Disneyland 2012 - Project Autograph Book

So I am spending a glorious few days with the house to myself, aside from the dogs I am completely alone to do as I please and I'm loving it! It's also helping me to hone in my creativity on a project I've been planning for months. Most kids just get the autograph books that the Disney Parks, but our girls will have custom made ones.... I'm printing out pages for characters they're most likely to see, and then generic pages for ones I didn't make "real" pages for. They're an 8x8 scrapbook album that I will personalize their names and favorite characters.

I'm really excited to be working on it. I head to California for my cousin's wedding later this week and then come back to just me in the house for another little while. So excited.

Disneyland 2012: Photographic Countdown 7



In honor of America's Independence Day a photo from Disneyland's ship, the Columbia. Happy 4th of July! We are 31 days away from Disneyland!

Last weekend in June - just what I needed!

After a not so fantastic Thursday I was sooooooo ready to get out of dodge for a while. I packed up my car for the weekend, left my computer at home, and headed for Anchorage. I planned on spending the night at my gparents and then we were going to head for the Iditaord BBQ for Volunteers and musher sign up on Saturday (blog about that coming later this week).
The drive up was pretty uneventful, and I made good time even with a pitstop in Girdwood where I ran into my friend Paul who was headed down to Kenai for the weekend. Go figure. After we exchanged the "stay away from these sections of anchorage/once you hit the sterling hwy it won't be as crowded" information we took off in either direction.

The drive was uneventful until I took one of the curves to find a ton of parked cars in an area you don't normally see a large congregation - there were sheep on the side of the road. So I joined the growing group of parked cars and grabbed the camera and giant lens. I spend at least a half hour shooting photos until the crowd grew to a size that made the older of the two sheep very aggitated. So I moved on and headed to the "big city".

Met up with my friend Angie for dinner at Ling and Louies. We both had their Mongolian Beef and it was super tender and yummy. I want to go again and again and again! After catching up I was off to visit the gparents. Pretty much an uneventful evening that went way too late.

After not getting enough sleep, grandpa asked me to follow him out to Wasilla for the BBQ (as I said, I will blog about that later). A drive that normally takes 40 minutes tops, took close to two hours. We went no more than 40mph on the Glenn Hwy. Not fun.

After the BBQ I headed a little way down the road to Juanita and Haille's where I was going to spend the night. I hadn't seen them since January - very bad, I know - and I was missing the kid something terrible. After getting directions I made a quick drive over and met a giant of a girl! Haille is up to my chest and is only age six! Her first words to me after I commented on her height was "I'm tall enough for EVERYTHING at Disney." Dang it. LOL

We decided to go to the movies that night so off we went, she gave me the wrong directions ("Aunt Toni, I'm SIX, I'm going to make mistakes!") but we finally found the theater. Got our tickets, our soda and popcorn... and she proceeded to spill a full (thankfully small) soda all over the theater stairs. So out we went to get another soda. Back in and sit down. We, of course, saw Brave (review to come later, hopefully), and when the Disney logo came on Haille proudly proclaimed "I've been there." Yes, yes you have.

After the movie it was home for a bit of fun before bed. Sunday we spent at the Park and then DQ before going home. Just spending time with Haille was a joy, even when she put her stinky, sweaty feet in my face, and was a general six year old. She is just so much fun. And so stinkin smart it isn't even funny.

At one point she told me, "You know what, Toni? My gramma spoils me. And my dad spoils me. And my mom spoils me. You need to spoil me more." Gee, thanks kid. LOL

Sunday evening I drove home. Now it's just maintaining until I head down to California for my cousin's wedding next week!



Haille's not a little girl anymore! *tear*

Disneyland 2012: Photographic Countdown 6

It's been a few days since the last picture shared. We're now down to 38 days till Disneyland! I've been busy with work and photography and life, but it's still going by super slow and I just know that when I am actually down there it will go super fast, but it is what it is, right?!



Today's picture is not from Disneyland, but it is Disney. It was taken at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Donald Duck's star is forever visited by his best bud, Mickey outside of the Soda Shop next door to the El Capitan. We did not get ice cream last time, I want to go this time. I want to visit the theater as well... Hollywood's changed so much since Walt was a part of all the action, but he still lives on and influences every part of entertainment in the USA.

Join Iditarod Champion Dallas Seavey, promote his sport!

Dallas Seavey is the youngest Iditarod Champion at age 25, and is working hard to bring the Iditarod and mushing into a more global awareness. This is the new generation of musher and hopefully the new face of mushing. Dallas is pushing for mushing - especially the Iditarod - to embrace social media and other forms of technology to branch out. The Iditarod's made it 40 years, it's time to make sure it continues.

Dallas' passion definitely helped me become completely obsessed with following the sport, so hopefully everyone else who sees this catches the bug as well. Be sure to share this video with everyone!

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down - Winnie the Pooh

It's still raining... No fun... From what I hear Walt Disney World is getting hit pretty hard thanks to "Deby". Stay dry whereever you are. Hope the sun comes out again soon!

Disneyland 2012: Park Hours!!!

Rain may be needed for the soil, but it makes
everyone and everything very grumpy!

Today I spent time in a funk. Part of it was brought on by eating things I know I shouldn't eat and making myself sick, the other is - I dunno - the weather or something. I was just very blah, so I completely forgot that today would be the day that Disney would release the hours for the first day of our Disney Vacation! I popped over to their site a few minutes ago once I remembered and, just as I thought, it's following the same time as July. But, now it's kinda official.

I've also been watching the touringplans.com app for droid on line wait times. So far Disneyland seems pretty manageable - waittimes for most of the rides are at the most 20 minutes. With Carsland being the new big thing, it's not surprising. What is surprising is that really the wait times at DCA aren't must longer than Disneyland - except in Carsland and Toy Story Mania. I know it's still June, and not the PEAK of PEAK season, but I can still be hopeful.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of weeks. I have work to get done, but then there's my cousin's wedding. I went online and ordered a dress for it - it will be cooler than pants for July in the Sierra Mountain region of California - got it from Macy's. It looks really cute, I just hope it fits right. The way my body holds fat I just look like an old frumpy cow. I hate it.

Just a month and a half - ish left till Disney! Wish it'd get here already!

Disneyland 2012: Disney Mail!

Disney's Photopass is now better than ever!

Nothing makes one feel like their trip is really happening like Disney Mail. For WDW goers, this is normally a few packets with their package information followed by - a few months later - their Magical Express luggage tags and other fun goodies. With Disneyland, since we're not staying on Disney property, everything is pretty much online, and in our email box. No reason to anxiously wait - or be surprised by -  the arrival of mail in the mailbox from The Mouse.

However, earlier this week that's exactly what I got! Disney Mail! If you follow me on instagram (tonichelle), twitter (tonichelleak) or facebook then you already saw my celebration, but this deserves more than one celebration.

Last weekend I pre-ordered Disney's Photopass+, a new package by the photographers of Disney. You may remember my explanation of Photopass in the Character Interactions Tip post last September. That was with the basic photopass, but Disney has charged it up. Walt himself always wanted to plus everything he did, so I love that it's simply called Photopass+.

Disney finally listened to the park goers and is now including attraction photos (splash mountain's drop for example) as well as certain character meals. This goes hand in hand with the basic package that's always been with the company. The PLUS feature also includes a disk of stock images of the parks and characters.

Pre-ordering gives you a discount (it's pricey) and I know it's going to be so worth it. Better still, you can return it if you don't get enough photos to justify it! Great stuff!

Disneyland 2012: Photographic Countdown 5

We're at 43 days out. Disneyland is toying with my emotions, as they have released the latest set of hours that go up to the day we get into the Anaheim area. Meaning my trips dates SHOULD be next, but I HATE WAITING! I want to get the hours now so I can kinda get a game plan in mind for at least myself. You can bet a blog post will be coming when I finally get my way!

Today's picture is Haille on one of the bazillion rope bridges at the Redwood Creek Adventure Camp. It's a pretty neat little area that was themed for Brother Bear - I think it still does have Brother Bear elements but you also get some Up references. Haille is a daredevil and I am not. To get these pictures I had to get up HIGH. I hate up HIGH. Haille knew this and told me to "suck it up" because she wanted to explore. I did my best and got through the course, but I didn't want to go a second time, breaking her heart. Thankfully her mom came through about that time and took her up again. It's probably some of the best theming and definitely a great place for younger kids to burn off energy after having to stand in line after line for attractions.

Disneyland 2012: Photographic Countdown 4

Yes I've missed the last few days, I've been working hard for the money. And the sun's been out and the weather's been wonderful. I'm trying to get a little color before California or I'm going to burn. Well, I spent too much time outside today and I'm burnt. Go figure.

Today's picture is of one of my favorite details in the park. Above the Disneyland Fire Department is Walt Disney's apartment. It was where Walt and his family would stay when they visted the park. Cast members knew the boss was there when the light was on. After Walt died, the light was kept on as a kind of "Eternal Flame" tribute to Uncle Walt. I always take time to reflect - not as a sign of worship or anything, just out of respect for one of America's greats. 44 days till I get to say "hello, again." To Uncle Walt. I was born several decades too late. LOL!