Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Thursday, January 15, 2015
A Clue???
Some time back I made mention of the 512 address at Disney's California Adventure. I had no idea how it came to be, but today I may have stumbled on a clue...
I happen to know the address of a nuts & bolts location of Disney's Imaganeering operations. Today I checked out the street view (hence the low quality graininess), and the opposite end of that address happens to have the address 512!!! Sounds like just the sort of inside inspiration those guys would use!!!
So much more to blog about, one of these days...
Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Dreaming of a White Christmas
Merry Christmas to all!!! Since I'm not doing a lot, and my internets are going really slow, thought I'd put together the next post of vacation pictures!!!
I thought pictures from the Sawyer glacier would be appropriate. This was the first destination on the cruise, up Tracy Arm. There was one whole day of steaming up the Canada coast and a night of heading up the Alaska coast. When I looked out the porthole of our cabin that morning, I saw icebergs!!!
We never left the ship, but were just positioned off the glacier all day.
I kept looking at the left side all day, see how it looks like it's all an overhanging ice cave???
There went a little, but I was sure there was more in it.
They said that some days they come up here and it doesn't calve off but one or two icebergs. As was typical of our trip, however, it was excellent, and it was calving ALL DAY LONG!!!
I took so many pictures there, and the bulk of them came out quite good!!! There's the wave from just a bit to the right of where I was watching.
If you notice the dark specks on the ice floes, those are seals. Gives you a bit of an idea of the scale. There's a huge hunk of the blue of the glacier iceberg.
There it's going!!!
And to all a good night!!!
Friday, September 17, 2010
Pictures Taken by Pros
At most theme parks these days, it seems, they have their photographers wandering about taking pictures, and distributing little code cards to find your photos online later. An excellent idea, to be sure, another stream of revenue, and keeps people from having to lug their own cameras around and finding someone to take a shot of the whole family.
Here's what we got (even though, with the exception of the water parks, I had my own camera with me) submitted for your approval!!!
One of the better days we had was the day we went to the Disney Studios Park. If memory serves correctly, it was the 4th Disney park we visited. By that time, my wife & the younger boy were pretty worn out, so they stayed at the resort while the older boy & I went. This was coupled with the fact that the remnant of a tropical depression were blowing through that day. The day was mostly overcast & occasionally drizzly.
That made for many of the lines being pretty short. We pretty much walked onto the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror twice, and at the end of the evening we rode the Aerosmith coaster twice. Also, my older boy has patience for and even an interest in some things that my wife and younger boy would quickly find boring, and he's like me in that he'll stay as long as possible to get the most out of a park. We got to go through the museum-like area and the film of the Walt Disney story. The only ride I would have liked to visit that we didn't get on (due to the over an hour wait time) was the Toy Story shooting gallery ride, doubtless a clone of the one at California Adventure, one of my new favorites.
As opposed to last time, we actually made it on a few of the rides we missed out on last time. At Magic Kingdom, we made it onto Splash Mountain and Space Mountain (both much better than West Coasts'), although we didn't have time to visit the Heritage Square or whatever it's called area we missed last time, too.
At the Animal Kingdom park, they'd shut down the Expedition Everest coaster due to lightening last time, so that was our first stop this time. Made it on after a considerable wait, but also got fast passes to return later that night. Last time we'd gone, we'd seen a show on the in room programming that had that coaster as the best Disney coaster. It's pretty good, but I still like the Aerosmith one better. Got to ride the Dinosaur! ride, too, similar to the Indiana Jones ride out here, but differently themed. Got to take a good look at (and about a zillion pictures of) the Tree of Life. Oh, and the river raft ride that we waited for probably an hour or more last time was pretty much a walk-on. Rode it probably 3 or 4 times in a row.
At Epcot, they had Spaceship Earth open this time, so I got to ride it again, for the first time since 1983. They've added video screens to the cars, and at the end they use a photo of you taken at the beginning of the ride on a an interactive cartoon. Pretty hilarious. Rode it again later to take a video of that. Got to ride the Soaring, another California Adventure clone, and Maelstrom, which were both closed by the time we made it to them last time. Mission: Space we got to ride again, and the boy found someone's dropped fast pass for the GM Test Track ride.
The last few shots here are taken at Typhoon Lagoon, which is where we got the famous free shirts.
Here's what we got (even though, with the exception of the water parks, I had my own camera with me) submitted for your approval!!!
One of the better days we had was the day we went to the Disney Studios Park. If memory serves correctly, it was the 4th Disney park we visited. By that time, my wife & the younger boy were pretty worn out, so they stayed at the resort while the older boy & I went. This was coupled with the fact that the remnant of a tropical depression were blowing through that day. The day was mostly overcast & occasionally drizzly.
That made for many of the lines being pretty short. We pretty much walked onto the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror twice, and at the end of the evening we rode the Aerosmith coaster twice. Also, my older boy has patience for and even an interest in some things that my wife and younger boy would quickly find boring, and he's like me in that he'll stay as long as possible to get the most out of a park. We got to go through the museum-like area and the film of the Walt Disney story. The only ride I would have liked to visit that we didn't get on (due to the over an hour wait time) was the Toy Story shooting gallery ride, doubtless a clone of the one at California Adventure, one of my new favorites.
As opposed to last time, we actually made it on a few of the rides we missed out on last time. At Magic Kingdom, we made it onto Splash Mountain and Space Mountain (both much better than West Coasts'), although we didn't have time to visit the Heritage Square or whatever it's called area we missed last time, too.
At the Animal Kingdom park, they'd shut down the Expedition Everest coaster due to lightening last time, so that was our first stop this time. Made it on after a considerable wait, but also got fast passes to return later that night. Last time we'd gone, we'd seen a show on the in room programming that had that coaster as the best Disney coaster. It's pretty good, but I still like the Aerosmith one better. Got to ride the Dinosaur! ride, too, similar to the Indiana Jones ride out here, but differently themed. Got to take a good look at (and about a zillion pictures of) the Tree of Life. Oh, and the river raft ride that we waited for probably an hour or more last time was pretty much a walk-on. Rode it probably 3 or 4 times in a row.
At Epcot, they had Spaceship Earth open this time, so I got to ride it again, for the first time since 1983. They've added video screens to the cars, and at the end they use a photo of you taken at the beginning of the ride on a an interactive cartoon. Pretty hilarious. Rode it again later to take a video of that. Got to ride the Soaring, another California Adventure clone, and Maelstrom, which were both closed by the time we made it to them last time. Mission: Space we got to ride again, and the boy found someone's dropped fast pass for the GM Test Track ride.
The last few shots here are taken at Typhoon Lagoon, which is where we got the famous free shirts.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
How to get a Free Meal out of a Mouse
So much happened on our vacation to Florida, and I have yet to blog much of it at all!!! I'd say all in all a great vacation, but of course there were a few hitches. Thus, I will get all that out of the way before getting on to all the good stuff!!!
Getting there went smoothly until we'd landed in Miami. At that point, they changed the baggage claim and didn't tell us, so that took a bit. From there to the rental car... well, the rental car places are off site, and there's a shuttle over there. The best priced rental was with Advantage, and their place isn't with all the other rental places, but off from there, so you have to take a shuttle to their shuttle!!! Further complicating things is that it turns out they're only open until midnight, and with the baggage claim and two shuttles, it was VERY close. We got it OK though, and were off to our hotel. Turned out to be a very opulent place (of course, being right on the beach I figured it would be) with the only option being valet parking, and marble stairs leading to a huge crystal chandeliered lobby. Naturally, we were hungry by the time we landed, so we'd stopped by Burger King and showed up looking like a bunch of hillbillies with our take out bags!!! Good times!!! We got checked into our room, and headed up to discover there was only one bed!!! Fortunately the bellman got our problem solved fairly quickly.
Our second flight from Miami to Orlando didn't go quite as smooth, being delayed a couple hours (with the getting to the airport early, delays and finding the Disney express at the airport, it would have been near the same amount of time to drive there!!!) and the gate getting changed a couple of times before being changed back to the original. Not a single complaint about our lodgings at Disney, making it the only one of the three with that distinguishment.
Our third hotel was the Nickelodeon Suites for the last two nights. The room they gave us was great, away from the noisy pool and slides play area, on the ground floor with a view of the lagoon. Unfortunately, the air conditioning has some kind of issue, and the floor all around it (central to the lodgings) was completely soaked!!! Once again, it was very late when we checked in, and we were all ready to sleep. A call to the front desk and they assure me they're sending someone over to take care of us. 45 minutes later, and no one has showed. I walk through the labyrinthine complex to the front desk, and they tell me there's no vacancies to move us into, and someone is already at our room dealing with the problem. I get back, and they've sent housekeeping over with half a dozen towels, which are already soaked through. Sigh. The next morning the oldest & I get up to go to Universal (mom & the younger have had enough theme parking and elect to stay there today. Could have saved some $$$ had I known. I tell her to get on the line with the front desk & get us a different room when she gets up). The hotel shuttle never shows up, so we drive over (another $14 for parking). Later that day she calls me up and tells me they've used a wet vac on the swampy area. I tell her I'm not impressed with their half assed attempts and I want a new room. When we get back, the older remembers something he left in the old room and goes over to get it. It's still about the same as far as moisture, and they've set up a couple of fans. Glad we got a new room, and they did give us $20 credit. Still not worth it, if it wasn't for the epic water play area I would discourage anyone from staying there.
One night we went to Sonic. They completely screwed up our order. Did manage to get a huge thing of cheesy tater tots, and an extra slushy. If Sonic didn't have awesome food, I wouldn't ever recommend them, either!!!
My GPS is easily confused by turnpikes. She was constantly recalculating. Last time we were there I had a much better feel for the geography, as I was using actual paper maps.
I think that mostly covers the fails of the trip (with the exception of the day I thought we were checking out and was a day early to the Nickelodeon) with the exception of the final one that this post was to be primarily about, which actually turned into a win for us. See the first picture of Mickey giving himself a facepalm???
The second full day we were in Orlando the oldest & I got up early to go to the extra hour they open the Typhoon Lagoon water park for hotel guests. We got up, put on our trunks & flip flops and caught the shuttle bus over. Good time at that park, short lines for all the cool slides and stuff. After a few hours we go to head back to our room.
The bus pulls up, and as we go to get on, the driver tells us we have to put our shirts back on. Ummm, we've got no shirts with us, what you see is what you get. "Federal law", he tells us, "you have to have a shirt to ride the bus". We turn around and head back to the park entrance and locate guest services. We tell the lady our tale of woe, and she heads off to the back to see what will be done. As we wait, we both notice a lost article form next to the register, lost swim trunks. We both have a laugh, and I purport that the guy who lost those probably wasn't denied entrance to the bus!!! I say if we get shirts and the same bus driver we need to shuck off our trunks and see if he lets us on like that!!!
I'd figured that they would probably find us a pair of Hanna Montana or High School Musical shirts in the lost & found, but instead they made us up a voucher for the park's store for two shirts!!! We head back and find a couple of nice shirts. The one the boy has was my first choice, but the smallest they had was large and I was looking for a medium. Nice fit on him, huh???
And that, my friends, is how to get a free meal (or at least a free couple of shirts) out of a Mouse!!!
Getting there went smoothly until we'd landed in Miami. At that point, they changed the baggage claim and didn't tell us, so that took a bit. From there to the rental car... well, the rental car places are off site, and there's a shuttle over there. The best priced rental was with Advantage, and their place isn't with all the other rental places, but off from there, so you have to take a shuttle to their shuttle!!! Further complicating things is that it turns out they're only open until midnight, and with the baggage claim and two shuttles, it was VERY close. We got it OK though, and were off to our hotel. Turned out to be a very opulent place (of course, being right on the beach I figured it would be) with the only option being valet parking, and marble stairs leading to a huge crystal chandeliered lobby. Naturally, we were hungry by the time we landed, so we'd stopped by Burger King and showed up looking like a bunch of hillbillies with our take out bags!!! Good times!!! We got checked into our room, and headed up to discover there was only one bed!!! Fortunately the bellman got our problem solved fairly quickly.
Our second flight from Miami to Orlando didn't go quite as smooth, being delayed a couple hours (with the getting to the airport early, delays and finding the Disney express at the airport, it would have been near the same amount of time to drive there!!!) and the gate getting changed a couple of times before being changed back to the original. Not a single complaint about our lodgings at Disney, making it the only one of the three with that distinguishment.
Our third hotel was the Nickelodeon Suites for the last two nights. The room they gave us was great, away from the noisy pool and slides play area, on the ground floor with a view of the lagoon. Unfortunately, the air conditioning has some kind of issue, and the floor all around it (central to the lodgings) was completely soaked!!! Once again, it was very late when we checked in, and we were all ready to sleep. A call to the front desk and they assure me they're sending someone over to take care of us. 45 minutes later, and no one has showed. I walk through the labyrinthine complex to the front desk, and they tell me there's no vacancies to move us into, and someone is already at our room dealing with the problem. I get back, and they've sent housekeeping over with half a dozen towels, which are already soaked through. Sigh. The next morning the oldest & I get up to go to Universal (mom & the younger have had enough theme parking and elect to stay there today. Could have saved some $$$ had I known. I tell her to get on the line with the front desk & get us a different room when she gets up). The hotel shuttle never shows up, so we drive over (another $14 for parking). Later that day she calls me up and tells me they've used a wet vac on the swampy area. I tell her I'm not impressed with their half assed attempts and I want a new room. When we get back, the older remembers something he left in the old room and goes over to get it. It's still about the same as far as moisture, and they've set up a couple of fans. Glad we got a new room, and they did give us $20 credit. Still not worth it, if it wasn't for the epic water play area I would discourage anyone from staying there.
One night we went to Sonic. They completely screwed up our order. Did manage to get a huge thing of cheesy tater tots, and an extra slushy. If Sonic didn't have awesome food, I wouldn't ever recommend them, either!!!
My GPS is easily confused by turnpikes. She was constantly recalculating. Last time we were there I had a much better feel for the geography, as I was using actual paper maps.
I think that mostly covers the fails of the trip (with the exception of the day I thought we were checking out and was a day early to the Nickelodeon) with the exception of the final one that this post was to be primarily about, which actually turned into a win for us. See the first picture of Mickey giving himself a facepalm???
The second full day we were in Orlando the oldest & I got up early to go to the extra hour they open the Typhoon Lagoon water park for hotel guests. We got up, put on our trunks & flip flops and caught the shuttle bus over. Good time at that park, short lines for all the cool slides and stuff. After a few hours we go to head back to our room.
The bus pulls up, and as we go to get on, the driver tells us we have to put our shirts back on. Ummm, we've got no shirts with us, what you see is what you get. "Federal law", he tells us, "you have to have a shirt to ride the bus". We turn around and head back to the park entrance and locate guest services. We tell the lady our tale of woe, and she heads off to the back to see what will be done. As we wait, we both notice a lost article form next to the register, lost swim trunks. We both have a laugh, and I purport that the guy who lost those probably wasn't denied entrance to the bus!!! I say if we get shirts and the same bus driver we need to shuck off our trunks and see if he lets us on like that!!!
I'd figured that they would probably find us a pair of Hanna Montana or High School Musical shirts in the lost & found, but instead they made us up a voucher for the park's store for two shirts!!! We head back and find a couple of nice shirts. The one the boy has was my first choice, but the smallest they had was large and I was looking for a medium. Nice fit on him, huh???
And that, my friends, is how to get a free meal (or at least a free couple of shirts) out of a Mouse!!!
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