UPDATED! They've Been Some Long Ones! Nov. 9-23, 2008 PLUS 2006, 2007 & now WDW 2009!

[travelmel]

Aww.... my pleasure mariezp. Sometimes encouragement is the best spice for life, isn't it??

DL55, that is the cutest little mistetoe smiley in your siggie

 

[mariezp]

DL55, that sounds like an opportunity to me! I can hear it now..."Honey, you did want to go to Disneyland, now didn't you?"


travelmel, encouragement is a wonderful thing!

I'm so encouraged now that I am gonna go work on my report now!

 

[LivinInTheCastle]

Hey Marie-still here and enjoying the TR.

Love the pic of Mickey on the Jungle cruise, looks like he's patting the skipper on the behind!

 

[LivinInTheCastle]

Oh Marie---My DH and I went to Marceline one time (yup walt's "hometown") and I got to MEET Tony Baxter. He was having lunch, so I waited until he finished, summoned up some courage and walked over and asked for his autograph, told him I was/am a BIG fan and then he took a photo with me, and he had his arm around me in it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mariezp]

LivinInTheCastle, glad you are still enjoying the TR. I have to tell you that I am green with envy! I bet Tony Baxter was such a nice guy! So now...where's the picture? I bet going to Marceline was pretty cool too! Do they use Walt's name for a pretty big tourist draw there? Did it look just like Main Street?

 

[mariezp]

November 20, 2008

I finally had to say I was leaving this morning at 11:00 before I could get my family out the door. UGH! DD and I headed to CA.

My mission for the day was to get our free Disney Visa 5x7. We got there at about 11:13 and there was no line so we were able to get our photo taken with Pluto. Actually we ended up with several photos.

When we were through we had just enough time to make it to the 11:30 showing of Playhouse Disney.

This was our first time to enjoy the new changes to the show.

DD really enjoyed it. While she is a bit older than the majority of kids already it is going to be sad when she outgrows it because it is a cute show. I just hate to see her grow up!

Next we headed over to the Animation Building to look around.

DD decided she wanted to watch Crush again.

She got to talk to him and he gave her the name Electric Eel Emma. This time he even talked to Mondo Marie, her parental unit. He asked if she was always asking me questions. I said yes she does but mostly she usually thinks she knows all the answers! DD kept waving her hands wildly and he even picked her a second time. Later he was telling us about how if his wife lays her eggs in the hot sand that they would all be girl turtles and if she laid them in the cool sand they would all be boy turtles. He said that is why dudes are cool and chicks are hot!

Next we went in to the Animation Academy. We were disappointed because the character they were drawing was Minnie again. I found out later that you can ask at the podium and they can tell you in advance which character they will be drawing. Anyway, a second time did not help. Poor Minnie’s bow still did not look quite right. Here’s my drawing from both times:

and DD’s:

There was a nice surprise… the artist gave DD his picture that he had been drawing along with us.

 

[mariezp]

Continued...

After our art class we looked around some more.

DD’s character was...

and I was...

DD tried again and faked some answers. This time she came out...

Then DD added her voice to the Bambi scene. She did an excellent job!

Me… well, let’s just say her acting was much better than mine. We don’t even want to talk about my singing!

DH had called and said that he and DS would fend for themselves for lunch so I decided that DD and I and I would go ahead and keep our PS for Café Orleans which I had planned to skip since I didn’t think the guys really cared to go there. We picked up our free 5x7 on the way out of CA and headed over to DL. It was bright and sunny outside today!

Once we got inside the park and were about to get on the train to head to NOS, DH called again. They decided to go ahead and meet us for a glass of tea and would meet us at Cafe Orleans.

Oh how I wish the next two pictures had turned out better! As you can see I was playing with the fisheye camera again. DH and DS were making goofy faces at when while I was telling them about the camera. DS was actually supposed to be making a fish face... not sure about DH. I am surrounded by a bunch of goofballs! I don't care as long as they are having fun!

We had already been seated when they arrived. DS had already had a turkey leg which he has decided is one of his favorite meals this trip. DH had already had part of a chimichanga but had thrown most of it away. He didn’t like them any better than I had last time I had tried one. I ordered the 3 cheese Monte Cristo, an order of Pomme Frites and some Beignets, knowing that DH would end up willing to help me and DD with the meal. I also got DS an order of Banana Bread Pudding. I have learned that prices are high but the portions are huge! If we ever eat here again the Pomme Frites and Beignets will be plenty. I say if because the service was incredibly SLOW! We had 3 different wait persons so perhaps they didn’t know whose table we were. I hope they realized they didn’t do a very good job because I only left them a $5 tip. The last straw was when it took them another 5 minutes to get my bill settled. I wanted to use the last of my Disney Rewards to pay for the meal. My total bill was $52 and some change. I had $50 and some change left on the card and I threw in a 10 dollar bill to cover the difference. I guess it blew their mind because it took them some time to come back to the table with my card and the change.

When we finally got out of there we headed to Fantasyland so the guys could ride Snow White and Pinocchio to mark them off their list without embarrassing themselves by being seen alone on the kiddie rides. Somewhere along the way they decided to change their plan to include everything they had already been on. I assume because the were running out of time to get it all done in one day.

Next we headed to Roger Rabbit which was finally open for the first time since we got here. I never get good pictures in here! Perhaps if I weren't whirling out of control!

Then we wandered the streets of Toontown for awhile.

 

[mariezp]

Continued...

Afterwards, we took the train back to NOS so DS and I could ride Splash before heading back to our room for a late afternoon rest.

DD and I were willing to stay and skip our break but DS wanted to go back so like a good family we all headed back with him. We stopped off and picked up the Parasol that we had painted for DD. I really wanted to stay and try to find some Photopass photographers so we could get more pictures on our account but no matter how many hints I dropped they just didn’t seem to get it.

After a good rest we headed back to the park. Our first stop was Autopia.

The ride is sorta fun but nothing amazing. I can never understand why the line is so long. I had a car that bounced and sputtered so much I wasn’t real sure it was going to make it back. However, eventually, after a booming backfire that scared me and made me emit a little scream, we did finally make it around the track.

From there we headed to Small World for our second trip before the big crowd hits tomorrow for the “official” opening. We had about a 20 minute wait but it was already dark outside so waiting in line wasn’t so bad because it is really beautiful with all the lights on. I still did not notice any big changes.

Next we rode Peter Pan for our last ride of the night. While waiting we noticed that there are some pretty unusual people in the park. I think we found the most unique characters right their in line with us! Now I know some people find it necessary to make a state statement with the clothing they wear. I often have trouble trying to figure out just what it is they are trying to say! The couple in question were very “unique”. She was very beautiful and the more reserved of the two in her style. He, however, had on bright turquoise blue glasses, skin tight orange pants and a mid drift shirt. They both were wearing face paint. It did give us something to ponder while we were in line.

Next we rode Dumbo. When we got off the park was closing. On the way out we noticed that they had moved in new decorations in preparation for tomorrow. Also, there were tables set up in front of Plaza Inn with a sign about a live broadcast by a radio station. Over the arches by the train station there was a sign which said they were having a private after hours party for the holiday season kick off. Upon exiting the turnstiles there were booths labeled A-Z in front of the ticket booths apparently for people to pick up tickets and a pretty good line started for entry into the park.

Only 2 more days here in California and tomorrow we get to go meet Santa!

 

[Sherry E]

Those license plates on the Autopia cars are supposed to mean something - some sort of Disney inside jokes - but I can never guess what any of them mean.

The character I was most like when I took that quiz (and answered honestly) in the Beast's Library was Lady. Great. I am not even human, I am a canine! Shawn came up with Lady, too, which is odd because I am SURE we answered some of those questions differently! Hmmm.... In any case, she wasn't content with Lady and wanted to go back and choose the option of 'eating people for dinner' or whatever it was just so she could get a different result!

Did you do the Disneyland history trivia quiz in the Blue Sky Cellar in DCA? It scores you based on how many answers you get right on the first try, rather than what you get right on the second or third try. Anyway, it is interesting to gauge how much you know about the origins of DLR and Walt Disney, etc. The questions are sort of common sense-type things, but I did get a couple of them wrong, and I think they had higher levels to go to after that which I am sure I would have failed miserably!

What kind of camera do you use, Marie? Aside from the crazy fisheye and Disney cameras, what 'normal' camera do you use? Is it a point and shoot? If so, it's a good one. The pictures always look especially clear and bright - even in dark places like the Beast's Library, etc.

I really love Roger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin. The line was 40 minutes when we were at DLR recently so we skipped it that time, but I really enjoy it. I think that is my favorite of what would be considered the 'kid rides' in DL. (I don't count Buzz Lightyear as a kid ride.) I can handle that wild, jerky spinning much better than the spinning on the Teacups!

 

[DL55]

Those fish eye photos make me feel like I'm dreaming. I do have weird dreams.
You can't hint to men you have to tell them.

 

[BC Disney Lover]

Your trip report is great and I love that I got mentioned in it. It was so great to meet a DIS'er in the park, that was our first day!

 

[mariezp]

Sherry E, I don't guess I have ever noticed the license plates. I am probably usually concentrating on pushing those darn hard-to-push-gas-pedals!

I think Shawn and Emma had the same idea. Go for one of the more sinister characters! From what you have told us of you and Shawn, I don't think the character test works accurate either if you both got the same character.

Nope, didn't go in the Blue Sky Cellar. I figure as much info as I garner from reading everywhere I probably already know about most of what they are planning to do. I might have to go check it out anyway just to see how I do on the trivia though. I'll put it on the list right now! Okay... I'm back! That was pretty cool because I just noticed there were some things I was actually able to cross OFF the list!

My camera is a Panasonic DMC-TZ5. I love it! It is very easy to use. I got it to replace my Canon Powershot A640 which was giving me trouble on the auto focus. I am still considering getting it fixed because I think it was just a bit better on the photo quality BUT I really love the smaller size of the new Panasonic. It's always something! Anyway, sorry to ramble! And thanks for the compliment! I have to confess that I did do some photo editing and brighten a few shots but after I played around with some of the settings my pictures certainly did improve straight from the camera.

Yep, the old fisheye camera is unique. I have seen some photos that look way dreamier than mine but what can I say? I am just an amatuer and really haven't a clue as to what I am doing! Still, it was fun and gave me some different looking pictures. I think I am going to do some with the black and white theme next trip.

Roger's okay but 40 minutes? No way! I don't think we ever have waited that long for any ride... well, maybe Nemo.

DL55, who knows maybe those fisheye pics will give your weird dreams some new material to work with!
You are so right about hinting with men. I have a feeling that with these two even if I had told them outright they still wouldn't have "got it".

BC Disney Lover! I wish I would have had some time to stop and chit chat with you! I hope you all had a great trip too!

WHOO HOO! I MADE MY 1000th POST!

 

[LivinInTheCastle]

LivinInTheCastle, glad you are still enjoying the TR. I have to tell you that I am green with envy! I bet Tony Baxter was such a nice guy! So now...where's the picture? I bet going to Marceline was pretty cool too! Do they use Walt's name for a pretty big tourist draw there? Did it look just like Main Street?

He was a very nice man. I walked up holding a pen and paper (to ask for his autograph) and he could see I was shaking and said to me, now what have you got there? In the friendliest voice! He even drew me a little picture! And yes Walt's name is everywhere! They even have plaques all around the town saying Walt played here, Walt used to shop here, etc. You can even go (only outsie) to the house he lived in, they have a small museum with LOTS of stuff from his life, especially several hand written letters, but alas--no photos in there, darn it!

I will have to ask my Dh to help me but the photo on here. I have it on my cell phone, but I don't think I can transfer it from there to here!!

 

[mariezp]

Sounds like a fun place!
There is bound to be a way to get that picture! If you figure it out... let me know. I have some trapped in my phone too!

 

[mariezp]

November 21, 2008

We actually made it out the door by 10:15 this morning! On our way through the baggage check tables I noticed these signs that I had never noticed before.

Once in the park we headed straight for the Reindeer Roundup via Frontierland to get our chance to see Santa.

The wait was probably about 40 minutes and would not have even been that bad if there had just been some SHADE! Thankfully, you got to enter the building for part of the wait which helped alleviate some of the heat. I amused myself by taking way too many pictures of the Christmas decorations.

When we nearly reached Santa a CM named Amber approached us and wanted to be our buddy. I said “Ohhh? So now what does that mean?” She said “It’s not bad. I’m just gonna hang out here and talk to you and entertain you while Santa takes a 10 minute break.” I knew there had to be a catch. Just our luck! It wasn’t so bad and she did keep us busy and was very sweet with DD. She talked to her the entire time, showed her around and let her keep Santa’s chair warm for him until...

 

[DL55]

That's definitely a snowwoman. (spell check doesn't approve, only snowman )

 

[mariezp]

I had to go back and undo my post because I thought I had hit the button for the first part of my report but it got lost somewhere and I ended up posting the second part. So now if all goes well when I hit the button again everything will be in order! Follow?

DL55, your comment got caught in between posts so your comment looks like you were able to predict the future.

 

[mariezp]

Continued...

Santa showed back up!

If you have never seen Disneyland’s Santa he is great! Just like you would expect… nice and plump with rosy cheeks and a big smile. DD told him she wanted a roll over puppy and for her friend Mikayla to come see us during her Christmas break. (she got both) He said he would see what he could do. Amber headed out the door a bit ahead of us. She was too fast for us to catch up with. I wanted to give her one of our special CM buttons. I finally spotted her in the crowd, probably 30 minutes later, and was able to give it to her.

We went out side and wandered around checking out the reindeer and Christmassy atmosphere of the area.

Then we mosied over to the tables in front of the stage. Our plan was to decorate some Christmas cookies so we went and made our cookie purchase before finding a seat. DD picked out a gingerbread man and I took a snowman. We grabbed some coloring pages and found ourselves a table and sat down to watch the shows. DD went to work coloring and decorating her cookie.

Eventually she got interested in the shows and left me in the middle of my cookie decorating and went and sat up front on the benches to get a better view. I stayed with all our stuff and finished decorating my cookie.

 

[mariezp]

Continued...

We sat so long that we had time to watch all the different shows alternating from Farley the Fiddler to Johnny the Magician to Miss Chris. In between shows they played games. The area is really fun! Also, between shows each entertainer came out into the audience to sign autographs, talk pictures and visit with the guests. There were also some big furry characters wandering the area.

During one “intermission” Johnny the Magician came over and began talking with me and DD, who graced me with her presence every now and then when she wasn’t too busy. We talked with him for a good while and told him how much we enjoyed his show. DD pipes up and asks him if she can be in his next show. I try to hush her and as he leaves he asks where we are from and her name. He takes the stage and when he looks for a volunteer he calls “his friend, Emma from Texas” up to the stage! She got to help him pull the bunny out of the hat. She was so excited!

They do an amazing job with the decorating and entertainment at Big Thunder Ranch. However, I have a major complaint after having tried to watch the shows this year! There were quite a few management type looking people milling around in the area with notepads, no doubt taking notes on how things were going. No problem there. It is great that they have people who pay attention to things. What I did find to be VERY ANNOYING is that they should have taken notice of guests around them before they decided to STOP and watch the show! They have a large number of tables set up so you can see the show behind several rows of benches while you color and decorate the cookies. Would you not assume that they also intend for you to be able to see the show from the tables? I cannot even remember how many times different management people stopped right in front of me and obstructed my view when there were plenty of other places they could have stopped. I was pretty noticeable sitting there trying to take photos of my DD who had been chosen to participate in the show. I know the simplest thing would have been to move up front but my point is that it was NOT a simple thing because I would have had to move all out stuff. DD was not through decorating her cookie so she had icing and sprinkles scattered about along with colors and her coloring pages, not to mention our coats, my purse, and my cookie stuff. I finally took a chance and left our stuff sitting on the table while I got closer to watch her.

DD was having such a good time and honestly, so was I. We had spent the entire morning at Big Thunder Ranch. I hated to make her go but our guys showed up and got restless and hungry so I broke the news to her that it was time for us to go in search of food.

She finished up her cookie and then we left. (Too bad the BBQ joint isn’t still in the area. I am sure she could have gotten in another 30 minutes if I could have just had something to feed the men folk!)

 

[mariezp]

Continued...

The guys had just come from CA and had tales to share. While they were waiting in line for Screamin and after about a 30 minute wait the ride went down. After that they headed to TSMM and were on the ride, nearly to the end of setting a 200,000 record when it broke down. They were sure they were the cause of both breakdowns. They had enjoyed being walked out of TSMM and they did get some free passes so they were in pretty good humor.

DS had enjoyed a turkey leg a few days ago so he decided he would make another attempt at eating a whole one so he went to grab one and met us at Rancho de Zocalo. DH and I grabbed our food which was only so-so. DD did not like it at all. DS did not manage to eat the entire turkey leg but he did give us a good laugh. (I doubt very many of you have watched Ernest Goes to Africa but if you have you will understand why images of Ernest were going through my head.) DS was trying to wipe some of the greasy leftover mess from his face when the napkin decided to adhere itself to his lips. We were all laughing because as he was trying to remove the napkin from his lips it looked like he had a horrendous case of chapped lips and they were peeling right off. Guess you had to be there. Sadly, we are easily amused!

Our next stopped planned was to be Pirates but somewhere along our path we remembered that we had not had the opportunity to see the lovely Sally Mae of the Laughing Stock Company. So we stopped in at the Golden Horseshoe to see when their next performance would start. Unfortunately, they were not performing today, and we missed them our whole trip, but the Billie’s show was scheduled to start in 20 minutes so I convinced the guys to stay and watch because they had never seen them. We started upstairs but didn’t like the available view so we moved downstairs and got a pretty good seat not too close to the stage; just to be sure we were not chosen to be a participant. DS started glancing at the menu posted above the counter and decided he could go for a dessert so he hopped in the line and came back with a really yummy looking rootbeer float. When he sat it down on the table it started bubbling. DH and I were trying to tell him that he had better get started drinking but he didn’t think it would keep bubbling. Lo And behold, DH and I were right, as parents often are, and his float started bubbling right over the top like a volcano! Poor DS…. having just been attacked by a napkin and now a rootbeer float. It was about this time that I got really annoyed with myself because my memory card and the extra one I had carried were both full from BTR so I was unable to document either of these events (to save for blackmailing my son later) or be able to get any Billy Hill Pictures or any others until we went back to our room. (Luckily, DH did have the video camera so I have been able to watch the Billie show again since our trip.)

Meanwhile, after we had a really good laugh with DS the show started. It was their Christmas show and we loved it, especially the part where one of the brothers keeps coming out as the different ghosts from A Christmas Carol and eerily calls out Billlllleeeee, Billlllleeeee. This show really helped get us in the Christmas spirit and we have been laughing about it even still. DS was laughing so I consider their first show a big hit. DH even said he wanted to be sure and watch it again on our next trip.

From there we finally made our way over to Pirates for our umpteenth time. This time I decided to look for the Goofy hat, which I saw, and the animatronic with Walt’s face. I never could confirm the second one.

We decided to take a late break so we started heading out of the park. The first Christmas parade was in progress so as we neared Main Street it was really getting crowded. Of course, with no camera, I spotted a celebrity… Maynard. I called out to him and he stopped and began playing with DD’s Speedy Gonzales that she had been carrying with her. He was calling it a hamster which annoyed her but we still had her pose with him while DH grabbed a picture with the video camera.

After that, to avoid the crowds, we slipped through the shops, which worked like a charm, and arrived out by the Firehouse in no time. Once through the arches, I requested that we get a family Picture taken in front of the Mickey floral. It was pretty sunny and after 14 days I am beginning to look pretty tired. Of course, one photo led to another...

Then we headed back for a rest so we would have some renewed energy for some evening rides and our PS for Fantasmic. We stopped in at Cold Stone Creamery for an icy cold treat and a round of singing after we tipped them. This time our song was “We will, we will, serve you” sung to the tune of We will rock you…. Complete with music banged out on the counter. DS and I were impressed because we both like the Queen version.

DS and DD are both missing Jiu-Jitsu class so they started rolling around on one of the beds which was good….

because DD’s loose tooth got knocked out!

I say knocked out but it was so loose I imagine it only took a little bump. She didn’t cry anyway and was happy to be getting another chance to be able to catch the tooth fairy. She rigged up a little trap made out of cups to see if she could catch her but ALAS the tooth fairy was on to her and escaped again.

After our break, we headed back to the park around 6:30 and ran back into the parade crowd again. So we used the slip through the shops trick and were through the crowd in no time. Check in for our Fantasmic seating was at 8:00 but I planned to get there early to get the best seats. By the time we did make it through the parade hub-bub it was already about 10 after 7 so about the only thing we had time to ride was HM. We got off right at 7:30. We got in line for check in and there were already about a dozen people ahead of us so I didn’t think we would get front row but we did. We had about another 15-20 minutes before we could be seated so the boys joined us for yet another spin on…. You guessed it HM.

When we were done we went and got seated for the show. They took our drink order and then served us our goodie box. This time there was nothing amazing dessert wise. I was very disappointed because there was no chocolate covered strawberry! The grapes, crackers and cheese were a nice alternative to having just a box full of sweets but I still wanted my strawberry! Anyway, the show started and I actually watched and did not take a single picture. It was enjoyable to just concentrate on the show this time. Last time we did the PS I barely remember the show because I was so caught up in taking pictures. About half way through the show DD spilled her Sprite on herself so I gave her my jacket. Thankfully I did not end up too cold cause no one else had a jacket with them to share. After the show we stayed in our seats and watched the fireworks. I know it is not the same as in front of the castle but I love having a seat and not fighting the crowd. Plus the fireworks do look really pretty over the water. Then it SNOWED on us. Aaaaaah. I agree, it was not quite as magical as on Main Street but I did get my snow fix so I am good until next year.

Since we had so many boxes of leftovers to carry we decided to go ahead and call it a night but, of course, as we passed by Pirates DD begged to ride just one more ride, so we did. After that we started making our way through the crowd. About ½ way up Main Street our desperate attempt to keep up with the guys turned into a challenge and then a RACE! So if anyone saw 4 lunatics weaving through the crowd as fast as they could it was probably us. We kept it up all the way across Harbor and back to the Desert Inn. We slowed up when we reached the elevator and then…. DH cheated! He announced, as he put the key in the door to our room, that it didn’t matter who was in the lead…. it was whoever made it in the room first! It was an amusing way to end our night, as well as work off a few calories. We ordered in more pizza and I sat to work making our to-do-list for our last day in the park tomorrow.