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 October 1997 Slideshow
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WHO:

WHEN: October 26th ,27th & 28th 1997




Day 1: In October of '97 we made our 4th trip of the year down to D-land, and once again, it was in conjunction with a trade show in the area... San Diego's within 200 miles :). Kel, Aran, Don & I flew down to LAX on Sunday morning. I was unable to get a flight to San Diego from Orange County so it had to be LAX, which turned out to be a mixed bummer/blessing. Biggest mishap occurred within 5 minutes of boarding the shuttle bus from the airport. The fuel gauge didn't work and the driver assumed it had been filled up... Welp it died in a busy intersection at the airport, pissing off quite a few motorists. Us and a bunch of New Zealanders had to get off and wait for another bus. This put us about 45 minutes behind schedule. Up until this trip they had always stopped us at the Disneyland hotel, where we would wait for everyone to pay. In order to save some time we decided to just tell the driver that we were staying there, instead of the Magic Carpet. Unfortunately, due to the terminal being refurbished, the pay center had moved to a hotel next to Knott's. We had to wait anyway, then get off on the far side of the Dland Hotel. We were supposed to meet the rest of our group, Adri, Matt, Alana & Charles, at the fountain next to the Haunted Mansion at 3:30. We pulled into the Dland Hotel at 3:15. We sent Kel over via the monorail to hook up with them and explain the delay while us 3 guys took the luggage over to the Magic Carpet to check-in. You'd think that going multiple times a year would teach us a few things but much of our past experience betrayed us. For instance, it seemed like a good idea at the time, to cut across the Dland parking lot to our hotel, instead of using the street and going around the lot. Much to our chagrin we got all the way to "our" lot exit only find it fenced off for construction. We had to go all the way back the way we came and go around after all. The worst part besides lugging baggage all that way? I'd talked to Adri on the phone the night before. She'd arrived Thursday and was staying at the Carpet as well and KNEW about the exit closure, but did she tell us??? NOOOOO.

We strolled into the park around 4:30, just in time to meet the crowd of Hercules watchers. The park looked packed and my spirits dropped. We waded thru the crowd and headed for NOS to meet our group. While walking thru Adventureland we noticed that there was no line for the Jungle Cruise or Indy, which I thought was weird considering the number of people I had to maneuver around. We met our group, and after waiting for everyone to regather, we popped over to Indy. There was indeed no line. After that we went over to the French Market for Din Din which was nice and relaxing after a rather hectic day. During dinner we discovered that not only had Don never seen Fantasmic (his last trip was around 77-78) but Alana & Charles had only seen it from a really lousy place. It had been awhile for Kel and I and the bad taste the crowd had left in my mouth had pretty much gone away, so we decided to stake out a seat. We had time so we rode Pirates. The seating area was full by the time we got out so we staked out the front of the standing area in the center. This actually turned out great except for the boring wait for the show. Had to wait an hour. There was only 1 show that night so we couldn't use the ol' grab a seat while show 1 is leaving trick. I loved the improvements they've made to the show! After, we popped over to Fantasyland (with a side ride on BTMRR on the way). We were able to hit Toad & Pan before the park closed on us. Then the trudge to the motel...

Day 2:
Aran, Don, Adri & Matt used their Magic Morning this morning, while Kel, Alana, Charles & I slept in and met them later. I had Adri snag us a Bayou reservation for 11:30. Overnight green fencing appeared around the central Hub (see the pic in the construction area). We pretty much cruised around in a relatively empty park for much of the morning. We got completely soaked on Splash Mountain right before lunch, which was a little uncomfortable due to AC, but what the hell. Lunch was fabulous! About mid-day Adri and Matt had to take off cuz they had to work the next day and still had a 7 hour drive ahead of them. We bid them adieu at the main entrance at about 1:00. The rest of the day was spent walking around and doing the rides.

Day 3:
Alana & Charles used their Magic Morning on Tuesday and we met up with them shortly after the rope drop (which was early). We REALLY like hitting the new Blue Ribbon Bakery for sticky buns and GOOD coffee in the morning...wish they'd put coffee out at the entrance like at EPCOT tho. A & C had to jet at about noon so we rode the subs right before hand. Once they left we relaxed a bit... They were a bit more go go go than we usually are... fast walkers :) We wanted to do some shopping so we headed over to Main Street and popped into all of the shops. The state of the merchandise, as stated in many other places, has gone way downhill... I don't think we ended up buying anything except I finally plunked down the cash to get Dave Smith's "Disney A to Z". We had flight's out of LAX at around 7:00 and wanted to check out the new Encounter Restaurant there before we left so we took off from the park around 4:00. The restaurant is WAY cool, but also WAY expensive. We opted for appetizers which were scrumdilicious and got a $71 bill for 4...eek. The place is in the old LAX Tower and is decorated Neo-Jetson style. It was designed by Disney Imagineers and the amount of detail makes it obvious. Great place, check it out!. It was time for the remnants of our group to finally split up, with me off to American Airlines to San Diego and Kel, Aran & Don off to Oakland. My flight was at 7:40 their's at 7:00. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I got to the check-in counter at 6:35 and asked if I was too early to check-in. They asked if I'd like to go early! I did and ended up landing in San Diego before Kel and them had even left LA :)

Sorry this one went a helluva lot longer than the rest but it was the freshest in my memory :)


Text Last Modified Thu Sep 18 08:19:20 2003

Click on one of these 44 Fabulous Pics for more details and a bigger picture.
9lax.jpg 3.35k
Just arrived in LAX 		9panentr.jpg 4.60k
Open Open Open 		9pstatn.jpg 6.00k
Unique picture it's not.
9indylin.jpg 3.95k
The Intrepid Explorers 		9indyxit.jpg 5.17k
Who ya gonna pick? 		9pmeet1.jpg 5.59k
Our new meeting place.
9pmeet2.jpg 6.29k
Another view with ME in the picture. 		9psomber.jpg 5.48k
We're all so sad.... 		9nitenos.jpg 3.04k
The group
9inbayou.jpg 3.73k
Mmmmmm Expensive Lunch 		9don33.jpg 3.55k
Another satisfying meal at our club... 		9pan_cc.jpg 4.60k
Hard to tell we're in Anaheim.
9onlog97.jpg 3.62k
Oooo Action Shot... 		9donsplash.jpg 4.81k
Uh, not exactly what I had in mind Don... 		9pftwild.jpg 5.41k
Fort Wilderness and Mountain Men.. cough cough..
9ftsmcw8.jpg 3.61k
They look so happy...can't tell they're bored outta their skulls :) 		9ontrain.jpg 5.30k
Please no standing. 		9raftq.jpg 4.37k
Waitin' to hitch a lift to the island.
9pancst3.jpg 5.94k
Pointing is very rude. 		9ldtoad.jpg 3.41k
Whew, escaped from hell yet again. 		9actoad.jpg 4.71k
Must be riding Ratty:)
9katoad.jpg 4.44k
Yer letting Aran drive? 		9kl_pan.jpg 4.96k
Looking thru eyepiece IS recommended. 		9kldsnow.jpg 4.73k
Oooo scary keeds.
9dpose97.jpg 5.07k
Uh... is that a trunk in your pants or are....
9tcups97.jpg 4.28k
I just don't get tired of these pics... 		9amtoon.jpg 3.63k
Ya can't hide from the camera kids.
9bounce.jpg 6.44k
Scoff-laws 		9jail.jpg 4.33k
Hey look, Aran's STILL behind bars! 		9jtrolly.jpg 2.94k
Playing Chicken with the Trolly
9mattbt.jpg 3.16k
Trying to sail away as a bachelor? 		9p_pobox.jpg 6.02k
The pictures inside are better. 		9wwydon.jpg 3.99k
Wrong-Way-OK Don
9flipsd.jpg 5.19k
Nice front shots.... 		9phones.jpg 5.24k
Nice profiles... 		9pnoise.jpg 4.63k
Makin' Noises
9stours.jpg 2.96k
Looks great at night! 		9a_orb_c.jpg 4.37k
Lookin' thru the door.... 		9orb_c2.jpg 5.01k
Better view.
9orbhead.jpg 3.53k
What's growing outta Aran's head? 		9hub_c.jpg 5.43k
This happened overnight... 		9pa_orb1.jpg 3.95k
View from Matterhorn Walkway
9pa_orb2.jpg 5.21k
View from Main Street 		9ptlandc.jpg 5.23k
View from the Space Mountain Queue

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