WDW Commando Club

[twokids0204]

Would LOVE to be there tomorrow.

In fact I am starting to plan a trip this weekend in 10 years, to celebrate 50.

Please keep us posted with frequent crowd updates, and special events, promotions, and celebrations. And a bunch of pics wouldn't hurt either.

 

[blondietink]

Just got an email from the Disney Store ..... 40th Anniversary limited edition merchandise this weekend only.

 

[DisGal520]

I WAS THERE!



*Left the house with 2 friends at 7 AM for the 70 minute drive. (no one wanted to leave at 6AM). Parked at MK lot Jafar 73-76 and never saw so many cars so early. Tram was right there to whisk us to ticket booth to exchange my AAA AP voucher for the AP, then off to the ferry dock. Saw lots of chalk notations on the walkway by guests or CMs.

* From ferry saw thousands and thousands of folks departing buses and monorails. (Christmas morning crowds were way less. By the time we hit bag check the opening ceremony at the train station was ending. Turnstiles moved fairly quick and a CM handed out one-to-a-customer free "40 Magical Years" blue buttons dated October 1, 2011. Yea!

*The area to left of bag check was supposedly designated for 40th mdse wrist band line and extended a couple lines wide from newsstand to bag check and so I was reluctant to join it as we had no idea how many wristbands were being distributed. I asked a few in line if they were in the wrist band line and got several ,"no's"??? Had really intended to be in this line but park was opening and I didn't want to miss the 10 AM ceremony which could have been possible had I been in the wristband line or the mdse line on the Liberty bridge going over to the mdse mecca of Diamond Horseshoe. But oh how I wanted an I Was There 40th pin".

*Took a few shots in front of park's front garden with blue banner reading "Celebrating 40 magical years Magic Kingdom Park".

* Under the train station CMs were handing out the special souvenir guide maps with 1970's style map, again one-to-a-customer.

*Inside we headed to Main St Confectionery where a display of Halloween Mickey Ghost pop corn buckets (11.25 before tax) grabbed me. Now since I ran all over DHS on SWW opening day this year for the R2D2 popcorn bucket before I finally got one I decided to grab it while I could. Brilliantly Disney this year displayed the buckets without the popcorn and one received a voucher when purchasing the bucket for popcorn at any stand before Nov 1.

*Inside the Confectionery at the cupcake case was a small tray of eight 40th cupcakes (about 4.95 each) and these were small cupcakes not like the usual Disney ones. Here's where my judgment failed - do I buy these small ones or head down to the Bakery where they were advertised to be and get those real 40th? While I pondered, toooo many folks were lining up for the 10 AM special parade outside so I decided to wait (not best decision).

*Grabbed three spots behind a trash can, er, I mean Disney camera bracer for the parade on the shady side of the street and set my camera to burst mode. Was in position there for 30 minutes while one of my crew went down to bakery for coffee and came back saying the line was out the door. Yeah he should have stayed in that line for his coffee and gotten us a cupcake, but - oh well.

* The special parade was nice in that from the back of the train station platform and there was an announcement and Disney characters then descended and started down Main St to the castle. I really liked that it was not floats, but just the actual characters dancing and singing down the street along with standard bearers showing different milestones on the standards. Made this seem so much more intimate than the floats would have.

*Boy the crowds were thick and after the parade even thicker as folks crammed up towards the castle stage for the ceremony there. Meg Crofton spoke and a fellow who at age 17 was a CM selling e-tickets to Haunted Mansion spoke. We all sung along to When You Wish Upon a Star. Ceremony went quickly and did not drag.

* My crew headed to AdventureLand where Jungle Cruise was practically a walk on. CM Sidney was the best captain we had in years - she engaged the children and had a trove of one liners. Pirates line went quickly - we got a back row in our boat and at one point got sprayed with water when ships fired their cannons - a first in many years getting wet.

*By now we were all hungry having left at 7AM and missing those darn cupcakes so we headed in to Columbia Harbour Hose for Anchors Aweigh. Need I say this restaurant was packed and where you can usually find a quiet table upstairs, it was a zoo.

*Walked past Diamond Horseshoe after lunch and several hundreds wrist-banded folks were still in line there. Gave up on my getting the pin. So if any of you braved that line and got an extra I Was There pin, send me a PM.

*The afternoon sort of fell apart but we rode the train around twice, hit the 25 minutes line for Small World and the Christmas Shop before winding down after the 3 PM parade.

*Monorailed over to the Poly to relax in the lobby before monorailing over to the TTC where we trammed to our car and drove to DTD for Earl of Sandwich. Alert - the holiday sandwich is back on the menu!!!!

* Did not return for more parades and fireworks - hope they were grand for those who did.



All in all, I'm so glad I went for this occasion. Anyone else get to all their commando MK activities yesterday??

 

[Disney Commando]

I WAS THERE!



*Left the house with 2 friends at 7 AM for the 70 minute drive. (no one wanted to leave at 6AM). Parked at MK lot Jafar 73-76 and never saw so many cars so early. Tram was right there to whisk us to ticket booth to exchange my AAA AP voucher for the AP, then off to the ferry dock. Saw lots of chalk notations on the walkway by guests or CMs.

* From ferry saw thousands and thousands of folks departing buses and monorails. (Christmas morning crowds were way less. By the time we hit bag check the opening ceremony at the train station was ending. Turnstiles moved fairly quick and a CM handed out one-to-a-customer free "40 Magical Years" blue buttons dated October 1, 2011. Yea!

*The area to left of bag check was supposedly designated for 40th mdse wrist band line and extended a couple lines wide from newsstand to bag check and so I was reluctant to join it as we had no idea how many wristbands were being distributed. I asked a few in line if they were in the wrist band line and got several ,"no's"??? Had really intended to be in this line but park was opening and I didn't want to miss the 10 AM ceremony which could have been possible had I been in the wristband line or the mdse line on the Liberty bridge going over to the mdse mecca of Diamond Horseshoe. But oh how I wanted an I Was There 40th pin".

*Took a few shots in front of park's front garden with blue banner reading "Celebrating 40 magical years Magic Kingdom Park".

* Under the train station CMs were handing out the special souvenir guide maps with 1970's style map, again one-to-a-customer.

*Inside we headed to Main St Confectionery where a display of Halloween Mickey Ghost pop corn buckets (11.25 before tax) grabbed me. Now since I ran all over DHS on SWW opening day this year for the R2D2 popcorn bucket before I finally got one I decided to grab it while I could. Brilliantly Disney this year displayed the buckets without the popcorn and one received a voucher when purchasing the bucket for popcorn at any stand before Nov 1.

*Inside the Confectionery at the cupcake case was a small tray of eight 40th cupcakes (about 4.95 each) and these were small cupcakes not like the usual Disney ones. Here's where my judgment failed - do I buy these small ones or head down to the Bakery where they were advertised to be and get those real 40th? While I pondered, toooo many folks were lining up for the 10 AM special parade outside so I decided to wait (not best decision).

*Grabbed three spots behind a trash can, er, I mean Disney camera bracer for the parade on the shady side of the street and set my camera to burst mode. Was in position there for 30 minutes while one of my crew went down to bakery for coffee and came back saying the line was out the door. Yeah he should have stayed in that line for his coffee and gotten us a cupcake, but - oh well.

* The special parade was nice in that from the back of the train station platform and there was an announcement and Disney characters then descended and started down Main St to the castle. I really liked that it was not floats, but just the actual characters dancing and singing down the street along with standard bearers showing different milestones on the standards. Made this seem so much more intimate than the floats would have.

*Boy the crowds were thick and after the parade even thicker as folks crammed up towards the castle stage for the ceremony there. Meg Crofton spoke and a fellow who at age 17 was a CM selling e-tickets to Haunted Mansion spoke. We all sung along to When You Wish Upon a Star. Ceremony went quickly and did not drag.

* My crew headed to AdventureLand where Jungle Cruise was practically a walk on. CM Sidney was the best captain we had in years - she engaged the children and had a trove of one liners. Pirates line went quickly - we got a back row in our boat and at one point got sprayed with water when ships fired their cannons - a first in many years getting wet.

*By now we were all hungry having left at 7AM and missing those darn cupcakes so we headed in to Columbia Harbour Hose for Anchors Aweigh. Need I say this restaurant was packed and where you can usually find a quiet table upstairs, it was a zoo.

*Walked past Diamond Horseshoe after lunch and several hundreds wrist-banded folks were still in line there. Gave up on my getting the pin. So if any of you braved that line and got an extra I Was There pin, send me a PM.

*The afternoon sort of fell apart but we rode the train around twice, hit the 25 minutes line for Small World and the Christmas Shop before winding down after the 3 PM parade.

*Monorailed over to the Poly to relax in the lobby before monorailing over to the TTC where we trammed to our car and drove to DTD for Earl of Sandwich. Alert - the holiday sandwich is back on the menu!!!!

* Did not return for more parades and fireworks - hope they were grand for those who did.



All in all, I'm so glad I went for this occasion. Anyone else get to all their commando MK activities yesterday??

Wow you got some Great once in a life time items

This was a tough venue since not much info was released on events till last minute I heard from Dave alittle after 10am and he said it was crazy there I think he left the park not long afterwards I myself probably would have done the same since crowds are the main thing I try to avoid

I can just imagine the crowd at the fireworks

 

[dvczerfs]

Wow you got some Great once in a life time items

This was a tough venue since not much info was released on events till last minute I heard from Dave alittle after 10am and he said it was crazy there I think he left the park not long afterwards I myself probably would have done the same since crowds are the main thing I try to avoid

I can just imagine the crowd at the fireworks

yup, i was one of those thousands she was looking at! we ran around the park looking for the 40th t shirts. oh that was fun. disney i think made 10 of them in each size. the emporium had a few hundred people in one spot grabbing. we went up to the little shop next to aladins carpets and waited in line for about 20min. at a chance for a few shirts.(i would never do this is real life.) we were 8th in line and we just barely got some. my wife and i both got a black one and she got the white womens shirt also. people are nuts!!!! they were just grabbing hand fulls, taking what they wanted and handing the rest off to the next person. we got our shirts, key chain,buttons and maps so i was ready to go!!!!! this all before 10am!!! the special merch. didnt last but 30 min. thw wrist bands were for 40th pins. after you waited in that line at a shot at a wrist band, than you went up to the horse shoe and waited till noon to get it. im was there for the 40th, can i say i had a great time? no, but i made it!!!

 

[DisGal520]

yup, i was one of those thousands she was looking at! we ran around the park looking for the 40th t shirts. oh that was fun. disney i think made 10 of them in each size. the emporium had a few hundred people in one spot grabbing. we went up to the little shop next to aladins carpets and waited in line for about 20min. at a chance for a few shirts.(i would never do this is real life.) we were 8th in line and we just barely got some. my wife and i both got a black one and she got the white womens shirt also. people are nuts!!!! they were just grabbing hand fulls, taking what they wanted and handing the rest off to the next person. we got our shirts, key chain,buttons and maps so i was ready to go!!!!! this all before 10am!!! the special merch. didnt last but 30 min. thw wrist bands were for 40th pins. after you waited in that line at a shot at a wrist band, than you went up to the horse shoe and waited till noon to get it. im was there for the 40th, can i say i had a great time? no, but i made it!!!

Glad you got the shirts. We stopped in the right locations but only after they were gone. Had Disney made thousands more they would have sold them. Same with the pins. Disney makes no money from the secondary markets so maybe before any next big celebration they will make plenty for their parks. Are you listening Disney?????

 

[BELLEDOZER]

I'm BACK!!. You Commando's would be proud of our family, as Commando was the motto of the entire trip. We managed to hit the parks for a couple hrs the first day, thanks to a later morning flight than I would have liked. However it was worth it to fly into SNA, as we liked it alot better than flying into LAX. The hotel mixed up our ressie, but was quickly resolved. On Friday we hit the parks for over 12+ hrs, and went to the MHP. We all enjoyed it, and the kids had a blast trick or treating, but by 10pm we were well done so to speak (darn feet and backs!). I personally found the MHP we went to this year to be alot more crowded, but there was at least double the amt of TOT stations, many not on the MHP TOT maps. With us not trying that hard, we managed to get over 25+ LBS of good old Halloween Candy. Because of the heavy crowds it made it hard to navigate between the different lands. Would I go to the MHP again, probably not, because IMHO they sold too many tickets to the event, and there really wasn't much point in going on rides, as the wait times were the same as during the day. DS7 didn't manage the landings well, even though the pilots were excellent, so he's off to the doctor to have his ears checked. Suspect he over pressurized one or both ears. I don't think he burst a drum, as he's not showing the symptoms of it. UPDATE: DS7's ears are just inflamed and nothing worse, which is good news. Off to adopt another greyhound this weekend, and somehow try to find to cook a roast turkey for our CDN Thanksgiving (note to self...take frozen bird out of oven to thaw, or take out will be on order instead). Had a great trip anyway. Have a great day!

Trish

 

[dvczerfs]

Glad you got the shirts. We stopped in the right locations but only after they were gone. Had Disney made thousands more they would have sold them. Same with the pins. Disney makes no money from the secondary markets so maybe before any next big celebration they will make plenty for their parks. Are you listening Disney?????

thats what i told my wife. if they would have made alot of them, sold them for $50 each, they could lower the tickets prices!!

 

[Disney Commando]

I'm BACK!!. You Commando's would be proud of our family, as Commando was the motto of the entire trip. We managed to hit the parks for a couple hrs the first day, thanks to a later morning flight than I would have liked. However it was worth it to fly into SNA, as we liked it alot better than flying into LAX. The hotel mixed up our ressie, but was quickly resolved. On Friday we hit the parks for over 12+ hrs, and went to the MHP. We all enjoyed it, and the kids had a blast trick or treating, but by 10pm we were well done so to speak (darn feet and backs!). I personally found the MHP we went to this year to be alot more crowded, but there was at least double the amt of TOT stations, many not on the MHP TOT maps. With us not trying that hard, we managed to get over 25+ LBS of good old Halloween Candy. Because of the heavy crowds it made it hard to navigate between the different lands. Would I go to the MHP again, probably not, because IMHO they sold too many tickets to the event, and there really wasn't much point in going on rides, as the wait times were the same as during the day. DS7 didn't manage the landings well, even though the pilots were excellent, so he's off to the doctor to have his ears checked. Suspect he over pressurized one or both ears. I don't think he burst a drum, as he's not showing the symptoms of it. UPDATE: DS7's ears are just inflamed and nothing worse, which is good news. Off to adopt another greyhound this weekend, and somehow try to find to cook a roast turkey for our CDN Thanksgiving (note to self...take frozen bird out of oven to thaw, or take out will be on order instead). Had a great trip anyway. Have a great day!

Trish

Glad you had a Great time 25+ lbs of candy well if you got tired at least you had a sugar supply on you

Glad to hear your DS ears where only inflamed, so I guess this made up for your last trip

 

[Disney Commando]

As you all know last month I was able to score all 23 of the 25 Transportation Cards Available Well one thing I always follow is Failure is not a option, I had 23 of the 25, altough that is the max you will be able to find, it was still bothering me since we did not have the full set

After doing some homework on what the cards looked like and a little info about them and making some inquiries, I am now Happy to say Mission Accomplished The other 2 I needed to complete the set arrived today

 

[BELLEDOZER]

This trip definitely made up for the last one when my DS7 was sick with the flu, but it's the last time we will go during Gay Days at DL. Last year I went on my SOLO trip to DL during Gays Days, and never had problems with them. I'm pretty laid back, and don't discriminate against anyone. However I don't want their lifestyle thrown in my face on a constant basis either. This year there was alot of rude, vulgar, and totally inappropriate sayings on t shirts worn by this group of people. Alot of groping, french kissing, and basically making out in front of families. It's almost as if they wanted you to say something to them about their lifestyle. I know alot of families that went to DL from this board were offended by the behaviour we witnessed there during Gay Days. I have sent an email, less of a complaint, but more expressing my concerns about what happened this past weekend during Gay Days to Disney guest relations, so that they are aware of what was going on. I doubt I'll get a response back, but at least they are now aware of what happened. Other than that we had a great time, and the kids got to witness Halloween at DL. Have a great day!

Trish

 

[Disney Commando]

This might intrest some, I got some Disney Trading Card info from a very reliable source (person I was able to obtain the 2 unavailible cards from) and it seems that Transportation Cards are not the only cards you can get from CM's currently, The other sets are

- Disney Too Short To Ride Cards (looks like there are 17 of them)

- Disney Wild About Safety Cards (18 with 3 bounus cards)

I've never seen any of these cards, I never heard of them before yesterday But it looks like I have a new hunt for our next trip (provided they are still doing them then)


Has anyone heard or seen these cards

 

[DisGal520]

- Disney Too Short To Ride Cards (looks like there are 17 of them)

- Disney Wild About Safety Cards (18 with 3 bounus cards)

I've never seen any of these cards, I never heard of them before yesterday But it looks like I have a new hunt for our next trip (provided they are still doing them then)


Has anyone heard or seen these cards

Where have you been ????? Too busy with the transpo cards I'm guessing.
Right now I'm looking at a Disney Wild About Safety - safety tip #14. (In cooperation with Underwriters Laboratories). It is a plastic card with Pumba and Timon on the front. On the back they appear again in a scene with a sign reading, "Do not feed the animals". Below that it says "Your yummies are not good for our tummies".

I'm guessing it about 2 years I've had it and it was given with a meal at Flame Tree BBQ in AK.

 

[twokids0204]

This might intrest some, I got some Disney Trading Card info from a very reliable source (person I was able to obtain the 2 unavailible cards from) and it seems that Transportation Cards are not the only cards you can get from CM's currently, The other sets are

- Disney Too Short To Ride Cards (looks like there are 17 of them)

- Disney Wild About Safety Cards (18 with 3 bounus cards)

I've never seen any of these cards, I never heard of them before yesterday But it looks like I have a new hunt for our next trip (provided they are still doing them then)


Has anyone heard or seen these cards

My kids were given a "Wild about Safety" card when entering the theater to FOTLK.

I think it had Timon and Pumba on it.

 

[Disney Commando]

Where have you been ????? Too busy with the transpo cards I'm guessing.
Right now I'm looking at a Disney Wild About Safety - safety tip #14. (In cooperation with Underwriters Laboratories). It is a plastic card with Pumba and Timon on the front. On the back they appear again in a scene with a sign reading, "Do not feed the animals". Below that it says "Your yummies are not good for our tummies".

I'm guessing it about 2 years I've had it and it was given with a meal at Flame Tree BBQ in AK.

I will admit I dropped the ball on other cards, but then again they never have been brought to my attention The Transportation Cards I found out about in Debbie's Documents only had 1 sentence about them, with that I did some research and came up eith a plan on how to go about finding the cards, although the plan turned out to be learn as you go But having found enough cards to complete 2 sets of the 1st series & now 1 set of the 2nd I can move on to another challenge

As of now I'm leaning on trying to find The Too Short To Ride Cards (17), we go on almost all the rides that have them and we do them more then once, so I think we might have good odds of getting most if not all of them
I still want to try to get the Wild about Safety Cards and will try to find some, we will be going to WDW twice next year I hope, so I'll try one set at a time
My wife says my son has 2 of The Wild About Saftey Cards they got at Flame Tree last year when I was not on the trip, she hasn't found them yet, but see did come up with the Wild About Safety pamplet

My kids were given a "Wild about Safety" card when entering the theater to FOTLK.

I think it had Timon and Pumba on it.

How long ago did you get it, I'm trying to put alittle timeline together

 

[twokids0204]

How long ago did you get it, I'm trying to put alittle timeline together

Aug 2010.

 

[MotherofLandon]

I think something must be wrong with me. I am one month away from my ADR time and I still haven't figured out my plans. And worse, I don't feel like planning. My DH said, well lets just wing it then

Seriously, wing it??? Umm no, I need some encouragement. I think I must be sick or something. I have some idea but usually by now I have a concrete idea as to what we are doing, which order we are doing things, etc etc. What's wrong with me...?

 

[twokids0204]

My kids were given a "Wild about Safety" card when entering the theater to FOTLK.

I think it had Timon and Pumba on it.

Aug 2010.

I actually have a pic of them holding their cards before the show started.

 

[Haultruckeraintfat]

COMPUTER SCAM ALERT!!!!!! Today I received a call from a company called: Instant Tech Care phone#'s:858-429-9800, and 716-886-9358. They will claim that your computer is infected by a bug that is invisible to your anti-virus software and will offer to "fix" it for free. They are also claiming that they are calling on behalf of Microsoft. The long distance # is based out of Buffalo NY, so if they managed to find my phone #, what's to say that you won't get a call. They will claim that Microsoft has had a breach, and your computer is infected. I contacted a computer teck friend that's very good and up to date on these things, and was told that if you go along with what they want to you do, they will infect your system with a nasty virus/malware/spyware and disable your anti-virus software. All they got out of me was a 20 mins grilling (they deserved it!), and I refused to let them anywhere near my computer.

Just had these guys try this one on me to, same phone#, very similair story, however it just didnt seem to add up so i googled there site and this forum post popped up. After reading him this post right over the phone and asking him what he had to say to that he got flustered and hung up on me after asking me to please keep quiet about it, as it would ruin their "good" reputation, lol. Thanks, i dont think i would have gone through with his attempt but it was epic listening to him scramble for a bit there anyways.

 

[Disney Commando]

I think something must be wrong with me. I am one month away from my ADR time and I still haven't figured out my plans. And worse, I don't feel like planning. My DH said, well lets just wing it then

Seriously, wing it??? Umm no, I need some encouragement. I think I must be sick or something. I have some idea but usually by now I have a concrete idea as to what we are doing, which order we are doing things, etc etc. What's wrong with me...?

The good part of this is that you still have a month before you make your ADR's, do you have ideas of where you want to go, for planning maybe start with a list of things you don't want to do, with that everything else is on the table to fill in the blanks when you start your planning

For encouragement it looks like your DH is doing a good job, to get you motivated with the "wing it " plan Maybe ask what he wants to do during the trip, you might get yourself into gear after his answer