Celebrating 20 years at WDW - Bonus features, A few posts from May, Updated 9/11

[cruisehopeful]

Even though it probably went by quickly, I do love a little getaway to Palm Springs. I'm glad that's why you haven't been updating. I was started to get concerned.

 

[afwdwfan]

Thanks for the update from your concert! Looks like you really have been busy with a nice little whirlwind trip thrown into the mix!

 

[franandaj]

Having worked at a Mexican restaurant, all I can see here is that they didn't wipe the plate edges!

Funny. I didn't even notice that. This place has been there like 50 years or more. Evidently plate edges don't matter any more.

Had to look that one up.
We just called them chicken ench's.

Philistines! That's us!

Well they have a different sauce. It's a green chili as opposed to the regular red sauce on normal enchiladas. In fact it's probably the kind of enchiladas that I make with our leftover turkey all the time, but my recipe called it rancheras.

PSHS? I get the HS part, but???

Palm Springs High School. I thought the fact we were in the city was obvious, but I guess not.

bet! Long!

Normally our rehearsals only go for two hours on Tuesday nights and we get a 15 minute break. We did get a break in the 3 hours, but it was still tiring keeping attention that focused for so long. The music was really challenging.

Nah. You're just getting smarter with your sleep allocation.

I like that excuse!

That's a long time to be standing. Tiring!

And for me playing Soprano is much more vigorous that playing Alto.

Anyone I might know?

Scott Turner Schofield, I doubt you've seen any of his work. I hadn't either.

That's great!

I still wonder if it was other people from the band, or just passers-by.

Saw that on FB. Interesting. If a little frightening.

Looking back into the gallery, you could see they had several more of these gumball thingys.

mmmm.... pastrami on rye, please.

I had corned beef on rye. Grilled with cheese and Sauerkraut, aka Reuben.

But then again, maybe you'd convert them! Or hit on them! Ohmagosh!!

Pul-lease, we're talking about choir folks, most of them are musical theater geeks. They didn't need any converting!

Now that's really nice.

It was very sweet.

Details on the honours band? Made up of...???

When registering for the conference, folks were given a choice, concert band or "Honors Jazz band", until about three months ago they hardly had anyone wanting to be in the jazz band. I think people were intimidated by the fact that they had auditions. There never have been auditions to play in the massed concert band. I'm not very accomplished at improvisation and the saxes who were in that band blew me away. Also the bands were mutually exclusive the jazz band rehearsed at the same time as the two concert bands, so people had to choose.

Funny how the body works.
"I'm so stuffed, I won't eat for a week!" <two hours later> "I'm starving!"

Actually, they served us dinner around 4:30-5PM, when I was starving for the pizza it was like 11:30PM so more like 7 hours.

Only you Alison!

Technically I gave Fran the choice as to where we went that night....

And? Still happy with it?

I haven't even taken it out of the cellophane. The picture was of the demo model in the store. Next trip is end of February.

So glad the concert went well for you guys. Don't worry. I won't fault you for life getting in the way as long as you don't fault me for not starting my TR yet lol

You have A LOT more going on IRL than I do. Mine is annoying, but not pressing.

That sounds like a really fun weekend. Would love to see your band play sometime - though I think the likelihood of that is unfortunately pretty low.

Considering that we play about 4-5 concerts per year, it is somewhat unlikely. However quite a few people reading my TRs have been able to work out coming to a performance, so it's not an impossibility.

Fun reading about your trip to Palm Springs. I want to know what happened with that guy in the bar. You know I love details.

Well I didn't think it was something I should really share but it was humorous, and also shows what pigs some men can be. I need to give some background though. Let me also preface this response with the fact that I had use thesaurus.com to change a word or two to make it more DIS friendly.

When we came back to our room to change after the concert, I poured myself a glass of wine, so I started before we got to the bar. Leonard and his friend got us an outside table. I had my first drink, my standard Martini and the bartender mixed it a big one, like two shots of vodka at least. Leonard and his friend are smokers, and just before I went up to the bar to get another drink a random gal came up to the table and asked if she could bum a cigarette.

So I'm standing at the bar waiting to get the attention of the bartender. It's your typical bar where the music is blaring so you must shout to be heard. Keep in mind I'm one who likes to avoid conflict
But get a couple drinks in me and I'm usually a happy girl, sometimes. While I'm waiting, I feel someone pinch my butt. I whirled around to see a guy standing there, obviously the perp. Without missing a beat I screamed, "What the 'go-all-the-way' (thanks thesaurus.com) do you think you're doing?" I gave him a look similar to the one I'm displaying on the FB photo I recently updated.

I don't even know if he answered, but I went to the far end of the bar and got my drink. Then I went back out to the patio. Smoke moocher girl was still there talking to Leonard and his friend. I don't remember exactly what I said, but something to the effect of "Some 'donkey-pit' in there pinched my 'donkey' while I was waiting at the bar!"

"Shall I go kill him?" Fran asked.

"I think I expressed my displeasure, but thanks." I said. We sort of talked/joked about it for a bit, and then let it drop.

Then about five minutes later, a guy comes out of the bar, walks up to smoke mooching girl and says, "Hey babe, how ya doin'?" I turn to look at them and it's 'donkey' pinching guy!!!! I give him an incredulous look.

He's all, "OH My god! I'm so sorry, I was only messing around." And then he tried to hug everyone and make it better, which really didn't.

She looks at him and say, "Did you 'go-all-the-way'-ing pinch her 'donkey'?"

I don't remember the rest, and this was even kind of a paraphrase, but that was the gist of the thing. Fran kept giving him the evil eye and things became sort of uncomfortable fast. They left pretty soon after that. It was funny in a dark comedy sort of way.

The thing is when I grew up sexual harassment was a given when going out on a Saturday night, so it didn't bother me as much as a young girl today might. However in rewriting this it just makes me realize how messed up things were when we were young. Stuff worse than this happened on a regular basis. I'm just glad that I have become empowered enough to react with outrage and confront the guy instead of just slink away and hope I wasn't noticed.

Your Hyatt looked nice. Glad you had a great yet tiring trip.

It was a nice place to stay, but without our special rate, I'm pretty sure it would be more than we like to pay for hotels. DVC has spoiled us!

 

[Steppesister]

HI Alison, it's been a super full week at work, and an out-of-town Dr. appt, so am also behind. Hopefully, I can catch up more this morning and over the weekend. OY! I LOVE PS; I grew up right over that mountain on the other side in Hemet. We'd go to PS for fun and quick getaways all the time. That schedule sounded grueling! WOW. But the performances looked very well-received; I'd have loved to have gotten to see them. Maybe when I come down to SoCal I can make it coincide with a rehearsal or performance!

 

[IowaTater]

So I'm standing at the bar waiting to get the attention of the bartender. It's your typical bar where the music is blaring so you must shout to be heard. Keep in mind I'm one who likes to avoid conflict
But get a couple drinks in me and I'm usually a happy girl, sometimes. While I'm waiting, I feel someone pinch my butt. I whirled around to see a guy standing there, obviously the perp. Without missing a beat I screamed, "What the 'go-all-the-way' (thanks thesaurus.com) do you think you're doing?" I gave him a look similar to the one I'm displaying on the FB photo I recently updated.

I don't even know if he answered, but I went to the far end of the bar and got my drink. Then I went back out to the patio. Smoke moocher girl was still there talking to Leonard and his friend. I don't remember exactly what I said, but something to the effect of "Some 'donkey-pit' in there pinched my 'donkey' while I was waiting at the bar!"

"Shall I go kill him?" Fran asked.

"I think I expressed my displeasure, but thanks." I said. We sort of talked/joked about it for a bit, and then let it drop.

Then about five minutes later, a guy comes out of the bar, walks up to smoke mooching girl and says, "Hey babe, how ya doin'?" I turn to look at them and it's 'donkey' pinching guy!!!! I give him an incredulous look.

He's all, "OH My god! I'm so sorry, I was only messing around." And then he tried to hug everyone and make it better, which really didn't.

She looks at him and say, "Did you 'go-all-the-way'-ing pinch her 'donkey'?"

I don't remember the rest, and this was even kind of a paraphrase, but that was the gist of the thing. Fran kept giving him the evil eye and things became sort of uncomfortable fast. They left pretty soon after that. It was funny in a dark comedy sort of way.

The thing is when I grew up sexual harassment was a given when going out on a Saturday night, so it didn't bother me as much as a young girl today might. However in rewriting this it just makes me realize how messed up things were when we were young. Stuff worse than this happened on a regular basis. I'm just glad that I have become empowered enough to react with outrage and confront the guy instead of just slink away and hope I wasn't noticed.

What a crappy thing to have happen to you but I have to admit I love your re-telling of it.

 

[Pinkocto]

Oh my about the pinching story. Too much. Fran's response of, 'you want me to go kill him' was perfect!

 

[pkondz]

Funny. I didn't even notice that. This place has been there like 50 years or more. Evidently plate edges don't matter any more.

Evidently.
I will forgive that if the food is excellent.

Well they have a different sauce. It's a green chili as opposed to the regular red sauce on normal enchiladas.

Yup. I remember the green ench sauce.

Palm Springs High School. I thought the fact we were in the city was obvious, but I guess not.

D'oh! Of course it is. As it's obvious that I'm an idiot.

Scott Turner Schofield, I doubt you've seen any of his work. I hadn't either.

Nope. But I'm not a daytime soap fan.

I had corned beef on rye. Grilled with cheese and Sauerkraut, aka Reuben.

Ugh. I wrote pastrami, but I meant corned beef.
But while I don't mind... maybe even like a bit... sauerkraut, I don't like it in my sandwich.

Pul-lease, we're talking about choir folks, most of them are musical theater geeks. They didn't need any converting!

Okay.

When registering for the conference, folks were given a choice, concert band or "Honors Jazz band", until about three months ago they hardly had anyone wanting to be in the jazz band. I think people were intimidated by the fact that they had auditions. There never have been auditions to play in the massed concert band. I'm not very accomplished at improvisation and the saxes who were in that band blew me away. Also the bands were mutually exclusive the jazz band rehearsed at the same time as the two concert bands, so people had to choose.

Interesting.
Kay had to audition for her honour band roles too.

Actually, they served us dinner around 4:30-5PM, when I was starving for the pizza it was like 11:30PM so more like 7 hours.

Gotcha.

 

[dgbg100106]

Fran's response and David's are the exact same.
I will kill....

 

[pepperandchips]

Oh my gosh I am TOTALLY adding "donkey pit" to my vernacular of disses... I can't believe he had the "go all the way"ing audacity to do such a thing!!!

 

[franandaj]

After I watched your performance in mid October at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles and had your trip, you had another performance at Palm Springs. Talk about a busy schedule. Sounds like you had interesting weekend.

That's the life of a musician, always busy.

I wonder... If I ever do a longer stay, will I split? Or not.
Probably not. I like to settle.

It was kind of nice this last trip, settling in for the entire time.

I have a suggestion for something to put in your owner's locker...

Nah, I'm not a fan of duct tape.

When you're not singing?

I. do. NOT. sing.

You can do that?
How successful are you?

Well, I usually note the length of the line and watch the folks doing the search. Slow moving lines usually mean a more diligent search agent. It doesn't always work.

I don't think she'd appreciate.... wait.... it wasn't Fran was it?!?!?

No. It was a random chick. Here is the original.



And the modified

I want royalties.

I'll even give you 50%!

I'm from the middle of nowhere so it's pretty standard.

So have you always lived in Manitoba?

Crap. Hate it when that happens.
That's why I never let the DIS
hold onto anything anymore.

I try not to, but with how many replies I have to do with my phone now, I can't help it.

All done!
Well, I was until you posted your Alaska update.

That's when? 50 or so?

Oh lord no! If it gets in the low 60s for the highs, I'm definitely wearing full length pants!

It's doing that here right now.
And for all that I wish it wasn't so I could
get out on my bike again,
I'm not complaining because usually
this time of year it'd be snow.

Can't even imagine snow. We had some back in 1988 and i let my cats out in the front yard and took pictures!

I think they're some kind of sweet pepper. They're mighty good in olives! I know you don't like olives though.

Another reason I'm afraid of them.

Sadly not, and now it's over. But I got to try everything I wanted to so all is good.

Well, I'm glad you got to try what you wanted. Too bad you didn't get the glass.

Wow I had no idea the sheer work that is involved from the band members on these events. Plus I bet you gphave not mentiined a fraction of the other reherhals and prep like hotel bookings etc.

You would not even believe the amount of work that goes into these events. It consumes your life for a two years. We have been there done that. Never again. While we enjoyed our time doing it, we have been shunned enough from our current band that we do not wish to put in that kind of effort again.

The hyatt Hotel looks lovely even has a lounge area. Nice view also and sounds like a good location for the mexican and coffee place.

It was actually a great location, we have stayed in Palm Springs on many occasions and this was the most convenient location for walking, but I doubt we would do it again. There was a $25 per night parking fee for valet as they had no self parking at all.

I was warmed to see the uturn in progressive attitude towards you this time around.

Yes, that was a welcome change in attitude. The funny thing is that while the folks who organized it this time were involved last time, I was the only one who realized the change in attitude.

I was exhausted reading this! Great shopping bonus at the end. Love the bag.

I can't wait to use it, there are all sorts of little pockets for pens, notepads, my computer, and all sorts of stuff including my additional carryon stuff.

 

[dizneeat]

What a trip! Sounds pretty exhausting. I loved seeing all the photos (and some I remembered from Social Media).
Great find on the suitcase ...... and Yeah for not leaving a Disney Store empty handed.

 

[franandaj]

Even though it probably went by quickly, I do love a little getaway to Palm Springs. I'm glad that's why you haven't been updating. I was started to get concerned.

And now I'm sort of caught up, so it's just getting to replies and finishing the pictures for the next update!

Thanks for the update from your concert! Looks like you really have been busy with a nice little whirlwind trip thrown into the mix!

Yup, it's been definitely busy, and it probably won't let up. Maybe once it gets closer to Christmas.

HI Alison, it's been a super full week at work, and an out-of-town Dr. appt, so am also behind. Hopefully, I can catch up more this morning and over the weekend. OY! I LOVE PS; I grew up right over that mountain on the other side in Hemet. We'd go to PS for fun and quick getaways all the time. That schedule sounded grueling! WOW. But the performances looked very well-received; I'd have loved to have gotten to see them. Maybe when I come down to SoCal I can make it coincide with a rehearsal or performance!

I know the feeling! While there usually isn't a lot of "work" for me, this past week or two has had its fair share. And again today I'll be doing manual labor all day.

We know our concert schedule well in advance so it is possible!

What a crappy thing to have happen to you but I have to admit I love your re-telling of it.

I wasn't going to include it, but Jenny pushed for it....so I figured at least I should make it humorous. The sad part is that as I wrote it I realized that in 2016 it really was harassment, but in the 80's stuff like that was part for the course and I even expected stuff like that to happen. I hope it doesn't go back to that way.

Oh my about the pinching story. Too much. Fran's response of, 'you want me to go kill him' was perfect!

She cracks me up with replies like that!

 

[pkondz]

It was kind of nice this last trip, settling in for the entire time.

If I'm travelling from point to point, fine. But if I'm staying at one place, I want to unpack and settle.

Nah, I'm not a fan of duct tape.

Gaffer tape then.

I. do. NOT. sing.

Did I strike a chord there?

Well, I usually note the length of the line and watch the folks doing the search. Slow moving lines usually mean a more diligent search agent. It doesn't always work.

I just pick the shortest line.

Hey look! It's random chick!
And I didn't even notice the work above the sign.

I'll even give you 50%!

Sweet!

So have you always lived in Manitoba?

Pretty much. Except for a few short stints in Ontario when I was training. So... 18 months?

I try not to, but with how many replies I have to do with my phone now, I can't help it.

And it's such a pain too.
I try to keep any comments as brief as possible.

Can't even imagine snow. We had some back in 1988 and i let my cats out in the front yard and took pictures!

How did they react?

 

[franandaj]

Evidently.
I will forgive that if the food is excellent.

I think it is. There are other folks who disagree in town. But they have 3 restaurants and that was has been there since the 50s, so I'd say it's excellent.

D'oh! Of course it is. As it's obvious that I'm an idiot.

Nope. But I'm not a daytime soap fan.

Me neither.

Ugh. I wrote pastrami, but I meant corned beef.
But while I don't mind... maybe even like a bit... sauerkraut, I don't like it in my sandwich.

For me it gives that extra crunch, like lettuce or potato chips.

Interesting.
Kay had to audition for her honour band roles too.

Hence the "honor" part of it.

Fran's response and David's are the exact same.
I will kill....

Oh my gosh I am TOTALLY adding "donkey pit" to my vernacular of disses... I can't believe he had the "go all the way"ing audacity to do such a thing!!!

I'm glad I could help you out with a new word. I made that one up all by myself without the help of Thesaurus.com

Unfortunately I think we're going to see more of that kind of behavior since it's "sanctioned".

What a trip! Sounds pretty exhausting. I loved seeing all the photos (and some I remembered from Social Media).
Great find on the suitcase ...... and Yeah for not leaving a Disney Store empty handed.

It was not my idea of a relaxing weekend. Fun? Yes. But it was go, go, go. Meals were about the only time other than sleep where our minds or bodies were not active.

Sweet!

You do realize 50% of zero is zero?

And it's such a pain too.
I try to keep any comments as brief as possible.

I'm getting back to where I can finally multi quote in my responses again.

How did they react?

Since they were not outdoor kitties anyways, they were reluctant to step in it and just sort of sniffed. They did not seem pleased though.

 

[franandaj]

So I’ve been trying to get all caught up here and I think I’ve finally come pretty close. All that traveling over the last month really threw me for a curve. We haven’t done much on getting moved out of the old house, and another thing which didn’t help was we had a tenant move out at the end of August. He had been in there for over 5 years, so the place needed painting and new carpet.

While we were in Orlando we finally got the painting taken care of. After getting two bids from folks that we had never worked with before, we ended up going with our old tried and true contractor. Once we got home from Palm Springs we had the new carpet installed. So this week Darcy and I started working on cleaning the place up. We’ve spent six hours so far, and still have to go back next week to wrap it up. Yesterday I cleaned all the windows. Have I told you I really despise cleaning second floor windows?

Our last part of cleaning any apartment is the kitchen. On a whim I decided to run the dishwasher and make sure that it worked. You never know about appliances in your tenant's apartments, especially when they have lived there for a long time. The first bad sign was when water started to come out the dishwasher overflow valve and spill into the sink. The second bad sign was when we started to smell some sort of “electrical burning”. We turned off the dishwasher and unplugged everything under the sink. It turns out that it’s a mess under there, leaks from on top of the counter, leaks from the dishwasher. We had already decided to replace the stove in there, but now we’re looking for a dishwasher too.

Well, life goes on….and soon I’ll be showing another apartment but for now, let’s get back to the Trip Report!


While we were eating in the American Pavillion, I noticed that I had received a text from Liesa that she was in Epcot now and "where were we?" I told her where we were headed and she wanted to get something in China. We were almost there so we stopped to say “hi”. Sorry no pictures….

I headed off to Soarin’ while Fran stopped in some of the shops along the way. We agreed to meet up at the fountain after I rode. While waiting in line I got a text from her that she was at the pin store by the fountain. I got the middle section, middle row, so I had feet, but the buildings weren’t leaning. I have yet to see this for myself. I didn’t want to wait longer just to have no feet.

After the ride, I met back up with Fran and we went over to the Festival Center.









They were serving several things at this Cafe which sounded good to me, but we were never here when we were hungry enough.



We mulled around the Festival Store and made a few purchases. We tried to buy shirts at the Festival center but they were all sold out in the larger sizes, the festival was barely halfway through, did they not want to make money off of merchandising? She did find some books and other items. While Fran paid for them I checked out this place.



I had read about this on the Disney Food Blog.



We got two cups of the drinking chocolate.



See how viscous it is! Didn’t even stick to the sides of the cup. In hindsight we should have shared a cup it was that rich! I couldn’t finish much more than this of mine.





After we left the Festival Center, we took some pictures with a photopass photographer









By this time we had enough of an appetite that we could hit up a few more booths from the Festival. The first one was the Chew collective.





We got one of each food item and a glass of the Festival Cabernet.



Here is the Beef skewer, this was very tasty with a nice marinade to it.



The Zucchini Ravioli, this one was good, but the tomato sauce was little bland.



Peanut butter and white chocolate mousse. It was OK. PB was too viscous when placed next to the mousse.



Right next to the Chew Studio was Greenhouse Guru





I got the Heirloom Tomato Salad, it was quite yummy!



Fran really likes Gazpacho, she liked it well enough, but prefers her gazpacho without bread chunks. She didn’t think the crab helped it’s flavor any either.



I also got a glass of wine, Chateau St. Michelle Riesling, it’s one of my favorites.



They also had these cute little vignettes set up around the festival.



We were starting to get full again, but we pressed on to the Chocolate studio.



I didn’t get a picture of the booth itself as I was too busy taking a picture of the recipe for the Chocolate Raspberry Tart.



I got a glass of Rosa Regale, one of my favorite Italian wines. It’s a Brachetto d’Acqui.



Liquid Nitro Almond tart, it was good but not to die for IMHO



Chocolate Raspberry Tart, this was really good and very chocolatey.



Chocolate Truffle, we took this home to the room and it ended up melting, we never got to try it.



I was way too full at this time, but when we found a place to eat our treats, we were right in front of the Wine and Dine kiosk and I made a mental note that we definitely had to hit this one the next day.


To be continued….at a later date.

 

[DnA2010]

Rough luck about the dishwasher - good thing you discovered it though.

Another nice set of booths- the chocolate treats look especially yummy!!

You both look so happy in the photopass pics

 

[dgbg100106]

So sorry to hear about the apartment, I am sure it was nice to have someone there for 5 years, but I think things get overlooked a lot when you dont get in there very often. Sounds like everything is coming along nicely with it.

There were several things I could have tried from those booths, and I really thought that the nitro with the caramel sauce would have been a good one, but it sounds like it did not live up to the description.
I think it is a party foul, that you never got to taste the truffle, how dare it melt on you, it knew you were coming for it.

 

[skier_pete]

I love reading your TRs - but it always extra fun reading a TR that was occurring at the same time as our own trip, because you get to thinking about what you were doing when someone was doing something, and also when we were doing some of the same things. Like those cups of chocolate - totally agree they were so good, but almost TOO rich. And how we ALSO took a picture of that chocolate Rasberry Torte recipe. Or how Ulana likes the Chateau St. Michelle Reisling a lot also.

We didn't try the heirloom tomato salad, but stood at a table with someone that had it, and they really liked it. Agree with you on the beef skewer and ravioli as well.

Love the picture with Remy. I am such a huge fan of that movie.

 

[Malia78]

Things we ate in common...I am not a huge fan of chocolate but I really wanted to try the drinking chocolate once. Agree that is was super rich...I was done after two little sips but didn't want to waste it so choked the whole cup down. On the other hand, I really liked the peanut butter and chocolate mousse. I agree with Fran on the gazpacho--the crab meat didn't really add anything to it.

The liquid nitro truffle turned out well for me this trip--I think that dish can tend to be inconsistent. My parents plate didn't look as nice as mine.

Overall though, I just didn't get around to sampling all the things I wanted too, including a few that you have already mentioned. Will do better next time.

 

[rentayenta]

Thank you for the bat signal!

Ugh on the apartment appliance woes.

I had no idea there was a F&W store. LOL! Is it new?

That drinking chocolate looks TDF!

Cute cute cute Remy pic!

I like Gazpacho too. I have never heard of it with crab. Odd.