Matt's Fall, 2019 adventure with Club 33 and 21 Royal

It was now, sadly time to leave 21 Royal. Paul asked us if we could do any one attraction in the park, what would it be? We all responded unanimously, Haunted Mansion. He then told us, let's go!!!

We exited the suite, excited, albeit sad that this marvelous night was drawing to a close. We made our way solemnly down the stairs through which we had entered, bags in hand and followed Paul as he wove his way through post-Fantasmic with a skill and grace not often seen even amongst the most tenured Plaids. He guided us up to the gates of the mansion, said a few words to the CM working the FP return line, which she immediately redirected as we ventured through those hallowed gates and onto the grounds of one of the best attractions ever. We stopped by the horse-less hearse and he said another few words to the CM standing there. They immediately shut down the entrance and let us get a GREAT group picture.

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Once that was done, they waited for the foyer to empty and then let us in and kept back the rest of the queue for a few moments to allow us to take it in with just our party.

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Mansion was looking great as usual. I think I did a little better this time around, but still didn't have the right gear or talent for the best shots. Zero is going to be a VERY happy ghost-dog!!!

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Leota was looking as remarkable as ever!

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Love this creepy little guy.

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OK, I didn't catch this the first time through. The HBG and several other of the happy haunts appear and reappear on the cake!!!

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Always love the tree!

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Nemo wants his organ back!!

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Apparently it's prophecy that my Amy Sue has been a good one... her reward sure says so.

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Hatty was looking good.

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Jack and Zero were looking good as ever.

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Oh how I long for someone to look at me like Sally looks at Jack.

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I love this snow drift. It reminds me of the Matterhorn.

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The Crypt was well decorated.

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Champagne for two please!!

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Oh Oogie..

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Now it was 10:30 and time to say goodbye to our hosts and my new friends. Some had kids waiting on them, others had to get in a car and drive back up to the Bay Area. We talked about how amazing the night had been and how we all couldn't wait to do it again. Some of us wondered if we would get jumped for our 21 bags before we could leave the park. With a tear in our eyes, we said our goodbyes and went our separate ways...
 


Do we get to see pics of the merch in the goodie bags?

My nDH (non-Disney Husband) says you have 'contractor's eye' for your photographs. That's where something appears really great to everyone but the person who did the work/took the pictures, they see those 'little flaws' that the rest of us don't.
 
Absolutely fantastic TR, Matt! So much detail in your descriptions and the photos were fabulous! This is now at the top of my Disneyland "to do" list. Let me know next time you are getting a group together! :)
 
We had a few minutes left before park closing, so we decided to ride my favorite attraction (yes, Disney ONLY has attractions, NOT RIDES).

Here is where everything went wrong... while I was turning off my screen for the attraction (because people who have screens up on the attractions are HORRIBLE), I inadvertently set the resolution to .JPG... UGH. If it doesn't come out of the camera body nearly perfect, there's very little you can do in post with .JPG, which is why I always shoot RAW.. To make matters worse, I ended up shooting about 20,000 pics in Hawaii in .JPG over the next 11 days.. ugh. Oh well..live and learn.

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We entered the attraction queue, and we approached an EMPTY DOCK!!! Why of course we'll take an empty boat all to ourselves!

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Hmmm... I recommend Knight to King's Bishop 3...

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I really love this new show scene...

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Love these guys..

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Where be the treasure!!! Oh wait... they are looking for Captain Jack Sparrow... (hate the JS overlays)

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OK, I have to say I'm NOT a fan of the politically correct auction scene. Bring back the original!!

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I do love that the goat is wearing jewels though.

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Figures, one of my best shots of this guy in a while and it was shot in .JPG.

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That lady REALLY wants that turkey.

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This guy is so lazy. He's always just hanging around.

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Back to reality at a quarter past 11 (park close today was 11), and we decided to take just a few pics to remember where we were.

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We took our time strolling out of the park. Paused by the Tiki Room and just took in the now empty park. So good!!!

Hit the turnstiles at 11:30 and then made our way back to our hotel...

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Hang in there, we aren't done JUST yet.
 


Do we get to see pics of the merch in the goodie bags?

Patience... It's coming.

My nDH (non-Disney Husband) says you have 'contractor's eye' for your photographs. That's where something appears really great to everyone but the person who did the work/took the pictures, they see those 'little flaws' that the rest of us don't.

My wife would say the same thing. She calls it "hypercritical". I call it being me.


Absolutely fantastic TR, Matt! So much detail in your descriptions and the photos were fabulous! This is now at the top of my Disneyland "to do" list. Let me know next time you are getting a group together! :)

Thanks, I can't wait to do it again.
 
4:30 AM came way too quickly, but we showered, packed... and repacked... and repacked. We had apparently picked up too much swag... 5:30 found us sitting in the lobby waiting for our Uber.

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The bag Amy is holding is one of the favors one of the couples in our group brought for everyone. It was full of sweet goodies and a 21 Royal Pin! The bag was hand-drawn.

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6:30 found us sitting at the gate... HUNGRY, especially after getting all our extra stuff through security. This was when we decided to dig into the 21 Royal goodies.. We had fresh baked pastries and coffee. Sadly, I neglected to pack a coffee grinder or French press, but the pastries were amazing. The coffee was from Equator Coffees and Teas and was their Equator Blend.

The pastries..

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We split them.. Gratuitous pic which Amy hates me posting, which keeps me doing it... LOL. It's amazing she hasn't divorced me yet.

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8:45 found us in the air on time. Back to reality... and to unpack... and re-pack since we need to be on a plane to Hawaii in 36 hours...

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Once that was done, they waited for the foyer to empty and then let us in and kept back the rest of the queue for a few moments to allow us to take it in with just our party.
I love that everyone is still smiling. :)
Some of us wondered if we would get jumped for our 21 bags before we could leave the park.
I wasn't there that night, so you were safe.
 
Oh wow, thank you for sharing. I can't decide if I am more envious of the meal or the C33 Merch! I have loved living vicariously through this thread.
 
So... in the 21 Royal bag, we were given some pastries for the morning, a 10oz bag of Equator Coffee (Profile: Mellow and complex with flavors of cedar, apricot, marzipan, milk chocolate and Nutmeg from Colombia, Kenya, and Sumatra), a bag of herbal teas, our customized menus, and lastly, 21 Royal Lapel Pins!!!!

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They threw in a little extra something for me, not sure by mistake, or just because I was beyond geeking out and interacting with the hosts throughout the whole experience, but it was great to see when I got home.

In addition, the members of my group had all brought favors. The 21 Royal shirts you saw in the SWAG preview, these 21 Royal pins, a HM bowtie, AND lastly, and one of my favorites of the favors, a custom-made 21 Royal paperweight. Love that!!!!

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Thank you so much for sharing! Loved the TR and your photos and detailed descriptions. =)

PS. Totally agree about the Pirates auction scene....
 
I'm applauding and saying the same thing I say at the end of every attraction:

"Again, Again, Again...!!" :thumbsup2
 

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