After our refreshing nap, we headed out to California Adventure again. On the way out, I stopped to take a picture of this window because I am always dreaming of a Disney vow renewal & this makes it even more appealing.
We stopped & rode Soarin' again with fast passes we had picked up on our way out of the park to take our nap. Next on the agenda & the reason we set an alarm clock before our nap, was to see the Aladdin show at the Hyperion show. It was beautiful from start to finish-the costumes, the music, the elephant & camels, the amazing effects of Aladdin & Jasmine flying through the air on their magic carpet. WOW. The genie is hilarious telling jokes with references to contemporary things-like saying he needed an economic bail out & that Al Gore would be mad because they had so much smoke on stage. Really a great show.
A big number........
Aladdin on his elephant
Jafar in all his wickedness
The finale
The curtain call
Really a great show!!!!!!!!!!!
After watching the show which is about 45 minutes long, we didn't have much time until dinner. The Pixar Play Parade was going on so we watched a bit of it & found out what a bouncy & fun parade it was so I decided we needed to see it again when we weren't looking through people's heads. We also popped in Off the Page for a browse around & I found this.
We went into the Animation Building to get a picture-we had asked a man earlier in the day to take the picture but duh he didn't get the words which was the point of the whole thing. So I asked & a nice lady took it for us.
Dinner was at Stage 12 in the Backlot area. I found out this used to be a food court type area but it is now used exclusively for private functions.
We had a real treat tonight. Diana introduced Stacia Martin to us & said she was there to draw each one of our favorite Disney characters. They told us to be thinking about who we wanted & they would call us up individually by table. So we got our food & waited for our turn.
Dinner was a buffet & we could have wine with dinner as well. The food was good, but not long after I got my plate it was my turn to go get my drawing. So, by the time I got back to my food it was cold. I probably could have gone & gotten hot food but I didn't want to waste what I had.
My dinner-which was a buffet.
It was my turn to meet Stacia. Stacia is a Disney historian & artist. She does various things for the company & has worked for Disney for over 30 years. She writes books & travels representing the company. She is on a DVD I just got called Disney Treasures Disneyland Secrets & Magic. We were watching it on Sunday & I said "Hey there's Stacia we know her!". She asked me who I wanted her to draw for me & I told her Mary Poppins. She said Mary was the only human/non animated character she was allowed to do because Mary goes back & forth between the live & animated world so easily. She was amazing to talk to as she drew. We talked about Julie Andrews. She had attended the Gift of Music concert that we had seen in Atlanta at the Hollywood Bowl. So we spent quite a bit of time gushing over Julie & how she was able to sing for us that night & what that meant to us. She said she felt she had met a kindred spirit in me. It was awesome & she drew so quickly that I was in awe.
The finished product.
Eric's turn was next. He had been wanting to see if she could do a caricature of Frank & Ollie-but she cannot because they are real people, so he settled on Jiminy Cricket.
Here is a video of her talking with us as she drew for Eric. I did the same thing while she was drawing Mary for me, but you don't need to be subjected to my silliness again. It's a bit longer than the other videos about 3 minutes. I asked her if it was ok to video while she was drawing & she said sure.
Here's Eric with his finished product.
She was an absolute delight to talk to & had so much knowledge!!!! What a treat.
The guides had our tubes with our drawings we had done at the animation academy earlier in the day & they put Stacia's drawins in there so we could get them home easily.
Here they are at home.............
Yummy desserts
Next the guides made a toast to us & our time together. Diana gave Kristin her "D" host pin & told us that this had been her first adventure. What a surprise.
Then, they showed us a slide show that they had made with the pictures they had been taking all week. It was very touching & funny all at the same time. It made me happy & sad too because I knew this meant our adventure was almost over.
Mickey & Minnie Mouse stopped by to say Goodbye to us which was great!!!!
It's rare to get a picture with both of the Big Cheese's.
With our wonderful guides who had made this trip extra magical.
We gave Diana & Kristin their cards with their tips & the Christmas ornaments I had made for them. They really seemed to like that personal touch & we got big hugs from both of them. I really wish I had gotten their email addresses so I could keep in touch with them.
*****Did any of you guys that were on the trip get them????????
If so will you share them with me?*****
They gave us all our final pins for the trip which was kind of sad.
They told us they would have special viewing for us for the fireworks in front of the Plaza Pavillion & to meet there around 9pm if we wanted to see the fireworks.
Then we went off to enjoy the rest of our evening.
Leaving our special area.
Up next: Bugs & more bugs, Pixar Crack & darn fireworks
They were pretty excited about it once it got going!
I love the video clips, the links to extra info, the meticulous documentation. And it's making me want to go be a tourist in my own town!
I'm loving taking this trip vicariously through you! 
you guys!!!!!!!!!!!
Hope they were able to use them to have fun.
Jessily. Glad you are enjoying.
Lurkyloo would make an excellent tour guide. She's coming up a bit later on this trippie too so stay tuned.
