Looks Good On Me

Now that I've paid for my Disney vacation AND my air fare, I can look at those few things I want to get to make the vacation more exciting. The last time I went to Disney, your park admittance was on a card, similar to the one I'll use to get into "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party".

But, in the intervening years, technology has improved, as we know, in leaps and bounds and now, Disney uses Magic Bands. Your admission, your room key, and your dining credits are all stored on a chip inside the band. You wear this everywhere; it's waterproof; and just swipe your arm when you need to do something. When I finally pick my FastPass rides for parks, those selections will be loaded onto my band. It's quite astounding technology.

By staying in the resort, you get a free band. It's a plain gray color but it has your name on it. You can get other colors, but I looked at the plain colored ones and decided that wasn't what I wanted. Back at the beginning of the year, there was a band with the seagulls from "Finding Nemo". It said, "MineMineMine!" on it. You have to buy the special bands from the Disney Store and there are periodic sales. I decided I would wait and see. If there wasn't a sale on bands by August 1st, I'd buy one to make sure I had it in time. Amazingly, at the end of May, there was a sale on bands. But, the "Mine" band was nowhere to be found. My friend, Liz, said these specialty bands come and go. You know it's to drive purchase. If there is the chance what you want could be discontinued, you're more likely to buy it now. I had to "settle" for a Tigger band. The only thing you have with the free versus the paid for bands is that, once you get your band from the store, you have to link it to your account. It's a reasonably simple matter to log into your account and type in a bunch of numbers and letters to get it linked.

The band came and the packaging felt a little strange. When I opened it up, this was the container for the band.

It was all bent. This was kind of odd. I turned it around to open the package.

I could not imagine the post office, even running it through some heavy duty machines, could mangle the package like this. Clearly, this package had been opened. Well, as long I can link it to my account, I'm okay with it.

So, I put it on. This is so cool! All my information will be contained on this wristband. I flipped the band over, located the 6 point type code and entered it into my account. Nothing. I got an error message saying the band had been assigned to another account. Wait? How could that happen? Maybe I "fat fingered" the code because it's so small. I tried twice more. Each time, I was told the band was assigned to another account.

I called Disney tech support. They verified that it was linked to another account. They referred me to the Disney Store to get the band replaced. When I called them and explained the problem, the gal on the phone was speechless.

"I...I don't know what to say, ma'am. This has never happened to me before. Magic bands are not returnable for this precise reason. They can't be reused once they are linked to an account. I will ship a new one to you right away. I am so sorry this happened."

If you look at the bottom of the package, it says, "No returns, exchanges or refunds." She said my call would spur an assessment of how this could have happened. I remember reading, somewhere, when I bought the Tigger band, that Magic Bands were not returnable. Who knows how this happened, but I'm the one it happened to.

It took another week, but my real Tigger Magic Band arrived. Once I had it, I tried to enter the code, but, trust me, the code is in such small type, I had all sorts of difficulty. I kept getting a message that the code didn't exist. Another call was placed to Disney. Fortunately, we determined the "8" was a "B" and the tech support gal was able to attach the band to my account. I know I tried typing the "8" as a "B" because I wasn't sure which it was, but the web site claimed not to recognize the code.

Lookie!!

I'm excited. Disney said I can do with the other one whatever I want to do. I'm not sure what that is. I kept it. The bands are cool. They are a malleable, lightweight rubber compound. Once you snap the top over the bottom, you aren't going to lose it, even if your wrist gets sweaty or you go into the pool. I'll enjoy wearing this for a week.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Perfect Gifts

Santa Baby,
Just stick some stickers under the tree
For me.
Been an awful good girl.
Santa Baby,
Hurry down the chimney tonight.

(I hope you know that song, but if you don't, here's a link to Eartha Kitt's version.)

As I age, I realize the gifts which make me deliriously happy are simple. One of them is stickers. All boxes and mailers and letters leave my house with stickers attached; unless they are mailers from Target. Those things require me to glue my stickers on. Not going to do that.

Christmas was a magical time. Carole sent me a whole bunch of stickers. I think she went to Hobby Lobby several times to accumulate this mass.

My friend, Liz, and my sister also got in on the act.

Liz's were all from Disney, thanks to her trip to Disneyland in November, and Sharyn's were all 50 cents or less.

I vowed, this year I would be better about writing people. I was gifted with some lovely note cards which don't take hours to draft a note. Thanks to this and a vow to be better about sending cards, I've used up 80% of this stash. I had to buy more stickers in March because I was running low. I put together Easter baskets for my great-nieces and nephews and bought stickers to put in those, which gave me a few more. But I realized I'd need to, probably in June, set aside some cash and hit up Hallmark. They have neat stickers, even though they are a bit pricey.

Enter Mother's Day.

The last three years, Carole has sent flowers. While very appreciated, 1-800-Flowers was not sending me good blooms. She would get a credit because the flowers would arrive with brown edges or would fail to open. After last year, she said, "I'm never ordering from them again, mom." There are a lot of things which would be great if she wanted to send me something, but she didn't ask so I didn't volunteer. When the Mother's Day card came, she said I have been gifted with a 6 month membership to Pipsticks. Huh?

Pipsticks. This is one of those subscription crate services which are popping up all over. I get a package every month. The clear mailer holds a pouch which contains stickers;

oodles and oodles of stickers;

all sorts.

I don't know if you can see them. On the left side of the keyboard are translucent colored raindrops. I'm not sure about the big rainbow piece at the bottom. It might be a place to stick stickers onto. I haven't tried to see if it's one huge sticker itself which would be awesome on the back of a mailer or flat or on the side of a box. I have a method for stickering packages and I just haven't gotten to that piece, yet.

Also included is a picture to color, a pre-stamped postcard and a newsletter, which is the heart covered paper. I sent the postcard to a friend and added the coloring page to a color book I got last year.

I am thrilled. I have not used these up. I've been really busy and haven't written a lot of letters. I sent out some parcels right before and right after Memorial Day and it was so wonderful to adorn them with stickers. It was hilarious because I sent a flat to someone who had never received a letter from me. His reaction was priceless. On the guild Facebook page he typed, "OMG! You guys! Letters from Gimm come covered in stickers!" A large number of people responded, "Yes, yes they do." The postcard is blank on the other side so you can use your stickers to create a scene. I just covered the side with anything which would fit.

My subscription runs through October. This might become my birthday and Mother's Day gift, I was told, assuming each pack stays as great as this one. In October, I'll have the rest of these to use up.

I bought these to use in achievement books when my guild goes to Disney World in October. (See below.)  I have two boxes full of stickers. We won't use all of them and the boxes are small enough to carry in my purse for stickering on the go.

This makes me so happy. I'm trying to get my life in order so I can sit down and write some notes. If I have to take boxes to the post office, I go to the one near the office. The clerks there get a big kick out of what I mail.

Beverage:  Klarbrunn Black Cherry Seltzer

Deb

The Next Save

In December of 2017, on the 15th to be exact, my World of Warcraft guild, Spectacular Death, will celebrate 10 years of uninterrupted time in the game. That's a long time. We were talking, last summer, about doing something spectacular to celebrate. Brainstorming came up with a guild trip to Walt Disney World. After presenting the idea, it was approved.

In September of last year, I put a down payment on the trip. I had tucked away a decent sum until house repairs forced me to dip into the Disney fund to get things fixed. It makes me sad because I have to, essentially, start all over in saving and there's less than a year to do it. February and March see the highest heating bills so I'm scrambling right now, to figure out where money goes and what really needs to be done in 2017, since I put down money on this.

I was at my favorite bookstore and this was on the shelf. The last time I bought one of these guides it was 1990 and I was going, as a family, for the first time. My last visit was in 2005, when my pen pal was still alive.

A guild member, Liz, went in November of last year and took these amazing photos of the fireworks at Epcot.

She went during the time of that Super Moon.

These were taken from a pontoon boat which you can reserve to watch the Epcot fireworks. Unobstructed views and snacks are guaranteed. We are going to do this.

So far, 13 of us are going. We're not going as an official group because that locks us into a certain discount and the travel agent we are working with says she can get better deals if we are just a bunch of friends going at the same time. We're going in October, to take advantage of Halloween and the annual Food and Wine Festival. I have selected the venue for our character breakfast but we're getting down to the wire to pick the place for the 'Goodbye' dinner. I told the group I would pick 4 places and we would vote. The place with the most votes would be where we'll go. We can make reservations for rides and dinners as early as April 17th. When it was November, that was a long way away. Now that it's January, *gasp*, that's almost here.

I know I can do this, but I really need for there not to be emergencies. I'm not going to take another traveling vacation this year, opting to take days off here and there to save money. Having a car that doesn't need monthly maintenance helps tremendously. Now, I need for it to be mild in temperature so the heating bill is not astronomical.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

A New Goal

Next year, my little guild in World of Warcraft turns 10 years old. Lasting that long in a video game is notable. We need to do something as a guild, something big and splashy. So I put this to the guild's Facebook page. Things were suggested but what stuck was a Walt Disney World vacation.

I started talking with a guild member, Liz, who goes to Disney 3-4 times a year. The more we talked about the things we wanted to do, the more we explored resort properties, the more confusing the options became. It seems, with Disney, why have 5 options when you can have 45. Liz suggested we should look into Disney travel agent. Enter Hollie. She is paid by Disney so even if we don't have a huge number of people coming along or, if it was just me, she would still be paid to help with a trip. She helped me price out a vacation and, at the July meet-up, I gave a presentation.

The one thing we needed to decide was when did we want to go. The cheap time is January, the week after New Year's through the end of February. But, if we want to spend a bit more, we could go in March, when the Flower and Garden Festival is, or go in October, when the Food and Wine Festival AND Halloween run concurrently. Well, when presented with these options, it became a decision about how fast you could save the money and we decided October of 2017 was the best time.

The big attraction is the two festivals going on at the same time. You know that Disney will do Halloween fantastic. When I went to BlizzCon last year, Halloween was only at the Haunted Mansion. Christmas hadn't quite wandered in but Halloween had wandered out. We will be going at the height of the holiday. It's going to be exciting to see the decorations.  We're going to do Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Rides. Trick or Treat. A special parade and fireworks and the Magic Kingdom all to ourselves and anyone else who buys a ticket to the party.

And then there is the Food and Wine Festival.

Located at Epcot World Showcases, this is a celebration of food. The World Showcase part of Epcot is my favorite place at Disney World. Even with a lot of people in that section of the park, it is peaceful. I love to wander through all the countries and see what they have to offer.

During the festival, each country has food carts and special food indicative of their culture.

Having been to Disney World 4 times, one of the things I've wanted to do is "Eat Around the World", stop at each country and eat something at each country. With the festival going on in October, I can do this just by eating at the food carts stationed around the lagoon.

It took the summer to figure everything out on what I thought I would want. Hollie and I met in mid-September to go over possibilities, and, after looking at everything, she gave me a price and I put down a deposit. Now comes the saving.

I have to say I'm excited. A year ago, I was excited to go to BlizzCon. I spent a whole summer and most of a fall, saving for that trip, which included 2 days at Disneyland. This is going to be a whole week. I'm going with guild members; people I respect and whose company I relish. I'm going to be sharing a room with Liz. I admire and respect her and her company will make this that much more fun.

We will be going for a week in the middle of October. We looked at going as a group, but the group discounts didn't amount to much and Hollie said there are usually always discounts on things which we wouldn't be able to take advantage of if we're a group. So, we picked the days and then let everyone decide where they wanted to stay and what kinds of additions to their vacation they wanted.

In case you are wondering, WDW shut down this month for only the 7th time since opening, due to Hurricane Matthew. People who couldn't use tickets for events slated for Thursday night through Saturday morning, received compensation and/or had their tickets rescheduled for other days. The price of the resorts in October is one step above the base rate and two steps down from "We're going tomorrow and it's Christmas" rate. We were told this is primarily because October still has the potential for hurricanes raining, literally, on your parade. I told guild members Hurricane Matthew is a good example of why trip insurance is a very good idea.

Liz and I are going to stay at the Port of Orleans, French Quarter resort.

It's a moderately priced resort and the theme is New Orleans French Quarter area; heavy on the jazz. I can't wait. They serve beignets at the cafe in the main building.

They won't be the Mickey beignets that the restaurant in the French Quarter of the Magic Kingdom at Disneyland had, but, beignets!

I've needed to make some decisions with regards to what we're going to do so people can plan. I'm arriving on a Saturday, so I've decided my "Eat Around the World" at World Showcase can start then. Liz assures me there will be ample credits from the middle priced food plan and I will be scrambling on the last day to use them up. I remain unconvinced, but, several of us are going to Epcot and will take turns buying snack items to share. I'm planning for needing cash for meals.

We're going to the Halloween party on Sunday evening, to give people a chance to get to WDW. A Halloween party ticket acts like park admission so we can go to the Magic Kingdom as early as 4 pm and get in. Costumes are encouraged, within reason, so we'll have to see what we can do about that. Eighty percent of the rides are open so I expect to cross most of my "must ride" off the list then.

I want a Character Breakfast and a final meal. Those were things I felt were important to me. What people did with the guild wasn't as important as those two things, such as going to the same parks or eating at the same restaurant. But people were coming in and leaving on different days so trying to schedule within those constraints was hard. I finally decided, as guild leader, I could pick the dates we'll go, as a guild, to breakfast and dinner and then hope that people can fit those things into their schedule. I also made the decision on where we're going to eat breakfast. Guild members decided they really wanted Goofy at our breakfast so I've settled on the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom on Monday. Look! Goofy!

Dinner is going to be a majority vote decision. Liz and I have looked at a wide variety of places. We're going to pick 4 and offer them to the group, with plusses and minuses for each place. Then, we'll let the group decide and that's where we'll go. We're going to do that on Friday night. I leave a week after arriving.

Also in my sights are a foot and leg massage, a Steam Train Tour, a fireworks cruise and game night on Wednesday night, where everyone will come to the French Quarter, if they aren't already staying there, and we'll play games. My feeling is that it's their money and outside of a few suggested things, they should spend it however they want. They don't have to come to anything I arrange. I hope they do, but it's not required. I feel requiring things takes all the fun out a special vacation like this. Ben and Natalie are engaged and may use this as their honeymoon. If they do, we have plans, oh boy. Wendy is going to rent a scooter as she has an issue walking a lot and you will walk, a lot. We've already decided to trick out her scooter.

So, that's the current savings goal. It's been kind of an expensive year so I'm very glad we decided to do this in October of next year. It's going to be such a fun time.

Beverage:  Cookies and Cream hot cocoa

Deb

Will They Work?

I still clean a bit here and there, tossing things into a give away pile which is growing more massive as the weeks pass. I really need one of the veterans groups to call me for donations, mainly so I can start all over making a pile.

While going through the closet in my bedroom, I found these items.

I remember when Carole and I were going to use these for Halloween costumes. I hesitate to guess how old they are.

So, I wonder, would they still work? I know it's a "simple" chemical reaction that happens when you apply pressure to the item which makes it glow. I wonder if the potential for that chemical reaction diminishes over time. Can these be stored indefinitely? At BlizzCon, Liz had glow bracelets for us to wear. She got 100 of them for $10 on Amazon. Ashley and I had great fun looking through the colors and deciding which ones went with our outfits. I don't have a reason to wear these so I don't want to "crack" them to make the glow, just to see. If it still works, I've lost one item. Guess I'll just hang onto them and maybe wear them to the opening night of the World of Warcraft movie in June.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Halloween

Technically, my trip to Disneyland was just outside the Halloween season. I was looking for souvenirs; lights, lawn decor, etc; to give to Carole and Larry for Christmas, but Liz said it's all gone overnight between October 31st and November 1st. You really have to come during October to see any of that. I admit to being skeptical. I can find Halloween decorating items now, if I look for them. Why shouldn't Disney be any different?

I should not be skeptical of what Liz says. There were no items around. Even in the area around the Haunted Mansion, there was nothing. It was all Christmas-themed by the time we got there, one week later. The Haunted Mansion, on the other hand, was still wearing Halloween finery.

It was kind of a mishmash of seasons. There's the distinctly Halloween of pumpkins, but there's also garlands representative of Christmas.

As you got closer, you realized this was a "Nightmare Before Christmas" decorating style.

Liz said the mansion, with its hugely popular ride, goes "Nightmare" in October and stays that way through Christmas.

Jack Skellington is everywhere. At night, I wanted to get the full effect of the lighting, but this is the best exterior photo of him I could get.

And, the decorations didn't turn out very clear after the sun went down. This wreathing and garland arrangement on the side of the front porch came out well, but other photos didn't. You need to be able to stand still for night shots, and, let's face it, Disney is about shuttling as many people as possible through their rides. You might stand still but your party will head off without you.

Long exposure photos, even if they depict something wonderful done with lights, just aren't what standing in line is supposed to do.

Now I wonder what the building looks like without all the decorations. /sigh They keep you wanting to come back, don't they?

Beverage:  Raspberry Seltzer

Deb

Thursday Disneyland

Going back to all the photos I wanted to post and comment on but never had the chance to until now. If you're bored with this trip, skip this and a few more upcoming. This is a review of Thursday, November 5th. It was a sparkling morning.

Because of the lingering drought, this is usually how mornings start, I'm given to understand. For a Midwesterner who does not anticipate this kind of sunshine in November, when it can be more cloudy than sunny, it was exciting. Liz and I walked the equivalent of 6 blocks north to the park. We got there, on purpose, with time to spare, to have a quick breakfast and then to wait.

It really didn't seem real until we went through security and into this plaza where all the light posts were festooned with the celebratory 60th Anniversary banners. Oh that's right! Disneyland is celebrating its 60th year in operation. Liz had mentioned this and said there would be all sorts of fun stuff going on. It did not hit me until I was standing in that square and there were these banners.

Liz handed me my ticket. Wow. She was ever so patient and amused at my slack-jawed yokel-ness amazement at where I was. When we decided to do this and I made the decision to pay for 2 days of Disney, it was a long ways off. Liz, the admitted Disney "freak", kept getting more and more excited to show us the parks she loves. It was exciting, but, jeeze, I need a new washer and then the car dies and any celebration is simply that I can pay all my bills at the end of the month. But then, she hands me this small piece of paper and  I walk into the plaza between Disneyland and California Adventure and, my mouth drops open. I really am here.

I was given the option of going to California Adventure or Disneyland first. I thought about it and decided on California Adventure as Disneyland would be quasi-familiar due to my visits to Walt Disney World. I handed the pass to the gentleman at the gate. "Welcome Princess," he said. I laughed and said, "No one has ever called me a princess. I should get that in writing." He pulled out his marker and wrote on the back of my pass. There. "Proof", such as it is, that I am a 'princess'. Yeah, tell that to the cats.

We headed into the park. Of course, I had to take a photo of the map.

It is quite easy to get completely turned around. That is probably by design. The longer you are in the park, the more chance the souvenir shops can part you from your money. North is at the bottom of the map. The ferris wheel, which I've already blogged about, is at the top of the map. Part of my job is to know which way I am facing when I discuss what I see on a building's walls. I abandoned my kind of meager sense of direction and just surrendered to the fun. This is supposed to be part of "the happiest place on earth". I should enjoy the sensation.

We walked about the park. Around every bend are the unusual and photogenic. Disney, of course, plans for this, although there aren't a lot of the obtrusive "Kodak Photo Spot" signs I remember from Disney World.

This is hilarious. All the eateries are in cone-shaped buildings in Cars Land.

The obligatory humorous photo conveniently provided by the park and, of course, you have to do it.

Oh my gosh! Real birds! You don't expect to see those. You kind of think, because Disney is a leader in animatronics, that any animals you see are going to be of the mechanical kind. I had to take a photo of real, live, seagulls. Here's another spot where there were real birds.

These are the fake mountains in Cars Land, in the ride area. It's hard to see in the small photo, but there are seagulls perched on the top of this hill. I thought, "Gee, they do think of everything" when I saw it and then a couple of them flew off.

We didn't see many birds or chipmunks or squirrels in the park, in spite of the huge amount of food around. Even though there is an army of people with brooms and small waste cans, food is everywhere. Yet, those scavengers I'm so used to at other large venues where nowhere to be seen. I wonder how much of that is due to the diligence of park personnel in keeping the place clean and how much is due to the presence of feral cats. If you didn't know about the feral cats making their homes in Disneyland, here's the link to an article about them. I have noticed an uptick in wildlife in my backyard now that I don't have outdoor cats roaming about the yard.

At noon, we went across the plaza to Disneyland. Of course, this is the first thing you see when you walk in.

I didn't get to ride the train. Guess I'll have to come back.

So I wonder if this is the most photographed human sculpture in the world. That's Sleeping Beauty's castle in the background. Cinderella's castle is at Disney World. This one isn't as high and it's a different coloration. Lots of people were trying to get just the right photo of the statue with the castle in the background. Everyone was respectful and waited their turn, even offering to take photos with other people's cameras so they could be in the photo.

We didn't hang around much because we were coming back for an extended period on Sunday. Disneyland feels more like a park should. You're entering from the south and working north instead of the other way around. I don't know if situating your amusement park along cardinal directions has anything to do with attendance, but Disneyland felt more comfortable. That could also be the problem of California Adventure trying to figure out what it is. It's always been something of a step-child to Disneyland. There aren't as many rides and it's more heavily shop-based than Disneyland. It's supposed to be a Disney-fied version of the Anaheim Walt came to in 1920. It's fun, but if you're a tourist, you gravitate to Disneyland. That's only natural.

We left at 3:30 and walked back to the hotel. I had a blister on my right foot; on the ball of the foot below the middle toe. It made walking painful. We met up with Ashley, who had arrived at 3, and headed over to the Convention Center.

Again, I felt that awe at being in a place I'd spent 6 months preparing for. There were people everywhere, although no one in costume, yet. We walked in and got in line for our convention badges. The line moved swiftly and I think we had everything in 15 minutes. There is no merit to showing up early. You can't do anything other than stand in line for hours to buy things from the Blizzard store. Ashley and I went to the store on Saturday morning and spent 30 minutes total, making purchases. If I ever do this again, that's when I'm going, first thing on a Saturday morning.

From here, there was a "party" in the Hilton which wasn't real spectacular. There was an art exhibit and, later, meet and greets with people from WOW-themed web sites. But we weren't really interested in them so we met up with Amy and her hubby and went to dinner. Friday would be the big day.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Next Christmas

If you're on the Christmas card list, you got a card with a photo from my Disneyland trip. It was one of my goals to get some kind of photo from either BlizzCon or Disneyland to make personalized cards. When Liz said you could meet Tigger, assuming he was out, well, that's who I wanted to have my photo taken with. We wound up waiting 20 minutes but it was worth it. Using my cell phone and my camera, Liz took quite a few photos.

The cell phone camera has a darker color than the digital camera. These were good but when I compared them to the ones on the digital camera, I felt the color was better on the camera. 

I went with the last one in the series. The cell phone seemed to latch onto the dark of the area and enhance it. The background got lost in the shade. I liked the color and our positioning of the bottom photo. What you can't see is that my tee shirt had Tigger on it. He's always been my favorite Disney-fied character so it was exciting to get a photo. Pooh turned out to be just around the corner in his photo spot. It was funny to see Tigger's line be twice as long as Pooh's. 

Making my own cards was a lot of fun. There is free software with the new printer so it was reasonably easy to print what I wanted. It has me looking ahead to this Christmas. What do I want to do for cards? I have a lot of regular cards I've accumulated over the years which would cover my needs. I wouldn't have to buy any this winter. And then, it snows. 

There is a pine tree outside my office window. I watch squirrels go up and down, chasing each other. I left one noon to get lunch after a morning of wet snowfall. I was greeted with these images. 

There are large pine cones on this tree. I'm not up on my identification of pines so I don't know what kind this is, but they make for great photos. 

I particularly like this photo below. 

If I was going to do a personalize card this Christmas, there is great potential in this photo. I don't spend a lot of time composing my photos. I'm very much a point and shoot person. Photos like this tend to be a happy accident. 

So, I will keep this in mind for the winter. Of course, there are 10 months between now and when I need to have cards. We'll see what other photos present themselves as card potential. 

Beverage:  English Breakfast tea

Deb