The Family, Friends, Fun, Food, Five pounds (well 7 really) and....*UPDATED 12/31*

[stopher1]

I was hoping the same thing when we moved into our house. The first thing I did was dig up the entire back yard to see if I could find a jar full of depression-era cash.
I found an old Mountain Dew can and a decapitated Barbie doll.

Our house was built on former farm land, and the top soil layer had been stripped and sold off first by the developer, replaced by some crappy fill dirt. I only found onions growing here and there. A decapitated doll would have thrilled my boys...

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I was hoping the same thing when we moved into our house. The first thing I did was dig up the entire back yard to see if I could find a jar full of depression-era cash.
I found an old Mountain Dew can and a decapitated Barbie doll.

And yet there is still probably someone who would buy that stuff off of you on eBay.

Our house was built on former farm land, and the top soil layer had been stripped and sold off first by the developer, replaced by some crappy fill dirt. I only found onions growing here and there. A decapitated doll would have thrilled my boys...

Hey, we had the same builder!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Our house was built on former farm land, and the top soil layer had been stripped and sold off first by the developer, replaced by some crappy fill dirt. I only found onions growing here and there. A decapitated doll would have thrilled my boys...

I'm slightly concerned about your boys. And for all of your daughter's stuff.

And yet there is still probably someone who would buy that stuff off of you on eBay.

Are you kidding? Why would I sell that stuff? They're family heirlooms now!

 

[stopher1]

I'm slightly concerned about your boys. And for all of your daughter's stuff.

We have a nice little hill at the back of our yard where the common area (there's a large triangular common play field based on the way the neighborhood was platted) which drains down into the swale that runs along the back of our yard to the drainage pipe (at the east corner of our yard). The boys through the years have made lots of little bunkers into the hillside for the army men, as well as little rope bridges made from string and burnt matches, and lots of encampments surrounded by more burnt matchsticks or toothpicks. Then using firecrackers, we... I mean they, have had some awesome battles. Then add the full force of flashfloods (the hose), and you can have some incredible fun. (Just as their dad and uncle did when they were young boys.) SO FAR, none of their sister's dolls have come up missing...

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

No excuses....just an update

On this day we decided to go to DHS, I know that some can do without this park but I really appreciate the attention to detail and all the little things that this park has to offer.

THe first place we went to was Backlot tour, I have admit that this ride can use a major rehab. It is time to bring this attraction to life again, nevertheless, we still go on every time.

My favorite part of this attraction is at the end when you get off the tram.

We bumped into these guys as we were walking around, I have to say these guys are my favorite. I can sit and watch them interact with others and sometimes with just each other.

As we walked away from the Army Men we came across the Power Rangers as they were making there grand exit, I still think they are pretty cool!!!

We came across these guys setting up, we have never seen these guys before so we thought we would stay and watch, never imagining what was to come.

For some reason the lead singer decided that carrie would be a good person to mess with so... he started to crack jokes with her at first.

Then they needed a new member in the band to play lead guitar...the rest will go down in rock and roll history..

Next up was the Muppets in .... you guessed it..... 3D. oooohhhhh 3D. I had this crazy idea to take pictures during the movie and trying to capture some 3D images. How do you go about doing this....you put the glasses in front of the lens of course.

My 3D attempts in the next post

 

[FreezinRafiki]

My favorite part of the Backlot tour is walking right past the entrance, seeing the posted wait time at 5 minutes, saying "that's too long to wait."

Awesome pictures!

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

My favorite part of the Backlot tour is walking right past the entrance, seeing the posted wait time at 5 minutes, saying "that's too long to wait."

Awesome pictures!

Yup its definitely time for an update on that one..

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Yup its definitely time for an update on that one..

I still like trying to get my kids to sit on the left side of the tram. But even the CM's are tired of it. The last one I rode with read her script like an automated phone message. "Oh no. Wait. Stop. There is a tour vehicle on the set. Stop the effects test. Oh dear."

Nice pictures! I'm looking forward to seeing how your 3-D shots turned out. Did you take all of these with your trusty 50mm lens?

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

I still like trying to get my kids to sit on the left side of the tram. But even the CM's are tired of it. The last one I rode with read her script like an automated phone message. "Oh no. Wait. Stop. There is a tour vehicle on the set. Stop the effects test. Oh dear."

Nice pictures! I'm looking forward to seeing how your 3-D shots turned out. Did you take all of these with your trusty 50mm lens?

Thanks, I was switching back and forth between lenses but all of the low light ones were taken with the 50mm. I would recommend it to anyone, for the price it can't be beat.

I wish they would just change the entire area into a Villians land and go all out with it, now that would bring people into DHS.

 

[kalel29]

 

[stopher1]

Can't wait to see those 3D pics...

I went to see it in June while there, and really loved it much more then previous visits since they had finally cleaned it up, the film that is, and wow, did those 3D effects just pop... it was like 1989 all over again. It was definitely a much needed refurb!!

 

[praisehisname]

Great update and pics of playing around with the band! Can't wait to see your 3D pics...

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

At long last here are my attempts at taking pics of 3D.
Don't adjust your screens...oh ya... by the way duck..

Next up was something to eat, so this was our next ADR.

These were awesome and the sauce was amazing, we have since added something very similar to serve with our onion rings at the restaurant.

This was very cool, for those of you who have never been to 50's Prime Time, this the dessert menu, you look through the View Master.

We decided to go on a few more attractions after lunch, first up was Star Tours

Now let it be know that all 3 of the boys in this family are huge Star Wars fans, but I am sure glad this attractions is getting re-done. The Star Wars franchise is such a great thing it deserves so much more. One day Star Wars weekends is definitely a "must do" for us.

Then we jumped on this one again, because as a family we really love this attraction.

In all the times we have gone on this attraction we have never seen the "Western scene" we always got the "Gangster Scene". I never even knew the other scene even existed. So when we came into this room, we were all completely surprised and I pulled my camera out as quickly as I could.

Of course we had to get one of these

Am I the only one that thinks these taste soooooo good at DisneyWorld

We went into the Animation Building and met "UP" with a few friends.

This was a great day we really like DHS and love to just walk around. After a while of enjoying the park we got ourselves together a headed out. We have reservations to go to Hoop Dee Doo Revue with our friends this night.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

These were awesome and the sauce was amazing, we have since added something very similar to serve with our onion rings at the restaurant.

Ahhhh...yet another reason to make the drive. Can I make an ADR online?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We're trying the 50's PT cafe for the first time next month. Any tips on menu items? I already know I should keep my elbows on the table. And I never touch my vegetables anyway.

My kids love Star Wars too, but haven't ridden Star Tours and won't get to ride it this September. Maybe I'll just show them your pictures instead!

 

[that's nice]

Love your 50's PT pics. I want some of those onion rings NOW!!!!

Do I need 3D glasses to see your pics in 3D?

Very interested to hear your take on HDDR. We loved it last year and had a grand 'ol time!!!!

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

Ahhhh...yet another reason to make the drive. Can I make an ADR online?

I have a table reserved for Dis Dads Only. No need for an ADR.

We're trying the 50's PT cafe for the first time next month. Any tips on menu items? I already know I should keep my elbows on the table. And I never touch my vegetables anyway.

My kids love Star Wars too, but haven't ridden Star Tours and won't get to ride it this September. Maybe I'll just show them your pictures instead!

This is the Potroast!! YUMM!! The meatloaf is very good as well. The onion rings are amazing.

Love your 50's PT pics. I want some of those onion rings NOW!!!!

Do I need 3D glasses to see your pics in 3D?

Very interested to hear your take on HDDR. We loved it last year and had a grand 'ol time!!!!

I actually tried some glasses that I "forgot" to put in one of those bins. It didn't work.

 

[DisneyDaddy-O]

That night we had reservations to go to HDDR, we have seen this show before and sat in the balcony. Great vantage point and lots of fun. My cousin his wife and little daughter were on this trip with us, we kinda met up a couple of times but for the most part we went our own way. When we were booking the resorts we tried to explain to them if they stayed at another resort we would hardly see each other. They thought we could walk to each others resorts.

They asked me what resort they should stay at, they wanted to stay Saratoga Springs, I told them they should stay at the Boardwalk area. They said they wanted to stay somewhere where they could walk to some parks because there little one was in a stroller.
They decided on SS.
I wanted to shout out SHUT UP and LISTEN to me...
The only saving grace was on our Kozzina night both of them said we should of listened to you..I thought do you think I hang out on the DIS and make spreadsheets and plan everyday by the hour for nothing.. Justification!!

Sometimes you just have to step back and let make there own decisions. But if they would only listen!!

Anyway this was one of the times that we met up. There was 7 of us and we had tickets for the balcony, I'm not sure if they didn't have the space in the balcony for 7 or maybe they had not sold out the floor seats but we were upgraded to floor seats...SCORE!!

I got a little ahead of myself here, we got on the bus early and made our way over to the Fort Wilderness.

We decided to check the area out a little and walked over to the stables to see the horses. I had a good laugh at the name of one of the horses..

Millie is my mother in laws name and also the namesake of our restaurant (Mad Millie's)

We had a little more time to kill and walked to the store they have there, this is a great store, tons of stuff, the kids decided to buy a couple of things and wanted to start collecting pressed pennies... after a short conversation we decided we would save that for another trip.

The boys played a little checkers while Mom shopped.

We made our way back to the main building and I had a few minutes to take this shot, I thought the light was awesome and the horse and carriage looked amazing. I talked to the lady who was in charge of the horse and she said it would be fine if I took a picture. I set up my tripod and took about 20 shots and finally was happy with a few in my view finder, when I got home this is the one I thought turned out the best.

They called our number and it was time to go in.

If you haven't been to this show, it is really a great show for the entire family. The players get the entire audience involved and makes for a great night . The great thing about this meal is that everything is included in the price of your ticket, including drinks.

They drop the food on your table in pails and will keep bringing it. The boys love this part, the show is really fun and the food is very good. If you have not seen this show it is definite "must do".

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

That night we had reservations to go to HDDR, we have seen this show before and sat in the balcony. Great vantage point and lots of fun. My cousin his wife and little daughter were on this trip with us, we kinda met up a couple of times but for the most part we went our own way. When we were booking the resorts we tried to explain to them if they stayed at another resort we would hardly see each other. They thought we could walk to each others resorts.

They asked me what resort they should stay at, they wanted to stay Saratoga Springs, I told them they should stay at the Boardwalk area. They said they wanted to stay somewhere where they could walk to some parks because there little one was in a stroller.
They decided on SS.
I wanted to shout out SHUT UP and LISTEN to me...

So hard to watch others fail to heed quality advice, isn't it? It's like being a dad and letting your kids fail so they'll learn for the next time...

We made our way back to the main building and I had a few minutes to take this shot, I thought the light was awesome and the horse and carriage looked amazing. I talked to the lady who was in charge of the horse and she said it would be fine if I took a picture. I set up my tripod and took about 20 shots and finally was happy with a few in my view finder, when I got home this is the one I thought turned out the best.

Great picture! I continue to be in awe of the shots you got.

(Well, except for the 3D ones)

I remember doing the HDDR when I was a kid. They got my dad, one of the quietest, most introverted men in America, to dress up as an Indian and act on stage. I couldn't pick my jaw up off the floor.

 

[stopher1]

In all the times we have gone on this attraction we have never seen the "Western scene" we always got the "Gangster Scene". I never even knew the other scene even existed. So when we came into this room, we were all completely surprised and I pulled my camera out as quickly as I could.

Of course we had to get one of these

Am I the only one that thinks these taste soooooo good at DisneyWorld

I definitely like the Western scene better than the Gangster scene... and tend to end up with the Gangster more than the Western. Everytime I do though get Western, I'm so happy. It's the little things sometimes, isn't it?

Those are good bars, yes... but I personally prefer the Itzakadoozies, hands down - or as my DD says, the "oozie kadoozies".