No Emergency Room Trips this Trip! 6 nts at DLH July 2013 *completed 10/15/2013*

[Rubygoose]

Park Day 5 cont
Around 3:00 maybe?
Park Entrance #5, hop #4

We left the Frontier tower, recharged and refreshed from our swim... well, all of us except Gavin. I think he was asleep in the stroller before we made it to bag check. We took our preferred route into DCA, partway through DTD then used the GCH entrance. The CM at bag check this time definitely had a quick sense of humor, which was a surprise, as all of the other times we've been through bag check they had been so serious. Bryan opened up the backpack and the CM looked him straight in the eye and asked "You got any mouse traps in there?" We shook our heads and giggled a little. Then we showed him our snack bag and he asked "Any poison apples in there?" Next we went to the gate and showed them our hand stamps, which were pretty much washed off from our time in the pool, but the CM was really understanding and reminded us to get another stamp when we left. I was really surprised that our stamps were washed off, as we had gotten 3 of them already!

I really wanted to check out Dancing with Disney, which was only on from 1pm-5pm, and we just hadn't been in DCA during the afternoon on our previous days (since we were always over in DL riding splash mountain!) I wanted to check this out on our 2012 trip as well, but since it was September, it was only on the weekends. We had one weekend day that trip, and this is what the family was up to when we were in DCA between 1pm and 5pm in Sept 2012...



So, we headed over to Stage 17 to do some dancin'. Unfortunately, Gavin was sound asleep in the stroller. When we got there, it was the Ladies (I think it rotates between ladies and villains, but several of these ladies I would also consider villains.)

Annie found Clairabelle Cow.


I danced with the Queen of Hearts



And we saw Daisy again! I didn't think she existed in the parks, as we hadn't seen her on previous trips, but this trip we saw her twice.


Gavin, though, was just way too sleepy to dance.


Cruella DeVille was fantastic! She commanded the children as if they were dogs!






Bryan told me that she kept telling him to jump up and down while he was trying to take pictures, and she was speaking so sternly that he had to oblige!

Then we found Marie from the Arista Cats. (I'm having way too much fun! This picture shows just how much this trip was for me, and we only had kids so that we could do fun stuff like this!)

 

[Rubygoose]

Park day 5 cont

After we did a bit of dancin', we put Gavin, still sound asleep, into the stroller and tried to decide what to do before getting a spot for the Pixar Parade. By this time it was getting very crowded and very hot, so we took a stroll through Bugs Land to cool down.

We found Flick, and since the kids had recently watched A Bugs Life, we went to get his autograph (in the past, they didn't know who he was, so we didn't bother with a meet and greet.)



Gavin was still asleep, so I had to collect Flick's autograph on his behalf.


Bryan took Annie on the Lady Bug Spin, and it was a pretty long wait. I sat on a bench and waited while Gavin snoozed in the stroller some more.


After spending some time in Bugs Land, we headed over to Paradise Pier area to find a bench for the 5pm Pixar Parade. We found a bench in front of Wine Country Trattoria. Bryan gave Annie a snack and I headed over to Screamin to do rider swap. Annie really wanted to ride this, but is no where near the height requirement. I rode it in 2012 and couldn't wait to go again. Bryan didn't want to ride because he was worried it would bother his neck, but I told him it was better than space mountain in terms of being smooth. So, I headed over to Screamin and asked the CM if I could do single rider and get a rider swap card. I really wanted Bryan to be able to experience this ride, even though he had to interest in it whatsoever! The CM told me that I couldn't get a swap card doing single rider, but the standby wait time was only 10 minutes, so she gave me a swap card and I got into the line. This was when I was starting to get really frustrated with how many line jumpers I saw. Since I'm a teacher, and I'd recently taught kindergarten, I was so tempted to shout "no budging!" like my students would always say when someone cut in line. But, I bit my tongue and just quietly scoffed while kids were climbing over the rails to meet up with their friends. And then I saw something that cheered me up. A boy a little ways behind me in line, about 13 years old I think, was trying to meet up with his friend who was quite a ways ahead of us in line (who was wearing a pink shirt). The boy in the pink shirt, also about 13 years old, shouted to his friend "don't go ahead of all those people! I'll wait here!" and he let people go ahead of him until his friend caught up to him. They ended up behind me on the ride, so before the ride started, I let them know that they did the right thing.

I ended up riding with a man named Patrick, which I remember because my cat's name it Patrick. He was in line with 2 of his 4 kids, who ended up waiting so that they could ride in the front.



I look pretty calm in this photo, but I sure wasn't calm on most of this ride! I think the camera is set up at the only very straight, flat part of the track. When I got off the ride, I was shaking and I just loved it so much!

Then I headed over to the bench Bryan claimed and saw that Gavin was starting to wake up, just in time for the parade. I gave Bryan the rider swap card for CS, but he didn't think he had enough time before the parade started (he had plenty of time, but I think he just didn't want to ride it!)

I remembered this parade from last year, and really enjoyed it in 2012. They have added a bit more to the Monster's part, making it more Monster's University themed.



But they still have the guys that make sure we're not contaminating the place!


Gavin and I couldn't help but shout "Mike Wazowski" when we saw him!


My favourite part of this parade, the caterpillar!


I think I should go through our pictures and count how many times the kids did "knuckles" throughout our trip!


After the parade, we took a quick trip under the sea to enjoy the air conditioning!


We waved goodbye to DCA, and headed back to DL since I still had a Matterhorn rider swap card in my pocket and Annie was begging me to ride with her.

 

[Rubygoose]

Day 5 conclusion
Around 5:30pm
Park hop #5, Park entrance #6 (ok, I guess I lied saying that we park hopped 6 times! We entered a park 6 times today!)

When we left DCA I was starting to get a bit of the end of trip blues. I was also getting really hungry. We decided to go to Tomorrow Land Terrace for dinner, which ended up being a big mistake! The park was getting very crowded, and Tomorrowland Terrace was probably the most crowded QS we could have chosen.

Here's what the crowd looked like as we walked into Tomorrowland.


We got through the sea of people and quickly claimed a table. Bryan and the kids waited at the table while I waited in line.

They waited...


And waited...


And smacked each other on the head a few times.


Meanwhile, I stood in line. I'm pretty sure I waited 20 minutes before I even got to order, then I had to wait for my order to be ready. I was starting to get really dizzy and lightheaded while I waited, so I didn't even find any strangers to chat with like I normally do. At this QS they ask you your name so that they can call you by name when your order is ready. I go by Kati, but my name is actually Kathini. Since I used my credit card, they just got my name from my card. When my order was finally ready (at least 30 minutes after I started standing in line) they CM called "Kathini!" and pronounced it perfectly. I went up to get my order and noticed that some of it was missing. So, then the guy behind me in line says to me "I think that may be my order." At this point I was tired, hungry, dizzy and MAD so I very rudely told the man "He called my name. This is MY food!" The man then asks "Well, what name did he call" and I answered "Kathini! Is your name Kathini?" He shook his head. I felt bad for being to rude, but there's no way I was going to let that man take my food! I'm guessing he probably had a gender neutral name like Chris or Jesse and thought that I could have thought his order was my order. Finally, the rest of my order showed up and I brought the food to my ravenous family. Only, Annie wasn't hungry at all, so we had to wait for her to dance around and sing songs while she should have been eating her dinner.

After dinner, Annie and I went on the Matterhorn. I'm really glad we saved this ride for our last day, because just like Goofy's sky school, Annie loved it and I couldn't really see myself wanting to go on it again in the near future.

Annie and I then headed over to the tea cups where we saw Bryan and Gavin waiting in line. I rode the tea cups in 2011 and once was enough for me. Annie really wanted to go on it, but Bryan and Gavin were already boarding and I didn't want her to jump the line. So, I took her over to the wheelchair access line and pointed out where the other part of our family was and sent her over to them.



You can see in this picture that Annie is starting to get overtired and extremely hyper once again. I think over the course of our trip she probably got about 1/4 of the sleep she usually gets at home.


After the tea cups, Bryan and I realized that we should probably let the kids ride the carousel. Every time they wanted to ride it was usually during EE and we were racing to rides like Peter Pan or Dumbo, and we would tell them "We can ride carousels any time." And then we realized that we hadn't actually let them ride at all.





After riding the carousel, we tried to pull the sword from the stone. No luck. It wouldn't budge.


Our trip was quickly coming to an end and we had an 8am flight the next day. But we snuck in a ride on Pinocchio.



Then we wanted to finish up our trip by riding Small World. Bryan had figured out which side to line up on, but I can't remember if it was left or right. It was whichever side the wheelchair line doesn't join up with. As we were waiting in line, the sun was setting which looked quite beautiful as the Small World was lit up.



Right before we got onto the boat, Annie noticed that there were coins in the water and begged me for a coin to throw in. I didn't want to bother with that since it was time to get on the boat. Well, hyper, overtired Annie decided she would spend the entire 10 minute ride looking over the side of the boat to see if there were pennies in the water! Finally I snapped at her to sit down properly and then she starting bawling! Which made me start bawling!

You can't see it from this picture, but the two of us are crying our eyes out!


When we got off Small World, our final ride of the trip, the sun had completely set, yet I put my sunglasses on since I was crying so much! I had promised Annie that I would buy her a t-shirt, so on our way out, we stopped at a shop on Mainstreet. I grabbed 5 shirts in her size for her to choose from, and she chose Ariel. We started making our final walk down mainstreet towards the park entrance.





But first, we popped into the movie theater to see what was even in there! The kids stood up on the platform in the middle and were excited to watch all of the cartoons at once. Finally, we waved goodbye to Disneyland.

 

[kaoden39]

It's always so hard to leave. I start planning our next trip wile I am on the current one. I may plan silently but I am planning. I hope you have recovered from the after the trip blues.

 

[Rubygoose]

It's always so hard to leave. I start planning our next trip wile I am on the current one. I may plan silently but I am planning. I hope you have recovered from the after the trip blues.

I've been planning lots of Disney trips in my mind, including a trip to WDW and a Disney Cruise, but they won't be happening any time soon. Next summer we might do a cross Canada roadtrip and then I'm starting a 16 month course next fall to earn my special education teaching certificate. So, maybe 3 summers from now we'll get to WDW, and by then the kids may be old enough for a trip like that.

It sure has been fun reliving this trip by writing my TR. Our 3rd DL trip was by far the best of our family trips we've taken so far.

 

[kaoden39]

I've been planning lots of Disney trips in my mind, including a trip to WDW and a Disney Cruise, but they won't be happening any time soon. Next summer we might do a cross Canada roadtrip and then I'm starting a 16 month course next fall to earn my special education teaching certificate. So, maybe 3 summers from now we'll get to WDW, and by then the kids may be old enough for a trip like that.

It sure has been fun reliving this trip by writing my TR. Our 3rd DL trip was by far the best of our family trips we've taken so far.

The cross Canada roadtrip sounds like a fun trip. Things like that are a great way to teach the kids about their home and just a wonderful way to have family time. That's great about continuing your education. What a noble calling.

I enjoy relieving my trips that way too. It makes it all the more real and recent to me.

 

[splashtastic!]

What a fantastic trip report! Your kids are darling

 

[Dallas_Lady]

Awesome trip report! I am seriously considering a trip to DL next July and your report has been great.

 

[cseca]

Thanks for your TR!
Your kids are adorable

 

[scrpbookr]

I love the walking with Sulley pic!

 

[smiles33]

I just read the whole TR as we are planning our first summer trip. What an awesome report! I'm sorry IASW ended in tears but I totally relate to being overtired. DLR vacations are t really "vacations" when there's so much fun stuff to do. After a few days you just need to catch up on sleep and relax! I hope to keep that in mind when we go on our third trip this June.