Failures at Disney Social Events

Let me Preface this by saying that over the last year I have been a part of ALL but one Disney Blogs Events.  I have been happy, satisfied, and rejoice over the wonderfulness of the events (especially Last Years Villains Party, which I'm sad to learn will not be repeated this year).  I am generally grateful for the opportunity to participate in these special events, and thankfully as an avid Disney Blog reader, Twitter and Facebook Follower, I learn about these events, and am included.

Recently TDA (Team Disney Anaheim), Erin Glover, Manager, Social Media and Print, posted a special event for Annual Passholders at Disneyland.  From 8pm-Midnight on two days, they would allow a large number of annual passholders to come into the parks after closing, and experience some special things like the Soundsational Parade at NIGHT, and a few other things like access to Tomorrowland AND Fantasyland.  

While these things seem like a wonderful Idea, it seems that Ms. Glover is less than organized with the whole event.  After teasing people for DAYS that the lists would be posted, and emails would be sent, she then backtracked and said that ONLY the list for the 12th of October would be posted last friday, and emails sent for that day only, with the list and emails for the 17th "the following week".

Here's the problem.  Most people cannot take off on a moments notice to stay out until after Midnight on a weeknight for Disneyland.  We have to make arrangements with our jobs to take the following morning off, or arrange to get off work early the day of the event as well.

Here's the OTHER problem.  There are about 2600 people on the list (plus or minus), with EACH PERSON allowed to bring up to 3 guests.  Assuming a MAX attendance, that's 10,000 people in the park.  WoW.  Not very intimate really.  Not very special anymore are you?  I certainly don't feel special.  Even assuming a 60% turnout (which sounds low), that's still 6,000 people in line for 2 rides in Tomorrowland, and 4 rides in Fantasyland.  That's a LOT of people on those 6 rides at once.

I don't care though, because I WILL attend.  If I'm accepted.  I've made my reservation for the 17th.  Based on the current situation, Ms. Glover seems to be looking at posting the list around Friday the 14th at 5pm, making it virtually impossible for people to request time off from their bosses for the following week.

Also, She commented that she will NOT be attending the "parties"?!?  Who organizes an event and then isn't on hand to solve problems, etc?  Seems irresponsible to me really.  Heather Hust Rivera would NEVER have done it this way, she also would have given us loyal AP's more time and notice to arrange for Babysitters, Carshare Rides, Friends with AP's to go with us, etc.

I am not a fan of Ms. Glover (and I will continue to refer to her as such until she proves to be friendly and caring enough to earn a first name basis with us loyalists).  I've spoken to Heather at past events, and she was ALWAYS friendly, and caring, and frankly a wonderful Person who seemed to CARE about how the event turned out.  I don't get that feeling from Ms. Glover, and believe she would be better suited working for a different company than Disney.

Also, her response to people with problems is to call a 714 number (event services?), and plead their case with someone who knows nothing, and doesn't have the ability to do anything more than confirm or deny a reservation for the event.  Poor Job really.  From all I can find out about her past, it appears she worked for TDO (Team Disney Orlando), which is among the lower forms of employment for Disney.  Most of the people who work for TDO are nice enough people, but some of them have no business running a company, and have little to no experience with customer service, and the level or loyalty we here in California expect from our Disneyland Cast Members and staff.

At this point I would give her an F.  The event would have to be PHENOMENAL for me to raise it much higher at this point.

Have you seen my Nephew?

This kid is JUST TOO CUTE!

And I get to take him to Disneyland on Friday this week!!  I'll post all about his 2nd Trip (his first he was barely a month old!!!) in a few days! Have a Magical Day!

My Grandfather; the Stubborn.

Last Thursday my Grandfather was seriously injured in a car accident.  The lady driving didn't see my grandfathers car coming the opposite direction and pulled across traffic.  His driver, Mike, t-boned her car.  They hadn't been speeding, and it was in no way their fault.  My grandfathers driver was not injured at all, but my grandfather had a broken pelvis, broken leg, broken knee, 5 broken ribs, and a punctured lung.  It was so bad that he was in ICU.  After 4 days of being in the ICU, the finally decided that there really was nothing they could do for him, and yesterday had him moved to a Nursing facility.  Last night my parents were called and told he may not survive the night.  You see, he had massive buildup of fluid in his lungs, and because of all the medications he was already taking and his pre-existing health conditions, he was not eligible for any kind of surgery, as his BP was too low, and he would most likely not survive.

I'm told that they did manage to get some of the fluid out of his lungs, but it just wasnt enough, and this morning around 11:15am he finally passed away.

Had he lived, he would never had made it out of the hospital and would have needed 24 hour care.  I know for a fact that he didn't want to live like that.  He was a stubborn old man, right to the very end.  His stubbornness will be one of the things I will remember most.  I lived with him a couple years ago for 6 months when I was between apartments.  It was HELL living there.  He was stubborn and crotchety, and sometimes just flat out mean.  The day I moved out, we got into a HUGE screaming match... It didn't mean he didn't mean the world to me.  If I had not cared, I would of said nothing.

We both got past it, and I saw him in the hospital on Saturday afternoon.  He had a hard time breathing, but held my hand and said thank you.  I didn't need anything more than that.  I never will need anything more than those 2 words from him.

So here I am, left with both my parents who are very upset.  Grampa wasn't supposed to die this week.  Not THIS week.  Yesterday was their 36th anniversary.  Friday is supposed to be our trip to Disneyland.  Just a day trip, since I live here in Socal.  I was going to get to take my 1 year old nephew, who is so fricken cute, I could scream sometimes.  He LOVES bright colors and noises.  Should I be stubborn like Grampa was and insist that we still go?  Would Grampa want us to cancel our trip and sit around moping on friday?  I don't think so, but he was pretty stubborn.  I grieve in my own personal way, which will never be tears.  I'm just not that kind of girl really.  I accept death, and I accept that it is sad.  I just don't think I can accept that Grampa would want me to stop living life or cancel plans because he passed away (unless it somehow conflicts with his funeral and then he'd be ADAMANT that I cancel whatever the heck it was immediately. lol).  He certainly lived his, and will be remembered.  Probably in an epitaph for Halloween this year.  What good would I be if I didn't make people wonder right?

Rest in Peace Leander James Peik March 27, 1927 - September 21, 2011

My Cousin's Visit to San Diego!

My Favorite Cousin came out from Texas to spend a week with me and my best friend Tim here in San Diego! July 9-16th.  We spent days and weeks planning all the things we would do while she was here.  We actually did most of the stuff we planned too!  Which is amazing, because nothing ever happens according to plan.

July 9th
We picked her up at around 11:30am from the Airport.  She's so cute, and I love her to death.  We had Tim get her luggage, and off to Ocean Beach we went.  Fish Tacos at South Beach Bar and Grille.  They truly have the BEST fish tacos in the world.  I HATE HATE HATE seafood, and I LOVE their fish tacos!  We ate them while watching the pier and ocean.  Then we headed out to the beach.  Took some adorable pictures.

Tim & Stacy! <3 These two!

Look. Sand!

The waves kinda suck.  Really rough, Little form.  No One was really surfing.

My lovely footsies.  I need a pedicure!

There's a few guys who have gone out, and trying to surf.  Most don't stay long though..and neither do we!

After this we headed back to my place.  Pool + BBQ = Win!  We invited my family over, and we all went swimming and BBQ'd Carne & Pollo Asada.  The chicken definitely was the best!  We had a great day, and all passed out around midnight.

Sunday July 10th.
We were gonna get up early, but that was not gonna happen!  We get ready and head to Encinitas to Pick up Tim's Surfboard!  Stacy wants to learn how to surf, and so we decided to find a beach.  We drove down the coast (stopping at one FABULOUS spot, which ended up being no parking, so we quickly left.. Don't want a parking Ticket in Del Mar!), and ended up at Torrey Pines State Beach.  After spending like 20 minutes trying to find parking, we dumped Tim with a bunch of the stuff at the curb, and drove over to the Paid Parking Lot.  $10 NOW!!  It was $8 last summer, and $6 the year before!

We found a nice spot on the beach, as close to the rocks as we could.  Then the lessons began!  Lets just say that the waves did NOT improve from the day before.  They had actually gotten BIGGER, and were 3-5 ft.  This is pretty big for San Diego, and REALLY hard to learn on.  There was also a pretty strong current.  Stacy tried for over an hour to get up on the board, but the rough waves, and big surf made it near impossible.  I did take the water camera out, and got some Fantastic photos!

We walked down the beach to a spot where there weren't any tourists playing in the water so they wouldn't get hurt if the board got away from her.

Stapping up.. hehe.

Tim carried the board into the water while we got used to the temp.  It was cold for the first 10 min..

This is the whitewash from in between the sets.  It was the smallest, but still pretty rough, and not really strong enough to surf.

I think this was attempt #4 or 5.  I was getting beat up pretty bad because I had my body board with me.

She kept trying despite it being really bad conditions. I'm proud she didnt give up immediately.

This is whitewash from IN BETWEEN sets.  I was too busy ducking and dodging waves during sets to photograph them.  The waves were 10-12 seconds apart during a set, and you barely had time to recover, let alone have fun.

She missed that wave, but Tim was giving her pointers on balance at this point.

See that BLUE in the left corner? That's my Body Board.  Pulling me under. It's about a 3-4 ft wave... and strong.  I decided after this that it was time to head in and dump the board.

I am alive.  thankfully. But really exhausted from fighting the surf.  I walked back to basecamp, and decided to take some pics.  Stacy ended up coming back too, and Tim attempted to surf.  He didn't last long though, and ended up swapping for my body board, so he could have a little fun in the bigger surf.  

The surf started coming up... High Tide was at 6pm, and +6!  At 4pm we had oceanfront camping going on, and decided to pack some stuff up.  I did take some pictures though.  You know me too well by now!

So that ends Sunday.  I have to work on Monday, because Tuesday is Disneyland!

Monday, July 11th, 2011
This was a recovery day really.  Pool, a little Walmart action, cooking dinner, watching movies.  I worked until Noon.  Stacy and Tim went to the Lake around the corner from my house and had lunch.  It was definitely a relaxing day...and getting ready for Disneyland.

Tuesday, July 12, 2011
So we set our alarms for 5am.  I had no idea how early it was when I went to bed at 1:30am.  We had to leave by 6am, because we had to drop off Halloween/Xmas stuff to Johan and Julie in Lake Forest, and then be at the Ticket Place for Stacy's Ticket by 8am.  We ended up only being about 20 or so minutes late.

We got to Disneyland by about 9:30am.  We opted to first go over to Disneyland and get Star Tours Fast Passes.  5:30pm was our return time!  We then saw that the line was only 65 min, so decided to wait.  Stacy had a disabled pass, which cut about 20 minutes off our wait.

Its overcast, but warm at this point.  We waited in the outside line...

And then these guys came out to entertain us!  They took pictures with the guests, and then went inside the building...

They wandered through the line, mingling with guests.  Really Cool!

We got stuck in the front row.  We got Storm Troopers, Tattooine, Leia, and Coruscant.  Lame.  I've seen this exact one before!  Oh well.  After this we decided to go on Space Mountain, so we waited in the Handicap Area.  Just before we are set to go... *ppppeeeewwwww* everything halts. Lights come on.  Tim has broken ANOTHER ride! hehe.  So we are sitting, waiting for them to fix it.  They said about 10 minutes.  No one leaves.

After this we head over to check out the Matterhorn.  That line was WAY too long, so we skip it and head over to TeaCups.  Yay! One of my Favorites!  Spin Spin Spin! Tim makes us go so fast that i'm super dizzy by the time we are done.  Gosh I love this ride.

and he does!!

Tim and I.. He always makes goofy faces!

Then we go to Roger Rabbit.  Some rides have FANTASTIC handicap access.  Roger Rabbit is one of them.  Haunted Mansion is another, Splash Mountain is a third (if you can climb a few steps).  Roger Rabbit had about a 5 minute wait for handicap, vs. a 65 minute wait for regular.  We enjoyed the ride, and took 1 awesome picture afterwards!

Gags ahead! hehe.

After this we head to Splash Mountain because it's Hot!  It's about 1pm now, and we wanted to cool off.
While deciding whether to wait in the handicap line, or take the fastpass handicap route, Stacy saw Eeyore.  She really wanted a picture with him, so we waited in line.

After this we decided that she could in fact climb the few steps for the fast pass line, and opted for that route. It was about a 10-15 min wait as opposed to 30 for regular handicap, and 105 for the regular line!
So we figured out who would sit where:
The order went Stacy, Tim, Me.  Tim even convinced Stacy to wear the blindfold down the BIG drop!  And then dumped a whole bottle of water on her head going down!

This might be the greatest picture EVER!  Timed and executed PERFECTLY!  Stacy was less than thrilled, but it was too funny to be mad about it!

By the time we were done it was about 2:30, and we were all hungry.  We headed out of the parks to our Locker and got our lunches.  Tim decided he needed to go to the Car, and Stacy went with him.  While they were gone, I took a catnap...and braided my hair.  

Its so beautiful outside.  Just Lovely. And finally starting to cool Off.  When the 2 of them finally get back from the car, we head into DCA.  Stacy has never been, so it's exciting for her!  The lines are pretty long for stuff, except Little Mermaid!  Only 20 minutes!  We snagged some World of Color Passes on our way there, and jump in line!

Phineas and Ferb.  It's Fun while waiting in line!

Thats a LOT of lightbulbs.

We head over to Screamin at this point, and grab fast passes for it. They don't have a handicap option, so we waited in line (about 30 min), which is pushing the limit for Stacy to stand around on her foot.  Walking is ok, but standing still is less than fun for her.  She had no idea what to expect, and the resulting picture is FANTASTIC!

It's hard to tell because I only got 1 shot, and it's less than stellar.

 After this we still had about an hour to wait for our fast passes to be ready...so we headed over to Silly Symphony Swings! SO much fun!

Then we headed BACK to Screamin' for our 2nd Ride!  Fastpasses meant we had about a 5 minute wait!  Stacy knew where the picture was coming this time, and took a MUCH better photo!

Tim needed a break after this, so we sat down in the 'food court' and took a break deciding what our next move would be.   We wanted to do Tower of Terror, but the line was 45 minutes, with no Handicap option, so Stacy said she didn't want to stand around for that long.  Understandable.  We then found out that ElecTRONica is serving Drinks already!  It's like 6:30pm.  But the Party doesn't start until 8!  To avoid the teenage crowds, we got Glowjitos.  $11.50 each. Totally worth it!  We each had one whole one, and then we all shared 2 more!  Stacy drank most of them, and we were Giggly after this.  She was more Drunk.  Thankfully I was driving... lol.

We could see the crowds forming, so we grabbed our sweaters from the Locker and went back to Disneyland.  We had fastpasses for Star Tours.  Stacy doesn't remember ANYTHING after this. LOL.  I guess the Glowjitos really hit her.  We went on Star Tours, and got Storm Troopers, Hoth, Leia, and Naboo!  So excited!  I hadn't seen Hoth or Naboo!  Then the crowds were really big, people waiting for the Fireworks, and Fantasmic.  We wanted to ride Jungle Cruise at Night.  It was about 8pm by this point, and our Jungle Cruise Captain was REALLY bad.  He wasn't even funny in a bad way.  He was totally unfunny.  Plus, they had the waterfall turned off completely.  WTH.  It was the WORST ride EVER.  When we got done with this, we went over to Big Thunder Railroad.  The handicap line was LONG, but we had grabbed Fast Passes earlier in the day.  We realize at this point that we are NEVER gonna make World of Color, and resolve ourselves to This being the last ride of the day.  As we were riding Big Thunder, the FIREWORKS! started going off next to us!  Might be the coolest way to end a Disney Day (other than stopping at In N Out in Lake Forest.).

Wednesday July 13th, 2011
I have to work all day today.  Stacy and Tim sleep most of the day.   When I got home from work, we ran to walmart to get tshirts for Harry Potter.  I made us 3 of the best tshirts I saw all day!

Thursday, July 14th, 2011
HARRY POTTER DAY!
I have an entire blog entry for this day.. http://wickedwishings.blogspot.com/2011/07/harry-potter-part-2.html

and the Death Eater Logo on the Back. 

Tim's Shirt says "Don't be such a Whorecrux", with "Dumbledore wants YOU for his Army" on the back.  Stacy's Shirt simply says "DA, Dumbledores Army" on the front and Back.

It was ALL WORTH the wait for the Movie.

Friday, July 15th, 2011
Stacy's LAST night in San Diego!  Tim really wanted to take us to Pizza Port in OB for Dinner, and then to grab a drink before coming back to Lakeside and walking to a local bar!  Smart idea really.
We got the Carlsbad Pizza. It was awesome.
We then went to the Pacific Shores Cafe. A cute little Bar in OB on Newport.  We each had 1 drink, and the jumped in the truck to come home!
We changed purses, clothes, etc, and headed out to Eastbound to start.  They serve Beer and Wine.

After a couple beers we head over to the 67.  This is where it gets REAL drunk-like.  Stacy has a bunch of Jagerbombs, Tim has some DISGUSTING drink, and I have 3-4 more drinks!  It's a good thing we walked, cuz NONE of us is legal to drive at the end of the Night!

This last picture Might be my favorite of the whole week.  I love these two people with all my heart.  Getting home from the bar drunk was FUN, and worth the whole week.

Saturday, July 16th, 2011
I'm pretty sure that Stacy was STILL drunk when I woke her up at 5am to get ready to go home.  I had sobered up by that point only having drunk 6 or so drinks All night.  But Boy was I tired.  I was really sad to see her go, but I'm glad she came out!

Tim and I came home Saturday Morning, and both passed out until about 1pm.  What a Wonderful Week!