YouTube Today

YouTube is going to go the heavy lifting today.

The video does require a bit of an explanation.  So, there's a thing I sometimes do to kill a Saturday afternoon (or an odd Tuesday afternoon at work on a slow day) that really hypes me up for Disneyland. I like to put a Disneyland walkthrough video from YouTube on the big TV. If you search it up you can find VERY recent videos that people make.  They just hold up their GoPro camera and literally walk through the park!  You get all the sights and sounds of the park (but not the smells), you get to see the people, and have fun thinking about being there.  Simply watching one of those videos is great!

But there's a way to make watching a walkthrough video even better.  You see, while the video plays on the TV I like to open the Disneyland app and go to the map feature.  Now, we all use this to check on the ride wait times.  I'm sure all of you, like me, check wait times pretty much daily, so you're all very familiar with the app. At the top of the app there is a dropdown option. It defaults to "Attractions" but has a lot of other options:

Look at all those options! Characters, Dining, Entertainment, and a very important one: restrooms.  The fact is, that app has everything you need!  Anyway, back to the matter at hand. So, while the walkthrough video plays on the TV I open this app and switch to "Dining."

Now, the nice thing about Dining is it shows you all of the places you can get food and snacks in the park.  It shows popcorn carts, churro carts, quick service restaurants, and even the Blue Bayou. Not only does it show the locations of these places, it also shows the menus!

So anyway, as the walkthrough video moves through the park I follow along in the Disneyland app and as we "walk" by the different restaurants I like to look at the menus and see how much stuff costs, see what the seasonal offerings are, and dream about eating all of it!  I even sometimes make a list of the things I want to try when we go!

Here is a video I made that shows an example of what I mean by saying I turn on the walkthrough and follow along in the app:

Now here's more of the long story:

Post-Hot Tub Shenanigans

With everyone finally out of the water, they wrapped themselves in towels and headed back to their rooms. The warm, relaxing soak had done wonders, and the earlier excitement had worn off just enough for everyone to feel sleepy.

As they walked through the hotel hallways, Steve noticed the smell of mangoes and jerky lingering around them.

"We smell like a tropical snack shop," he said, sniffing his arm.

"Could be worse," Mandy said. "We could smell like that McDonald’s play area."

They all laughed, recalling the day’s misadventures.