DC2CERUMA - Day 15-the final day

And so ends my Disney Coast to Coast-er Universally Magic Adventure. Day 15, time to pack, enjoy the Disney parks a little and then head back to Honolulu. I just tried to chill and relax. Once I get back to Honolulu, I have four full days with Jeff from Houston of the Meandering Mouse Podcast.

I was originally planning on getting into the park around 10am, but I took a while to get going between doing the DC2CERUMA Day 14 blog post, getting food, showering and getting packed. One of my habits that had me slightly flummoxed was that of my changes. Since arriving in Anaheim, I did like I do at home, I empty my pockets of change and here I put the coins into a Styrofoam cup. It was HEAVY! When I checked out, I tried to change it at the front desk. Nope, they wouldn't do it. So I went to the sundry store and bought a soda and gum and paid out seven bucks in coins. In the parks I got a desert and my freestyle coke mix and paid about eight bucks in coins. I got a meal and paid the amount above a whole dollar in coins. When I left the park I grabbed another soda and paid three dollars in coins. Almost 20 dollars in coins. And that was just from a week in Southern California!

I started in Disney's California Adventure slowly walking around, taking pictures and enjoying the atmosphere. Every chance I saw for a photopass opportunity, I took it. I must have had about a dozen stops total and not sure how many pictures total were taken. I asked around about the World of Color and couldn't find out anything about soft openings although several cast members did mention about the possible use of assigned tickets for show times. That would be a good test of the American public so see if they could handle some of the things that the Tokyo Disneyland Resort does! I also tried to find a propeller beanie hat with no luck. Dang! I didn't ride any rides in DCA before heading over to Disneyland.

In Disneyland, more of the same wondering around. Random shots of what ever. I did do one ride and that was Roger Rabbit's Cartoon Spin. With it I pulled a fast pass. No intentions of using it, but adding it to the collection. Different stores along the way asking about the propeller beanie. A number of locations within both parks commented that they had them several months ago and are waiting for more to come in. Wonder if Disney is realizing that they are loosing out on not having the propeller beanies! I did see one family wearing a set. I asked them where they got them only to hear they purchased on e-bay or something like that and they had brought them into the park. Bummer!

My last photo pass shots were by the Partners statue. I told the guy to make it a good one as they would be my last for the trip. He had me outstretch my arms and with open hands, I expect to have Tinkerbell placed in them. Cut last shots. The last shots on the camera where the small character statues in the hub. I had loaded up all the pictures and the number of pics that I took on his trip alone was 1618 total pictures. This is my still camera only, no phone camera, HD video cam or photopass shots. I know I'll be spending some time sorting them out.

My shuttle service with Super shuttle arrived a bit early so I'm writing up the blog at this time in Notebook. Internet service is not available unless I pay for it soooo, no biggie. It should make posting a bit earlier once I get some sort of internet connection. I'm hoping that since the flight is not full, the seat next to me stays empty and that I can get some sleep. I realized that I forgot to charge the i-pod and last used it for watching video. The battery has got to be low at this point.

I can feel myself nodding off and am afraid I'll drop the laptop, so I'll sign off for now!

DC2CERUMA - Day 12

I need to make a correction to yesterday's post. I mentioned Thomas and Eric who are visually impaired people that I met. I got one name wrong. It was Matt and Eric. I wanted to correct that one right away!

Today was the final day of DPN Westfest along with a day of goodbyes and the day that I hit the wall. Today passed quicker than I would have liked. It signaled the end of the DPN gathering at Disneyland. I am sad to see it go. There were lots of good times over the past several days. At the same time, I'm on day 12 of the adventure with every day being a very fully day and today was the day that I hit my limit. After being up to 2:30am today, I once again decided to sleep a little. I was up at 7:30am and could have used more zzzz's but needed to be at the park for the 10am photo gathering. I was going to use my PhotoPass card!

What was more exciting than going into the park was spotting the Bat Day people in the esplanade even before they had a chance to enter either park.. Some just wore black whatever and some were dressed in outfits, costumes or attire that was simply stunning. There was this one couple dressing in a purple and velvet ensemble that was beautiful. I did ask to take a picture, but they said they were running for a meet and that if I ran into them in the park, they would be more than happy to let me take a shot. Unfortunately, I did not run into them again.

The photo meet went well I thought! With my photopass, I was grabbing an individual or individuals to pose with me with the photopass photographer and then they did one large shot and a bunch of smaller shots to get more detail. All went on my card. I can't wait to see ALL the shots I have taken. I was really excited getting a pp picture with the Skurvy Monkeys

More events, more people; after going to see the Lincoln we broke for lunch. I could feel it right at that time. I had hit the wall. I was growing impatient with people and events. I basically had lunch alone to try to keep myself in check and not bark at someone. I was going to head back to the hotel room to sleep, but I had made promises to myself about going to a couple particular meets and I wanted to make sure I kept those.

The Billy Hill and the Hill Billies is a fun event. Their highlight is when they fiddle to the Orange Blossom trail. They do such a great job with it. The sound is wonderful and the entertainment value is just as good.

Mike and Steve from the newest member of The DPN, Disney Park Hoppin' Party are such fun to be around. Their meet at the tea cups was a hoot. They had picked up new mad hatter hats marked like the new Mad Hatter as portrayed by Johnny Depp. I even won some of their materials for a couple of DVDs. I managed to get them in front of the photo pass while they were dressed up.

I watched the Tiki Room before I left he park for the day. I know that I have half a day on Wednesday but won't be able to get in a lot of rides before I have to leave to get the shuttle back to the airport. And again, I was/am cranky. I didn't want to unload on someone. This adventure between the different theme parks, which 2 full days and 2 parks to go has just wiped me out. I almost got into it with the guest relations because they aren't selling post card stamps. Something that I learned tonight is that contrary to popular belief, is that a ticket from WDW by policy it cannot be used at the Disneyland resort.

I'm looking forward to Magic Mountain, but need to cut this short. I am nodding off while typing in this report. I must first apologize to a lot of Westfesters in than I did not say good bye. There were some people to whom I wanted to spend more time or get photopass but it didn't work out. Maybe next time. They're all a great bunch of people and am glad that we had the chance to get together.