Now, where were we? Oh, Right! We had spent two days sightseeing around the City by the Bay with our awesome New Directions travel guides.
We're enjoing the perks of staying at the historic Stanyan Park Hotel. With its friendly staff, comfy (and accessible) rooms, great location, and a yummy continental breakfast every morning!
So, when you were asked which Fisherman’s Wharf locations you thought we should go back and visit, the place with the most votes was: Aquarium of the Bay on Pier 39. So, that’s where we’ll go next!
Today our New Directions Tour Guides pick us up in their wheelchair-friendly vans and off we go to the Aquarium of the Bay!
We spend a few hours walking through the four different exhibits including the Sharks of Alcatraz Tunnel in the Under the Bay exhibit.
At the Touch the Bay exhibit, we are able to put our hands in the touch pools and feel the leopard sharks and bat rays. The skin of rays is similar to that of sharks. In one direction it feels like sandpaper – because it is made up of tiny teeth-like scales – and in the opposite direction it feels velvety and smooth.
At the Discover the Bay exhibit, we see tanks filled with beautiful and bright colored fish, urchin, and Dungeness crabs.
We watch Tahoe, Baxter, Shasta, and Ryer swim and play in their habitat at the North American River Otters exhibit.
In addition to going to the aquarium, there’s lots of things for us to do at the Pier.
Like go on virtual 3D & 7D rides, watch street performers, go to the arcade, check out the two-story carousel, watch sea lions sunbathing in marina, and of course shopping! Souvenirs anyone?
Let’s stroll down the Pier, and stop into a couple of shops along the way. Here’s the Shell Cellar. Anything that reminds you of your trip can be a souvenir.
WOW! LOOK AT ALL THOSE SHELLS!
If we can’t find a souvenir at the Only in San Francisco gift shop, ‘fuh·ged·da·boud·it’ because they have EVERYTHING from mugs to t-shirts!
Another good place to find San Francisco memorablia is at the Cable Car Store!
But there are also specialty shops too, like Bubba Gumps. Emporium of Forest Gump merchandise. After all ‘life is like a box of chocolates,’ right?
Then there’s, Alcatraz. I think I might just have to get myself a black and white stripe shirt and hat to go with my Al Capone bobblehead. Just sayen’
With full bellies we go outside and watch the sea lions sunbathing on the docks. “Aarp. Aarp. Aarp.” That must mean “Welcome to Sea Lion Harbor!”
We say ‘goodbye’ to the sea lions and walk over to the Players Sports Grill & Arcade! They have some old-school arcade games like the NFL Ball Toss, Skee Ball, and the Monster Claw!
They even have an old-time shooting range like traveling carnivals used to have. Who’ll be first to win a prize?
Afterwards we challenge our perceptions at Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze! The hallways and dead-ends to navigate are never-ending! Which way should we go?
- Werewolves: The evil Dr. Wolf has a diabolical plan to turn London’s residents into Werewolves and it’s working! It is up to us to stop the mad Doctor and save the city. With werewolves and the Doctors band of flying marauders everywhere, our job will be difficult and very dangerous!
- Road Fighters: Times are hard and existence is brutal. The world has been taken over by heavily armed mutants and food is the only currency of value. Only we can save ourselves. We’ve got to blast our way through a post-apocalyptic wasteland in this exciting and action packed game.
- Los Banditos: A futuristic Wild West adventure that takes us down a raging river, aboard a barreling locomotive. We will have to battle savage mechanical bandits and help rescue the damsels in distress! Will we be able to stop these menacing robots and their insane creator?
- Zombies: Zombies are wreaking havoc! At first our mission is to exterminate them but it quickly becomes pure survival as we speed down dark backroads, into a creepy cemetery crawling with brain-eating fiends! Yikes! This blood and guts adventure might be little too gory and scary for some of us.
- Forbidden Mine: Barreling down the rickety tracks of an old mine shaft, armed only with our wits and laser blasters, we must save ourselves and our gold from hordes of skeletons, mummies, and other creepy Ghoulies that leap out from every corner! Our hearts will pound and our nerves will fray as we blast our way through this mine of horrors!
- Gigamon: Prehistoric Gigamon meet modern day defenders in this high speed, pulse-pounding thrill ride of non-stop action. We’ll race through chaotic city streets, with helicopters above and terror-filled subway tunnels below. Are we ready to fight for our city? For our planet? For our lives? Only time will tell.
Now tell us which ride you think we should go on in the following poll.
Make sure to read the April edition of DISABILI-TEA to see which ride got the most votes! Which one do you think will win?
But don’t worry, no one is left out of either the 7D-Experience – DarkRide or The Flyer. Those of us who are unable to transfer into the motion seats, are still able to enjoy these experiences from the comfort of our own wheelchairs!
I really like Pier 39, don’t you?
It’s starting to get late now, so once we’ve flown over San Francisco in The Flyer, our tummies begin that all too familiar rumble telling us it’s dinner time.
As The Flyer is just upstairs, we take the handy elevators down to the Hard Rock Café for rock & roll memorabilia and some chow!
Tables have been set up for us in the center of the room with views of rock & roll memorabilia hanging on the walls around us.
The food is super good here! I’m getting a Legendary Steak Burger with cheddar cheese, apple-smoked bacon, and a thick onion ring! Save room for dessert!
Tune in next time for The Dickens Christmas Faire and much more!
Credits:
Created with images by stux - "luggage travel sunlight" • PDPhotos - "fishermans wharf pier port" • pixel2013 - "otter otter-baby otter baby" • iulian_ursache - "water dark pier 39" • Simon - "port pier 39"