A 24th birthday Pre-Trippie

[roxy72]

I'm not sure why this next photo was taken, but here ya go! My Dad has on an Honorary Citizen of Disneyland button (with a light blue background, which apparently is unusual). He got this while getting his free 3-day pass to Disneyland, thanks to the current military deal! (All active & retired military employees can get into DLR for 3 days for free, or into WDW for 5 days for free)

Brer Fox and the other dude. Which one is the bad guy by the way? I thought it was the fox, which looks creepy and bad, but I thought someone on Dis said that the bear is the bad one (which would make sense for why he is caught hanging at the end of Splash Mountain).

Jasmine and Aladdin! I found it much easier to just take pics of the characters, instead of waiting in line to get my pic taken w/them.

For lunch, we went over to Wine Country Trattoria in California Adventure. I really liked how quiet and relaxing it was to sit out there, on the patio.

This is the bread and interesting spread.

And my lunch, the chicken bruschetta salad.

It was enormous! I couldn't eat half of it. Dad wasn't hungry at the time, so he only drank a glass of wine.

 

[roxy72]

Later we went to the Animation building and had fun checking everything out.

I found Cinderella! She's my favorite, but the line was long so I settled for a quick picture of her.

Since it was my Dad's birthday, I had made reservations for dinner at Cafe Orleans.

Dad ordered a cup of gumbo- he liked it!

The Pommes Fritas we shared. Nice and spicy!

The fried (and crispy-looking) Monte Crisco. I was really looking forward to trying it, but it was so rich. My Dad and I only ate one piece each! They served it to me like this...

But it didn't look how it does in other photos, so I rearranged it...

There we go! Photo-worthy.

A cute birthday beignet. I was full and didn't try it, and never got to try a beignet during this trip! Next time...

Passing by Fantasyland, we had to try the Sword!

Let me give 'er a hand...

Drat!

Later that night I took pictures of my goodies from Pooh Corner. My boss gave me a Disney gift card before leaving on my vacation, so I used it to buy these yummies!
A crooked Tigger Tail (my last one wasn't jagged like this, but it looks better this way), an Apple Pie caramel apple (I devoured this messy thing while watching TV that night), and a raspberry white chocolate cookie.

I still have the Tigger Tail and cookie left to eat. Maybe I'll take them into work tomorrow, and make my Monday a little happier..

DAY 3
My birthday- May 1! I'm 24 today! I made breakfast reservations at Carnation Cafe for three people...in case my Mom could visit, and hoping my Dad would be there too. But Mom had something else going on, and Dad had a conference call. Bah. So I ate breakfast alone.

Other patrons at the Cafe...

I've seen pictures on flickr of this guy, "Ilovedisneyland", and he has tons of pics of food from the Cafe. I was debating between the Mickey waffle, the eggs benedict, and some apple pancakes that he photographed..Which one would I choose??

The apple pancakes won! I wanted something with extra flavor to it, as the Mickey waffle is usually served plain, and I've never had eggs benedict...The pancakes were a good choice! They were 2 big pancakes served with apples, some sauce, and pieces of nuts.. (walnuts?)

And a side of bacon..

Yum! My breakfast was very filling. The hostess was kind and chatted to me for a bit, asking how my birthday was. But, my crappy waiter didn't even acknowledge my birthday (I wore my pin!), and brought my bill without asking if I wanted anything else (ie. coffee).

I had planned to spend my birthday relaxing, with no pressure to go on rides...I wanted to watch shows and chill out. I saw Honey I Shrunk the Kids, then went to see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. While waiting for the first show, I sat outside the nearby Stage Door Cafe. Guess who waddled up to me?

A widdle duck!!

*Sniff sniff sniff*...He was looking for some food.

The Billy Hill show didn't interest me, so I left after 5 minutes. Helpful tip: Order your food from the Stage Door Cafe (outdoors, at the side of the Golden Horseshoe). The Golden Horseshoe (inside) had a much longer line, although both places were joined and serving the same food.

I found Mary Poppins and got in line to get my photo with her..I love her!

After waiting a few minutes, Bert informed us that they were going to take their break and the last group they would take was the one in front of me. Drat. Do you think if I busted out singing, "A spoonful of sugar," they would have let me get a photo with them?

Finally I went to meet my Dad, who was done with his conference call. He was ill from the heat and walking super far from our hotel. I grabbed him a soda and M&M's at White Water Rafts, then went back to pickup our chicken nachos.

They were in a to-go box but we ended up eating there, since Dad still had wi-fi access on his laptop. He was working this morning, obviously.

 

[roxy72]

It is worth noting that I only ate a few of the above nachos, since I was still full from my late breakfast. I ate breakfast around 9:30, and usually I eat it at 7AM!

It was my brilliant idea to visit UVA Bar. Dad told me about his last trip here which was after a conference at the Grand Californian a few years ago. The bartender gave him a very generous glass of tequila..so I wanted to check this place out!

Bartender.

My drink- big, strong, and expensive.

A picture of the menu..I had to take a photo to remember the name of what I ordered! It was the Purple Haze.

Let me tell you, drinking that after pretty much skipping lunch was a BAD idea. It was hot, I was tired and hadn't slept well the last 2 nights (in hotels), and that drink made me want to sleep. I was dragging for the next few hours.

Before Dad went on Grizzly River Run, we got our photo taken in front of part of it..

While he was on the ride, I decided to get something to eat. I didn't like feeling tipsy at California Adventure. It was awkward and I don't like feeling that way in places I'm not comfortable at.

So I got some popcorn.

It wasn't warm, boo! So I ate some, gave the rest to Dad, and went to find a churro cart. I got a churro the previous morning at Disneyland, and it was pure awesomeness. Well, the churro I got at California Adventure was old. It had been sitting out for awhile. Oh well, I wanted to eat so it worked for me.

I was still pretty cranky, and had to wait until 4PM so we could check into the crappy Crowne Royal Plaza. By the time we got there, all I wanted to do was sleep and be alone. Dad offered to take me out to dinner anywhere, so I considered PF Changs or the Cheesecake Factory, but I was too stinkin tired to drive with him over to the Gardenwalk.

We decided to walk across the parking lot to a sports bar. This wasn't my ideal place for a birthday dinner...but I was tired and wanted the day to be over.

I was staring at the guy in orange. He had a large forehead, tiny beady eyes, and a nose that smushed his glasses up into his face. He spent the entire meal playing with his iPhone and ignoring his wife and daughter. I speculated about things which one should not speculate about.

We ordered a medium pepperoni pizza. Dad had 3 slices, I had 2...we still had 3 slices leftover!

After the bill was paid for, I realized that I wanted to blow out a candle. It was my b-day and I needed to make a wish! So I asked the waiter for a candle. He offered me even better- a candle and ice cream!

And a picture of the snacks that I picked up at the Candy Store on Main St today. The s'mores was not available at Pooh Corner, so I had to track this baby down! And I splurged on an $8 Minnie Mouse caramel apple.

I ate the s'mores earlier today and still have my Minnie apple. She's too cute to eat!

That night I barely slept. I was happy to head to my Mom's house the next day. In the future, I will not spend 3 days and nights at DLR. It's too long for me, especially since I don't do well on rides. I was grateful to have my Dad join me for the trip, though. I would have been sad to be all alone.

My mom and sister are hoping to celebrate my birthday with me next weekend, so I am looking forward to that. I usually don't travel for my birthday, so it was weird to do something unusual this year. And I was tired/cranky for most of the day, since it was at the tail-end of my trip.

Hope you enjoyed the pics!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Great pics!!!

It's very frustrating to get in line for the characters & then leave for break right before you get to them....... it's devastating to a 2 yr old (that happened last year & never made it to a character until about 3 days in on our trip!) I wish they would have the character host cut the line off to not allow people to line up....that way that doesn't happen..... I even suggested it to DL customer service.

You got yourself some real goodies!!! Our family LOVES the smores!!!! We brought 4 of them home to share.....delicious!

I hope you had a good time, you had some ups & downs but YOU DID IT!!!! I'm so proud of you......spoken like a true mother!!

Thanx for sharing your trip with us!!!!

 

[blabbermouth]

Great photos! I hope that on the whole you enjoyed your trip. And I hope now you know you can handle it! Now I want a smore thingee

 

[roxy72]

Great pics!!!

It's very frustrating to get in line for the characters & then leave for break right before you get to them....... it's devastating to a 2 yr old (that happened last year & never made it to a character until about 3 days in on our trip!) I wish they would have the character host cut the line off to not allow people to line up....that way that doesn't happen..... I even suggested it to DL customer service.

You got yourself some real goodies!!! Our family LOVES the smores!!!! We brought 4 of them home to share.....delicious!

I hope you had a good time, you had some ups & downs but YOU DID IT!!!! I'm so proud of you......spoken like a true mother!!

Thanx for sharing your trip with us!!!!

Oh, thank you so much! I'm so glad that you are proud of me. You are so kind, your kids are truly blessed to have you as their mother.

That is a great idea for a Cast member to notify people know when or where the line for meeting a character is cut off. I suppose they don't always have an extra cast member around to do that. For Mary Poppins and Bert, it was only the 2 of them there...I was going to ask a stranger to take my pic with them!

Oh, and I have one more picture..don't mind our bad scores from Buzz, it was our first time on it!