OK, let me throw out my pathetic excuse for myself
: Up until about age 30, I suffered from an extreme case of introversion (is that a word?) I was painfully shy, but somewhere around there, I decided to work really hard at overcoming that. I’m almost successful in that most people that I know now actually have a hard time believing that I have ever NOT been outgoing. (I just checked in with my office neighbor / friend, and she says she would label me an extrovert, but slightly guarded.- what ever that means.
) However, try as I might, sometimes the old me
wins.
I super wanted to meet you, the guru of everything that is good and perfect in my life (ok, maybe there's a little hyperbole there,
, Disneyland is way up there, but not above God, hubby, kids, grandkids, sisters……) So, I see you, -at least I think it’s you, and I couldn’t get the nerve to walk up to a complete stranger and introduce myself, because I wasn’t completely sure it was you. I’m such a baby sometimes.
We had just seen Frozen in DDD, (have you seen it yet?) and were waiting for the rink to open. It was our one day not in the parks. (well, actually, DH and I and our two little kids did sneak into DL later that evening as we have annual passes. Most of our group had 5 day PHs.)
There were not too many people around, so if your pics include anyone on the same side of the rink as you, they will probably include some of us. –provided the you-taking-pictures was actually you.
By the time we got home DGD was fine, fully recovered, just suffering the effects of being completely catered too for the previous few days. (they are usually a little on the bratty side for a day or two as they adjust to the fact that the world doesn’t actually revolve around them.)
What is the Imagineer tour? Maybe you explained it earlier and I missed it.
I’ve finally learned with large groups to say “I am a control freak until about 1:00ish. It will not hurt my feelings in the least if you want to ditch me.” Sometimes I wish people would ditch me, (some alone time) but I am considered the Disney guru in my circle of friends, so they usually never do. --My big kids know as much (or more) than me, so sometimes we have a little power struggle, but we didn’t even have that this time. (maybe because only one of the two were there
)
DebraDi --
You're so nice! What kind words.
No worries! I totally understand. I don't particularly feel comfortable being in certain situations with a bunch of people I don't know all at one time -- sometimes I'm okay with it and sometimes I'm not -- so I can certainly understand you not wanting to approach someone you don't know, especially if you were not 100% sure you were approaching the correct person!
I have not had a chance to scroll through my photos again yet to be sure that I was taking ice rink pictures on Tuesday, but I think I was. I just can't recall what time of the day it was. It also could have been Wednesday that I was at the ice rink, but Tuesday is more likely. I seem to recall that there were a few people walking around near me, but I didn't look at any of them.
It sounds like you most likely saw me though. I think I was there at that time.
figment_jii came up to me as I was waiting for the Imagineer tour, and at first (before she introduced herself) I was thinking, "Who on earth would know who I was?"
She remembered that I had won a spot on the tour ( she explained the tour for you in her post above) and her parents also won the same spot, so she came up to say hello (and ended up getting on the tour as well).
The odd thing was, there was a guy on our tour who looked familiar to me. I have no clue where I've seen him -- maybe he has appeared in other folks' photos on the DIS or on another Disneyland discussion sort of board. I felt like he was someone from some discussion board or another, and that I should know him. I almost asked him who HE was, to determine where I could have seen him, but I didn't!
I have not yet seen
Frozen.
My main issue with large groups (when I've been at DL with large groups) is that it can get too chaotic and disorganized unless people agree to split up and meet up later. Once I was there with 11 people. About 8 of them started moving in one direction. I followed because I didn't want to get separated from the pack (this was way before the days when I realized I actually enjoy being at DLR by myself!
). It turned out that we left 2 of the other people in the group behind, as they were lingering in a shop. I don't think anyone intended to leave them -- it's just that we all assumed they were in the pack that was moving through Disneyland!
And then there were the issues of where to eat -- some folks wanted one type of food while others wanted something else. Some folks wanted to go back to the hotel while others wanted to hang around in the park. And when we all sat down to eat there was a lot of shouting over the table at each other.
That was not my first "large group Disneyland experience" but I think it was my last, if I recall correctly!
Hi All - I just got back from DLR and it was a lot of fun. This was later into the Holiday season than I've gone in the past, so there were some differences, but overall it was still a lot of fun!
Sherry - it was great to finally meet you! Now I have a face to put to a name!
Now, like everyone else, I've got to download and process my photos!
ddwlms - last week there was a Limited Time Magic event at DCA. It was called "Walk with an Imagineer". Basically, a limited number of guests (technically, 25 guests per day (M-F)) were able to "win" an one hour walk with an Imagineer. The Imgaineer told guests about the back stories, designs, etc. on Buena Vista Street in DCA. The tour ended with a peak inside Club 1901 (DCA's version of Club 33). It was very informative and a lot of fun.
http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3206904&page=2
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2013/12/walking-tour-with-an-imagineer/
Hi,
figment_jii!
It was great to meet you as well, and I'm so glad you were able to join the tour.
I wondered what happened to you. I didn't realize you were still at DLR all this time, but I hadn't seen you on the DIS until today.
About the pictures -- you know, for the first couple of days after I returned from DLR I was making my way through hundreds of emails that came in and trying to get them organized. I also posted a couple of different recaps of my trip somewhere in the recent pages, and then I got wrapped up in reading other recaps/reports that were coming in from folks in this thread.
By the time I finally sat down to hook the camera up and begin to download the photos with the software on my PC, I encountered a "communication error" which seems to have stemmed from too many photos being on the memory card. The software apparently doesn't recognize the camera or the card once the number of photos goes over a certain point.
So my photos are stuck in my camera! I can view them with no problem in the camera, but I can't download anything from the new batch I took. I don't delete any photos from the memory cards -- I keep them as back-up -- so I had to get a card reader. I am waiting for the reader to arrive and I am hoping that will do the trick in helping to download my photos from the card. If the reader does not work, my next plan will be to head over to a camera shop or something like that and ask them to get the photos off the card and onto a CD. As a last resort I will delete photos from the card if necessary, but I am saving that for the last option!
In any case, there are at least a couple of photos I am itching to view in a larger window and download. So far I can only view them on the small camera screen. I'm sure you know how it is, when a photo you took looks good in the camera but when you view it in a large size it suddenly doesn't look good?
There are a couple of photos that I thought came out really nicely but I won't know for sure until I can see them in a large window! It may be a whole different story when I seem them in a larger size!
So at this rate, by the time I get my photos from this card, download them, upload them to the very frustrating Photobucket and then try to go through them, you might be done downloading, processing
and posting yours!
I'll be lucky if I get any of this done before New Year's!
We are off in fifteen minutes. How could I have planned this trip without this thread?!! I have loved reading everyone's posts. May time officially slow down right now so my six days crawl by. Merry Christmas everyone!
lucysmom --
Have a wonderful, spectacular trip!
You could have easily planned a trip, I'm sure, but participating in this thread probably helps build the excitement and fun (and helps encourage peppermint ice cream purchases and Hallmark Channel Countdown to Christmas viewing!
)! I hope the days crawl by for you. I know that feeling. I wish my DLR days had crawled and were still crawling.
Unfortunately, I haven't devised a way to make 5 days magically turn into a week or two yet, so they zipped by rather than crawled.
Be sure to report back and let us know how everything went.
I think we got the candy cane loaf before too. 
