small bag with a Disney animation cel, computers, et cetera.  A quick trip inside and it was found with the helpful Disney people at the disembarcation desk. Whew!  That animation cell wasn't ours....

Diane found us standing on the curb, waving at her; we quickly loaded our stuff into her car; and we were off to Orange County.  Once we arrived at the Grand Californian Hotel and Resort, we checked our luggage (the room wasn't ready, of course, since it was still before lunch time) and headed out to the parks.  We also phoned our friends from Northern California who were on their last day at the DLR and coordinated meeting for dinner at the Club.

Several rides later - I can't wait for the new Soarin' to go online - we checked with the front desk at the GCH and found our one-bedroom villa was available.  Yippee! A chance to collapse, shower/shave, and all that stuff.  Dinner was at Club 33 tonight and we actually got our favorite waiter!  There are several whom we enjoy (and just one we can't stand), but our favorite seems more difficult to be assigned now that we're members than when we were guests at the Club.  Anyway, the five of us had a great dinner.  Hadn't seen Pat and Dave in person since our WBTA cruise the year before.  After dinner they went off to pack for their return trip north; Diane drove back to the L.A. area; and we sacked out.

Monday was a park day.  No, we didn't make it to rope-drop.  Instead - once we were both awake (
I think Michael actually went to the gym while I was still asleep) - it was off to White Water Rapids for breakfast.  Unfortunately, I moved my hand into range just as the server (attempted to) place my breakfast before me and there was breakfast and milk all over!  It was clearly my fault, but she apologized sweetly and insisted on replacing my breakfast.  Tasted twice as good!

The it was time for more parks and shopping.  One of our tasks was to visit a Target store for supplies and pack them in our bags for the return trip.  Target is one of the places I really miss in Mexico.  In the San Fernando Valley, we lived in a location surrounded by Target stores.  One was extremely close, another nearly as close in another direction, there were two more to our west, two more further north of us, and one east of us.  If our first choice was out of something, it could be found at another store. 

Every Sunday morning began at the computer by searching through the on-line Target sale flyer to find what we didn't know we needed!  It's great that we have Costco, Sam's Club, Home Depot, and even Sears down here - but I miss Target the most.  No running around from pillar to post: you could find anything you needed at that little French department store!

So we shopped (it's a walkable distance from the hotel - not close, but walkable when you're used to walking 4 miles a day at a mile altitude) and schlepped things back to the hotel.  Diane has also brought with her all the things we had shipped to her home and those had to be packed up, too.  Our mail service from Texas charges us both by weight and value (at 17%), so shipping things to us via Texas tends to be expensive.  Shipping to Diane allowed us to skip the weight/value costs - although some things were eventually shipped to avoid the excess baggage fees!

Tuesday we picked up the car whose rental we arranged Monday afternoon and headed up into town.  Our goals:  our dentist in San Fernando for me; errands in the San Fernando Valley for Michael.  I had had an issue with a tooth here in Mexico and my SMA dentist had attempted to patch it up using the new blue-light material.  It hadn't held more than a week before it was history.  Luckily, it wasn't painful, so it was on my list of dental services once we got to L.A.  The good doctor Mark dealt with my other issues in the morning and booked me into an afternoon appointment for the afternoon, when he rebuilt that part of my missing molar (with the same blue-light material) and sent me on my way - healed once again.  Have I told you my molars include my wisdom teeth and that their roots are so intertwined that I don't ever want to have them extracted?!?  Dr. Mark always says: If there's a next time, out they come.  But he hasn't had to resort to that step yet. I hope to die with them in situ.

Anyway, while I was at the dentist, Michael was getting the animation cel valued for a friend in Mexico and running some other errands.  We returned to the dentist's a bit early for my appointment, but found that they had tried to call us to tell us of a cancellation earlier in the afternoon.  Got there just on time! 

For dinner we met Diane at one of our favorite restaurants - Casita del Campo - in Silverlake for drinks and dinner.  (Have you ever noticed that most - if not all - of our favorite restaurants in California are Mexican?)  Managed to drive back to Disneyland, turn in the car, and walk through the drizzle back to our villa at the hotel.

Wednesday dawned a rainy day, so we stayed warm and dry with only an occasional foray into the parks between rainy periods.  Naps are good things.  Dinner was the chicken dinner at the Park Plaza restaurant in front of the Castle, then to bed.  Tuesday had knocked us out!

Thursday was a better day, weather-wise, and we enjoyed it in the parks again after packing up a whole bunch of 'stuff' from the cruise and shopping and mailing it to ourselves.  Those baggage limits are really 'limits' and we nearly always travel as inexpensively as possible, so there's not much of a baggage allowance. 

The nice thing about spending time in the parks as a Club member - or annual pass person - is that you don't have to do everything in one day.  We wandered about, picking and choosing which attractions to favor with our presence.  A bit later in the day my sister and her husband arrived, we added them to the room registration (it was a one-bedroom villa, so we were still legal) and eventually we all changed and headed out to Club 33 again.

Another fabuloso dinner, much frivolity, and then we headed back to the hotel, Michael and I changed into our traveling duds, and the shuttle picked us up at 9 pm for the trip to LAX.  Paula and Tim stayed in the villa and returned to San Diego Friday.

So we eventually made it home, not without some drama at the Leon airport: that pesky roller-bag tried to escape once again and was left inside the customs area just after going through the X-ray scanner.  We realized it was still inside after was had left the area and they wouldn't let us back in to fetch it until everyone else had left the area.  Unfortunately, we arrived just as another flight arrived, so there was some delay waiting for everyone to clear - which our van driver was not happy about - but there was nothing we could do! TIM (This Is Mexico!)

Finally made it home, collapsed, dogs delivered later that morning.  Back to normal, except for the unpacking (which took a few days) and catching up on our sleep.  Six dinners at Palo, two at the Club; lots of daily coffees and free pastries at the Cove Cafe: no wonder I gained 10 pounds!  Should have them off in time for the next vacation.....