The Happiest Place on Earth - Monday

Monday was our All-American Day (AAD). Not to make fun of Americans (maybe just a little) but to live their lifestyle, or as we imagine it.

We took a quick shortcut through the empty Timon parking lot. The crowds would eventually materialize but for now there was a tram all for us.

On my tram. Look at how empty it is...

The tram put us much closer to our first destination on our AAD: McDonald's. Where else would you go for breakfast?

I chose a bacon McMuffin and Daorcey an egg McMuffin.

Bring on AAD! Yay, potatoes!

Daorcey told me once that Americans did not know of English Muffins and thus all their McMuffins were on biscuits. He lied. He got an English Muffin and I got, well, something else. Normally, the English muffin does not contribute much taste. It serves as a grease sponge and meat holder. All I could taste of the bacon McMuffin was the immense amount of butter in the biscuit. Even the egg is done incorrectly.

Behold its greasiness

Agreeing we should take it slow on the rides, we wander in to California Adventure. Maybe we'll start with Muppets 3D or A Bug's Land. The park officially opens at 10 a.m. but they allow people in before that time but rope off the paths to the rides. So we walked around, eventually deciding to join the crowd going into the Hollywood Backlot area.

Crowd control is a really interesting phenomenon, especially in Disneyland. It's like waiting in line or standing in an unmoving crowd waiting for something to happen is an established social convention. It takes very little persuasion to keep a crowd behind a crack in the pavement. Interesting too, that once the rides were opened, the crowd remained controlled because the "cast members" employed eager kids to lead the parade. The crowd would police itself because who would knock over an innocent child to be first in line? Brilliant!

So now we find ourselves as part of the throng headed down the Hollywood Backlot toward... well, we've already told you how that story ended. Let's just say, it wasn't the relaxing start we'd intended. It ended with lots of screaming (Natalie) and a bit of maniacal laughter (Daorcey).

The bulk of our AAD was spent exploring California Adventure, doing many a ride and eating with our newly gained 100 Disney dollars. Another requisite for AAD is having our photos taken with various Disney characters. The top of the pyramid would be Mickey and I guess the bottom would be the cars from Cars. We picked characters that were mildly cute and had a short line.

Goofy, Eeyore, Chip and Pluto!

As part of our AAD, we knew we had to conclude things with a trip to a buffet. According to Daorcey, buffets are arguably the American dream--it represents the freedom to choose excess. No one goes hungry in America.

We wanted a Sizzler but strangely there wasn't one in walking distance. The only available buffet was Captain Kidd with the requisite flair on the walls. This was the world's saddest buffet. Everything had a dried out heat shell thanks to the red heat lamps.

Hence my sad face over a plate of pasta and canned corn. Daorcey had fish sticks, french fries and refried beans.

Why must I be so hungry?

If you follow the pictures you can see my excitement at my egg McMuffin and my blues at the buffet. I think AAD was not the success we wanted it to be.

Apart from memories that may come back to us, this is pretty much the end of our trip recap. It was easy, moderately fun and almost relaxing. Not France, but a good bit of travelling together.