Star Wars: The Force Awakens Merchandise

By Nick

This past Friday, AKA, Force Friday, Disney released it's new Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise.
Many Disney Stores opened early, but I didn't make it, due to how close the opening was to the start of work, so I had to settle for going the next day.

There were several styles of tee shirts,  my favorite being this Chewbacca shirt, but, sadly it only came in kids size! This is $16.95

 Action figures featuring new characters with light, sound and actual movie phrases are $29.95

 

 This figurine playset is $14.95.

As Halloween is fast approaching there are several costumes and masks to be found. Voice changing masks are $24.95.

This Kylo Ren costume is $59.95.

The much talked about crossguard lightsaber held by Kylo Ren is $29.95.

There are PJs and Plush.

BB-8 looks to be very popular, as there were only 2 plush left! They are $9.95.

 Plenty of old school New Hope Star Wars items are also available.

These die cast Elite Series action figures are $24.95 and there are more being released in the near future.

 

 

More reasonably price merch can also be had in the form of small die cast vehicles, cups and mugs.

There are some really great items, many of which the old, or, to be more accurate, young me would have absolutely plunked down hard earned money for. The new old version of me is much more concerned with retiring, and so I showed a lot of restraint, purchasing just one item.

I love R2D2, and when I saw this very reasonably priced wind up figure with sound effects, I had to have him! He was only $6.95!

Will you be purchasing any Star Wars items from the new or old films?

Trip Report: October 11th-October 17th 2014 - Part 4

By Nick

Tuesday October 14th,

I had a hard time sleeping, as this was our Castaway Cay day, and I was very excited to be going to this lovely island that I had seen in so many photos through the years.

We had a quick breakfast at Cabanas, and then headed ashore.

I had been told that we should head directly to Serenity Bay, the 18+ beach, but instead we stopped at the Castaway Family Beach as it was already very hot. We chose a couple of chairs in the shade, and headed directly into the water to cool off. 

Note the prescription sunglasses I'm wearing above. More on that in a minute.

After floating around for awhile, we decided to try out the slide, Pelican Plunge. 

I had bought a really cheap waterproof video camera before going on this trip, which really worked out well, despite the photo quality not being the best, for $40, what the hey. 

I brought this camera to Castaway Cay, and figured I'd video my trip down the slide. 

At the top, the Cast Members warned me to hold onto my sunglasses. Did I listen? Sort of. 

I held onto the video camera with one hand, and my glasses with the other. 

Let's roll the clip.

I got to the bottom of the slide, and, yes, the glasses came off, and even though I had one hand on them, the gushing water behind me took them out of my hands. I was juggling them, and...gone.

I was told by the life guard who had witnessed this whole sad event that the bottom is very deep, and full of jellyfish, so the odds of me going down, blind, literally, and finding anything was slim to nil.

The life guard directed me to fill out a form. This is a very common occurrence it turns out, and every day, after closing, life guards comb the bottom for lost items and bring them to the ship.

Lucky for me, I'd brought a pair of regular glasses with me, so all was not lost.

After getting my spare glasses, we decided to head to Serenity Bay for a look at that part of the island. We were told we should get a tram, as the walk was long and hot.

Once we got to Serenity Bay, it did indeed look serene.

We preferred being where there was more activity, so we hopped the same tram back.

I'm glad we did hop a tram, we saw these folks walking, and they looked totally spent.

Once we got back to our chairs, it was closing in on lunchtime. You could smell barbecue all over, so we went to Cookie's to eat. The burgers were good, but the spare ribs and chicken were delicious. I even shared a frozen tropical drink with Barbie, who rarely drinks.

After lunch, we floated around in the lagoon for a couple more hours until we started to prune up.

On the way back to the Dream we stopped and took pictures at this popular photo spot.

Once we got back on the ship, we showered and got dressed for the Family Halloween Party at 4:45 in the Lobby Atrium, which featured a visit and dance party from our favorite Disney pals.

 

We were Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus on vacation. My wife sewed her dress, my shorts, and my Santa hat and facial hair.

We were a hit! Many people asked if they could get photos of us, or with us. We are pretty sure that some young children may actually have believed that I was Santa! 

The dance party was a lot of fun. Where else does one get to dance with Chip and Dale while holding a drink and dressed as Santa?

After the party, we headed to the upper decks as we sailed away from Castaway Cay.

We skipped our dinner at Royal Palace, and instead decided to try the sit down dinner served at Cabanas on certain nights during the cruise.

For appetizers, we both had the Ahi Tuna and avocado tower and Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese soup, while for entrees, I had the marinated rib eye steak, while Barbie had the grilled Portobello Mushrooms.

Everything was terrific. This was my favorite dinner of the cruise. It was less formal, and the food was actually just as good and better than we'd had the previous 2 evenings.

We took one last walk around the Dream before turning in early, having decided to skip the adult costume party that evening at 10:30pm. 

And who did we encounter? Captain Henry!

And, to have an even happier ending to my favorite day of the cruise, we stopped by Guest Services to check if my sunglasses had been recovered, and indeed they had!

Please check out Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of my trip report as well.

Adults at Mickey's Halloween Party

by D'land Hubby

Disneyland is normally a magical place, but a few times a year the resort transforms itself into holiday happenings. Disneyland has always had a strong Christmas presence but in 2005 the resort attempted to grab the family into a Halloween event held at California Adventure. The first year my wife and I were given the opportunity to purchase tickets but we thought we were grown adults and thought we would not fully appreciate the family atmosphere and declined. Boy, were we wrong... I had a few coworkers who attended the event and kept raving about all of the fun that they had. From the candy to the small wait times in attractions, they sold me. Since then I've been able to go three different times and enjoyed each one for a different reason.

Our first visit to the Halloween Party was in 2006. 

My wife and I still hadn't had kids, so it was just about the two of us. We decided to dress up (this is the only time that adults are allowed to dress up) as the Mad Hatter and Alice. 

People seemed to really like our costumes throughout the night. We tried to do everything. Trick or Treat, parade, characters, and the attractions. We were able to make it through most of the night but it started to rain. Being at a park during the rain is challenging enough, but with the added elements of a costume, we decided to head back to our hotel before the event concluded.

We attended our second Halloween party in 2008. My son was just over a year old and we dressed him up as a baseball. Actually, an All Star Baseball since the Angels were going to host the All Star Game the following year. 

We had been given tickets just a few days before the party so my wife and I decided to not get dressed up. We arrived right at opening to a long line. The night was fun but as the party started our son was ready for his sleep. We forced our son to stay awake for as long as he could. We pumped him full of candy. We had him pose with characters, some he knew and others he didn't. We went on one or two of his favorite rides. Sadly, we only lasted about half the time before our son had fallen asleep. 

This year we decided to attend our third Halloween Party. This is the first time that we've gone since the event has moved to Disneyland. Based upon past experiences we decided that we wanted to leave the kids at home since they would normally be going to sleep just an hour after the party started. We were really excited, and we eventually talked two sets of friends into joining us even though they had no idea what to expect.  

Our friends were a bit shocked that adults would be allowed to get dressed up. My wife and I decided to dress as Ellie and Carl from Up. Both of the families decided to get dressed up for the event.

To be honest, some of the fun of the event is watching how other adults get dressed up.
We decided to avoid taking pictures of other guests (to allow them to enjoy their visit) but we had a lot of fun pointing out their great costumes. We found a Jack Skellington that almost looked like the real thing and some great Haunted Mansion Ghosts walking down Main Street.  

The second shock for our friends was hearing that we, the adults, could actually Trick or Treat.

Everyone assumed that only kids would be allowed to participate. During the evening it was decided by all adult parties that the traditional diets would be suspended following the outcome of the candy grab! We all felt like little kids again going from station to station receiving candy. Sometimes you would get one or two pieces and other times you would get full handfuls! Either way, we would start trading our favorite candies with each other.

One set of our friends haven't kept their annual passports because of the increasing costs. They were really excited about visiting Disneyland and felt the price was worth the experience. I was able to purchase their tickets using my annual passport discount so it came out to be $112 for two tickets. Basically, half price from a normal Disneyland ticket and it included parking (a $17 savings). They were able to get into the event three hours early and visit some of their favorite attractions prior to the party starting.

 
Another advantage to the evening was the attraction wait times. We only encountered one line that was above 15 minutes, Haunted Mansion Holiday. To be honest, the other ride we expected to be a long wait we never found out the wait times, Space Mountain. We did spot 10 minute waits for Indy, walk on for Splash Mountain, five minute wait for the Storybook Canal. Some of the rides were closed for the evening so you should check with the Disneyland website or with City Hall prior to your visit to make sure your favorite ride will be open. If its not, visit before the party begins in the three hour window your allowed to arrive before the park closes. 

If you've ever wondered about Mickey's Halloween Treat you should plan to go next year. Most of the Friday events sell out quickly so plan to pick up your tickets earlier rather than later. We have already started planning our 2015 trip and have talked our friends into joining us once again! Disneyland is a place to act like a kid and being able to get dressed up and Trick or Treat makes it just a little more magical!