4 Kiwigirls heading to Disneyland! PTR

[knewton64]

.....I have mine now set up counting down the hours until my next adventure!!



Glad 2 c u r back.




T.T.F.N.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Yay! We are now well inside the 60 days timeframe, so I have been able to make all our bookings for the things we know we are planning!

We are all booked for Blue Bayou on our first day- mid afternoon as we just want to go for dessert, to experience the ambience!
BBB and Studio 36 bookings all made as well, and 2 character meals- Ariel's Grotto after BBB, and Minnie and Friends on our last morning.

Booked using the email address and it was super easy and quick! Got responses back within a few minutes, so that was great.

Just have to wait for the Fantasmic dessert bookings, but cant do that for a few more weeks!

 

[MarbleBob]

Looks like a fun trip and I look forward to following along, but in the meantime I can't stop thinking about that "ice cream sundae in a watermelon bowl" that your Mum is holding. Looks yummy!!!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice ADRs. Looks like you're going to have a great time.

 

[knewton64]

Looks like a fun trip and I look forward to following along, but in the meantime I can't stop thinking about that "ice cream sundae in a watermelon bowl" that your Mum is holding. Looks yummy!!!

...that 'ice cream sundae' DOES look YUMMY!!


Can't wait to see what your opinion is on Blue Bayou.





T.T.F.N.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Looks like a fun trip and I look forward to following along, but in the meantime I can't stop thinking about that "ice cream sundae in a watermelon bowl" that your Mum is holding. Looks yummy!!!

...that 'ice cream sundae' DOES look YUMMY!!

:

Yip; pretty yummy! We have a Pacifika Celebration day here in our town, celebrating the different Pacific communities living here - Samoan, Tongan, etc. And they always have watermelon and/or pineapple ice cream sundae bowls! Some of the fruit, ice cream, whipped cream and toppings - yum!

And speaking of desserts, have just rung up and booked the Fantasmic Dessert package for our Sunday evening! The CM on the phone was lovely and made sure we knew we could get first visit buttons for my niece. All booked now, just have to make the next month go as quickly as possible, but still have time to get everything organised!

 

[Kiwigirls]

Only 1 1/2 sleeps to go!!! So excited! Can't believe we are so close to our trip now! Final packing and organizing tomorrow, then an early night so we can get up at 2 am to get to the airport in time for our flight!!!

Just have all the last minute lists and bits and pieces to do!

Only problem with planning for so long is all the things you've found out and are looking forward too may not be there when you actually go! Feeling a bit disappointed that Ariel's Grotto menu has changed in the last few weeks, and the bits of the Animation building that we are interested in may be closed too! Still, I know we'll have a wonderful time!

Will see how it all pans out but will hopefully update things here as we go.

 

[PrincessInOz]

Have a safe and fun trip.

 

[knewton64]

take plenty of pics & video!!



Can't wait to hear more.






T.T.F.N.
&
Cheers

 

[Kiwigirls]

Well, we are well and truly home again, but haven't had time to get the trip report written up! Have the next couple of weeks off work, so hoping to get that remedied. Here is the first day:

Friday 18th October
DNiece, DD and I spent the night at DGM’s house, so that we were all together and ready to go for the early start. Woke up at 2am, had breakfast, got dressed and were on the road at 3am. Hour and a half drive to the airport, dropped everyone else off at the check-in and took the car to the long term carpark.
Flight was Wellington to Sydney, a couple of hours in transit,



then Sydney to LAX, Uneventful flights, but far less sleep than I would have liked on a 13 hour flight! Even the girls didn’t sleep that well. They did love watching videos on the in seat video system, and getting their airplane meals. I also gave them little gift packs to pass the time on the plane - home made Disney activity books with colouring, puzzles, games etc that were tailored to their particular likes, and a red and white polka dot bag filled with chocolate and lollies to help pass the time (and with the plane ascents and descents). A big thanks to the people on the Creative DISsigns board for some of the artwork, and the ideas for the activity books!

Arrived in LAX at 6.40am, only 10 mins after we left NZ! (gotta love the time change that means you travel for hours, only to arrive at about the same time, on the same day, you left, closest I imagine I’ll ever get to time travel! )

We ended up being the last through customs, due to a bad choice of queue! Headed to the bathrooms to change into clothes for wearing in the parks that day and called Karmel Shuttles. Was about a 20 minute wait for them to arrive, but it was very easy, just walked out the closest door, waited and they drove up. Were very helpful and specific about where to go and what to look for. The driver was very friendly, and talked non-stop from LAX to the hotel. Gave lots of info about the rides and strategies to use at Disneyland – all of which tallied up with what I’d learned on here!

Got to BWPPI about 8.30am, checked in and stored our bags. Headed over to Disneyland!!! Loved, loved, loved the short walk. The girls were so excited to be there, they couldn’t believe that everyone else was not as excited, why was everyone just walking in normally and not all bubbly and happy? Went through the gates and changed our paper tickets for the cardboard tickets, had to write our names on them at that point.

Went into the town square and could see a few characters meeting and greeting. The girls were pointing everything out and trying to see the castle, so had to walk into the middle so they could see that, then I think they really felt as if they were there!



Ended up in one of the shops down toward the castle end, with ornaments in, and they were just running from thing to thing, going “oh” “look at this”, “Oh my gosh”, “I love it” “oh, oh, oh” “ look at this”, just in heaven with all the gorgeous decorations, ornaments, etc. Then they found the tiara’s and crystal shop and it repeated!

Went and picked up the PhotoPass Plus I’d preordered. Simple and easy process, although I found out later the person had punched the date wrong. I thought it was a bit odd- she had punched the start date, and the end date for some reason, but that meant there were 2 months, and 2 dates punched out and no way to know what date went with what month. Turns out she should have only punched the start date. Only caused us a problem at one ride photo place, and they recommended we go back and get it fixed, but it was almost the end of the trip at that point and we didn’t make it- we would have needed the receipt for that, so hold on to it!

Walked out and saw Mary Poppins and Bert meeting outside Coke Corner, so went over for our first character photos! Mary Poppins is one of my favourite characters, so it was fun to meet them.

Then we headed for the castle, and spotted Snow White over by her grotto, as we walked up though she left. Continued through into Fantasyland and over to It’s a Small World, we knew it would be closing on Monday for the holiday overlay, so was on our must ride first list.





Line was probably 5-10 mins long. Loved spotting the Disney characters in the scenes. Then we headed for Dumbo – which was my niece’s “must do” ride,








And the Sleeping Beauty Castle walkthrough, for my daughter. On our last visit Aurora was her favourite princess, but the walkthrough was in the process of being refurbed so was closed. So even though Aurora is no longer the favourite, we had to see the castle walkthrough!



DN was asking when she was going to get to see Mickey Mouse, so we headed over to Toontown. Stopped for some lunch, and a very large drink as we were all suffering from the heat! I got a personal pizza and the girls got hot dogs from Pluto’s, DGM got the kids pack!



Then we went on over to Mickey’s House, got a few photos of the girls on the ‘cartoon’ furniture.







This was their first real experience of lines that keep winding around and around, and just when you think you are there, there’s more line! But they were pretty good, and we got our photo’s with Mickey.



Looked around the shops and checked out a little bit more of Toontown,



then caught the railroad around the park to New Orleans. We had a 3pm reservation at Blue Bayou, and it was only around 2.20pm, so we looked around New Orleans Square and in some of the shops there. Then at 2.45pm we went up to Blue Bayou to check in and ask for a waterside table. We had to wait in the foyer area for a few minutes (which was pretty packed with people). Then were called up to the podium and were told it would be at least a 45 minute wait, at that point I almost said, never mind, let’s just have any table, but I remembered the good advice given here on the DIS and said that was fine. We were given the pager thing and went and sat on a wall outside where there was a little bit of shade,



about 10 minutes later we were paged, and were seated at a waterside table by 3.05pm!



We were only doing Blue Bayou for the atmosphere and experience, so we just ordered dessert, although they brought us the bread basket also. The bread was very yummy. The 2 girls ordered the Lava cake,



DGM had the Key Lime Pie, and I ordered the special Minnie Mouse Halloween Demitasse cup! It was so cute!



A Chocolate and pumpkin mousse with cake stuff at the bottom! Very yummy, even though I don’t like pumpkin at all. And of course you get to keep the cup so that was a great souvenir!
By that point it was time to check into the room, and I had a few surprises I wanted to set up. So DGM and the girls went on the monorail out to DTD and back, and I headed off to check us in.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Day 1, part 2!

My niece was very keen on a certain Lalaloopsie doll that we could no longer get in New Zealand, but I had found it on Amazon, so had it sent to the hotel, along with one of the other ones for my daughter. I wrapped those up in red and white polka dot paper, with big black bows. Then I had a box each for them that had a black bottom, with red and white polka dot lid, and in the boxes I put a rose shaped purse each (red for DN who was going to be Belle tomorrow, and silver for DD who was going to be Cinderella), autograph pages and journal pages printed off from the generous people on the Creative DISigns board, and a Princess chapter book each. Again all tied up with big bows. I also put up signs, again from the DISigns board, with each of our names down the centre post. It looked great for a homemade “In room celebration”! I had wanted to grab them a Mickey Balloon each before leaving the parks to also have waiting in the room, but I couldn’t find a vendor anywhere, and when I asked one of the cast members she checked and radioed someone and said that the balloon people were on a break and would be back in 15 mins, and I didn’t have that long to wait! So no balloons. It had taken much longer than I expected to get it all set up so I rushed back to the parks without even taking a photo of it!
Had a bit of a panic remembering that it was time for the parade and, wondering if I was going to be able to get back up Main Street to where I was supposed to meet everyone, but it was fine, just wandered down the middle of the street till I found them, and they had a spot right on Main Street for us to watch the parade. The balloons were out in full force then, so I popped over and got the girls one each, so we could at least have them in the rooms later! We sat and watched Soundsational and fully enjoyed the music, floats and dancing.





















DL was closing that night at 7pm for a Halloween Party, and we were all pretty tired so after the parade we headed back over to the hotel, enjoying spotting all the Halloween costumes on the way out. The girls were so excited when they saw their presents on the bed!!! Then they opened them and were even more excited! It was so worth the effort of getting all the bits and pieces and setting it all up, they were thrilled! And they used their boxes the rest of the week to store all their little treasures in. We went down the street to grab some McDonalds for tea, then back to BWPPI to eat it and into bed for a much needed sleep!

 

[Kiwigirls]

Sat 19th October – Day 2!

Everyone was very tired this morning, but we needed to be up bright and early! We had a MM to make the most of along with 8.40am reservations at BBB!!
Got everyone up and to the free breakfast provided by BWPPI. It was basic but fine, some hot food- Eggs, roast potatoes, sausage or ham patties,


Muffins, donuts and danishes



Bagels and Toast



Fruit



and cereals, yoghurt, juice, that I didn't get any pics of. (This was a day later in the week, when we went to breakfast quite late, so a lot was gone! They did replenish)

We arrived at the park at 7.55am, so went through to Main Street and waited a minute or two for Rope Drop. Powerwalked to Peter Pan and were not too far back in the queue.



Were coming off Peter Pan at 8.20am, so a 10-15 minute wait probably. The girls were complaining that the line was too long, but when they saw it later were very glad I had made them ride it then! They enjoyed the ride quite a bit, but then weren’t prepared for the next two, both of which they found scary – Snow White’s Scary Adventures and Pinocchio! No queues for either of these could get on as soon as we walked through the queue area.
It was a bit disappointing that King Arthur’s Carousel and the Teacups were both closed. Especially with the carousel it meant that right in the middle of Fantasyland was massive big walls and tarps, not very magical! And we were sad to miss the Teacups as they are the quintessential Disneyland ride.
We went and had a look at the line for Alice in Wonderland, but the queue was a little long, considering we had our BBB apt coming up. So we took a photo in the stationery tea cup, had a browse in the Mad Hatters Shop, tried our valiant best to pull the Sword from the Stone, and then headed over the BBB.











The girls had the first appointment of the day, so they were still getting things set up when we arrived. But they checked our reservations and they took the girls back to change into the costumes we had bought with us.

Just wanted to say here that I LOVED the dress we had bought for DD, the Cinderella one. We had gone back and forth on whether to go with the larger Castle package, and get a dress there, or bring our own, and if we were going to buy one elsewhere, which one. We were a bit worried that given she was older than a lot of the princesses they do at BBB, she might not be able to get the dress/princess she wanted in her size. I found this one on Ebay and Amazon, and loved it, it was elegant, and puffy, and very princessy. It has always bugged me that a lot of the Disney dresses have a picture of the Princess on the front of the dress – if you were the Princess you would not have your own picture on the dress! Anyway, this one came beautifully packaged in a dress bag, and with a choker and white ‘gloves’ and a tiara (that we didn’t use – it was pretty useless).

The girls got into their dresses, and were escorted out to their chairs to begin the makeover. The Fairy Godmothers in Training were lovely, although one seemed a bit friendlier and chattier than the other. DD and DN felt truly pampered having their hair done, and their make up done at the same time, and being referred to as Princesses. They both chose the same hairstyle (Disney Diva) and very similar make-up. I liked that hairstyle, except for the teased up/ poofed up bit at the front, it is the fake hair that is teased, and I’m sure they do it so that it is the same on everyone, no matter their hair type/ length etc, but it just looked a bit over the top to me. I would have loved it with just their own hair buns, and the hairpiece coming down the back. The little tinsel Mickey heads in the hairpiece were very cute! The ‘reveal’ was very fun and for DD in particular you could see how happy she was in her face.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Day 2, part 2:

Getting the little bag with the make-up, nail polish and hair brushes was a great surprise for them too. We had asked when we arrived about the photo package, as I had them both down for it. I asked if we could just pay for one package, but get photos done of both of them separately and together, and then just get the printed photos of the two of them together. She had to check but said that would be ok.
So we went back to wait for the photopass area, and once it was set-up we went in, and they got photos with the little woodland animals, and then in the carriage. It was a gorgeous set-up, and my DD wanted that to be her bedroom! The photographer was really nice and got a lot of shots of both of them, and also moved over to let me take some shots too (although I was snapping away while she was taking hers as well!).















Waiting for the photos to be developed I went and paid for the experience, and went back to tip the FGIT. It took a little while for the photos to be ready, but at least we could sit on the bench there, and watch some of the other little girls getting made up.

We then went out through the castle and got a few photos on the bridge, before making our way over to Fantasy Faire. Had a reasonable wait in line- probably about 20 minutes or so (at around 10am ish). There was a little girl who was around 4yrs old in the line behind us and she decided that DD and DN were the real princesses so she kept coming over and standing with them, looking up at them adoringly and walking through the line with us. It was very cute! DD and DN weren’t quite sure what to do! We saw Aurora, Ariel and Cinderella in the Royal Hall and got some great photos with each. A page tipped us off that Belle might be appearing out in Fantasy Faire at around 11am, which was great as I wanted photos of DN with her whilst she was dressed as Belle also.









We caught the horsedrawn carriage down Main Street. Pluto came out to meet and greet in the Town Square area, so we hopped in line for him. Very cute, and loved how he really had to hold the autograph book/ card up to his eyes to be able to see where to sign!





Walked back to the tiara shop, and DD bought one to go with her outfit. We wandered back over to Fantasy Faire and lined up to wait for Belle, on the bridge going into FF. Were about 4th in line for those photos so didn’t have to wait too long, and it was nice to see a princess outside! Unfortunately the photos are a bit dark as she was under an umbrella (for necessary shade), and the Photopass photos for this one got lost.





We then went and got a few photos in front of the castle and walked down Main Street.



It was just coming up to 12noon, so we were able to get a couple of “Cinderella as the clock strikes midnight” photos by the train station!





We still had some time to kill before heading over to Ariel’s Grotto for our 1pm lunch, so we did some more Main St vehicles! Caught the Omnibus back up to the castle, then the Fire truck back down, ringing the bell all the way.

 

[Kiwigirls]

Day 2, part 3!

Then it was time to park hop over to California Adventure. Only DGM had been there before, and that was before the makeover, so it was really new to all of us! Was fun to go down Buena Vista Street and see all the shops, and there was usually a couple of characters meeting along the street or near the fountain.
Headed around to Ariel’s Grotto and had a short wait until it was time for us to go down the stairs. We got our photo with Ariel,





and then were lead to our table, which was inside, towards the far end of the room. I think it was better to be inside, and with the seats we had there was a bit of a view out across the water/pier area. Not long after we were seated the first princess was announced – Snow White, closely followed by Cinderella, Mulan, and Aurora. As others have said it is a very quick ‘hello, how are you, let me sign your autograph book, pose for a photo and goodbye’, not a lot of interaction. But the girls enjoyed it, and it was over fairly quickly so we could then eat our meal. I also felt confident each Princess would come to our table, as it was so orderly, as opposed to the other character meal we had later (Minnie’s) where it felt much more haphazard.











Was also a bit disappointed that the menu had changed recently before we arrived (although we knew it had). The previous dessert tray etc. sounded very fun. The adult dessert platter was still very yummy,



but I was a bit disappointed with the kids one, and thought they would be too.



But my DD loved it, as she thought it was very much like what a Princess would have! So I guess Disney got that one right!




We did also have a slight odd thing happen here – I had booked us as 3 adults and 1 child, as I had for everything else, as my DD was 10. However I noticed during the meal that both DN and DD were being offered the kids meal. I didn’t say anything as I knew DD would much prefer the meal offerings on the kids menu, and I was happy to pay for her as an adult, even though she had the kid’s meal. But at the checkout they charged us for 2 adults and 2 kids!

Leaving Ariel’s we went through the Paradise Pier area, and went on King Triton’s carousel (no wait, other than waiting for the current ride to stop),









then carried on around and went on Jumpin’ Jellyfish, again no wait. Thought it was a fun little ride. Carried on around till we came to Ariel’s undersea adventure and went on that, with about a 5 minute wait. The girls really enjoyed that, and it renewed their faith in dark rides! Headed back to Buena Vista St and got a photo with the Walt and Mickey statue,



then browsed the shops. In one of the shops a CM asked the girls if it was their first visit, and when they said it was, went to get them First Visit badges, but she didn’t have any left, so instead DD got the “Happily Ever After” one, and DN got “I’m celebrating”. We stopped into the Chamber of Commerce before we left and got them both “First Visit” badges as well.



They both decided to spend some of their money on an Animators Doll – DD bought Briar Rose, and DN bought Belle, in her little town (blue) costume. By this point we were all quite tired, and hot, so we headed back to the hotel, and they played with their dolls for a bit and then went for a swim, (goodbye fancy hairstyles!).



We went down to Denny’s for dinner, then stopped at Cold Stone Creamery for dessert! SO yum! I got the seasonal “Campfire Classic” – Marshmallow icecream, graham cracker pieces, chocolate sauce and chips, Yum!!!!! Coming from NZ we don’t have ice cream places like this, and we don’t have graham crackers, so can’t have real s’mores very often, and I love them! Back to the hotel for jackets and then we went back into DL. Saw Mickey, Minnie and Cruella posing for photos in town Square. Got our photo taken by the Giant Mickey Pumpkin and did one of just me and my daughter to replicate the one from 5 years ago!







Couldn’t decide which rides to go on, but ended up queuing for Astro Orbitors.



When that was over it was time to find a spot for the Fireworks. Worked our way around to the other side of the hub, and then in to the middle. I think we were quite well positioned- centre of Main Street, just at the back of the hub, but the girls really couldn’t see anything once everyone stood up. Definitely could not see the projections on the castle, could only see some of the fireworks, and could only see Tink flying when I lifted them up (so they had to take turns). It was fun, but not the most enjoyable experience – definitely would pay to put a bit more time in to getting a good spot, or do what we did on Day 3 (will have to wait till I get that written up!)

We then fought our way through the massive crowds and headed towards Critter Country, for the Winnie the Pooh ride. Girls enjoyed that one, and we went into the gift shop to look at all the treats, had intended getting a Tigger Tail, but then didn’t really feel like it when we were there.

I had noticed that Splash Mountain had little to no queue, so suggested we go on that, now that apparently was a mistake! DN had been on a similar, but slightly smaller log flume before and loved it, and DD and said she was happy to try this one, so I thought they would be fine. Apparently not. We walked straight on, DN was in the very front, then DD, then me, and some other guy behind us. They started getting scared as we went through the little story bits, and I had to hold onto DD, we went down the first wee drop, and they screamed, but then laughed, that bit was fine, they were happy. Except they thought that was the big drop and it was over, no such luck. They then started getting more scared, and were shaking, I really couldn’t tell if it was from the cold, or the fear! So we went down the medium drop, they screamed, and were scared, but again though it was over, and I had to tell them there was one more to come. If there was a way to get them off at that point I would have, but there just wasn’t so I had to put my arm around DD, and touch DN on the shoulder and just reassure them they would be fine, and then the big drop came and they were so scared, screamed, and were quite traumatized by the whole experience. I am so sad that the Photopass photos were not working on that ride that night! I am sure the looks of pure terror on their faces would have been classic. After some hugs and feeling reassured they were on solid ground they were ok, and we went on Winnie The Pooh to calm them down again.

As we were heading out of the park, we noticed that the line for Pirates of the Caribbean was also not too long, so we went on that, after much reassurance that it did not have any drops like Splash Mountain. It was ok, but I don’t think either of them really liked it, of course, they were also nearly asleep on their feet!

We finally left DL at 11.45pm and headed back to the hotel, thank goodness once again for the very close hotel! I popped out and got us all McD’s hot chocolates, and then it was definitely time for bed!

For anyone who Disneybounds - I was attempting a very subtle Fairy Godmother (didn't quite get all the bits), DGM was Snow White, DD was doing a Cinderella bound prior to BBB, and an Ariel bound in the evening, and DN was doing a Belle bound in the morning and evening.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

Wonderful TR. Thanks for sharing.

 

[PrincessInOz]

What great memories. The girls look beautiful all BBB'ed up. Love the ones with the princesses.

 

[jedijill]

Great report! Loved the BBB makeovers and the Cinderella midnight pose! That is so clever!

Jill in CO

 

[Kiwigirls]

Ok, has taken months but I am finally back to try and get the rest of this trip report finished! Here is day 3, only a few more to go!!


Well after the late evening last night, it was a bit of sleep in this morning. Didn’t make it over to the parks until around 10am. We purposely were not heading to Radiator Springs Racer as we had a plan for doing that later in the week. We went down the Hollywood St, and the girls loved the fake back drop!



We headed towards Monsters Inc as our first ride and saw Sully meeting and greeting outside the “University” doors.


Quite cute, but the girls didn’t want to get a photo with him. Very short queue for Monsters Inc and we enjoyed the ride. On the way back Sully had left, so his photo spot was empty and the girls got a couple of photos there then.


Bugs Land was next on our list, and they both loved it. Even though I had read about it being more for the little kids, this 8 and 10 year old had the best time! Ladybug Boogie was the first ride, and they had a blast and went round and straight back on 2 or 3 more times!



Then tried Tuck n Roll buggies, and Heimlich’s Chew Chew train. We had looked at the list for Animation Academy drawings earlier and they wanted to try Minnie Mouse, so DGM took DD and DN to do that, whilst I headed over to DL to pick up our Fantasmic tickets for that evening. I was sure I had read to go to City Hall to pick them up, but whilst I was waiting in line a CM came along the line checking what everyone was wanting to do at City Hall, and he directed me to the Tour counter next to City Hall, where there was no line and I was able to get them straight away.

Went back over to DCA, got a Frappucino from Fidler, Fifer’s & Practical, and went and found the others. They were finished with their drawing and had enjoyed doing it, even if DD felt hers wasn’t really up to scratch and had to redo it that evening!

Wandered on towards Carsland and went on Maters Junkyard Jamboree, was probably a 15 minute wait or so.




The girls enjoyed that more than they thought they would, with the way it whipped around. We then went to Cozy Cones, and got a particularly nutritious lunch – Churro Bites and Root Beer Floats!

It was really, really hot at this point in the day and the few tables with shade were taken very quickly, we managed to snag one but only half of us had any shade! Luigi’s Flying tires was next up, I thought the queue for that was quite neat (we weren’t in it too long so that probably helped) and the ride was fun. There are lots of signs along the way showing you how to operate them.


After Luigi’s we made our way back through Bugsland and around to the Aladdin theater. We arrived about 1.55pm for the 2.20pm showing and were in the first row of the queue for the Orchestra section. Once we were let in, we went in the bottom, and were in the second section back from the stage, 2nd row of that section and quite near the middle, I felt like it was a really good view, although front row of that section was probably slightly better. We could see the flying carpet well, and the “parade” of camels, elephants etc came along the pathway between the 2 sections so we had a great view of that too. Really enjoyed the show too, loved the Genie’s jokes.

Next we went to Condor Flats, and caught the Minnie’s Fly Girls show, I had read that that was it’s last day, and we saw the 2nd to last show. The performers did a great job, and we enjoyed it. I think I saw a couple of them hugging friends and crying after it was over though.



We carried on round to Paradise Pier and decided it was time to go on Mickey’s Fun Wheel. I had warned the girls about it’s alternative nicknames “Mickey’s Wheel of Terror” “ Mickey’s Fun wheel of death”, and they were nervous about going on but had decided they definitely wanted to go on a swinging car. Was probably one of our longest waits to get on a ride as it moved so slowly. DGM had chosen to go in a stationery car so we could see her moving through the other line which was a bit faster, but not by much. They wanted a pink car, and by luck we got one, so that made them very happy. And, as we went slowly up in the air – nothing, it was a nice slow ferris wheel ride. It did swing down a couple of times but that was quite fun, and not at all scary! And the rest of the time it was going so slowly that it was almost boring.

Finding that so easy bolstered their confidence and they wanted to try California Screamin’ next! So we headed over and got Fastpasses- the Standby queue was claiming a 20-30 min line, and at 4.40pm, the Fastpass return time was for 5.20pm. While waited we went back to Silly Symphony Swings, and had no wait for that. I went on once with them, but found it a bit hard to fit in the seats, and was starting to feel a bit queasy. But DD and DN ran around and went back on again. Then it was time for California Screamin’ so joined the fastpass queue, and were through it in 5 minutes. 2 very nervous girls, but again they loved it! Was so not expecting the fast blast off at the beginning, I am used to a slow start as they drag you up the hill, so that took my breath away! Very fun. Came out and got the ride photo (I loved having Photopass + so you could just get each of the photos and not worry about whether it was worth the money!)


We rejoined DGM (who was browsing the shops), and I was feeling really queasy. Had to find a bathroom quickly! I sat on a bench while DGM took the girls on Ariel’s ride again. Then it was time for me to go and get in line to choose our Fantasmic Dessert seating seats, so DGM took the girls into DTD to find some dinner (they ended up with croissants from La Brea and Hot Dogs) . I headed over to DL and found the spot by the churro stand where you need to line up. I arrived at 6.20pm, and there were already 2 people/groups ahead of me. So I pulled up a piece of concrete and sat for the next hour and a half. Actually I was really glad to be sitting for a while as it gave my stomach a chance to settle! Chatted a little bit with the others in line, which was nice. The CM’s also chatted with us a little bit, particularly the guy who was at the front of the line, who it seemed was quite a regular. At 8pm we got to choose our seats – My options were seats 7-9 in the front row centre section, with one of us needing to be in the second row, or seats 26-29, the first seats in the front row in the section by where we were choosing the tickets. (Or any of the other seats further back or away). I ended up choosing seats 26-29, but in hindsight I probably would have been better with the seats in the centre section, or even going one seat over and having 27-30. Seat 26 was right by the brick post at the corner of the section so it felt like my view was somewhat blocked by that, and the section as a whole was to one side of the centre of the show. Having said that they were still really great seats and I totally loved the experience, was completely worth it for us.

Once I had our seats booked, I found the others at 8.10pm ,and we went to find me some dinner, now that my appetite had returned! Got fish and chips from the Stage Door café, which was better than expected, and made our way back to our seats. I was still eating my dinner when we first sat down, but we got given the dessert trays and drinks, and started to enjoy those too. It was a little difficult to balance the trays as others have mentioned but as we were in the front we could put them on the ground in front of us. We really enjoyed the show, and nibbling on our goodies!




It was interesting to see the CM ‘patrolling’ the walkway in front of our seats also and moving people along who came and stood in front, we did have a great view. We stayed in our seats for the fireworks, and honestly I felt like we had a much better view there than we had the night before from the hub! The girls could see the fireworks, and see Tinkerbell flying without straining their necks, jumping up, or just generally being blocked and shoved by everyone else. It certainly felt like that was a much better view, and so much more relaxed as well!
After the fireworks we packed up our boxes of our desserts (that still had quite a bit remaining!) and headed back to the hotel, getting back about 10pm.