Everybody Go Surfin'
Last week I was sent out to California for work and was able to do some fun things in my free time. I was staying about an hour or so east of LAX where the city runs into the desert and mountains. The weather was perfect every day.
On Tuesday the meetings unexpectedly ended early and my boss suggested that we go to Disneyland. That's when you know you're in a good work environment; when your boss wants to go to Disneyland. 45 minutes later we were pulling into the Timon section of the Lion King parking lot.
We started out with the Matterhorn, a Disneyland exclusive bobsled ride. Having just been to Disneyworld a few months ago for Sarah's birthday I wanted to make sure I rode on all of the rides that were only on the west coast. While in line for the Matterhorn I saw in the map that there was an Indiana Jones ride in Adventure Land.
I frequently speak in hyperbole but it is no exaggeration when I say that this is the greatest ride in existence. Just waiting in line for the ride was probably in my top three favorite things we did in the park. The line winds through the recently excavated ruins of a temple and at one point I looked down to see little diamond shaped tiles on the ground. Thinking of Raiders of the Lost Ark I made sure to avoid stepping on these tiles but a kid behind me in line was not so careful. As soon as he stepped on one a loud cracking noise went off, sounding like the ceiling was about to cave in. Later in line Sallah (John Rhys-Davies) explains the legend of the temple and safety instructions during a short video. There were a few other little neat things and by the time I actually got into the car for the ride itself my mind was seconds from exploding with excitement. I don't want to give anything away because when I went on it I knew nothing and I think that made it better but it has all of the classic Indy atmosphere. It's got snakes, skulls, lava, rickety bridges, walls covered with insects, walls covered with skeletons, and walls covered with statues that shoot darts at the car. Imagine the greatest thing of all time and then multiply that by eleventy bajillion and you'll start to get an idea of how cool the ride was.
I also managed to go on the Mad Hatter teacup ride without getting sick all over the place, something that I have not dared to try in years. Still dizzy from the teacups we stumbled over towards the Carousel. At first I thought I was dreaming but no, right in front of me was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. That's right kids, the fantastic ride that Winnie the Communist replaced in Florida. It was glorious. Mr. Toad still can't drive worth crap and the ride ends in hell after the car drives headlong into a train making it the most disturbing and totally sweet ride in all of Fantasyland.
In short, I would have paid the fifty dollar entrance fee just to ride the Indiana Jones ride once. To add Mr. Toad's Wild Ride on top of that and it was almost too awesome for me to handle. In only six hours at the park we also rode the haunted mansion, pirates of the caribbean, Tarzan's treehouse, Snow White, Peter Pan, Pinnochio, Dumbo, and the Carousel as well as watching Fantasmic and fireworks. Sadly, Big Thunder and Space mountain were closed and it was a little too cold and late in the day to ride Splash mountain but other than that we pretty much did it all.
On Friday the meetings ended around noon so that people could catch flights back to wherever. Not knowing this, I had booked a red-eye flight out of LAX giving myself essentially the entire day to do anything I wanted. I grabbed a double-double at an in-and-out burger, hit up the Fender guitar museum, and went to Manhattan Beach and rented a surfboard. Work can be pretty rough sometimes.
Monday, August 9 at 2:22 PM
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