I am back. I got in last night after my long and somewhat rainy 8 hour drive home. I had a blast. I met several very cool DIS'ers, including our board's very own, Zulemara. I did not completely hold to my itinerary. Almost every morning was a rope drop morning. Because of the rope drop mornings, I was almost always asleep by 10 pm, which means that I never caught any fireworks, but the trade off of cooler mornings with lower wait times was well worth it. Overall, the weather was beautiful, however Friday was a bit warmer than I would have liked for it to have been.
POP was getting some touch up work done to the Fooseball players and to some of the buildings. I enjoyed the resort more than I thought I would. The rabbits, ducks, mice, and squirrels all made sure of that, however the baby rattlesnake on Memory Lane the last day did kind of freak me out. I went swimming a couple of nights. I would have gone one extra, but the 80's pool had a "code brown", so I decided to skip it.
I got to meet Remy at Les Chefs de France! OMG, that was so super cool. My inner 4 year old was totally delighted to meet the "Little Chef". The CM that brought him around was from the AC. She sang for me and he danced. It was perfectly charming.
I picked up a couple of new pieces of wooden art from Judy of Global Gecko out in the World Showcase. I picked a frog for Corey and a beautiful manatee for me. I had been entertained that morning by one of the manatees at the Seas. The one with the really badly mangled tail was particuarly active doing rolls as he floated past and really showing out for the guests. The pose of the figurine is one that reminded me of this special moment.
I got to meet Kitty and Al. I know that you guys don't have a clue as to who they are, but they are friends of ours that live in FL that are always willing to do us favors to pick up pins that we are looking for. It was a real pleasure to be able to put faces with the names. They were lots of fun to hang out with.
I met Fairy Godmother outside of the castle. She called me Princess. OMG, you would certainly not associate that word with me at all, but she did and my inner 4 year old was oddly pleased. It was a special moment for sure. I was able to trade for a Fairy Godmother pin with a CM right afterwards too. That one is a keeper.
I was able to pick up one extra special souvenier. I had gone to DHS and met with one of the artists in the DHS Art of Disney gallery store at the end of the Animation Tour. She was such a sweet lady. We talked for quite a while about all sorts of stuff regarding animation and Disney. She helped me to pick out a special souvenier for the 20th Anniversary of Studios on Friday, but I couldn't buy it until Friday. I went by DHS on Thursday morning, when I was supposed to be going to TL. I wanted to ride ToT and TSM and knew that I would need to go Thursday because on Friday, I had plans to enjoy the 20th Anniversary stuff, so rides were going to be harder to work in that day. Anyway, I went by just to say a quick "Hi" to Ms. Janet. Well, on my way in there were a lot of managers outside of the store with lanyards on and I traded with all of them before I went inside. Just as I got to her desk, the managers surrounded her desk and gave her the Disney Lifetime Achievement and Excellence award, which is a HUGE honor for cast members. I was so honored to have been there when they gave the award to her. Honestly, I was very surprised that they gave out the award "on stage", but I was really glad that they did. Friday morning, the shop was mobbed. I was able to pick up my piece pretty quickly though. I left the park to take it back to me room and then went to Epcot.
Friday morning, I was thrilled to see the opening ceremony at DHS with the park's Vice President, Rilous Carter, and the 9 am session with the imagineers. It was so cool to see photos of the architecture of historic buildings and how those buildings inspired the look of most of DHS. The fact that the imagineers more or less committed to removal of the Hat, well, that was worth getting up at 6:20 am.
Seeing some of the old video used for the attraction stops on the original Backlot Tour, like "The Lottery Ticket" movie with Bette Midler, and the voice swapping sound clip of Mel Gibson and Pee Wee Herman, well, it was pretty darn entertaining too. Before the imagineers began to speak, I actually got a chance to briefly speak with Mr. Carter and shake his hand. Overall, DHS's birthday was largely responsible for the majority of the really awesome memories of this trip.
I could not totally escape reality this time. Disney usually provides a pretty complete escape for me, however, along the way the Swine Flu, Bea Arthur's passing, and the unexpected news that my former step-mother had passed away were all pixie dust killers. I am sad to say that the news about my former step-mother's death threw me for a loop and killed off my chance to meet with C&Gsmom/Koolaidmoms. I was in the Magic Kingdom and got the call from Dad. I knew something was up to be getting a call from him in the middle of the week in the middle of the day. Honestly, I was just thankful to hear his voice and know that the news wasn't about him. Let me just say that everything involving the women in my father's life is complicated whether they are currently involved for or gone for 27 years. Anyway, the call prompted me to leave the Magic Kingdom and do a little fact finding and forced me to speak with people that I haven't spoken with in about 20 years, most of them were pleasant enough. Since her parents are both gone and she has no children and has remained unmarried, I wasn't sure what I was going to need to be responsible for. Corey was extremely helpful in this endeavor because my laptop stayed home. I did end up skipping the funeral.
Anyway, I am home now. I only have cell phone photos because my new 4GB memory card for my phone would not format.
I have lots of PhotoPass pictures to look through and pins to update on PinPics.com. I had a great trip overall. I am looking forward to going back again next year. The phrase that I am using already, "Poly or Bust in 2010!"
Only pixie dust will wake me up from a solid sound sleep like that. Normally, I would be in bed for another 4 to 5 hours had there not been pixie dust in my future today.
Thank heaven your Corey was there to help you. 
Howdy! Hopefully, you had a great trip with your crew. It was very nice to meet you. I had a blast. I met more DIS'ers this time than ever before and I wasn't even trying, but then again, I was solo, so my focus wasn't on kids and other family members, which I would think does affect one's ability to see those lime green Mickey heads.
