“I’m going to Disneyland!”

Margie and I went to Downtown Disney in Anaheim last night as a “date night,” scheduling a very nice dinner at Catal for 8 so we could be on the balcony to see the fireworks at 9:30.

Margie’s been very funny about Ingress with me. On the one hand, she kind of mockingly pooh-poohs it as “marking territory” (when she’s polite) and derives great amusement at my being involved in it, she’s also been unexpectedly supportive of my doing it. So whenever we’ve gone out while here in SoCal this vacation, she’s driven so I can hack at passing portals (and has been known to swerve into a parking lot if they’re a bit too far from the roadway).

On Christmas, she indulged me in heading to my folks’ house by way of Glendora Ave., which had several portals between the freeway and downtown. I was just a fraction away from Level 4, and between going and coming back, I managed to level.

So last night we were at Downtown Disney. It should come as no particular surprise that Disneyland itself is full of portals, the majority of them player submitted, I assume. I would guess there are some players who work at the park, others who have annual passes, and the rest are vacationers and visitors passing by and adding another layer to their holiday experience.

Downtown Disney is open to the public, being a shopping / restaurant hub between the parks and the Disneyland hotel. And Margie appeared to have fun encouraging me to hack as I liked, and even standing by while I attacked and took a couple of the portals — the funny hat by the hotel, attacking the blue portal at the Rainforest Cafe, taking the portal at the fountain in front of the House of Blues, and struggling with the very powerful one centered on the trumpeter at the New Orleans restaurant there.

We even walked beyond the Disney Store (past the blue portal at the tram fountain) to the plaza between Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure.  There was a whole series of green portals there which I was able to hack at for fun and prizes. And enough stray XM in the air to recharge me no matter what.

The best was that there was a portal right outside Catal, so I could sit there and hack at it every five minutes from our dinner table until it burned out. Then I took it over for the Enlightenment and netted many more AP.

I also chatted a bit on the Comms with the locals, including one guy who is moving out to Boulder in the summer. I told him there was a pretty vibrant Enlightened community in the Denver area, which he was happy to hear.

On the way home Margie took me (unrequested) by a post office we hadn’t gone by previously (the portal was mid-building, though, so we couldn’t hit it), and then by the Ralphs near her folks’ house, where I took back two of the portals that had been turned back to blue, and reinforcing the green ones that had been attacked.  (Fortunately, the prowl car with two of Villa Park’s Finest decided we were not suspicious parked in the lot with the engine running.)

So I’m a third of the way through L4 now, which was unexpected, and I had fun, and I think Margie had fun (copious thanks be unto her). And, yeah, it’s just a game, but it’s a nice little add-on to what was already a very nice evening.