Some Photos from My 50th Birthday Disney Trip

I'm not in a very talkative mood right now.  But I told myself I was going to make photo posts from my trip, and I feel if I don't do it now, I'll end up never doing it.  Then I'll feel I took an excessive amount of photos for no reason.

I was originally going to make multiple posts with lots of photos.  I think instead I'm going to do this one post.

So...here it goes.

A smiley, friendly sun at 
Animal Kingdom Lodge

Chair fabric at Animal Kingdom
Lodge.

Me at Disney Springs 

Tim at Saana. He was with me for the
first two nights of the trip

The many bread dips of the 
Saana bread service 

My first night alone I walked
around the Boardwalk and took photos
and listened to my audio book

Buildings like this, at night, remind me of
my special dreams that take place 
in what I call "Dream City" so
I'm kind of infatuated with them. 
Another place, at Disney, that gives me this
feeling is the city scene on the Mexico ride in
World Showcase.

Another picture from the night walk.
It's kind of become a special, magical
memory to me.  I was partly
there on the Boardwalk and
partly on a pirate ship with James Hook,
Smee, and Blackbeard.

Frozen was the first 
ride I went on this trip. 

Soarin' was funny, because
after the video where we are told
to take off our Mickey ears and stow other
stuff, a Cast Member (or was it via announcement?)
insisted that we keep our Mickey ears and 
other small things ON us. I guess there
have been too many cases of people leaving
small items under the seat. And Disney probably 
finally realized that Mickey Ear, glasses, hats, etc.
were NOT flying off people during the ride.

One of way too many photos I took
in the Living with the Land greenhouse.

There were many cast members
inside the Greenhouse setting
up little scenes and also working
in the science area. That was cool to see.
 I wish I had gotten
photos of that. Instead I got a photo of one
of the scenes they set up.

Epcot construction.

This is the best photo of Spaceship Earth
I've ever taken.  It might be the best I've seen.
It's probably arrogant to feel I deserve
some kind of reward. But...I do. 

Disney construction and random strangers.
Two things I like taking photos of. 

I was eating my Lefse and Rice pudding 
in Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe
when I suddenly noticed I had
a delightful butt view. 

A very cool plant at the Beach Club

Waiting for Rise of the Resistance 
to open in the morning. It had some problems.

A drone

Another drone 

I got many photos of the backside
of stormtroopers and Kylo Wren.
One thing about solo trips is there's
no one to stop you from spending your time
following Star War characters for an extended period of time
in an attempt to get a good photo of the front of them. 
Note: These guys move quite fast. 

Cast Members blocking the temporarily
closed Smugglers Run. They did the same 
thing at Rise of the Resistance, but I failed
to get a photo. They were very strict in a similar
spirit to the First Order cast members on the ride.
It was delightful.  Seriously, I think the quest to
get on Rise of the Resistance is just as exciting as the ride itself.
And I don't mean that as an insult to the ride. The 
ride is fantastic. But trying to get on the ride whether
by waiting in the rain, hoping it reopens or having a virtual queue adventure.
I think these will be some of my most favorite Disney memories. 

From Toy Story Mania.
Peter Pan was especially special to me this trip,
because I was reading the book below.

I choose my books somewhat randomly and luck had it
that I was listening to this through out my trip.
Well, I have a long list of authors and use random.org
to pick the author. I ended up with Serena Valentino who
writes stories about Disney villains.  I was about to say (because I believed it so)
that I had chosen Captain Hook. But now I'm thinking I didn't.
I think I used Random.org to choose which book to read. I'm horrible at making
decisions!!!!  Though later I read it's recommended to start with
the first book in the series. The Captain Hook one of the most recent. Oops.

If you look at this photo close enough, you will
see the little guy who decided that although it was fine for me to be 
at Disney World on my own, I shouldn't ride 
every single ride alone.  He kindly insisted on
staying with me for the entire duration of the ride.  AND I kindly moved to the
other side of the vehicle not wanting him to feel crowded. 

I got up very early that morning. I was the first and only person
at the bus stop. I was the only one on the bus. I was one of the first
in line at Magic Kingdom. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of the
first inside the park. Because I went through a fairly long round of
"Do you have lotion on your hand? Are you sure that's the finger
you used before?

 

Splash Mountain. It may be a bit racist.
But it is quite photogenic. I'm sure the Princess and 
the Frog will be as well. Hopefully the racists will
boycott the new ride, and the lines will be short.  

I usually don't have much of a desire to ride 
Pirates of the Caribbean.  The Captain Hook
book made me want to ride it twice. Though that 
ended up not happening, because it shut down when
I was in line the second time. 

Towards the end of the day, this popped up.
I texted to Tim: Hope Jeff Goldblum
doesn't have to eat his words. 
I was delighted, though, because getting
this message made the ride breakdown 
feel like a big deal. And I was in the line 
when it had the breakdown.  I felt
like I was part of history.

I used to have a crush on this guy. Now I
pretty much despite him. Thanks to Serena Valentino.

One of many photos I took of this guy. 

Tom Sawyer Island. I didn't go there
but liked the house and liked how
the photo turned out.

I meant to go on at least twice but only
went on once. I'm okay with that, though.

Carpet at Space Mountain.
I love Disney carpet so much. 

All in all, I had a really good time. 

 I'm hoping we will still be able to take whole-family trips to Disney World or Disneyland. But I think there will also be more solo Disney trips for each of us. Jack took one last summer. I took this one. Tim is going in February. 

 I tend to have post-Disney-trip regrets. 

My only one this time was that it seemed to be a birthday trip only inside my own head.  I don't think anyone else got the memo.  

No, I wasn't there exactly on my 50th birthday. I came home three days before...the reason being I didn't want to be there during the Thanksgiving week. But I had talked about it, and seen it, as being my birthday trip. 

The only time my birthday was mentioned, though, was by the TSA agent, at the airport, just before I went through security. He noticed the date on my ID and wished me a happy birthday. I was delighted and imagined it would be the first of multiple mentions of my birthday on the trip. But it actually ended up being the last. 

I didn't want any big surprises or an excessive amount of attention. I guess I would have wanted just a small acknowledgment. Like a text: Hope you're enjoying your birthday trip!  Or a commemorative photo.  

I briefly considered...maybe longed for...one of those celebration buttons. But I feared that would lead to awkward, embarrassing, and/or lonely moments. 

Note: I did get several birthday wishes on my actual birthday from family, friends, and relatives. I appreciate that. 

I think the mistake I made is depending on others to acknowledge that my Disney trip was a birthday trip. I should have done something myself to acknowledge it— bought myself a special birthday souvenir or labeled one of the many Disney treats I ate as a birthday treat. 

In the end, though...being there was a gift in itself. And another gift is the prospect of future trips. 

Next time I go, whether alone or with others, I'm going to make a point of labeling something I do or eat as a birthday thing. Even if it's months away from my birthday. 

(I guess I ended up being talkative, after all.  If anyone is surprised about that...they're either new here or haven't been paying enough attention) 

Edited to add (1/1/2021)-Was looking at old texts and saw that one of my sisters DID mention my birthday in texts!!  I'm not sure how I missed it.  

Read my novel: The Dead are Online 

What does the Heart mean in Conversations?

When someone hearts my response in text or social media, I often feel dismissed.

Why?

Because that's what I'm sort of maybe doing when I heart someone's response.

Instead of meaning the intended I love what you've said...I think the heart tends to mean one of the following.

1. I hear you.  I'm fine with what you said.  But I have no idea how to respond.

2. I hear you.  But I think this conversation has reached it's end point.

3. Thanks for commenting but I have 50 zillion comments and can't give a personal reply to everyone. (not the case for me but I imagine the case for influencers)

It's a difficult thing.

I feel a little rejected when I get a heart instead of an actual response.  I also feel a bit guilty when I do the same to others.  

But I think it's kind of a part of life.

I don't know of an alternative.  

I don't think it's technically rude to respond with just-a heart.  

One thing I try to do is remind myself...if I'm feeling rejected...that it might be less about rejection and more about the person feeling awkward and shy.

Because that's usually the case for me.  When my hearting = not having more to say, it usually doesn't mean that I'm looking down at the person with derision.  It's often me feeling intimidated...feeling that I won't be able to match their cleverness or humor.  

I think I have close to the same amount of social anxiety with texting, commenting, emailing as I do with in-person and phone conversations.  

Wait...I feel I should clarify something.

I think the heart is different when responding to the actual social media post.  Since most of my followers totally ignore my posts, getting a heart feels like a big deal.  And when I heart someone's post, it usually means: I love this, I like this, I totally agree, or I would totally repost this except I've already spammed my followers too much today.  

What I'm referring to above is when someone comments on a post, and then the response to that comment is a heart.

I hope that makes sense.  

Distracting the Driver

I'm reading some of THE exorcist diaries on a website called Geek Slop.

Here's one excerpt:

(note the diary doesn't include the full name of the possessed child.  I added it, because it's now widely known, and I think it's easier to read that way)

Ronald finished dressing himself and prepared to leave for home. Father Bowdern asked Father O’Flaherty to drive the car while he himself, Ronald's father and Ronald sat in the back seat. It was about 11:45 AM. Only a few minutes after the car was in motion Ronald jumped up off the seat and grabbed Father O’Flaherty and had to be pulled off with force. Ronald was not normal on the road for more than a few minutes at a time.

Who does that remind me of?

I'm sure anyone who religiously watched the January 6 hearings would think the same thing.

Donald Trump is a little devil.  But not in a fun and sexy way.

He's no Tom Ellis.  That's for sure.

Well...and neither is whatever was inside of Ronald Hunkeler.

What was inside of Hunkeler?

Judging on his behavior....

I'd say it wasn't Lucifer Morningstar or a Cool Mesopotamian demon.

Who knows....

MAYBE....it was a time-traveling Trump.

Maybe what happens is he fails to make America "great" again.  So he tries to return to 1949...a time when racism, misogyny, antisemitism, and homophobia was more in fashion.

Read my novel: The Dead are Online