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

[aspen37]

We will be seeing a HUGE version of this in Legends plaza.

My last picture in the Archives

The Multiplane Camera

 

[aspen37]

Now we are off then to have lunch at the Studio commissary. We only had 15 minutes to get our food! We had spent so much time shopping that we almost missed lunch. Kim and I ended up having Panda Express. It is a fast food Chinese Place. Because it was now only 10 minutes till close we didn't have much to choose from. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of my food.

The flatties hanging out in the commissary.

After that we walked over to Pluto's Corner.

Then we were off to the Animation Building.

As we were walking Michael was talking about the buildings and history. I was so far in back that I did not hear anything he said.
When we arrived at the Animation building they talked to us for a few minutes and of course I was off taking pictures and not listening.

 

[aspen37]

We then interred the animation build, I was moving a little more slower than most people because I was taking picture of most of the art on the walls. We just walked thru the building and that was it.

Next up Legends Plaza. This was another place I couldn't wait to see.

 

[aspen37]

I couldn't wait to see Legends Plaza. Getting to see the Partners statue up close is pretty cool. We did get a group picture taken with the partner statue, but I won't have it till we get the CD from ABD. The CD will be sent to Kim and then I must wait fir her to make me a copy and send it to me.

I would have never found him if it wasn't for Melanie's TR! THanks Melanie!!!

After Legends Plaza we were let loose in the Studios store. I just bought two pins, one for me and one as a gift.

 

[Tonya2426]

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.

Here is the video I took of the little bird:

 

[aspen37]

Then I used the restroom and went and took pictures of the Hyperion building. Here is a link for the history on the Studios.



http://studioservices.go.com/disneystudios/history.html



The restroom was back in the commissary.

Heather reading the plaque.

I then headed over to the bus.

While I was walking over there this Disney Squirrel ran right up to me and stared at me. I knew he wanted a little snack but I didn't have anything to give him. I explained that I didn't have any food and I was sorry, he just looked at me and then left. It was pretty funny.

I saw Jamie and Joey standing outside the bus and we talked till the rest of the group showed up. They pointed out Sound Stage Two as the Sound Stage where Perry Poppins was filmed.

I new we should have been shown the outside of the soundstage and taken pictures of the plaque, but we were behind schedule as it was. I then asked how behind were we and Jamie said at this point and hour.

I think it was around 3:45.

 

[Tonya2426]

Prince of Persia!!! Be still my heart. (Nice to see my movie poster on the side of a building.)

 

[aspen37]

Here is the video I took of the little bird:

Thank you Tonya, I was hoping someone would post a video of the little birdie.

 

[aspen37]

Prince of Persia!!! Be still my heart. (Nice to see my movie poster on the side of a building.)

Does Rob have some competition?

 

[aspen37]

I new at this point we were going to hit rush hour traffic and Jamie said it could take a long time to get to DL.

Good bye Disney Studios.

Once we hit the road we were in the middle of rush hour traffic!

Arriving at DL!

I was so happy to see the Grand Californian Hotel.

Kim went to check us in while I took pictures.

Everyone checking in.

I noticed it was taking a long time and went too see what was up. They didn't show us and others as staying an extra night. I went over and asked Jamie if he new what was going on and he said he new about it and don't worry they would take care of it. I told Kim what Jamie said and we got our keys. Then Jamie explained to everyone that was staying an extra night, that they would have to come down stairs and recheck-in and get our keys rekeyed. We were not happy about that. We then decided to go to the room because we had about 45 minutes before we were to meet for dinner. Jamie and Joey saw us and asked if everything was OK. Kim explained it was a pain too have to come back on Sunday and have our keys rekeyed. I have to say that they listened to us because during our last dinner on Saturday they had new keys for everyone staying and they checked us in for Sunday and gave us the new keys. Kudos them for taking care of this.

So we head over to our room and I start taking pictures of the room and I went outside and took pictures of all of us looking over the balcony. John is hanging off the balcony asking if the other DVC owners received a gift bag. I asked Kim if she got one and she hadn't. I told her I would complain to DVC about it. Off she went to the DVC desk. She talked to them and they didn't know what she was talking about. They didn't know of any gifts left for guests. We found out by Heather the next day that it was left their by one of her friends for Katherine and John and not DVC, they didn't read the card she left with the bag. Kim felt bad that she went and complained about not getting a gift bag when DVC had nothing to do with it.

See next post for the pictures of the view.

 

[aspen37]

Sorry I was over my photo limit.

Kathy and John, hi guys!

Miguel, Matthew and Sharon, Hi!!!

We had a view of Down Town Disney.

I loved having the view. After Kim left they started playing music by the fence at DTD.

One night I sat out on the balcony and listened to the music, watched the Monorail and downloaded picture. It was so relaxing.

 

[franandaj]

Yay! you made it to the GCH, so you were in the part of the hotel that overlooked the Monorail and DTD? What was your room number? No wonder we had no chance of running into each other at the hotel, the DVC rooms are completely on the opposite end of the hotel!

You've been busy today! I'm totally enjoying your TR! The pictures are great!

 

[Tonya2426]

Does Rob have some competition?

Well, Jake doesn't have a reputation of being smelly and is a bit more age appropriate - so, yes!!! Maybe there will have to be a Prince of Persia Flattie on my next trip. (I wonder if my Cricut has a persian prince costume on it???)

 

[aspen37]

We met in the lobby and walked over to the Disneyland Hotel.

The light fixture when you enter the Disneyland Hotel from DTD.

We were suppose to have Wine tasting at The Wine Cellar and Dinner at Hook's Point, but ABD had a surprise for us, we were eating at Steakhouse 55!

We had the bar area to ourselves for appetizers. It was a nice surprise.

These were the wines we could try. I don't like wine so I didn't have any. Kim tried them and really liked one of them. I think it was the Dr. Loosen wine. I just had a coke.

They came around while we were eating our apps and took down our order for dinner. I ordered the salad no dressing and the New York Steak.

Then after we were done with the apps we were taken to the dinning room for dinner. We sat with Tonya and her mom Carol and Katherine and John.

I want to say that Tonya's mom was really nice and a lot of fun. She even helped Tonya dress the flatties.

This bread was very good!

I forgot to take a picture of my salad!

My steak came and it looks small for a New York, but it's not a big deal since we had a lot of apps. I cut it open and it is not cooked how I like it. I ordered it Med-Rare. It was WELL DONE. It was like cardboard. I tell the waiter and he brought me a new steak and it was perfect.

The dessert was very yummy! I could only eat about a quarter of it because I was so full.

At this point it was around 8:45 and we really wanted to get to the park. I used my iphone to check park hours and DL was open till 11:00 and DCA was already closed. Not long after we talked about asking for our park hopper and leaving the guides announce we are heading over to DL for some park time.

Look Kim is DEAD TIRED!

When we took this picture a little girl was looking at Kim like "what is she doing"? It was really funny. Her mom told her to get away from us.

 

[aspen37]

Yay! you made it to the GCH, so you were in the part of the hotel that overlooked the Monorail and DTD? What was your room number? No wonder we had no chance of running into each other at the hotel, the DVC rooms are completely on the opposite end of the hotel!

You've been busy today! I'm totally enjoying your TR! The pictures are great!

We were in 4315 I think. It was a great view! Kim said when she stayed at GC before the room was smaller then this room. I had thought the room would be smaller too. It was a nice surprise that we had more room than we thought we would. I really like the room.

We were so busy on Thursday and Friday. I didn't take as many picture as I thought I would. We were so busy I had too remember to take pictures.

We were both dead tired every night. I did not have any problem sleeping.

 

[aspen37]

Well, Jake doesn't have a reputation of being smelly and is a bit more age appropriate - so, yes!!! Maybe there will have to be a Prince of Persia Flattie on my next trip. (I wonder if my Cricut has a persian prince costume on it???)

Hmm a prince on the cruise would be great!

So I'm not sure if you want to tell your story about what happened with your luggage? It is your story so if you want to tell it, it might be helpful to other people who go on the trip.

 

[aspen37]

We are off to the front of DL. They are going to pass out our park hoppers to us there. As we are standing and waiting they tell us that they have a fastpass for everyone that can be used for any fastpass ride that night. THen they tell us that they are going to take us the thru the exit of the Haunted Mansion so we don't have to wait in line. THe other surprise is that they have two subs for us if we want to ride The Nemo Submarine Ride and we won't have to wait! WOOHOO!

They pass out both the park hopper and fastpass ticket.

They had a turnstile open just for our group and off we went to the Haunted Mansion.

The park was packed because everyone was lined up and waiting for the fireworks. I love that the marquee says Traffic Trouble. They got that right!

Follow that sign!

Here we are at the HM! Our first ride of the trip!!!

Once we got there they really didn't need to bring us thru the exit because NO one was inline. The fireworks were going off at that time. They took us thru the exit anyway. We all ride Haunted Mansion and were told that we were the only people on the ride while we were in the Haunted Mansion.

Next we were off to Nemo. I had not been on this yet. I had been on the old Submarine ride, but it had been at least twenty years since I had rode it. This is the end of our night with the guides. We are given our pin of the day and say goodnight.

Our pin for the day.

So 40 adults board the sub and we are off to the land or should I saw Ocean with Nemo.

We don't get very far when we hear a loud thud and the sub shakes. I'm sitting right below the sub driver and we over hear him talking to someone and saying that the sub "flew up in the air"! The person says back "just keep going". We were cracking up, but a little worried. Then we hear John say "there is water around his feet" and we all start laughing till we hear the thud again. Later on we realize that we must have weighed too much because we didn't have any children in the sub with us.

Next up was Space Mountain. We all go to to Space Mountain for a ride. I had not been on it since they redid it and I was excited about it. We use our fastpass and it was about a 15 minute wait. We board and off we go for a ride into space, at least we thought. We were taken off to the left and stopped in front of a BIG BLACK CURTIN. Kim and I were wondering what was going on? THen a CM brought over a metal ladder and Tonya and I can't remember who else was in front were taken off. Then the next row was taken off. When they got to the next row we could hear the CM say that we were over the weight limit!!! OMG this was one of the funniest thing to ever happen to me at the parks.

This is when we realize what had happened on the Submarine ride. We were hitting the bottom because we were over weight. These rides were not made for just adults to ride them. We didn't have any kids with us on this trip. So we are all cracking up and making comments about how we need to lose weight. The CM then tells us this happens all the time, none of us believe her though. We had to split up in order to ride. I love the Space Mountain at DL. It was a much smoother ride and like having the music. After this we decide we are done for the night. It was such a great day!

I don't know how to explain what a great day this was. If you are a person who loves the parks and is interested in the behind the scenes you should try and do this trip. It was worth the money.

Next up Club 33, Walt's Apartment, the Lilly Belle and a surprise from ABD.

 

[franandaj]

We were suppose to have Wine tasting at The Wine Cellar and Dinner at Hook's Point, but ABD had a surprise for us, we were eating at Steakhouse 55!

You guys got some awesome upgrades on this trip, when did you arrive? Thursday night? We ate at Steakhouse 55 on Friday which must have been the night after you guys were there!

 

[aspen37]

You guys got some awesome upgrades on this trip, when did you arrive? Thursday night? We ate at Steakhouse 55 on Friday which must have been the night after you guys were there!

Yeah, it was Thursday when we ate at Steakhouse 55. They really tried hard to make this a special trip for our group. It really was an awesome trip. It went by so so fast, before I knew it the week was over and it was time to leave DL!
The next time I'm at DL I would like to try Steakhouse 55 on my own. I would like to pick something off the menu. I'm sure it is very hard to feed 47 people at one time. They did a great job though.

 

[Tonya2426]

Hmm a prince on the cruise would be great!

So I'm not sure if you want to tell your story about what happened with your luggage? It is your story so if you want to tell it, it might be helpful to other people who go on the trip.

I'm still planning on doing a trip report so I will give the Readers Digest version.

When we got back to our room at 11:30 that night and opened our door to find our room empty.

Our luggage was lost!!!!

It never arrived at the hotel. I have a few theories on what happened but essentially it never made it on the ABD bus and Mom and I were without out luggage until 6 pm the next day when we had to retrieve it from Bell Services ourselves. Our Guides were somewhat helpful that night but essentially dropped the ball in some aspects. They brought us a bare basics toilitries kit and two t-shirts to sleep in that night but by the time it was determined that our luggage was not at the Grand Californian at 1:30 am it was too late to do much. I was not a happy camper to be wearing the same underwear the next day. Not. One. Bit. (This is when I need a foot stomping, arm crossing, bottom lip pouting princess smiley)