Sunday, September 28, 2008
Disney 2008 - Day 1
We arrived at Disney today. We headed out last night around 7pm. We drove to Lake City, FLA and stayed the night there. By 9am, we were back on the road. We arrived at the Pop Century not long after noon. The boys got us all checked in. The Pop is our favorite value resort. It focuses on Pop Culture from the 1950’s through the 1990’s. The lobby is full of memorabilia and tends to be crowded. They have CM’s in the lobby playing music, keeping the kids occupied with things like hula-hoop to make the check-in process easier for the parents.
We lucked out. Even though we were early to arrive, they had all 3 of our rooms ready. Last year, we stayed in the 70’s building and really liked it. We tried to get that building again but it just didn’t happen. This year, we are in the 50’s building. So far, so good.
Once the vehicle was unloaded and all of the luggage put away, we reconvened and headed for the Animal Kingdom. Normally, we head to the Magic Kingdom first. Since we had a dinner reservation at Boma in the Animal Kingdom Lodge, we decided Animal Kingdom was the most logical starting point.
On our way in to the park, we noticed Chip & Dale off to the side with a crowd of CM’s and no one else. We ran over to get a picture. The CM’s were super and took pictures for us.
We were able to walk right in to ‘It’s a Bugs Life’. Then we went and grabbed a fast pass for ‘Dinosaur’ and headed to see ‘The Festival of the Lion King’. Steve and Liz had seen it before but it was a first for me, Darrell and D-Tag. It was a great performance. After the show, we rode Dinosaur and then headed over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
The Lodge is beautiful and Boma was terrific. We tried so many different and new foods. The waiter brought me and Liz a small form to request recipes for some of our favorite dishes. I think we request 18 recipes once we finished.
Then we headed outside to see if there were any animals.
Then it was off for a short visit to the Magic Kingdom. We jumped on the train first for a loop around the park and then went on to Frontier land to disembark. We headed straight for the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This ride was closed for refurbish last year and it was a great ride in the dark. From there it was a short walk to our beloved mansion. We HAD to ride that day one.
For some reason, WISHES was delayed. We headed out of the park as quickly as possible to avoid the insane after fireworks rush. I think we made it just in time. There were two bus lines for the Pop and D-Tag pegged the good one. We were on a bus and sitting down (a very important fact) in no time flat.
Back at the Pop, it was time to cool down, shower off and start jotting down the Blog notes.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Dragon Con 2009
Even though Dragon Con ended a mere 2 weeks ago, it is time to look ahead to Dragon Con 2009. The 2009 dates are Sept 4 - 7, 2009.
MEMBERSHIPS:
The next year memberships have gone up, up, up but it is still worth it to buy early. A Dragon*Con membership covers all four days, all panels, events, demonstrations, concerts, performances, contests, snacks and munchies in our Consuite (as available) and a host of other activities. For more details, see the Dragon Con website…
The current Membership price for Dragon*Con 2009 is $60 until 11/14/2008.
I estimate the door price for 2009 will be $100 / 4 Days. As always, I will be purchasing multiple memberships as a club during the first purchasing phase. Doing this gives us an additional $5 off the lowest membership price, which makes each club membership $55. The due date is November 14th. So if you’re interested, I need all payments and membership forms by Monday, November 13th. Club memberships must be submitted at the same time with a single payment source. The confirmation postcards are then sent separately to each member. We need at least 10 memberships to constitute a 'club' and get the discount. Just send me a message if you interested.
If you think you are going but are not sure or only plan on attending one day, I still encourage you to purchase your memberships now. Yes, the line for pre-reg will be long but for D*C 2008, just a Saturday badge was $50.
Just a note to the die-hards out there, Dragon Con has opened Eternal Memberships again.
HOTELS:
Codes for hotels have not been officially posted. Although, the Hyatt is taking reservations for D*C 2009 weekend; you just have to let them know you are with DragonCon. The number for Hyatt is 404-577-1234
I attempted making reservations at the Marriott but they have not released the rooms yet. I will be monitoring the Dragon Con website for Marriott codes and will post when they become available.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE go ahead and reserve a room if you THINK you might want one. It takes a credit card to reserve the room but, unless the Hyatt policy has changed, nothing is charged to your card prior to your arrival and you have until 3pm on the day before your arrival to cancel!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Disney 2008 - MNSSHP
It's hard to believe that we leave for Disney in 5 days! This past Saturday, the FBO+1 got together at DTag's for a pre-trip costume check and to nail down last minute trip details. As usual a good time was had by all. Below are some photos from the costume check.
And poor Jesse, Pickwick will not be accompanying us this year. He will be very missed!
\
Thursday, September 11, 2008
D*C Video Links - Thanks to our Quartermaster!
I swiped these from Indigo LaRue's MySpace Post!
For you guys that missed the con I have some links for you and for those of you that were there...watch them again! funny moments and cool costumes!
Tank Boy Transforms
Battlefield 2142 does the Supa'man!
Yip! Yip! Sesame Street Alien
The D*C Parade Video. Check out 26 minutes in...BLACK BUNNY!
Iron Man!!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
New Slide Show
I have added a new slide show for 'Pirates at Play'. I tried to combine all the old pictures and new pictures into one but failed miserably. It's late and I'm too tired to fix it now. So I just put both up for your viewing pleasure!
Beads, Beads and a few more Beads!!
Things are sort of crazy around here. I got back from D*C a little over a week ago. I head to Disney in a little over a week. When I get back from Disney, I have 12 days before I head to the Pirate Festival at Tybee Island!!
Luckily, it has been minimal prep for Disney - it was all about D*C this year. However, this will the first time The Black Bunny has been to the Tybee Island Pirate Festival. While it will be a laid back event, we ARE walking the parade.... and you know what that means - BEADS!!!!
I just received my bead shipment from New Orleans (where else!!). This should get us through Tybee and still have some left over for D*C 2009.
There are approximately 2200 plain beads and 720 medallion beads (they will become Bunny Beads) here!!! With the leftovers from this years D*C, I have well over 3,000 strands of beads!
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
D*C 2008 – Day 5
Thi checked out early. He was by my room by 9:30am. Jesse and I had arranged a late check-out of 2pm. Once Jesse had all his things together, he came by our room. Darrell and he decided to do one last loop around the Dealer’s Room while I finished packing. I was able to call for the Bell for both rooms and we actually got downstairs by 2pm. Darrell stayed with the luggage while Jesse and I went for vehicles.
A quick side note, ALL parking went up this year. Everyone I have talked to has remarked about the price of parking!
We loaded the cars and headed home without incident.
Lessons Learned
No matter how many conventions you attend, you always learn new lessons. This years lessons:
(1) If you are handling for beautiful girls, they cannot start drinking until
they have been out ½ the allotted time.
(2) Don’t try to handle too many people at once.
(3) Make sure you have time to costume yourself.
Now to start planning D*C 2009!!
