WonkaKid
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2009
- Messages
- 4,718
I went to DL for my birthday on Sunday (my actual birthday is the 14th – Monday). I wore an old birthday button I had lying around but when I arrived, some friends had scored me a new one so I wore them both. A great thing about bdays at Disney is that you’ll get “Happy birthday” greetings from at least 30-40 random guests.
While at the rope, I met a CM who was new to me although my friends were acquainted and she’s been at DL for ten years. Later in the morning I saw her again at Star Tours and we started to chat. We're both writers and extroverts and ended up talking for about thirty minutes. She was super cool and kind. As I moved to leave, she asked to see my ticket on my phone and gave me three Multiple Experiences passes for Star Tours and then three more from Space Mountain. As she explained, MEPs from ST work for smaller rides like Buzz or Jungle Cruise while MEPs from SM work for bigger rides such as Indiana Jones. I used them in the early afternoon to ride Haunted Mansion, – as many of you may know, Sunday was the last day prior to the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay closure – Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones and three final rides on Buzz to try to reclaim the first-place score. I had it earlier in the day but when I checked later, I found that my chief Buzz rival NAP had been in and beat me by about 100,000 points. Alas, I was unable to beat his score. But it was at least worth a try. I’ve beat him a number of times in recent weeks so it’s important to accept the occasional loss with grace ;-). Incidentally, as I’ve often complained, there’s always something that doesn’t work on Buzz and often times it’s several things. I’ve had a number of compromised cruisers in recent weeks in which guns don’t sound, don’t light or don’t fire at all. When I mentioned cruiser 66, the specific one I was on, to a CM as I exited, she simply replied “Interesting.” In other words, “I’m not surprised and I’m also not going to do anything about it.” I merely mentioned it with the hope of her passing it along but that seemed (and seems) unlikely.
I also met six different groups of Japanese tourists throughout the day. On a good day I'll meet two so this was a bonus. They were all pleased that I spoke a little Japanese. In fact, on my last ride of the day, the woman immediately ahead of me on Buzz was from Tokyo and we chatted briefly.
I left the park at around 2:30 and towards the end of my visit, I met a really cool woman who’d bounded with a Haunted Mansion theme (pic below). She mentioned that she spends too much on bounding attire and joked that “My wallet hurts, my closet is broken buy my heart is full.” We talked for about 20 minutes and exchanged contact info. One cool thing was that I showed her some of my pics from Bats Day and she pointed out that she was in the front row in the massed castle photo. Incidentally, in our pic, I look like I have a bit of a gut. But it was just the way the wind blew my shirt. I definitely do not have a gut ;-). I weigh a pound or two less than I did when I was fifteen. I’ve always been slim and at this point I suspect I always will be. Several friends hate that I can eat a pizza, go to bed and not gain a single ounce. I’m blessed with good genes and for that I’m grateful ;-).
Overall, it was a wonderful day. I’m not a big fan of my own birthday. I often get sad, mainly because I tend to emphasize the friends who I haven’t heard from. I realize that’s not reasonable or rational but such is human behavior. I haven’t liked my bday for several years now. I suppose there’s also a small element of the awareness of growing older. When you’re an eight-year-old, you love being a year older. Generally speaking, the more we age, the less we enjoy it. I was slightly reprieved when a friend took me to dinner yesterday at Sage in Pasadena, a fantastic vegan restaurant. I’ve been off of refined sugar for more than half of my life at this point so dessert is something I rarely even consider. But they offer in-house-made ice cream sweetened with agave, which I can handle. I had a bowl of their almond chocolate cream and my friend ordered their mint. Both qualified as the best ice creams I’ve ever had. My friend agreed and said she never expected vegan ice cream to be so good. Our main courses were also fantastic.
As always, I have park maps if anyone would like a set. Simply send me a DM (“Start Conversation”) and I’ll get one (or more) in the mail for you. Domestic delivery is preferred but often times I can be talked into splurging on international postage.
While at the rope, I met a CM who was new to me although my friends were acquainted and she’s been at DL for ten years. Later in the morning I saw her again at Star Tours and we started to chat. We're both writers and extroverts and ended up talking for about thirty minutes. She was super cool and kind. As I moved to leave, she asked to see my ticket on my phone and gave me three Multiple Experiences passes for Star Tours and then three more from Space Mountain. As she explained, MEPs from ST work for smaller rides like Buzz or Jungle Cruise while MEPs from SM work for bigger rides such as Indiana Jones. I used them in the early afternoon to ride Haunted Mansion, – as many of you may know, Sunday was the last day prior to the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay closure – Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones and three final rides on Buzz to try to reclaim the first-place score. I had it earlier in the day but when I checked later, I found that my chief Buzz rival NAP had been in and beat me by about 100,000 points. Alas, I was unable to beat his score. But it was at least worth a try. I’ve beat him a number of times in recent weeks so it’s important to accept the occasional loss with grace ;-). Incidentally, as I’ve often complained, there’s always something that doesn’t work on Buzz and often times it’s several things. I’ve had a number of compromised cruisers in recent weeks in which guns don’t sound, don’t light or don’t fire at all. When I mentioned cruiser 66, the specific one I was on, to a CM as I exited, she simply replied “Interesting.” In other words, “I’m not surprised and I’m also not going to do anything about it.” I merely mentioned it with the hope of her passing it along but that seemed (and seems) unlikely.
I also met six different groups of Japanese tourists throughout the day. On a good day I'll meet two so this was a bonus. They were all pleased that I spoke a little Japanese. In fact, on my last ride of the day, the woman immediately ahead of me on Buzz was from Tokyo and we chatted briefly.
I left the park at around 2:30 and towards the end of my visit, I met a really cool woman who’d bounded with a Haunted Mansion theme (pic below). She mentioned that she spends too much on bounding attire and joked that “My wallet hurts, my closet is broken buy my heart is full.” We talked for about 20 minutes and exchanged contact info. One cool thing was that I showed her some of my pics from Bats Day and she pointed out that she was in the front row in the massed castle photo. Incidentally, in our pic, I look like I have a bit of a gut. But it was just the way the wind blew my shirt. I definitely do not have a gut ;-). I weigh a pound or two less than I did when I was fifteen. I’ve always been slim and at this point I suspect I always will be. Several friends hate that I can eat a pizza, go to bed and not gain a single ounce. I’m blessed with good genes and for that I’m grateful ;-).
Overall, it was a wonderful day. I’m not a big fan of my own birthday. I often get sad, mainly because I tend to emphasize the friends who I haven’t heard from. I realize that’s not reasonable or rational but such is human behavior. I haven’t liked my bday for several years now. I suppose there’s also a small element of the awareness of growing older. When you’re an eight-year-old, you love being a year older. Generally speaking, the more we age, the less we enjoy it. I was slightly reprieved when a friend took me to dinner yesterday at Sage in Pasadena, a fantastic vegan restaurant. I’ve been off of refined sugar for more than half of my life at this point so dessert is something I rarely even consider. But they offer in-house-made ice cream sweetened with agave, which I can handle. I had a bowl of their almond chocolate cream and my friend ordered their mint. Both qualified as the best ice creams I’ve ever had. My friend agreed and said she never expected vegan ice cream to be so good. Our main courses were also fantastic.
As always, I have park maps if anyone would like a set. Simply send me a DM (“Start Conversation”) and I’ll get one (or more) in the mail for you. Domestic delivery is preferred but often times I can be talked into splurging on international postage.
I always look forward to your posts, stories and pictures. It’s great you got some well-deserved pixie dust! Now if only the pixies would shake a bit of that dust onto the Buzz glitches! Although even that wouldn’t help me and my scores. 
. Always great to see you all.
