Our Own Little Piece of Wonderland

Some of you may have noticed a distinct lack of posts in recent months.  Most of that time has been spent in pursuit of something truly cool, something that began all the way back in June at the Dayton Disneyana Show, something I can now share with you!

Welcome to Wonderland!  We have actual attraction leaves!!  How cool is that?  It was a long process, starting with paying for them (hence the massive eBay sales lately), and a whirlwind flight to Orlando.  Which was delayed.  Three hours.  We were so late that we were the only flight on the board.  Joy.

Once we arrived in Orlando, off in a cab to our airport hotel.  Apparently our cab driver didn't understand the concept of the airport hotel, and started driving us off to the other side of Orlando.  So that delayed us yet another hour.  Then we were given a hotel room that was already occupied.  That was embarrassing.  When we finally got to our room, it was 4:20am.  Finally, some sleep.  Until the fire alarm went off at 5:10am.  And again at 5:15am.  Apparently the kitchen staff were unclear how to make toast.

But at 9am we were off to the truck rental to get our truck.  It was a monster!  22 feet of rumbling diesel machinery.  Then off to Theme Park Connection, our purveyor of Alice leaves.  Four of them to be exact - two from the outside, two from the inside.

This is me in front of the big pink one in the warehouse.  BTW, Theme Park Connection is a very cool place.  If you are ever in Orlando and have a chance to go there, you should.  

So we loaded up the leaves (and a bunch of other stuff, how could we resist?) and headed off to Virginia!  and 15 hours later, we pulled up to our house (at 3am), and our 30 hour odyssey was at an end.   

This is a picture of all four right after we unloaded them.  The two interior leaves are still not installed, we are not sure if they can withstand the elements of Northern Virginia, they may have to be a part of the Tulgey Wood, the collection room inside the house.