Vancouver->Disneyland: Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

Got up at 7 for an 8:15 bus to the airport. It was a shuttle that comes right in front of the hotel next door. We were led to believe by the brochure that it took half an hour from there to the airport. When they bus finally arrived, 10 minutes late, the driver took us about five blocks away and dropped us off on Robson street, right in front of where a couple of homeless people were hanging out. Lovely! She said that she just takes people to where the main bus picks them up and a large green bus should be coming shortly. The only other girl who was on our bus made a comment about being told that it was a fifty minute trip from her hotel which was about ten minutes from ours.

We were a little ticked at this point and spotted a taxi. Since we hadn’t yet paid the shuttle company ($13/head), we hopped in the taxi. Just before that, while DH was talking with the taxi driver, some homeless guy hit me up for money. Just where I want to be stranded! So I bolted for the cab when DH waved me over, and we were on our way. 15 minutes and $30 later, including tip, we were at the airport. Good decision. We offered to the other girl to share our taxi, but I guess she had already paid, so she said no. Too bad for her. I hope no one bothered her and she caught her plane ok.

At the airport, we did all the standard stuff to get in, and then we had to go through customs where some nasty woman took our cherries. We didn’t mind if she wouldn’t let us go further with them, but she wouldn’t let us retreat to eat a few either. She said once we got that far, it was too late and she walked off with them. It’s not like we hid them or anything, we told her about them. We asked if we could eat just one because they were really good, but no deal. So we told her she should eat them. I bet she just threw them away. At least she let me keep my apricot.

So, we ate our breakfast, sans cherries in the airport and eventually got on our plane. It was a 180 minute flight, and it went by quickly. We read a magazine, did a crossword and some sodukus and then we were landing. Everything else went very smoothly. Got our bags, the Dollar rent-a-car bus was right at the curb when we went out and there was almost no wait to get our car. We plotted our route (the directions I got from Dollar were faulty it turned out) and drove to Disneyland.

At the hotel, it was after 4, so no worries about checking in. Our room is decent. A King bed and a decent size. The air conditioner is pretty strong too, thank goodness, because it’s hot outside. Probably high 80’s. We made a Costco run, and then went into the park about 7.

Rode the newly redone Pirates of the Caribbean and it was ok. Really just a few changes. I kind of preferred the old one, but I can see why people would expect to see references to the movie in the ride now.

We also rode the Jungle cruise, which was really fun. We had a high energy guide which really impressed me because it really seemed like it was her first run of the day when she surely had done many before that.

We tried to hit Big Thunder, but half-way through the line, the ride broke down so we bailed on that. After wandering around a bit, we got some ice cream, watched the piano guy for a while, and went home.