Member spotlight- Ollie****

What's your favorite meal at California Grill?

What's your favorite park?

Alright.... who on the board would you take for a day and the first thing you would do?

AND

Your stuck on a ride.... trapped... cant get out. What ride would you enjoy being stuck on, and which one would drive you into your own madness!?!?!?!?!?!

Last time I had the lamb chops. So Good! Usually it is the pork tenderloin, but the chops are the new fave entree. Goat cheese ravioli for appetizer and cream brulee for dessert - and fireworks!

I LOVE the Magic Kingdom with my deepest heart, but Epcot is my adult favorite.

Love this question!!!

I would take you, Mase, and would feast on Mickey bars and dole whips while we copped a bench on Main Street watching all the smiling guests see the castle for the first time!!!

I could ride Pirates all day - or even Jungle Cruise. But once around Small World would be enough - is enough - to start the loonies! Journey into Imagination could get my brain swelling, too!

I thought this one turned out great!

Ahh, Grand Marnier slushies!

Beautiful contrasts!

Hi Ollie!

Are you and Kim rope-droppers or more casual get-to-the-parks-when-we-get-there types? I think I know, but had to ask

I so totally love you genuine appreciation of all the things about Disney - it comes through so clearly in your trip reports. YAY OLLIE AND KIM!!!

We are sleep in and get going when we get going types - although we LOVE stay up late and close the parks down and have thoroughly enjoyed doing that couple of times, and plan on doing it at least once this Christmas, too! Maybe I can get Kim motivated for one rope drop. . . Who am I kidding!! But I can always hope, or go alone!!!

Have you and Joe ever tried the relaxed and lazy version of WDW? A little maybe?

Favorite WDW memory?

Ollie love your pictures especially the perspective on the ball at Epcot. Super!

We all know how much you love cheese. What's your favorite?

OK - but it takes some telling. . . .

On our first trip to WDW together (Kim had never been), my excitement was great, of course, and I wanted her to love it as much as I did. During the planning, she wasn't as enthusiastic as I had hoped, but she was being a good sport for me. I planned the heck out of the trip, showing her menus, asking questions about everything I could think of so as to hopefully make the trip magical for her.

She picked the resort - Dixie Landings it was called then (now Port Orleans Riverside) because she loved the look and the old south feel. We arrived in the evening so it was dark and muggy. We walked to the Mill food court and it was quiet; we couldn't see the theming very well and everything was getting ready to close down. Dinner was just a ceasar salad. So far, I was feeling edgy that she wasn't really going to connect and enjoy it, that she would be a sport for me, but not really get it. As we left, I nabbed a couple pralines and we ate those on the walk back. That sort of raised the spirits.

I had a Mickey wake up call for us the next AM and that made her laugh. I hurried us along and we caught one of the first MK buses. (The only trip we've taken when we were really early risers, JeffC!). We didn't see the rope drop, but the park was quite empty and as we walked through the right hand tunnel, I could hear the Main Street music. We crossed the Square and looked up Main Street to the castle. Kim hadn't said a word since the turnstiles. I stopped and said "Here we are!" The look on her face was pure amazement and delight. She whispered "This is just like Hello, Dolly!" and put her hands up to her face, eyes wide.

Now that doesn't sound like much, but Kim is a HUGE Barbra Streisand fan - so to have her fall for WDW using a Barbra reference, I KNEW it was all over for her! After that first morning, all the planning didn't matter. WDW had claimed another heart and I got to see it!!!

ps. Kim's favorite WDW memory is sitting in France sipping Grey Goose slushies and watching the world go by, THEN watching Illuminations! As you can see, we make memories quite differently!

I figured there would be a cheese question!

I love soft rind cheeses like Brie and Camembert, but probably my greatest love would be the blue veined cheeses. US Maytag blue is great, but I have a long time affinity for British Stilton as well as Italian Gorgonzola. This past Christmas kim gave me some fancy cheeses and I got to try a French blue, d'Auvergne, that is my new favorite. If anyone else here is a cheese-head, Fromages.com is our go-to plurge!

OK - just had a thought that all of the above just might be TMCI (too much cheese information).

Girl, there aint never TMCI!

I, too, am a big fan of blue veined cheeses. I don't think I've tried a French blue. I'll have to try it. What a great site. Thanks!

I agree with mrhub. There is no such thing as TMCI.

You two must be my long-lost siblings!!!

I am a cheese lover also - I guess that's why we love the MOUSE so much. I'll have to check that site out.

It is a great site and you will not be able to decide!

Is it weird that one of my best gifts last christmas was a Fromages cheese box? When I opened it, that wonderful smelly cheese aroma wafted out and although lesser people may have run screaming with eyes watering, I almost cried from joy. Then went looking for crackers and a good bottle of Merlot!!!

Ollie, are you excited for the Hobbit movie?

Kinda, but not really. Joe and I are both early risers, no matter what. We believe it is a genetic defect. But when we go to WDW, we usually do the commando approach for the first 4 days to hit each park at rope drop (or opening, since they seem to have gotten ride of most rope drops now - BOO!!), and then we slow it down just a little and don't worry so much about getting there right at opening. And by afternoon we always head back to the resort for a break before heading back to the parks.

You pics are phenomenal! What's your secret to such great pics, especially the fireworks one?

If the only cheese available at all of WDW were the plastic cheese from Casey's Corner, would you partake?

Ollie, thank you for Stoopid Shoes!!!!!!!! I've always played the game without knowing the name.

Please share how you discovered the game.

Bill

Why, yes I am!! If Peter Jackson does as well with it as he did LOTR, it will be very good. . . all three parts of it!

I like the afternoon break thing, too. Sometimes it's just heading to any resort for lunch away from the crowd. Sorry that you wake up so early. Bummer.

For my pictures, it is luck on the night shots! I actually try several settings to see what gets the best 'grab' on just the castle before the fireworks. I think the shot above was taken with the auto setting, timed just after the shell exploded. Set the frame on the castle, watch a few through the viewfinder to get the height right, then start snapping as they light up. I use a Canon Powershot S5is. Better than a CoolPix or similar, but not as big and bulky as a Rebel eos.

And plastic cheese? Are there fries or nachos with that? Maybe corndog bites? Because then it would be a condiment, not a destination and highly appropriate to partake of!

So, do you have a Disneyland road trip planned yet?

I first heard it called Stoopid Shoes when I was introduced to it by a college classmate. I was at Arizona State and four of us took a Spring Break trip from Phoenix to LA and went to Disneyland and Universal Studios. My friend Sarah gave me the scoop as we sat at Universal watching Stoopid shoes go by. She had a whole scoring system with different points for fashion issues, comfort issues, and combinations of the two! Simple flip flops were worth less than high heels. Scrappy numbers got bonus points and boots were the highest if they had high heels. OH - and furry things got double points! Loser bought the beer.

Love the answers!

What is your favorite thing to do at Disney World when the sun goes down? Any rides that you love more? Activities?

I love being at the late night extra magic hours and going slow at closing time. At Epcot it is spectacular being in WS virtually alone. Of course MK is also even more magical. One night there many years ago we stopped and got dole whips and sat near the castle, watching the crowds thin down. Finally we felt that we "were the last" (we really weren't) As we started out we actually got ice cream - one of the CMs motioned us in and said we could be their last cones of the night. The we walked s-l-o-w-l-y down Main Street, turning to look back at the castle and the emptiness often and laughing. LOVE that feeling!!!

But generally, we look forward to Tinkerbelle at MK, and the fireworks everywhere, and simply walking the park we find ourselves in. They just look, feel, and taste different at night!

I love Pirates of the Caribbean most, and Thunder Mtn is my favorite coaster. Oh! And Star Tours, Kilimanjaro Safari, Tower of Terror, and illuminations! Yes, oh yes - fireworks are a special attraction! As far as activities go, we enjoy wandering Downtown Disney, drinking or grazing around World Showcase, and we LOVE visiting resorts. Sometimes for meals, sometimes just to enjoy the theming. At the parks, Of course a round or two of Stoopid Shoes usually erupts because we like to people watch from shady benches while enjoying cool beverages or icy treats. We also look forward to staying at AKL every chance we get and sitting on the balcony, watching the Savannahs and the animals begin their day.

AND we look forward to dining at signature restaurants, trying foods and flavors we don't have time to enjoy at home. Disney has something for every sort of guest!!

Do you have any likes and dislikes that are different from most others?