Globetrotting: to Disneyland Paris and back with TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

That is a great fireworks photo.  Do you have any more?

[momof3kids-Yvonne 594]

Congratulations to DD1 on her new job.

Sorry you had to deal with inconsiderate folks at the DHS Fireworks show. Steve would hoist the kids up on his shoulders when they were small, but only if there was no one behind him. Putting a kid up on your shoulders when someone is standing behind you is as rude as standing directly in front of someone in a wheelchair. Why can't people just take a few extra seconds to observe their surroundings before making bonehead moves?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That is a great fireworks photo.  Do you have any more?

 

I probably have 20+ fireworks photos from that night, but most of them are blurry.  That one was the best of the lot, so I only posted it.  One fireworks photo goes a long way.

 

Congratulations to DD1 on her new job.

Sorry you had to deal with inconsiderate folks at the DHS Fireworks show. Steve would hoist the kids up on his shoulders when they were small, but only if there was no one behind him. Putting a kid up on your shoulders when someone is standing behind you is as rude as standing directly in front of someone in a wheelchair. Why can't people just take a few extra seconds to observe their surroundings before making bonehead moves?

 

Because people suck, that's why.  It's the same reason 90% of people who drive golf carts that can't go over 10 mph at the Fort drive merrily along with a line of buses and cars behind them.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Guess what?

 

It's time for more bonus features.

 

A couple of weeks had passed since our last visit to WDW, when I heard from Twin #1.  She had a Friday coming up with no classes, and was up for a trip.  So, we went.

 

This was the last Star Wars Weekend, and we had each only made it to one.  So, we agreed to meet up at DHS in the morning.

 

The parade would be at 10, so the plan was similar to what Twin #2 and I had done a couple of weeks prior.  We would find a shady spot for the parade, and chill.

 

In the past when we waited for the Star Wars parade, I would pop over to Fairfax Fare by Tower of Terror and get us breakfast sandwiches.  I wanted to do that today, so while Twin #1 guarded my spot, I headed there.

 

But, this is what I found:

 

 

Fail.

 

I really liked the breakfast sandwiches they used to serve there.

 

Apparently, those are gone.

 

Now what?

 

I didn't want to do it, but what choice did I have?

 

I went to visit the satanic mermaid.

 

I ordered us a couple of their breakfast sandwiches, and asked if I could have a couple of cups of ice water too.

 

I wasn't sure if they would do that at Starbucks, but they do.

 

As an added bonus, the CM did a Waterboy impression as he handed me these two cups of high quality H2O:

 

 

It was already hot outside, and I enjoyed waiting in the nice AC as they zapped our sandwiches in the microwave:

 

 

These Starbucks breakfast sandwiches aren't bad:

 

 

 

After we ate, one of us needed to go and get our free poster for this week.  Twin #1 volunteered, and I got to sit in the shade and sip my high quality H2O.  As I sat there, some Storm Troopers came out and entertained the crowd a bit:

 

 

 

They didn't do this the last time we were here, but it was raining pretty hard before the parade, so they probably didn't come out because of that.

 

Also, did you notice the lady there on the right sitting in the folding chair?

 

Check her out:

 

 

Boy, I'd love to bring a folding chair into the parks with me so I could have a nice place to sit for the parades.  I could block out a lot of space with one of those.

 

But, you're not allowed to have a folding chair in the parks.  It says so right on the official Disney page: 

 

You may not bring the following types of items into the theme parks:

• You may not bring the following types of items into the theme parks:
  • Wagons
  • Skateboards
  • Scooters
  • Inline skates
  • Shoes with built-in wheels
  • Strollers larger than 36" x 52" (92 x 132 cm)
  • Suitcases, coolers or backpacks with or without wheels larger than 24" (61 cm) long x 15" (38 cm) wide x 18" (46 cm) high. Coolers required for medication may be stored in a locker or at Guest Relations.
  • Any trailer-like object that is pushed or towed by an ECV, wheelchair or stroller
  • Wheeled mobility devices with less than 3 wheels and devices that cannot maintain stability and balance when stopped, unpowered or unoccupied. Training wheels or similar modifications are not permitted.
• Alcoholic beverages
• Weapons of any kind
• Folding chairs
• Glass containers (excluding baby food jars and perfume bottles)
• Pets (unless they are service animals)
• Balloons, straws and drink lids are not permitted in Disney's Animal Kingdom Park for the safety of our animals
• Tripod stands or monopod stands that cannot fit inside a standard backpack
• Selfie sticks (hand-held extension poles for cameras and mobile devices)

 

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/parks/restricted-personal-items/

 

But that's a folding chair, isn't it?

 

And she's sitting right there in it in front of everyone.

 

Rules, schmules.

 

That's what I say.

 

As I waited for Twin #1 to return, I enjoyed some people watching.

 

I try to be sneaky about taking photos of guests.  So, I hold my camera without looking at it, point it in the direction of what I'm trying to photograph, and hope for the best.  I end up with shots like this one.  I can't remember why I took it:

 

 

I'm pretty sure it was just to get a photo of the man in the C3PO mouse ears.

 

In this shot, you can see that the Storm Troopers have parked themselves near the park entrance, and are greeting guests as they enter the park:

 

 

Here's a couple of girls in Star Wars dresses:

 

 

Here comes a guy pushing a rolling cooler, and having a heck of a time doing so.  I think that one is over the size restrictions in the official rules, but it's hard to tell:

 

 

The guy then tried pulling the rolling cooler and had much better luck with that:

 

 

Here comes a couple long-haired hippies:

 

 

It was getting to be near parade time, and it wasn't very crowded on the other side of the street:

 

 

Then I saw her.

 

Check out the lady walking toward the park exit there on the other side of the street:

 

 

You need to take a really good look at her:

 

 

She was walking fast, and was gone before it even sunk in what we had just seen:

 

 

Do you recognize her?

 

I did.

 

She and I had crossed paths before.

 

But, that's not that big of a deal.

 

What was interesting is that Twin #1 had returned just as the lady was walking down the street.

 

In fact, she was the one who pointed her out to me.

 

Twin #1 went on to tell me that that lady is famous among the castmembers.

 

And she told me quite a story.

 

Which I'll tell in the next update.

 

Something like this needs its own post.

 

So check back for that.

 

TCD

[Beckers 1,136]

Man what a cliff hanger!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Now we have Greedo:

Jeez, you had a chance to post a picture of the mouse. Or of the new CEO. Or of anything Disney related and you didn't capitalize on this character's name. I'm disappoint.

They were working their CM connections, and had scrounged up some pretty sweet paper FP's.

 

I never knew such a thing existed, or who gets these. But, one arrived in the hands of Twin #1's friend, and they went off and used it at the Mine Train.

CMs have these. When my daughter got a bit of Disney magic back in February, the CM handed her a pocket full of things with these among them.

[Memphis 105]

Oh man now I have to sit here clicking refresh time after time. This has got to be a good story because that lady just isn't "right".

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Looking forward to the story about the lady.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Man what a cliff hanger!

 

I know.  But I won't leave you hanging too long.

 

Jeez, you had a chance to post a picture of the mouse. Or of the new CEO. Or of anything Disney related and you didn't capitalize on this character's name. I'm disappoint.

You're right. I blew that one.

 

CMs have these. When my daughter got a bit of Disney magic back in February, the CM handed her a pocket full of things with these among them.

I know CM's have paper FP's. But, that one that's good for five guests for anything is not one that I've ever seen before. Your daughter didn't get one of those, did she?

 

 

Oh man now I have to sit here clicking refresh time after time. This has got to be a good story because that lady just isn't "right".

You are correct. Read on.

 

 

Looking forward to the story about the lady.

Your wait is over. Please read on.

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

It's time to talk about this lady:

 

 

Before we move on, please take a moment and really study that photo.  Look at everything that is going on there.  It's a lot.

 

I mentioned that I had run across her before.

 

You may remember this passage from a trip report I wrote last year:

 

Here we go.
 
We left off with it about to go down between me and the nerds.
 
The girl nerd was in charge, and she told the guy we saw previously as well as the kid in the black t-shirt you see here to get ready to run.  You can see she has her game face on:
 

 
As they were about to release the rope, a line of CM's appeared in front of us down the street.  We were told that the rope would now be dropped and that we should all walk and not run to that line of CM's.  Despite that very clear announcement, the girl nerd told the boy nerds to get ready to run:
 

 
Luckily for them, the girl nerd told the boy nerds that they would be running to the left to head back to the Premier Theater.  Word was that they were handing out wristbands there for the Mark Hamill show later.  We were not going that way- we were just going to Toy Story Midway Mania, so I let the nerds fly when the announcement came.  And fly they did.  Here they go- look how the girl nerd's cape is billowing behind her.  Also check out the running technique of the long haired boy nerd and how the other boy nerd in the black shirt got smoked by the girl.  I don't know who the girl in green is-she wasn't with that crew of three, but I have to say, they impressed me:
 

 
The nerds didn't stop as directed at the line of CM's.  They blew right on by.  Go nerds!:
 

 
Now us being the rule followers that we are, we stopped at the line of CM's, and then proceeded on.

 

That's our girl!

 

And I saw her again later on that same day:

 

There were a bunch of CM's following the parade.  And, look who else, over there to the right:
 

 
Last time, the mom in the Slave Leia outfit followed me, today it's the girl nerd.
 
As I mentioned earlier, I had begun to think that the girl nerd had a screw loose.  What I saw next confirmed it.  She was pulling a little cart behind her with a cardboard box on it:
 

 
So What the Fort is that?
 
The dude in the plaid shorts tripped on it right after I took this photo.
 
So, what do you think is going on here?  Why does that girl nerd have a cardboard box on a cart?  And, what's in it?  And how did she get it into the park?  And where was it when she was running down Hollywood Blvd. earlier?
 
As much as I wanted those questions  answered, I couldn't stick around.
 

 

So, that by itself might be interesting enough- that we saw this odd woman again.

 

But, that's nothing.

 

As this lady zoomed by dragging her R2D2 suitcase, Twin #1 casually says that's Linda Skywalker.

 

Who?

 

Linda Skywalker.

 

All the CM's know her.

 

Do you ever remember hearing about a crazy woman who dressed up like a cheerleader and danced at all of the old High School Musical performances at DHS?

 

This may jog your memory:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53lU0LwqWBQ&feature=player_embedded#

 

That's our girl.

 

If you want to know more, Google Linda Skywalker.

 

There are rumors galore about her.

 

According to Twin #1, her DCP roommate actually saw Linda's driver's license, and her legal name is Linda Amidala Skywalker Efron (as in Zac).

 

I don't know what to think of all of that.

 

All I know, is that I'm going to give Linda a wide berth.

 

TCD

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I know CM's have paper FP's. But, that one that's good for five guests for anything is not one that I've ever seen before. Your daughter didn't get one of those, did she?

I missed the "five guests" part. As far as I'm aware, that was not something that she got. She did get anything paper FastPassee, but unless we just didn't read them- they were only for 1 person.

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Linda is scary.

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

OMG, I'm speechless,  yet I want to see more.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[beccaewert 10]

Wow,.... Mrs Skywalker-Efron

Wow just wow

There's got to be more stories about her,.... Please do tell!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Thanks for the updates TCD.

 

I miss going to DW frequently and haven't been during the Star Wars days in a long time.

 

I googled Ms Skywalker and there's tons of stuff out there about her.  I guess she's harmless just an obsessed fan. 

 

Did you see this from this year? https://youtu.be/sdgHSPsekEg They let her use the force to open the doors, lol

 

WBI

[Memphis 105]

I hope she doesn't use the single rider lines. That would be awkward.  I would suddenly have to leave the ride asking for a bathroom or something. 

[bhall 115]

She is on Linkedin.  You know you want to!

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/linda-skywalker/75/253/ab4

[Beckers 1,136]

The best part of that video is the little girl in the yellow looking at her like wtf? Then the father clearly tells her to stop staring.

[Beckers 1,136]

Interesting read on "colorful people of WDW" it's old but interestinghttp://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/colorful-people-seen-at-wdw.496517/

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I missed the "five guests" part. As far as I'm aware, that was not something that she got. She did get anything paper FastPassee, but unless we just didn't read them- they were only for 1 person.

 

The paper FP's for one guest are pretty common.  Those get passed out when a ride goes down with guests on board.  Most of those are limited to certain "collections" of attractions, and almost never include the Mine Train or Anna and Elsa.  Then there are the Rider Switch passes- those are good for up to three guests, but are only good on a certain attraction.  That one that's good for five guests is good for any attraction in the park, including Mine Train and Anna and Elsa.  That's rare.  I don't know who issues these, or whom they get issued to, but I'd like to know.

 

Linda is scary.

 

Kind of.  She seems pretty harmless.

 

OMG, I'm speechless,  yet I want to see more.

 

Best Regards,

Norm

 

Yeah, that's how I felt.  But, I'm afraid of what I might find out.

 

Wow,.... Mrs Skywalker-Efron

Wow just wow

There's got to be more stories about her,.... Please do tell!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

All you have to do is Google her name, and you'll find plenty of stories.

 

What's interesting, though, is how many people say they saw her drivers license or passport, but then state different versions of her full name.  It seems that a lot of the stories about her are BS.

 

And, it's remarkable how far the stories go back.  This lady has been a fixture at WDW for the past then years almost.

 

Thanks for the updates TCD.

 

I miss going to DW frequently and haven't been during the Star Wars days in a long time.

 

I googled Ms Skywalker and there's tons of stuff out there about her.  I guess she's harmless just an obsessed fan. 

 

Did you see this from this year? https://youtu.be/sdgHSPsekEg They let her use the force to open the doors, lol

 

WBI

 

Yes, I did see that video.  Which suggests that CM's are OK with her.

 

I hope she doesn't use the single rider lines. That would be awkward.  I would suddenly have to leave the ride asking for a bathroom or something. 

 

Aw, come on.  Where's your sense of adventure?

 

She is on Linkedin.  You know you want to!

https://www.linkedin.com/pub/linda-skywalker/75/253/ab4

 

I wonder if she created that, or if someone else did?

 

If that is really her profile, it's interesting that she didn't spell Orlando right when she listed the school she attended.

 

The best part of that video is the little girl in the yellow looking at her like wtf? Then the father clearly tells her to stop staring.

 

Agreed.  And, the comments to the video are pretty good too.

 

Interesting read on "colorful people of WDW" it's old but interestinghttp://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/colorful-people-seen-at-wdw.496517/

 

Thanks for the link.  Good stuff.  Old Linda is right up there with the most interesting people at WDW.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Time to move along.

 

We are still at DHS waiting for another Star Wars parade.

 

Since we just looked at a bunch of Star Wars parade photos, I'll spare you the duplicates, and just post some of the unique ones from this visit.  We'll get that done in this post, and then we're going to move on to another park.

 

Fair?

 

There was some more people watching before the parade.  Nothing could top that Linda Skywalker sighting, but there were a few more interesting guests.

 

Like this girl in the big white robe.  No costume, just a big white robe:

 

 

Here's something you will never see again.  A mom with a selfie stick in a Disney theme park:

 

 

Take a closer look- she had a t-shirt on with some kind of funny saying about taking selfies.  I'll bet her kids were  overjoyed:

 

 

Here's an interesting squad of very big boyz:

 

 

There was some heavy duty flirting going on across the street under that light post.  Some photographer type dude was hitting on two women who were wearing nothing but black leotards:

 

 

The two ladies went out in the street to take photos, and the photographer guy helped himself:

 

 

Let's take a closer look at what's going on there:

 

 

I know I'm not one to talk, but I don't think Miss Thing ought to be walking around in just a leotard like that.  And that photographer is being a total creep.

 

Then this girl walked by:

 

 

Once again, let's take a closer look at that scene.  Note that the guy there on the right is using the "Disney Point."  He must be a CM:

 

 

That is some costume, isn't it?

 

The people watching was interrupted by the parade.  iPad lady was ready over there under the tree:

 

 

I got a good photo of Storm Trooper Donald:

 

 

The Jedi Training Academy kids came by like usual.  I thought it was funny how many parents were making videos that no one will ever want to watch:

 

 

That Admiral over there wasn't in the last parade we watched. He has sweet hair:

 

 

Another amateur marching in this parade who wasn't here last time is this dude in the Wookie costume.  He must stay in when it might rain:

 

 

The official Chewbacca was just a bit back from the fake one in the parade.  He made an approving gesture to Twin #1, since she was wearing a Chewbacca t-shirt:

 

 

That same suspicious guy was in the front passenger seat of Ashley Eckstein's car:

 

 

Here's that alien woman again.  I don't trust her:

 

 

A couple of bounty hunters:

 

 

Darth Maul:

 

 

This week, one of the celebrities was Peter Mayhew, who wore the Chewbacca costume in the films.  Check out the size of his hands:

 

 

Here come the boring good guys:

 

 

And that green guy:

 

 

Now, here's a pretty impressive celebrity:  Frank Oz.  The voice of Yoda (and Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy too) :

 

 

Boba Fett did some posing, so I obliged:

 

 

 

Of course, there were plenty of Strom Troopers:

 

 

And then the end:

 

 

I finally spotted a mom in a Slave Leia outfit.  I only got the backside of this Slave Leia.  Which is too bad, as she even had the braid going:

 

 

After that, we headed out.

 

To the MK.

 

Where we would see another parade and a few more things.

 

TCD

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I know I'm not one to talk, but I don't think Miss Thing ought to be walking around in just a leotard like that.  And that photographer is being a total creep.

I think she should wear what makes her happy. BUT- yes, the photographer is a bit of the creeper with taking photos. Maybe he asked for permission?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I think she should wear what makes her happy. BUT- yes, the photographer is a bit of the creeper with taking photos. Maybe he asked for permission?

 

You're probably right.

 

I was the one taking that girl's photo without permission.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Still more bonus content.

 

These photos are still from Friday, June 12.  We were at DHS, but have now hopped over to the Magic Kingdom.

 

We made it time to see the Trolley Show:

 

 

 

After the enthusiastic dancing and lip-synching ended, these CM's came out to partially cover the tracks.  I don't know why they don't cover all the tracks.  You'd be amazed at how many strollers and wheelchairs get caught in those dumb tracks:

 

 

It's really hard to keep track of lately, but on June 12, the Partners were out of their box:

 

 

The Rose Garden is still a perfect mess:

 

 

Since the plan was to hop over here after DHS, we had a Space Mountain FP+ to use.  But, we were a bit early, which meant that we could ride the People Mover first.  And that allowed me to snap this photo showing the former Rose Garden.  The sloping hill is filled in and level now:

 

 

Good Lord, there's a line for Stitch:

 

 

There was also a nice mob of guests outside of Buzz:

 

 

Which explains why there's a long line of guests waiting for the FP+ entrance- it was busy at the MK today:

 

 

Isn't this whole My Magic Plus thing magical?  We were able to schedule when we would show up to wait in that line!

 

We have officially run out of new ideas for humorous Space Mountain ride photos. I had to go with this oldie but goodie.  It brings big laughs at the video displays every time:

 

 

After Space, it was time to claim a spot for FOF.  This was going to be a two parade day for us.

 

We found a good spot right across from the Main Street Starbucks, which afforded this lovely view of that giant scrim:

 

 

I fetched us some Casey's while Twin #1 guarded our spot.  This was before the fake cheese was pulled, so we got to enjoy all the fake cheese we wanted with our fries and corn dog nuggets.

 

Then the parade came.

 

You're probably thinking there's nothing new to see here, but stay with me, there is- you'll see.

 

Beauty and the Beast:

 

 

The Frozen sisters.  Amazingly, there was a group of guests near us who were genuinely giddy when their platform on the float rotated and we could see them:

 

 

Peter Pan and Wendy:

 

 

Fairies on hidden Segways:

 

 

It was kind of windy, so no fire from the dragon on Main Street today:

 

 

So where's something new, you ask?

 

Check this out.

 

You know how Chip and Dale are dressed in circus outfits for this parade?  With capes that say Dazzling Dale and Charming Chip?

 

Well look (cover your kids' eyes)- it's a naked chipmunk!  :

 

 

They were both naked as the day they were born:

 

 

And that's not all.

 

Goofy was AWOL.

 

So there you go- something new in FOF.

 

Mickey and Minnie were clothed, thank goodness:

 

 

The end:

 

 

Next, we had FP+'s for Big Thunder Mountain.

 

We headed there and found that it was down.

 

Boo!

 

We were hot, and it was hot, so Twin #1 suggested Splash Mountain.  We could use our Big Thunder FP there.

 

So that's what we did.

 

Breezed right through the queue and got right on our log.

 

It's been a while.

 

Splash is a really good ride.

 

But, there were technical difficulties today, and we ended up coming to a complete stop right before the big lift hill.

 

The lights came on.

 

Awesome, I thought.

 

I was finally going to get to see the Snickering Rabbit Room in person.

 

We stopped at a good place for me to take photos.

 

I figured that we would walk up those stairs on the way out:

 

 

In hindsight, that must be wrong.  Those stairs are probably just for walking down in case the log stopped on the way up the hill.

 

I got a good photo of this:

 

 

If you look under those stalactites, you can see some of the controls for the ride:

 

 

Being stopped with the lights on let me get a good photo of this sign:

 

 

The vultures stopped talking when the lights came on:

 

 

After a couple of minutes of waiting, an announcement came through that the ride was about to resume.

 

So no evacuation for us.

 

Too bad.

 

When we were done riding, we got to see how bad the stand-by line was.  It was very bad.  With Big Thunder down, and it being hot, everyone wanted to ride Splash:

 

 

After this, it was time for us to head out to complete an errand for Twin #1.

 

We headed toward the exit.  Here's a shot of some construction going on near the hub.  This was taken from the bridge that goes from behind the Christmas Shop and leads to the Adventureland entrance area.  It looks like they're building an underground bunker there:

 

 

My car was parked at Wilderness Lodge.  Twin #1's car was elsewhere.  I needed to go and get my car so I could take her to hers.

 

We decided to take the bus, as a storm looked like it was blowing in.  It looked like they were running a Fort Wilderness bus today:

 

 

 

I don't know what that Fort Wilderness sign was all about, as the bus showed up, and only went to Wilderness Lodge.  Maybe the sign was there for use in case the boats had to be shut down because of weather.  Or maybe someone goofed.

 

After this, we ran the errand, and then we met up for dinner.

 

At the Fort!

 

It had been a while since we had a nice GAG dinner.

 

So that's what we were going to eat.

 

TCD

[caveat lector 181]

I was hoping to be the 15,843 view of this epic report. Sadly I missed it by one.