Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disneyland. Show all posts

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Carolwood Foundation: Riding the rails!

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Me, in the Combine

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Passengers on the Combine

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Jeff in the baggage section of the Combine - that's where we took our first ride!

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This train carries some dangerous freight!

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Train pulling in.

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Train leaving the station! All aboard!

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All together now! The cars from the original train hooked up (minus the 'Belle).

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Taking a curve on the train!*
*This was a special treat! We hadn't thought we'd be allowed to ride the trains once they were hooked up but, the engineers assured us we could! Everyone filled the last three cars and we took a single spin 'round the property. Such a great way to end the day!

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Fill 'er up!

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Roger Colton conducts us to our seats.

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To see the entire photo album, peep them on my Flickr page.

Friday, September 09, 2011

Carolwood Foundation: Riding the Retlaw 1

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Also in May, Jeff and I took a trip with the Carolwood Foundation to ride the Original Disneyland and Santa Fe Combine - a part of Disneyland's original railroad!

The trip started in Oakland where Jeff and Mr. Floyd Norman were the 'guests of honor' on this leg of the trip. Animation (and Disney) Legend, Floyd Norman gave a great talk about working for Walt Disney as we chugged our way down to San Luis Obispo.

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That evening, Floyd, Jeff, Tony Baxter and Ray Cadd gave a great talk called "Story is King: The Magic of Disney Storytelling". Jeff and Floyd focused on story in film and Tony and Ray focused on Story in the theme parks. Fantastic stuff!

To help raise funds for the Combine (for more info on that, check out Carolwood's website) - they had a auction. I love auctions! I love helping with auctions!

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Bookends that used to belong to Walt.

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Oh, I wanted this poster!

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The next day we all arrived at Santa Margarita Ranch in order to ride the rails ALL Day!

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Lunch was a BBQ on the ranch. Yum! And then we had MORE rail fun. I'll post additional pics of that later.

Wednesday, March 02, 2011

Hi-ho! It's off to Disneyland I go!

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Oh, how I love going to Disneyland! My first usual stop is the Tiki Room. It just takes me to the happiest place! Luckily, the day we went was sunny and very bright. It was still chilly but, not enough to stop me from getting one of these:

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Ambrosia! The nectar of the Gods! Mock me if you like - I just can't consider it a proper trip to Disneyland without one. The line was very long - not summer long - just long enough that if you. It didn't matter, I was happy to wait in line for my liquid gold!

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New Orleans square was decked out for Mardi Gras!

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While in New Orleans Square, we opted to wait for "Pirates" - a favorite ride. It was moving pretty quickly but, not quick enough for a wee chap behind us in line. I engaged the youngster in conversation. His being "What are you doing?" with my reply being variations of "Waiting in line with you!". He liked my Kermit bag - he said he was a 'moofet' fan. Adorable. By the time we got into the show building, we were fast friends. In fact, he wanted me to ride the ride with him! We opted to ride in the same boat but, didn't want to force ourselves onto his Mom. He griped my hand as we waited in adjoining lines and checked to make sure I was, in fact, right behind him. I cracked him up as we pulled away by whispering "Gee, I hope there aren't any pirates on this ride!" He turned to look me in the eyes and say "There are a LOT of pirates on this rde!" We shouted to Captain Jack to hide from the pirates looking for him and just generally enjoyed ourselves. After we finished and exited, he took me by the hand again, just assuming that we'd be following him to his next adventure. Aw! His Mom told him they were going in another direction and refused to let me go! I told him we'd be in the Pirate shop for a little bit and maybe we'd see him there.

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I did, actually, wait in the pirate shop (Pieces of Eight) for a bit. We browsed it thoroughly! They didn't come back. We went off to "Haunted Mansion" and then dinner with our good pals Brian and Tricia at the Napa Rose. Very tasty! Once we waved them off, we headed back to the park for another two hours of rides. We concentrated on Fantastyland - my favorite time to hit that section of the park is after the fireworks!

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Guess who I spotted climbing into a car on "Snow White"?! Of course, by the time we got off the ride, they were gone! Still, funny to see them again, right?! Well, we saw them again on "Peter Pan"! This time we walked right past them. I couldn't help myself, I tapped my little friend on the shoulder and waved as we walked past. His face lit up like a perfectly decorated Christmas tree! It was all that I could have asked for, His pushing his way back through the line to grab my hand was a surprise and his Mom graciously asking us to join them was a unexpected delight! He insisted he'd tried to find me (his mom told us they'd found Mickey and Minnie and delayed the trip back to the Pirate shop. He was very upset with Mickey for 'taking a nap' before his turn for photos. Especially since the wait meant he lost me! AW!) The two of us rode "Peter Pan" together followed by "Pinocchio". Dumbo was the follow up. As we we headed for "Mister Toad", his Mom laughingly told him he had to share me with my husband. His response? "But, I like her!" The kid was irresistible! After that ride, him Mom said it was time to go. We hugged and smooched all around and his little shoulders slumped as they walked away. I thanked Jeff for sharing our time with him and Jeff said "How could I not? You two were having such a wonderful time together!! He loved you instantly!" Such a sweetie.

I hope my little pal had as much fun in Fantasyland as I did!

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The next day we were supposed to catch a early flight. Luckily the airline notified us that it had been cancelled before we left the hotel! We checked our bags and ran back to the park for a little bit more fun!

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First stop - lunch!

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We saw a ton of character out and about - Alice and the Mad Hatter, The Fairy Godmother, Snow White, Cinderella were all out - not to mention Goofy, Mickey, & Minnie! We saw the princesses all head out with the Fairy Godmother at the same time but, I was too slow to snap a picture. Instead, not two minutes later, I snapped Ariel heading out to join the others. Prime Princess viewing at the Plaza Inn, people - that's all I'm gonna' say!

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The Happiest Face at the Happiest Place!

Surprise! You're going to Disneyland!

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The Mister surprised me with a quick trip. It followed almost immediately after our North Carolina jaunt. The only info he would tell me was that we'd be gone for the weekend (Oscar weekend!! What was he thinking?!) and that I needed to pack a bag. He told me to include one 'going out' outfit. Something casual. But, that I'd need walking shoes as well.

What were we doing?!

We arrived at The London West Hollywood (following some drama with our original hotel...nothing crazy, we just decided we'd rather stay somewhere else). It was a GORGEOUS hotel! I had my first celeb sighting of the weekend: Top Chef head judge Tom Colicchico! (I'm guessing he was eating at Gordon Ramsey at The London).

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I was in love with our room!

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A gorgeous balcony. Too bad it was too cold to use it!

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Jeff has his reading ready to go on our HUGE bed!

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Jeff is tweeting on his phone while I snap this picture with mine.

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This is the shower. It's HUGE, has two shower heads on either side and is oval. I loved it.

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The sink area.

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The delicious tub. This bathroom was big enough to get lost in!

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Comfy robes to use. We totally used these!

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Here Jeff is modeling the comfy robe and talking to a pal. He's saying "I really hope my wife isn't taking a picture of me to post on the intewebs." What he doesn't know won't hurt him.

What were we doing in all this luxury?

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We got invited to a pre-oscar bash! My sweet hubby planned the entire trip as a lovely surprise! I had NO idea! It was a great party! Lots of congrats flowing. There were fun speeches (Rickles was the stand out!) and touching moments. We wished everyone the best of luck and left a little early...I could've shut the place down but, we had further fun planned:

A trip to Disneyland!!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Paris: Day 4 - DiSNEYLAND pt. 5

Tomorrowland!

Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear ride
OOOH, the Claw
Buzz Lightyear!

By this point of the day, I was pretty beat. The mister left me to sit and doze while he ran off to snap some Tomorrowland photos. We didn't ride a single ride! Too sleepy! Instead, we wandered into the arcade - the REAL kind! For a bit of a break from the weather and a hot cocoa. There are two arcades in DLRP - one themed for the Statue of Liberty & one themed for Da Vinci. The 'Liberty' arcade lead you to the retail sections and the 'Da Vinci' arcade had all the take-away food windows. Both had spots to sit and relax and they were both relatively quiet.

We opted to stick around the park for dinner and tried our luck at the Blue Lagoon (the restaurant inside the Pirates ride). We waited about 5 minutes for a table! Excellent! I LOVE DLRP! No lines, no real crowds, and no waiting for a table!

Blue Lagoon

It's not themed at all like the Blue Bayou. It's more 'tropical' - as it's supposed to be a pirate hang out in some exotic locale. You couldn't really see the ride as the restaurant is incredibly dark! I tried to peep out from the foliage lining the deck, hoping to wave to a passing boat. I could hear them pass but, couldn't see anything. Oh well! Back to the dinner! I had some kind of tropical 'jambalaya' and Jeff had ostrich flambe!

Inside the Blue Lagoon
Funny, all my pictures are of the pitch black darkness!

By the time we finished our dinner, the park was beyond closed. A cast member had to escort us from Adventureland (to make sure we didn't try to pull a trick 'From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler' and stay after closing). We meandered down Main street and back to the RER station. A quick transfer to the Metro and we were soon snoring away in our beds. The next day was going to be exciting AND exhausting! We were going to visit Versailles!

Next Up: King Louie's Place!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Paris: Day 4 - DiSNEYLAND pt. 4

Castle

After wandering thru Adventureland (and riding the Indiana Jones ride), I suddenly realized that I hadn't taken a good look at the castle! I was expecting very good things for this castle (Hello! We're in Europe! We can go see 'real' castles! Step it up, Disney!)

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Castle
Tinkerbell on the Castle
Look! Tinkerbell on the top of the castle! Although watch out! This pixie's dust will CUT you!

I thought the castle was BEAUTIFUL! It was everything I wanted in a castle AND you could even walk around the "battlements" or the second floor (which we meant to do but, kept forgetting to do. Oh well! Guess we have to go back!). But, what truly made this castle special was the dark secret hiding in it's belly, something so fierce and frightening none would dare attempt to plunder THIS castle. What could it be, you ask?

A DRAGON!!

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Dragon smoke

Running in fear of our lives (and coughing from the 'dragon fire') we arrived, happily in Fantasyland! The Fantasyland for DLRP felt ENORMOUS! I feel like we missed tons of stuff in it because it was so spacious and, just like Disneyland, Fantasyland was the most crowded part of the park. Le sigh.

The hat shop:
A beanstalk
The CEILING of the hat shop:
Inside the Hat store
The Teacups:
Tea Cup covering
Small World:
Small World
Small World

There were more restaurants than you could shake a stick at! We were still full from our tasty lunch at Walt's so we just walking and snapping pictures, some of which even came out!

Sleeping Beauty Fountain

Up Next: TOMORROWLAND