Alex In Wonderland

Alex In Wonderland & The Mad Hattress

It's that time again, where I tell you all about one of my awesome trips to Disneyland. But wait! It's sort of like a Con post as well. T1nk's gonna post about it like it's a con, so it totally counts! I will also elaborate a bit.

Theatreg33k and I were planning on making the trek down to the Magic Kingdom for our favorite holiday (Halloween) and our friend Rabbit wanted to go to Mickey's Haunt as a gift to herself for graduating. SO that meant LisaLisa as well, and a couple others were invited. The final crew rounded out to Myself, T1nk, Rabbit, LisaLisa, Squirrel InaComa, & Fromage.

It was decided (meaning some people called dibs on outfits without asking others) that we would be dressing up as Alice in Wonderland characters, but sort of classy like. Dresses and a suit for me. But as what? LisaLisa IS our Cheshire cat, Rabbit, is called rabbit because she is LisaLisa's March Hare and Theatreg33k is ALSO a huge mad hatter fan (one of our common interests) so she really wanted to do a cute outfit for that. Ultimately Squirrel went with The Door Mouse as she felt it would be relatively simple to do, and it turned out Fromage opted for the Caterpillar.

I had trouble deciding as I didn't know how I would do certain characters justice as Mr. Dodo, Bill, Walrus & Carpenter might require prosthetic attachments or props and we really wanted "normal(for us)" clothes as we would be walking around for up to 10 hours, standing in lines, and riding rides, all in costume at Disneyland.
Someone said, "hey you can be Alice" but I wasn't keen on cross dressing for this event (only for money, a real good cause, or if I'm armed) and someone else was like, "T1nk's already gender swapping The Hatter, you can be 'Alex' in Wonderland." That sounded do-able and the other ladies kept with the "generally portrayed as male but are now being converted to female" characters.

Stitch, bitch, tea, knives, Star Wars, SPG playing on a netbook? We do it right.

So, With A LOT of help from LisaLisa a vest was gutted and rebuilt for not ONLY my "Alex" vest, meant to replace the Alice Apron, it's a Kotsetsu Vest for my Tiger & Bunny Cosplay. I also built a small plushy mushroom and a bottle to put "Eat Me" & "Drink Me" tags on them.

Costumes were "finished" (read: Passable to done) The day before everyone left. T1nk & I TRIED to leave early-early, as always, but still got a respectable start at about 6 am, and thanks to MAH NEW CAR The ride was fantastic. We hit the park the day of the Haunt so we saw some people who had dressed up early. It seemed there was sprinklings of costumes the whole weekend, so, yay festive attendees! One caught our attention

The 8yold marry poppins made me feel inadequate . . . And probably poor.
— tony elfson (@h47) October 20, 2012

She was dressed as Carousel Mary Poppins and that poofy little brat looked like someone had shrunk the original costume and thrown it on, it was good.
 But whatever, The rest of the Ladies hit Anaheim later in the afternoon so T1nk & I headed back to the rooms to change into our costumes. Then the whole crew hit the park!
We ran rampant through the park, made sure to do a few key rides to get them out of the way for the rest of the weekend, stocked up on candy and even saw one of my favorite things  . . .

As well as a special Parade & Fireworks show just for Haunt Patrons. Overall I enjoyed the event, but I had hoped there would be just a BIT more. The haunt at full price is about $60+ dollars extra, and if you don't already have a pass for the day, probably a decent deal. But a lot of the attractions we had come to see that weekend were up all season long (the rides, mostly) and I felt the exclusives were just a little short of the price tag. Honestly, for $40-just under $50 I feel would be fair. But either way, we had fun.

Alex, Mad Hatress, March Hare, Disney's Red Queen, Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar & Doormouse (Red Queen was not part of our group)

The weather that weekend was ALMOST perfect. It was only slightly too warm and muggy for like, half of a day, otherwise it was grey to lightly cloudy and never got too warm. One of my favorite trips weather wise.

Never been in Disney while it was this moist. #newexperinces
— tony elfson (@h47) October 20, 2012

At my recommendation, we hit Disney's California Adventure park first so we had the most time to spend there, and the we could finish the night at Disneyland proper, and then devote the final day to Disneyland. We tried to get in on that CarsLand "Radiator Springs Racer" ride, but it shut down on top of a potentially 2 hour wait time, so, we opted for Tower (some excellently embarrassing photo's there) then some food at the wharf. good times. Then Screamin' followed by Midway.

Goofy Conducting the water with that fantastic voice over he always has in his old cartoons. Click for enlarge.

At a certain point we ended up back near the front of DCA and came across this fantastic woman Named Donna who complimented Fromage on her hair color (it's a purpley, marooney, violet highlight shade). Donna had a lovely muppet dog named Lady who was dressed for Hallowen as a witch. It would sniff and be petted, it was adorable. We chatted with Donna for a short bit, exchanged puns and then Lisalisa was consumed by a disgusting amount of Cheshire merch, and her & Fromage got mouse ears.

If I remember correctly, we then moseyed over to Disneyland to see if we could do Space Mt. Ghost Galaxy, it was closed. So we opted for Cpt. Eo. I then dropped off the Ladies back at their room and T1nk & I shut down the park

In trying to keep our waiting time to a minimum as we had persons with serious back issues, a couple people downloaded on of the many handy apps that track open & wait times for the rides.
The next day we hit DCA first to get fast passes for World of color for later that eve. In doing just that, we saw the Newsies performance that Squirrel had been promised, and while Squirrel, T1nk & Fromage went for coffe, Lisalisa, Rabbit & myself went to grab the fastpasses. On our way back we watched Minnies Fly Girls, a swingin musical review by some of the flight attendants, or dare I say, Stewardesses, from the Minnie Mouse Arline. An audio Queue had them concerned that Minnie had crashed, but it turned out Goofy's flight school had another student NOT QUITE pass his test. I then shared with LisaLisa & Rabbit that Launchpad had studied at that very school. And as we made our way back out to the Magic Kingdom for a day of StorybookLand rides (we were on a mission to unlock a personal achievement for one of the crew) we mused how awesome it would be to see Donna & Lady again. And low and behold, there she was, strolling into the confectionery. So we stalked her and noticed she was chatting with a cast member, so all six of us did that silly thing where you look around at odds and ends as if you're truly interested in the wares and not waiting like a silly grinned child.

Us with Donna & Lady

After that we decided to tattle on Donna to a supervisor as she was FANTASTIC and a real treat, especially when she found Fromage's nickname was in fact Fromage. She had a bit of fun with that. So we went to DCA's version of town hall, I think the "Civic center" or some such, and ask the cast member behind the desk if there was any way to compliment on an interaction, and she whipped out a whole order form for us.
Having complimented a fellow performer on a job well done we headed back to where Walt had started things and dove right into FantasyLand StoryBook rides. While some of us hit restrooms others flirted with some camera men stationed near the Sword in The Stone/Carousel. They were discussing some app or another that was in Beta to actually LIFT the sword on command, or had a chance to. Something like that.

Re:Last tweet. "yeah, a beta app that activates the sword from the stone." "hey, the Mt back up?" "not yet, checked the app."
— tony elfson (@h47) October 21, 2012

(Upon further research by T1nk, I doubt there is an app that does it, it still runs off whatever schedule or Queue it always has, because as we stood in line for another ride we saw this small troupe of rugrats, 4-9 years old, tug and yank with all their combined strength to slide that blade out, but when this tween girl who probably thought Disneyland was lame pulled, up came the sword, she grinned, and quickly tried to hold the sword up and beckoned over the squad of runts so they could pose with the sword, it was adorable . . . BUT there is an independent App that is sort of a scavenger hunt app for the park for people who ALWAYS go to give them something else to do.)

At some point we Rode the restored Matterhorn and it was fun. I kind of dig the new style of bobsleds. I'm a little bummed the old bench styles are gone, but the update is still fun. Now we just have to ride both tracks next time we go.
Oh yeah, I have always dreamed of climbing the Matterhorn and placing the Flag atop it's summit. I mentioned this desire to T1nk, and as usual, she began to use her phone to look it up while we stood in line. Apparently, the only way to do that, short of becoming famous and getting a special pass, is to become a Cast Member, as the "Matterhorn Climbers" were added and NAMED by Walt himself as a part of the attraction. They are named Hans, Fritz & Otto and in order to become one of them you have to audition and have some extensive experience.

After some FantasyLand action we booked it over to Space Mt. because we heard the line was LESS than 2 hours long and dedicated to waiting the line as we all wanted to see Ghost Galaxy. It was really cool. I'm not really a fan of that sort of "horror" to be really honest, but it was really well done as far as I'm concerned. T1nk & I both felt they could have done just a BIT more and it would have really made the whole experience, but I would gladly ride that ride over & over again.
Once we had Galaxy-Ghosted, we hoofed it over to DCA for World of Color and . . .

FRANKENWEENIE!!!! (it was delicous)

Then we all watched World of Color. T1nk & I decided that World of Color needs something more. It's cool but it's missing a story telling element or the BANG of full blown fireworks, or just something ELSE. After this we all limped over to the Mad Hatters Mad T Party to take in the sounds
Where T1nk managed to successfully stalk(yay twitter, FB & D.A. accnts) and with my help shoot a previously rare, now epic find in either of the parks (using a camera), a Bri-Chan! We still grin to ourselves when we talk about it, because, we MIGHT actually get some art done by her one day and she seemed really chill with a random couple coming up to her to chat, and squee.
I think we all sidled back to the the main park at that point, rode a ride, then half The Ladies headed home, while Rabbit, LisaLisa, T1nk & myself finished off the last of the rides that were open, then headed back to the room.

Final day, T1nk & I headed back to the resort for last day shopping AND MY CANDY APPLE. I had been jonesin for one since day one and finally got it. There was also an epic pineapple spear covered in chocolate which Lisalisa unfortunately didn't get to experience, but she did get her Pineapple Dole Whip, so win there.
We passed the Ladies eating at the Jazz Kitchen to-go counter and said our goodbyes for the trip. Made it safely home before too late in the eve. One of our best trips yet!
Thanks again for listening in H47ites, hope you enjoy our adventures and I hope to keep sharing them with you. Later Space Cowboys!

DisneyLand Left

It seems that every time I go to the Magic Kingdom for Theatreg33k's birthday we end up with some kind of crazy story.
Did you ever hear the one about the two blondes who wanted to go to DisneyLand on a whim? Yeah, two smokin' hot babes in a bright red convertible, sunglasses, top down, hair blowing in the wind cruising up I-5. They get into Anaheim and see the road signs "DisneyLand. Left."
So they turned around and went home.

I tell you that bad joke to tell you this story, plus a little more.
We went down the day AFTER the 24 hour day and missed a whole lot of our friends who were down there just for that event. (Un)fortunately Theatreg33k had a rehearsal that night and even if we had driven down that night, we MIGHT have gotten in if the park wasn't full and we MIGHT have gotten there before it closed at 6 A.M.
Apparently the park had to stop admitting people 3 different times as DisneyLand was at capacity. But people got cool pins, buttons, shirts, sweaters, even mickey ears that said things like "One more day of Disney." And that was nice, but we were actually a little glad we missed it as it was a madhouse.
So, we took a pleasant cruise down 101 as I detest I-5 with a fiery passion, leaving reasonably early, and finally managed to hit the park around noon. They closed at 8?10? Sometime "early."

Funny story, THREE separate times, park guests confused Theatreg33k for a Cast Member in two different places. Two asked for fitting rooms and another asked . . . I don't remember, I think it was how World of Color worked or something? We concluded it was her awesome sweater we bought her a few years back thats all "50th anniversary" and has a very clean design, not one of those hoodies with a graphic on it. Plus Lanyards, and I say, we look very comfortable while we're there, not the usual touristy types.

Yeah, we at D-Land all the time. Iz Koo.

 We were also accosted by two different younglings who were ravenous amateur pin traders, but they were polite and respected our designated pins-for-trade. (I like to show off, so one side of  my lanyard is not for trade. Although I have considered the hip lanyards, thanks to my buddy Jewnathan, but my pins are so heavy they dangle like a yo-yo, so maybe a two lanyard system, or even now they have these crazy Uber-Lanyards that are double think and feel like seatbelt material.) Both of them sort of just stepped up dead in our tracks, thrusting their lanyards out, eyeballing our lanyards in turn, parents slightly aghast and apprehensive as to how we would react. No fear from these kids, it was great. Crazy sentimental crap like that helped make the trip. As well as a couple young ladies who had just gotten into trading that trip chased me down to ask about a couple pins I had, so we traded some knowledge as well as overpriced tin. And apparently I look like a serious trader as I had two separate cast members plus a guy who runs a pin trading site say as much to me. Oh yes, my ego was adequately stroked.
One of the inquiries was on a particularly obscure pin that no one could figure out. We saw it three separate times that day, and the final time, Theatreg33k snagged it just so we could look it up more adequately when we got home to full PC's and some free time. The first couple times we saw it there were guesses that he might be from Star Wars which I confided in T1nk that that was not possible as I can usually recognize 99.9% of that universe even if I don't know who it is immediately, I suggested Captain Eo or some alternative sci-fi as he seemed to be green, wearing a sash, and had small curly horns. T1nk did not recall him from Cpt.Eo. T1nk then investigated the back of the pin. It said something like "2005 Happy Hauns LE 25" on the back so t1nk began to use her crazy new smart phone to try and track it down. She came to the conclusion from others who were discussing it on other forums that he was originally part of a full set but was scraped from a display set and released on his own. We traded for him and asked a few "pro" traders who were set up in the park that day but didn't manage to ask any hard core sharks, just re-affirmed what we already knew, that it was an older pin and that it was crazy limited, only 25 around, and that it was originally from Disney World. Cool. We get home, start looking it up in earnest, and I don't know why, but as soon as I saw the Pin on a computer screen, my brain clicked and I almost shouted as T1nk read out loud what my brain had just told me. Cesar's Ghost, from the Haunted Mansion. Bam, mystery solved, rare pin acquired.
So, if you know anyone who works in the Pin Trader shop in FrontierLand, or a couple people who had to stand outside Midway on March 2nd, OR a young lady who was prepping for the Pixar parade/show in DCA right outside the theatre where they show Alladin, also on the 2nd, let them know we figured it out. We don't know anyone on the inside anymore, but we know people who do, so, pass it along, they were just as stumped as us.

Also, we had a CRAZY, MOMENTOUS, SLAP YO MOMMA GOOD, dinner at the Mountain Winery. My soup was good, and the deserts were stupid delicious, just on the edges of being too sweet or tart or whatever, but never crossing that line, they were phenomenal. But the entree . . . Filet Mingon, Med. Rare, WOOOHHOOOOOoooooH! You want to talk about some Disney magic. PLUS!, so, Theatreg33k/T1nk is a full vegan now with light on the carbs, so, a lot of the time its like "what do you eat?" but we barely mentioned these potential restrictions, because T1nk wanted to know what was in certain things so she could plan accordingly(she was semi-vegetarian this trip as its hard to avoid a lot of things at the resort, kudo's to them, not as hard as you might think) And our server, Alex, was like "I got this, HEY YO SEAN! Sean's da chef, like a boss." (I'm paraphrasing of course, it was all very smooth and professional) and Sean comes out in his whites with the cool round coffee filter hat and is like "Whadup!? Check it, dont eat the bread, it hangs out with cheese, instead of butter, we got olive oil, and instead of deserts full of dairy, we got the banginest fruit cup you eaver put your tongue into. BOO-YA!" I was all like "yeah baby, I helped set this up, right?" I'm sure T1nk will have something to say about it on one of her blogs, if not, you can ask her yourself how awesome it was, lemme know.

Then, we got Fast-Passed for reserved sections of World of Color. Apparently, if your all up close, your gonna be wet as many of the spouts shoot in every direction, including towards the audience, in order to get the correct angle. And this is mostly true, assume it will happen, as we saw one section that was DRENCHED, I think it's worth it to do it once, but after that, take some higher ground. plus, its like sitting on the sidelines of a sporting event. It's cool, it's right there, but it's hard to get the whole picture cause you have to keep turning your head and being hyper-aware. Magically enough, we found the magic sweet spot where no water splashes. Maybe a light mist once or twice, but honestly, when the fire kicked in, it all evaporated off. Real funny though, as I mentioned, less than 10 yards from us, Soaked people. So, keep that in mind. Gallagher style up close and personal, or mezzanine status. Not sure how cool other sections are.

Yes, you gonna get wet. We were so close I could have probably pissed into the jets, made the distance, and no one would have noticed.

So, every time we go to Disneyland we forget they have a bag hold service for anything you buy at the resort, so T1nk & I were working under the assumption that we didn't want to be trying to juggle everything we had bought on and off rides all day. So, T1nk was like "we show up last day before we drive home, buy all the stuff and take off." Sounded like a plan. Oh boy, always expect the unexpected.
The biggest casualty of the days events I believe was the fact that theatreg33k wanted a particular fascinator that was a Nightmare Before Christmas Mini Top Hat. They had every other version; Tink cameo, cheshire cat, new Johnny Depp Mad Hatter, but ALL SOLD OUT. WE literally went through every shop in both parks plus downtown trying to find this thing. So, next time you go down there, see if they have one for us and give me or T1nk a call please? we'll pay you back.
Now that wasn't the unexpected though, that just sucked. The unexpected was when we got out into the parking lot and more people than one might expect were heading back to their cars. I even remember hearing someone say "it's closed" but I don't listen to random people until I hear something from someone official. Then the Trams weren't running. The Cast Members were simply directing people to the footpath that takes you up into downtown Disney. "Curious" we thought, but we strode on, to see what adventure was in store.
In hindsight, I think this could have been handled a little more efficiently from the initial contact perspective, since I feel charging people for parking, then letting them get all the way up into downtown Disney with little-to-no information was not a great idea, but overall, Mad props to everyone I met and interacted with, Guest and Cast Member alike for staying calm, patient and understanding through the ordeal.

THERE WAS A LINE RIDE JUST TO GET INTO DOWNTOWN DISNEY!?!?!

To get to the point, there was a bomb scare. An "item" was discovered in a tree near a ticket booth, so at 7:10 everything was put on lock. Apparently, someone wanted to leave a good will message to the park goers and the dude even called the police to let them know it was him and just some paper when he saw the commotion at the park was going on. Apparently some people were even stuck inside the park when it happened. Sucked to be them. *eyeroll*
Yeah, Disneyland was closed Willy Wanka Chocolate Factory Style for almost four hours, while the bomb squad was called in and that guy tried to explain to the police his message of good will. Although, now that I think about it, T1nk & I did not particularly seek out an official explanation. We asked a couple random Cast Members what they had heard, but ended up giving them more information as we were checking net feeds for info. We did feel sort of bad for some of the Cast Members though as we saw A LOT of managers out and about figuring that some cast members had gone home after that much down time.
BUT we finally rolled into the park proper around 11:30 (The park re-opened about 10:50 but I did NOT want to be part of the barbarous multitudes rushing the gate, so we hung out in Downtown just a little longer) and scoured for above mentioned hat, could not find, and left with what spoils we could. had some late Chipotle in S.L.O. (HATE I-5, love 101) and came home to an indifferent cat, as always.
So, if you want a crazy Disneyland story, try and come with us next year, evidence shows it wont be boring.