#BUT! SHE! SIGNED! HAUNTED! MANSION! MERCH! | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ahnsael · 5 years ago

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@kjuw89 replied to your photo: “Isn’t she beautiful?”:

Crowds look light ��

They’re not bad. I was surprised to see 15 minutes for Pirates. On the Disney Parks App it then said that HyperSpace Mountain had a 20 minute wait, but it had just returned to 104 status after going 101 (for you non-cast members, that means it was working again after having broken down), and by the time I got there from Big Thunder it was up to 55 minutes and no Single Rider Line. I got a FastPass for 9:10-10:10pm, but then gave that up for a Small World FastPass that would be valid by the time I walked from Galaxy’s Edge instead when I decided I didn’t have the energy to stay that late today.

The highest I saw Smuggler’s Run was also 55 minutes, and that and HyperSpace Mountain were the two longest waits in the park. It was warm today (even though I heard people complaining about how cold it was when I left -- it was predicted to be in the mid-60s at the time, so I’m guessing they’re SoCal people -- we’re already down to the 30s at night back home, which is probably why I found a scorpion in our garage yesterday; it’s still warm enough during the day, but it’s cold at night and our garage is still warm -- also I used my blacklight that I use for IDs and large bills at work and saw that the thing about them glowing green under black light is true), but when i walked by Splash Mountain on the way to the Hungry Bear and then Galaxy’s Edge, the wait was only 30 minutes.

I forgot to mention Star Tours and the Jedi Thingy in the Captain EO theater on my list of things I did today, too. I walked in to Star Tours and waited less than 5 minutes on Standby. It was weird to see that the Star Trader is pretty much all Star Wars merch now (it used to just be the small part by the Star Tours exit into the gift shop). There was also a huge selection of Star Wars pins on Main Street in the music store (which is now mostly a pin store). So much Star Wars in areas of the park other than the Star Wars par!I

I also happened to time the Jedi thing just right after finding out the Space Mountain wasn’t doing single rider but hearing the announcement that the doors to the theater were opening.

I was one of literally three people in the theater, and I was really only there to sit in the old seats and pretend I was watching Captain EO. The cast member didn’t even bother with the microphone; he just stood in front of us and did his spiel “in person” to us.

I wasn’t exactly wowed by Smuggler’s Run. I was told to watch for flashing buttons and push them (I was an engineer, the last row), and I was focused on that for the first part of the ride until I realized that the bright green flashes were enough to get my attention if I wasn’t looking.

The down side: Without spoiling the story, there were two times I was supposed to press something specific (and two other times to hit a couple other things -- there wasn’t a lot of interactivity for the engineer position). The first time I pressed the button and it had the desired effect; the second time, I pressed it, but it stayed lit, and Hondo kept yelling at me to press it, no matter how many times I pressed it. I could see the other Engineer (another single rider) having the same issue at the same time.

The lady who grouped us asked me whether I was a rebel or part of the Empire, and I told her honestly, “I don’t know, I just walked into Galaxy’s Edge and came here.” And since I was a single rider, I don’t think anything would have been “remembered” for me anyway as they advertised when the land opened.

Another issue was the Play Disney Parks app.When I first opened it, I allowed location services only while the app is open...turns out you can’t get “achievements” unless they’re always on (any time you turn the phone screen off, the app starts from scratch when you reopen it). And for the life of me, I couldn’t find a way to go back and change my preferences. Maybe it’s outside the app in the phone’s app settings.

Oh, and they still have the typo on the sign at the entrance to the Haunted Mansion display in the Opera House on Main Street. It still says “Kindly step all the way in to the explore eerie evolution of the Haunted Mansion’s design” instead of “Kindly step all the way in to explore the eerie evolution of the Haunted Mansion’s design” (emphasis mine -- I tried posting it earlier from the Opera House, but Disneyland’s wifi keeps going in and out and if you thought I posted a lot today, just imagine if half of them hadn’t failed due to a lost connection!). That typo has been there for months, I believe. Disney has its own sign shop. It’s an easy fix. They just haven’t done it. Has nobody actually told them? Would I be a jerk to mention it?

The only other thing that I was disappointed in was that when I got dinner at the Hungry Bear, the cashier asked whether I wanted fries, slaw, or onion rings. I chose the rings.

And then when I got my receipt, I noticed that I was charged an extra 50¢ for that choice, then saw on the menu that it said “includes fries or slaw” (onion rings appeared nowhere on the menu, even as a side dish). Seemed a dirty trick to not mention the upcharge when offering it. It is, at the very least, a sneaky upcharge

But...let’s be honest, if she had said “would you like fries or slaw, which are included, or would you like to substitute onion rings for 50¢ more?” I still would have chosen the onion rings. It’s not a ridiculous upcharge, I just think it should be mentioned at the time.

But overall, it’s been so long that things that used to drive me up a wall were...pretty much okay today.

When I was in line for Pirates, there was a lady ahead of me with a young (2 or 3 years old I think) daughter, and she was having a heck of a time keeping her daughter from wandering off, or bumping into those of us around her, etc. That used to drive me crazy.

And maybe it’s because I’m an uncle now and understand the struggle better, but...all I could think was “Hey, at least she’s trying. Besides, what kid DOESN’T do these things?”

I was more bummed about the group who tried to sneak past me in the FastPass line of Big Thunder (the cast member at the merge point saw this and made them wait until I was ahead of them, bless him), the people behind me in line for Pirates who were old enough to understand the concept of personal space but still kept walking into me, and the family in front of me waiting at the FastPass merge point at Small World who kept giving their 1-2 year old daughter an empty Coke bottle, just for her to throw it down again -- one of those times at my head (and instead of stopping giving it to her to throw, tried to tell her to throw it in another direction without so much as a “sorry ‘bout that”). But to the cast member’s credit, the one watching the merge point -- while not showing perturbation at the situation (her Disney smile game was strong), when she let us in she sent that family to one line and the rest of us around them to another line, and gave a brief but noticeable (to me) look of “I got you, fam.”

I had all these plans for what the first thing I was going to do was when I got there. The thing I did was the thing I didn’t plan, but I’m okay with it...I wandered some of the shops on Main Street. Partly, I was looking for a hat, since I didn’t bring one (I brought sunscreen, but...getting sunburned, then shaving my head, can result in “hairless dandruff” -- the peeling skin just being made to look awful by a razor passing over it). I may buy this one tomorrow:

Overall, though, I wasn’t a big fan of the hat selections available.

But I went into the Magic Shop (take that, Magic Kingdom, Disneyland still has a Magic Shop) wanting to buy a Hot Rod. I found it on the shelf right as the cast member started asking if he could help me with anything. I told him that the Hot Rod was the first magic trick I ever bought in that store as a kid and the first “real” magic trick I ever learned (this is true), and he said “And it’s still a great classic trick.” (If you want a cast member who knows every last bit of their merchandise, experience over the last 30+ years tells me this is the store you want to be in.)

I bought it (I have a guest at my casino that it’s going to blow away, even though it’s one of the easiest tricks to perform).

There’s a sculpture (probably about 6-7″ tall) of Peter Pan riding Peter Pan’s Flight that’s surprisingly only $55, and I may get that too. There was a great lithograph of the organist in the Haunted Mansion for $40...the problem with wall art is that for everything I put up, depending on the size, I have to choose one or two attraction posters to take down.

There’s probably more that I’m going to have to choose between (or order online later since they’re on shopdisney), and part of me is worried that, since I would do Package Pickup rather than carry the things (other than the hat) around all day, I might forget to actually pick them up on the way out. I could have them shipped, but I don’t know how much that would cost.

Today was more or less my test run -- if I was so exhausted by the end that the walk back to the hotel was a pain, I was going to pay the $25 parking fee and drive in tomorrow. But even after all that time awake, the walk takes less than a half hour. And once I crossed Harbor and then Disney Way and started walking down Disney Way, there was only one other pedestrian with me (it was a madhouse from the exit to that point -- I was far from the only one leaving early, but even though I never understood leaving early when I was younger and had more energy...I get it, especially for people with multi-day passes).

I wore a PeopleMover T-shirt, and one of the cast members at Hungry Bear complimented me on it, so that was good (I thought about wearing my T-shirt of an anthropomorphic Pluto walking a non-anthropomorphic Goofy, but decided I didn’t want a bunch of kids asking their parents questions about it; when I left work this morning I chose an understated WED Enterprises T-shirt, but even with my A/C on for the whole drive down, I was a sweaty mess when I got here and I wasn’t going to subject people to that).

My shirt choices for tomorrow: the aforementioned Pluto/Goofy shirt, a shirt that is a parody of “The Jerk” movie poster but with Goofy taking Steve Martin’s place and the title changed to “The Goof,” or a Captain R3X T-shirt.

Honestly, it’s probably between “The Goof” and Captain R3X. The other one might freak people out more than I would like.

Oh, and I have to look into Oga’s Cantina. Earlier I saw a reservation available for tomorrow evening, but...when it asked me to authorize a credit card guarantee, I wasn’t sure what I was agreeing to (I know they charge you if you don’t show up, but...how much? And am I just guaranteeing being able to go in and have a drink and enjoy the ambiance, or am I required to buy a certain dollar amount of things, like the $200 you’re committing to when you reserve building a light saber or a droid?).

Speaking of which, I saw a LOT of people, in my 3½ hours there today, carrying around “custom droid” boxes.

Not that I’m surprised a lot of people are getting them, I’m just surprised they’re not having them held for package pick-up at the end of the day, choosing instead to carry them around.

The things I did learn today: I do NOT miss driving in Southern California. You know you’ve reached Southern California when the left lane is street racers holding racers through heavy traffic, when people are diving from lane to lane to try and find the fastest way to their destination, when people randomly slow down to 10 below the limit, then accelerate to 10 over when you try to go around them, and just the general feeling of claustrophobia of being in a sea of so many bad drivers that you have to scan them all to try to anticipate what stupid thing they’re going to do next so you can react before they do it because if you wait for it to happen, it’s gonna be too late.

I also learned that driving down on Highway 395 sucks. For more than half the time, it’s one lane in either direction (passing lanes are few and far between, and in the daylight there’s that “is that the water-mirage effect, or a semi coming? I have a dotted line and I can legally pass, but I literally have no idea whether it’s safe to do so and I am NOT dying on the way to Disneyland). And there is a TON of road construction (a good 25 miles is one lane TOTAL, with them alternating directions in that one lane).The whole area around Victorville is a complete mess. At the intersections (of which there are many), they open up to two lanes for the last couple hundred feet prior to the intersection, just to go back to one lane afterwards. Which means that a LOT of people who have been frustrated for 100 miles or more about their inability to pass are trying everything they can to cheat the system and get ahead somehow before the road goes back to one lane.

Don’t get me wrong, we have plenty of jerk drivers in northern Nevada. But traffic is sparse enough that I see, at most, five jerks a day. Most nights it’s just one, some nights none (the advantage of working graveyard is there aren’t a lot of people on the road, and we’re a small enough town that even “rush hour” means going 15 in a 25 zone at worst). But in SoCal, there are so many selfish drivers that it just...wow. It’s a lot to deal with when I haven’t dealt with it in so long (and since I’ve never driven south from the 395 to the 15 to the 60 to the 57 before, so it was all new road to me -- this was literally my first time traveling more than 3 miles south on 395 since I moved to Nevada, and that’s the highway my casino is on). The claustrophobia, when I knew I had no possible out if anything happened, was scaring me.

It’s great to be back. I mean, I’m home at Disneyland. It’s also going to be great to leave and get back to a small town in rural Nevada.

Oh, but I may be meeting up with disfan tomorrow. He hasn’t posted in almost a year here (hence why I’m not tagging him), but I met him in person six years ago at my third most recent trip (this current one being the most recent, then going with an old friend in 2015 where I didn’t see disfan then that third-most recent one in 2013), and it would be great to see him again. I’m still in touch with him from time to time, and when I thought I had a date he offered to do something to help make it special, and while the date thing didn’t work out (I got a text from her while I was on the road saying that she was “getting ready” but nothing since then, even tonight when she knows for sure she missed the boat to It’s a Small World -- I waited 30 minutes longer than I wanted to to leave in case she showed -- though I showed up just about 30 minutes after check-in time so it wasn’t too bad, since a review of my hotel on Travelocity said they charge extra for early check-in even if the room is ready and I don’t know if that would apply if I had missed some traffic and arrived 15 minutes early -- but her text was after I had already given up on her and gotten on the road -- her text was in reply to one I sent at the time we were supposed to meet asking if she was on her way, her reply came over 20 minutes later that she was “getting ready” but since I was driving I didn’t see that until I got here because I’ve learned no to do other things and drive), disfan was a gem. So...I hope I do get to see him tomorrow.

And if any of you Disneyland people who I know on here happen to be going to the parks Tuesday, send me an ask (I’m mostly mobile, though I am on a laptop at the moment, so an ask should show up on my notifications...but maybe to play it safe, add an X to the end of my tumblr name and make it gmail and get in touch with me that way.

I really do enjoy doing the park on my own (which is probably why I didn’t call her instead of text her when she wasn’t there -- plus there was some drama the morning before involving her roommate and I’m worried that may be a regular thing, so I might have self-sabotaged this “date” a little bit by not trying harder than I normally would with someone who I genuinely do like). But I also like doing the park with friends, and if we’re mutuals here we’re already friends (or if you follow me and I don’t follow you and you want to show me that we could be friends that works too), send an email.

I’ll be in the park most of the day (I can’t promise I’m gonna rope-drop it, because my Wednesday/Thursday is gonna be a LONG day driving home and getting there just about in time to shower and get ready for work, then I have a 9am meeting on Thursday, so I’ll have been up since whenever I get up and check out on Wednesday to get back up to Nevada for work), but I’m staying at least through the Electrical Parade. I don’t care about a projection-only show instead of fireworks, and there’s no Fantasmic!, but...the Electrical Parade will be good memories.

Oh, and Laughing Stock, Co. was listed in the times guide that I picked up today (as a “Fri-Sat” thing, no mention that those were their last shows; they’re gone now).

Anyway, my phone (barely) made it the 3½ hours tonight (and that included a live broadcast on Facebook of my ride on Small World from the front row -- which Facebook says they’ve “partially muted” due to the use of copyrighted music, but the song “It’s a Small World” was never copyrighted -- it was written for UNICEF, copyright-free, as a gift to the children of the world.

Oh, and when I rode Small World, they were grouping two boats at once on the same side (that’s “bote” to you, Ian...unless only “botes” with names like Irrawaddy Lady qualify for that title). But as I was the first grouped into the second boat, and the cast member just said “row 1″ which put me with two other people (that row can comfortable fit three), I waited until he was done grouping and then asked whether I was in the boat with the two other people, or waiting for the next boat.

Hey, I was ODV. I can make you a great churro or box of popcorn (I really need to get some popcorn tomorrow -- a Disneyland trip isn’t complete without it), but I don’t know a thing about balancing boats.

At first, he just said “You’re in the second boat.”

And then, after a few seconds, he said “The only way you’d be in their row with them is if you were in their party.”

And...I got it. They were both ladies (one young, one older), and he was saying “we’re not going to put some strange guy in there sitting next to them.”

The only response I had was “that’s probably for the best.” Because he was looking out for his lady guests by not putting some strange guy next to them.

I mean, I know I’m not a danger to anyone with whom I may ride It’s a Small World, but he doesn’t know that. And he acted accordingly, and I dig that. Plus, it gave me a chance to balance y phone on the front lap bar (since I was the only one in the front row on my boat).

Must-dos for tomorrow:

HyperSpace Mountain

The Jungle Cruise

Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye (single rider, hopefully -- I’ve already translated everything in the queue)..

Peter Pan’s Flight (but probably only if I can book a FastPass)

Waiting in the Standby Line for Smuggler’s Run(I hear the queue is amazing, but the single-rider queue is just a series of hallways and stairs).

Haunted Mansion Holiday (even though Jack should have his own darned attraction by now and leave the Haunted Mansion alone).

Splash Mountain (maybe last? I have a bad habit of being placed in Row 1 and I tend to make the front end heavy and the splashes are huge -- especially for me, and I’m gonna have my cell phone on me)

A grand circle tour on the Disneyland RR

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room (this was what I thought I would do first today, but I worried about staying awake...last time I saw the show was the abbreviated version at Walt Disney World so it will be nice to see it in full again).

The Submarine Voyage with Finding Nemo (I had no interest in that but I’ve seen a thing on how they did it that I want to check out, but also part of it is still underwater so I want to try it).

The Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthough

The PeopleMover (that one’s not gonna happen it’s been gone for over 20 years and I am NOT risking a lifetime ban to go up and try to walk the track that is still there)

Matterhorn Bobsleds

All Fantasyland dark rides

Meet a nice lady and invite her to dinner at some place not Blue Bayou, since that’s booked, but maybe somewhere nicer than the corn dog cart (just kidding -- I couldn’t even get a seemingly nice lady to join me for a trip to Disneyland, even though I had one day’s cost covered through a friend and was willing to foot the bill for the other and I had made it clear that the room I booked had two beds [which it does] and that “things” would not happen UNLESS SHE WANTED AND INITIATED IT [I PROMISE I’M NOT BITTER about her not showing AS I SAID I MAY HAVE SELF-SABOTAGED THAT BY NOT TRYING HARDER TO GET TO TO COME WITH ME WHEN SHE DIDN’T RESPOND TO MY LAST MINUTE TEXT but the concept of dating as daunting; forgive the self-pity but I’d actually have to be worth it for a date to happen and I’m wasn’t worth it to her).

Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room (I’m back to “things I must do now)

Dole Whip

Maybe the lobster roll from Harbour Galley?

Popcorn

Maybe stopping my rambling for a minute (y’all know that isn’t gonna happen -- if you didn’t see it, it’s because Disney’s wifi crapped out again and I thought I posted it but it never posted).

But seriously, if any of y’all are there and want to meet, I would throw out every one of these to spend time with you (I’m so lonely!).

#kjuw89 #Kenny goes to Disneyland

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closetofanxiety · 6 years ago

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Mania Madness: In Queens With Queens Quest

Wrestlemania was in New York this year (well, New Jersey, but you know what they mean), and since I live about two and a half hours away, I felt like I would be failing in my duties as a wrestling fan if I didn’t attend some of the related events. Make no mistake: I did not want to go to Wrestlemania itself, as the idea of sitting in a football stadium and squinting at a faraway shape that might be Buddy Murphy in the springtime chill is not high on my bucket list. But there were lots of other things to do, and I did very few of them! I did go to see the Stardom show in Queens and to WrestleCon in Manhattan, though, and herewith are my observations, jotted down for posterity and, hopefully, your amusement and/or edification:

FRIDAY

I think this is only the second time Stardom has run a show in the U.S., and it’s definitely the first time they’ve done it amidst the surge of popularity they’ve experienced in the GIF era. Although going to visit Hakujinjoe in Tokyo is a goal towards which I am even now socking away money, there’s no guarantee that I’ll ever actually get to see Stardom in Japan, and so this was the must-see event of the weekend for me.

This anticipation was accompanied by two apprehensions: First, my nature reluctance to drive in New York City, even in the outer boroughs. I live in the woods, and your city ways frighten and confuse me. Second, based on many of the US joshi fans I have encountered online, I worried this crowd would basically be a giant convention for creepers, perverts, rageaholic gatekeepers, scam artists peddling $300 autographed gravure DVDs, and people who seem to have only a dim understanding that the characters portrayed in the ring are not, in fact, identical with the women portraying them. Listen: I am not exactly Cary Grant when it comes to wit and charm, and just being an American who watches Japanese women’s wrestling puts me among a tiny percentage of hardcore nerds, so I hope this doesn’t come off as haughty. But there are good nerds, and then there are the nerds we encounter online way too often.

The first apprehension turned out to be baseless, as I got to Queens with plenty of time to spare and, like most joshi fans, headed over to the Rufus King Homestead on Jamaica Avenue for a tour of the mansion once owned by the fiery antislavery advocate and signatory to the Constitution. OK, so I was the only joshi fan who toured the Rufus King Homestead (in fact, I was the only person, period; Rufus does not get much love), but I still learned a lot. Rufus King used to loan money at exorbitant rates to local farmers who owned slaves, and when they couldn’t pay him back, he’d accept the enslaved people as collateral, only to immediatly free them. Rufus King, Loan Shark For Justice!

It turns out the second apprehension was also baseles, because the crowd turned out to be full of awesome people. Really friendly, outgoing, and super enthusiastic nerds, the best kind of nerd, really. The dominant attitude was not, “Oh you like Stardom? Name five of their faction drafts” but “I can’t believe we all get to see this awesome show together.” It was also, by a country mile, the most diverse indie wrestling crowd I’ve been part of, and about 35-40 percent of the people in attendance were women, which really made the whole experience better. I’m not saying everyone was awesome, but it was definitely a fun group of people to be part of for an afternoon. I am ashamed that I assumed it would be full of unbearable dweebs.

So, that out of the way, here’s the highlights of the show, in the time-honored spaghetti Western sytem of categorization:

THE GOOD

Momo Watanabe vs. Utami Hayashishita: Easily the match of the day, and one of the best matches I’ve seen all year. The Queen’s Quest teammates were batling for Momo’s Wonder of Stardom title, which she won from the departing Io Shirai last year. I don’t just like Momo, I identify with her image as the studious but introverted nerd kid who thinks hard work and playing by the rules is enough to guarantee success, only to be constantly frustrated as flashier peers take shortcuts to the top. The tension between these two has been building since Utami’s debut last year and subsequent mega-push as The Big Rookie and Utami All-the-Belts. Momo, who put in years of quiet, dedicated work as Io’s understudy, is in danger of being usurped as Queen’s Quest leader by the newcomer before her tenure has really even gotten under way. This is a great basis for a wrestling match, and these two, aware they were in front of their biggest audience outside of Japan not just in person but watching on Fite, rose to the occasion. I’m terrible at describing wrestling matches, but this was a nailbiter full of near-falls and what-will-it-take kickouts that felt earned rather than slathered on. It helped that the crowd was rabid, with Utami having a slight edge, WHICH ONLY SERVED TO MAKE ME CHEER LOUDER FOR MOMO. I honestly had no idea who was going to win: normally you’d know the champ would retain in an away match like this, but having their second most important belt change hands would also have been a great way to make a splash in their New York debut. In the end, though, Momo retained with her Peach Sunrise finisher and I LOST IT.

Stars vs. Oedo Tai: The villainous but lovable Oedo Tai were over like crazy with this crowd, and people went bananas when they came out to do their pre-match war dance. They could have basically just done that and most people would have been, but they had a fun elimination match with the Stars faction. A lot of zany action in this and a genuine surprise elimination of Kagetsu midway through. The only missing piece of the puzzle was Sumire Natsu, who didn’t come over with the company, possibly because she’s a freelancer. She made appearances at Tokyo BDSM clubs instead during Mania weekend, which is the most Sumire Natsu thing ever.

Yurie Kozakai doing the ring introductions: Stardom was really smart about the idea that they were giving fans in New York “a real Stardom show,” and having the promotion’s normal ring announcer introduce the wrestlers was a perfect touch.

Hana Kimura: The newest Stardom signing looked like a superstar and basked in the crowd’s adulation during a three-way tag match that also involved Konami and Bea Priestley (making her US debut?) and Britt Baker and Brittany Blake, who should have called themselves the Britt-ish. No? I’m - I’m [putting my finger to my ear, like I’m listening] I’m being told “No, they should not have called themselves that.” Anyway, the match was fun but insubstantial, but Hana’s charisma is off the charts.

THE BAD

IPW:UK ran a show at the venue (the NYC Arena, which is an arena only in the sense that a mid-sized nightclub is an arena) right before Stardom, using House of Glory’s ring (the compromises and arrangements of Mania Weekend!), and the bottom rope broke. The effort to fix the broken rope was mostly unsuccessful, and also delayed the opening of doors at the venue by nearly an hour, meaning 600 hearty nerds were standing in line in 39 degree weather, with sleet pelting us. The paperback I had brought to pass the time in line was USELESS. On the lemons-lemonade side of things, though, this did mean we were all in line when Stardom’s bus rolled up, and all the wrestlers disembarked to head inside. Big cheers from the crowd, which obviously delighted the wrestlers. “It’s gonna be awesome!” Hana yelled at us. It was! Once we got out of the sleet

The broken rope delay also meant they had to cut the already abbreviated (five matches) show short, and it showed. The first three matches were all obviously truncated, with the High Speed title match between Hazuki and Dust suffering the most for it. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, and I was impressed by Dust, who’s new to me, but it felt like they were just starting to get going when it ended. IPW:UK, YOU ARE NOW MY ENEMY. OR MAYBE HOUSE OF GLORY, I DON’T KNOW. SOMEONE.

THE UGLY

Maybe half the appeal of this thing was the promised meet and greet afterward, but the meet and greet was more chaotic and less organized than Kelley Square at rush hour (sorry, this is a Worcester reference, Worcester people will know this). Nobody seemed to know where to stand, lots of fans didn’t realize they had to buy little tickets before meeting the wrestlers, and as someone whose job sometimes involves putting up signs in medical buildings, the lack of even rudimentary paper signage was APPALLING. This did not stop me from getting nerdy fan pics with Hana Kimura, Kagetsu, Momo Watanabe, Mayu Iwatani, and Konami. Hazuki left her table before I could get to her, and this failure will haunt the remainder of my days upon this earth. Possibly. The wrestlers all had pieces of paper with common American names written on them, so they’d know how to address the autographed pictures, which was sweet. Hana has great conversational English. There was no line when I went up to Konami, which is preposterous. Konami rules, fellow nerds. The whole thing was nice, and the language barrier prevented any of that thing where guys try to unburden their psyches onto female wrestlers in a bid to make some kind of emotional connection. JUST SMILE FOR THE CAMERA AND MOVE ALONG, PAL.

Also, apparently the Fite stream was choppy as hell and cut out completely right at the end of the Momo-Utami match, and only came back after it was over. Glad I went in person!

In part two, we’ll cover the gregarious Jesse Ventura, the surprising lack of merch slingers at WrestleCon, and the puzzling fame of that fan who had a cardboard sign saying “FACE FUCK ME FINN” at a Takeover a few years ago.

#Stardom #joshi puroresu #makin towns #Mania Weekend #show reviews

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folklorecostumes · 7 years ago

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REPUTATION LYRIC INSPIRED TOUR OUTFITS AND POSTERS PART 1

A lot of these posters are pictured in either giant bubble letters, rep font or in calligraphy. Can’t do any of these? Download the rep font or font you wish to use, type up what you want in a big enough font size, print, cut, and trace, or glue them down up to you! Of course, write these however you wish!

Hello all! Thanks for waiting so patiently for this list! Because of how long it is and how very excited you all have been waiting for this we have decided to post it into 2 parts to keep the excitement going. Part 2 will be coming in just a few short days and will be linked here, maybe even sooner than you think! Please enjoy all the ideas we listed below so far, send us others you may have and want to share with the swiftie world. We apologize if the formatting on this looks bad on mobile, we are trying to actively make it easily accessible and readable across all platforms!

And lastly, enjoy and tag us in these recreations! We want to see them! We want to help them get seen by Taylor!

Find the Reputation Part 2 list here.

Find the 1989 idea list here and here.

Find the Red idea list here.

Find more costume and poster ideas and tips here.

lovelovelove,

- Reputation Costumes.

…READY FOR IT?:

1. “Knew he was a killer” – you and a friend or significant other dress up as a killer and their victim (not to scary or realistic though! Just have fun with it)

2. “Left haunted” – could make a fun sign saying “Taylor left me haunted” or something silly with the word haunted! Could even use Haunted (Speak Now) lyrics!

3. “But if he’s a ghost, then I can be a phantom” – Few ideas:

→ Two people could dress up as ghosts.

→ Could also dress up as Danny Phantom because of the wordplay, or even the Phantom of the Opera if you wanted to be clever.

→ Could also dress up as ghost hunters/ghost busters.

4. “Holdin’ him for ransom” – dress as bank robbers! Could even copy the outfits from the vault scene in LWYMMD.

5. “I keep him forever, like a vendetta-ta” – Poster that replaces him for Taylor, so it says I keep Taylor forever, like a vendetta-ta.

6. “Island breeze and lights down low” – maybe dress tropical—think family vacation ha.

→ Could even improvise a poster that instead of saying island it could say (city name) breeze and stadium lights down low. Ex: “Boston breeze and stadium lights down low” (yes, I know its FOXBORO, but we all know Taylor just calls it Boston lol).

7. “In the middle of the night” – Dress as if you’re the night sky, glow in the dark ceiling stars or tape on a black/navy blue outfit with glitter. A matching poster in the shape of a star or a moon would be the perfect pairing.

8. “Are you ready for it?” – Poster with these lyrics on it. Remember posters can be as simple or as creative as you’d like. If you have a large enough group, you could make giant cutouts and hold two letters or so each.

9. “Stealing hearts and running off..” – A poster in the shape of a heart (not anatomical) with the lyrics on it.

10. “He can be my jailer” – Cop and Robber costume, could do the orange jumpsuit from the LWYMMD video and copy the “guards” around the birdcages outfits.

11. “Burton to this Taylor” – dress as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor

12. “Let the games begin” – Multiple options for this one.

→ Could dress as a referee/sport player/some sort of sport reference

→ Have a game board attached to your outfit, make your own Taylor inspired game, maybe by gluing homemade items over a monopoly and have little trivia questions about her.

→ Game board inspired poster—an Uno card but with these lyrics rather than traditional uno face.

13. Recreate one of the outfits from the music video

END GAME:

1. “I wanna be your endgame” – Poster designed as your favorite/or classic “end game” credit logo.

2. “I wanna be your first string” – Sometimes related to sports or your favorite ship from a TV show/Film/Book so do what you may with this.

3. “I wanna be your A-Team” – Could dress up as the A Team. Poster with friends that spell out A-Team.

4. “Big Reputation” – Poster with these lyrics or wear the End Game merch sold on Taylor’s site. Can’t afford it? Make your own with stencils and fabric paint!

5. “I bury hatchets, but I keep maps of where I put ‘em” – Make/buy a shirt with a map on it—think buried treasure map with x’s to mark where stuff is hidden!

6. “Your body is gold” – Gold morph suit, gold body paint, gold glitter, gold anything! Dawn yourself in all gold for this look.

7. “So here’s the truth from my red lips” – Make an outfit with red lips open with a speech bubble above it and have end game lyrics in each one! Or make a poster with the same idea.

8. Recreate one of the many music video outfits!

I DID SOMETHING BAD:

1. “I play ‘em like a violin” – Make a poster cut out into the same of a violin and wear music notes.

2. ‘Now all he thinks about is me” – Poster saying “Now all I think about is Taylor”

3. “I can feel the flames on my skin” – Body paint flames in your arms/legs or wear flame pattern shirt.

4. “Crimson red paint on my lips” – Could be similar to the one above from End Game with red lips all over your outfit or a poster.

5. “If a man talk shit, then I owe him nothing” – Great lyric for a poster! Don’t want to put the swear on the poster? Get creative and maybe use the emoji covering its mouth or symbols!

6. “I never trust a playboy, but they love me” – Going with a guy friend? Could have him dress like Hugh Hefner but of course remember the necessary clothing needed to get into a venue if you do this! Could also dress as a bunny (playboy related or just average you decide)

7. “So I fly ‘em all around the world” – Going to multiple shows? Make a poster of a globe with airplanes landing on each tour stop you’re going to!

8. “They’re burning all the witches even if you aren’t one” – Dress as a witch, could be inspired from the Salem witch trials, could be a cartoon-y Halloween one, or one from your favorite show or movie that involves witches!

9. “Pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons” – Poster in the shape of a pitchfork or one that looks like a store receipt or screenshotted iMessage but using Taylor lyrics as the messages or purchases!

10. “Light me up” – Most shows apparently will not allow lights but doesn’t mean you can’t light up with glow sticks, glow in the dark body paint/outfits or glitter!

11. “Most fun I ever had” – Poster saying “Taylor Concerts are the most fun I ever had!”

DON’T BLAME ME:

1. “Don’t blame me, love made me crazy” – Poster that says, “Don’t blame me, Taylor made me crazy.”

2. “Darkest little paradise” – Black lace vibe from this lyric, especially picturing those pumps that have fur on the front near the toes. Could also make a sign that’s a midnight black sky with glow in the dark stars writing out the lyric.

3. “They say, ‘She’s gone too far this time’” – Poster with this lyric and a map tracking all your shows if you’re going to multiple. Could have all the miles listed under each show!

4. “Halo, hiding my obsession” – Angel outfit? Make the halo out of glow sticks so it shines after the lights go down. Poster that says hiding my obsession, maybe make it look like a TSL post.

5. “I once was poison ivy, but now I’m your daisy” – Few ideas for this:

→ An outfit that starts as poison ivy on the bottom but slowly progress to daisies. Could have buds of daisies starting at the bottom with the ivy and start to have them bloom as it increases until it’s just all daisies.

→ Poster that spells out poison ivy in plastic (or real or drawn completely up to you) poison ivy.

→ Poster that spells out Daisy with Daisies from a craft store!

→ Daisy Buchanan from Gatsby.

→ Poison Ivy comic.

6. “Fall from grace” – Michael and Lucifer, so aka could go as a fallen angel or the devil. If you watch Supernatural then you can pull from that for inspiration!

7. Taylor related this song to church, love and drug use because those 3 are powerful enough to change a person. Dressing up as if you’re in a choir could fit this song! Even something church related, however trying to remain neutral with that can be difficult.

8. Some people get a Fifty Shades of Grey vibe from this song, do what you may with that.

DELICATE:

1. Poster spelling out delicate with an assortment of colorful fake flowers.

2. “You can make me a drink” – Poster cut out in the shape of a wine glass with the lyrics being written in a bold, thick font and place to look as if from far away its wine drawn in the glass.

3. “Dive bar on the East Side, where you at?” – “Taylor Swift concert in (your state), where you at?” sign. Could also make this look like an iMessage chat.

4. Fringe outfit similar to the video.

5. Dive bar outfit.

6. “Dark jeans and your Nikes” – Could easily where this exact outfit paired with a Taylor shirt if you aren’t into dressing up for shows!

7. “Never seen that color blue” – Poster with sketched blue eyes and these lyrics underneath it. Could also wear an entire blue outfit.

8. “Is it chill that you’re in my head?” – poster ideas:

→ Is it chill that Taylor’s in my head?

→ Is it chill that you’re in my head, Taylor?

9. “Handsome, you’re a mansion with a view.” - Dress up with a costume similar in the idea of the a skyscraper costume but as a fancy house!

10. “Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs” - Poster with an echoing effect (think Microsoft early 2000s word art) on the lyrics. Could even place the lyrics on top of one another to look like it’s building a staircase.

LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO:

1. “I don’t like your little games” – See similar ideas for game inspired outfits above, OR

→ Make an outfit featuring miniature games attached to you, like Tamagotchi’s or make your own mini monopoly/life/etc. boards and glue them onto your outfit or poster. Possibly break the little boards in half and have broken pieces to represent not liking them.

2. “Of the fool” – Could dress up as a fool/clown. Silly, whimsical costume.

3. “Said the gun was mine” – Could do a poster of a smoking gun with the lyrics looking like they came out of the gun/the toy guns where flags pop out.

4. “Rose up from the dead” – Zombie! Tombstone poster!

5. “I’ve got a list of names and yours is in red, underlined” – List of names—Taylor related, maybe her cats or not—but have them all crossed out besides for Taylors at the bottom.

6. “I check it once, then I check it twice” – Some say this reminds them of Santa so by all means feel free to dress up Christmas-y.

7. “Look what you made me do” – Use the lyric video to create cool posters.

8. “I don’t like your kingdom keys” – few ideas:

→ Outfit with keys drawn on, make them look vintage and old, wear crowns with this look! Could also have keys dangling off the ends of the outfit.

→ Giant gold key posters, make them look novelty like the ones cities give to honor people.

9. Drama and Karma matching glitter posters.

10. Snake skin, snake rings, snake anything!

11. Choose one of the many outfits Taylor is seen wearing throughout the LWYMMD video, we’ll hopefully have some great, cheap knockoffs for these soon!

12. Dress up as “old Taylor” so this basically opens up endless possibilities from each era, check out our 1989 and Red costume lists for more ideas! Hopefully we can work on Speak Now, Fearless and Debut inspired lists soon too!

13. Merch! Merch! Merch! She has tons of Look merch on her site, wear that if you want to be casual.

14. Similar Blind for Love sweater is available on eBay! The similar patches are also sold at craft stores or online (eBay).

15. Use the patches sold through Taylor Swift’s store to make you’re own one of a kind outfit--whether it be a denim jacket, dress, you name it! You can even design you’re own patches using crafts.

16. “The old Taylor can’t come to the phone right now” - Poster using a picture of the “old Taylor” and a poster in the shape of a phone! Could incorporate the Our Song video, WANEGBT video, or the Look video when she’s on a phone.

SO IT GOES…

1. “See you in the dark” – Poster where the word Dark is written in glow in the dark paint/marker to show up after the lights go down!

2. “All eyes on you” – Outfit with googly eyes glued all over it. Or create a poster with the same idea and the lyrics changed to “All eyes on Taylor”

→ Add “my magician” if you wish to the end of the poster lyric or combine the googly eyes theme with a magician costume.

3. “My magician” – Multiple options:

→ Dress up in a magician’s costume, this can be traditional, or you can be as creative as you want with it.

→ Poster cut out to look like you’re holding a fan of cards (think trick magician’s deck) with any lyrics from the song written on it.

→ Could dress up as a magician’s assistant.

→ Dress up as a rabbit/bunny (stereotypically used in acts)

→ Poster in the shape of a bunny peeking out of a magician’s hat, or just the ears sticking out of the hat, with so it goes lyrics on it.

→ Poster of a crystal ball with “all eyes on you, my magician” written in it.

4. “You make everyone disappear” – “Taylor makes everyone disappear” written on a poster. Possibly write it in glow in the dark ink so it only shows when the lights are down and not before!

5. “Cut me into pieces” – Puzzle piece posters! You and a group of friends can each hold a piece that fits into the other and each can have one word of a line from any reputation song or simply use the “cut me into pieces”

6. “Gold cage, hostage to my feelings” – 2 options:

→ Make a cut out poster in the shape of a cage, individual cut out in between each bar so it’s open, do two sides like this and attach strings to wear the sign so it looks like the cage is around you. Could even wear this with the orange jumpsuit outfit from the Look video!

→ Poster in the shape of a gold bird cage with “hostage to my feelings” written inside of it.

7. “All our pieces fall right into place” – Poster with confetti, puzzle pieces, hearts either drawn on or glued. Either place or draw the pieces to spell out the lyrics as they fall down to a pile at the bottom of the poster paper or just have the pieces you decide to use “raining” down halfway through the poster and have the lyrics on the bottom half.

8. “So it goes…” Poster with these lyrics.

9. “Met you in a bar” – 2 options:

→ Poster drawn and cut out like a whiskey bottle with these lyrics, Taylor and reputation written on the label.

→ Using half of a poster board, draw what looks like a bar top (typically mahogany) with bottles either laying or standing across it and a few shot glasses, each bottle could be named after a song on the album!

10. “All eyes on us/All eyes on you/All eyes on me” - Staring eye emoji drawn on a poster with a thought bubble above it with one of these 3 lyrics in the bubble.

11. “I make all your grey days clear” –

→ One person dresses up as a cloudy/rainy day so all grey clothes and have reflective blue tape cut into rain drops and white reflective tape to represent clouds (typically clouds are grey/black when it’s raining but those two colors won’t be reflective, could use glow in the dark paint/tape as well). Could also wear a cloud poster with raindrops hanging from it on string around them or hold as a regular poster with these lyrics in the cloud.

→ Second person dresses up as sunny day, in preferably light blue to represent a clear sky, yellow reflective tape cut out as suns on the outfit—could even have some breaking through clouds using white reflective tape. Person could also wear a sun poster around them like suggested above for the grey day look.

12. “Wear you like a necklace” – Think flavor flav! Make a giant fake watch (or not a watch and just a necklace) out of string and cardboard. Have the reputation album cover or cd artwork be hanging from it/as the face of the watch.

13. “Dressed in black now” – Wear all black! Draw attention to yourself with some glow in the dark paint or stickers, glow sticks and glitter.

14. “Scratches down your back” – Might not be appropriate with what its referencing for younger crowds and you may get looks from parents but create a shirt with bloody scratches down the backside and let the front side have “so it goes…” written on it.

15. “You did a number on me” – Few options:

→ Poster cut out into a 13/22/1989 with the lyric written throughout the 13/22/1989.

→ Poster with an array of numbers related to Taylor filling it (13, 22, 1989, 10(Grammys), etc.). Write the lyrics in rep font first and draw the numbers around it, filling the background. Write in glow in the dark paint/tape, glue flowers over the lyrics, whatever you desire! Can even just use the word rep instead of doing the lyrics.

→ Idea above for the poster could also work on a shirt.

→ Poster with the number of shows you’re attending.

16. “Who’s counting?” – See the ideas for the lyric above, they work well with this one as well.

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