Solo-on-a-Scooter Abd DLR and DCL Alaska! (7/21-8/6/2012) About This Page:

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by JKnott17

Glad you arrived safe, your hotel room looks lovely.

What a GREAT surprise from Jeannie! A perfect start to your trip.

Looking forward to what tomorrow will bring.

It was a great day!

Originally Posted by ilovedisney247

Great update Laurie! I'm so glad you enjoyed your first day and how absolutely amazing to get a tour of Paramount Studios! BTW your meal reminded me of my first dinner in LA--I was sick so the lovely folks at the Renaissance Hollywood brought me room service grilled cheese and tomato soup!

I remember that from your report, Heather! Funny that we both had the same thing for our first LA meal-- and that it was grilled cheese!

Originally Posted by Disney4us2

Welcome to California Laurie. It was a hot one today for sure. Wow... what a great suprise Jeannie had lined up for you. Looking forward to hearing more about the ABD tour. See you on Friday

Thank you, Marci! Can't wait to meet you and Jessica.

Originally Posted by Kenny

A Wonderful surprise, Jeanie!! and Laurie!! I'm glad your flight was OK and you arrived safe and sound! Can't even WAIT for more!!!

Today won't be nearly as exciting, but I'm looking forward to meeting my ABD tour guides and fellow-tourers.

Originally Posted by chezp

Oh my goodness, what an amazing start to your trip Laurie and what a truly wonderful surprise Jeannie - kudos to you for that! Thank you so much for posting details of this so quickly as well and putting us out of our misery.

It was incredible! I can't believe Jeannie stayed up so late and got her great photos and commentary posted so quickly.

Originally Posted by Tabitha34

What an awesome start to your trip! You guys had an awesome time! Thanks for sharing with us so quickly! Love all the pics!

Thanks! I'm enjoying sharing it all.

Originally Posted by shazza

Wow - such a wonderful first day and great surprise. For some reason, I thought the surprise was next Saturday, so was delighted to see all the details so soon. Am glad Laurie has Internet connection for the first part of the trip - Live updates are the best!

I have a feeling I'll spring for the hefty internet fees on the cruise as well.... I do like being able to share it all as it happens. I think it's because I'm traveling solo. When I travel with friends it's much harder to find the time (or the interest) to write it all up.

Originally Posted by disneydani

Wow...what a wonderfully packed day....and one awesome surprise! Kudos to Jeannie for setting it up.

And thanks to you both for posting the great recap and pics....off to a great start.

Laurie, hope you can get a little rest and relaxation before the official dinner/starts the tour.

Danielle

I'm looking forward to a relaxing, slow-paced day today before the busy touring starts again on Monday.

Originally Posted by Kenny

WOW!! What a grand surprise!! Laurie, you must have felt like "Queen for the Day" to be treated to your own personal tour! Jeannie, great job setting it all up!

We did feel like VIPs, that's for sure!

[Dlandmom2]

Originally Posted by lauriep

It was incredible! I can't believe Jeannie stayed up so late and got her great photos and commentary posted so quickly.

I was planning on commenting a lot earlier, but I was waiting for all my photos to upload. And THEN, at around 8pm, I discovered that my neighbor behind me was having a party...in their backyard...with LOUD music...complete with DJ on a MICROPHONE!!! Needless to say, I wasn't happy since the kids and I were so exhausted from our 2 days in the heat and were looking to fall asleep early. Luckily, we have a quiet neighborhood with very few loud parties...it just always seems that those few loud parties seem to fall on nights when I was planning on going to sleep early!

So, since I couldn't fall asleep (until after 11:30 when the music finally ended ), I decided I'd wait for the pictures to finish uploading so I could post my pics and comments!

Now I'm going to have to be patient with Laurie's daily updates since I won't be there with her each day, lol! I do know where she's heading this morning, so I'm looking forward to seeing her pictures from her explorations!

[Dlandmom2]

Originally Posted by lauriep

Thanks again, Jeannie-- for the surprise and also for the great photos of the studio and for filling everyone in on the backstory of your connections. My photo of the hollywood sign didn't come out at all and I was so sleepy last night I didn't post lots of the photos I took. I loved hearing the stories about your friends in the security department-- and I loved the stories they all told about the stars' mostly bad behavior, too! The people we met at the studio were all so nice and friendly-- please express my thanks again to Louie. So sweet of him to make a surprise appearance!

Everyone I've met at Paramount Security in the last 20+ years has been wonderful...literally, every single one! I think you have to be very even-tempered to be there since you have to deal with some VERY BIG EGO'S at the studio. I too loved the stories the guys shared with us...some of them I hadn't heard before!

[iloverags2]

Oh wow! What a wonderful surprise! Jeannie, that was so incredibly sweet of you to set the tour up.

Laurie, your photos from your flight are gorgeous - I especially love the mountain shot. And your room looks fabulous! You know what else looks faboo? The meal at the soda fountain! All that ice cream!

[Principessa_di_Fata]

I love that you loved the surprise - and that you got even MORE than initially expected! How awesome that you got to tour the Glee set, and see so many cool things and hear some awesome stories!

I can't wait for more updates on this trip! I know you're having the best time!!!

And man I am SO hungry right now (dinner isn't done for another hour, but it smells SO GOOD and I'm just dying at this point) and looking at that yummy grilled cheese sandwich is KILLING me, lol!

[DawnK]

Wow, Laurie!! What an awesome day!! I missed your send off but I am glad you made it safe and sound and had such a wonderful surprise!!! Looking forward to reading all about it!!

Jeannie, when I got to your pictures as I saw the one about the Indiana Jones movie, I looked up at my TV to see the scene of them in the diner!! I am watching that movie!!! How Cool!!!

[Dlandmom2]

Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata

And man I am SO hungry right now (dinner isn't done for another hour, but it smells SO GOOD and I'm just dying at this point) and looking at that yummy grilled cheese sandwich is KILLING me, lol!

Just as a funny side note, while Laurie and I were enjoying our food at the soda fountain, we were talking about that cutie patootie young lady of yours and how we're both looking forward to meeting her! She's growing up too quickly, so tell her to stop, please! LOL!

Originally Posted by DawnK

Jeannie, when I got to your pictures as I saw the one about the Indiana Jones movie, I looked up at my TV to see the scene of them in the diner!! I am watching that movie!!! How Cool!!!

I have a funny side note for you, too! When Scott was telling us about Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf filming Crystal Skull at the diner, and Ally McBeal, my daughter asked who they were. I told her Harrison Ford is now married to the actress who played Ally McBeal, although of course Sophia wouldn't have seen that show (I think it may have even been before she was born). And then I said Harrison Ford played Han Solo in the "original" Star Wars movies, but of course she wasn't born for those either and just gave me a blank look. Then either Laurie or Scott said Indiana Jones, and I just slapped my forehead and said of course, duh, Sophia would know Indiana Jones since she's a Disney fan like mom and we have the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland!

Now I need to see the Crystal Skull movie just so I can see the diner! And Dawn, I'm not surprised by the coincidence...you just have amazingly crazy luck!

[cubfancolleen]

What an amazing first day, Laurie! How great you were able to arrange that, Jeannie! Can't believe you weren't sure if anyone else would think the surprise was as good as you did!
Hope you have a fantastic group, Laurie! Enjoy the ABD tour!

[Dlandmom2]

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

What an amazing first day, Laurie! How great you were able to arrange that, Jeannie! Can't believe you weren't sure if anyone else would think the surprise was as good as you did!

I'm being completely serious when I say I wasn't expecting such a grand tour! Louie had offered to get us on the VIP tour which I'm sure would've been absolutely amazing, but unfortunately we only had Saturday or Sunday to go visit Paramount. Being a weekend, I knew there wouldn't be much of anything going on so I wasn't expecting to see much. I figured maybe 30 minutes total, driving around on the golf cart to look at the sound stages, New York Street, stuff like that. If we were lucky, we might be able to look inside a sound stage. That's all I was expecting...while cool, it was really nothing to write home about. What we ended up getting...definitely something to write home about!

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by iloverags2

Oh wow! What a wonderful surprise! Jeannie, that was so incredibly sweet of you to set the tour up.

Laurie, your photos from your flight are gorgeous - I especially love the mountain shot. And your room looks fabulous! You know what else looks faboo? The meal at the soda fountain! All that ice cream!

Thank you about the photos! I'm really trying to get better. EVERYTHING is faboo!

Originally Posted by Principessa_di_Fata

I love that you loved the surprise - and that you got even MORE than initially expected! How awesome that you got to tour the Glee set, and see so many cool things and hear some awesome stories!

I can't wait for more updates on this trip! I know you're having the best time!!!

And man I am SO hungry right now (dinner isn't done for another hour, but it smells SO GOOD and I'm just dying at this point) and looking at that yummy grilled cheese sandwich is KILLING me, lol!

I love that you were "in the know" about the surprise! I think Jeannie would have exploded if she couldn't tell someone!

Originally Posted by DawnK

Wow, Laurie!! What an awesome day!! I missed your send off but I am glad you made it safe and sound and had such a wonderful surprise!!! Looking forward to reading all about it!!

Jeannie, when I got to your pictures as I saw the one about the Indiana Jones movie, I looked up at my TV to see the scene of them in the diner!! I am watching that movie!!! How Cool!!!

Thanks, Dawn. That's a crazy coincidence!

Originally Posted by Dlandmom2

Just as a funny side note, while Laurie and I were enjoying our food at the soda fountain, we were talking about that cutie patootie young lady of yours and how we're both looking forward to meeting her! She's growing up too quickly, so tell her to stop, please! LOL!

I have a funny side note for you, too! When Scott was telling us about Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf filming Crystal Skull at the diner, and Ally McBeal, my daughter asked who they were. I told her Harrison Ford is now married to the actress who played Ally McBeal, although of course Sophia wouldn't have seen that show (I think it may have even been before she was born). And then I said Harrison Ford played Han Solo in the "original" Star Wars movies, but of course she wasn't born for those either and just gave me a blank look. Then either Laurie or Scott said Indiana Jones, and I just slapped my forehead and said of course, duh, Sophia would know Indiana Jones since she's a Disney fan like mom and we have the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland!

Now I need to see the Crystal Skull movie just so I can see the diner! And Dawn, I'm not surprised by the coincidence...you just have amazingly crazy luck!

True! We were sighing over the fact that Meri's looking so much more grown-up this year.

Poor Sophia-- I know a lot of the names mentioned were before her time. Many were even before mine, but I love those old movies.

Originally Posted by cubfancolleen

What an amazing first day, Laurie! How great you were able to arrange that, Jeannie! Can't believe you weren't sure if anyone else would think the surprise was as good as you did!
Hope you have a fantastic group, Laurie! Enjoy the ABD tour!

Report about the first ABD dinner is coming up, Colleen!

[lauriep]

Day 2, Sunday 7/22/12
Weather: HOT. Upper 90’s, bright sunshine

I slept so well last night. The bed and sheets are so comfy and I slept through until 5:30am—that’s 8:30 Eastern time and I NEVER sleep that late! I dawdled around in the room, reading a few posts, checking e-mail. I made coffee with the supplies provided in the room and it was dreadful, so eventually I made my way down to the lobby coffee bar for some Starbucks.

I had gotten a voice mail yesterday from the ABD guides saying they’d be in the lobby from 9am-3pm today for us to check in and get some more information. My guides are Matt and Hanneke (she said we can call her Hanni) and both are vibrant, friendly and determined to make this tour memorable. They gave me a booklet with the “story” of the tour mapped out and a few more details of the daily itineraries. I also got a list of the tour participants—there are 31 of us, which seems like a lot, but they said we’ll split into two groups occasionally. We’re to meet today at 4:45pm at the hotel restaurant. They gave me a few suggestions about where to have lunch today and I went off to explore the area.



I rode the scooter all over the Highland Center and discovered that there are anonymous mosaic quotes on the floors throughout the mall and theater. The quotes are from actors and directors and briefly describe how they got into the business. A lot of fun to walk from quote to quote. Most of them I couldn’t identify, but they were all fun to read. Apparently there’s no key to the answers!



I took some photos of the archway to the theater (where the red carpet goes for the Oscars). You can see the Hollywood sign perfectly from here. I also roamed around the pool and spa areas of the hotel, which are very nice and are really the fifth level of the mall. Unfortunately, there’s no hot tub!!











My next stop was down the street at the Graumann’s Theater to see the famous sidewalk handprints and footprints.



I thought I’d beat the crowd by being there at 9:30 on a Sunday morning, but the place was mobbed, and the bright sunshine made it hard to photograph the slabs. There were people everywhere, posing for photos with people dressed up as different characters. Most of the costumes were tacky, but people were paying to have photos taken. I managed to grab this photo of the back of a “Spiderman” just to show how bad the costumes are. It's like people dressed up for Halloween!



I ended up buying (for $3) a folder with a map of the signatures in the cement slabs because I couldn’t find the ones I wanted to see. The area is very small, but it was still hard to find specific ones. I located Fred Astaire, the one I really wanted, then also took a photo of Ginger Rogers—very hard to see her signature! I think we go here again with ABD for the Disney-related ones, but I took a few more photos. I was fascinated by how small some of the women’s feet were! Rita Hayworth’s were so small I put my size 5 shoe next to hers to demonstrate.











They made an announcement that a tour of the theater was due to start at 10, so decided to do that. It was a very short tour of the theater and lobby. It was really dark in the theater so I didn't take many photos. The decorations are amazing and I had no idea that some of the painting was done by people in the entertainment business. The actor Kee Luke did some of the paintings in the lobby and Xavier Cougat painted the murals on the walls that the curtains are modeled after! The guide was very informative and told some of the history of the theater and how important Sid Graumann was to the beginnings of the movie business in Hollywood. One of the items in the lobby was a brochure and ticket from the premiere of “The King and I”. I got some photos of that because my great aunt, Irene Sharaf, won an Academy Award for costume design for it!



I’d just had coffee for breakfast, so went for an early lunch to one of the fast-food places in the mall recommended by tour guide Matt, “Tasty Wraps”. I had a really good, obviously made there, veggie burger, onion rings and a mango smoothie! Not gourmet dining, but hit the spot.





The smoothie especially tasted great as the temps had already reached 97. The mall is mostly open-air, but is air-conditioned! It gets warmer the farther from the shops you get or if you’re in the sun, but it’s lovely and cool by the stores and in the tables set ouside for dining. Thanks again to Jeannie, I’d gotten the free “Elephant” card for the complex which got me nice discounts at most stores and restaurants. I got the discount on my pin purchase yesterday at the Soda Shop and today for lunch.

I returned to my room (this hotel’s location is so perfect—there’s so much to do in this area it’s almost like staying on-site at Disney) to relax and change for a dip in the pool, then a quick nap before the official start to the ABD tour at 4:45. As I was changing for the pool there was a knock on the door—Bell Services with more ABD gifts! A fantastic roomy, medium-sized duffel bag that folds and zips into a small package, and my very own sidewalk star!!





I went down to the restaurant and right away spotted the ABD group and tour guides. Matt started into a spiel about how we’re all going to be stars and he was going to take a photo of each group as if we were shooting stills for a movie. Now, I hate to perform, even in a small way, and if we were going to get this hyped up enthusiasm all day every day, I was starting to have my doubts. I love the story-telling aspect of the ABD tours because it’s a very Disney, very Imagineering way of doing things. But if we had to be singing and dancing and putting on an act constantly--- not for me. I needn’t have worried, because I think he was just trying to get everyone’s attention and things calmed down after that! I assume the photos will be used on the CD we’ll get when the tour is over. When it came time for my photo, I just told Matt that someone had to be the audience and that’s me! I’ve never had any aspirations to be a star, or even an extra! He was fine with that. We went into dinner and everyone introduced him/herself, starting with the ABD veterans. Two of the families had done one previous ABD tour and one family had done two. Then the rest of us made our introductions, Matt and Hanni told us a bit about their backgrounds, they gave us our pins—ABD pins for the newbies, veteran’s pins for the others, and we all got our “DAY ONE” pins. Since our story book told us that the Theme for the day was “It was all started by a mouse”, and the word of the day was “Mickey”, our Day One pins are Mickey as Steamboat Willie .



Here are the first 3 pages of the story book. The rest of the book are pages for each day's itinerary.







I completely forgot to take photos of the gathering or of the food, but the food wasn't memorable in any case. Not much for veggies. I had undercooked roasted carrots, zucchini and tomatoes and salad. The buffet was set up very strangely, too...
salad first, then veggies, then meat and salmon, then dessert, then soup!! The desserts were chocolate cake and a dry-looking cheesecake, so I skipped that. The conversation at the table was great, though. We jumped right in talking about Disney and what we'd done earlier in the day, where we were all from, and had a great time. Hanni sat next to me and confirmed that we'll be going to Walt's apartment. When asked if we'd be going to Club 33, she said, "I cannot confirm or deny that", with a smile. So it's all looking good! They wrapped up the evening with general instructions on sunscreen, the importance of being on time for things, etc. We're meeting at 7am for breakfast tomorrow, then there's an open-air bus tour of LA, then Jim Henson Studios (got my Animal t-shirt ready to go!), then lunch at Tam o'Shanter (Walt's favorite restaurant). We're free for the rest of the day, so I'll have a bit more rest-up time.

Time for bed!

[disneydani]

Wow, sounds like a great and packed first day! Glad you were able to sleep in a bit and do some pre-ABD touring. Sorry the dinner was meh but sounds like the company more than made up for it.

Can't wait to hear about the next day's adventures....

Danielle

[Dlandmom2]

Great first day! Your lunch looked really good! Bummer about the dinner, though. I'm glad the company was good!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you for Club 33! Enjoy your tour tomorrow, especially at Jim Henson Studios! Sophia was wearing her new Animal t-shirt today!

[chezp]

What a wonderful day you had! Your resort looks amazing.

[shazza]

It's looking to shape up to a great tour. I can't believe how small Rita Hayworth's feet were, and how cool that you got to see a memento that brought back memories of your Great Aunt. Hope it's not as hot today, and have fun!

Edit: I was curious, so had to google hints to the quotations: Who''s who on the walk to Hollywood