Chapter 134
It’s Getting Hot, Hot, HOT

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(Originally posted January 17, 2014)

September 1-7, 2013

The end of August and beginning of September marked the beginning of the most horrid heat wave we’ve had since moving to CA. Every day just felt torturous for about two weeks. As we predicted way back when we were apartment hunting, the little air conditioning unit in the wall of the living room was totally unable to keep up, so we were absolutely miserable at home but hated the thought of going out into even worse weather. In the end, we actually broke down and bought a portable air conditioner for the bedroom, which at least allowed us to sleep through the night.

The point is, however, that it was generally hot and uncomfortable. Of course I made a stupid call on Sunday because we really wanted to go to Disneyland but it was one of the hottest days yet. I thought that if we headed over at about 4:00, then the temperatures would begin starting to fall before too long and we could eat dinner in the parks before enjoying a night out.

What actually ended up happening is that we got to the parks at the hottest point in the day. My one good idea was that we should park at Toy Story so that we could ride on air conditioned buses instead of the scorching tram. Once we made it to the parks, we didn’t even know what to do. We got Soarin’ Fastpasses and considered riding Grizzly River Run for the first time since moving here because we thought that it might provide temporary relief from the heat. After getting GAC return passes for that ride, it was already time for Soarin’.

As we got in the Fastpass line, I kid you not—there was a woman in the single rider line wearing a FUR COAT. Now it was at least 100 degrees in the parks and she was truly DRENCHED in sweat. I can’t even begin to fathom what her story was. We enjoyed Soarin’, but we were back out in the heat far too quickly. Tracy was feeling claustrophobic (because it was somehow still crowded in spite of the weather) and I was starting to feel dizzy, but we really didn’t want to give up after only having just gotten here. In the end, we exerted too much energy trying to stay and just felt more miserable. Thoroughly cranky, we made our way out of the park and back to the heavenly air conditioning on the Toy Story bus. I think it’s safe to say we learned our lesson.

Monday was Labor Day, and it was just as terribly hot. Checking the weather in the coastal towns, however, we discovered that the beaches were at least 20 degrees cooler. We knew that the ACTUAL beach towns would be packed, but we decided to head to Dana Point because it was one of the only coastal OC places we hadn’t been to yet.

It took a while to find parking, but once we did, we were able to walk along the little stretch of beach.

We discovered that since Dana Point is more of a boating town, it centers around the harbor. Right next to the places where all the boats were kept was a rocky outcropping that we could walk out onto and get great views of the water.

Almost unbelievably, the wind was whipping up so much out on the rocks that we started to get a little chilly. We weren’t about to complain, though. Feeling cold was a WELCOME break from the weather back in Orange.

I don’t know if we’ll be in any rush to go back to Dana Point soon—mostly because there wasn’t a whole lot to do—but it was very pretty.

Today, we planned a little better for going to Disneyland. We had missed the peak heat while we were at the beach, and we waited until after dinner to head to the parks.

Several Halloween decorations had shown up on Main Street at this point. I LOVED this pumpkin playing an instrument.

Also, this black cat.

I insisted that we go experience Captain EO because the Internet rumors had GUARANTEED that it was going to close in a matter of days. Tracy had been traumatized by the attraction as a kid, so she really didn’t want to go, but it was air conditioned, so she finally acquiesced.

But she wasn’t happy about it.

I just don’t even know where to begin when describing how much we HATED this show. I’m totally sure it’s because we are part of the wrong generation and really aren’t Michael Jackson fans, but we thought it was just awful. And my least favorite part of the show was the way that the seats bounced along to the entire “Change the World” song. I thought it was going to make me sick!

Tracy proclaimed an enormous “I told you so” as we left the attraction. I reiterated that I never thought I’d actually LIKE the show, but I didn’t want it to go away forever without me ever taking the opportunity to see an attraction that had been a staple of both Disneyland and WDW for more than a decade. I appreciated the history in spite of the fact that I didn’t enjoy the film.

As we left EO far behind us, we walked by Pixie Hollow as its fountain show was starting.

A hidden gem that we’d heard about but never witnessed, I like @SparklyNicole’s description of this as a “mini World of Color.”

It was actually really neat, and I felt special that we’d happened to walk by at exactly the right time.

Heading into Fantasyland, we rode Alice, and for the first time ever, they made us share the car with another party. Considering how small those vehicles are, I thought it was a little weird because we were all shoved in.

We went on It’s a Small World next.

Done with Fantasyland for now, we walked along Big Thunder Trail over to Frontierland.

The Haunted Mansion had a sign up indicating that Sandy Claws was decking the halls, but there weren’t any other decorations up there yet.

Heading back to the main part of New Orleans Square, we had to bid farewell to a beloved piece of Disneyland history. We had stumbled across the Court of Angels back on our first trip, and we were immediately blown away by how cool it was to have such a beautiful corner that felt so secluded. Unfortunately, the news of the imminent Club 33 expansion had given birth to rumors that the Court was to be closed off to the public in order to facilitate a new entrance to the Club. We were dismayed when we learned the rumors were true, and we knew the area was slated to be closed off in a few days.

Wanting to take advantage of one last quiet night in this tranquil setting, Tracy and I headed over there to hang out for a while.

There was no one else back there except for a young man who was sitting and drawing the Court. Tracy and I never were too clear on how far up the stairs we were supposed to be allowed to go, but no one yelled at us as we went up to the top and sat on the staircase for several minutes.