Candlelight & Cannonballs! (MANY MARDI GRAS MASK PICS!) Dec. 2012- Start Pg.235/#3524

[Sherry E]

Here is the ONLY installment for Day 4 and the next-to-last installment of this Trip Report!!! The Recap/Wrap-Up (with some extra stuff in it that I am going to include) will come in the next couple of days.

Candlelight and Cannonballs! Aunt Betty’s Do-Over Christmas Trip

(Sun., 12/9/12 – Wed., 12/12/12)



Day 4 - Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Here we are as in olden days,
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who are dear to us
Gather near to us once more.

Through the years we all will be together
If the Fates allow
Hang a shining star upon the highest bough.
And have yourself a merry little Christmas now.






In the last TR installment, I ended Day 3 of my trip with another round of Candlelight and Cannonballs!, then slowly and sadly began to wind down my final night at the Paradise Pier Hotel. If only I’d had another couple of nights, I might have been able to check a couple of extra items off of my list. Honestly, if not for the fact that I went to DLR on the first day of the holiday season in November in 2012 and spent money on a shuttle to get to and from the parks, I probably would have just added on an extra night to my PPH stay in December. For me, the more time, the better when it’s December at Disneyland!




Day 4 arrived and I was up extra early to do the rest of my packing and get ready to meet up with Liza/funatdisney (who was kindly going to take me home) for breakfast. We were actually scheduled to see Laurie/DizNee Luver at 7:20 a.m., at Surf’s Up with Mickey, downstairs at the Paradise Pier.

I happened to notice that there had been no final Paradise Pier bill slipped under my door! Usually – even when the hotel room is paid up in advance – there will be a final bill of some kind waiting for the guest on the carpet by the door when you wake up in the morning. Not this time. Of course, I knew the Paradise Pier couldn’t charge me for anything because I was all paid up and I hadn’t incurred any new charges, but I still thought that I would see some sort of acknowledgment – on paper – that it was my check-out day and that I had no further charges. I’ve always gotten some sort of ‘goodbye/thank you for staying with us’ statement or letter – because, if for no other reason, the PPH people want to remind you that it is your check-out day so you don’t forget and accidentally stay in the room past 11:00 a.m.

So I am not sure if the lack of a final bill/statement/goodbye letter is a new ‘thing’ that the hotels are doing to save paper and money, or if it was just an oversight. Whatever the case, I got nothing!








I had last seen Laurie on my fateful “Aunt Betty’s Weepy, Wacky, Wonderful…” December 2011 trip/fiasco, when she and Molly/bumbershoot shared my PPH room. We had also eaten breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen on the final day of that trip but I was either wrapped up with my “friends” or sick, so I didn’t hang out with Laurie before that.

On this recent holiday trip (December 2012) Laurie and her family were staying at the Paradise Pier Hotel for a full 7 nights (and they were in the parks for 5 days, if I’m not mistaken), but the first 3 nights of their stay coincided with my 3 nights. We checked in on the same day. I was certain that we would run into each other somewhere in the lobby, or going to/from the PPH via the “short cut” through the Grand Californian Hotel. Since she and I both love the PPH Christmas tree so much there was even a chance we could run into each other by the tree!

…And I never saw Laurie in the parks or in the hotel one time! Not once over the course of 3 days! We even both saw Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale at different times and in different places on the same day, but we never saw each other! Lol.

I had last seen Liza in June, when we went to the Cars Land/Buena Vista Street preview in California Adventure.





Somewhere in between packing and getting ready I glanced out my window to soak in one last sunrise over California Adventure. Rain was due later that day and the clouds were rolling in, which made for a breathtaking view! I stood there for a little while and watched the light and shade slowly change as the morning wore on.

I decided to leave my bags in the Paradise Pier Hotel room while I was downstairs at breakfast. I would come back up and retrieve them later, before it was time to officially “check out” (which, basically, just means leave the room – I didn’t have to go down to the front desk for any reason since I was all paid up).

Just before 7:20 a.m., I went down to the lobby and bumped right into Liza – perfect timing! We walked over to Surf’s Up and stood there for a minute, pondering where Laurie and her family could be. I knew Laurie would be on time for a character meal reservation so it was surprising to me that she wasn’t there.

All of a sudden, when I looked past the front desk and into the restaurant I spotted Laurie and her family, already sitting at a table against a wall in the back, near the buffet. From what I could see, Laurie was watching a character – can’t recall who, but it may have been Pluto – interacting with her kids, and she was laughing and having a great time. She had the biggest smile on her face. But she had totally forgotten that we were meeting her at the restaurant! Lol.

It was no big deal that we were forgotten. Lol. We really didn’t mind. It’s not like we had to go out of our way to get to the restaurant, and we were hungry, so it was totally fine. I figured we would just sit down at our own table, and when Laurie had time she could come join us or say hello.

This would be my first time trying Surf’s Up, and I was curious to experience this character meal because I had heard so many good reviews of the character interaction, food, low crowd level, etc. (Molly/bumbershoot even liked some of the food there – and she is not real big on character meal buffet food!)

Of course, whether I would end up liking or disliking Surf’s Up would not make up for the fact that I greatly missed going to Goofy’s Kitchen. It’s a longstanding tradition for me (and for my friend Shawn) and I was sad that I didn’t eat there this time around – especially when it would have been so easy for Shawn to just drive over to meet me for breakfast, and because I wasn’t sure why she had completely blown me off. (And I still have no clue, to be honest.)




At Goofy’s Kitchen you pay for your meal before ever being seated. I assumed this was what would happen at Surf’s Up too, but it wasn’t. It turns out that they bring the check to your table later (like a regular, non-character meal restaurant would do).

I must admit that I actually prefer paying for the character meal up front, before being seated. I like to have the money aspect out of the way so that I can just go in and think about the food and the characters. In a regular restaurant that does not host a character meal, obviously I expect the check to come later. But I would prefer to pay for the character dining experience up front and be done with it. So that is one reason why I prefer Goofy’s Kitchen over the Storytellers Café Critter Breakfast and Surf’s Up with Mickey.

I had to tell the CM manning the front door at Surf’s Up a few different times that Liza and I would sit at our own table. I told the CM that I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to actually join Laurie and her family or just meet up with them there, but that having our own table would be fine. The CM kept saying she could put us at their table, but since they were already seated and beginning their character experience I didn’t want to just show up at their table and sit down. It made more sense at that point to sit by ourselves. I knew Laurie would eventually see us so it wasn’t like we were going to totally miss each other.

Liza and I went inside to get our photo taken with Mickey…

Another difference between Goofy’s Kitchen and Surf’s Up (for me) is that usually, when I eat at Goofy’s Kitchen, I have a bit of time to get settled in at my table, get my camera out and ready, get up and get my food from the buffet, etc., all before characters start coming to the table. It is also like that at the Critter Breakfast, where you can get settled before the characters come by. I like to ‘ease into’ my character meals and not be thrust into them, full-throttle, if that makes sense.

This was not the case at Surf’s Up. Literally, as soon as Liza and I got to the table we were greeted by Minnie. I hadn’t even had time to pull my bag off of my neck and shoulders and get my camera set to go. So I had to hurriedly try to do that as Minnie patiently waited for me to get ready.

Minnie & Liza…





My turn with Minnie (and I still hadn’t had time to take my bag off, as you can see)…

And the characters pretty much just kept coming after that – before I ever made it to the buffet!

Blurry, but cute – Liza & Pluto…this is one of those cases in which the photo didn’t really look blurry in the camera window, so I was surprised when I saw it on a full-size screen at home…








This was pretty much all the interaction that we, personally, had with Stitch– he didn’t pose with us for any photos. He came by and Liza and I were talking about something, or looking at something. I saw him approaching, and was going to try to get my camera ready - but Stitch did not want to wait. He kind of shrugged as though we were not interested in him, and just walked away. (Fellow DIS’er Escape2Disney/Carrie later said something in her TR about her Surf’s Up experience in that Stitch wasn’t really interactive with her group either – so I was surprised to learn that we were not the only ones who happened to notice that Stitch was not as attentive as we thought he would be.)

Laurie finally spotted us (her table was in direct view of ours, and vice versa) and came over to say hello! She sat down and joined us for a short time, and we got to meet a few of her kids. We also met Laurie’s husband Mike, who got a nice photo of Laurie, Liza and me together (which is in Laurie’s trip report).

I wished that I’d been able to have more time to talk to Laurie and her family– I felt that I barely even got to say hello to Mike and the kids – but everything seemed to kind of be happening at the same time, and it was getting a little hectic for me. For example, a CM was coming by the table every so often. The characters were stopping by, one after the other. I wanted to get up and get some food at the buffet. There was conversation going on at the table in snippets here and there. Everything seemed to be happening at a different, faster pace than what I am used to at Goofy’s Kitchen. I felt like I never really had a moment to kind of settle in, take a breath and check out the surroundings, enjoy my food, etc.

Laurie was so apologetic about forgetting that we were supposed to meet her – and there was no reason to be, because we were fine and we knew we’d see her anyway. She very kindly wanted to treat me to my breakfast. I felt bad about this because she had treated me at Goofy’s Kitchen back in December 2011 and I thought that, if anything, I should be treating her! If we had been eating at a meal with just us, when it was a little less hectic, I would have insisted on treating her.

I think I barely even realized that Laurie had paid for my breakfast – and I know I didn’t thank her properly for it – when a CM brought over the bill for Liza’s breakfast. I had offered to treat Liza because she was going to be driving me home (which is out of her way and nowhere near where she lives). So we had Laurie talking to the server to get my meal put on her bill, and then I was giving the server my Annual Pass so he could apply the AP discount to the bill that I was paying for Liza’s meal! Lol. It was a little frenzied and confusing for a minute there! But I’m old – I get confused easily!

Anyway, Laurie, thank you, thank you, thank you for treating me! I realized (after Liza and I left DLR) that in all of the confusion I had forgotten to thank you properly! I thought I did, and then I realized I hadn’t.

So this was my breakfast from the Surf’s Up buffet – eggs, bacon and pineapple…

I will be honest – I did not like the eggs at all. My eggs had a weird, overly creamy texture to them. However, ‘buffet eggs’ never seem to really be all that good – and I think anyone will agree to that. But each character buffet seems to have its own special brand of weird eggs – not all weird buffet eggs are alike! Lol.

There have been times when I’ve eaten at Goofy’s Kitchen and the eggs were having an ‘off’ day – they were either weird in taste or in consistency. On the other hand, there have been times when Shawn and I have eaten at Goofy’s Kitchen when the eggs were so good that we actually went back to the buffet for seconds – just to get more eggs! I don’t know why there is such a huge difference from meal to meal, but it happens.

So I am assuming that there are days when Surf’s Up probably has really good eggs too. Not that day, though! Lol.

As for the bacon and the fruit? I am usually a big fan of the bacon and the fruit at character buffets. The bacon was just okay, and the pineapple was not juicy but it was edible. There was nothing I ate that really made me say, “Wow! That’s great,” but it was all passable. Nothing made me run screaming from the restaurant in horror either! Lol.

Now, admittedly, I never went back to the buffet a second time to try to find something else to eat. The buffet at Surf’s Up is closer to the size of the Critter Breakfast buffet, so there are not too many choices – not for me, anyway. That is a big reason why I love Goofy’s Kitchen – the size of the buffet. I like having a lot of choices and Goofy’s, by far, has the widest selection of dishes from which to choose.

Surf’s Up, however, has interesting items such as huevos rancheros and chilaquiles – foods that don’t really appeal to me, personally, but will appeal to many other people.

Pluto came back again!










Daisy Duck and Liza…









Daisy and me…








Laurie stopped by to visit, with a little angel in tow!








The button that we were given at breakfast…









Stitch stole Anthony’s cap (Anthony is one of Laurie’s sons)…

Adult buffet cost (for Liza’s meal) - $27.99
Minus Premium Annual Pass 15% discount - $4.20

Subtotal - $23.79
Gratuity - $4.20
Tax - $2.17

TOTAL DUE - $30.16







So, my final thoughts on Surf’s Up with Mickey are this:

1. First of all, because I am such a longtime fan of Goofy’s Kitchen (have been eating there for 2 decades and counting), it would take an endless string of mistakes on Goofy’s Kitchen’s part to turn me against them, and Surf’s Up with Mickey would have had to do something extraordinarily outstanding and way above my expectations to surpass Goofy’s as being my personal favorite. Once you’ve established something as a tradition and have made it part of every trip, it is hard to begin to favor another restaurant over the one that is tried and true. So, for right now, Goofy’s Kitchen is still my favorite;

2. I think I like Surf’s Up better than the Storytellers Critter Breakfast because of the character interaction and because you can meet Mickey. Plus, Daisy Duck is a bonus – you never see her anywhere, so it’s nice that she can be found at this meal;

3. Even though everything was a little hectic and fast-paced for my liking, and I didn’t really have a chance to feel settled in and comfortable, from what I saw the characters are great with kids and the interaction is fantastic. I had heard that the character interaction was excellent at Surf’s Up, and it appeared to be true. The characters were dancing and being playful, and the guests at each table looked like they were having a great time. It’s not that there were more characters at this meal than you would normally find at the Critter Breakfast or at Goofy’s, but they were very attentive and that’s what people want when they are paying so much money; and

4. As far as food – again, the selection is not as varied as what you will find at Goofy’s Kitchen, and all buffet food can be ‘hit or miss’ in quality, but the buffet has a couple of interesting ethnic items that a lot of people will like (which I mentioned previously).






I think I would like to try Surf’s Up one more time – hopefully at a less hectic moment – just to get a better sense of it and, hopefully, so I can enjoy it a bit more than I did. I sort of feel like the whole experience was a blur because so much was happening at one time and I was trying to keep up. But I would definitely recommend Surf’s Up to others looking for good character interaction.

(SIDE NOTE/OBSERVATION: Just given the speed at which the characters came to the table at Surf’s Up, leaving me little time to eat, I am more certain than ever that Minnie & Friends at the Plaza Inn – which has the most characters out of all of the meals – would not be for me. Sure, the characters themselves would be fun, but I can tell that I would find the whole Minnie & Friends atmosphere chaotic and frenzied, and I probably would never feel settled enough to get a bite of food and relax. I wanted to try Minnie & Friends at some point, but I just know that it would not be my ‘scene,’ as it were.)




Liza and I said our goodbyes to Laurie and we went our separate ways. I went back up to the Paradise Pier Hotel room, took one last look out the window at the great view and wheeled my bags out into the hallway, bidding a sad farewell to my room.

Liza had parked in Downtown Disney because she wasn’t certain that the Mickey & Friends lot would be open at the time she arrived in the morning – AND, when I had asked the hotel reservations people on the phone (prior to my arrival) if guests dining at the 3 Disney hotels’ restaurants could park for free I was told a definite no, so Liza did not park at the PPH.

I later found out from a PPH parking guy that I had been given incorrect info on the phone and that guests dining at the PCH Grill (where Surf’s Up is hosted) can, indeed, park for free in the PPH lot! The parking guy said that the reservations people often give out incorrect info, and this was yet another example of it. I thought it sounded awfully odd that people wanting to, for example, park at the Grand Californian Hotel to eat at Napa Rose would have to pay for parking too. Something didn’t seem right.

Lesson learned – don’t pay attention to what the hotel reservations folks tell you about guests not being able to park in the hotels’ lots for free if they are dining in one of the hotels’ restaurants! Now they may not be able to park there for free if they are simply going into the parks or if they are staying at the hotels as guests, but if they are just dining at the restaurants the parking should be free!


I waited outside the front of the Paradise Pier Hotel, and when Liza had retrieved her car from Downtown Disney she came around to pick me up so I could load my bags in the trunk and not have to deal with leaving them at the Bell desk.

We then drove to the Mickey & Friends parking lot (which was open by that time) and went into Disneyland for a short while (at my request).


This was when I got in my other two rides of the trip! Remember I mentioned at the beginning of this TR that I only went on 3 rides over the course of the entire visit? I went on Soarin’ on Day 1, with Jackie and Bob. That was the first one. And I knew I could not leave Disneyland Resort without going on Haunted Mansion Holiday and It’s a Small World Holiday, of course! Those two rides have special seasonal overlays, and a holiday trip would not be a holiday trip without a ride on both! Plus, as sneaky as Disney is, one never knows if one year the powers that be may decide to retire one of the overlays forever. Each year could be the last chance to experience either one of them – there have been rumors over the years about both HMH and IASWH coming to an end, and it has (thankfully) not yet happened. But who knows what will happen in the future? If Disney begins to add more and more things to their seasonal festivities, they may decide to send one or both of the overlays to WDW for Orlando visitors to enjoy!

So those were my other two rides – Haunted Mansion Holiday and It’s a Small World Holiday!

I didn’t get any photos on either ride. I’ve gotten a lot of IASWH photos in the past (in 2010), and I didn’t feel the need to try to get more on this trip. As I said a while back, I don’t like to repeat myself on each trip and keep getting the same photos of the same things over and over. So it’s okay to skip a year or two and not get photos of certain things. I will probably get more IASWH photos on my next holiday trip, whenever that is!

The crowds in Disneyland were low. Both HMH and IASWH had virtually no lines (or very short lines). The increasing clouds and threat of rain were scaring most folks away, I think. This would have actually been a good day to do a lot of rides, but Liza had to get home fairly early so we didn’t stay in the parks much longer.

Liza did stop in the Disney Showcase store on Main Street to buy one of the popular Santa Mickey nutcrackers – which were still in stock – since I’d told her that they were a hot ticket, flying off the shelves! She also got some pins at the Little Green Men store in Tomorrowland.






After that brief journey into Disneyland, we headed to our last stop – World of Disney – so that I could finally use that $50 gift card that I acquired on Day 2, when I met with Annmarie, the Disney Vacation Club Cast Member!

I knew exactly where the items I had my eye on were located in the store, as I had stopped in WoD for the last 2 days to look at them!

What I ended up buying should be no surprise to anyone who has paid attention to my previous trip reports (I know that tksbaskets will not be shocked!). I love me some black Mickey t-shirts!

I first saw this adorable black Mickey t-shirt back in June 2012, when I did the Cars Land/Buena Vista Street preview, and fell in love with it! The fact that it was still available 6 months later and not totally cleared out was kismet, and I knew it was meant to be mine!









And this black Mickey t-shirt I saw on my day trip to DLR in November 2012…

The black shirt with Mickey wearing glasses (which is perfect for me, since I wear glasses!) was hanging on an upper rack that I couldn’t reach, so I had to ask a CM to get it down for me. He took his sweet time doing so. He got the reacher/device that they use to get those items down, but before he brought it over to the rack from which my Mickey tee hung he stopped to help another CM hang some different shirts on a different rack…as I stood there, waiting for him to finish. It seemed like he could have told this other CM, “Wait one minute. Let me help this customer with the shirt she wants.” I thought it was odd that he stopped to hang shirts for the other CM when he had a customer waiting. What if I had been in a huge hurry?

Oh well. A minor inconvenience, at best. I mostly just thought it was funny the way it was handled. I wasn’t mad about it.




Up to the register I went to buy my two black t-shirts.

The shirt labeled “HIP” on the receipt (the one with the glasses) - $24.95
The shirt labeled “MMLGHTNG” (the lightning shirt) - $24.95

Minus Premium Annual Pass discount of 20% - $9.98
Subtotal - $39.92
Tax - $3.09

TOTAL DUE - $43.01






I had $6.99 left on the gift card. I could have easily, easily spent that on 5000 things. I could have bought a magnet. I could have gone to Marceline’s Confectionery and bought a gingerbread cookie for the road! I could have applied the $6.99 towards another item like a mug (I love the oversized mugs that are sold around DLR) or a book and paid the balance due with cash. But I knew that we had to leave soon, and I didn’t want to keep Liza from getting home. I would have had to put some thought into exactly how I was going to use that last $6.99 and it would have taken time. So I left it as is and didn’t buy anything else.


In examining the 2 black Mickey t-shirts, I noticed that the material they are made with is thinner than what the t-shirts used to be made of in the ‘black Mickey t-shirt heyday.’ The shirts seemed a little flimsier than they used to be. It figures. It’s probably a way of cutting costs on Disney’s end.


Liza and I got on the tram, found the car in the Mickey & Friends lot and headed to my neighborhood in L.A. Just as she was dropping me off at my building it was beginning to rain a little bit, so I guess the timing was perfect.

Day 4 had reached its conclusion, and the holiday do-over trip of 2012 (to make up for the holiday 2011 debacle) was OVER!

And, of course, the next day I started coming down with a cold and I was sick for a short time. At least it wasn’t a long-lasting illness like the one I had in early 2012!





Coming up in the final installment of this TR…a Photo Recap/Wrap-Up, some Final Thoughts – and a tribute of sorts!!!

[tksbaskets]

Hi Sherry. What a great last morning (at least from my perspective). Starting with your beautiful view.

I think the whole Surfs Up breakfast doesn't really seem like my cup of tea either. I agree that Daisy Duck is a bonus! Maybe because I'm old but that seems like a lot of money for some buffet eggs (I totally agree with the hit or missness of buffet scrambled eggs!). I'm with you about wanting to be settled and ready for photos which is why I pay $27 for breakfast. Very sweet of Laurie to treat you and that Liza could join you and drive you home.

Strange that Stitch couldn't pose for pictures. Well, he is a moody little character.

I think your picture with Mickey is adorable. I really like your blue sweater. Complements black nicely My next fav pic is Pluto with his ear over your face - I think because I remember a picture in the past of Pluto and you that makes me smile.

Speaking of black .... nope, not surprised with your choice of shirts. I too noticed the lack of weight on the new Disneyland/WDW T's. You have to make sure you coordinate your .... Well you get the idea when the material is so thin. I guess it's so we aren't hot at the park?

LOVE the 'hip' Mickey shirt!!

If you're only going to go on three rides in a trip you picked a great 3. HMH and IASWH are holiday treasures not to be missed.

[PHXscuba]

Love the T-shirts you picked out. Were they the women's (hourglass) cut? My black Animal Kingdom T-shirt is thinner than I would like.

Thanks for the honest review of Surf's Up. I think this is where we will be treating DS to his birthday breakfast when we are there, as he is a longtime Stitch fan. I think the character combo is one of the best and it's right where we're staying, so win-win.

Glad you at least got on the holiday rides! Did they smell like gingerbread this time around?

I hope you can scheme a way to get back to DLR before next fall, and I'm REALLY glad you got a much better do-over trip!

PHXscuba

[Sherry E]

By the way, I haven't mentioned the weather in a while. As you know, back in August I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Fall. And when Fall arrived I was grumbling because it was still Summer-like hot. I think it wasn't until November that it finally began to feel sort of like Fall. Now, in January, it feels like Winter.

Well, this past week or two in Los Angeles we have had the weather that I wait for all year! This is what it should have been like in December but as I have mentioned before, we get delayed weather in L.A. It has been cold out here - dropping to the low 30's at night in my specific area, and often only in the low 50's in the daytime. It is brisk and chilly.

And when I tell you that I have been cold, you know that it has been cold! Last night I was walking around wearing 3 sweaters and 3 pairs of socks - I love bundling up to get warm! My hands are absolute blocks of ice. And yet, I don't mind it at all! I would much rather have ice block hands and wear layers of clothes than feel hot and miserable!

Originally Posted by tksbaskets

Hi Sherry. What a great last morning (at least from my perspective). Starting with your beautiful view.

I think the whole Surfs Up breakfast doesn't really seem like my cup of tea either. I agree that Daisy Duck is a bonus! Maybe because I'm old but that seems like a lot of money for some buffet eggs (I totally agree with the hit or missness of buffet scrambled eggs!). I'm with you about wanting to be settled and ready for photos which is why I pay $27 for breakfast. Very sweet of Laurie to treat you and that Liza could join you and drive you home.

Strange that Stitch couldn't pose for pictures. Well, he is a moody little character.

I think your picture with Mickey is adorable. I really like your blue sweater. Complements black nicely My next fav pic is Pluto with his ear over your face - I think because I remember a picture in the past of Pluto and you that makes me smile.

Speaking of black .... nope, not surprised with your choice of shirts. I too noticed the lack of weight on the new Disneyland/WDW T's. You have to make sure you coordinate your .... Well you get the idea when the material is so thin. I guess it's so we aren't hot at the park?

LOVE the 'hip' Mickey shirt!!

If you're only going to go on three rides in a trip you picked a great 3. HMH and IASWH are holiday treasures not to be missed.

TK -

The final morning was pretty good - except for that it meant the end of the trip!

I would like to give Surf's Up another try at some point in the future, just to see if it feels any less hectic to me and also to see if I like the food any better. I thought the characters were fun, but I just need to be able to get settled and eat my food without so much going on at one time. Then again, part of that had to do with the fact that the server brought the check over later in the meal. I would have preferred to pay up front (like at Goofy's) and get the money out of the way.

The funny thing is, even though many folks say that Goofy's is much busier than Surf's Up, I never, ever feel so frenzied at Goofy's. I always feel like I have time to get situated, get my food and relax in between character visits! And even at the Critter Breakfast, which I am not a big fan of, I had time to get settled and ease into the character visits.

Stitch seemed to be interactive with other tables and with kids, but I think he just didn't want to wait for me to get my camera ready.

Yes, it was very sweet (and unnecessary) for Laurie to treat me - especially since I wasn't even at her table - and for Liza to take me home. It saved me a bit of cash in shuttle fees.

Thank you - I'm glad you like the picture with Mickey - I thought that it was a cute picture of Liza but I couldn't tell if I liked my portion of the picture or not! I don't think I've gotten my picture taken with Mickey in years and years (unless I'm blanking out on something).

I purposely pulled Pluto's ear over my face to mimic a picture that I took with Goofy at Goofy's Kitchen back in 2007, I think (or was it 2008?). I figured I would just keep pulling characters' ears over my face as a running 'theme' in photos!

About that blue sweater - I should confess that in addition to black Mickey t-shirts, I also have a thing for crocheted sweaters! I have had a variety of them over the years in different colors and styles and most of them eventually fell apart or unraveled because they were delicate - or my big, heavy purses/bags wore them down on the sides or whatever. I like them because they are usually good to wear on sunny days to cover my arms and prevent sunburns, BUT because of the holes in the sweater I am kept well-ventilated! They can work for any season, really. BUT, I can't always find good crocheted sweaters. Either they are in styles I don't like, or they are way, way, way too expensive. Or I simply can't find any. So on the rare occasion when I find one somewhere and it is reasonably priced, I like to grab it if I can!

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has noticed that the t-shirts have gotten thinner! I used to buy a bunch of Mickey tees in the old days and I know that the material was not quite as thin.

But I guess I have to be glad that I was able to find any black Mickey t-shirts at all. For a while - as I think we discussed back in June or so - there was a shortage of black Mickey t-shirts for sale in the parks and at the Disney Store online. I had to resort to - gasp - dark blue in some cases! I'm glad to see a hearty return of black Mickey t-shirts with several different designs. There were even a couple of extra shirts at World of Disney that I could have bought but didn't. Chances are, Disney will go through another phase of no black t-shirts down the road, so I had to at least snap up a couple while they were there.

The HIP shirt (I don't know why it is called HIP on the receipt?) is my favorite, because I love Mickey wearing glasses. I thought the lightning shirt would be good to wear during Halloween Time, for that 'I want to attend the Halloween Party and seem somewhat Halloween-ish but not wear an actual costume' look!

I probably wouldn't have even ended up on Soarin' if Jackie and Bob hadn't brought it up. But yes, HMH and IASWH can't be missed during any holiday season. I would have gone on them eventually, even by myself if I had to, but I figured LIza would be up for a ride on both.

Originally Posted by PHXscuba

Love the T-shirts you picked out. Were they the women's (hourglass) cut? My black Animal Kingdom T-shirt is thinner than I would like.

Thanks for the honest review of Surf's Up. I think this is where we will be treating DS to his birthday breakfast when we are there, as he is a longtime Stitch fan. I think the character combo is one of the best and it's right where we're staying, so win-win.

Glad you at least got on the holiday rides! Did they smell like gingerbread this time around?

I hope you can scheme a way to get back to DLR before next fall, and I'm REALLY glad you got a much better do-over trip!

PHXscuba

PHX -

Those particular t-shirts that I bought didn't have the women's cut. I didn't see any versions of them with the hourglass shape. However, there are quite a few other shirts all around World of Disney and in many of the shops in both parks that have that cut. The Facebook shirts, for example (the ones that have Disney characters on them and say "Don't make me unfriend you" and "Relationship status: It's Complicated"), have women's cuts, and more feminine colors like pink, lavender, light blue, etc.

I wish the shirts were just a touch thicker. They feel flimsy.

I think the Surf's Up meal will be good for your family, especially because your son likes Stitch. I can see how the characters are a big hit with the guests. I tried to be fair and honest in my assessment of it. It wasn't my favorite, but I think there is a good possibility I could like it much more if I went there on a different day when there was less going on all at once. Maybe I'd have more time to examine the buffet and find something else I liked.

There was a gingerbread-y smell on Haunted Mansion Holiday, but because that gingerbread centerpiece in the ballroom had been sitting there since September I knew that the smell was being piped in from somewhere. It wasn't fresh. I'm sure it is usually piped in anyway, but the smell was a bit different than when you smell it at the beginning of Halloween Time.

There was a smell that was sort of peppermint-y during the candy scene in It's a Small World Holiday, but not quite peppermint-y enough.

Hopefully I can get back to DLR before September, but that wouldn't be my usual pattern. Last year was a fluke year in that I had the June Cars Land preview, the Catalina trip in July and the first-day-of-the-holiday-season trip in November - and yet I skipped Halloween Time. All of that would normally not be happening in a year for me. I don't know what Catalina Express is going to do, and if they are extending the free boat ride once again. They will probably announce it in March if they do. So that is up in the air.

Thank you, PHX. Yes, this do-over trip was, overall, a better trip than the 2011 fiasco, for sure, even though it started out kind of rocky and the 2011 trip started out great! Isn't it funny how that worked out? December 2011 started out great but went steadily downhill, and December 2012 started out a bit rocky but went uphill!

I still have no clue what the deal was with my friend and why she went from saying that she would come to see me when I was at DLR to totally ignoring me and blowing me off, and I suppose that at some point down the road I will have to deal with it to see if there is some kind of problem that I was not made aware of. But, that issue aside, it was a good trip in every other area!

Oh, and it was also good because I didn't have any major pain issues in my hip/leg/back on this past DLR trip, like I often do. When I think back to some of my more painful DLR trips (2010 was one, as was 2007), I cringe. Thankfully, I was spared any major pain episodes last month.

I will have the final installment - the Wrap-Up/Recap, etc. - in the next day or two, so stay tuned!!

[kaoden39]

I love your t-shirts!! I have a guess why it says HIP on the tag.....this is when having daughters that are teenaged or young adults come in handy. I bet that he is hipster Mickey!


Maybe Stitch figured you guys wanted to eat.

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by kaoden39

I love your t-shirts!! I have a guess why it says HIP on the tag.....this is when having daughters that are teenaged or young adults come in handy. I bet that he is hipster Mickey!


Maybe Stitch figured you guys wanted to eat.

Michele -

I figured that it was something like that (the "HIP" code word being short for hipster), but I guess I didn't really know that it was a specific hipster look! I saw it and just thought, "Oh, how cute - he's wearing glasses!" It never dawned on me that Mickey was a hipster. From what the CM who rang me up told me, that shirt is very popular. I couldn't believe it was still available 6 months after I first saw it, especially with the influx of holiday merchandise and 2013 merchandise hitting the shelves. I figured I'd better grab the "HIP" shirt at that moment or I probably wouldn't get another shot at it.

Liza and I had not even made it to the buffet to get our food at the time that Stitch came by. We were looking at something or talking about something when Stitch came over. I was trying to get the camera set to take a picture, and Stitch shrugged as if we weren't interested in him and walked off before I got the camera set. Carrie/Escape2Disney (who Laurie met at Trader Sam's) said that she had a similar experience with Stitch when her group ate at Surf's Up - he wasn't interested in her/their table (at which none of whom were small children) at all either! (But Stitch appears to be really great with kids, so that is important to note!)

It took a while before I got to the buffet because the characters were coming by and then Laurie came by. When Laurie went back to her table I went to the buffet. Mike was at the buffet too - either getting food or taking photos - and he showed me the camera he had, but I barely had a chance to look at it.

I heard Laurie telling one of her kids (who must have questioned who in the heck I was when they saw her talking to me), "That's the moderator..."

[PlutoRocks]

Great updates! I love the shirts too! The lightening one is awesome - i love the color of the mickey against the black.

I'm glad you had a good last day at the park and got to ride both holiday rides. the breakfast looks fun but I agree, I prefer to get myself settled and get my food before I have to start jumping up to get pictures. I don't adjust well to those types of things and tend to get irritated and a bit grouchy if I am pushed to change gears too fast - my sisters call that "part of my charm"

I am still sorry your friend didn't come through and spend any time with you at the parks this year. It can be hard to find out who really cares about you - trust me I've had a lot of that in recent years and it isn't fun.

can't wait to read the wrap up.

OH - the weather - that's what I wanted to mention. Here in Phoenix we have been getting down to the LOW 20s in the nights - ridiculous!! Our highs are only low 50s. So crazy! We have to endure extremely hot temperatures in summer we shouldn't have to also endure extremely cold temperatures in winter. Winter is supposed to be the payoff for the summer! Oh well - what are you gonna do?

Take care! I'm still here and still reading!

[Sherry E]

Originally Posted by PlutoRocks

Great updates! I love the shirts too! The lightening one is awesome - i love the color of the mickey against the black.

I'm glad you had a good last day at the park and got to ride both holiday rides. the breakfast looks fun but I agree, I prefer to get myself settled and get my food before I have to start jumping up to get pictures. I don't adjust well to those types of things and tend to get irritated and a bit grouchy if I am pushed to change gears too fast - my sisters call that "part of my charm"

I am still sorry your friend didn't come through and spend any time with you at the parks this year. It can be hard to find out who really cares about you - trust me I've had a lot of that in recent years and it isn't fun.

can't wait to read the wrap up.

OH - the weather - that's what I wanted to mention. Here in Phoenix we have been getting down to the LOW 20s in the nights - ridiculous!! Our highs are only low 50s. So crazy! We have to endure extremely hot temperatures in summer we shouldn't have to also endure extremely cold temperatures in winter. Winter is supposed to be the payoff for the summer! Oh well - what are you gonna do?

Take care! I'm still here and still reading!

Thank you, Dawn!

I really appreciate that you're still here (along with TK & PHXscuba). So many other former followers have vanished!

There were probably a good 4 or 5 black Mickey t-shirts in World of Disney that I liked enough to buy, but I wanted to limit it to 2. The lightning one (I agree - I like the coloring of it) sort of said "Halloween Time" to me, and the "HIP" shirt with the glasses was something I wanted since last June.

I'm sure that Surf's Up isn't always quite so fast-paced and hectic. There are probably other days I could go there and have a chance to get settled in. But that was not the day.

And I totally, completely know what you mean - I get grouchy and also don't adjust well if I feel rushed or pushed into changing gears before I'm ready! I like to do things at my own pace. I am so used to having that 'settling in time' at Goofy's Kitchen (and even at the Critter Breakfast) that I wasn't expecting Surf's Up to be a go, go, go type of situation because I'd always heard that it was less busy than Goofy's.

Here is the real issue - the core issue - that bugs me about my friend not showing up (and totally blowing me off, ignoring my messages): inconsistency. Yes, it is disrespectful and inconsiderate to totally ignore messages and to have no regard for the time it took me to contact her. And yes, it is sad that she didn't show up and that our tradition of a Goofy's Kitchen visit was tossed out the window.

BUT, the thing that really, really bugs me underneath everything else is when people behave inconsistently within a short time frame. When people act a certain way or say they will do certain things, and then just a few weeks later they suddenly act as though they never said those things or never made those plans, it frustrates me beyond belief. It's like certain people don't even want to acknowledge that they ever said X, Y or Z. It would be so easy to just say, "I know I said I would come and meet you, but [fill in the blank] came up and I can't." My friend would still be backing out on the plan, but at least she would be acknowledging that she did say she would come to see me at one point - instead of just not communicating at all and leaving me to figure everything out for myself.

So that is my main gripe - when people behave inconsistently in a short period of time and act like they don't even remember certain conversations/decisions/plans from before.

The Wrap-Up is coming soon - I was initially going to post a photo highlight reel/recap of what I did on the trip. Then I thought I might post a photo highlight reel of my favorite parts of the trip (which could vary slightly from the photos of what I did). Then I thought I might just post my favorite photos (since I said before I started this TR that I wasn't going to reveal which photos were my favorites at that point). So my brain locked up in trying to decide!

I would not mind the low 20's that you all are having in Phoenix at night if I could get some snow with that too! We have definitely dropped below freezing on some nights, and had many other nights of 35 or 38-degree weather. But there is no snow in my specific area of SoCal. There is snow (and even colder weather) in many other SoCal cities, but not in my neck of the woods. We had a wee bit of frost in the morning over this past weekend, but no snow here in the heart of L.A. Just once I would love to see some natural snow falling in L.A. I don't care what time of night it is - if I ever see snow falling in my neighborhood, I will bundle up and run outside!

However...although I would love to have your 20-degree temperatures (I'll just bundle up in every piece of clothing I have), you can have your extremely hot weather in the Summer and Fall! I do not want any of that heat!

[rentayenta]

Nice update and how sweet of your friend to treat you to breakfast. I'm still here.

[lsulindy]

Finally made it over here to check out your mask photos. Gorgeous photos! And gorgeous masks. I hope my crew will allow me a few moments to appreciate them! My mom used to have some hanging in our entryway when I was a kid and they really creeped me out! (She also had a huge painting of two owls in the living room. It was dark brown owls in a tree with dark brown/black leaves. The only color was the yellow/orange eyes of the owls. When you got up during the night, there were just these eyes looking at you. I don't know what she was trying to do to us!) Anyway, thanks so much for sharing. I'm glad they'll still be up for the Mardi Gras festivities during our trip.

Hopefully I can catch up with the rest of your report soon!

[mvf-m11c]

Just got back a few days ago from my DLR trip and see that you have posted a new one. I will tell you a lot about the experience at GK during my visit which everyone in my party really liked it a lot. Thank you Sherry for the tips at GK.

Very nice photos from your room that morning. A little cloudy that night which is typical in SoCal.

Nice to see that you had breakfast at PCH Grill Surf's Up that morning with Liza and Laurie. I might have to try that character breakfast one day at the PPH. That was very nice of Liza and Laurie to treat you and take you home later that day. It was nice of you to write up about the PCH Grill Surf's Up breakfast and compare it with GK which you have eaten at a lot in your past trips.

I like all of your photos with the characters and it was neat that you were able to see Stitch that morning for breakfast.

[lsulindy]

Originally Posted by mvf-m11c

Thank you Sherry for the tips at GK.

Where can I find your GK tips? We'll be doing that and Minnie & Friends. I don't know why but I tend to get flustered and frazzled at character meals, so any tips are appreciated!

[mvf-m11c]

Originally Posted by lsulindy

Where can I find your GK tips? We'll be doing that and Minnie & Friends. I don't know why but I tend to get flustered and frazzled at character meals, so any tips are appreciated!

You can also find tips on the Character Meals Super Thread!! which will tell you everything about the character meals at the DLR.

[wiigirl]

I love that lightning Mickey shirt!

[azdisneylover]

Finally got caught up while everyone is asleep! DH will be getting up in a couple of hours to head out of town to work. (4 days out, home for 3, makes life interesting to say the least). Great trip report. Absolutely love all the photos, especially of the flowers. The yellow daisies during winter. Cool. I can't believe you only went on 3 rides the whole time you were there. I am glad you had a better trip than the one prior.