Subsonic Radio

Ok, better incredibly late than never....right?

There's a lot to this report, so I will post it in batches. Also, before I get Jacca's "This thread is no good without picures" smiley, the pictures are in the process of being finished and I will post them as soon as possible.

Day 1 – Thursday July 8:
After a really early morning and a long journey to the L.A. area, we finally made it! We checked into our hotel and decided to head to the parks!
For the first time in a really long time we actually had to go to the ticket booth! We were using our tickets from volunteering in January and we chose to upgrade to a 2-day park hopper. Once we got our tickets, we proceeded over to DCA since the big thing was to try and get fastpasses for World of Color. Now, there was a 5.4 earthquake centered near Palm Springs the day before, and the WoC shows had all been canceled. I was checking my Twitter the entire trip there waiting to see if the shows were going to be canceled or not since they were not handing out fastpasses at park opening. (I forget where we were when I saw the tweet that fastpasses were being handed out for the 9 and 10:15 shows.) Since we missed out on FPs for the show, we decided to go on TSM, and we waited in the 45 minute line…yeah, that didn’t go over very well with Chernabog40 (please keep in mind he has some mobility issues and he opted to not get a w/c for this day)…it’s gonna be a long day! (Bonus! The old Paradise Pier music was still playing, so the entire time in line I kept thinking about the loop on Subsonic!) Afterward, I wanted to go on MuppetVision so we walked through Paradise Pier and through the Wharf area and over to Hollywood Backlot and on our way we saw Jessie from Toy Story and since our niece is really into her right now, we had to stop and take a picture! We headed back toward the Wharf area to grab a snack (a free tortilla and a few small slices of bread…yummy!!!) and on our way over we noticed that there was WoC fountain testing going on. Since it appeared we weren’t going to see the show, we decided to watch the fountain testing.
Well, we were in the area, and figured we’d go in the Blue Sky Cellar. We were looking at the models for The Little Mermaid and I had gotten to chatting with a CM about watching the park being built. The second CM that was working there casually walked over to the first one and said…the park is open til 11 and there will be an 11:15 show. Our ears perked right up and we asked if fastpasses were being distributed and they said they should be. I saluted them, smiled, said thank you, grabbed our tickets and headed over to grab our fastpasses. I went ahead and let Chernabog40 relax while I went to get our fatpasses. There was hardly anyone there since word had not leaked out about the third show yet so I hoped for an awesome section. Now, from everything I had read online (yes I know, not everything you read on the internet is true) it was said that you want to be in either the red or yellow sections for the show and that the blue section was worthless. (keep in mind that what I read was all before the show opened, and since then I had taken great efforts to avoid anything that might skew my opinion of the show. So perhaps there have been reports stating other information that I was not aware of) I get up to the CM helping out with the FP and she tells me we’re in the blue section. GREAT….just what I was afraid of, oh well, at least we were gonna see the show!
We finally got over to MuppetVision and got lucky enough to be there right from the very beginning of the preshow! Oh how I love that show!
It was almost time for the Glow Fest show in Sunshine Plaza, so we hung around for it…boy was it strange right from the beginning! From the dancer in the giant inflatable ball to the guys in ‘80s futuristic-like costumes pretending to play drums to the guy who looked like Flava Flav without the clock! Oh yeah, can’t forget the bollywood dancers! It was a strange mish-mash of a show…we didn’t stay for the whole thing either, so we don’t know how it ended. (But I like the bollywood style of dancing, so the show was ok in my book)
When we had seen enough of the show, we headed over to DL. We took in the Disneyland Opening Day exhibit and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln since we hadn’t seen the updated version yet. Then we grabbed a FP for Buzz and we headed to Star Tours (via the elevator, not the queue line) for our second to last ride. Then we took some artistic (and not so artistic) pictures of the castle and from there, it was off to NOS to ride Pirates and HM. Since everyone was lining up already for Fantasmic, we knew the lines were non-existent. By the time we got out of HM, Fantasmic had started and we hopped on the train to take us to Tomorrowland for our ride on Buzz. The train was held up for a few minutes and we started to leave just as Maleficent was making her debut. We made our way through Critter Country…still hearing the show and waving at random people as we crossed the bridge and worked our way around the Rivers of America. We got to the Toontown/Fantasyland depot and were held up again…and warned that the fireworks were about to start and that they would be quite loud. Boy! They weren’t kidding! (they are shot off right behind Toontown) Though we didn’t have the clearest of views, it did make for interesting angle. We started moving onward again…next stop, Tomorrowland! We arrived in TL and the fireworks were still going off so we decided to continue to watch them. Once they were over, we made a beeline for Buzz. I am terrible at that attraction, but it’s still so much fun!
Well, at this point it’s time to go line up for WoC. We headed back over to DCA and Chernabog40 went ahead to get our spots in line while I went over to the continuing party at Glow Fest to see what it was all about. It was loud and I didn’t care for the music that much, but it was kinda cool that all the dancers from the earlier show were all out there still dancing, but this time teaching guests different dance moves. There were thermal projections of the guests dancing all around and the dancers were rotating to different stations. If I were younger, I would have really enjoyed it.
I finally got over to our lineup place and Chernabog40 had been talking to a CM and they let us go into the handicapped section since they have benches there. What a relief!!!! He was in real bad shape at this point (and so was I). We got in line and I realized something….I could see part of the show as we were standing there! NO!!!! All the hard work to not look at pictures or see video or listen to the audio until seeing the show was going right down the drain! I turned my back so I couldn’t see, but I couldn’t do anything about the sound. Oh well. We were going to get to see it soon enough. After the show ended and the masses finally left the viewing area, we were let in. We got to our bench where we would be sitting and…OMG!!!! The CM was right! This section was right in the front!!!! We had an awesome spot!!! (granted, there were a few details we couldn’t see due to the masses in the SRO section in front, but we saw most of the show with no problem) Now, we have only seen the show once, and I’m sure my opinion will change over time, but as of now I still prefer Fantasmic. WoC is a wonderful show and the detail and hard work that went into it is obvious, but there’s something lacking when it comes to performance for me. I believe this is due to the fact that there are no human performers in WoC as opposed to Fantasmic. Perhaps this will change over time for me.
After the show, we decide to call it a night and head back to the hotel.

Yippee for part one of the trip report!! I love to get free snacks at the Wharf area too ~ love the fresh flour tortillas
The Muppets are one of my favorites too
That is nice that you got to go in the handicapped seating area for waiting and the show...
Looking forward to day number next and the pictures

Excellent job MmeLeota and Chernabog40. I look forward to the rest... and pictures

Wow, MmeLeota, not a bad pictures start to your trip report pictures. I'm really pictures looking forward to pictures the rest of it pictures.

Great trip report! Today we started researching for a trip to DL in the next year or two. I can't wait to WoC.

We want pictures!!!!

Mouseoholic!

Mousekedude wrote:Wow, MmeLeota, not a bad pictures start to your trip report pictures. I'm really pictures looking forward to pictures the rest of it pictures.

Wow, trying to be subtle, Mouskedude?pictures
Is there something you're hinting at?pictures
I thought it was a great trip report so far. What more do you want?pictures

MmeLeota ~ I thought your trip report was excellent. You described everything so vividly I could picture everything in my mind ~ don't let these bullies get to you

Thank you everyone for your kind words It's been long enough...I've got to keep this thing going!

FanFest overview Friday, Monday & Tuesday
Now, before anyone has a meltdown or checks themselves into the Looney House because there’s no Day 2 or 5, we decided to skip these days altogether! Just kidding! Friday and Monday consisted of attending FanFest, so to save time, I summed up all of FanFest for everyone.
Here is an overview of the three days we spent at the All Star FanFest. Upon entry each day, we received a bag with a map, a button and some other advertising literature. When we walked in, there was the world’s largest baseball straight ahead and the store to the left. To the right was the Hometown Heroes section dedicated to the Angels. There were many items on display such as Nolan Ryan’s Hall of Fame ring, Torii Hunter’s Gold Glove award, lineup cards from the 2002 World Series and various jerseys of players throughout the years (including the spokesperson for the All Star Game, Rod Carew). They also had a setup where you can get your picture taken “with the team”. A cardboard cutout of the Angels was there and you could stand next to your favorite player for a picture. Next we headed off to an area that had all of the various awards and trophies handed out in baseball. This includes the World Series trophy, the Home Run Derby bat, a Gold Glove award, The Jackie Robinson rookie of the Year…among others. It was an amazing exhibit to see the awards up close. We stopped by the waiver station so that we would be able to participate in the events, and then continued around the room. We found the Latinos in baseball display along with Women in Baseball. There were a few of the ladies there signing autographs…along with one woman (Shirley) who actually was in the movie “A League of their Own”. We had them all sign a baseball and it was great to talk to them for a few moments. We continued walking around and saw so many interactive exhibits…video interviews, make your own baseball cards, batting cages, virtual bullpens, accuracy throwing, fielding practice, base stealing and baserunning. Plus there was a baseball diamond where several clinics took place for the kids to teach them baseball skills. Some clinics even had past and present baseball players such as Tony Gwynn, Orlando Hudson and Torii Hunter. There were many vendors selling all sorts of baseball memorabilia and they had pin giveaways. At several times a day, there were pin giveaways that were limited to 100 per giveaway and very hard to come by. We were able to score 2 pins and a third one that was limited to 1500 as well. There were also several autograph sessions with current and past players, however most of them had their lines fill up fast so we missed out on most of them since our timing was off. We ended up spending most of our time walking around and collecting the free stuff at all the booths, taking part in the photo opportunities and participating in several events. Taco Bell was also a sponsor, so at several times throughout the day they gave away free tacos. You had a choice of either crunchy or soft tacos. It sure helped in those times when we were getting hungry…though we did indulge in some fries because we could get them in a nifty plastic bowl with the All Star logo on it.

As far as the pictures go, I am trying to get this thing I'm working on A) finished and B) uploaded properly to photobucket. It's not loading properly, so I may need to try something else...sorry

Yay for day...ummmmm...3 or 4?! Sounds like you guys had a lot of fun Free stuff is always cool Don't forget to included photos of your pins ~ sounds like those could be worth some money in the future since they were so limited. We're a patient lot, don't worry about the photos too much ~ it gives us something to look forward to...good luck on getting them uploaded, that can be a big pain in the rear

Nice report so far, MmeLeota. I was thrilled to hear that Nolan Ryan's ring was there. He's a Houston legend. It was quite a scandal when the Astros traded him. The fans have still not forgiven them for that, I don't think. But I digress.....
Sorry about the picture bullying, we're just playing.... looking forward to seeing them, though.

Since each day has been such a long post, I've been breaking up the coverage. I'll post the next installment soon. Thanks for your patience on the pictures. I'm trying to finish the project I've been working on since we came back and I can't seem to find the card that has the rest of the pictures on it. (We put all of our pictures on one card, but we each have a camera so there are 2 cards total) UGH!!!

Sorry for the confusion Amy...that was days 2, 5 & (partial) 6 all smooshed into one since FanFest was pretty much the same each day.

Mousekedude - It was AMAZING to see some of the stuff there! Especially Nolan Ryan's ring! (I think hubby got those pictures). The whole FanFest experience was AWESOME and and I recommend it to anyone who is a baseball fan!

The FanFest sounds pretty cool MmeLeota. Good job so far!

Day 3 – Saturday July 10, 2010
Next stop: The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank. We finally made it to the studios (L.A. traffic…even on Saturday ) where we were going to see “Swiss Family Robinson” in the theatre where Walt Disney first premiered “Fantasia” in 1940. An amazing opportunity for any true Disney fan! The opportunity was through D23 and their Fifty and Fabulous movie festival where throughout the year they celebrate movies that “turn 50”. In this case, it was “Swiss Family Robinson”…a movie that we never got to see on the big screen before! We arrived and checked in and went over to see the merchandise that D23 brought for sale. Most everything was items that were giveaways at other events or gifts sent with the magazine. We made our way over to the theatre, where there were bottles of water for us and we found a couple of seats…down toward the front. There were a lot more people there than we figured, but it turned out fine. A few D23 folks welcomed us and they introduced the new director of the Archives...Becky Cline who spoke briefly about the movie. (Dave Smith had recently announced his retirement) Then it was show time! I hadn’t seen that movie in years and forgotten how great it was! (It was especially great on the big screen) After the show, we all received a patch commemorating the event and we headed off to the studio store. We were disappointed that there weren’t many objects with Walt Disney Studios on them. Most of the items in the store could be found in the parks. Chernabog40 did find a polo shirt that had Walt Disney Studios on it, so we went ahead and bought it. We took a few more pictures and left. Had some dinner and called it an early night...it was gonna be an early one tomorrow!

That would be pretty neat to see those older movies on the big screen! Looking forward to what day 4 brings

Everything okay, MmeLeota? We're just kind of hanging here....