Mom and Daughter Trip April/May 2019 - Complete

disneymouse16

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 2, 2011
I started this as a pre-trip report on my computer then decided not to finish it, then enjoyed reading Jaina’s trip report that happened to be over the exact days of this trip! So thought I would go ahead and give it a try! I have never written a trip report before but I do enjoy reading them, even if I mostly lurk!

My name is Hailey I am a Disney addict and I don’t ever intend to change! I was raised Disney and some of my fondest early memories were family vacations to Disneyland, sometimes including extended family, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I have proudly owned Annual Passes, at different times, to both Disneyland and Walt Disney World. I was also super excited to play my way through one semester of the College Program in Walt Disney World. Where I had the, not so glamorous job, of renting and caring for strollers and wheelchairs, but hey, it was Walt Disney World!

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I’m on the far right.

Disneyland has played a big part in my early childhood memories but also in my more recent life. My husband proposed to me at the Blue Bayou when visiting in May of 2008 (one of the times I owned an Annual Pass).

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Before leaving my new fiance bought a pass so we could return later that year for our Honeymoon. Which we did staying for the first time at the Grand Californian.

Over the last eleven years we have added four children and for me their First Visits have been times I look forward to with great anticipation. I count it a serious milestone when they reach 40 inches, we even have a countertop that measures exactly 40 inches and we use that to test their height regularly. I was excited to bring our children before we even had any and I look forward to creating extra magical memories each time we visit!

This trip is just my oldest DD and I. She is six and a half and I have been blessed to be able to take her to Disneyland five times prior. She is my go-go child and I expect she will be able to keep pace with me and maybe even want to outdo me!

We are staying at the Fairfield Inn on Harbor, which I stayed at in the early 90’s with my parents. Not sure that is what it was called back then but we definitely have family videos of my sisters and I standing on the walkways waving down at my Dad.

The trip was great but gets off to a rocky start and I look forward to sharing some of it here!
 
Reserved because I'm going to try to figure out how to link trip chapters here, maybe, if I need them.
 
Travel Day

The original plan was that our flight would arrive at LAX at 5:35 PM. My sister would pick us up at the airport and possibly join us for the evening (she had work the next day), take us to the hotel, check in, dump our bags then head to Disneyland and pick-up the Hungry Bear on the go package for the 10 PM Fantasmic! I was really hoping to see Fantasmic! As I have not seen it since they changed it. But that was not how our day went at all.

Sunday April 28th

Our flight was with Allegiant Airlines at 4:30. We had church services that morning and were eating lunch at 1 PM with the plan that my husband would drop my daughter and I off at the airport. I got a call from Allegiant that our flight was delayed until 9 PM. Bummer. But okay, called my sister, she would still pick us up and we would plan on dinner with her. Called Disney dining to cancel the reservation we held for Hungry Bear, the CM I spoke with was kind enough to waive the cancellation fee for us.

We went home instead of to the airport. Tried to get my DD to nap, no such luck. Around six we were packing up to head to the airport again. This time my mom was taking us because my husband was in the middle of dinner and bedtime routines with the other three kiddos. We got a text alert that our flight was now pushed to 12:00 AM… Not just that TSA closed at 10 AM so we needed to be in the airport by then for sure. Not what we wanted to hear. Since we were already on our way to the airport we made a stop at the grocery store. I called my sister. By the time we arrived it would be 1 AM and she had to be up for work at 5:00 AM. No problem, I will get an Uber. Hmmm, never done Uber before let’s do SuperShuttle instead, shared ride, SuperShuttle booked and we were set! My daughter was worried we weren’t going to get to go at all. I was holding my frustration together and said we would be going just very, very, very late. We got some snacks for the airport at the grocery store and a tablet of paper and some crayons, because now I know we would need some extra entertainment while we waited until midnight for our flight. I also decided to grab something for breakfast, making rope drop the next day was not looking likely but I knew I wasn’t going to waste time on breakfast in the morning. So the breakfast of champions it was, Pop Tarts. Not just any Pop Tarts, but chocolate s’mores Pop Tarts because nutrition was already out the window.

My Mom dropped us off at the airport and we were one group of three in line at security so we breezed on through. Since at this point we had five hours to kill we got some dinner at Einstein’s Bagels, it was that or SmashBurger. DD got a bagel with cream cheese and a giant fruit cup and we sat by the window and watched the planes come and go.

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Although she has flown a couple of times she was only 4 the last time and didn’t remember it. I think she was almost more excited to be flying than she was for the actual trip. I couldn’t really blame her it is pretty cool.

We moseyed our way to the gate where we were informed that our flight would be here at 12:30 and they would do their best to get us all on as quickly as possible. Okay. I did feel bad because some people didn’t live here so they didn’t have the option to go home and had been at the airport since 1 PM! The airline was providing free soda and water so we took a couple water bottles and I grabbed a coke and we settled in. I read and my DD colored a picture of her and I walking into the castle at Disneyland. I would post a picture if I could find it. It was really cute. We played I-Spy and walked the the terminal (only one terminal at our airport), she inspected all the games in a very small arcade. I wasn’t going to pay to do those but she decided to spend one dollar of her own money to ride some little rocking tractor.

She was getting tired but wouldn’t give in. I offered to let her sleep in my lap, but she declined. I got her hair things out of our suitcase and double french braided her hair. Then I at least knew we wouldn’t have to do her hair in the morning.

Finally at 12:20 they began boarding the plane! Yay!

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Then we waited. Everyone was boarded and buckled, there were a number of cranky people and a crying toddler, poor little guy. We sat there for 30 minutes at the gate! I was really working to keep a lid on my frustration. Finally, we were cleared for takeoff and off we went!

About 10 minutes into the flight this was my daughter:

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We finally landed in LAX at 2 AM. I had to wake my daughter up because there was no way I could carry her. She was a good sport and immediately perked up. She said we could go to Disneyland tonight for just a little bit. I guess I hadn’t explained that the delay meant we couldn’t go right when we got there. I had to dash those hopes as we made our way to the SuperShuttle pick up. Found it and walked right into a van. We ended up being one of three groups, one of which were a couple from our flight. And of course we were the last to be dropped off.

Finally at 3:30 CA time (4:30 from home) we were in our hotel room, the last to pick up our travel package from the front desk for the day. We changed into pajamas and snuggled into bed. I told my daughter that I wasn’t going to set an alarm (which was super hard for me) and that she should just wake me up when she was awake and ready to go. She agreed to that and I think we were both asleep before our heads hit the pillow.
 
Hello! Following along :) How awesome to have such a special one on one trip with your DD! I am hoping to do that with each of my girls - we’ve gone as a family twice, but I think it would be so fun to take them each on a mommy & daughter trip too! I’m sorry your travel day started out with such a long delay and then a late night, that’s rough! It sounds like you were able to make the best of it and you made it! Woohoo! Looking forward to reading more of your TR :)
 


Oh my goodness, what an adventurous start!! (Not in a good way, haha) But did you mean 2019 instead of 2017 in the title? Allegiant has good prices, but can be a huge pain! I feel like it was Allegiant I was flying when I was coming home (sans husband, with a 10-month-old) when our flight got delayed like 5 hours and didn't leave until 11 pm too. :P Such a pain! I'm so excited to read how the rest of your trip went though! And not being able to be up early for rope drop that first day (because of exhaustion) would be so hard for me too!!
 
Day 1 Monday April 29th

I woke up at 7 AM because we could hear the garbage truck dumping the trash. Then all kinds of hustle and bustle going on in the parking lot. I was able to doze on and off. At 8:30 my daughter snuggled up next to me but she didn’t say anything and wasn’t moving. Finally I asked if she was awake. She said yes. I asked if she was ready to go. She said “yes!” She sprang out of bed and we scrambled to get dressed. I organized our ticket package from Costco. We had the tickets and could go straight to the gate, and also a $145 gift card which ended up paying for most of our meals. My daughter accused me of being slow to get ready, something I have never been told in my life when getting ready to visit a Disney Park.

We opened the door dressed in shorts and t-shirts ready to go. Only it was raining. Scramble back in for jackets and off we go Pop Tarts in hand!

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The security line at the Harbor entrance was pretty backed up, I think it was about 9:10 when we got in line. I don’t remember exactly how long it took but we were into Disneyland before 10. I got Maxpass added to our tickets and was ready to experiment. We got an almost instant fastpass for Buzz and headed that direction.

We were in and through that line in no time. As soon as we were off I grabbed a Maxpass for Star Tours but it as a bit of time away so we headed to Matterhorn but my daughter was distracted by this:

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She loves this thing. I don’t understand the fascination but I was working hard to try to let her direct things as much as possible on this trip since it was just the two of us. We then decided to do Matterhorn while we waited for Star Tours to become available. The wait was only 25 minutes at 10:15 AM.

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She had ridden this last year and said she wanted to do it again. When we got off she said the Abominable Snowman scared her. I said no problem we didn’t have to do it again.

Our fastpass was up for Star Tours so we did that next. She laughed excitedly through the whole thing! She has seen the original trilogy and Force Awakens. But I don’t think she particularly cared that it was Star Wars. I guess I’m not doing my job properly!

I grabbed another Maxpass for Space Mountain. We decided it was time for a snack. One of my favorite things is a pretzel with cream cheese filling! We were able to get one right there at the pretzel cart in Tomorrowland. Pretzel in hand we decided to do Auropia and my daughter decided she needed to go to the bathroom right NOW! Turns out she hadn’t gone in the hotel room before we left. Yikes! So we took turns holding the pretzel and using the bathroom. Some of my favorite bathrooms are the ones in front of the Tomorrowland train station, by the Star Wars Launch Bay. There are never very many people in there and it is kind of a nice, quieter little corner of the park.

The line for Autopia was posted at 30 minutes but I don’t think it was that long. It went very fast at any rate and was basically a continuous walk. We ate our pretzel and applied some sunscreen as the clouds had definitely cleared and we were getting warm.

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I’m not a fan of Autopia and usually try to talk the kids who are with us out of doing it but since it was just DD and I she got to pick, even if that meant we rode it. She loved getting to drive.

By the time DD was done driving we were ready for Space Mountain! The fastpass line was alarmingly long, backed all the way out by Pizza Planet. However, I guess it was just backed up by people not scanning their passes correctly. Speaking of! I decided to wear one of my pin trading lanyards from years ago and get a clear plastic ID tag holder. I put DD’s ticket barcode side out on one side and mine on the other. Super convenient, scan, flip and scan!

We decided it was time for lunch and spent a couple of minutes deciding what we wanted to do. DD decided she wanted macaroni and cheese and I wanted BBQ so we took the train around to French Market. Where we had a relaxing lunch sitting and talking about what we had done so far and what we wanted to do next. We decided to grab a fastpass for Splash Mountain but it was about an hour and a half out. We listened to some live music there in New Orleans Square, the Bootstrappers maybe?

We sailed out to Tom Sawyer’s Pirate Island DD ran around for an hour. She really liked it and I didn’t pressure her to leave or do anything.

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Not a place I usually want to hang out because it takes so long and I feel like we burn a lot of day here but eventually we were ready to go and caught the next raft back to the mainland. It was time for our Splash Mountain pass! DD was particularly excited about this because last year when we were there it was under refurbishment and she was really sorry to miss it. So there was a lot of excitement behind this ride!

She was very excited to be in the front of the log. Me not so much.

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You can see we were already pretty wet. The inside drop soaked us! DD more than me. When we were done she declared it her favorite ride!

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Next we headed to Indiana Jones. I had made a fastpass either on the island or after we scanned in at Splash Mountain. I don’t recall which. DD was willing to try Indiana Jones, she had done it last year and did not like it at all. But she insisted she was older this year and that she wouldn’t be scared. Well once we were in the temple she wanted to back out. She was getting jittery. I talked her into staying, we were already in line! She was a champ although she was freaking out as we got in the car. I told her to just close her eyes and hold my hand. Which she did. Once we were off she was more subdued. I assured her we wouldn’t ride it again.

I let her pick what to do and we kind of mosied around to the Hub. She saw Astro Orbiter and decided that was what she really wanted to do. This line was long. Like 30 minutes so we grabbed a cotton candy to eat in line, and this line was every bit of 30 minutes. We were almost there. Probably going to be in the next one or two rotations and DD declared she had to go to the bathroom right NOW! This is a thing for her. Even at home. She ignores needing to use the bathroom until it is practically an emergency. I tried to talk her into waiting, we were almost there! But she was dancing and almost crying. So I maybe did a questionable parenting thing. I let her get out of line, but I stayed in. I pointed her to the bathrooms next to Plaza Inn. I could see them from the line. Then I let people pass me while I waited for her. I saw her enter the bathroom and then we waited. It felt like a really long time, probably not, I think it was two rotations of the ride. I was beginning to think I should just jump out of line and go get her when she came out. I could see she was a little turned around and wasn’t sure where to go. But she saw the ride and headed towards it. I was able to call her and she saw me. Then I helped her climb over the barrier and we rode Astro Orbiter.

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Selfie on the ride in which you can see my hand because I was really afraid I was going to drop my phone.

Afterward we wandered through the Hub and took some pictures.

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Then through the left side of the castle when we ran into Peter Pan! She has a particular fondness for Peter Pan so she was really excited to see him.

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The Soundsational Parade was supposed to be at 6:00 and we knew we wanted to do that. Next we were in line for the Carousel and I decided to use mobile ordering and order dinner from the Launching Pad. When we were done with the carousel DD tried really hard to pull the sword from the stone.

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Her whole face was turning red!

A picture with the dragon background. I wish we had gone over and got a closer one.

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Then we ran over to pick-up our dinner. That was super smooth! The app told us which window to walk up to and I let them know our order number. We grabbed it and walked down the street to find a spot to watch the parade. Of course, DD had to go to the bathroom so I held the food and she ducked into the Alice in Wonderland bathrooms. There were plenty of curbside spots when we were walking to the bathrooms. But apparently the time it took DD to use the restroom (there was a line out the door!) was when everyone else began to think about parade viewing because there was nothing left when we were ready to sit down! We walked towards Small World and I decided second row would work and we managed to sit down right behind a family with two kids in strollers and two parents and grandma on the ground. We were right next to Storybook Land Canals. We got out our food sorted and spent the next 20-30 minutes enjoying our food and waiting for the parade.

Now this might have been my favorite part of our trip. DD was so excited about the parade. She was bouncing up and down and exclaiming over everyone that she saw and waving. She would constantly look at me to see if I was seeing what she was seeing. She was so into it the family in front of us offered to squish up so she could be on the curb. The mom even told me “she is so excited! It’s making me cry!” It was making me tear up a bit myself, the unbridled enthusiasm was so sweet!

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She was so cute! I have a video but not sure I can figure out how to post it. Maybe I’ll try.

We rode It’s a Small World immediately after the parade. It wasn’t quite a walk on but it was a very short wait and by the time we were done the parade crowds had simmered down. We wandered over to Toon Town and went through Goofy’s house and Donald’s house, we wanted to meet Mickey but there was quite a wait and my sister had texted that she was at the hotel and was going to head over to the parks.

We met my sis in the esplanade. We browsed World of Disney. DD was looking for something for us to take home for her sisters and brother. Then we decided we needed a snack. We went into Sprinkles. There wasn’t much left that appealed to us so we were going to split a chocolate chip cookie, we had already had so much! However, DD decided she wanted her own and I told her we should share. The cashier overheard us and she gave us the second cookie free! My daughter was delighted to get her own cookie! It was such an unexpected and sweet little bit of pixie dust!

It was getting late and we were all tired. So we headed out across the esplanade to get back to our room.

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Perfect timing for our picture!

I was really pleased with how well DD did. She didn’t get much sleep but she gave the day her all! We got back to the room and she took a bath and got in her pajamas and she was out like a light!
 


What an awesome day! So much fun, and such great memories! I love that she loved Soundsational so much. We never watched parades much as a kid (other than the MSEP, my dad didn't care for them) but when I took my kids the first time, and saw their wonder and excitement, I was hooked! She looks like she was having the best day ever!
 
Sounds like a great day! I love the last picture with the Mickey fireworks, great timing!! Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!
 
Sounds like a fun trip so far! I love you you are allowing your daughter to call the shots. I'm sure it'll be a trip she'll always remember and cherish! :-)
 
We never watched parades much as a kid (other than the MSEP, my dad didn't care for them) but when I took my kids the first time, and saw their wonder and excitement, I was hooked! She looks like she was having the best day ever!

When we were little my parents always took us to watch the parades but when we became teenagers we always skipped it in favor of the rides but now I don't think I can ever miss them again!

I’m enjoying reading about your trip!

Thank you!

Sounds like a great day! I love the last picture with the Mickey fireworks, great timing!! Looking forward to hearing more about your trip!

It was so much fun! Thanks for reading!

Sounds like a fun trip so far! I love you you are allowing your daughter to call the shots. I'm sure it'll be a trip she'll always remember and cherish! :-)

It was wonderful! It was hard for me to give up some control but I'm hoping it will be a great memory for her!
 
Day 2 Tuesday April 30th

My sister stayed the night with us and was going to stay the next couple of days. We were all up and ready before 8:30. My sister was up pretty early, around 6 but luckily the room we were staying in had a curtain to block the area by the sink and bathroom so she stayed in there and let us sleep. Then around 7:30 she began not being as careful with the noise so that we would start to wake up. Which we did!

We headed out to Panera, which was in the same parking lot as our hotel, around 8:00. We were able to order some breakfast which was nice and take our time eating. Around 8:30 we were at the Harbor security line. It wasn’t as backed up as the day before and we were soon through, which was nice. By this point the gates for CA Adventure were already open so we didn’t have a long line to stand in because it was already moving.

We stood with the folks getting ready to head down towards Pixar Pier. I got all our tickets on Maxpss and got a pass for Radiator Springs Racers. If I remember correctly it was for 12:30, but I don’t know for sure. Our plan was to start with Toy Story Midway Mania!

They dropped the rope a little before 9 and we walked with purpose down the street, losing a big chunk of the crowd at Carsland. And were able to take this picture at 9:01

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Unfortunately, Toy Story was closed, so we and about half the crowd decided to do the Incredicoaster. We hadn’t been on since it became the Incredicoaster and DD had not been on at all. She insisted she wanted to ride with my sister. When we got off she was a little stunned. My sister said she was laughing crazily up until the loop then there was just dead silence. My sister said she kept trying to get a look at DD but she couldn’t really see her over the seat harness. Although it was a little shocking for her she insisted she loved it! In fact, when asked what her favorite ride is she tells me the Incredicoaster. We even tried to ride it one more time but it ended up they kicked everyone out of the queue and we were thwarted, there were tears.

Toy Story was still down when we were done with Incredicoaster so we explored the Pier a little bit. We went into Bing Bong’s sweet stuff. There were some cute apples. I have never had an apple there, I don’t know how you would eat it! Will they slice them for you?

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And we found this:

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Next we walked onto the Ferris Wheel, non swinging. We were hoping Toy Story would start running while we were in the vicinity. No such luck. So we continued our way around the water. We decided to grab a Maxpass for World of Color. We basically walked on to Goofy’s Sky School. I don’t know why but that one makes me laugh. It is pretty intense for such a small coaster.

We kept checking for Toy Story, no luck. So we walked onto Jumpin’ Jellyfish. I got to sit by myself and the Cast Member asked me to keep an eye on my invisible partner. So I pretended to put an arm around someone. He laughed. In my family there are three kids so someone always ends up alone, we always called our invisible partner Georgie. Not sure why. I pretended to ride with Georgie.

Toy Story Midway Mania came back online around this time but we decided to head towards RSR. We were walking up and the entrance was blocked. Out fastpass was all of a sudden anytime attraction. We weren’t sure what to do so we just jumped into Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree and discussed our options.

We could now get another Maxpass and were going to get one for Toy Story but it was for pretty late in the afternoon so we decided to use our anytime pass on that. We are not big Cars fans and I will do Radiator Springs Racers if convenient but it really isn’t my favorite and we would rather ensure a ride on Tory Story and grab another pass for Guardians of the Galaxy.

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After Toy Story we headed over to Hollywood Land. Our mission for the afternoon was to meet as many Superheros as possible! There was actually an After Hours event that night, Heroes Assemble. We were going back and forth on trying to do. It was for 9 PM-1 AM. My sister kept saying, “if we knew what kind of special events would be offered…” We ended up not doing it but we debated all the way up until World of Color.

My daughter saw Captain America first and we jumped in line. They told us the line would be about an hour. We then agonized over if we should stay in that line. Then we saw these two and decided to jump into their line instead:

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My daughter’s objective was Spider-man, who didn’t even have a line yet. So we jumped in Black Panther’s line right before they ended up closing it.

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I was very impressed with Black Panther’s flexibility! Yikes!

We then got in the Spider-man line. There was already a long line and he wasn’t even there yet. They kept having everyone scoot up. Then before he was even out the closed the line. I was glad we decided to do that. My sister said she would rather meet Thor and Loki who were supposed to be out in 15 minutes. I told her she would be disappointed if it was Endgame Thor.

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They ended up being the only characters without a Photopass photographer but she just asked the family behind her to take a picture for her.

We ended up waiting for Spider-Man for 45 minutes. By the time he came out and it was our turn. I think that was the longest line we stood in the entire trip! But it was worth it! My daughter was so excited! She was literally bouncing up and down!

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By the time we were done with Spider-man it was perfect timing for our Guardians of the Galaxy passes! My sister insists she likes that ride but she is genuinely freaked out every time we ride! While in line I grabbed us a Fastpass for Soarin’ that was up almost immediately after we were done.

As soon as we scanned in at Soarin’ I was able to grab a pass for Grizzly River Rapids. Although my sister declined. The Grizzly pass was good practically immediately. My sister went in search of a snack and DD and I headed for the rapids. The line was pretty long but it seemed to be because people were having trouble scanning in. Once we were passed the checkpoint we walked onto a raft.

We were both pretty soaked after that one. I find I consistently get soaked on this, although my DD was not nearly as wet as she was after Splash Mountain. We had purposefully planned this so that we could head back to the hotel to change if we needed. We went back to the hotel and changed clothes then my sister drove us to In-n-out Burger. This is my favorite place to get a burger! My family lived in the Phoenix area for most of my life and I remember the first one opening down there. It became a regular thing that my Grammy would come get us all for lunch at In-n-Out on Fridays. I may have influenced my kids to call it “Best Burger”.

This ended up being the perfect little break. We ate dinner, changed clothes, and shoes because they got wet and headed back to CA Adventure. Walking down the Boulevard we say Mickey with a fairly short line so we jumped in.

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Then right around the corner was Minnie! I love their Boulevard looks!

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We had some time to kill before we were going to line up for World of Color. Philharmagic had opened up just a couple of days before we got there. There was no one in line and the theatre was barely full. I loved this show in Magic Kingdom and was disappointed they hadn’t advertised better for it. I really hope it will be popular. We enjoyed it anyway!

Then we split up. My daughter and I went to get in line for Incredicoaster and my sister went to get snacks for waiting for World of Color. As I said earlier we stood in line for it, probably for 20 minutes before they made the announcement that they were closing. Part of me wonders if it was because of the time until World of Color started? My daughter was severely disappointed and was crying. To soothe the tears we got her a cotton candy to eat and I got a Mickey Ice Cream bar and we went to find my sister.

She was waiting for us near the entrance to our section (don’t remember now which color it was). The first few rails we came upon were already stacked a couple of people deep. We pressed on to the round area, just below the dining reservations area. There was one family in front of us that I figured my daughter could see over and around some of their kids, then a walkway then a planter. I love this show but the viewing is really difficult I’m pretty short and don’t think I would ever do this with all the kids because my sister and I were planning to trade off giving my daughter a piggy back boost if she needed it and if we were there with all four kids not sure we would be able to make it work. Right before the show started the family in front of us offered to squish up so we could join them. It would have been really crowded if we all did that but I told them if my daughter could come up we would appreciate it. She ended up standing right against the rope and could see over the planter perfectly! I really appreciated both families that allowed my daughter to be a little closer and have a better view in both of the shows we watched!

Again my sweet girl was delighted with the show. Something would happen and she would turn to make sure I had seen it as well. She was all excitement and joy!

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That was the perfect way to end the evening. We slowly meandered our way out of the park. My daughter was pretty tired but I insisted she take another bath. I can’t stand the idea of going to bed with park all over! She was out even faster than the previous night.

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Oh, so much fun! I love the spidey pics! I'm so glad they were able to fit her in, and offered to do it! I am not that interested in trying to see that show with our little tribe. We did it in 2013 with just 3 littles and it was stressful, though we got a good view. It sounds a little too intense for us now!
I love that last picture of her asleep. <3
 
Wednesday May 1st

Our last day! It had gone so fast we were sorry for it to be the last day so we were up and ready to go! The only day we made a true opening. We got dressed and headed to McDonald’s for breakfast. It wasn’t too busy. We used the self ordering option and found a table right away. Security that morning was the fastest we had and we were about twenty people from the turnstiles at about 8:15, I think. The time is fuzzy in my memory.

I know we weren’t in a hurry when we scanned in and headed with the crowds to the Hub.

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This was at 8:55. We were primed and ready for rope drop. We didn’t have any particular attraction in mind but we were going to knock out what we could of Fantasyland. We walked on to Snow White’s Scary Adventure, Pinnocchio’s Daring Journey, Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride and Mad Tea Party.

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Then we waited about 20 minutes for Alice in Wonderland. While in line I grabbed a Matterhorn Maxpass. My sister wanted to ride and despite her hesitancy on the first day DD decided she was willing to try it again. Matterhorn after Alice and we only stood in line for maybe five minutes. As soon as we scanned in to Matterhorn I grabbed a Maxpass for Space Mountain

After that we headed to It’s a Small World. On the way we ran into Peter Pan and Captain Hook! They were having a good time teasing one another and we watched and got pictures with them.

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She was showing Peter Pan a coin she had found on the street that morning and he was showing her how to flip it and calling heads and tails.

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We waited about 15 minutes for Small World. At this point we had only been in the park for about an hour. My sister usually has no plan whatsoever when visiting Disneyland so I was pleased when she commented how much we had done and I hadn’t made her feel rushed at all.

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We did Space Mountain and I got a Buzz Lightyear Maxpass which was good almost immediately. After Space we headed over there. I had missed a call from a guy who was supposed to be putting in sprinklers at our house so my sister and daughter did Buzz and I ducked out of line to call them back.

We met back up and headed to Finding Nemo Submarines. My sister wanted to do Indiana Jones and DD refused to do that one again. I made a Maxpass for one for Indiana Jones and for DD and I passes for Star Tours. My sister gets motion sick on Star Tours and was happy to miss that.

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We decided it was time for lunch. I know some people can’t stand it but we really like the pizza at, what is now, Alien Pizza Planet. We all got a slice of pizza and I shared a side salad with my sister. I think there was some confusion over if it was open. They were under construction still at that time and we didn’t have to wait in line at all for our food.

Then we split up. My daughter and I headed to Star Tours. I don’t remember what scenes we got but they were different than our first ride on Monday. We got off and I had a text message that Indiana Jones was temporarily down so my sister was standing in line for Pirates instead. My daughter and I made our way towards New Orleans Square. I knew that it would take a little while to get through Pirates so when we saw the Main Street vehicles out we caught a ride to the front of the park on a horse trolley.

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We listened to the Dapper Dans on Main Street for a minute then rode a motor car back to the Hub.

We met back up with my sister and were supposed to use a Maxpass for Haunted Mansion but it was down and our passes were available for any other attraction. It took some convincing to get my sister to agree but it was decided to use it on Splash Mountain. She did NOT want to get wet. I told her we could ask for the back of the log and she grudgingly agreed.

A snack while in line.

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I think this was her fourth cotton candy. She wanted one every time I let her choose a treat.

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My daughter rode with my sister most of the day when we were all together. She loves and misses my sister and was not looking forward to her leaving us later today.

It was an excellent trip through the Briar Patch. I didn’t realize what a goofy face my sister was making until I was putting this trip report together!

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I grabbed a Big Thunder Mountain Maxpass but it was a ways off so we decided it was time for a dole whip. On the way over I mobile ordered us a couple of dole whips and we were going to enjoy them in the Enchanted Tiki Room. When we passed the Tropical Hideaway the line was back out near the Jungle Cruise but there were only three people in-line for dole whips in the Tiki Room.

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I really like the Enchanted Tiki Room. I always remember going with my little cousin once, she was only three and had been walking the entire day and when we were going into the Tiki Room she said “I hope they have beds in here.” She did get a nap but it was on my sister and not in a bed.

Next we rode the Jungle Cruise. We had an amazing skipper! This ride depends so much on the skipper it is always disappointing when we get one who is not quite on their game.

My sister still had her anytime/attraction pass from Indiana Jones, and since it was up again she decided to use that on Indiana Jones. We waited for her then all headed over to Big Thunder for a Maxpass. As soon as we scanned in for our Wildest Ride in the Wilderness I was able to get us a Maxpass for Haunted Mansion.

My sister was beginning to think about leaving. She had to work tomorrow and didn’t want to be out too late. She agreed to do the parade with us and we went to get a spot for that. We had a little harder time getting a spot today and walked all the way down to It’s a Small World and sat on the steps there. I was able to mobile order some corn on the cob from Edelweiss Snacks. I got us each a corn on the cob, chili lime for my sister and me and a plain one for my daughter and a coke. My sister ran and picked up our snack/dinner and my daughter and I guarded our seats. She returned just in time for the parade.

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We were going to do Peter Pan but my sister said she would rather ride Pirates again. That was going to be her last attractions then she was going to head back to the hotel for her car and to go home. We decided to grab the train at ToonTown Station and ride around to New Orleans Square. I love using the train for transportation, it doesn’t actually save time but it is a nice break and you get to go somewhere. We rode Pirates with a minimal wait and then had to say our goodbyes. I was glad my sister got to join us for a couple of days and we were sorry she had to leave but luckily we would see her in a couple of weeks when her assignment in CA ended.

I talked to my daughter and asked if she was ready for Peter Pan. I was torn on whether we should start thinking about leaving as well. We had a SuperShuttle picking us up at 5:00 in the morning. I was not looking forward to that but neither was I wanting to leave while the park was still open! I was trying to gauge how tired my daughter was, she then begged to close the park, which was midnight. So we tentatively planned to close down the park and headed back to Fantasyland.

Peter Pan had a line of course but it wasn’t too bad. I think we waited about 25 minutes. We hadn’t had a real meal since lunch so we decided to share a burger at the Red Rose Tavern before heading over to watch the fireworks and Mickey’s Mix Magic on Main Street. We got treats and settled in the street to wait for the show. Unfortunately, of every evening of our visit, this was the only one where they had to cancel the fireworks. It is nice that even if the fireworks are cancelled they had the projections but I was not impressed. I do not like the new style of the Mickey cartoons at all. I think they are so ugly! But my daughter was delighted so that was all that mattered.

I then gave my daughter free reign. I told her she could pick whatever she wanted and we would get as much done as we could before they kicked us out! She was ecstatic and the first thing she picked was the carousel. Definitely not what I would have chosen but this was about her!

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It was 10:15 and I wasn’t sure what we would be able to do. Next up we stood in line for Dumbo, ironically there was a couple in line behind us who we had shared a shuttle with on the way from the airport on Sunday, or Monday morning as it had turned out. I didn’t realize that with the new Dumbo system you had to go to the elephant that had the number you were standing on in-line and tried to let my daughter choose. Well the people whose elephant we took were all peeved at us. We switched because I didn’t mean to take theirs but it was a couple of adults and I thought they could have just let us have the pink one but it was my misunderstanding. Either way we still got to soar with Dumbo. When we got off we had less than an hour left. My daughter didn’t know what to do next. We decided on Big Thunder and hoping we would get off in time to hoof it over to Pirates. The wait was about 15 minutes. It was 11:55 when we got off! We walked very quickly to Pirates of the Carribbean. On the way I kept up a litany of warnings that they may have already closed or we wouldn’t get there in time to get on before they closed for the night but we made it!! She was all giggles in line that we had made it. We ended up on the last boat! Then we walked slowly out of the park. It was nice and quiet, we walked through a couple of stores then headed to the hotel.

We had quick showers and my daughter went to bed while I finished packing. I was paranoid I would miss the alarm in the morning. I set it for 4:30 and then set another one for five minutes later, turned it on as high as I could and set a different alarm sound than I normally did.

Traveling home was no fuss. I did wake up for my alarm. We were the last group to be picked up, the same couple we had rode to the hotel with when we arrived, and ran into at Disneyland were also on our shuttle. The flight was on time this time and we made it home safe and sound.

It was so much fun to just take my oldest daughter. I had a great time with her and hope it is a trip she will remember fondly. I’m hoping that I can take each of my kids by themselves as they get older. If I have it my way, I will make a trip with my next daughter, currently five, next year. I’m not sure it will work out for next year but I can dream! In the meantime I talked my husband into a trip in December. My parents are going to go with us and maybe my mother-in-law. We’ll see. I like having my next trip lined up! I may try to figure out a financial way to get me an annual pass because I also want to go to Dapper Days with one of my best friends. It should be justifiable, December, Dapper Days and a trip with my next daughter, three more trips. It’s really my husband I have to convince it will work!
 
Great trip report - thank you for sharing! Your daughter is adorable and it looks like the two of you had a magical time. :)
 
I'm so impressed that you stayed that late with a super early morning the next day! Way to be the fun mom, haha! :) So much fun! I, myself, don't enjoy pirates late at night. It's a little spooky in there, and I like walking out into the sunlight after, haha! What great memories you made, and what a lot you accomplished!
 
Great trip report - thank you for sharing! Your daughter is adorable and it looks like the two of you had a magical time. :)

Thanks! She is so much fun!

I'm so impressed that you stayed that late with a super early morning the next day! Way to be the fun mom, haha! :) So much fun! I, myself, don't enjoy pirates late at night. It's a little spooky in there, and I like walking out into the sunlight after, haha! What great memories you made, and what a lot you accomplished!

I hate to leave while there is time on the clock! Especially the last night. My dad used to always stay with whoever was willing to close the park growing up and I intend to do that with my kids when able to! Haha, I get what you're saying about Pirates but it is such a long ride we felt like we cheated the closing time!
 

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