Haiku for a Christmas Stocking

Pocket of small dreams

Instant Gratification

Enveloped herein.

Hello Kitty Con!

We recently went to the first ever Hello Kitty Con!

It was quite popular and crowded.

They had lots of Hello Kitty merchandise:

There was a fashion display with outfits inspired by Hello Kitty:

One display was an entire house furnished with Hello Kitty items!

This is just the kitchen:

There was a Hello Kitty Food Truck Cafe:

Hello Kitty is turning 40 this year! She doesn't look a day over 16.

Love this plush Hello Kitty's cute party dress:

I even got to meet Hello Kitty herself!

Happy Birthday, Miss Kitty!

My Disney Bucket List! **UPDATED**

We've been fortunate to have had some amazing Disney experiences.

Spend the night in the Disneyland Dream Suite? check.
Had dinner at 21 Royal? check.
Visited Walt Disney's apartment? check.
Toured Pixar? check.
Dined at Club 33 and the 1901? check.
VIP Tour at Disneyland? check.
Gone to both Walt Disney World and Disneyland in the same day? check.
Taken a Disney Cruise? check.
Taken a trip with Adventures By Disney? check.
Met Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? check.

But there are some things left on our Disney Bucket List, both big and small such as:

1) Visit EVERY Disney Theme Park In The World  CHECK.
This is The Big One.  Our Dream Goal.  And we're close.  
We've visited: 

• Disneyland in California 
• Walt Disney World in Florida  
• Disneyland Paris in Europe  
• Tokyo Disneyland and DisneySea in Japan   

The only parks we have yet to visit are: 

• Hong Kong Disneyland    
• Shanghai Disney

We are booked to go visit Shanghai Disneyland and Hong Kong Disney in November 2017!


2) Eat At Every Club 33 Restaurant In The World CHECK, but with an*
We've been fortunate enough to go to Club 33 in Anaheim many times.  Right now, there are two other Club 33's - one in  Tokyo Disneyland and one in Shanghai Disneyland.  They are much more exclusive and mysterious, and we are very eager to see them for ourselves one day!
     *There are now four Club 33 lounges in WDW, but they are drop-in only, not full restaurants.


3) See The Matterhorn Basketball Court
This one's probably going to be the toughest one on the list.  There are Cast Members who have worked for Disneyland for decades that have never seen the famed basketball half- court at the top of the Matterhorn.  So here's hoping.


4) Attend the Epcot Food and Wine Festival CHECK.
We love Epcot.  We love food.  We love wine.  This is something we simply must do one year.


5) Visit The Jim Henson Company  CHECK.
Ok, just to be clear: Disney bought and owns the Muppets, but they do NOT own the Jim Henson Company.  But I'm listing it here anyway, because it's on the Adventures by Disney Backstage Hollywood Tour.

The Jim Henson Company is located in what used to be Charlie Chaplin Studios.  Hence the nod to Kermit as Charlie Chaplin.  It's our dream to tour the studios of Kermit and the gang one day!


6) Visit Skywalker Ranch
Disney actually doesn't own this either - George Lucas retained the rights to all the Lucasfilm real estate, including the famous 4,000 acre Skywalker Ranch, but we have a loose definition of "Disney" on this Bucket List (Disney adjacent will do).  We've been lucky enough to visit Disney Golden Oak Ranch; we'd love to head up north and see Skywalker Ranch for ourselves.


7) Eat At Victoria & Albert's In Walt Disney World CHECK.
Victoria & Albert's is the fanciest Disney restaurant on land.  It's an AAA five-diamond award-winning restaurant, and the experience is supposed to be nothing short of remarkable.


8) Eat At Remy Onboard The Disney Cruise Line
Remy is the fanciest Disney restaurant on water.  It's on onboard the Disney Fantasy and the Disney Dream Cruise ships, and dinner is reputed to be an amazing event.


9) Attend A Princess Coronation At One Of The Parks
Disney has started having coronation events for their Disney Princesses.  

The first one was for Tiana in 2010, in New York City.

Then in 2011, Rapunzel was coronated in London.

In 2013, Merida had her coronation at Walt Disney World.

So we are wondering: where's the Frozen coronation for Anna & Elsa, Disney?!?!?
And can it be on the West Coast? If you must split the difference, do Elsa in Anaheim and Anna in Orlando.


10) Attend A Disney Wedding
If you are planning a Disney theme park wedding at Disneyland or Walt Disney World, we would LOVE to crash it - I mean, go to it.  We'll be marvelous guests and we'll bring a nice gift, if that's any incentive.


11) Visit Castaway Cay
There's no island like a private island and a Disney private island sounds like nirvana to us. We need to do another Disney Cruise that includes Castaway Cay.


12) Visit One Of The Private Lounges In Epcot  CHECK.
Epcot has several corporate lounges for sponsors.  While they're no 1901 Lounge, the appeal of places that are hard to get into is undeniable.


13) Get the Honorary Citizen of Disneyland Button  CHECK.
I have no idea what we need to do to get one of these.  Seems to be a right time/right place kinda thing.  But we'd love to earn one.  That would be some Disney magic!

What's on your Disney Bucket List? Let me know in the comments or tweet me!

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit & Me

I met an icon of mine.  Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Disney Alaska Cruise!

We took our first Disney Cruise!  And it was to Alaska.

We sailed on the Disney Wonder.

I love the Sail Away Party

From Skagway, we explored the Yukon:

We learned there are stuffed moose in the Yukon:

In Alaska's capital of Juneau, we saw Mendenhall Glacier:

And Ketchikan was a lovely, charming little town:

Onboard the boat we made friends with the towel animals:

Monkey

Bear

BUNNY!!!

We also met Anna & Elsa from Frozen:

Onboard the boat, we liked to stroll out on the deck:

Iceberg dead ahead

Or look out the window of our stateroom:

It was a fantastic trip.

Another Cafe Mocha, please

Comic-Con 2014!

Last week was Comic-Con in San Diego!!! We had a great time.  

We met cosplayers:

Venom Bunny!

He likes warm hugs

Saw studio marketing exhibits both on and off the floor:

The Walking Dead

Fox's Gotham zipline at night

And we met lots of pals! Like Lego Loki!

And we hung out at the pool with Koosas!

And we met Lego Confluence!

And we saw some great panels, like 45 Years of Sesame Street!

Thanks for the memories, San Diego!

Club 33, Post-Renovation

Club 33 at Disneyland was recently renovated!

This is the new entryway:

In the upstairs lobby, there is a grand chandelier:

There's also an old friend:

The Main Dining Room, or Grand Salon has been made lighter and brighter:

And there's a new Jazz Club, called the Salon Nouveau:

It has a hand carved bar:

A magic piano that can stream concerts:

The whole room has a musical feel to it.

It's a really unique place.