Lots of Completed Trip Reports....Nov 2009 - April 2014

[kaoden39]

Ditto, Michele. I've never made it to the Flag Ceremony either, though I have intended to and have even been sitting around Town Square, thinking, "Hmmm...the Flag Ceremony should be starting soon..."

Yep - there are always people who stand out on trips that we end up in conversations with. Helpful people, whether they are CM's or just 'regular ol' folks.' It's fun talking to different people who you would probably never meet or talk to any other place, and it's sweet when you meet someone who is excited to share information!

I know that watching it will touch Scotty. It will touch me too but I think in a different way. How do you find out when it is?

 

[deejdigsdis]

We have never made it for the flag ceremony. This trip we will do that. I don't know why we have never made it to watch. I always intend to.


I make a point of remembering the people like that on my trips. I like to believe there are more good people than bad ones in the world or in this case the land.

I've seen the Dapper Dans perform at the ceremony, as well as the Disneyland Band. As much as I love hearing the Dapper Dans sing, I think I prefer the Disneyland Band version because they play a medley of all the different anthems from the different military branches and invite past/present military service men/women to stand when their anthem is played. It's really neat.

I think there have been a couple of different variations of "the creepy little guy" in the NOS square wreath over the last several years (New Orleans Square is one area where the decorations are constantly changing for the holidays) - or maybe it's the same creepy guy who has always been there - but there's always a creepy guy in the wreath.

In fact, there are a few different kinds of creepy guys sort of hidden away on balconies or under shop signs, or hanging in trees in NOS...the types of creepy jester/doll-looking things that you wouldn't want to see sitting on a shelf in your room, in the dark, late at night, for fear that they might start blinking their creepy eyes and talking to you.

Mixed in with all the beauty of NOS during the holidays is quite a bit of the 'creep factor.'

Then again, the whole idea of putting a 'baby' in a King Cake for Mardi Gras time is creepy in and of itself, so there you have it! New Orleans is a creepy place. Lol.

That made me laugh...thinking of jester/doll-looking things perched on shelves around your room. Creepy! My brother-in-law has an old Howdy Doody ventriliquist puppet thing. It creeps my out when I see it sitting in one spot...then later see it sitting somewhere else. Smiling eerily all the while.

So here's a picture I took in Oct. 2010 of that same wreath in NOS. There are the legs...just dangling away. How on earth did I miss that? I usually notice creepy things like that.

I missed a lot the last few posts that you have up Deej. I'm still here reading your adventures in November. Great pictures from the Omnibus. Boy it really looked so busy that Tuesday. Good thing thing I left on Monday instead of staying during Thanksgiving week. I always like your one touch color pictures and I tried it on my new DSLR camera during my WDW trip. I did do the one touch color during my trip because of you. You should check my WDW TR.

Got a glimpse of "A Christmas Fantasy" parade while you were in the queue for Matterhorn. Good pics pics from riding the Matterhorn.

Glad that you got do do the Flag Retreat at MS Town Square. I never do the Flag Retreat a lot since I am at the hotel resting. But I got to do the Flag Retreat on Saturday during my trip when I was right on the streets of MS Town Square for the 5:30pm "A Christmas Fantasy" parade.

Great update on your TR Deej.

Thanks Bret! It's good to see you pop back in. I definitely will make it over to your report. I'm looking forward to seeing your pictures. I remember seeing a picture you posted to your DL TR when you were at WDW that had the one-color thing going on. It's a fun way to see the same thing a bit differently.

Glad you got a chance to see the Flag Retreat.

I know that watching it will touch Scotty. It will touch me too but I think in a different way. How do you find out when it is?

Michele, I just checked that little times guide that you can pick up at the turnstiles as you go in. On the Disneyland side it says "Flag Retreat" at 4:30pm Daily. So you can look for it on there when you go.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Let the Flag Retreat Ceremony begin!

I was happy to see it was the Disneyland Band today, rather than the Dapper Dans.

I really love how they recognize our past/present military service members and invite them to stand while their anthem is being played.

It was neat to see this Mother/Daughter duo.

I enjoy watching the expressions on their faces, and wonder what they are thinking about.

The Flag Retreat is over now. We just sat there and observed the interactions of the men and women who had stood up during the ceremony. I've never seen any of the people linger and visit with one another before.

And remember that nice lady who stood up so I could take her seat? When she got up to leave, she handed us a pair of Space Mountain FPs!

I didn't want to get up from our bench. It was a magical time, sitting there as the Main Street lights came on as dusk settled in.

It was especially fun to join in the countdown for the lighting of the Town Square Christmas Tree.

At this point we just continued to do what we came there to do. Sit and soak it all in. The only thing I wish I could change about sitting there...I wish I would have gone to get some hot chocolate. Parade crowds were gathering and I didn't want to battle them, but now I wish I had.

We ended up sitting there through the parade. A few shots of the parade from our Town Square bench:

You can barely see Jiminy Cricket up there.

And a couple of post-parade crowd pics.

 

[kaoden39]

Thank you. That's what I thought. I shall keep that in mind. I love the fact that they visited with each other. I hope that Scotty will participate.

 

[Sherry E]

Not only am I surprised that you didn't see the creepy little guy in your own photos, but you've seen Bret's New Orleans Square photos and my NOS photos and however many other people's photos, and I am pretty sure we all have taken 'creepy wreath guy' photos and posted them in our TR's at one point or another! You just missed the creepy guy in everyone's pictures! He must have freaked you out so much that you just blocked him from your vision and memory!

 

[Sherry E]

I have pictures from 2010, but this was the Creepy Wreath Guy situation in 2008 (excuse the grainy quality - this was taken on my old, deceased 35mm camera - RIP), which was also back when they had the light canopies up in New Orleans Square:

 

[CB Jamboree]

Hi Sis, it looks like Sherry and Michele are our kind of girls liking I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke! I remember back when we were in high school we would watch those shows on Nick at Nite. I'm sure that other girls our age were watching Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 If we only had FOX back then!
I am so glad you introduced me to the flag retreat ceremony. I just love it. It is so touching, I have yet to get through it with a dry eye. Thank goodness for sunglasses!
The tree in TS is so huge!! Do you have any idea how tall it is?

 

[CB Jamboree]

Hi Sis, it looks like Sherry and Michele are our kind of girls liking I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke! I remember back when we were in high school we would watch those shows on Nick at Nite. I'm sure that other girls our age were watching Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 If we only had FOX back then!
I am so glad you introduced me to the flag retreat ceremony. I just love it. It is so touching, I have yet to get through it with a dry eye. Thank goodness for sunglasses!
The tree in TS is so huge!! Do you have any idea how tall it is?

 

[tksbaskets]

Hi Deej,
Just back from DL and adjusting to the time zone change. Love your updates. My DH wanted me to tell "the DIS friend" that we loved the dinner at Big Thunder Ranch!

TK

 

[DharmaLou]

thank you so much for your posts! We will be at DL and DCA for 3 days between 11/16-11/21 and your photos have really gotten me excited! I have been to DL and to WDW when they've been decorated for the holidays, but this time I will have my daughter with me for the first time. I can't wait!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Thank you. That's what I thought. I shall keep that in mind. I love the fact that they visited with each other. I hope that Scotty will participate.

In which branch did/does your husband serve? I forgot to mention that it was especially emotional this time. I always get a little misty-eyed, but this time even more so...just thinking of my dad who served in the army during the Korean War...and thinking of his health issues.

Not only am I surprised that you didn't see the creepy little guy in your own photos, but you've seen Bret's New Orleans Square photos and my NOS photos and however many other people's photos, and I am pretty sure we all have taken 'creepy wreath guy' photos and posted them in our TR's at one point or another! You just missed the creepy guy in everyone's pictures! He must have freaked you out so much that you just blocked him from your vision and memory!

I know! I've seen so many NOS pictures. I honestly don't know how any of the Creepy Wreath Guys escaped my eye!

Hi Sis, it looks like Sherry and Michele are our kind of girls liking I Love Lucy and Dick Van Dyke! I remember back when we were in high school we would watch those shows on Nick at Nite. I'm sure that other girls our age were watching Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210 If we only had FOX back then!
I am so glad you introduced me to the flag retreat ceremony. I just love it. It is so touching, I have yet to get through it with a dry eye. Thank goodness for sunglasses!
The tree in TS is so huge!! Do you have any idea how tall it is?

LOL about the other girls watching Melrose Place and 90210! Remember (nearly 18 years ago!) when we used to watch I Love Lucy every night at 9:00 and you would get upset with J for calling me right as we were sitting down to watch? If only we could have paused TV back then...

I recently read how tall the tree was and I just can't remember at the moment. I have a picture of the tree as the wallpaper on my phone. I just can't bring myself to change it out even though Christmas is over.

Hi Deej,
Just back from DL and adjusting to the time zone change. Love your updates. My DH wanted me to tell "the DIS friend" that we loved the dinner at Big Thunder Ranch!

TK

TK, I can't believe your trip is long over and I'm still plugging away at this nearly-2-months-old TR! I'm so glad you enjoyed the BBQ. I was sure your family would like it. Thinking about that meal always makes me hungry. When are you starting your TR?

thank you so much for your posts! We will be at DL and DCA for 3 days between 11/16-11/21 and your photos have really gotten me excited! I have been to DL and to WDW when they've been decorated for the holidays, but this time I will have my daughter with me for the first time. I can't wait!

Hi! Thanks for commenting! When we took our kids for the first time 2 years ago our dates were 11/16 - 11/20. It was a dream as far as low crowds go. It was my first time back after 13 years. I had only gone during the summer growing up and was used to high crowds and pre-Fast Pass days. To finally return again in November 2009 was so wonderful. We couldn't have been happier with the short lines. (That trip is in the first few pages of this 6 Trip TR.) I hope you have a magical time with your daughter.

Well everyone...I had a dream last night. My sister CB Jamboree and I decided to meet in DL and stay for the full 24 hours during Leap Day. My husband wanted to come along, but made me promise that it was OK for him to spend 24 hours alone at the hotel while we were in DL. I said, "It's a deal." We had gotten a good rate at HOJO. When we checked in we realized why it was such a good rate. They made us share a room with another family. I left my husband to enjoy the room with strangers and made my way to DL to meet up with my sister. I couldn't find her and ended up wandering around the park looking for her, wasting all our time. 24 hours of wandering and searching for her and nothing else! Then I woke up. Dreams are strange. Anyway, it put me in the mood to settle down and update. I'm gonna go upload some more pics and come right back.

 

[deejdigsdis]

First things first... a shout-out to my sister...Broken Wings is playing right now.

OK, where was I...

We had just finished up with kind of watching the parade. "Kind of" because we just stayed parked on our Town Square bench after the Flag Retreat and enjoyed what little view of the parade we could get from there.

We waited for the crowds to clear a bit. We had some time (maybe 30 minutes?) to do a little Christmas shopping for the boys before the 6:30 snowfall. We secured a few Phineas and Ferb-related purchases, and a couple of other things. I took the stuff back to our locker and then we found a place on Main Street to watch the snow.

No post-worthy pictures of that, unfortunately.

Dinner time. I really had a hankering for some French Onion soup from Cafe Orleans while we were sitting on our bench between the flag ceremony and the parade. We decided to call Disney Dining and try to get a reservation for later that night. (I know...crazy. It couldn't hurt to try, though. I've made several reservations an hour or so before wanting to eat.) Just as we suspected, we weren't able to make a reservation. The guy on the phone said they were only accepting guests that had reservations for that night. No walk-ups. So that was a while ago. When we were ready to eat, I was still craving the French Onion soup so we decided to just walk over and see if we heard anything different.

We would have really rather eaten here:

But Blue Bayou was closed right along with Pirates of the Caribbean.

So off to Cafe Orleans. Once again we were told they weren't accepting anyone without a reservation. We stood there for a while and listened to them call reservation after reservation and no one was showing up. So odd.

So...off to find dinner elsewhere.

Hmmm. According to my pictures, apparently I stopped to take a picture of a scary mask...

...and ride Haunted Mansion...

...before finding dinner.

I really wanted some nice warm comfort food. For J, "nice warm comfort food" = this:

So he got his Turkey Leg (one of his Top 5 Reasons To Go To Disneyland) and I ended up getting a Chimichanga from one of the carts. No pictures, but that will be my first and last Chimichanga from one of those carts. It wasn't good at all. Right now I can't remember specifically what it was that I didn't like about it. Maybe it tasted like those tasteless "part too cold/part too hot" frozen burritos that J used to eat back in our college days. Anyway, all the taco sauce I slathered on just couldn't salvage the thing. We also split some corn on the cob. It was pretty good. The best thing about our dinner, though, was the view. Enjoyed while drinking hot chocolate.

We sat in a "new-to-us" spot. There were 4-ish tables up some stairs behind the food cart overlooking the water with NOS in the distance. It was a nice dinner spot. I enjoyed everything but the food.

 

[kaoden39]

I can imagine the flag ceremony was poignant to you. My dad served in the navy in Korea. Scotty was in the Army.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Another great update to your TR. You got to watch the Flag Retreat along with "A Christmas Fantasy" parade is always a fun thing to do at night. Sometimes during those nights that you can walk up to the sit down restaurants. At least you had a great spot to see the ROA.

 

[deejdigsdis]

I can imagine the flag ceremony was poignant to you. My dad served in the navy in Korea. Scotty was in the Army.

That's neat. Hopefully you'll be able to fit the Flag Retreat into your schedule.

Another great update to your TR. You got to watch the Flag Retreat along with "A Christmas Fantasy" parade is always a fun thing to do at night. Sometimes during those nights that you can walk up to the sit down restaurants. At least you had a great spot to see the ROA.

Thanks Bret. I'm disappointed we didn't get to eat at CO. A chimichanga just wasn't a great replacement for the French Onion Soup I was in the mood for.

 

[kaoden39]

That's neat. Hopefully you'll be able to fit the Flag Retreat into your schedule.



Thanks Bret. I'm disappointed we didn't get to eat at CO. A chimichanga just wasn't a great replacement for the French Onion Soup I was in the mood for.

Me too.

 

[deejdigsdis]

After dinner I remember we did a little shopping in the Mercantile before catching the rest of the fireworks and another snowfall. I bought some cute little red, white and green Mickey Mouse head-shaped sprinkles. (I used them on Christmas cookies and chocolate truffles over the holidays. If I remember I'll post a pic.)

Glimpses of the fireworks and snow from Main Street.

And a picture of lights strung over Main Street that my boys would refer to as "freaky":

My notes are a little fuzzy after this point. They say we rode the Matterhorn, Small World x 2, Indy, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain x 2 (thanks to the Fast Passes from the girl at the Flag Retreat!), BTMR x 2, and an attempt at Peter Pan that failed due to a break down. So I guess this was my first trip ever to not ride Peter Pan.

So that's what we did. Here are some pictures to go along with that:

Changing modes on the camera to just pick up the color red:

You know how when you go on a ride there are certain things in the ride that you always look for or pay special attention to? Well, for my sister and I...when it comes to riding IASW...one of those "things" is this guy:

Sure, it's a horrible picture, but it conjures up memories of being on the lookout for him (and possibly imitating him discreetly with our arms and teeth as we sail by ...but now that I think about it...I guess it would be hard to be discreet when you're moving like him). So that one was for you, D.

I love snowflakes.

Since I didn't get a good shot of The Small World Guy, I was so happy to see this wreath as we were leaving the area.

Apparently we aren't the only ones that think of this guy when we think of IASW!

 

[deejdigsdis]

Finishing up Day 2!

I was thinking about that list of rides I mentioned in the last post. I don't think we rode all those rides after the fireworks. There were too many people to do all that. I think it was a list of how we spent the P.M. part of the day.

So it's midnight now. Closing time. Time for me to go grab a treat and head to the Front Porch.

My treat of choice was a piece of Mint Chocolate Fudge. It wasn't horrible, but I do remember being disappointed. I love the mint/chocolate combo, but I don't like it when it tastes on the medicine-y side.

We finally dragged ourselves off the porch and headed back to the hotel. A few pics on our way out:

Goodbye Nighttime Disneyland! See you in the Fall.

Up next...our last few hours in the park on Wednesday morning.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Here we are. Our last morning. Making my way across the street.

Of course I had big plans to be there early. Didn't happen. I arrived around 8:15am. First order of business: take a picture of the new DCA entrance. The closest I got to DCA this trip.

With such a short trip planned, and with being sick, I kind of figured we wouldn't make it over to DCA this time. J let me out of my promise to ride TOT with him. (He loves it, I don't.) We were content to just stay put in Disneyland.

My next order of business was to get a new AP. It was the financially responsible thing to do () with a big extended family trip planned for Fall 2012. My first experience with getting an AP back in 2010 was quick and happy. This time... it was different. It was the CM's first time to process one, I think. I was fine with the longer wait. She was really friendly and smiley. Her supervisor, however, wasn't. She acted so annoyed that the new-ish CM had to keep calling her over to ask questions. I felt bad for her. The supervisor decided to move things along and finish up the process herself. They handed me the AP and I pointed out that the expiration date was wrong. It was supposed to be Nov. 21st, as that was the first day of use for my park hopper. The supervisor had put in the date of Nov. 23rd, the date of my upgrade. She had such a strange reaction. She just seemed so put out and annoyed that she needed to re-do it. I was careful not to point out the mistake in an annoying way, as it was clear that she just seemed annoyed during the whole process in general. I wanted to be honest, so I brought it to her attention. She changed the date and handed me the new AP with not so much as a smile or anything.

Off I went, through the gates of Disneyland for the last time this trip.

So much to see and only 3-ish hours. J would be meeting me a little later. First I went to get a BTMR FP. I took lots of pictures around that area. I felt like I had that area of the park all to myself.

Can you tell I LOVE poinsettias?

 

[tksbaskets]

Deej - so much to comment on. I am still smiling thinking of you and J twirling and showing your teeth ala IASWH~

Your pics of Frontierland are STUNNING! I would have been disappointed had you not posted a few great lamppost pics. I can hardly see a lamp post at Disney and not think of you!

The AP was the cost-conscious decision to be sure Did you get to go over to the photopass dude/dudette and get your pic taken in front of the RR station? I was most jealous when I saw many do that on our trip.

(TR to start this week. You're setting the bar just right with the pace of yours )