Globetrotting: to Disneyland Paris and back with TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

Awesome. That you got to go to at least one of the star wars weekends. One small FYI. That "home made" dress the little girl is wearing is probably a "custom" and they cost a ton. Anywhere from $75-200. Crazy huh. My DD has a few Mommy made customs that did not cost anywhere close to that. (She is already lining up a few she wants for our next trip and she is . I thought that phase would be over by now.

Edited for really bad spelling.lol

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Wow!  Can't believe you flew back from Europe into a 24-hour event!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

(She is already lining up a few she wants for our next trip and she is . I thought that phase would be over by now.

My 11 year old brought a costume this past February. I'm not sure when they grow out of it...

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

Do I want to ask what PAC means?

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Caught up! 

 

Where do you get the energy to do a 24 hour event at Disney after a Europe trip? 

 

And who would waste a FP on Wishes? 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

 

Indeed!!

 

I guess I need to share that news.

 

 

 

OK.  I will share the big news in a separate post after I respond to these comments and before I post the next update.

 

 

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

 

Thanks.  Like I said, seeing part of the world gave me a new appreciation for home.  It was fun to go, but it was really good to get back.

 

Awesome. That you got to go to at least one of the star wars weekends. One small FYI. That "home made" dress the little girl is wearing is probably a "custom" and they cost a ton. Anywhere from $75-200. Crazy huh. My DD has a few Mommy made customs that did not cost anywhere close to that. (She is already lining up a few she wants for our next trip and she is . I thought that phase would be over by now.

Edited for really bad spelling.lol

 

I actually have a closer up shot of that dress in the next update. It was beautiful, and by no means was I being critical by saying that it was home made.

 

You should treasure and embrace the fact that your little girl still likes to dress up in Disney dresses.  Trust me, it's a lot more fun than when she will ask why she can't dye her hair purple, wear black nail polish, and get a random body part pierced like all the other kids.

 

Wow!  Can't believe you flew back from Europe into a 24-hour event!

 

That's how I roll.

 

It actually worked out good, because my internal clock was totally out of whack.  I think I'm still tired from the trip.

 

My 11 year old brought a costume this past February. I'm not sure when they grow out of it...

 

As I said above, don't complain.  Keep buying her the costumes.  Maybe she'll skip the hair dying, piercing, and other horrid things stage.

 

Do I want to ask what PAC means?

 

PAC means Parade Audience Control. They're the CM's who come out before the parades and fireworks to tell people where to stand or sit, and keep foot traffic moving.  If they do their job, it's a great thing.  At the MK, though, they are often absent when they are most needed.

 

When my girls were doing the Disney College Program, they would "pick up" PAC shifts whenever they could.  Typically, the full-time PAC CM's don't work at night, so the PAC CM's on duty at the busiest times are most likely CM's who work somewhere else, and are just there to make a little extra money.  The problem with that is these CM's are poorly trained and don't understand the potential importance of what they are doing.

 

Caught up! 

 

Where do you get the energy to do a 24 hour event at Disney after a Europe trip? 

 

And who would waste a FP on Wishes? 

 

Who said I had any energy?

 

I know of a couple of Fiends who have wasted FP+'s on Wishes.  One of them will be outed at the appropriate time in the upcoming bonus features.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Time for the news flash . . .

 

I mentioned that I had to break down and buy a data package that DD1 could use while in Europe since she was in the midst of a job search.  She participated in a telephonic job interview while standing outside a bus station in London, and she made other applications and lined up other interviews as we travelled.  She went home early instead of staying for the 24 hour day because she had a big phone interview that Friday afternoon.

 

Well, all of that effort paid off.  She landed some on-campus job interviews, and went to three or four of those after we got back.  And just this week, she was scheduled to travel to LSU and Auburn (at their expense) for interviews.  She even had an on campus interview to do at USC (the one in California) later this month.

 

But, there will be no more interviews.  Those trips got cancelled.

 

The girl got herself a job.

 

In the fall, she will be taking her talents to South Beach, and will be joining the faculty of "The U."

 

("The U" is the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida).

 

Actually, it's not going to happen in the fall.

 

She starts August 3.

 

Which means tomorrow we are heading south for the weekend to go apartment hunting.

 

It's a bit of the shock, as everyone in the TCD gang agrees that we hate "The U."

 

But, it's the exact job DD1 wanted, and they have treated her royally.

 

So, here we go.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Congrats to her! It's also pretty funny that's where she ended up. Is there some green and orange in your future?

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Congrats to her! It's also pretty funny that's where she ended up. Is there some green and orange in your future?

 

None of us are ready to go that far yet.  But, part of her compensation package includes a tuition waiver for her to begin work on her doctorate.  She says she doesn't want to be a student there, but we are working on her.  You can't beat "free" college tuition.

 

The funniest reaction so far has been from my mother-in-law, who is an FSU alum, and had to tolerate some of her children marrying Gators.  One bit of common ground that Noles and Gators have is the hatred of "The U."  I was there when DD1 broke the news to Grandma.  I wish I had a camera with me and took a photo of the look of shock on her face.  After she got over the shock, she was very gracious about it.  She has friends who went to UM back in the day, and the school is actually pretty well regarded.  It's just their fans that nobody likes.

 

TCD

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

That's funny!

She'll be a lot closer to home than if she were at USC. I'm sure everyone likes that.

Free tuition... She needs to take advantage of that!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Congratulations to DD1!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's continue on with the bonus features.  We left off with enjoying the Star Wars parade at DHS on Saturday, May 30th.

 

The bad guys part of the parade finished up with the Jawas- you can't tell from this photo, but their eyes light up:

 

 

This is some type of bounty hunter, I assume, but not one that I am on a first name basis with.  Maybe a Star Wars geek expert reading along can identify him for us:

 

 

Next came the Rebel Legion, i.e. the good guys:

 

 

Here again, I wonder what influenced these people to decide to create and wear these costumes.  I think they're kind of boring.  Why not be a Storm Trooper, or something cool?:

 

 

Check out the big gun the guy in the middle is holding.  I wonder what he's compensating for?:

 

 

Now we clearly have a bunch of nerds.  Too many.  They all wanted to be good guys and have cool costumes.  I'm sure the dirty Storm Troopers have much more fun:

 

 

At least these pilots have sensible helmets:

 

 

These guys also seem to be slacking on their PT:

 

 

Also note in the photo above that the mom and girl with the fancy Star Wars dress are right there in front of the trash can, and the little girl is actually standing in the street.  In the past, I have witnessed CM's shoo away guests from sitting in front of trash cans.  Some PAC person let this go.

 

Now we have a whole lot of good guys in robes.  Sorry to ask, but why in the world would someone living and traveling in space wear robes like this.  Mix in a space suit, guys:

 

 

BTW- those folks in robes are Disney CM's.  There's no clear distinction between when the amateurs end and the pros begin,  but the improved quality of the costumes is obvious.

 

This green guy came and bowed before me.  If I am remembering correctly, I didn't know his name last year, and someone told me.  But I personally don't care, and still don't know this guy's name:

 

 

 

I believe that these are called Clone Troopers:

 

 

This is someone important, I think.  But, I don't know his name either:

 

 

Here comes someone I know- R2D2:

 

 

That little girl in the fancy dress had a big old R2D2 right up front on the dress, the droid went to check it out:

 

 

It's pretty remarkable to me how many young kids like Star Wars, but this kid appears to:

 

 

 

As I normally do, I looked around for the R2D2 pilot.  I found him right where I thought he'd be- in the front seat of the car following right behind:

 

 

The "celebrity" riding in this yellow car is Ashley Eckstein, whose claim to fame is providing the voice of a Star Wars cartoon character:

 

 

Now we have an unidentified alien lady.  I don't think she's friendly:

 

 

This alien carrying the flag looks friendly.  But you can never be sure with aliens. For all I know, she has a taste for human flesh:

 

 

These next characters appeared last year for the first time.  They are from a new animated series they play on DisneyXD- the robot is named Chopper, but I don't know the boy's name:

 

 

Astro-Boy or whatever his name is tried to impress the crowd with his karate skills.  Dude, you're in space-how's karate going to work in zero gravity?- get yourself a nice phaser or something:

 

 

This next "celebrity" is also the voice actor for a cartoon.  He somehow forgot that and acted like he was some kind of rock star:

 

 

Then we had some more sand people:

 

 

And some assorted bad guys:

 

 

This next "celebrity" played young Boba Fett in one of the movies.  Seriously, they couldn't find someone better than that?  The dude has a grey Magic Band.  That tells me all I need to know:

 

 

These two got the crowd going- Boba Fett on the left and Chewie on the right:

 

 

A lot of people love Boba Fett.  If you're one of them, this photo is for you:

 

 

Chewbacca is definitely one of the highlights of the parade:

 

 

After Chewie, we had some Ewoks:

 

 

And there is still more to come . . .

 

TCD

[BigTom 76]

DD1 will still be close enough to still enjoy trips to WDW with you

[Dalspot ... Karen 21]

Awesome!!!!  Now you will just have to change family alliances :)  Thank goodness the economy had turned around.  I'm hearing so many good things from grads and jobs this year.

 

But, there will be no more interviews.  Those trips got cancelled.

 

The girl got herself a job.

 

 

 

It's a bit of the shock, as everyone in the TCD gang agrees that we hate "The U."

 

But, it's the exact job DD1 wanted, and they have treated her royally.

 

So, here we go.

 

TCD

[mommy rainbo.....Bo 41]

That little girl's outfit aka the - toes to bows - cost Mom either a lot of time in front of the swing machine or a lot of dollars. It was very cute. I'm jealous of the bows. We have left that part of little girl hood.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

That's funny!

She'll be a lot closer to home than if she were at USC. I'm sure everyone likes that.

Free tuition... She needs to take advantage of that!

 

 

The California thing did worry me.  The funny thing is that the twins are going to be out there for almost 5 months starting the middle of next month.

 

It's much better for us (and her) that she will be closer to home.  It will be nice that she's living back in the state.

 

Congratulations to DD1!

 

Thank you.

 

DD1 will still be close enough to still enjoy trips to WDW with you

 

Definitely true.  Just as I was lamenting the fact that the twins are going to be gone all fall, and I had no one to go to the Food and Wine Festival and other fall stuff with, the Miami gig came through.

 

We will see how it all works out.  Part of her job will be traveling the country to give presentations on the University at college fairs and such.  The busy time for that is in the fall. She may not have any time to go to Disney World.

 

Awesome!!!!  Now you will just have to change family alliances :)  Thank goodness the economy had turned around.  I'm hearing so many good things from grads and jobs this year.

 

The economy turned around?

 

Nobody told me!

 

That little girl's outfit aka the - toes to bows - cost Mom either a lot of time in front of the swing machine or a lot of dollars. It was very cute. I'm jealous of the bows. We have left that part of little girl hood.

 

Yes, that outfit is something, isn't it?

 

I'm sorry about the bows having left.

 

I hope the purple hair and black nail polish isn't next.

 

TCD

[PureTcrazy...rita 380]

Awesome news about the job, even if it has to be at that bad place instead of an Awesome place like FSU! I can't believe how many times we have been at the parks at the same time and we have still yet to run in to you. Maybe one day soon.

[dvccamper 32]

Congratulations to your daughter :)

[Ivy 36]

Thanks for doing this TR, I really enjoyed it, and I learned a lot.

I saw this article about the Tube. Glad that I knew what it was talking about.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/08/europe/uk-london-underground-tube-strike/index.html

[keith_h 420]

Just got caught up. Congrats to daughter on her new job.

 

As far as the X-wing fighter pilots and PT goes I don't think it was part of the job requirements. If you recall Jek "Piggy" Porkins of the Red Squadron it looked like he hadn't exercised a day in his life. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Awesome news about the job, even if it has to be at that bad place instead of an Awesome place like FSU! I can't believe how many times we have been at the parks at the same time and we have still yet to run in to you. Maybe one day soon.

 

Yes, I would rather she be heading back to FSU or another place that we're comfortable with.  But, Miami offered her the best job, so she's heading there.  We just spent the weekend in Coral Gables, and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice that area is. 

 

I'll bet we will run into each other one of these days.  Tell your brother that he needs to get back on here and post some more.

 

Congratulations to your daughter :)

 

Thanks.  It is all falling into place.  We move her in in less than three weeks.

 

Thanks for doing this TR, I really enjoyed it, and I learned a lot.

I saw this article about the Tube. Glad that I knew what it was talking about.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/08/europe/uk-london-underground-tube-strike/index.html

 

Ug.  I would hate to be in London for a Tube strike.  That would be really bad.

 

Just got caught up. Congrats to daughter on her new job.

 

As far as the X-wing fighter pilots and PT goes I don't think it was part of the job requirements. If you recall Jek "Piggy" Porkins of the Red Squadron it looked like he hadn't exercised a day in his life. 

 

Thanks.

 

I know exactly who you're talking about, but didn't know his name was Piggy Porkins.  I guess George Lucas was running out of clever names when he got to that part of the script.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Time for an update.

 

We're still watching the Star Wars parade at DHS on Saturday, May 30th.

 

The Ewoks continued their march down the street.

 

But, this one had to stop to check out the mom in the Slave Leia outfit:

 

 

Our next big celebrity was actually a little one.  It's Warwick Davis, who apparently wore one of the ewok suits in Episode VI, and has also made a career out of playing elves, trolls and such:

 

 

Next, we had some official Disney Stormtoopers:

 

 

The next "celebrity" was James Arnold Taylor, who also is a voice actor for the Star Wars cartoons.  Like Ashley Eckstein, this appears to be the high point of his year:

 

 

Now we have Greedo:

 

 

And then Darth Vader and some more Storm Troopers:

 

 

 

 

That was the end of the parade.

 

What followed next were the guests who paid for a VIP event.  They were contained within ropes, and walked up the street right behind the parade:

 

 

 

Those ropes are there to keep us riff-raff out:

 

 

I snuck one more Slave Leia mom shot:

 

 

And that was that.

 

Next up, we had a FP+ for the Great Movie Ride.  We planned this trip just the day before.  When I went on to the MDE site to make FP+ reservations, there were no more reservations for the day for Rock N Roller Coaster or Toy Story.  All that was left in Tier one was the Great Movie Ride, Fantasmic or Beauty and the Beast.  What a joke.  So, Great Movie Ride it was.

 

I didn't know that the ride recently had some minor updates to reflect its sponsorship by the Ted Turner empire.  They were very minor, and really don't improve the ride.  It is still very out of date, and a bit boring.  But, I still will ride it every now and then.  It's a pretty amazing ride in terms of its size and detail.

 

For some reason, we got stuck in the Wizard of Oz part.  That allowed me to snap a couple on non-blurry photos in there:

 

 

 

Just when it got to the point of being awkward, the ride began to move again.  After we started moving, I noticed a construction worker type walking beside our ride vehicle.  He walked with us, and ducked into a hallway just after we left the Wizard of Oz scene.  I thought that was very odd.  I thought there were safety rules in place on rides which would prohibit the ride from moving when people are walking near the tracks.  Plus, that guy spoiled the magic of us being in Oz.  Strange.

 

After the Great Movie Ride, it was time for some lunch.

 

It's been a while since I have enjoyed one of these:

 

 

The no chips trick still works, which meant I paid $14.04 for two of those, tax included.  That's as cheap a lunch for two you can do in a WDW park.

 

Our next FP+ was for the Frozen Sing-a-long.  We wanted to see it one last time in its original theater.  Plus, I was hoping we might catch Six Bits in there.  On the way there, we saw Jedi Mickey and Princess Leia Minnie:

 

 

And Chewie:

 

 

The Star Wars character meet and greets are crazy busy, so that's as close as we got to any of the meet and greets on this visit.

 

This was our last time seeing the sing-a-long in the old venue:

 

 

The show was good, but we didn't get Six Bits as one of our Royal Historians. 

 

Next, we needed to hop over to Epcot for something.

 

On the way there, we stopped in the new Merchandise Location.  This year, they have everything set up in the old gift shop area for the old Backstage Tour.

 

The artwork was pretty much the same:

 

 

 

 

I guess they dust this same old stuff every year and hope some sucker is going to pay $200 for something like this:

 

 

Some of this stuff is nice, but how many people want a big expensive Boba Fett painting?:

 

 

Twin #2 thought this art was cute.  I don't remember them having anything like this in past years:

 

 

 

Twin #2 was right that these works were cute. In fact, they're a Galaxy of Cute, and we could take one home for only $195:

 

 

If you ever want a big Tauntaun model, you can get one here:

 

 

I thought it was interesting that they had a couple of large Star Wars movie props on display outside:

 

 

 

 

These looked like they were actual movie props.  The fact that they went to the trouble of putting them on display back here suggests to me that some big Star Wars news is on the way.

 

We need to stop here.  In the next update, we will finish up in DHS and then hope over to Epcot, where we will be picking up a free gift. 

 

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

The first prop has been in the "Boneyard" part of the backstage tour for awhile.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

The first prop has been in the "Boneyard" part of the backstage tour for awhile.

 

You are right.

 

And, now that I've done some checking, I think the other prop used to be in the Boneyard too.

 

They must have moved them from there to here just for Star Wars weekends.

 

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Let's finish up with the May 30th day trip.

 

We left off in the area of Watto's Grotto, which is the clever name they gave to the Star Wars gift shop this year:

 

 

This "new" gift shop used to be the exit area for the backstage tour, and was then the location for the Wandering Oaken's store.  Now it's waiting for the wrecking ball I think:

 

 

From here, we headed out of the park and over to Epcot. 

 

We were heading to the Imagination pavilion, and walked past some new-ish sod that was recently put down to cover all of those flower beds that they had for the Flower and Garden Festival:

 

 

You can see there in the background of that photo that the butterfly garden is gone too.  Epcot is back to normal for now.

 

We headed to the old theater where they used to show the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show.  There was a special Passholder preview of the Inside Out movie preview today.  We only knew about it because Twin #2 saw it on a blog.  We got no notice from Disney:

 

 

All passholders who could produce a pass and photo ID got a free magnet:

 

 

Woo Hoo!

 

We went through twice to get one for the two TCD girls who were not with us.

 

Then we popped over to the Pop Century Resort.  Twin #1 was staying there with her DCP roommate.

 

The girls all went to the food court to visit, and I hung around the resort.  You can't see it too well, but it rained like crazy while the girls visited:

 

 

Then Twin #2 and I went back to DHS.  We had a Tower of Terror FP+ to use.

 

But this was the FP return line:

 

 

When we got to the actual entrance, I asked the CM there what the problem was.  He said there was no problem.  I looked ahead in the FP queue, and it was full of people.  I said this is not normal.  Then he admitted that they were only operating one elevator.  I asked him how they could call this a FP line.  He said this line would only take us 20 minutes. Forget that.  We usually walk on this ride with a FP+, and I don't think a 20 minute wait is reasonable for guests with FP's.  So we left.

 

As we left, we saw something that was contributing to the problem- Rock N Roller Coaster was completely shut down, and looked like it had been all day.  CM's were out front playing games with guests:

 

 

So, all the guests with RNRC FP+'s probably were being sent over to TOT, and with that ride operating at less than full capacity, they had themselves a nice mess.

 

Which only reinforces the fact that there are not enough rides at DHS.

 

Since we didn't have anything else to do, we went ahead and staked out a place for the fireworks.  It was only 8:11, and they weren't until 9:30, but it seemed busy enough that claiming a spot was probably a good idea:

 

 

This is what was going on behind us:

 

 

Spots were filling fast.  It doesn't help that they now rope off large areas for the VIP dessert party that guests pay for:

 

 

Here's how the crowd looked at 8:29:

 

 

This lady showed up in that dress, and tried to hold a large piece of real estate.  What an interesting outfit to wear to a theme park.  I would have preferred a Slave Leia costume:

 

 

After a bit, a DJ started annoying the crowd with music and instructions to get up and dance, or wave light sabers, and other such nonsense:

 

 

There was a VIP area on the other side of the crowd, opposite the dessert area.  I'm not sure who got to go in there:

 

 

In choosing our spot, we were careful to hang back a bit, and to not be behind any large dads with kids who would likely be hoisted on shoulders at the last minute.  As the time for the fireworks approached, we were feeling good about our spot and view it provided of the stage:

 

 

The DJ posted some audience polls that were supposed to be responded to via Twitter.  I didn't see anyone responding, but that didn't stop them from posting results:

 

 

The fireworks show was supposed to start at 9:30.

 

At 9:23, a very large and very drunk man plowed through the crowd and met up with his wife, who we just now noticed was standing behind a stroller.  Sure enough, the drunk dad handed his drink to his wife to hold, and  grabbed the kid out of the stroller and hoisted her up on his shoulders.  As luck would have it, they were right in front of us:

 

 

This is where I will make my "people suck" rant.  I don't understand people like this big drunk A-hole.  How does he think it's OK to hoist his brat up on his shoulders in the middle of a crowd like that?  

 

Oh well, there was some room for us to move to the side, so we did.

 

Lucky me- I got to stand next to the big d-bag's wife, who was also pounding down cocktails when she wasn't puffing on her vape stick:

 

 

See?

 

People suck.

 

The show started on time, and began with our host, James Arnold Taylor introducing a lot of Star Wars characters:

 

 

Through all of the iPad and phone screens, we could see the characters up there on the stage.  There's Chewbacca way up there:

 

 

Of course, we could see all of the action pretty well on the handy big screen:

 

 

A guest holding up his phone did a good job of blocking this shot, but check out that wig on Han Solo.  That ain't right:

 

 

There is no dancing of funny business in this show.  Just serious (and boring) introductions of all of the costumed performers we saw in the parade.  Like the Storm Troopers:

 

 

Eventually, they got everyone up on the stage:

 

 

Then they shot off a mess of fireworks.  This was my first time seeing fireworks here since the removal of the BAH.

 

I like them better without the BAH:

 

 

They ought to lose the big stage, too.

 

But, then they couldn't charge those chumps $100 to eat cupcakes and stand in that roped off area.  So the stage will stay.

 

The Star Wars fireworks are good.

 

Afterwards, we took the bus to the MK to meet up with Twin #1 and her squad.

 

We hung out with them for a while.

 

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

 

Like this one:

 

 

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.

 

And that was the last thing we did.

 

Twin #2 and I then headed out and back home.

 

That was the end of this day trip.  But it is not the end of the bonus content.

 

We went back for another day trip not long after.

 

So I have some more bonus content.

 

Including the revelation of a WDW legend that we ran into.

 

You don't want to miss that.

 

TCD