That Was NOT Part of the Plan! May/June 2017 TR *NEW* 12/1 *COMPLETE*

All caught up!

Rough start to your park day when you lost the ticket! I could totally see myself doing that. Glad you were able to get it re-issued.

Lots of great rides - I really miss Cars Land! And the newly-themed Tower of Terror looks so fun!

So sweet that DD wanted to meet Tigger and did so well with those characters!!

And love the pics of how happy DS looks on RSR.

I agree with you about how awesome DLR's Pirates ride is with the double drop!

I'll go check out your other report now too.
 
Day 10 Continued: Friday June 2nd

After our break, we decided to stop for dinner on the way back to the park at Johnny Rockets in Garden Walk since DH had enjoyed it for lunch a few days before. We all got burgers, fries, and splurged on a couple of shakes to share. I got a chocolate one, and DH went for the peanut butter chocolate one. They were SO good!


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr

Our server even made us some cute ketchup smiley faces for the kids.


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr
DS asked us about every 5 minutes if his face paint was still okay.


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr

We had decided eating a little early on the way into the park would be our best bet since we wanted to head straight for the evening Mickey and the Magical Map show in the park. I don’t have it written down but I think we were seeing the 6:25 pm show. This was a show we had loved last time and definitely wanted to do this time, but it wasn’t showing every day so we only had the chance to see it on Friday or Sunday. We didn’t want to leave too much for the very last day on the chance we wouldn’t be able to fit everything in, so this was the day’s priority. We went over to the theater and were a bit early so we had some time to wait until they would let us in.


When we were let into the theater, we chose seats in the first row of the back section because I wanted to make sure we could make a quick escape if necessary. I wasn’t sure how DD was going to do with watching a longer show.


I needn’t have been worried. DD was IN LOVE with this show! She went crazy over Mickey every time he came out and couldn’t stop waving, calling his name, clapping, and calling for him to come back whenever he would leave the stage.

She lasted great through the show. It was when it ended that the meltdown began. She was devastated that Mickey wasn’t coming back out!


After the show, we went over to the art cart they have near the Matterhorn to check out the character name paintings I had been eyeing all week.


I found this photo on Google Images to show what I’m talking about.


name
by disneymom1024, on Flickr

I really wanted to get DD’s whole name in different princesses for her room, so we wanted to go over and get more info on options available and pricing. It’s charged per letter, and you can also add the photo mat and even get it custom framed. For all of that, it would have been around $100, which is not bad for what you’re getting. But I didn’t think getting that home on the plane would be doable, so we started looking at other options. The CM we talked to was great at explaining our options, and she said we could instead get a 10x10 canvas with the first letter of her name as a character and the rest just written in calligraphy and we could add the date for a couple more dollars and a color matched photo mat for just a few more than that. I picked Rapunzel for her character, then thought since we weren’t spending nearly as much as we would on the whole name, maybe DS would want one as well.

He showed some interest but wasn’t sure what character to pick, so the CM started rattling off options. Some characters (like the Fab 5) are off limits, but most others you can think of are available. She mentioned Maui and his eyes lit up! DH asked the CM if she had any samples of Maui that he could see before he made his decision. She said she didn’t but that she would be happy to draw one up for us so we could see it. Watching her work was amazing! In 5 minutes, she had painted a perfect letter P Maui and written in the rest of DS’s name, covered it with glitter, and she had even let DS come around the table to watch over her shoulder. We were sold!! DH took a video of it being drawn.



We could have gone back later that night to pick them up as they would have been ready the same day, but since we were going over to DCA for World of Color soon, we didn’t want to have to remember to come back later that night to pick them up. We were able to pay everything now and set a pickup time for Sunday so we could come back and get them on our last day. I’ll mention we also could have gotten them framed there, but again, I wasn’t sure how well that would travel on a plane so we figured we could easily get them framed at home. Turns out it wasn’t as easy as I thought because I couldn’t find a 10x10 frame in any of the craft stores at home, but we were able to find cheap ones online that ended up working perfectly!

UP NEXT: The Wonderful World of Color
 
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DS asked us about every 5 minutes if his face paint was still okay.


Haha cute! DS obviously cared a lot about that face paint!

I needn’t have been worried. DD was IN LOVE with this show! She went crazy over Mickey every time he came out and couldn’t stop waving, calling his name, clapping, and calling for him to come back whenever he would leave the stage.

That's awesome! Glad she did so well with the show! (And too bad about the meltdown afterwards!)

In 5 minutes, she had painted a perfect letter P Maui and written in the rest of DS’s name, covered it with glitter, and she had even let DS come around the table to watch over her shoulder. We were sold!! DH took a video of it being drawn.


Wow! That's amazing! And beautiful!
 
I needn’t have been worried. DD was IN LOVE with this show! She went crazy over Mickey every time he came out and couldn’t stop waving, calling his name, clapping, and calling for him to come back whenever he would leave the stage.
Aw, so sweet!

She lasted great through the show. It was when it ended that the meltdown began. She was devastated that Mickey wasn’t coming back out!
Poor thing!

Wow, that is really cool!
 


Haha cute! DS obviously cared a lot about that face paint!

He really was. He asked about a million times that day if his face paint was still ok! lol

That's awesome! Glad she did so well with the show! (And too bad about the meltdown afterwards!)

Aside from the meltdown, which wasn't much fun for anyone, it was still so cute and sweet to see her enjoy the show so much.

Wow! That's amazing! And beautiful!

The CMs working there are so incredibly talented! It's definitely my most favorite Disney parks souvenirs we have ever gotten.

Aw, so sweet!

It was so cute to watch her enjoy the show so much! I never would have thought that it would be her favorite thing in Disneyland.

Poor thing!

Yes, it was quite distressing to have the show come to an end for her. lol

Wow, that is really cool!

I wish we could have gotten her whole name done because I really did love the look of it, but in the end getting to get one for each kid turned out really well too since DS started showing interest once he heard he could get Maui.
 
I'm glad DD enjoyed the show, even though she melted down afterwards!

Those name paintings are lovely! I wish I knew about them, that's something I totally would have been interested in. Very cool!
 
When we were let into the theater, we chose seats in the first row of the back section because I wanted to make sure we could make a quick escape if necessary. I wasn’t sure how DD was going to do with watching a longer show.
The first rule of parenting, always choose your seat by availability of escape access.

I needn’t have been worried. DD was IN LOVE with this show! She went crazy over Mickey every time he came out and couldn’t stop waving, calling his name, clapping, and calling for him to come back whenever he would leave the stage.
That's great!

he lasted great through the show. It was when it ended that the meltdown began. She was devastated that Mickey wasn’t coming back out!
Yeah, we've had that happen too. At least that means she really was into the whole show!

Watching her work was amazing! In 5 minutes, she had painted a perfect letter P Maui and written in the rest of DS’s name, covered it with glitter, and she had even let DS come around the table to watch over her shoulder. We were sold!! DH took a video of it being drawn.
That is awesome. Thanks for catching it on video for us!
 


I'm glad DD enjoyed the show, even though she melted down afterwards!

Those name paintings are lovely! I wish I knew about them, that's something I totally would have been interested in. Very cool!

It was worth the meltdown to see her having such a great time during the show! It was the cutest thing.

They are really beautiful, and I was so disappointed we couldn't get her whole name. But I think it turned out better being able to get one for each kid. Sounds like a reason for you to plan another trip to Disneyland!!

The first rule of parenting, always choose your seat by availability of escape access.

YES! Although we didn't need to take advantage of it this time, it has happened in church more times than I care to remember. lol

Yeah, we've had that happen too. At least that means she really was into the whole show!

It was worth the meltdown to see her enjoy the show so much throughout.

That is awesome. Thanks for catching it on video for us!

Thanks to DH for the video! It was so cool watching the CM work.
 
Day 10 Continued: Friday June 2nd

After purchasing the name canvases for the kids, we went over to make a pass through the Star Wars Launch Bay at DS’s request.


We were about ready to start making our way over to DCA, but decided to pass through the shops on Main Street on the way out. Each kid had $20 from my parents to spend on a souvenir and we hadn’t picked anything out yet, so we figured now was a good time to do that.


DD spotted a Sorcerer Mickey plush and reached out for it immediately. I guess she was still on a high from Mickey and the Magical Map!

Needless to say, Mickey came home with us. DS picked out yet another Disney vehicle.


IMG_3393 by disneymom1024, on Flickr

DH and I also picked out a magnet we liked since that is our vacation tradition.

Our first stop inside the park was Cars Land! We wanted to see it all lit up with the neon lights.

Luigi’s had a 30 minute wait so we decided that would be an easy way to pass the time until we were ready to go over and find a spot for World of Color. Didn’t I mention early on in this TR that we rode this ride A LOT?! Hope you didn’t think I was kidding!! Lol


Continued in next post...
 
Day 10 Continued: Friday June 2nd

Then we were ready to head over to Paradise Pier.


We got a spot further back in our section, which was not ideal viewing wise, but I also didn’t really feel like sitting there for 45-60 minutes with two cranky kids waiting for the show to start, so it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

It had been way too long without seeing this show, and it was just as amazing as I had remembered!! We were disappointed to miss it last year while it was down for refurb to get it ready for the 60th anniversary. DS had been only 18 months old the last time we had been able to see it with him so this was like seeing it for the first time for him and he really enjoyed it though not as much as I would have thought. I think that was probably because he didn’t have the best view though. DD slept through the entire thing, which was good for us as it meant she wasn’t totally cranky and miserable that late past her bedtime. I wish the nighttime entertainment wouldn’t have been so late at night all week, because I would have loved to have been able to see this show more than just this once, but I was still happy that we were able to successfully see it at all.

It was really late by the time we left the park to walk back to the resort and get the kids ready for bed. Luckily we had a much needed rest day to follow it up on Saturday, so we could catch up on a little sleep and relaxation!

UP NEXT: Goofy's Kitchen Brunch
 
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DD spotted a Sorcerer Mickey plush and reached out for it immediately. I guess she was still on a high from Mickey and the Magical Map!
::yes:: Definitely a great choice for her.

DH and I also picked out a magnet we liked since that is our vacation tradition.
We've been doing the same thing. We'll usually get a magnet or 2 every trip, but we always get one with the year on it.

We got a spot further back in our section, which was not ideal viewing wise, but I also didn’t really feel like sitting there for 45-60 minutes with two cranky kids waiting for the show to start, so it was a sacrifice I was willing to make.
Always a hard balance. You want the kids to be able to see, but you know there's no way you can reasonably wait as long as you'd need to for the best spots.

I wish the nighttime entertainment wouldn’t have been so late at night all week, because I would have loved to have been able to see this show more than just this once, but I was still happy that we were able to successfully see it at all.
::yes:: It really does make it tough with the late hours for the kids.
 
The kids made some good souvenir choices :thumbsup2

Cars Land is sooo lovely at night!

Glad you got to see WoC after so long!
 
Day 10 Continued: Friday June 2nd

After our break, we decided to stop for dinner on the way back to the park at Johnny Rockets in Garden Walk since DH had enjoyed it for lunch a few days before. We all got burgers, fries, and splurged on a couple of shakes to share. I got a chocolate one, and DH went for the peanut butter chocolate one. They were SO good!


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr

Our server even made us some cute ketchup smiley faces for the kids.


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr


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We're going to hit Garden Walk too. This looks like a fun place to take our girls!

I found this photo on Google Images to show what I’m talking about.

name
by disneymom1024, on Flickr

I really wanted to get DD’s whole name in different princesses for her room, so we wanted to go over and get more info on options available and pricing. It’s charged per letter, and you can also add the photo mat and even get it custom framed. For all of that, it would have been around $100, which is not bad for what you’re getting. But I didn’t think getting that home on the plane would be doable, so we started looking at other options. The CM we talked to was great at explaining our options, and she said we could instead get a 10x10 canvas with the first letter of her name as a character and the rest just written in calligraphy and we could add the date for a couple more dollars and a color matched photo mat for just a few more than that. I picked Rapunzel for her character, then thought since we weren’t spending nearly as much as we would on the whole name, maybe DS would want one as well.

He showed some interest but wasn’t sure what character to pick, so the CM started rattling off options. Some characters (like the Fab 5) are off limits, but most others you can think of are available. She mentioned Maui and his eyes lit up! DH asked the CM if she had any samples of Maui that he could see before he made his decision. She said she didn’t but that she would be happy to draw one up for us so we could see it. Watching her work was amazing! In 5 minutes, she had painted a perfect letter P Maui and written in the rest of DS’s name, covered it with glitter, and she had even let DS come around the table to watch over her shoulder. We were sold!! DH took a video of it being drawn.

We could have gone back later that night to pick them up as they would have been ready the same day, but since we were going over to DCA for World of Color soon, we didn’t want to have to remember to come back later that night to pick them up. We were able to pay everything now and set a pickup time for Sunday so we could come back and get them on our last day. I’ll mention we also could have gotten them framed there, but again, I wasn’t sure how well that would travel on a plane so we figured we could easily get them framed at home. Turns out it wasn’t as easy as I thought because I couldn’t find a 10x10 frame in any of the craft stores at home, but we were able to find cheap ones online that ended up working perfectly!

I want to get those for the girls too! (And me, gotta admit) They're IN the park as well as in DTD?

You mention it was difficult to find a frame to fit it. We wouldn't be able to fit a framed one in our luggage to bring home, so I think I'll have to take our chances too, but they're so beautiful!
 
::yes:: Definitely a great choice for her.

She grabbed that thing as soon as she saw it, and I knew there was no way we were leaving without it! lol

We've been doing the same thing. We'll usually get a magnet or 2 every trip, but we always get one with the year on it.

Our fridge is covered in magnets by now! It's fun to look back and remember different trips.

Always a hard balance. You want the kids to be able to see, but you know there's no way you can reasonably wait as long as you'd need to for the best spots.

Exactly. We had to choose one over the other and decided to sacrifice a good view for not making the kids sit for a long time.

::yes:: It really does make it tough with the late hours for the kids.

Yeah, this trip was pretty tough with everything being so late. It would have been nice to get to see a nighttime show every night if we could have since we only get out to DL every few years or so if we're lucky.

The kids made some good souvenir choices :thumbsup2

Cars Land is sooo lovely at night!

Glad you got to see WoC after so long!

The sure did!

I really love it all lit up. It's like a whole different area than it is during the day! They really did an incredible job with that entire land.

We're going to hit Garden Walk too. This looks like a fun place to take our girls!

It's a great place to grab something to eat outside of the parks, and to shop.

I want to get those for the girls too! (And me, gotta admit) They're IN the park as well as in DTD?

You mention it was difficult to find a frame to fit it. We wouldn't be able to fit a framed one in our luggage to bring home, so I think I'll have to take our chances too, but they're so beautiful!

Yes, there's a cart in DTD (I think near World of Disney??) and one by the Matterhorn in DL!

I believe they will roll the canvas up for you and put it in a tube to get home, so you'd have to do a custom frame at home if you ended up getting the whole name. Since we did the 10x10 frame, it was tough to find one but we ended up getting some from Michael's for pretty cheap and they looked really nice with the color mat!
 
Day 11: Saturday June 3rd

It might seem counterintuitive to have our rest day fall so late in the trip…After all, the following day would be our last day in the parks before going home. But we wanted to make sure we took advantage of as many weekday visits to the parks as possible in the hopes it would be less crowded on those days than the weekend. It mostly worked out well, though it was still busier than we had experienced on previous trips in the offseason. But nevertheless, our rest day was upon us.

We slept until 7:45 am which is pretty late considering how early we had been getting up to get to the parks! We got up and dressed fairly quickly, which meant we were heading out the door at 8:30. Unfortunately though we got all the way downstairs before DH realized he had forgotten the car keys so it was another 5 minutes or so while he ran back up to the room to get them while the kids and I continued over to the car in the parking garage.

It took about 10 minutes to drive over to our destination, the Disneyland Hotel.


We were having breakfast at Goofy’s Kitchen!

Our breakfast was a bit later than we usually schedule them at 8:50 am, and when we arrived there was a decent line to check in and what looked like a long line to get a photo with Goofy so I was worried it was going to be a long time before we were seated. The line to check in moved quickly though, and we hopped in line to get our picture taken with Goofy. While in that line, we were actually called to be seated! I let the hostess know we were waiting to take our photo and she said it wasn’t a problem at all and to just let her know when we were done with our picture and we could get seated after.

After a fun meet with Chef Goofy, we were led over to our table and met our server.

Before anyone could head up to the buffet, Chip appeared at our table for some fun interaction.


I made a run up to the buffet because both kids were past hungry by this point and checked everything out, loading up two plates to take back to them. We love this breakfast (actually brunch) because of the huge selection. They have all your typical breakfast options, but also stuff like chicken nuggets, pizza, hot dogs, and as we were there for awhile they started bringing out pastas, brisket, and lots of other lunch items. There’s also a huge cold section of fruits and meats, and an entire table of just desserts.

While I was loading up plates of food, I missed Pluto coming by the table.


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Much different than that first day in Goofy’s Playhouse!!


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Dale came by next after the kids had gotten a chance to eat a little bit, as had DH and I.


I really hate the idea of twirling napkins that have accumulated lots of crumbs over the course of the meal, but of course the kids love this part when the characters come parading through.


Last to visit our table was the lovely Minnie.


Good thing we saved our character meal for late in the trip when DD had gotten past her fear. I can see this having been a nightmare had we planned it for one of the first couple of days.

Once everyone had passed through, we realized we had forgotten to get autographs! DOH! We had gotten Minnie earlier in the trip, but were still hoping to get Pluto, Chip, and Dale. We managed to flag down all three as they passed through our section and got their autographs.

Continued in next post...
 
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Day 11 Continued: Saturday June 3rd

I would be remiss if I didn’t share DH’s epic soft serve ice cream concoction.


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr
Once we were stuffed beyond comfort, we decided to walk some of it off by checking out the resort.

Then we were ready to head back to the car.


We made a quick stop at Target on the way back to the resort because we had run out of breakfast items for DH and DS for the rest of the trip, and because I wanted to pick up a little something for the kids to eat later for lunch since they hadn’t eaten as much at breakfast as DH and I.

I don’t remember what got them started on this, but DS said he smelled something stinky so he grabbed his nose and said, “EW!” which DD promptly had to imitate, only 10x louder. So they both spent almost the entire time we were in the store doing that over and over.


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by disneymom1024, on Flickr

We got back to the resort and spent a little while laying down and working off that food coma, then DH and DS got changed to go down to the pool. The hope had been for us all to have some time at the pool but DD’s broken arm had changed that plan! While they were swimming, DD actually asked to go lay down, so she ended up taking a nap and I had the living area to myself!

The boys came up from the pool around 2, and DD got up from her nap shortly after. The kids had their Lunchables we had picked up for lunch while DH and I started the dreaded task of packing the clean clothes that we had and wouldn’t need anymore. We had contemplated going to Downtown Disney once DD was up, but the more we thought about it, none of us felt like getting ready and going back out. We really needed a chill day!

We ended up watching Moana on the TV that evening and warming up our Naples leftovers for dinner, with some popcorn after dinner.


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After our impromptu movie night, we got the kids bathed and down to bed early. We closed ourselves in the bedroom to continue packing and even watched another movie before crashing ourselves.

UP NEXT: One More Disney Day
 
It might seem counterintuitive to have our rest day fall so late in the trip…After all, the following day would be our last day in the parks before going home. But we wanted to make sure we took advantage of as many weekday visits to the parks as possible in the hopes it would be less crowded on those days than the weekend.
Makes a lot of sense. By then you probably need the rest a little more than you would early in the trip anyway. Nice to get that day to relax and not be as tired when you're heading home.

Good thing we saved our character meal for late in the trip when DD had gotten past her fear. I can see this having been a nightmare had we planned it for one of the first couple of days.
::yes:: There are some great pictures of her with the characters! It looks like she was having a great time!

I would be remiss if I didn’t share DH’s epic soft serve ice cream concoction.
That is awesome! That's how you do breakfast. Ice cream and cookies!

Once we were stuffed beyond comfort, we decided to walk some of it off by checking out the resort.
And a great resort to walk around. I love that place. Even for someone who had never been to Disneyland before, I was just overwhelmed with nostalgia walking around that resort.

After our impromptu movie night, we got the kids bathed and down to bed early. We closed ourselves in the bedroom to continue packing and even watched another movie before crashing ourselves.
Definitely looks like a nice relaxing day!
 
Our first stop inside the park was Cars Land! We wanted to see it all lit up with the neon lights.

I love this! So cool! I'm living vicariously through you and your photos at this point.

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Awesome! I want to see this up close! The colors are so pretty!

It had been way too long without seeing this show, and it was just as amazing as I had remembered!!

So great that you could see the show and enjoy it, and that DS got a chance to see it kind of for the first time, now that he's old enough to remember it.

It might seem counterintuitive to have our rest day fall so late in the trip…After all, the following day would be our last day in the parks before going home. But we wanted to make sure we took advantage of as many weekday visits to the parks as possible in the hopes it would be less crowded on those days than the weekend. It mostly worked out well, though it was still busier than we had experienced on previous trips in the offseason. But nevertheless, our rest day was upon us.

This seems like a great idea. And maybe just what was needed to be able to power through that last day.

Good thing we saved our character meal for late in the trip when DD had gotten past her fear. I can see this having been a nightmare had we planned it for one of the first couple of days.


This worked out well! She looks thrilled! :)

Your rest day and movie night sounds like a great way to recharge!
 
I'm loving reading about your trip! I can't wait to start your universal report also :)
 
So I have been terrible about looking for and keeping up with Trip Reports of late, so I only just now saw you had this TR going ... but I did read through it all today!

I won't even attempt to comment on everything but just wanted to say that I am sorry for the challenging trip out West you had - but at least the rest of the trip seems to have been up hill after that!

Also, your DD's reaction to characters seems similar to our son's when we was about her age as he really was interested in them from afar but then got super scared when they were close (and would only wave goodbye to them, not hello)

Lastly, I just adore this picture and kinda is a visual of why we deal with all the stress of planning and executing a Disney trip:
 

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