Who: Mal and MDM, plus pups, joined by SIL and Brother, with their twins (5) and G3 (9).
Where: Residence Inn, where else!
So, we signed up for the Fantasmic! 20th event so figured what a way to celebrate Mother's Day. We were later invited to join friends at Club 33 for a special event on the 14th which included Fantasmic! We drove down after work on Friday the 11th, and arrived about 9pm. We checked in and kicked back in the room for the night.
Saturday morning we got up and headed to the park. MDM and I got in the park about 930am and noticed Charles Boyer was doing a signing, so we grabbed 2 pieces we had wanted and got them signed. I checked them in at package hold, and we headed to Jungle Cruise. When we got off, my SIL with kids in tow arrived. We headed towards POTC. On the way, we opted to let the boys run through the Treehouse. Then off to POTC. We then headed over to the Golden Horseshoe for lunch and to watch the Billies. The boys were in fine form, and only fell off their chairs about a half dozen times. After the show, we took the boys to BTMRR. Then I ran for fastpasses, while the rest headed to get in line for Space Mountain. Then, we headed back to the hotel shortly after to rest and regroup. I headed back to the park a couple hours later to join some friends for a couple laps around the park on the Lilly Belle. It was nice to just relax. MDM went to check out a couple shops. Then I headed to Tortilla Jo's to get a spot for dinner. There were 10 of us, as my brother and folks were joining us. At this meal, only one twin tipped their chair over... The food was great, the Margaritas were great, and the Divas were fantastic. From there, we headed to Soarin' to use some fastpasses. Then we headed back to Disneyland, and over to Star Tours. I shopped while they rode. Found a zippered fleece for MDM. After they got done, I opted to head back to the room (it was 1030) while they headed off to ride Splash Mountain.
MDM and I slept in a little, then headed to the park for Mother's Day. I picked up my carnation, and also one for my SIL and my mom who would be joining us for brunch. I did a little window shopping, then we hopped the monorail over to the Disneyland Hotel for brunch. We arrived at the brunch, checked in, and were seated promptly. We didn't even get a chance to check out the ante room! The brunch was INCREDIBLE. I need to thank cstephens for recommending this brunch. They had such a large variety of food. Everyone was well satisfied. The boys loved the "all you can Mickey bars". They also loved the Uncrustables. I enjoyed the crab and shrimp, omelet bar, carving station, there was just SO much food. For dessert, we had bananas Foster crepes, amongst all the other desserts. It was all so good. MDM declared it "best buffet ever!" (And no child fell out of their chair!) After saying good bye to the folks, we headed into DCA. We headed to the Zephyr, Screamin', Swings, ToT, then I headed to DL for Soundsational, then Flag Retreat. Then we headed to POTC, caught the train to Tomorrowland for dinner at Pizza port. After that, MDM, SIL, and I staked out spots for fireworks, while brother took kids on Splash for a few trips. MDM and I had dessert and relaxed while we waited. The boys returned and managed to sit through dessert and fireworks with only one fall out of a chair. (We were at the Plaza Inn.) After fireworks, we headed down Main St, shopping along the way. We found several items we just had to have!! Then it was back to the room for the night.
Monday, May 14th, Fantasmic! - MDM and I headed into DL early and hit the River Belle for breakfast. After that we sort of roamed the park, hit DCA to check out Off the Page and Blue Sky. After checking out Cars Land, we opted to call my brother and meet up so we could get their wrist bands for the event that evening. MDM and I were going to go to the Club 33 Voice event, but I had gotten my brother's family the AP event on our APs. While we were waiting for them, MDM noticed an injured bird in one of the "tree holes" by the ticket booth. After noticing it probably had an injured wing, she notified a security gentleman. They came over and looked, then brought in another one, then called in 2 custodial people. 20 mins later, they had it in a box and taking it to Circle D. MDM became "Bird Rescuer!" We then headed back to the hotel room for a nap since it would be a late night.
We headed back to Disneyland to meet up with our friends to head to the club. This was my first event, other than Candlelight, so it was going to be an interesting evening. AT precisely 630p, they opened the doors and started allowing everyone to head up. The club was decorated in a Mickey and Goofy theme, since the event was to celebrate and do a meet and greet with the voice over actors who portray Mickey and Goofy. It was very nice to meet various members, and the Club manager was very sweet and came over to say hi. We were introduced to so many people, I lost track of who was who. Our favorite server was there, and he came to get a hug and tell me how much he had enjoyed serving our group back in December. It had been his first night serving a large table (we were 9 or 10) and he had been nervous, but we made him feel comfortable and gave him confidence. (It explained why he had to keep looking at notes.) The first half hour was more of a cocktail hour and we had champagne with various appetizers (cheese puffs, chicken nuggets, and peanut butter and "jelly" on a crumpet. It was very interesting! About 715, they had us take seats, and brought in the first speaker, Rick Dempsey, who is in charge of voice over actors and continuity. He gave about a 20 min presentation regarding why continuity was important. He then had various clips of various voice over acting, including some of Walt dubbing Mickey. ANd a lot of outtakes! (We learned it took an hour and 15 mins to get the "Ut Oh" by Mickey in Fantasmic!) It was soooo fantastic! He was followed by Bill Farmer, who had us all in stitches with his stories of life as Goofy! He was followed by Bret Ivan, voice of Mickey. During all this, they were expecting us to eat! The food was incredible, but the stories were even better! The poor guys were trying to take their turns eating along with talking. We learned a lot about how Phil Collins sang the music to Tarzan in various languages, and got to hear them. They took a question and answer period for about 20 mins. The dinner consisted of a Spring roll for the first course, followed by a salad with beets and feta cheese, then a porterhouse steak with a "corndog potato"!! And finally a "Goofy Sweet Treat" which was very similar to a HUGE ding dong surrounded by raspberries. It was very good. After the dinner, the artists were in the lounge area and signed lithographs made for the event. It was really nice, as we each got to spend a few mins talking with them and they personalized their autographs. MDM asked Bret to record a message on her iPhone, so of course I did too! He laughed and loved it. Bill also recorded for us. I have 2 of him, one where he is saying he has no idea how to work the recording button! Afterwards, we headed downstairs about 1030p and were given the Fantasmic! event tee shirts and a voucher to enter an area reserved to view Fantasmic! We left to look around a few and ran into cstephens and The Husband. We chatted for a few, and noticed the reserved area was a nice standing area, but considering the age of many of the members, I was very surprised they did not have chairs available to the members. MDM and I staked an area inside the reserved area for us and our sponsors, who are older. There were several of the Club 33 staff helping arrange things at the reserved area, and I asked about getting a couple chairs for our sponsors, and they brought 2 out. About 11p, our sponsors came into the area, and I was surprised, but not really surprised to see he had Bill Farmer and Bret with their wives with him. So, our sponsors wife and Bill's wife sat, while we stood and chatted with the voice actors. Not kidding, we pretty much had them to ourselves for the wait for the show. I was very surprised the Club did not have seats for this, or at least for the actors. But better for me! We found out all about their dogs, and they got to hear all about ours. MDM declared it the best night ever. We hung out for a while after the showing, and were amused by one of the Fantasmic! "bumblebees" who was working in our area. She came over and asked about what was going on, and we explained the 2 gentlemen, and then Bret broke out in Mickey voice and the girl was just trembling. It was so good. We finally headed out about 1230a so MDM could ride BTMRR one last time, then back to the hotel. We were exhausted...
We got up early Tues (considering we didn't get to bed til 130am) at 8am to meet a couple Padders for breakfast at Steakhouse 55, followed by hitting the road home....
It was a GREAT Mother's Day weekend!!
Pictures tomorrow...
Originally Posted by letshavefun
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