Sharing the Disney Magic with Family & Friends-DL Diamond Anniversary-DCA F&W Fest Kiosks & The End!

[rentayenta]

Great shots Alison!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Unfortunately we have not been impressed which is why you find us raving about Steakhouse 55 where the former chef from Club 33 now dazzles us with his creations.

Well, that stinks. I wonder if Disney has noticed.

I got my Chicken Chile Verde cone, which is very tasty and as long as I don’t eat the cone, it’s on my eating program!

They have replaced the souvenir cone cups with Dinoco oil can cups, so we couldn’t resist.

Love it! I think the Dinoco cups are kinda cool, actually.

We were seated at a table in the middle of the room, and I was astonished that at 7:30 there were only three other tables occupied.

Surely they would notice that! I wonder if Steakhouse 55 was full at the same time.

She ate everything, but she did agree that it didn’t have that WOW! Factor.

Well, it's not like there was a 50/50 Burger on the menu.

The rest of the stuff on the plate was just weird. I tried both the yellow stuff (I think that was the corn flan) and the green stuff and they were just slimy and strange tasting.

And people wonder why I don't trust "gourmet" meals. If I can't identify it, I ain't eating it.

By this time Fantasmic had started. It was about 9:15 and we had the entire restaurant to ourselves.

After all that food and wine, what did I do? Went on Big Thunder Mountain of Course!

Excellent choice!

 

[jedijill]

Dinner looked great, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more!

Have fun with all your Dismeets over the next few weeks! You deserve it! Hope Fran is feeling better.

Jill in CO

 

[ShellB8585]

Hi Alison,

Haven't been on here a lot recently so just catching up and I am loving your DL updates! we are going for our second time in October and I cannot wait. I just wanted to say I love this picture in particular

Thank you for sharing with us you're making me even more excited for our upcoming trip

 

[MEK]

Caught up again.

Your meal at 33 looks amazing. Sorry that some of the courses did not have the wow factor. Boo! I can't believe how empty the restaurant was.

Outstanding pictures of the parade. Just lovely. That parade really looks amazing! Wow...just Wow!

So, I have nailed down two weeks next May to do the crash California road tour starting in San Francisco and ending in San Diego. There will obviously be several nights in DL - I am hoping for 3 total. We are traveling with another couple so its all about negotiation, but if my estimates are correct we should be there around May 16-18, 2016! Very excited!!!!!!! Any suggestions you have for touring California would be appreciated. We are visiting San Fran, Napa, Yosemite, Caramel and the Pacific highway, DL, and San Diego.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What a fantastic position!

Great shots of the parade. Wish I could see it.

 

[Pinkocto]

Yeah, it got in the way from March until Mid June. Fran always feels guilty when we're not working, but I have to convince her that we need some fun. What good is life if we can't enjoy it?

Exactly!

If your plane lands at 1:00PM, with picking up your luggage, and getting the rental car, it should take you about 40 minutes to get here at that time of day, so probably between 2:30 and 3:00PM. I can give you the Nickel tour and make us something for dinner.

Sounds good to me I just saw that they posted the Halloween parties, and one is on the 14th, I'm thinking of doing that. But there's plenty of time to see you and Fran and get over to the resort. And I was able to snag VGC for the night of the 14th, which I'm over the moon about!

I have to come back and read your update.

 

[afwdwfan]

It was my first time using it and while it conveniently could be carried in a nice little bag, it was probably my last time using it, as I had to fight with it to get it set up.

Well, it was a good idea, anyway.

I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the Castle with the Partners statue right in front as we had such a perfect view.

Awesome view! Great picture.

This time I was able to catch the Light Show on Mack

Cool! I'm glad it worked out better this time.

Anna and Elsa caught a cold

Ok, that just cracked me up.

I'm sorry you missed A&E the second time around... or rather maybe you didn't exactly miss them. But great pictures. It kind of cracked me up seeing all your comments about not remembering the song playing at different points during the parade. I'd expect more from a musician!!!

 

[franandaj]

I'm going to apologize here for not getting to replies before posting this update, but we're packing up to head back out to Disneyland for two nights and I have this update all ready to go so I thought I would post it, and I will try to get back to replies as soon as we return, if not on my phone while waiting in line or waiting on something else!

Our next trip to the parks was only two days later than the previous one posted, but I think a little life update is in order before we move on to that day. I think the last time I updated, we were wrapping up the second apartment trying to get it ready for the contractor and the band was moving out of our old home. Both of those items have been completed.

The Band as already had a rehearsal at the new place. There are two types of music that need to be filed, and I am on the letter “T” of the Concert Band music. Once I get that finished, I’ll hold a “File the Marching Band Music” party to get the rest of that done, and so I don’t have to do it all alone.

Fran has been getting over her cold. The arthritis drugs seem to be working, and now our biggest challenge is getting the rest of our stuff out of apartment #1. I’ve already taken two “Expedition loads” to storage, but it hasn’t even made a dent in what we still have left. I guess we need to just keep plugging forward. Writing TRs and going to Disneyland doesn’t help, but it does give me a bit of an outlet in between the days of hard work. So for now, we just move ahead as best we can. Which I guess means essentially, “just keep swimming.”

With respect to Apartment #2, the contractor has been working for almost a month, and we hope that they will have everything all wrapped up within less than a week. The painting is all done, they are installing tile in the kitchen and bathroom this week. The appliances can go back in the kitchen, faucets installed, etc. By the time Disneyland’s 60th Anniversary has come and gone, there should be carpeting installed. And all that will be left is to put up the blinds and clean the place. Last Monday we met Jenny and her kids at the apartment, and they saw the progress on the place. Everything should be ready for when they arrive to move in at the end of the month.

And one last thing, we finally pulled the plug on our airline tickets to Memphis for our Mississippi River Cruise. We ended up booking a one way ticket on American with Airline miles. We were hoping to hold out for Southwest to release their flight information for the last half of March, but I started to get nervous, and besides for the months preceding March there were no flights that would get us into Memphis before 9PM. The American flight we booked leaves LAX at 5:00AM and arrives in Dallas at 10AM. Then we leave Dallas at noon and arrive in Memphis around 2:00PM. My research tells me that it will take about an hour to get to the hotel once we pick up our bags, so that will put us at the hotel in just enough time to grab an early dinner and go to bed.

So back to the Trip Report. We met in the lobby of the Grand Californian and decided on Radiator Springs Racers as our first ride, while Fran decided to go shopping for DL 60th Anniversary merchandise and check on an item that she had seen on Sunday at the Disneyana store. On the way to RSR, Jenny insisted that we get Margaritas! Who am I to argue?



We got into the FP line with our margaritas, thinking that we had plenty of time. I mean the line for RSR is notoriously long, how could we not have plenty of time? However, things moved quickly and soon we found ourselves in the line which merges with the regular queue on our way to being placed in our own race car. Soon we began chugging our margaritas.



We were chugging them all the way up to the part where they sort you into lines for your cars. The cast member finally had to pry the cups out of our grubby little hands, and we both got brain freezes trying to finish those margaritas!

We talked about our next ride, and I really had only thing that I wanted to do. It has been years since I rode the train and after Andy talked about the Dinosaurs I really wanted to see them again.

The only problem was that I wanted to take pictures, and Fran had the DSLR camera. By this time she had moved from the Disneyana Store to the Disney Showcase. They had some super cute items that I couldn’t resist. This T-shirt.



A toothpick holder. C’mon, who are we kidding? We all know it’s a shot glass.



I got this hat.



Jenny had to convince Fran to get this hat and tell her that it wasn’t too blingy.



We had been eyeing these sets of Truffles since our visit in June, and finally broke down and got them.













And a few other little trinkets we admired.



The store was decked out for the 60th as well.





We left Fran in the store sure that she was plenty capable of making the purchases, and headed off to the Train Station.



After a short wait we were able to board the second train that came by, we had to split up into two groups, but we were seated and didn’t have to wait until the next train.



On another TR there was some discussion about how fast the train goes. All I can say is that I’m not posting any pictures that I took from the train because it went so fast that most of my pictures came out blurry. I have a feeling though that it goes a little bit slower through the Grand Canyon and Primeval World, which was my goal on this train trip. Enjoy



















After our trip back in time, we were all famished and decided it was time to head to our chosen Dinner Spot, the Plaza Inn. How can anyone resist this tasty Cobb Salad, it has bacon and blue cheese!



The fabulous Fried chicken! Now after my not so satisfying meal of the other night. This meal had me doing my Happy Food Dance and digging for more until I was stuffed!



Unfortunately this cake looked better than it tasted, and the little diamond on top was hollow white chocolate.



Fran also got this souvenir mug with her soda, they actually gave her a paper cup so that she didn’t need to run around the park with a dirty cup.



We lingered at our table for a while before heading over to our spot for the fireworks. It was so much fun just sitting and chatting with Jenny and Gabby. The other two girls ran off to ride Star Tours.

Next up more Fireworks!

 

[jedijill]

What a fun day! Love your 60th merchandise. Those truffles look a-maz-ing!

Jill in CO

 

[Pinkocto]

Great update! Fun 60th purchases

Oh my about chugging frozen drinks, brain freezes are the worst!

I absolutely loved all your parade pictures! I look forward to that.

Great that you managed a train ride

 

[dolphingirl47]

Looks like you are having a really busy, but productive time. I love all the photos of the 60th anniversary merchandise. I am going to have such a hard time to resist all those treasures. Apart from two of the Disney Dooneys, I am trying to restrict myself to a pin and a sweatshirt. I love that souvenir cup. I am glad that you managed to ride the train. I had to smile about the line at Radiator Springs Racers moving quicker than you had anticipated. Brain freeze however is no fun.

Corinna

 

[Leshaface]

Fran has been getting over her cold. The arthritis drugs seem to be working

So glad to hear this!

Last Monday we met Jenny and her kids at the apartment, and they saw the progress on the place. Everything should be ready for when they arrive to move in at the end of the month.

Uh, I must have missed this. Is Jenny's daughter the one moving into the apartment?!

We were hoping to hold out for Southwest to release their flight information for the last half of March, but I started to get nervous

I hate that they release them so late too. They release the last half of March/early April on August 11 if you're able to cancel your AA flight if it's cheaper through SW

Jenny insisted that we get Margaritas! Who am I to argue?

She is one smart cookie.

Soon we began chugging our margaritas.

The only proper way to drink Margs of course

I love this!

A toothpick holder. C’mon, who are we kidding? We all know it’s a shot glass.

The Pistachio and Strawberry one sounds interesting. And all the others, i'd of course down in no time.

The fabulous Friend chicken!

Which friend did you fry?!

You always get the fried chicken, i'm going to have to give it another try sometime. I remember ordering it years ago, BC (before calvin ) and I shared it with DM.

That is way cool!

 

[franandaj]

Well folks, we've been out here at DLR for a little over 12 hours, we've shopped till we dropped, even caused a fraud alert with the credit card company! rode a ride, ate enchiladas like there was no tomorrow and enjoyed my share of adult beverages. Tomorrow is the real 60th and we plan on being line for baggage check by 6:30AM so that we can for sure make the castle show at 10AM and get the free cupcakes! But while I wind down I thought I would do a few replies!

So jealous!!!

I know you have a life in the Central Valley, but you really need to come back down here!

This is awesome!

We need to get him out of his box and in a cabinet!

There's no way I could do that. First, being at Disneyland and NOT eating is just hard. But there's no way, I would have been very faint by early afternoon!

That's how I've been losing my weight. Small breakfast, don't eat until dinner. Not healthy, but it's working for me.

Did she like it? I would try this.

She did like it better than mine.

This looks amazing! And that's really cool that you're able to partake in Disney food while still maintaining your diet

This cone is so good! I love it! Even with them having a Mac and Cheese Cone, I'm happy to get the "on program" one because it is really tasty!

saw this on Bret's TR and loved it! It's reusable right?? I need one.

I haven't figured out how to get the lid off. I rinsed it out through the straw hole, but someone said that you can get it open, but it's really hard.

Wow, i'd think that would be the busiest time!

I would too, but evidently not.

I just read it! Good grief

I know. I had no idea someone would go to such lengths!

This looks delish!

Sorry that dinner was just okay.

The amuse bouche was really good, I was hoping that the rest of the meal would be as good, it wasn't bad. But it was like the others, just not "wow" inspiring. Like I've said there are "wow" dishes at Napa Rose, why don't they have things like that at the club? Or do I just not like New Orleans cuisine? We'll find out next March when we go there.

Woah. I bet this was kind of nice though!

It was kind of cool to be the only ones in there. I didn't feel self conscious getting up to watch F! or the fireworks, but I felt bad for the staff who wasn't working because no one was there.

How does one skip a cheese course But more for you

She would have received a plate just like I had if she had ordered it, I had that all to myself.

I always get so excited when I see honeycomb on the cheese menu like stupid, excited

The honeycomb was really really good! I think that's one of my favorite things about the meals there is that they have honeycomb on the cheese course!

Haven't you used a tripod before for shots? I could have sworn you've set one up either at DLR or WDW

I have only used the tripod at band concerts and that was for the video camera. I haven't used it at Disney for any of my shots. Remember it was just last April that I started to get back into playing with the ISO, F-stop and shutter speed after not having done it since the 7th or 8th grade? And back then you had to use a light meter because you actually had to develop your film before you knew what your pictures looked like! Now you can adjust on the fly, which is an incredible luxury!

I love this song! I just recently got to rewatch Wreck it Ralph over our road trip (I packed it for DS with the intent that it was mainly me that was going to watch it ) and the song got stuck in my head.

I've found that I like this song too, but haven't found much use for it other than it drones on in my head over and over again.

Love when you catch them looking directly at you.

I think she was just looking in my general direction. I was too far away for her to have actually seen me.

That photo is absolutely stunning.

Thanks!

What a pain that the tripod was so difficult to set up.

Yeah, in fact it is still in my living room not completely torn down.

I think you are right. I just heard a short section of the soundtrack from Paint the Night and there was definitely Beauty and the Beast in there.

I really hope that I get to see Paint the Night. With it being off season in September, I am worried that this will only be shown on weekends.

I'm sure you will, they have invested so much in that parade that they will be showing it for a long long time, and they need to show it two times a night so that it can "get back home".

It was difficult to set up that tripod that night where it did took a while to get the legs extended and then we had trouble folding it back up.

I know. Jeez it was a pain in the a**, I still haven't bothered to put it back into it's bag.

Your pictures from Paint the Night turned out really good. I did say that using lower ISO will affect the shots with the performers that are not on the float as well as on Main Street. The float shots are not that bright and this is good not to use high ISO and still have fast shutter speed. The characters on the floats turned out really well and clear. I had a fun time watching the parade with you and Fran that night and glad that the tips helped you during your shooting of PtN.

I think I got a good balance between the various characters on the street vs the floats. You were right, I didn't need nearly as high an ISO for the floats as the characters on the street.

I also videotaped the show from that night and here is my video of Paint the Night 7/5/15 at 11pm.

Thanks for posting this! I was able to watch it again and I was definitely wrong on some of the music, but right on some of the others!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Save yourself time Alison don't comment on my post. I don't mind just enjoy DL. That is great you are up to filling T with the groups music. With schools on holiday there must be somebodies child to exploit for a box of candy!

I am pleased to hear that Fran is responding to her drugs and the cold is improving. Yeah to apartment 2 being 1 week from finishing. I think it's great you called it on your flight tickets. We do that too. Why make snow in winter. There is enough stress raining down on us if you can remove a variable grab it!

Your day in DL with Jenny looks fun. I had that brain freeze experience with Butterbeer in Harry Potter. Line was nowhere near as long as I thought. It felt like I was wearing one of those old goldfish bowl type helmelts they use to use for diving.

I love the merchadise! Great hats. Love the truffles oh my they would make wonderful gifts. How nice they give you a paper cup so you don't spoil your souvenir cup.

I just adore the 60th Anni display. I would love to know if they auction those of after. I wonder if you have a store in LA like Theme Park Design is it in Orlando. I can imagine that sign at your house! Ssshhh don't tell Fran she will go bid on it.

 

[jedijill]

Have a wonderful time today! Tell DL happy Birthday from me! I'm super jealous!


Jill in CO

 

[Leshaface]

even caused a fraud alert with the credit card company!

That means it was a successful shopping day!

I know you have a life in the Central Valley, but you really need to come back down here!

What life are you talking about that I don't know of?!But we've been talking about the next time we can get down there just yesterday. Dan's parents are trying to take their immediately family and grandkids (about 9 not including us 3) down in October for the October birthdays so we may be headed down there. BUT because my SIL wants to take my nephew for his first time in December, DH was thinking it may just be best to purchase AP's It's been at least 5 years since I was an AP holder.

That's how I've been losing my weight. Small breakfast, don't eat until dinner. Not healthy, but it's working for me.

A few weeks back I was reading about Intermittent Fasting on a body building website, where you eat for 8 hours and fast for 16. So if you start eating at Noon, you must stop at 8pm and start over again the next day. And you don't eat less during that 8 hour period, you still eat healthily and what you would normally eat. It's very new to me so i'm not sure about scientific studies or anything about how safe it is, but I guess it's worked for lots of people. This sounds like something that you could possibly look into?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Looks like great progress with real life. #2 seems to be moving right along, the band filing appears to be getting there.....and you're getting through #1 as well. Great job!

What a fun update at DLR. Love the D60 merchandise and I hope you have a great time with the celebrations!

 

[franandaj]

Great shots Alison of the castle and PTN parade. I guess the Frozen float was frozen in place that day and didn't thaw out in time for the parade.

I had previously read that article about Club 33...it was very interesting, but I don't really understand how things got so out of hand such that Disney had to change the rules for everyone. It a shame when someone abuses the system to that extent, but I don't understand how Disney couldn't just ban the person. It's a private club after all, and abuse of privileges seems like a perfectly valid reason to drop a membership.

That's how Disney does things. They never single out a person (unless they have absolute evidence against them, like the sexual predators they have arrested at the parks, and people skimming credit card numbers, etc) for fear of a lawsuit. In the few times that they have gone to court they have been pretty assured that they will win.

It seemed like you weren't all that impressed with the meal, but it looked pretty good to me! Of course I would just be excited to be there! I would definitely have no problem finding stuff off that menu, but I am an adventurous eater that will try anything as long as its not raw.

In pictures it looked really good to me too. I probably have a pretty high standard and unless something makes me dance in my chair (when I'm paying that much), I can be disappointed. Spoiler Alert: I will have a different review/opinion in the near future.

Paint the Night looks like a great parade. How far in advance did you have to stake a spot to try and get a decent view of it? We are only two days away from booking our (hopefully) DVC stay at VGC next February - 1-bedrooms still available - cross fingers! - and this is probably the first piece of lots of advice I will be asking from you! I am hoping they will still be running the parade in February. I noticed LAST February both Fantasmic and WoC were down at that time, and of the two, I would be seriously bummed if we don't get to see WoC. I also really hope to get to see PtN and the new fireworks show. Your pictures really make me want to see it. I miss Spectromagic at WDW, MSEP just doesn't cut it for me.

I'm sorry you didn't get into the VGC initially, but hopefully the waitlist pixiedust will come through for you! Maybe I should have booked a 1 bedroom, so that I could cancel and you could snatch it up!

Alison, all the shots are great and you are getting better all the time.

Thanks!

Club 33 was always on my bucket list, but with the tightened rules, I guess that will not happen! Oh well, I will live.

You never know what can happen.

I glad to hear that you are enjoying SH55, do you think the Restaurant Manager is hearing and seeing the decline? Do you think they will do a better job with the chef and the menu?

I don't think so. It might have to do with the decline in Cosgrove guests and they are writing it off to that. There are plenty of people who seem to still enjoy the place, I just don't like the regular menu. I think Magdalene (Flossbolna) hit it on the head, it is too contrived and too many things going on. As you will see soon, simpler is better!

Just catching up. Love the photos if the light parade. I just adored the Beauty and the Beast float. Nice you meet up with Brett and you are no stranger to the gates of DL at the moment.

It is nice that we are getting out there often, unfortunately it is most definitely draining our bank account!

I love that souvernir mug! Those cones treats look delightful. I thought when you said going for cones an ice cream would be on the menu. How neat to have a savoury option.

There are five cones, one has ice cream, one has the Chili cone carne, there is the Popcone, the one that has a cone with pretzel bites and one has churro bites. So three are savory and two are sweet!

Shame about menu changes at Club 33. But good you gave it another try. Always hard to know what to do with somewhere that is ok but doesn't set the sky alight. We have have had that dissapointment at places too.

We will continue to give it a try, I'm not sure if that constitutes the definition of insanity, "doing the same thing over and over, hoping for a different result". But we are hopeful that someday we will like the food there.

I hope all is well with Fran at the moment and you of course.

We are good other than the fact that she over did it again this "weekend" and is napping in bed while I have been shopping, working on dinner and deleting files from our overloaded media cards. We had pictures from 2013 left on one of the cards! LOL!

 

[franandaj]

Great shots Alison!

Thanks!

Well, that stinks. I wonder if Disney has noticed.

If they have, I'm not sure that they care.

I love that cone, it's one of my favorite things to eat since I don't have to feel guilty!

Love it! I think the Dinoco cups are kinda cool, actually.

I like them too! I want one of each!

Surely they would notice that! I wonder if Steakhouse 55 was full at the same time.

You would think, but since S55 is public and the Club is private they can attribute it to that.

Well, it's not like there was a 50/50 Burger on the menu.

Yeah, if you really pushed it, you could probably get a couple of these, look in the left hand side of the picture, but they aren't 50/50.

And people wonder why I don't trust "gourmet" meals. If I can't identify it, I ain't eating it.

In this case, I am with you!

We were shocked, but kind of enjoyed the freedom!

Excellent choice!

Probably not for my stomach though.

Dinner looked great, I'm sorry you didn't enjoy it more!

If our eyes were our tastebuds, it would have been great!

Have fun with all your Dismeets over the next few weeks! You deserve it! Hope Fran is feeling better.

I still have a few more weeks, but we actually had some 3D friend meets that took us off guard this "weekend".

Haven't been on here a lot recently so just catching up and I am loving your DL updates! we are going for our second time in October and I cannot wait. I just wanted to say I love this picture in particular

I'm glad you are enjoying the updates. When is your trip? Maybe we can meet up and say "Hi!"

Thank you for sharing with us you're making me even more excited for our upcoming trip

I'm glad I can help with the excitement!

Caught up again.

Your meal at 33 looks amazing. Sorry that some of the courses did not have the wow factor. Boo! I can't believe how empty the restaurant was.

As I have said, if we ate with our eyes, it would have been incredible. However, my taste buds didn't agree! It was a little weird to have the place so empty, but we dealt with it.

Outstanding pictures of the parade. Just lovely. That parade really looks amazing! Wow...just Wow!

The parade is amazing! We saw it from yet another angle this time and it was even more incredible!

So, I have nailed down two weeks next May to do the crash California road tour starting in San Francisco and ending in San Diego. There will obviously be several nights in DL - I am hoping for 3 total. We are traveling with another couple so its all about negotiation, but if my estimates are correct we should be there around May 16-18, 2016! Very excited!!!!!!!

That's good to know, I'll put it in my calendar and maybe we can arrange a meet up!

Any suggestions you have for touring California would be appreciated. We are visiting San Fran, Napa, Yosemite, Caramel and the Pacific highway, DL, and San Diego.

First of I would not call it "San Fran" nor "Frisco". Locals call it "The City", I haven't been to Napa in over 15 years, and never to Yosemite, but I have only eaten Caramel, but if you're going to Carmel rotfl2, I saw something on either Triple D or another travel channel show where they recommended an awesome seafood place. DL I could go on forever. Not sure how far you are going down PCH, but I know a bit of it. San Diego, I know some, we have a few favorite places.