It's a Solo DISventure for DIS20! Update 9/9 **Complete**

Jordan and Rory playing at the travelers champ in CT where I live. Can't wait to see them both live!

I interrupt this TR for a fun experience!

Okay so this experience is in no way related to Disney but it was awesome so I have to share. I will have a TR update right after!

On Wednesday June 14th I had the opportunity to go to the US Open Golf Tournament. Wednesday was only a practice round day but it was still fun and really once in a lifetime. I was lucky enough to have a friend who had tickets he wasn't using so I got in for nothing. The 2017 US Open was being held at Erin Hills in Erin, WI. This is the first time WI has hosted this event and who knows if we will ever get it back. Erin Hills is a relatively new golf course having been built in 2006.

So on Wednesday, I left my house around 9 and headed to the parking for the event which is about 20 minutes away at a local fair grounds. From where I live it took me about 45 minutes.

Upon arriving I loaded into a coach bus and was off to the event. About 2 miles from Erin Hills is Holy Hill. It is a beautiful very well known basilica that sits atop a huge hill overlooking everything around it.



You are immediately in the fan central area when entering the course.

I really liked the logo for the event.





I first hit up the merchandise tent. I had to check this out considering the magnitude of the event and needed something to show I had been there. I ended up getting a Under Armour polo, and got my dad some golf balls.

I headed towards the practice range and putting areas next. During practice is the only time you can take pictures of the golfers.

Brandt Snedeker



Dustin Johnson (early favorite)



Someone I really wanted to see, Steve Stricker. Steve is from Madison, WI so I had to root for the home town guy.



In the practice area there were a on of golfers, many whose names I didn't even know. I even saw the eventual champion Brooks Koepka.

After watching practice for a bit I went off to the course. I first went and watched two groups tee off on hole 1.



After a while I found myself heading towards hole 17. My goal was to find some of the big name golfers. Here I ended up seeing Sergio Garcia (Masters winner) and Rory MCilroy.





Next on the 17th hole was Jordan Spieth. Jordan is my favorite golfer. Many people tell me I look a lot like him so I have accepted him as my doppelgänger.



And here comes the best part! I stood right in the cross walk area where the golfers walk and Spieth was known for signing autographs at each hole. I was lucky enough to be in the right spot at the right time and got his autograph!!!



I was kind of on cloud 9 for a while then...

I followed him through his finish on the 18th hole.





While I was at the course I saw quite a few people I knew so that was nice. I ended up going back to the merchandise tent to get a ticket holder to protect my new autograph and I got each of my grandfathers a hat as a Father's day gift.

All in all it was a fantastic day. I headed out around 4PM.





I really hope WI can get a major tournament like this again. Congrats to Brooks Koepka on his
 
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Those ROL pics have made me rethink that it would be ok to miss it. Another relook at the schedule ahead...
 




I love your Rivers of Light pictures!
From what I've seen, Rivers of Light seems like a really beautiful show. These pictures are making me excited to hopefully see it eventually!
 
Whew! I was so worried by you title thinking you were going to say the show was awful and not worth the dining package. I have a Tusker House dining package scheduled (well I will in 10 days) for my January trip.

Your pictures are gorgeous and the show looks amazing, I can't wait to see it!
 
Awesome pictures of ROL! Too bad you seemed to be surrounded with people who obviously weren't feeling the Disney magic at the moment.
 
Whew! I was so worried by you title thinking you were going to say the show was awful and not worth the dining package. I have a Tusker House dining package scheduled (well I will in 10 days) for my January trip.

Your pictures are gorgeous and the show looks amazing, I can't wait to see it!

No I loved the show and the dining package but some others weren't as impressed.

Thanks, you are going to love it.

Awesome pictures of ROL! Too bad you seemed to be surrounded with people who obviously weren't feeling the Disney magic at the moment.

Thanks! Yeah some people were just not happy lol.
 
Unofficial DIS Meet Operation Pandora!

So after Rivers of Light I headed over to the meet up spot for our EMH unofficial DIS Meet. @AMusicLifeForMe did a great job setting this meet up. We met by the Dawa bar in Africa and waited for everyone to get there. Then we headed to the entrance of Pandora. This is where I met @bamacmac @disneysteve @dina444444 @AngiTN @GAN @TheMaxRebo and so many others! We decided our first course of action would be Flight of Passage but we didn't know where/when the EMH line for that would start.







Photos don't do the nighttime justice really. Its beautiful but maybe a bit more subdued that I thought it would be. I highly recommend seeing it both in the day and at night though.













When over by Flight of Passage we asked about the EMH line for the ride and they hadn't started one yet. So low and behold we got to be the start of the line. It was about 10:15PM at this point. EMH started at 11PM.



Soon enough we were let inside the queue. Just before the inside portion we met the end of the regular standby line.



When people say this is the best queue Disney is done or that you need to experience the queue, they aren't lying. This queue is out of this world and could be an attraction in itself.





















Continued in next post...
 
Unofficial DIS Meet Operation Pandora!







The lab portion was by far my favorite part especially when you get to this....





This thing is huge! It is so amazing and realistic. I just stood there and thought wow.









Once we got into the ride portion I didn't take anymore pictures. I got seat 4 this time with our group of 16 or 18 (don't remember the number). The ride was even better the second time around! There were some seat affects that I felt this time around that didn't happen the first time around. Disney hit a home run with this ride.

We got out of the ride just after midnight and decided to take a group photo.



Many of us decided to head over to Navi River Journey next. It was roughly a 20-30 minute wait at this point.



I do like this ride but still wish it was a bit longer. I can't get over how good the Shaman is.



After the ride we headed over to the gift shop and looked around a bit. And just before 1AM we decided to head out. Dina was giving a few of us a ride back to Pop which was really nice.

Up Next: Let's Tonga at Kona!

 
That was a fun night at Pandora, and you are so right about the queue for FoP nearly being an attraction to itself. Heck, probably more "going on" in it than there is in, say, the Cinderella walk through attraction at Disneyland

I think you got pictures of a few things I didn't even notice in the Lab - so much detail to see in that part!

I also didn't notice at the time that in that mural in the last room they have the measurements on the wall so you can see how tall the Na'vi are / compare them to your own height

I agree that the river ride could be a little bit longer - but I still really enjoyed it and thought there was a lot to see and a lot going on. If they added even one more scene and maybe slowed the boats down just a touch so that it was even 1 minute longer I think it would be a really solid attraciton
 
That was a fun night at Pandora, and you are so right about the queue for FoP nearly being an attraction to itself. Heck, probably more "going on" in it than there is in, say, the Cinderella walk through attraction at Disneyland

I think you got pictures of a few things I didn't even notice in the Lab - so much detail to see in that part!

I also didn't notice at the time that in that mural in the last room they have the measurements on the wall so you can see how tall the Na'vi are / compare them to your own height

I agree that the river ride could be a little bit longer - but I still really enjoyed it and thought there was a lot to see and a lot going on. If they added even one more scene and maybe slowed the boats down just a touch so that it was even 1 minute longer I think it would be a really solid attraciton
Yeah the queue is really amazing. It helps the time go by since you are looking at things all the time.

Agreed on the boat ride. It is something I will do again though.
 

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