Anyone Game? 2 Castles and a Road Trip TR! Last Day and TR Wrap Up! #2796; 10/01

[LegoMom3]

Well, I don't know anything about Melbourne, but I am very impressed that you got to the U.S. and immediately took on the LA freeways!!!

And what a great DIS-meet you all had!


.

 

[TifffanyD]

Ooooh great pics! I can't see enough of Alison and Fran's house!!!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Loved reading so far! You watched similar movies to me on my flight over! Our flight is 9 hours to Orlando. When we went to Lax it was 11 I think from London so not quite the pilgrimage you had. You get use to these long flights. I just zone out! I get the 7 hour itch though where I hit the wall like get me off this plane then I zone out again. Just don't turn on the flight map...don't look the beast in the eye lol. Don't wanna know how far I gotta go!

Jo's Grandma was from Tasmania and when she was young use to go by ship to England. Omg not concierge on The Disney Cruise line either lol. 6 weeks! Can you imagine. No Ninetendo, iphone, wifi ... Just a game of cards and other passengers to con out of their savings through poker she said lol.

You did so well to get off that flight and rent a car after that flight well done! Great photos of the house. I saw the others ones Alison kindly shared with us all but yours help me picture it even more.

MagicBands lol!

I have always been surprised considering the Italian immigration in the US that one can't seem to purchase a decent cup of java but it's true. Or tea. I use to bring tea with me but thank goodness Disney started serving Twinings tea. Still not keen on the coffee though... european taste much be different. We like expresso type coffee but not Starbucks. It still tastes like filter to me.

But the US food is miles better than British so that more than makes up for it! Plus the friendly folk. British people are 'reserved' Looking forward to reading more!

 

[declansdad]

You keep talking about not getting a good coffee and I think I have determined what the problem was. You keep showing us pictures of a cup with some type of muddy coloured liquid topped with some foam-like substance. That isn't coffee; coffee is black...black as night. No wonder you couldn't find good coffee.

 

[TMGosizk]

Great updates!

Hooray for a DisMeet as soon as you arrived!!

Your poor DS sleeping at the table! Hopefully he was able to catch up on some sleep later!

Oh my goodness...that house...wow! Gorrrrrrgeous!! How cool there's a Haunted Mansion themed room planned!

 

[dolphingirl47]

I followed the link across from Alison's house thread. I can assure you there are A380s that not only have great legroom, but also plenty of space for more expansive hips and bottoms. I speak of experience . Unfortunately they are heading in the wrong direction first before heading to Los Angeles.

Wow, that was seriously impressive how quickly you got through customs. We hate immigration and customs in Los Angeles so much that we now fly indirect, usually via Atlanta. It is much more civilized there.

You are brave hitting the ground running. When we arrive in the USA, all I can manage is get to the hotel and go to bed. If I tried to go for something to eat, I would probably fall asleep at the table, too.

Corinna

 

[Pinkocto]

I'm here, thanks for the link

14 hours is a whopper of a plane ride! I can't sleep either. 5 movies and still time to spare, wow. How nice you were through customs so fast.

My mom is the same as your DH with the extra clothes, she doesn't touch half of what she brings.

Poor DS, could he not sleep on the plane either?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Well, I don't know anything about Melbourne, but I am very impressed that you got to the U.S. and immediately took on the LA freeways!!!

And what a great DIS-meet you all had!


.

I've had plenty of practice. We always hit California highways immediately after arrival.

Ooooh great pics! I can't see enough of Alison and Fran's house!!!

I'm happy to see Alison's and Fran's house again....anytime.

Loved reading so far! You watched similar movies to me on my flight over! Our flight is 9 hours to Orlando. When we went to Lax it was 11 I think from London so not quite the pilgrimage you had. You get use to these long flights. I just zone out! I get the 7 hour itch though where I hit the wall like get me off this plane then I zone out again. Just don't turn on the flight map...don't look the beast in the eye lol. Don't wanna know how far I gotta go!

Jo's Grandma was from Tasmania and when she was young use to go by ship to England. Omg not concierge on The Disney Cruise line either lol. 6 weeks! Can you imagine. No Ninetendo, iphone, wifi ... Just a game of cards and other passengers to con out of their savings through poker she said lol.

You did so well to get off that flight and rent a car after that flight well done! Great photos of the house. I saw the others ones Alison kindly shared with us all but yours help me picture it even more.

MagicBands lol!

I have always been surprised considering the Italian immigration in the US that one can't seem to purchase a decent cup of java but it's true. Or tea. I use to bring tea with me but thank goodness Disney started serving Twinings tea. Still not keen on the coffee though... european taste much be different. We like expresso type coffee but not Starbucks. It still tastes like filter to me.

But the US food is miles better than British so that more than makes up for it! Plus the friendly folk. British people are 'reserved' Looking forward to reading more!

US food is GREAT! And I'm with you. All those US Italians that came off the ships.....what happened to the coffee??

You keep talking about not getting a good coffee and I think I have determined what the problem was. You keep showing us pictures of a cup with some type of muddy coloured liquid topped with some foam-like substance. That isn't coffee; coffee is black...black as night. No wonder you couldn't find good coffee.

: Well....how about you and the family head on over and we can debate the ins and outs of coffee together. Black coffee....the way you drink it.....against a decent Arabica bean (freshly ground), extracted at 95 F hot water temperature, black espresso....with a decent coffee crema on top.

Next time I head out for a coffee, I'll see what I can do about a picture. Just. for. You.

Great updates!

Hooray for a DisMeet as soon as you arrived!!

Your poor DS sleeping at the table! Hopefully he was able to catch up on some sleep later!

Oh my goodness...that house...wow! Gorrrrrrgeous!! How cool there's a Haunted Mansion themed room planned!

Yes. We all caught up on sleep later. And that got us over any jetlag issues as well (which is why we do it this way).

I followed the link across from Alison's house thread. I can assure you there are A380s that not only have great legroom, but also plenty of space for more expansive hips and bottoms. I speak of experience . Unfortunately they are heading in the wrong direction first before heading to Los Angeles.

Wow, that was seriously impressive how quickly you got through customs. We hate immigration and customs in Los Angeles so much that we now fly indirect, usually via Atlanta. It is much more civilized there.

You are brave hitting the ground running. When we arrive in the USA, all I can manage is get to the hotel and go to bed. If I tried to go for something to eat, I would probably fall asleep at the table, too.

Corinna

Hi Corinna! Glad to see you here. Thanks for following the breadcrumbs. We normally avoid LAX as well; and usually try to start in San Francisco. But not this trip. I think this was the quickest I've gotten out of the LAX airport; so I was seriously impressed as well.

I'm here, thanks for the link

14 hours is a whopper of a plane ride! I can't sleep either. 5 movies and still time to spare, wow. How nice you were through customs so fast.

My mom is the same as your DH with the extra clothes, she doesn't touch half of what she brings.

Poor DS, could he not sleep on the plane either?

DS can sleep on planes. The problem with the flight from Melbourne to LA is that we left at 9.30 am. We were in our daytime hours flying and we don't normally sleep on the way over.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I’m gonna wash the Day right out of my Hair




We checked into our hotel, the Residence Inn Maingate, in Anaheim. Having previously stayed here twice before, we knew what to expect before we arrived.


A quiet and clean room, and a great buffet breakfast. After seeing Alison’s house, it kinda felt like we were slumming it a little!
















At this stage, we’d been awake for over 24 hours and I was ready to wash the long groundhog day away. A shower was in order.







Yeah. right. Like I was going to post a picture of ME having a shower on the Dis.
But it’s pretty hard to be satisfied when you can raise a proper lather.



Did you know that California water is “harder” than water in Melbourne?


Water hardness is measured by the amount of Calcium Carbonate (and Magnesium) in the water. These cations can stop soap lathering and create a crusty deposit of scale in kettles, washing machines, dishwashers etc.


So....no matter how much soap and shampoo I applied, nothing would lather up. So much for washing the day away!



It was then that I finally KNEW that I was in a different country. Welcome to California!




(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


The Best Laid Plans #2




September is a great time of year for Aussies to travel. It corresponds with the 3rd term holidays, it is a great time to go and escape the winter and it is considered off-peak season in the northern hemisphere. As a consequence, there was going to be a whole bunch of the ANZAC Dis-sers either in DLR or at WDW.


When planning for this trip, a group of us thought it might be fun to meet. The original destination in mind was going to be the Cheesecake Factory.






This plan held....right up until two weeks beforehand....when the rest of the 4 or 5 of the Aussies thought it might be fun to remain in the parks. And as I had no intention on hitting the parks on arrival day, I got stood up.






Can you believe it? I. Got. Stood. Up.


They all preferred to spend the day in DL and then go to the Friday the 13th Villians Party....rather than have dinner with me at the Cheesecake Factory!!!



Rejection is what created the BEST Disney Villains and payback is a.....well.....you know the word. The Dis won't let me post it.






So, enjoy the pesky vegetarian food porn!


The avocado eggrolls.






Spaghetti marinara.







Asparagus with egg.






Artichoke.







Yes. I knew which one of us was Having. More. fun.





And I didn't blame them one bit for choosing the party.



(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


On our Last Legs for the Day




There’s a party going on right here. Sadly, it’s inside the park and not in DTD. And I had no intention of heading there when I was so sleep deprived.


But after dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, we figured we needed to extend our sleep depravity through to at least the 38 hour mark to get into the local timezone. So, we took a walk down to DTD.


On the way, DS found a couple of local girls to look at.






He’s only 13. I guess he’ll soon figure out that he needs to find girls that are real flesh and blood very shortly.






We kept walking and eventually I stopped in at one of my favourite shops. The Cast Members are so accommodating in there. I’m always allowed to practise photography in there.






Cast your eye over this!






With Halloween in the air, there were plenty of treats in the orange, purple and green theme.











It really is quite spooky how much enjoyment you can get in sinking your teeth into ghosts.












In my tired state, I couldn’t quite grin and bear it yet.






But someone else could.






She was so accommodating!







Gotta love those Minnie Toffee Apples.







We kept walking. I was pleased to note that it wasn’t quite a full moon yet. That moon and I have business to attend to on this trip.







Really, there was only one location I was aiming for.






You may have noticed that I didn’t order any dessert at the Cheesecake Factory.






Despite the sickly sweet not coffee I had drunk earlier in the day, I was after one thing.







Yes. We ate them all; and you can all breathe fire for all I care. I enjoyed them....they were so yum!







The Lego shop is one of my DS’ favourite in the DTD area. I was happy for him to go do whatever he wanted….afterall, I had plenty of ammunition to feed my shooting addiction…..from here to infinity.






I was quite happy to make myself at home. Afterall, Disney practically was telling me to Be Our Guest here!












See? Even the permanent members of the store looking at me weren’t doing anything to stop me.







Not even security.







I’ve travelled over 7,500 miles to see the Sydney Opera House.







Not quite a castle yet; but it is one of the Two Towers.







I think DS might have outgrown Lego. He didn’t find anything he wanted to buy.




(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


By this stage, it was time to head on back. We weren’t exactly the face of happy on this night. The lack of sleep was definitely catching up on us all.

Time was marching on…..






….and we were all keen to get to bed. I did wonder about the sanity of the decision of not hitting the Friday the 13th Villian’s party. The soul was willing; but the mind and body were nearly asleep. But I guarantee that there was lots of internal finger pointing going on….






….and internal musings about having my apple…er…cake….and eating it.






It was as if there was a little fairy in me that wanted to get out.







But in the end, I had to reflect on a couple of pearls of wisdom…







It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that without sleep, we were all grumpy.






And we really weren’t being a happy family that night!





We really wouldn't have been great company that night.






Not that anyone was in the naughty corner or anything….






But sometimes….you just need to accept that there is no point overdoing things….







…especially at the START of a holiday. It was definitely the more pragmatic thought that I consoled myself with.

Afterall, tomorrow is another day. With that thought, my eyes fell asleep before my head hit the pillow.

 

[declansdad]

: Well....how about you and the family head on over and we can debate the ins and outs of coffee together. Black coffee....the way you drink it.....against a decent Arabica bean (freshly ground), extracted at 95 F hot water temperature, black espresso....with a decent coffee crema on top.

Next time I head out for a coffee, I'll see what I can do about a picture. Just. for. You.

Leave that creamy stuff off the top and you would have a good cup of coffee.

 

[zanzibar138]

You got stood up? Looks like you had a nice meal at the Cheesecake Factory on your own anyway.

I love all your photos from Downtown Disney I'm totally with you - I would never go into the park on that first day in a sleep deprived state. As much of a shame as it was to miss the Friday the 13th Villains party...

 

[franandaj]

: I'm pretty sure I engaged in conversation. As to whether it is comprehesible or not....well, I'll leave that for Alison to be the judge of that.

I think that we had a lively, engaging and intelligent conversation.

I will take one of each, thank you very much!

I loved all your photos, even the pesky vegetarian food porn looked pretty good! I love the beignets from Brennans! Your photos of World of Disney are so inspired! How neat to capture such a unique perspective on the displays.

 

[Pinkocto]

I still need to read the latest update but I didn't want to forget this. In regards to your lack of good coffee, I bought one of these for my mom and stepmom, it's a French press and mug in one, they love it. Might be an option for your next trip.

http://www.amazon.com/Bodum-Insulat...71561&sr=8-1&keywords=french+press+travel+mug

 

[RGirl]

Too bad you didn't get to have your meet. But it looks like you had a great dinner and a fun, albeit exhausted!, time at DTD.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Hi! I'm here....love your photos...makes me sad we didn't get to DTD on this trip!

Bobbi

 

[mvf-m11c]

It's nice to see the pictures from the Residence Inn Maingate where you have stayed. The room looks very comfortable and has a small kitchen which is nice to have. But I'll stick at my preferred hotels on Harbor Blvd when I go to Anaheim.

All the food from the Cheesecake Factory and the Halloween treats look very nice. That was one of the things that I didn't do during the trip is to go in DTD and look for any Halloween decorations. But you got to see the Halloween treats at the Marceline’s Confectionery shop which is a fun place to go and get treats.

The Lego store at DTD is fun to go in and see all the creations.

The pictures from the World of Disney store character displays look very nice up close. The Friday the 13th Villains party that night was just crazy. I definitely wanted to go that day but I was just glad to come along at the last second with my DB and his GF.

Very nice update.

 

[jedijill]

I'm late but I'm here! Love all the photos! Love Fran and Alison's new house!!!


I used to go crazy on the 9 hours flight to Frankfurt....I will suck it up so I can go to Australia in a couple of years.

Jill in CO