A Once in Lifetime Adventure in Walt's Wonderful World-lots of pics-COMPLETE

[MA pigletfan]

Melanie..i am so sad your report is winding down ( and shame on me for having mine on hold for over a month..whoops!!!)..anyway i have the same picture of those bridal gowns at the GCH!!! i would walk by them and sigh every day..i still need to buy my gown for my October wedding, so who knows???!!!
What an amazing tour you had..I can't even handle all the stuff you got to do and see!

 

[SoonerGirl]

and how exactly can you PM on this?
because I wanted to message you something but I don't know how to on here...
(pardon the n00b haha)

Just click on her user name right above the avatar on one of her posts, sending the user a PM is one of the options.

 

[CangriChika]

thanks!
i've just been schooled!


i cant send a message unless i have 10 posts

 

[merrrydeath]

1. I have been lurking ever since your pre-trip report, but either I haven't had anything to say that hasn't already been said(love all your pictures and details) or I couldn't seem to get over my jealousy enough to post

2. However, I was watching my new copy of the 40th anniversary edition of Mary Poppins and couldn't resist posting after I was done. If you don't already own this edition, then you should get it right away. On the Bonus Features disc there is a 50 min. behind-the-scenes making of Mary Poppins. It is full of cute details about the actors, the sets, the music, and so many great stories about Walt Disney's influence in the movie. I think you'd love it if you haven't already seen it.

 

[Disneygrl36]

so is that club 33 now a referal by members only club? i wonder how else you can get in there

I don't think you can just casually walk in like you did at the luau Dan.
They have to let you in.

Printing out the TR's is a good idea. Eventually all the TR's will disappear into the ether on DISboards so a hard copy is good to have! I may not only print out mine, but I may print out some of the other DIS'ers' TR's as well!!

My TR is not even close to being the comprehensive epic masterpiece that yours is in any way, shape or form (and not even close to Mariezp's great TR extravaganza, which is a fantastic TR too!), but yes, do check it out when you can! Mine is just an okay TR, but I did put some older DLR pictures (1990's and before) in there from past DLR trips , and I plan to continue to do that, which is fun for me. I find that I love reading people's TR's, super-short or super-long, pictures or no pictures. But I love looking at all photos, professional quality or total amateur level, even if we ALL take pictures of the many of the same things over and over! I don't know if you feel the same way, but for some reason it never gets old to me being able to look at everyone's different versions of the ginormous Main Street Christmas tree or the Partners statue or any other common photo spot in DLR! I also like looking at who the people are who have gone on the trip to DLR because I like to see who really looks like they are having a blast and who looks like they want to go home!! I like looking at the posed shots and also just random crowd shots. I love it all! And it does help to relive my own trips to DLR in my mind when I read other TR's, as well as helps to plan for my own future trips by learning from other people's experiences!!

I agree if it's Disney I enjoy looking at it & reading about it.

One itsy bitsy correction to your tour guide's story - Disneyland was said by Walt to have the eighth largest submarine fleet in the world, not the largest.

And while I'm being a snob....



I put my name on the waiting list for Club 33 about 7 years ago and was told the wait was 10 years. Well, about 3 weeks ago, my name came up and I was invited to join! Unfortunately, there is no way right now that we can afford the $14,000 you need for the initiation fee and your first year's dues. It made me so sad to have to turn down the invite.

Membership doesn't require referral by a member, and that wouldn't get you in any faster. They go by the waiting list. Everyone keeps saying it is closed right now, but I would bet that with the downturn in the economy, more spots start opening up soon.

Thanks for correcting the info. I think you would make a great tour guide at Disneyland. I told Eric the other day that if we move to Orlando maybe I could be a plaid instead of being a nurse. I would love to give tours & tell people all the useless Disney stuff that floats around in my head.
Oh darn Carrie. We are friends now & you could have hooked me up with a ressie. Oh well $14,000 is a chunk of change. What do they do if you say no, do you still get to stay on the list?

I just found this thread and read your whole TR up to this point. I would love to do this ABD tour one day! I've never been to DL, which would be a treat itself, but to get to see everything behind the scenes....wow! And my DBF would absolutely LOVE getting a tour of the Disney & Jim Henson Studios. He's a real movie buff and wants to be a director so this would be sort of like a dream come true for him. I hope one day I get to do this!

Jenny. If he's a movie/Disney buff this is the tour for you guys.

Printing out your report is a wonderful idea, years later you won't remember all the little details, but you'll have them right there at your fingertips in your report! I printed mine out and I've already gone back and read it! Just make sure you have PLENTY of paper and printer ink on hand when you get started - I think I used an entire ream of paper, and your report is longer than mine! I didn't print mine using the "printable" version available because that makes all the smilies just words and it took away some from the report I thought. I did shut off the signatures though while I printed it, that saved some space and ink!

I have printed out my other 2 trippies & put them in the back of my scrapbook. It's great to have them for the memories.

Hi Melanie! I'm finally all caught up again. You have done an awesome job of sharing DL and your adventure with all of us!

I loved your final dinner - so cool to have the private drawings, and I can tell you became quite attached to your guides.

IASW was broke, huh? Those darn Daisies were probably there! Your trip was so magical - I can't wait to read more of your own adventures!

Yeah, I know I bet it was those darn Daisies. It was worth the wait though.

WOW... I'll have you know this is the closest I have ever been to anybody who had anything to do with Club 33.

Me too Melissa.

So, I'm going to pop in for a sec and explain the Studio 12 story.

So originally you were going to have the farewell dinner at the Vineyard, but they had accidentally booked the room we were going to be in that night, so instead, they decided on opening up Studio 12 to us for the night.

Once we got there, we all stated how we felt it was the perfect end to the trip, because you really felt backstage, so we requested that Studio 12 should be made the permanent end dinner location, and as you can see, they obliged.

Also, Stacia is amazing. She did Figment for me, and she even knew how to do Sam the Eagle for Quinn. She is also a treasure trove of information, and her only rule is that you be there to talk to her when she draws your character.

Also, Max Ackerman Technique. Just saying...

Really cool info on dinner Max. Glad you guys were able to have input into that. It was a great location. They took my fastpass everytime. Darn I guess I didn't know how to work it like you. Sakina got Figment I think. Stacia was like the cherry on the top of our perfect ending sundae.

I'm officially jealous about you going on the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour && going into club 33... i wish I had known about that, i totally would have stayed an extra day or two to take some tours and see some last sights

and how exactly can you PM on this?
because I wanted to message you something but I don't know how to on here...
(pardon the n00b haha)

I wish you could have stayed too Sakina. PM me quick. Post something silly on here & then you can send me a message. How bout I send you one with my email address.

Melanie..i am so sad your report is winding down ( and shame on me for having mine on hold for over a month..whoops!!!)..anyway i have the same picture of those bridal gowns at the GCH!!! i would walk by them and sigh every day..i still need to buy my gown for my October wedding, so who knows???!!!
What an amazing tour you had..I can't even handle all the stuff you got to do and see!

Ohhhhhhhhh I forgot you have a wedding to plan. Good luck. That window made me drool. I really do want to do a vow renewal at 10 years-just 5 more years to wait. Maybe we could do one at 7 years what do you guys think? My sister in law informed me that 5 years was too soon when I talked about doing on this past year.

thanks!
i've just been schooled!


i cant send a message unless i have 10 posts

See above........

1. I have been lurking ever since your pre-trip report, but either I haven't had anything to say that hasn't already been said(love all your pictures and details) or I couldn't seem to get over my jealousy enough to post

2. However, I was watching my new copy of the 40th anniversary edition of Mary Poppins and couldn't resist posting after I was done. If you don't already own this edition, then you should get it right away. On the Bonus Features disc there is a 50 min. behind-the-scenes making of Mary Poppins. It is full of cute details about the actors, the sets, the music, and so many great stories about Walt Disney's influence in the movie. I think you'd love it if you haven't already seen it.

Glad you came out of lurkdom &
I have the MP 40th DVD & it is awesome. I haven't watched the special features in a while. I might just do that now that you have reminded me how great they are. Thanks.

 

[BriarRosie]

As I Daisy, I apologize for breaking all of the rides

Hey now, we Daisies didn't break all the rides! We just have gotten a bad reputation.

It soooooooooooooo had to be a Daisy that broke the monorail.

Sure, add salt to the wound. I think we had an adventure of trying to get to the Fantasmic seating area while in the midst of the sea of humanity traveling in one-way directions. I tell you if I hadn't found you guys, I probably would never have found the rest of the group.

And I can't believe Melanie forgot to mention getting Dream Fastpasses from the exit of Monsters Inc! I rode it with Melanie and Eric, and I had to point out the sushi menu in the queue and my favorite item in the vending machine: Sugar, Salt and Fat.

I think we had some amazing things to see, but if we had been able to see Club 33 and/or the Dream Suite, that would have been icing on the cake of a wonderful tour.

 

[CangriChika]

she did mention the dreams fastpass...

darn things stopped being handed out as soon as we got on the ride, and it was RIGHT after you guys....

All that was left was confetti on the floor MERR...

 

[Disneygrl36]

Hey now, we Daisies didn't break all the rides! We just have gotten a bad reputation.



Sure, add salt to the wound. I think we had an adventure of trying to get to the Fantasmic seating area while in the midst of the sea of humanity traveling in one-way directions. I tell you if I hadn't found you guys, I probably would never have found the rest of the group.

And I can't believe Melanie forgot to mention getting Dream Fastpasses from the exit of Monsters Inc! I rode it with Melanie and Eric, and I had to point out the sushi menu in the queue and my favorite item in the vending machine: Sugar, Salt and Fat.

I think we had some amazing things to see, but if we had been able to see Club 33 and/or the Dream Suite, that would have been icing on the cake of a wonderful tour.

Well, if you guys would have broken only one ride............. but some of you broke others!!!!
I can't believe I forgot to mention it either until someone asked me about it from a picture.
I agree Lori..........they should add in lunch at Club 33 & a tour of the Dream Suite. I wonder if things will change over time. If they do, I might have to take the tour again. Shhhhhhhhhhh don't tell Eric I said that.

she did mention the dreams fastpass...

darn things stopped being handed out as soon as we got on the ride, and it was RIGHT after you guys....

All that was left was confetti on the floor MERR...

Sorry we took all the fastpasses Sakina!!!!
I think what Lori meant is I forgot to mention it until somebody asked me about it. D'oh.
I just noticed your ticker............have you been on a disney cruise before????? I DCL. Which one are you going on?

 

[Disneygrl36]

So we left Disneyland & walked over to California Adventure. We wanted to finish up there today since we still had a park hopper & tomorrow we were just buying a one day non-hopper ticket since our ABD pass would be all used up.

We got a fast pass to ride Soarin & some hot chocolate because it was getting chillier by the minute. I don't know what I was thinking with my clothing choice for the day, but the hot pink sweater & the jacket looked horrible together---but I was cold so who cares right?
We went to Bugs Land again because I had to get a few pictures there & one of them had to be of Dot.

See back when I went to Disneyland with my family in 2001 every time I did the what character are you I was DOT--good grief. Then the first time Eric & I went to WDW & I did it there I was DOT. So it's been a running joke between us that I am Dot the optimistic little bug. This time I was Cinderella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We rode Heimlich's chew chew train just because it was so darn cute.

I love how everything has been chomped on by Heimlich.

Then went to see It's Tough to Be a Bug because we just love this movie so much.

Do you smell that?

My favorite part is the bugs exiting the theatre.

We went by the Blue Sky Cellar to see what kind of plans they have for the remake of California Adventure-some really cool stuff is coming.

I had to take a photo of this memo because it references Joe Cocker the audio-animatronic we saw at Imagineering. Really cool.

Pinot noir is my favorite wine so I thought this was a funny play on that.

Loved this model.........still hate the ferris wheel because it scares the heck out of me with those moving cars. But it looks really cute with Mickey in the middle.

Next we headed to Paradise Pier to ride some rides, especially since some of these are going away or being reimagined.
We rode the Orange Stinger

The Maliboomer........which I totally love. You can see for miles up there.

California Screamin' & this time we were in the front row!!!!!! Oh Yeah!!!!!

Then we rode on King Tritons carousel because the animals are just so darn cute. DH isn't bad either.

Soooooooo lurkyloo aka Carrie had emailed us while we were in Hollywood & asked if we would still be around on Sunday & we had agreed to meet around 3ish at the Tiki Room. I realized we were still going to be in California Adventure at that time, so I called her. She said they had to check in for the night at the Grand anyways, so they would come over & meet us. We were in line for Soarin' so she said call her when we got off. Which we did & then we waited for them outside Soarin'. It wasn't long before I saw she & Patrick walking along towards us. It was like meeting up with long lost friends. I know I hugged her & then I wondered does she think I am crazy for doing that. She & Patrick are just like they seem from her trippies & their photos. Patrick went to get them a hot cocoa & we found a table so we could sit & chat.
It was great talking with them & finding out about what they do. They really wanted to hear about our experiences with ABD & we were excited to tell them all about it. Patrick especially wanted to hear about Jim Henson Studios-since he does work with them. Which by the way, Patrick has the coolest job ever being a puppeteer!!!!!!!!!!! We chatted for a long time & it was really great to meet them & for it not to be in the least bit awkward. It really was like meeting old friends. They had a dinner reservation to get ready for & we wanted to watch the parade...so we went & found a photopass photog to take our picture & then went our seperate ways.

Looking at this picture makes me feel really short--happy but short.
We really enjoyed our time with them & I would love to get back out to Hollywood area some time & spend some more time together.
Continued in next post........

 

[Disneygrl36]

Then we went & found a spot for the Pixar Play parade. This is a really cute parade with lots of bouncy acrobatic elements. The music was infectious. I enjoyed seeing all my favorite characters.

Jack Jack's head on fire!!!!!!

Mice bouncing on spaghetti

Crush dude......

I loved this puffer fish.........he would shrink down to normal & then open the umbrella up & pouff up.

Toy Story float......those acrobats were amazing!!!!

And silly old Heimlich

A little bit of video of the bugs

This parade had a lot of movement & different things that we hadn't seen before so it was fun for us.

We had a couple of things we wanted to do one more time before we left. I wanted to ride Monsters Inc again since they don't have it at WDW. We also went back to the Animation Academy & drew Goofy this time.

After that, we went back to the room so we could get gloves & a hat for Eric because it was COLD. We were supposed to have dinner at Steakhouse 55 but we had been eating so much food that we decided to forgo this & just have something from White Water Snacks in the Grand instead. So I had a chicken sandwich. I think Eric had a steak sandwich.

I left my camera in the room when we went back. We went into the Magic Kingdom to basically just walk around & soak up the atmosphere. We did ride Pooh & got a snack from Pooh's corner to eat. I got my Tigger Tail-yummo & Eric had a smore. Alas no photos. My feet were killing me this night. I think it had all just caught up to me & the Walk in Walt's footsteps was about 3 hours of basically uninterrupted walking or standing. So we called it an early night, just enjoying walking around the Magic Kingdom. We walked over to Tomorrowland & took the monorail back to the Grand.
We went to the Hearthstone Lounge to have a glass of wine to relax before bed. We were all cuddled up on one of the sofas when a man came in with his 2 little girls who were bouncing all over the place & plopping around on the sofa across from us. The Dad came over & said "Sorry, if we just ruined your romantic evening. But hey this is some of the best birth control you could ever get."
So we finished up that glass of wine & got another to go for in the room. We ate a snack & drank our wine while chatting about our trip!! Not long after we were dead to the world & for the first time this trip, we did not set the alarm clock to get up the next morning.

Up next............Rainy Day fun

 

[FauntleroyFAN07]

mmmm wine, and that chicken sandwich looks really good

 

[CangriChika]

I just noticed your ticker............have you been on a disney cruise before????? I DCL. Which one are you going on?

I've NEVER been on a disney cruise
surprising huh?

I'm going to Bahamas && Castaway Cay, its the 3 night one I think. I'm so excited!!!

 

[Aburns8]

I'm going to Bahamas && Castaway Cay, its the 3 night one I think. I'm so excited!!!

Sakina, Brian and I want to go! Could you imagine all of the trouble we would get into!

 

[CangriChika]

Sakina, Brian and I want to go! Could you imagine all of the trouble we would get into!

you should definatly go!
that would be exciting, they'd end up kicking us of the boat
we leave feb. 26 fyi
there should be time to still book it hehe

 

[jns]

just loving your TR

Thanks again for sharing

When's the next holiday pre trip report comimg out ?

 

[lurkyloo]

Hooray! Now I know what you guys did before and after we met you. I liked my hug ...

Also, I think your red and pink looked great together - but then, if you look at our pic together, you may notice that I'm wearing a red scarf and pink gloves!

 

[jenny105]

I've NEVER been on a disney cruise
surprising huh?

I'm going to Bahamas && Castaway Cay, its the 3 night one I think. I'm so excited!!!

I've never been on one either and I'm sooooo excited too! Yours is a lot closer than mine though!

 

[CangriChika]

I've never been on one either and I'm sooooo excited too! Yours is a lot closer than mine though!

ohh! where you going and when??

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I've NEVER been on a disney cruise
surprising huh?

I'm going to Bahamas && Castaway Cay, its the 3 night one I think. I'm so excited!!!

You're going to love your cruise! DH surprised me in 2006 for our Tenth Anniversary with the Land/Sea Package. DS3 was still so little. So, he wanted to include the kids in our "second" honeymoon. We have been on one every year since. Needless to say ... We're hooked! We just went on our third this past September. I want to live on Castaway Cay. Serenity Bay is soooooooooo peaceful. I was surprised how quiet it is down there. The family beach was loud and chaotic. Once you board the tram ... you are on your way to pure paradise. On our first and second cruise, we did the couples-cabana massage on CC. I HIGHLY recommend this. Also, we have done dinner and brunch at Palo. Brunch was amazing. We met up with other DISers onboard and booked Palo's private room for the brunch (It helped that one of our DISFriends was in a Suite ). The 3-night cruise doesn't have the Palo brunch, but dinner is "a must". The lobster ravioli is now my favorite. Yum! Yum! We have to wait until November for our next DCL cruise. It seems sooooooo far away. We are taking my Mom, nephew and our three kiddos. My Mom lost her husband this past Spring. They were suppose to go on a cruise the month after he passed. Of course she canceled it. So, DH and I wanted to treat her with the cruise as a sort of pick-me up. We are bringing my nephew along as a High School Graduation present. It will be a "mini-Grand Gathering". We need one more person (8 minimum) to be considered a Grand Gathering at WDW.

Have a "Wonder"ful cruise.

Jennifer

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

Melanie,

Your trip report lit a fire under my butt to make a decision about DH's birthday trip this June. After pricing everything and taking into consideration our children, I decided to wait until DS3 is older to do an ABD. With that said (written) ... I booked us at the Disneyland Hotel!!!!!! I can't wait! This will be DH's first trip to Disneyland. What better way to spend his 40th Birthday? We WILL be there on his actual birthday. I got the park-hopper tickets with our package. So, we will probably use the celebration FastPass option for his birthday present from Disney.

Look out Mickey ... Here we come!

Jennifer