jenseib

I also post my TR's to my blog and then I do print some of the special pictures...ok I print a lot of pictures, but not all. I have 3 trips worth that I haven't put in albums yet and 2 trips I haven't had printed yet. I usually print the pictures that have friends and/or family in them and then the pictures I really like, but that still is a heck of a lot of pictures. And part of the reason I haven't put them in albums yet is because I am overwelmed with so many and how to put them in. there is no way I can remember the order they were taken without looking at a TR and doing a lot of sorting. I started putting some of my 2012 ones in an album recently and I just decided to go with topics/parks rather than a day by day order. If I ever wanted to look at it in order I have it posted enought places that I can reread it that way.

I noticed that the Little Mermaid ride had no line at all, so I went in and asked how long the ride actually was and they told me 6 minutes. OK, I would be cutting it short, but I decided to ride anyways. The ride queue here is nothing like at WDW and pretty boring, but I walked right through it. The ride itself is virtually the same as at WDW. I only spotted small differences and not enough that most people would even notice. At some point during the ride it stopped. I have to admit I was a little panicked about that. I knew I was cutting it close by riding it as it was and now I was going to be late. Luckily it started moving soon and I blew a sigh of relief. I quickly got off the Little Mermaid and high tailed it back to the GC. I walked in and the meeting had already started, but I did notice that not everyone was back yet, so I didn’t feel quite so bad then. I paid attention and was a good girl then. Cass told me that those who had gone in at early entry right away did not get to ride Radiator Springs because it was closed with technical difficulties. I told her I did get on in the single riders line and I saw a few others get on, so they must’ve had a later start getting over there as well and got in line. So the meeting went on and we had a guest speaker and it was all very interesting. They do ask questions and if you give a good answer….or ask a good question, you get one of these! It doesn’t look like much, but let me tell you…everyone wants a Mickey paperclip! LOL I am not going to bore you with all the meeting details, but honestly it was interesting, but I do get jumpy sitting for long periods of time. It was now getting close to lunch and we were all going to walk to our destination together. We were going to Tangoroa Terrace at the Disneyland Hotel for lunch and I assumed we would walk through DTD to get there, but we didn’t. We took a different way, which involved crossing the street and walking by Paradise Pier. I am glad we went this way because it showed me a different route to get there. Looking back Crossing the street. For lunch we were given the old vouchers that Disneyland used to use for their dining plan. Currently they do not have a dining plan, but the word is they are trying to do one similar to WDW. So…anyways, I think we got something like $80 worth of vouchers for the week to cover meals that weren’t included in the conference room. These vouchers are in different denominations and if you don’t use the full amount you lose it. They do not refund you the difference. We went in to order and they have kiosks to do so, but some of the kiosk do not have everything on them, so you have to order at the register in that case. That is what I did, as the fry choice was sweet potato fries and I would rather eat shoe leather than those. I also got the fish….more on that later…. I give my order and the girl punches it through and I give her a $10 voucher. I think my order came to over $12. She rings it up and tells me I don’t get change….and I tell her I know, I still owe you money. She realizes she had punched in a $15 voucher and she had no clue how to fix it. She tells me to go have a seat, gives me a number for them to bring my food to me, and a manager will be out shortly to collect the additional money. Since I did this at the register, I was one of the first to order and I found a seat for Cass and I and she joined me a little bit later. While we waited for our food, Rita passed out FP’s for us. Since we were in meetings all day they gave us a couple of FP’s to use later in the day. The thing was that the time was for 5-6 PM for this day only…both of them! In the past, when they give out FP’s, they are usually good for the whole week and any time. This time restriction was really bad as it meant once the meetings were done, we would have to get right over to the park to use the FP’s or lose them. We grumbled amongst ourselves about that for a bit while we waited for the food. Finally my food came out. I had ordered the Island Fish and Chips - Panko-crusted Mahi Mahi and Sweet Potato Fries (which I substituted with regular fries) served with Lime Tartar Sauce. I got fish sticks! Hunh? It didn’t say fish sticks on the menu, it said fish and chips. I was not impressed. So I went on to taste them. YUCK. They were not good at all and the tarter was nasty. I forced the sticks down as to not waste them and enjoyed the fries. I think Cass got a burger. Whatever it was, it looked better than mine. We ate and chatted and finished up. No sign of the manager yet to correct my bill. And honestly, it was their fault, not mine and I wasn’t going to wait around for someone to find me, so I went for a walk. Sadly I never actually went into Trader Sams, though I hear it is really cool in there. I found a few free loaders too. I went back to the table where Cass was sitting and finally a manager had come out with a correct bill. I paid the difference which seemed like a hard process for them. I also felt like they were making me feel like it was my fault, which annoyed me a bit. And I will take this time to say I did not feel that the CM’s at DLR were as friendly or as “good” as the ones at WDW. We found a lot of the park ones talking about breaks, or complaining about something to co-workers. It was just a very different vibe from the CM’s here. Not to say the WDW ones are perfect, but they in general are better than most of the ones I encountered at DLR, especially the park ones.

I next headed outside to check out this area I had seen the day before. I had thought the monorail went through the building somewhere, but I knew you couldn’t see it inside…so I basically was on a quest to see where it was. There it is. It was pretty over here so I took a lot of pictures. There goes the monorail! Those people were trying to go to the park and they thought this was a shortcut, but really it’s a dead end, so they all had to turn around and I told them how to get there. LOL. Dead end! I decided now I would head over to California Adventure and see how the Radiator Springs Racer single rider line was. I went through DTD though. The line was still really long out of the Grand and though I heard it moved fast, I just was not in the mood to mess with it. When I arrived at the entrance it was pretty packed, but I found they had a special line for the early entrance people and that was extremely short. I took in more sites as I entered today. SCORE!!! The single rider line was practically non existent! As I got up there and directed to a line, I had a person ask me how I was able to go through the short line. LOL. It’s single riders baby!!!! My wait was basically nothing. I walked through and got put on almost immediately. I refrained from taking pictures this time around and just enjoyed the ride. As I got off, 3 of the people from my conference were just getting off and I told them about the single rider line as well. I think from the time I walked in the park and then got in line and rode it, it was something like only 10 minutes that had passed. They decided they were going to get back in line for single riders now. They weren’t worried about being late back….and a confession here….neither was I! I took some pictures as I moseyed my way back towards the GC entrance.

I wish we had more time to spend here and enjoy the pools. We never really had any day time to do so and of course the slide closed at 5 here as well. They have cabanas to rent here and if I remember right, they are quite pricey. This hot tub was full of foam. The kids were playing in it and it actually looked pretty gross. We were thinking they may have dumped some shampoo in there. The gate near our building elevator was right there and I believe Cass then left and went back to the room and I kept on. Holy cow!!! A real lemon tree with lemons on it!!!! I don’t think I have ever seen one up close before. And a snail….a real snail…and he was big. I just love flowers in Feb. I then headed back to take a look inside. I hadn’t realized they had this little lounge area. I then went up to take pictures from the balcony. I love this fireplace look. I continued on exploring.

Feb. 26, 2014, Wednesday Once again I got up bright and early. That darn time change was not working with my body clock. I went down to the fire pit area so I could call home…but wait….there was a class in progress. I peeked and what was funny was it looked like more men than women doing the class…and this is the smoking area by the way. Seems weird to me they have a fitness class in the smoking area. I did find my own secluded place and I am sure I called home. I know Skip and he will call right smack in the middle of a meeting, so I figured if I called now, he would not be calling me at inconvenient times. I went back to the room to shower and then I believe Cass and I headed down towards the conference room, which today was in the Grand as well, but a different room. Of course I took a few pictures along the way. A quick stop in the bathroom and I had to take a shot of the tiles. There was a few other conferences going on in some of the rooms and the one looked really fun. We got to our room and we totally cracked up at the decorations. I guess they were giving the tables a Disney “look”, but seriously….that’s a slipper! We had a breakfast buffet waiting for us, so we went and filled up our plates. Look how cute the bottle of ketchup is!!! I was obsessed with it and I actually didn’t open it and it came home with me. We were also told to make a name card for our spot. We were supposed to decorate it and I am not an artist, so this is what you get. Cass made this beautiful elaborate one that made me want to hide mine. LOL! This morning also was early entry into California Adventure once again. Since this would be the only open time we could go during our conference we were given about an hour to leave after breakfast and head over. Rita praised the GC special entrance, but I have heard the lines are awful and that it is faster sometimes to go through DTD and then enter the park that way. We did walk over that way and yes!! The line was awful. Cass and I were going to separate. I forget what she planned to do, but she wasn’t going to go to the park. She might’ve just gone back to the room, or shopped a bit. I decided that since the line was so long I would walk around the resort and take some pictures. She did walk with me for a bit before we parted ways. This obviously is the quick service restaurant there. I then strolled out by the pool. I thought the pools were gorgeous here.

After our fabulous tour of Walt’s apartment, we headed further down Main Street. Yes! I took this next picture because the person is wearing long, orange, dreadlocks. Eric pointed out windows along Main Street and their importance. I believe this one is the newest one if memory serves me right. Walt’s dad. We stopped and talked a little more. And this next picture is one of my favorites that I took the whole entire trip. We then moved on, going through the castle. Eric did not always talk the whole time we walked, but he did talk a lot and always giving us great little tidbits of information. We stopped again and talked about an opening party Walt had on one of the ships. We moved on once again. Eric did tell us that on a full tour we would be riding certain rides. I know I have read about this tour, and not everyone rides the same rides, but on this one we would’ve road Peter Pan and I think 2 others, but I don’t remember which he said anymore. We had worked our way to Opera House, which is where the Disney Gallery is and also Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. Eric was so good. You always have a few on a tour that ask some strange questions, and today was not exception and he handled it all great. All too soon our tour ended. Eric apologized for our rushed mini version, but he knew we had a dinner reservation to get to. I really would love to do the full tour with all the extras and I was a bit disappointed we couldn’t, but we did do one of the things I really wanted to and that was to see Walt’s apartment. We gathered around the front where we first started and waited for the other group. Strange that they were taking longer than us and they had started before us. It was really getting chilly now and I debated going into a store to get a coat, but I didn’t. I was worried as soon as I would pop in the group would leave. And to tell you the truth, Rita was being very strict! A few agents asked if they could go back to their rooms and grab jackets and she was leery to let them go and meet up with us later. She finally let them though. I thought about going, but Cass was in the other group and I wasn’t sure I should leave her and then she would have no clue where I was when she got back. And it wasn’t like the other people really knew who she was to tell her I was gone. So I stayed with the group and sucked it up. LOL. As we were waiting Rita was getting nervous about the other group not being back yet. One person asked if we could just head over there and the rest could meet up with us. NOPE! Rita said we could not walk over unsupervised. I am not sure why??? We are all adults and she had already let a few go to get jackets and meet us there. Finally the other group met up with us and I found Cass. She was not as impressed with her tour. She didn’t care for her guide. She said not only was he not as informative, he wasn’t as good looking either! LOL! I sure did luck out in that department! She said they had to go into Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln and watch it. Now I know that isn’t super exciting, but still I have never seen it and I thought that would’ve been neat to see once. I think she might have took a quick nap during it. With everyone now there, with the exception of a few who ran for jackets, we now proceeded over to CA for our dinner package, which also included World of Color. Tonight we were eating at Wine Country Trattoria. It was busy in there and we had several tables saved for us, but they packed us in like sardines. Basically once you sat, you didn’t want to move again. We browsed the menu. We were late and Rita told us all to try and make our minds up fast and for the server to please try to serve us fast. Rita then found her place to sit, which was next to me. Oh no! I have to be on my best behavior. But actually she walked around a lot and mingled with everyone before the food arrived. We were brought some bread. I got one of the soups of the day. I think it was minestrone but I don’t remember for sure. Once Rita sat down next to me I did ask her a few questions. I know how these conferences worked in the past. We have had other co-workers attend them. Now, yes they change a bit each time, but they have some of the basic standards. I asked her why we never got an itinerary before coming and she seemed disgusted about the process as well. She said the person who used to run this program has retired, which I knew as well, and the new girl is basically overwhelmed. They are also trying to change the procedures up a bit and her team is trying to help her, but it’s not going very smoothly yet. Hopefully things are getting better on that side. I do feel bad for the girl in charge, but they really need to get organized fast. They had offered like 6 of these types of conferences that I know of from Jan to April, and in years past I have never seen that many offered in such a short period of time. It’s nice to have choices, but if they can’t get their acts together, they might need to slow done with the offerings until they can. That being said, I was still having a good time and learning as well. Our main courses came out. I think Cass and I got the same thing. Filet Mignon served with Herb Roasted Potatoes, sautéed green beans and a Bleu Cheese Butter. Mine was very good and I think Cass enjoyed hers as well. We sat and chatted as we ate, getting to know a few people who sat around us. Now let’s just say I am known for always attracting a few strange ones. I must have a nice vibe to me, or it’s just my luck. There was a girl sitting near us, VERY NICE, but a little odd. We started talking business. I am not a fan of people bragging about their business, especially to those of us in the same field. We all have our own ways of doing things and it is nice to hear others, but when it sounds like bragging I want to just walk away. This girl started talking about something she does in her business and it was not ethical at ALL! When she said what she did, I think my face went white and I had a look of shock…..and at the same time I think I heard Cass’s jaw hit the table on my right side and I am pretty sure Rita’s eyes bugged right out past me on my left. I then waited to see if Rita would say anything about it, but she didn’t. It wasn’t about Rita’s particular product at the moment, so I guess she felt it best not to say anything, but Wow! Let’s just say some people really have some nerve. Desserts were delivered next. It was a combo plate of Trattoria Tiramisu, European Macaroons, Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Fresh Fruit, & Chocolate Caramel Espresso Tart. I found out I am not a fan of Macaroons. I think that was the first time I ever had one, and it just wasn’t for me. I also wasn’t a big fan of the panna cotta. While eating, we were each given a ticket for the special viewing area for World of Color. We were free to go and watch the show and she gave us reminder instructions for the next morning. It was darn cold now outside. I told Cass I was heading back to our room and changing. She came with me and I think she changed as well. I put on jeans and a sweater and a sweatshirt over that. It felt so nice! We headed back and got back just before the WoC was to start. The special viewing area wasn’t all that impressive to me. Unless we wanted to go in the wet zone, we had to stand behind a lot of people. Oh well, we had seen it once already and this was a bonus for us. And of course I still took a lot of pictures. There was one saving grace on this location! There was a little boy being held by his dad that had Mickey Ears on and he is silhouetted in a lot of my pictures. Continuing with the WoC pictures. Oh no! The little boy got down! And the little boy is back….but this time he is sporting a different hat and it’s not nearly as cute or nice for my pictures! The show was fabulous once again and I did have a different angle tonight so that was nice as well. We did stand around a bit and wait for the crowds to lessen before fighting our way out. Once the crowds thinned out we headed back to the GC. I think Cass was going to go to the hot tub to soak her swollen ankles. I just wasn’t feeling it tonight. I went and sat by the outdoor fire for a bit, where I think I messaged a few friends. I then decided to head over to DTD and look in World of Disney. I sent Cass a text telling her what I was doing, but it never did go through. I was on the lookout to get something special for Claire. I wanted it to be Disneyland related. I walked through the store, which by the way is much smaller than the WDW version and I saw a few things, but nothing was jumping out at me. Finally I decided on a puzzle. We enjoy doing puzzles together and this one had around 500 pieces in it. Just to let you know, when she put it together at home, I was barely allowed to help. She said we can do it again later and I will be allowed to help that time. I browsed some more as I was also in search of a sweatshirt for myself. If you have followed me over the years, you know I have a slight obsession over sweatshirts and I try to buy at least one each trip. Nothing had been jumping out at me all week so far …but then I saw it, the perfect one! It was navy blue and had Disneyland resort stitched on the back of it. I searched for a large, but couldn’t find one. Every other size but large was there. I tried on an XL and that fit decently. In fact, I think a large would be too small. These seem to run kind of small in my opinion. I then thought, hey I’ll get one for Claire too and then next month with we go to WDW we can wear our matching DL sweatshirts. I got her a medium since they seemed to run small and she is getting so tall. I was so excited with my purchases and I headed back to GC then. A picture of the elevator floor. And on my way back to the room. When I got back to the room I showed Cass my purchases and she said she had seen that sweatshirt too and was thinking of getting it, but she didn’t want to make me mad if she did. I don’t care! If she likes it…buy it!!!! She promised she wouldn’t wear it the same time I wore mine, but again, I don’t really care and heck there are a lot of strangers wearing it out there too! We then laughed and giggled some more about who knows what. We seemed to be able to find humor in just about anything these days. And after a while we both drifted off to sleep.

LOL...Good to know!!

It was just so darn awful....I never imagined it to be that way and was so disappointed.

Cass was having issues with her foot and ankle swelling up so she decided it was time to go get some ice. She came back and said that she wanted a drink as well and the machine wasn’t taking money…I think it was only taking credit cards, so she left again. She came back again and it wasn’t working still, but she couldn’t get back in the room with her key now. So we played around with that and it wouldn’t work for her, but did work for me. The weird thing is, it had worked for her once or twice already but just stopped working. I don’t remember if she found ice either or if she gave up on that. It was actually kind of comical, with her going back and forth and the 2 of us trying to get the stupid thing to work. We decided to get ready for the conference and then head down a little early so we could get the key situation taken care of. We went to the desk and they once again issued new keys for both us of…..oh and each time they did that, they had to issue us each 2 sets as one was to be used on our last day for our extended stay. We did ask and they do recycle the keys. This guy had a little more trouble for some reason. He kept asking to see the old keys and new keys and he threw the wrong one in the recycle bin and didn’t believe us when we told him that it was there. Once that was taken care of we went outside and took some pictures of each other. Here is that outdoor fireplace again. I think I called home at this point, or maybe earlier, but throughout this day I had talked to Claire who was at my MIL’s and Skip as well. Skip told me that Claire needed a bath and that Paige only came home for a short time and left for the night. His Mom didn’t think she had the right kind of shampoo. Ok, not sure what that meant, but evidently she wasn’t going to give Claire a bath either. So he wasn’t sure what to do because Claire had to have one. Now I am not sure what I was supposed to do about it, but I listened and said, that if she had to go one more day, the world would not end, but it’s not that hard to give her a bath and any shampoo would be fine to use on her. I guess if something were to happen to me, Claire would forever be stinky because no one knows how to turn water on for her and put shampoo in her. LOL Then I saw this beautiful stained glass window and took a shot with my camera. Cass told me it was the doors to the main entrance….really. I hadn’t seen it open? And then it did and we decided to go outside and get a shot from that side. Of course the door kept opening and closing and it took a while to get the shot. I think we next went to the gift shop to get a drink to take along with us. We passed this cute clock along the way. I was very unimpressed with the gift shop here. It was actually kind of small and I didn’t think it had a good variety of things. I then tried to get a nice shot of this bouquet, but it came out blurry. The indoor fireplace was roaring. We then made a potty stop before heading to our conference room. We found our conference room and picked a table to sit at. They were handing out soft drinks so I think I got one and saved the one I bought for later. We kind of scoped the people out and noticed that Rita was running the conference. We have both been to other conferences before and Rita has been part of those too. It was nice to see a familiar face, but we knew Rita was a little strict and set in her ways. A few others sat at our table and we introduced ourselves. Some had done some of these types of conferences as well too. We really liked one girl and talked to her a bit, but some of the others we just didn’t click so well with. Not that we didn’t like them, but they just weren’t clicking with us so much. Rita called the meeting to order and we got started. We got a bit of an overview and things went on from there. The weirdest thing was happening though. One of the girls kept talking…out loud. She kept saying things like “Oh yes Rita”, “ You know it”……or if Rita would say something that she experienced, this gal would talk out loud and say her experience…..just to the air. I don’t think I am good at hiding my emotions on my face at times and I am sure I was looking at her a little oddly. I looked over to Cass and she told me to check my phone. OK….. I see a text from her and it says “So and so is so annoying!” Ok…I am in my 40’s and mature on most days…..today was not that day. I started giggling so hard, and Cass was giggling and I couldn’t stop. You know how you know you can’t laugh or giggle and then it makes it harder to stop…that was me. I am sure I was shaking from laughing and I kept trying to do the straight face and then I would think of it again and start laughing. Luckily no one seemed to notice us acting like kids and I finally was able to control the giggles. This meeting wasn’t too long and then we were being treated to a few perks and dinner. Now everything involved in these seminars are pretty much mandatory. You pay to come and learn and they want you to do everything they schedule. I am not sure what would happen if you did skip out, but my guess is they would not let you “graduate” at the end or you would not be allowed to come to future ones. I must say, most of what they schedule is fun, but I know some days it wouldn’t bother me to skip something, though today was not one of those days. We had a few minutes to use the restrooms and chat and get to know each other before we had to head out. We talked to a few girls (and a couple of guys) and I had 1 or 2 that actually knew who I was from Disboards. Cass had several followers there as well. It was kind of weird to be recognized. One of the other girls, the one who we liked at our table was also a blogger and some people knew of her blog. Cass also pointed out another girl who posts on the Disboards and I did recognize her after she mentioned it. I don’t remember the exact count, but I would say we had 35 or so people attending this conference. Soon Rita said it was time to move on and we followed along. Rita had a Mickey hand for us to follow. It was pretty cute. Our destination was Disneyland! We were going to be treated to a tour!!! A Walk in Walts Footsteps! Woo Hoo! Sadly the tour was going to be a mini version. We had time constraints and several things on the normal tour were also being refurbished. I still was excited to take a mini version. We gathered around and Rita checked us in and then we waited a bit more…and then a bit more. I had a sweater on, but it was a bit cooler tonight. I was now regretting not bringing my sweatshirt along as well. Since we had so many people we were divided into 2 groups. We all had a Disney character on our name tags and Rita name off 2 characters and told them to be in one group and 2 more to be in the 2nd group. Cass and I did not have the same characters and she was in the other group. Well that sucks! For some reason my group was a bit smaller than the other. I heard Rita ask if a few from the other group wanted to come over, but I don’t think anyone heard or if they did, I didn’t notice who had come over. It really was getting chilly now and I was debating on just running into a gift shop to buy a sweatshirt. I was just afraid they would all leave as soon as I did. Our guide came out and we all got some headsets and he told us how to use them. He was pretty darn good looking too! He started us off right there and told us some stories. While standing there I caught a glimpse of Daisy and zoomed in on her. Cass’s group had started out earlier than ours so we were basically going behind them with our tour. Once their group moved on, our group went to the one place I was most looking forward to…..the firehouse! I am sure most of you know the story…When Walt was in the park he would leave the light on in the window, which is where his apartment was, so all knew he was there. After he died, they decided to leave the light on always. Walt never leaves the park now. We got a little info and then we again were split in half because not everyone could fit in his apartment at one time. I was in the 2nd group, so while the first group went back stage to head upstairs, we listened to our guide, Eric. After he was done talking we were invited to take pictures around the area. This girl would be taking us up in a little bit. Now I have heard that often there is a lady upstairs in the apartment…often referred to as Hitler. She is very strict and passionate about the apartment and God forbid you touch something. I have heard of many people getting scolded by her. I asked Eric and a few other CM’s standing there if the Hitler lady was up there. LOL. Some of the CM’s didn’t know what I was talking about but he did! And no she was not there today. The ones that knew her did say she was very passionate about her job, but she even scared them. That’s when another CM had it click and she knew who we were talking about then. LOL!!!! I took more pictures as we waited around. Finally we got to go upstairs. We were told no pictures back stage and when we went upstairs we had to place all our belongings in the hallway and cameras on a table. At the end they would take ONE picture of you with your camera. We gathered around and were told info about the place. It was really small. I mean…. I knew it was small…..but it was really small. I am gonna have a confession here….I touched things…yes more than 1! I only lightly touched, but I just had to. These were Walt’s things! I did ask if any of the chairs or carpet was original and they said that sort of. The carpet has been replaced, but they try to keep it close to the same and the chairs have been reupholstered a few times over the years, again with them trying to keep it as close to the original as they can. It then came time for pictures. I gave my camera and set it to auto so the girl shouldn’t have any issues with it. She took one picture and said “Ugh, that’s not good”. And here it is…..I look scared! She took a second one and said that wasn’t good either. Actually it wasn’t that bad, only I was not in focus, the background was. I then took the camera and set it to some manual settings. One of the girls in my group was also a professional photographer and said she would do it if I wanted, but I said that was OK…I should have let her. This was the 3rd one. I just gave up. It came out pretty grainy and I had a look on my face like I was wondering if she was doing it right. Had I had the professional take it, I am sure it would’ve been much better. The CM offered to take another one yet, but I declined. I already had 3 taken so I was lucking out already and I didn’t want to make those waiting on me to get mad. After our pictures we then headed back down to join the rest of the group.

Our next destination was Indiana Jones. This is one of Cass’s favorite rides. The line wasn’t short, but it wasn’t too bad either. The inside still has quite a bit of queue to it, so once you go inside, you are not really close to getting on. I tried to take pictures in here and failed miserably. It’s just too dark. The ride vehicle is just like the one at WDW for Dinosaur. As I got on, the CM told me to be sure I loop my backpack around my leg or it would fly off. I did so. I was on the end of the row as well. Wow! We were flying around on this thing. My bag went from side to side the whole time and I felt like I was smooshing Cass a few times. But it is a great ride. It’s a lot of fun and very cool! Definitely on the repeat list! We had another destination in mind next….and I will tell you I kept getting confused in this park as things are not in the same place as they are at WDW. Here we go! I loved how the ride looks here. This one is very different on the outside. As you may or may not know… this version of the stretching room is an actual elevator. You do go down to get on your doom buggy. Also when you are let out, you do not get on the ride right there. There is a hallway you go through first and then you approach another queue for the doom buggies. This ride is similar to WDW’s version, but different. Some of the scenes are the same, some are not, and it’s not in the same order either. The first time I rode this, I thought I might actually like this one better, but we did ride it again later in the trip and I think I like them both equally. Both are great rides and unique enough to enjoy both of them differently. It was now getting close to our lunch reservation time so we headed that way to check in. I spotted Tianna walking around. Our reservation was at Café Orleans today. I followed Cass and really didn’t pay too much attention because my camera needed its battery changed. I stood off to the side while she waited in line to check in. After a few minutes Cass came over and told me she led us to the wrong spot. LOL. We had a reservation at Blue Bayou later in the week and she had that on her mind and got in line to check in there. Luckily she hadn’t waited too long before realizing it and we made our way over the right spot this time. We got checked into Café Orleans without any issues. I can’t remember if they asked us if we wanted to eat outside, or if they just took us there, but either way… we ate outside and it was nice weather. The weird thing was we were put against the fence even though the whole area was open. It felt kind of weird having people walk right by us and looking at our food. We also had an extremely wobbly table and after our orders were made, we moved to the next one because it was super annoying. And then the next people they brought in were sat at that same wobbly table, but I think they did something to try and fix it then. Cass asked if I wanted to share food and that sounded like a perfect plan for me too. We ordered the Pommes Frites - Traditional French-fried potatoes tossed with Parmesan cheese, garlic and parsley, served with a Cajun spice remoulade $5.49. YUM YUM YUM!!!!! These were so delicious!!!! We also got the Monte Cristo Sandwich - Sliced turkey, ham and Swiss cheese fried in a light batter and served with berry puree dusted with Powdered Sugar. $17.99. I hear people rave about this sandwich all the time. With my first bite, I thought “Wow, this is so good.” With my 2nd bite I thought “This is kind of weird”. By the third bite I said “This is a sandwich on a donut!” I thought over all it was just OK and I could not eat my whole half portion. It was too sweet and just kind of weird. It wasn’t bad; it just wasn’t something for me. Cass liked it less than I did and she ate even less. I think we were both glad we tried it but I don’t think either of us would ever order it again. I would however go back there just for the fries alone! We were both too full to have room for dessert so we headed out once again. I think we did a little shopping now. I believe these next pictures were from inside a store. I think I ended up buying a Disneyland magnet and a DL t-shirt. At some point in time we had gotten a text that our room was ready so we now decided to go get our number and take a bit of relaxing time and freshen up for the conference. We got our room number and I think they gave us new keys once again. (They really gave the keys out like water here). They showed us where our room was, which was about as far out as you can get. It was on the 2nd floor and at the farthest corner of the place. We set off to find our room Once we made the trek to our room we took a few pictures before messing it all up. Our luggage was also here already. Our little balcony. Oh goody!!! Look at our view! It’s the back of the death trap!

Tuesday, Feb 25, 2014 We had another early morning today! Well to be honest all mornings were early for me. My body just knew the time at home and it had issues sleeping in. I am sure I got up and probably roamed a bit and then we got our showers for the day. Look at this view from our room. It really was fantastic! Cass pointed out Paradise Pier Resort to me. I had no idea it was so close as well. They need to pretty up this roof though. We had to pack up and leave today, so I tried to get a few last minute photos. We then hauled our bags down to Bell Services to have them transferred over to the Grand Californian. They could not give us a guaranteed time of delivery, so Cass and I had both packed out backpacks with clothes we would need for the conference later that day. We seemed to be making good time with all we had to do this morning and we planned to get out tickets and be at Disneyland in plenty of time for the Extra Magic Hours. We then headed out through Downtown Disney to make our way over to the Grand. That’s the Rainforest Café right there. And here is the entrance to the Grand. I had no clue it was right there and had passed it a few times already during the trip. Good thing Cass knows where she is going! A quick picture as we walked in. And then we waited our turn. Come on!!!! We need to get in the park!!! Soon it was our turn and we got Linda. Now Linda was wonderful and thorough! She was the last original CM at the GC from the time it first opened. That is good, because she knew what she was talking about. The bad was she talked about a LOT! She knew exactly what we needed, why we were checking in, and gave us a ton of info on the resort. She was super nice and enthusiastic, but both Cass and I were looking at our watches ever so slightly to watch the time ticking away. We also were extending our stay by 1 night and asked if we could keep the same room. So she did some juggling around and said yes, but it was a downgrade. That was fine with us. She also said we had booked a bunk bed room…that I do not remember doing…and we had a laugh. I still swear that I did not do it. I should go look at my confirmation again and double check, but I know I would never do that intentionally. Since we were downgraded, she did say we would receive a small refund for that extra night. Linda talked away, asked us to find the hidden Mickey in the GC logo and other interesting facts about the resort….it really was all interesting info and she was so nice….but we wanted to get over to DL! I think she finally realized it and we were set free with her telling us we would get a text when our room was ready. I think we had spent 30-40 minutes with her, so yeah, we were running late now! We did some speed walking and made our way through bag check and over towards DL. Lots of people had the same idea today. One thing to note is, with CA, only onsite resort guests get early entry, with DL, those staying offsite at a good neighbor hotel can get an early entry into DL once throughout their trip. I think everyone decided this was the day to use it! It didn’t take us too long to actually get in though, but we had arrived right at 9, so we had some wasted time getting through the line in. We also had new tickets in hand, so they had to have us take our picture once again. We had a destination in mind! Fantasyland! We had hoped to tackle some of the popular rides in that area. I have no memory of taking this next picture and I even said to Cass later in the trip that I would like to find BBB and look at it. She told me that I had already taken a picture of the sign in Fantasyland. LOL. I guess when you are walking fast and clicking you tend to forget things. We checked out Peter Pan and sadly the line was already insanely long….and we never did ride it this trip. We checked many times and it was always just crazy long. We headed to Pinocchio then. This is not at WDW and on my to do list! This is when we really noticed how narrow the queue lines are. At WDW, in most lines you can walk side by side or at least have lots of room around you. At DL, they are very narrow and wider people like myself basically just fit without knocking the chains as we walk. Cass also pointed out how the ride operators are basically right on the ride track here. It was kind of weird to see it. They sat right next to the loading vehicle and did it all. The ride was very cute, and I know Claire would enjoy it. We exited the ride and went in search for another classic. Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. In that last picture off to the right you can see the ride operator and how close she is to the loading vehicle. I always enjoyed this ride at WDW and I do remember there was a big fuss when it was closed to make room for Pooh. It was another fun ride and if memory serves me right, it was pretty close to the one WDW had so many years ago. Off we went again! We had the Matterhorn calling our name. It was running today and the single rider line was open, so we got in! It still was not a very fast moving line. Cass got on first and then a little while later I did. The thing that annoyed me about how slow this loaded was that the CM was going down the line looking for groups of 2 to fill up the cars rather than take 2 single rider people. He would go fairly far back and to me this took more time than just taking 2 single riders. I believe I was in the very last seat of our car. I was excited….this is the classic Matterhorn. Everyone wants to ride this right? As soon as we took off I groaned. It felt like my rear was being dragged across rocks on a thin board. What the heck, this is awful…surely it will get better…right? We start the ride and it only got worse. They have a small bag pouch in front of you and my knees basically hit the attachment spot for this dumb pouch the whole time. It doesn’t sound super bad, except for the fact that your rear is still dragging and you are bouncing all around hitting these pouch attachments the whole entire ride!!!! And to top that off, my knees also were getting banged into the seat in front of me head on. Oh and my spine felt like it was being crunched every few minutes as well. I screamed on this ride, but not because of fun…because I just wanted off and free from the pain. I was so disappointed in the ride. I really wanted to love it, but nothing about it was fun. I can barely tell you what I even saw on it because it was just awful. Finally it was over…Thank the LORD!!!! I find Cass waiting for me and she asks me what I thought. Horrible! And she goes on to say it was the worse ride ever and her and the lady in front of her kept saying they just want off of it. Cass and I both had bruises on our knees…and not the kinds that heal in a few days….we had these bruises for over a month!!!! This ride had been refurbished not too long ago and I guess everyone is complaining about it. It’s rougher and it now seats one person per row instead of 2 now. Reports I have read tell me it was smoother back then. Also we did not realize this, but I guess it has 2 tracks…. only 1 was running this morning….and the other side is a bit smoother supposedly. I was now pretty hungry. I am one who needs to eat something in the morning or I get a little grumpy, so we went in search of something. I think I tried 3 place before I found something. Most places we just not open yet. Finally the Jolly Holiday provided me with a few options. I went with the cinnamon roll. It was much bigger than I needed, but the options were few and I just decided that looked best and dug right in. Cass was just walking around on her own a bit while I was eating my roll. She met up with me as I finished and we set off once again. Darn, the Dole whip line is low now, I should’ve went there!

And more pictures of World of Color…did I mention I took a lot? LOL! Remember how I wondered the night before if those fire balls were hot when standing closer? Well on a night like tonight….they felt heavenly! So nice and warm! THAT……WAS….AMAZING!!!!!!!! We let the crowds leave and just hung out a bit and waited. We both hate to walk with the herds. After a l’il bit, we started to make our way out. We decided to see if our package for the conference had arrived yet and if so if we could pick it up. We planned to have an early start the next day and the package included the tickets we would need to get in the park, so we made our way over to the Grand Californian. Sadly, they were pretty much clueless as to what we were asking. I think the guy did go in the back and found out that they had arrived but still were being sorted. Oh well, annoying as it was, there was nothing we could do about it and we would just have to come over in the morning and get checked in and get our packages. We then made our way back to the DL hotel. One final shot of the night is of the headboard lit up. I am pretty sure we went to the hot tub then. I think Cass joined me, but she might not have. What I do remember is sitting in there and some young adults, probably in their early 20s, talking away. At first it was 3 girls and they were talking about the sleeping arrangements. It was hilarious. Evidently they had 2 guys with them, but they were not their boyfriends. They elected one girl to sleep with the one guy, while the other 2 were sleeping together and I assume the other boy was sleeping on the couch. They talked about how everything would be fine and that he knew she had a boyfriend at home, etc. It was just so comical to listen to. The one girl then proceeded to tell the girls about running into someone she knew at a bar and how he kissed her and she wasn’t sure if she should tell her boyfriend, etc. They all swore her to secrecy about the whole incident. And then the guys showed up. They looked like they were ready to party! Just listening to them all talk was funny and I am sure in my younger years I sounded just as funny. It was good entertainment. Sadly the pool closed and we all had to get out. I headed back to the room and then Cass and I talked into the wee hours of the morning. Ok, maybe not that late, but we talked and laughed and had a great time. Now we were acting like teens! It was a wonderful first full day at the parks and I already learned so much about Disneyland and had seen and experienced so many new things.

Good to know! I am hoping it was a bad night and I would like to try the roast beef!!!!

Once we exited the castle, I found this dude and he was just standing there waiting for a fist bump! A look up at the castle. What was neat about the inside walk through…you actually go up and over and come out the other side. I hadn’t realized that while we were walking inside of it. We headed through the castle then and I just had to take a picture of this guy with his cute sweatshirt….and princess back pack! AHHHH! Flowers in Feb! Time to head to the front. We have to get some dinner and then watch World of Color! Walt is still here! And then a quick walk over to CA! Our destination! Dinner was going to be had in Carsland tonight. This area is so pretty at night. Our final destination! Dinner tonight was at Flo’s. Cass and I had been looking at the food porn thread on Dis and the food here looked really good and was a must do on our list! A look at Radiator Springs. We somehow went in the wrong door. I think maybe we had a potty stop and went in through a door near there? Anyways, the line wasn’t too bad so we just hopped over/under the queue rope and got in line. It didn’t take too long to get up to order…but longer than it should have. We discussed what we were going to have, both of us settling on the Turkey dinner, but I was going to get peas and carrots, while Cass decided on the roasted corn medley. I told her I like corn…..but was a little leery what it meant by medley? How many kinds of corns are there? This was a picture in a glass case. I think it was kid’s offerings? And you can barely make it out….but this was some cute silverware that looked like tools. And no they don’t let you use stuff like this. I am not sure if they ever did, but I would assume people would steal it left and right. We made our orders and then waited and waited and waited. The ordering went fast, but when it came time for them to get the food out to you they were slower than molasses. While waiting a person in the next line over asked the food counter people if she would change her roast beef to turkey would it come out faster because she had been waiting so long. I quickly told her that wouldn’t help because I have been waiting on turkey. LOL. Finally it came and Cass had gotten hers first so I went and found her at a table. Getting back there was a chore too. Strollers in the middle of the aisle way and then the people were standing in the small space left talking. I was tired, hot and hungry and I am sure my “excuse mes” had a ring to them of “Get the heck out of my way!” I also got a shake to drink. I think it was cookies and cream or something along that line. Sad to say, but the meal was just OK. I don’t think I found butter for my roll and that’s disappointing and it just didn’t taste as good as it looked all around. The shake was really good though. Cass said hers wasn’t that great either and told me I should be glad I didn’t get the corn medley as it wasn’t very good at all. I think the gravy was part of the problem….it had that cheap gravy taste. I think it might have been better if I had asked for no gravy. After we were done we cleared away our plates (they use real utensils here) and I took this cute picture. And then we headed out once again. I swore I took pictures during this time, but I guess it was another night. I was a bit chilly and Cass had been looking for a few specific things, so we shopped around a bit. I found a really cute Carsland sweatshirt/hoodie, but it seemed really thin and for the price I just couldn’t justify it. Boy, later that night I regretted that! It was time to start making our way over towards Paradise Pier for our FP to see World of Color. I don’t think we had to wait too long and we were let in to find a place. We picked a spot off to the left side along a railing and then we chatted. The wind was a little breezy and it started to get cold. Not winter cold, but cold enough for someone in short sleeves. Even Cass, who is almost always hot, said that her arm facing the wind was getting pretty darn cold. It was funny, because I was pretty cold, but at least talking sort of kept my mind off of it a l’il bit. I think I may have called home during that time too… and though I jumped around to keep warm and complained a bit, there were people there wrapped up completely like it was winter! There was a guy with jeans and a hoodie and a scarf or something wrapped around him and he was sitting on the ground shaking. Seriously! It wasn’t that bad! I did however feel that if the parents looked away from the kids near us in strollers….. then I might steal one of their blankets to wrap up in. Hah! It did start eventually and it was totally worth our cold wait! Let me tell you that my pictures do not do this show justice at all. I just kept snapping and I am not impressed at all with what I got. The show is beautiful…..so much color…and so stimulating. I really enjoyed it and the music with it is great as well.

That could be. I know at WDW he looks fabulous! Super real. In fact my daughter Claire often comments at how real he looks and it's creepy!

That would be cool too see, but yeah I can see a lot of children and adults doing that.

Since we were in the area of Small World still, I decided it was time to take a few more pictures. And now it was time to head to Toontown. We checked out some wait times and looked around, but we had limited time right now and everything was pretty busy today. Hey! There’s Goofy! The whole area looked like a lot of fun and great for kids. I am so happy there still is a Toontown left somewhere! I think Claire would enjoy this area, though she is becoming more of a thrill seeker these days. We then checked out Storybookland and it was a super long wait for that as well. UGH…..I will tell you now, we never rode it. It was either a super long line or it was closed for weather. It also seemed to be closed in the evenings, so my guess is that this ride does not stay open all day. We then headed towards the back side of the castle and look who we found? I assume this is where Anna and Elsa meet. A few days later while in line for another ride, I heard a Mom and daughter discuss possibly popping in over there to see them. She didn’t seem to realize that the line there was for THEM. I let her know that she could wait a very long time in line and she might want to ask how long the wait is before getting in line. We also checked the wait for Pinocchio and Peter Pan. Both had extremely long waits. The backside of the castle….we had something else in mind now! Our plan? To go INSIDE the castle! They have a little passageway inside that tells the story of Sleeping Beauty. I had almost forgotten about this, but never fear, Cass was on the ball and took me through it! This was really neat. Not the best attraction, but something different and again, I know this would really be a highlight for Claire. Heck it was a highlight for me and I am an adult. LOL. I had always wanted to go INSIDE Cinderella’s castle as a kid and see her “stuff”. But we all know you just walk through and unless you have a reservation to eat…or one of the lucky few now a days to win a castle suite night’s stay, you really don’t have any chance of going IN the castle. I think if WDW had had something like this, I would’ve been a little more satisfied as a kid.

We kept moving along and spotted the Mad Hatter out for a meet and greet. I took some quick shots of him as we walked by. He wasn’t cooperating and looking directly at me like I wanted him too. We had a mission, a ride both of us wanted to ride, so I followed Cass as she led the way through Adventureland. DL felt more crowded to me, even with the narrower paths. I never did make it to Tarzan’s treehouse, but I took pictures of it several times. Ok….I have one favorite ride above all others at WDW and DL has its own version which is different and longer. I HAD to ride it. The line was long, but we got in anyways. Hey look the D Suite is right there! Of course I occupied some of the time by taking pictures. Finally we made it in and loaded onto our boat. The queue and loading area is totally different than WDW’s version. You also start out going around the Blue Bayou restaurant and you can see people dining. I attempted to take a few pictures on the ride, but most did not come out very well. There are some scenes that are close to the same and some are very different. I believe the skull on the headboard is a real skull!! The treasure room is very different and it is towards the beginning of the ride. Of course the ride has some familiar scenes in it too! We Wants the Redhead!!! Now Captain Jack is sitting at the very end. At WDW he looks so real! This one…..not so much. The 2nd time we rode this ride I noticed it more and thought “wow, he looks really bad!” and at that same moment Cass turned to me and said the same thing. He was kind of dirty looking and just not quite right. So my thoughts on DL’s version of Pirates? I loved it! I would not say it’s better than WDW, but I love them both equally. It’s different and fun and I am really glad to finally see this version of it. The exit area of the ride comes out here so I had to get a few more shots. Off we went. Another ride that was on our list was the Matterhorn, so we headed that way. Before riding this bad boy, I needed to make a potty run! How cute is this area???? I snuck a picture inside because it was just themed so well. When we came out we went to check the wait time…..the line was quite long, but we planned to use the single rider line. Well they informed us the ride was not running right now and they were not sure when it would be back to running. We could wait if we wanted to, but we chose to keep moving. I then spotted these ladies walking in high heels. I have no clue how they could be comfortable walking around a park in those things. I took a quick crappy picture of them because I was just amazed. I can’t even stand in those type of shoes, let alone walk in them! Onward we went. We spotted It’s a Small Word. And yes I would have LOVED to ride the original version, but sadly it was down for refurbishment, which was the case with a lot of rides and attractions while we were there that week. We came across some ducks that were just so darn cute. Of course I got a picture. And it was time for a snack for me! I was getting pretty darn hungry and I needed something to tie me over. Ok, maybe not so much hungry….but I NEEDED a Mickey bar! LOL

Continuing on with more pictures from the show…… Back to Jasmine…..who does not want to get married to just anyone….. Lucky for her, Prince Ali is about to enter. Cass quickly tapped me to show me where Prince Ali was entering…I had read about this, and seen videos, but almost forgot. What a show stopper this is! Wow! This song is by far my favorite from Aladdin and is one of my top favorites of all Disney songs, and this performance did not disappoint at all. Sadly, as you may have noticed, some of my pictures during the show came out a bit blurry. He’s waving right at me!!!!! Jasmine is not impressed with Prince Ali at this point. ---- --- --- ----- Jasmine is upset and still does not want to marry Prince Ali….. But Prince Ali…aka Aladdin….comes and sweeps her off her feet, literally, on a magic carpet ride. Now I read about this as well and I knew the carpet was to fly over the audience, but many times it has issues and doesn’t fly. Well luck was on our side and we got the full treatment today. The pictures are dark and it really is hard to capture them flying, but I have a few not so great ones to share…..a little tid bit for you…those are doubles flying…it transforms from the stage to the flying carpet quickly and there is no way the 2 could get up there that fast….and I think that is part of the reason why it is so dark. They used an Aladdin double a couple of different times during the show. My friend, Janet, had the most amazing flying carpet picture from her trip last Dec. The lighting is just right and she got a fabulous angle of it. As they flew, scenes of what they were flying over went across the stage. After they are done flying through the theatre it transforms back to the stage where they are flying on a stationary carpet. These pictures I think turned out pretty nice. I assume when the actual flying carpet is not working, the whole sequence is done down on the stage on this carpet. Of course they are all happy now! Jafar, however, still wants to have the power. Genie is traveling the world with his new found freedom. I thought this show was wonderful. So much fun, great sets and props and just a lot of fun. Cass said she saw this on the Fantasy last fall and it was very good there but this one had more to it, as I am sure on a moving ship with only so much space, not everything could be the same. We waited a bit for the crowd to leave so we were not herded like cattle out and then made our way out. We browsed some stores after the show then. And then we made our way to the front. It was time to head over to Disneyland. Park hopping here is super easy…just across the way is Disneyland! Over that way is the entrance from the offsite hotels I believe. Since you go to bag check on the sides, to park hop you do not need to go through them again, which is really nice. Ariel was out meeting in front, so I snapped some quick pictures as we walked by. When we entered, this park felt busier. Cass pointed out that a lot of the pathways are narrower here which makes it often feel fuller than it really is…that being said, it was still pretty busy. We stopped and watch these guys for a minute or too. And then down the hub we went. This horse was coming towards us so we stopped to take a picture. Through the lens of my camera I realized the horse was coming right at me and it took me a minute to realize why…the tracks turn and he had no choice as I was standing in the middle of them. LOL

Continuing on with more pictures from the show…… Back to Jasmine…..who does not want to get married to just anyone….. Lucky for her, Prince Ali is about to enter. Cass quickly tapped me to show me where Prince Ali was entering…I had read about this, and seen videos, but almost forgot. What a show stopper this is! Wow! This song is by far my favorite from Aladdin and is one of my top favorites of all Disney songs, and this performance did not disappoint at all. Sadly, as you may have noticed, some of my pictures during the show came out a bit blurry. He’s waving right at me!!!!! Jasmine is not impressed with Prince Ali at this point. Jasmine is upset and still does not want to marry Prince Ali….. But Prince Ali…aka Aladdin….comes and sweeps her off her feet, literally, on a magic carpet ride. Now I read about this as well and I knew the carpet was to fly over the audience, but many times it has issues and doesn’t fly. Well luck was on our side and we got the full treatment today. The pictures are dark and it really is hard to capture them flying, but I have a few not so great ones to share…..a little tid bit for you…those are doubles flying…it transforms from the stage to the flying carpet quickly and there is no way the 2 could get up there that fast….and I think that is part of the reason why it is so dark. They used an Aladdin double a couple of different times during the show. My friend, Janet, had the most amazing flying carpet picture from her trip last Dec. The lighting is just right and she got a fabulous angle of it. As they flew, scenes of what they were flying over went across the stage. After they are done flying through the theatre it transforms back to the stage where they are flying on a stationary carpet. These pictures I think turned out pretty nice. I assume when the actual flying carpet is not working, the whole sequence is done down on the stage on this carpet. Of course they are all happy now! Jafar, however, still wants to have the power.

After we left the ToT we had a mission. The next show of Aladdin would be showing soon and this is one thing I really wanted to see on this trip, so we headed over that way. We had to make a choice as to which level we wanted to enter. Honestly, we had no clue what each meant and just picked one that we thought was a balcony. We did have to wait around for a bit, but not as long as I thought we would have to. Soon we were being let in and up the stairs we went…what a killer. We entered at the top of the middle balcony and then we decided to head down the stairs to the first row and found a pretty decent seat. They did give some instructions before the show started, like those of us in the first row were not allowed to stand and bend over to see what was below us, eventually we would be able to see it all. The show started and it is basically a shortened version of the movie. I took a zillion pictures of this show. Aladdin was falling into the cave here. They had really great affects and stunts. One thing missing from this Aladdin version was Abu. He did not have his sidekick at all in this show. Carpet, however, was in the show. Here comes the Genie! Of course you “ain’t never had a friend” like Genie and this production was very fun and had me doing a toe tap!

Princess Sofia was out and I took a quick picture on the way by. Hey! Look who is in the streetcar! Our destination is just ahead. Actually we were just getting Fastpasses. Oh how I wish WDW still had the paper FP’s. I am already dreading how it will work on my upcoming trip with magic bands. (and now that I am back, let’s just say the whole My Disney Experience at WDW was much WORSE than I even imagined…not a fan at all) After getting our passes, we still had some time to kill, so we went this way. I tried to get this window shot, but I got a lot of reflection instead. This was on the wall as we entered and I got a terrible shot of it. We went in here to see something Cass wanted to look at and we came into this room….. I was not expecting this. It was really neat in here. Cass had a mission. She wanted to see the Zoetrope. This thing was so cool and pictures can NOT show how it works. I found this youtube video and it explains what a zoetrope is and at the end it shows this one in motion. Basically with strobe lights, it plays tricks on your brain and makes it look like everything is in motion. Cass tried to take video of it and it didn’t turn out right. I have seen some on youtube by others, but again, they can’t capture what you actually see. I strongly suggest you watch the youtube video to understand and see it. (it’s only 2 minutes) This thing was super cool and I am glad we spent some time here watching it and seeing it. Next we headed to Turtle Talk since we had some time still. This theatre was nicer than the one at WDW, it had real seats instead of benches. The show itself is pretty much the exact same though. After we had fun with Crush we headed out and I noticed there was an area down some stairs so we decided to take a look that way. This area was really cool and I am not sure how to describe it, but it had stations of interactive stuff and Cass and I both thought our girls would love this area. The next room we came to was Beast’s library. Very cool! I am not sure when this was made, but it had some similar things to what the new Fantasyland has in WDW. I had never heard about this area at all. Again it did have some interactive things in there as well. A really bad picture of me from my phone. We left that area and went to the next room. I have no clue what this next picture is of. Again, more interactive things in here and I played with one. We did some sing along thing and Cass and I both did the practice run of singing Hi Ho…and then when it came time to do the real deal…..Cass became completely quiet…..that stinker! They then played back what you sang……let’s just say I won’t be winning any awards anytime soon. Here is another picture I took, but again, no clue what it is or why I took it. And then we headed back outside. I believe we went through a dump shop once again. And we did browse a bit. I found a lot of things I wanted to buy this trip, but I just didn’t want to pay what the price tags showed for them. It was now time to head to Tower of Terror. It is similar inside, but a bit different. When we came to the boiler room, it was very different and there were 2 levels and we went upstairs. Soon we were in our seats and I knew this was different than WDW. I knew we didn’t get pushed out in the hall like the WDW version does. I am trying to remember how it exactly worked, but we went up so far and then doors opened. I believe we then went up some more and the doors opened again and more of the story was told/showed…..and then BAM! We are dropping. I knew to expect it yet I didn’t. I was laughing so hard and we were going up and down and up and down. I think this went more than any WDW version I have done. Oh…and this one has just one set version, it doesn’t randomly select a drop sequence like at WDW. We were squealing and laughing so much. When we got off we went to look at our picture. I had to crack up again, as of course Cass has the cool pose going on and I look like I am about to wet my pants. That was a lot of fun!

we've never had trouble at either DL or WDW just walking in without a reservation (even at places like Blue Bayou, or Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom) - the only time we even had a wait, was once at Sci-Fi Diner, and we waited about 20 minutes. we don't like to make reservations, because we tend to just eat when hungry. but it always seems to work in our favor that it's just the two of us, and it seems it's easy to find a table for Two, when most of those waiting to be seated are families or groups larger than 2 You are lucky. It's rare, well especially during busy times. Ironically when we were down there in March and it was insanely busy, my parents walked up and got one at Sci-Fi. I tried one day at a few places and they were all booked for the whole night. But that was fine.

You are so right!! At WDW it's nearly impossible to get a walk up at almost all the restaurants. I heard it used to be different and this is better. I am not a fan of Carnival type stuff at Disney parks. I get that enough at other places.

I think I'll pass! I don't mind the hills, it's the fact that we are doing hairpin turns! LOL