It's my birthday!

  Yeah, we're back at Disneyland! We went a day early, since my birthday was on a Saturday this year, to avoid the crowds. It was still pretty busy, but not enough to be bothersome. And after uncharacteristically raining for the last few days, the weather cleared up just in time!

  We started the day with Indiana Jones, of course, because, hey, it's me! The wife had never been on it before, and she loved it.

I even got to be in the driver's seat

  Then we did Pirates, which is also fun. Afterward, we journeyed over to Tomorrowland, which is mostly Star Wars stuff now. There, I finally got to meet the Dark Lord of the Sith himself, Darth Vader.

Probably should check that kid's pants

  Once we finally got in to see him, I completely got nervous. Your brain tells you this is just a dude in a costume, but after seeing him on screen all these years and how evil and terrifying he is, you're not prepared to just be cool standing next to him.

He didn't really have a lightsaber, I just thought it would be funny to add it in

  Other than this picture above, I pretty much fidgeted and kept my distance. Kudos to the actor in the suit. He silently pointed to where he wanted me to stand, and said a few Vader-y things to me, like "Today, you are a friend of the Empire." I had no idea I would have the reaction I did. Freakin' awesome.

  After we rode on Star Tours, which was also super fun, I met a couple other characters over on the California Adventure side:

  Obviously, I wasn't intimidated by these guys. They're on our side! Captain America was pretty cool. Amazing suit. We talked Indiana Jones a bit, since they're from the same time period, and then I met Spidey. He was the coolest of all. A total sarcastic smartass, just like me. We made fun of Captain America for being old. Good times.

Then we had lunch at this AMAZING place in Downtown Disney called Trader Sam's. Apparently, it's a thing, but I had never heard of it. It's an "enchanted tiki lounge." Basically it's just a dark, really amazing bar with a bunch of jungle-exploration type artifacts, pictures, and props. The drink menu consists of things like "the shipwreck," "krakatoa," and many others. The thing is, when you order one of these, they yell and scream things like "ATTENTION LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE'RE HEADED FOR A SHIPWRECK!" and ring bells and the lights flicker, and a model ship above the bar sinks into the ocean. It's really, really fun. Also, the drink I ordered, Shrunken Zombie Head, got me midday drunk.

And now I can drink my coffee out of it

  In the afternoon, we went over to California Adventure and rode Soarin' Around the World, which is a fave of ours, and we did Midway Mania, which I had never seen. It was a virtual 3D arcade where you shoot darts, rings, paint pellets and all kinds of things at targets. It was ridiculously fun. I can see why it had such a long line to get in.

Got my game face ON

  In the evening, just as the sun was going down, we went up on the giant Paradise Pier "Mickey's Fun Wheel." It was an amazing view!

  After a hilariously entertaining "A Bug's Life" show, we capped off the night with some very fine dining at Carthay Circle Restaurant. Now, stupidly, I didn't get any pictures. The place was beautiful, and is a mostly accurate recreation of the Carthay Circle Theatre from Hollywood's "Golden Age." Unfortunately, it was torn down in 1969. It was at this theatre (the real one) that Walt Disney first premiered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Here are a couple photos of the one at California Adventure I found on Google:

  The food was delicious. I would totally go back there again for a special occasion. Pricey, but not enough to put you in debt. Lots of great pictures from 1930's Hollywood, and a lot of little hidden Disney touches throughout that our waiter was kind enough to point out.

  And after that, we were pretty much spent. Lots of walking, lots of adrenaline. Good, good times, and a fantastic birthday celebration.


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Christmas in Disneyland

  This "holidays at Disneyland" thing is pretty sweet! First Halloween, now Christmas. They really know how to celebrate and decorate over there. I mean, I didn't have a doubt they would, but I wasn't prepared for so many sights and sounds!
  When the wife and I arrived Wednesday morning, we first went to the Disney California Adventure side of the park. She had a whole thing planned out of exactly what we would hit and in what order for the whole day. As an annual passholder, she makes a lot of Disney visits, so I defer to her experience.
  Cars Land was really great. As much fun as it usually is over there, it was made even more so by the Christmas decorations. Everywhere you looked, there were trees made out of tires, traffic cones, and hubcaps. Hilarious. We rode the Radiator Springs Racers, my favorite ride in all of California Adventure, before moving on to other areas of the park. Ultimately, after a few other rides and explorations, we hit Soarin' Around the World. I hadn't been on since it was Soarin' Over California. The new update and new footage/visuals were amazing! You really feel like you're flying high above some of the world's most beautiful places. Fantastic.
  We spent the rest of the day in Disneyland proper, which was, of course, decked completely out in Christmas spirit.

A couple crazy "Cars" trees, and a couple normal ones

  Instead of the usual "big" rides (Space Mountain, Pirates, Haunted Mansion), we went on some off-the-beaten-path jaunts. A couple of them I had never even seen! It never ceases to amaze just how much is there in the park. 

  We hit the Jungle Cruise, which was changed to the Jingle Cruise for the holidays, and also Storybook Land. We dove headfirst into the absolute MANIA of It's a Small World, which had been stuffed to every inch of space with Christmas. It was by far the most Christmas thing we saw all day. I took some photos with my phone, but they really don't do it justice. A virtual explosion of color and light.

  We rode quite a few other rides that afternoon, and then it was time to go sit and wait for the holiday parade. When it finally began, we were treated to a seemingly endless run of floats, dancers, and famous Disney characters.

  Then, of course, everything got REALLY beautiful as the sun went down and all the lights came on in the park. It sparkled with Christmas magic everywhere you looked.

It's a Small World nighttime exterior

Main Street

  We went back over to the California Adventure side and stopped into the Grand Californian Hotel for a quick drink and a gander at the gigantic Christmas tree in the lobby. Santa was there, on his giant chair, meeting a long line of kids. After he left, a trio of Sweeney Sisters came in and started singing old-timey Christmas songs. It was wonderful. Then, it was time to go out to Paradise Pier to watch World of Color. It went off half an hour later than was listed, so we waited a LONG time.

Paradise Pier

  Any phone pics I would have snapped of the show wouldn't have made sense or shown it in any reasonable way. Best I can describe it, imagine the fountains at the Bellagio in Las Vegas cranked up to about 100. There are colored lights reflecting off the huge streams of water, which are timed to the holiday music. On the mist/spray that is created by the fountains, images and designs are projected. The water forms a shimmering, billowing movie screen on which characters and scenes from Disney Christmas movies played. It was really, really impressive.

  All in all, we're sad it's already over and can't wait to go again next year. Christmas season has officially begun!

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Halloween '16

  My favorite holiday! As I'm writing this, it's November 1, so I'm kinda bummed. This means there's a whole YEAR before the next Halloween. But it was a great month of Halloween goodness!

  As you may have seen on a previous entry, there was the amazing visit to Disneyland for Mickey's Halloween Party a couple weeks ago. We're already thinking ahead to next year, and possibly what costumes we can come up with. Having ironed out all the logistics, next year will be even more amazing, and that's setting a pretty high bar.

  Last week, I decided to bake some Halloween treats, spurred on no doubt by a plethora (yes, a plethora) of Halloween baking contest shows. Damn you, Food Network! You can't combine Halloween and cake, my two favorite things, and not expect me to binge watch.

  Not wanting to eat forty tons of sugar, I took the goodies in to work and shared with all. I made the mistake of telling people they were gluten, dairy, and soy free. This always puts people off, because they are expecting a taste akin to cardboard. But no, I feel I've honed the recipies pretty well. You honestly cannot tell the difference. There are a LOT of really good substitutes out there for people like us with food allergies.

Chocolate cupcakes with various toppings

Rice Krispie zombie pops with green icing and candy eyes and teeth

Dipped Rice Krispie treats

  Last night, for actual Halloween, the wife was home for a rare evening together! First, we exchanged Halloween gifts- much candy was traded, and there were balloons, decorations, and all manner of ghastly goodness. As usual, she spoiled me rotten. Her holiday is Christmas, mine is Halloween.

There's a spider? Where?

  

  After a quick dinner, we sat down in front of the tv, watched some vampires do vampire stuff, and carved pumpkins. I went classic with mine: triangle eyes and nose, smiling, happy face. She chose a much more difficult "themed" pumpkin: Yoda from Star Wars. Long after I was finished carving mine, she was still punching the design into the face of the pumpkin, and hadn't started carving yet. Tired from the late hour, and a cramping hand, she handed the tools over, and I cut the pieces out. Our effort turned out great!

  Hope you all had a great Halloween! Now, on to the winter holiday season.

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Mickey's Halloween Party

The Headless Horseman arrives AHEAD of the parade

 
   Last week, the wife and I had the pleasure of attending Mickey's Halloween Party at Disneyland- an "after hours/special event" type of deal. When six o'clock rolls around, everybody gets kicked out of the park except those holding (limited) tickets for the night's festivities.

   We were actually allowed in at three o'clock, and all the rides were pretty busy with last-minute fastpass folks. We took the opportunity to eat some tasty Mexican food in Downtown Disney and then cash in a Build-a-Bear giftcard my spouse gave me earlier this year.

   I chose Spock Bear. It was fun picking out the body, the outfit, watching them fill it with stuffing, putting a "heart" inside it. I even opted to put a little player in it that plays the Star Trek theme when you squeeze the hand. It's mostly for kids, but since I'm a big kid, I loved it.

  Finally, six o'clock rolled around, so we headed into TomorrowLand and went through the Star Wars stuff. They had costumes, props, models- all kinds of stuff from the films. And I got to meet and have my picture taken with a certain someone...

Wookiees give good hugs

  

  After that, we did the requisite Disney thing, starting with Space Mountain. At Halloween-time, the ride is changed slightly to become "Ghost Galaxy." It seemed a little rougher/faster than we remembered, and our equilibrium was a little whacked out when we got off. I also had cottonmouth from yelling and laughing so much.

  The queues for the rides were VERY short, even though the park seemed to have a lot of people in it. The event had sold out, so whatever the ticket capacity was, it was met. 

  They also gave everybody trick-or-treat bags, and had dozens upon dozens of treat stands around the park. Even though we couldn't eat most of it (dairy allergies), we hit as many stands as possible. I thought it would be cheap-o candy, since it was free, but it was legit! Snickers, M&M, Sour Patch, all that stuff. I gave all our candy to my very happy coworkers later in the week.

  Another VERY cool thing was the parade. All the classic Disney villains came through the park, starting with the Headless Horseman! He was pretty creepy. Here's some phone video the wife took:

Following him was and endless array of floats, vehicles, ghouls, goblins, dancers, grave diggers, and the like. A visual feast!

  And last, but certainly not least, the only ride we really had to wait for all night: The Haunted Mansion. What Halloween would be complete without it?

   It was a great night. Nearly everybody in the park was dressed in costume. Some of them were RIDICULOUSLY good. People really put a lot of effort in. All except us. Next year, for sure!

Til then...

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Natural Painkillers

   "Yeah," you're saying to yourself right now, "sure, booze is a painkiller." It's not about the booze! Well, it IS, and it isn't.

   As a sufferer of chronic pain due to an injury from about eight years ago, I have seen every kind of specialist and doctor there is. I've tried typical western medicine, acupuncture, chiropracty, therapeutic massages. I've taken a million salt baths, worn pain patches, used a TENS device. Nothing has stopped the constant flow of pain, which becomes unbearable on some days.

   The wonderful osteopath I'm seeing currently told me about a "recipe" that might help. She told me it would sound crazy, but was an OLD remedy, and has helped a lot of people. Gin and golden raisins. Not just any gin, mind you, but specifically Gordon's Gin. The key ingredient here is the juniper berries. Not juniper flavoring, but actual berries used in the distilling process. Something in the juniper reacts with something in the golden raisins, and nobody really knows how it all works. 

   She told me it was based on some eastern medicine- an old Chinese herbal remedy for pain. People who have had great success with it are folks who suffer from arthritis and joint pain.

   Basically, all you do is put the raisins out in a thin layer in a pan, and pour just enough gin to cover them. 

I can really smell the juniper in this!

Pouring. Keep pouring until they are all *just* covered.

   You let them sit for a week or so, until all the gin has been soaked up by the raisins. Don't cover them with plastic wrap or anything. They need to breathe and evaporate. You can drape a towel over the dish if you like, to keep out dust. Then, you eat NINE per day. No more, no less. You won't notice the effects for probably about six weeks, according to what I've read. Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. And no, they won't make you drunk, so don't worry about that.

   I've started mine soaking today. I'll let you know down the road how it works out.


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