It's Tradition! 12/5/2014!
Every year for years and years we went to Disneyland with Robin, Bob, and Nick to celebrate. This year is no different! Visit 2007 as an example!
Let's start with a clean fish tank!
Keeping the fishes mouths open to clean their requires real talent!
We arrive about five minutes ahead of the Duda's and studied the menu
Great seat... View into one of the tanks
One happy young man --- Hot chocolate is on the way
The chocolate was talking to Nick
The birthday girl
CHOMP!
Champagne begins the day on an excellent note
Coffee and Hot Chocolate... Good way to start the day
Pie of the Viper is gone... Champagne gone... Time to be gone
The tracks are clear... Awaiting the Orange Monorail
Be patient young Jedi... The Force is with us
Right on time...
We are whisked off to a Disneyland Adventure
Now fifty-five years old...
Did You Know? - This is a children's race game based on the transportation system of the Monorail and Casey Jr. train at Disneyland. Players race not only each other, but the train, Casey Jr. (a non-player character). Roll the dice, using the white die for your own movement on the monorail track and the colored die to move Casey on the train track.
Pure luck, no decisions at all, and Casey can win the game. But it is a cute depiction of Disneyland transportation, and amazing that it still applies perfectly 40-some years later!
We are almost there
The submarines are busy today
The crazy sea gulls chatter incessantly
Mine mine mine mine
Closed for renovation
To The Theater To See The Mouse... And Other Creatures
Mickey and the Magical Map
Great stage
What are they up too?
Nick is being serious
The map is indeed magical...
King Louie
Did You Know? - King Louie (full name Louie Lamount; in TaleSpin) is a character from the 1967 Disney animated feature The Jungle Book and its spin-off television shows TaleSpin and Jungle Cubs.
Louie is an orangutan, inspired by Rudyard Kipling's classic novel. Louie did not appear in the book, however, because orangutans are not native to India. The original story for Louie started out quite differently, but he was eventually given the voice and personality of famed jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Prima.
Pocahontas was in the play
Did You Know? - Pocahontas is a title character in Disney's 33rd animated feature film Pocahontas, and its direct-to-video sequel Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World. The character and the events she goes through are very loosely based on the actual historical figure Pocahontas.
We were under the sea...
The sourcerer seemed to be a nice guy
Very lively dancing
The sky opened up and streamers floated down from the ceiling
To Big Thunder Jungle Jangle Jamboree
Decorated for the season
Did You Know? - It also hosted the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies show from after they left the Golden Horseshoe Saloon until they were fired by Disney and went to Knotts Berry Farm, on January 6th 2014.
Just us!
Everybody smile
"The Wild Gang"
Looked like crab apples... Ended up cherries
The play was underway
Everything was decorated...
Getting decorating ideas
They are studying the decorations
Santa's cabin was closed??
Poinsettias and Coleus are beautiful
Did You Know? - Red is the most popular color, accounting for roughly three-quarters of all sales nationwide, followed by white and pink. The more than 100 varieties of poinsettias come in a range of colors from red, salmon, and apricot to yellow, cream, and white (but not blue—these are a designer color created with dyes). There are also unusual speckled or marbled varieties with several colors blended together. New varieties are introduced yearly.
How many poinsettias do you think are sold in a year? If you guessed over 34 million, you'd be in the ballpark. According to the 2013 USDA Floriculture Statistics report, poinsettias accounted for about one-quarter (23 percent) of sales of all flowering potted plants. In economic terms, that's $144 million out of a total of $618 million in sales of all flowering potted plants.
The rain water beaded up on the leaves
Did You Know? - Dr. Joel Roberts Poinsett, an amateur botanist and first United States ambassador to Mexico, introduced the plant that became known as the poinsettia to this country. He discovered a shrub with brilliantly colored red leaves growing by the side of the road in Taxco, Mexico, in December 1828 and sent cuttings home to his plantation in Greenville, South Carolina.
Most botanists at that time dismissed the poinsettia as a weed? Fortunately, Poinsett continued to study and breed this plant in his greenhouse, sharing plants with his horticulturist friends. It soon gained acceptance as a holiday plant, despite its very short bloom time. It wasn't until the 1960s that researchers were able to successfully breed plants to bloom more than just a few days.
Here's another bit of interesting trivia. December 12 is National Poinsettia Day (www.poinsettiaday.com/). Never heard of it? Believe it or not, the United States has observed this official day since the mid-1800s. It honors the man and the plant he introduced. Poinsett died Dec.12, 1851.
Attacked by a towel machine... They are vicious
Time for a ride
She be coming around the mountain when she comes
Full steam ahead
"How? I have no idea?"
Return to civilization
Time To Go To The Jungle (Page Two)
Attention... Cargo plane crashed & Christmas cargo was lost
Love the new names for the boats
"Sugar Plum Lady"
Did You Know? - A sugar plum is a piece of dragée candy that is made of dried fruits and shaped in a small round or oval shape.
"Plum" in the name of this confection does not mean plum in the sense of the fruit of the same name. At one time, "plum" was used to denote any dried fruit.
"Sugar plums" may be made from any combination of dried plums (aka prunes), dried figs, dried apricots, dried dates, and dried cherries, but traditional sugar plums may contain none of these.
In one recipe, the dried fruit is chopped fine and combined with chopped almonds, honey, and aromatic spices, such as anise seed, fennel seed, caraway seeds, and cardamom. This mixture would then be rolled into balls, often then coated in sugar or shredded coconut.
"Jingle Belle"
Boxes for shipment were everywhere
Jungle Christmas Tree
We are staged and ready to travel the rivers of Africa
Check the trees.... Lost Christmas cargo decorate the river
Guard Ducks on watch
Must have been a heck of a storm
Just hanging around
The tiger and alligator are in the Christmas spirit
Snake eats a fruit cake?
Bob enjoys the decorated elephants
Jungles make people smile
They can put the angel on the tree top easily
The reindeer are having a problem
The fruitcakes float... This is a navigation hazard
"It's all mine!"
Hope he has dental insurance
Floating down the river
The piranha are opening their presents
All wrapped up...
The head hunter is selling Champagne
Heading Out
These ladies took our picture under the Disneyland tree
Just us...
"Merry Christmas All"
All smiles...
Under the tree
California Adventure
Across the mall we go...
One must soar...
We remember the P-51 well
Another funny look contest underway...
Just like Downey... Stairway to nowhere
Great displays
We are cleared
Fasten your seat belts
We Walked Out Via The Grand Hotel
An amazing tree
Yes... It is a real gingerbread house
How many million calories?
Zoom... Right through the hotel
This feels normal
Renee snapped the picture
Pretty good!
We met dragons on the way home