Warcraft, Disneyland and Beaches Oh My - Day 0 and Day 1
Me- 46 year old Disney lover who doesn't act her age
DR (Dear Roommate) - 33 year old who has no idea what he is getting himself into
The plan was to leave on Thursday 11/2 at 3 am. That all changed on 11/1.
The morning of Wednesday, 11/1, I got a call from my brother in the Navy who has been stationed in Guam for the past few years. His flight had just landed in Colorado, and he would be home later that afternoon. All plans for anything else that day got put on hold. Everyone descended on my mother's house that evening to visit with him. While we were there, my oldest son said "So, you're going to Disneyland?" I said "Yes." He replied "What if I just happened to show up there too?" Of course, I was ecstatic and mentally rearranged my plans to fit the days he was going to try to go, including skipping our park day on 11/2 to have a day open when he was there. My roommate was more than happy to not have to get up at 2 am to be at park opening.
11/1 - After being up until 2 am, we slept until about 11 and were on the road by 12. The drive was very easy except for some road construction in one small area on I-10. I dropped DR off at the convention center at about 6 pm to pick up his Blizzcon stuff, and then I went to check into the hotel room. The Alamo Inn & Suites was a nice hotel. The room was cute and larger than I expected. The grounds were well kept. There were signs that it was an older hotel (such as the creaky elevator), but it was in pretty good condition. Our room was right in front of the elevator, so bringing our luggage up was a breeze. DR had called and said he wanted to spend some time browse the Blizzcon stuff at the convention center, so I hopped in the shower. It took a while for the water to heat up, but that and the elevator were the only two things I noticed that could be improved upon.
DR called and said he was ready, so I picked him up and we headed to Downtown Disney. I was pretty excited for his first Disney experience. He was just along for the ride. There is a security checkpoint to get into Downtown Disney now that took us a while to get through. They need a "no bag" line to speed things up.
Since we weren't going into the park as planned, I had cancelled our Wine Country Trattoria dining reservations and decided to just take him to ESPN Zone. He was like a little kid in a candy store as soon as we walked into the gift shop. They have a machine in there that engraves luggage tags, keychains, etc. He spent 15 mins or so deciding on which one he wanted and what he wanted engraved on it. With his new luggage in place on his Blizzcon backpack, he was ready to go eat. When we checked in, the hostess asked if there was a particular game we wanted to watch. I had no idea there was a football game going on, but he did, of course. We wound up getting seated front and center for the Buffalos vs Jets game There were some black reclining chairs there also. I wondered how you got seated in those.
We ordered the chicken wings as an appetizer. They were pretty tasty. He had the grilled chicken sandwich which he loved. I had a wrap and a chocolate shake. They were both tasty. His toothpicks had basketballs on them. Mine had footballs. They quickly became souvenirs for him. The Jets won the game and we headed out.
Our next stop was the pin store at Downtown Disney. I originally wanted to show him about pin trading, so that he would understand how it works for his kids during our Disney World trip next year. The cast member at the register let him trade for his first pin, and he was hooked. In the blink of an eye, $100 was spent on pins for him. He is a huge Marvel fan, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.
We wandered through the Lego Store and World of Disney. Then one of the parks closed and masses of people descended on Downtown Disney. We had an early day in the morning, so we headed out. In the car, he said "this place is legit." A new Disney fan was born, and we hadn't even been into the parks.
