Globetrotting: to Disneyland Paris and back with TCD

[BigTom 76]

Lorus is the brand name on my Mickey Watch, been wearing it about 40 years with only a battery about once a year. Probably will quit now that  I mentioned it.

[dvccamper 32]

Showering on your knees? Very creative. I don't think I would have thought of that, I would have just stayed standing and made a mess.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thank goodness this isn't Friday.  i don't think I could wait all weekend to see those pictures!

 

I know.

 

And, you would be really mad if I made you wait all weekend for what I'm about to post.

 

Lorus is the brand name on my Mickey Watch, been wearing it about 40 years with only a battery about once a year. Probably will quit now that  I mentioned it.

 

Interesting.  I didn't spend a lot of time looking, but what I saw on-line suggested that the Lorus name was owned by Seiko.  I am not sure what the name/logo is doing on that clock, or how long it has been there.  It's not something I ever noticed before.

 

Showering on your knees? Very creative. I don't think I would have thought of that, I would have just stayed standing and made a mess.

 

I could have taken a bath if I had to.  But, I am not a bath person.  Ain't nobody have time for that.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I left you hanging as we were about to enter that backstage area to catch the bus.  I had never been back here before, and the very first thing I saw past the buses was a big warehouse type building with the Main Street Electrical Parade floats in it:

 

 

Nobody ever told us we couldn't take photos, and I intended to take a bunch back here.  But then both twins ganged up on me and told me to stop.  As former and soon to be again CM's, they know that this area is not supposed to be photographed, so they asked me to stop.  And I did.

 

If you really want to see what's back here, it's easy enough to see it pretty good on Google Maps:

 

 

Knock yourself out:

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@28.4161334,-81.5852936,360a,20y,41.64t/data=!3m1!1e3

 

We boarded our bus and took off for Downtown Disney.  They were playing the Tomorrowland trailer on the video monitors:

 

 

They dropped us off at the furthest bus stops on the other side of the Cirque building, and we had a nice long walk in the hot sun to the theater:

 

 

There were a lot of pre-movie announcements and hype, including very specific instructions that we should remain seated through the playing of the credits as there would be a surprise announcement at the end:

 

 

Then we watched the movie.

 

I liked it.  But, we have since learned that the movie bombed. 

 

After the end credits, a CM connected with the blog came out and told us that we would all be made recruiters for Tomorrowland, which meant that we would each be issued 5 Tomorrowland pins.  We were supposed to keep one, and give the other four away in the parks.  OK.

 

Here are my pins.  Oh, and I got a free poster too:

 

 

After the movie, they took us back to the regular MK bus loop.  It was getting to be near lunchtime then, and it was a really hot day.

 

We decided this would be a good time to take a break, so we agreed to head back to the hotel.  In typical fashion, our bus arrived right on cue:

 

 

Hey, look:

 

 

Although none of us were thrilled with the idea, we agreed that we would eat lunch at Coronado Springs.  The last time we were here, the lunch options were very limited, as the big restaurant called the Maya Grill didn't serve lunch.  But something has changed since then, and now they do serve lunch.  We ended up really, really liking it. 

 

These nachos are a lot like the ones served at the Epcot quick serve:

 

 

I had the empanadas:

 

 

My meal was excellent.

 

One of the twins didn't feel like Mexican food, so she ordered nuggets and fries.  She reported that these were different (in a good way) from those served everywhere else on property.  This makes me wonder whether this venue is being operated by a third party, like the folks who run the tequila bar at the Mexico pavilion and the bars at Coronado Springs.

 

I highly recommend this place now.

 

After lunch, we headed back to the room, shut the curtains, and cranked the air.  We all took nice, long naps.  I needed one.

 

We had dinner reservations for the Plaza. 

 

There was supposed to be a swimming session after the nap and before dinner, since we had a pool right outside of our front door:

 

 

 

The swimming never happened.

 

We headed back to the MK around 5.

 

And here we are in the construction zone in the middle of the hub at around 5:30:

 

 

They are putting new pavement down here.  They are in no hurry:

 

 

It had just been a few days since I'd stood in front of the Disneyland Paris castle.  Even though ours is older, and maybe not as fancy, I still like it better:

 

 

Over at Disneyland California, the parks were packed, and guests were seeing all of the new stuff they've done for the 60th anniversary.  Here at the MK, we had this to enjoy:

 

 

Fireworks!:

 

 

Since this trip had been planned so far in advance, I had prime FP+'s reserved for us right around our dinner reservation.  I figured stuff would be busy then, and we would need those FP+'s.  I was right.  We got to meet the Frozen girls.  Here's the twins with their squad (and expensive Frozen Summer Fun t's) :

 

 

When we were waiting to be seated at the Plaza, Stinky Pete walked by.  This guy has really gotten his money's worth from that costume:

 

 

Dinner was great.  The Plaza was an oasis from the crowds and craziness that was going on outside.

 

After dinner, we had Mine Train FP's, so we headed that way.

 

There were film crews all around today,  I don't know what they were filming for, though, as I haven't heard of any videos that were released showing the stuff they filmed:

 

 

 

I was glad to see several groups of PAC (Parade Area Control) CM's on duty.  They would be needed later, and hopefully no one would experience that trapped in a mob experience that has been discussed in on other threads on this site:

 

 

A moment of silence for the Rose Garden:

 

 

 

Twin #2's roommate from the DCP never went home after she completed her program, and now is a regular Disney CM in the merchandise area.  She likes to work the "glow" carts, and we found her on duty on the way to the Mine Train:

 

 

I know it's not nice, but I always enjoy looking over at the guests in the standby line when I enter through the FP+ line at Mine Train.  It was brutal in the standby line:

 

 

Through a glitch, we had four FP+'s to use today.  I wasted one of them on Wishes.  My reasoning was that it would be nice to have the hub grass to relax on while waiting for the fireworks.  We headed in there really early, and it was really nice.

 

But some ducks who probably didn't have FP+'s snuck in:

 

 

 

 

Where were those PAC CM's when we needed them?

 

TCD

[ependydad...Doug 176]

So funny. I'm just outside of the frame in a handful of your 24-hour event pictures.

The photos of the show in front of the castle- I'm just off to the left a bit. And we already talked about the Wishes FP.

[lightbikes 73]

 

 

 

Love Mickey and Minnie in their jammies!!!!

[Beckers 1,136]

Where does the pic I saw Disney parks posted of you guys come in? Was that taken at your free breakfast?

If I were ever to be a duck, i would want to be a Disney duck. Talk about living the life!!

Speaking of animals living in a theme park, I've always wondered how unhealthy they must be compared to other animals that live in a more natural setting and do not eat fries and churros all day.

[dvccamper 32]

At the time we took the Keys to the Kingdom tour, probably 10 years ago, they took us to that warehouse. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

So funny. I'm just outside of the frame in a handful of your 24-hour event pictures.

The photos of the show in front of the castle- I'm just off to the left a bit. And we already talked about the Wishes FP.

 

We should have tried to meet up somewhere.  I knew that I would be wiped after returning from Europe, so I didn't want to have to be anywhere at a certain time.

 

 

 

 

 

Love Mickey and Minnie in their jammies!!!!

 

 

I liked them too.

 

At previous 24 hour events, there were meet and greet opportunities where you could meet characters in their PJ's.

 

Since the plan for this one was obviously to spend as little money as possible on any extras, there were no special meet and greet opportunities.

 

Where does the pic I saw Disney parks posted of you guys come in? Was that taken at your free breakfast?

If I were ever to be a duck, i would want to be a Disney duck. Talk about living the life!!

Speaking of animals living in a theme park, I've always wondered how unhealthy they must be compared to other animals that live in a more natural setting and do not eat fries and churros all day.

 

Right- we were featured on the new Disney Parks Blog Instagram account.

 

For whatever reason, the duck population is way up at WDW.  We see ducks around the MK every trip, and later on in this report, I'll be sharing a photo of a duck invasion we witnessed at DHS.

 

At the time we took the Keys to the Kingdom tour, probably 10 years ago, they took us to that warehouse. 

 

It would be fun to stop and examine the floats up close.  I like to see behind the scenes stuff, but I was surprised at how rough this particular backstage area looked.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's get this thing moving again.

 

We left off in the Wishes FP+ viewing area on Friday night, May 22.

 

We got there early to relax.  We planned to watch the Celebrate the Magic projection show, and then the fireworks.

 

For some reason, they scheduled the fireworks for 9 pm.  Maybe they were hoping people would watch them and leave.

 

As we sat and waited, we could see a storm building off to the west:

 

 

It doesn't look like much, but it was accompanied with some lightning strikes and some thunder.  And, it was heading our way.

 

By 8:34 pm, it was getting dark.  Back in Paris, the sun was still not set by this time of night:

 

 

That storm got bigger and closer:

 

No worries, though.  I took that last photo at 8:42 pm, and Celebrate the Magic was going to start at 8:45, followed by Wishes.

 

I was happy that we were in the spacious and calm FP+ viewing area.  Things were looking hairy out on Main Street:

 

 

At 8;45, there was an announcement that due to inclement weather,  tonight's performance of Celebrate the Magic would be cancelled.

 

Boo.

 

There was no announcement about the fireworks, and the storm had not yet arrived, so we felt good about Wishes going forward at 9.

 

It's a good thing we were in place early, because they ended up starting Wishes a few minutes early.

 

No announcement.

 

They just started early.

 

I took this photo at 8:56 pm:

 

 

Tinkerbell didn't fly.

 

It was just your standard Wishes show, minus Tinkerbell, and with a very large crowd assembled.

 

 

After the fireworks, we had a Big Thunder Mountain FP+ to use.

 

But on the way there, we stopped at the Jungle Cruise.  One of Twin #1's friends is a skipper, and we were going to get "back doored" onto the ride.  CM's at attractions can do that.  Too bad for all the regular guests who wasted a FP+ choice, or who were waiting in the long line.

 

The way this works is the special guests go to the exit and let the CM's there know that we are there to ride in Skipper so-and-so's boat.  That's what we did.  We waited by this sign:

 

 

This ended up not being a good plan, as we had bad luck with timing. Twin #1's friend was out in a boat when we arrived.  When she got back, it was time for her break, and then she would be back out.  I wanted to leave, but since she was so excited to have Twin #1 and the rest of us come to see her, we couldn't very well leave.  So we waited while Twin #1's friend got to go to some nice air conditioned place and take it easy.  We could have gone through the standby line, ridden the ride, and been on our way in the time it took us to wait for this special ride.  But, we waited, and the skipper finally finished her break and got on her boat.  We were ushered in through the exit area, and were on our way to pick up some regular guests from the regular loading area when we heard a giant thunder boom.

 

Almost before the thunder stopped echoing, an announcement came over the speakers that the ride would be closed because of weather.

 

So, we got to exit at the loading area. 

 

And we never got to ride.

 

That was below average.

 

Oh well, at least we had our Big Thunder FP+'s to use.

 

When we got there, we found out that they were closed because of the storm too.

 

Safety first.

 

This wasn't too awful, as that now made our FP+'s good at any time for the rest of the night, and we could also use them on another "thrill" attraction if we wished.

 

We figured anything outside would be closed for now.  So, we decided to walk all the way across the park to Space Mountain.

 

And that's what we did.

 

It was a long walk, because with so many attractions closed, everyone was doing the same thing we were doing- heading to someplace that was open.  We made it to Space to find that it was temporarily down too.

 

Tomorrowland was packed with people with nothing to do.

 

We found the end of the long line for the People Mover and took a whirl.  Maybe Space Mountain would be reopened by the time we got back.

 

Nope.

 

Now what?

 

The storm was blowing, but there was no rain yet.  It seemed to be about to arrive, though.

 

We huddled and made a call.  We would head back to the hotel for another break.  Chill for a few hours, let the crowds thin, and then come back and use those FP+'s we had left and close down the park.

 

So we headed out.  We hoped to use the new exit area they just got done with behind Main Street.  They were using it during and after Wishes, so we headed that way via Tomorrowland Terrace.

 

On the way there, we passed three separate groups of PAC CM's who were just hanging out under the covered area, screwing around and doing nothing.  Actually, they were doing something, they were screaming and trying to get guests to give them high 5's.  I found their behavior to be very un-Disney like and annoying.  Didn't they have something better to do?

 

We got to the new exit bypass to find it closed.

 

Poop.

 

So, we had to go to Main Street.

 

Where we encountered a solid blob of people that was not moving:

 

 

 

There was yelling.

 

And there was pushing.

 

And it was another one of those dangerous situations where the crowd was out of control and very badly in need of some direction and intervention by the CM's.  There were probably 50 of them about 100 yards away screwing around and doing nothing but annoying guests trying to exit the park.  And here there was a very unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation.

 

That's inexcusable.

 

We slowly waded our way through, and headed out.

 

Speaking of mobs, this mob was trying to enter the park at 10:55 pm:

 

 

We went back to the room and rested.  There was talk again about swimming, but that didn't happen. 

 

I fell asleep.

 

At a bit before 2 am, I was awakened by Twin #2.

 

It was time to go back.

 

So, back we went to the bus stop.

 

As we waited there, this masked bandit went about his business trying to raid the trash can:

 

 

He didn't seem to be scared of us, and went to work opening the side door or the mental trashcan and looking for some good things to eat.

 

Then our bus came.

 

At 2:51, we were back on Main Street:

 

 

It's not very often that I get a chance to eat ice cream at 3 am, so we stopped by the ice cream parlor.  Wow, look, they had a special sundae for the day:

 

 

There was a DJ and a dance party going on at the castle, but there didn't seem to be very many people there:

 

 

We went to Tomorrowland, and headed to Space Mountain.

 

Sometime earlier in the night, they started playing the movie Frozen at the stage in Tomorrowland.  The screen there is kind of small for that type of thing:

 

 

Oh well, the guests seemed to love it:

 

 

After Space, we had no more FP+'s to use.

 

And it was still kind of busy.

 

There was not one special thing that we could do tonight that couldn't be done on a less busy EMH night.

 

So, we decided to bail on the party.

 

I needed to go and get my car anyway. It was still where I parked it at 4:30 am.

 

And that's what we did.

 

We got back to the hotel and dropped.

 

I got up around 10 and called about a late checkout.

 

That was a no go.

 

So we packed up and left.

 

The girls went back to their schools, and I headed west.

 

My two week globetrotting tour was over.

 

I smiled as I drove across Tampa Bay on the way home.

 

Man, I'm blessed to live where I do.

 

Now I can say that I've been to Dublin, London and Paris.

 

And, I know more than ever that there's no place like home.

 

And that's the end of the trip.

 

TCD

[parrothead7368 aka Norm 101]

Once again, thanks TCD!

 

Best Regards,

Norm

[lightbikes 73]

Wow - what a trip and thanks for taking us all along.   It was a blast

[BigTom 76]

excellent report, next time you can take me to carry your luggage if needed.

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Did you have the Olaf's Special Sundae? 

 

Another excellent trip report!

 

Hoping you will be starting a new one soon.  It was just 4th of July weekend.

[blm2003 2]

Thanks for bringing us Around the World with you TCD!!

 

Really enjoyed reading along

[dvccamper 32]

 

Oh well, the guests seemed to love it:

 

 

 

 

This has got to be one of the funniest photos (and caption) that I've ever read in one of your trip reports.

 

Maybe Disney could use it in their promotional material to illustrate all the 'magic and excitement' people can experience at their special events.  What could be more magical than planting your face on the filthy ground in Tomorrowland?

 

What a great trip you had. I'm sure you made memories for a lifetime with your daughter.  Thanks for sharing.

[Beckers 1,136]

Thanks for the report!

I also think I now have no desire to do a 24 hour day, so Brian thanks you for that lol

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Good stuff, TCD. Thanks for showing me what it looked like outside of the Main Street Theatre while we waited the storm out. I heard that it was crazy and your pics proved it.

Your final "thankful" reflection were neat to read. Nicely done.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

TCD,

 

Thanks for posting this trip report!

 

Man your report on the 24hr day shows me that I don't ever need to attempt it.  I can't believe the lack of special events going on and crowd management.

 

Since you go to Disneyworld a lot have you noticed that the crowd control and crowds are bad more often?  I'm curious because the last few years I've only been on holidays so I'm getting a warped since of what's normal and honestly those crowds have caused me to lose some of the magic.  Just curious of your thoughts on it.

 

Thanks

 

WBI

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Once again, thanks TCD!

 

Best Regards,

Norm

Thanks for reading along.

 

 

Wow - what a trip and thanks for taking us all along.   It was a blast

 

Thanks for reliving the trip with me.  I agree- it was a blast.

 

excellent report, next time you can take me to carry your luggage if needed.

 

I'll keep that in mind.

 

You can help drive the RV too if we decide to go and caravan around Europe.

 

Did you have the Olaf's Special Sundae? 

 

Another excellent trip report!

 

Hoping you will be starting a new one soon.  It was just 4th of July weekend.

 

Heck no, I didn't have the Olaf's Special Sundae.  And we didn't have the Mickey pants one either.  When there are two or more of us, we usually will split a Plaza Sundae.  That's two big scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream, and a cherry.  We used to fight over the cherry until we found out you can order the sundae with extra cherries with no additional charge.  But, keep that secret under your hat- that's the type of thing that would get wrecked if everyone starts asking for extra cherries.  We just did this the other night, and counted ten cherries on the sundae.  Winning.

 

Yeah, there will probably be a new trip report.

 

But, first I have to get started with the bonus features on this one.

 

Thanks for bringing us Around the World with you TCD!!

 

Really enjoyed reading along

 

Thanks for reading it.  I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

This has got to be one of the funniest photos (and caption) that I've ever read in one of your trip reports.

 

Maybe Disney could use it in their promotional material to illustrate all the 'magic and excitement' people can experience at their special events.  What could be more magical than planting your face on the filthy ground in Tomorrowland?

 

What a great trip you had. I'm sure you made memories for a lifetime with your daughter.  Thanks for sharing.

 

Thanks.  I try.

 

That photo perfectly captures the mood of this 24 hour day at WDW.  They gave guests nothing special to do.  Sure, it's fun to be in the park for 24 hours, but in the past there were special shows and special meet and greets.  This year there was NOTHING.  We were lucky that we won the Tomorrowland meet-up, as that made the day different and fun for us.

 

Thanks for the report!

I also think I now have no desire to do a 24 hour day, so Brian thanks you for that lol

 

The 24 hour event would be fun for someone who doesn't get to visit WDW very often.  Or, for guests who typically stay off site, and don't get to participate in EMH's. 

 

Somehow, I'd like to think that if they do another one, they will at least make some effort to provide a few special things for guests to do.  I am sure they caught some flack for the poor job they did on this one.

 

Good stuff, TCD. Thanks for showing me what it looked like outside of the Main Street Theatre while we waited the storm out. I heard that it was crazy and your pics proved it.

Your final "thankful" reflection were neat to read. Nicely done.

 

Yeah, you did a good job of avoiding the chaos.  It apparently didn't last long, but the fact that it happened at all is the direct result of some very bad management.  I don't know why the Main Street bypass was closed at that time, when it had been open earlier, and I don't know why the PAC CM's were all standing under cover screwing around instead of being out on Main Street to alleviate the situation there.  I am sure they were only doing what they had been told to do.  So, some manager screwed up.  Again.

 

One of the things I've heard about traveling is that it gives you perspective. On this trip, we were fortunate to travel to places that are highly regarded as very nice places to visit and live.  As far as I'm concerned, they can keep those places- there's no place better than the good old USA.

 

TCD,

 

Thanks for posting this trip report!

 

Man your report on the 24hr day shows me that I don't ever need to attempt it.  I can't believe the lack of special events going on and crowd management.

 

Since you go to Disneyworld a lot have you noticed that the crowd control and crowds are bad more often?  I'm curious because the last few years I've only been on holidays so I'm getting a warped since of what's normal and honestly those crowds have caused me to lose some of the magic.  Just curious of your thoughts on it.

 

Thanks

 

WBI

I don't think that crowd management is any worse than it has always been. I think holidays and special events will always be bad.  If they would ever get the stupid hub construction done at the MK, it would help immensely.  On the night of the 24 hour event, large chunks of real estate around the hub were still walled off.  That funnels more people into the limited available space. Then you shut down a bunch of attractions, and delay the parade, and you have a mess on your hands.

 

The 24 hour events are fun when they perform some special shows and parades or have special meet and greets.  They've done that before, and hopefully will do it again.  If not, then you're right- there's no reason to bother.  It ends up being nothing more than a really long and really crowded evening EMH.  How is that fun?

 

TCD

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

Enjoyed following along!  Sooooo.... when/where's the next trip???

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Enjoyed following along!  Sooooo.... when/where's the next trip???

 

A few trips have already happened.

 

Plus we have some apartment hunting to do for my oldest DD.

 

I guess I need to share that news.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

As you may have expected, there have been trips to WDW since this trip ended.  In fact, there have been quite a few day trips involving one or more of the TCD daughters.

 

One thing that the trip to Europe really messed up was my attendance at this year's Star Wars Weekends.  By the time we had returned from Europe, I had already missed two of the weekends.  And there are only five.

 

So, I needed to do something about that.

 

It turns out that one of Twin #1's College Program roommates was in WDW for a visit on the very next weekend after our return, and they were going to spend the weekend together.  Twin #2 wanted to join them for a bit, so she came home for the weekend, and on Saturday, May 30, the two of us traveled to WDW for a day trip.  The main objective of this trip was to see the Star Wars parade and fireworks.  We would see what else we could work in to our plans.

 

We decided not to make things too hard on ourselves by doing rope drop, and instead arrived at the park at the respectable time of 9:45.  That would give us time to find a place for the 11 am parade, and not to have to fight too many people for a good spot.

 

Here's how things looked at 9:46 am.  Kind of more crowded than I expected:

 

 

We normally sit further down the street toward where the hat used to be, but people had already staked out those spots.  So, we found a spot closer toward the entrance.  Normally shade is a big consideration, but it was cloudy and looked like it was about to rain, so we were spared from a blazing sun.  Once we had our spot staked out, I left Twin #2 there, and headed to pick up our free passholder Star Wars posters over near the Toy Story ride.

 

The fact that Tomorrowland was a flop was not known at the time:

 

 

Check out this poster:

 

 

We got to pose in one of those at the Tomorrowland meet-up the previous week:

 

 

Upon returning to our place, I saw that the clouds were not looking good:

 

 

One of my favorite things to do at Star Wars Weekends is to people watch.   I like to see guests in costumes.  My favorite type of guest in a costume is a mom in a Slave Leia outfit.  And, as luck would have it, one of those had parked herself just down the street from us:

 

 

It's a good thing we got our spot early, as people kept streaming in:

 

 

It's kind of hard to sneak photos of moms in Slave Leia costumes, but I did my best for the cause:

 

 

It was about here that the clouds opened up and it rained.  Not drizzled.  Rained.  We had to break out the ponchos, but we stayed put.  So did the folks across the way from us:

 

 

That stunk.  But, it kept the temperature down, and it also caused people to take cover rather than to crowd in around us before the parade.  So it was a good thing.

 

Look at that kid in the robe right across from us- his mom is holding his sand person mask.  That's a very elaborate costume for a kid.  And a strange choice:

 

 

Those guests sitting in front of the trash can will soon be asked to move. You're not allowed to do that for the parades.  That little girl's dress looks homemade, but it's very nice:

 

 

The parade began on time.  I didn't expect that, as the PAC CM's didn't come out and yell at everyone to get their feet out of the street.  You can see a CM in this photo doing that just as the first float was coming down the street:

 

 

It is only right that Jedi Mickey opened the parade on his X-wing fighter:

 

 

Next came Chip and Dale as Ewoks, followed by Minnie as Princess Leia. Unlike some people,  Minnie has enough sense not to wear the slave outfit:

 

 

You can see that Darth Goofy walked behind Minnie:

 

 

Next we had Stormtrooper Donald:

 

 

Then came the Jedi Training Academy kids.  I am not sure of the details on this, but I believe that the first bunch of kids who sign up for it that day get to march in the parade, and their parents march behind them.  They have a spot up the street reserved for them where they will stand and get to see the rest of the parade come by.  That sounds like fun.  If anyone has kids that age, you should remember this for next year:

 

 

Here's another sneaky pic of the mom in the Slave Leia costume.  You can't say I didn't try:

 

 

The next part of the parade was the 501st Legion folks.  These are Star Wars geeks enthusiasts who make their own costumes and come and march in parade every year.  What a deal for Disney:

 

 

This old guy dressed as the Emperor has been in every Star Wars parade that I've seen here at DHS.  He must live for this:

 

 

Think about the fact that these folks apparently get to pick what costumes they will wear.  So, I wonder why these ladies(?) chose to wear these particular costumes:

 

 

And why did these guys choose to be the guys who wear the ridiculously big helmets?:

 

 

Here's your standard group of Storm Troopers:

 

 

I'm not sure who this guy in the black costume is.  Not Darth Vader.  So who?:

 

 

Some of these pilots look like they have been slacking on their PT:

 

 

More pilots.  The one in the middle apparently did not get the boot memo:

 

 

These guys remind me of Sumo wrestlers.  Or a Depends commercial:

 

 

We all like these dirty Storm Troopers better than the clean ones:

 

 

Next we had a bunch of Sand People:

 

 

I looked across the street to see how the kid with the sand person costume liked this part of the parade, but he was gone.  I wonder if he had slapped on his helmet and jumped in?;

 

 

Are we having fun yet?

 

I need to stop this post here, but if you like parade photos, I'll have a bunch more in the next update.

 

TCD

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

Indeed!!

 

I guess I need to share that news.

 

TCD

[FW Rendezvous 5]

"My two week globetrotting tour was over.

 

 

I smiled as I drove across Tampa Bay on the way home.

 

Man, I'm blessed to live where I do.

 

Now I can say that I've been to Dublin, London and Paris.

 

And, I know more than ever that there's no place like home.

 

And that's the end of the trip.

 

TCD"

 

 

What an epic trip this was.

After weeks of reading about all of this travel to famous, historic destinations and seeing all of the sights, the people watching, and to top it all off, the return to Orlando & WDW.

 

I can just picture driving across Tampa bay with all of these fresh memories in your head, reflecting on that last leg of the journey.

And I totally agree with you on this, wherever home is, there's no place like home. 

Well Done TCD