I tried to work something for my meet today. Yesterday I contacted Media Relations and didn't get a call back. I called again today. While I riding Mike and Sulley to the Rescue I received a call back and a message. It was basically for something like this to happen there would need to be a media relations person present and since they didn't have anyone available it would not be possible to have my request officially filled. David said that I could try the theater itself. Well, I did try and failed on all accounts. I tried the people by the theater and even asked what could they do to help make the moment more magical and basically got blank stares and shrugged shoulders. After viewing the show, I even tried to leave some of the buttons I had made for the main characters and the ushers wouldn't take them. I was told to mail them to the entertainment department and if they saw fit they would pass them along. So, do they deserve the doosh nominations. No, I don't think so, they weren't rude or not following rules. But what disappointed me even more is that Disney prides itself on making magical moments and when even asked how could we make this more magical they didn't have a response. I was sooooo wanting to hand out an AWESOME JOB card or multiple cards for having something coming through and instead they stayed in the card holder.
To those people who came out and watched the show together, a big thanks to you! You are my friends on the DPN, you are watchers of my podcast. There were 35 of you who took the time out of your schedule to join me in watching Aladdin. I know for some people it will be their last time as the show will be retired in August and they won't have the chance to see it before then. To those people who won the 10 prizes, I hope you enjoy them and can put them to good use! I know some others couldn't make it to the meet due to issues like special luncheons at Club 33 or travel, I totally understand. I knew that by having this meet on a Friday afternoon it would affect some people's ability to attend.
Through the day I did manage to make it over to the Festival Markethouse to the fantastic Coke Machine. I really love the ability to mix flavors like peach, raspberry and grape with products like Sprite, Coke Zero, Fanta and other base flavors. Funny story on the second trip there, I mentioned to the girl at the register it would be nice instead of having just a 22 or 32 ounce cup that they could have several say 5 oz cups so you could try different flavors. The cashier said you could go up for free refills. I repeated it out loud to the group of about 8 people I was with. In just a few seconds a manager looking type person came over and made comments along the lines like this is Disney and there are no free refills. He said it in such a way that I'm sure the cashier felt uncomfortable being corrected in front of the guests.
Dinner was at the Big Thunder BBQ. It was a BBQ served family style with corn bread, sausage, ribs, chicken, cole slaw, baked beans and corn on the cob. I had gotten some of the sauce on my face and a couple of the ladies at the table were disturbed because I didn't wipe if off immediately. When I did attempt to get it off, it was high enough that I didn't get it. I was offered a Hello Kitty mirror and a wet antibacterial wipe in order to get if off. As I cleaned, my picture holding the HK Mirror was taken and posted to Facebook.
One funny part of the night was during the Rabble Rousers meet, a large group went over to ride Mickey's Fun Wheel that has both stationary and moving cars. In the one car there were 5 of us and none of us could be considered to be on the carrot stick diet. We got into the car and had a fun time as the momentum of the car on the moving track gave us some good swinging motion.
After leaving the Disneyland park a little after 11pm, I got in contact with the guys from the Skurvy Monkeys podcast. They were in Downtown Disney. I was tired, but I really wanted to meet up with them. I headed over to the UVA Bar and met most of the monkey cast face to face at one time. Samby Monkey, Spider Monkey, Design, IMHO Monkey, and Guerrilla Monkey were in the same place at the same time. Design presented me with two very, very special gifts. The first was the original drawing he did of Movie Monkey. I need to get this framed. The second was a kukui nut lei which he picked up on Kauai when he got married, took it back to the mainland and brought it with him to present to me when he came down for the weekend activities. Both are sincerely appreciated!
These trips to Disney when you know that you are going to be meeting up with others who share your interests are priceless. Several of the events had people who I haven't seen in years or a least a year from the last DPN Westfest. They are a great way to keep in touch with people on a face to face basis instead of just and name and number in an outlook contact card. It's great to connect with people on a face to face basis instead of electronic forums, social media or e-mail. It's funnerer and the bestest
