Tim(minus)Lesley's Guy's Only Trip to Disapalooza Day 3! DISAPALOOZA! pg.9 2/6

[timandlesley]

And……more lights!!!

At this point there were so many people in the street, and it took almost 15-20 minutes to make it from one end of the road to the other. It was utter madness!!!
With that said though, these lights literally take your breath away!!! I really missed my wife and kids during this, because this was a moment you want to share someone. So Bryan and I stopped and embraced each other tightly and took in more lights.

Here is a bad self portrait of Bryan and me:

The Nativity:

Well we saw the lights and really enjoyed them, but the masses of people were getting too much so we departed from that area.

We decided that we should head towards TSM and see if we could walk on real quick and have a test run before the big competition that night.
No luck, the standby line was way too long for us since it was closing time very soon.

Let me explain, at the TSM party that evening Disney was going to clear the scores for the day and the winner with the highest score would win a Disney Cruise for the upcoming DIS Cruise 2.0 in December 2010. With that being case, our wives had told us we better get our game face on and win this cruise for them.

Now anyone who comes to Disney is the summer, you’re lucky if you get to ride TSM 2-3 times max because how popular it is. Bryan and I had barely ever scored over 100,000 and these people we were going up against scored high 200,000’s and higher, so we basically felt pretty screwed.

But Bryan had a stroke of genius; he found a video on You Tube that showed all the secrets on each level and how to get the highest score. We watched the video as many times as possible and felt pretty good about it, but now we had to put it to practice.
The park was closing and people were hitting the exits, so we did the same and started to wait in line outside the gates in preparation of DISAPALOOZA!!

Here some pics of the crowds gathering and us waiting behind the gate:

At last the 700 DISers had assembled in line and Disney was now ready for us, so the gate opened and they lined us up at the top of the street.

I loved the sight of this:

In the distance we could hear our escorts, the Green Army Men:

 

[timandlesley]

Check out this video of The Army Men leading us in…..Bryan and I am the first ones out. I’m in the gray sweatshirt and Bryan is n the Giants windbreaker.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6QRxZBFo_w

The Green Army Men led us all the way down Hollywood Boulevard and through arch into Animation Courtyard. The entire time down the street they had us reciting chants and walking in step like a soldier, it was so much fun.

Here are some pics of us marching in:

When we came around the corner we saw the entire Podcast team waiting there to welcome us.

I kind of wanted to say hi to a couple of the Podcast crew, but I knew there were 700 other DISers right behind us. Bryan on the other hand wanted to get right on the ride, so I quickly said hi to Teresa and gave her a quick hug. By that time Bryan was way ahead of me going into TSM and I had to sprint to catch up. We were the second people going through the line; it was so cool to see empty turnstiles.

Excuse the blurry photo; I was trying to snap the photo while keeping up of the pace of the mob behind me:

Here is a pic of us on our maiden voyage:

This is a picture of us with our “competition”

We did pretty well our first time through and we unlocked a couple of things and had a nice score, but we had a long way to go.

Outside in Pixar Place they had tables setup, free food laid out for all the Disers, two bars on either end of Pixar Place, and all the Podcast crew waiting to get acquainted with 700 of their closest friends.

We decided to forgo the food for now and keep riding the ride. Each time we went through we unlocked more and more and our scores got higher. If you could have only seen us, we were shooting as fast as possible, sweating like mad fools, and swearing uncontrollably. Not a pretty site.

Here we were after 4 rides:

It was time to rest our arms, get a drink, and meet some people. All while holding hands……

Here are a few pics of everyone milling around and chatting:

I really wanted to meet some the Podcast Team and thank them for all the hard work they had put in to this great night.

First we made our way over to meet Pete, the Founder of the DISboards. Without him, none of this would be possible. (Thanks Pete)

And Kathy:

Corey and Julie:

They were all so nice, warm and friendly. It was great putting a face and with all the podcasts that I have heard. I will never be able to thank them for everything they do for all of us.

Before we started to head back in for the ride, Bryan enlisted.

It was go time and it was time to grind out every final minute in TSM trying to obtain the highest score. Before we went in I received a phone call from Lesley, she gave me one final threat that I better win that cruise.

No Pressure!!!

We went back in and we ended up riding 7 more times, the last 6 times we stayed on because NO ONE was in line!! UNREAL!! Bryan and I worked so hard and we could never get past 200,000, but finally on the last ride through before they closed down for the night………It happened.

I was player 1 and Bryan was player 2……

The night was finally over and we had the time of our lives, I wish it could have lasted forever.

We were going to have to take a cab back to SSR, but we were lucky enough to catch a ride with Jimmy and Amy Leonard. They were super sweet, and just so down to earth.

Here is a pic of me on front of the Hat all alone:

This is Jimmy, Amy, and Bryan……following the Yellow Brick Road to the parking lot.

The Leonard’s dropped us off back at SSR, we went up to the room Bryan tucked me in and I was fast asleep.

To Be Continued........

 

[sharonW]

This is so much fun, I'm having a blast reading.

The osborne lites are beautiful! Everyone must
see the World at christmas, its pure magic

 

[shannon47142]

what a fun night!!! and your lovely couples moments were very sweet!!!

 

[dddisrunner]

GREAT update...thanks for the laughs! I am so happy that Bryan could drown his lonliness at osborne lights with an embrace from you! I knew he came home a changed man! I STILL cannot believe neither one of you bozo's were good enough to win the cruise though! At least you had each other for comfort!

 

[Poolrat]

Great update Tim,

Osborne lights are incredible.

TSM over and over - incredible

Night of your life- you guessed it, incredible

Glad you had a good time.

 

[Trentmom]

Yay another update!!!

Love all the moments you shared with your man crush


Your night sounds awesome and so much fun

Way to go getting over 200,000

 

[pmama]

Love It! Thanks so much for all those great pictures. We were at DAP too but we entered towards the back. We could hear the green army men but not see what they were doing. It was great to see the video from that perspective. I can't believe how you and Brian were right up front. Good for you both!

It was also great to match faces with names. We did not meet each podcast member. I was especially disapointed I never figured out who Julie and Corey were. Aren't they cute? Julie is just adorable with her baby bump.

We only rode TSM about 4-5 times but I was impressed with how well we'd all improved by the end. Even my DD5 was impressing me by the end. We did get a tip from a CM that it really is a team effort. For that reason DH and I teamed up and put the girls together. We did great but I think my DH could have done better if he was teamed up with someone a more ambitious than I. Thanks for writing a TR for your solo trip. Enjoying it!

 

[ladybugmom]

WOW!! What an incredible night!! The lights are beautiful!! I cannot wait to see this when we go in December!! And the DIS night looks like soooo much fun! How cool that you got to meet all of the Podcast team including the FOUNDER of the DIS--awesome!!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Wow! Looks like a fun night and a really cool event to be a part of! Those are some awesome scores!!!

What was the winning score?

 

[bethk78]

Such a funny and fun update.

What was the winner's score?

 

[PrincessPaczki]

Tim, Hi! Thank you for posting your pictures. It looked like a great time. I just hope that we can do the next one.

 

[mom2shayleeandlogan]

Great update, looks like antoher fun night!

 

[MomlvsGoofy]

Great trip report Tim!

 

[heaven2dc]

What fun you both are having! So glad you got to share that "embrace" while experiencing the Osbourne Lights The atmosphere is purely magical and I loved seeing it for the first time in Dec 2008.

It was great putting a face to Pete (founder of Dis)! Thank you, Pete and all the gang here on the Dis for giving us a place to meet new friends and share our love of Disney!!

 

[TXYankee]

Great report Tim!

Sorry I am late!

 

[exwdwcm]

loving the report and pics! wow on the scores. i had my 2yo with me on TSM that night and he of course interfered with my score all night- darn it! great on getting over 200k!!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

I'm not up on all of this Podcast stuff but it was still really, really cool to see the founder of the Dis!! It looks like you guys has a really fun night and did a great job at TSM!

 

[disneyfan61]

Great update Tim Looks like you had a blast!! It is so cool actually seeing the founder of the Dis!! The lights look beautiful (even with the crowds)!!
And your special embrace

 

[BilltM]

If I remember correctly the high score was 309,xxx scored by KennythePirate. It was a great time and the time flew by quickly.

I didn't know about the you tube tips!! It was the first time I ever rode TSM since I haven't been to WDW since Y2K. My high was 174,xxx on the last run.