Coaster Palooza

We went to Disneyland Resort from 2/10-2/13. This will be day 1 of the trip with the other days to follow on different threads. It was a blast at DLR! I have to start off by saying that if it wasn’t for this thread http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=21617 that we might not have had such a good time. Once I read Wes’ response to the question on unlimited fastpasses, I called AAA to get reservations and find out about the fastpasses. AAA helped a lot. We booked our room and everything through them. The only availability was at the Grand Californian, which was fine, but pretty expensive. We didn’t mind too much especially after we arrived and were treated so great. The next time we go to DLR we will book through AAA again. Our package included a 3-day park hopper. It also had an early entry for one day into the park (one hour before the rest of the crowd), early entry to Mickey’s Toon Town (one time), preferred seating at 4 shows (Aladdin, A Bug’s Life, Muppets 3-D, and Golden Dreams), and a mug for drink re-fills. We were able to take advantage of everything except the early entry into Toon Town, and the Muppets 3-D seating (we saw this in Florida anyway). There were some other perks, but those are the highlights. Day 1 (2/10-2/11) – As is typical with Southwest airlines, our flight was delayed out of San Jose. We took off at 9:35pm, which was the time we were supposed to be landing! We flew into Ontario instead of John Wayne. I know the travel time, but this was the only available flight for us without leaving work early. We arrived at the hotel at 12midnight. Our plan was to go to DL on Saturday for the early entry. We thought they opened at 9am on Saturday, but when we checked in, we found out that they opened at 8am. This meant we would have to get up between 5:30-6am to enjoy this luxury. We got up and got to DL just after 7am, thank goodness we were on-site. Just 5 hours of sleep really sucks. There wasn’t anyone at the park yet and it was cold and overcast. It was awesome though. We headed straight to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear (It was down when we were in Florida last month). We fastpassed it after the ride and headed to Space Mountain. It wasn’t operating yet and they didn’t know when they would get it started. We decided to take some pics on the way through Fantasyland. We rode Peter Pan and Toad’s ride. Then we went to Matterhorn to ride it. No wait at all and both sides running! This was fabulous. I have been on it before, but it was Gyendolynne’s first time. She had a blast. The rest of the trip we wouldn’t ride it again because of how long the wait was. We continued on our way to Frontierland because we would hit Mickey’s Toon Town on Monday. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, by this time the park opened, but it wasn’t getting too crowded especially for a Saturday. Adventureland was right there, so we went there to ride Indiana Jones. We rode that twice and then went to Tomorrowland to use our Buzz fastpasses since we didn’t get the picture from our first ride. Space Mountain had a 1 hour wait at this point. We got fastpasses and decided to wait to ride it anyway. We had an hour to kill for our FPs on Space Mountain, so we headed to the front to get our mugs from AAA. We headed back to Tomorrowland to use our FPs on Space Mountain and also pick up another FP for the ride for later (5:40). On our way out of Tomorrowland, Mickey Mouse was climbing the Matterhorn Mountain. Gyendolynne wanted me to film it. The show was pretty cool. We went down Main Street and I got my smashed pennies in the Penny Arcade. I thought I hit the mother load! We headed to the hotel for some Advil and to drop stuff off. Yes we are getting old! The Grand Californian has a special entrance to DCA. We went straight to Soarin’ over California only to find the wait at nearly an hour. We didn’t ride this in Florida because of the long wait. We got FPs (4:45) for this and then used the single rider line. We waited only 15 minutes. Gyendolynne had the best seat. She was in the first row in the middle section. We like Soarin’, but I don’t think it would be worth an hour wait or greater. Tower of Terror was next on our list. We rode this once, got a FP (4:05) and headed to Screamin’. Thank goodness for the single rider line here. We FPd (3:35) Screamin’ and then rode it twice in the single rider line. At this point we had 4 different FPs (Space Mountain, Soarin’, ToT, and Screamin’). We rode Screamin’ 3 times in 45 minutes with the single rider line and our FP. Here’s an interesting note and I don’t know if everyone knows, but the person at Screamin’ told us that the FPs don’t expire. You can’t come back to the ride before the time, but you can use them anytime after your start time. This was very useful for the rest of our trip because we had unlimited FPs. We could FP any ride, but couldn’t get another FP on the same ride until our time had passed. This was huge because we would hold multiple FPs the rest of the time. We had dinner at Storytellers, went to the hot tub, and then headed back to DL for the fireworks. I am so happy we did. I am not a real big fireworks person, but these were terrific. Gyendolynne wanted to see them, and if we didn’t go tonight we wouldn’t see them because the next night they got cancelled. Of course we didn’t know this at the time, but it is good to note. The high winds cancelled the show the following night. I don't know how often you have seen Main Street this empty, but here you go. To infinity and beyond Lilo and Stitch mural What's this yellow paper...OUT OF ORDER!!!! NOOOOO!!!! HEY, the Buzz Lightyear smashed penny machine..YAHOO!! Here are the scores. Just in case you need to know the levels. Here's another one you can't see. You will know the score in a couple more photos. Nice score shot. Look out for Zorg. Shoot 'em up Gyendolynne Buzz Lightyear with no wait You are now entering Tomorrowland, please check your luggage. aaahhhh, I found it. There's that guy and his mouse, what are they pointing at? 50th anniversary celebration decorations are everywhere and the smashed pennies mother load Smashed nickels.... and we're in, the place is empty There's that mouse that is celebrating 50 years. Early entry entrance DCA won't be open for 3 more hours. No crowd what so ever! Bright and early, 7am on Saturday morning. A little overcast and cold. We'll call it the "Marine Layer" Nice bed. Here's the shower! Another sink shot Dual sinks, fancy.... Thanks for the warning, better watch my step mmmm...Gordon Biersch at the airport

Thanks everyone for the advice!

My wife and I have driven down there for her birthday in April for 5 years now and we always stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn right there at Magic Mountain. The rates will go up during spring break, but as long as it isn't that time, the rates aren't too bad. The Best Western on the other side of I-5 isn't that bad either. A couple exits passed Magic Mountain have quite a few hotels and eating establishments. I think there was a Motel 6 or Super 8 in the area. Check on line with those 2 hotel chains to see how close they are to SFMM. Good luck and have fun! Rick

Hey everyone, I am wondering how much time should we set for trips to the following parks. Last year we planned on staying over at Michigan's Adventure not realizing that the park is easily done in around 2 hours. I don't want to have that same thing happen again, but I also don't want to miss out on some things at the parks. This trip will be happening from Memorial Day weekend through the first week of June. Beech Bend - I know Kentucky Rumbler is opening, we are planning on staying there for around 2 hours just to ride this. We aren't planning on staying there over night. Is there something else there or will this time be okay? SFKK - We are planning around 5 hours here. It will just be a stop over on the way to PKI. Is that not enough time, or is it too much? We really want to be able to hit all the coasters and see a little bit of the park. For the next park of our trip, our plan is to stay at Gurnee for Indiana Beach, Wisconsin Dells, and SFGAm. Park time questions below: Indiana Beach - The drive there will be around 3 hours 30 minutes and we are turning around to go back. If we plan on around 6 hours there is that enough or too much? Wisconsin Dells, specifically Mt Olympus and Timber Falls - How much time at either park? We are driving nearly 3 hours there and back on the same day. SFGAm - We are flying out the night that we are going to the park. Will 5 hours be enough? We are going on a Thursday. Kansas City is the next stop on the way to Branson. Branson - Silver Dollar City and Celebration City. The plan is to get there late on Thursday/early Friday (possibly 12midnight!). We will go to SDC on Friday morning and then head to CC in the afternoon/early evening. Saturday we will hit SDC again before heading back to Kansas City. Is that enough time there? Final park will be Worlds of (no) Fun. Is 4 hours okay for this park? Thanks in advance. If I don't make sense, please ask some questions. This is my first time asking about things like this. Rick "awful darn curious"

We had a Super Bowl party at my house on Sunday. It is a tradition for us that started 6 years ago. It didn’t matter who was in the Super Bowl, just as long as our friends could come over and enjoy the game. This year it mattered though. I am so happy Pittsburgh won. Gyendolynne’s favorite team is the Denver Broncos. The division championship game was a little bit of a struggle in our home, but we made it through. The party was great, the game was better, but I didn’t expect we would need to go buy a new refrigerator the night before! Our refrigerator died on us on Saturday after Gyendolynne prepared the enchiladas and chicken for Sunday. It also had quite a bit of food in there. Luckily we were able to get a new refrigerator and had some help from friends to store the food and get the refrigerator into the house. Just a few pics below. ...and just for added measure, the score! Obviously right after the win. Gyendolynne wore my Steelers sweatshirt. If your team isn't in it, support your husband's team! Another photo from the loft. From the loft. He wore his Polamalu jersey for the Divisional series and Barry Foster for the Super Bowl. The 2 of us are big Steelers fans at work. This was a few weeks earlier when Pittsburgh played Indianapolis

^BEST POST EVER!!! I might use that as my Wallpaper Ted!

I have just some food for thought. Yes I am a Steelers fan, yes I know Bill Leavy (he is from San Jose and we both are from the same organization), yes there were controversial calls (aren't there always?), and yes, I am proud the Steelers are Super Bowl champs. That can never be taken away, debate all you want, but the refs didn't miss 2 field goals, drop passes, hold, etc. They made the calls they know to make. It isn't easy, but they do the best they can. The players work hard too and should have the respect for being in that game. All that said, I have some other comments below: "I also have to say some Steelers fans (Some, not ALL!) have NO class. I mean, when you boo all the past MPV's as they come out on the field, that's just no respect." I really don't think that Pittsburgh fans were the only fans there. As for the NOBODY liked the ref, I have Chris Carter's take on the game below. This is just the introduction, the rest of the article is at this link. http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=AhP0WqRB5iRVF9MBhdgEVYpDubYF?slug=cc-sixpoints020506&prov=yhoo&type=lgns By defeating the AFC's top three seeds and the NFC's No. 1 seed in the Seattle Seahawks, the Pittsburgh Steelers' march to a Super Bowl XL victory has to be considered the best postseason run of all time. Perhaps even more amazing is that the Steelers didn't even play their best football against the Seahawks. But the sign of a great football team is the ability to stay in the game when it is not playing well. Pittsburgh was nowhere near playing its best football, but it still held a four-point lead at halftime. Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt did a great job managing Ben Roethlisberger through a rough first half, helping his young quarterback gain some confidence with a quarterback draw on third down. Whisenhunt's play calling (namely Antwaan Randle El's reverse pass for a touchdown) was a key part of the victory, and Pittsburgh truly will miss him if he decides to take the Raiders' head coaching job. The difference in the game for the Seahawks was not taking advantage of a dominant first half. Seattle allowed the Steelers to get their feet underneath them and then watched Willie Parker break free for a 75-yard touchdown run right after halftime. In the end, it was too hard to overcome that 11-point deficit. Yes, the officiating wasn't the best. But the Seahawks made enough mistakes to blame themselves, not just the referees.

I had a great time in Sedona when I lived in Phoenix. I loved Snoopy rock, but I don't see a picture of it. Did you see it?

Thanks so much for the update Robb! Now I can relax knowing where you ended up. It was a really great update and looked like a fun trip!

That is a helluva few wrecks! I'm glad no one died too. My wife works in Santa Cruz and has to make that commute every day. She says it's nuts! I agree. When I was younger, I would drive it to go to the beach, now I go down 101 to go to Monterey instead. I'll still go to SCBB, but not as much.

^I agree, without having a pass, dump Dorney. Just remember in the future that it is only worth a 3 hour stay, no overnight. I think the best options on this trip would be Hersheypark and either Knoebel's or Kennywood, depending on your route. You can't go wrong with either one. Congratulations on the marriage and the new house. Good luck in the future!

Hi, I just thought I would stick my 2 cents in here. I am curious about the budget for only 4 parks. My question is do you have season passes to any of the parks? After that nosey question, my wife and I liked Hersheypark. They had a 2 day pass that was very inexpensive. It also had a comeback guarantee if you didn't have a good time. The other thought is that if you have a Cedar Point (Cedar Fair) season pass you could stop by Dorney Park for a quick hit. You could probably do the park in under 3 hours on your way to SFGadv.

Great pictures! The Grand Canyon is an incredible place to visit. Damn, it looked cold there though. What were the temps at the top and bottom (or midway...)? As for the where to next, my guess would be the nearest Carraba's. After the nearest Carraba's, you will probably go snow skiing. Just a thought here. but you can't be that close to Vegas and not stop.

^^Eric, I saw your video of Sea World and thought it was really great. I wish we could have seen the end of the Odyssea show.

The thing that I see with the car photos is that they are in the backseat. Who is driving? I believe it is somewhere across Arizona, but what park is open this time of year...hmmmm By the way, late Happy Birthday Robb.

Trip continues, this should be the end. First drop, front row has great view, but the back row has best airtime. We graduated....First in class. Maybe Wally will hire us since he is part owner. I'm waiting for your picture up here Wally. You are part owner, right? Self explanatory. Another on ride shot. Me on Scorpion. I am in the second row. Gyendolynne and her turtle friend. yep, now it's time to drink. This is an aluminum bottle. I thought it was pretty cool and it kept my beer colder longer. Some more animals, First we have to see Tex on Rhino Rally, We might be getting close to some drinking time. and a donkey. Anheuser Busch, you gotta have the Clydesdales Hamlet. Sweet signature move. Lookout Gyendolynne, here comes Montu. Yep, more animals. Cheetah Chase from the sky ride. A shot from the sky ride. Anyone that has a cat knows this look. Tiger picture. What a great ride.

Trip Continues. No wait, just get on the next ride. They were running 3 cars too! Here's the exit. They have photos and DVDs of the ride. This is why we're here. What a great ride. Anheuser Busch's landscaping, second to none. We will be back for beer school later. We called it our toaster car because it looks like a toaster. Here's our car. Amazingly, this was only around 10 hours later. We were back here for breakfast on our way to Busch Gardens. We were given the same seats! Yep, we're in Florida, it is cold, and the fireplace is going. Cracker Barrel for dinner. They must like your smile. Sure, you can play with them, but they eat me! Now his friend is in the act. HELP, He's eating me. Gyendolynne, don't pick a sharks nose! My mouth is actually closed here, that won't last long. Part of the new attractions at the Living Seas. MGM Christmas tree with Tower of Terror in the background. I enjoyed Rock 'n Roller Coaster this time. It was fairly smooth. Tower of Terror....Muhahahaha Bus ride to MGM. and here's his dog. There's that mouse's hand again. Gyendolynne, upper left on Test Trak. How did we all end up in the same seat? Me, upper left on Test Trak. Jeff in the upper left on Test Trak. The instrument panel Hey, we're about to take off. Waiting for Gary Sinise to start talking. The astronaut uniforms.

Trip continued... On our way through the entrance. My brother and Gyendolynne at the entrance to Mission Space. No wait at all. Entrance to the Worlds. The runners were running around this. I believe they started at Magic Kingdom. They were having the Disney marathon happening today. Here we are at Epcot There's the castle. Another pic of us, leaving Magic Kingdom. We took the ferry back to the parking lot. We were told it would be faster than waiting for the monorail. Magic Kingdom's Christmas tree. Here's main street, still decked out for Christmas. You can never have too many pictures in front of this castle. Here's that guy with his mouse again. The Liberty Bell Another good float The good float What's up Chip, or Dale? Everyone's dancing Evil Float Winnie the Pooh The wonderful thing about tiggers, is tiggers are wonderful things... Alice, not in wonderland Pinocchio I don't know what the deal was with these guys. It was like he owned the place or something. This mouse was everywhere. Parade shots coming up. This face actually moves. These tombstones cracked me up. Now for something better. I don't know where this smile comes from.

The trip continued. Small World continues.... I think we still have the song in our heads. Onto It's a Small World. Here's their finale. The bears, don't do this, you will never hear the end of it! Wooo Hooo, Pirates of the Caribbean. Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me. I don't get what the deal was with me having my mouth open, but if this offends anyone, sorry. Yep, they just keep coming. Here's another one. Ooooh, On ride photo. Here's Gyendolynne waiting patiently. After Space Mountain, we headed to Blue Thunder Mountain Railroad. I was thinking of riding Splash Mountain....NO WAY!! Too Cold Buzz Lightyear is down. Entering Tommorowland Cinderellabration Hey, it's us! Out in front of Cinderella's castle We took the bus from the front to the castle Wow, Goofy Thanks for the tickets Jeff! Hey, we're at Magic Kingdom! I'm soaked and it is around 50 degrees! I really don't know what I was thinking. Another ride on Kraken I never heard of a Green and Yellow penguin... Look, Penguins! Anheuser Busch always has nice landscaping. This waterfall was really cool. Yep, the show is over Here's the group!

We took a 5-day vacation to Orlando to visit Sea World, Disney World, and Busch Gardens Tampa. We were so thankful my sister-in-law sent us an email that a cold front was pushing sough into Florida. Lows in the 30’s and highs in the 50’s. Not your typical Florida weather. We began on a red-eye and arrived in Orlando Friday at 6am. Our first stop was Sea World. I hadn’t been there in years and it was Gyendolynne’s first visit. We have Platinum passes from Sea World San Diego which made the trip easy and very pleasant. I’ll break down the days below, but the next few days went like this: Friday (Day 1) – Sea World, Saturday (Day 2) – Disney World’s Magic Kingdom, Sunday (Day 3) – Disney World’s Epcot and MGM Studios, and Monday (Day 4) – Busch Gardens Tampa. Day 1: Sea World was great, not crowded and the park was fun. The Platinum passes got us parking up front. It was so cold people wore ski caps! And the wind blew too. I wanted to ride Journey to Atlantis but knew I’d get wet and it was just too cold. So we started off riding Kraken and then took in the Clyde and Seamore show. Kraken was a great ride, very smooth. The show was different than San Diego’s and we actually liked it better. Next, we headed to the Pets Ahoy show. Again, our passes saw us in premiere seating at all the shows all day. Pets Ahoy was really great as the animals did most everything without trainers on stage. The trainers came out for a couple skits; but, it was mostly the animals doing their stunts. Very enjoyable. We skipped the dolphin show (Blue Horizons) and had lunch because Odyssea was scheduled for 12:30 and Shamu was scheduled for 1 and it was already after 11. The Odyssea show was interesting; but, we couldn’t stay because we wanted to see Shamu and the new baby. Shamu didn’t disappoint. The baby swam around and came out of the water once in a while, too. One of the trainers appeared very young and she was the one Shamu shot up out of the water on his nose. I always liked that. The whales wanted to just swim around so we didn’t get to see the 12,000 pound whale this time. The weather warmed up after the show so I thought it would be a great time to ride Kraken one more time and then Journey to Atlantis….WHOOPS! I got soaked on JtA. I know, what a shock. Gyendolynne just laughed. We judged it best to leave the park then and put me in some dry clothes. On the way out we bought a couple of souvenirs. I was very glad my brother lived close by as we headed there to clean and dry my clothes. We had planned to see them for dinner anyway and just arrived earlier than expected. After dinner and hanging out, we headed to our hotel. Unfortunately it was over booked and we didn’t have a room. They tried to make some concessions to accommodate us but I wasn’t happy (and we had been up around 40 hours at that point.) Graciously, my brother offered to let us stay with them for the whole trip instead. (We had planned on staying with them Monday night only.) Day 2: My brother got tickets to Disney World and Park Hopper passes. He worked there in December and he knows some people. Last time we went to Disney, we didn’t visit Magic Kingdom so this time we went there first. It turned out to be a great day, aside from it being so friggin’ cold! There was a new Cinderella show in front of the castle which we saw first. Then we headed to Tomorrow Land to ride Space Mountain. Buzz Lightyear was down for maintenance. It was a terrific day anyway. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World (yes I know!), the Bear Show (which I will never hear the end of), Haunted Mansion, and did a few other things too. The parade was colorful, also. I have to relay one story about Disney. We were having lunch after Small World and the area was packed. After we paid for our meal we headed outside. (Did I say it is really cold yet?) There was no place to sit and so we just put our tray on a ledge and stood there eating. We weren’t there long when a young man sweeping trash and cleaning the tables came to us and said there was a table available under the covering. I asked him, “Can you hold it?” and gathered our lunch onto the tray and followed him. The young man wiped thoroughly cleaned the table and we sat down and comfortably finished our lunch. I was so impressed by his customer care. He didn’t have to say anything to us and could have just wiped off the table and continued on sweeping up trash. But he saw us and made sure we sat down to eat. That is why Disney World is such an awesome place. When leaving, we stopped at Guest Relations to tell them how he made our day even more pleasant. His name was Michael. For dinner we took my brother and his wife out to Friendly Confines. Day 3: We used the Park Hopper passes for Epcot and MGM Studios. My brother accompanied us to ride Mission Space. It was his first time riding it. We rode Test Trak next, and then bought some more souvenirs. My brother took the souvenirs home for us and we went to MGM. We just had to get on the Tower and I wanted to ride Rock ‘n Roller Coaster again. We ate at MGM and then went back to Epcot where we used the fast pass for Honey I Shrunk the Audience. The Soarin’ ride was packed, there was an 80 minute wait and the fast passes were already up to 7:30-8:30pm. It was only 4! We’ll have to do that another time. The Living Seas was next door and it’s great. I’ve been there before and they change it every time. I enjoyed this visit best. The pictures will probably show the fun. After a full day of park hopping, we headed to Cracker Barrel for dinner--a favorite place. Day 4: This was the day for Busch Gardens. It may only be an hour and a half trip, but sometimes it feels like a lifetime! We started our day where we finished the night before, at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We arrived at BG around 11am and our platinum passes got us up-front parking again. Anheuser Busch really runs their parks well and they take good care of pass members. We have Cedar Point and SFMW season passes, but no one takes care of you quite as well as AB parks. Even arriving 2 hours after the park opened didn’t hurt the day. We went immediately to Sheikra and rode twice in a row in the front with our passes and without much of a wait. We wanted to ride twice and get our pictures which we did. We also bought the DVD, too. It was really great. I wanted to ride Python and some others I missed last time. They’re the kind of rides that are hard on Gyendolynne and I knew she wouldn’t ride them; but she loves taking pictures of me riding. Unfortunately Kumba wasn’t running so I was glad we rode it the last time we visited Busch Gardens. Next, we took the skyride to Nairobi to ride Montu and then the Serengeti train. Unfortunately it was only a 20 minute round trip due to maintenance. So we rode a couple more coasters and then headed to Gwazi and the Hospitality Center…MMMM BEER! Gyendolynne suggested we take the beer training school. It was a good suggestion and now we are both honorary Beermasters. Watch out Wally! It was our last night in Florida and my sister-in-law treated us with homemade “pasties” for dinner. (“Pasties” [pronounced with a short a sound] are individual pastries made of pie dough filled with potatoes, meat, and onions—an English and Moore family tradition and a very nice thing for my sister-in-law to make considering she is a vegetarian.) I especially enjoyed them as I haven’t had any for 2 or 3 years. They were the perfect end to a fun trip and we flew home the next day. If you have made it this far, thanks! Here are the pictures! Here's another shot of the baby trying to splash the crowd. The baby is on the right trying to splash the crowd. It was really cute and funny. My favorite move. I like it when Shamu brings the trainer up on the nose. I think it would be great to be able to do that. Let's go surfin' Going across the stage. I think it must be her favorite move because she does it all the time. or that!!!! If I weighed 6000 pounds, I couldn't do that. The one on the left was the baby. All you can see is it's dorsal fin. How about a couple of stars! Yay, Shamu stadium The donkey, I just loved those commercials. Clydesdales Hamlet Of course it is an Anheuser Busch park, here is the proof The sky ride. We thought the flag looked great blowing in the wind. The pets ahoy set. Time for something to eat. These 2 need to be rescued off the island These trainers did a great job with the sea lions. Clyde and Seamore show. Gotta get my smashed pennies This thing can get mad. Be careful Gyendolynne Ooooh, Kraken eggs, don't disturb! I'm in the second row on the far right. We decided to ride Kraken. The entrance that everyone was avoiding early in the morning. It definately looks cold to me. Sea turtles Pink flamingos. Can you tell it is cold? The wind is blowing too. Hey it's Shamu, we made it!

^^^What's not to like my friend? Everything will be great, the dog will jump on you and lick your face up and down!

Great TR! It looked like so much fun, now you need another vacation to catch up on some sleep! By the way ARN&R is starting on this. Too funny. sorry Token. http://www.absolutelyreliable.com/

Hey Wally, sorry to hear about all the trouble. We had quite a few trees down and standing water around my house. At one point our street was blocked off while they removed a tree. My brother's fence blew down Sunday and he had to get it repaired Monday because they have a pool. Of course it Pissed all day yesterday (Monday) and he did a little make shift fence. I hope he gets some time off work while it isn't raining to fix it. Those winds were so bad along with the rain. I feel your pain.

That is a great gift to get! I couldn't see the pictures yesterday, but today they came through. Thanks for sharing.

We went to downtown San Jose on 12/17 to see Christmas in the Park, go out to dinner, and soak up the atmosphere. We also decided to stay downtown for the night. That was probably the worst decision we made. Onto the story! We took the light rail downtown instead of driving because we just thought it would be easier. The light rail was a fun way to get around. I take it into work every day. Our first stop was to see if our hotel room was ready, no such luck. We dropped off our suitcase and then headed for Mission Ale House for lunch. This place is your typical college dive bar that everyone knows about in the area. The lunch was great. We walked up a block to catch the light rail back to Christmas in the Park, but the trolley was coming by. It is a free ride and they only run during Christmas time on Saturdays from 2:30-10pm. This was really cool. After the ride, we took some pictures of the Park, and then headed to the hotel to see if the room was ready. It was and this was an awesome room. The view was great! Next, we headed to Gordon Biersch for dinner. It was a good dinner and Christmas in the Park is nice at nighttime. The story for the hotel was that the fire alarm went off at midnight. There was a little panic because we didn’t know if we were evacuating or not. After 15 minutes…..they came on the PA and said that they were looking into it. After a few more minutes they said we didn’t need to evacuate. Do you think by that time we could have been in a little trouble?...We were on the 16th floor! For the next hour the PA kept clicking on and off with no one talking. Needless to say we didn’t sleep all that well. When I asked the desk clerk the next morning about it she said that someone was smoking on the 5th floor. I said that we were pretty upset about this and that we didn’t get a good night’s sleep. She stared at me for a few moments and I just walked away. Gyendolynne said, “She didn’t even say she was sorry or anything!” I couldn’t believe that this was the customer service at the Hilton! Enough of all that, onto the pics! A few random photos of Xmas in the Park coming. I will stop with the comments now. Xmas in the Park during the day WinterBock is an awesome beer. That is my beer report Wally and Ted, sorry. MMMM...BEER Waiting for the Light Rail to go to Gordon Biersch. I'm talking to Gyendolynne's parents. Nice view. Back at the Hilton, Gyendolynne is talking to her parents. Here is a carousel Security and Santa had some kind of a deal! There were some rides there. This one spun a lot. The outside of the trolley A dedication. This guy was really happy to be running the trolley. I guess it is a bonus for them. Sorry about the blurry pic, but the trolley isn't the smoothest of rides. Maybe I can get my big fat head in this pic! Aaah the first beer. Sierra Nevada!