I'm Back! I'm Back! I'm Back!

[Sherry E]

I just got back from a GREAT trip to DLR! Thank the heavens that the rain waited until today to come down, because if it had happened yesterday or the day before, our trip would not have been as great. I was out there, walking around in DL and DCA today, getting soaked and getting angry. And then my camera died because it got wet. I don't know how all of you who love DLR in the rain do it, but I do NOT love it! I tried. I really did. I tried for all of you guys, but it was a mess because everything got wet! Arrrrgggghhhhhh. In any case, I will do my 'real' Trip Report (I will add it on to the existing TR) when I get my loads of pictures developed. I took a bunch of pictures and had lots of PhotoPass pictures taken (we had one fantastic PhotoPass guy in DCA who was so funny - he had us laughing through the whole process - and made the experience so lively, and I didn't get his name or else I would tell ALL of you to look for him - I could kick myself!!!! All I can tell you is that we first saw him by the Golden Gate Bridge in DCA, and later in DL, and he has blond hair and glasses. Look for him).

Just some pre-Trip Report highlights:

- Yes, for those of you wondering, I DID see the carolers in the GCH lobby! And we got pictures with Santa.
- Yes, I DID eat the chubby gingerbread men with Mickey ears. LOVE those - they are heavy and big. That is one substantial cookie!
- Yes, I saw Aladdin. LOVE LOVE LOVE the Genie. He is hysterical! He deserves an award of some kind.
- No, there was no smelly poo water at the PPH this time! No PPH problems whatsoever on this trip!
- We finally used our MM option and it came in so handy, I think we will use it again in the future.
- The spaghetti & garlic bread at Storytellers Cafe is delicious.
- We ate breakfast at Carnation, but Goofy's is, hands down, still our favorite, and we only paid $15 each for this breakfast this time (with AP discount and food vouchers I had)!
-Taste Pilots Grill has a great BBQ chicken sandwich and LOVE those cool fries that come with it!
- Crowds were not that bad. I mean, I have seen worse crowds at DLR in December in the past, and even my friends commented that it didn't seem as packed as we expected it to be, based on reports I saw on DISboards. I mean, there were lots of people and in some areas, it seemed more congested than others, but it was really no worse - and was even a little better - than previous Decembers when we have been there. It was nothing out of the ordinary.
- The rain is not keeping people away - there were plenty of people in the parks today!
- No, I did NOT buy any merchandise of ANY kind! Ha ha ha! The Snowball didn't get me this time!
- Thanks to the MM option, we were the only ones in our boat on IASW!!! We were also the only ones on our POTC boat. I love that the aromas on IASW are much stronger now, and they are also stronger than they used to be on Soarin' - we all noticed that!
- Service in all restaurants was great. No bad servers this time.
- I can now easily see how DLR holds 700 Christmas trees, because there were trees in every shop, in every restaurant, all over the place. Some places had several trees. Dept. 56 alone must have 20 of those trees inside it! We saw tiny trees, medium sized trees, huge trees...there were at least a couple of trees in the GCH (we saw one hidden down at the end of a hallway). They were everywhere, so now that I have witnessed that it is easy to understand how the 700 trees are spread around!
- Several of the PhotoPass photographers were imports from France - maybe from Disneyland Paris???
- DLR at Christmastime - crowded or not - is still, by far, my favorite time to be there. Everything is so beautiful - especially at night, and especially the Castle and IASW.

All in all, a fantastic time and lots of good food! I had a good mix of being with friends and being alone. I did MOST of what I wanted to do, give or take a couple of things, and as long as my pictures come out okay, I think I will have a lot of good ones to share!! Look for my 'real' TR this week!

 

[kaoden39]

Sounds great so far. I can hardly wait until you flesh it out.

 

[YellowMickeyPonchos]

Well no wonder you didn't call me today! I didn't know your last name and couldn't call the PPH to let you know I had a spot saved for you for lunch with us at the BB.

We missed that lunch appointment due to getting candy canes made by Guy Fieri and talking to him. But that is another story for later!

 

[kaoden39]

Well no wonder you didn't call me today! I didn't know your last name and couldn't call the PPH to let you know I had a spot saved for you for lunch with us at the BB.

We missed that lunch appointment due to getting candy canes made by Guy Fieri and talking to him. But that is another story for later!

Oooh I wanna hear that story. I love Guy.

 

[Sherry E]

Well no wonder you didn't call me today! I didn't know your last name and couldn't call the PPH to let you know I had a spot saved for you for lunch with us at the BB.

We missed that lunch appointment due to getting candy canes made by Guy Fieri and talking to him. But that is another story for later!

I PM'd you, Nancy, with the story of how I forgot to save your number in my phone! Arrrrgggghhhhhhhhh! And I love Guy Fieri too - can't wait to hear that!

Oh, I should also add that I FINALLY got dreamed! This was my LAST hope to get a Dream, as I had gotten none on any of the previous trips. I only got the Dream Fast Pass - and I couldn't use it because the schedule got all thrown off today (you will read about that in the PM, Nancy) - but at least I got SOMETHING!

 

[LittleBlackRaincloud]

Glad you had a nice trip Sherry! I can't wait to read your report.

 

[bumbershoot]

Very cool!

NOt only did I not know, until recently, that IASW was open for MM, but I had NO idea there were smells in there.

However, Monsters Inc has the smell of ginger in the sushi restaurant. Might be one of the reasons I love that ride.

 

[pixiewings71]

There are SMELLS in Small World??? What?? I've never known that!!! Molly, I can't smell anything on Monsters Inc, it's not one of my faves, in fact we hardly ride it but we do try to get on it every so often.

Sherry, I'm so glad you had fun!!!!! I can't wait to see pics!!! And you're coming back in 13 days right? You can do lunch with us then! LOL

 

[Pooh'sTwin]

Glad you had a great time Sherry!! I also love the scents in IASW. They add so much to the holiday atmosphere. I am also with you on the gingerbread men with mickey ears, so yummy!

 

[wazowskiLOVER:)]

OO OOO OOO !!

I am sooo glad you watched the Aladdin Musical and got soo much accomplished! you KNOW I'm definitely waiting for that big (and most likely long) TR ! Its gonna keep me sane until our trip. I can't wait for it lady !

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Wha? There are ginger scents in Monster's, Inc? Hm, I didn't know that. *Sniff*

Sherry! YAY for NO smelly poopy water!!!!!!!

I'm SO happy you had a wonderful time! Can't wait for the TR!!!!!

 

[bumbershoot]

There are SMELLS in Small World??? What?? I've never known that!!! Molly, I can't smell anything on Monsters Inc, it's not one of my faves, in fact we hardly ride it but we do try to get on it every so often.

Just as you enter the sushi restaurant, before you've even passed the octopus chef, there's a strong pickled ginger smell. It seems to be puffed out as you pass, because on one ride there was ride-stop, and we were walked out, and went through that scene, but the smell wasn't there. Hey maybe it comes from the vehicle? That would be interesting.

Now I'm bummed that we didn't ride Heimlich during our last trip, b/c I like the watermelon and animal cookie (cracker?) smells...

 

[tonaly]

There are SMELLS in Small World??? What?? I've never known that!!! Molly, I can't smell anything on Monsters Inc, it's not one of my faves, in fact we hardly ride it but we do try to get on it every so often.

Today was the first time I noticed smells on Small World! I wondered if it was my imagination. We rode Heimlich's last night and the watermelon and cookies smelled so good!

Alyson

 

[pixiewings71]

Just as you enter the sushi restaurant, before you've even passed the octopus chef, there's a strong pickled ginger smell. It seems to be puffed out as you pass, because on one ride there was ride-stop, and we were walked out, and went through that scene, but the smell wasn't there. Hey maybe it comes from the vehicle? That would be interesting.

Now I'm bummed that we didn't ride Heimlich during our last trip, b/c I like the watermelon and animal cookie (cracker?) smells...

I love riding Heimlich's Chew Chew Train....LOL I will have to force DBF to ride it with me in 13 days..... I'll have to do Monsters too, I love that movie so I do like to do the ride, it's just not my fave so we regularly skip it. I'll watch for that smell though! Or smell for it.

Today was the first time I noticed smells on Small World! I wondered if it was my imagination. We rode Heimlich's last night and the watermelon and cookies smelled so good!

Alyson

Huh, seriously.....I'll be smelling for the smell on SW too! LOL I seriously had no idea, do they have smells normally or just with the holiday overlay?

Hey Jasmine, we have less than 2 weeks left!!!! WooHOOOOOO

 

[wazowskiLOVER:)]

Hey Jasmine, we have less than 2 weeks left!!!! WooHOOOOOO

Oh I knowwww !!!

Sorry Sherry to hijack your thread, buttttttttt..

Kerri you guys driving ?

Worried about I-5 by then ?

 

[Disneylvrforever]

I don't like going to DLR in the rain either Sherry (I HATE rain!), but I go anyways despite the rain. I'm crazy! I'm hoping it's not going to pour on Christmas! My hands get so cold in the rain & I hate going indoors to sit in a restaurant or go on a ride bc I'd take off my poncho & hope not to get wet. But the good thing is, is that since everything's already wet, the ponchos can stay on while riding the outdoor rides.

I'm happy to hear that your trip went so well and that you didn't go crazy w/ shopping. Sorry to hear about your camera. I hope you still got some memorable shots.

 

[Canyon girl]

Glad you had a great time! I'm waiting on the TR!

 

[DisneySuiteFreak]

Sherry I am so glad you had a great time! Looking forward to your report with pictures!

 

[Sherry E]

Whew! I was exhausted when I got back yesterday, so I rested for a little bit after starting this thread and then got caught up doing some work for a client until it was time to go to sleep, so I haven't been able to get back on until this morning!

...NOt only did I not know, until recently, that IASW was open for MM, but I had NO idea there were smells in there...However, Monsters Inc has the smell of ginger in the sushi restaurant. Might be one of the reasons I love that ride.

In the past, the IASW scent that we noticed was only peppermint, and it was so faint that if you turned your head you could easily miss it. Now, with the re-opening, I think the peppermint is much stronger, and they have added in that pine scent or whatever it is, and then there was another scent too - my friend insisted it was gingerbread but I wasn't convinced. She may be right, though! And the ginger smell in Monsters Inc. is pretty strong, but for some reason it never hit me in the past. This time, I was sniffing for it, though, and it seemed to be obvious!....And yes, that MM option is a great way to catch up on all those Fantasyland rides that we usually skip because we don't have kids and because the lines are too long! That is a BIG plus for staying at one of the DLR hotels!

There are SMELLS in Small World??? What?? I've never known that!!! Molly, I can't smell anything on Monsters Inc, it's not one of my faves, in fact we hardly ride it but we do try to get on it every so often. ...Sherry, I'm so glad you had fun!!!!! I can't wait to see pics!!! And you're coming back in 13 days right? You can do lunch with us then! LOL

When you go on IASW, maybe you can identify the other smell besides the pine and the peppermint and confirm whether or not it is gingerbread. It did not smell like the gingerbread in the HMH, though. One of my friends pointed out that the smells on Soarin' are much stronger now too. The orange blossom scent used to be kind of subtle, but now you can't miss it, along with the other scents they pipe in there....I am hoping to come to DLR and meet up with you guys. I have to assess the money situation after getting all these pictures developed (including PhotoPass), and then see if I can do a solo day at DLR when you and Jasmine, etc. are there. We ended up leaving earlier on Friday than I had planned on, and it threw me all off kilter and I blanked out on saving Nancy's number into my phone, so I didn't have it with me to be able to call her yesterday. It turns out I wouldn't have had time to meet up for lunch because my friend wanted to take me home much earlier than planned, and that kind of put an end to my solo cavorting through DLR!

Glad you had a great time Sherry!! I also love the scents in IASW. They add so much to the holiday atmosphere. I am also with you on the gingerbread men with mickey ears, so yummy!

I didn't realize those gingerbread men with ears were so hefty! I was thinking they would be kind of lightweight, but that is not the case at all! My friend actually ended up buying eight of those big guys to bring home for a whopping $24+ !! Actually, the size of the cookie is so generous and substantial that I am surprised DLR hasn't begun charging $5.00 per cookie. $2.95 actually seems reasonable. And it is a good cookie, too - even though it is heavy, it is soft and chewy!...Mike, I can't wait to hear the details of your Fox Overtime/Disney trip! I hope DLR finally sent you all the tickets and hotel vouchers and all that.

OO OOO OOO !!

I am sooo glad you watched the Aladdin Musical and got soo much accomplished! you KNOW I'm definitely waiting for that big (and most likely long) TR ! Its gonna keep me sane until our trip. I can't wait for it lady !

Yes, we really enjoyed Aladdin, but mainly for the Genie. I kept telling my friend that you highly recommended seeing it so we had to see it! I think at first she was not that enthused about the idea, but then she liked it! I didn't realize that the Genie was 'current' in his references! He was making jokes about the Congressional bail out, the return of New Kids on the Block, Deal or No Deal, Extreme Makeover, MySpace, etc.!!! That made all the difference, I think, in the level of humor and entertainment, because it gave parents or older adults something to relate to if they were not big Disney/Aladdin fans, I suppose!

Last time, my long Trip Report seemed especially long, in part, I think, because I did the text with no pictures at first. Everything seems longer when there are no pictures! I have seen other folks' TR's that are VERY long, but they have lots and lots of photos too, so it breaks it up and stretches it out a bit. So this time, I am hoping to have all my pictures in place and ready to insert amongst the text in the TR, while it is still fresh in my mind!!! I actually have to take a BUNCH of film in to be developed (even some remaining pictures from the October trip, too!), and that will be a Herculean task to save them to the PC and then upload all those to Photobucket, but it must be done! I actually want to open my PhotoPass account right away too - last time, I waited a bit before I did - because some of the PP photogs were mentioning having trouble with their little scanning doo-dad, and they were saying some of the pictures may not come out. Also, a lot of them were tossing the card on the pile again and scanning a bunch of people's photos one after another at rapid speed, so I need to check to see if anything is missing while I can still remember what pictures we took and also check to see if I have anyone else's pictures!

Wha? There are ginger scents in Monster's, Inc? Hm, I didn't know that. *Sniff*...Sherry! YAY for NO smelly poopy water!!!!!!!....I'm SO happy you had a wonderful time! Can't wait for the TR!!!!!

Yes, no smelly poopy water this time! We were up on the 8th floor on this trip, so maybe it is just Floor 5 that is cursed!

Oh I knowwww !!!

Sorry Sherry to hijack your thread, buttttttttt..

Kerri you guys driving ?

Worried about I-5 by then ?

Oh, hijack away! I don't mind that kind of thing! Conversations spark other conversations, which spark other subjects and so on! I am not a stickler about that kind of thing.

I don't like going to DLR in the rain either Sherry (I HATE rain!), but I go anyways despite the rain. I'm crazy! I'm hoping it's not going to pour on Christmas! My hands get so cold in the rain & I hate going indoors to sit in a restaurant or go on a ride bc I'd take off my poncho & hope not to get wet. But the good thing is, is that since everything's already wet, the ponchos can stay on while riding the outdoor rides....I'm happy to hear that your trip went so well and that you didn't go crazy w/ shopping. Sorry to hear about your camera. I hope you still got some memorable shots.

Yes, I didn't go crazy with shopping AT ALL. The only things I bought were cookies this time! I saw lots of cute things but they have to really grab me to inspire me to buy. I did see some really adorable Tinkerbell/peppermint candy ornaments. There is a whole set of them, and she is posing in different ways with the peppermints (I love the food-related ornaments), but I didn't get them because I really don't care about Tinkerbell that much. If it had been Mickey sitting on the candy, I would have bought all of them!!!!....I really tried to roll with the rain, but it was just too much of a pain for me, having to dig things out of my bag and getting the contents wet. The camera was on its last legs anyway - in fact, I was ONLY using it to finish off my very last old rolls of 35mm film and then I was going to retire it. The rain getting on the camera just pushed it over the edge! If it had been a new camera, I would have been furious! I was on my very last roll of film, about mid-way through, in ToonTown. I was walking around, trying to get pictures of the cute little details I hadn't noticed before, like over by Goofy's house and Donald's boat. I walked to Mickey's house to take a picture of the mini Christmas tree, and the shutter sounded as if it was snapping a photo, but then I noticed that the film wasn't advancing! It just kind of stopped moving in the middle of the roll, and wouldn't take anymore pictures! I am not sure if the first half of that roll will come out at all, with all that rain pouring on it, but we will see!

Glad you had a great time! I'm waiting on the TR!

Thanks, Canyon girl! If these PhotoPass pictures come out okay, then I may try to put a photobook together - but I know which enhancements NOT to use unless I want weird purple effects in my pictures!!!

Sherry I am so glad you had a great time! Looking forward to your report with pictures!

Thank you! And I can't wait to hear about your Goofy's Kitchen meal when you get there! FYI - they usually charge about $37 (incl. tax and tip) for the peak season breakfast/brunch at Goofy's. However, they were still charging the same off-peak season rate of $32 (which was the October rate). I guess they decided not to raise it this December because everyone is struggling so much and the PS bookings for character meals are down. So that was a nice surprise! We saw the usuals - Goofy, Pluto, Baloo, and Chip & Dale - as well as Aurora and Jasmine and someone else I am forgetting. I was hoping for Alice, but Aurora said Alice was down the rabbit hole that day!

Today was the first time I noticed smells on Small World! I wondered if it was my imagination. We rode Heimlich's last night and the watermelon and cookies smelled so good!...Alyson

I have to ride Heimlich's Chew Chew Train one of these days. I keep meaing to but it never fits into the schedule. I want to smell the Animal Cracker cookies! A Bug's Land was pretty cute, all decorated in the giant Christmas lights and ornaments. I wanted to see it lit up at night, but never got back there in the evening.

Glad you had a nice trip Sherry! I can't wait to read your report.

Thank you! DLR during the holidays is something everyone should experience at least once, I think. One of my friends - who was just at DLR the weekend before we went, but only in the daytime - was with us at night on Saturday, and as we walked onto Main Street and saw all the pretty lights and the sparkling Castle in the distance, she said, "Oooooohhhhh.... It's soooooooo beautiful.....I love it at night...It really takes on a whole different life at night. It's not like this in the daytime!" She was transfixed by the beauty of it all! She was saying her husband refuses to go to DLR at night, so she only gets to see the lights and such when she is with us!

I hope to have these pictures all ready to upload later today or tomorrow and then I can begin the process of putting them on Photobucket and doing the TR. I will add it on to my existing TR (link below in signature), so hopefully I can get something on there in the next couple of days!

Thanks, everyone!!!

 

[wazowskiLOVER:)]

Aww, Sherry. I didn't mean long in a bad way, I'm sorry ! I can't wait for it

I'm glad you liked the musical. I'm not sure if you had the same Jafar as I did, but the guy who did play him when I went was AWESOME. But then again, I did musical theater for 4 years so I'm a little biased when it comes to musicals. I LOVE 'EM.

You have so much work to do with the holidays and developing/scanning film. Take your time !