Day 14 – Part Two – “And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air…..” and Day 15 – home

Friday 4th July 2014/ Saturday 5th July 2014

And so we come to the evening of 4th July. Now I said that earlier in the day the Disneyland Park had been manageable despite heavier crowds and that we had got on rides without much trouble. When we return at 6:15p.m. the place is heaving. We have another reservation at Carnation Café. This time it’s for dinner. Nothing fancy. As long as we get food we’ll be happy. When we arrive for our 6:20 booking there is quite a queue. It seems the fire alarm went off about half an hour ago and the restaurant had to be evacuated. (Just what you need on 4th July!)This has put them about 30 minutes behind schedule. They say we can wait but recommend we return in about half an hour. We go wander around the shops on Main Street. At 7p.m. we go back and they have a table waiting for us outside thankfully as it’s a warm evening. Darrin opts for a pomegranate lemonade. When it arrives it does so with a thick foamy top and 3 blobs of pomegranate flavoured coulis:



I have light lemonade, Jimmie - iced tea and Tim – coke.
It’s very much a cheeseburger or meatloaf affair for us all but it is adequate.





The crowds are still building. The fireworks are due at 9p.m. so it’s time to start looking for a pitch. We would later learn the crowd was close on about 75,000. The restricted access policy kicks in at 85,000! It’s tight.

About an hour before the show – in front of us:



And about 45 minutes before the show behind us:



CMs ask people to sit on the ground whilst they wait. We have bought a towel so use that to sit on to keep our pants from getting soiled. It’s the first time I have ever sat between the tram rails on Main Street USA!
Around 15 minutes before the show they make an announcement asking everybody to stand.
Given that Darrin and I are two Brits it feels somewhat odd standing here with all these Americans on their Independence Day. Jimmie suddenly says: “OK. Let’s get this patriotic nonsense over with!” which makes us guffaw. I then say: “What all you Colonials don’t realise is that I have the militia waiting outside the turnstiles. I’m claiming this country back in the name of Queen Elizabeth the Second!”
Jimmie responds: “The state this country is in, you can have it!” This leads to quite a few chuckles around us.

Just as the show is about to begin, about two rows in front of us, a guy sticks his kid on his shoulders and the child then promptly starts to hold up an ipad ! Lots of people, ourselves included, complain. The guy says: “But the kid needs to see the fireworks too!” My retort was: ”So do the 50,000 people behind you!” Does it not occur to folk that fireworks are up in the sky not dead ahead? Doh!

The lights dim and it all begins:



There are loads of Sousa tunes – Liberty Bell, Stars and Stripes Forever, Washington Post and the sky above Sleeping Beauty castle erupts with red, white and blue:







The stirring music continues with “This is my country, land that I love….”, “Shenadoah” and then the National Anthem:







To hear 70,000 people sing their National Anthem is really moving and both Darrin and I have tears streaming down our faces. This is the perfect end to what has been an amazing holiday. 15 days have flown by but in that time we have created memories that will last a lifetime. We’ve shared the journey with very dear friends – Janine and Mark in Seattle who helped us kick things off with their warmth and darn good home-made meal. Lana and Don in the Columbia River Gorge – such majestic scenery and snow in June! Tim and Jimmie and their immaculate Disney parks touring abilities. Each and every one of you – we love you all. And now, it’s all nearly over. I hate the last day of any holiday (vacation). Even as a child I felt it was so wrong that things had to end and not knowing how long it would be before I could do it all again.
Well, I do know because we have already booked. We even got an early bird discount at one hotel we have reserved with. 3rd July will see us fly out to San Francisco and this time we will celebrate 4th July 2015 in that city. Sadly Seattle and White Salmon WA won’t be on the list but there are always other years.
I guess this is a time to reflect on Highs and Lows:
Highs –
Meeting our friends. Good honest hospitality and genuine friendships which we really appreciate.
The accommodation – with one exception, the standard was amazing.
Food – even a humble burger and fries was delicious. Seafood was just drooling-ly good.
Scenery – just jaw dropping at times but see Lows.

Lows –
The coastal fog. Dramatic some days- depressing on others. Prevented us seeing the true beauty of the Oregon coastline.
Avis car rental and the bloke who forgot his paperwork. Next time we are definitely choosing a “quick check” company.

The park isn’t due to close until midnight but we make our way slowly back towards the Grand Californian chatting to our friends as we go. It’s a tearful goodbye as we cuddle and hug each other and then, they, in turn, carry on to their accommodation. Our suitcases are all packed for morning. We’ll have a few hours to do Downtown Disney and any last minute shopping. Our flight leaves LAX at 3:50p.m.and we want to try the new lounges that have built and recently opened. The new shopping centre is administered by Westfield. Sorry BA, but their lounge and the 3 course complimentary lunch we had knocks spots of the Galleries at Heathrow!







It’s nearly 11 hours flight back home to London. Great crew, good food and we managed to get some shut-eye.





Back at Heathrow around 11a.m., did self -check passport booths, quick baggage retrieval and home by the taxi that was waiting for us just before 1p.m. All well reports Jenny, our house and dog sitter. Blair went wild when he saw us. Jenny has a little surprise planned:



Hope you enjoyed our rambles!

Trip report INDEX: http://DIBB.in/9823405

Such a fabulous holiday..with so many friends along the way making it extra special..thank you so much for posting.

I like to think we are sent special friends to share our lives... very special people we can be ourselves with... talk with, laugh with, hope with...
and believe with. Friends like YOU.

Awwww, thank you hun...we are so happy that you are both in our lives too.

Thoroughly enjoyed your trip report and love that you include interesting facts. Sounds like a fabulous holiday and so lovely that you get to share it with such good friends. Happy Belated Anniversary

Thanks Geoff for a fab trippie-have always enjoyed your posts but have paid special attention to this one as DH and I are flying to seattle on sept 6th, road trip to Portland via several national parks and the coast

really looking forward to it now

Happy Anniversary

Dissie - thank you. We put a lot of planning into this holiday because we anted it to be really special - and it was. Now I have finished the trip report I have 3,000 hotos to go through and decide which I want printed for the scrapbook! Another ordeal in itself!

I loved this trippie. I was filling up when I read that you had tears during the Anthem.
Thankyou so much for taking the trouble to write it.

Aw Geoff noooo :-( Have really enjoyed reading! Thank you for taking the time to write!

I look forward to reading YOUR trip report!

We keep mentioning Yellowstone at some point. Give it a year or two and we'll be there.