The Disney Christmas Vacation from Hell!!!

[DisneyMom]

So THAT'S why Jack Sparrow won't sign my T Shirt! :p:

[Princess Susi]

I saw one suggestion along the lines of your Tee idea. Instead of wearing the tee carry it folded and pinned around a stiff piece of cardboard or artist board (the foam core stuff). This way the character has a solid surface to write on, and if the marker bleeds through you don't end up with "tatoos" on your back.

Randy

That is how I do it! I don't wear them, could make for an embarrassing moments. I'm sorry, I should have clarified that ;) Do NOT wear the Tee-shirt for characters to sign. Use a flat surface as Randy described. :D: Thanks Randy, for making that clear! It could be problematic to wear it!

[Princess Susi]

Michael was an awesome Tour Guide and I would definitely request him in the future for other tours! He is a veritable fount of information as any good tour guide should be! It was a memorable tour and lots of fun too!

That was the end of the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour. After the Matterhorn, we headed back to the Tour Gazebo for lunch of a sandwich, fruit, drink and cookies! It was good, not great, but satisfied our hunger at that point. The tour is about 4 hours and I would highly recommend it to everyone. You will learn a whole lot more about Disneyland and Walt himself, than you thought possible.

I want to be a Plaid! I think it would be such a great thing to do at WDW or DL. The people who are on the tours pay a good bit to be there, so you do not get too many SGs on the tours. I have heard of some unfortunate tours, but so far we have been lucky! That is my dream for the Year of a Million Dreams; to be a Plaid someday! :D:

[Princess Susi]

WOW! We are still on the first day of vacation and have 6 days to go! That is a LOT of pictures for you to enjoy! :D: Hope you don't mind going through them slowly and enjoying every last bit of the Park with us! ;)

After the Tour, we shopped a bit and picked up more Disney swag for our collection of memorabilia and clothing! We strolled Main Street and found the Dapper Dans at Coke Corner! We sat to listen for a bit, since I love the Dapper Dans! :)





Such great voices and so much fun to watch! I love Barbershop Quartets and even have a few CDs of the winners of the National Competitions If you are interested in Barbershop Quartet music, here is a great place to get started!

http://www.barbershop.org/web/groups/pu ... epage.hcsp





After the last sweet refrains of The Dapper Dan's music echoed in our ears we decided to go back up Main Streetto The CandyPalace for some...what else? CANDY!
We love sweet stuff and Disneyland candymakers cook up some of the best toffee and fudge there is. We wanted to find out about the infamous Candy Canes as well. They make them only a few days during the holidays and if you are not in line by Park opening you are out of luck for handmade Candy Canes. We found out that my investigating the Candy Cane schedule was correct. the next day would be the LAST day for hand made candycanes. They would be available three times, at around 9:30ish AM and again around 1PM and then once more in the afternoon, around 3PM ish. We were going to be at Disneyland for Early Entry and we would get in line then, for the highly sought after Candy Canes! In the meantime, we loaded up with sugary sweets, when I saw someone who looked so familiar to me! Oh My Gosh! I could not believe who I was seeing, right there on Main Street in the Candy Palace right there in Disneyland!
To be continued.... ;)

[Shorty82]

WOW! We are still on the first day of vacation and have 6 days to go! That is a LOT of pictures for you to enjoy! :D: Hope you don't mind going through them slowly and enjoying every last bit of the Park with us! ;)

I'm loving it and hating it at the same time. Loving visiting Disneyland through pictures but hating how Lord only knows when I'll be able to make it there myself. I will definitely have to go on the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour when I do eventually make it over there.

[Princess Susi]

I'm loving it and hating it at the same time. Loving visiting Disneyland through pictures but hating how Lord only knows when I'll be able to make it there myself. I will definitely have to go on the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour when I do eventually make it over there.

Aw, Shorty, you have to get to DL soon! It is such a treat to walk the same places that Walt actually walked. I have been going to DL since I was kid. The first several times my family went, Walt was still alive! The Park was phenomenal and bustling! You could feel Walt in everything in the Park! It SPARKLED, it was so clean and the magic and Pixie Dust were truly palpable. You could *feel* it in the rarified air inside of Disneyland! Magic around every corner!
It has changed a bit over the years, but no one, and I mean NO ONE cough*Eisner*coughcough could take away the magic that Walt so Pixied Dusted his Parks with! Tomorrowland may be in bad need of a complete overhaul, and Frontierland is a mere shadow of it's former self, what with Fantasmic! taking over the entire shoreline of the ROA in the evenings making it just about impossible to move around in that area and it takes away the lovely evening cruises on the Mark Twain. Hopefully we will get to do that in the off season, when F! is down for the winter and refurb.

The Mine Train has given way to yet another thrill rollercoaster train ride which many folks like, Big Thunder Railroad! I know it is very popular and supposed to be fun, (I have not been on it...yet, there is still hope, but I don't do well on roller coasters with my back and I get motion sickness too easily! :( ) I prefer the Mine train Through Natures Wilderness. It was fun and educational! Not every attraction at DL has to be a thrill ride, as has been the direction it has been moving in. Let's get the Imagineers back to imagineering some wonderful Dark rides and attractions that don't make you lose your lunch when you choose to enjoy them!

I have great hopes for the DCA overhaul. A Little Mermaid Dark Ride YES! And Carsland, well, I am not that big a fan of Cars, but I know it is extremely popular so maybe it will be better than the empty Park they have now. With the exception of Soarin' and Grizzly River Run, we don't spend much time in DCA, except looking for pins I might not find in Disneyland. LOL! I am hopeless when it comes to pins! I am an addict and collect all that I can!

I think Walt may have cringed at Paradise Pier. He swore he would NEVER put a Ferris Wheel in Disneyland and he was NOT fond of the Coney Island type carnivals! In fact he built Disneyland so he could offer something completely different than those carny types! So DCA has a Ferris Wheel, a thrill ferris wheel maybe, but it IS a Ferris Wheel. Eisner even put one in The Hub when they put on that ill fated carnival in Disneyland. Walt was probably spinning! How sad to not follow the legacy that Walt left. :(

I think it was a mistake to put Paradise Pier in a Disney park even under the cloak of California's historical boardwalks ala' Santa Cruz and Ocean Beach in San Francisco and others in So Cal I am probably missing! There were so many other parts of California history they could have built wonderful and amazing Dark rides and adventures around. Like the Gold Rush or San Francisco in the early 1900s, Oh I know they have a part of SF there, but it is so miniscule and laughable, they really could have expanded on it more. I will wait with baited breath to see the new DCA and I know I will check out the Little Mermaid Dark Ride. One of my favorite Disney films! Gotta love it. Now they just need to build a Dark Ride based on Beauty and the Beast and I will be happy! Ahhhhhhhh....True Disney films! It would be so complete with that! Ahhhhhhh...One can dream, can't one?

BUT, you still have to walk where Walt walked. It is such a magical place. Walt's spirit still lives in so many of the CMs and in the place itself! You will see what I mean when I post more pics! ;) I love WDW because there is so much to do and it was Walt's Dream to create it, but DL is the original little Magic Kingdom and has all the earmarks of being the best! Sorry WDW fans! I am somewhat biased having grown up with the little Park in Anaheim! :D: So, definitely make that trip to Disneyland, Shorty and everyone else who has never been there, It is worth a thousand E tickets to go! :)
susi

sorry to get off on a tangent about the Parks, but it is a very important subject to me. I should be an Imagineer AND a Tour Guide! The list is growing.... ;)

[Shorty82]

I so want to go to DL. Walt is one of my heroes and had wonderful dream that he was able to make a reality. One day I will make it to Disneyland and be able to see Walt's first big dream and the park he actually walked in.

[Princess Susi]

I so want to go to DL. Walt is one of my heroes and had wonderful dream that he was able to make a reality. One day I will make it to Disneyland and be able to see Walt's first big dream and the park he actually walked in.

Yep. my hero too...Shorty, you must get there. Save and save and save for a trip to the Magic that is Walt's first dream! We will try to plan our trip around yours and then we could meet and show you so many wonderful places and yes, you have to take the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour. If you are a Walt geek like I am. You will be transfixed! Keep planning and saving for that DL trip. :)

[hobie16]

If you're very quiet, Tinkerbell will land on my hand.

[DisneyMom]

If you're very quiet, Tinkerbell will land on my hand.

HAHAHA, anyone here ever see "The Pressed Fairy Book"? :p: