Update 5/30. I'm going to Club 33 with 43 other DIS'ers PTR! W/photo's! ABD BSM Tour.

[aspen37]

Next we went over to the Welcome center. They had some very cool stuff in there. We got our picture taken with an Emmy Award.

Me making out with Kermit! Someone watch out for Miss Piggy for me!

Here is the inside door to the vault where Charlie Chaplin kept his famous shoes and Film reels.

This poor guy must have been annoyed with me taking his picture.

Michael and Jamie hamming it up for me and another ABD'er

The outside door to the vault.

We tried to get that darn door open.

As we were leaving I took this picture of the sign on the gate and it started to close on Kim and I. We were cracking up at the fact that taking a picture would cause the gate to close. After we got out of the way we saw a security guard who closed the gate on us. Now that wasn't very nice, I'm sure they were cracking up.

Good bye Kermit!!!!

 

[aspen37]

Our next stop was the Carolwood Pacific Barn in Griffith Park. I loved it there. THe train ride was so much fun.
As a child we use to go to Griffith Park a few times a year. It is a very big place. The barn was not there when I lived in LA so it was nice to see it. Here is some info on the Barn and train.




WALT’S BARN * | * DIRECTIONS * | * VOLUNTEER

Walt's barn in Holmby Hills

In 1950, Walt built the Carolwood Pacific Railroad in the backyard of his house in Holmby Hills, California. He named the railroad for the street where he lived: Carolwood Drive. The first run on the Carolwood Pacific Railroad took place on May 7, 1950. The 2,615 feet of track included a 46 foot long trestle and a 90 foot long tunnel under his wife's flower bed. Amidst the railroad, he had a barn built where he could monitor and remotely control the switches on the track. The barn also served as a workshop and a place for Walt and his friends to relax.
When the Holmby Hills home was sold, the new owners had plans to preserve the house, but discovered that due to structural issues and asbestos, they demolished the existing structures and built a new home. Fortunately, Walt's daughter Diane Disney Miller recognized the importance of the Barn and began the process of saving it before escrow closed. Diane contacted Michael and Sharon Broggie, founders of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, who began planning what to do with the Barn. A general contractor, Bill Abel, was hired to dismantle the Barn and it was stored until an agreement was secured with the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Live Steamers Museum. It opened in Griffith Park as a loan to the people of Los Angeles on July 19, 1999, and is located inside the 1/8th scale track, the same scale that Walt had at his home.



Walt's barn at Griffith Park

Walt spent many hours in the Barn not only working on his trains, but thinking about new projects and ideas. One could say that this Barn is the birthplace of Imagineering.
Today, the Barn is in a beautifully landscaped part of the park, with several nice picnic tables and many benches. Bring your family and a picnic basket to enjoy your lunch and some Walt Disney, railroad, and Disneyland history. The Barn is small, but full of many interesting items to learn about, and lots of wonderful stories.
The Barn is open on the 3rd Sunday of each month from 11 am to 3 pm. Parking is free, and admission is free. Donations to the Los Angeles Live Steamers Museum are accepted.

Hi Kim!

Hi Heather!

Getting ready to take a ride on the rails.

Taking a ride on the train

The bit of track left from Walt's railroad that was at his home.

 

[aspen37]

Here is the shirt that a lot of us bought. It was only $5.00 and the money is going to be used to buy the Combine. This is the front of the shirt.

Here is the back.

I had a great time in Griffith Park. It was a nice change of pace. It was a beautiful day not a cloud in the sky. The ride on the train was so fun! Kim and I really enjoyed it. I would love to go back there again.



On the bus ride back Michael and Jaime said they had Twelve tickets for Jimmy Kimmel Live. They were going to draw names and you could take another person if you wanted. Now Kim and I really wanted to go and were wishing for some pixie dust. So they start drawing names and quite a few people didn't want to go and they only had three tickets left when they drew Kim's name! WOOHOO we get too go to Jimmy Kimmel!!! We only had about an hour before we had to meet in front of the building where it is taped. It's a good thing it is just across the street from the Hotel. When we got off the bus they were passing out the pins for the day. Some how Kim and I didn't see them doing it and we were so excited about Jimmy Kimmel we head for the elevator. When we got in someone was talking about the pin of the day and Kim I are like OH NO WE MISSED IT. So, we went back down ran out and just caught Jaime and Michael and got our pin.

The pin on the left is one I bought at Walt's Barn, the other is the pin of the day.

We headed up stairs again freshened up and went across the street. We saw Heather and talked with her about where we thought Michael and Jaime would be. I saw Michael talking with one of the guys from the Jimmy Kimmel show. We headed over there. Michael introduced me to Link and he would be taking care of us till we got inside. They had us stand in a different line since we were guaranteed a seat. We had a family of four in front of us. I don't have any pictures because Kim and I decided we didn't want to check our cameras in at the door. I think we waited a total of thirty minutes outside before they let us in. Once we were let in we stood in the entry for another 20 minutes. Once we were let in they sat us. They must check out the people and seat them according to looks and clothing. we were in the middle upper part of the studio. On the show that night was Alyssa Milano, Jerry Weintraub and The Specials.
After Jimmey Kimmel all of us walked over to IN-N-OUT burger for dinner. I had a single cheeseburger with grilled onion, fries and a vanilla shake.

The theme of the day was LIGHT, CAMERA, ADVENTURE! The word of the day was HOLLYWOOD.

Up next Imagineering, the Studios and DL!

 

[franandaj]

Sounds like a lot of fun! Wow they sure do keep you busy! I wouldn't be able to keep up

 

[katscradle]

I am really enjoying your TR!
It was great to get to go to Jimmy Kimmel with you!
Then the neat jaunt to In-N-Out with most of the group that went to the show with us.

 

[aspen37]

Ok some how I missed posting pictures of the Pipe organ!


After Shopping we walked thru a connecting door over to the El Capitan. Wow is this place beautiful. We walked in found a seat and listened to Rob Richards play and talk about the "Mighty Wurlitzer" pipe organ. Let me say that this organ was just amazing. Every sound is an actual full size instrument. I just sat there with my mouth hanging open. This organ blows any surround sound I've ever heard away. Someone asked how long does it take to master the organ, he said a life time. Rob said he is still finding new stuff on the organ even now.
Here is a link to a website that talks about the Theatre and the organ. Also is a link about Rob.

http://www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/Capitan/elcapitan.html

http://www.disneylandreport.com/disneynews/050812disneyselcapitantheaterorganistrobrichards.html

Backstage

After the organ they played the Alice in Wonderland pre-show. It was very cool. Kim and I didn't have time to see a movie there, but it would be an Awesome place to watch a movie.

Next we went backstage. My pictures didn't come out from backstage. I figured out the flash right after we were done with backstage and going over to where the costumes were.

 

[aspen37]

I am really enjoying your TR!
It was great to get to go to Jimmy Kimmel with you!
Then the neat jaunt to In-N-Out with most of the group that went to the show with us.

Jimmy Kimmel was a lot of fun! We had a great time on this trip. I can't wait till December and the cruise!!!!!

 

[aspen37]

Sounds like a lot of fun! Wow they sure do keep you busy! I wouldn't be able to keep up

We were really busy! After the ABD stuff we would all go out and do stuff too. The night I saw you at DL we were running over to Big Thunder. We stayed till closing that night.

 

[3guysandagal]

Our 2.3 seconds of fame at Jimmie Kimmel.

Thanks to Bill (DisneyTaylors) for the screen shots!

We are in the spotlight area of the first pic, and the bottom center of the second, green and white stripe shirt row (Thats Bill), I'm the skull to the right.

Sorry you are not able to access it. I tried to be creative and take a shot of our 2.3 seconds of fame. This is as big as I can get it with any clarity and unfortunately not everyone is visible due to clapping hands. But at least this gives a glimpse of what the world saw of the ABD DISers.

- Bill

 

[Disneygrl36]

I really enjoyed Walt's Barn too!!!!! It was just chock full of so much cool memoribilia. Love the t-shirt. It looks like the same volunteers that we had were there for you too. I loved the guy that did most of the talking.....he & I had a great chat about Ollie Johnston.

 

[klam_chowder]

BTW, for the Ellen taping you can see us cheering in the audience for split seconds here and there; apparently there was a camera right behind us that was panning the crowd...unfortunately most of the show was pre-empted by an Obama announcement at the security summit

cheers,

 

[aspen37]

BTW, for the Ellen taping you can see us cheering in the audience for split seconds here and there; apparently there was a camera right behind us that was panning the crowd...unfortunately most of the show was pre-empted by an Obama announcement at the security summit

cheers,

I was watching the show yesterday and spotted us 4 times. The shots from the front were long
shots, so you needed to be looking for us to really see us. We were shown a lot more on Ellen than Jimmy Kimmel though.

 

[TheTXTaylors5]

I found your Trip Report! Yay!!!!

Jennifer

 

[katscradle]

Jimmy Kimmel was a lot of fun! We had a great time on this trip. I can't wait till December and the cruise!!!!!

Let the party begin!

 

[aspen37]

I just spent about an hour, maybe more filling out the ABD survey. It was long, but I had a few comments for them too. I hope they fix the food from the first night.

 

[knewton64]

I just spent about an hour, maybe more filling out the ABD survey. It was long, but I had a few comments for them too. I hope they fix the food from the first night.

....loving yer tr.


I have decided to have a "Backstage Magic" do over vacation and it's slated for Oct 28th for 7 nights......at Disney World.


more or less, here is what I have so far:


Oct 28th: La Nuba
Oct 29th: MNSSHP (never been to it & looking forward to it)
Oct 30th: Epcot
Oct 31st: Keys to the Kingdom tour
Nov 1st: Magic behind our steam trains
Nov 2nd: Am character brkfst at AK, then onto Hollywood studios
Nov 3rd: Dinner at Narcooses (for the perfect "Goodnight Kiss") so I can see the fireworks at MK
Nov 4th: Havent figured it out yet.
Am thinking real seriously about doing a trip report on this as it would give me an excellent opportunity to have WDW and such be shown in a professional way as it would also provide me an opportunity to compare the 2 presentations .



And I just e-mailed my travel agent, got the Ireland trip now secured.....with CEI International.
Ordered my money belt & clothes line just today.



P.S. any futher updated on yer tr????



T.T.F.N.

 

[aspen37]

....loving yer tr.


I have decided to have a "Backstage Magic" do over vacation and it's slated for Oct 28th for 7 nights......at Disney World.


more or less, here is what I have so far:


Oct 28th: La Nuba
Oct 29th: MNSSHP (never been to it & looking forward to it)
Oct 30th: Epcot
Oct 31st: Keys to the Kingdom tour
Nov 1st: Magic behind our steam trains
Nov 2nd: Am character brkfst at AK, then onto Hollywood studios
Nov 3rd: Dinner at Narcooses (for the perfect "Goodnight Kiss") so I can see the fireworks at MK
Nov 4th: Havent figured it out yet.
Am thinking real seriously about doing a trip report on this as it would give me an excellent opportunity to have WDW and such be shown in a professional way as it would also provide me an opportunity to compare the 2 presentations .



And I just e-mailed my travel agent, got the Ireland trip now secured.....with CEI International.
Ordered my money belt & clothes line just today.



P.S. any futher updated on yer tr????



T.T.F.N.

I'm so glad that you are going to have a do over trip!!! I think you will have a great time at WDW! I'm head to WDW on Wednesday for a trip with great friends!! Then I'm back in Sept/Oct for the Wine and Dine race. I have never done the Backstage tours at WDW, but have heard they are really good. Where are you staying when you are there?

Your plan sounds great. After seeing the trains at DL I would like to do the Magic behind our Steam Trains too at WDW.

I went to MNSSHP in 2008 and loved it. You'll have a great time.

I really would like to do the Ireland trip too. I will have to see what you think about it when you get back.

Thanks for reading my TR!

 

[aspen37]

Day Four April 15. Theme of the day is "Making the Magic". The word of the day is "WED Enterprises".

Once again it was a early morning. Breakfast was at Twist Restaurant. It was in the Hotel and a Buffet. It was a great meal.

After breakfast we got on the bus and headed over to Imagineering. I have been waiting to go here for a long time. My uncle was an Imagineer for Disney in the 90's and until her retired in 2005. He worked on many rides, but the one I like the most is Indiana Jones. The things he worked on were the big doors that open as you enter the ride, the flames, the spiders, the puff of air too simulate the arrows going by your head, the ball that rolls at you. Next time you ride look at the walls when you are rolling back before the ball rolls forward, because the vehicle is not moving, it is the walls that are moving. Back to Imagineering.... On the bus was a new guide Joey. He was a higher up at ABD and sent to make sure the rest of our trip went well. He was very nice and seemed very sweet. The guides explained that we needed to vote on whether we wanted to take time out of lunch so we could have longer to shop or leave the time at 1/2 hour for shopping. Everyone voted on shopping longer.

The bus ride over to Imagineering.

WB studios.

One of the Disney Buildings.

We arrive at Imagineering and were told you must leave all cameras in the bus. We waited out front for our guide Dave and our Guest pass that we must wear at all times. Dave took us inside so we could watch a movie about the history of Imagineering. When that was over we all stood up and Dave said he had a special guest that wanted to meet us, it was Lucky the Dinosaur. I have been wanting to see Lucky for a few years and new I would on this tour. I had tears in my eyes when I saw him. I understand that he is not real and is Animatronic, but the child in me forgets and believes he is real. So I think Miguel was called up to meet Lucky and get his Autograph. His Autograph is a four leaf clover. Everyone was allowed to come up and get their photo taken with Lucky. Kim and I got a picture together and separate. Lucky is made of some kind of foam and is very soft I was over the moon after meeting Lucky.
We were then split up and our group went to the Sculpting Room first. When we walked in I went and stood in front the Animatronic Joe Cocker. I had seen it on YouTube from the D23 Expo and was hoping we would see him in action. We saw a Cast of Johnny Depp for his Animatronic for Pirates of the Caribbean Ride and he talked about some other stuff then introduced us to Joe. It was really fun seeing this Animatronic doing his thing less than a couple of feet from my face. Here is a link to the YouTube video. They had the heads working also for us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpEP-N-9Vec




Then he started talking about the Original Snow White Marble Statues that are in the room, was interrupted by the other group waiting their turn in the room. They decided that they would tell the story when all of were together. So off we went to the Sound studio where we took a seat and put on headphones and were explained what Binaural Recording was and was played an example of a Binaural Recording. They turned off all the lights so you had too focus on the sound. It was very cool. Next we went back and hear the story of the Snow White statues. Here is a very short version. They were not a gift from an anonymous person like has been said for years, they were commissioned for Disneyland. After quite a few years out in the elements they were showing signs of wear. They were replaced and the originals were placed in crates and stored in a warehouse till one day a worker was moving the crates around and the one holding Snow White fell and she broke into pieces. She was fixed and and that is when the idea of placing them in the sculpture room permanently. We then were broken up into our groups so we could have our group photo taken with the sculptures. Next we went into the room where they make all the architectural models. It was very cool. We saw the model for Fantasyland. We were told that what was revealed at D23 Expo is not what Fantasyland is going to be like. They were getting ready to dismantle the model. What I remember was that they were not going to have as many Princess meet and greets as first planned and were going to put more rides in. Thank goodness for that!
I kept turning and looking at these HUGE pieces they were making that looked like they were 10ft high and reminded me of the brooms in DHS in Florida from Fantasia. Finally someone asked what they were for, David said they were going in the new Disney Dream Cruise Ship. Very cool, now I can't wait to sail on her so I can see where they end up.

Here is a picture someone found of the miniature sculptures of what we saw.

After that it was off to Mickey's of Glendale the Imagineering store. It was funny seeing everyone run around like chickens with their heads cut off buying stuff. I on the other hand decided I would only spend $100.00. We had a coupon for 40% off one item. I chose a sweatshirt for the 40% coupon. I got pins and a T-Shirt. I bought pins for my friends as gifts. They will be receiving them next week while I am in WDW with them. The winners of most money spent was John and Katherine. I walked by John at one point and looked in his hand cart and it was half full of pins! Maybe he will be nice and post some pictures of what they bought. I will take pictures of the Sweatshirt and T-Shirt and post them later, but here are the pins.

This is a rope type lanyard.

Next up was The Studios and the Archives. We walk thru the Studios and arrive at the building where the Archives are at.

Walking thru the studios

The Disney Water Tower

The building where the archives are held.

The Multiplane Camera

When we were waiting to be let in we were told that Dave Smith waited as long as he could but had to leave. I think were a hour or two behind schedule at this point. I was very disappointed because to me Dave Smith is the Archives.

This is the wardrobe from the Lion and THe Witch and the Wardrobe

 

[aspen37]

Here are some pictures I forgot to post.

The flattie boys hanging with the falttie Marilyn

On our way to Imagineering

 

[aspen37]

The guy who did the presentation was OK, but it was not the same as Dave. I will post a link to a YouTube video someone did of the D23 tour that Dave did. We saw everything that Dave showed. Then after we saw the the items we were allowed to have our picture taken with one of Walt's Oscars. The one difference between Dave's tour and this one was that Dave played the bird that Walt found on the trip to South America that inspired his to make the first Animatronic. After most people left he played the bird for the few of us left. It was very cool. I tried to get a video of it with my Iphone, but must have turned it off because when I played it back there was nothing. Then we went and took pictures of the multiplane camera and a restroom break.

Here is the link for the Archives video. There are 4 videos. The tour we got was nothing like Dave's tour.
Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wn8mlHOvrk
Part two
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZXJRUlIpro&feature=channel
Part three
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2MzX5xrwPg&feature=channel
Part four
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1JcCbqLSIY&feature=channel

The bird was running and singing her little heart out when I took this picture.