We Will Always Remember

Taking a brief step away from the Disneyness of this blog to talk about what today is all about, remembrance. 

Where was I ten years ago? I was in my second week of 7th grade. I was in a new middle school building and was still trying to figure out where everything was. My morning had been normal, went to my first few classes. I remember hearing only one or two people talking about a building being blown up, but I didn't know what the building was, just knew that it was in New York.  It quite honestly didn't sound like a big deal to me, I didn't understand that terrorists were involved, I just thought some kind of accident had happened in the building. I really thought nothing of it.

I had my band class over lunch that day, which meant I had the last lunch, the 3rd one.  I loved those days because it meant a full hour of band, my favorite. Near the beginning of class, a couple students were called out for an early dismissal. Seemed pretty normal, didn't really think about it.  About ten minutes later, four more students had dismissal, and then a few minutes later, a group of three or four more. Every five minutes or so groups of people were being called for early dismissal.  This is where I started to get confused; there was no way that many people had doctor appointments and would be pulled out at the same time. This is when the rumors started swirling.

Being in the band class, you had students from all over the building in the same room, so while none of my teachers had the televisions on in the morning, others had and some of the students had seen some of the news footage.  There was talk about planes blowing up, buildings blowing up, the Pentagon being blown up, I remember even people talking about the White House and Capitol. Everyone kept saying "blown up" because we hadn't known how the planes were involved, they kept seeing buildings with smoke so they figured explosions. 

After band we went to the cafeteria for lunch, where rumors continued to swirl.  About five minutes into lunch, my principal walks in and gets us all to stop talking.  He tells us that the school was to have early dismissal and the natural reaction from a group of 12 and 13 year olds is to cheer, as some students did.  Remember, we really had no idea what was going on.  The principal freaked out at this reaction, telling us that something terrible was happening to the country and we were to go directly home to be safe.  This sent a hush over the room, we finally knew that something serious had happened, though we still really didn't know what. We were given a few minutes to finish eating and were told to go to our homerooms to await dismissal instruction.

Walking in the halls to our rooms was surreal.  I saw teachers and students in groups, some crying. We got our bags from the locker and waited for the announcements.  I remember hearing people talking about schools being threatened, which was why we were told to go home.  I had a Columbine type situation pictured in my head, which didn't seem to make sense with the other news I had heard.  I remember emptying my locker and taking all of my books home even though I didn't have much homework by that point; since I wasn't sure what was going on, I figured that if I had everything with me I would be prepared.

Everyone was dismissed and people started getting on their buses to go home.  I was a car rider, carpooled with a friend of mine, so we met up and stood outside.  We didn't have cell phones so we were hoping that my mother or her aunt knew to come get us.  We figured it would be her aunt because I knew my mother would be taking care of my little sister first because she was only in third grade.  After waiting a few minutes, we went inside to ask the office if we could call one of them to make sure they were getting us.  They told us that cell phones weren't working because towers were down, so there was no use in calling.  We walked back outside and sat on the steps, a little nervous. All the students were gone at this point except for us and while we sat there we saw teachers starting to rush to their cars and leave, none of them really paying much mind to the two of us sitting on the steps.

It was at this point that I started to believe that this was the end of the world.  Buildings blowing up, schools being threatened, communication down, to a 13 year old the end of the world seemed like a logical explanation.   I felt completely cut off from everyone and everything and I really could not figure out any other way to explain it.

After talking it out, my friend and I decided that the most logical thing to do, since we could not get a hold of anyone, was to start walking to her aunts house.  It was a good 5 mile walk and would have taken us a few hours, but since we didn't know what was going on or what to do and almost the entire school was emptied, we decided to take matters into our own hands. We started walking along the path to her house, walking along the road where her aunt or my mother would have seen us if they did end up driving to get us. I think it was at this point, while we were walking and everything was so quiet that I started wondering if anyone was left on Earth.  We didn't see a car or anyone else walking along the sidewalk and I remember specifically looking at the sky and not seeing any planes either, which would be a normal thing to see and hear being only about 20 minutes from the Philadelphia airport.

We were only walking a few minutes when my friend's aunt came down the road. Wow was she upset with us for starting to walk, telling us how unsafe it was, but she calmed down quickly when we explained to her why we did it. She drove towards my house, telling me that my mom and sister were already there (my mom had went to pick my sister up from school as I had suspected and had woken my friend's aunt to come get us) and then proceeded to fill us in on what was really going on.

The rest of the day is a blur to me, I don't even remember getting home. I just remember images of me sitting with my mom and sister crying while we watched the television.  The images that we all associate with that day flashed on the television over and over again and I tried to understand what was happening.  While I knew the hard facts, I could not understand why.

So much has changed in the last ten years, but I think I always will be wondering why, just as I did on that day.


I had seen both Ground Zero and the Pentagon a little over a year later and, if I can find them, I will post the images later for you.  If you would like to share your story with me, I would love to hear it. Feel free to post any comments below or, if you would rather share privately, send me an email at lady_aurora_yensid@hotmail.com.

Magic, Memories and You: DL vs WDW

I have been to both of the US Disney parks now and have developed a deep love for both parks.  While they are different and some people may like one over the other, I have a huge appreciation for both and embrace them for their differences.  There are some things that Walt Disney World has that far exceeds Disneyland, but the same holds true for some of Disneyland's attractions and experiences. I hope to go through some of these similarities and differences and, after I give my opinion, I hope you will be intrigued enough to want to journey to each park and discover them for yourself.

My first comparison: the celebration show this year, Magic, Memories and You.  This show in general is a feat of technology, no matter which park it is seen in and the score always brings a smile to my face. In Walt Disney World, the show is projected on the castle while in Disneyland it is projected on the facade of 'it's a small world'.

Being projected on surfaces of two very different sizes and shapes gives different perspectives to the shows, even though they are relatively the same show.  The part of the show where 'it's a small world' plays and the dolls come marching across the building visually makes more sense on the 'small world' facade (naturally) while the scene with the rocket blasting off looks so much cooler on the castle as a tower launching off of the castle.

If you are set on looking for your picture to be in the show, you will have a better chance at that if you are watching the show in Disneyland.  The closeness and size of the 'it's a small world' building makes it much easier to spot the pictures, unlike on the castle where the pictures tend to be smaller and harder to see.

So, which one is better? I honestly could not decide. They are both beautiful and have their own highlights. So, I am leaving it up to you to decide.  Here are the two videos I took of each show, watch them and leave me a comment letting me know what you think! I would love to hear your thoughts!

DDL News Post

Find out about what went down at the D23 Expo by going to my article on theDisneyDrivenLife.com now! More detailed posts about my experiences as well as pictures and videos will be up on this blog in the future.

My Californian Adventure

Two years ago this September, for four days, I was glued to my computer as Lou Mongello and some people who I recognized from their twitter names told me about what was said and done at the first ever D23 Expo.

This time tomorrow, I will be on a plane heading to Anaheim, California to meet Lou Mongello and Tim Foster there, among many of my very good friends who I have met because of twitter, to be at the Second D23 Expo.

Wow how things do change in two years!!!

That's right, instead of just writing posts about what happens, I will be tweeting live from the D23 Expo as major announcements occur! I will be there, in the Convention Center for all three days of Expo, covering events and the happenings within the Collector's Forum from the most happening booth there, the MEI/Mousefan, WDW Radio and Celebrations Magazine booth!

Besides all of that excitement, I will also be visiting the Disneyland Resort for the first time in my life! I will tweet pictures and my reactions to the parks as well as collect lots of video to be edited for Youtube viewing in the (hopefully) near future!

Want to follow my California shenanigans? Follow me on twitter at twitter.com/lady_aurora as well as my tweets from the Celebrations Magazine twitter at twitter.com/celebrationsmag. Celebrations is also on facebook at facebook.com/celebrationsmag.

Mickey Birthday Party Ideas

Yesterday was the birthday party for my best friend's nephew and his mom had the awesome idea of having a Mickey birthday party! Her ideas were so awesome that I just had to share it with you guys!

A handprint on each side of the table was a cute touch

These cute utensil wraps have a mickey that was punched out by a standard Mickey scrapbook hole punch

Why yes, that is Mickey on the curtains!

 

No detail would be overlooked!

These were hand traced and put on the buffet table

Toodles has pictures of the birthday boy in it!

A second table with all the special treats on it

This Mickey cake was hand made by a friend of the birthday boy's mom and it's incredible!

Lollypop Mickey is simple, just put the lollypops in circular Styrofoam

Treat boxes

A view down the table

Love the sign on the bathroom door!

Cutest little reminder too!

Bags from the local craft store with the hole punched Mickeys on them

Yes, the cupcakes were homemade as well, and quite delicious!

Buffet table laid out and ready to go

Lollypop Tree! Styrofoam once again for this adorable project

This took them forever but it was so cute! Stickers with different sayings on the bottom of all the Hershey Kisses

There was about a half dozen sayings!

And to cap it all off, Mickey showed up!! Pretty good looking Mickey too in my opinion!

I don't know how his mom is gonna top this next year, it was an awesome party!! If you have any questions for her about what she did, just let me know and I will get the answers from her for you!

This Week's It Came From Disney!

Since I've been gone these last few weeks, there have still be articles of mine going up at the Disney Dispatch, talking about some of the great Disney merchandise that I own! Here are a few of the articles:

Spinning Disney's World by Charlie Ridgway
4 Parks One World Snowglobe
Disney Trivia Game on the Go CD
On the Road with Disney Trivia Game

How Disney Married Us...Unofficially

Had to throw that unofficially in there before I gave anyone a heart attack.  No, Chris and I are not engaged or married, unless you ask a couple Magic Kingdom cast members who seem to think otherwise. 

It all began right before our trip; my cousin is getting married and was thinking about going to Walt Disney World for her honeymoon.  She wanted me to pick up some information for her while I was there, if there was any.  I didn’t mind at all, but I was not sure where to look.  The couple times I went to Franck’s it was closed and when I asked at the concierge at Wilderness Lodge, all they did was hand me a piece of paper that basically said “Call this number”. So Chris and I thought that maybe the City Hall in Magic Kingdom would be a good place to check.

We walked into Magic Kingdom one night after our dinner at Ohana’s and walked over to City Hall.  After waiting a minute or so, a woman came up to us and asked what we needed.  I asked “Do you have any information on honeymoons?”, what I thought to be a simple, non-implied question.  She thinks for a second and says she is not sure, goes behind the desk and calls us up to it.  She asks how long we would be still in the parks to which we replied just one more day, as it was near the end of our trip. She looks through a few things and speaks with her fellow cast member standing next to her, though we cannot hear what they are saying until he says “Can you do that?” and she replies “I don’t know, but I am going to try” and walks to the back room.

The male cast member behind the desk makes small talk with Chris and I, asking if we have seen the Main Street Electrical Parade or Fantasmic yet, to which we replied that we had seen everything expect Fantasmic, which we were seeing tomorrow, on our last day.  

The woman walks back and forth a few more times between the back room and then comes out to us, saying that she cannot get ahold of the manager at Hollywood Studios, so we would have to do this the long way.  She has me fill out a slip with my name, address and phone number on it and then begins plugging things into the computer. Up to this point, Chris and I thought she was merely arranging for us to pick up information at the studios tomorrow. 

The cast member then pulls out a booklet and begins writing on a carbon copied sheet, rips out two of them and hands us these yellow slips of paper. “This one is for a free ice cream for each of you and this one is for a free soda or water, both to be used in the Magic Kingdom tonight” she says and we, through shocked faces, thanked her very much for them.  I did not know what this had to do with my question, Chris and I assumed they were giving this to us because we stumped them with a question and they had no information on honeymoons. She then pulls out this other slip of paper; “If you guys take this number to Guest Relations tomorrow at Hollywood Studios, they will give you free Fast Passes for rides of your choice”.  Chris and I were in full shock now! We thanked her very much and realized we must have really stumped her…until her next statement…

“We don’t have any information on honeymoons, but we love helping you guys out” and with this, she pulled out two “Just Married” pins and handed them to us.

……………..

Yea, that’s about all we could say….we must have stared at her for a good five seconds…What made her assume that we were married? All I asked for was honeymoon information, if I was on my honeymoon, why would I need the information?? 

We took the pins, thanked her again and walked out onto Main Street.  Chris could barely contain his laughter! He turns to me and explains that she must have thought we wanted information on what we could do during our honeymoon now or if there was any special things for honeymooners to do. 

So that is how Chris and I got unofficially married by Disney.  In the end, it is a good tip for those who are on their honeymoon; Get those “Just Married” pins, they will get you sooo much free stuff! No, we did not wear the pins, we did not feel it was right to lie to people like that, but you can guarantee that when we do get married someday, we will have those pins for sure!