My Thoughtful Spot

the disneyland game

Purpose: To pass the time while standing in line, taking a break, or eating a meal.

Location: Any venue that has large numbers of people walking around, like amusement park, state fair, carnival, zoo, etc.

Inventor: Our friend Gabi, who loves Disney and has since moved away to the Pacific Northwest. The original point categories have been slightly modified to adapt to crowd patterns noticed over time.

Rules: Each member of your party plays individually. You accrue points based on sightings, all of which must be confirmed by another member of your group. Game can be suspended for the following reasons: on a ride, want to enjoy company of group members instead of scanning the crowds like a CIA agent, someone splitting from the group alone and therefore unable to accrue points (i.e., going to the bathroom). Game play is suspended by calling "Game off" and re-activated by yelling "Game on!" Point accrual begins when you are on property (i.e., in the parking garage) and assembled as a group. Play ends when everyone is back in their cars or the group breaks up to return to their vehicles.

Point value assignments:
kid in costume: 1 point
kid on leash: 2 points
kid with wheely shoes: 2 points
a group of people all wearing the same screen T that was made specifically for their visit to said venue: 2 points per group
twins: 3 points

How to win the game: Using your keen skills of observation, rack up points. S/He with the most points at the end of the day wins!

just resting my eyes

So we decided to go to Disneyland tonight and see The Main Street Electrical Parade. They only show it on select nights during the summer; a so-called seasonal event. We haven't actually seen it for at least two years, maybe even three. Like any dedicated parade watcher, we wanted primo seats and staked out our spot on he cement about 45 minutes in advance. We're at a slight advantage, having only arrived in the evening. We haven't been here all day, wandering around in the park and don't have sore feet. My guess is that the guy in the picture had a rough day in the park... I applaud him for planning ahead! He must have been a Boy Scout.

free!!!

Daniel and I are off to Walt Disney World! We get to play with Dawn!!!

I'll make posts from my phone periodically during the week!!!

HOORAY!!!

we're going to disney world!

It's official! Today we booked our vacation for May... to Walt Disney World, which is Dawn's backyard! I'm so excited (see my punkymood...), I've been bouncing around the hospital like Tigger. We're staying at the Polynesian, which is sweet because it's on the monorail. That saves tons of time when you compare it to the bus system. And I'm all about efficiency when I'm on vacation... to get to see and do as much stuff as humanly possible!!!! We had hoped to stay at the Contemporary, another monorail resort, but it was completely booked up.

Next is plane tickets and dinner reservations. We will obviously be eating at Oktoberfest several times and having breakfast with Donald at his Breakfastosaurus. But the rest we have to figure out. We opted to try the Disney Dining option, which was a pretty reasonable price. For each person per night, you get one table service meal, one counter service meal, and a snack. Of course, they count water as a snack, but whatever. We'll use it. We will most assuredly pay extra in food, but at least we've got those things covered.

Here's the deal with the gym at WDW. You gotta pay. A lot. And they're pretty crappy. Yeah, I'm spoiled, but I know what a basic gym has, and they don't even do that. And they don't even have a gym at the Polynesian since it's so close to the Grand Floridian. Now they have a good gym, but it's even more expensive than the crappy ones. So my workout plan for the duration of the trip is to run. Yeah, you heard me. Run. It's free! There is a cool trail that is around our resorts that I can use. Hopefully the scenery will distract me enough; obviously there will be no tv. :-P Now the only challenge is to get up to running for an hour by the beginning of May. The most I've ever run is 40 min. And there is no way I could do that now. I think the most I could do now is 30 min. Well, according to the counter on Dawn's blog, I have 59 days to get to 60 min of running! That's only 30 seconds extra a day. I can totally do that, right? Sounds reasonable, but I have my doubts, especially because I hate running. (see two posts ago...)

As for the plane tickets... red-eye all the way, baby. Remember, the name of the game is efficiency. And I only get seven days off from work. Not five business days and the two weekends surrounding them, which would be nine. Only seven. So I can't guarantee that I'll have the weekend before off and I have to assume that I don't. Best answer to that problem is to fly a red-eye out there and jump off the plane and start playing! We can nap later when our room is ready. No big deal. But we would be there.

We're actually going to be there! Hooray!!!

paradise pier

We had a chance to head over to California Adventure last night to celebrate my friend Sarah's birthday. We had a great time and met a bunch of really cool people. Even the Yankee fan was kinda cool. ;-) I have always loved this particular point on the bridge that leads to Paradise Pier... It's even better at sunset.

sunday at the park

Yesterday we were able to do something that we haven't done in a really long time. We had a date. We've both been so busy at work, that we really don't see very much of each other. And when we do, it's about the "business" of life... what to get at the store, when I'm on call next, what are we having for dinner, don't forget... It's been a long time since we had time all alone and we really needed to reconnect.

So we first went to Downtown Disney, walked around, and had a small lunch. We then took the "secret" entrance into California Adventure through the Grand Californian and did Soarin'. I know this sounds totally dorky, but every time I ride that, I get a lump in my throat at least once. It's usually either at the scene of Yosemite or San Diego. I am just so happy to be living here again. Yosemite is very special; it was in my backyard growing up, so to speak. And now Disneyland is my backyard. I think one should always have something totally cool in one's backyard. :-)

We had a really nice dinner at Naples in Downtown Disney. We had to wait for about 45 minutes, but it was completely expected, since it is a restaurant in the Disneyland Resort. We've pretty much learned that if we don't have "priority seating" that we'll end up waiting for dinner. The solution is to either plan ahead, eat somewhere else, or enjoy the scenery and wait. We chose the latter, and I'm glad we did.

Into the park around 8:00. We thought we'd check out the wait times on Indiana Jones; it's Daniel's favorite. On the way into Adventureland, however, I felt the pull to see the Tiki Room, in all it's cheesy, original glory. Love the show and those silly singing flowers. The line at Indi was far too long, so we walked a few hundred feet more to get to Pirates and stood in line all of three minutes. I know there are Hidden Mickeys in there. There just have to be; it's such a long ride and they just re-did it! But I simply cannot find any. And it drives me crazy every time I ride it.

Home again to beat the crowds of the fireworks. It's a new show, celebrating the Year of a Million Dreams. We haven't seen it yet... have plans to go back this Saturday. :-)

not over yet

Now wait just a cotton pickin' minute. Christmas isn't over yet. And it won't be over until the Wise Men come to visit with their gifts, which will be Saturday. I'm glad my friends at Disney haven't forgotten... I was there enjoying what little is left of Christmas. I took tons of photos; here are some of my favorites.

I spied this on top of one of those carts where you can buy fruit and thought it was cool.

Sleeping Beauty decorated, too!

This was a kitchen in the cottage at Santa's Reindeer Roundup.

Santa's reindeer are recovering in Southern California... ;-)

The turkey that the President pardons every year ends up at The Happiest Place on Earth... I had no idea!

Stay tuned for more pictures... It's a Small World Holiday and The Christmas Fantasy Parade coming up!

happy new year!

Best wishes in 2007! I hope you all have health, happiness, and success, however you measure it, during this coming year. I have met so many amazing people through this weird thing call a blog... and my life is richer because of it. :-)

christmas at disneyland

Last night we went to Disneyland to see some of the holiday acitivites and decorations. We missed the parade, which was at 6:30, so we'll have to go back to catch it. But we did see It's a Small World all decorated with hudreds of thousands of lights. And inside all the scenes were slightly changed to have Christmas tree, poinsettias, and garland. The best thing was that they weren't singing that infernal song... it was Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls. No mention of Christmas, but it was implied. Wait... Feliz Navidad counts, right? ;-)

Disclaimer: I did *not* edit these photos in any way, so sorry if they're not that great. Given *my* record, the fact that they are going up the day after they were shot is unheard of. Enjoy!

This was how the streets of New Orleans Square were decorated. I think it's more elaborate than last year! Amazing.

Something new for this year that was a total surprise to me... at one point, all the lights go off. Then, to the tune of the Nutcracker Suite, there is a cartoon and light show projected onto the building itself. It acutally uses the facade's geometry at points and is very accurately lined up. Very cool.

It's Santa's Workshop at the North Pole! Right across from it is the nice and naughty list. I'm not telling which list I was on... ;-)

There! Proof that they said Merry Christmas! Well, if you translate it, it's Merry Christmas. In your face policially correct people!

This was at the end, in the white room with the children from all over the world.

This one's a bit blurry, but I just love the castle at night. It's even better when it's adorned with Christmas decorations.

all hallow's eve

Happy Halloween!

This is my favorite secular holiday -- it allows adults to act like complete children in a way that is socially acceptabe. (Usually my shananigans don't fall in the category of adult behavior.) And while I can't eat candy like I used to, I still like dressing up, carving pumpkins, and decorating. We didn't actually make it to a Halloween party this year. But we did go to Disney's Halloweentime, which was a lot of fun. Tonight, we'll carve pumpkins. Yep, me having fun with a knife, surprise surprise. ;-)

This is the Mickey that now greets you as you enter the park. They were very creative with giving him a mask!

That's what the Mickey is made of!

This is at the beginning of Main Street, just behind the flag. At night, he flickers and glows as if he's got a candle lit inside!

These are flowers arranged in an interesting pattern in Town Square of Main Street. I had to stand on a bench to appreciate what they did!

These two vintage posters were some of many inside a little Halloween shack.