Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year!!! To celebrate, here are some pictures from the Disney Parks Blog of all of the parks from around the world ringing in the New Year.

Tokyo Disneyland

Hong Kong Disneyland

Disneyland Paris

Walt Disney World

Disneyland

I hope you all have a wonderful, healthy, and prosperous 2011. Let's all reach our goals this year!!!

Politics and Disney

So I was going though the news feed from google and came across this story from CBS News. Basically, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is in some hot water for "running off" to Disney while his state has been struck by this freak blizzard. Christie's critics are outraged, saying that the governor should be at his post during a situation such as this. What's caused the biggest mess is that the state's Lt. Governor was also out of the state, leaving the Senate President in charge of relief efforts.

I read some other stories about the backlash against the Governor's vacation, all saying that he should have canceled his vacation and returned to Trenton. First off, Christie was at Disney before the blizzard even struck New Jersey. Second of all, how is he supposed to come back when the airports are shut down? Really, what all this is about is an opportunity for the governor's critics to lash out. They smell blood in the water and attack. So far, it's worked as Christie has dropped 5 points in the polls.

Anyway, the reason why I posted this here instead of the Rant blog is because I was wondering if Disney has any special cancelation policies for situations like this. Like vacation insurance? Governors, Congressmen, Senators, Cabinet Members and other heads of state take vacations to Disney parks all the time. What happens in an emergency? Regardless of who you are, a Disney vacation takes a lot of planning and money to make it work out. Could a vacationing official get some sort of refund from Disney in the event of a state or national emergency? The story just got me thinking. I'm thinking I may email Lou, or WDW Today or even the Cats and see what they can come up with.

Well... I'll stop rambling now. Carry on.

Merry Christmas!!!

Ok... so I realize now that this "Christmas Card" is now late. I meant to post it earlier, but never got around to it until now (1:39 in the morning after Christmas). Mike sent this to me earlier in the season, so y'all will probably find it increadibly offensive, HAHA! But I still found it very funny and thought I'd forward it on to you all.

I hope you guys had an awesome Christmas and are looking forward to a very prospourous New Year!

I'm Back!

Hey guys! So... guess what! I'm back!!!

Santa came last night and left me a brand spankin' new MacBook Pro!!! It even has that "new MacBook" smell! So now I can y'all updated on the blog, and start visiting all of your blogs again. I'm SO glad to be back!

Now that I have a computer, I can start posting pictures from October (assuming that De'Dee remembers to bring her camera to Christmas Dinner tonight). I'm also going to finish up the trip reports this weekend, so stay tuned for that.

I was hoping to go out for a run a little bit later, but it looks like I'm going to be on this thing trying to figure it out. I LOVE IT so far!!! Oh well... Serious dieting starts up tomorrow.

Long Time, No See

Hey guys! Just wanted to let you guys in on what's happened to me over the past few weeks. First off, I haven't been on the blog or on any other blogs because my Compaq P.O.S. finally died. Not just crashed... she dead. I could replace the hard drive in it among other things, but it will inevitably die again. Besides, I was sick of that piece of crap anyway. So I am computerless for now. I'm in the library now just so I can keep up with all those things that I have to do with a computer. Thank God I have the iPhone! Otherwise I'd be totally lost!

In other news, I've had a lot of developments happen in my absence. I'm still on track to graduate in December (Hallelujah, praise Jesus) and I start a new "career" job in January at Sen. Cochran's Jackson office. I'm really excited about that!

I've also had a slight change in my career choice. As of right now, I am not going to law school. The more that I think about it, the less and less that I feel that law is the path that I should go down. I still think it would be exciting and that I would do well with it, but I just don't think that it's "my dream". So, instead, I'm going to work full time in the political field (plenty of opportunities this year since it's a state wide election year) and go to school part time to get a masters, probably in Political Science and/or Communications. Politics was always where I wanted to go so I'm not changing my goals, simply changing how I reach it.

Well that's pretty much it from me. I'm still waiting on De'Dee to send me the pictures from October so when she does, I'll get on to my picture post and reviews of Not So Scary, Whispering Canyon and the Brown Derby. In the mean time, I'm going to try my best to finish up the trip reports and Club 8 updates.

Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Day 3 - The Studios and Race Day

Basically everything went off without a hitch on Saturday. We got up and hit the Studios at rope drop since it was early entry that day. The park was more or less empty when we got there. We did our normal thing and got a fastpass for Rockin' Roller Coaster and then headed straight to Tower of Terror.

There was some different things about Tower of Terror this time. First off, the wait time was 5 minutes instead of the usual 13 minutes. And for a good reason. There was NO ONE there! It was really creepy. There were the CMs, but no other guests. Finally a family of 3 came in and joined us in the Library. It was really kind of neat because I was able to get some pictures of the empty Lobby and really got to look at some cool stuff in the Library. After the preshow, we went through and decided to go straight ahead while the other family turned right. I'm glad they did because we walked right on the elevator and had NO ONE with us! We were totally alone in the thing! I got our photopass picture that I'll post later on in a separate photo post.

After that we did what few things we cared to do, but there really isn't much there that I must do there. The Studios is more of a stop and look park than anything for me. Sure there are some cool rides, but I don't have to see them. We walked around, looked at all the detail of the buildings, did some shopping and such before going over to the Great Movie Ride.

I like the Great Movie Ride. It's really just a nice place to sit for a long time and enjoy the air conditioning, but this time was really neat. My aunt and I with about 10 or so other people were the only ones in our car and our tour guide... Jack, I believe was really one of the best ones I've had. GMR can be a great experience if the Cast Members do their job.

After GMR, it was time for our reservation at the Brown Derby. Let me just say that this was probably one of the best meals I've EVER had at Walt Disney World. Superb service and excellent food. So good in fact that I'm going to do a separate review of the Brown Derby in an up coming Restaurant Review, so stay tuned! I do want to say that one of the Cast Members there really made our lunch special. Usually, the first people with reservations get special treatment through the restaurant. There is a ribbon cutting ceremony and a little parade through the restaurant with the "first family". After it's all over with, a CM takes their picture and they get a special little memento. Well after the first few families were seated it was our turn and as we were walking to our table, I was stopping and taking pictures when the picture taking CM (I think was named Bill) asked me what the special occasion was. Well I said that it was my first time at the Brown Derby. He got real excited and ran off. Right as we sat down, he ran up to us and took our picture and later on after the meal, he comes back to us and hands us a folder with our picture in it. I thought it was really cool and it just made our meal even that much more special.

I had intended on going to Guest Relations and giving Jack and Bill (?) a positive review but never got around it. So... I was wondering if you guys know of anyway that I can still do it. Is there a way to email Disney with CM reviews? They really made our day that much more special and I'd like to acknowledge them for it.

Anyway, after lunch we decided to go back to the resort and rest for a while. I had intended on meeting up with Justin at Epcot for a little while and do some Food and Wine, but I figured that I may as well go back and rest. I really needed it. Food and Wine would have to wait again...

So we get back to the room around 1 and I lay down and I'm zonked out. I think I slept heavily for almost 5 hours. I remember it being about 4:45 by the time I woke up. All the while I'm getting texts from Rae asking if I was ready. I freaked out because I thought it was past time! Ha ha!

We both slowly got ready. Went and got us some caffeine and a little bit of food and continued getting ready. By the time we were both dressed up in our chef's outfits, it was time to get on the bus.

At the time I could not understand why we had to be on the bus so frickin early for a race that started so frickin late... that is until I saw the C.F. of a mess the buses were at Wide World of Sports! That was the very definition of a cluster "mess"! Ugh... and to think that the Relayers had to take a connecting bus to Animal Kingdom! That was just a mess all together. But we finally got there and it is VERY crowded. But De'Dee and I are still looking for the Team Voice shirts, but all I could find were W.I.S.H. shirts (seriously... we need Florescent Orange or Blue or something). And for some reason, AT&T's service went out on me so I had no way of contacting any body. But we kept trying and I finally able to get some texts out to Eric and we eventually rendezvoused with Team Voice.

The spot where they were at was kinda cool because it was right beside Mickey. While De'Dee and I sat there a race official pointed to her and talked her into coming up to see Mickey. When she did, he let both of us run up, break in front of everyone in line and let us get our picture taken! That was really cool! Then a little while later, Jeff Galloway came off the stage and we all got our picture taken with him too. At the time I didn't know who he was, but pretty cool now!

It's at this point that I'm going to stop because after the trip reports will be a race report. I'm trying to have a separate category for race reports so we won't have to dig through everything else to find it, so again, stay tuned!

After the race, we are both tired and in a great deal of pain. Thankfully we did not check any bags. And it's a good thing too because that was another gigantic cluster "mess"! Did any TVer's check anything? I'm curious to know how that went and if they got everything.

Anyway, we get out into World Showcase and it is a MADHOUSE! I mean, just insane. I cannot believe people were forced to pay to go to that after party. Just ridiculous. We worked our way around to Japan and found a bench and sat our behinds right there and did not move the entire night. Thankfully Justin and Mike R. were willing to come see us there. We had a good visit and I'm glad we got to finally meet them! Apparently there was some other drama going on within Team Voice, but as I was not there, I'll let those involved talk about it.

Wine and Dine Half Marathon Weekend Day 2 - The Eluding of Food and Wine

Friday was supposed to be a big day for us. We had intended on arriving at Epcot at rope drop and get some of our Future World favorites out of the way before heading over to World Showcase at opening and work our way around half the world before leaving for the expo. That was the plan anyway because it sounded smart at the time, but that's not how it happened.

So, Friday morning comes and I was told to meet Rae and Eric out front of the All-Stars for a morning wog. I thought that sounded good, so I did it and had fun with them. But, in doing so, it made us late for Epcot and really aggravated my foot. But it's all good, we had fun.

So we make it to Epcot about 45 minutes late, run over to Soarin' and get a fastpass and stand in line for it. We ride it once, the head out toward Figment and Captain EO and see them. (WARNING! SIDE TANGENT! What the hell does everyone see in Captain EO? That had to be the cheesiest piece of crap I've ever seen. Sweet Jesus! Is that the best Disney can do? If so, I'd rather have Honey, I Shrunk the Audience back!). After that, we head over to the Festival Center.

Now, going into the festival center was really kind of fun to me. It was being held in the old Wonders of Life Pavilion and it had been a very long time since I've been in there, so that brought back some fun memories for me. There was also some really cool stuff in there too. Lots of shopping, seminars, etc. in there, so we had fun... too much fun. By the time we were through shopping, looking, strolling down memory lane and taking pictures, we were in there for about an hour. So, we left out of the Festival Center and decided to go ahead and leave Epcot to head back to the resort to get our stuff for the expo. Food and Wine would just have to wait for another day.

So we arrive at the hotel and I start having issues. Started out with some recurring problems that give me trouble from time to time, but I always manage to handle it. So were at the resort trying to take care of this when I do it. I step funny in the store and I sprain my foot. It was like a bolt of lightning going from my foot and up my back. I remember screaming out and everyone looking at me... so embarrassing. So now I have two issues to deal with. I limp over to the room and take care of my foot. It got better rather quickly, but I did wrap it up and such. After all that, we head out to the expo.

The expo is always the part of the race that I hate. First off, it's always just so damned inconvenient. I have to take away park time to go to this stupid thing that is just so damned difficult to get too. Then once I'm there, I'm surrounded by people and as you all know, I don't do well in crowds. The quicker I'm done, the better off I am. But my Aunt always likes too look around. Granted there is some pretty cool stuff in there, but I'm always so bitter about having to take away park time for this that I really could careless. Of course as soon as we enter the shopping area, a panic attack hits me. The chaos of thousands of runners snatching, grabbing, pushing and shoving got to me, so I had to get the hell out of there. Thankfully Jeff, Amanda, Rae, and Eric were at the little store at the exit so I could have someone to talk to take my mind off of it, so I was fine. After everyone left I went and sat down and waited on De'Dee to come out which wasn't much later. I know why we have to go to that thing, but couldn't they think of something better? Maybe have a packet pickup at the resorts or something. There's no where in the laws of racing that demand that there be a chaotic hoard of insane athletes peddling crap to unsuspecting novice runners, is there? I'm just bitter.

We get to the resort and look through our goodie bags and try to decide what to do next. We know that Animal Kingdom is having their evening extra magic hours that night, but we also still want to hit some of food and wine. We decided to do both, until we're standing in line for the Epcot bus and realize that it's 4:15. As much as we hated to do it, we backed out and got in the Animal Kingdom line. We think we made the right decision though. I knew that we wouldn't make it back to Animal Kingdom this trip if we didn't go that night, so no worries. Food and Wine would still have to wait.

I really don't care for Animal Kingdom. Don't get me wrong, it is very well done and you actually believe that you are deep in the jungles of Africa and Asia, but it's still a park that I really could careless about. However, if I have the chance to go at night, I jump at it! Animal Kingdom is so mysterious at night. I'm guessing it's because it's usually closed at sun down, but it's still really cool. We did everything there that we cared to see except Finding Nemo, but that's ok. We chose Lion King instead, which is just fine. I like Lion King better anyway. The music is what makes the show for me. We also met up with Jeff and Amanda at Everest and attempted to ride with them, but the CM got messed up so we didn't get too. After the ride, we wanted to go see Dinosaur, so we left them intending to meet up later. But we got side tracked.

After Dinoland, we saw Goofy and Pluto and decided to get our picture take with them. Character interaction was something that I just didn't do when I was younger. I guess I was either too shy or too "grown up" for it then, but now I try my best to make up for it. So we pretty much waited 30 minutes to see them. And it was worth every second. Seeing the kids interact with the characters is what makes it so special to me. But when it was our turn it was that much more special. De'Dee ran up to Goofy and he started dancing with her! It was just too great! Then he turned around and started dancing with me! Really just too cool! I've never had a character do that before! After all that, I get my phone to check in with everyone but of course the damn is dead, so we decided to get a ride on Triceratops Spin and then head out.

But on our way out we see this popcorn stand that is selling these Ghost Mickey Popcorn Buckets. I kinda wanted one, but decided against it. But then again, I think my mom would really REALLY like him, so I turn around and get one. No popcorn, just the bucket. Really kinda funny. More on the Ghost Mickey Bucket later on.

We're leaving the park and we're both totally exhausted. My foot is giving me some severe trouble by this point and I just want to get back to the resort. But as we're leaving, we decide that it would be best to go over to Downtown Disney and get our shopping done as we doubted that we would make it back again. So we start looking for the Downtown bus at Animal Kingdom. I could have sworn that there was one, but apparently there isn't. That means that we have to get on a resort bus and transfer. And of course, the only two buses that are there are for the Poly and Wilderness Lodge. Ugh... We just get on the WL bus... what a mistake.

We get to the Wilderness Lodge and we sit... and we sit... and we sit... for almost 30 minutes we're sitting until the damn bus comes. We get on and of course we have the slowest driver in the entire Disney fleet. Not only that, we have to go that totally ridiculous route that seems to take you to Downtown Disney by way of Timbuktu. Totally crazy. By the time we get there, it's 10:00 (we left a little after 8). So, we get in get our crap and leave. We didn't get into the bed until 1 am. What an exhausting day. And we really didn't have anything to show for it! I hate Disney days like that! Seems like a total waste. Damn expo...