Disney World PF Gathering and Tips for Disney Mania!

[tribdog]

better grab that pin up if it's still available. a screw up like that might become collectible.

 

[ZapperZ]

Last entry before we leave for the airport. The next transmission will be from The Happiest Place on Earth!

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

Ugh. I really wish I lived closer to the airport (I loved it when I lived only a 5-10 min drive away from the Detroit airport...it made life a lot better when taking an early morning or late night flight). I think you're arriving at least 2 hours ahead of me, and we're practically leaving home at the same time. I know I have at least an hour and 15 min drive to the airport, which is the farthest I've ever lived from an airport. Plus I've never driven to this one before (I've flown through it, but haven't had to drive to it), so I need extra time to drive in circles a few times figuring out my parking options. Ugh. I definitely have to remember to never book a 6 AM flight from here!

See you in Disney!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I wish I was there...

 

[Moonbear]

I wish I was there...

So do we...the more the merrier! Did Tsu make it home okay last night?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Safe and sound. I was ready for her with lots of cookies, Nyquil, and near beer.

 

[Evo]

I can't wait for the first report from Moonbear and Zz!

 

[JamesU]

I hope moonbear remembered the chloroform...just in case

 

[ZapperZ]

Greetings from the Happiest Place on Earth!

Moobie and I finally met! I'd say the first day went VERY well. I certainly had a lot of fun. Moonbie gets to shop at Downtown Disney, and I think she finally gets to see how I "shop" when I'm here - it isn't a pretty sight!

I have a few pictures, but I'm too lazy and tired to upload them tonight - besides, imageshack is acting up tonight. So I'll try it either later tonight, or early tomorrow morning, unless moonbie beats me to it.

Tomorrow, we will attack Animal Kingdom and then later in the day, to the Magic Kingdom for my birthday dinner, Spectromagic, and Wishes fireworks. Will be a very long day.

Zz.

 

[ZapperZ]

OK, I have the first picture...

Remember a while back last June when they came out with the Gold Mickey ears hat and I took a picture of that by Spaceship Earth at Epcot? Well right now they have the 2006 Mickey Ears hat - it has a silvery ears with 2006 on the front.

Moobie bought one (on the other hand, I bought 10), and she wore it just so I could take a picture of it in front of the christmas tree at Downtown Disney. See if you can spot the top of her head in this.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

The nerd pirates take over Disney!

As Zz said, our first day went wonderfully...and OMG, can he shop! He's a bad influence no less! I've already got my lanyard, complete with a Chip and Dale medallion thingy for it (if I can gnaw the plastic tie off it...I'll probably have to bug the front desk for scissors...scarily enough, one of the bell persons already knows my name...she helped me out earlier, and tonight, she remembered my name when I returned! I don't know if that's good or bad. ).

Oh, so we all thought we were tired by 7 and heading off to sleep early to get an early start tomorrow (we're hitting Animal Kingdom in the morning in the hopes the animals will be more active before the heat of the mid-afternoon sun sends them off for siestas), but once I got back to the hotel and got everything unpacked, I got my second wind (by the way, this hotel is gorgeous...more on that in a moment too). So, I went wandering around...and it seems I've picked the hotel with the pool featuring the pirate theme! So, yaarrh mateys, we nerd pirates be sacking and looting Disney, aye! (Yes, there's a very long water slide off of it...I have to find out if us "big kids" are allowed on it, or only the little kids can use it.)
http://img488.imageshack.us/img488/6687/pirateship3tu.jpg
I'll have to try to get a better picture of it in the daylight.

Okay, now for the resort...aside from having a HUGE, very comfortable room with my own little patio outside (I'm on the first floor...I'd prefer an upper floor with balcony rather than patio, but then again, I have my patio surrounded by lush shrubbery rather than railings and concrete...I'll probably go sit out there to read once I'm done posting), there is THIS right in the lobby...
http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/6686/chocolatecarousel1xd.jpg

Yes, Evo...that's all chocolate! :!) :!) :!) Now, how can anyone go wrong with a hotel that has a chocolate carousel in the lobby? I just wish they'd tell me when we get to eat it.

 

[Moonbear]

See if you can spot the top of her head in this.
Zz.

Hint: I'm NOT the Mr. Potato Head on the tree.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Sounds like you've had a big day! Thanks for posting the pics for us!

 

[Evo]

Hey Moonbear! Whoa, see how much of that chocolate you can stuff in your suitcase! I'm sure the hotel won't mind.

I can't wait for all the details. I am so ENVIOUS!

Oh, and don't worry about all of the movies that have been made about you in the other thread, you have the ability to transport now.

 

[hypatia]

Its 4 AM and Zz is already out for his walk! Nice set of ears moonbear!

 

[Lisa!]

Wow! That's wonderful.

 

[Moonbear]

Okay, I think we need Greg to reinstate tribdog's pink warning label. Don't take him so seriously. Besides, he's just jealous I'm at Disney with a guy from PF and it isn't him.

Rest assured, trib, I'm free to do my own thing. I did go wandering off on my own last night (even though I was supposed to be getting rest for today). We already agreed to hit Downtown Disney yesterday (where all the shopping is) because it wasn't worth wasting a day's admission ticket for just a few hours in the parks. As it was, we ate lunch around 4 pm because Zz was the one being nice waiting for me to arrive and get checked-in to the hotel, etc., before we met up (I would have eaten that late anyway, but at least I didn't have to eat alone).

I'm only getting up extra early today because it's Animal Kingdom that has the special early hours for Disney guests today, and morning is usually the best time to see animals. Since it's only just getting daylight, they should be very active after morning feeding times. Now, if only the restaurant in this hotel opened before 7:30... I was all set to go get a nice bacon and eggs (and gallons of coffee) breakfast, and found out all I could get that early was croissants or muffins and fruit (and thankfully coffee) from the bar in the yacht club next door. I'll have to adjust my start times after today to account for the restaurant hours, or splurge on room service (and yes, I've already voiced my dismay to the hotel staff that a park offers admission at 8 AM, but I can't even get into a restaurant until 7:30, which makes it impossible to get to the park on time if I have a big breakfast).

Oh, BTW, Zz did take pictures with all of me...yeesh...it was a joke to just show the mouse ears in the picture here. I guess that's why tribdog no longer has that funniest member ribbon.

 

[Moonbear]

I better check that Zz is offline...he's supposed to be picking me up in 5 minutes. See you all tonight!

 

[Astronuc]

Hey Moonbear and ZapperZ - Pictures!

Happy Birthday ZZ!

So Moonbear, what's it like to be with a real full-contact competitive shopper?

 

[tribdog]

Oh, BTW, Zz did take pictures with all of me...yeesh...it was a joke to just show the mouse ears in the picture here. I guess that's why tribdog no longer has that funniest member ribbon.

I'll give you $1000 each.

 

[Moonbear]

Since tribdog was miffed to not see pictures with people in them, here's one of Zz in front of the Christmas tree at the entrance to Animal Kingdom, where we spent the morning (we then spent the afternoon and night at the Magic Kingdom).
http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/8452/zzwithtree2on.jpg

He's the one with the red backpack.

But, since I just got in from a very full day, I think I'll be turning in early rather than taking time to upload more pictures. Sorry tribdog, I don't have the pictures of myself. Though, we did get one with Chip (of Chip and Dale) helping me hold up the giant Chip and Dale lanyard medallion I now own...Chip and Dale were at ZZ's birthday party tonight (they kept trying to steal the cake), as were Minnie (such a sweetheart, but Mickey better keep his eyes on her...I saw her getting pretty close to the men there), Goofy (kept sneaking up on folks...hah hah), and Pluto, who gave me a big, wet, doggy kiss!

We had a great day. Our only mistake was we sat too close to the castle for the fireworks (we didn't know you could sit too close...I'm going to have to talk to Zz about calculating those projectile motion equations again and determining the angle between the place the fireworks explode and the top of the castle for optimal viewing distance )...we discovered that if you sit too close to Cinderella's Castle, the fireworks aren't shot up high enough to see all of them, so the castle blocked our view of a lot of them. Oh well...we've since learned.

Astronuc, you wouldn't believe the shopping Zz can do! He's a pin maniac! Though, I guess that isn't anything anyone here didn't know already. I had fun doing a little pin trading today...I got some inexpensive starter pins and have been hornswaggling cast members out of the coveted cast member pins in exchange for the inexpensive ones. Next I'll be sending Zz the link to the eBay auction... Actually, the troublesome part is that once I've traded up and gotten such nice ones, I want to keep them!

I'm also on the lookout for Chip and Dale pins to trade for...every one of them I see is just too cute, so I'm hoping maybe I'll find some that I can trade for rather than blowing my whole budget on buying them. (Yes, I've always been a sucker for Chip and Dale, and it takes every ounce of self-control to not buy everything with Chip and Dale on it...that's only made harder with Zz around pointing out everything with Chip and Dale on it to me ).

Anyway, it's been a very long day, so I'm off to sleep soon.

 

[Evo]

Thank sfor the report, I waited up for you guys!

 

[ZapperZ]

I can say with certainty that we all got back to our hotel rooms exhausted! It was a very long, but wonderful day. Started out at Animal Kingdom, and as expected, a LOT of the animals were out during the Safari ride. Mid afternoon, we hopped to the Magic Kingdom. It was PACKED! We managed to do Mickey's Philharmagic, which Moonbie hasn't seen before. We also did Teacups, and no one threw up.

We then stayed for Spectromagic Parade, and Wishes. We then dragged ourselves back to our rooms.

But just when I thought my birthday celebration was over, I got into my room and saw these balloons. At the end of the strings was this card sitting on the table. I opened it, and it was a picture of Mickey, and it says "Happy Birthday, from your pal Mickey Mouse!"

I almost cried!

:)

Obviously, the DVC people here at Saratoga Springs knew about my birthday. That was such a simple, but very nice touch.

Moonbie dear, thanks VERY much for the gift, and for spending my birthday with me.

I'll post my pictures tomorrow, but Moonbie has a bunch, so she may beat me to it.

Zz.

 

[GeorginaS]

I don't know why this is amusing me so much, but I have to wonder at people who go to Disneyworld and send back daily reports to a message board. Not that I'm complaining, because I'm thrilled to hear you're having fun, Moonbear. I'm likely just getting old. Remember when you'd get a postcard in the mail, and then have to wait for stories when the people returned home, and then wait at least another week for the pictures to be developed? Yeah, I remember those days too. These days are way better, even if they do cause me perdiodic existential angst.

Geek Pirates ho! :)

Edited to add: that tree is huge!

 

[Evo]

What's tomorrow's agenda?

 

[ZapperZ]

What's tomorrow's agenda?

Obviously, we're going to sleep in a bit and meeting up at Epcot at 10:00 am. I want Moonbie to get on Soarin', which is THE best attraction at Epcot at the moment. When we'll hang around Epcot for the rest of the morning and early afternoon, probably do lunch at the Morrocan restaurant. Then around mid afternoon, we're going to Disney/MGM Studios. If it isn't too busy, I'm going to get Moonbie to ride the Tower of Terror. Please let me know if you can hear her scream.

Then, later in the evening, we'll be watching the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights there. That should be a rather full day.

Zz.

 

[Moonbear]

I don't know why this is amusing me so much, but I have to wonder at people who go to Disneyworld and send back daily reports to a message board. Not that I'm complaining, because I'm thrilled to hear you're having fun, Moonbear. I'm likely just getting old. Remember when you'd get a postcard in the mail, and then have to wait for stories when the people returned home, and then wait at least another week for the pictures to be developed? Yeah, I remember those days too. These days are way better, even if they do cause me perdiodic existential angst.
Geek Pirates ho! :)
Edited to add: that tree is huge!

Hi G! (Folks, this is my friend G who has learned that if she wants to get in touch with me, the best place to find me is on PF ). Hey, this sure beats sitting here writing out a dozen postcards and hunting for stamps, and then not getting around to mailing the things until I'm already home, doesn't it?

 

[GeorginaS]

It certainly does beat that. Don't get me wrong, the technology rocks, it just boggles me periodically.

But! Action-packed days and everything. And just what, exactly, is up with someplace opening the gates at 8 but not serving breakfast until 7:30? More importantly, what is up with you awake at 6 on vacation?! Hee. Irrepressible you are.

Edited to add: on further contemplation, maybe the whole "don't eat breakfast" thing relates back to what Zz said about Teacups and people throwing up. ;)

 

[Evo]

Obviously, we're going to sleep in a bit and meeting up at Epcot at 10:00 am. I want Moonbie to get on Soarin', which is THE best attraction at Epcot at the moment. When we'll hang around Epcot for the rest of the morning and early afternoon, probably do lunch at the Morrocan restaurant. Then around mid afternoon, we're going to Disney/MGM Studios. If it isn't too busy, I'm going to get Moonbie to ride the Tower of Terror. Please let me know if you can hear her scream.
Then, later in the evening, we'll be watching the Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights there. That should be a rather full day.
Zz.

Sounds like a really fun day! I'll bet you must be tired.

 

[Evo]

Hi G! (Folks, this is my friend G who has learned that if she wants to get in touch with me, the best place to find me is on PF ). Hey, this sure beats sitting here writing out a dozen postcards and hunting for stamps, and then not getting around to mailing the things until I'm already home, doesn't it?

Hi G! Welcome to PF!

 

[Moonbear]

Edited to add: on further contemplation, maybe the whole "don't eat breakfast" thing relates back to what Zz said about Teacups and people throwing up. ;)

Well, that is one way of looking at it! Alright, I really better get myself off to sleep now. At least tomorrow we're sleeping in and I will have plenty of time to get a decent breakfast. Today was the exception because we wanted to see the safari early while the animals would be likely to be active, which they were.

 

[GeorginaS]

Well, mission accomplished then. Sleep well. I'll be looking for tomorrow's report!

Thanks for the welcome, Evo. I've been lurking for quite a while trying to get up to speed on conversations around here. That's the surest way to not saying anything; start reading threads from the beginning.

 

[ZapperZ]

OK, I only have time to post one picture. And Moonbie is not the only one who can take a picture of people's back. I can too.

This is the picture of Moonbie and Chuck walking towards Expedition Everest, which will open in April 2006. We had just finished the Safari ride, and it was still early in the day (Animal Kingdom opened yesterday at 8:00 am for Disney resort guests, but opens to the general public at 9:00 am).

Enjoy looking at their backs!

:)

Zz.

http://img328.imageshack.us/img328/4042/mb21fb.jpg

 

[Moonbear]

Hey! That picture makes my butt look big! (Oh, right, darn, it's my butt that makes my butt look big.)

Zz, I guess I made a good impression on the characters last night...they all came and joined me for breakfast today too! Yep, Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale all showed up in their beach attire to hang out with everyone having breakfast here at the Beach Club. What a nice surprise since I thought I was going to be eating alone. Had I known there would be characters coming to breakfast, I'd have definitely invited you over here to join me Zz (and I'd have brought my camera).

 

[Astronuc]

Hey! That picture makes my butt look big! (Oh, right, darn, it's my butt that makes my butt look big.) :redface

Not at all, Moonbear. Nice legs, too!