Disneyland Quiz Winners

Drumroollllll please!

Congratulations to Greg Martin and Alex Dean!

You both will be getting your Disney prize in the mail soon!

Answers:
#1: Space Mountain
#2: Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
#3: Mad Tea Party
#4: Soarin'
#5: Tower of Terror
#6: Pirates of the Carribean
Bonus: Radiator Springs Racers in Cars Land!

Thank you to Greg, Susie, Alex, Katy and Betsy for your participation! Best of luck to all of you in future quizzes!

Disneyland Quiz

Alrighty folks... Mitchell and I just returned from our much anticipated Disneyland trip! I thought it would be fun to take pictures for a quiz like Susie's of rides at Disneyland that are also at Disney World and see how many you could recognize! You can click on the pictures to make them larger. Take a peek and email me at chrissymartin11@gmail.com with your guesses! The winner will receive a Disney prize in the mail! :D

Picture #1

Some Grand Gathering-ites had issues with this ride when they were younger.

 Picture #2

Even Buzz cooperated and looked at the camera  for the photo!

 Picture #3

My first time!

Picture #4

It's as if we're flying! Is that the Golden Gate Bridge in California??

 Picture #5 

There are butterflies in my stomach and I'm starting to sweat. Gulp!

 Picture #6

Who is sitting on top of that pile of treasure??

BONUS PICTURE!!!

This ride is NOT in Disney World but it's brand new to Disneyland and SUPER popular. Your hint: it's based on a relatively recent Disney/Pixar movie.

Good luck!

GRAND GATHERING 2013 DETAILS

After hearing from everyone, this is what I have come up with for the Grand Gathering 2013.  The following is what will suit most people and can be tweaked if needed.

Everyone would travel Thanksgiving morning (11/28).  The goal would be for everyone to be at the hotel by 12 or 1 and we would have lunch together at the hotel food court.  Then, we would go to one of the parks (to be determined later).  The plan is to stay 5 nights (Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) with people leaving on Tuesday 12/3.  You could stay the whole day on Tuesday and leave that night if you want to - Terry and I will be staying a few extra days after that, so I'll have plans for the entire day Tuesday.

These are the costs:

Art of Animation 11/28-12/3 (5 nights)
		Per person
4/room	3402.16	850.54
3/room	2709.96	903.32
2/room	2017.74	1008.87
1/room	1381.82	1381.82

Once I find out who is going, I will group everyone in a room of 4 (if that's what you want to do) so that the price will be the cheapest.  It doesn't matter where you end up sleeping after that (the floor, the bathtub in someone else's room, etc.) it just matters how you are grouped in rooms for payment.  We will only be in the rooms for sleeping and showering, so it's really not a big deal.

Remember:  these prices include room, food, and park hopper tickets.  It is possible that the price may go down if room discounts are offered or the dining plan becomes free (this often happens).  A down payment of $200 is due for each room reserved, but can be refunded up to 45 days before we go, and the balance due on the rooms isn't due until 45 days out.  If a room discount is offered or the dining plan is offered free any time after we book, Disney will reduce the price of our package.

Other reminders:

Your air fare is not included in these prices.  That's on your own.

It will be crowded on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but I think I can make a plan that will work and we can still have fun.  Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday will not be crowded at all.

If you can only stay a few days, we will work that out, too.

I think we need to have our plans in place and deposits paid by 3/15/13.

What are your questions?

Susie

QUIZ #1 WINNERS

Well, folks, we had two winners in Quiz #1:  Mitchell and Chrissy!  They say they didn't colaborate.

At this very moment, fabulous Disney prizes are on their way to Sacremento.

Here are the answers:

1.  Beauty and the Beast live show

2.  Ceiling in the Tower of Terror hotel

3.  Ceiling while waiting in line for the Rockin' Rollercoaster

4.  Exit for the Muppet Show

5.  Our scores on Toy Story Mania

I will make Quiz #2 less difficult.  We need to have lots of participation and many winners!

Grand Gathering 2013 Info

Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

The initial planning has begun.  I have listed several ideas, but we can change any or all of what I have come up with so far.  As I said, I think the charter members of the GG should make the decision about where, when, and how much and then we can invite others to join us.  I have attached notes and a spread sheet with costs.  Please let me know your thoughts.



WHERE IN THIE WORLD IS THIS? QUIZ #1

While Terry and I were in Disney World this year, we took some pictures of some obscure things and thought we'd give y'all a quiz about where these items were located.  So, here we go.  The persons guessing all five will get a Disney goodie mailed to them. Please respond to my email so that your answers won't be seen by everyone.  (P.S. I'm working on the costs, etc. for GG2013.)

1

2

3

4

5

You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

I'm amazaed that I have figured out how to post to this blog.  More later.

Homemade Dole Whips

Yeah, you heard right. We know how to make Dole Whips! Dole has the recipe on their website and I found a blog (via Pinterest) that also explains the process.

Mitchell and I made them on Labor Day and documented the process so you all could make them too!

First step: Your ingredients

• 2 cans (20 oz. each) crushed pineapple
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp lime juice
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1-1/2 cups of whipping cream
• Pineapple juice

Step two: Drain your crushed pineapple, saving 2 Tbsp of the juice for later. Put the crushed pineapple, lemon juice, lime juice, sugar and saved 2 Tbsp of pineapple juice in a food processor or blender and blend until it is very smooth.

Step three: Once the mixture is blended, put it in a gallon ziploc and freeze it for 1-1/2 hour until it makes a slushy.

Don't judge our salmon!

Step four: While you're waiting for the slushy to form, whip your whipping cream.

Step five: Add the pineapple slushy and gently mix it all together and put it back in the freezer to freeze into ice cream! This will probably take over night.

Step six: Create your Dole Whip! Scoop out some ice cream and pour pineapple juice over it!

Step seven: ENJOY your Dole Whip!

Here are the links that I used to make this recipe:

Blog with recipe

Dole's recipe

One Year Ago this Weekend

Scroll through these pictures and reminisce on the great time we had last year...

Nana looks nervous about riding Dumbo!

Grand Gathering 2011!

Blog Conduct

Wondering how this blog is going to work?

I have the ability to add authors to this blog but you must have a Google account in order to join. Google accounts are free and easy to set up. If you don't want to be an author, then you can still participate by commenting on blog posts. The main authors are probably going to be our Disney Expert/Planner Extraordinaire, Susie and myself but I want others to contribute too!

The purpose of this blog will be to help plan and organize the Grand Gathering 2013. Terry and Susie are leaving for Disney World today and returning on the 9th and we will expect a full report on their "research-based" trip. ;)

Another purpose for this blog will be to create and foster general excitement and enthusiasm for Grand Gathering 2013. I expect many fun blog posts for this purpose in the future.

Finally, how to know when to check the blog? On the right side of the blog you will see a box labeled "Follow by email". If you enter your email address in that box, you will get an email asking you to confirm your subscription to the blog. Once you click on the link in your email, you will get emails if and only if there are updates to the blog.

So to be sure everyone read this and understands, please practice leaving a comment on this post as your way of signing in to the blog!

Cheers to another great Disney trip in the making!

Grand Gathering Blog

Drum roll please... it's here! A place to talk all things Disney and get excited about Grand Gathering 2013!