bert425

this week's update: 2/18: 218 lbs 2/28: 209.4 lbs 3/6: 206.4 lbs 3/11: 205.2 lbs 3/18: 201.6 lbs 3/25: 198.8 lbs 4/1: 196.2 lbs (so down ~22 lbs!)

don't forget the question if there's a water fountain on the massive hike up the mountain for the drop tower.

yeah.. new estimates are that Texas will peak May 5. . so still over 4 weeks away. I think the Texas parks will be lucky if they are able to open back up in June.

Happy Birthday, Bill! 67. . yay. . . stay safe, and you'll be on Coaster soon enough!

there are only a couple of doubles. but already have plan that if I like something, to hang on to the packaging, so can see if I can find it at my local H-Mart Asian market

^ I think they are just hard candy balls - the design is all on the plastic wrapper. hard to tell what's gonna be candy and what's gonna be a savory snack. but that's the fun of it

and my box of Japanese snacks/treats showed up - less than a week after ordering! (and yes, they did ship from Japan, the customs tag is attached still). really pleased with the variety, even tho I'm sure some of them are gonna be not to my liking. but excited to try them out over the next several weeks. and a lot of the packaging is absolutely adorable!

Honestly, I'm only shocked that it's not the HP "Wildcat". . as I've said for years: "Car with square wheels going down a road full of potholes" most awful thing I've ever been on.

thank you so much for all the hard work putting this together. I'll have to wait until I actually have some free time to explore it in more detail, but taking a quick peek it looks great.

you got some EXCELLENT pictures, Zach! in particular the sunset ones, although my favorite are the ones you got of Hollywood Dream coming out of the building. what a unique perspective, and such a fantastic picture. so many nice memories coming back today, thanks

tho seriously.. other than some minor slips, I'm sticking with my exercise and eating healthy plan. i find it helps me cope.

this week's update: 2/18: 218 lbs 2/28: 209.4 lbs 3/6: 206.4 lbs 3/11: 205.2 lbs 3/18: 201.6 lbs 3/25: 198.8 lbs - so down ~19.5 lbs so yay me (of course I picked up to-go sushi from my favorite local place to celebrate - and to support them).

was really missing Japan.. and just ended up buying off of Amazon, the 40 pack of "assorted Japanese snacks and candy" LOL.. hope it's not awful, tho I'm sure it's gonna be a little bag of stuff I could have bought by going to HMart. Prolly for cheaper than the $18 too. Safer not to go out tho. and I DO like the "mystery box o crap" aspect of it. still have one more full day at Tokyo Disney complex to post, and hope to get to it in the next week

Albert Uderzo, co-creator of Astérix, passed today and more distressing.. we're starting to see impact from CoronaVirus on Celebrities in the past 24 hours, we've lost: Famed NY Drag Queen, Mona Foot https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/9341107/mona-foot-dead-nashom-wooden-coronavirus veteran Afro-jazz legend Manu Dibango and late this afternoon, , Tony Award winning playwright Terrance McNally

Of course, would bow to recommendations from those who cruise way more than we do. but we really like "Celebrity".. the age range tends to be 25-65 on the ships we've been on. the food is spectacular, and the entertainment is very good. my 2cents. we enjoyed our cruises on Royal Caribbean too, tho the crowd tended to be much younger (I'd say 15-55 or so), and the food was very mediocre unless you upgraded to a "cost extra" restaurant. The shows were only so-so, but acceptable. if you want to feel REALLY young? go on Holland America (it was the cruise line my Mom insisted on for the last trip we took with her). The cabin was very nice (parents got us all suites to come with) and the itinerary was decent. But the food had no flavor or spice (no salt!!), the shows were all bad vaudville comedians, and the ship shut down by 9pm each night. Age of the crowd? late 40's-90's hope that helps.. LOL

a few more pics I found in my folders - tho not sure which days they are from. . think these might be by Brad Roach, or maybe Erik? Possibly Robb even. but they are good, so sharing! Maleficent coming thru the Mirror in dragon form during Fantasmic Spooky Boo parade cast member Haunted Mansion at night, looking spoooky.

this made me so happy this morning, so sharing. this family had to cancel their Disney Trip (wonder why?). . . and so did this: [fbvideonew] [/fbvideonew] it's wonderful, and I smiled the whole way thru. multiple news sites are picking it up, here's one, if you want to read more about it: https://www.clickorlando.com/news/local/2020/03/19/with-theme-parks-closed-due-to-coronavirus-texas-family-creates-a-little-disney-magic/

^ oh my. . not unexpected (especially after Cuomo's NY announcement today), but it's likely the correct move for most States. will keep an eye on the news.

^ was it only 10 minutes??? it felt WAY longer. . but that could have been because we were terrified they were gonna come talk to us.

^ I wouldn't cancel. 1) it might go on as planned (unlikely, but you never know) 2) if they do cancel on you, by then they will have a policy on how to handle in place. just my 2 cents.

I want that giant wagon that's also a slide. dammit, I'll FIND a place to put it

I would say no way April. Probably looking at mid-late May

Exactly 1 month since I started back on plan (2/18), and as of this morning, 3/18, I'm down ~16 1/2 lbs. 2/18: 218 lbs 2/28: 209.4 lbs 3/11: 205.2 lbs 3/18: 201.6 lbs so yay me.

day 3 part II we were in the Arabian Coast area, so no way was I leaving without getting my Carousel fix for the day. Bottom level this spin, and some interesting architecture down here I hadn't noticed yesterday. this time William rode Genie. (with Chandu puppet of course) I rode a Camel. ooo.. a purple Genie? (and a Griffon?) cute little bench, with some wonderful artwork on the sides. I'd TOTALLY put this in my house. I really wanted to try the Garlic Shrimp Popcorn, but William really wanted to do the Leonardo Challenge (which I didn't really care about), so I headed to the American Waterfront for my Popcorn and he split off to go do that. it was yummy. and of course, I can't leave this area without a ride on ToT. Standby took me about 20 minutes, not bad, considering how crowded it was! so incredibly detailed. headed towards the fortress to meet up with William. ooo. .got a water taxi, and an Italian Gondola in one pic. William was in the middle of the challenge still, but I wandered into some of the (now open) rooms that are part of it. very cool, and I had a fantastic time, even tho I didn't have the paperwork or map to figure out the challenge. Still worth it just to wander in the Fortress. what the room looks like thru the viewer lens at the front of the room. my favorite room here. . you spun levers that moved the planets. it was like being in Augura's home from "the Dark Crystal" walking back to the American Waterfront to see how long the line was for ToT, since my prior ride had been fairly short. the line was really long now. .but not a wasted trip, as Scrooge McDuck was back out - with a short line this time. so . . . yes, please. we watched part of the Street entertainment show -where they pulled folks from the crowd to sing along with them. and then I did another thing I've never done at a Disney Park - took a ride on one of the "main street" vehicles (tho they aren't called that here, since no Main Street). But we noticed the waiting stand, and no one in line, so we quickly got into a car, and got a ride around the American Waterfront area. our driver got to hold Chandu. ready to be enthralled by being driven around it actually was quite fun, even with the two Cast members who walked along in front of the car to make sure the crowd moved out of the way. . . we had to stop to allow cast members for "Festival of the Mystique" to get in place for the Afternoon show. so got to admire the costuming from our spot in the car. headed back to the stand, against foot traffic who are all heading towards the Harbor for the show that's about to start. darn. . too bad we didn't get to ride in the paddy wagon. we were gonna head towards Soaring, as our Fast Passes were coming up fairly shortly, and we had to deal with the crowd around the lagoon. . but wait.. . . the Aristocats were out! ALL THREE OF THEM!! here's Berloiz ! Toulouse ! yes, I'm a nerd. and they all liked Chandu. Marie! we made it over to Soaring just before the "Festival of Mystique" ended, and still had ~10 minutes until our Soaring Fast Passes, so we sat in a "side street" to wait for the timing. turned out this is where the performers head to in order to go backstage. .so we picked the perfect spot to get some really nice views of the costuming/cast members. William had the Chandu puppet on his hand and was sitting to my right, waving to the performers as they passed. Many of them waved back. .resulting in me getting a whole lot of pictures of raised hands right in front of faces. . .grrrrrr Oh well, the costumes are gorgeous, so sharing those pics anyways. and then it was time for our Soaring Fast Pass (thank goodness. . the standby line had a 2+ hour wait posted!). we waited about 5 minutes, before going into the 1st preshow room. i put away my camera after they asked for no pictures please. the projection mapping in the 2nd preshow, was super impressive. the ride itself? if you've ridden it at EPCOT? you've ridden it here - yes, I know there are some different scenes, but I didn't notice them much (granted I rode the EPCOT version over 10 years ago). but the queue was worth it due to the wonderful immersive theming. soon, it was time to head to Ikspiari, for our 3pm TPR Farewell dinner - at Toraji (Conveyor Belt meat!). on the way out of TDS tho, we passed Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket out and about. . so snapped a pic as we walked by. there was also this Street Entertainment band coming out as we passed by. one last look back at Mount Prometheus - FIRE - before heading thru the hotel and out to the Monorail station to get to Ikspiari. LOL. . for some reason, this is the ONLY pic I took at Ikspiari for the TPR dinner. Guess I was too enthralled by the plates of meat that were coming out on the Conveyor Belt to our tables (and you then cooked at the flame in the center of the table). the meal was great, and the company was fantastic. this pic is of the outside of a store (restaurant?) that I passed on my way back to Toraji from the restrooms in Ikspiari. I took it because I was confused why some of the heads have nosebleeds. I still don't understand. . . LOL Ikspiari is only walking distance to Tokyo Disneyland, so no need to take the monorail. after our meal, and saying our "farewells for now" some of us headed via this walkway to Tokyo Disneyland to close out the evening. I believe it was still only ~5pm, so we had a good 5 hours in the park. tho as you can see, it had gotten very overcast, and started to drizzle off and on. down the escalator, and into paradise. we headed right upon entering and headed towards Tomorrowland. . . catching a ride on Star Tours as we passed. won't name names, but someone got excited seeing "Stitch Encounter" as an attraction, and talked us into it - thinking it was similar to the dear, departed, Alien Encounter turns out, it's not. it's basically Turtle Talk - but with Stitch. And it was all in Japanese. We realized this once the doors closed behind us, so we basically sat there, in the way back row, praying that the Cast Member wouldn't come talk to us - since we wouldn't understand a word they (or Stitch) would be saying. the decor is really nice tho we made it thru without being called upon. .and as penance, I dragged them along with me to do one of the Classic Disney rides I hadn't made it on the other day: Jungle Cruise. heh, our boat was "Nile Nellie" our captain was brave, and funny, and even speaking Japanese, it was a fun trip. Not very well lit at night, so I was hoping to take another ride in the daytime tomorrow tho. we came out just as the evening Dream Lights (the Rain version, without the dancers between floats) was starting. . . they were rushing it too, as it was sprinkling again. but our placement at the exit of Jungle Cruise was almost perfect in Frontierland to be at a good viewing point. so we stayed to watch most of it. Cheshire Cat (again) it was starting to rain a little harder now. . and Dumbo line cleared out because of that - oh, there was still a line, but I hadn't ridden it yet, and the line was still long. But the shortest I'd seen yet. so got in line. and got to watch fireworks from the Dumbo queue. I believe I also grabbed rides on Pinocchio and Peter Pan while here, but we bypassed Haunted Mansion and headed back to FrontierLand for Big Thunder Mountain (which had gone down earlier, and we hadn't been able to use our Fast Passes). It was running again, so we headed that way to use them to bypass the long line. some great Halloween stuff out here, which I hadn't noticed the other day. and it looks fantastic at night. the flash lets you see me. . but washes out the spooky color. better. and with that? I think we headed back to hop in line just before close for Pooh's Hunny Hunt, and then headed back to the hotel to crash. tomorrow was final day for many of us. . and it had been a long, and wonderful day today. . .but I needed to sleep!

Day 3 part 1 this was an exiting, and somewhat sad day, as it was the last day of the Official TPR tour (tho many of us were staying a day extra to have another day at TDL/TDS). So we had the "farewell" lunch/dinner planned for this afternoon. After getting up fairly early (tho not as early as yesterday), I met up with William/Jon/Luke, and I think Trent too) and we headed down to breakfast before heading out to the parks. we headed to TDS to start the day, and were a bit further back at the gates than we had been the day before. we headed here, with intention of going directly to Soaring to grab Fast Passes, and we'd stay in TDS until headed out to Ikspiari for TPR meal later in the afternoon, then heading to TDL to close out the day after eating. Success in grabbing Soaring: Fantastic Flight fast passes (I believe they were for around 1:30 pm . so had a few hours). on this side of the harbor, we just continued around into the Fortress to look around. Nobody really in this area of the park yet (as they had either gone to Soaring to line up, or headed the other direction to hit Toystory/Tower of Terror). . .so it was perfect for some pics. this seems to be a working drawbridge in the fortress. William wanted to do the Leonardo Challenge. . but it wasn't open until Noon. . so we made a note, and planned to come back around then. the ship docked behind the Fortress in the Harbor. again, didn't make it down to wander around on it. next trip! lovely framing of ToT between the masts tho. the water taxis don't have many customers this early, but you can see across the harbor the crowds streaming towards the American Waterfront / Toyville areas we cut thru Mysterious Island - I think stopping to ride 20,000 again (I love that ride), and headed towards Port Discovery for a spin on Aquatopia. (this is Nemo's show building tho, I think) we continued around the walkway back towards the Cape Cod area and decided to take a trip around the park on the Water Taxis (called the "Transit Steamer Line") there was a pretty decent line next door - but turned out they were lined up for a Duffy Meet and Greet - which was hidden behind walls to avoid snapshots from those who didn't wait in line. here comes our boat. the "unsinkable" Molly Brown Lovely views of the area from the loading dock over here. Luke, Jon, me, William, and that Chandu puppet he had bought the prior day. (he carried that thing with him all day, making it interact with delighted cast members, and characters) oh wow. . didn't realize that the steamer boat actually went into the waters that were behind many of the things I had seen from the paths the prior day. Here's the Colombia (restaurant, lounge, turtle talk) Cape Cod & Mt. Prometheus Aquatopia the "crack" in the dam we had seen from the dock yesterday. . .theming! the trolley, and yes, that's the line for Nemo ! what's that thru the trees there? Indiana Jones. . LOL. . a crashed C-3PO plane, on the shores near Indy. Arabian Coast really love the architecture here. coming up on the Mermaid Lagoon area. . . again, tons of detail that you don't really notice, unless you on the water level in a boat! and I hadn't realized at all, that the Water Taxis went thru the middle of Mysterious Island! and back out into the main Harbor, headed back to our station. Unlike the train, these boats do a full circle, and don't stop at any of the other dock ports (at least ours didn't). Something to keep an eye out if I ever make it back, to take a ride from another dock, as we seemed to pass a couple of others) once back, we walked over to the Lost River Delta area, for Single Rider Line on Indy. A pic I took while waiting to be paired up in a vehicle (which as yesterday, was relatively quickly. . maybe 3 minutes for all of us to get into almost back to back vehicles. . single rider is way to go!). and stopping to take some pics next door at Raging Spirits. Didn't want to ride it, but *did* want to take pics of it. the Festival of Mystique was starting fairly soon. . and we wanted to see the whole show from the front area of the park, so we headed back towards the front, passing thru the Arabian Coast. hey, Jafar is out! really well done character. (he had a long line, so didn't stop, but it was really cool to see a character out I'd never seen in my visits to a Disney Park). Mermaid Lagoon from across the water at the Arabian Coast. that's "Scuttle's Scooters" in the front there. we cut thru Mysterious Island, and tho we were going to be having Meat-a-pa-looza later with TPR, we were hungry - and intrigued - by the Halloween offering at the Volcania restaurant. namely, this Mickey Mummy bun. it was really good - tho not my favorite bun I'd have at the parks. . but it was filled with, I think, ground pork with a bit of spice. LOTS of dancers, in really elaborate costumes, came out on all sides of the harbor. The main stage is in the very front, but the storyline has something to do about 3 sisters (witches?) who decide to be evil to get ahead. . or something. so tho the main action is at the front stage, where they all congregate? there is one sister on either side of the harbor interacting with the cast of performers too. We made it around to the side of the Harbor, and decided this was a great spot to watch "Festival of Mystique" - a show that involved lots of dancers, and the floats in the harbor of course. We ended up next to a roped off section that was the "standing area" for children - which is why the adults behind them sat for the show. Really neat that Tokyo Disney has this. . very impressed. here come the floats! in this pic, notice the crowd is mimicking the movements of the performers. we saw that a lot thruout this show. it was a lot of fun, and a really great show. and look! FIRE!!! we were near the steps up to Soaring, so we easily beat the crowd as the show ended, and we headed towards the Fortress to see if Leonardo Challenge had opened yet. as we headed that way, we passed over the area where the floats disappear to at the end of the show - after making a round of the harbor. so got a nice view of the main float with the Sisters on it as they closed it out. I see you looking at me Sister! Too early still for Leonardo Challenge (they were running a little late). . but William and I took the time to climb around the fortress and explore the areas that were open. can get some nice shots in this area. yep. . Tower of Terror one of the other "dock" stations for the water taxis I mentioned a bit ago. (from the Fortress) up here, you can really see the scaffolding they have in place for the work being done on Mount Prometheus. One of Leonardo's inventions on the roof since we still had some time before the Soaring Fast Passes, and Leonardo Challenge wasn't open yet, we headed to the Lost River Delta area, to try to get into the "Song of Mirage" show - that advertised impressive Projection Mapping. unfortunately, it was way "sold out". . standby was already lining up for the NEXT show (2 hours from now), and since we hadn't lucked out with lottery tickets? it wasn't worth it to lose 2 hours at TDS in line for a show. So instead we headed further in this direction for another ride on Sindbad! there's Sindbad and Chandu. really impressive animatronics, that look deceivingly simple, but they move so amazingly lifelike, even if they appear a bit cartoony. LOVED this ride.