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

[RiverLou]

I dunno. Anyone's gonna have to fight with the Princesses over this one. He seems to have gotten it into his head that he's hansdome enough to lure one out.

That was hilarious...

"They go in regular and come out princesses." (Or something like that)


...acorn potion


Oh I *so* have a Pan crush.

Doesn't hurt that he looks a bit like he could be Ryan Gosling's brother...

 

[Belle Ella]

Day 2 Cont.
September 9, 2009

By the way, of course I'm taller than Peter Pan.

Cheat? Me? Never!

Now, we may have forgotten to check with City Hall earlier in the day to find out exactly when Peter Pan would be out, but we did remember to find out about one character we wanted to find: Br'er Fox! It was getting close to the time the CM had given us which was supposed to be our rendezvous time back over in Critter Country as well. I almost missed it too! For some reason I was thinking it was an hour earlier than it really was. But I made it over in time, but it looked like I wasn't the only one who forgot. Dre was nowhere in sight by the time I got over there but Br'er Fox and Br'er Bear were so I gave her a call so she could make her way over. Luckily she made it in time. I don't think I would have lived to see my birthday if she missed Br'er Fox, Br'er Bear, Captain Hook and Peter Pan while I did. Nope, pretty sure I wouldn't have.

We had to do a little thinking after that. What would be the next best place to go? We hadn't done Pirate's Lair @ Tom Sawyer's Island - ever - so that won out. We never made that hard journey across the River's of America when we were at Disneyland back in March and before then the last time I had been there was before the Pirate invasion had happened. I think ... Anyways! It was really a spur of the moment decision. We were walking back towards New Orleans Square and noticed that another raft was just moments away from departure so it was perfect timing really.

Coming up: More from the Pirate's Lair on TSI​

 

[Belle Ella]

I'm home sick today (BOO! I hate feeling like ****) and I've made a little progress with my photos. I actually just finished editing day 2 - I ended up with 191 keepers out of 412. That's still a lot of photos any way you look at it.

I'll finish up the rest of the report for Day 2 in a moment. Then it's off to Day 3 - my BIRTHDAY!!!

 

[firefox2]

Great job, looking forward to more

 

[Belle Ella]

Day 2 Cont.
September 9, 2009

What a pair of devils we were, going in the wrong way! So what is there to say about the Dead Man's Grotto? I can;t think of much as far as words go, other than don't skip it. It's a lot of fun, and a little frightening to boot! I captured some video in here but the first one is easily my favorite. Somebody spooks a little easily now and again! I also managed to get a few good photos inside the caves as well, although there were a lot of unsuccessful attempts!

The treasure will disappear right before your eyes!

Rebels, like I said.​

I didn't realize that the bone cage from Pirates 2 was back in the Smugler's Cove area ready for photo ops. But I had a lot of fun with that one, although it was reminding me just how tired and worn out I was. How I was lead to that thought I'm not quite sure, but it did. We took the raft back across the Rivers of America not long after that. But we did go play in the Crows Nest, although I believe Dre has those photos as it appears that I have none!

Coming up: the end of Day 2!​

 

[PrincessKell]

I Love it! Your photos rock. I love your Peter Pan pictures, those are awesome!

 

[Belle Ella]

Conclusion of Day 2
September 9, 2009​

It was getting to be close to that time when I would need to head back to the hotel because I was so tired from being out in the sun all day long, but we had time to fit in a couple more rides before we parted ways for the last time. First up was Pirates with another short wait (I doubt it was even 5 minutes) where we managed to snag the front row again (YAY!) and I tried to snag some video again without being a disturbance to anyone else on the ride. Once again that proved a little difficult since I couldn't see where I was aiming the camcorder, but it's decent enough and better than nothing!

​

Afterward we used up our FastPasses for Indiana Jones! I honestly think that this was the longest wait that we had all week for this ride. I didn't keep close tabs on my watch but it was easily over a 25 minute wait, but considering how long the stand by line was, it wasn't that bad.

My momma always said my face would freeze this way!​

And that was that! It was nearing 6:30 or so at that point and I knew I wasn't going to last any longer if I wanted to make it back to the hotel (again). So I took myself along Main Street, stopping for a quick bite to eat and something to drink. I have never had a cream cheese filled pretzel before, and honestly I had never even though about using cream cheese as a filling but it was so delicious that it wasn't the only one I ended up eating that week. I had to wait about 5 minutes because they didn't have any ready, but that was alright. I was zoning out as it was. Add in my favorite cherry Coke and I was a happy camper and good to go relax and if I could stay awake long enough, watch me some So You Think You Can Dance and Glee (which I did). On the way out I did stop and do a quick PhotoPass pose since there was no line.

And so we reach the end of Day 2!

And before I officially close this post I found a couple of images on my small Kodak that I forgot to transfer over with all of the photos from day 2, so here are the last minute additions!

Dole Float > Dole Whip

 

[Belle Ella]

That was hilarious...

"They go in regular and come out princesses." (Or something like that)


...acorn potion

Hush now, don't be spoiling the story. I hasn't gotten there yet.

Great job, looking forward to more

Yays. More to come soon, I hope!

I Love it! Your photos rock. I love your Peter Pan pictures, those are awesome!

Peter Pan rocks, for sure. And thank you!!

 

[RiverLou]

Hush now, don't be spoiling the story. I hasn't gotten there yet.

 

[Belle Ella]

Uh-huh, suuuuuuure.

 

[Belle Ella]

Day 3
September 10, 209
Happy Birthday to me!!​

Alright, my 23rd birthday was easily the best birthday ever, even including the really annoying bits that made me angry. The good outweighed the bad by a country mile. And it all started with an amazing birthday-breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen! Our PS was for 7 AM so we would have time to make it to the gates before the park officially opened with plenty of time to spare and diddy-dawdled at the restaurant. The only downside to breakfast that early (and that far of a walk from the hotel) is that it's pretty cold outside! I never actually thought about how long of a walk it would be from the HoJo to the Disneyland Hotel and it uwasn't until we were on our way, marching along, that we realized something - we didn't quite know exactly where we were going. Sure we knew it's located at the Disneyland Hotel and we've both seen it before but we couldn't actually visualize where we needed to be headed. Luckily for us we ran into a [not so] stranger along Downtown Disney - Rachaface, the DIS'er that we had met Tuesday afternoon. She was able to tell us exactly where to go seeing as she was lucky enough to be staying at the Disneyland Hotel and had just eaten at Goofy's Kitchen the day before. Sweet!

I honestly cannot recall what time we left the hotel at, but we arrived at Goofy's Kitchen with plenty of time to spare and so we took to enjoying the wonder that is the Disneyland Hotel (to be more specific the DLH Convention Center). It's like walking into a world sprinkled with pixie dust. I love it!

Wanna know something that I love even more? Being first. Maybe it's the competitive nature in me or maybe it's just me being anal about things again, but whatever it is I have an obsession with being first and being the first person to do something. It's why I get to hockey games early, it's why I get to everything early. It's just part of who I am and everyone just has to deal with that rolleyes1). It didn't take long before they let us start checking in, although we had to wait for the cashier before we could actually pay for our meals. Then we got to take a seat in the lobby while we waited for our photo op with Pluto before being seated at our table.

What is there to say about the food? It was everywhere. And there was just about anything you could imagine (including the much-talked about PB&J pizza). I had to go around and get a little bit of a lot of stuff. Mickey shaped pancakes, sausages, fruit, croissants, even some jello (that I will always love no matter what it's made from). Plus the orange juice. You gotta have breakfast with some orange juice. And I even kept true to my word and didn't have soda to start off the morning. You know, trying to be good since it's a major addiction of mine. Here are a couple of my plates. I did get more than just this. Especially since I kept going towards the foot to keep warm. It was just so inviting.

We had barely gotten settled when we got our first visitor ... Baloo!! Who we would actually see quite a bit of. In fact, Baloo succeeded in scaring me half to death when I didn't realize he was right behind me. I am not joking when I say I let out a little (or maybe loud) scream. The same thing had also happened to Dre not too long before. The character meals stand out a little more for me when you get to see characters that you wont have the chance to see in the parks. I think they should always have at least one exclusive character at each meal. Then I'd be sure never to miss one - ever!

Before settling down to eat for a few moments we were also visited by Chef Goofy himself! There was a lot more fun with Goofy shortly after that. I may not be a little kid, but I still got a kick out of it. Especially when he dropped the cake the first time trying to unveil his creation. That is totally something I would do in the kitchen!

​

And did I mention the birthday cupcake? And the birthday song? Well, they were both the perfect addition to any complete Disney-breakfast.

Coming up: more from Goofy's Kitchen​

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Jazz I'm really enjoying your TR! Nice photos too! I was wondering what type of Flip video you have? Is it the HD version or the regular version? I was really impressed by the quality especially since you posted that you were not even looking at the LCD to see what you were videotaping. Did you have to render the video via software or was it as simple as plug and play/upload? Just wondering because I'm debating getting a new camcorder and looking at all types.

 

[Belle Ella]

Jazz I'm really enjoying your TR! Nice photos too! I was wondering what type of Flip video you have? Is it the HD version or the regular version? I was really impressed by the quality especially since you posted that you were not even looking at the LCD to see what you were videotaping. Did you have to render the video via software or was it as simple as plug and play/upload? Just wondering because I'm debating getting a new camcorder and looking at all types.

Thank you

As for the Flip Camcorder we have the regular Mino in black. It's very easy to use and just has a little USB that flips out from the side to make downloading to your computer very easy. I don't have anything to convert the .VID files to anything else on my MacBook so I can't actually view them just yet (but I can hear them, it's annoying when I have a 25 minute long video of Fantasmic that I want to watch) but I can upload them to anywhere that accepts that particular file size of video. It's great to sue if you're looking for something simple.

But what annoys me was the fact that as far as I know you can't turn off the LCD screen while filming, so in dark rides I would cover the back of it with a package or something.

But since I'm not much of a videographer or anything it's perfect.

 

[Yakety76]

What great pictures you got with Peter Pan. They are amazing.
You look so happy at your birthday breakfast. Looks like you had a great trip.

 

[disneynerd420]

Yay! I just got caught up! Ilm stuck at work and only can get on the internet by my phone. I will watch the vids as soon as I am not surrounded by coworkers in my cubicle!

 

[Belle Ella]

Day 3 Cont.
September 10, 2009
Happy Birthday to me!!​

You don't think breakfast was actually over yet, right?

Here are a couple of photos from our visit from Cinderella. She was the start of the recognition that turned up everywhere on Thursday. She remembered us from Ariel's Grotto the morning before. That put an even bigger smile on my face - I'm beginning to wonder how I can even feel my face anymore! So we went ahead and did a different Princess pose this time.

The best part about the meal though? Well, my favorite, at least. I kind of made the mistake of leaving my sweater back at the hotel. Maybe I was thinking that I didn't want to be carrying it around if we were going into the park right afterward when it was just going to get hot again, who knows? But the problem there is that I get cold when I eat - very, very, very, very cold! So there I was, feeling like I was freezing (it was pretty cool to start off with where we were seated) with nothing to keep me warm. So I went off to go warm up by the food and when I got back to the table Dale came by with a little present - a tablecloth to use as coat. And of course where there is Dale, there is also Chip!

Brilliant photo ...​

And last but not least we got a visit from another Princess, Jasmine, and once again at least one of us was recognized. She remembered Dre from the day before when she had done the photo at Aladdin's Oasis.

And of course what would life be without a little dancing?

And I just have to share a photo of me being silly again.

After breakfast I made the decision to go ahead and head back to the hotel before up with Dre again at the gates for our regular entry. Heck, we could have gone ahead and done Magic Morning on Thursday, but we had already decided that we were saving it for Saturday when we would also do Mickey's Toontown Morning Madness. Really, I just wanted to go back to the hotel so I could drop off the photo that we had purchased from Goofy's Kitchen. I didn't want to ruin it, carrying it around the park all day. On the way I also stopped off to get what inspired the whole trip in the first place - my birthday fun card!

I figured that I was a fast enough walker that I could take a few moments back at the hotel before I needed to head back to the opening gates, and so I did. And guess what? While walking across Harbor I saw my first LGMH that didn't belong to someone I had planned to meet up with! I was so excited. Now, I wish I could remember her SN, but I'm having one of those moments. We chit chatted during the rest of the walk until we met up with our respective parties at the gates.

Coming up: we start off the morning with a couple of hours in DL​

 

[disneynerd420]

it looks like you guys had a great time at Goofy's! I never see Cinderella there! That is so awesome. I can't wait to see what happens next.

 

[Belle Ella]

What great pictures you got with Peter Pan. They are amazing.
You look so happy at your birthday breakfast. Looks like you had a great trip.

I did! I did! Thank you.
Definitely more to come for sure (including even better Peter Pan photos).

Yay! I just got caught up! Ilm stuck at work and only can get on the internet by my phone. I will watch the vids as soon as I am not surrounded by coworkers in my cubicle!

it looks like you guys had a great time at Goofy's! I never see Cinderella there! That is so awesome. I can't wait to see what happens next.

I have yet to really figure out how to use the internet on my phone. I suck at it, big time! I did manage to get on my thread yesterday in my Biology lecture and saw your comment, but ask me to post anything and I'll be stuck for weeks before anything actually happens. What happened to phones you just used to call people with? Those I had no problem with (minus the face I rarely had anyone to call).

I'm hoping to get a couple of updates in tonight to make up for the lack of any tomorrow.

Sharks home opener!! And I has me a ticket.

 

[Belle Ella]

Day 3 Cont.
September 10, 2009
happy birthday to me!!​

It was so hard to be waiting at the gates on a MM day knowing full well that you could be going in already rather than waiting in the regular entrance lines. A big part of me just wanted to hop on over to the other line and get in, but I planned on using p every second of my MM and by that point it wouldn't do my plans any good to get lost in a crowd (even if the MM crowd is much smaller than the regular entry crowd). By the time they started letting us file into the park for the rope drop that would still be happening we had already made our plans for the morning - a usual pit stop by City Hall to see if any of the characters we were still looking for would be out (which of course they weren't). I didn't want to get clogged up with all the people at the end of Main Street until the regular entry people cleared out after the rope drop so we stuck close by the Main Street station so we could as one of the Conductors about the Lilly Belle as soon as we could. They told us to check back in around noon and see if they could get us on.

Alright. Well, we were going to take the train to New Orleans Square for our first ride (Pirates) but we spotted two of Dre's favorite characters and there was no way we could pass it up. Now ... I got a little frustrated (to put it nicely) with the crowd that was surrounding them. Is it really so hard to be nice and orderly and wait your turn? It's one thing when they've got a CM handler there with them to kind of direct a line, but when there's nobody there it doesn't mean that you get to walk right up and push someone aside who was patiently waiting there turn which is what happened to quite a few of us. We had a line started, but nobody else cared to follow suit. I wont go off into a long rant other than that but the whole situation was making my blood boil a little which was not the way I wanted to start off my birthday morning in the park. At least we got our photos.

We decided at that point to just go ahead and walk over to New Orleans Square, rather than take the train. Really? I just had no inclination to walk up those stairs again. Walking in a straight line for a mine sounds better than take a few flights of stairs in my addled brain. I'm glad we did because it reminded us of a PhotoPass opportunity that we had to do. The ones on my camera are pretty boring, the actual PhotoPass photos are more fun but of course I have yet to order the CD because editing them takes forever (we still have another week, by which point it will be ordered if I'm done or not).

Then again, someone does have bunny ears in the second photo ...

So of course we got side tracked on our walk to NOS. We can't walk by the Jungle Cruise or Indiana Jones without jumping in line or grabbing a FastPass. So of course that is exactly what we did (meaning we got in line for Jungle Cruise and then grabbed some FP's for Indy).

Say hello to Skipper Matt, everybody!

But we did finally get ourselves to Pirates, which was the main goal to begin with. What can I say? I get side tracked easily. And it's always the same things over and over that steal my attention.

Coming up: Fun & annoyance in DCA​

 

[kaoden39]

I absolutely love the Mad Hatter. I have had more fun watching him than most characters.

Your birthday breakfast looked great. I am jealous.