PirateTinkerbell

Thanks! Those wolves are really cool!! I use a Nikon D5000.

The Phoenix Zoo on Sunday, October 17, 2010! This past Sunday my best friend, her son, and I went to the Phoenix Zoo! I didn’t take a ton of pictures but here are the ones I did get that day! Enjoy! All of these pictures are available for viewing in their original size (plus many more pictures!!) on my flickr which you can see here: http://www.flickr.com/piratetinkerbell Currently at the Phoenix Zoo they have two Koalas, Kobi and Sooky, that are on loan from the San Diego Zoo. Since I LOVE Koalas we had to go see them! Both of them were sleeping but I did get a couple pictures of Sooky. Also in the general area of the Koalas are these cute little Wallabys! This one had the right idea… stay in the shade! Unlike Indiana Jones, I love snakes! Soon after seeing the Koalas we stopped to sit on a bench in the shade. There were some cute little sparrows hopping around so I took some pictures of them A little later in the day we headed through the Arizona trail and there was a very cool little Burrowing Owl! He heard my camera clicking and turned and looked right at me! I’m a big fan of the funny look on his face Also on the Arizona Trail are three beautiful Mexican Wolfs. They are pretty big and kinda scary when you see their teeth, but they’re still awesome! And that’s all I’ve got this time! It was getting kind of hot and carrying around the camera in the heat was no fun so I didn’t take as many pictures as I would have liked. Even so, it was a fun day filled with cool animals! Hope you enjoyed and have a wonderful week!

As a celebration of my last “free” Saturday before I started Grad School (Pharmacy School), my boyfriend Andrew and I went to Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix for the day! I’ve wanted to go since it opened last summer and finally got the opportunity to go! Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix is located north of the main city off the I-17, so it’s about a 45 minute drive for us but it was well worth it! We had tons of fun, got to ride some awesome slides, and luckily kept from getting sunburned! I thought it would be fun to take a waterproof camera along with us so I picked up a cheap disposable one to go along. To see any of the pictures in their full size you can find them in their set on Flickr which you can get to with this link: Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix. To check out some more of my pictures from other fun expeditions you can see them on my photostream. So, without further ado, onto the pictures! First off, the obligatory entrance sign picture: For the first slide of the day I wanted to go on Raging River (the red one), but I ended up picking the wrong side of the line so we started the day on the biggest / most extreme slide in the park, Mammoth Falls (the yellow one). TONS of fun!!! You sit in a 4 person raft, go through a couple turns, head down a super steep drop, up a vertical wall, back down, and splashdown! We had 3 people in our raft so we went up nice and high on the wall! Here’s my pictures of the slide: Another set of slides I was super excited to go on were the Desert Racers! On Desert Racers you go down the slide head-first on a racing mat. Starting out you pick a color, go through some dark turns, only to be shot out of the dark tube into the daylight and onto the final straightaway! It’s confusing the first time you go on it because the lane you pick to start out in is not necessarily the one you end up in! Andrew started to the right of me and ended up on the left… These slides were great fun and an awesome new experience for anyone who has never been on a slide like this! Next onto Monsoon Bay! Just a regular old wave pool, so nothing particularly special, but still fun! Word of warning: the water is FREEZING cold!!!! This next shot is a broad view of part of the waterpark. It’s looking over Cactus Cooler (lazy river), Tornado, and in the distance Desert Racers. Wet ‘n’ Wild also has one of the Super Bowl (aka Toilet Bowl) slides! I thought this was going to be just ok but it was really fun! We even got dumped out of the bowl backwards Inside the bowl: The little water play area for the kids was so cute! I wanted to go on the little slides but alas I am too tall For once my short height is too tall for something! Now up, Tornado! I have lots of pictures of this since it was nearing the end of the day and I wanted to use up my film Tornado, like everything else was tons of fun! At the beginning of the slide I tried to sit on the correct side of the tube so I would get to go down the drop forwards instead of backwards… Well, that didn’t work out too well for me… Somehow the tube turned putting me backwards down the drop and Andrew (who is bigger than me) forwards. NO FAIR! lol I thought being the lighter of the two of us I would end up going forwards with gravity pulling Andrew’s side of the tube first, but I was wrong. Anyways, I still had fun and I got a cool picture on the slide! ON-SLIDE ACTION! Yup, again I was sideways… Thought this looked cool For our last ride of the day we finally went on Raging River, the first slide I intended to go on… This, like everything else, was tons o’ fun! Much more so even than I thought. During the ride we had multiple tidal waves crash over us and tons of sideways slide time! And yes, the picture that is at an angle / sideways was taken from my vantage point, SIDEWAYS! Enjoy the on-slide pictures Overall, we had a great sunburn-free day at Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix! I can’t wait to go back again and I would definitely recommend someone to go there over the other waterparks in the Phoenix area. I hope everyone has a safe, fun and enjoyable summer!

Okay! I got some more pictures posted so here they are! There should be some more to follow whenever I get them posted (which will hopefully be soon!) Thursday, December 3, 2009 Here is one of the Christmas trees in our hotel! They were so pretty and there were at least 6 of them in the lobby! I was feeling all artsy when I took this picture lol Funny enough, Erin and I took almost the exact same picture of the tree… Next stop! Haunted Mansion Holiday!!!! I am literally the BIGGEST nerd when it comes to this ride. I love it so much! I have that happy look on my face like a 3 year old on Christmas morning when I’m going through the queue and ride. Maybe I’m crazy but I LOVE it!!!! Maybe it is a little too weird that I know the whole script to the ride and sing along… I like how I messed with this picture. The sign pops even more when you make the background black and white. I love how the sign is looking at you all creepy Probably my favorite shot of the outside of this ride. I love the angle I got everything at and that the scarecrow pumpkin king is in the shot too! This looks WAY better large, which you can see by clicking here! I’ve wanted a nice shot of this chandelier for a looonnnnggg time! I finally had a nice enough camera with me this time to get a good shot! This one also looks great large which can be seen by clicking here! Friday, December 4, 2009 We decided to start this morning by taking a trip down Main Street USA in the double-decker bus! We sat on the top and in the front which provided for some awesome picture opportunities First off, a Christmastime morning on Main Street! This one is much better larger, which you can see here! I love the wreaths on the lamp posts! They’re so cute and perfect! I thought this was precious! Just Pluto outside of the Mad Hatter shop. And for once he did not have a mob of people around him. This to me is one of those old magical Disney moments that doesn’t happen too often anymore. Now a shot of the not-so-hidden Mickey wreaths above Main Street. The second version of this picture I edited out the wires that hold the wreaths up Next up the wide version then the cropped version of this year’s Sleeping Beauty’s Winter Castle I really like the partners statue in front of it and the high-up vantage point I took the pictures from! This one should really be seen large, so CLICK HERE! The Astro Orbitor in the morning sun. Now a couple pictures looking back into the hub and down Main Street on a nice slow morning! Take a look at this one large And to conclude for the ones I have posted for Friday we have a nice picture of Walt and Mickey with the castle and the pretty poinsettias in the hub This one also is much better viewed large, which you can see by clicking here! Saturday, December 5, 2009 Stopped off at Toy Story Mania in the morning and thankfully avoided waiting forever to ride it. Went on the WORLD FAMOUS Jungle Cruise since I hadn’t been on in a while. Look at this one large! I love the little elephant Sunday, December 6, 2009 Saw Mary Poppins heading backstage in the morning! Erin absolutely loved her dress! I would dread the task of keeping it clean… And to finish off what I have posted now a few shots from the Enchanted Tiki Room! I still wonder what happened to Rosita… That’s all for today! Hope everyone is having a good first week of the New Year! I’ll have more pictures posted as I get them up on my Flickr!

Thank you! We did see Jack and Sally standing on the lawn of the Haunted Mansion! We were there one morning while they were doing press stuff and Jack was there dressed as Sandy Claws with Sally. I don't have any pictures of them because we were walking past, but that costume/outfit was great! The work it must take to make that and put it on must be extensive. It's a great result though. I was so excited to see him (I'd seen pictures before but not him in person) that I shreiked to my friend, "SANDY CLAWS!!!!"

Thank you, thank you! I just added my favorite picture of Christmastime Small World since you mentioned how incredible it looks Thought you might like to see it! It's amazing to see in person, you do really get that wow... reaction!

My Merry Little Christmastime Trip Report! How it all got started… Back in early November my Mom happened to notice that Southwest Airlines was running $25 fares 1-way (with taxes and surcharges, a round trip ticket cost $71!), which is AWESOME! I got the crazy idea “Hey, let’s go to Disneyland!” So, because of the fact that the tickets had to be booked within two days, I asked my friend Erin (who had only been to Disneyland once before and wanted to go again…) if she wanted too and the plans were set! After going crazy for about a month, we finally flew out to Disneyland on December 3rd! (we stayed through/left on the 7th, yet somehow we have no pictures of us from the 6th…) I currently have only the pictures of us at Disneyland posted in my Disneyland Christmastime 2009 Set on Flickr, but will continue to add more and more pictures each day! Keep checking back there and here for more as I get them posted!! I also have tons more Disneyland, WDW, and other pictures posted and always keep posting more so check them out!! Thursday, December 3, 2009 After flying in EARLY the first stop of the day was the cute Christmas Mickey floral! Right after walking through the entrance tunnels, who else did we see but CHIP!!! He had a very small group around him so we stopped to get a picture and to say Merry Christmas! Erin, Mom and I all got kisses from Chip Later in the day, after the jackets went on (it was COLD!!) we made a stop at a very short 25 minute Space Mountain! I’ll have much better pictures up of the castle later, but I thought this one was pretty seeing as it was taken on my cell phone! To end the night, one last picture of Erin and I on Main Street! It’s so pretty with the lights! Friday, December 4, 2009 This day was red shirt day! All three of us decided to match and we got some cute pictures of us with our matching shirts! It was such a wonderful and pretty slow day in the park!! Erin LOVES churros… Really really loves churros… The following three are pictures of us in the hub in the morning California Adventure time! p.s. I LOVE my hair in this picture! Erin had straightened my hair that morning and I think it looked awesome It’s kinda nice to have someone who’s like a big sister around to do my hair since I’m usually too lazy to do anything with it lol STITCH!!! This was the first time I’d ever seen him in California! He didn’t even have a line, so I got to see him right away. I told him it was nice to see him on this coast since the last time I saw him we were in Animal Kingdom. Right after seeing Stitch, we saw Minnie Mouse! She has joined in on red shirt day too Then on our way to Tower of Terror, we saw Goofy!!! (who was participating in red SHORTS day) Skip to the evening! We had to go see Small World with all the pretty Christmas lights My favorite shot of It's A Small World from the trip! It's so beautiful I could stand and stare for hours! Saturday, December 5, 2009 Happy Birthday Walt Disney!! This day was SO much fun! At noon the three of us plus some awesome people we met the night before went to sing happy birthday to Walt outside of his apartment. When we got there, Mickey just happened to be hanging out by the fire station/Walt’s apartment. Mom talked to Mickey’s “friend” and asked if he would like to sing with us and she said sure! So the group of us, along with a bunch of other people in the general area, sang happy birthday to Walt Disney with Mickey conducting us! It was so cute and fun to be part of! I have video of Mickey conducting the singing which I will post later (as soon as I get the cord to connect the video camera to the computer) We start out this day with a picture of Erin and I at the Haunted Mansion Then move onto Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee!!! I was determined to get in the show, so we waited and ran after the “talent scouts” when they came out and asked if we could be in the show. The lovely girl we asked said “Of course!” and we got to be in the show that started about 15 minutes later. It was SO MUCH FUN to dance along and use the cute props! We really did have a great time in the show and as a bonus we got to have a private meet and greet with Louis, Princess Tiana, and Prince Naveen! I wish we could have gotten a picture with Dr. Facilier too cause he’s AWESOME! We also got the commemorative Mardi Gras beads and medallion that you get for participating in the show. It was such a great experience to be a part of and I defiantly want to do it again if the show is still running when I go back to Disneyland! As a side note: if anyone watched the 4:15pm showing of Tiana’s Showboat Jubilee on 12/5 and has pictures or video, please send me a message! I’d love to have any pictures from that show for my scrapbook, even if they don’t have us in them. Thanks to anyone who could help with getting me these pictures! So, here we go! LOUIS!!! And some more Louis! He’s quite cuddly and cute Erin, Me, Princess Tiana, Mom, and Prince Naveen! This Tiana is by FAR my favorite! I think she has the best singing voice out of all of the wonderful performers and she’s so pretty! This is the awesome girl that let us be in the show! I love those dresses so much! Last, but not least, is Erin’s and my picture from Astro Blasters! This is my second highest score ever, second to my 1,000,000+ score I do have to say, that is the WORST look on my face EVER! Funny, though Thanks everyone for looking at my pictures! Again, as soon as I get more posted on my flickr I will get them posted here! Comments are welcome and always appreciated I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas (or Happy Hanukkah) ! Happy New Year everyone! ADMIN EDIT: I went ahead and edited your thread's title to remove the "Updated:" and I moved the "Photo TR" to the front. You can use the description to show updates to the thread in the future.

Great pictures! It's neat to see new things from around the world! Looks like you had a blast Me, being scared of heights, would probably be freaked out by that "coaster" but I think I'd still do it. I may be scared of heights but I say SCREW IT!!!! I'LL GO ANYWAYS!! I always end up having fun too!

Hey everyone! Quick question for anyone who knows the answer. Does Disneyland usually close early for the candlelight processional, or does the park stay open and town square is roped off for the duration of the show? The current park hours say they are open till midnight, but I didn't know if they will be closing early for the event (I hope not!!) Any help would be awesome Thanks!!!

I've been back through there once that I rememer (and I ruined a pair of high heels doing it lol). I went back through there with my choir group when they were taking us back to Big Thunder Ranch. The park was really crowded and we were running late, so the CMs took us through there. It really is neat to see Adventureland stuff on one side and Main Street stuff on the other!

Yep! Paige O'Hara was the voice for Belle. She still sounds EXACTLY the same. It's really neat to hear her speak to you It's like the character come to life. Margaret Kerry was the body reference model/actress for Tinkerbell when they were animating Peter Pan. She was the one dressed up like Tinkerbell doing all the poses and actions that were then translated onto paper This is her official website: http://www.tinkerbelltalks.com/ Fantasmic does seem to attract SO many people lately, so we had to get there about 1 1/2 hours early for even the standing seats we got. At least we got front row standing section. Especially with the new dragon now, tons more people go to see it. Fire-breathing or not (depending on her mood for the night lol) she's still pretty impressive! Thanks for the nice comment I really appreciate feedback on my photos! I love sharing my love for all things Disney with everyone else, so it makes me smile when people like my pictures

Ok, so this is SLIGHTLY delayed, but here are some of my pictures from D23 in September. Also, all of these pictures are available for viewing and download in their original size (plus many more pictures!!) on my flickr which you can see here: www.flickr.com/piratetinkerbell ENJOY Thursday, September 10, 2009 So we flew into Orange County that afternoon and got to our hotel a little bit before dinnertime. We wanted to get dinner at Tortilla Jo’s so we made the brilliant decision to walk from our hotel to dinner. Not so bad, right? WRONG!!!! We were staying at the Courtyard Mariott (right behind the Anaheim Mariott) which is about 1.5 miles walking distance from Tortilla Jo’s. The walk didn’t look so bad to start out, but it ended up being pretty darn far. We forgot about the Katella Ave. shuttle which would have saved us a good bit of the walk. I guess on the way over it wasn’t too bad… It was after tons of Mexican food and multiple margaritas that the walk back was made uncomfortable. D23 Expo, Friday, September 11, 2009 Okay Friday!! What a great day!!!! We got to go to the Walt Disney Pictures presentation which, as most of you probably know, CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW WAS THERE!!!! I almost died with excitement!!! I wasn’t really sure whether to cry or jump up and down… The best solution seemed to be a combination of both. We had seats in the third row for the presentation, so it was really cool to see all those celebs and especially Captain Jack that close! And sadly, since no cameras were allowed, I didn’t get a picture of my wonderful Captain Jack. But I’ll always remember it forever Now onto the things I did get to take pictures of!! The first thing we did (well, after buying our expo priced tickets for Disneyland that night) was go see the Electrical Parade Turtle!!!! It was the first thing that caught my eye when we got into the expo hall and (being a true Main Street Electrical Parade fan) I had to go see it. I asked (yes, I really did ask) if I could take the turtle home with me but sadly they said I couldn’t. They might have wondered if I got on the plane with that following me… WALL-E!!! He really was super cute! I need a little one of him to help me clean up And Lucky He was pretty cool. He always seemed to make some sort of noise and had great expressions! This next one is really exciting! I got to meet Tony Baxter!! We saw him in the parks and resorts pavilion so I got up the courage and introduced myself and said hello! He was super nice and signed my expo book and took a picture with me. It was really awesome to get to meet him because I admire his work so much! Really really nice guy and I only wish I had hours to sit and talk with him! Miss Minnie and Me Rodent love ONTO DISNEYLAND! Okay, so I don’t know if it was because it was September 11th or what, but Disneyland was pretty slow that evening. At about 5:30pm Indiana Jones had only a 20 minute posted (it turned out to be like 10 minutes) wait. We walked right onto Pirates, we didn’t even have to wait one minute. Overall, the park was pretty empty, but not like I’m complaining Messing around with the camera waiting for Fantasmic… And the main reason why we went to Disneyland that night… FANTASMIC!! Especially Murphy The following are some of my favorites that I took during the show, there’s a bunch more on my Flickr if you would like to see those too I borrowed Andrew’s nice camera to take the pictures so they came out great! Princessas (this Ariel one is quite pretty in a bigger size, see it here!) See later on when I got to meet the REAL Belle Mickey got lost somewhere in that blast of light… AND NOW, MAY I PRESENT…… MURPHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (well, Murphy minus fire-breathing…) This one looks WAY better bigger, so go check it out here! I got a lucky shot too… check out the fire on the left hand side of the picture. Does it look like a dragon head with horns to you? It does to me It’s Mini Murphy! She goes dead… SHINY! KABLOOEY! (also really pretty big, so see it here!) And the last of the Fantasmic shots... (also quite pretty larger which can be seen here!) D23 Expo, Saturday, September 12, 2009 Can I keep him? Star Tours 2!!!!!!! Mr. Push And, as promised, the REAL Belle Miss Paige O’Hara! Paige O’Hara and the REAL Tinkerbell Miss Margaret Kerry Tink and PirateTink THE END!!! Hope everyone enjoyed my pictures!!! Again, feel free to download (or comment on ) any that you like at my Flickr (www.flickr.com/piratetinkerbell). Have a wonderful and safe Halloween!

Ok so I have to know... What country did Joey get the pomegranite drink in because I am SO getting one the next time I go!!

The T-Rex restaurant is AWESOME! Like rainforest cafe but 100 times cooler! The ice cave room is the best tho We got to go there about a month after they opened and it was amazing. And the drinks were really good I got that tropical one they have on their "featured" menu, not the neato cotton candy one. I'll totally have to get that next time! Love the photos so far, wish I could be there too!

Agreed! This coaster has gotten even more painful over the years! And talk about HOT in AZ... We've been relatively cool-ish this week with highs of 105 Last week (or the one before) we were hitting 115 118... That's the point where even the walk from your house to your car in the driveway is the most miserable thing you will ever do. Which FiddleSticks did you guys go to? The one on Elliot road in Tempe? It looks like it to me... If so, I'm proud to say that Big Mike was only about 5 minutes away from my house!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe if the road show stops past there again I'll come out and say hi!

And that is EXACTLY why my boyfriend (and probably everyone else's) is so excited about it lol They were playing the trailer on the big screen before Bruno last weekend too

Official Entry #1 Here it be! Official Entry #1

They changed it back to it's original style. In the first walkthrough, they used the "pepper's ghost" (haunted mansion ballroom) effect to make part of the scenes. They went back to that same style now It's quite cool to see because most of the projections/pepper's ghost stuff is moving

PART 3!!!!! Happy New Year’s Eve! New Year’s Eve started as a foggy morning and we started seeing the crowds on the way to Disneyland. We pulled into the parking structure and the lines were CRAZY long. You know it’s going be a busy day when they’re handing out flyers telling you how to handle the big crowds. Despite the crowds, we vowed to have a great day To start the day we went to It’s A Small World so we could go again without the long line. It was wonderful and we had a great 10 minute wait as opposed to the hour or so it got up to later that night. That afternoon, we went to the Sleeping Beauty Castle Walkthrough and surprisingly there was no wait! I was quite impressed by the dioramas, it’s really amazing what can be done with some projectors and glass. The dioramas were stunning and thankfully we had Andrew’s camera along to get some great pictures! We heard about this time that they shut the gates at about 11 am and we found out later that they didn’t reopen until at least 5:30 or 6. Talk about busy!!! We decided at this point to head over to Pirate’s Lair (well, Tom Sawyer Island ) Mom had never seen the new pirate’s stuff there and it was a good way to beat the crowds. We got some beautiful views of the ships and were laughing at the people freezing on Splash Mountain. Overall, the island’s fun for the little it has and that’s about it. I do like the pirate’s stuff in the caves but I miss having Captain Jack there too. Andrew wanted to go see the House of the Future (technology nerd ) so we went over there. Another sign of how busy it was: Innoventions had a 20 minute wait. Innoventions has NEVER had a 20 minute wait, I don’t even think when they opened they did It was amusing to go see, the technology is awesome! Andrew made his birthday and Christmas list already, pretty much everything from in there. The rest of the day went by and was great fun! We got to go on Space Mountain with fastpasses so it saved us the 80 minute wait. That evening before we sat down for fireworks we headed to Haunted Mansion again. They somehow stopped the line when we went downstairs so I was able to stand incredibly still and get some good pictures of the changing portraits The ride was again awesome and when we were in the attic, THE RIDE STOPPED!!!!! This let me get some great pictures of the presents since I won’t use my flash. I just can’t stop saying how great this ride was, I really was impressed beyond belief. We picked up our party hats and horns from Big Thunder Ranch, it was hilarious to hear EVERYONE in the park who had these. It sounded like there were crazy ducks running around the parks squawking all night. Andrew and I treated Mom to us playing different Disney songs on our horns, no matter how terrible they sounded. We also got to go on Indy with fastpasses, saving us another crazy wait. When we got to the projector room, we asked the CM if we could step aside to see the Eeyore parking lot sign. We remembered our flashlight this time unlike when we went in June. He used our flashlight and WE FINALLY SAW IT!!! Everyone in the room was wondering what was going on when they saw the three of us cheering It really was cool to see this, it’s one of those hidden treasures that’s so much fun to discover. We sat down for fireworks and New Year’s festivities and were all bundled up trying to stay warm. The fog started rolling in early and again there was NO wind so most of the Believe fireworks were lost behind the smoke. The New Year’s party was awesome, they turned Main Street into a huge dance party! The fog got really thick and for most of the night it looked like there was no Matterhorn, no Space Mountain and sometimes no castle. Since it was so foggy, we didn’t see the New Year’s fireworks. They would have been amazing, there were bangs and pops constantly throughout the show. It was great to spend New Year’s Eve at Disneyland again, no matter if we could see the fireworks or not. We spent the last two hours riding Pirates and Haunted Mansion (the first ride of the New Year), there weren’t waits on either so it was great! The night was great and we wandered to the car and back to the hotel by about 2:30 or 3. Overall, the trip was AWESOME and we can’t wait to go back in May. Thanks everyone for reading (and voting!!) and I’ll have another TR for you in May! Have a wonderful New Year! I look absolutely terrible lol. We were freezing cold, had been run over multiple times by strollers, and were frozen to the ground waiting for midnight. Happy New Year's, one and all! Almost to the New Year! They had an awesome light show going when we could actually see it through the fog (which was not very thick at this point) New Year's Party!!! So would it technically be better to be naughty or nice in a Halloweentown Christmas? Happiness Merry Christmas to me, I get all the pictures I want!!! OH MY GOD DID WE SERIOUSLY JUST STOP!!!!! :) I think I yelled so loud I made Andrew deaf Ok, it's blurry, but considering the fact that we were moving it's not bad NO BREATHING!! Or Sandy Claws... The Pumpkin King... It was kinda neat to be stopped in this hallway The pocket camera strikes again! I swear, to get these following pictures I did not even breathe I had to stand so still Points to Andrew for the awesome picture this is halloween, this is halloween I love how the lanterns light up at night Snow in southern California Love it So pretty at night Fog already rolling in, check! happiness I was pretty excited to see this mural up close Obviously the tarp version but it's still good for me A not to common look at Splash Mountain Race, Race, Race!!! Unfortunately the canoe lost Water Peaceful Pretty Yep, it was that busy. Canoes, Mark Twain and Columbia Pirate picture! Rrrrrrr And they lived happily ever after Or evil lurking within? You decide Just light through a window? THIS WAS REALLY COOL! She even bats her eyes when she wakes up! No more Maleficent.... or is there? You gotta give my little pocket camera credit, this picture came out better than the one on Andrew's expensive camera did And another book These were fun too! Even the light sparkled This was beautiful More books This was neat how they put out the candles This will be us at about 2am Time to sleep This was pretty cool! I love how Maleficent just looms over her... she's so evil she's awesome Ouchie This was cool and a taste of what was to come. I didn't smell burning wood like I heard you did... Maybe whoever I heard it from just imagined it Neato Poor spinning wheels Book I wonder if these are the originals that were in there... It's finally open again!!! Christmas Gotta love the NOS decorations! Look how lovely Happy almost New Year!

Last part is coming tomorrow afternoon! I caught a cold and have been under the weather for a couple of days. See everyone tomorrow with the rest of the TR!

PART 2!!!! We woke up bright and early on Tuesday morning the 30th to get to Disneyland. We were there just as the park opened and headed straight for It’s A Small World Holiday. I had never ridden it before so I was really excited to experience something new. Ever since I was young, Small World has been a favorite of my Mom and I, so we were really excited to see the Christmas version. This was the first time Mom and I had been on Small World together since 2001! I must say, I was very impressed with Small World Holiday! The song was adorable and the Christmas lights and decorations looked great. Mom and I had smiles on our faces the whole way through and even Andrew enjoyed himself. The whole ride really does convey the meaning of peace on earth and leaves you with a warm feeling inside. The refreshed paint on everything looked wonderful and it is great to see an old classic getting the attention it deserves. Also, I was very pleased to see some of the rainforest still there! That was one of my favorite parts when I was little and I’m happy it did not disappear. I will be interested to see in May what is lurking behind the black curtains in the Americana section… Personally, the idea of an America section in America is a little odd, but hey, we’ll see it when it’s here and hopefully it won’t subtract from the experience. After Small World we headed over to Haunted Mansion Holiday!!! The Nightmare Before Christmas is an awesome movie and I was excited to see it brought to life (or would that be death… ). Before this trip I had never been on this attraction either, so it was another treat to see this. Haunted Mansion is one of my personal favorites and it was awesome to see it this way! Like Small World, I was extremely impressed by Haunted Mansion Holiday! I had seen videos and pictures of it before, so I had high expectations, but even these were blown away. The level of attention and detail was AMAZING! The outside looked great (I’d love to see some of the decorations stay all year round like the pumpkins and skulls) and the inside was even better. I loved how the ballroom smelled like gingerbread, too! The man-eating wreath and Jack Skellington were much bigger than I thought they were, something that was both surprising and pleasing. The imagineers did a wonderful job on this and I can’t wait till I get to see it again sometime! After seeing both of these rides, we ran over to California Adventure to ride Toy Story Mania. We were there on the opening day and week of Toy Story Mania but due to huge lines and it breaking down and having to be evacuated when we were about an hour into the line, we never got to go on it. Before we went on we got fastpasses for Screamin’ so we could go on this before we left the park. We FINALLY got on Toy Story Mania and it was a blast! It really was much more fun than I thought it would be and it left us wanting to go again. I do take pride in that I beat Andrew by about 10,000 points ! Before heading back to Disneyland we went on Screamin’ and it was great as always. Right before the big drop, the music oddly cut out… My reaction and cynical comment was pretty funny though, and probably left a few people worrying if they heard it. Right after it cut out I looked at my Mom and said, “Well, I hope the brakes work!” We then headed back to Disneyland because we didn’t want the gates to close before we got back in. They DID close later that night but we were safely inside so no worries! If anyone knows the number of guests Disneyland can hold before they shut the gates, I’d be interested to find out. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Disneyland riding as much as we could given the crowds and saw the Christmas parade. Before the parade the marching bands from Penn State and USC marched down Main Street. Since Andrew’s Dad is a UCLA fan, we had to take pictures of the USC band for him . The parade was wonderful and we had great seats! I really did enjoy seeing this again and it just added to the holiday experience in the parks. The rest of the day was fun and we won dream seats for Fantasmic later in the evening! This is Andrew’s favorite show so we were happy to get them! We waited about an hour and got front row seats for Believe in Holiday Magic. Unfortunately there was absolutely NO wind so the smoke hung around blocking our view of many of the fireworks. Even through the smoke, the fireworks were beautiful (this gives me another reason to go back for Christmastime, I gotta see the fireworks!). We loved seeing Fantasmic with the new projectors, they really do make the images much clearer! Between the time Fantasmic started and ended, really thick fog rolled in. This made for some interesting pictures of Main Street with all the lights glowing in the fog. We had a wonderful day filled with holiday magic (cheesy, I know ) and really enjoyed getting to see all the special things for the holiday! Now, here come the pictures! Part 3 is coming tomorrow night with Castle Walkthrough pictures, Inside Haunted Mansion Holiday pictures (our Doombuggy stopped!!!), and New Year’s Eve!!! The last picture of the night Merry Christmas, one and all! No, it's not blurry, that's just all that fog... Kinda gives the castle a cool glow LOTS of fog Awwww family photo I need to learn how to do that to my house My favorite castle picture BRING BACK THE COUNTRY BEARS! Gotta love the reindeer DANCING RODENTS!!! For all those rodent lovers out there Can you tell who my two favorite Princesses are? And thank you Ariel Thank you for waving right at my camera Aurora Such a pretty dress! Making more friends from the parade Hi Mickey!! This Snowperson was my friend She stopped so I could get a good picture! These outfits are so pretty! I love the Toy Soldiers I want one. Now. CHRISTMAS PARADE!!!!! Donny Osmond was the grand marshall for our parade... Can't you see my excitement....... We have UCLA fans in the family so we took photos of the USC band just for them Andrew decided it was necessary to take pictures of the Penn State cheerleaders on MY camera... Back in Disneyland! Mom and I miss the old Rockets WooHoo! We finally made it on!!! Please note that mine was the green side and I beat Andrew by over 10,000 points Almost there.... Goofy glasses Almost made it and it hasn't broken down!!!!! ~~You have saved our lives, we are eternally grateful~~ Wheesy is awesome Noted! Welcome to the Themed Trash Can family The smile on my face is hiding a thought of: "I swear to god if this thing breaks down again I'm gonna go completely insane" IT'S A DANCING AND TALKING TATER! This looks a little nicer California Adventure: we have no water in our lagoon, no face on our sun, and a ton of seagulls sitting in the empty lagoon wondering what the heck happened Smile pretty for the camera See, Andrew, this is the pretty castle! Sharing a quiet moment looking at the flowers and castle I gotta give my Mom credit, she snaps these great pictures of us when we don't know it Merry Christmas Disneyland castle! Pretty shot not so often seen Mommy and Me And here's us two feet over with the tree In the Court of Angels. This is a family favorite spot in the park. One of those few quiet corners left. More New Orleans Square. Walt would be happy with how beautiful it looks Wandering around New Orleans Square. These are so beautiful! I love how every one has a different expression These are great Gotta love the pumpkins! They really should leave these year round Jack Skellington literally crashed into the mansion and "wrecked" the halls I love the detail! Little snow/pumpkin man I was so excited at this point, you have no idea Gotta love the morning light, makes for great pictures! On the way to Haunted Mansion Holiday. A guy standing there said he would taste really good deep-fried and stuffed... Poor turkey Had to stop past and visit another member of Yeti Ball's family One of my favorite pictures I took the whole trip! We got out and it was doing its 9:00 character parade! Me: happy about Small World Andrew: happy to be alive after riding Small World Peace on Earth I love how they brought that sun back, too Pretty, pretty, pretty! I see a rainforest!!!! IT LIVES!!!! Jingle Shells, Jingle Shells, Jingle All the Way! Oh what fun it is to swim beneath the salty spray-ay! I've always loved these Kinda kooky but still pretty cool I love this light arch! Makes me want to sing the song... Neato ice/light sculpture dragon! I love these fireworks! The way they shimmered was great! p.s.: I didn't use flash on any of these so forgive me if they are a little blurry. I can't let myself use a flash, it's too annoying to everyone. Happy 2009! May everyone's New Year be happy and healthy! Happy Holidays! (now including a deeper flume so people don't get stuck) The wreaths and garlands are pretty! I need to get some for my house... I love these close-up detail shots of Small World! Absolutely lovely! It's A Small World Holiday!!! Let the singing begin!

lol I think both... I'm only 5'2'' and he's a foot or so taller than me The picture of us in our Halloween costumes was taken with me wearing huge heels so it got me a little closer to his height!

Happy New Year Everyone!!! I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's celebration, I know we did PART 1!!! We left for California at about 9am (AZ time) on the 29th and had a pleasant and quick drive. Thankfully, there was not too much traffic so my yelling at other drivers was kept to a minimum Near Palm Springs we noticed the mountains had a LOT of snow on them, something we don't see too much of near home. We pulled into Anaheim at about 2pm (CA time) and checked into our beautiful hotel, the Anaheim Marriott. Mom was especially pleased to be staying here, it was the first place I crawled a long long time ago. We took the exciting tram ride to Downtown Disney and spent some time shopping and pin trading (yes, we're nerds ) Dinner was AWESOME and we were way too full for a while after. We ate at Tortilla Jo's which has officially become our favorite Downtown Disney meal spot. Since Andrew and I both recently joined the 21 club, I had a Strawberry Daqueri with dinner and it was amazing! I seriously could keep drinking those things all night they're so good. We made time to stop past the Grand Californian to see their beautiful tree and decorations. To end the night, we wandered over to see the candy cane California letters and the snowflake covered Disneyland entrance. For once in my life I actually got to bed early since we had a long day at Disneyland planned for the next day. Ok, now here come the pictures! I'll have the second part up hopefully tomorrow night with the pictures from the first day at Disneyland!! These look much better than those dream clouds.... They even twinkle Mommy and Me C is for Christmas!!! or California... The Grand Californian tree. I love the gold decoration! I love the trees in Downtown Disney! I see pretty lights.... Welcome to the 21 club Drink up me hearties, yo ho! The bad part about this is we paid the same price for his tiny drink that we did for my bigger one... Tortilla Jo's is amazing... AND they decorate for Christmas! Waiting for dinner Hello Downtown Disney Trash Can! Don't mind those people acting like they don't know me. TRAM PICTURE!!! Remember kids, this tram travels at a maximum of 14 miles per hour Anyone know why, because I have no idea... I have some sick obsession with themed trash cans. In the words of Rhino, they are SO TOTALLY AWESOME!!! Mom and Andrew acted like they didn't know me anytime I started taking pictures of them. The Anaheim Marriott Their decorations were so pretty! SNOW!! This is right outside Palm Springs. For us Arizona people, seeing snow is literally a Christmas miracle.

I'm going through the pictures and I'll have the first part of our trip report up tonight!

We'll look for you and say hi! And we'll remember our flashlight this time so we can see the Eeyore parking lot sign in the projector room...