So Disneyland and California Adventures was a lot of fun. We left around 6:30am in the pouring rain. The freeways were slippery and we saw about 5 accidents. So we took it pretty slow.

Got to the hotel and thought we'd try to check-in early. We were told check-in was 3pm but I wanted to see if we could try, that way we could park there and avoid paying for parking. We got lucky and the room was ready so we took our stuff to the room - grabbed what we needed and split. The walk wasn't that far...about a 7 min. walk.

It's raining pretty hard and we're getting soaked. I don't care but Irene decides to use this raincoat Rose bought us at the 99 cent store. That should have been a warning. As she's unfolding it and trying to put it on she tears a hole right through the arm. We start laughing and she finally gets it on and goes to button it and discovers that she's put it on inside out. Decides to leave it that way because it was such a hassle to get it on in the first place as flimsy as it was. So the wind is blowing and the rain is coming down and she's getting wet anyways. Well there is hole in my boot so the water starts to seep in and soak my sock. Not good but too late.

We get in the gate and start down Main St. There are more people than we suspected but still not over crowded. About 3/4th of the crowd are wearing these blue rain panchos that have the Disneyland enblem with Sleeping Beauty's castle on the back and she is like the only one wearing this tattered looking bright yellow raincoat. She starts pouting and is debating whether to buy a blue one or not. She decides to at least look and see how much they are. Finds out they're $6 so buys one. We spend another 10 min. getting this thing on. Walk outside and the sun bursts through the clouds and it stops raining. We're both like no fuckin' way and start laughing. So we just start walking towards the rides.

We go to Adventureland first and try to ride the "Temple of Doom" ride and they tell us it's closed for repair and hopefully will open later. So I say let's go to New Orleans Square and ride "The Pirates of Caribbean", get there and there's a sign saying the ride is closed for renovations. Fuck that - I wanted my money back. That ride was my whole excitement about going. But the sign says to visit The Gallery to see an exhibit on the making of the original ride and to see a premier of the new movie (which looks pretty cool by the way) but hardly a substitute for the actual ride. So now I feel a little bummed out.

We head towards the Haunted House and I'm hoping that it is open or I'll just go postal. Thank God it was open and working fine. That ride brought back so many memories yet made me feel so old. Like the magic has wavered...things I didn't notice when I was young I can now see clearly. Like the fishing line attached to the head that pops up from behind the tombstone, just little things. Don't get me wrong the ride is still wonderful - they haven't changed anything since 1955 and it's remarkable to see the technology that Walt Disney dreamed up and created. The man was a genius.

So she still has on her pancho and we go on Splash Mountain cuz we're wet anyways. That ride was fun. The sun is still out and after about an hour or so she's getting hot and decides to take it off. Not 1 min. after she takes it off I start feeling little drops of rain. The drops get bigger and bigger and suddenly it's raining harder than it has all morning. So we get drenched and we're trying to find this restaurant we wanted to eat in for lunch - we get there and it's packed with people trying to get out of the rain so there is no place to sit. We order and after walking around trying to find a seat for 15 min. I decide to just walk up to this lady and ask if we could sit at her table. She's happy to and we have a nice lunch. After that it didn't rain the rest of the weekend.

I see this big Jack Skellington statue in front of this store. So we go in and it's the coolest store. It caters to the dark side of Disneyland. It houses the Villians, the Nightmare before Christmas, and The Pirates merchandise. So I get this neat black denim jacket with a big patch/appliqued Jack Skellington face on the back and a beanie with Jack's scary face on the front. I mentioned that I'm bummed The Piratesis closed and she proceeds to tell us that Space Mountain is also closed for renovating and won't open for 2 years. Upgrading the technology. Cool but not for us.

We eventually went to the Gallery and they had some awesome drawings of the ideas for the Pirate ride. I bought a copy of one of the pictures. It's of a pirate with a rope around this really sexy woman's waist. He's trying to sell her and she's posing as if she wants to be bought. Well the Gallery closes at 9pm but the park is open until midnight so I have to pick up my pic before it closes. I thought it would be a small pic but it turns out to be kind of big. They put it in this tube that is about 3 ft. long and a foot wide. It won't fit in the locker so I have to carry it around the rest of the night. So of course I had to treat it as a phallic symbol and make jokes with it thoughout the night (it was unavoidable).

Also throughout the day and night we kept checking back to the Temple of Doom ride to see if it had opened. Well after I got my tube it opened but they wouldn't let me take it on the ride so I had to leave it with the employee. Well when the ride is over it drops you off on the opposite side and I'm thinking, shit how am I going to get my pic. I ask the guy on our side and he said take the exit go down some stairs, go down more stairs and make a right and head back up the stair blah blah blah. It's further than I thought and keep thinking I missed the turn but finally I find it and head right back towards the beginning of the ride. Found the guy that had it and got it back.

Ok so my sock is still wet and my feet are going numb, it's 11:30pm and we still have to walk back to the hotel. That was an ordeal. I was afraid to look at my foot. It didn't look too good but by the next day it was fine.

Well I've got to go I'm tired - I'll tell the rest later. Sorry it is so long.