We Hopped All The Way To Disneyland Just For Some Dis Meets. Ch. 10. Added-7/14/14

[pkondz]

If the two on the left were actually full of their original content, they would probably be pretty illegal as well. Up to 1903 Coca-Cola contained a now illegal extract of the coca leaf (whose name I expect might not pass the filter here).

Ha! Never even thought of that.

That would make it even more expensive, wouldn't it?

 

[Thumper_Man]

If the two on the left were actually full of their original content, they would probably be pretty illegal as well. Up to 1903 Coca-Cola contained a now illegal extract of the coca leaf (whose name I expect might not pass the filter here).

Ha! Never even thought of that.

That would make it even more expensive, wouldn't it?

Only a couple $100k or so. But hey, it's for our collection. Well worth the price old buddy, old pal.

 

[pkondz]

Only a couple $100k or so. But hey, it's for our collection. Well worth the price old buddy, old pal.

I'll see what I can do.
Just sit there and wait, until I get back to you.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I'll see what I can do.
Just sit there and wait, until I get back to you.

Can I go home now? Everybody has already left for the night and I really need the restroom. Plus Lady H is wondering when I'm coming home. I told her to call you so you can give her the answer.

 

[pkondz]

Can I go home now? Everybody has already left for the night and I really need the restroom.

No.

Plus Lady H is wondering when I'm coming home. I told her to call you so you can give her the answer.

She hasn't called yet.
Are you absolutely sure she wants you to come home?

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

I know I’ve been busy and all, but it’s still sad when I haven’t even had a chance to reply to our own TR…I thought for sure I would have time during the last couple of weeks due to the holidays because no one would really be around, and yet, I found stuff to keep me busy so the days went by faster and never got on the DIS…Bad TR co-writer!!!

Well…I’ll remedy that right now.

GREAT JOB HONEY!

It’s funny when you talk about us being the first to arrive at the designated spot that first day. We are usually pretty good about time. On vacation we do everything we can to make sure we are on time for ressies and the like, but for everything else, we just go with the flow…(do you see a pattern here?). I was so worried that we would be late and have 4 people standing there with the quintessential eyebrow raised and hands on their hips, in a, “Do you know what time it is?!” look on their faces. (Can you tell I’ve had that look plenty of times before?). Luckily, being the first ones there, we didn’t have to worry about “The Look.”

While waiting around for everyone, Lady H and I take some pictures.

Mickey Pumpkin


Lady H in front of GMWML.


8 AM and it’s official parking opening time. Characters are out early for Meet & Greets.

Minnie flirting with me. Good thing it was Minnie and not Daisy. Lady H and D'Sis don't like Daisy ever since she refused to take a picture with them back at WDW-AK and only took one with the guys.


Donald on his way to meeting spot. Hope Daisy isn't soon to follow.

Haters gonna hate.

No offense to anyone who’s favorite character is Daisy but …Now maybe the day we saw her, she was trying to make Donald jealous after a big argument or something, and decided that all she was going to do was hug and take pictures with all the gorgeous men around the dining hall…whatever the case, I personally don't think it worked. Donald was too busy ignoring her to see what she was doing, but I am pretty sure I saw a few other wives giving her “The Look” as she made her rounds.

Ok fine…it could have also been because I was too busy eating my breakfast, to get up in time to take a picture with her and by the time I snapped out of my food fog I missed out on the opportunity and she had to move on to the next table…

Personally, I’ll stick with my first theory. It makes me look better.

How dare you be on time???

I know better for next time…

Heh. I'm just about finished my next chapter and that's almost the same thing I said in mine.

great minds think alike.

Which in no way explains why our minds thought alike.

Must be a guy thing…

So how was that?
Were you guys pointing at random couples and saying, "Is that them? How about those two? What about that couple?"

That isn't far off actually. Since it didn't dawn on us when we spoke with them over the phone, to find out how we would spot them, we kept glancing at every couple that walked through the tunnel. At one point, before Nebo and Smidgy made their way over, T-Man and I were searching the area, not sure if Betsey and Lance had possibly beat us there or not. Just as we approached the designated spot, there was a couple just standing along the sidewalk, sort of looking around. I thought…That’s got to be them. Just as we began to walk towards them, they locked hands, turned their backs on us and walked off. Nope…not them! So we started watching the entrance to see if we could find Nebo and Smidgy, in hopes that maybe Betsey and Lance found them first…no sign of them either. Every couple that walked through the tunnel, I would stare at until they were probably uncomfortable and every time, they would walk off in another direction or walk right past us.

It wasn’t until Betsey practically ran towards us that I finally thought…This has GOT to be them! At least I hoped it was them and not some crazy person just running up and giving random hugs to strangers…

“How are ya. Good to see ya. You’re fly’s undone. Welcome.”

I think it took me a while to get the movie reference here. But good one honey!

I also think that this picture went hand in hand with this:



It’s obvious that Betsey and Lance are regulars around here…

“Well don’t you have a backup plan” they ask.

ruh roh

“I didn’t even have a first plan much less a backup plan” I say jokingly. I could see it in their facial expressions that they didn’t appreciate the fact that I didn’t have a plan as to what rides and in what order we would do things.

Oh, dude.

You are so in trouble.

I felt so bad…and there really wasn’t much I could do. My magic wand was packed in the rental car in the Toy Story parking lot, waiting to be unpacked when we got to the resort…and I don’t do plans.

I go along with T-Man’s plans…which are technically not so much plans, as ideas that form on the spot. I’m used to it…I’m ok with it…It’s one of the many reasons I love him. Poor guy, I make fun of him often for being so spontaneous, he has a spread sheet for just those occasions. However, without his spreadsheets, we would forget half the things we either need to pack, need to buy, places we need to be, or places we plan on going. but, a spreadsheet does not a plan make.

We should have been more clear about this when we “planned” this trip…

I’m pretty sure at about this point in time, Nebo was trying to figure out a way strangle T-Man and make it look like Daisy did it…

What?

I think I beat Lady H but I don’t quite recall

You don't quite recall???
Then you lost, dude.

Actually I am pretty sure he beat me this round. I went into the ride thinking…If I can get control of the car, I’ve got the edge. Then we started going and while I originally had control, I am too darn nice of a person to start moving it around on him…so I didn’t. Therefore, he took the reigns and moved it on me.

She can handle BTMRR (which unfortunately was closed for refurbishment during our trip), she thinks she can handle Space

That's like saying, "I can handle a pug, so I can handle a rottweiler."

A dogs a dog right?!

Actually, according to Smidgy when I spoke with her on the phone before the trip, she was asking me, being dumb wife and all, what rides I thought she would be able to handle. I told her that Space Mountain is pretty similar to that of WDW, but personally I think this one goes much faster, and this one is double seated instead of single seated. Her response to me was, “I’ve done Space before, so that’s not a problem.” I couldn’t tell if the screaming on the ride was coming from me, her, or a combo.

Don't the CMs normally make you take off hats?

Normally yes…It’s possible that I was going to take off my hat, and they probably saw me motioning to do so, but then I thought about it and decided to just tie my ponytail on the outside of the hat, that way it would be held in place by my ponytail. There is no way it would go anywhere right?! Obviously, they do not pay me to think…

Hello Thumpers! I am checking in - I don't even have an excuse for missing the debut of this TR - Oh, maybe it was Halloween or something. Yep that's it! It was Halloween, then it was Thanksgiving, then Christmas...

Anyway, looking forward to catching up on your adventure!

I will accept excuses 1 and 3…the middle one is a toss up because once dinner is over, you have all night to thwart off the inevitable nodding off from too much turkey, by turning on the computer and reading our TR!

Thanks for popping in! Hope you enjoy!

No.



She hasn't called yet.
Are you absolutely sure she wants you to come home?

I told T-Man that he might as well stay…he doesn’t take orders from me…and if you are able to make him stay put from all the way in Canada…then you have a power I do not possess. I was afraid something might happen to him if he moved.

Plus I don’t have a phone number to call you. And I’m not too sure what I would call you if I did…






Phew! Now that I have officially done my duty as Co-director of this TR, I will move on to other TR’s and rip them apart as well….or just catch up on them…whatever…

Oh, before I do that...I wanted to point out something on this picture...




I don't think this was done intentionally...although maybe it was... but notice how seperated T-Man and I are from the rest of the group. It's like they know T-Man doesn't have a plan and are intentionally leaving us out...

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Fun DIS meets! I see a lot of mischief coming up I am wondering how you could appear on this board and then admit that you don't have a plan, but I guess you are among friends - we'll see how it works for ya.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Hakuna Matata.
What a wonderful phrase.
Hakuna Matata
Ain't no passing craze.
It means no worries for the rest of your days.
It's our problem free, philosophy.
Hakuna Matata.


This song came to mind after having survived the morning without a plan. I may have been knocked down, but I wasn't out for the count. Though we touched and went our separate ways, Lady H and I can go back to touring the way we know best. We don't stop believing this day will get better. When the lights go down in the city, and sun shines on the bay; well we wanna be there, at Disney. We take our time strolling through the park, holding hands and taking in the magic that DL has to offer. I got 6 hours to come up with a plan for tonight. Coming up with a plan for tonight will be a little easier. It will be dark, which means the dark rides will be easier to access. Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Indiana Jones will be on the list. Right now though, Lady H and I still have some time to kill before we can go check in to our resort.

As I mentioned in the last chapter, we want to see the Iron Man exhibit at Innoventions. From here, we’ll hop on the monorail to Downtown Disney and ESPN Zone. It will help if the monorail stops, opens the doors, we can walk in and take a seat; but if we must hop, we’ll hop.

Lady H and I get to Innoventions. Not much has changed here. The only difference is the Iron Man exhibit. Here’s a few pics we took of the exhibit.





Lady H took a picture of each Iron Man suit. Once I change a few settings, I'll post the link.

One other cool thing about this exhibit they had going on was anybody could try on an Iron Man suit if they really wanted to. I thought about doing it, but I wasn’t willing to wait 40-45 minutes. Yes, I know I said we had some time to kill. But I also said we want to go to ESPN Zone. We’re starting to get a little hungry. Eating at 7 in the morning is bad for your health. It makes you hungry by noon, especially if you’ve been walking all morning. Plus we’re also past due for an adult beverage. By the time we hop on the monorail, get to DTD, walk to ESPN Zone, eat and make our way back to the shuttle area, it should be close to time for us to check in to our resort.

Once we’re done inside the Innoventions building, Lady H and I make our way to the monorail. One just pulled out, so I guess we’ll have to wait for the next one. I sense a pattern emerging here. Good thing is, there are 3 monorails and one come by about every 5 minutes or so. Pop quiz for those of you that read our previous TR. Without using Google, or Bing or any other search engine; what are the names of the 3 monorails?

Last time we rode the red monorail and we rode the same one again this trip.


It was nice that it stopped to pick us up and transport us to DTD; rather than having to try to hop on.

Here's a few pics I took from the monorail.

Shuttle Area


Entrance to DCA. You can see DL just across the way.


Lego Store at DTD


Now I will explain why the new ticket system is one of my new pet peeve’s. You would think since they take your picture and associate it with your ticket, that they would have eliminated the branding iron. Ok maybe you wouldn’t think that, but I sure did.

Well I was wrong, Wrong, WRONG.

Having your hand branded is still a requirement for re-entry into the parks. Heck I think my hand is still branded enough from the last trip. Lady H put it best. They can’t get rid of grandma, so they give her a job stamping people’s hands. Anyone see the problem yet. No. You will in time.

Having gone through the branding ritual, Lady H and I head over to ESPN Zone. On our way over, we notice several people doing chalk paintings on the sidewalk. Some of these people were really good. Let me show you some of their work.







Now for this next statement, I may have to give Ponzi his man card back. I pulled it over on his TR. Maybe by giving him back his, it will save mine. We get to ESPN Zone. There is a 45 minute. Today is Sunday. More importantly, it’s a Sunday during NFL season. I totally spaced out that today was Sunday.

Now before you decide to pull my man card Ponzi, let me finish my story and maybe you’ll show me some mercy.

We enter the line to put our name on the list and while we were standing in that line, we notice a sign. I don’t remember the exact wording of this sign, but it states:

In order for us to have a table while the football games were showing, each person is required to spend $10 per hour. Now the plate we are going for is $40. Does that cover Lady H and I for 2 hours? Or does that only cover us the first hour? Either way, we decided we didn’t want to wait and head over to Rainforest Café to try our luck. There is only a 25 minute wait here, but no wait if you can find a seat in the bar. Lady H and I decide to see if we can find some seats in the bar. SCORE. A table for 2, in front of a tv, that is showing the games and we are not required to spend a minimum dollar amount per hour.

Does anybody recall the drink we had at Dave & Buster’s? Correct. A Coronarita. To me, it was good, but not the best. I told Lady H that night that RFC has the best. Now that we’re here, I already know what I want.


Lady H takes a little convincing, but eventually gives in and orders one.

I think she really enjoyed it along with our pepperoni pizza. What do you think?



After Corornitas, pizza and watching some of the football games; Lady H pulls the old dine and dash while I was in the restroom. The problem is, she forgot to tell me about the plan. It wasn’t until she was outside that she texted me and told me where she was waiting for me. I guess I’m stuck with the paying the bill.

An hour after washing dishes to compensate for the amount of cash I was short, I finally catch up with Lady H. Since she bailed on me, she offers to buy me a beer at DCA. I take her up on her offer. After washing all those dishes, I was pretty thirsty. Plus we still have about an hour before we can go check in at our resort.

On our way to DCA, we notice the lines at the ticket windows are pretty short. We decide to stop and add the day to our City Pass while we, or rather she, still has money. I really don’t want to wash any more dishes this trip. We stand in line and go to upgrade our tickets. Once it’s our turn, we walk up to the next available CM. She asks how she can help us today and we let her know that we want to add a day to our City Pass. She gladly says I can assist you with that. One thing she wants to know is if we have used our magic morning yet and if we plan to. We told her no, we haven’t used it yet; but yes, we were planning to. She tells us if we don’t want to lose our magic morning, then to wait to upgrade our tickets. Being the City Pass tickets do not come directly from Disney, we would lose our magic morning by adding the day.

I’ll see if I can explain her reasoning. Once we upgrade our tickets, we will be issued a new ticket by Disney. Their system will bridge our City Pass with the new ticket, thus making the remaining days on our City Pass null and void. We would use our new issued ticket for the remainder of the trip instead. They have no way of transferring over our magic morning onto the new ticket. You would think this would transfer over automatically, but no. There system thinks you already used it and will no longer recognize if you did or did not use it.

Getting back to the ticket window, the CM told us that we have until the end of our 3rd day to add another day if we wanted to use our magic morning then upgrade. We agreed we would do that after we used our magic morning. We thanked her for her time and for providing us with that valuable information.

On our way to DCA, Lady H and I start to panic a little. Will they let us in to DCA since we didn’t have our pictures taken this morning? We are about to find out.

We walk up to the lady with the photo scanner and hand her our ticket. She scans it, looks at the screen and then looks at us with a puzzled look on her face.

That's it, we’re doomed. No entry for us. Go to jaiI. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go and do not collect $200.

I get ready to drop down on my hands and knees to beg for mercy when she asks if we had our pictures taken yet. We told her no, that the lady this morning was experiencing problems and just waved us through. She said it wasn’t a problem and would take our pictures now. What a relief. Our trip is saved. After taking our pictures, we proceed to the turnstile, give the CM there our ticket, show her our branding and we’re in.

Now one thing we didn’t forget about was the Gay Days group. They were everywhere, but not at our favorite watering hole. Lady H and I go for our beer. We decide to walk through the park a little so we can come up with a plan for tomorrow. We don’t want to get caught with our hand in the cookie jar again. Plus I read that Radiator Springs Racers FP's were lasting a little longer. I wanted to see if this was true or not. I doubt with the GD's group there would be any left, but you never know. We get to the distribution area and nope, all gone. As we continue our walk, we stop and try to replicate the photo we took last year.

CHEERS!


While walking through the park, we couldn’t help but notice the way some of the Gay Days people were dressed. Some had the typical red shirt that they can purchase. Some of the guys were dressed normally to the point you wouldn’t think they were gay. Some of the guys dressed really flamboyant. They dressed better than some of the women. Some of the women dressed like men. Then you had men and women dressing like Lady H. No, not my beloved Lady H. Lady H from CSI. Being a family site, that is the best way I can describe it. Needless to say, they were having fun, we were having fun and it was a wonderful afternoon.

After we finish our beer, Lady H and I head out to catch a shuttle to the TSM parking lot. Getting close to the time we can check in to the resort. We get to the lot in no time, get in our car and drive the long ¼ mile to the resort. Our plan this year is to avoid the sales desk, but these places have gotten tricky. Once you check in, they send you over to the sales desk to deal with……

Nope tricky Larry wasn’t there this year. We dealt with a different lady. After you’re done with check in, they send you to this desk to get your welcome package and more importantly; parking pass. We told her we really didn’t have much time to do any presentations this week. Their ploy is to try to get us to buy more points. We're almost to the point of paying off the points we have now. We also let her know that right now we had little time to talk as we had to get back to the park to meet up with other guests we were with. She understood and gave us the quick run through.

We unpacked and settled in to what would be home for the week. The décor in this place looked exactly the same as the last unit we had. Since it looked the same, we didn’t bother to take pictures this time. We had a few maintenance issues that needed to be dealt with. The refrigerator wasn't cooling down. This would be a problem as we need to chill down the rest of our beer. Plus we will be buying groceries either tonight or tomorrow. Once we finished settling in, Lady H and I had another beer before we hit the road; and while we were waiting around for maintenance to show up. Eventually they did show up and told us they would just need to replace the refrigerator. It was getting close to time to meet back up with Nebo and Smidgy so we gave them the go ahead to replace it while we were out.

Lady H and I grab our stuff and head out. One thing we didn't have time to stop for was more park bottles. There is a liquor store across the street, but if we try to go, we may not make it back in time to meet up with the rest of the gang. We skip out on the liquor store for now, hop in the car and head back to the TSM parking lot. We land up in a different portion of the parking lot now. A lot closer to the shuttle pick up area. We board the shuttle and make it back with more than 2 seconds to spare this time. I wonder if Nebo and Smidgy are here yet? You'll find out in the next chapter.

 

[Thumper_Man]

I know I’ve been busy and all, but it’s still sad when I haven’t even had a chance to reply to our own TR…I thought for sure I would have time during the last couple of weeks due to the holidays because no one would really be around, and yet, I found stuff to keep me busy so the days went by faster and never got on the DIS…Bad TR co-writer!!!

You know, bad girls do get punished.

Well…I’ll remedy that right now.

Does this mean I can't punish you for being bad then?

GREAT JOB HONEY!

It’s funny when you talk about us being the first to arrive at the designated spot that first day. We are usually pretty good about time. On vacation we do everything we can to make sure we are on time for ressies and the like, but for everything else, we just go with the flow…

Don't get used to it. With the changes happening at WDW, you'll have to plan everything out months in advance. If we take one more trip out to WDW, we'll have a tighter schedule to keep. No more going with the flow.

No offense to anyone who’s favorite character is Daisy but …Now maybe the day we saw her, she was trying to make Donald jealous after a big argument or something, and decided that all she was going to do was hug and take pictures with all the gorgeous men around the dining hall…whatever the case, I personally don't think it worked. Donald was too busy ignoring her to see what she was doing, but I am pretty sure I saw a few other wives giving her “The Look” as she made her rounds.

I don't think Donald had time to see her. He was too busy posing for pics outside.

I think it took me a while to get the movie reference here. But good one honey!

I'm glad you got it. I'm surprised no one else did. Unless they've never seen the movie.

I also think that this picture went hand in hand with this:

Yeah I realized after that I forgot to include this picture. Thanks for adding.

I felt so bad…and there really wasn’t much I could do. My magic wand was packed in the rental car in the Toy Story parking lot, waiting to be unpacked when we got to the resort…and I don’t do plans.

I go along with T-Man’s plans…which are technically not so much plans, as ideas that form on the spot. I’m used to it…I’m ok with it…It’s one of the many reasons I love him. Poor guy, I make fun of him often for being so spontaneous, he has a spread sheet for just those occasions. However, without his spreadsheets, we would forget half the things we either need to pack, need to buy, places we need to be, or places we plan on going. but, a spreadsheet does not a plan make.

Well there are sites to set up these types of plans, but I don't want to carry around Danny Tanner's Clipboard of Fun. Plus I'm getting older. I can't run around the parks like I used to. I can only make it around 10 times now instead of the 15 that I used to be able to do. Although D'Sis would probably disagree.

Actually I am pretty sure he beat me this round. I went into the ride thinking…If I can get control of the car, I’ve got the edge. Then we started going and while I originally had control, I am too darn nice of a person to start moving it around on him…so I didn’t. Therefore, he took the reigns and moved it on me.

Well if I wouldn't have moved it, then the targets would have been behind us. All's fair in love and Buzz Lightyear. I'm the defending champ at Buzz, she's the defending champ at TSM.

Oh, before I do that...I wanted to point out something on this picture...




I don't think this was done intentionally...although maybe it was... but notice how seperated T-Man and I are from the rest of the group. It's like they know T-Man doesn't have a plan and are intentionally leaving us out...

I'll have to agree with you here.

 

[Thumper_Man]

Hello Thumpers! I am checking in - I don't even have an excuse for missing the debut of this TR - Oh, maybe it was Halloween or something. Yep that's it! It was Halloween, then it was Thanksgiving, then Christmas...

Anyway, looking forward to catching up on your adventure!

As Lady H already said, welcome. Glad you're here.

We know too well about the holidays. They always seem to get in the way of Dis time. Hopefully it's full steam ahead from here on out.

 

[nowellsl]

Thanks for the nice size link to this report!! I know I read your first chapter a long time ago, then lost track Anyway, now I'm subscribed so hopefully I can keep up!!

So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Can't wait for the next chapter!

 

[smidgy]

wow! talk about being late! I am REALLY late to the party. to you all!

can you believe I had no idea this was here? I was just wondering the other day if the bunnies started the TR yet. I was going to check it out, but, as usual got way distracted with that stupid Candy Crush game!

let me say that the thumpers did great jobs as tour guides! I guess I didn't know we were so intimidating!.

the closed rides were kinda annoying, but that wasn't their fault! I know how they feel, though. when we were with todd, kim and jackson at WDW, we really felt like we were supposed to make sure they had fun and we really wanted them to LOVE WDW. then nebo went ahead and fainted, got the concussion, and that didn't help matters.

but we had a lot fo fun on the trip. the best part was being with such great people! we aren't the easiest people to tour with, we know that and they did a wonderful job putting up with us,

I knew ahead of time big thunder would be down. that is my favorite ride. but I wasn't too bummed cause I knew it was basically the same as the one at WDW. I was leary about Matterhorn, but I really loved it! I am lookign forward to the 7 dwarves ine ride. It's supposed to open this spring. we are tentatively booked for late april/early may so hopefully it'll be open.

space? it is one thrill ride I will do with nebo, even though I don't really like it. lately, he hasn't wanted to ride it, with his back. can you hear the big SIGH of relief?

but we both wanted to try DLR'S spze mt. cause it's dif. I do like sitting next to nebo.. I make him put his arm around me and I feel safer. but now that I've tried it, even if we went back I don't think I'd do it again.

i keep thinking of trying everest, but never do.. too scary looking! and high! I am a woos and a wimp!!!

I'll tell nebo this is up. he hasn't been on the computer in ages, but I'll drag him up here. he's sleeping in front of the tv now.

so then.. on with the show!!!

 

[pkondz]

I may have been knocked down, but I wasn't out for the count.

Well, with Nebo in the picture, somebody was going to get knocked down.

We don't stop believing this day will get better.

Journey.
Great song.

When the lights go down in the city,

Journey
okay song.

We take our time strolling through the park, holding hands and taking in the magic that DL has to offer.

Little River Band
Great song.

Okay, maybe that one was a stretch.

Coming up with a plan for tonight will be a little easier.

Really?
What about the stress, man!
You have to, have to, come up with a plan.

No...

A PLAN

As I mentioned in the last chapter, we want to see the Iron Man exhibit at Innoventions.

It will help if the monorail stops, opens the doors, we can walk in and take a seat; but if we must hop, we’ll hop.

Sounds suspiciously like the Paris subway.

Lady H and I get to Innoventions. Not much has changed here. The only difference is the Iron Man exhibit. Here’s a few pics we took of the exhibit.

Those pics are awesome!
Did they look metal?
Or plastic?
Sometimes things don't look quite as good close up, ya know?

One other cool thing about this exhibit they had going on was anybody could try on an Iron Man suit if they really wanted to. I thought about doing it, but I wasn’t willing to wait 40-45 minutes.

Oh, I so would have.

Good thing is, there are 3 monorails and one come by about every 5 minutes or so. Pop quiz for those of you that read our previous TR. Without using Google, or Bing or any other search engine; what are the names of the 3 monorails?

I have no idea.
That's too long ago.
Larry, Moe & Curly?

Last time we rode the red monorail and we rode the same one again this trip.

Red! One of them is named Red Monorail!


No?

Now I will explain why the new ticket system is one of my new pet peeve’s. You would think since they take your picture and associate it with your ticket, that they would have eliminated the branding iron. Ok maybe you wouldn’t think that, but I sure did.

Well I was wrong, Wrong, WRONG.

Sorry. It's not quite clear.
Were you mistaken?

Lady H put it best. They can’t get rid of grandma, so they give her a job stamping people’s hands.

Anyone see the problem yet. No. You will in time.

Not yet.

Now for this next statement, I may have to give Ponzi his man card back.

Sweet!

Now before you decide to pull my man card Ponzi, let me finish my story and maybe you’ll show me some mercy.

You're treading on thin ice....

We enter the line to put our name on the list and while we were standing in that line, we notice a sign. I don’t remember the exact wording of this sign, but it states:

"I'm stupid"?
(Here's your sign)

In order for us to have a table while the football games were showing, each person is required to spend $10 per hour.

we decided we didn’t want to wait and head over to Rainforest Café to try our luck. There is only a 25 minute wait here, but no wait if you can find a seat in the bar. Lady H and I decide to see if we can find some seats in the bar. SCORE. A table for 2, in front of a tv, that is showing the games and we are not required to spend a minimum dollar amount per hour.

I would've given you a pass... except for one crucial error.

You said "try our luck".
So you were relying on chance?

Man card revoked!!!!


Hey! Welcome to the club!
Here's your sign.

Does anybody recall the drink we had at Dave & Buster’s?

I think she really enjoyed it along with our pepperoni pizza. What do you think?

What??? Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the extreme slurping noise.

Lady H pulls the old dine and dash while I was in the restroom. The problem is, she forgot to tell me about the plan. It wasn’t until she was outside that she texted me and told me where she was waiting for me. I guess I’m stuck with the paying the bill.

dastardly!
Yet effective.

Since she bailed on me, she offers to buy me a beer at DCA. I take her up on her offer.

Make sure she pays before you take a sip.

She tells us if we don’t want to lose our magic morning, then to wait to upgrade our tickets. Being the City Pass tickets do not come directly from Disney, we would lose our magic morning by adding the day.

Your eyes must've gotten really, really big, right about then.

They have no way of transferring over our magic morning onto the new ticket. You would think this would transfer over automatically, but no. There system thinks you already used it and will no longer recognize if you did or did not use it.

Kinda sucks.
Just when you thought it'd be easy with no line and all.

I guess I'll see if it works out later on.

We thanked her for her time and for providing us with that valuable information.

I just want to make sure I have this straight.

You wanted something done.
Were told that they couldn't help you.
And then you thanked her.


just checking.

I get ready to drop down on my hands and knees to beg for mercy when she asks if we had our pictures taken yet. We told her no, that the lady this morning was experiencing problems and just waved us through. She said it wasn’t a problem and would take our pictures now. What a relief. Our trip is saved.

But what a great story it would've been for the TR!
I would've insisted that they kick me out.

Now one thing we didn’t forget about was the Gay Days group. They were everywhere, but not at our favorite watering hole.

So you prefer establishments that openly discriminate against people based on their sexual preferences.

Check.

Lady H and I go for our beer.

Straight up, I suppose.



And yes. I'm kidding with those last two comments!

We decide to walk through the park a little so we can come up with a plan for tomorrow. We don’t want to get caught with our hand in the cookie jar again.

See! I told you there was stress!

I see you both holding up your cellphones while Lady H has a headache.
(Sorry, dude.)

Then you had men and women dressing like Lady H. No, not my beloved Lady H. Lady H from CSI.

I remember her.
She was in at least two episodes that I can recall.

Needless to say, they were having fun, we were having fun and it was a wonderful afternoon.

Sounds pretty nice.

After we finish our beer,

Wait.
You could walk around Disney with beers?
I did not know that, and it surprises me.

Nope tricky Larry wasn’t there this year.

No?
Aw. I miss him already.

It was getting close to time to meet back up with Nebo and Smidgy so we gave them the go ahead to replace it while we were out.

Is this where I should be saying, "Uh, oh"?

One thing we didn't have time to stop for was more park bottles. There is a liquor store across the street, but if we try to go, we may not make it back in time to meet up with the rest of the gang.

I'm pretty sure stopping for park bottles is an acceptable excuse.

We board the shuttle and make it back with more than 2 seconds to spare this time. I wonder if Nebo and Smidgy are here yet? You'll find out in the next chapter.

Looking forward to it!
Thanks for the chapter!

 

[Thumper_Man]

Thanks for the nice size link to this report!! I know I read your first chapter a long time ago, then lost track Anyway, now I'm subscribed so hopefully I can keep up!!

So, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Can't wait for the next chapter!

Welcome back. Hopefully we can keep us as well.

 

[Thumper_Man's Wife]

You know, bad girls do get punished.

I’m an angel!

Does this mean I can't punish you for being bad then?

Nope. No punishment today.

Don't get used to it. With the changes happening at WDW, you'll have to plan everything out months in advance. If we take one more trip out to WDW, we'll have a tighter schedule to keep. No more going with the flow.

I’ll still land up going with the flow. It may be your flow, and it may be much stricter…but I’ll still do it.

I'm glad you got it. I'm surprised no one else did. Unless they've never seen the movie.

Sacrilege!

Yeah I realized after that I forgot to include this picture. Thanks for adding.

Welcome! That’s what us lovely brides do…Help our men out when needed.

Well there are sites to set up these types of plans, but I don't want to carry around Danny Tanner's Clipboard of Fun. Plus I'm getting older. I can't run around the parks like I used to. I can only make it around 10 times now instead of the 15 that I used to be able to do. Although D'Sis would probably disagree.

Oh I’m sure DS-I-L would most definitely disagree. And if I remember correctly, the Clipboard of Fun ended up being chucked into the ocean pretty early on.

Well if I wouldn't have moved it, then the targets would have been behind us. All's fair in love and Buzz Lightyear. I'm the defending champ at Buzz, she's the defending champ at TSM.

This is why your champ at Buzz…because you spin me around, get me dizzy and then expect me to shoot straight!

wow! talk about being late! I am REALLY late to the party. to you all!

can you believe I had no idea this was here? I was just wondering the other day if the bunnies started the TR yet. I was going to check it out, but, as usual got way distracted with that stupid Candy Crush game!

I was once addicted to that game. But then I realized that eventually at some point you need friends to help you get to other levels and I pretty much stopped playing.

let me say that the thumpers did great jobs as tour guides! I guess I didn't know we were so intimidating!.

Aww. Thanks momma smidgy! I think we intimidated ourselves, being that you and Nebo are such staples at WDW, we had it in our minds that we wanted you to love DL just as much and were determined to make it possible.

but we had a lot fo fun on the trip. the best part was being with such great people! we aren't the easiest people to tour with, we know that and they did a wonderful job putting up with us,

We didn’t “put up” with you at all. We really did enjoy hanging out with you and Nebo and showing you some new things.

I knew ahead of time big thunder would be down. that is my favorite ride. but I wasn't too bummed cause I knew it was basically the same as the one at WDW. I was leary about Matterhorn, but I really loved it! I am lookign forward to the 7 dwarves ine ride. It's supposed to open this spring. we are tentatively booked for late april/early may so hopefully it'll be open.

I hope you have a blast this spring! Hopefully the mine ride is up, although, I’ve seen pictures of the progress and I honestly can’t tell when they will be finished.

space? it is one thrill ride I will do with nebo, even though I don't really like it. lately, he hasn't wanted to ride it, with his back. can you hear the big SIGH of relief?

Don’t you mean the pained regret that you won’t be able to ride it with him?

but we both wanted to try DLR'S spze mt. cause it's dif. I do like sitting next to nebo.. I make him put his arm around me and I feel safer. but now that I've tried it, even if we went back I don't think I'd do it again.

I honestly did not expect you to go on it, so having the luxury of saying we went on Space Mountain with both Nebo AND Smidgy is definitely awesome to me.

i keep thinking of trying everest, but never do.. too scary looking! and high! I am a woos and a wimp!!!

The good news is that if you do try it, then you can have Nebo put his arm around you and hold onto you.

I'll tell nebo this is up. he hasn't been on the computer in ages, but I'll drag him up here. he's sleeping in front of the tv now.

Hope he is doing well. We hope you both enjoy the TR.

Well, with Nebo in the picture, somebody was going to get knocked down.

Yeah, unfortunately we did not expect it to be Daisy…
…
…
…What? OK…Fine that wasn’t Nebo…but you can’t prove it was me.

Journey
okay song.

Little River Band
Great song.

Okay, maybe that one was a stretch. [/QUOTE/

Just a bit…

Really?
What about the stress, man!
You have to, have to, come up with a plan.

No...

A PLAN

Are you sure it was A PLAN? And not just…a plan? Or even A plan? Or how about A Plan?

I have no clue where i was going with that statement...sorry...

Sounds suspiciously like the Paris subway.

Only we didn’t have to pay for a passport, or trek up and down stairs with luggage in order to hop on or off it.

Those pics are awesome!
Did they look metal?
Or plastic?
Sometimes things don't look quite as good close up, ya know?

T-Man asked me after he read your reply what I thought, since I was the one that took the up close pictures…Honestly, The majority of them looked metal. There were a couple, probably the more recent ones, that looked a little plasticy (is that even a word), I like to think of those as more “ergonomic” for Iron Man, but even then, they didn’t seem like the entire suit was plastic. Just certain parts. Either way, they were awesome!

Oh, I so would have.

If we weren’t starving, we probably would have stuck around. But I think we were also wanting some time to come up with the evenings plan (as you so graciously reminded us earlier about).

Red! One of them is named Red Monorail!


No?

Nice try, but no…

Sweet!

How many times has your man card been revoked?

You're treading on thin ice....

Says the man who’s had his man card revoked, by people he has never met in person, more than once.

"I'm stupid"?
(Here's your sign)

Now I have pieces of Bill Engvall’s “Here’s your sign” routine in my head.

Sorry T-Man…

"What??? Sorry, I couldn't hear you over the extreme slurping noise.

Oops….Sorry.

dastardly!
Yet effective.

I thought so…

Make sure she pays before you take a sip.

Of course I was going to pay. They don’t give you the drinks until they have money or credit card in hand. I had no choice. I couldn’t squeeze out of this one.

Your eyes must've gotten really, really big, right about then.

I think our looks were more on the quizzical yet worried side…so more of a, one eyebrow lifted slightly, but at the same time, biting the lower lip for effect.

Kinda sucks.
Just when you thought it'd be easy with no line and all.

Just our luck…

I just want to make sure I have this straight.

You wanted something done.
Were told that they couldn't help you.
And then you thanked her.


just checking.

Of course…It is after all, Disney. It rubs off on you.

But what a great story it would've been for the TR!
I would've insisted that they kick me out.

I can see it now.

CM: Sir? Did you have your picture taken this morning by another CM?

Ponzi: No. They said they were having issues and couldn’t do it then.

CM: No problem sir. We can do it now if you like.

Ponzi: Nope…I can’t let you do that. This is not your fight. It was my fault that I didn’t get it done this morning and therefore, I have to be punished. I’ll just leave.

CM: Um…Sir…really it isn’t a problem.

Ponzi: No. I insist. You must kick me out. There is nothing else that can be done today!

CM: Um…sir…are you sure?

Ponzi: Yes! I must be punished for the mistake of technology!

CM: Ok sir, If you insist…Have a magical day! *proceeds to kick him out as others look on in concern, hurrying to the CM’s with the camera’s to get their picture taken ASAP before they are kicked out of the park in the same fashion*

So you prefer establishments that openly discriminate against people based on their sexual preferences.

Check.

I think our concern was that our little establishment isn’t that big. It can easily get very crowded, and with all the people, specifically because of Gay Days, we worried that our secret spot had been discovered. We were in luck this day though. Everyone else was hitting up Paradise Pier instead.

And yes. I'm kidding with those last two comments!

I know you were. And I would only discriminate if they looked better than me…and trust me…some of them did!

See! I told you there was stress!

Stress? What stress?

I see you both holding up your cellphones while Lady H has a headache.
(Sorry, dude.)

I remember her.
She was in at least two episodes that I can recall.

I think your right. Maybe 3. She was an interesting character for sure…

Wait.
You could walk around Disney with beers?
I did not know that, and it surprises me.

Yup. They would pour your beer in a cup, glass bottles were a no no, and then you could just walk around anywhere in the park. At least at DCA.

No?
Aw. I miss him already.

HAHA! We didn’t…

Is this where I should be saying, "Uh, oh"?

Nah, that’s later on in the TR.

I'm pretty sure stopping for park bottles is an acceptable excuse.

I’m pretty sure you would be right. But we found out later that being late is not acceptable…no matter what the reason.

Thanks for the breakdown Ponzi...I will be heading over to your TR soon to do the same there...if i can catch a break at work.

 

[Thumper_Man]

wow! talk about being late! I am REALLY late to the party.

But you're here. That's what's important.

to you all!

And to you as well.

can you believe I had no idea this was here?

Yes. I can believe it. Not very many people did even though it was right there the whole time. I think only a few people realized the link in our signature.

I was just wondering the other day if the bunnies started the TR yet.

Well you don't have to wonder anymore.

I was going to check it out, but, as usual got way distracted with that stupid Candy Crush game!

Ouch. Dissed for a game.

let me say that the thumpers did great jobs as tour guides!

Really? I'll have to look them up next time we go to DLR. I wonder if they would be willing to be our tour guides as well?

I guess I didn't know we were so intimidating!.

Well I can honestly say you weren't the intimidating one. I'll give you one guess who it was. Hint: he lives with you. We knew going in he would compare it to WDW and that would either make for a good trip or a so so trip.

the closed rides were kinda annoying, but that wasn't their fault!

We've experienced it at both WDW and DL, but never that many at once.

but we had a lot fo fun on the trip.

So did we.

the best part was being with such great people! we aren't the easiest people to tour with, we know that and they did a wonderful job putting up with us,

Are you sure it wasn't the other way around? You putting up with us? After all, we kinda invited ourselves to tag along.

I knew ahead of time big thunder would be down. that is my favorite ride.

Yes, it was a bummer it was down. I believe you would've enjoyed it.

I was leary about Matterhorn, but I really loved it!

Even though it beat you and Nebo up?

I am lookign forward to the 7 dwarves ine ride. It's supposed to open this spring. we are tentatively booked for late april/early may so hopefully it'll be open.

I would like to read about this trip with the addition of Magic Bands and all. My love for WDW isn't like yours and Nebo's. Yes, I enjoy going, but I'm not that anxious to get back any time soon with all the changes going on.

space? it is one thrill ride I will do with nebo, even though I don't really like it. lately, he hasn't wanted to ride it, with his back. can you hear the big SIGH of relief?

I thought I heard something. I though maybe it was the wind. That explains a lot.

but we both wanted to try DLR'S spze mt. cause it's dif. I do like sitting next to nebo.. I make him put his arm around me and I feel safer. but now that I've tried it, even if we went back I don't think I'd do it again.

We were really surprised that you did go on it. We thought for sure you would sit that one out. Who knew you had a wild side to ya.

i keep thinking of trying everest, but never do.. too scary looking! and high! I am a woos and a wimp!!!

Looks can be intimidating. It really isn't that bad. You can sit next to Nebo and have him put his arm around you to make you feel safer.

I'll tell nebo this is up. he hasn't been on the computer in ages, but I'll drag him up here. he's sleeping in front of the tv now.

Well wake his --- up, he has a TR to read. I need to call him one of these days. Work has been busy and with the holidays, I haven't really had a chance. Last time I tried, I missed him.

so then.. on with the show!!!

Working on the next chapter. Hoping to end this first day with my next post. Then Lady H will take us through the next day.

 

[nebo]

Mike, (sniff), I love you man, and miss you, even if you did Ponzi credit for the name I gave to Lady H.]
Yes, I am tryinsg to get back into the swingt of things here and catch up. I relish the opportunity to read all of this.
(why do i have a taste all of a sudden for hot dogs and burgers?)
Mike and Lady H, you are the celery salt of the earth,,, b3e back soon.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Hi Thumpers! Thank you for waiting for me, but I'm all caught up now! Good move on getting the bar seat at RFC to watch the game! We were at ESPN on a Sat last Fall and had to hover over a couple who were almost finished eating, then knocked them off their stools and bussed our own table. When we were done, we flagged down some people who were standing near the door and while they were on their way over, someone else tried to come out of the shadows and grab it - we almost had a on our hands.

 

[nebo]

Originally Posted by Thumper_Man's Wife View Post
Last year my mom bought us this nifty little thing that can attach to any luggage and tell you how much it weighs.



Ponzi: Up here we call those things 'scales'.

Thanks, I just threww out my spleen!

 

[mmeb144]

Thanks, I just threww out my spleen!

So, this is how you tell if the buggage weighs too much? If your spleen goes out, take stuff out. If you can lift it without bodily harm, add more stuff until your spleen goes out? Sounds painful!