eandesmom
I'm with Beast
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2009
Goodness was I behind. I mean I knew I was but holy cats. I skipped the chatter and a lot of the farming updates (I love reading the farming updates...just didn't actually quote any for replies)!
Ok...here we go.
And great that they got to do it before it went gonzo!
Yes. RD at DL is INSANE. You've got three lanes of speedsters. Space, FL and Indy. And boy, get out of the way, you could get trampled!
Agreed. We were in for early morning on the bday trip and had been in FL. We planned to hit Indy at RD. We didn't time it quite right and ended up in the stampede which meant we gave up on the FP + walk on plan that was our original agenda. Craziness!
Storyland is SLOW! So is Alice. Slow loading and slower rides but they are worth it.
I've never seen the overlay and had no idea the music was different.
I love the characters mixed in personally, kind of like finding hidden mickeys.
Um, his kids are both older, and younger, which actually helps.
Ruh Roh
Thank goodness the stroller was still there!
I will now think of you in the tractor when I hear that song!
Love the Genie, he totally makes the show!
I do love that, that's actually early!
Anyway, I felt good about it, finally having seen it myself. But I did want to be 100% sure. I never saw a car come or go the whole time I was there, so I approached the guard shack to ask. Unlike the day I rolled into DLH, the guard answered me in no uncertain terms that I would be able to get out that way the following morning.[/QUOTE]
YAY for the guard. I guess it makes sense but really, that's kind of sad. In their defense I believe at those events CM's get assigned to stuff outside of their normal areas and the cluelessness is likely very real and pervasive.
I would never have thought of Haagen Daaz for pastries!
The costumes can be insane, especially at a 5K. Or was it the 10 on that day? Anyway, people get crazier, walk more, take more pictures during the shorter races. Those races have a lot more park time and character ops. You'd be amazed what some folks run in.
Then again if you go to a race like we did last weekend, Bay to Breakers, some folks run in NOTHING AT ALL.
No joke.
Yes, and then for the rest it's still at the hub so the EM folks are on the other side of it.
I was so happy to get on it on the bday trip, it's been closed every time I've been there. I do miss the original but was happy to have it at all.
so you did get the Vader with the Mickey Bar but not the Carousel one?
Oh my, I may be caught up. For all your comparison of how much Mark got done with his family, you are knocking a lot out!
Ok...here we go.
Instead we crossed the street to take a ride on Luigi’s Flying Tires once more.
Seriously, our kids loved that ride.
And great that they got to do it before it went gonzo!
Remember, I said we were in the FRONT ROW. Our stroller was literally under the rope.
That family that laughed about running to Peter Pan?
Yeah, they made Usain Bolt look like a slug.
Yes. RD at DL is INSANE. You've got three lanes of speedsters. Space, FL and Indy. And boy, get out of the way, you could get trampled!
We walked as fast as we could. I sent DW and the kids to the line while I quickly parked the stroller and caught up with them. But even though we were there, right at the rope when the park opened, we ended up waiting 20 minutes to ride Peter Pan.
I said Rope Drop is crazy at Disneyland, and I stand by that comment. It was ridiculous!!! I realize that it is a different beast at DL, considering that none of the Fantasyland attractions have FP so it is a priority to get there before the lines back up too much. But I couldn’t believe how quickly the lines backed up!
Agreed. We were in for early morning on the bday trip and had been in FL. We planned to hit Indy at RD. We didn't time it quite right and ended up in the stampede which meant we gave up on the FP + walk on plan that was our original agenda. Craziness!
Alice is an interesting dark ride. Disneyland has several dark rides and a few of them can’t be found at WDW. This is one of them. We didn’t try to take any pictures so consider that a gift if you’ve never been. Now it will be a complete surprise! But it is a fun ride. It is a 2 story track that takes you through Alice’s story. A well done ride and I’m glad we finally got to experience it!
After Alice, we decided to go check out the Storybook Land Canal Boats. The posted wait was 20 minutes and it ended up being every bit of that long. Here it was, not yet noon and we had waited in 2 lines of 20 minutes or longer. Aside from Test Track and RnRC, I’m not sure we waited in a single line in excess of 20 minutes during our entire Disney World trip. But then again, with the lack of FP in Fantasyland you’ve got to get on them when you can.
Storyland is SLOW! So is Alice. Slow loading and slower rides but they are worth it.
It has been too long and I don’t remember the song exactly (maybe that’s why I liked it so much), but they blend, I think, Jingle Bells and maybe another Christmas song in with IASW making a new soundtrack for the ride. It is less repetitive and therefore not as ear wormy as IASW typically is. It was quite enjoyable.
I've never seen the overlay and had no idea the music was different.
Oh yeah, and they have Disney characters located in scenes associated with their story or origins. I know this was kind of a point of contention among the die hard Disney fans when they decided to put them in there, but personally, I liked it! Our kids love IASW anyway, but it was fun riding with them and trying to find characters they know hidden amongst the scenes.
I love the characters mixed in personally, kind of like finding hidden mickeys.
It was the carousel. I was bored. I had my phone out and I posted something on Facebook. I don’t remember if I posted the picture or not, but I posted something to the DISdads about how we were half way through 3 days in DL and I just didn’t know how @Captain_Oblivious managed to accomplish as much as he did in just one day.
Um, his kids are both older, and younger, which actually helps.
I picked it up and the screen still lit up. It was just spiderwebbed from the bottom right corner. Unfortunately, the touchscreen was not responsive, so I was out of luck. Stupid touchscreen phones.
Ruh Roh
I knew where we had parked the stroller, so I headed directly for that spot. It was still there. Well, eventually, I knew DW would come back to it so I stood there and waited. My phone rang a few more times… I still couldn’t answer. It wasn’t long before I heard my name. I looked up and they were on the Carousel again.
Thank goodness the stroller was still there!
As I'm sure I've mentioned, I always enjoy working in the fields and I find my time driving a tractor to be therapeutic. Give me a radio and an Air Conditioned cab and I'm happy. Sadly this spring I was only about 25% of the way there. The A/C quit, and the radio worked... kind of. I could only get a handful of stations to come through clearly. I like country and rock. Thankfully I could get 2 of my favorite country stations. But there's a rock station that plays all kinds of rock from the 90's through now that I really like to listen to. They play everything from Nirvana, Oasis, and Goo Goo Dolls to Awolnation, Fallout Boy and Muse. A pretty good mix and probably my number one favorite station to listen to. It is always my go-to that I like to crank up when it is getting late and I'm tired. But sadly I couldn't ever get my radio to pick it up clearly so I was bummed about that.
Sitting in a tractor for hours on end, you tend to hear the top songs in a station's rotation numerous times. And every year, there is one song that it seems like they're playing about twice an hour.
This time, it was a fun song. Brad Paisley, Crushin' It.
I will now think of you in the tractor when I hear that song!
Wow, Genie really makes the show. I don’t remember a lot of specifics to share, but he delivered a lot of one liners that were both funny and relevant. I don’t know if they allow the actor to ad lib, or if they just re-write it every week or so based on current events, but I remember noticing he was using fresh material.
And this isn’t exactly an example of “fresh” material, but it had me rolling. He was chasing after someone and yelled “Get back here with my umbrella… ella… ella… hey… hey… HEY!!!!”
Love the Genie, he totally makes the show!
We headed back up to our room and quickly got settled and into bed. I think we were all in bed by 9 pm once again. We needed to though, because tomorrow was the first race day of the weekend. I had plans to take another bag or 2 out to our car and see first hand what is going on with traffic at that time of morning while runners are on the course. You know. Since nobody could tell me beforehand.
And apparently, because it was finally a Friday Disneyland had early hours at 7AM!!!!!
I do love that, that's actually early!
I told them where I was parked and asked if I could get out now if I wanted to.
They looked at me and told me they didn’t know. They said they only knew about the traffic closures at the exact spot they were placed and didn’t know about anything else.
Really?
Come on. Is this some kind of a screwed up joke???
I mean, to a point, I can understand a CM in guest services not knowing what is going on with road closures 2 days in advance. But the morning of an event, if you’re set up in a traffic control role and can’t even answer those questions, there’s something seriously wrong.
Anyway, I felt good about it, finally having seen it myself. But I did want to be 100% sure. I never saw a car come or go the whole time I was there, so I approached the guard shack to ask. Unlike the day I rolled into DLH, the guard answered me in no uncertain terms that I would be able to get out that way the following morning.[/QUOTE]
YAY for the guard. I guess it makes sense but really, that's kind of sad. In their defense I believe at those events CM's get assigned to stuff outside of their normal areas and the cluelessness is likely very real and pervasive.
I stopped at the Haagen Dazs store to grab a couple of pastries for breakfast, since DW and I didn’t have anything to eat back in the room. Again, these were much cheaper, and much better than what we got our first morning from the QS place in GCH.
I would never have thought of Haagen Daaz for pastries!
But the one that really made me do a double and then a triple take was a guy dressed as a Starspeeder from Star Tours.
He had what must have been a huge box, shaped and painted like a Starspeeder. There was a hole in the middle for him to basically stand in it and it hung from straps on his shoulders. It stood out to me for a few reasons. One, you just couldn’t miss it. Two, it was unique. And three, I couldn’t believe that they’d let someone run in something so… big and bulky.
The costumes can be insane, especially at a 5K. Or was it the 10 on that day? Anyway, people get crazier, walk more, take more pictures during the shorter races. Those races have a lot more park time and character ops. You'd be amazed what some folks run in.
Then again if you go to a race like we did last weekend, Bay to Breakers, some folks run in NOTHING AT ALL.
No joke.
I didn’t write this detail down. DL vets, feel free to chime in on this… but it seems to me that the RD for the early entry morning was just there at the turnstile? I don’t recall waiting at the rope near the hub like we did on the prior morning.
Yes, and then for the rest it's still at the hub so the EM folks are on the other side of it.
It was a fun ride. I think we all enjoyed it. Personally though, I remember the old 20,000 Leagues subs from MK. And I miss them. Knowing that this attraction was originally themed the same way, it kind of made me nostalgic. The Finding Nemo subs were a fun ride, but I definitely wish it was Captain Nemo instead.
I was so happy to get on it on the bday trip, it's been closed every time I've been there. I do miss the original but was happy to have it at all.
When I exited through the dump shop, I finally saw the shirt I wanted. If you remember, I picked up a shirt on our first evening at DL. It was the shirt with Darth Vader riding Astro Orbiter with a Mickey ice cream bar. I loved it.
But then I saw the epic shirt that I’ve seen pictures of, but had been unable to find, even at World of Disney in the huge display of Star Wars themed merchandise that they had.
It was the shirt with Darth Vader and storm troopers on the carousel with the quote, “This will be a day long remembered.”
I didn’t buy it because I’d already bought a shirt.
And I really didn’t need it.
But I wish I would have just bought it.
so you did get the Vader with the Mickey Bar but not the Carousel one?
Oh my, I may be caught up. For all your comparison of how much Mark got done with his family, you are knocking a lot out!