The gates to the park (Disney California Adventure) had horrendous lines, and I wasn't quite ready to deal with that yet, so I meandered to Downtown Disney and found myself in the World of Disney store. I'm a terrible consumer. I say that because I have a low tolerance for shopping. I tire of it easily. There's also this weird habit that I developed from childhood, thanks to being raised with little money, that I have to reason myself into buying something. I have an extremely difficult time buying anything unless I can come up with a valid reason to do so. There was a little bag I had my eyes on, but I wasn't quite in the mood to spend anything yet, and it was on the pricey side, so I left the store empty-handed. I came back to the lines and discovered not much improvement was made on the length, so I accepted my fate and decided to wait to get in. It wasn't as bad as it appeared.
I spent a little time meandering through the places on Buena Vista Street, finding interesting items to look at, but nothing to tempt me enough there, either. Honestly, it takes a lot to talk me into buying something. I was about to go into Hollywood Land when the Five & Dime came to perform. One of the things I wanted was to see more of these performances. Live performances are my thing, so I stopped to watch them. It was really fun to watch the kids nearby dance.
The main room in the animation building was closed, and I was disappointed, because that's my favorite part of the building, but Turtle Talk with Crush was open. I'd only been there once, so I took the opportunity to go to that show. Philharmagic was across the street, but I got stopped, barely missing the cutoff for the show, so I went and sat down next to the stage and listened to a middle school band play until I got into the next show. I barely made it into that one!
I basically wandered around the rest of the day since the wait times were terrible, and I wasn't sure I was feeling energetic enough to stand that long. I managed to hop on to Jessie's Critter Carousel (a first-time ride), Emotional Whirlwind, and The Little Mermaid, but mostly, just wandered. There was a salad at Paradise Garden Grill that was so yummy and large that it kept me full for nearly the whole remaining part of the day, even to the point that all I wanted in the evening was a simple smoothie.
I have my favorite people watching places to go, but the two of my most favorite are the take-off area for the Incredicoaster and the geyser area at Grizzly River Run. That's some great live entertainment right there!
Some people think that making most of their time and money worth it is running from attraction to attraction and trying to shove as many activities into their day as much as possible, but I don't agree. Taking time to enjoy the environment is well worth it, and much less stressful. There are benefits to slowing down.
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| Disney California Adventure |
