Solo day and family trip... two, two, two reports in ONE!

[Sherry E]

By the way, I noticed in the Partners statue picture above that there are no poinsettias in the planter beneath the statue this year. I wonder when they stopped putting those in. For a while in the '90s, they made that whole base of flowers underneath Walt and Mickey bright red for the holidays. It was very dramatic and pretty. I don't even think I noticed last year what they had there but I don't think it was red.

 

[bumbershoot]

Sleepless Knight, he (and I) liked the combo of princess plus lightsaber. You did see the picture of Peter Pan having a lightsaber battle, yes?

kaoden39, that's great to know!

Sherry E, it's so good to know your body! I was just reading a trip report from WDW (marivaid, I think is her username, she's from France) and she had the Tonga Toast at Kona there, and she said it was like eating sugar for half an hour with sides of honey and syrup. I imagine those french toasts are similiar. And the report writer and her mom went off shopping for several hours in the heat, got back around noon or 2, and slept basically all day and night long. And the next day they couldn't look at sugar *at all*, which is not like their usual eating pattern.

I thought..."note to self, when we go to WDW, if we want to have Tonga Toast, split it among the 3 of us at the very very least".

As for poinsettias, while I didn't notice the lack of them at that statue, I did see them everywhere else. BUT. They are sad and pathetic! They were going to light pink, they weren't red. Very very sad looking IMO. So maybe they were just tired of having ugly plants around the statue and took them away. Or maybe they were in the middle of replacing them and I got there in between times.

 

[kaoden39]

Sleepless Knight, he (and I) liked the combo of princess plus lightsaber. You did see the picture of Peter Pan having a lightsaber battle, yes?

kaoden39, that's great to know!

Sherry E, it's so good to know your body! I was just reading a trip report from WDW (marivaid, I think is her username, she's from France) and she had the Tonga Toast at Kona there, and she said it was like eating sugar for half an hour with sides of honey and syrup. I imagine those french toasts are similiar. And the report writer and her mom went off shopping for several hours in the heat, got back around noon or 2, and slept basically all day and night long. And the next day they couldn't look at sugar *at all*, which is not like their usual eating pattern.

I thought..."note to self, when we go to WDW, if we want to have Tonga Toast, split it among the 3 of us at the very very least".

As for poinsettias, while I didn't notice the lack of them at that statue, I did see them everywhere else. BUT. They are sad and pathetic! They were going to light pink, they weren't red. Very very sad looking IMO. So maybe they were just tired of having ugly plants around the statue and took them away. Or maybe they were in the middle of replacing them and I got there in between times.

Isn't Marivaid hilarious? I read this trip report she did about taking her sister and her grilfriend to DW and I would cry from laughing so hard when I read it. I told her she should write books.

 

[Sleepless Knight]

Sleepless Knight, he (and I) liked the combo of princess plus lightsaber. You did see the picture of Peter Pan having a lightsaber battle, yes?

Oh yes. It made me smile. In addition to my Jedi Princess Aurora action figures, I also have a few Jedi Mickey collectibles, including plush toys, Disney big figures, Disney/Star Wars bobbleheads, and a few pins. I rather enjoy combining Star Wars and Disney where I can.

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

How about this Peter having a lightsaber battle?

If this is even considered a battle.

 

[bumbershoot]

Oh that's a great picture!!!

Sleepless, I haven't gotten to the right part of the story yet, but there is now a Mickey lightsaber that's not the multi-colored one that PP is holding. It's light-up, makes sounds, saber, but it has a belt clip like the least expensive Hasbro ones (10 bucks in the park, 7ish at Target), and the button to retract the "blade" is a Mickey head, and there are Mickey head accents in the "silver" of the handle. It's quite lovely. (12 bucks) Oh, and it's only in blue. I hope it'll do well enough that they will branch out in the colors!

kaoden I just love marivaid. I just caught up in her pre-trippie, and found that her sister has suffered a tragedy with her dog, it's quite awful, so if you go looking around her reports because she's been brought to mind, be prepared for something truly horrible that happened around Thanksgiving-time. Even though her trip report with her sister made her sis sound very unsympathetic, now I just want to fly to Paris and hug her (and sister's partner, and marivaid and their parents) for days.

 

[kaoden39]

Oh that's a great picture!!!

Sleepless, I haven't gotten to the right part of the story yet, but there is now a Mickey lightsaber that's not the multi-colored one that PP is holding. It's light-up, makes sounds, saber, but it has a belt clip like the least expensive Hasbro ones (10 bucks in the park, 7ish at Target), and the button to retract the "blade" is a Mickey head, and there are Mickey head accents in the "silver" of the handle. It's quite lovely. (12 bucks) Oh, and it's only in blue. I hope it'll do well enough that they will branch out in the colors!

kaoden I just love marivaid. I just caught up in her pre-trippie, and found that her sister has suffered a tragedy with her dog, it's quite awful, so if you go looking around her reports because she's been brought to mind, be prepared for something truly horrible that happened around Thanksgiving-time. Even though her trip report with her sister made her sis sound very unsympathetic, now I just want to fly to Paris and hug her (and sister's partner, and marivaid and their parents) for days.

Where is her report I lost track of her trip report? Which forum is it in?

 

[bumbershoot]

There's a special forum for WDW pre-trip reports, and I'm sure it's in there. If not, her "last trip" report is still going (b/c she hasn't finished it) in the WDW trip report forum near the pre-trip one, and she has a link in her signature to it. I had to use the drop-down menu and scroll through to find those forums.


OK duh, her trip report is in the TR section, and her PRE TR is in the pre-tr forum. Answered you kinda backwards there.

 

[kaoden39]

There's a special forum for WDW pre-trip reports, and I'm sure it's in there. If not, her "last trip" report is still going (b/c she hasn't finished it) in the WDW trip report forum near the pre-trip one, and she has a link in her signature to it. I had to use the drop-down menu and scroll through to find those forums.


OK duh, her trip report is in the TR section, and her PRE TR is in the pre-tr forum. Answered you kinda backwards there.

Thanks I did a search on her and found the thread. Thank you. That is an awful story and how horrible for her sister. I realize that there were times I would have cheerfully throttled her sister during that trip but you know not everyone gets the Disney spirit.

 

[amyamya]

As always, great TR Molly!

The dishwasher, when you turn it on and it starts and lights up. So cute!

No pictures of the oven this time; it's even dustier inside than it was in May, and I hope it doesn't take them years to clean it.

OK, last time we were there the dishwasher was so gross, like a dirty fish tank with algae in it! I was sad to see that, but it looks clean now! I hate it when Disneyland isn't perfect.

The person whose idea it was to put videogames *right at the door* should be thrown in the pool on a freezing cold day. Videogames should be put well away from a door so that nervous parents with enormous imaginations don't have to make sure they have sightlines to the videogames when their 4 year olds want to go check 'em out.

THANK YOU!! I have never in my 4 year-old's life ever "lost" her until WWS! It was super crowded and I couldn't find her anywhere. I was shouting her name in the seating area and just about to grab a CM and yell CODE ADAM as loud as I could. I started running for the door to block the exit and there she is behind that wall, oblivious to my panic...it was kind of crazy, and she really didn't leave the restaurant so I couldn't scold her too much.

 

[bumbershoot]

OK, last time we were there the dishwasher was so gross, like a dirty fish tank with algae in it! I was sad to see that, but it looks clean now! I hate it when Disneyland isn't perfect.


THANK YOU!! I have never in my 4 year-old's life ever "lost" her until WWS! It was super crowded and I couldn't find her anywhere. I was shouting her name in the seating area and just about to grab a CM and yell CODE ADAM as loud as I could. I started running for the door to block the exit and there she is behind that wall, oblivious to my panic...it was kind of crazy, and she really didn't leave the restaurant so I couldn't scold her too much.

OH yay, maybe there's hope for the stove.

Augh, the no-answering thing! Ms PacMan has a hold over them, even when they aren't actually PLAYING the game, that just makes them incapable of speech. Or perhaps they just don't hear us, our voices starting "normal", then getting perhaps a bit higher and thinner, then quickly getting more panicky (but trying to stay cool 'cuz you don't want to look like a dork if they are right behind you or something) and just as you're about to flip out, there they are. 4 year olds....



Robert's workplace isn't letting him come home! Ugh. I just worry about him slipping and slidding while walking to the train, ya know, and then missing it. There will really be no other way home if he misses that train.

 

[bumbershoot]

I really should be out playing in the snow with Eamon, but he seems to be having a grand time with his variety of toys, so right now I'll continue just a bit.




As we left WWS, we took the GCH entrance into DCA. And that's when Robert realized how incredibly close WWS is to DCA, and he confessed that his wish to go through DTD was because he didn't realize that. Poor guy, did all that extra walking in his painful Crocs and neither of us talked further about it to solve his situation. Then again, going through DCA might not be THAT much closer, since you have to pass Soarin' and all of that.

We left DCA and headed towards Toy Story Midway Mania! Along the way we took one of the two photopass pictures from this trip, E with the tree. After that I convinced Robert to have his picture taken on the bridge, so that he has Mickey ears. I figure since they'll be getting rid of those in the future, might as well have fun with them!

And even though I haven't ordered them yet, you'll have to take my word for it that the picture was actually really good! Even he thought so, and since his self-esteem has been in the tank for the last 2 or so years (not that mine is that high), it was great to see a good picture and to see him like his picture.

Finally we got to TSMM, and the sign said that the line was 40 minutes long. For Single Rider lines only, I can't wait for E to be a few years older! But since he can't ride solo yet, into the standby line we went. We didn't time our wait, so we'll just stick with 40 minutes.

Totally worth it!!! That line is sneeeeeaky, but I can't help but admire the queue-designer. When I went on it in November, it was long enough, but this time the whole outside courtyard was full and the extra inside line was full. I imagine the CMs could create some more switchbacks for when it's even longer, though!

Before seeing it, I didn't really understand how the Single Rider line missed seeing Mr Potato Head, and for anyone else like me, the SR line is over to the left. The queue itself starts on the right, and as you get into the proper line you go past MPH. He's pretty much the first part of the line. He's also really close to the pathway, so he can (and did) comment on people just passing by, or those standing at the fence but not in the line.

Eamon was fascinated by the guy.

Alas, that part of the line, both times we went, was the shortest part, so there was no interaction with E, even though he wanted to talk to him.

The line moves in clumps. They load several cars, and of course each vehicle has two sides, and send them off all at once, so you don't move constantly, but you move quite a bit when you do move. So you have to have one person in your party looking forward! There's at least a women's bathroom right next to the line, so there were several people who jumped out then came back into line, after bathrooms breaks. Seemed convenient. We aren't they type, or rather haven't yet been the type, to come back into line after a bathroom break. It once took us three whole times to get on Jungle Cruise, because we aren't the type to re-join the line... But maybe someday we'll do that, and it's good to know it's right there.

Anyway, we all just loved the ride. Fantabulous. Had yet another difficult time in the giftshop, but did survive the experience.


Oh, here are some pictures I took while in line. Then I've got to get us bundled up and go outside or there will be a revolution on my hands.

 

[bumbershoot]

I just noticed I mentioned the train last night.

Robert left work at his usual time and got to the train station in record time. And then found out that the 5:55 train was canceled, but the 6:45 train was expected. There is no inside area there. Then the transit's website kept going down, and their phone line was of very little help. He decided to stick it out, and from what he said, everyone else was looking to him. They don't have the Sounder's phone number listed at the station, and he was the only one with a schedule to get the number, and he was the only one with someone sitting at home with nothing else to do but click "refresh" and call them every so often.

Thankfully, the 6:45 train was "only" 25 minutes late (so since hubby got there at about 5:40, you can do the super-fun math of how long he and those who got there at the same time got to stand out in the windchill factored temperature of about 21), and he was SO happy when he called to tell me he was on the train. I got the feeling that everyone was just so happy to be in the warmer train that they all nearly had a party.


But this morning, hubby said he got off the train in Seattle, and then slipped and fell. So he's hurting today. Guess my prediction was right, just for the wrong day!

 

[kaoden39]

I really like those pictures. They are so much fun. I like the different views and angles.

 

[kaoden39]

I just noticed I mentioned the train last night.

Robert left work at his usual time and got to the train station in record time. And then found out that the 5:55 train was canceled, but the 6:45 train was expected. There is no inside area there. Then the transit's website kept going down, and their phone line was of very little help. He decided to stick it out, and from what he said, everyone else was looking to him. They don't have the Sounder's phone number listed at the station, and he was the only one with a schedule to get the number, and he was the only one with someone sitting at home with nothing else to do but click "refresh" and call them every so often.

Thankfully, the 6:45 train was "only" 25 minutes late (so since hubby got there at about 5:40, you can do the super-fun math of how long he and those who got there at the same time got to stand out in the windchill factored temperature of about 21), and he was SO happy when he called to tell me he was on the train. I got the feeling that everyone was just so happy to be in the warmer train that they all nearly had a party.


But this morning, hubby said he got off the train in Seattle, and then slipped and fell. So he's hurting today. Guess my prediction was right, just for the wrong day!

Thanks for the update after hearing on the weather channel how bad the snow is up your way I was concerned he may get stuck away from home.

 

[bumbershoot]

I liked the pictures too. There's so much going on above you while in line for TSMM!

I was getting afraid he'd be stuck, too. The closest motel to the station is super-expensive, so I was getting worried for his health and our finances! He's left work as of now, and so let's all hope that his train isn't too late, and that he skips all the icy patches while walking from the downtown Tacoma lightrail station up to our condo.

 

[kaoden39]

I liked the pictures too. There's so much going on above you while in line for TSMM!

I was getting afraid he'd be stuck, too. The closest motel to the station is super-expensive, so I was getting worried for his health and our finances! He's left work as of now, and so let's all hope that his train isn't too late, and that he skips all the icy patches while walking from the downtown Tacoma lightrail station up to our condo.

Poor guy. I hope he made it okay. It would be awful if he had another spill. Is he okay from the other one?

 

[daisy_77]

TSMM is one ride that I did not get to try in June. It was not open yet, but MPH was putting on a show. I cannot wait to try that ride on my next trip.

Great pics, too! I love E's face when he is looking at MPH.

Poor Robert! I had a spill on the ice this year too. I was lucky the only thing I hurt was my bum, it cushioned the fall.

 

[bumbershoot]

He was still pretty sore last night. Turns out he actually fell in Tacoma, while walking to the Link, the lightrail through downtown. And he carries a messenger bag which had both his personal computer AND his work computer (so he can work from home if snowed in), and he didn't want to damage them, so he twisted while he fell. Ouchie.

Today he could get into work again, but is leaving at the FIRST sight of snow. He is the ONLY one in his department who has come in each day this week, and he's already gotten a free latte out of it from a manager who was very happy with him. And he's gotten kudos for being so dedicated recently. He's the only one with a young child; everyone else is unmarried no kids, or much older with grown kids, and they are impressed at how he's always there and never has to leave for kids (one of the bennies for the worker bee when there's a go-to person at home). So this "I came into work while everyone else stayed home" thing is REALLY looking good for him. And doesn't even reflect badly on others, as they don't live in Tacoma, and so their weather was completely different than our weather; he COULD come in, they could not. So it's nice like he's messing things up for others. And even if someone else lived here, if they lived outside of downtown, they probably couldn't get in, because they would have had a hard time getting to the transit station. It's a win-win. Well, except he wishes we'd been totally snowed in, of course.


Well we gotta go out in the frozen slush, b/c it's very likely going to snow later this afternoon, and we gotta go to the store. I'm in the mood for SOUP! But hmm, do I want to bring home potatoes to make potato/leek soup? Those things are heavy.... Ooh maybe celery soup (better than it sounds!) instead...wait, that has potato too. Hmm.



Anyway, I'll update more later on the trip!

 

[kaoden39]

You know it shows a company that you are a company person when things like this happen. Good for him.