YouTube – Extreme Blonde Moments

disneyland-tips-tricks As a someone who spent the bulk of my growing up years in Southern California, I went to Disneyland a lot. I then worked there for 4 Summers and holiday breaks as what they called a “Seasonal Cast Member,” so I thought I knew most of the Disneyland rules and regulations. According to Mandy Kennedy of www.twentytwowords.com, I was so wrong. Hmmm

Apparently there are 24 very specific things you cannot do when you are a guest at Disneyland.

You can’t fly a drone. Well DUH! I would imagine you can’t even get one through the gate let alone think about flying one, running it into an unsuspecting guests head, crashing it into a ride or using it as part of any other nefarious plot. As if…
Adults can’t wear costumes. Hello, creep much? This is wrong for so many reasons: pedophiles, closet creep-os, wanna-be employees, nope.
No folding chairs. Back to explanation #1 – how would you even get one through the gate? I can’t see security being overly excited about chairs being able to be thrown into the middle of the parade, unfolded in the middle of a long ride line, or anywhere else for that matter.
Give a speech or hold a demonstration. It’s the “Happiest Place on Earth” it’s no place for free speech, megaphones, or picket signs people. 😉
You can’t blow up a balloon. Deflated balloons are a choking hazard so only already inflated balloons are sold in the Park.
You can’t bring a non-service animal into the Park. Too many people, too many opportunities for people to get entangled in your pet’s leash and trip/fall, or maybe your dog bites, or scratches, or causes some other injury that Disney might have to take financial responsibility for….it’s all about the legal liability here people.
No wearing non-medical masks. See #2 for explanation. It’s all about the creep factor here.
No large tripods. If you have to ask, “how large is large?” you already know your answer. This is to ward off professional photo shoots in the Park that would impede the general public from access to and enjoyment of all areas of Disneyland. People could trip over and be injured by the tripods and assume that Disney authorized the photography sessions, putting them at financial liability. It also comes down to Disney controlling and collecting fees from anyone being professionally photographed on their property and protecting use of their copyrights.
No profane language. It’s the Magic Kingdom not the WWE or a Raiders game.
No outside alcohol allowed. Disneyland wants to be able to control how much you drink and overcharge you for the drinks you are allowed to buy from their properties at the connected properties: Disney’s California Adventure and Downtown Disney.
No skateboards, hoverboards or Segways. Self explanatory. The only non-foot transportation shall be via the rides in the Park.
No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service.
No Weapons.
Your stroller can’t be bigger than 36″ x 52″ even if you have a stroller made for 6. The stroller can’t be wider than the sidewalks people.
No running! I’m talking to you 52 year old man pushing the children out of the way to beat them to Space Mountain! If you’re not participating in the Disney 1/2 Marathon you better slow down!
No flash photography! I’m sorry you can’t get a great picture in “Pirates of the Caribbean” but your flash gives away the behind the scenes Disney magic and ruins it for everyone else.
No exposed inappropriate tattoos. We don’t need to see that when you bend over you send a cheeky hello to your Mom.
No feeding the animals. America has an obesity problem, Disneyland would like their animals to continue to not be part of that epidemic.
No bags, backpacks or coolers larger than 24″ x 18″ x 15″ allowed in the park. We live in a heightened security age, which we all know, but those large bags also take up space that makes it hard for people to move freely.
Smoking only allowed in designated areas. Laws are not in favor of public smokers anymore, secondhand smoke and all.
No glass containers, except baby food, allowed into the Park. It might break and hurt someone you know. DUH
The no tripod ban also includes no student movies, commercials or any other non-home video type filming….Disney frowns on this bigly 😉
No filming on rollercoasters. Well that one sucks. I’ve always wanted to scream and barf while filming on my iPhone so that I can share my embarrassment on YouTube! and, this one’s a biggy…
No cutting in line, holding a spot for others or joining others further in front of the line. People tend to get really crabby when they’ve waited over an hour and you waltz in front of them and jump right onto the ride.

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While standing to allow late arrivals to the USC football game to pass by, my iPhone 6 fell out of my jacket pocket and landed awkwardly on the concrete. The thud & sound of shattering glass made my heart, and wallet, sink.

I’d removed the case to allow the phone to charge, so I was sure I’d broken the glass, but hoped my screen had survived the fall under the screen protector. No such luck. The only thing the screen protector did was to contain the glass that had shattered into many, many, many pieces beneath.

I knew it would easily cost me over $100 to have just the glass replaced and who knows how much if there was more damage to the phone itself, so I looked to Amazon to see if I could get the parts for less and install them myself. I’m a reasonably intelligent girl and pretty handy, how hard could it be? Hmmm

A few YouTube videos, a glass of wine, and an $8 glass repair kit later, I stood beside my kitchen counter with a dozen teeny tiny screws, a mess of broken glass and a damaged digitizer. Even worse, I was now holding a completely dead iPhone and would need more parts to try and make the repair myself.

The last thing I wanted to hear was my husband’s, “You should have taken it to the repair shop.” Back to Amazon I went and made a Prime purchase of another $77 in additional parts to be delivered the next day.

The parts arrived and I followed the installation instructions, but the phone still wouldn’t fire up, so, tail between my legs, I asked my husband to go to the repair shop with me to see if my phone could be salvaged, which would mean paying at least another $100 in repairs…

Good News – Bad News; Good News – Bad News

Good News: I installed the parts correctly.

Bad News: 1) The Screen kit I bought was bad, which is partly why the phone wouldn’t fire up. 2) The damage to the phone included the internal screen light, so more than the screen repairs would be necessary to salvage the phone.

Good News: 1) I could return the non-working part to Amazon and get my $77 back 2) I’d anticipated the likelihood of needing to replace the phone so I had negotiated with AT&T to have the early upgrade fee of $250 waived and a new iPhone 6s was on the way.

Bad News: 1) It did cost me $575.00 2) I’d be 2 more days without a phone 3) I’d planned to sell the working 6 to Amazon for $435 to offset the cost of the new phone. No working phone = No $435, but I did get $75 for the salvageable parts and no bill from the repair shop. For this I did get an, “I told you so.”

Very expensive lesson learned. I will never attempt to repair any electronic item ever again. I’ll be leaving that to the experts!

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