After relaxing for awhile, we got in the car and headed for Anaheim!
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| On the road again! |
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| On our way to the convention center! |
Luckily we made it without any problems, even though it did look like it was going to rain on us at some point. We parked at the convention center and made our way to stand in the line that was already forming.
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| Waiting in line and looking tough |
Some people we knew from our server in World of Warcraft were heading to the convention as well, and we planned to meet up with them after badge pick-up to finally meet each other in real life. They are all members of the horde guild <Crimson Blood Clan> on Steamwheedle Cartel, and for the sake of anonymity I'll refer to them as their toon names -- Moonora (of MooingDruid Machinima fame -- definitely check out her channel!), Xaero, Czisix, Barackas, and Nieman.
Unfortunately we didn't find them right away because they were late. We laughed because their hotel was within walking distance of the convention center while we were staying an hour away, but I'm pretty sure they were flying in that day so I can understand the time crunch for sure!
After probably close to an hour and a half of waiting, the line finally started moving forward. We were getting pretty excited as we snaked our way around the building.
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| Anaheim Convention Center |
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| Front of the Convention Center |
We made it inside the building, only to realize we had to keep on waiting -- hundreds of people were already waiting down a level in a giant room where the main stage would be set up for the first day of the convention. We were pretty amazed by the number of people since we'd only seen a fraction of them while waiting outside. Unfortunately I didn't snap a picture, although I did get some the next day after being overwhelmed by the crowds again.
We finally did pick up our badges and goody bags and stood in the front of the convention center to wait on our friends. They were a couple hundred people behind us, but they managed to find us! It was very cool to meet people we'd "virtually known" for a while, and we definitely hit it off. After talking for a little while, we made plans to meet up for dinner at Downtown Disney.
If you've never been to Anaheim or Disneyland, Downtown Disney is basically a collection of shops and restaurants just outside of Disneyland's entrance. We had a nice time walking around and popping in and out of the stores while waiting for dinnertime.
I think it was a highlight of our vacation, mainly for Mr. L. Why for him, you ask? Oh, only because of this place:
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| Oh yes, friends, that is most certainly a Lego store. |
Mr. L is absolutely obsessed with Legos, and I think when he saw this, it absolutely made his day. I took a picture of the guys in front of the store and then immediately entered.
They wandered off to browse while I took the liberty to snap some pictures of the amazing Lego sculptures throughout the store.
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| Life-sized Lego Darth Vader |
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| $400 Lego Death Star |
I found Mr. L and Joe at the store's "Pick A Brick" wall, in which you can choose either a small or large container and fill it as full as you'd like with all different kinds of Lego bricks. The guys were definitely enjoying this and both picked up a large container to fill with bricks.
To my complete and utter amazement, Mr. L walked out of the store having only spent ten dollars -- I was expecting WAY more than that to be out of our checking account! I'm actually pretty proud of him for resisting all of the temptation lurking around him :)
After browsing around Downtown Disney, our friends finally made it and we picked a place for dinner. We opted for Tortilla Jo's, a Mexican restaurant.
We ate and talked with everyone and worked out a game plan for what we would be doing the next day. It was great getting more time to get to know everyone.
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| From left to right: Nieman, Czisix, Barackas, Mr. L, me, Joe, Moonora, and Xaero |
We were all definitely very excited for what was to come, so after dinner Joe, Mr. L, and I called it an evening and headed back to the hotel. We needed our rest since we had to get up early for the first day of BlizzCon 2010!
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