diane+ not THAT monte

I'm sure it was just a special thing.
I still firmly believe that drones were supposed to be a big part of the Rivers of Light show, and that they had too many problems with them and ultimately scrapped the idea.  Which explains the long delay in the premier of the show and why it seems boring.
If they were going to have drones be a regular part of anything at AK, they would be promoting the heck out of that.
But they're not.
TCD

RIP

TCD

Is this better?

 

We already had a thread going here about the new security measures, and Jason aka The Man already posted that link.
There are no bag searches at the Fort dock.
FW and WL guests go through bag check and security at the MK dock:
TCD

Thank you! 

This makes me feel infinitely better. I'm sure your right, I just needed someone to tell me. I needed to hear it from the regulars. 
 
Thank you so much for the offer. I will fax in my request and explain about my son. You are so very kind, as is everyone here. 

I don't want to be obnoxious by quoting every post on here, but every single response has touched my heart and made me feel more confident. I am so glad the Fort has not turned into a luxury RV park, but still a family place. I know I will feel more comfortable when I get there. 

Everything about our world is just changed, since my son was disabled. We would have not thought twice about transportation prior. Now we have a scooter, and I feel kind of bad making everyone wait while it gets off an on the buses. That is another reason we are not renting a golf cart, because there is no way to carry a scooter on it to get to the boat or the bus depot. 
Our Pop-up is older, but it's attractive and in good shape. We are regular campers and love staying in it. But, obviously, the Fort offers some new challenges. My anxiety level, in general, is fairly high so I tend to invent scary scenarios to stress myself out over. Overall, our family is much more comfortable in our Pop-up than a hotel, so I'm praying our Fort visit goes smoothly. I'm so relieved to hear it's not an issue to rent sites other than 1500 and 2000. Life would be much easier without having to haul grey water. Next visit we will do that. Our camper does have a bathroom to avoid leaving it at night. That was a #1 priority this time around, as our old one didn't have one. Our son gets disoriented enough during the day, we couldn't have him leaving at night. 

We did have a couple of problems with staying in a room. One night, we went down to the food court and our son locked us out and fell asleep. Because of his brain injuries, he is very, very difficult to wake up. The only thing that can wake him is a voice. No amount of noise will do. We did quite a bit of banging on the door and window, up until the point where we had to stop due to possibly disturbing others. Thankfully, we were in a corner room. 

We could see our son sound asleep, through the curtains. When I called, they said since our bands were registering red, he has the privacy lock on and at first said we were SOL. It was freezing out ... that cold Friday night the first week of December ... so I persisted in wanting to speak with someone else. They sent mousekeeping up, couldn't get in. Eventually security got the door open, but the bar was across. I had to stick my face in that few inches and yell our son's name quite a few times to get him up. People with brain injuries don't join reality for a bit after being physically awake, so he wandered around the room for a bit in confusion. 

He did finally come unlock the door and fell right back to sleep. All in all it was not the worst thing that could have happened, but a bit embarrassing. I did explain that he had a TBI and didn't realize he was locking us out. The CMs were all very nice about it. A couple of times, he left things on rides that we had to go back and recover them. And once, he abandoned his scooter when he got mobbed in near the castle in MK. He was playing SOMK and we were over in Frontierland. He was at a portal that was too close to the castle when a show started.

He called me and said he was stuck and getting freaked out. He can walk, he just has two titanium rods in one leg and pinned up opposite ankle, so Disney walking leaves him in too much pain at the pressure points. I told him to get off the scooter, take the key and just try to push out of the crowd. We headed that way and met him and got his scooter when things cleared out. He carries extra anxiety meds (and I carry a second set in case he loses it) so he took some and the rest of the day was good. 

In February, we will picking up show and parade schedules so he knows when to avoid certain places. 

This was likely more information than everyone was interested in hearing. Just trying to explain a bit why I am so nervous and anxious. I know that once we get there and set up, my anxiety will melt away. Disney has been my happy place since Dec. 1971, my first visit. And camping is our family's favorite activity. 

If anyone has any suggestions about transportation, please post them. I'm sure there are plenty of others at the Fort with scooters or wheelchairs. How do you handle that if you rent a golf cart? Maybe if the carts had a tow hitch. 





 

David and I are going out in a little while to measure our snow and take pictures.  I'm guessing we have 8-10 inches, and it's still coming down.  
Thankfully we have no power outages in our city.  Part of I-40 is closed because of an overturned 18-wheeler.  Reportedly lots of other accidents around town.  Grocery stores don't even have frozen pizza!  

Generational and how and where one was raised. I'm 34 and was raised in Florida, grandfather is retired army, and the family business was in the tourist industry. I was raised to say yes or no sir/ma'am ( close family friends were/are called aunts or uncles) open and hold doors, be respectful and polite, wait my turn to speak, help or offer to help people, say please and thank you, offer someone a seat. I'm floored every time I get on a Disney bus at the number of teenagers to people in their 30s or 40s who will watch someone older, or with children get on a bus and not move or offer to move for them. I understand some people have disabilities or reasons they need to sit but not a bus full of people.
What gets me even more is when you do offer or do something for someone and don't get a thank you or any recognition. On our Christmas trip we were coming back on one of the launches a d the was a couple with their 2 granddaughters in strollers. We offered them help, and a ride back up to the parking lot on the golf cart. My mom had given them her business card while we chatted and when we got home there was a thank you card from them with a little note if we were ever in their area to give them a call.
But that's not the ME or easy thing to do, and that's all it seems most people care about now a days.
Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Sadly, this episode is a perfect illustration of why the Fort management has a huge problem on their hands when it comes to enforcing the golf cart rules.
We will never know what really happened, but we do know that a child was driving a golf cart, and that a police officer stopped the cart because of that.  How would something have this played out at Fort Wilderness with one of the geriatric Rangers?
People are ***holes.  I've seen it myself at the Fort while slowly driving all the way out on Fort Wilderness Trail behind some Guido with gelled hair and a big gold chain, talking on his cell phone, driving his golf cart at 7 miles and hour, with his wife and six or seven kids squeezed in the cart.  The jackwagon flipped me off when I gave him a courtesy tap of the horn.  I've seen the same behavior by jackwagons with buses behind them.
We live in a society where people believe that rules are suggestions, and they can do as they please.  There is no such thing as common courtesy.  And pity the fool who tries to stop these jackwagons from being jackwagons. 
TCD

I'd wager there were a fair fewer numbers of Alligators in that lake when you were a kid out there from all accounts of the then endangered alligator population. It is kind of sad that some of the natural looking beauty has been lost in a way, but let's face it: Alligators are more prevalent on the water than they used to be.
I think this incident was a result of a sort of hand waving on the part of local Disney execs: "Everyone knows the dangers of Alligators in Florida." Does everyone that visits Disney World know this? Disney has gone out of their way to project an illusion of safety by incorporating beach areas around the Seven Seas Lagoon with their pool areas and lounge chairs in these beach areas, so I think it's natural for people to assume that there is no real threat. Is a "no swimming" sign equivalent to avoiding ALL water contact and/or an equivalent warning to "Beware of Alligators" sign? I don't think so. Would someone who fell asleep on the beach on a blanket or a lounge chair be completely safe? Hmmm. Anyways, when we were there about 3 weeks ago, we sat on our blanket watching the water pageant and the fireworks on the beach about 5' away from the water's edge (people kept standing in front of us anyway but I digress), and plenty of small kids were seen with parents within sight's distance splashing around in the water. Now, our family is informed enough to know that any body of water is a potential danger in Florida and we never get in the water with exception of the swimming holes around spring heads down there. However, I was blissfully unaware that we were still within danger being that close to water's edge, until I heard about the incident reported last week of the one kid about 30 years ago feeding ducks bread from dry land at Clementine's Beach and the Alligator lunging out of the water to get him and barely escaping with his life, and another of a British family that was attacked by a gator at the Polynesian just last month while waiting for the fireworks. Pass! With or without that sign or the fence, we'd be sitting a lot farther away from the water's edge in future.
The thing that's pretty surprising after all this to me is the reaction that some people have to this that the family is going to be gold digging over this or that Disney shouldn't pay handsomely for it.

I am a little on the fence about this. I like that the fences are more like barriers and don't look like a eye sore, but part of me is also sad.  As a kid I swam and played in that water, as a dad I ran around in the ankle to knee deep water playing with my kids in that water, and as a grandpa I hold my grand kids hands as we walked in the water to get our feet wet. 

And they're adding MB operated meters.  :rotfl6:

I looked at that nice long hallway and imagined how many families could huddle in there during the rain and how many people could sleep there during a 24-hour day.  
 
See?  I am practicing my imagining, just in case.

Time to wrap up this short trip report that I never even intended on writing until Mo forced me to.   :D
 
We went to Primo for a sit down dinner.  Now, I mentioned earlier that INC and I prefer casual eateries, and in particular we love sitting at a bar and having apps or small plates and drinks.  But this restaurant came very highly recommended, and the description sounded inviting.
 
 
Organic, home grown, farm fresh....these to me are phrases that sound like Sunday dinner back at my parents' farm house.  
 
This was no farm house.  
 
As soon as we were escorted to our table, the "snotty" vibe was evident.  The hostess (or whatever the heck they call them in these places....maitre'd?) presented an iPad to us containing the wine list.  Oy.  
 
When our server arrived, she proceeded to show us the iPad, to which I told her I'd just guzzled some beers in the lobby and wasn't interested in wine.  Well, her attitude changed immediately.  I guess without overpriced bottles of wine to pad the bill she saw her tip dropping.  Oh well.  
 
We perused the menu and decided to share an appetizer, followed by one pasta entree and a pizza.  
 
Sounds pretty good, no?  
 
For the app, we went with the gnocchi.  This is what we got.
 

 
It was pretty tasty....but quite small.  Maybe that's why we got an eye roll when we told her we were sharing.  She probably knows deep down that these dishes are too freaking small to share.  
 
Anyways, we figured we'd be good because we ordered pasta, and you always get tons of pasta in a restaurant.  
 
Right?  
 
Well, maybe not always.  
 

 
I left the utensils on the plate for scale.  
 
That's a pasta dish that cost $33.  
 
To be fair, we did request a couple of revisions.  It was supposed to come with a fried egg on top which we don't eat, so we asked for that to be left off.  But that shouldn't change the size of the dish, right?   
 
Fortunately, we also got pizza.  Which was actually the only really good part of the dinner.  
 

 
The pizza itself was more than enough food in reality, and we actually took some with us to eat the next day while we were traveling.  So all was not lost, and we left full.  
 
Oh, and one nice thing....when we made the reservation I mentioned we were celebrating our anniversary, so they brought these nice little cannolis and some candies.  
 

 

 
So all in all....if you enjoy "fancy" dinners with extensive wine lists in iPads and small but expensive plates of food that isn't as good as you could get at Carrabas, then Primo might be for you.  But I regretted it, and wished we had just gone back to the bar for more of those pretzels.
 
Or, to Highball & Harvest for more of those donuts.  
 
Hey, come to think of it....is there any reason we couldn't go back to H&H for donuts??
 
Nope!  No reason at all. 
 
So we left Primo and wandered back over to the Ritz Carlton.  
 
The pools here are really beautiful at night.
 

 

 
We went back into H&H and bellied up to the bar.  They had live music on this night, which was a Friday, so that was a nice touch.  We checked out the full dessert menu and settled on two.
 
A red velvet cake.
 

 
And of course, the donuts.
 

 
The cake was fine, and on a stand alone basis would have been satisfying, but all desserts pale next to those donuts.  It's really not worth trying anything else here.  
 
By this point, we were beyond full.  We headed back to the room to collapse into bed for our final night's slumber.  
 
The next morning, we had a 9:00 pick up scheduled by Mears to head back to the airport.  Before leaving the room, I headed out to the balcony one more time to grab some pictures.  
 
Here we are looking back toward Disney.  On the right you can see Space Mountain, the BLT, Contemporary, and then a bit to the left the Abomination.  
 

 
This is looking more in the direction of Sea World.
 

 
Here is a zoom in toward Sea World.
 

 
And now we are looking down toward the Ritz Carlton where they were setting up for an event that evening.  
 

 
Probably a wedding, considering it was a Saturday in May.  I can't imagine how much a wedding reception at the Ritz costs.  Considering there are around 40 tables set up there, I would guess they are expecting somewhere between 320-400 guests.  
 
Ouch.
 
We were out of the room earlier than that so we left our bags with the bell man and grabbed some more oatmeal and coffee from Starbucks, and headed out by the river to enjoy it.  Then all too soon, we were in the car and headed back to MCO for our flights home to our waiting kids.  
 
Again, ouch.  
 
It was over too quickly.  But we are so glad we had the opportunity to do it.  The only problem is....now I want to do it again!  
 
Thanks for reading.  

I'm feeling festive, so let's keep going. As I mentioned, we decided to hit up the Peter Pan interactive queue (and ride).
 
First up, look at photos of the journey from Neverland to London. I know what I was checking out:

 
But, the rooms were pretty cool. Tinker Bell flew around and interacted with various furniture (none of which is reflected in this picture):

 
I had only heard of the shadow wall with the bells. I didn't know that butterflies also flew around:

 
(And, I won't lie- I'm a little mesmerized as to how they actually pull off this effect. To have a shadow means you'd have a bright light, but look at yourself- there was no bright light.)
 
Here's Tink in a picture:

 
And we're onto the ride!

 
We hadn't ridden Pirates the last 2 visits to WDW- either due to lines or it being down during our FP time. So I was excited to hit it this morning:

 
Front row seats! I sort of heard my wife mutter, "I don't want to be in the front." So we sat in front.

 
And we saw things:







 
ANNNNNDDDD... there is the drop. And front row seats. And we got wet. Like really wet. I was wet down through my shorts to my tush. Our bag was wet and soaked through. Wet shirts, wet faces, wet glasses. Like holy Splash Mountain Wet*. This picture doesn't do it justice:

 
Clearly, I missed the warning:

 
Anyway, we felt like we needed some corny flakes jokes. Up next was the Jungle Cruise. Waiting in-line selfie:

 
On the boat selfie:

 
Clearly this man knows not of the danger that is behind him:

(or, he's a total boss!)
 
This legitimately is what my campsite looks like when I tent camp with family:

 
I always thought of Disney as a family friendly place. And then there's this guy getting it from a rhino:

 
The hippos laughed and laughed:

 
Thanks be to the Internet, I've learned of a Dole Whip. We were near it and it was hot out by this point, so we decided to get one to share:

 
Being our anniversary, they decided that a loving couple shouldn't share one and Mickey gave us an extra:

 
You'll also notice that I got confused as to what I wanted to order. I think I meant to get a Dole Whip Float, but instead got a Cup.
 
In this picture are 2 things. One of which I really didn't care for at all and threw away after only eating maybe 1/4 of it and the other who I love dearly:

 
Yep. The Dole Whip Cup was a big fat miss in my book. Didn't care for it and didn't know what everyone raved about. Next time I'll try the float.
 
We made our way over to the Tiki Napping Room:

 
Look, there's my wife and two monkeys:

 
The show is about to begin:

 
Talking totem poles:

 
Singing birds:

 
I actually liked the new tiki room that they used to have with the bird from Aladdin. I get very little enjoyment out of this one. But, it's a classic and air conditioned, so we go.
 
WHEW.. gotta break there AND it is still only about 10am. Next up is Splash Mountain where we'll compare and contrast it's level of splashi-ness to PoTC.

You know what?
 
I have a lot of Disneyland Paris photos.
 
So I'm going to go ahead and post one more batch today before the weekend starts.
 
I won't be near a computer this weekend, so this will need to hold you over until Monday, and then I'll be back to hit this report hard.
 
We left off with me looking for Big Thunder Mountain Fastpasses.  As I continued my search, I enjoyed the extensive theming and props around this attraction.  I would dare say that they did a better job of that here than in either of the US parks:
 

 
Found it!:
 

 
Score!:
 

 
There's that military time again.  Those FP's were good for between 7:15 and 7:45.  That's right-they only give you a half hour window there.  Which could be a problem sometimes, but I didn't think it would be for us.  The time was perfect, as far as I was concerned, because we planned to eat dinner as soon as possible after the 5:30 parade.
 
Now I'm heading back to Main Street with my FP's.  Here we are walking through Frontierland again.  I really like the fort and the rocks and all the detail here:
 

 
I wasn't sure if I had enough castle pics, so:
 

 
I checked on DD as I came down Main Street, she was fine.  We had been on the move ever since this trip began, and I think she liked just sitting there watching people stream by.
 
At this point, we didn't have definite dinner plans.  Other than we wanted to eat as soon as we could.  I had those vouchers, and they said they were good at any of the buffet style restaurants.  They had a list of them and the Plaza was on that list.  The voucher also said reservations were highly recommended.  I had none.  There is no on-line reservation system for DLP, and I wasn't about to make a long distance call to France before our trip.  So, I decided to visit City Hall and see what they could do for me there:
 

 
I got a great CM who asked what I would like, and in a few clicks of her computer, we were all set with a 6 pm reservation at the Plaza.
 
Perfect.
 
Then is was back up Main Street.  It's funny how this park is oriented north/south just like the MK, so the same side of Main Street gets shade in the afternoon:
 

 
I rejoined DD and we watched the world go by.  We also were exposed to something I had read about- French guests who blatantly disregard the smoking rules.  This wasn't a problem in Ireland or England, but in France, the French smoke whenever and wherever they want, rules be damned.  So Frenchy here next to us is smoking up a storm. And so was everyone else in his family.  Maybe even the kids:
 

 
I'm not one of those extreme anti-smoking people.  I have many friends who smoke, and it doesn't really bother me the way it bothers some people. But what bothered me is the attitude.  There are designated smoking areas here, but these people ignore them.  And the park management looks the other way. 
 
Anyway, if you go to DLP, be prepared to smell cigarette smoke everywhere you go.  The place smells like an ashtray, which is apparently what the French people think it is.
 
Moving on from that unpleasantness ,do you see that girl in the princess dress out there in the street?  Do you recognize which princess it belongs to?:
 

 
This dress was popular.  We saw more girls in it than any other.  And we didn't know what it was.  Then DD noticed a seashell pattern in the fabric.  it's Ariel's wedding dress.   I don't think that's a popular dress in the states.  It's odd that it was everywhere over here.
 
I really liked just watching the people walk by.  Their mannerisms and even how they walked was quite different to what I'm used to seeing in America:
 

 
There was a store down Main Street that caught my eye- it was in the place where Uptown Jewelers would be in the MK, and it was called Main Street Motors- I wondered what kind of things they sold in there:
 

 
If you keep looking down the street in that last photo, you will see the top of the Disneyland Hotel. Those windows you see are guest rooms, and some of them have balconies.  How nice it would be to stay in one of those rooms and be able to watch the fireworks from there.
 
Right before the parade was about to start, CM's came out to tell everyone to back up and keep their feet out of the road- just like at the MK.  But here, it wasn't OK to sit on the curb and have your feet in the street:
 

 
They went up and down the street to make sure that no one had any feet past the curb:
 

 
I took this shot right at 5:30.  The parade would have just been starting back in Fantasyland, but would take a few minutes to get here. It really wasn't all that busy:
 

 
I looked to see if any of the windows across from us magically slid open to allow speakers to play music, but none of them did:
 

 
Across from us, everyone was behaving and keeping their feet out of the street:
 

 
Look at everyone waiting for the parade- no strollers, no scooters- just people:
 

 
There were some kids across the street who decided to see if they could get away with having their feet in the street.  Nope:
 

 
It was 5:42 when the parade finally came into view- the fairies from Sleeping Beauty lead the parade, and they're on wheels just like in the Festival of Fantasy parade at the MK.  They were doing it here first, though.  So, it would be really cool, except that we've seen it done many times by now:
 

 
I'm not sure if they use real horses anywhere in DLP, but they don't have any in the parade:
 

 

 
Did you see what's coming down the street behind the fake horses in that last photo?
 
I prepared to get a nice Anna and Elsa photo, but failed when my camera battery died.
 
I had spares, so I did a quick change-out, but I missed the shot.
 
I just got the back of the float, which was Rapunzel themed:
 

 
Flynn was back there too:
 

 
Next was Alice and her crew:
 

 
I am a Mad Hatter magnet. That dude always has to bother me.  And, I'm not even a fan:
 

 
This Alice float is strange.  But, then so is the movie:
 

 
The back of the Alice float was Pinocchio.    I'm kind of slow, but I see what they're doing here- each float had one movie represented on the front, and a different one on the back:
 

 
That girl puppet there creeps me out:
 

 
Next came Toy Story:
 

 

 
I was wondering if there was any connection between the movies that shared floats.  So far, we had seen a Frozen/Tangled combo, and then a Alice in Wonderland/Pinocchio float.  What would go on the back of a Toy Story float?
 
I have a photo of it, but it's going to have to wait until the next update.
 
We will finish up the parade and move on to dinner in that one.
 
TCD

OK, we're in Disneyland Paris.
 
We didn't have much of plan for today.  The park was open until 11:30 pm, and it was around 4:30 now.  We wanted to kind of get an overview, maybe see the afternoon parade, and see the fireworks at the end of the night.  Twin #1 made it here for a day trip last year, but it was terribly cold and rainy the day she visited, and she had to catch the last train back to Paris before the fireworks.  The weather for us was great, but we didn't know how it would be for the other days we would be here.  Another issue for us was that we hadn't eaten since those rolls we got on the train, but we were hoping to eat a big dinner somewhere in the park.
 
But, we also had to soak all of this in.  I assume these topiaries were part of the Swing Into Spring deal:
 

 
I don't think they use fake flowers in Epcot, but the French are dirty little cheaters, so they do:
 

 
The original dedication plaque from when this place was called Euro Disney is still here:
 

 
Here's a zoom on the English translation, in case you're interested:
 

 
Good old Michael Eisner. I remember him.
 
Main Street here had a very familiar feel to it:
 

 
One thing I noticed right away is that they spent some money doing things right in this park.  Look at the street, for example. It's not painted concrete like at the MK.  It's nice, real, bricks.  And the street is noticeably wider than it is at the MK.  Which made it much easier to walk up and down without feeling crowded.
 
This is a look back at the gazebo and park entrance from the base of Main Street. You can see the Disneyland hotel there in the background:
 

 
We are finally heading in:
 

 
The castle is really nice.  At least as nice as at WDW's.  Another thing I noticed right away is how different the clientele was here.  I saw very few strollers, and those I did see were not the humongous behemoths WDW guests use, and we did not see one person riding around in one of those scooters you see all over WDW. Not one:
 

 
Since we skipped lunch, we were looking for some kind of snack to tide us over until dinner.  We came across Casey's Corner, and thought we could split an order of corn dog nuggets.  Unfortunately, they don't have those here:
 

 
But, as you might be able to see, they do serve beer here.  They don't serve beer at the MK or in Disneyland park in California, but, the French don't care about Walt Disney-he's dead.
 
French people acting French:
 

 
Since corn dog nuggets were out, I decided to use one of the food vouchers I had received at check in.  The deal we got from Travelocity was for what is called a "half-board" plan.  I wasn't exactly sure what was included with that, but when we checked in, we received vouchers good for two breakfasts, two dinners and two "pause gourmets" for each of us.  Pause Gourmet is a French word which apparently means very small snack.  I was able to cash in two of the vouchers there at Casey's Corner for two Magnum ice cream bars and two beverages:
 

 
We soon learned that the French love Magnum bars.  But, their Magnum bars are small and stickless:
 

 
This receipt told me that the out of pocket cost for our snack would have been 10.98 euros, which is around $12.20:
 

 
DD thought she would like the Pellegrino water, but she didn't, so I got to drink that:
 

 
We ate our snack sitting on the curb of Main Street, which looks a lot like the MK and Disneyland California Main Streets:
 

 
As we sat there, I took out the park map and looked at it for the first time.  In planning this trip, I had several guide books that I consulted for our visits to Dublin, London and Paris, but hadn't really done any planning for what we would do once we actually got in to the parks here.  I figured it would be easy to figure out, and it was.  To help you follow along, let's take a look at the map and familiarize ourselves with the layout of the park:
 

 
As you can see, the general design of the park is very familiar and similar to the MK.  But, look at where Frontierland is- it and Adventureland have swapped places here.  And, there's no Liberty Square.  Fantasyland is really big, and there's no Tomorrowland- they call it Discoveryland here.  You can also see that things are missing.  Like they don't have the Jungle Cruise here, or Tiki Birds.  No Hall of Presidents either.  No Country Bears.  No Splash.  No New Fantasyland.  But, they do have a lot of familiar rides and a few unique ones, so we'll be fine.
 
As we looked at the map, we decided that we would hit the Frontierland and Adventureland side of the park first. We also noticed that the afternoon parade hadn't happened yet.  They don't do it at 3 pm over here.  Instead it wasn't until 5:30, which was just about an hour from now.  And, we had a great place that we were already sitting in right here on Main Street.  So, the plan was that we would stay in this spot so we had a good spot for the parade, and I would run over to Frontierland and get us some of those good old paper Fastpasses for something that we could use after the parade.
 
I left my backpack with DD to hold my spot, and headed off to find some Fastpasses.   I followed this old Coke truck up the street toward the hub:
 

 
Instead of the Plaza Ice Cream parlor, they have the Gibson Girl Ice Cream parlor.  That's what they call their ice cream parlor in Disneyland California, but it's not in the same place as our Plaza one.  This one is:
 

 
I was getting my first closer look at the castle as I walked.  I really like the hub area here- it's very big and very open.  Look how there is a big hill with trees on it next to the castle, and also look at the beautiful blue sky we were enjoying today:
 

 
Another look at the castle.  I hate to say it, but I think this one trumps Cinderella castle at the MK:
 

 

 
Sure enough, the Frontierland entrance was where the Adventureland entrance should have been.  They sure did a nice job on all the theming here:
 

 
This is a kid's play area just off the entrance to Frontierland- look at those real birch trees:
 

 
This entry area beats both the Florida and California versions:
 

 
We can't have cannons at Fort Wilderness, but the French sure can:
 

 
Big Thunder Mountain wasn't hard to find. But the ride entrance/FP distribution area was.  That's because the ride is out there on an island:
 

 
This building looks a lot like the Diamond Horseshoe in the MK and the Golden Horseshoe in Disneyland:
 

 
There's Big Thunder Mountain out on its island.  That island was similar to Tom Sawyer's Island in terms of its placement and size, but instead of caves and barrel bridges, there's a huge rollercoaster on it:
 

 
And look at this- they have a river boat that goes around the island.  It's called the Molly Brown:
 

 
They take ride photos of you on Big Thunder Mountain.  Here's the photo viewing area.  That meant the ride exit must be close.  And hopefully the entrance and FP machine would be around here too:
 

 
Don't worry, it was.
 
I'll be picking up my FP's in the next update, and then heading back to sit on Main Street and do some people watching and make some observations about the folks around us.  Some of you might like that.  Then there's going to be an overload of parade photos, followed by dinner and a look at the attractions we got to experience that first night.  In other words, something for everyone.
 
TCD

OK, let's get in the park already.
 
As you may have noticed, there was practically no one else arriving at the park when we did.  In case you're wondering, parking is free for resort guests.  We had a paper ID card that we had to show at the booth, and we were good to go.  We followed the signs to the parking lot, and found a huge lot and no attendants telling us where to park.  It was almost 4 pm by this time, and there were empty spots in all of the rows, so I kept driving, hoping to get as close to the entrance as possible.  As we headed in, we could see that there was a walkway in the center of the parking lot with moving sidewalks.  We saw no signs of a tram, so it seemed that the best strategy was to look for a spot near the end of a row.  We found one in the B section, which is the second closest to the entrance.  Good enough.  Here's my Fiat Panda in its parking space:
 

 
Then we headed to the walkway.  It had a total Universal Studios Florida vibe about it, but that Malefique poster let us know where we were:
 

 
That building over yonder is one of the on-site Disney hotels.  My best guess is that it's the Hotel New York,  You can see the French version of the Downtown Disney balloon behind it:
 

 
We walked, and then we walked some more:
 

 
Then we came to an open area-this is where the two big parking lots meet.  There are some drink machines here in case anyone needs hydration during the long march:
 

 
They still have a kennel here at the parks:
 

 
A French not so hidden Mickey:
 

 
There are restrooms across from the kennel:
 

 
Then some more walking.  We kept seeing the word Bienvenue everywhere.  It means welcome:
 

 
Here we are turned around, looking back at where we had just come from- we will leave this way later tonight- the signs above the walkways going out toward the parking lot say Beintot- which means so long, or see your real soon.  You can see that French not so Hidden Mickey on the ground there:
 

 
Wow, they even have that Miles from Tomorrowland show here in France.  But, apparently, Tomorrowland isn't a word the French will use:
 

 
Guess what?  We still have some more walking to do:
 

 
Now we're passing a picnic area.  I think I would have eaten the picnic long before I got here:
 

 
Finally, we reached the area of the train station- it's there on the right. You can also see that Disney Studios is straight ahead. It has taken us eight minutes of non-stop walking to get here.  Some of that was on moving walkways.  And, look at that guy painted gold standing on the step-stool.  WTF?:
 

 
Here we are in that same area near the train station-looking over to the left, you can see that there are street vendors here selling Eiffel Tower models and selfie sticks.  Yes, I said selfie sticks.  WTF?:
 

 
Disney Village is over in that direction, and you can see some of the street vendors with the crap they're trying to sell to guests arriving here:
 

 
This security guard was patrolling the area, and didn't seem to me making any effort to chase off the street vendors.  So, apparently, they're allowed to be here:
 

 
The best I can figure, Disney doesn't own the land around the train station, so these street vendors must be allowed in this area.  It's not very magical.
 
Here we are turned around, looking at the train station- if you arrive by train, you can walk right out those doors there, and be in this place that it took us 8 minutes to walk to from the parking lot:
 

 
Finally, we arrived at the bag check.  This must be where the Disney property actually starts.  Anyone going to Disneyland, the Studios, or the Village has to pass through here.  They have x-ray machines for larger bags, but smaller bags are checked by hand, just like at the US parks:
 

 
There was only one lane open, but the good news here is that these were the only people coming in to the parks when we were- that was a good sign that things wouldn't be too busy:
 

 
Straight ahead is the entrance to Walt Disney Studios, one of the two parks here.  We aren't going there today:
 

 
The Disneyland park entrance required some more walking- we first had to walk to the Disneyland Hotel.  The actual park entrance is just past it:
 

 
So, more walking:
 

 
The area around the Disneyland hotel is beautifully landscaped:
 

 
We are almost there, but not quite.  How awesome would it be to stay in this hotel?:
 

 
That hotel literally sits at the entrance to the park.  I don't know who can afford to stay there, though.  The best prices I ever saw for rooms started at $1200 a night.
 
When we got to the hotel, we had to walk beneath it-that's where they scan your park ticket:
 

 
The way they handle tickets here is very primitive- they just have paper tickets, and there are no finger scans or photos taken.  From everything I saw, it would be easy for two people to use one ticket.  And, we later found out that there are people who hang out in the parking lots and beg for tickets from guests who are leaving so they can use them.  You would think the idiots in charge would have some procedures in place to discourage that.  But, as far as we saw, they don't care.
 
Finally, we made it through the hotel and were in the park.  All together, that was a 3/4 of a mile walk.  In comparison, the walk from the MK bus stops to the MK entrance is about .2 miles and the walk from the Contemporary resort to the MK entrance is only about .5 miles.  It's nuts that day guests have to walk 3/4 of a mile just to get to the Disneyland entrance.  As we entered the park, we saw some of the signage and the decoration for the Swing into Spring festival that was going on- it's the French version of Epcot's Flower and Garden Festival:
 

 
The entry in to this park is a lot like the MK and Disneyland- you walk under the train station and enter into a Town Square area:
 

 
There's no American flag flying here, of course, so there's a Gazebo where the flag pole should be.  Where Tony's and the Town Square Theater are in the MK, they have a garage for the Main Street Transportation vehicles:
 

 
They have a City Hall, and it's in the same place as the MK's.  We will be going there soon, but for now, we are going to head down Main Street and in to the park.  We caught our first glimpse of the castle here, and can see that it is large and majestic, the way a castle should be, not puny like Disneyland's:
 

 
Geez, we are at the photo limit already.
 
So, you'll have to wait for the next update to see stuff in the park.  But, at least we're here.
 
TCD

How about another batch of Davy Crockett Ranch photos?
 
OK.
 
We are on our way out to the parks.
 
But, like I said earlier, I wanted to get some outside shots today while it was nice out, just in case.
 
This shot was taken from in front of our cabin, looking toward the end of the loop:
 

 
It was kind of weird that it seemed like almost every driveway around us was empty:
 

 

 
We initially thought that we were placed on an empty loop.  But, when we came back that night, every single driveway was full.  DD pointed out that everyone has to drive to the parks here, and that is what everyone did.  There's not point hanging around the ranch during the day- there's not a whole lot to do.
 
The trash cans are themed, but above ground:
 

 
I really liked the forest feel of the ranch- it was very different from the swampy feel of the Fort:
 

 
We had a good driveway.  I found out another day, when I accidentally parked at the wrong cabin, that some of the driveways are much shorter:
 

 
These were are 3 day park hopper tickets.  Good old paper tickets.  Like the good old days at WDW:
 

 
Here's something I found annoying- in order to be able to turn the lights on in the cabin, we had to insert our key and turn it.  That way we couldn't leave the lights on when we left.  They only gave us one key.  So, that was a pain:
 

 
Here's the instructions we were supposed to follow in case of emergency- note that the logo they're using here is not Musket Mickey:
 

 
From here, we headed out to the parks.
 
But,  first, I had to make a little detour to check out the village area.  We drove there, and I parked, and took a quick walk around.
 
This big building is their answer to Pioneer Hall- it houses Crockett's Tavern as well as the indoor swimming pool:
 

 
I give the groundskeepers an A+:
 

 
This area looked like it used to be nice.  Unfortunately, half of it was walled off:
 

 
There was a map posted here that told me what was supposed to be where:
 

 
I zoomed in on the area where we are so we can all orient ourselves:
 

 
Here's the guide to the numbers on the map:
 




 
Davy's Farm and the Bike Barn were behind that wall.
 
The Trading Post wasn't behind a wall, but it was hidden behind this scaffolding:
 

 
At least it was open, though. I knew we'd be back here, so I didn't stop in there on this quick look around.  Don't worry, I have photos of the inside to share later.
 
You can see the sign for the Bike Barn on the left in this photo- it looks like they're fixing up and improving this area.  Too bad for me they were doing it now:
 

 
Here's another look at the Bowie's Bike Barn sign, and what looks to be a new building on the other side of the wall.  Note how the lampposts here are very similar to what they use at the Fort:
 

 
Here's Crockett's Tavern- it was open and operating.  Well, not at that particular moment.  As far as I could tell, they only serve dinner there.  We will be back here tomorrow night to try it:
 

 
This is the entrance for both Crockett's Tavern and the pool:
 

 
While Disney has worked very hard to remove all native American images and references from the Fort, they have no problem with those images here:
 

 
If you're curious about the pool, check back,   I packed my swimming trunks, and we will be taking a dip a bit later in this report.
 
I never really associated Davy Crockett with longhorn cattle, but they do here- I guess it's OK since Davy did end up in Texas:
 

 
This is the information board. We will be back to study this later:
 

 
The playground was not fenced off, and is at the end of this path.  And if you look close, there's a genuine totem pole on display down there.  Once again, we will be back for a closer look later:
 

 
That's it for the quick look.  Now, I'm heading back to the car.  Look at those beautiful flowering bushes over there.  They were like azaleas, but a little different.  Maybe rhododendron?  It was weird to see them in full bloom in the middle of May, our azaleas were done blooming by early March this year. Paris is pretty far north:
 

 
It was 3:40 when I took that last photo.  From there, we loaded up, and drove slowly out of the ranch and toward Disneyworld Paris.
 
it was 3:54 when I took this photo- so 14 minutes.  And, I'll bet 4-5 minutes of that was spent getting out of the ranch:
 

 
Um
 
WE ARE AT DISNEYLAND PARIS!:
 

 
Is anyone else excited?
 
Next up, we will see all that we can see in an afternoon and evening.
 
And we will enjoy a dinner at the Plaza restaurant.
 
It's good to be TCD.
 
TCD

After World of Color, we waited on the crowds to disperse, then wandered to DTD for some Earl of Sandwich. I had found a Groupon for $10 worth for $5, and was able to buy two coupons, so dinner was pretty cheap :)
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
and thus ends another day out on the Left Coast

Day 4 began in London.  We had another full day here, and the plan today was to see all the stuff around the House of Parliament, and maybe do a little shopping (not my choice).
 
We took the Tube to the exit closest to Big Ben, and came out right across the street from the big clock:
 

 

 
I believe that this is one of the buildings used by parliament:
 

 
We were across the river from the London Eye:
 

 
We headed over to Westminster Abbey-this is a look back at Big Ben from over that way:
 

 
There was a square there with a lot of flags and statues of great statesmen, including FDR:
 

 
I don't remember what this building was- but check out that dude's scarf.  Fancy:
 

 
This side of Westminster Abbey was covered with scaffolding:
 

 
It's a very cool looking building:
 

 
Here's another photo of the building I can't remember the name of- it was across the street:
 

 
This sign tells us that the church on the Westminster Abbey grounds is called St. Margaret's church:
 

 
A view of Big Ben and the London Eye from here:
 

 
One of the few photos of us together from this trip.  If only I had a selfie stick!:
 

 
It was crowded around here, and there was a long line of people waiting to go into the church.  Neither of us wanted to wait in the long line:
 

 
There were taxis parked nearby, and we knew that Buckingham Palace wasn't far.  So, we took a couple of shots of the outside of Westminster Abbey, and then were going to get away from this crowd via taxi:
 

 

 
We got in the taxi, and the driver took us over to Buckingham Palace.  It turned out that we chose the worst possible time to visit, as we had arrived for the changing of the guards.
 
The problem was that we arrived after everyone else.
 
I held up my camera over the heads of the mob in front of us, and got some shots of what everyone was here to see:
 

 

 

 
It was your basic mob scene:
 

 
We really couldn't see anything.  There were a bunch of people standing across the street, so we went over there, thinking, perhaps, that the other side of the street was elevated and the people over there could see the guards.  Nope:
 

 
So that was a fail.
 
Looking at all the people crammed in here- we didn't want to see what was going to happen when the ceremony was over and everyone tried to leave at the same time.  So, I flagged down a taxi, and we headed over to the Globe theater on the other side of the river.
 
There was a small fee for the tour, but it looked like an interesting place, so we bought our tickets and headed in.  The first thing we saw were museum-like displays.
 
I thought this sign was interesting:
 

 
The tour started outside, where we met out tour guide.  He gave us a brief overview of what life was like on this side of the river back in Shakespeare's time.  The guide was great, and kept the tour interesting:
 

 
The outside of the theater is a tall, round wall.  We were brought inside to see the stage:
 

 
As you can see, there is no roof over the theater.  The majority of theater goers in those days would stand out in the open for the performances.
 
There was some covered seating, but that was for the rich folks:
 

 
Our guide took us up to a seating area, and explained what we were looking at:
 

 
This building is actually a replica of the original theater which was built using materials and techniques from Shakespeare's time.  The guide explained that the drive to build this theater was led by an American actor named Sam Wanamaker.  When he told us that, I pictured the actor Sam Waterston from Law and Order, and had it in my mind that is who the guide was talking about.  I had that all wrong.
 
The stage itself had a cover over it, and a lot of very intricate details:
 

 

 
They still perform plays at this theater, and there was a performance set for that evening.  We thought about attending, but decided to pass.  It would be interesting to see a Shakespeare play performed there.
 
On the way out of the theater, we passed a BBQ stand, and look what they used to cook their BBQ:
 

 
In case your name isn't GDF, those are Big Green Eggs from the US of A.
 
We headed east along this side of the river in search of a Tube station.  When we went through this little tunnel, we passed by this guy playing an accordion right next to a sign that says "No Busking."  I didn't know what busking meant, and I guess this guy didn't either:
 

 
We ate at Nando's again for lunch today.  There were some other menu items we both wanted to try, and our walk took us right by the one we had stopped at the day before.
 
Then we headed to the Tube for a ride to a part of town we had not yet visited- The shopping district.
 
TCD

Let's get this report cranked back up.
 
We're still in London- and have just finished riding the London Eye.
 
There's a pedestrian bridge that crosses the river near here, but there was also a Taxi stand right by where we were dropped off, so we hopped in a Taxi, and asked the driver to take us to St. Paul's cathedral.  The guy I met in the Orlando Eye line told us that he had taken a tour of it with a guide, and that he had wished that he had more time to spend there.  We hadn't planned on visiting the cathedral, but it was close, and was also on the Tube line to our hotel, so we decided to check it out.
 
Here we are- looks like a lot of old churches:
 

 
There was a choir performing on the front steps:
 

 
We did go in, and found that it was something like $20 to tour the place-and no photography was allowed.  We passed.
 
We did enjoy the view from the steps:
 

 
This cool inscription was on the ground in front of the church:
 

 
If Queen Elizabeth can make it to September, she will surpass Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch.  We are living in a time where history is being made.
 
From here, we headed down the street to hunt down our Tube entrance:
 

 
This is a side view of the cathedral:
 

 
I think that gold statue there on the column is St. Paul, but I can't tell you for sure:
 

 
We headed back to the hotel.
 
This old church was right across from it- the sign says it was founded in 1762:
 

 
This is a look down the street that our hotel was on.  There was a pub on the left just out of the shot- we decided that we would try it for dinner tonight:
 

 
That's the entrance to our hotel there on the right:
 

 
We took a nice little break in the hotel, and planned out our evening.  Since the weather was nice, and we would have some daylight left after we ate, we decided that tonight would be the night we went looking for that famous London crosswalk that all London visitors need to visit.
 
After our break, we headed out to dinner at the Black Horse pub.  I was hoping for some authentic London Fish and Chips, but we soon found out that the specialty of the house was pizza.
 
Oh well, they had beer:
 

 
And it ended up that the pizza was excellent.  Not what we expected to eat in a London pub, but we had no complaints:
 

 
From there, we headed back to the Tube, and after a train switch or two, which we were becoming very proficient at, we found the crosswalk that we were looking for.  When we first got there, we were concerned because there was some construction going on:
 

 
But no worries, we got to cross the road:
 

 
There was a record studio nearby:
 

 
For some reason, people felt the need to write graffiti all around here:
 

 
If these walls could talk:
 

 
There is a webcam here, and we texted the folks back home so that they could see us online.
 
This is the view from the webcam:
 

 
There's a monument right in the middle of the road here, but there is no mention of the famous boys who once crossed this street:
 

 
After our visit to Abbey Road, we headed back to the London Eye.  We heard that it's fun to see at night, but we also found out that the sun stays up really late in London.  It was after 9:30 pm when I took this photo, and it still wasn't dark yet:
 

 
As we continued to wait there for darkness, the clientele gathering around us started to look a bit scary, so we decided to head back to the hotel.  Another tube ride, and we were home for the evening.
 
That's how we ended day 3.
 
The plan for Day 4 was to hit the sights around the House of Parliament and visit Buckingham Palace, then head across the river for that tour of the Globe Theater we had missed out on today.
 
TCD

Saturday got up, tossed our luggage and a few extras into the truck and was on the road by 9.
 
It’s a lot simpler packing to go to a hotel than the Fort!  No PUP, no truck bed full of “necessities”, just 3 overnight bags, backpack for the parks, and a granddaughter.
 
It was a decent ride over towards Orlando.  Light traffic, not too hot, rode with the windows down enjoying the morning low temps.
 
We took our time and pulled into the Dolphin around 11 after a detour to the DollarTree to pick up a couple of items.
 
We had been to the Dolphin a few times quite a while ago for our girls dance competitions.  We had never stayed there, since 6 people would require 2 rooms.  We always stayed at the Fort and ran over each morning.
 
But now we were official Dolphinites!  We even got to come in the front entrance instead of the lowly Convention Center doorways!  Whoo Hoo.
 
Check in went pretty quick.  I got into one long line, then realized it was for “special” people that had points, memberships, etc.  Well the laugh was on them, I stepped into the next line and got waited on in a couple of minutes while they were still waiting for their special treatment.
 
Oops, minor glitch.  We had requested a room where we could see fireworks.  The clerk said that if we wanted early check in (11 instead of 3) that we would have to wait.  They had other rooms we could check into right then.  Well an early check in tops a view at any time (since we had a Fantasmic FP anyway and wouldn't be around for fireworks) so I took what was ready.
 
Now when we booked thru Hotwire I paid the room up front, and was told there would be a $17 resort fee payable to the hotel at check-in.  The clerk told me that the resort fee was $23, and then on top of that was an $18 a day parking fee. So now I’m paying extra fees that were about 40% of my room rate.  I explained about the $17 price quoted and that no parking fee was mentioned.  A manager came over, looked at my reservation information and lowered the resort fee to the $17 and waived the parking fee.  Two big thumbs up for great customer service.
 
This place was big!
 
 
 

 
Finally found the way to our room.  We were on 11, not too far from the elevator.
 
The view wasn’t too bad.  We could see AK in one direction, and MK in the other.  Also could see the end of the Yacht Club.
 

 
 

 
Contemporary, Space Mountain barely above the trees, and Cindy's Castle next to the pole.
 
You know you are in a fancy place when they give you Starbucks for the coffee maker.
 

 
We got settled in, then headed poolside.  Plan was to relax then head to HS and meet up with 2 daughters and a granddaughter.  One daughter and granddaughter were at Typhoon Lagoon and the other was enroute from Minneapolis.
 

 

 

 

 
Swan boats are $20 a 1/2 hour
 

 
What’s this?  A real swimming pool with different depths! Call the overbearing safety Czars!  How unsafe, it’s not all 3 feet, how will we ever survive?
 
Well with the amount of people hanging out on the pool deck and the amount of kids enjoying the pool, all was right in the world.
 
We were at the Grotto pool complete with slide and waterfall.  The also had a typical rectangular pool by the bar/café, a single depth big round pool, a kiddie pool, and two hot tubs.
 

 

 

 
 

 
 
It was a nice place to hang out, relax, and prep for the HS madness, even though the water temp felt like it was glacier fed.  Frying temps on the pool deck and sub zero in the pool itself.
 
They have a campfire/marshmallow roast, and movies on the beach also.
 
Here's the campfire...
 

 
 
 
Time to head to HS.  We waited for the boat instead of using the walkway, since the Dolphin/Swan is the last stop before the park and we knew we would get plenty of walking in the park.  Of course 2 boats about 4 minutes apart come from the park heading towards Epcot arrive before our overfilled boat pulls up.  Guess the boat schedules are no better than the busses.
 
Wow, bag check line was almost empty.  Same with the turnstiles and we could actually walk thru the plaza without bumping into people!
 
First stop the Passholder posters with a quick picture of Ewok Chip and Dale.
 

 
Tried to get onto the Great Movie ride, but it was an hour wait.
 
Saw Darth Goofy.
 

 
Headed back towards the two special Star Wars stores.  Well they were both about a ½ hour wait so we headed towards the Rebel Hanger to try to get an early dinner.
 
Saw some Storm Troopers
 

 

 
A stroll thru NYC
 

 

 

 

 
Rebel Hanger was reservations only, and if we wanted a walk-in we could get one for an hour and 40 minutes later, so we headed to the Commissary instead.
 
On the way my wife made a new friend.
 

 
 
My GD took a spin
 

 
 
My wife and GD got the kids cheeseburger meals and I got a salad.  Of course Darth and Olaf had to join us for dinner.
 

 

 

 
 
After dinner we went to the greatest show at HS
 

 
 
 
Time to meet up with the rest of the clan over at the Indy Show.  I don’t remember the winding path through the jungle before you got to the seating area, but then again it’s been years since the last time we went to the show.
 

 
 
I don’t know if it was the time of day, because it was Saturday instead of Sunday, or because it wasn’t a Holiday Weekend, but the park was definitely not as crowded as the previous weekend, and not as many over the top dressed up Fanatics.
 
Next up: Characters, shopping, fireworks, shows, and more!

As I thought of how hot it was in Florida, I read something on Facebook that said, "Hide yo kids, hide yo wife, it's going to be cold tomorrow!". Apparently back home it was a freak 50-degree day. So, I saved it for posterity.

 
We got ourselves put together and headed out for the day. Obligatory morning selfuses:


(Funny story- with my large schnoz, we'd fight over whose nose would be in the rear when doing kissing selfies.)
 
And then we took the monorail:

 
Our new Tables in Wonderland card go quite the workout this week:

 
Can you guess where we are?

Tonga Toast
 

Big Kahuna
 
Needing pictures of all modes of transportation, we're now on a boat:

(I'm trying to remember how we got from the Polynesian to the Yacht and Beachclub. I'm pretty certain we took a bus from the Poly to Hollywood Studios and then a boat to the hotel.)
 
We were curious what this Ariels location was:

 
Turns out, it's for wedding receptions:
https://www.disneyweddings.com/florida/wishes/venues/ariels/
 
I debated holding onto this one for a "Where in the World?" post, but I was afraid that it was too obscure. So, where are we?

 
While you think of that, consider how much of a rebel I am. I bite my thumb at thee:

 
If you guessed the holding cell (aka lounge) for the spa, you'd be right:

 
Because it was a slow day, I was invited to sit in one of the massaging chairs beside my wife. BUTTONS!

 
I'm smiling for the picture, not for the chair. She loved it; I hated it. But, I dislike massages in the first place where she's like, "oh yeah, get in there and bruise me."

 
We returned to Hollywood Studios by boat. We had to get our DHS time in before the Star Trek Wars freaks (fans) took over. One of us beat the other at Toy Story:

(I won't say who. It was me!)
 
Obligatory Army Guy picture. He just stood there. Might have been a fake. Either way, we selfused with him:

 
Then we walked around a bit. Which is unusual for us- as our days are usually hectically planned and we're running here, there, and everywhere.

 
She remembered that Cinderella's Coach was there. So we went and found that:

 
My princess held the glass slipper:

 
The coach was pretty neat.

 
Once Upon a Time fans will recognize this (I didn't, but she spotted it right away):

 
We were going to walk up the big hill to see the bridge better. But when I got closer, it was a LOT steeper than I was prepared for.

 
So what else was there to do? Why selfus, of course!

 
Upclose:

 
And then without having to go to a strip club, we "made it rain":


 
Next up was watching the Indiana Jones show. I haven't seen this in years. It's pretty much what I remember- but still fun to watch.


 
I did take some slow motion videos as I played with my iPhone. I also had to use Verizon's web chat to figure out why my home internet wasn't working for the kids and mother-in-law. When our internet down- we have no internet, no TV, and probably no phone. They had to have fun without all that- GASP! I KNOW!
 
Heading out from DHS, we stopped for an ice cream sandwich for her.

 
And, apparently no picture of it- but because of my birthday button- the clerk asked me what I wanted and gave me a chocolate covered Mickey Head. Though, like most things- I shared with my beautiful lady:

 
That looks like 30 pictures, which works as a good break because we left there and headed BACK to the Yacht and Beach Club for dinner. Next up will be dinner and fireworks pictures. :)

Since this is a long trip, we need to keep the updates coming.  We're still on day one, but this update will take us in to day two and on to London.
 
We left off walking along the canal:
 

 
There's a place near our house in Florida that has a bike decorated with wine corks, and here's another one in Dublin.  Small world:
 

 
We stopped at the Waterloo Pub, and were seated.
 
We chose this place just because of its proximity to our hotel, but it ended up being a great choice.
 
Here's a link to their website if you want to read more about the place: http://www.thewaterloobar.ie/
 
The inside was decorated like every Irish pub I've seen in America.  That big clock on the wall tells you that we were a bit early for dinner-it was just past 5:30:
 

 
Of course, I had to start off with a pint.  Truth be told, I am not a huge fan of Guinness.  I am not a beer snob, and am just as happy with a cold Bud Light.  But, I was in Ireland, so:
 

 
A guide book I read in preparation for this trip said that even if you think you don't like Guinness, you need to try one when you're in Dublin.  That was good advice.  That beer was perfect.
 
When it came to our food, I had a hard time deciding what to order.  I was leaning toward Irish Stew, but they had a special going on Bangers and Mash.  I tried them at an Irish Pub in Tampa once, but didn't really like them.  But, I decided to give them a second chance.  I'm glad that I did.  Here's my meal:
 

 
You can see DD's meal across the table there- she ordered a Panko-Crusted Chicken sandwich, which she really enjoyed.
 
As for my bangers and mash- they were great.  Way better than what I had in Tampa.
 
The bottom line is that this meal was a success!
 
Those are the last photos I have from the first day of our trip.  I had originally had big plans to spend the night in an Irish Pub.  But after just one beer and dinner, the lack of sleep caught up with me.  Plus, we would be hitting the road early in the morning to catch our flight to London.  So, we called it a night after that dinner.  Shameful, but true.
 
We both got a good night's sleep, and then we were up early to get packed up and to our free Irish Breakfast downstairs.
 
Our room had one of these electric teapots in it.  I've never used one before, but it would be a great item to take camping.  It boiled water almost instantly.  The hotel provided packets of instant coffee and tea bags for use in the room, which was nice.  Also, check out the weird electric plugs they have over here.  If you come, remember that you will need a converter, and they use different ones in different countries:
 

 
We made it to breakfast right when they opened at 7 am.  The service was superb.  This is what we got to choose from:
 

 
I chose the traditional Irish breakfast, and DD chose the French Toast.  I was most interested in trying the award-winning black and white pudding.  Here's my breakfast:
 

 
That was a win!
 
The things that look like sausage patties are the black and white pudding.  I don't know why they call it pudding.  Or black and white.  It tasted like sausage with bread crumbs mixed in.
 
Here's DD's French Toast:
 

 
After breakfast, we headed back to the room, grabbed our stuff, and headed back to the bus stop.
 
It was raining very lightly, but wasn't a problem.  And the bus stop was covered.  We only had to wait here a few minutes:
 

 
You may have heard that there was a big vote in the last week on gay rights in Ireland.  There were signs on practically every lamppost telling people how to vote on the issue:
 

 
Soon, we were aboard our bus and on our way back to the airport:
 

 
There was a lot of construction going on in Dublin.  Another reason I was glad I had chosen not to drive:
 

 
Today would not be a good day to go on a tour on that open double decker bus (and there's another random smoker) :
 

 
On our way, we saw some statues that we had somehow missed.  These look like fully clothed men though, so no big loss:
 

 
One of my big worries on this trip was that we would miss a flight and send our plans into a tizzy.  We had no worries today.  We got there early.  Of course, that meant that it was likely that our flight would be delayed.  And it was.  Only an hour, though.  And the Dublin airport has excellent free Wi-Fi.  So, we were fine.
 
In the airport, I noticed these signs everywhere.  What do you think they mean?:
 

 
If you guessed that is an exit sign, you're right.  If you were stumped, you would have a hard time in Europe.
 
For our flight to London, I booked us on an Aer Lingus flight.  This flew us in to Heathrow airport, and cost us less than $100 for two one-way tickets.  So, that $500 lower price to fly to Dublin ended up being a great move.  And, had I wanted to go cheaper, I could have.  There's an airline called Ryan Air that flies all over Europe for incredibly low prices.  Like $17 US dollars for a flight from Dublin to London.  People say it's fine, but I was scared by some things I had heard about them, and they did not fly in to Heathrow.  We would have been flying to an airport further away from the city.  We needed to get to London on time.
 
The reason we needed to get to London on time is that I had booked us theater tickets for the evening.  And, DD had a job interview that she was going to do by phone- hopefully right after we checked in to the hotel.
 
There were plenty of Aer Lingus planes around the Dublin airport, but not the one we needed:
 

 
Our flight ended up being a bit over an hour late taking off.  And then, when we got to London, we had to fly around an extra 20 minutes to wait for a place to land.  Not cool.  We were going to be pressed for time now.  And, I was not clear on how the London subway system worked.  I had good directions to our hotel, but getting from the terminal to the subway station wasn't clear to me.  We followed the signs and found our way.  We needed tickets for the subway, and went to a self service machine.  Since we would be in London for three days, and planned to use the subway and buses, I was interested in some kind of pass.  The machine offered me an unlimited three day pass, and I bought two.  This all took a lot longer than I had planned, but we could still make it.  We headed to the gate, and scanned our tickets.  The gate didn't open.  We were in a busy airport, and there were guests behind us wanting to go.  Fortunately, there was an employee there who came over to assist.  She looked at our tickets and informed me that I had purchased bus only passes.  Ugg.
 
So, back to the machine we went.  There was another employee there to help.  Went through the whole thing again, and when I went to pay, my card was declined.  I reckon my credit card company figured that there was no reason for me to be making two purchases here so close together.  Ugg.
 
The employee told me that I should go to the regular ticket window and sell them back my bus passes then use cash to buy the passes we needed.   So that's what I did.  That would have been great, except for the long line.  Ugg.
 
We weren't going to make it to the hotel in time for DD's interview.
 
When I got the pass situation straightened out, I asked the employee there where we could find a quiet place above ground to make a phone call.  He directed us upstairs to a bus waiting area.  DD stood outside there, and did her interview.  She's right outside the doors on the far left in this photo.  If she gets that job, she'll have a good story to tell:
 

 
We were now way behind schedule.  But, we found the tube entrance we needed:
 

 
We had to change trains once to get to our stop.  The London subway system is a lot like New York's, so we were figuring things out.
 
We left the train here:
 

 
As we emerged out into the world above, we were greeted by cold, hard rain.
 
Nuts.
 
If we hadn't been delayed we would have missed it.
 
I had my directions from here, but couldn't find the street we were looking for.
 
And we were getting drenched.
 
There was a taxi stand right there.
 
I told my DD to come on, and we would just take a taxi.  I knew we were close, but the taxi could take us.
 
We got in.
 
The taxi driver asked us where to.
 
We told him.
 
He laughed.
 
He said it was literally around the corner, and that since this was a one way street we were on, it would be quicker for us to walk.
 
I appreciated that.
 
So, we got out of the taxi and walked.
 
We made it.
 
Our hotel was nice.
 
I have photos to share later.
 
But for now, we were in a major hurry.
 
We should have been here two hours ago.
 
That would have been nice.
 
But, now we had to drop our stuff and run to get to the play.
 
We got some helpful directions from the front desk, and made our way back to the Tube.  Now that we knew where it was, it was easy.
 
A few stops later, we came up to the London theater district.  It was still raining, but not as hard:
 

 
We could see the theater we needed to get to.
 
But we needed something to eat.  We hadn't eaten since that Irish Breakfast.  Which was good, but that was at 7 am, and it was nearly 6 now.
 
I spied some familiar looking arches over on the first floor of that building:
 

 
And we did the unthinkable.
 
Mickey-D's in London.
 
You want to know something, though?  That was exactly what we needed-something fast that we knew we could eat.
 
Then it was on to the play:
 

 
We saw Les Mis.
 
I've seen it before, but apparently blocked it out of my memory.  I know that the actors were speaking English, but I honestly had a hard time understanding them and what was going on.  But, it went quick, and I liked it.  DD loved it.  One humorous story that will be retold is how I got up at the intermission and got ready to leave.  I thought it was over.  Boy, was I said when I found out that it wasn't.
 
The theater was really cool, though:
 

 
From there, it was back on the Tube:
 

 
I reckon this is why they call it the Tube:
 

 
And, that was it for day two.
 
We're moving quick now, huh?
 
Don't worry about it ending too quickly.  Day three was a long one.  We made it all over London.
 
That's where we will be next.
 
TCD

Page 4!
 
Update time.
 
We're still on the first day of the trip- heading back to our hotel after our foray into Dublin.  In all, we had walked about 4 miles.  It was a nice cool day, so that wasn't a problem.
 
But, we didn't want to walk that far for dinner.  So, as we got closer to our hotel, we started to pay attention to the pubs and such as potential candidates for dinner time.
 
This place called Waterloo caught my eye.  It sat right at the end of the street our hotel was on:
 

 
This is Waterloo Street.  It didn't look like such a big street on the maps I had studied, but it ended up being a pretty major road:
 

 
Early in the planning process, I had considered renting a car in Ireland, and heading out to see some sights.  As I continued to think through the trip, I decided spending the day in Dublin would be a better use of our time.  After seeing the crazy traffic, I'm glad that I didn't have to drive a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side on roads where I had to drive on the wrong side.  We were doing good to not get run over in the crosswalks by not looking for traffic coming from the opposite direction that we were used to.
 
We saw our first double decker bus as we headed up our street.  At the time, it was a novelty.  Little did we know how common they are everywhere we visited:
 

 
Waterloo House is a row home in this building.  It ended up being a lot like a bed and breakfast, but was set up like a small boutique hotel. If you plan to visit Dublin, and want to have a car, this would be a good choice, as there is off-street parking, and it's free to hotel guests:
 

 
We finally made it back:
 

 
The entrance is right up those steps.  Another reason I was glad we chose to travel light.  We were on top floor of the building too.  They did have an elevator (or as they call it, a lift), but it seemed kind of iffy:
 

 
This is the reception area of the hotel.  I wish my deceased Irish Grandmother was with me to see this- she would have felt right at home.  To tell the truth, when I was greeted with this view, I was a little worried about this place, but it ended up being fine:
 

 
I only have a few photos of the room, and this is the only one I had of my bed, so I apologize for the blurriness:
 

 
I asked for twin beds, but I got a big bed, while DD got this one:
 

 
For the record, I did offer to sleep in the small bed. But DD was polite and said she'd take it.  I didn't fight her for it.
 
Our room was not on the street side of the hotel, so we had no traffic noise, and this was our view:
 

 
What a pretty city Dublin is.  We were facing away from the business district, and these must all be residences:
 

 
This is the view in the other direction- just more rooftops:
 

 
Some of the houses looked really nice:
 

 
Coming from good old flat Florida, it's always interesting to see a hill- this might even be a mountain:
 

 
Allegedly, our room had air conditioning, but I saw no controls for that.  Just a radiator.  It was no problem though, as we just left the window open, and enjoyed the fresh cool air.
 
Our private bath was nice and clean:
 

 
Since we were now well past 24 hours without any significant sleep, we both laid down for a little rest.
 
I couldn't sleep, so I headed out on my own to do a little scouting around the hotel.
 
I found the dining room where we would come for our free breakfast in the morning:
 

 
There was a beautiful sun room off of the back:
 

 
I asked the lady at the front desk for some dinner recommendations, and she named a few places in the area.  I decided to walk by them and have a look.  Like we used to do in the days before the internet. 
 
Phone booths are still a thing in Ireland:
 

 
All of the buildings had little shops on the first floor, and a lot of them were pubs:
 

 
The roads in Dublin are crazy:
 

 
This Waterloo pub seemed to be the frontrunner for our dinner destination:
 

 
It was cool to see evidence of how old a city Dublin is- like this old stone wall, for example:
 

 
I found my way back to Waterloo House:
 

 
There were pretty gardens out back:
 

 
When I got back, DD was up from her nap, and we decided to head out and take a look at the sights along a canal that was just a block or so from our hotel.  We passed the hospital on the way:
 

 
This is the canal.  I think it used to be more important to the city and more used than it is now:
 

 
Again, it was kind of interesting to see how there were no rails or barriers to prevent folks from falling in.  But, they did have these life rings available just in case:
 

 
It was really nice to walk along the canal:
 

 
There's a gas station over there across the canal.  It was the first one we saw:
 

 
This boat was really cool.  The enclosed area is a bar, and there are tables and chairs out there in the open.  It must take people on dinner cruises- that would be fun:
 

 
Speaking of dinner- it was getting to be about that time.  We agreed on the Waterloo pub, and headed that way. For those of you who care about such things, I have some pub food and beer photos to share.
 
TCD