BE's never-ending fun ** 4 completed TR's ** Thousands of Photos

[Sarah84]

Sorry to hear 2 of your friends aren't able to come anymore though im sure you will still have a wonderful trip.

 

[Belle Ella]

Sorry to hear 2 of your friends aren't able to come anymore though im sure you will still have a wonderful trip.

Well, I will say this - I am feeling much, much better about the trip today than I was last week. Once again we've amended our plans and tacked on another night at the HoJo so we can enjoy every second of our last day and not worry about if I can stay awake for the whole drive. This way we can take our sweet time getting home on Sunday, hit DTD if we'd like to, and we're making plans to swing by the Soda Fountain & Studio Store before hitting the road.

The next 37 days - heck, make that 36. No 35 (today is almost over and the day before we leave is a holiday and doesn't count) - need to go by super-duper fast.

Now, to celebrate my mom's birthday tomorrow.

GRR. Too bad my birthday can't be the following week. Snow White is going to be showing at The El Capitan. Have I mentioned before how much I love Snow White?

 

[RiverLou]

GRR. Too bad my birthday can't be the following week. Snow White is going to be showing at The El Capitan. Have I mentioned before how much I love Snow White?

It is?! Aww,dang. That would've been awesome.

 

[Belle Ella]

Holy cheap digital camera, Batman!!

Today was one of those days where I love my job because we find all of the cheap clearance at our store. As much as I love my D-SLR I've wanted a small little P&S with a decent enough MP that could fit in my pocket and be easy to whip out when we go to Disneyland. It's hard to get pictures of our group when I don't trust anyone other than the PhotoPass photogs with my camera. I thought I founf a solution when this little Kodak at our store went on clearance and we have a whole heck of a lot of them and nobody was buying them. Week after week about 10 team members at our store have been waiting for them to get reduced even further before we bought them. Well, yesterday was the big day and they went down to about $45 dollars.

The bad news? We sold out before I could get my hands on one.

The good news? It all worked out for me to be honest. With a P&S I'm not really that picky and we still had the display which are honestly hardly ever touched in our store and we keep all of the packaging and everything. At $45 dollars, plus an addition 30% off for it being a display, plus my 10% store discount (which ends up being about $31) I'll take it. Tested it out in the store and it works perfectly, no scratches, no nothing. It's perfect for the use I plan of getting out of it. Plus it uses the same memory cards that I already have about 5-million of.

Then again - I'm most likely letting my sister keep it and then just borrowing it for DLR. She wanted it pretty badly and doesn't have a camera at all right now and was fully planing on buying it today anyways.

^ $31 for that!

 

[Sarah84]

Glad you are feeling better about your trip now Thats great you added another night at the hotel is always nice to extend a trip.
Oh no shame about you missing Snow white, does the El Captain show different Disney films every now and then or is it like theatre shows?

What a great bargin with the camera, looks nice (I love pink cameras )

 

[Docter419]

Hello! Love your report, I've been skimming it at work for some time now. But I just watched you "be a man" video and it made me laugh so hard. You see my wife does the same thing in the car. Plays that song and practically screams in my ear. "BE A MAN!". Why do you women like that song so much?!? I've seen Mulan once and it was okay, but my wife has to play that song every time we drive down just to scream that dang line! I can't complain too much though, it cracks me the heck up.

 

[RiverLou]

Hello! Love your report, I've been skimming it at work for some time now. But I just watched you "be a man" video and it made me laugh so hard. You see my wife does the same thing in the car. Plays that song and practically screams in my ear. "BE A MAN!". Why do you women like that song so much?!? I've seen Mulan once and it was okay, but my wife has to play that song every time we drive down just to scream that dang line! I can't complain too much though, it cracks me the heck up.

Well, thank you much, I love making people laugh.
(Hmph, just realized I've been saying that lyric wrong all this time... anywho!)

As to why we love the man song, it's just so ridiculous and fun. All that machismo, hilarious!

Donny Osmond + Machismo =

 

[Belle Ella]

Glad you are feeling better about your trip now Thats great you added another night at the hotel is always nice to extend a trip.
Oh no shame about you missing Snow white, does the El Captain show different Disney films every now and then or is it like theatre shows?

What a great bargin with the camera, looks nice (I love pink cameras )

I really have no idea how they do their schedule, but they only have one film showing at a time and up until the week that we get there they are showing G-Force, nothing the week we are there, and then Snow White the week after. I wonder if anyone else knows more about it.

Hello! Love your report, I've been skimming it at work for some time now. But I just watched you "be a man" video and it made me laugh so hard. You see my wife does the same thing in the car. Plays that song and practically screams in my ear. "BE A MAN!". Why do you women like that song so much?!? I've seen Mulan once and it was okay, but my wife has to play that song every time we drive down just to scream that dang line! I can't complain too much though, it cracks me the heck up.

Glad to hear you're enjoying the report! Always makes us feel better, lol. And gives inspiration to keep on going.

And hey - your wife has good taste!! That song just brings out all of the fun randomness in me. That line just makes the song for me! That and the little commentary "boy was i a fool in school for cutting gym...".

Donny Osmond + Machismo =

Perfection!!!

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Boy, oh boy!! We had a pretty big freak out yesterday when I went over to Dre/RiverLou's and got to take a look at the PS vouchers they had left over from the trip they took at the end of June and thought they only had one booklet!! I was looking forward to possibly doing Mickey's Toontown Morning Madness, mostly just to add something new and because it's another photo op. for me. We were trying to figure out for what felt like forever why she only had the one because we're going to need two if we actually end up doing it!! But thank goodness we found the other booklet, so the waters are calm on that front.

But when I got home I had a nice surprise! I wanted a new cell phone with my contract renewal this month, and if I could get one cheap I wanted one with better internet access and a QWERTY keypad so I can type little notes while we're in the park faster, or even update while we're actually in the park if need be. Well, the phone I ordered came in the mail yesterday and was waiting for me on my bed!!

You would think I would be tired of all the red in my life after working for Target for the past 5 years. But it stood out for me out of everything they had to offer that wasn't an iPhone (which to be honest I'm still longing for, but I can't justify spending hundred of dollars on something that's not directly related to my Disneyland birthday right now).

And Dre, you will be happy to know I officially have a phone with GPS. Because we both know I need it.

I also finally fixed the photos from my last day of Disneyland back in 2007 so I'm going to try and finish that TR this week if I don't get sidetracked by who knows what else. I have a trip planned into S.F. to go to Pier 39 on Saturday so I probably will get a little distracted!

 

[RiverLou]

But when I got home I had a nice surprise! I wanted a new cell phone with my contract renewal this month, and if I could get one cheap I wanted one with better internet access and a QWERTY keypad so I can type little notes while we're in the park faster, or even update while we're actually in the park if need be. Well, the phone I ordered came in the mail yesterday and was waiting for me on my bed!!

Yeah -huh, exactly where I told ya it would be.

And Dre, you will be happy to know I officially have a phone with GPS. Because we both know I need it.

So you can do this without ending up like this , or ya know, in Pittsburg.

 

[Belle Ella]

So you can do this without ending up like this , or ya know, in Pittsburg.

Ah. Good old Pittsburg I still can't believe I did that.

So, I know you have to take it with a grain of salt, but Al Lutz's last article said something to the effect of Fantasmic! being dark for all of September following Labor day. Then there was the following editor's note:

Editor's Note 8/1: Flotsam & Jetski's night vision cameras are working well, and Murphy the Fantasmic dragon is meshing with his new programming, which has emboldened Disneyland to add two Fantasmic shows per night back to the weekend schedule in September, at least until HalloweenTime begins.

I really, really, really hope that what is reflected in the Entertainment schedule is what will be happening and we will be getting our Fantasmic! fix in. I would rather watch it twice than watch Magical.

 

[RiverLou]

Ah. Good old Pittsburg I still can't believe I did that.

So, I know you have to take it with a grain of salt, but Al Lutz's last article said something to the effect of Fantasmic! being dark for all of September following Labor day. Then there was the following editor's note:

Editor's Note 8/1: Flotsam & Jetski's night vision cameras are working well, and Murphy the Fantasmic dragon is meshing with his new programming, which has emboldened Disneyland to add two Fantasmic shows per night back to the weekend schedule in September, at least until HalloweenTime begins.

Crossin my eyes, fingers, toes, arms and legs...

I really, really, really hope that what is reflected in the Entertainment schedule is what will be happening and we will be getting our Fantasmic! fix in. I would rather watch it twice than watch Magical.

Ditto. Magical, IMNSHO, kind of sucked butt after seeing the awesomeness that was RDCT.

 

[Belle Ella]

OK, before I get myself so caught up in worrying about I need to remind myself: This will be a success no matter WHAT!!!

^ I just need to keep saying that over and over and it will be true onc I convince myself it to be true.

And hey, I finally added you to the September thread, lol. Can't believe it took me so long to do.

 

[Belle Ella]

Recent development!! I was out in San Francisco (boy it was warm out there today in my opinion) with K, the friend of mine who couldn't go because of work and whatnot. Well!! I may just be able to talk her into driving down Friday after she gets off work so she can at least get one day if not two (depending on how Sunday works out) to take care of that DLR fix she needs!

I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Plus I think I'm going to get her hooked on the DIS as well ... It can't hurt any, right?

 

[Belle Ella]

1 month away baby!!!!!​

 

[RiverLou]

Recent development!! I was out in San Francisco (boy it was warm out there today in my opinion) with K, the friend of mine who couldn't go because of work and whatnot. Well!! I may just be able to talk her into driving down Friday after she gets off work so she can at least get one day if not two (depending on how Sunday works out) to take care of that DLR fix she needs!
I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Plus I think I'm going to get her hooked on the DIS as well ... It can't hurt any, right?

Erm...would she be staying with us?

 

[Belle Ella]

27 days ​

That number is just so awesome. I love seeing it get smaller and smaller every single day. It's just making me all giddy inside. Then it makes me want to plan, plan, plan even more because I don't want to stop thinking about it for a second.

No, siree!!

Right now I'm just trying to figure out all of the things we'd like to do while we're there. I keep telling Dre I need to have something along the lines of a flashcard for me to keep in my pocket so I can highlight everything we've done and not forget about all of the things we want to do. You know - a substitute for those mental notes that never seem to get us anywhere! I'm also just making a list of things we know we're going to do on certain days. And I just love doing that because actually writing out how many days we're going to be there this time is really giving me the chills. It's brand new territory for me. 6 days we'll be in SoCal. 6 freaking days!!!! That just feels like an eternity to me, and I am loving it.

Tuesday
DL: 10AM - 8PM (MM)
DCA: 10AM - 6PM

• Arrive @ HoJo & stow luggage. Hopefully get there between 8:00 and 8:30 (the point is not to drive like a bat outta hell). Which should give us plenty of time before the parks open at 10 to take our time and make sure I actually get pictures of the walk along Harbor and all the Celebrate banners that I meant to back in March but never got around to.
• Line up for regular entry whenever we reach the esplanade. No plans for doing MM this day. But I'd still like to get there early just so by the time the park opens we wont be at the tail end of the any long line - even though we could just hang out by the MM gate that stays open ...
• PP photograph (if there is a photographer there already) by the Mickey flowers at the entrance & if they have any characters in the morning we'll stop by. That's when we saw Alice and the Mad Hatter last year.
• Stop by City Hall to pick up our pins (a Birthday one for me, and another I'm Celebrating one for Dre). We'll also be there to ask about particular characters we hope to find in the park.
• We'll make our routine ride tour after a walk down Main Street. Jungle Cruise (because it's so fun to do first thing when nobody is in line and the jokes are fresh), grab Indy FP, Pirates, and HM.
• We have a PS for an early lunch at BB and we want to check in there no later than 11:15 to request a waterside table. We already know we'll probably split the meal (just an extra plate, no split plate fee this time).
• Did I mention HM? We'll only get 2 days before they close it down for the overlay, so we have to make sure we get our fix.

Wednesday
DL: 10AM - 8PM
DCA: 10AM - 6PM

• PS for Ariel's Grotto for breakfast at 9:40 so when we get to the Esplanade we'll head find where we check in for that. I'm assuming it's a similar process to when we ate did the Minnie & Friends breakfast a couple of months ago and there will be a gate for everyone with PS to line up at until they let us into the park. Would love some input if anyone has done their breakfast before and can give us some insight into what time they let you in and how all of that works.

Thursday
DL: 10AM - 8PM (MM)
DCA: 10AM - 6PM

• Happy Birthday to me!!!!!
• Another PS, this time we're doing breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen right at 7. We loved the first seating at M&F back in March and hope to have just as good an experience with an early breakfast at GK. Plus we wanted to still have plenty of time to get to the Esplanade and line up for regular entry (again, no MM planned today) without having to rush and still get as much park time as possible.
• Ride the Lily Belle! After the horrible experience we had doing this back in March I really want to do it again and Thursday would be a good day in my books (well, any day would be a good day).

Friday
DL: 9AM - 12AM
DCA: 10AM - 8PM

• I plan on getting to the Esplanade very early today, along with my tripod (open later means more time for me to get night shots) and I'm going to make sure I get one last chance to photograph the California letters while they are still there, and while there aren't hundreds of people in my way. Just something to remember them by, I guess. I will be happy, but a little sad, when they are finally gone.
• PS for Minnie & Friends at 8:40 so we'll get to the gate for that when we're done taking morning photos. I really, really loved this character meal the last time we did!! I am so glad I am being horrible and doing 3 character meals + BB.
• Fantasmic! is still on the calendar for the 11th-13th and I will be keeping everything possible crossed that it will stay that way, with or without the new dragon. I just want to see Fantasmic! because I do love it so. If not, I guarantee you I will break out my iPod and listen to the music from F! at 9 and 10:30 and will cry accordingly.

Alright, so that's as far as I've gotten at this point. Plus I have a list of things that I have to do and they will just be done when we feel like it. The Mark Twain, trying a dole whip float thing (because I didn't like the dole whip itself and I think it looks tastier), hunting down as many PhotoPass photographers as possible, hunting down as many characters as possible ... you get the idea.

I will add more to this later.

 

[Belle Ella]

Ah I got my Park Hopper today!!! $161.34 for the 3-day PH (good for 5 days) + 1 MM. Oooooh, I'm a happy camper!!

 

[Sarah84]

Your plans all sound great and yay for getting your ticket today

 

[Docter419]

Great Plan! Can't wait to hear how it goes, I'm sure it will be fine as long as you "BE A MAN". LOL

 

[Belle Ella]

Great Plan! Can't wait to hear how it goes, I'm sure it will be fine as long as you "BE A MAN". LOL

Hey! Total reminder here to get that song back on my iPod since I lost all of my music when my HD crashed. Couldn't possibly drive down there without singing it. Never!!

Your plans all sound great and yay for getting your ticket today

It's a big step that is!! Can;t get into the parks without it. Now RiverLou just needs to get hers.

OK, so here's what I know will be going down on Saturday and Sunday:

Saturday
DL: 9AM - 12AM (MM)
DCA: 10AM - 8PM

- Sometime before 11AM we need to check out of hotel room A. And yes, we will be checking back in later to hotel room B since we didn't decide to do that extra night back when we originally booked. Whatever, no biggee so long as we're getting on more full nights rest!
- MM today! I realize that we're saving our MM for the very end of the trip, but really it works out best for us. We'll hit up Fantasyland right off the bat (unless somehow that changes to try and get on Nemo, but I don't see that happening). And I prefer to go on Snow White first and then peter Pan second before finishing up in a little circle of Fantasyland.
- The plan so far is to do MTTMM on Saturday. It's something that I would like to get to see and get to take photos of as well. And hey, we've got the little vouchers, so why not?

Sunday
DL: N/A
DCA: N/A

- Sleep in!!!! Well, sleep in but still be ready for check out.
- Check out of HoJo and hit the road!
- One pit stop before we officially head home, however. We have to go to the Disney Soda Fountain & Studio Store since we'll have the whole day to make our way home