Don't let the HM experience discourage you. It sounds like you're doing great! I am sure you will do even better now that you have family to support you. I find it incredibly stressful to be at DL alone and I do not anxiety problems. With family there, it will help "tune out" some of the extra noises and you can concentrate on your conversations with the family.
Just be sure to do what you can, and not worry about what you can't do. We all have some "can't do's" at DL so do NOT feel bad about it!
BTW - the thing that tells you what character you are is located in the Animation Building in DCA. It's a lot of fun! I am Mrs. Potts! woo hoo!
You are Mrs. Potts, awesome! I got Belle.
My Dad is the tiger from the Jungle Book, apparently..lol.
So I wrote up a nice long update on the Trip, and then the Hilton internet system decided to go nutso on me so I lost the update. Grr....
Oh well. So last night everything went well at the parks. I took the 5PM shuttle to the park, and met up with my Dad. We walked around California Adventure, and he went on Maliboomer. I watched from the safe concrete down below, haha! We then went onto the Toy Story Mania ride. It took about 30 minutes to get on. The park actually closed while we were in line, so a CM was at the very end of our line..Anyways, the ride was fun but jolty. It kept throwing us around! Our arms were tired by the end of the ride, haha, pulling that string gets tough.
With CA Adventure closed, we decided to get dinner at Downtown Disney as planned. We picked the Rainbow Cafe, which had a 45 minute wait for a table! But we waited for someone to leave one of the tables in the bar area, and took that. Much quicker.
Dad got the chicken fajitas and a Guinness, and I got a cheeseburger with fries and some green alcoholic drink. I could not taste or feel the alcohol from it, hmm...
On our way back to the shuttle, I had the brilliant idea to pickup some candy from Main St. Bad idea!!!
Little did I realize that there was an entire stinkin parade going on, with crushes of people on the sidewalk. It was difficult to pass the street. By the time the parade ended and we snuck through the downwards-heading crowd, the candy shop was busy. We decided to quit this candy-searching mission, and just go back to the hotel.
So, being with my Dad at the parks is a lot more fun than being alone. We do stuff together, and I have a pal.
This morning we left on the 10AM shuttle to Disneyland. We started off at Buzz Lightyear Astro Shooters..only a 5 minute wait, wow! It was fun but so hard to do. Then I had another brilliant idea- why not try out Space Mountain?
The line was only 20 minutes, and it was a lot of fun when I was younger. But oh no, times have changed and that ride was way too much for me. When we got into the ride, and moved up to the room with the flashing lights, it was too disorientating for me. I covered my eyes...and kept them covered for the whole ride. I just wanted it to be over with. The ride throws you from side to side, but the worst of it was just all the visuals for me.
Never again! So then my Dad and I talked, and I realized that I need to go on rides which are okay *for me*. Not the rides which are E-tickets, and everyone loves and raves about, but whatever is most comfortable for me.
A-ha! This means not challenging myself with way too difficult rides and actually being comfortable and having a good time...How long did it take me to accept this??
We went on Pooh next. I loved it. So relaxing, and even the honeycomb we rode on had a nice wave to it. Aah, that is my kind of ride. After picking up some treats at Pooh Corner (An applie pie carmel apple, a Tigger Tale, and a raspberry white chocolate chip cookie), we headed to City Hall. Dad needed his Birthday pin. This morning after 10, the line at City Hall was super long! So it's good that we waited til around noon to go back and get it.
Next we went to get some food at Wine Country Trattotia. What a nice place! It was fairly quiet and removed from all the chaos and noise of the park. I ordered the chicken bruschetta salad, and a lemonade. Dad got a glass of wine. The salad was enormous. Way too big for only 1 fairly-hungry person to eat. It's a shame that I couldn't take the rest back, but we don't have a fridge here and we have dinner reservations anyways. After eating, we went to visit the Hollywood Studios backlot area. We went on the Monsters, Inc ride which was cute. I liked that movie so much.
Then we went into Animations, which was cool. While looking at the Woody and friends spinning thing, Dad farted so we hurried along to the next room. Sorry to the guy standing next to us.
We enjoyed the Beast's Library. I loved how interactive it was, and the attention to detail. Way to go, Imagineers! I am most like Belle, and Dad is most like the tiger from the Jungle Story. So then, with only a little bit of time until the shuttle had it's first pickup for the day, we went to the beer walk through. It was $10 per person, and you get a card with 4 different countries on it. You can choose 1 beer sample from each country. I drank 2 full samples, gave one to my dad, then had to run to catch the shuttle!
Now I'm back in the room, relaxing a bit. We have birthday dinner reservations at 5:30 at Cafe Orleans. Monte Crisco and pommes fritas, here I come!!