Obi-Wan Pinobi
<font color=red>Jedi moderator who likes to live o
- Joined
- Apr 26, 2001
- Messages
- 9,424
Okay, everyone heard Ed's story of the weekend. Now here's the truth. (well, not the whole truth ... the DIS is a family board)
I flew down on Friday, direct flight from Newport News. No problems with taking my pins through security. What's weird is that, with my dark hair and thick eyebrows, I look more Taliban-y than my fair-skinned, red-headed DW and I didn't encounter half the security searches she did.
Donna was going to pick me up at the airport but she couldn't so she enlisted granddaughter Crystal. The ride to WDW was uneventful -- well, except for the toll thingie that slid across the dash and almost nailed me in the knee.
Got my hotel room and headed for Epcot to meet up with Donna and Robin (Perndwler) and her mom. Got caught in the rain at the old Pasta Piazza, very very close to Pin Central where I was to meet up with them. The rain eased up and I went over to Pin Central, scared the Peachident, checked out the lanyards, and looked at some other traders' books.
And found my holy grail!!!! The Jedi Starfighter boxed pin from the AOTC premiere at DTD California. She didn't have the box with her, though, but said she'd bring it to the Friday night meet.
Having missed lunch (those pretzels the airlines give you don't go very far), I opted for a little early dinner and ate at ESPN Club. The wings were okay, but I do wish I had tried the hamburger instead -- I've heard their hamburgers are delicious.
Then I was on my way to the Friday night meet at the Contemporary. It was my first time to the meet since it became an official Disney event, and I have to admit Disney has done a very good job with it. Plenty of tables and chairs, but it's the people at the meet that make it great.
Slowly but surely I found other DIS members -- Janice, Leslie the queen of the boa brigade, Ed, Manny and Michelle, and SuzanneB among others. Finally, the blue haired dude, Engr-Chuckie arrived to a 21-silly-string salute from the Boa Brigade.
I found the lady with the Jedi Starfighter pin (Tammy, I think was her name). She forgot the box but I decided not to worry about the box. If having the pin without the box meant less stress, then I wasn't going to worry about the box.
The Star Spangled Pin Event was fantastic!! Probably the best thing is that it was inside the air-conditioned Contemporary Resort. That made the standing in line to stand in a line much easier.
Yes, there were lines. What would Disney be without lines? First there was the line for registration. Then there was the line for the event LEs. Then we went upstairs to the 4th floor, where there was a choice of lines -- second chance pins, trash can pins, trade parade board. Oddly enough (and thankfully), I never saw a line for the bathroom.
Before the event, I had breakfast at the Concourse Steakhouse with Donna, Leslie, and Robin (Perndwler) and her mom. Ed was supposed to join us but overslept. Ed was also further delayed when the monorail he was taking to the Contemporary broke down (is anyone surprised the monorail broke down with Ed on it??). He finally made it but our start to the map pursuit was delayed by the previously mentioned monorail, so we redeemed our lunch vouchers.
And yes, there was a LONG line for the monorail.
Finally, the map pursuit to the other resorts was on. I should have known the day was taking a definite turn into Weirdsville during that monorail ride that included Ed and Manny. We got to the Poly, got the map stamped, and then got in line for the new rack pins. Unfortunately, the Pluto pup pin sold out before I got up there!! At least it's an open edition pin and will be out when Lauri and I go in September. Then it was on to the Grand Floridian. Wild and crazy pin collectors in the high-class Grand Floridian -- almost sounds like a Marx Brothers movie. Thankfully I got all three pins before the Max sold out.
Back at the Contemporary, everyone was relaxing at the lounge on the 4th floor. I was debating whether to hang out there or go over to Epcot and tour the World Showcase. After entertaining Amber with my butterfingers routine I decided to head for the WS for a little while before dinner.
I arrived at the Poly about 7 for the Saturday night meet and relaxed and traded a little bit before dinner. While sitting in the lobby, I noticed something weird about my right shoe --
-- the heel was coming apart.
I was wearing an old pair of Nike joggers. They were comfortable and in fairly good shape, or so I thought. Instead, the heel of the right shoe was coming apart. It looked like I had a blow out. Donna, wonderful woman that she is, said she'd take me the next day to find a shoe store. Meanwhile, I wore something that looked like it took a bullet for me.
Then there was dinner at Kona's. Who needs the Hoop De Doo when you have Raul and Manny at Kona's?? Needless to say, this is one character meal (and Ed and Manny are definitely characters) that Disney won't be taking priority seatings for anytime soon. Heck, I'm STILL surprised we weren't kicked out!!! A bit of prop comedy, a bit of audience participation, a bit of Gallagher with Ed as the sledgehammer and Amber as the watermellon -- I quickly learned why Lauri was worried I would come home corrupted.
After dinner there was some more trading downstairs. I made a couple of trades with a Japanese trader, with Janice, and with June. I got a ride to the hotel from Ed, called Lauri and assured her I wasn't too corrupted, and collapsed.
Okay, that's enough for this post. I'll tell everyone about Sunday and Monday later.
I flew down on Friday, direct flight from Newport News. No problems with taking my pins through security. What's weird is that, with my dark hair and thick eyebrows, I look more Taliban-y than my fair-skinned, red-headed DW and I didn't encounter half the security searches she did.
Donna was going to pick me up at the airport but she couldn't so she enlisted granddaughter Crystal. The ride to WDW was uneventful -- well, except for the toll thingie that slid across the dash and almost nailed me in the knee.
Got my hotel room and headed for Epcot to meet up with Donna and Robin (Perndwler) and her mom. Got caught in the rain at the old Pasta Piazza, very very close to Pin Central where I was to meet up with them. The rain eased up and I went over to Pin Central, scared the Peachident, checked out the lanyards, and looked at some other traders' books.
And found my holy grail!!!! The Jedi Starfighter boxed pin from the AOTC premiere at DTD California. She didn't have the box with her, though, but said she'd bring it to the Friday night meet.
Having missed lunch (those pretzels the airlines give you don't go very far), I opted for a little early dinner and ate at ESPN Club. The wings were okay, but I do wish I had tried the hamburger instead -- I've heard their hamburgers are delicious.
Then I was on my way to the Friday night meet at the Contemporary. It was my first time to the meet since it became an official Disney event, and I have to admit Disney has done a very good job with it. Plenty of tables and chairs, but it's the people at the meet that make it great.
Slowly but surely I found other DIS members -- Janice, Leslie the queen of the boa brigade, Ed, Manny and Michelle, and SuzanneB among others. Finally, the blue haired dude, Engr-Chuckie arrived to a 21-silly-string salute from the Boa Brigade.
I found the lady with the Jedi Starfighter pin (Tammy, I think was her name). She forgot the box but I decided not to worry about the box. If having the pin without the box meant less stress, then I wasn't going to worry about the box.
The Star Spangled Pin Event was fantastic!! Probably the best thing is that it was inside the air-conditioned Contemporary Resort. That made the standing in line to stand in a line much easier.
Yes, there were lines. What would Disney be without lines? First there was the line for registration. Then there was the line for the event LEs. Then we went upstairs to the 4th floor, where there was a choice of lines -- second chance pins, trash can pins, trade parade board. Oddly enough (and thankfully), I never saw a line for the bathroom.
Before the event, I had breakfast at the Concourse Steakhouse with Donna, Leslie, and Robin (Perndwler) and her mom. Ed was supposed to join us but overslept. Ed was also further delayed when the monorail he was taking to the Contemporary broke down (is anyone surprised the monorail broke down with Ed on it??). He finally made it but our start to the map pursuit was delayed by the previously mentioned monorail, so we redeemed our lunch vouchers.
And yes, there was a LONG line for the monorail.
Finally, the map pursuit to the other resorts was on. I should have known the day was taking a definite turn into Weirdsville during that monorail ride that included Ed and Manny. We got to the Poly, got the map stamped, and then got in line for the new rack pins. Unfortunately, the Pluto pup pin sold out before I got up there!! At least it's an open edition pin and will be out when Lauri and I go in September. Then it was on to the Grand Floridian. Wild and crazy pin collectors in the high-class Grand Floridian -- almost sounds like a Marx Brothers movie.
Thankfully I got all three pins before the Max sold out. Back at the Contemporary, everyone was relaxing at the lounge on the 4th floor. I was debating whether to hang out there or go over to Epcot and tour the World Showcase. After entertaining Amber with my butterfingers routine I decided to head for the WS for a little while before dinner.
I arrived at the Poly about 7 for the Saturday night meet and relaxed and traded a little bit before dinner. While sitting in the lobby, I noticed something weird about my right shoe --
-- the heel was coming apart.
I was wearing an old pair of Nike joggers. They were comfortable and in fairly good shape, or so I thought. Instead, the heel of the right shoe was coming apart. It looked like I had a blow out. Donna, wonderful woman that she is, said she'd take me the next day to find a shoe store. Meanwhile, I wore something that looked like it took a bullet for me.
Then there was dinner at Kona's. Who needs the Hoop De Doo when you have Raul and Manny at Kona's??
Needless to say, this is one character meal (and Ed and Manny are definitely characters) that Disney won't be taking priority seatings for anytime soon. Heck, I'm STILL surprised we weren't kicked out!!! A bit of prop comedy, a bit of audience participation, a bit of Gallagher with Ed as the sledgehammer and Amber as the watermellon -- I quickly learned why Lauri was worried I would come home corrupted. After dinner there was some more trading downstairs. I made a couple of trades with a Japanese trader, with Janice, and with June. I got a ride to the hotel from Ed, called Lauri and assured her I wasn't too corrupted, and collapsed.
Okay, that's enough for this post. I'll tell everyone about Sunday and Monday later.
