Lollipop's Mom
<font color=teal>Special trip with your little one
- Joined
- Feb 26, 2004
Cast.. Me (mom), 32 yrs & Meg (mature 8.5 yrs). Both LOVE Disney and Hollywood.This was our dream trip!
Day 3/4 Jan 9/10
So it was raining pretty hard! Well that wouldnt dampen our spirits would it? We got showered and dressed, had some brekkie in the room and got the 10:30am shuttle. We headed for California Adventure and it was downpouring! We had on our ponchos, but the front of my hair was so wet. My glasses were so wet I could not see, and Megs feet were already pretty soaked. We headed straight for something we were looking forward to Soarin Over California . WOW WOW WOW. That is all I can say!!! We walked in with no lines (on a Sunday!) and got seats in the front row. I was so impressed with this and Meg loved it. After that we walked over towards the Hollywood area and went to another indoor attraction, Animation Station. This is something I didnt think we would really be into, but Mary Jo talked highly of it, and it was DRY so in we went. There were only about 4 people in the entire building other than CMs. Jane from Tarzan was in the princess room and looked grateful to finally see a little girl. She played a game with Meg and talked to her for about 10-15 minutes. She spent so much time with her and was an amazing experience.
We went down to the part where you make a Mickey Mouse cartoon this held Megs interest for all of 30 seconds and we went to the Beasts library. This was a total hit. Meg was most like TINKERBELL! She was so excited! Thats her fave character. I goofed around with it and said I like to eat nice people for lunch and stuff, and got the stepmother from Cinderella.
We then went to Ursulas Grotto where they put your voice into the animation. We had the whole place to ourselves so really got goofy and silly with it. I am sure the security camera guys had a good laugh at us. We did every scene and every song and spent about 30 mins in here. We really had fun with it. Hint to get it to go again if there is no line up you have to leave and come back in, so its motion sensors know someone is there and it starts up again. I imagine with line ups you could only do one scene or song, but we lucked out. It was dead in CA that day.
We left Animation station and headed over to DL for our Blue Bayou lunch. We had PS for 12:30. We arrived very wet and cold at about 12:10. I checked in and said we were willing to wait for waterside. I then turned around and saw myself in a mirror. EEEEK!! I looked like a drowned rat! Thank goodness for that little tinkerbell hairbrush because I quickly brushed my hair, pulled it back and looked semi-presentable for lunch. We were called in at 12:30 and sat waterside. We loved this restaurant. Worth every penny spent.I had the monte cristo (sp?) - yummy! I am very picky eater and like my food fairly bland dont like spicey at all. This was perfect. I only ate about half of it and was so full. The pasta salad that came with it was yummy too. Meg did not really care for her meal. She had the mickey nuggets (she found them spicy), some mashed tatoes (tasted like boxed potatoes to me and were rather stodgy) and some very mushy corn on the cob. I really dont blame her for not eating it. She did drink up her milk though! Total bill was about $25 for the 2 of us. Not bad really. We went on pirates and a few other rides, but so much was closed down due to the rain. It was teeming down pretty hard. The streets in DL were getting flooded and there were parts that were ankle deep. My feet were fairly dry, but Megs were soaked. We took the DL railroad around to toon town, and then hopped on the monorail to DTD. It was warm and dry and all that mattered to us at that point. We walked around a bit and went to Cal Adv. again. We went to a Bugs Land (BIG disappointment) and were the only ones there it seemed. No lines and they offered for us to go on the rides as much as we wanted without getting off. Meg stayed on a couple of them. The bumper cars were closed. The rain let up a little bit, but not too much. We walked to paradise pier, and at this point our feet were aching. I had covered my feet in bandaids, but they still hurt in those darn shoes. Megs feet were drenched, and our pant legs were soaked up to where our ponchos were. Our hair was also completely soaked and dripping. We were not having a fun time. We went on the Sun Wheel on a swinging car (it was dry!) and were just starting to get into it and have fun, and it was time to come off. They only put you around twice, and the first time is slow because they are getting it loaded. The 2nd time it just goes around, then its time to come off. We were a bit disappointed in that. To us, a ferris wheel goes around a few times! We walked up the pier to the Mullholland Madness ride. We went on this, but it was downpouring and we got even more soaked. Meg went on Jumpin Jellyfish, but they were only having it go half way up because of the rain. Everything was shut down all of the games and food stands were boarded up. I felt like we were in a ghost theme park. We saw only a handful of people walking around.It was about 230pm and all we wanted to do was go back to the hotel but we couldnt! The stupid shuttle was not coming until 6pm!!! We then remembered the hint Mary Jo told us if you get too cold or need a break there is a big fireplace inside the lobby of the Grand Californian. This was the best tip anyone has ever given us. We went in, found rocking chairs by the fireplace and stayed for 2 hours! I got us big hot chocolates from the bar ($6 plus I tipped $1) and we took off our ponchos and sweaters. Meg hung her socks by the fire and we put our shoes up along the fireplace. Several other people were doing the same. That $7 hairbrush came in handy once again. We brushed the water and tangles out of our hair (that always feels so good!). We sat and talked to a few people and time passed quickly. Meg fell asleep for about 20 mins and I was on the verge of nodding off. This was one of the most magical moments on our trip - definitely a wonderful memory.
We got our shoes back on and went to the bathroom, then out to DTD. Meg and I wanted to go to Build a Bear. We love BAB and Meg has a floppy kitty named Eloise that she made last year (her main Xmas present). Well this year she has given me a little letter saying she had saved her money (ie: Grammas money hahaha) to take me to go build one. I told her we could do it in DTD instead of Vancouver. I wanted to make the pink poodle, but Meg really wanted me to make the new Sassy Kitty (ummmm WHO was this gift really for?? LOL dont you love it when your kids give you something because they actually are the ones that want it? Hahaha). So I picked out a Sassy Kitty to make and Meg wanted to make one of the Friends 2B Made dolls. These are ADORABLE!!!! They come in all ethnicities and hair/eye colours. They are about 18 tall and have super cute trendy outfits. Price is not bad - $12 for the doll and $10 for complete outfits (skirt or pants, top,jacket, shoes, hair thingies, purse,etc..). She of course picked out a blonde/blue doll that looks like her. We have been to BAB quite a few times and always treated so well. They do neat things when you build it like putting love and stuff into it. The employees are always completely wonderful and energetic well NOT at this one! Ok its a Sunday evening its pouring rain no one wants to be working, I understand that. Problem is they let it show and ruined this experience. We walked up to the roped off area to be let through to build the doll/cat. 3 CMs were standing there gossiping about their Saturday night and completely ignored us. Finally I cleared my throat with that excuse me tone. They looked over and all started to argue about who had to do it. Overheard was Oh no a doll.. I HATE stuffing those things: . :I have never stuffed a doll YOU do it No come on Ill take the next one they have 2 things to stuff and I dont feel like it . This went on for a couple of minutes. Finally a girl caved in and came over. If this wasnt my Xmas present from Meg, and also the ONLY place we would ever get to make the friends 2B made doll (they only have them in about 5 locations), I would have put our stuff down and walked out. This didnt set a good tone. We went over and all she did was stuff it. None of the jumping/dancing/putting love into it. Nothing fun at all. When it was time to get a heart to put into it she just said Ok pick a heart and had us shove it in. What a terrible experience. I am definitely planning on writing to BAB about this. The girl even said to Meg Oh I have never stuffed a doll before I have always dreaded having to do one of these.. OMG! So I let Meg pick and outfit for the doll and I didnt want to give this place any more of our money. We paid for the stuff and left. Oh yah .I did pick up secretly as a surprise some pink hi-top converse type shoes for her Eloise Kitty back at the hotel. They were $7 which is way cheaper than in Canada (I think they are about $14 here). I surprised Meg with these later at the hotel and she was so happy with them!
We caught the 7pm shuttle back to the hotel and it was all we could do to walk to our room. We went to go on the elevator but it was broken. It stayed broken for our entire trip. Grrrr. We were soaked again and sore and just wanted into our room!. We made pb & j sandwiches and when I went to the fridge to get some milk to drink, it was warm. Housekeeping had turned off the fridge for some reason. I managed to get it turned back on. We decided we might try the hot tub, and went down to the pool area. It was pouring rain and we tried the pool - freezing! The hot tub...also freezing! Apparently they don't turn it on unless someone wants to use it, and it takes about 3 hrs to heat up. I wasn't overly impressed. Wen just went back to the room. We watched a bit of tv, but were sound asleep by 9pm. Real party animals we are! We had decided that the next day we would take a cab over to the outlet Disney store and go to In & Out burger, and try and find some rain boots!
We woke up on Monday to NO rain! It was cloudy, but not raining! So we showered and dressed and grabbed a cab over to the Outlet store .
Day 3/4 Jan 9/10
So it was raining pretty hard! Well that wouldnt dampen our spirits would it? We got showered and dressed, had some brekkie in the room and got the 10:30am shuttle. We headed for California Adventure and it was downpouring! We had on our ponchos, but the front of my hair was so wet. My glasses were so wet I could not see, and Megs feet were already pretty soaked. We headed straight for something we were looking forward to Soarin Over California . WOW WOW WOW. That is all I can say!!! We walked in with no lines (on a Sunday!) and got seats in the front row. I was so impressed with this and Meg loved it. After that we walked over towards the Hollywood area and went to another indoor attraction, Animation Station. This is something I didnt think we would really be into, but Mary Jo talked highly of it, and it was DRY so in we went. There were only about 4 people in the entire building other than CMs. Jane from Tarzan was in the princess room and looked grateful to finally see a little girl. She played a game with Meg and talked to her for about 10-15 minutes. She spent so much time with her and was an amazing experience.
We went down to the part where you make a Mickey Mouse cartoon this held Megs interest for all of 30 seconds and we went to the Beasts library. This was a total hit. Meg was most like TINKERBELL! She was so excited! Thats her fave character. I goofed around with it and said I like to eat nice people for lunch and stuff, and got the stepmother from Cinderella.
We then went to Ursulas Grotto where they put your voice into the animation. We had the whole place to ourselves so really got goofy and silly with it. I am sure the security camera guys had a good laugh at us. We did every scene and every song and spent about 30 mins in here. We really had fun with it. Hint to get it to go again if there is no line up you have to leave and come back in, so its motion sensors know someone is there and it starts up again. I imagine with line ups you could only do one scene or song, but we lucked out. It was dead in CA that day.
We left Animation station and headed over to DL for our Blue Bayou lunch. We had PS for 12:30. We arrived very wet and cold at about 12:10. I checked in and said we were willing to wait for waterside. I then turned around and saw myself in a mirror. EEEEK!! I looked like a drowned rat! Thank goodness for that little tinkerbell hairbrush because I quickly brushed my hair, pulled it back and looked semi-presentable for lunch. We were called in at 12:30 and sat waterside. We loved this restaurant. Worth every penny spent.I had the monte cristo (sp?) - yummy! I am very picky eater and like my food fairly bland dont like spicey at all. This was perfect. I only ate about half of it and was so full. The pasta salad that came with it was yummy too. Meg did not really care for her meal. She had the mickey nuggets (she found them spicy), some mashed tatoes (tasted like boxed potatoes to me and were rather stodgy) and some very mushy corn on the cob. I really dont blame her for not eating it. She did drink up her milk though! Total bill was about $25 for the 2 of us. Not bad really. We went on pirates and a few other rides, but so much was closed down due to the rain. It was teeming down pretty hard. The streets in DL were getting flooded and there were parts that were ankle deep. My feet were fairly dry, but Megs were soaked. We took the DL railroad around to toon town, and then hopped on the monorail to DTD. It was warm and dry and all that mattered to us at that point. We walked around a bit and went to Cal Adv. again. We went to a Bugs Land (BIG disappointment) and were the only ones there it seemed. No lines and they offered for us to go on the rides as much as we wanted without getting off. Meg stayed on a couple of them. The bumper cars were closed. The rain let up a little bit, but not too much. We walked to paradise pier, and at this point our feet were aching. I had covered my feet in bandaids, but they still hurt in those darn shoes. Megs feet were drenched, and our pant legs were soaked up to where our ponchos were. Our hair was also completely soaked and dripping. We were not having a fun time. We went on the Sun Wheel on a swinging car (it was dry!) and were just starting to get into it and have fun, and it was time to come off. They only put you around twice, and the first time is slow because they are getting it loaded. The 2nd time it just goes around, then its time to come off. We were a bit disappointed in that. To us, a ferris wheel goes around a few times! We walked up the pier to the Mullholland Madness ride. We went on this, but it was downpouring and we got even more soaked. Meg went on Jumpin Jellyfish, but they were only having it go half way up because of the rain. Everything was shut down all of the games and food stands were boarded up. I felt like we were in a ghost theme park. We saw only a handful of people walking around.It was about 230pm and all we wanted to do was go back to the hotel but we couldnt! The stupid shuttle was not coming until 6pm!!! We then remembered the hint Mary Jo told us if you get too cold or need a break there is a big fireplace inside the lobby of the Grand Californian. This was the best tip anyone has ever given us. We went in, found rocking chairs by the fireplace and stayed for 2 hours! I got us big hot chocolates from the bar ($6 plus I tipped $1) and we took off our ponchos and sweaters. Meg hung her socks by the fire and we put our shoes up along the fireplace. Several other people were doing the same. That $7 hairbrush came in handy once again. We brushed the water and tangles out of our hair (that always feels so good!). We sat and talked to a few people and time passed quickly. Meg fell asleep for about 20 mins and I was on the verge of nodding off. This was one of the most magical moments on our trip - definitely a wonderful memory.
We got our shoes back on and went to the bathroom, then out to DTD. Meg and I wanted to go to Build a Bear. We love BAB and Meg has a floppy kitty named Eloise that she made last year (her main Xmas present). Well this year she has given me a little letter saying she had saved her money (ie: Grammas money hahaha) to take me to go build one. I told her we could do it in DTD instead of Vancouver. I wanted to make the pink poodle, but Meg really wanted me to make the new Sassy Kitty (ummmm WHO was this gift really for?? LOL dont you love it when your kids give you something because they actually are the ones that want it? Hahaha). So I picked out a Sassy Kitty to make and Meg wanted to make one of the Friends 2B Made dolls. These are ADORABLE!!!! They come in all ethnicities and hair/eye colours. They are about 18 tall and have super cute trendy outfits. Price is not bad - $12 for the doll and $10 for complete outfits (skirt or pants, top,jacket, shoes, hair thingies, purse,etc..). She of course picked out a blonde/blue doll that looks like her. We have been to BAB quite a few times and always treated so well. They do neat things when you build it like putting love and stuff into it. The employees are always completely wonderful and energetic well NOT at this one! Ok its a Sunday evening its pouring rain no one wants to be working, I understand that. Problem is they let it show and ruined this experience. We walked up to the roped off area to be let through to build the doll/cat. 3 CMs were standing there gossiping about their Saturday night and completely ignored us. Finally I cleared my throat with that excuse me tone. They looked over and all started to argue about who had to do it. Overheard was Oh no a doll.. I HATE stuffing those things: . :I have never stuffed a doll YOU do it No come on Ill take the next one they have 2 things to stuff and I dont feel like it . This went on for a couple of minutes. Finally a girl caved in and came over. If this wasnt my Xmas present from Meg, and also the ONLY place we would ever get to make the friends 2B made doll (they only have them in about 5 locations), I would have put our stuff down and walked out. This didnt set a good tone. We went over and all she did was stuff it. None of the jumping/dancing/putting love into it. Nothing fun at all. When it was time to get a heart to put into it she just said Ok pick a heart and had us shove it in. What a terrible experience. I am definitely planning on writing to BAB about this. The girl even said to Meg Oh I have never stuffed a doll before I have always dreaded having to do one of these.. OMG! So I let Meg pick and outfit for the doll and I didnt want to give this place any more of our money. We paid for the stuff and left. Oh yah .I did pick up secretly as a surprise some pink hi-top converse type shoes for her Eloise Kitty back at the hotel. They were $7 which is way cheaper than in Canada (I think they are about $14 here). I surprised Meg with these later at the hotel and she was so happy with them!
We caught the 7pm shuttle back to the hotel and it was all we could do to walk to our room. We went to go on the elevator but it was broken. It stayed broken for our entire trip. Grrrr. We were soaked again and sore and just wanted into our room!. We made pb & j sandwiches and when I went to the fridge to get some milk to drink, it was warm. Housekeeping had turned off the fridge for some reason. I managed to get it turned back on. We decided we might try the hot tub, and went down to the pool area. It was pouring rain and we tried the pool - freezing! The hot tub...also freezing! Apparently they don't turn it on unless someone wants to use it, and it takes about 3 hrs to heat up. I wasn't overly impressed. Wen just went back to the room. We watched a bit of tv, but were sound asleep by 9pm. Real party animals we are! We had decided that the next day we would take a cab over to the outlet Disney store and go to In & Out burger, and try and find some rain boots!
We woke up on Monday to NO rain! It was cloudy, but not raining! So we showered and dressed and grabbed a cab over to the Outlet store .
And I agree the lobby and fireplace at the Grand would be perfect on a cold, rainy day. Good thinking, MaryJo!
