We Found Nemo!

Bob and I took advantage of our last day off and headed for The Magic Kingdom.

It was in the upper 90's, but clear and beautiful.

Bob had yet to find Nemo so we joined the queue.

I was grateful for the strategically placed umbrellas!

Little did we know when I snapped this picture...

...that the Argonaut would be the sub we boarded.

I love this view. It takes me straight back to my childhood. I remember looking at those barnacles and impatiently anticipating my "journey through liquid space".

Bob waits with more patience:

The water is a lot clearer than it appears in this picture:

After the ride that completely rocks, we headed for lunch at the Hungry Bear Restaurant.

We enjoy the river setting.

We walked straight on several other rides. There were no waits for anything but Nemo. We even cruised right into my favorite Disneyland ride, Indiana Jones. Why is it my favorite ride? I'll tell you about it sometime.

We then headed for California Adventure and our all time favorite ride, Soarin' Over California.

Our friend David happened to be working the ride today. It was great seeing him.

I still had to take care of some business, but it didn't take long. No one knew I was sitting on a bench near Monsters Inc wearing a Mickey hat.

We had dinner at Rancho del Zocalo Restaurante. It's an open air restaurant tucked away between Big Thunder Mountain and the shooting gallery in Frontier Land. The food is good and it never seems to be crowded. By then a breeze was trying to come up. It was lovely to sit outside and relax.

We had to find Nemo one more time before we left. We waited no more than 45 minutes both times we rode. It was well worth the wait. It's a fabulous ride.

Hope you too can find time to find Nemo!

I Found Nemo!

My dear husband Bob has been out of town.

With his blessing, I made my way to Disneyland solo yesterday.

I was on a mission.

I was Finding Nemo.

I went in understanding that the wait could be as long as 5 hours.

I do not normally go in for excessive waiting.

In this instance, however, I was willing to do it for old time's sake.

I checked the wait time board at the end of Main Street:

What's 210 divided by 60?

I was still trying to do the math as I made my way back toward Small World to join the line.

I gave up, figuring it was a long time.

I was totally committed to my mission.

I was relieved to see the line started by the Matterhorn rather than Small World.

I entered the line at about 12:30.

The people in front of me and behind me were really nice.

We got to know each other pretty well in the time that followed.

Here are some of the sights we saw:

I can't get excited about the Autopia ride:

Maybe it's because my younger sister was tall enough to ride by herself before I was.

More likely, though, it's because it is a grim reminder of what I fought through to get here in the first place.

Here's one of our first views of the Lagoon:

Wisely, the Disney folks put the far reaches of the line around some very scenic property:

The views kept us docile, even as the sun beat down upon us.

Again wisely, the Disney folks provided cool umbrellas to shade the boring switchback part of the line:

Without those, we all would have cooked to death.

The seagulls talk now, as opposed to the last time I saw them:

Even the monorail has a cool new Nemo wrap:

It was a posted 30 minute wait from this sign:

It seemed like less.

We actually arrived at our sub in 75 minutes, not the stated 210:

Here are the port holes:

Here is the same cool shell covered wall that I remember:

Our voyage began:

We saw some cool divers.

The dark part of the ride is really incredible (for more details from MousePlanet.com click here).

It was well worth the wait.

Finding Nemo is a pearl!

Congratulations Disney!

Finding Nemo

My paternal grandmother's name was Mabel.

As a young person new to talking, "Mabel" was more than my pre-FlutePraying mouth could skillfully articulate.

What came out when I tried to address her was "Nemo".

That moniker stuck.

That's why I'm more than a little nostalgic about the soon to be re-opened Submarine ride at Disneyland.

By the way, Grandma Nemo tried to ride the old Submarine ride. There was one problem. She was highly claustrophobic. As my dad remembered last week, she got about waist high down the ladder into the sub, then had to be excused.

So when I finally do get the opportunity to board the "Finding Nemo" sub, I'll be thinking of her.

I know where to look for her. She's in heaven.

Oh, and that other Nemo?

They found him too...