My trip to Walt's hometown - Marceline!

[DisneylandForever]

Hope I'm posting this in the right section...


So I was planning a trip to see my buddy in St. Louis, and maybe see my football team get their butts kicked at home instead of on the road (here in SF) this season. When I told my good friend/lil sis’ Anne about this, she advised me that I should probably fly into KC so I could see her brand spankin’ new house, and just drive to St. Louis from there. I hardily laughed at her (it’s a 5 hour drive from Topeka to St. Louis) and hung up in her face, but not before thanking her for the good chuckle.

Enter the realization that (albeit fairly North) Marceline, Missouri is in between Topeka and St. Louis…
Ring ring! “Hey Anne? Um, I think I will fly into KC after all!

Okay, so it didn’t go down exactly like that, but you get the gist!

“I’ll fly into KC Thursday night, Anne and I could drive to Marceline together (but in separate cars) on Friday morning, we’ll stay the night and Saturday morning Anne could drive home and I could drive to St. Louis, hang out with my buddy Saturday night and go to the game on Sunday, and drive back to Topeka Sunday night!” It was the perfect plan. Would it work? Could it work? Would I want to drive all that way?

Sure why not.


Thursday, Day Zero

So I have never flown first class before. I mean, it’s a little out of my budget. However after telling my brother of my planned SFO to KCI excursion, he advised me that he had a ton of air miles that were going to expire, and basically gave me a free round trip first class ticket. I tell you I’ve got a helluva family.

“Now boarding our first class passengers, and passengers traveling with small children only.”
“Excuse me, pardon me.” I weaved my way through the throng of people waiting impatiently for their boarding zone to be called. It wasn’t too shabby boarding before everybody else, I must say. I entered the plane and sat comfortably in my rather large seat with the inordinate amount of leg room. When you’re 6’1” on an airplane leg room trumps all, my friends.

My vision of first class…

Stewardess: More anything?
Me: More everything!

And it didn’t disappoint. On this flight there was no hot fudge sundae with the fudge on the bottom (allowing me to control my fudge distribution as I ate it), but there was always the next flight to look forward to! They gave me an actual meal instead of peanuts, several snacks, and all the orange juice I could drink; in a glass! Swanky. I arrived in Dallas, my layover city. That airport is huge! They have vending machines that dispense electronics. No joke. “Um, I’ll take a Snickers and a PSP. E1 and, G6." They have a vending machine that dispenses ProActiv solution. I actually almost bought some. They have monorails that take you anywhere you wish to go. SFO is a toilet compared to DFW.

I just noticed that I’m not even in Kansas yet and my TR is getting wordy. Allow me to summate: The first class flight to KCI was fine – too short for a full meal. I read Catcher in the Rye and listened to my iPod. I arrived in Kansas City and noticed immediately that it was tiny. I think I walked about 50ft after de-boarding and there was my baggage carousel. I picked up my rental car (kinda sweet Pontiac G6) and drove to Topeka. It was late by now (1AM I think) so by the time I got to Anne’s super cool house it was so time for bed. She’d give me the tour later. She already had the couch set up for me, and I think I was asleep about 10 seconds after my head hit the pillow.


No pics of Day Zero, I’m afraid. But Day One is coming soon!

 

[passthepixiedust]

I am STILL jealous over the first class flight! I always wonder what happens beyond that little curtain that the keep closed so determinedly!

 

[jenna]

Great start Keith!! Can't wait to read more!!

Lucky you with the first class!!

 

[rentayenta]

First class? Clearly they didn't do a background check first.


Keep it comin'

 

[DisneylandForever]

I am STILL jealous over the first class flight! I always wonder what happens beyond that little curtain that the keep closed so determinedly!

There was no curtain on this flight!

Great start Keith!! Can't wait to read more!!

Lucky you with the first class!!

Thanks Jenna!

First class? Clearly they didn't do a background check first.


Keep it comin'

Dork!


Okay I'm gonna post part 1 of day one the "old school" way. I'll put the pics in the thread for part II!

 

[DisneylandForever]

Day One: part I

So Anne comes barging into the living room at the crack of 9am (7am my time) and advises me it’s time to get a move on. She is already showered and ready to go. I lay still for about 5 minutes (it seemed like thirty seconds), and jumped into her shower built for little people. It takes me twenty minutes end to end to get ready, and I come out to Anne goofing around online. Okay, so she was really Googling the address of our hotel in Marceline. We go!

Look how cool her house is! She even had a porch swing. Of course I had to try it out. She jumped into her car, I jumped into my rental (sittin' on chrome, baby), and we skedaddled. Anne gassed up and we jumped onto I-70 E/US-40 E en route to Walt’s hometown. Using our cell phones as CB Radios (her handle was “The Banana,” mine was “The Big Dog,”), we conspired to consume some sort of meal before we got too far into our 3 hour drive. IHOP it is! They had the best pumpkin pancakes ever.

Back on the road. It was actually a decent drive. I called a few friends, listened to the radio, and enjoyed the lush scenery. I snapped a pic of “The Banana” rocking out to Hanna Montana, and before we knew it, we saw this sign! “The Big Dog” was happy.

Okay, so I took a few pics of each sign as we got closer. What can I say, I was hyped. We entered Marceline and rolled down the surprisingly crowded Main Street. What was going on? The population of this town is 2500, and it looked like they were all sitting on Main Street. After parking and looking around, we realized that their high school football team's Homecoming parade was imminent. I of course wanted to blend in, so I invested 8 bucks in the local's attire. Go Tigers!

Right before the parade started, we took a few pics of this awesome train from the Disneyland railroad. Isn’t it cool? I know Anne liked it! After that, it was parade time. It started off with a bang, and everybody was into it. People in the parade threw candy to the kids from their “floats.” We saw: their fire engine, marching bands, cheerleaders, their opposing team’s infirmary (I got a kick out of that one), the team itself (first all-Caucasian team I’ve ever seen in my life), some Shriners in little cars distributing high-fives and several old vehicles. It was a hoot. It was also hot! By the parade’s end Anne and I had already found some shade.

After the parade we wandered over to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. It was closed for the parade (as was every other business in the entire town), so we sat on a bench and waited for it to re-open. I was still just sort of absorbing the environment. We had arrived at 1:45 and the parade started at 2. It lasted about thirty minutes, and the second it was over I was right at the place I have always wanted to see! The anticipation was killing me. And the irony is, by the time the Walt Museum finally re-opened, we decided to not even do it.


Day One: part II coming soon!

 

[50 years Too!]

Oh my gosh! How fun. What luck to stumble into town when the homecoming parade was happening. Talk about the quintessential small town experience.
Walt would have been proud.

Also, just a note about Anne's house. My grandmother took me to her old home in Southern Illinois, that I swear, was the exact same house.
Brought back good memories.

Debbie

 

[jenna]

Love the pics Keith!! Or should I call you "The Big Dog?"

That's great you got to be there during the homecoming parade! And I love the fact you got the shirt!

Can't wait for more!

Oh, and pumpkin pancakes.....YUM!!!

 

[DisneylandForever]

Oh my gosh! How fun. What luck to stumble into town when the homecoming parade was happening. Talk about the quintessential small town experience.
Walt would have been proud.

Also, just a note about Anne's house. My grandmother took me to her old home in Southern Illinois, that I swear, was the exact same house.
Brought back good memories.

Debbie

It was really cute. And a happy coincidence!

Love the pics Keith!! Or should I call you "The Big Dog?"

That's great you got to be there during the homecoming parade! And I love the fact you got the shirt!

Can't wait for more!

Oh, and pumpkin pancakes.....YUM!!!

Thanks Jenna! Here comes s'more!

 

[DisneylandForever]

Day One part II


Okay. So by the time the Museum reopened, it was 3pm. It closed at 4. I was unsure if an hour was enough time, so we walked in and spoke to the lady at the front desk. She was a very sweet old lady named Inez. She actually had Walt Disney as a houseguest when he came back to Marceline in 1956! She had some amazing stories. I asked her how long it would take to properly tour the Museum, and she said about 90 minutes. My hunch had been confirmed, so lil’ sissie and I decided to just see every other Walt-related sight that day, and hit the Museum when it opened in the morning.

First thing we did was Walt’s “Dreaming Tree.” As you can tell, nowadays it's in pretty bad shape. It was once this great tree that Walt and his little sister used to sit under. He would sometimes sit there for hours at a time, just daydreaming away. Of course I had to do some daydreaming of my own! Anne just wanted to lounge under it.

We then went down the path to the replica of Walt’s barn. At some point many years ago it was torn down, and some of the town folk rebuilt it a few years ago. They did a great job! Here’s Anne, then myself standing out front. The coolest thing was they encouraged people to leave Walt messages inside! Luckily Anne had a pen. I grabbed a stool and reached up and wrote my hero a little message. It made me kinda happy. I think Anne wrote her initials somewhere, too. It was very neat and before we left, we used my long arms and snapped one more pic.

We passed by Walt’s original house and headed back towards “Main Street.” We passed our hotel and went all the way down until we came to the Walt Disney Municipal Park. It was a nice little park, with a pretty lake. I was starting to notice that everything about this little town was quaint and/or charming. I was really enjoying myself. And the company weren’t none too shabby neither! After touring the park, we went to check-in to our room, but not before I snapped a pic of the “Main Street Emporium.”

We had booked a room at the only hotel in town, the Uptown Bed and Breakfast. It was so cool. We stayed in the Walt Disney Suite. It was huge! I got the “boy” room, and Anne got the girly one. I liked mine much better. It even had a “secret entrance” (more on that in a bit). Anne’s had an enormous King size bed. She said with her little legs she could sleep on it width-wise and her feet would still be on it! The suite had two bedrooms, a dining room, 1 bathroom, a living room, a kitchen, and this really cool reading nook with a super comfy chair and plenty of Disney books.

At this point it was about 6pm, and we decided on seeing the 8pm movie the Uptown was showing, 3:10 to Yuma. Anne went into her room and talked on her phone for a while, and I adjourned to the reading nook! I read a really cool Disney book that I had never seen before. At about 6:30 Anne came out and we decided we would go to dinner around 7. I turned on the TV and Seinfeld was on! I was quite pleased. After Seinfeld we went to the diner across the street from the Uptown called “Conversations.” It was pretty good. After dinner we walked around the town square area, then headed back to our room. We still had about 20 minutes to kill, so I read more of that book. Then at 7:55, we entered... “the secret door!”

That’s right. There was a door in my room that led straight down to the theater lobby! As soon as you opened that door you saw the projector, and all you had to do was descend the stairs to the right and you ended up right next to the concession stand. Because we were hotel guests we got to see the movie for free. I really enjoyed the movie, but Anne thought it was a little violent. Afterwards we went back up to the room via our private entrance. We watched Scrubs for a while and Anne talked on the phone again! That girl is popular. At 11 I felt like some snacks so I went to a convenient store called Casey’s. On the way out I saw Debbie, (the Uptown owner) and her nephew. She had been popping in and out chatting with us the whole day. She was so nice! I asked them if they wanted anything from the store. I felt like I had already known them. They declined, and I went and got some goodies.

I think it was about midnight when I crawled into bed. I called Tracy for a bit, then spent my last few awake minutes reading that cool book. I eventually dozed off, with the thought that in the morning I was going to finally get to experience the Walt Disney Hometown Museum.



---To be concluded!

 

[jenna]

How cool is that room?! I have to stay there! And your own secret entrance to the theater.....all right!!

Can't wait to read about the museum!

 

[DisneylandForever]

How cool is that room?! I have to stay there! And your own secret entrance to the theater.....all right!!

Can't wait to read about the museum!

It was so cool! Update a comin'...

 

[DisneylandForever]

Day Two part I


I woke up at 9:55, 5 minutes before we were due to have our breakfast delivered. I heard Anne bouncing around throughout the suite. Knowing her she was probably already showered and dressed. I lay still for a few minutes, and soon heard the clunking of plates and silverware. I fell out of bed and into some shorts, rubbed my eyes until they opened just enough to allow the visual acuity required to distinguish shapes, and stumbled towards my bedroom door, by way of my freshly charged camera.

I opened the door to this.

Okay, so I made her pose. But I did catch her eyeing breakfast once or twice, and I was hungry too. Anne is a vegetarian, so we were treated to a meatless breakfast. Unless I’m just eating oatmeal, there aren’t too many things that annoy me more than a meatless breakfast, for no other reason than: I’m always still a little hungry afterwards. But no matter, this breakfast was quite tasty, and pretty much every single utensil was adorned with Mickey. Some of the food was, too.

Before heading to the Museum, Anne and I snuck into the theater using our super secret bat-cave entrance. We wanted to look around one last time, and I wanted to (geek alert) recreate a picture of Walt that was hanging in the theater lobby.

Just after 11am, we arrived at the Museum. Inez was not there, but another wonderful older woman was (whose name escapes me), and she gave us a miniature tour before we headed in. It was so neat in there. They don’t allow photography, so I put my camera away and just soaked up the environment. A lot of the Museum was devoted to Walt’s family. There was also a room just for all things locomotive (particularly the Topeka, Atchison and the Santa Fe). Anne noticed I was taking longer to read things than she was, so she left me in her dust. I was unsure as to when I would be returning, so I wanted to soak it up! And soak it up I did.

I saw photographs I had never seen, read letters from Walt I had never read, and learned things about some of his siblings that I had never known. It was great. Inez was correct, we spent every second of 90 minutes in there, and maybe a little more thanks to my pace. But Anne didn’t hurry me along, not once. She knew what I was doing, and she is a sweetheart.

The only picture we were allowed to take was this one, just inside the Exhibit’s entrance. Anne declined having her own picture taken, as by this point she had probably grown weary of my camera(s). I bought a few things from the gift shop, made a donation to the Museum (thanks to Anne for paying my admission), and were off to make one quick stop before heading back on the road. But not before snapping two last pics of the front and back of the Museum.

Geez I get wordy! I'll have to break this into two parts also. Sowwy!


To be concluded... honest!

 

[passthepixiedust]

I am SOOOOO bummed I wasn't there! The secret door is just too cool! I love both of the rooms, I think I like Anne's better though.

 

[rentayenta]

Love the Mickey pancakes for breakfast! I want that Mickey butter spreader, hint hint!

You look really cute in the picture with the stuffed Mickey and Minnie!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Love your report - sounds like a really neat trip. Now I have to add Marceline to my list of places to visit.

 

[OhMari]

Was the museum a school before it became WD museum?

 

[winniethepoohsmom]

Thanks for doing a TR I loved seeing Walts home town, I love that hotel suite too bad disney world does'nt have suites like that at that price . That's great that you were able to take that trip and share it with a friend! Linda

 

[DisneylandForever]

I am SOOOOO bummed I wasn't there! The secret door is just too cool! I love both of the rooms, I think I like Anne's better though.

I figured you would! It was white and girlie.

Love the Mickey pancakes for breakfast! I want that Mickey butter spreader, hint hint!

You look really cute in the picture with the stuffed Mickey and Minnie!

I do? lol - if you say so!

Love your report - sounds like a really neat trip. Now I have to add Marceline to my list of places to visit.

I recommend it highly! Every Walt fan should see it.

Was the museum a school before it became WD museum?

No, it was a train depot. In fact when the train zipped passed us (maybe 10 ft away), Inez asked us to notice that the buidling wasn't moving an inch.

Thanks for doing a TR I loved seeing Walts home town, I love that hotel suite too bad disney world does'nt have suites like that at that price . That's great that you were able to take that trip and share it with a friend! Linda

Thank you! Yes it was awesome. All of it!


Conclusion comin' up!

 

[DisneylandForever]

Time to wrap this baby up!


Day Two: part II

There was one last thing we needed to see before blowing town. Can you guess what it is? No? That’s okay, you don’t have to. Anne and I took turns standing out front. Anne had places to go and people to see, so she snapped this pic of me and skedaddled. I wandered inside and looked around. They had Walt’s actual desk on display! It was pretty neat. They also had lots of plaques and pictures (most of which I filmed instead of taking pictures of), and murals of Disney characters.

I jumped into my pimped out G6 and headed back on the road, but not before making one last stop at Walt’s Dreaming Tree (panoramic). This time for about an hour. While there I actually came up with an idea for a novel. “Hey, this thing really works!” lol – Marceline was a wonderful experience, and I’m so glad I finally got off my toosh and went. I can definitely see myself visiting there again one day. For any big Walt fan, I highly recommend it.

So I took US-36 E, US-63 and I-70 E/US-40 E, and before I knew it I was in St. Louis! It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. The weather was beautiful, and it was good seeing my friend again. We went out that night (with a few of his friends), and they took full advantage of my “perpetual designated driver” title. We got some sleep, and in the morning we headed to--

Day Three

--The Rams/Cardinals game. I got to meet Ricky Proehl! He was super nice. We had great, practically front-row seats, and I got to watch my boys get spanked in front of a home crowd for a change. I don’t mind seeing the Rams at Candlestick once a year, but home games are always more fun than away games. After my team lost (again), I went back to my buddy’s house (not before snapping this pic), grabbed my bags, thanked him for a great time, and headed back on the road. I pretty much took the I-70 W for almost the entire 300 mile trip. While the sun was setting I managed to snap a pic of some rays shooting up into the sky. I left St. Louis at around 5pm, and arrived at Anne’s house around 10pm. We watched Wedding Crashers, her dog fell in love with me, and it was off to bed.

Day Four

We were supposed to hit Kansas City this day as my flight didn’t leave till 5pm. I put the kibosh on that since I was so tired (I guess from all the driving) I just wanted to sleep in. We ended up having a nice lunch at Annie’s Place in beautiful downtown Topeka, and actually stopped by Target on the way home. I think I bought some socks, lol. I said goodbye to my newest number one fan and my wonderful friend/lil’ sissie, and headed to the airport. Both First Class flights home were great, and I soaked up every ounce of leg room they gave me. Oh, and perhaps the most important detail…

For dessert on the second flight we were given ice cream sundaes with whipped cream and caramel. And yes, the caramel was on the bottom, and it did allow me to control my caramel distribution as I ate it. I kid you not.


In Summation: This was an all-around amazing trip! I got to see Walt’s hometown, his house, his school, his tree, meet people who met him, the museum dedicated to him and his family, my good buddy, my lil’ sis, my team play a home game, drive around 3 drunks through the ghetto, fly first class, see the lush Kansas/Missouri countryside (hee hee), witness my first “entire town” homecoming parade, stay in an awesome suite with a secret entrance, see a really good movie, etc! The list goes on and on. Just an amazing 4 days.


Thanks for reading! And if I ever get off my toosh long enough to sift through/edit the video I took on this trip, I just might post some of it in this thread! The cool stuff, anyway.


-Keith