I'm here at my grandmas in Las Vegas and was planning on starting my TR today but her Internet is not working. It worked fine last night, but it is not sending out a signal today. We were going to wait a few hours and then call the cable company and see if they could check it out.
So maybe tomorrow.
If you do your TR in another thread be sure to post a link here so we can find it! It was fun seeing you the other night even if it was only for a few seconds!
If you do your TR in another thread be sure to post a link here so we can find it! It was fun seeing you the other night even if it was only for a few seconds!
I want too say I had the best time!!!!! This was a great trip for anyone who wants an inside look into the parks.
I went to work till 12:00PM on Friday. My friend Kevin was taking me to Denver after work and I was staying the night at his house and then flying to Las Vegas on Saturday. After work we drove to Denver it was pretty uneventful.
This was in Vail.
We had dinner at Chili's, mine was really good.
We then went to Kevin's house and watched movies, Sherlock Holmes and Up in the Air. Both were great. Then it was time for bed.
Saturday I woke up around 8:30 showered and then we had breakfast.
Here is Kelin, Kevin's son while we wait to be seated for breakfast.
Next up day one of California and one or two flattie problems!
After that it was time to leave for the airport and head for Las Vegas.
It's time for the flatties to say good bye and thanks for letting us stay with you Kevin.
Here is Shanan and Jason sharing some frozen yogurt.
Anne, Robin and a different Kevin waiting for the plane.
When I got to Las Vegas I just hung out and talked to my family. Went to IN-N-OUT for dinner and went to sleep.
Sunday after I woke up I asked my grandmother if I could barrow her Nikon D300 camera and of course she said yes. Then it was off to WalMart for some last minute items and I also went and got a haircut. Kim was in WDW at this time and later on that night while I was repacking we started to texted message each other. Her Magical Express was picking her up around 4:00AM so she decided to not sleep that night. They had extra magic hours till 2:00AM at the Magic Kingdom, so she went to the and texted me a play by play of what she was doing while I repacked. I tried too go to sleep around 12:00 but could fall asleep. I finally fell asleep around 2:00 I think.
At Walmart I saw a woman who was working there wearing this jacket.
It was her mothers and she worked at DL for 36 year.
Hi everyone! Just as a warning I did not take any notes, so this will be all by my memory. Please if I skip something or get something wrong please add it on.
My alarm went off at 4:00AM so I got up and showered, dressed and got my hair done by 4:45. The cab driver should have been to my grandmas by 5:10 and he was late. He didn't show till around 5:30. So I got in the cab and thought I would check the weather on my iphone, by the time I looked up the cab driver decided to take the long way! I told him that he was going the wrong way and he offered to turn around and go the other way. I told him no because at this point it wouldn't help and to please just get on the interstate and take me to the airport. He then asked if I was late and I said I am now! After that he took me strait to the airport. I got t the airport checked in the grabbed a small coffee and the headed for security. I have never flown Southwest out of Las Vegas and they are in Concourse C only. So I get to the security are and they only have ONE person checking ID's and only two scanners for your carry on bags. So this took awhile. I get to my and grab the flatties for a picture and realize I left flattie Shanan at my Grandmas!!! I had dumped the bag just as the taxi showed up and I thought I grabbed them all well, I didn't. So we board the plane for the short flight to Los Angles and I thought I would take a picture of the flatties in the window well, Shanan's husband Jason is up on the window and must have decided he didn't want to go without her and JUMPED!!!
Now I'm searching for flattie Jason and thinking I really can't be trusted with these poor people. So I can't find him and realize he must have slide into the row behind me so I start trying too see if I can see flattie Jason, NO LUCK!! I know he must be there, but I stress out during the rest of the flight. I decide to take a few flattie photo's anyway on the plane and HOPE I stop losing them.
Here are the boys minus Jason
Here is rob looking out the window.
After the plane lands and we can remove our seat belts I lean over the set and start looking for flattie Jason, I spot him under the guys foot next to the window. So I ask the man if he could please hand me the laminated paper doll under his left foot. The man looks down grabs it, takes a look and hands it to me with a real puzzled look on his face, I say thanks and put Jason back in the bag. Crisis over!!!
So, I was planning on meeting Kim at her gate, but the way LAX is laid out you can't go from one terminal to another without having a ticket. I collect my bags figure out to get over to Delta's baggage claim. I walk in and see our ABD driver. We chat for a couple on minutes and then Kim sends me a text saying they are on the ground, I tell her where we are. I wanted a picture of her coming down the escalator, so I go over and wait and wait and wait after about 20 minutes she sends me a text saying they have not deplaned because they weren't ready for them. I think it was another 10 minutes before we saw her.
Kim is in the purple fleece jacket.
After that we go to get her bags, we waited about 15 or 20 minutes watching the conveyer go round and round while nothing came out. Then a man says that the bags are coming out of another carousel so we check it out and sure enough here comes her bag. They never did change the sign saying that that flights bags were at the other carousel. Off we go to the hotel.
Here are the flatties in the Town Car on the way to the hotel.
We check into the hotel and then go to our room. I start taking pictures of the room and the view.
Our view from the room.
We freshen up a little bit the head down stairs grab a cab and head for Warner Brothers and the Ellen Show. The cab ride was $18.00 with tip.
We arrive at the WB lot and I call Karen to see if her, Katherine and John have eaten yet and they hadn't. We decide to eat at the WB Cafe. Karen said it was about a fifteen minute walk. Karen said the cafe was by where you check in for the WB VIP tour I say Ok we'll be there soon. After I hang up I tell Kim what the plan was, but we weren't sure where to go. So Kim and I ask the lady in the ticket both and she wasn't sure and said to ask the tour guide standing on our left. We go ask and he gave us direction and off we went. It was about 15 to 20 minute walk. Half way there Kim was complaining about the walk, it was pretty funny. I felt bad because Kim had not slept for about 34 or 36 hours at this point. I was wearing a pair of flats and they were hurting my heal while we were walking, we made a great pair. I was complaining about my heal and Kim about the walk. We finally arrived at the VIP area and I spot Karen, Katherine and John taking photos in the courtyard and run over and jump in Katherine and John's photo. They realize it is me and hugs are exchanged. I pull out the flatties and we spend a few minutes taking photos before we going and eat.
Katherine and John with the flatties.
We all go in the cafe figure out what we want for lunch and get our food. They have a grill area where you can have hamburgers and steak sandwiches made. If you are in a hurry they had a chicken plate you can just grab. They had a panini area where they make them to order, also an area where you can make a garden salad or they could make a specialty salad for you. I had a cheeseburger, salad and a coke for $13.00. It was very good.
After lunch we headed over to the Ellen show. I did not bring my camera because I new you could not take any photos there. I figured I could use my iphone. Well, at this point my phones battery was almost dead, so I didn't get any photos. We arrive and Karen show the letter saying we are confirmed guests, then we all must show our ID. Karen then must go stand in line to get our seat numbers and the rest of us go sit down. I believe the area we are in is the Riff Raff Room. After about 15 or 20 minutes Karen comes back with our numbers. While waiting to be brought over to the studio they played the last Ellen show on the flat screen TV's on the wall. Then a guy came out and asked if anybody had talent. So the first woman can whistle 7 different ways, it was dumb. The next person I remember did a rap about Ellen and that was great. The other person I remember could juggle 3 apples and eat one while juggling. He was pretty good. Then we were lead across the street to the sound stage where her show is taped. It started to rain. Kim and I both had umbrellas so I pulled them out. We were outside for about 10 minutes before we could get inside. They had security at the like you would see in the airport. You had to walk thru the metal dector and they went thru your bag. After that they lined us up in order of our seat number. It took another 15 minutes before we were let in the studio. They studio is very large. We were pretty far up. They had 204 seats and we were in 149, 150, 151 and 152. Kim and I had a camera in our way. Kim could see the guest but not Ellen and I could see Ellen but not the guest. The guests that day were Kristi Alley, Cindy Lauper and Matthew Morrison from Glee. For 20 minutes before the show starts they get us up and dance. They have speakers on the floor about every 3 or 4 seats. Kim and I had a mic right in front of us, so anything we said the mic would pick it up. I decided it was my duty to cheer, clap, laugh and yell as much as possible. When the show was over I was surprised I could speak. During all the commercial breaks we all had to stand up and cheer and dance. I was sick of getting up and down by the time the show was over. And NO we didn't get anything on the show, not even a CD. I was hoping they would have No or Go on this show but no luck. I love that game.
When Kristi Alley came out the first thing I said was how good she looks. She has lost around 30 lbs and it shows. Cindy Lauper didn't sing, she was on to talk about Celebrity Apprentice. The Matthew Morrison from Glee seemed really nice. I really enjoyed the taping. Thanks Karen for getting us the tickets!!!!!!
After the show we were walking back across the street and Katherine asked "where do we get a cab" the smart ### that I am said over their where the cabs are. So, we grab a cab back to the hotel and we agree to meet at the hotel at 7:00 to head over to Yamishiro for dinner. Kim and I head up stairs I grab my camera and we head for Hollywood BLVD. We walk around the Hollywood and Highland center because I wanted to get Katherine some chocolate from The Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
Here is Jen thinking about a little bit of shopping.
We found it after walking around for a while, we get the chocolate and head for Grauman's.
This was an old Masonic Temple that opened in 1921. It was the Grand Lodge of California #355.
The El Capitan and Disney's Soda Fountain.
Grauman's
We take a few pictures and then check out the people dresses like characters for money. There was Elvis, Batman, and Super girl all talking to each other. A creepy Minnie Mouse was there plus Jesus! It was pretty funny. The next day Snoopy was there and I don't think his outfit has been cleaned in 20 years it was really gross! I didn't take pictures of the because I didn't want to pay them. Kim and I were talking about Jesus
holding the flatties and having their pictures taken with him. We didn't do it.
We walk around and spot a bus tour that said Topless Fun. So we pull out a flattie because that is a perfect photo op.
We take some more flattie pics and then head back to our room so we can freshen up for dinner.
Here is Anne on Hollywood Blvd.
Todd is hanging with Mickey.
After we freshened up we head down stairs. Nancy and Mary Jo were coming over to pick us up. We all meet in front of the hotel and off we go to dinner. The restaurant is up on a hill and has such a great view of Hollywood and LA. We all take a few pictures in front of the restaurant and then check in.
We were sat in the middle of the restaurant at a big round, but it was kind of in our own room. It was very dark and I hadn't figured out if the camera had a flash on it yet because it had a shoe slide for an external flash. So I didn't get any pictures of the group. John if you have pictures of us by the Gong please post them.
We had 8 of us for dinner. It was Nancy, Mary Jo, Kim, Karen, Chris, Katherine, John and me. Everyone one ordered Sushi for an App except John and I. I ordered Calamari for an App and it was REALLY good. I did not take a picture of it but here are a few of the Sushi dishes.
Everyone loved the Sushi. For dinner I had Chicken and brown rice with long beans. I ate every bit of it. It was sooo good.
Katherine had steak and Karen had more Sushi.
Karen had the Darth Vader Sushi. It was all black.
Kim was across the table and had the ribs. She said it was very good. Form what everyone said they really enjoyed their food. I would love to go back. If you have a chance check it out. We settle the bill and all of us go out front and take picture. I had not figured out my grandmas camera at this point, so my pictures are not as good as I hoped they would be. After dinner we went back to the hotel and headed for bed.
Sounds like you had a great day. Did Ellen seem as nice as I think she is? Thanks for the Julie Andrews pic from Graumann's---my fav. That restaurant had an awesome view & the food looked yummy too!!!!
Sounds like you had a great day. Did Ellen seem as nice as I think she is? Thanks for the Julie Andrews pic from Graumann's---my fav. That restaurant had an awesome view & the food looked yummy too!!!!
She didn't interact with us as much as I hoped. She seemed very nice just like on TV.
I planned on going back to Grauman's and take more pictures, but we just ran out of time. I would really like to do this tour again sometime.
Day Two, Tuesday April 13. Word of the day is Mickey Mouse and yes that is two words. I didn't make this up ABD did. The theme of the day is It All Started With A Mouse...
I woke up at 7:00AM and Kim was still a sleep. I didn't want to wake her so I tried to be quit while I showered. She woke up not long after I got out if the shower. While Kim was finishing getting ready I walked over to Starbucks and got coffee and a scone for me. Kim got coffee cake. After we ate we just relaxed in the room till around 12:30 then I said lets get up and do something.
We headed down stair and when we got in the lobby we saw ABD reception desk set up, so we went over and introduced ourselves to Jamie one of our ABD guides. Kim thought she would start off in the right foot with him and told him how stupid the ABD paddle was. It was pretty funny. We filled out what we wanted for lunch the next day and then we meet some other DIS'ers. It was the two Oscar's. After the two Oscar's Tonya and her Mom Carol walked up. We all talked for a few minutes and then Jamie took pictures of us. Jamie told us to meet up stairs in the mezzanine level at 3:50 for the meet and greet and dinner.
After that Kim and I head out for some lunch.
We head across the street to Mel's Drive In. Here is the info of Mel's from their website.
The Mel's drive-in of Hollywood has a fascinating and colorful history. It is located in the historic Max Factor building, a beauty salon whose client list at one time included Jean Harlow, Bette Davis, and most of the major movie actresses in Hollywood. Mel's now shares the building with the Hollywood History Museum, home of 5,000 Hollywood exhibits and artifacts such as Hannibal Lecter's cell and the sets of Moulin Rouge.
I had a French Dip with onion rings and a coke. Kim had a chicken sandwich with seasoned fries and a sprit. Here is a picture of my lunch.
After lunch we headed over to the Roosevelt Hotel. We walked in and went into the lobby area. The ceiling is so beautiful. I grabbed my camera and then a security guard came over and said "sorry you can't take pictures of the architecture"! He said we could only take pictures of each other. So I told Kim she need to climb up on the ceiling so I could take her picture.
They were filming in the ballroom so we didn't get to check it out either. We went to go look at the pool area and I went the wrong way and we ended up outside so I said lets go. Next time I will take my time and look around. We did see the Shirley Temple steps though.
We started walking down the street and started taking pictures in front of the Disney Soda fountain.
Here is flattie Todd.
Here is flattie Anne, Tracey and Robin.
Flattie Jaime and Jen.
Flattie Jaime with Kim.
Jaime, Rob and Jen.
We went inside because I wanted a Soda Fountain pin. I asked the girl working if the had any Disney Soda Fountain pins in stock. She pointed some out, but they don't have any that say Soda fountain on them so I got another pin.
Then I decide to try on a hat. Then we go back outside and walk around some more.
As we are walking around we notice a store with fake Oscars in it. We start joking around and I tell Kim to get the one that says World best Mom and she looks at me and says this is a Liquor store! We start cracking up and making fun of the fact it is a Liquor with fake Oscars. I then had too take a picture.
We take a few more pictures and then head over to the hotel for dinner.
Jaime and Johhny.
We are a few minutes early for the meet and greet, so we say hi to some old and new friends.
Here is Susan and Kim.
John and Jen.
Katherine
Then Kevin comes in and passes out visors for everyone.
Then we head over to our reception room for drinks and snacks.
Flattie Todd with Dave, Don and Don.
The guides introduce themselves to us, they are Jamie and Michael and talk about what is in store for us this week.
We then head over to Trastevere Restaurant for dinner and a Disney version of Jeopardy.
Here is Kim while we stand in front of the Trastevere Restaurant waiting to be let in.
We find a place to sit and I realize all the salads have dressing on them. I DON'T like salad dressing, so I go over and ask Jaime for a salad without dressing. I go sit back down and my salad comes within a few minutes.
You are allowed Wine, soda, tea, coffee and milk with dinner. I have a coke and I think Kim had Wine. We order dinner and start eating all the salads on the table.
This is the salad they brought me.
Part way through the app's they start the Disney Jepardy game. How they pick who will play is by asking questions and if you are the first to answer the question correctly you get to play. So Jim is the first to answer correctly, then Tracey gets then next question correct. Now this next party is a little fuzzy for me. I'm not sure if Bill gets part of the Matterhorn question correct or if he got a different question correct. The guy running the game asked a two part question about the Matterhorn Bobsled. The second part of the question started with " this ride has a baskeball court in it" and I raise my had really fast. Well, after I raised my had he calls on me and I say "oops I don't want to play" he then says "well, why would you raise you're hand"? Good question!!!! So he points at Kim so she can answer the question, but because of her vision she did not see him point at her. We all tell Kim he is talking to her. He must have said something to her that he was he was pointing at her and she tells him she is legally blind. This guy then doesn't let her answer the question and was going too move on. I hope Kim will tell this story because I'm not sure what really happened. After that happened Kim tells him that he never let her answer the the question and he lets her answer and she is the last person picked to play. So once everyone is up there he tells them the rules and you must hit the buzzer in order to answer. He starts asking questions and Kim never hits the buzzer and so he asked Kim some simple question like what is your name. She answers the question and he tells her she must hit the buzzer first. Kim hits the buzzer and answers the quest so she gets 10 points. This goes on for awhile and it is pretty funny because he was doing it to Jim or Bill also. He was trying to keep the game close. The end of the game was you had to sing the Mickey Mouse Club Song I think. Know one really wanted to sing so Kim did it and won the game. She got Mickey Ears that said THE BIG CHEESE.
Our dinner comes out and mine looks good, it's Veal with a lemon sauce, potatoes and vegetables. Kim's had Pasta with some kind of sauce.
Let me say mine looked good, but Kim's looked gross. We both take a bite and both were AWEFUL! Kim ate a couple of bites and that was it. I removed the lemon sauce and ate one piece of veal. It was tough and over cooked. The potatoes were very good. Kim's was Wheat pasta that was really under cooked. Kim said that when she looked around the people with the pasta did not eat it. Kim ate more of the app's and thought those were very good. The Tiramsu came out and it was not very good either. Kim and I decide we will go over to the Soda Fountain for Sundaes after dinner now that sounds good.
After dinner Matt has gifts for all of us, he made shirts. They were great!!! Thanks Matt.
Everyone starts leaving and Kim and I talk to Chris till we were the last people in the seating area for dinner. We go to leave and Jamie and Michael are passing out our first pins and we get to pick either a lanyard or pocket thing.
I pick the lanyard and Kim picks the pocket thing. We then start talking to Michael and Jaime for quite awhile. After that we decide to head for the hotel for some reason and run into Karen then Pete and Walter. Pete had a bag with a container with food in it. I see this and say "I see you went and got some food". This starts off a hour conversation. By the time we finally get to our room and get over to the Soda Fountain it was closed!!!!!! So we head back over to the Hollywood and Highland Center looking for something sweet to eat. The things we saw that we wanted to eat were closed. So we head over to the bar at the Renaissance and they had Warm chocolate chip cookies with whip cream. They were sooo good. They were only $2.00. As we were eating we see Katherine and John walk in front of the hotel and start having a a smoke. We settle the bill and head for the front door to see what they are up too. Just when we get to the front door Katherine walks in and SHOUTS "I JUST HAD A SCREAMING ORGAZM"!! We look at each other and then look at Katherine and say SHHH!!!! She was talking about a drink. At this point Katherine was pretty drunk. She had a few drinks at U WINK that night. At some point John says that the refrigerator uses a weight sensor to charge you for items inside. We are like are you sure? He said he was going to the front desk to ask about it. After he talked to the front desk John tells us that they do use the weight sensor. Kim and I decide we need to talk to the front desk about this. The lady says yes that is how they charge for items in the refrigerator. Kim then tells the lady that they should have a note post so people don't pick stuff up and look at it or put stuff in there and then take it out. Our fridge did not have a lock and we went to go put water in there, but before we put the water in there we looked at a few things in the fridge.
The yogurt was from another guest and had never been removed from the fridge!
If John never told us about the weight sensor Kim would have been charged for the items we looked at. Thanks John!!!! I guess John and Katherine looked at everything in the fridge. Their bill would have been HUGE! The front desk was sending both of our rooms fridges to use for water for the rest of our trip.
After we took care of this issue we head over to John and Katherine's room for a little while. They had a view of the Hollywood sign, but we couldn't see it in the dark. After about 35 to 45 minutes we left and went to bed. We had to be up early the next day and it was getting late. Kim and I got ready for bed and got in our beds and then started talking. This happened every night during the trip. It was our way of winding down. I think it was 1:00 before we fell asleep.
Next up Day three April 14. Our first full day of ABD.
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Just as a warning I did not take any notes, so this will be all by my memory. 
I know he must be there, but I stress out during the rest of the flight. I decide to take a few flattie photo's anyway on the plane and HOPE I stop losing them. 
At this point Katherine was pretty drunk. She had a few drinks at U WINK that night. At some point John says that the refrigerator uses a weight sensor to charge you for items inside. We are like are you sure? He said he was going to the front desk to ask about it. After he talked to the front desk John tells us that they do use the weight sensor. Kim and I decide we need to talk to the front desk about this. The lady says yes that is how they charge for items in the refrigerator. Kim then tells the lady that they should have a note post so people don't pick stuff up and look at it or put stuff in there and then take it out. Our fridge did not have a lock and we went to go put water in there, but before we put the water in there we looked at a few things in the fridge. 
