"The Best Things in my Life came from Disney" - ABD Backstage Magic, Summer 2010 TR

[ragtopday]

Pictures are uploaded to Photobucket, time to start the trip report. Turns out my pre-amble is so long that my first post is actually the "Pre-Trip Report" and no photos to boot! Patience, my dear readers, there is much more to come!

I was on the Podcast Cruise in May 2009 when Pete announced an ABD trip in April of 2010, nearly a year away. My heart started racing with excitement, but I knew without knowing any other details that I couldn’t do it, as much as I wanted to. I’m a single mom, and I knew 1) this wouldn’t be an appropriate trip for the ages of my kids, and 2) going on my own would provide logistical challenges too great to overcome with their care while I was away. I’d have to live vicariously through the lucky 44 who did go.

And when the first few of those 44 started posting their trip reports I vowed that if there was ever another one, that I would find a way to go.

I don’t think it was a week later that Pete first teased on Facebook, and then on the boards, about another trip. I wanted to go. I yearned to go. But not only did the same issues as 1 & 2 above still exist, but I had the extremely short time frame to get time off work (especially since my vacation for the year had already been accounted for), and coming up with a way to pay for it so quickly!

I spoke on the phone with my good friend Sandy (sandyh67 on the boards) about the trip and she couldn’t go with me, but empathized with my wanting to go. A few hours after we hung up she called me again and suggested I bring my kids to her house (she lives a 7 hour drive away) while I went on the trip. Our kids are more like sister-cousins than just friends and I knew my kids would be safe and happy there. A few hours after that, her husband called and reiterated the offer. OK, my first two obstacles cleared, thanks to my awesome friends, the ones I choose as family. I did some fancy footwork at work to clear vacation time (and the fact I can work from anywhere will help with a week I want to take at the end of the year - it will just be a "working" vacation). Money, eh, let's not talk about that!

I posted on the boards that I’d need a roommate to make it work financially, and Nichole (nmoore14) PM’d me about it. Now let me just say right now that if I were going on some random tour by myself I would never consider rooming with a stranger. Never. I’d rather pay through the nose for the single supplement than chance it with someone I’d never met. But there is something about DIS’ers, and even an extra something about fans of the Podcast, that I really had no qualms about it at all. I do enjoy my alone time, but I’m happy to say that Nichole and I got along great and it was even nice to have someone to recap the day with.

So, plans in place for the kids and my room – all the rest was the fun stuff: booking my flight (one airline on the way out, another on the way back), packing and getting there! Oh, and weekly chats on the Disboards with some of our fellow travelers, a nice way to pass the time, share the excitement and start getting to know each other just a tad. Not everyone could make it each week (or any week) but we made do!

Next up: Carry-on only? Can I do it? Will AirTran confiscate my oversized “personal item” and make me pay the luggage fee?

 

[Jeff & Stacy in NYC]

I love how you started with the pre-trip activities. That's part of the experience also! Can't wait till the next chapter!!

 

[ragtopday]

Stacy - Did you notice the title of this report is a quote from you??

 

[ragtopday]

Getting There

My iPhone alarm (isn’t an iPhone required equipment on any Podcast related trip/event?) went off at 3:45 am. I got up, showered and dressed in record time, and my driver (my friend’s sleepy husband) appeared in pajamas at 4:15 to drive me to the airport. Who knew the moon was so beautiful in the middle of the night?

Now, I have a little luggage confession. I usually fly Southwest, where “It’s on” and your bags (up to 2 per person) fly free. Because of the relatively last minute nature of this trip, oh, and the fact Southwest doesn’t fly out of the airport where my friends live, I had to fly another carrier, and I’m a tad on the cheap, errr, frugal side, so didn’t want to pay for luggage. I packed all my clothes, etc in a rolling duffel which was definitely carry-on size and I also had a backpack which held my laptop and new DSLR camera. I had been planning to put this under the seat in front of me as my “personal item” but I wasn’t entirely sure it would fit. I pictured luggage inspectors at the gate pulling people out of line and making them pay the luggage fee while whisking our errant luggage into the abyss.

Hmmm, I handed over my ticket, the agent scanned it, and I walked on the plane. No one seemed to care that I was towing a rolling duffel bag and my backpack made Quasimodo look normal.

However, the space under the seat in front of me was just a bit too short. My backpack seriously infringed up on my own leg room, and didn’t meet the FAA standards. No one told me this, per se, but I also knew I would not be flying across the country with my feet cramped into no space at all, even if they let me. I found a spot, far from where I was seated, in the overhead compartment for my backpack too. Phew, luggage fee averted!

Short layover in Atlanta (flying from the northeast to the southeast just to go west still doesn’t make any sense to me, but, whatever) and I’m on my way to LA!

My plane landed almost a half hour early and I was met with this wondrous sight:

How cool is that? He had just returned from a trip taking Pete and Walter to the hotel and took great pride in telling me he had just met my “radio host”. At first I thought he worked for ABD, but then figured out ABD contracts with the limo company. He was a great tour guide, pointing out various points of interest along the way. What I found amazing was that each party seems to get its own driver.

Soon enough I arrived at the Renaissance and it’s right there in the middle of the action! What a great location! Our guides, Michael and Dean (I love them! They were wonderful!) had a separate table set up in the lobby. Since my roommate Nichole had checked in the day before, my room was already ready and I headed up to see the room and meet her for the first time (nervous!).

I knocked on the door and Nichole opened it – we couldn’t help but share a giddy hug! Then I looked around the room and was amazed and delighted at the view:

It’s the HOLLYWOOD sign, you guys! So excited, so cool!

It was maybe 11:00 am California time, but 2:00 Eastern time and I’d been up since 3:45 (with very little sleep the night before, may I add) and I was both hungry (very) and exhausted (even verier). Nichole and I set out to get food and quickly decided on California Pizza Kitchen right next to our hotel in the Hollywood & Highland complex. We had a great lunch, people watched a bit, took some photos:

and walked around a little, looking at the stars in the sidewalk- I had to get this one for my friend Kim, a huge Donald fan:

Roy (never did make it far enough down to see one of Walt’s)

I bought a postcard to send to my kids and then headed back to the hotel for a much needed nap. In the lobby we ran into a whole bunch of our fellow travelers and were positively dizzy with delight introducing ourselves to one another and exclaiming with excitement! Soon enough everyone set off in their own directions. Nichole went off to explore on her own, and I tried to sleep. Not sure I actually slept, but lying down with closed eyes sure felt good for a bit. While I was doing that, our guide Michael called and said dinner had been moved from 5:50 pm to 5:00 pm – yikes, I better get up!

We met outside the Twist restaurant to meet everyone formally, and took the first of many group photos. Rob gave out homemade journals to everyone – what a great idea, and so sweet! Pete and Walter gave us all DIS Unplugged ABD Backstage Magic visors – here I am sporting both:

Dinner was served in a banquet room of the hotel. We sat down at round tables, wedding style, and 4 contestants were chosen for Disney Jeopardy:

John, Rob, Pam and Wayne represented us all – it was close, but John pulled out a victory, earning a photo album while the others got Vinylmation dolls.

Dinner was the same for all – no menu or choice at all. It was decent enough.

Dessert, however, was AMAZING!

We also had our choice of wine or beer with dinner. I don’t think they had had lessons in how to pour a glass of wine, since not only was each glass filled nearly to the brim (I practically had to come to the glass to take my first sip), but was refilled as soon as the level dropped an inch or so. No empty wine glasses are allowed, apparently! So who knows how much wine I drank!

Nancy Johnson (YellowMickeyPonchos) came to meet us and give us some tips after dinner, but those of us who had traveled from the east coast were dropping like flies. We said good night and headed off for some rest before our first full day – El Capitan Theater, Jimmy Kimmel and Griffith Park up tomorrow!

Next up: Will we see anyone famous?

 

[Jeff & Stacy in NYC]

Stacy - Did you notice the title of this report is a quote from you??

I am so proud to be part of your trip report!!

Talking to Dean really made me realize how true it is: I found Jeff (or rather he found me because I was already working at The Disney Store); had wonderful times w/ my family; and met the most friendly, incredible people! I am so happy to have met you and all our fellow adventurers, our guides, and of course, the DIS podcast crew! This is the vacation that keeps on giving!

 

[NitroStitch]

Great report so far!

If I hadn't been so emotional, I would have added to Stacy's comments that the best things in her life have come from Disney. Paul and I met at Walt Disney World, we have all these amazing trips, and I enjoyed sharing the amazing Adventure with such wonderful people!

 

[paulasillars]

Can't wait to read the rest of it!

 

[kab407]

Kristen- looking forward to reading your trip report and seeing what your adventure was like.

 

[nmoore14]

Great trip report Kristen! I know you were happy to arrive with carry-on only, but you didn't leave that way

Can't wait to read more about our trip and feel like I am there again!

 

[Zzizzy]

Wow, this is really good Kristen. It's like I was there. (Wait a minute, I was!) I love your writing style. Thanks; looking forward to more.

 

[Chropistopy]

Great report Kristen! I can't wait to continue reading!

Lisa: I know what you mean about being emotional. After everyone's comments that night, I was a mess...but it was a good cry.

 

[scrappinDW]

Kristen, We just got home last night and it is fun to re-live the trip again.
We had your driver to take us back to the airport, he was a very nice guy and talked to us the whole way.
I love your pictures!!!
Pam

 

[Jeff & Stacy in NYC]

Great report so far!

If I hadn't been so emotional, I would have added to Stacy's comments that the best things in her life have come from Disney. Paul and I met at Walt Disney World, we have all these amazing trips, and I enjoyed sharing the amazing Adventure with such wonderful people!

OMG! OMG! Are we reading this correctly? Are you signed up for the 7/31 ABD BSM? That would be SOOOOO COOL!!!

 

[ragtopday]

We were to meet at 7:30 outside Twist for our morning trek. We walked out the back entrance of our hotel through the Kodak Theater entrance where the American Idol finale is filmed, as well as the Oscars. Our guides told us about how the whole area gets a makeover for the Oscars, since it just wouldn’t do to give free advertising to the stores lining the walkway. Black curtains are hung covering all the storefronts to give the illusion of a dedicated walkway. Even the stone stairs leading up from the street to the theater have a red carpet built in. Columns on both sides list the Best Picture winners from each decade.

Our first destination was Graumans Chinese Theater. It was still early in the morning, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. So many footprints and signatures of our favorite stars. They rotate out some of the cement blocks to make room for new stars, but the “old Hollywood” stars will be there always. I think my favorite was Whoopi Goldberg, whose braid is part of her footprint. One of my favorite actresses:

Did you know that there is only one person who has 5 stars on the Walk of Fame, one for each genre: TV, Movies, Radio, Theater and Music? Any guesses? Answer at the bottom of this post! ☺

We headed back the other direction across the street – destination Disney Soda Shop for breakfast! I was pretty hungry by now, and dove into the fruit cup in the pretty sundae glass already at our places.

At the entrance to the shop is a star for Disneyland, the only non-person (real or character) to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

For breakfast we had a few options to choose from (yes, I took the menu):

From the reviews I’d read of this place I was determined to order anything-but-eggs, and for me that meant the only choice was a Mickey waffle.

I have this 2 thumbs up! It was twice the size as the Mickey waffles you get in the park, and fresh! It was really very yummy.

While there, the manager gave us some history of the shop and Disney, and challenged us to a Disney trivia quiz. Rob volunteered to answer for us, but we were allowed to help him. He knew most of them on his own – only needed to “ask the audience” once or twice (even though we couldn’t help shouting out the answer when we knew anyway!). Later on I learned Jeff is a Spanish teacher and so I was surprised he wasn’t the one shouting out the answer to how Buzz would say “You’ve got a friend in me” in his Spanish mode (several questions were based on Toy Story 3). Because Rob answered all questions correctly, we “won” 20% off our entire purchase of anything in the store for the rest of the day. Pretty sweet! I’m sure every group gets this, but it was still cool!

Some store scenes:

Now, a word about the weather. In the northeast, where I’m from, we have been experiencing extremely hot and dry weather the last few weeks. We’re talking 90+ for weeks on end. Very unusual. In southern California it was downright chilly! In July! I was in a fleece hoodie with shorts, and wished I’d brought jeans! Who knew it would be so cold?

After breakfast and a little shopping we walked through the soda shop into the El Capitan theater right next door. They handed us all a small popcorn on the way in. OK, we’ll call it dessert from breakfast.

Let me say that visiting the theater was not something I was overly looking forward to since I just didn’t think it would be that interesting. How wrong I was! One of the stories we heard was that a fledgling director was shopping his movie back in the early 40’s, and couldn’t find a theater to screen it. Finally El Capitan agreed to show it, and the world was introduced to “Citizen Kane” by Orson Welles. We were greeted by Ty, the organist, who played a few songs on the house organ, which was gorgeous. The theater itself is a work of art. My photos just do not do it justice. Do yourself a favor and visit it in person someday.

We were also treated to a curtain show – the only theater left in the US who still does one. Again, pictures don’t capture this, but suffice to say it was delightful!

We also got to get up on stage and learn a bit about the curtains, the drops and trap doors, one of which is called the Mickey Door, even though Mickey has never used it. They do use it for other character appearances though, but apparently Miley Cyrus and her team decided it was “too fast” to be safe for her.

The theater where “Jimmy Kimmel Live” is filmed was next on the agenda. Again, this is not a show I watch (except after the “LOST” finale in May, since one thing Jimmy and I share is a huge love of that show!). The theater was mostly empty at this early hour as the bulk of the work is done a bit later in the day (taping starts around 7 pm). The theater is housed in an old building which has had many purposes in its history, including as a monastery. It is considered a historic building, so any changes must be approved, and therefore a lot is sort of retrofitted around what’s there. It also means lots of cool details remain. Unfortunately we were not permitted to take photos here, but we visited the control room, the sound room and the studio. The actual audience area is quite small. On the wall Gary Coleman’s pants were hung, lowered to half mast since his death– according to the Jimmy Kimmel person giving the tour Jimmy won those pants on eBay fair and square, but that Gary was never happy about it (I don’t blame him!).

We were treated to some ghost stories, and then visited the Green Room where the guest stars hang out before the taping. We were told they no longer serve hard alcohol to the guests due to some issues – wine and beer only. I had heard our Jimmy Kimmel guy talking to some other people about someone in the house, and sure enough I spied Troy Polamalu, yes, the safety for the Pittsburgh Steeler, getting gussied up in one of the rooms at the end of the hall! Apparently he was there to do a promotion for Head & Shoulders, and sure enough someone walked buy with 2 huge bottles of it a bit later on!

OK, getting too long here – you’ll have to wait for the next post to hear about the Jim Henson Studios and Griffith Park!

Answer: The only person to have 5 stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame is Gene Autry, the Singing Cowboy.

 

[Chropistopy]

Great Day 2 recap, Kristen!!

I forgot all about Gary Coleman's pants at JKL and the H&S spot. I'm glad there are multiple people doing recaps. Between all of us, we should capture all the details.

 

[Jeff & Stacy in NYC]

You remembered so many great details form this part of the trip! We can't wait to read the rest of day 2!

 

[NitroStitch]

OMG! OMG! Are we reading this correctly? Are you signed up for the 7/31 ABD BSM? That would be SOOOOO COOL!!!

As you know now from the other threads, yes, we're going on the 7/31 ABD DSM tour! It's going to be SOOOOO much fun!

Wonderful trip reporting Kristen! I'm so happy to have these extremely detailed and photography-filled reports to relive the memories and support my own memory of details.

 

[ragtopday]

So where were we? Oh yeah, wrapping up our tour of Jimmy Kimmel. We went outside to view the parking lot where they sometimes hold outdoor concerts. Every year for the Oscars they have to completely overhaul how they do things there and tear down the staging and buildings they keep in their parking lots to make room for Oscar related cars and equipment. It certainly appears to be a HUGE job!

We bid adieu to our friendly and knowledgeable JKL staff and boarded the bus for the first time, collecting a nice cold water bottle and a snack as we climbed on. Music was playing on the bus – “Believe it or Not”, the theme song from the 80’s TV show “Greatest American Hero” was playing to start things off, but what turned out to be funny was this song was the lead off song several more times. Most of the other songs played were Disney related, so at least that made sense. Anyone know if this song has a Disney connection?

Bus Driver Don drove us through the streets of Hollywood, pointing out various interesting or historic places along the way. Unfortunately I missed a lot of this, as I was dealing with a phone call from the mechanic working on my car, telling me it was going to cost nearly as much as this trip to fix it! When it rains it pours, right?

We pulled up to the Jim Henson studios, which is in the former Charlie Chaplin studios, so lots of references to him around. The studios are on a very busy Hollywood street, and it would be easy to pass on by not knowing what it was…..oh, wait:

Me and Charlie:

Inside the gate:

How could I not take photos of the rest room signs? Why, even a child would know which door to walk through!

A gorgeous Muppet mural in a conference room - just see if you can't find your favorite (we couldn't think of one that was missed):

Anyone know what show/movie these characters are from? I don’t recognize them but I absolutely love them!!

Our gang:

At Jim Henson we were only allowed to take photos in very specific places – the coolest spots were off limits of course. We visited a sound stage, which I had never been to and was unlike anything I had pictured. It was basically a huge room bathed in black: black floors, black walls, and a very tall, ware-house like black ceiling.

We learned about maquettes – basically models built to represent the puppets before they are built and to help in building them. We learned how the show “Sid the Science Kid” is made, which is pretty unique in animation. We got to view the actual puppets used in films/shows such as Scooby Doo, Dinosaurs (the poor baby puppet is deteriorating ☹ ). For some puppets, one actor controls the body and another the hands and voice – talk about teamwork!

Lunch was a picnic under some tents outside. I got “Joe’s Salad” (I’m not quite sure who Joe is, but he makes a great salad) with tomato soup as my appetizer. The soup was hot, thick and flavorful – almost like a marinara sauce, and I mean that in a good way. The salad had lots of avocados on it, and two others at my table don’t like avocados (the shock!) so I got to have theirs too – bonus!

After lunch we got to visit where the Emmy is stored! Yes, we all got to hold a Jim Henson Emmy which was oh-so-cool! Of course it wouldn’t be right not to include Kermit in the glory.

Then Grant treated us to a puppet demonstration in the sound stage. He explained that Jim Henson pictured the TV as a stage. There was a camera set up at above head level, attached to a TV. He held a panda puppet (DJ) above his head so that we could see him in the TV monitor and did some things with him. It was really cool to watch the puppeteer walking around the stage, and to see the puppet itself on the screen. He picked two folks from our group to try it out – Stacy you were hilarious (I mean that in a good way too). I loved your dentist line! Paul tried it too – both were great sports and I think we all realized how much coordination and even strength (you’re holding that puppet over your head, for crying out loud!) is required to operate a puppet.

Here we are posing with Grant and DJ at the end of the visit:

“Believe it or not” it was time to say goodbye again and get on the bus. Don drove us through Hollywood and the Los Feliz neighborhood. I saw a few “For Sale” signs as we drove through – I’m thinking about picking one up.

Our destination was Griffith Park, the largest municipal park in the country, yes, bigger than Central Park! This is where Walt used to bring his daughters on Saturdays to ride the merry-go-round, and where he first conceived the idea of Disneyland. It’s also where his barn has been re-created and model trains live. A dedicated group of volunteers are out there every Sunday giving tours, and on the third Sunday of every month they give free train rides. Yes, free! I swear if I lived there I’d be there every week!

A very knowledgeable and enthusiastic member of Walt’s Barn Crew (of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society) talked us through everything in Walt’s Barn. The barn itself is truly amazing. Walt had it built in his yard on Carolwood Drive in Holmby Hills at a smaller than full sized scale. He wanted it built to look old, so the roof sags, on purpose, in places, as does the center of the doorway. The paint is even designed to look weathered, and when it starts to look too new, they repaint it to look old again! After he died, his daughter donated it to the society, and it was painstakingly taken down, numbered and re-built at Griffith Park.

The train and tracks around the barn are at 1/8 scale, which is what Walt had in his own yard to entertain guests. He was always a designer and showman. When he decided to build a tunnel in his yard for his train to go through he designed it with a bend. His landscaper told him it would be cheaper to do it straight, but Walt wanted the bend to give the illusion of darkness and the feeling that you didn’t know when it would end. I cannot tell you how much I admire his vision!

Here we are enjoying a ride around the grounds on the train:

Pete taking video of us (check out his Facebook page to see the video itself):

After our ride it was time to go. Walking back to the bus, who should we see but Nancy Johnson who had been stalking us! (we love you Nancy!) She followed us back to the hotel even, that crazy woman!

For the rest of the day we were on our own. Our guides had 10 tickets available for those who wanted to see the taping of Jimmy Kimmel (I didn’t recognize any of the guests’ names, so I passed on this). A lot of us decided to see Toy Story 3 at the El Capitan. We bought our tickets before dinner, and sprung for the VIP tickets, which were $10 more than regular, but gave us preferred, middle-of-the-theater seats and popcorn and soda. Then we went to dinner at The Grill, in the Hollywood & Highland complex. Wayne, Jeff, Stacy, Nichole, Lisa, Paul and I enjoyed a fantastic dinner. I had an appetizer on the specials menu as my meal and although I was disappointed when it arrived how small it seemed (everyone else’s portions were enormous), it turned out to be perfect, and fantastically delicious. It was sushi grade tuna, diced, with diced mango and pineapple, with 3 different sauces on the plate. It was completely clean when I finished – yummy! Service was slow, and the food was expensive (not unexpected), but I would definitely eat here again.

Our movie admission also included a bracelet to a Toy Story themed carnival right behind the theater, but I was exhausted after the show and decided to call it a night.

Next Up: The Disney part of the trip begins!!!!

 

[Jeff & Stacy in NYC]

WOW!! You have remembered so many details! Thank you so much for writing all of this! It's wonderful!

 

[AStamm]

You're making me want to go on this trip again!!!

Can I question just one thing though? I'm working on my photobook from my June 20th trip and was just typing up the Jim Henson pages today. I thought the pandas name was PJ, but you have DJ listed. Anyone absolutely certain what that poor panda's name is???