Thumping Our Way Through Disneyland.

[pkondz]

The customer hands over $23.03 which of course confused me as the bill is $21.98. I tried to explain that what she was giving me was more than what the total was...I was probably staring at her for a good minute or two before...wait for it...the nickel dropped in...and I understood what she was trying to do.

I think there is a penny phobia in NM, because I found myself dealing with cases like this on a regular basis.

Now I must remember to not speak math when tired.

Ok, so, now you owe her a dollar and 5 cents and this is supposed to simplify things in her mind, when a stinking keep the two cents would have worked,,,,,,
Ponzi, leave it alone, there's no upside here.

I... can't... must... re...sist... can't.... errr......ahh.....

But it still doesn't explain the $23 part instead of $22. The 3 cents makes, ahem, perfect sense. Sure get rid of three rotten pennies for a nice shiny nickel. But the customer handed you a $20 then 1, 2, 3 one dollar bills... and you just handed one right back. Makes no sense. Ugh... brain... going to... explode.... aaaaaaaaa.....

I didn't say it was supposed to make sense...I just said it was a true story. There is a reason I am no longer working in retail. But now you know why I was stumped.

Okay, at least you were stumped legitimately.

Phew.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I love BOTH your writing styles!
you both look younger than I pictured. (of course everyone looks young to us 55 and older set, dontcha know?)

Why thank you. I think.

great job researching. how silly would it have been to drive to the parking lot and end up taking a shuttle almost as far?

That was our thought exactly. We did see one advantage to possibly parking in the Disney parking lot, but we'll cover that later in the TR.

there's one thing Nebo hates.. when any CM does the "I can't hear you" bit. he refuses to play along.

It faster and easier to play along and get it over with.

ponzi mentioned what I wanted to and forgot. that garbage can in the middle of the room. If it was us, I would have put it in the bathtub if I couldn't find any other place. it would have killed Nebo.. .. "death by trashcan".

Especially if you would've put it in the Ariel shower over at AoA that Nowellsl posted pics of.

 

[Thumper_Man]

T-Man, that was a great update! Stand strong and proud.

That shuttle bus scenario seems weird. The one and only time we went to DL, we stayed about 5 min walk away, but not nearly as nice a place as yours.

I had read some reviews about this place. Some good and some not so good. For the most part, the good outweighed the bad.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

I... can't... must... re...sist... can't.... errr......ahh.....

But it still doesn't explain the $23 part instead of $22. The 3 cents makes, ahem, perfect sense. Sure get rid of three rotten pennies for a nice shiny nickel. But the customer handed you a $20 then 1, 2, 3 one dollar bills... and you just handed one right back. Makes no sense. Ugh... brain... going to... explode.... aaaaaaaaa.....

I know, I don't think she understood why I was so confused, she thought she was one smart cookie...and unfortunately, having your head explode in front of a customer us frowned upon in those establishments.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Some things in life are more important than others... Dessert is at or near the top of the list.

Well, yeah. Every guy knows what's at the very top of the list.

I'm not surprised. A pearl is practically perfect in every way. Very much like myself.

Ponzi. Wake up. You're sleep typing.

Oh you rebel you!

Born to be wild!!!!

My first surprise. I didn't even notice this the first time around... I had no idea that there was a monorail there. And it amazes me that it goes to DTD.

And I (yes, ME as in T_Man, bunny boy, THE OTHER GUY) will discuss this in the next chapter.

Thanks for the mini restaurant review. Sounds like it was a good place.

Oh I didn't mention it was a good place? It was a very good place. I highly recommend it if you have the money to splurge.

Worth repeating.

Really? Well it certainly was a nice way to start the vacay.

I concur.

Why? Don't they have spares? What kind of flea-bag joint is this?

Right. Sell you a big juicy steak cooked to perfection that you had to take out a 2nd mortgage to pay for and they don't even have the decency to let you have the table.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Glad you are on your way to your first magical day! Hope there's no blood shed, concrete smacked, WC mishaps or dining disasters!

Keep hoping and maybe it won't happen.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Oh, I insist alright! At least I can keep up with yours. Nebo is so popular that I always find myself 20 pages behind (I'm now at 88 and the rest of you are at 118!)

Well the first two hours show some promise of the Magic yet to come. Looking forward to hearing more...

If Nebo is so popular, don't you think that you would be reading his TR first to keep up? Then come over to ours to catch up? Maybe Nebo isn't so popular after all?

I know. Wishful thinking on our part. It sounded good though right?

 

[pkondz]

It's a beautiful mornin' ahhh, I think I'll go outside for a while. An jus' smile, just take in some clean fresh air boy.

I think it's admirable that you're taking in this clean fresh air boy. The fact that he's got a job selling fresh air to support himself tells me he's a keeper!

Went to DL in the morning, DCA in the afternoon and finished the day back at DL. I now return you to your regularly scheduled TR over on Nebo’s thread.

Okay! Well thanks for the chapter. Very informative. See you over there.

Still around? Really, Nebo’s is more exciting at the moment. Our day is literally a walk in the park compared to his; but if you insist, I’ll try to make our day sound exciting and magical.

Yeah, but I've already read his and I've got nothing better to do....

There are 4 days Disney allows you to take advantage of this perk: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday; and the only park you can use it at is Disneyland.

I wonder why that is. To both parts. Why those particular days and why only DL?

Doh! I didn’t set the clock right.

D'oh!

I switched day to night, and night to day.

You're like a God!

Anyways, I turn the coffee maker on and head back (unarmed with coffee) to wake sleeping beauty. This time I didn’t need the bucket of ice water to get her up. A kiss worked just fine.

Does Mrs T know about this? It's bad enough you have random Disney princesses sleeping it off in your bed... but to kiss them?

Heather, I'm sorry you had to read about this here.

Soon coffee is ready and so are we. Pack our bags, grab our tickets and put them in the new lanyards we bought the night before, and off we go to the lobby.

You put your bags in the lanyards?

The hotel is a mile down the road from the DL turnstile, or a 20-25 minute walk (depending on how fast you walk). 45-60 minute walk at the end of the day if you’re tired and don’t want to walk anymore.

True!

Yup, I typed that out correctly. You pay to park at the DL parking lots and you still have to take s shuttle to DL.

So sorta the same idea as at MK. You park and you're nowhere near the park. Have I got that kind of right?

The light blue line is how far Lady H and I would have to walk to catch the nearest ART shuttle. The green line would be the route the shuttle would take to DL after it picked us up.

The white line is for the loading and unloading of passengers, there is no stopping on a red line.

There were also no short cuts from our hotel to this parking lot. Not unless you wanted to jump the wall.

You have an SUV but you need the General Lee.


it rhymes, too.

Ok, now that I covered the whole parking issue, let me get back to the TR itself.

What? I thought you'd parked the TR.

As we walk into the lobby, Sneaky Larry is already hard at work figuring out who will be his next victims.

Is that Tricky Larry's brother?

We try not to make eye contact and proceed directly to the kiosk. He spots us but just gives us a friendly good morning and goes to a back office. Phew. We escaped for now.

Oh you poor young kids. He saw you avoiding him. Of course he's not going to make a pitch now. He's going to wait until your defenses are down... then pounce!

The shuttle driver must have been a yellow jacket in disguise.

They're everywhere! OMG! Do you think they're taking over???

No offense to anyone out there when I say he was an older man. I would say he was either in has late 50’ or early 60’s. I know what you’re thinking, “T_Man is calling us old.” He was older than me so how else would I refer to him.

Distinguished? Debonnair? Dashing?

Now here’s where his old age kicks in, he tells them “I can’t hear you.”

Oh, man. On behalf of old decrepit has beens everywhere... sorry.

Did he remember to turn his hearing aids on? Lady H wanted to tell him “Alma, turn the pack on.”

What? WHAT?? Oh, nevermind.

He must have heard everyone this time because he seems satisfied and stops asking.

That's his whole schtick right there.

Once again, the driver wants crowd participation; “Kids, do you know where you are?” They kids yell out “Disneyland” and the driver is now Mr. Funny Man, “Wrong. You’re on the bus,” and with that he lets us off.

Yup I was right. That was his whole schtick.

Now it’s time for the ever so famous, daunting task of slipping by security un-noticed. Walls are too high to jump here and I don’t know where the snipers are positioned.

On the roofs. But they're hard to spot.

They confiscate our mountain climbing gear. They said they already have CM’s that act as mountain climbers and they aren’t holding open auditions for future climbers. So much for climbing the Matterhorn today.

Time to tour commando style.

Right! Because at times like this, who has time for underwear?

After we get our cheap paper tickets, the CM now scans these tickets. No fingerprint system like WDW. This would be a love/hate relationship later on in the TR.

Hmmm... that sounds ominous.

We walk through the turnstile and we are finally inside Disneyland.

Since it has obviously been stated on here that some like Lady H’s writing style more than “THE OTHER GUY”, TOG is ending this chapter here and will try to turn it over to Lady H so she can keep you entertained while I quietly sit in the back of the class; occasionally filling in any details that Lady H may not quite recall.

Now which moron would've said that? Really T-Man, you're doing a great job. You both are.

Secretly plotting my revenge and how I can torture you with more chapters.
Bwaahhh hhhaaaa hhhaaa hhhaaa.

Oh dear, what have I done?

Great chapter Thumpy!

 

[jcc0621]

Need to buy passes to ride the ART (Anaheim Resort Transportation) shuttle.

I was reading about this. So it was worth it?

45-60 minute walk at the end of the day if you’re tired and don’t want to walk anymore.

Exactly!

We figured it would be easier to do it this way, rather than pay the driver.

Do you have to do this everyday, or can you but one for multiple days just to save time?

The shuttle driver must have been a yellow jacket in disguise.

This where they send the yellow jackets to retire?

Once again, the driver wants crowd participation; “Kids, do you know where you are?” They kids yell out “Disneyland” and the driver is now Mr. Funny Man, “Wrong. You’re on the bus,” and with that he lets us off.

Maybe he was a former Jungle Cruise Captain?

City Pass. She scans them and hands them back to us, along with 2 new tickets.

Have been looking into this too. Seems to be the best deal???

 

[Thumper_Man]

I was reading about this. So it was worth it?

Without giving too much away, for the most part it was.

Do you have to do this everyday, or can you but one for multiple days just to save time?

They do offer multiple day passes. Once activated, multiple days are for consecutive days. So if you buy a 3 day pass and first use it let's say on Monday, then its valid for all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I think it depends on the time you activate it as well. I can't be too sure though since we always bought and used ours in the early morning. The way Lady H and I planned out our days, it was more beneficial for us to buy them one day at a time.

Have been looking into this too. Seems to be the best deal???

It's a very good deal. It's almost like paying for Disney and getting Universal & Sea World for free. 3-day adult ticket for Disney is $250 online. Universal is $80 and Sea World $68. Buying them separately you would spend $398. City Pass is $279 per adult. Save $119 per adult. The only better deal you can get is if you can get someone to buy them for you. With their money and not yours.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I think it's admirable that you're taking in this clean fresh air boy.

I had no choice if I wanted to go to DL.

Okay! Well thanks for the chapter. Very informative. See you over there.

Glad you enjoyed it. See you there.

Yeah, but I've already read his and I've got nothing better to do....

Well since you made the effort to come back, you might as well.

I wonder why that is. To both parts. Why those particular days and why only DL?

You really think Disney is going to tell you why they do it this way? Lady H and I wondered this same thing ourselves. We would've rather used the EMH over at DCA rather than at DL.

You're like a God!

I have my moments.

Does Mrs T know about this? It's bad enough you have random Disney princesses sleeping it off in your bed... but to kiss them?

Heather, I'm sorry you had to read about this here.

Of course she knows this, she was there.

You put your bags in the lanyards?

We got the super duper hold all lanyards.

So sorta the same idea as at MK. You park and you're nowhere near the park. Have I got that kind of right?

That's exactly what it would be like.

You have an SUV but you need the General Lee.


it rhymes, too.

I needed General Lee to blast a whole in the wall.
Oh, you meant the car.

Is that Tricky Larry's brother?

His twin.

Oh you poor young kids. He saw you avoiding him. Of course he's not going to make a pitch now. He's going to wait until your defenses are down... then pounce!

Come to think about it, I think this is the last time we encountered Tricky Larry and his brother.

They're everywhere! OMG! Do you think they're taking over???

Everybody wants to rule the world.

Distinguished? Debonnair? Dashing?

More like dull, delirious and daring.

Oh, man. On behalf of old decrepit has beens everywhere... sorry.

No need to apologize. I'll be there one of these days myself.

On the roofs. But they're hard to spot.

Thus the reason I didn't want to take the chance.

I was really looking forward to climbing the Matterhorn to.

Right! Because at times like this, who has time for underwear?

Too much of in a hurry to get out the door. Knew I was forgetting something important. At least I still had shorts on.

Hmmm... that sounds ominous.

For the moment, I'll say it sure made park hopping interesting.

Now which moron would've said that? Really T-Man, you're doing a great job. You both are.

Some Canadian guy. Nebo calls him Ponzi all the time.

Thanks. We're trying. I'll take you all through this day and try to finish sometime this week so Lady H can take you through tomorrow, sometime next week.

Oh dear, what have I done?

Guilty conscience?

Great chapter Thumpy!

Thanks Ponzi. Try to get the next chapter up quicker this time.

 

[bankr63]

If Nebo is so popular, don't you think that you would be reading his TR first to keep up? Then come over to ours to catch up? Maybe Nebo isn't so popular after all?

I know. Wishful thinking on our part. It sounded good though right?

Originally Posted by bankr63
Oh, I insist alright! At least I can keep up with yours. Nebo is so popular that I always find myself 20 pages behind (I'm now at 88 and the rest of you are at 118!)

First, I really enjoy your report, you and TMW really keep things Thumpin' along. But for me it's really about time, so my logic is a bit different than yours. Perhaps as a Project Manager, I feel I need to complete things; hit milestones as we say. I can knock off one of the Neboite's reports and it stays that way for a while. Especially with the Hot Dogs gone cold and Nomads wandering the desert now - hello Mony and Laura! Each of those has been a 10 second check for weeks now!

Since I am a good Neboite and follow his orders, I read everything on his report, and most of it on a 30 minute lunch (when I take a lunch). So if I focus on the real Nebo report, I read to the end of the page, hit the next page, and watch Page 88 of 118 climb to Page 89 of 120 (I haven't even looked at his number yet today, and lunch is almost over). Yup while I finished one page of Nebo, ya'll wrote two! I know a lost cause when I see it, so with the real Nebo reports, I tawdle along in the background and finsh months after y'all have moved along. Heck, I get the same repartee from all of you on any one of these reports!

That said, I need to get over there too. I'm actually closer to page 100 now, and I think the Hammer might fall soon - shhhh, don't spoil it for me...

 

[Thumper_Man]

First, I really enjoy your report, you and TMW really keep things Thumpin' along. But for me it's really about time, so my logic is a bit different than yours. Perhaps as a Project Manager, I feel I need to complete things; hit milestones as we say. I can knock off one of the Neboite's reports and it stays that way for a while. Especially with the Hot Dogs gone cold and Nomads wandering the desert now - hello Mony and Laura! Each of those has been a 10 second check for weeks now!

Since I am a good Neboite and follow his orders, I read everything on his report, and most of it on a 30 minute lunch (when I take a lunch). So if I focus on the real Nebo report, I read to the end of the page, hit the next page, and watch Page 88 of 118 climb to Page 89 of 120 (I haven't even looked at his number yet today, and lunch is almost over). Yup while I finished one page of Nebo, ya'll wrote two! I know a lost cause when I see it, so with the real Nebo reports, I tawdle along in the background and finsh months after y'all have moved along. Heck, I get the same repartee from all of you on any one of these reports!

That said, I need to get over there too. I'm actually closer to page 100 now, and I think the Hammer might fall soon - shhhh, don't spoil it for me...

Spoil What?

 

[orangecats2]

Are you referring to this one?




If so, no; we didn't get it. Please send another one.

We wish we would've been there to. Can't wait until December when we are. Thanks for sending it to us. We really like it and it's already hanging on our bulletin board by the puter.

That's it! Some other weird disney lover must have gotten it then.

 

[Thumper_Man]

That's it! Some other weird disney lover must have gotten it then.

I'm going to have to hunt that person down and get our postcard.


Attention! ATTENTION!

As I mentioned, we were going to kick this TR into high gear. There has been an outcry for pictures. I've finished uploading most of them, so these next chapters are going to start coming at you pretty quick. So try to keep up and roll with us homies. Should have the next chapter up sometime tomorrow.

 

[smidgy]

yay!!!

 

[nebo]

First, I really enjoy your report, you and TMW really keep things Thumpin' along. But for me it's really about time, so my logic is a bit different than yours. Perhaps as a Project Manager, I feel I need to complete things; hit milestones as we say. I can knock off one of the Neboite's reports and it stays that way for a while. Especially with the Hot Dogs gone cold and Nomads wandering the desert now - hello Mony and Laura! Each of those has been a 10 second check for weeks now!

Malcolm, I wondered about the dogs and nomads too, best I can figure out is their schedules really got busy, I do know that Monica's did, I'm more familiar with hers.

Since I am a good Neboite and follow his orders, I read everything on his report, and most of it on a 30 minute lunch (when I take a lunch). So if I focus on the real Nebo report, I read to the end of the page, hit the next page, and watch Page 88 of 118 climb to Page 89 of 120 (I haven't even looked at his number yet today, and lunch is almost over). Yup while I finished one page of Nebo, ya'll wrote two! I know a lost cause when I see it, so with the real Nebo reports, I tawdle along in the background and finsh months after y'all have moved along. Heck, I get the same repartee from all of you on any one of these reports!

Well, um, geesh, I encourage others to interact.
I'm sorry. No I'm not. Well, really, yes I am. Um, no I'm not.
You are saying that you really wish I'd put in links to new chapters aren't you? Here's one of the problems:
I know how to do a link I think to a specific page, but not to a certain post, all 15 posts per page fall under the same umbrella. If somebody knows how, I guess it wouldn't hurt ot know this myself, for in the future.

But if you just read my chapter posts, then you'd be missing out on the world famous ad libber Ponzi, and the always clever Laura and Mony when they get around to it.
Not to mention the Bunny tag team, and many others.
I do at least put in the page number of the last chapter alwys, to help a little bit at least.

But the reason nobody gave away the result of the Hammer is because Nebo died at the end of that chapter.
It was a shock but his contract with the Dis was up and they weren't going to re-sign him anyway.

I do wish they would have come up with somthing a bit more original though:
"Trip writer Nebo's Santa Fe was shot down over the Sea of Japan, there was no survivors."

C'mon Mitch, you can keep up, just take it easy and slow, 20 minutes during the day at work, and then 20 minutes at night and you'll be right back up there, with a great new body and rock hard abs, not to mention a new outlook on life!

That said, I need to get over there too. I'm actually closer to page 100 now, and I think the Hammer might fall soon - shhhh, don't spoil it for me...

Oh.

I'm going to have to hunt that person down and get our postcard.


Attention! ATTENTION!

As I mentioned, we were going to kick this TR into high gear. There has been an outcry for pictures. I've finished uploading most of them, so these next chapters are going to start coming at you pretty quick. So try to keep up and roll with us homies. Should have the next chapter up sometime tomorrow.

Yeah man, can't wait!
Not to tell you how to do your report, but Mike, if you can, since you have been to both parks now, I'd really love to hear a not only Park comparison, but if yoiu could, a ride comparison as well. I know, I'm being a jerk, but we hope to get there next year, and , like for one thing, I can't WAIT to compare the INDY JONES ride up against it's sister, Dinosaur. Or the Disenyland side-by-side Space Mountain ride against the Worlds "single file" SM.
I've also wondered if food prices are the same.
I also have a feeling that there are more foreigners at Florida then in California, am I right?

See how I am?

Looking forward to what's next, as you might be able to tell!

 

[Thumper_Man]

Come with me
And you’ll be,
In a World of
Pure imagination
Take a look
And you’ll see
Into your imagination

We’ll begin
With a spin
Traveling in
The world of my creation
What we’ll see
Will defy
Explanation



“How could I be here both tomorrow and yesterday when I’m here today? I don’t want to leave today, because then I might get to see what I came to see. I don’t want to wait until tomorrow and I can’t go back to yesterday. ”

This was the first thought I had when I saw this sign. Either way, I was happy to be here; no matter which here it is.

As we enter DL, Lady H and I grab a park map and off we go.

There has been a demand for lots of pictures. I don’t want to get lynched, so I will grant you your wish.








The marine layer wasn’t quite as thick this morning. Although it seems cloudy, it was pretty warm already. Not a lot of people headed down Main Street yet either. This would work in our favor. As we entered the gate, the CM handed us a card that we would have to give to another CM at the end of Main Street in order to enter Fantasyland and/or Tomorrowland. Again, this is another one of those things you want to know why DL does what they do. They did and we had no choice but to go with the flow. One would think (and believe me I thought it), once you are in the park you obviously had the proper credentials to enter early. If you didn’t, you would still be lined up outside the gates waiting to get in. And why is it we were only allowed into Tomorrowland and Fantasyland? Now I know why the sign referenced Tomorrow and Fantasy. Makes perfect sense now.

After we hand the CM our “makes no sense” card, we notice most everyone is headed to FL. We head in the opposite direction to TL. We head on over to Space Mountain. This would probably be our best chance to ride it. We get to the entrance and notice the wait time.



They’re not even distributing FP’s yet.


We walk through the queue and figure out why the wait time is 10 minutes. The CM has to wait 10 minutes for you to get there as you walk through the Queue. Take note how empty the queue is now.






Now Lady H will ride each roller coaster at least once for bragging rights.

Here she’s already getting a little nervous. This will be the first time on any trip she rides a roller coaster first.


This is probably the shortest line we would see for Space Mountain all day.



Now I know some of you wanted a few comparisons between rides. First comparison, Space Mountain DL vs. Space Mountain MK. Both are really good and each unique in their own way. Queue for SM-DL is mostly outside (as you can see in the pics I posted). SM-MK is mostly inside (although I have seen the line pretty long outside as well). Mk’s has the new interactive queue which I really enjoy. You get the pleasure of air conditioning on hot days. Not so much at DL’s. As for the ride itself, the one I really like the most is……….. Now all you WDW fans don’t go hating on me. Scroll down and skip to the next set of pictures if you must. And please don’t start a big debate, but I think DL’s is just a little bit better. Not to say I don’t like the one at MK. Trust me, I can read each one 5 times a day given the chance. DL just seemed to have a little bit smoother ride. I didn’t feel like I was getting thrown side to side on each turn. DL’s also seemed to be much darker inside than the one at MK. At MK, I can still see the track. At DL, I could not see the track at all. This made the ride a little more intense for me.

Next would be Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters. Another walk on ride.



There really is no difference between this one and the one over at MK. At least none that I really noticed.



Did I mention that I am the defending champ for this ride over at MK? Lady H is the defending champ for TSM. I have to defend my championship here at DL.

The winner and still champion of the world: Thumper_Man. Look at that score baby.



At the end of Buzz, you can actually email the picture to yourself. Which was good, because the pictures we tried to take didn’t quite come out. I don’t know if you’re able to do this at MK. I’ll have to look when I defend my championship once again.

After Buzz we hopped on over to Star Tours to finish off what we really wanted to do in Tomorrowland before the park opened for everyone else. Which was perfect timing on our part. Not too long after we finished Star Tours, there was a large group lining up and Star Tours jumped from a 15 minute wait when we entered the line, to a 30 minute wait. Darn CM’s must’ve opened up the park now. Every attraction we did in Tomorrowland was literally a walk on for us. EMH really worked to our benefit.

After we’re done in Tomorrowland we head on over to the Matterhorn.


Don’t we all wish the parks could stay this empty? At least the whole time we’re there?



I still need to figure out how to climb that mountain. I'll end it here for now while I go and figure it out. Plus our Early Morning Magic hour is over. Park is officially open.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Au contraire! I thought the resort was pretty nice and wouldn’t have minded even more.

Ask and you shall receive. I posted some of the major highlights of the resort. Didn't want to post too many. Then what would I talk about? Plus trying not to make the posts too long.

MORE RESORT PHOTOS!

I'll also post the link in Post #2, where I've been posting the chapter links; along with the pie and eventually cake recipes.

 

[dwheatl]

T-Man, I think anyone with a ticket can enter Main St. early, to do shopping, buy food, or just look around. They open the two areas that get the longest lines, Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, for EMH ticket holders. I imagine they don't open the whole park, because then you have to staff a whole park. That's my theory, anyway.