We've talked quite a bit about Disney family and friends in recent weeks, but we felt it was high time to do it again!
A couple of Sundays ago we were lucky enough to have what was probably our first "official" tweet-up with a bunch of our friends at Disneyland Park. We've met most of them at some part before, and in fact many of them are already featured on our site in some shape or form, but it's always been in relatively small groups; maybe four or five people at most. We consider this one "official", though, because at our largest there were 11 of us running around The Park. Okay, so it's probably still not a big tweet-up, be we think we did pretty well.
We had all discussed where we would meet and what we would do beforehand, agreeing to meet up at 7pm at The Golden Horseshoe for a ride on 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. We learned that we're all pretty punctual people, in point of fact. We had met up with Amy beforehand, and within a short amount of time of our arriving at 7 everyone had strolled in and greeted each other, just like old friends; almost feels like we are at this point!
While we made sure all the kiddies in attendance were fed (FindingMickey.com brought their two little boys, and Jason and Julie their daughter Jenna) we just hung around, getting reacquainted, and playing on Gowalla. We wish someone had taken a picture of that! At one point, we believe there were four of us, all lined up in a row, all checking in and goofing around on Gowalla (more on Gowalla on the website later). Given the amount of laughter pouring forth, you would have thought we were all watching a Judd Apatow flick, but I guess when you get a bunch of us in the same room together even Gowalla can be comedy.
Once everyone was fed (and the bears within contented) we all walked over to 'Pirates' together. It was pretty neat seeing us fill up almost an entire boat like that. It wasn't without consequence, though. We're not really sure how we keep paying the "water" price on these little excursions, but our bottom halves were soaked by the time we disembarked. We should probably note that FindingMickey.com (sitting right in front of us) took on some water, too, but when we left the boat there was a full three inches of water stacked up in the seat where we had just been sitting. Wet cheeks are not fun on cold, nippy nights at The Park. Make note of this for yourselves for future reference. However, if you look at our picture, you probably won't notice the discomfort we were feeling at the time. All for the cause, right?
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| (lt-rt) Neil (FindingMickey.com), Noah, Jason (OHatDL.com), Nathaneal, Rosemary (FindingMickey.com), Mark, Chad, Amy, Julie, Jenna and Jason |
Unfortunately, at this point we dropped a few members of our party as Jason, Julie and Jenna had to leave a bit earlier than planned because Jason began feeling ill. We really missed hanging out with them the rest of the evening! But we pressed on and made a quick hop over to 'Haunted Mansion Holiday' for some fun with Jack Skellington. One of our favorite rides of the Holiday; we love this one and can't get enough of it. We had hoped to see some pyro as we got off of the attraction (we needed the Gowalla check-in!) but due to high altitude winds they had called them off for the evening. Drat! Never fear, though, there's always something to do. Next up, 'Indiana Jones and That Temple With The Great Flashing Eyes'; blindness ensued. We're pretty sure that's why Mark did such a terrible job driving (the fact the wheel doesn't turn had absolutely nothing to do with it). He couldn't see where he was going for the majority of the trip. Remember that line in Monster's, Inc. with the dude that claims Boo grabbed him with her "mind powers and shook me like a dog"? Yeah, this attraction's kind of like that. We can totally empathize with him now.
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| Amy's Chocolate Peppermint Mousse (and mug!) at Plaza Inn |
Figuring there were adults in the party who hadn't eaten at this point (Amy and Chad especially were showing signs of "the grumps") we all decided to go over to 'Plaza Inn' for Chicken Alfredo (Mark had the fried) and desserts (red velvet cupcakes and chocolate peppermint mousse). Both the dinner, and especially the conversation, were fantastic (Neil regaled us afterwards with some History of Disneyland lessons, as well as an excellent "overheard at Disneyland" which Jason promptly tweeted over on his website featuring the gone but not forgotten 'Wizard of Bras')!
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| Amy, Mark, Rosemary, Nathaneal, Chad and Jason chilling on The Front Porch |
By this time we had been hanging out for almost four hours (didn't seem nearly that long) and we decided to begin our meandering back up Main Street to make our exit, but we had one thing left undone. As we were passing "The Front Porch" on Main Street we saw that it was completely empty; but not for long! We spent the next half hour or so there just hanging out, being true "Landers". We talked, laughed, joked and made fun of various passersby (as mean as it sounds, there's some oddballs out there!) until we just couldn't anymore. After one final picture, we left Neil and Rosemary to take care of their kids, said goodbye to Jason near the main gates, and made our way back to the Toy Story Parking Lot with Amy before making our final goodbye and heading home.
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| Just prior to leaving |
We say all that to really say this: The Park sure can be a fun place, whether you're by yourself or in a small group, but it sure can be fun when you're with a pile of your friends, too.
Hope you enjoyed our little tale. We can't wait for the next one!
*photos courtesy of Rosemary at FindingMickey.com
