ABCs of A Trip Worth Waiting For + PNWMM: P: A Practically Perfect Pacific NW Mouse Meet- pg. 26

Great seeing the pictures of you all together. I have yet to experience a Dismeet. Hopefully someday. Disneyland is on my bucket list too, just not sure when or how ($).

Cars land really is impressive. It seems like the immersive theming is what they went for with Pandora in AK, based on the pictures I've seen. I assume this is what they will be going for with the new Star Wars land in WDW, which makes me excited as a Star Wars geek (yes, I admitted it).

I have never tried beignets. I always meant to go over to French Quarter when I stayed at POR and get some, but it just never happened. Of course they aren't Mickey shaped like DLR, and everything tastes better when it's shaped like Mickey.

1901 lounge looks wonderful, and very relaxing. But am I right in assuming it is not open to the general riff-raff like myself?

I think you and I have similar feelings about Illuminations. Although I was fairly impressed with the replacement for Wishes, the rumours of Illuminations demise in the next couple years make me very nervous.

Love the new avatar picture - adventure is out there!
 
Hi
Enjoyed reading about your first day in Disneyland and california adventure.Looks like you had a fun time on your first day.Would love to have a personal guide like Fran to show you how to make the most of your time in the park.The 1901 restaurant looks impressive a once in a lifetime experience for most people.I would love to get to the west coast sometime for but for some reason Disney UK dosn"t do orginised trips to Disneyland, it is proably because of ther lack of hotels there..
 
First, please don't feel badly for the slower pace of updates, as some of us are having a very had time keeping up :rolleyes1 At this point I'm very grateful I haven't missed 5 chapters!


People! It’s coffee, not a custom Ferrari.

100% agree! Like they haven't been in a SBux before and know what they have????

Alison, being a local, regular visitor with an AP, was able to make sure we toured most efficiently and, despite the insanely massive crowd, the 4 got in a

That is SO cool!!!

The foursome meandered from Land to Land, doing what they could- given the lines and their whims. The weather was perfect, the company delightful, and the day progressed nicely. They neither dawdled nor rushed, taking Alison’s lead on how best to tour the park. At some point, they stopped for a Dole Whip- because that’s what’s done. Every time.

Sounds like an awesome day. So great that you guys got to meet up!

Don’t you agree we make a pretty good looking trio?

:thumbsup2 Agree!!!

Plaza Inn Specialty Chicken

OMG, one of my favorite things at DL is that Plaza fried chicken. No sharing for me though, no way

But first, Carsland.

It's pretty darn amazing isn't it?

In the most elegant style possible, drinks arrive by cart and some are crafted tableside

Wow! That's cool!!

The cute little 1901 cocktail napkins were dispatched, thus effectively wiping out a free souvenir pilfering. Regretful at best. Inward, shame and embarrassment filled Steppe’s heart, but she (probably not so effectively) passed it off coolly while dying a slow death on the inside. The final stake was neatly driven home when the sweet server noticed and cleaned up the table the rest of the way and brought her a brand new drink. (#3 if you're counting) The moral of this story is…. You just can’t take her anywhere.

Can't take you anywhere :rotfl:so awesome your kind server brought you a fresh drink.

Steppe learned that the gal also grew up in Hemet

It IS a small world after all

Afterwards, Steppe called it a night and gratefully accepted a ride back with Kay and Ponzi. It had been a full and altogether lovely day of touring, made even better with altogether lovely company. I don’t know about you, Dear Reader, but that’s pretty hard to beat.

Sounds like you had an awesome day. :hug:
 




That looked like a seriously fun DisMeet. So nice that you got to spend such a long time together too!! I hear of a lot of DisMeets that are just a "hi" and that is about it, or maybe you happen to get the same FP+ time for something...but a long DisMeet with not one but TWO meals, is just awesome!

In other news ...GOATS??? I just can't even. lol. I mean it sounds cool and all...but I am such a city girl lol and just can't even imagine living where you could own goats. It might as well be Mars really lol that's how different it sounds! Beautiful and really cool...but unimaginable!! So I'm definitely enjoying hearing about it!
 
Okay, I have found a few extra minutes on this holiday weekend, and with my belly full of hot dogs cooked over the cauldron, and a sizable handful of cherries (MY FAVE!) I am ready to tackle catching up on this thread and hopefully even doing some writing. Let's get this party started!


Hotel rates are getting crazier and crazier these last 5 years around the DLR. The hotels across the street are quite expensive along with the convention hotels. I remember when I stayed at the GCH in 2010 where I paid $200 a night for a standard and that is with my AP discount. Now today it is twice or more of what I paid. It is nice to stay on-site at the DLR but it can be quite expensive if you want to stay on-site even at Paradise Pier and the Disneyland Hotel.

That is INSANE! No thanks.

It took me about 30 minutes to get from the hotel to the Toy Story Parking lot during rush hour traffic.

:scared1::scared1::scared1:

If you care about saving money, it does require you to lose vacation time which I have done before.

I do care about losing vacay time, so I think I'd opt to stay closer. But given that I only every few years, it gives me time to save up, have a longer time at the resort and be able to splurge a bit on the hotel. I won't pay $400 a night, but maybe $200 is doable.

I could pay the price on hotels on walking distance but I have stayed at BW Placentia and have enjoyed the room. The rooms at Placentia are way better over Best Western Park Place Inn, BW Anaheim Inn or Stovall's by far. I only stay at certain hotels which

Good intel,! Thanks! I wonder how much an Uber or Lyft would cost from there? That might be an option...?
 
Smart. Always get air superiority first.

Did you forget the "of" between air and superiority in that sentence?

Thank goodness! Otherwise I don't know if we could be friends.

Phew! Dodged that bullet. :scared:

Whoops! A million pardons, m'lady.

I'll let it slide this time. ;)

Yes. and... don't remind me.

OH, it wasn't so bad was it? I distinctly remember you reversing us at one point, despite Kay and trying to stop you.

Hmmm... don't know.
Slight possibility?

Invitation stands.

Oh I am SO with you, my friend. I could give a not very nice word about what people think at this point in my life. I think that is one of the joys of being at the tail end of my thirties. The experience that comes with time has brought me to a point where I just do not care. Which almost sounds rude, but that's really not the case. I am who I am, and if you like it, that's great, and if you don't, feel free to move along. :thumbsup2

The not giving a XXXs only improve with age. Trust me on this one.

And you are right, it's absolutely NOT about not caring about people, it's far more about NOT caring about their opinions of you- what your views are, how you dress, look, feel, etc..., while still maintaining your caring for them.

Ah, beautiful sights, thank you for sharing. Such a lucky ride to the park for you! Saw this on some internet site and thought it was cute:
1998 - Do not meet strangers on the internet. Do not get into the car of a stranger.
2017 - Contact random stranger on internet and get into their car on purpose.
I have wonderful memories of Disneyland as our first big family trip. I enjoy the differences between the parks, but DW is winning for me at the moment. (I love Cinderella's castle!) But it will be wonderful to get back to DL, hopefully with grandchildren, and remake some magic memories there as well.

Oh you're very welcome! Still loads to come! Just taking longer than I thought. :)

HAHAHA! That is funny!

DLR has changed so much over the years since I've been going, some big and awesome, others not so awesome- like changing ToT. I hope you DO get to return there very soon someday and start making those memories. It's an easier park to navigate and can be done in fewer days.
 
What a special day! So glad you could all meet up, and sounds like the day was as close to perfect as humans are allowed to get. I'm sure the beautiful memories are just precious, glad you could share them with us! And now I must go eat the inferior food that I have at the house...

It was! Such a lovely, lovely day!

Ah, well, tonight here at our house it was brats over the fire cauldron and frozen fries. ;)

I have two different coffee orders there. One for hot weather and the other for hot coffee! It's not rocket science!

I know!!! It's just NOT THAT HARD.

I'm so glad it worked out that way. My bucket list was that you all got to see and do what you wanted!

And I honestly think we all did! I can't think of anything TBPH that I didn't do that I wanted to.

Certainly, when are Mickey Beignets not in order?

Ummm, never.

OMG! I was not privy to the view from this angle. I was 90° from the photographer, from my angle it was clearly a Mickey. From the photographer's angle... :eek:

I assure you, it tasted Mickey-shaped!

Someone seems to have a scowl on his face. Maybe because we're making him take a picture and not eat the Dole Whip!

EEK! Never get between a man and his Dole.

I have all the food porn, and have two more bonus F&W updates, plus a surprise before I get to our day.

I'll have to watch out for those updates. I'm feeling so far behind right now. :(

When we got to go to the AP Preview for Carsland, that's the way they let is in and I thought it was stunning. I try to do the same for new folks I'm with.

I was duly impressed. So grand!

It was from the Pacific Wharf food court area.

Ah, ok, that makes sense.

Yup. That's them.

I listened to them a bit the 2nd day I was there too. I like their sound.

Not familiar with Starker Exchange but nine years ago we did a 1031 Tenant in Common exchange. Those kind of 1031 exchanges are no longer legal as so many of them tanked. A duplex sounds like a much more solid investment.

I think so. Twice the rent income. (Read, twice the hassle.)
 
Hi
Just clocked your photos of your new lawn mowers they definitely have the cute factor.
 
For those of you who didn't see these on FB. :)

Okay, gotta admit... they're pretty cute.

Did you forget the "of" between air and superiority in that sentence?

Smileycoffeespit_zps78mxykvg.gif


Phew! Dodged that bullet. :scared:

Dodged bullet? Or missed opportunity?

I'll let it slide this time. ;)

Now it's my turn to dodge bullets.

OH, it wasn't so bad was it? I distinctly remember you reversing us at one point, despite Kay and trying to stop you.

Sole preservation. I saved your shoes from being splattered.

Invitation stands.

Still don't know.
Working on it.

EEK! Never get between a man and his Dole.

Words to live by.
 
New avatar. You look extremely determined.
I would not want to get in your way!

I am determined... but.... well, taking selfies isn't easy actually. ;)

Geez, why didn't you say so? I could've stopped somewhere.

I'm not usually very hungry until a bit later, so it was all good. The croissant at 10:00 was good timing.

Guess which one I prefer?

Hmm... I'll take Sashay for $1,000, Alex.

Grrr.... Pet peeve of mine.

Why is it so hard to be on time? Seriously... get up 10 minutes earlier, or set your alarm or event time for 10 earlier. Not that tough.

Well, I'm old. You young ladies aren't. But I am.
Want proof? Photos coming up later in this update!

:sad2:

How does only a few years younger than you make my "young"??

"For the most part"? Which ones didn't you get to do?

I actually had to think on that. And came up with a goose egg. There really wasn't anything I didn't get to do that was on my very short list. The main thing were just enjoying new friends and seeing what I could on a busy day or two. And that ended up being a LOT more than I thought it'd be.

::yes:: And they were darned good, too!

My shirt certainly thought so too.

:lmao: I don't remember you doing that!!!

Silly kid! You took it.

Oy. Three pretty ladies. One old fart who's seen better days.
Here. Let me help you with the cropping.


Then, being we're only a few years apart, it's a pretty old lady (who sometimes farts) in there too.

Muuuuuuch better. Now you can eat that beignet and keep it down.
Oops, you took out a very important part of that photo!


It was very good!
Definitely not KFC.

So it would look better swirling in a bag a couple of days later?

:laughing: I'm the same. I was just following along and not really paying attention where we were going.

Except you didn't nearly run smack into the back of a lady because your head was in the clouds. Remember that?

I remember being very reluctant to go on the ride. I was concerned about you and your Mom.
But the teen was not to be denied.

NO denying the teens! LOL!

:laughing: Did you know Kay and I were counting the number of times we heard children crying?

No you didn't! What did you get up to?

What's so expensive about beating clothes on a rock by the river?

Do you know how much they charge these days?!


I do believe she ate.... practically all of them.
So I ordered more. And she ate those too!

:sad2:

I do remember that. Touring the parks is hard work!!

Oh, it wasn't that big a deal. No one drowned.


It was close.... but no one did.

No, but it was mortifying. Fancy place, swanky eats and servers with towels on their arms, and I .... spill.

Oh! Crap. That's my fault. I grabbed them to sop up the spill. Wish I'd known you wanted them for souvenirs. I would've asked for more.

No worries. Maybe someday I'll go back. :)

Well you spilled at least half your drink, so it was really only two and a half.

Oh, getting technical on the math, huh? I was only half paying attention... there was a cheese plate in front of me.

Wait. You say it's your favourite... but way below Illuminations?

I fixed it. Sheesh you are picky! ;)

Know what you mean. Been dealing with MIL's place for a while now.

But, hopefully that's coming to a close.

Because you're not busy enough. Sure. Makes sense.
(Just teasing. I'm sure you have excellent reasons for doing that.)

$$$

(I know about you going to your folks'... but you said "vacations" plural.

Let's see. As far as I know, we're only going camping for about 5 days to the Sisters Area. The girls (not me) are going to Arches, I am going to the Pacific Northwest MouseMeet in mid-August and I'll be gone about 4-5 days for that. The boys gave several long weekend jaunts to climb here and there throughout the summer. My big one is in June to see my folks and do see some other sights. :)
 
And here I studiously did not go there!
I saw it right away, and... "Nope! Not saying a thing!"

:lmao:

You two, get your minds out of the gutter.

I seriously have no idea what you are even seeing. Looks like a biegnet to me. :confused3

Nah. He's just an ugly ol' coot.

:sad2:

You all did quite a lot of fun stuff that day at both parks. Glad to read your latest TR about your exciting day. I don't think I talked to pkondz that night when I talked with you and Alison.

We packed a lot in. Did a lot of rides too. ;)

No, I think not. He was off squeezing in some last minute rides with his daughter. :)

Very nice pictures at NOS and the Mickey beignets are good to get. I can never get tired of the Dole Float which is the best dessert at DL.

They are delicious! Makes me want to cook some up!

I think so too. I think it's actually still a great value for how much you get.
 
Great seeing the pictures of you all together. I have yet to experience a Dismeet. Hopefully someday. Disneyland is on my bucket list too, just not sure when or how ($).
It was a fantastic DISMeet! I've never really ever had a "bad" DISMeet. Some have been shorter, some longer. But all fun. It's a very long way for you to trek to the West Coast for sure. But if you ever do, let me know. :) It might work out to swing a group of us getting together.

Cars land really is impressive. It seems like the immersive theming is what they went for with Pandora in AK, based on the pictures I've seen. I assume this is what they will be going for with the new Star Wars land in WDW, which makes me excited as a Star Wars geek (yes, I admitted it).

It was very impressive. Their forced perspective is over-the-top and gives you the impression of a grand vista as you walk in. I was pretty wowed. I can't wait to see Pandora!! Seriously looks amazing!

No shame in being a SW geek. There are a lot of you out there! (Hence the new land!) I'm not a huge fan myself, but Disney is so great at the detail work, it's hard to not enjoy yourself in what they create regardless of fandom status. ;)

I have never tried beignets. I always meant to go over to French Quarter when I stayed at POR and get some, but it just never happened. Of course they aren't Mickey shaped like DLR, and everything tastes better when it's shaped like Mickey.

Never?! Oh, no, that's just not right. So delicious! I"ve made them at home before, and they really aren't that hard. And no, I didn't make them Mickey shaped. Should have though.

1901 lounge looks wonderful, and very relaxing. But am I right in assuming it is not open to the general riff-raff like myself?

You are right. Alison was able to finagle a visit and we are very grateful. Perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

I think you and I have similar feelings about Illuminations. Although I was fairly impressed with the replacement for Wishes, the rumours of Illuminations demise in the next couple years make me very nervous.

Well, actually, possibly not. I mis-wrote that and so gave the impression I liked Illuminations. I don't. It's not BAD per se, I mean anything with explosions of fire and pyrotechnics isn't all bad, but the story to me is majorly lacking. For me, it's just no engaging. I do get why it's a draw for a lot of folks though, but if I were to choose one that needs to be diced and replaced it's that one.

Love the new avatar picture - adventure is out there!

Seize the day!!!

Wake up, kick a$$, repeat.

Hi
Enjoyed reading about your first day in Disneyland and california adventure.Looks like you had a fun time on your first day.Would love to have a personal guide like Fran to show you how to make the most of your time in the park.

Day 2 coming up soon! Photos edited, just need to find some time to write. Hard to find these days. Soooo busy!
She (Alison this time, not Fran) was perfect! She knew just where to go and the order we should do it in.

The 1901 restaurant looks impressive a once in a lifetime experience for most people.

It was so calming and beautiful in there.

.I would love to get to the west coast sometime for but for some reason Disney UK dosn"t do orginised trips to Disneyland, it is proably because of ther lack of hotels there..

Oh, I didn't know that. Such a shame. :( But! If you ever do make it out this way, do let me know :) I'm always up for a DISMeet!
 
First, please don't feel badly for the slower pace of updates, as some of us are having a very had time keeping up :rolleyes1 At this point I'm very grateful I haven't missed 5 chapters!

I feel like if I don't keep it moving, people get bored and the thread starts to bog down. Plus my memory of things fade. Must keep moving.....

100% agree! Like they haven't been in a SBux before and know what they have????

You'd think they were trying to figure out the last classes they need for graduation or something.

Sounds like an awesome day. So great that you guys got to meet up!

I know!!! Such a fantastic Meet up and day.

OMG, one of my favorite things at DL is that Plaza fried chicken. No sharing for me though, no way

I would have loved to have tried it, but didn't want to spoil what was coming for dinner.

It's pretty darn amazing isn't it?

Totally!!! I am excited to actually go back and spend a bit more time there looking at the details.

Can't take you anywhere :rotfl:so awesome your kind server brought you a fresh drink.

He was very sweet. It truly was a very classy and special place.

It IS a small world after all

:rotfl:

Sounds like you had an awesome day. :hug:

Really did! So nice!!


You had to go there.

:lmao:

That looked like a seriously fun DisMeet. So nice that you got to spend such a long time together too!! I hear of a lot of DisMeets that are just a "hi" and that is about it, or maybe you happen to get the same FP+ time for something...but a long DisMeet with not one but TWO meals, is just awesome!

It was very, very fun!! One of the best ones I've ever had. We spent all day, and the next day too. :D

I think if you know each other better online first, it makes for a better Meet.

In other news ...GOATS??? I just can't even. lol. I mean it sounds cool and all...but I am such a city girl lol and just can't even imagine living where you could own goats. It might as well be Mars really lol that's how different it sounds! Beautiful and really cool...but unimaginable!! So I'm definitely enjoying hearing about it!

We have about an acre or so and it's mostly wooded or meadow along a river. So plenty of room for them to roam. Also a few neighbors who are now praying for their gardens. :lmao:

It's a very beautiful piece of property and I'm blessed to be here.
 
Hi
Just clocked your photos of your new lawn mowers they definitely have the cute factor.

They are absolutely adorable. So tiny and furry. I love how they start to run and kick up their back legs. Just so stinkin' cute.

Okay, gotta admit... they're pretty cute.

Unbelievably adorable. And they follow us around like little pet dogs.

Dodged bullet? Or missed opportunity?

Hmmm.....


Dodged bullet.

Sole preservation. I saved your shoes from being splattered.

I guess I should be thanking you then.
 
I saw the goats on FB and I saw them here, I can't even imagine, but they look cute. I'm not sure I want to know why you were happy to have put the tarp down! :eek:
 

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