Nothing to See Here...

[Sherry E]

When I stayed there it wasn't a Disney property yet. It was when it was new. I was a young adult and I went with my parents. It was quite an adventure and I walked to Disneyland everyday, but you could walk over and catch the tram from the Disneyland Hotel area. That was in the days when there were restaurants and bars on the bottom floor of the different buildings. I think the only reason we stayed there was because the DLH was full. This was in the days when we would drive down on a whim. I miss those days. There were so many wonderful things at the DLH in those days. I miss them. But, like Walt I think that change is good.


I tried to find the Christmas thread and I didn't. Where is it? The only place I didn't look was on the community board. I shall look there next.

Michele -

That darn Christmas thread probably moved to the 2nd page of the main DL planning forum. Here is the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=44212030#post44212030

That link will take you directly to the last page, but when you get time you may want to start at Page 1 and just kind of scroll through the thread, little by little, skimming and glancing - not reading the entire thing, of course. Page 1 is (Posts #1, #2 and #3) is where I have a lot of info - some of which needs to be updated and some of which can be applied to any year's holiday season.

So you stayed at the Disneyland Pacific before it was a Disney hotel? Was it called the Emerald or something like that way back when? I remember seeing the building and there was an Emerald Hotel around there. Was that it?

I loved that tram - I know there is a tram at DLR today, but for some reason I loved the old version of the tram! I considered that to be a 'ride' at Disneyland too, even though it was just a means of transportation. The DL parking lot was so huge and the tram was necessary.

The Disneyland Hotel was always this mysterious building off in the distance to me - I would see it across the parking lot and wonder about it, but I thought it was only for adults and not a kid-friendly place like Disneyland was. I was told that the DLH was where adults went to drink alcohol and that there was nothing for kids there!

Finally, in maybe 1980 or so, my 13-year-old friends and I got the wild idea to go on an adventure and take a tram and/or the Monorail over to the DLH for some reason or another, maybe just to see what we were missing. I can't recall. I am thinking that one girl's parents were supposed to pick her up there, while another girl in our group was freaking out because she told her parents she wouldn't leave Disneyland park, and she made us think that we would all be doomed if we dared to venture over to the adult world of the Disneyland Hotel! So we got as far as maybe the Monorail stop or the tram stop at the DLH, walked into one of the tower lobbies, and then we had to turn right around and immediately go back to Disneyland before we were all corrupted by the hedonistic ways of the Disneyland Hotel guests!

I never actually got to look around the DLH until I first stayed there in 1987 or 1988 or whenever it was, and I loved all the shops, restaurants, the marina with pedal boats, etc. I was thinking, "Why were the adults keeping me from this cool hotel for all those years? This is not an 'adults only' place at all!"


Oh - I was looking at your last couple of TR installments in my e-mail alerts (it seems like if I keep posting in any thread on the DIS, no matter which thread it is, they will keep sending me all of the e-mail notifications for any of my subscribed threads). I can view your photos by clicking on the individual links in the e-mail, and that way my PC doesn't lock up.

Anyway, you got some really great ToonTown photos - and I was chuckling at the Valentine's decorations, of course!

 

[kaoden39]

Thank you for the link. I found it after I posted here. I have since posted on it with news.


There was an Emerald and there was the Pan Pacific. The Paradise Pier was the Pan Pacific. I find it ironic that Disney kept the same initials.


It was like a playground for adults after dark. I was an adult the first time I stayed there. I was like 18 or 19 years old. I passed for 21 and I took advantage of it when I stayed there that first trip. There was this great bar where it was like a Yukon setting. Oh it was fun!! There was sing a longs and all that kind of fun stuff.


But on the other hand there was a lot of family things too. There was the underwater video game place by the main tower. Plus there were paddle boats, and of course the remote control boats but there were more. They had the dancing water show at night that was so cool to watch from your room if you were lucky enough to have had a view. It was a cool place.

Oh I am glad that you can see the pictures through the email!!

 

[PHXscuba]

My DH didn't realize that he had stayed at the Pan Pacific/PPH as a boy until he got a good long look at it from our parking-lot view room at the DLH a couple years ago.

I had a DATE take me to a restaurant (name long lost in my memory) at the DLH when I was about 15. I remember walking around the beautiful grounds and seeing the koi.

Sherry:
I am a cheap person and have not actually been to the Halloween parties at either WDW or DLR (hides head in DIS-planner shame). Tickets for 6 were just too much. I will say that Disneyland's Halloween decorations were FAR, FAR better and more numerous than those at Magic Kingdom. MK had a few pumpkins out by the holiday-themed Mickey floral, some bunting along Main Street and a few scarecrows. Plus no HMH or Ghost Galaxy at MK.

Someday we will make it to a Halloween party ... maybe if we go in the fall next year.

PHXscuba

 

[kaoden39]

My DH didn't realize that he had stayed at the Pan Pacific/PPH as a boy until he got a good long look at it from our parking-lot view room at the DLH a couple years ago.

I had a DATE take me to a restaurant (name long lost in my memory) at the DLH when I was about 15. I remember walking around the beautiful grounds and seeing the koi.

Sherry:
I am a cheap person and have not actually been to the Halloween parties at either WDW or DLR (hides head in DIS-planner shame). Tickets for 6 were just too much. I will say that Disneyland's Halloween decorations were FAR, FAR better and more numerous than those at Magic Kingdom. MK had a few pumpkins out by the holiday-themed Mickey floral, some bunting along Main Street and a few scarecrows. Plus no HMH or Ghost Galaxy at MK.

Someday we will make it to a Halloween party ... maybe if we go in the fall next year.

PHXscuba

What a great date!!

 

[Sherry E]

Thank you for the link. I found it after I posted here. I have since posted on it with news.

There was an Emerald and there was the Pan Pacific. The Paradise Pier was the Pan Pacific. I find it ironic that Disney kept the same initials.

It was like a playground for adults after dark. I was an adult the first time I stayed there. I was like 18 or 19 years old. I passed for 21 and I took advantage of it when I stayed there that first trip. There was this great bar where it was like a Yukon setting. Oh it was fun!! There was sing a longs and all that kind of fun stuff.


But on the other hand there was a lot of family things too. There was the underwater video game place by the main tower. Plus there were paddle boats, and of course the remote control boats but there were more. They had the dancing water show at night that was so cool to watch from your room if you were lucky enough to have had a view. It was a cool place.

Oh I am glad that you can see the pictures through the email!!

Michele -

Oh yes, I can definitely view the photos individually, from the links in the e-mail alerts! I just click on the links one by one, and I read your update in the e-mail. That's what I had to do with TK's trip report, too. It's only in the actual threads or TR's themselves that I have problems viewing a bunch of the extra-large photos on the same page because my PC just locks up before it loads the page. There is something about the large size that it doesn't like. So it has also caused me trouble at the beginning of this thread too, because when I first started it several years ago I was using jumbo photos. If I try to go back and look at those older 2008 photos or TR's in this thread, I have trouble with the pages loading.

But anyway, yes, great ToonTown photos you took, and also I love the idea to get photos of all the different ears.

Just for fun, I looked up the history of the Paradise Pier on Wikipedia, to see exactly how many names it had. When I stayed there for the first time it had just switched over to the new name - Paradise Pier Hotel - from its old title, the Disneyland Pacific. And you remember it as being the Pan Pacific, which was its name before it was the Disneyland Pacific (they just took the Pan out of the name, I guess, when Disney bought it!). Here is what Wikipedia said:

Tokyu Group of Japan built the 15-story Emerald of Anaheim in 1984. The hotel was re-named the Pan Pacific Hotel, Anaheim in 1989 when Tokyu consolidated its Emerald and Pan Pacific hotel brands. In December 1995, Disney purchased the hotel from Tokyu for a reported US$36 million and changed its name to Disneyland Pacific Hotel. As part of the 1998-2001 expansion of the Disneyland Resort, the hotel was re-branded as Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel to complement the themed land the hotel tower overlooks in the adjacent Disney's California Adventure Park.

So I was thinking I would find a name for the hotel before it became the Emerald, but it looks like the Emerald was its original name!

I totally remember Sergeant Preston's Yukon Saloon from the old Disneyland Hotel days! The small bear statues used to sit outside of it, and at least one of them has been relocated to the Grand Californian Hotel grounds! Later on it became something like the Neon Cactus, I think? Wasn't that the name? Or Neon Crocodile? What was it? I think it was still Sgt. Preston's in 1990. I remember going in there in 1990 and they were doing some karaoke/sing along type stuff.

There was also a dance club/lounge/bar thingy at the DLH called the Pavilion Lounge, I think? Jackie, Shawn and I went in there a couple of times to get daiquiris or pina coladas or something in 1988 and 1989. It was fun! The DLH was a really great "resort hotel" back in the day.

I couldn't believe how spacious the DLH room was that my friends had this past December. I knew it was a refurbished/remodeled room, but I had no clue there would be so much floor space! That is one thing the Grand Californian seriously lacks - floor space. When you see a room with all that space like the one at the DLH, and then you look at the cramped quarters in a GCH room...well, it's hard to justify staying at the GCH!

I do miss all the old stuff at the DLH - the waterfalls, boats, marina and koi pond are especially hard to lose - but I can live without them if I have to.

I mainly wish DLR would find a way to bring back the Monorail Cafe, because there is no other diner/coffee shop/pie shop type of place like it in either park or at any of the 3 hotels. It reminded me of restaurants like House of Pies, or Ship's, or Sambo's (I am dating myself with that reference!) - that kind of thing - where you would see a nice pie case in the front, with all kids of fun desserts displayed. And then the menu featured good diner/coffee shop fare like meat loaf, burgers, BBQ chicken sandwiches, grilled cheese, fried chicken, spaghetti, milk shakes, sundaes, chili fries, and, of course, many types of pie, etc. Ever since they closed Monorail Cafe to do the big expansion in 1998 - 2001, there has never been another restaurant quite like it, with that same kind of coffee shop vibe.

My DH didn't realize that he had stayed at the Pan Pacific/PPH as a boy until he got a good long look at it from our parking-lot view room at the DLH a couple years ago.

I had a DATE take me to a restaurant (name long lost in my memory) at the DLH when I was about 15. I remember walking around the beautiful grounds and seeing the koi.

Sherry:
I am a cheap person and have not actually been to the Halloween parties at either WDW or DLR (hides head in DIS-planner shame). Tickets for 6 were just too much. I will say that Disneyland's Halloween decorations were FAR, FAR better and more numerous than those at Magic Kingdom. MK had a few pumpkins out by the holiday-themed Mickey floral, some bunting along Main Street and a few scarecrows. Plus no HMH or Ghost Galaxy at MK.

Someday we will make it to a Halloween party ... maybe if we go in the fall next year.

PHXscuba

PHX -

Te restaurant your date took you to at the DLH when you were 15 - could it have been Cafe Villa Verde? Maybe Stromboli's? Do you remember what type of food was served? That was very nice of your date to do that! It was probably very romantic walking around the grounds, with the waterfalls and the koi and all of that!

Now, I don't know if you are a cheap person or not, but I wouldn't judge you at all as being cheap just because you haven't gone to a Disney Halloween party yet. It is a lot of money to spend on a party for even a couple of people, let alone 6 people, and it is not going to be worth it to some people. I'm sure you've seen lots of people in our Halloween thread, asking if it is worth it and if they should bother going to the party. (I am on the fence as to whether or not I think it is 100% worth it. I wouldn't want DLR to get rid of their party, but I wish they would add more to it.)

As for me, I went to the party this past October 2011 (I barely took any actual party photos, though, as evidenced by what I posted in this TR! I took way, way more Halloween photos just out and about in the daytime, pre-party!). I went in October because I had not done the party since 2008. In 2008, the party was held in DCA. This time around, it was held in DL and I wanted to see what was different/better/worse, etc. - partially for my own curiosity and partially so that I would have some current info to give in the Halloween Superthread.

I enjoy the Halloween party. It's fun to trick or treat as an adult. It's fun to find the treat stations and stops along each path. I like the character photo spots. And I may go to the party again at some point in the future, if I have extra money to spend on it. However, right now I am broke! So if it came down to either spending money on the Halloween Party or saving the money I would be spending on the Halloween Party for a DLR Christmas trip instead, well...you know where my money is going to go! Christmas!

While my funds are low, I think I would be okay with going to the Halloween Party every other year, or every few years - until something major changes at the party. I can have a perfectly wonderful Disneyland HalloweenTime experience by just visiting the park in the daytime, seeing the Round-Up and Main Street and looking at the window displays and all of that!

What a great date!!

I'll say! I never had any fun dates who wanted to take me to Disneyland or the DLH for dinner or anywhere like it. Even if boyfriend went along on Disneyland trip, it was reluctantly and he acted like an idiot the entire time, or somehow ruined my good time.

I like being at DLR with men who act like they are happy to be there and don't complain the whole time! They don't have to get crazy about enjoying it. Just act like you are having a good time! Jackie's husband is not a super-crazy Disney fanatic, but he enjoys DLR, they have AP's, and there are certain rides he really loves. Plus, he is always heading to get ice cream when we are there. The ones that drive me nuts are the ones who grumble and gripe the entire time about all the things we already know will be an issue - prices, crowds, lines, etc.

 

[mvf-m11c]

I really do missed the Pan Pacific Hotel when I went back in the early 90s. Instead of staying at the DLH, we always stay there since it is one of the closest hotel to DL, but also we walk to the DLH to ride the monorail or eat at the Monorail Cafe. I really do missed the Monorail Cafe ever since the DTD expansion, I always like watching the monorail from the window of the Monorail Cafe.

 

[Sherry E]

I really do missed the Pan Pacific Hotel when I went back in the early 90s. Instead of staying at the DLH, we always stay there since it is one of the closest hotel to DL, but also we walk to the DLH to ride the monorail or eat at the Monorail Cafe. I really do missed the Monorail Cafe ever since the DTD expansion, I always like watching the monorail from the window of the Monorail Cafe.

Oh, that's right, Bret! I forgot that you could see the Monorail from the window of the restaurant. That was fun.

Do you remember what I was referring to in Monorail Cafe - the glass case at the front of the restaurant with the various pies and other pastries? They had really good, basic food on that menu - it wasn't fine dining, of course, but it was good, solid, table service, diner/coffee shop food. Good onion rings. Good burgers. Good sandwiches.

There isn't really any other restaurant like Monorail Cafe that serves food quite like that in DLR, is there? I can't think of one. Of course, you can get certain items here and there at different places - fried chicken at Plaza Inn, milk shakes and sundaes at Carnation Cafe (coming soon!), sandwiches here and there. But there is no real diner-type place around DLR (that I can think of) with the same sort of menu.

Yep, that expansion in the late '90s took out a lot of good stuff with it. From what I read, Goofy's Kitchen was almost on the chopping block too! Even though it was a popular restaurant all through the '90s, Disney/TDA considered getting rid of it entirely when they lopped a whole section of the DLH to build DTD, GCH, etc.

Thankfully, they came to their senses and just moved Goofy's to another part of the DLH! I can't imagine Disneyland Resort without Goofy's Kitchen! That is just crazy talk!


So, Bret, you used to stay at the Pan Pacific back in the old days? I bet it looked a lot different inside the lobby than it does now as the PPH!

 

[kaoden39]

I really liked the Monorail Cafe. There was something special about the place, I was really saddest to see that gone from the DLH. Of course now that the waterfall is gone I think I will miss it more.

 

[mvf-m11c]

Oh, that's right, Bret! I forgot that you could see the Monorail from the window of the restaurant. That was fun.

Do you remember what I was referring to in Monorail Cafe - the glass case at the front of the restaurant with the various pies and other pastries? They had really good, basic food on that menu - it wasn't fine dining, of course, but it was good, solid, table service, diner/coffee shop food. Good onion rings. Good burgers. Good sandwiches.

There isn't really any other restaurant like Monorail Cafe that serves food quite like that in DLR, is there? I can't think of one. Of course, you can get certain items here and there at different places - fried chicken at Plaza Inn, milk shakes and sundaes at Carnation Cafe (coming soon!), sandwiches here and there. But there is no real diner-type place around DLR (that I can think of) with the same sort of menu.

Yep, that expansion in the late '90s took out a lot of good stuff with it. From what I read, Goofy's Kitchen was almost on the chopping block too! Even though it was a popular restaurant all through the '90s, Disney/TDA considered getting rid of it entirely when they lopped a whole section of the DLH to build DTD, GCH, etc.

Thankfully, they came to their senses and just moved Goofy's to another part of the DLH! I can't imagine Disneyland Resort without Goofy's Kitchen! That is just crazy talk!


So, Bret, you used to stay at the Pan Pacific back in the old days? I bet it looked a lot different inside the lobby than it does now as the PPH!

I always wanted a window view of the old Mark III & Mark V monorails that entered the DLH station. Those were the great old days at the DLH and the Monorail Cafe.

It has been a long time, I don't remember much about where the pastry case was located. I know for sure that there was one at the Monorail Cafe.

I remember the old days when we were coming back to the Pan Pacific hotel after a day at DL and catching the monorail back to the DLH. We stop at the Monorail Cafe for lunch. You are correct that there isn't really any restaurant at the DLR compares to the Monorail Cafe. For restaurants that I like at the DLR right now is Storyteller's Cafe and the ESPN Zone. I haven't been to Goofy's Kitchen in years and would like to eat there one day for breakfast.

Still sad that Disney took out a bunch of the DLH buildings when they built DTD. At least Goofy's Kitchen is still up and running. It would be very weird if Goofy's Kitchen was take out during the expansion.

Yes, I have stayed a lot of times at the Pan Pacific hotel in the 90s before Disney bought the hotel in the mid 90s. My family got that hotel since it was close to the DLH so we can catch the monorail and it was way cheaper then the DLH. I would say the same thing that the lobby is way different when DL bought the hotel.

 

[mariezp]

My apologies Sherry for not making it back sooner. I have had such a time finding spare time to checking in here on the DIS.... so much so that I have even been sorely neglecting my own TR. I am so glad to see that I have been missing out and you have had quite a bit of activity on your report while I was away. I know we had been wondering where everyone had been hiding. Apparently, deejdigsdis is familiar with the lack of comments syndrome too so I guess that means that we're not the only ones who go through dry spells of having very few posters. It looks like you have stirred up enough new interest and folks are starting to post again. Maybe we are not alone after all. Anyway, since you can't count on the reliability of the DIS's e-mail, it is very nice for you to pop in and find you have comments waiting for you on your TR.

Oh boy! I am excited to hear that you will consider our offer to join us on Thanksgiving Day! I am sure you would find a day and meal in the park a nice change from just the usual old average holiday routine. I know we did! Now we just gotta figure out how to get you over to the park!

Funny thinking about the days of our youth and what temperatures we tolerated. Sadly when I was a teen I did not have the park to visit in summer but remember spending countless hours baking in the sun at the beach. I am sure you did your share of that too. Now any vacation destination I might consider absolutely without a doubt does not include, first off, a beach but also nowhere that I would even begin to think that it might be hot! While Disneyland can get warm at times it is pretty much near perfect during the fall weather.

I guess it would be fun to be there for CA’s new and improved re-opening event. I hope you manage to find a way to get there so you can give us the lowdown on what you think. There’s no way we can be there but I am pretty well satisfied waiting a few months for the crowds to die down a little. I’m not crazy excited about all the changes but I do feel a mellow sort of excitement growing and am beginning to think I am really going to love what’s coming.

I am pretty sure that a lot of people would never want to spend 2 weeks at Disneyland. In our case it works. Can you imagine all the photos you could take on one of your photo missions in that amount of time? Of course when you got home you would probably blow your computer up finally. Just think though.... 2 weeks for plenty of photos AND enough time to spend with some of your wacky friends. Okay, so maybe just a little bit of overkill for most. We’ll just have to hope that on your next trip you manage to spend just the right number of days at the park to help make up for what you missed last time.

Your grandmother sounds like the kind everyone would love to have! I had a good one too although she never did any of the type things you described and she would have never ever thought about spending money on something so frivolous as Disneyland! I am glad your grandmother was willing to do whatever she could to make your life a little better. I bet in some way she just might have understood the therapeutic value it could have for you. I know it works wonders on me as well!

Okay, you got me curious here! What and where is this thing on your back? First Aunt Betty and now strange creatures…. Tell us more Sherry!

Love all the teaser photos BTW. Lots of good ones and I can’t wait to see the rest! Great group shot and especially love you smooching with Goofy and Duffy and you with the Stitch package. Good job getting the photo enhancements. I REALLY need to focus on getting some of them one of these days.

Very interesting about the “mystery lady”. Curious to see if she turns up in 2012! Do try not to get security called on yourself. That might really put a damper on your day.

Thanks for taking a stab at the holiday season predictions. I agree that the 19th seems like it would be too late but with the way that Disney changed things up last year by beginning on a Monday I wonder if anyone can really make an accurate prediction anymore. It used to be possible to pick a couple of dates but now you might just as well say that it could be on any day somewhere between the first of the month and Thanksgiving Day. Lol! Whichever day it begins this year I am pretty sure we are going to luck out and be there which is good since we missed it last year by just a few days. This year we are booked for November 17-December 1. I can’t wait! Gonna just miss you Michele. (Thanks for reminding me Sherry! Must remember to get some of those tamales this year!)

It is going to be a sad day indeed when you hit 250 pages and have to start you TR all over again! Talk about some big pressure… to get built back up from ZERO! Oh well, it will be fun and some of us will be right there with you for Sherry’s Ongoing Trip Report ,Part 2. Yay for 40 years! Now let’s get in another trip to Goofy’s kitchen!

BTW, deejdigsdis, I hope your dad is doing well enough by October to get to join you for your trip. What a sweet family recollection! Hope you have many more trips to add to the memories.

Okay, that about does it. I think I caught up. Now I can sit back…. And wait……

 

[kelmac284]

Sherry yay I love your reports. They are always so detailed and you and I are a LOT a like. Disneyland too to me is my happy place. I am sure you have seen on FB that I have had a lot going on and that is one place where no matter what I can go and "get happy".

I LOVE looking at all your old photos and can't wait to read your next installment.

 

[kaoden39]

Marie, we are just missing each other. If I had been able to sick to the dates I wanted to go which were November 25-November 30 we would be able to meet. But, with Kacy being in college she needs to be there when they start the review for finals.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Whoa! It's been busy in here. OK, I'm all caught up reading-wise. Now I have a list of about 10 things I want to comment on, but it will have to be another time because I have to run!

 

[tksbaskets]

I'm a little teary eyed from Sherry's nice comments about my boys looking back and appreciating our love of Disney I do hope they share the same special times with their families some day.

I think it's great that Sherry's trip report has sparked comments from the smart DISers following her TR about their own Disney memories. Plus we are all dying to know Who/What Aunt Betty is!!

Waiting for more

 

[Sherry E]

I really liked the Monorail Cafe. There was something special about the place, I was really saddest to see that gone from the DLH. Of course now that the waterfall is gone I think I will miss it more.

Michele -

I realized that I missed the sound of the waterfalls the last time I had a chance to romp around the DLH grounds. I liked hearing the water in the background.

I always wanted a window view of the old Mark III & Mark V monorails that entered the DLH station. Those were the great old days at the DLH and the Monorail Cafe.

It has been a long time, I don't remember much about where the pastry case was located. I know for sure that there was one at the Monorail Cafe.

I remember the old days when we were coming back to the Pan Pacific hotel after a day at DL and catching the monorail back to the DLH. We stop at the Monorail Cafe for lunch. You are correct that there isn't really any restaurant at the DLR compares to the Monorail Cafe. For restaurants that I like at the DLR right now is Storyteller's Cafe and the ESPN Zone. I haven't been to Goofy's Kitchen in years and would like to eat there one day for breakfast.

Still sad that Disney took out a bunch of the DLH buildings when they built DTD. At least Goofy's Kitchen is still up and running. It would be very weird if Goofy's Kitchen was take out during the expansion.

Yes, I have stayed a lot of times at the Pan Pacific hotel in the 90s before Disney bought the hotel in the mid 90s. My family got that hotel since it was close to the DLH so we can catch the monorail and it was way cheaper then the DLH. I would say the same thing that the lobby is way different when DL bought the hotel.

Bret -

Those were the good ol' days! As Michele has said, change is good - but there are still certain things that will be missed.

My apologies Sherry for not making it back sooner. I have had such a time finding spare time to checking in here on the DIS.... so much so that I have even been sorely neglecting my own TR. I am so glad to see that I have been missing out and you have had quite a bit of activity on your report while I was away. I know we had been wondering where everyone had been hiding. Apparently, deejdigsdis is familiar with the lack of comments syndrome too so I guess that means that we're not the only ones who go through dry spells of having very few posters. It looks like you have stirred up enough new interest and folks are starting to post again. Maybe we are not alone after all. Anyway, since you can't count on the reliability of the DIS's e-mail, it is very nice for you to pop in and find you have comments waiting for you on your TR.

Oh boy! I am excited to hear that you will consider our offer to join us on Thanksgiving Day! I am sure you would find a day and meal in the park a nice change from just the usual old average holiday routine. I know we did! Now we just gotta figure out how to get you over to the park!

Funny thinking about the days of our youth and what temperatures we tolerated. Sadly when I was a teen I did not have the park to visit in summer but remember spending countless hours baking in the sun at the beach. I am sure you did your share of that too. Now any vacation destination I might consider absolutely without a doubt does not include, first off, a beach but also nowhere that I would even begin to think that it might be hot! While Disneyland can get warm at times it is pretty much near perfect during the fall weather.

I guess it would be fun to be there for CA’s new and improved re-opening event. I hope you manage to find a way to get there so you can give us the lowdown on what you think. There’s no way we can be there but I am pretty well satisfied waiting a few months for the crowds to die down a little. I’m not crazy excited about all the changes but I do feel a mellow sort of excitement growing and am beginning to think I am really going to love what’s coming.

I am pretty sure that a lot of people would never want to spend 2 weeks at Disneyland. In our case it works. Can you imagine all the photos you could take on one of your photo missions in that amount of time? Of course when you got home you would probably blow your computer up finally. Just think though.... 2 weeks for plenty of photos AND enough time to spend with some of your wacky friends. Okay, so maybe just a little bit of overkill for most. We’ll just have to hope that on your next trip you manage to spend just the right number of days at the park to help make up for what you missed last time.

Your grandmother sounds like the kind everyone would love to have! I had a good one too although she never did any of the type things you described and she would have never ever thought about spending money on something so frivolous as Disneyland! I am glad your grandmother was willing to do whatever she could to make your life a little better. I bet in some way she just might have understood the therapeutic value it could have for you. I know it works wonders on me as well!

Okay, you got me curious here! What and where is this thing on your back? First Aunt Betty and now strange creatures…. Tell us more Sherry!

Love all the teaser photos BTW. Lots of good ones and I can’t wait to see the rest! Great group shot and especially love you smooching with Goofy and Duffy and you with the Stitch package. Good job getting the photo enhancements. I REALLY need to focus on getting some of them one of these days.

Very interesting about the “mystery lady”. Curious to see if she turns up in 2012! Do try not to get security called on yourself. That might really put a damper on your day.

Thanks for taking a stab at the holiday season predictions. I agree that the 19th seems like it would be too late but with the way that Disney changed things up last year by beginning on a Monday I wonder if anyone can really make an accurate prediction anymore. It used to be possible to pick a couple of dates but now you might just as well say that it could be on any day somewhere between the first of the month and Thanksgiving Day. Lol! Whichever day it begins this year I am pretty sure we are going to luck out and be there which is good since we missed it last year by just a few days. This year we are booked for November 17-December 1. I can’t wait! Gonna just miss you Michele. (Thanks for reminding me Sherry! Must remember to get some of those tamales this year!)

It is going to be a sad day indeed when you hit 250 pages and have to start you TR all over again! Talk about some big pressure… to get built back up from ZERO! Oh well, it will be fun and some of us will be right there with you for Sherry’s Ongoing Trip Report ,Part 2. Yay for 40 years! Now let’s get in another trip to Goofy’s kitchen!

BTW, deejdigsdis, I hope your dad is doing well enough by October to get to join you for your trip. What a sweet family recollection! Hope you have many more trips to add to the memories.

Okay, that about does it. I think I caught up. Now I can sit back…. And wait……

Marie -

I am going to make this quick because I am just about to post a new TR installment here and I want to immediately go and whip up the next one which will follow! I am on a roll! I just wanted you to know that I read your whole post thoroughly, and chuckled a few times. I knew that you would understand if I just dash off a couple of quick replies. I really appreciate your taking the time to reply at all, when you have your own TR to rustle up!

Okay - no. I never baked in the sun intentionally. I have pasty Irish skin, Marie. That only leads to bad, bad sunburns. The heat has actually affected me badly and made me ill since I was a young kid (I got many awful sunburns), and I always find it to be too warm when other people find it comfortable (like, say, 75 degrees or so). But for a while it seemed like the only available times to do anything fun were in the summer. So we always made summer outings. Now, it's just too much for me - I even get ill when I am too warm, just staying indoors, let alone going outside.

I can't tell you about the strange creature on my back yet! That was a teaser - it is a highlight of what you will see as the TR moseys along!

Yep, I always attempt to predict when the holiday season and the Halloween season will begin - because the questions come up so often on the DIS and in the 2 Superthreads. I have paid attention to the season start date pattern for the last several years in a row, and have even gone online and looked up much earlier season start dates (for example, the holidays did begin on 11/9 at DLR many years ago). I always pay attention to whether or not a season starts on the 3rd Friday of the month, or the 4th Sunday or 2nd Wednesday or whatever. Four years ago - in 2008 - both the Halloween season and the holiday season started a bit later.

I think it's very possible that Halloween Time could begin on 9/17 or 9/21 this year, and that the holidays will officially begin on 11/12 or 11/16. I think those are the most likely choices, when looking at the possible dates and patterns and doing a process-of-elimination thing. But, as you said, Disney could totally throw us for a loop and do something weird! Just when I think a season will have to begin on a Monday or a Friday, it will suddenly start on a Tuesday or something.

We shall see!

Sherry yay I love your reports. They are always so detailed and you and I are a LOT a like. Disneyland too to me is my happy place. I am sure you have seen on FB that I have had a lot going on and that is one place where no matter what I can go and "get happy".

I LOVE looking at all your old photos and can't wait to read your next installment.

Hellllllllooooooo, Kelly!

I am so glad to see you have joined me here. Thank you for the nice comments. I really appreciate it. I've got another TR installment coming up right after this reply post. I've just got to cut and paste the text and then make sure it is formatted in the DIS way that I need it to be.

Yes, I think there is no doubt that a good Disneyland trip can definitely cheer us all up when things are going awry in our lives. Sometimes it can be hard to get in the mood to go there in the first place if there are lots of problems happening, but I think that once we get there, it can have a very healing effect. It's strange to say that because DLR is such a noisy place, full of people and activity, and yet it can be quite soothing to the soul.

Marie, we are just missing each other. If I had been able to sick to the dates I wanted to go which were November 25-November 30 we would be able to meet. But, with Kacy being in college she needs to be there when they start the review for finals.

Michele -

That's too bad! I wish you and Marie could meet!

Whoa! It's been busy in here. OK, I'm all caught up reading-wise. Now I have a list of about 10 things I want to comment on, but it will have to be another time because I have to run!

Deej -

Okey dokey! I look forward to the commentary!

I'm a little teary eyed from Sherry's nice comments about my boys looking back and appreciating our love of Disney I do hope they share the same special times with their families some day.

I think it's great that Sherry's trip report has sparked comments from the smart DISers following her TR about their own Disney memories. Plus we are all dying to know Who/What Aunt Betty is!!

Waiting for more

TK -



I definitely think your boys are very lucky to have you guys as parents because you love being at the parks as much as you love bringing your sons there, and that must have a positive impact on them. You can tell that some parents in the parks are just miserable and don't want to be there - and that probably rubs off on the kids.

Muahahahahaha - the Aunt Betty mystery continues! Oh, how disappointed you all will be when you find out who and what Aunt Betty is. Oh well. Hopefully there will be enough other interesting stuff going on to keep everyone sticking around!


I am just about to cut, paste and format the next installment, so it is coming up in a jiffy! (Does anyone actually say "jiffy" anymore? I really don't say it at all, but it seemed like the thing to say here.)

 

[Sherry E]

Aunt Betty's Weepy, Wacky, Wonderful Christmas Trip to Disneyland –

Sunday, December 4 – Thursday, December 8, 2011





Introduction and Background Information – Part 2​

So, where were we?

In Part 1 of the Introduction & Background Information of this TR (Page 169, Post #2532), I filled you in on how Disneyland became a joyful part of my life 40 years ago, thanks to my grandmother and her church friends, and how it ended up meaning much more to me than simply being a fun place to spend a day.

I also told you about the early Disney ‘seeds’ that were planted in my young mind – the Thurl Ravenscroft connection at the Little Country Church of Hollywood (which prompted the first trip for me to Disneyland, to “find Thurl”), and the visits to the Pan Pacific Auditorium when I was a wee tot (even though I clearly had no clue at that time that the Pan Pacific Auditorium’s unusual design and color would end up figuring so prominently into the entrances to 2 Disney parks in the United States, and even lending its style to the construction walls that currently line the pathway into California Adventure!).

Well, where do I go from here?

I suppose I will use this second part of the Background and Introduction to tell you about my friend – I shall call her “M” – who will be play a very prominent role in my December 4 – December 8, 2011 Disneyland Resort holiday trip report tales.

M and I met in 1979, when we were both in detention in junior high school (or middle school, as it is more commonly known in this century!). We were 12 years old. I’ve already explained to you that I hated going to school because many kids were awful and mean to me, and I didn’t really care for a lot of the teachers, either. So I got in trouble for skipping school and was put in detention. M was also in there for some other reason – I’m not really sure what it was, but I think it involved insulting a teacher. Soon we realized that were both in the same music class together, with a teacher who loved Barry Manilow and wanted us to learn his entire songbook.

M’s vocal talents were, um…interesting. I would hear these strange, alien sounds coming from a couple of rows back, in the middle of a lively rendition of “Can’t Smile Without You,” and I realized it was M. She sat behind me in the class and was perpetually off-key (to say the least), to the point where I think the teacher just asked her to stop singing after a while because it was confusing the other singers.

Our friendship led us on many adventures. We spent the Summers of 1980 and 1981 frolicking around Westwood Village, spending way too much money in Tower Records, or lurking behind fruit stands at the Farmers Market, spying on cute boys until they caught us and we ran away.

We even met Michael Damian – I think it was in 1981. Who is Michael Damian, you ask? He played Danny on “Young and the Restless,”a CBS show, and he was always in Tiger Beat or Teen Beat magazine because he had a ‘rock music’ career. (I say ‘rock music’ with a wink and a nudge.)

Farmers Market was across a huge parking lot from CBS, and “Young and the Restless,” was taping at that specific location in those days, so the stars of CBS soap operas and game shows would walk across the lot to Farmers Market to eat lunch. Not one to bother with walking, Michael Damian drove his snazzy black Porsche across the lot and parked it in front of Farmers Market. M and I happened to see him pulling up, and we started talking to him. He was by himself, and he graciously sat down with us for 45 minutes to chat. He was a very nice guy.

When we were done talking to Michael Damian, we walked him back to his Porsche, where he hugged us and kissed both M and me smack dab on the lips – which, at that time, was shocking!!! And he drove off into the mist – which was really just back across the parking lot to CBS.

Needless to say, Michael Damian left quite an impression on our little 13-year-old broken hearts…

As M and I got older and the years passed, the types of adventures and mischief we got into changed quite a bit, and we sometimes included other friends in the mix, too. But there was always lots of fun to be had.

We worked for Poison/Bret Michaels together….

We mingled with Warrant...

We generally trotted around, acting & looking silly…

There were trips to Catalina…

And, of course, there were many trips to Disneyland…way more than I have room to represent in photos in this one single post, so here is just a sampling…

November 2001 (below) was our last trip to Disneyland together until December 2011...

Actually, my first trip to Disneyland with M was in 1980 or 1981, but for some reason I have absolutely no photos from that time…or from any trip we took to Disneyland together until 1990, for that matter. I have no clue why. I’m not even sure if anyone else took photos from those trips, but I remember being there with her a few times in the early ‘80s.

Any sharp-eyed, long-time followers of this TR will know that there are also lots of other photos of M and me scattered throughout this thread in various vintage Disneyland segments, as well as in Catalina photos. I am just showing you a small glimpse of our adventures right now but you can always go back and skim through the thread, where you will find lots and lots of other photos!!!

My friendship with M over the years – decades, actually – was not without conflict. Far from it. While I won’t go into all the details here (because it’s not necessary), suffice it to say there were many issues and rough patches along the way. Sometimes there were long-lasting arguments. She used to do and say a lot of things that I thought were not indicative of a friend who really cared about me, and, in fact, were more indicative of a friend who resented me for some unknown reason. This is not to say that I am always a joy to deal with, either, because I am not. We all have flaws.

But with time and maturity you assume that people change, situations change and you evolve as friends. I have tried to mature and evolve as a person in many ways. M got married (to “B”) back in 1997 and moved to Idaho a couple of years later. Her dad (“S”) joined them. They welcomed their adorable little boy, “R,” five years ago. Her life has changed a lot.

I valued my friends very early on in life – back in those days when my grandmother would let me have friends over or allow me to bring them to Disneyland with me. I felt that if I was lucky enough to make any friends in the sea of horrible kids who attended school with me, I wanted to hang on to them. To this day, I have kept several friends that I knew in school. Also, I don’t have any family – my grandmother passed away in 1996, and all of my other relatives have since passed on or they were so distant that I never knew them in the first place. So my longtime friends of many, many years have literally become my family because there is no other family for me.













As some of you may recall, I had not seen M in 10 years, since 2001, and there were a couple of close calls with M and her family making plans to come out here to SoCal. They were going to make a trip out here last May, for example, and there was going to be a big Goofy’s meal (they were going to treat me to dinner because I had facilitated so many of our Disneyland trips in the past and she said she owed it to me), but then she began including all kinds of other people in on the plan so I got uncomfortable with it and backed out. They ended up not coming out in May.

Finally, M and family solidified their plans to come out to SoCal this past December. I picked hotel dates at the Paradise Pier Hotel that I thought would coincide with their planned dates at Disneyland. M waited 5 months to tell me that the dates I picked were not good for them, so then it was a last minute scramble for me to see if I could switch dates with the Special Activities department. M doesn’t get the concept of ‘You are taking a big risk by trying to make down-to-the-wire changes in your reservations at the Disney hotels during the holiday season.’ To her, it is no big deal to just make last-minute adjustments and she doesn’t understand that sometimes it is not possible to make those changes.

Fortunately, I was able to switch my original December 2011 dates to dates that worked with M & family’s DLR trip date. Originally I booked 11/28/11 – 12/5/11, but I changed the dates to 12/4/11 – 12/11/11. I eventually ended up lopping off 3 of the nights and changing it to 12/4/11 – 12/8/11.

M arranged to stay with me at the PPH on the night of 12/5/11 (Monday), and she split the cost 50/50 with me, but her family was staying in another room at the PPH…or so she told me. (I soon found out that was not true, but more on that later.)

M also asked me if one of her new friends and she could stay in my PPH room on the night of 12/8/11. Well, the thing was, I was due to check out on 12/8, and she only wanted to chip in 50% of the cost, whereas I felt that if 2 other adults were going to be staying with me, we should be splitting the cost 3 ways. In other words, it’s not a “2 for the price of 1” deal for M and her friend in my PPH room! Each person should pay 1/3 of the price. In any case, I knew I was going to check out on 12/8 so it was not possible for them to stay with me even if I had agreed to the 50% split.

I was due to be alone at the Paradise Pier Hotel on the night of Sunday, 12/4, which I preferred. I can’t sleep as well with other people in my room, and I don’t have to worry about waking other folks up or bothering them if I want to get up at the crack of dawn or in the middle of the night. So 12/4 would be my solo night at the PPH. M (and possibly her then-4-year-old, R) would be with me on 12/5. And I had arranged with fellow wonderful DIS’ers, Laurie (DizNee Luver) and Molly (bumbershoot), to stay with me on the nights of 12/6 & 12/7.

Originally I had discussed the possibility of sharing the PPH room with Jessica (Belle Elle/BillyJazz) and Paula (smile4stamps), but that didn’t look like it was going to work out – or so I thought – so I had to launch into warp speed ‘find roommates’ mode once I switched dates. Molly had already thrown her hat into the ring long ago. Laurie miraculously was able to come to DLR and share the room on the exact dates I had available, and she had met Molly before on a Diva trip – so it seemed like it was going to work out perfectly! Plus, both Laurie and Molly had stayed at the PPH before and loved it, so I knew there would be no complaints about the hotel choice from them. Everything kind of fell into place the way I needed it to fall, and it seemed like a plan that would work for everyone else involved as well.



Coming up soon….Finally, Sunday, December 4th arrives and it is time for me to head to Disneyland to soak in the Christmas spirit! A fun-filled day with the usual Disneyland friends awaits, and merriment is all around!

 

[DizNee Luver]

I'm really enjoying getting a little more incite to your past......I know I like who I know in the present....but a little back story always helps make the friendship a little stronger. (the more you know, the more you can offer advice & help). Breaks me heart about the no family thing......I live for my family & can't imagine not being a part of something like that. So it makes perfect sense to hang on to those friendships made when you were younger.....even if they tend to be a bit dysfunctional.

I get a kick out of those pics from the 80's......good golly....did we really dress that way?? Talk about filling the ozone with our aerosol cans of hairspray......lol Loved seeing the pic with the Skyway in the background.....that takes me back to my childhood & riding high above Disneyland with my daddy.

Looking forward to more!!

 

[tksbaskets]

TK -



I definitely think your boys are very lucky to have you guys as parents because you love being at the parks as much as you love bringing your sons there, and that must have a positive impact on them. You can tell that some parents in the parks are just miserable and don't want to be there - and that probably rubs off on the kids.

Muahahahahaha - the Aunt Betty mystery continues! Oh, how disappointed you all will be when you find out who and what Aunt Betty is. Oh well. Hopefully there will be enough other interesting stuff going on to keep everyone sticking around!


I am just about to cut, paste and format the next installment, so it is coming up in a jiffy! (Does anyone actually say "jiffy" anymore? I really don't say it at all, but it seemed like the thing to say here.)

I can just hear our sons in the future, "Hey kids, your uncle and I remember when we were young and Grandma and Grandpa made us ride TSMM for hours. I think it's because Grandma could post acceptable scores on that one and she really stunk on BLAB!"

Indeed we say 'Jiffy' in these here parts. I live 10 minutes west of the Chelsea Milling Company - home of - Jiffy Mix.

Now for that next installment. I've got a nice beverage and I'm anxious to meet Aunt Betty

 

[kaoden39]

I can just hear our sons in the future, "Hey kids, your uncle and I remember when we were young and Grandma and Grandpa made us ride TSMM for hours. I think it's because Grandma could post acceptable scores on that one and she really stunk on BLAB!"

Indeed we say 'Jiffy' in these here parts. I live 10 minutes west of the Chelsea Milling Company - home of - Jiffy Mix.

Now for that next installment. I've got a nice beverage and I'm anxious to meet Aunt Betty

Yum, Jiffy mix. I would not dream of making my corn casserole without it.

 

[Sherry E]

I'm really enjoying getting a little more incite to your past......I know I like who I know in the present....but a little back story always helps make the friendship a little stronger. (the more you know, the more you can offer advice & help). Breaks me heart about the no family thing......I live for my family & can't imagine not being a part of something like that. So it makes perfect sense to hang on to those friendships made when you were younger.....even if they tend to be a bit dysfunctional.

I get a kick out of those pics from the 80's......good golly....did we really dress that way?? Talk about filling the ozone with our aerosol cans of hairspray......lol Loved seeing the pic with the Skyway in the background.....that takes me back to my childhood & riding high above Disneyland with my daddy.

Looking forward to more!!

Hi, Laurie!

Thank you for the kind words!

It's weird not having family - especially around holidays, although I have never stopped loving holidays despite the fact that I don't have family. I think it's mainly weird because of what I feel like I should be doing or what I am expected to do (going to a big Thanksgiving dinner or a Christmas party or something)!

Most of my really close longtime friends have even moved out of SoCal, and I only see the Orange County friends maybe once or twice a year. So I am pretty much alone all the time.

But, yes, you're right, when you don't have family then your longtime friends become your default family and you hang on to the friendships through thick and thin. Your female friends become your sisters. Your male friends - if you haven't already dated them or married them by a certain point - are your brothers. Even when things get rough, you stick it out unless the person is just a bad person in general.

Now this particular friend - M - who I explained in the above post and who I saw at DLR this past December, is someone with whom I thought things had evolved. I hoped that some things would have changed with time and growth, but....it doesn't look like they have.

You are one of the very few people who actually knows how my story at DLR ends and what happened in DCA that left me crying on a bench (because Molly filled you in), BUT most of the other people reading along here don't know yet, so I don't want to spill the beans and reveal the story!!

As for the '80s photos - yes, the hair on my friends was scary! I never sprayed my hair at all. I only had pink in my hair on Halloween, so I had an excuse! But when I see certain people these days dressing up in '80s looks (like on the "Real Housewives of Orange County," they had an '80s party), with the awful hair and clothes, it is really horrifying!

It's still crazy to me to not see the Skyway at DL anymore, even though it's been gone for years and years. For so long it was part of the Disneyland skyscape - just as you'd think of seeing Dumbo and the Matterhorn peak, the People Mover and eventually the Space Mountain peak and Big Thunder and Splash Mountain, you'd also think of seeing those Skyway buckets gliding across the sky while dangling from the cable! It was just part of the overall look of Disneyland.

I can just hear our sons in the future, "Hey kids, your uncle and I remember when we were young and Grandma and Grandpa made us ride TSMM for hours. I think it's because Grandma could post acceptable scores on that one and she really stunk on BLAB!"

Indeed we say 'Jiffy' in these here parts. I live 10 minutes west of the Chelsea Milling Company - home of - Jiffy Mix.

Now for that next installment. I've got a nice beverage and I'm anxious to meet Aunt Betty

TK -

You're not the only one who is bad on BLAB! When I say I am bad at it, it is no exaggeration. I have literally gotten no higher score on that ride than something like 22,000. That's it. And usually my score is much lower (like 15,000)!!! I have really bad hand-eye coordination (I always have, ever since childhood), so I cannot master the gun-target thing. But I love riding it anyway - even if I scored zero, I would still ride it because I love spinning the vehicle and I love pointing and shooting at things.

On one of my last BLAB rides I beat my friend Jackie - but that's how we began on TSMM too, several years ago. I started out by beating her on TSMM and then she ended up beating me on every TSMM ride after that. So it won't take long for her to whip my butt on BLAB as well.

What's sad is that a 4-year-old got a higher score on BLAB than I did - his very first time riding it! That is pretty pathetic!!

​

OK - about Aunt Betty, here's what I will tell you, TK, and anyone else out there who is hanging out just for the big reveal of the Aunt Betty story...

Aunt Betty is not coming up in this TR for a long time. The Aunt Betty reference didn't even happen until my 3rd day at DLR (December 6th). So you will be waiting for a long time, and when Aunt Betty does come up it is going to be so insignificant - it's not even an amusing story like the Peppermint Cone of Death - that you will probably say, "Oh? That's all it is?"

Mainly, I just needed a different title for my TR and I couldn't use the title I really wanted to use because it's not appropriate for the DIS! So I thought about the DLR trip itself and tried to find something that would give me an idea, and I used the Aunt Betty reference because it was something that came up through the course of the DLR trip, and it sounds kind of puzzling/intriguing in the TR title!

So I think that everyone should forget Aunt Betty for the time being and just come along for the ride with me if you would like to! Enjoy the journey and forget about the destination for right now!

​

The actual focal point and 'main event' of this TR is the reunion with my friend M and how that transpired at DLR, and the episode in which I ended up on a bench, crying in DCA! The series of events leading up to that singular moment of tears had all of my friends in a tizzy when I told them about it later - they were so upset for me, and angry on my behalf too. I will be interested to hear what you all think - when I am done telling the story! Now that I have had some time to reflect on it, I am still upset in some ways, but I can see it all a little more logically.

But, in the meantime, what I have been doing with the last 2 TR installments is setting the stage. I am building momentum. I have been giving pieces of info about myself and about my friendship with M that are important to know, because it will have a bigger impact when we get to that pivotal moment when I am crying on the bench in California Adventure - and then continuing to cry as I move to a second bench, out of the way of foot traffic!!

So I do hope that you read my installment yesterday about my friendship with M, because there were little nuggets and hints in there that will give you a better picture of everything. For example, did you see the part where I mentioned that she wanted to have a friend of hers stay in my room, but not pay the fair share? Did you see the part where I mentioned that she was going to treat me for a Goofy's dinner? Remember those things for later!!!

As I've said, because I didn't even get half as many photos this time around as I got on my 2010 holiday "Evil Chair/Peppermint Cone of Death" DLR trip, this TR is going to be more story-driven than photo driven.

In fact, think of the installments I have already done for this TR as the Pre-Trip Report. I did not do a proper Pre-TR last year, prior to December. So these last couple of installments have been the Pre-TR!