PHXscuba's Club 33 Christmas

[Sherry E]

PHX --

I posted a recap in the Halloween thread when I got home last night (hint: Unleash the Villains in Town Square = madness & huge crowds! Like on par with New Year's Eve-level crowds. Just crazy and not organized well, I don't think), and am now going to embark on loading my pictures to Photobucket (including a picture of the zombie cookie). There's a lot of cute merchandise.

Also, on an Earl of Sandwich note -- Liza/funatdisney (who you will be meeting in the not too distant future) and I used a couple of my EoS coupons to get free sandwiches (which EoS sent me because EoS made so many mistakes last year), and can you believe they made another mistake on my Cannonballs! sandwich??!!! I have to laugh. My sandwich was hot and wrapped tightly -- but it had no cheese on it (no Parmesan, no mozzarella -- nothing!)!! I wanted cheese! Also, there was hardly any sauce -- unlike my sandwiches there last December. It was as if they gave me someone else's special order of a meatball sandwich with no sauce and no cheese!

Liza convinced me to go back in and tell the EoS person. I wasn't going to at first because the sandwich was free and I didn't want to make a fuss, but they brought back out a sandwich with cheese on it. The sauce was still barely there, and the cheese was much less bountiful than it had been in December. I don't know what they're doing at that EoS, but I had hoped that now they have been in that location for 10 months things would be better.

I had to share the EoS experience with you because I recall you said that there was at least one mistake (involving tomatoes) on one of your family's sandwiches earlier this year. They are still making those mistakes!

 

[PHXscuba]

PHX --

I posted a recap in the Halloween thread when I got home last night (hint: Unleash the Villains in Town Square = madness & huge crowds! Like on par with New Year's Eve-level crowds. Just crazy and not organized well, I don't think), and am now going to embark on loading my pictures to Photobucket (including a picture of the zombie cookie). There's a lot of cute merchandise.

Also, on an Earl of Sandwich note -- Liza/funatdisney (who you will be meeting in the not too distant future) and I used a couple of my EoS coupons to get free sandwiches (which EoS sent me because EoS made so many mistakes last year), and can you believe they made another mistake on my Cannonballs! sandwich??!!! I have to laugh. My sandwich was hot and wrapped tightly -- but it had no cheese on it (no Parmesan, no mozzarella -- nothing!)!! I wanted cheese! Also, there was hardly any sauce -- unlike my sandwiches there last December. It was as if they gave me someone else's special order of a meatball sandwich with no sauce and no cheese!

Liza convinced me to go back in and tell the EoS person. I wasn't going to at first because the sandwich was free and I didn't want to make a fuss, but they brought back out a sandwich with cheese on it. The sauce was still barely there, and the cheese was much less bountiful than it had been in December. I don't know what they're doing at that EoS, but I had hoped that now they have been in that location for 10 months things would be better.

I had to share the EoS experience with you because I recall you said that there was at least one mistake (involving tomatoes) on one of your family's sandwiches earlier this year. They are still making those mistakes!

I saw the mini-update on the Halloween thread and I am looking forward to seeing your pictures -- and taking some of my own in less than a week! I kind of suspected (based on previous things like the 24-hour party) the Villains thing would get really crowded.

I'm glad they fixed the EoS mistake when you pointed it out -- but that doesn't bode well for staff training if the "mistake correcting" visit had more mistakes! The way they wrap the sandwiches up it is hard to check. With DH's tomatoes last spring, they were chopped and scattered throughout the sandwich, so he basically had to take the whole thing apart to remove them, unlike a sandwich with one large tomato slice.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

Today I picked up some awesome ice cream -- my favorite peppermint and some pumpkin too!! I posted more about the peppermint over in the Christmas thread for all of the peppermint junkies like me!

It is hard to believe that in a little more than 2 days I fly to CA, and that 4 days from now I will be enjoying Disneyland. The weather forecasts look good at 81/58, which is about as nice as I have any right to expect.

I did laundry this morning so I can hopefully do the bulk of my packing tonight. It feels odd to only be packing for one! The last time I flew by myself to CA was to help my mother after her ovarian cancer surgery 5 years ago. I am so happy and grateful that I get to visit her and my Dad for a much better reason this time.

I will probably be back in this thread one last time before I leave if I have time. I will be thinking happy thoughts of all of you who've helped me fill the time preparing for this trip! I wish you all a faceful of pixie dust!

PHXscuba

 

[Lynne G]

Safe travels.

I love pumpkin pie, but hate the idea of pumpkin in any other food or beverage. Peppermint, I could take in ice cream. Our family favorite is mint chocolate chip. We had a chocolate covered pretzel pieces ice cream the other day. It was good.

I can't believe our stores are already selling pumpkins. I'm not ready yet!

The parks look so festive with decorations. I hope you have a great time.

The week-end will be here before you know it.

 

[PHXscuba]

Safe travels.

I love pumpkin pie, but hate the idea of pumpkin in any other food or beverage. Peppermint, I could take in ice cream. Our family favorite is mint chocolate chip. We had a chocolate covered pretzel pieces ice cream the other day. It was good.

I can't believe our stores are already selling pumpkins. I'm not ready yet!

The parks look so festive with decorations. I hope you have a great time.

The week-end will be here before you know it.

Thanks!

I like pumpkin in many things, especially baked good. We'll see how the ice cream is. I might have to doctor it up with a few additions if it's too bland (or too strong).

The pumpkins are everywhere around here. It's even more jarring when it's still over 100 every day!!

I did succumb to buying a bag of the Candy Corn M&Ms last night at Target. They are pretty good and my kids like them too. I will either have to eat them, hide them, or take them to CA if I want any of them.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

I LEAVE TODAY!! ​

I fly out tonight to join my parents in California. Right now I am feeling --->

My family is being awesome and I've only heard a little wistfulness from the kids that they are being left home. DH says he'll miss me but he's glad I get to go.

I plan to pack a lot into my one day at Disneyland, and my little camera is going to get a workout so I can bring y'all lots of photos.

Have a great weekend!!

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

I'm back!!! (Did you miss me? )

The photo are still trapped in the camera (and my laundry still needs to be done), but I can safely say that I had a great day at Disneyland with my Mom on Friday. It was an amazing trip overall and I am so glad and so blessed I was able to go to California and Disneyland.

Did we do everything on my bucket list? ... No way. You'll have to wait for the Trip Report to see what we hit and what got missed. But I read something right before I left that said, "You won't be able to see everything at Disney in one trip. Besides, if you did, what excuse would you have to go back again?!"

Stay tuned -- I promise to get the TR started within a week. I may first post a few of the Halloween-specific pictures over on the Halloween Superthread because they are timely.

PHXscuba

 

[Lynne G]

Glad you had a fun trip. It seemed so short!

Waiting to see some Halloween decorations, as it may be a long time before I see the parks with all that.

Hope the house was in one piece when you got home.

Thanks for wanting to do another trip report.

 

[kaoden39]

Hi! Welcome back! I am glad you had fun and I can hardly wait to hear all about it!

 

[PHXscuba]

Glad you had a fun trip. It seemed so short!

Waiting to see some Halloween decorations, as it may be a long time before I see the parks with all that.

Hope the house was in one piece when you got home.

Thanks for wanting to do another trip report.

It was really short!! It was worth it though, to spend time with my parents.

I did post a few pictures on the Halloween thread yesterday afternoon, because I knew it might take awhile to get to them in the TR, especially the night ones from the end of the day. I certainly hope it doesn't take until halloween for me to finish, but it might be a few weeks!

Honestly I think the older two kids were too busy to even notice I was gone!

Hi! Welcome back! I am glad you had fun and I can hardly wait to hear all about it!

Thanks! I am organizing photos and trying to get started in the next few days.

PHXscuba

 

[PHXscuba]

To quote Rafiki ........................... "It is time!"​

Time to begin my trip report!! Since it was only a one-day trip, it probably won't be nearly as long as the 4-day spring trip report, but I hope it's entertaining for those of you with a little time on your hands or an interest in seeing the park through my eyes if you can't be there right now.


Before the trip, (non-Disney stuff you can skip if you don't care)

I achieved a few "firsts" Wednesday night, all of them good. When I got to the Phoenix airport, I got to ride their new automated SkyTram from the parking garage (it's like the one that gets you between terminals at the Orlando airport). I am glad they finished it because the construction has been snarly for traffic the last couple years.

When I got on the plane, there was a big traffic jam, and I could hear several women (politely) arguing. It appears they had settled a handicapped person into the wrong seat. I saw that it was my row and told the flight attendant that I was traveling alone -- he could have my seat and put me anywhere for a 1-hour flight. I'm easy-going. My flexibility was unexpectedly rewarded when he told me to go sit in row 3. I looked back and realized Holy cow -- row 3 is in first class!! I have never flown first-class before.

When I got there, my father got us all turned around leaving the Long Beach Airport and missed our freeway. Good thing my iPhone map app was there to guide us back on course. My Mom hates it when my dad drives at night, but she was manning the cell phone so they knew when I showed up, and my Dad is still much more adept at a car than a cell phone!!

Thursday my mother put me to work! She and I share the same black-thumb gene so all of the flowers on her back patio are fake. She has some color to look at without killing the plants. Her current batch was looking old, dirty, and droopy, so she enlisted me to help her pull out and replace all of them -- 11 pots, 1 planter, and two hanging baskets.

Did I mention that I am not a flower arranger as well as a black thumb? I am much better with symmetry than artistry. But I was a good daughter/minion and helped pull everything out. Then we went to the craft store and dropped a lot of money on more fake flowers. And lunch. But not at the craft store. When we were done, it was worth it. I photographed our results to prove to my kids that I didn't play the entire time I was away. Here are three of my favorite groups:

That night I charged up my phone, got everything into my park bag, and we decided what time to get up and going. Time for beauty sleep! But I'm too excited too sleep!


Off to a resounding ... halt?

I woke up shortly before my alarm went off at 5:45 and got a shower. I got ready and attempted to read the paper but I was a little too hyped up. We'd agreed on leaving at 6:30 so we'd be there in plenty of time before the parks opened at 8 a.m.

We'd driven about 2 blocks (in the dark) from my mother's house when she asked me, "Are you sure it opens at 8:00?" I was almost annoyed, but I got out my notes to double-check ... and discovered they opened at 9:00!! I felt like such a fool -- how did I miss that? The only explanation I have is that we always went at 8 for EMH in the spring and somehow that overrode what I had written down. Feeling super-sheepish, I suggested we go back to the house and kill an hour before we left for real.


I'm (REALLY) going to Disneyland!

We got there with no further bone-headed moves by me, and were early enough to park in Pinocchio next to the Mickey and Friends structure. The tram left right away and I texted DH that I was on my "first ride of the day" His response: "Let the excitement begin!" I love this guy.

We got to the security tables about 8:20 and walked right up. There were a good number of people waiting at the gates, but that put me far enough back to photograph the PUMPKINS I had been waiting not-so-patiently to see. You will notice I photographed them a few more times as we parkhopped.

You will also notice the gray sky in the background of all of my photos. Despite the predicted "sunny and 80 degrees," the sun never appeared and I don't think it got much above 70 all day. I never even took out my sunglasses (shocking for me). I thought of Sherry E and how it would be perfect Disney weather for her!

They opened the turnstiles at 8:30 and we were let in. I held my breath, but hurrah, my Annual Pass photo finally showed up after all of the glitches on the first trip!


We enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy!

I was pretty sure they were going to hold us farther down Main Street, so I didn't rush and got a few photos. I think I am one of many DISers who have taken a picture of the plaque above.

My mother pointed out the beautiful flowers in Town Square so I got a photo of them with her. I think we both admire the horticulture because we are so painfully bad at it!

We had decided to head to Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy first, so we were held right by the entrance to Tomorrowland. I found a bathroom I don't ever remember using, right between the Plaza Inn and Astro Orbiter. Cute and decorated Main Street-style. I'm weird that I love how each land's restrooms are decorated and different.

I got this picture of the castle from where we waited. From this angle, I had to dodge a photo-bomb from the Astro Orbiter, which was running through its morning checks.

Well, I have talked so much and Disneyland isn't even open yet!! I think I will leave off here.


PHXscuba

 

[Sherry E]

Off to a great start (although I didn't think you'd get this TR started for a few more days), with a fun series of pictures! I liked the photos you posted in the Halloween thread too!

I love the picture of your mom with the Fall flowers in the background.

Those turnstile pumpkins are in a funny location for photos. When it's a gloomy day, the orange almost seems to be dull, but when the sky is clear blue the orange really, really pops -- almost like the pumpkins have been given a fresh coat of paint.

Nope -- that's not quite the perfect Disney weather for me. There have been days in the 70's here and there in L.A. recently (more often in the 80's), but that's not my ideal Disney temperature. I really, really prefer daytime weather in the 60's or even into the 50's -- cool, crisp, brisk weather -- if I am roaming around DLR. I've been to DLR when it was overcast and in the 70's before, and it wasn't cool enough for me! However, the days that I find chilly don't happen often enough, sadly. If I am just sitting at home, then the 70's are okay!

 

[PHXscuba]

Off to a great start (although I didn't think you'd get this TR started for a few more days), with a fun series of pictures! I liked the photos you posted in the Halloween thread too!

I love the picture of your mom with the Fall flowers in the background.

Those turnstile pumpkins are in a funny location for photos. When it's a gloomy day, the orange almost seems to be dull, but when the sky is clear blue the orange really, really pops -- almost like the pumpkins have been given a fresh coat of paint.

Nope -- that's not quite the perfect Disney weather for me. There have been days in the 70's here and there in L.A. recently (more often in the 80's), but that's not my ideal Disney temperature. I really, really prefer daytime weather in the 60's or even into the 50's -- cool, crisp, brisk weather -- if I am roaming around DLR. I've been to DLR when it was overcast and in the 70's before, and it wasn't cool enough for me! However, the days that I find chilly don't happen often enough, sadly. If I am just sitting at home, then the 70's are okay!

Yes, a crisp fall day would have been great, but I was thinking how nice we had it compared to what I had expected. It wasn't the best for blue-sky pretty pictures, but it felt a little more fall.

I knew my first post would have a lot of exposition (and I even forgot to add in some stuff about my Dad and Disneyland that I will include at the end), so I wanted to get that out of the way. I like to write while it's fresh in my mind, even if I have notes. That is the nice thing about a cell-phone Notes app -- I just pulled it out as we were waiting for rides or shows and added a couple phrases.

By the time I am done with this TR, I hope to have more-concrete plans about coming in December!

PHXscuba

p.s. When are we going to get YOUR trip report?

 

[PHXscuba]

... when last you left us, we were eagerly awaiting the opening of Disneyland. We had decided to knock out Space Mountain Ghost Galaxy first thing since it had the potential to get a long line (as we saw later from somewhere elevated).


Boom, boom, boom!

When Disneyland officially opened, we "walked with purpose" with the crowd to Space Mountain. We managed to keep moving all the way to the slope of the loading ramp. I rode SMGG back in 2009, the first year it opened. My mother hadn't been to DL since they started doing it at Halloween. She is generally not a fan of spooky/ghouly, but she said it was OK. I think I still like the original Space Mountain with the "proper" soundtrack best of all. But I don't really mind that they switch it out for 6 weeks every year, especially since it requires so little downtime.

We then walked over to Star Tours, which my mother also hadn't seen since they opened the new version 2 years ago. Readers of my spring trip report may recall that I am a big Star Wars fan and that Star Tours is one of my long-term favorite Disney rides.

This is a girl who loves Star Tours and is strangely fascinated by the 3D glasses​

We walked all the way to the 3D glasses trays before stopping. I love the line for Star Tours -- there is so much to look at and listen to. We had a great CM loading our vehicle. Mom and I were first to the loading bay and I asked if we could sit anywhere but the first row because I don't prefer sitting that far forward and to the side. So he moved us back. While we were all buckling up, he told us, "This ride is sponsored by Wookie Cookies -- they're Chewy." We all groaned. Then during the seatbelt check, he told us (in his best Admiral Ackbar voice), "It's a trap ... no, it's a strap." I love it when CMs get into their parts.

One of my "bucket list items"for this trip was to get to Naboo, the only piece of the Star Tours universe I have yet to visit (YouTube doesn't count). You'll have to wait until my final ride later in the day to see if we went "under the sea." But not this flight.

Since we were near the Matterhorn we decided to ride. We originally thought we'd do Single Rider to save time, but the line was so short when we arrived that they were letting people choose a side and we rode the slightly-less-bumpy Fantasyland side together. I rode in the front seat, made forever famous for my 6-foot-1 son's comment of "more room, my butt!"

So one, two, three was had banged out several major Disneyland rides, all of which were new to my mother.


The good luck continues

Animatronic duck alert!! ​

I realized just then that I lacked a Birthday Button! Since the last time I was at Disneyland on my birthday was likely when I turned 3 (see my avatar picture), I figured it was OK to celebrate my birthday less than a week early. We found a Fantasyland shop near the Matterhorn and they made me a button! I wore it all day on the strap of my bag. Almost every CM wished me a happy birthday, which didn't surprise me. What DID surprise me was having random strangers wish me happy birthday by name! At first I was confused and thought I was running into people who knew me from home ... until I realized I was essentially wearing a name tag. Then I thought it was really sweet of them to take the time to give me happy wishes.

Of course we needed a snack by then. Fortuitously, there was a churro cart within a few feet of the shop where I got my birthday button. There are no churros in the United States better than Disneyland churros -- I tried a different one at a football game Friday night and there was no comparison.

We inhaled our churros on the way to the Finding Nemo submarines. The line looked a little longish but the sign said 5-minute wait. The CMs promised it would only be 5 minutes and they were spot-on. I forget that the ride loads in great bunches and they were running several subs at once.

I think my mother quite enjoyed the subs. She had just seen Finding Nemo with my kids a few weeks earlier.

We knew we wanted to hop to DCA for Radiator Springs Racers FPs, so I checked my Mobile Magic app to see if they were giving out a post-sunset return time. It was getting near, so we headed for the Hub.

The Photopass photographer didn't have a line, so we decided to stop for the obligatory castle shot. The photographers were really nice to us all day and never even tried to convince us to take a Photopass shot if I asked them to just take one with my camera.

I'm walking right down the middle of Main Street USA​

We left Disneyland and walked across the Esplanade. I saw the security from afar off and zoomed in to take a couple discreet pictures because the dogs looked just like my black Lab!

We got to the FP machines when they were giving out a perfect time -- 6:50-7:50. Of course we were hungry again, so we strolled through Radiator Springs on our way to the Pacific Wharf area where we could hear the siren song of Ghirardelli (once again, where is that drooling smiley??)

We got our pumpkin spice chocolate sample (I got two because it was my birthday!) and decided to split a waffle bowl with chocolate ice cream. Yummers. We sat outside; the mariachis were playing down the street so we even had entertainment.

My mother saw the Ferris wheel (or Mickey's Not-So-Fun Wheel) in the distance and wanted to go on. I had talked her into the non-swinging cars before we arrived. I should have checked my app before we walked around the WoC lagoon, because it was 20 minutes for both types of cars when we got there. Thanks, but no thanks. On our way over, we did get a shot of us in front of the Paradise Pier rides.

I think I'll leave us standing on the shores of Paradise Pier ...


PHXscuba

 

[Lynne G]

Like all the pictures. I really like the characters made out of pumpkins.

Seems like mom had a great time with you!

We like the Paradise Pier area. My kids went more than a few times on Screamin', so I like to explore and people watch. We also find ourselves there most evenings, as TSM runs even when WOC is happening.

Waiting to see what you did in the Pier area.

 

[PHXscuba]

Well, I don't know when I'll get to another TR installment, but I do have a bit of "Random Dis-ness" to tide you all over for a couple days.

At breakfast yesterday, DH was telling DD11 how the nurse who gave him his flu shot looked like Attila the Hun.
DD11: Who's Attila the Hun?
Me: You know, like the Huns in Mulan?
Yep, all my children's knowledge (right or wrong) comes from Disney movies!

Best news of the week! I found the fall decoration I've been stalking!! I saw it a few weeks ago. I dropped several hints about it as a birthday gift. Birthday came and went. So I decided to use some birthday money to buy it. The first Hobby Lobby no longer had one. I had business in another part of town, so I checked another Hobby Lobby. I didn't see it but asked an employee, who found one high on a shelf practically invisible in a display!!

Isn't it prefect?! Even better, I realized the place I was planning to put it was perfect!!

(If you don't get it, go watch Cinderella again)

So it makes me happy when I look at the cute little pumpkin coach. But I fear it is going to make all of my other fall decorations look old by comparison and I may end up buying more new decorations.

Have a great first-weekend-of-October!

PHXscuba

 

[Lynne G]

Thanks for the little update. Life has kept me busy too. DD made her school soccer team and still is playing for the soccer club we belong to. Between games, practices and homework, we are really busy.

We are planning our nex year's trip to WDW. I may be a few more years before thinking about a west coast trip again.

Hope your October has been going well.

 

[PHXscuba]

Thanks for the little update. Life has kept me busy too. DD made her school soccer team and still is playing for the soccer club we belong to. Between games, practices and homework, we are really busy.

We are planning our nex year's trip to WDW. I may be a few more years before thinking about a west coast trip again.

Hope your October has been going well.

Oh, the double-soccer trouble! That will make any family crazy. DH is the assistant coach of DS8's soccer team, so I can subcontract most of that out to him. Which is good, since I am a uniform mom for DS17's marching band and roped into many Friday and Saturday nights for the next 6 weeks.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm kind of glad we're not doing WDW in the near future while they sort out the whole FastPass Plus stuff. I hope they get it all together before you go! But I am still planning to go to WDW again ... someday. If they would start announcing some of the supposedly-coming stuff like Star Wars it might give me more of a target date.

PHXscuba

 

[Lynne G]

Yeah, me too! They say it will be going live on Dec 1, so I hope all will be resolved by the end of the summer.

SW land would be something my teen would want to see. We are hoping to see the new mine ride.

For us, WDW is cheaper to fly to, and there is so much more to do in Orlando. But we liked DLR, it is just we have been there twice, and until they have more new, it may be awhile.

Yep, kids keep life on high, schedules on top of schedules. Sounds like your family is busy too.

Have a great weekend!

 

[PHXscuba]

This installment was going to be one long one, but in loading the photos I discovered that I will have to break it in 2 because I just took too many photos!!!

We are currently stranded on the shores of Paradise Pier, wondering what to do now that the Mickey Not-So-Fun Wheel line was too long for us impatient types ...


On with the shows!

We decided on a few things -- we had spent a lot of time in the Paradise Pier area in March and my mother doesn't ride Screamin. We were thirsty and I hadn't had any soda yet that day. So we wandered our way back out of Paradise Pier, stopping at a gift shop to buy bottled sodas. I find unless I am going to be sitting for awhile, a bottled soda is better because it can go on most rides without incident and can be discreetly tucked into a bag to go into shows/buildings/etc.

I don't remember exactly what order these next few things happened, but we lucked into several of the small shows that DCA has added in the last couple years. We only watched snippets of each, but they were fun to "happen upon."

I didn't get any pictures of the Green Army Men because they were starting to finish up as we approached.

Phineas and Ferb were doing the "SIMP -- Squirrels in My Pants" song when we walked up. I love trying to explain stuff like that to my mother. Luckily she's seen a few episodes with my kids to know it's all OK.

While walking through Condor Flats, we noticed they were about to start the Minnie's Fly Girls show and stayed a few minutes, but not long enough to see Minnie. I heard they are ending this show soon ... too bad.

I think we first saw part of the trolley show on our way into DCA and then the end of the next one when we returned to Carthay Circle.

Somewhere in between all of these mini-shows, we saw It's Tough to Be a Bug -- we wanted to do it in March but it was closed the night we were there with my Mom. Mom giggled when her seat got poked or "run under." No matter how many times I see it it still catches me a little!

Coming out of Bug's Land, we eyed the sky, the temperature (I think I was still wearing my hoodie), and Grizzly River Rapids. Neither of us felt like chancing a total soaking when we didn't have the sunshine to dry us off. Since you know that the sun never did come out that day, you can probably guess that GRR remains on my "AP bucket list."

The big reason we had hopped to DCA was for the RSR FPs at an evening time. Since we had spent a whole day together in DCA in the spring, we really wanted to devote more time to Disneyland and especially the things that were new or Halloween-specific.


So back we go

So we headed out of DCA. When we got to the exit, they wanted to stamp our hands again and we told them we already had one from DL. They stamped us anyways for good measure. As we strolled across the esplanade, my mother raised a good question -- now that they take your picture, is there a good reason for hand stamps? I didn't really have a good answer for her. We kept letting them stamp our hands each time we hopped because it was easier than explaining we already had multiple handstamps. My stamp is probably STILL there if you looked at it under a blacklight!

Of course I had to take another picture of the pumpkins since I didn't have a good angle of Minnie from before the park opened. My mother was very patient with my crazy picture taking.

We got an Indiana Jones FP on our way through Adventureland and headed for New Orleans Square. I was finally going to meet the Pumpkin King!!

Jack Skellington was meeting in front of the gates that have been used for HMH FP in the past. They stretched the line back toward the train station, behind the fountain. While we waited, I got some pictures of the side of the HM.

I thought it looked interesting in sepia too.

Jack was taking a lot of time with each family. I was torn between "how sweet" and my natural impatience. After awhile, the hostess came through the line to tell us that Jack would be leaving and coming right back ... with Sally!! That was a bonus. We were about 6 families from the front when he left.

Well, Disney's "5 minutes" must not run on the same clock as mine, but Jack did come back and brought the lovely Sally with him! I snapped a couple shots while they walked past me.

I could tell as I neared the front of the line that both characters were being really kind with the kids, especially the little ones who were unsure about Jack. Sally would crouch down by them and ask them about what they would be for Halloween, what that had been doing that day, etc. Then she'd gently turn them around toward the camera and Jack would lean in. Great approach.

I handed off my camera to the attendant and she started shooting even as Jack and I chatted briefly. I asked him if he'd come up with anything new this Halloween.

I'm not sure my mother has ever seen Nightmare Before Christmas, so she was happy to rest on a bench and hold my bag part of the time I was in line.

Our visit to the Haunted Mansion would flow very nicely here, but it would put me over the picture-per-post limit, so I will stop there and you have the anticipation of where we're going next!

PHXscuba