Summertime and Disneyland .Oo-De-Lally!!

[thornton0511]

One Last Meal

It was now nearing lunch time so we made our way back to DTD to the Rainforest Café for lunch. We had one last coupon for here. Since this was not our first visit here on this report I will skip straight to the food lol.

Cory went with the kids' grilled chicken with potato chips as his side

Sydney went with the kids' hot dog and apples as her side

I went with the Blue Mountain Chicken Sandwich and mashed potatoes for my side (very nom nom BTW)

And DH went with the grilled chicken Caesar salad.

The kids finished our meal with a melody from their root beer bottles lol. On a side note I would like to add that root beer is not included with the kids meal and you will be charged extra for this. It is not listed anywhere on the menu as such and it was a surprise on our bill. Not a huge deal but worth noting! Total for our meal with coupon and tip came to $31.00 not too shabby!

With our bellies full we made our way out of DTD and back to DCA we still had a bit of time to kill before our late evening flight!
​

 

[thornton0511]

A Whomp Whomp Whomp Kind of Ending

Once we made our way back into the park it was decided that first we must ride Goofy's Sky School again. Oh boy.

I braced myself for another painful ride.

Since I knew what to expect at this point I was able to tolerate it a bit more I think. It was fun!!

Up next was Jumping Jellyfish.

I don't know what my family's fascination is with this ride lol.

Somehow I endured.

At this point we had enough time for one last ride. I want to stress that we are not a family who will try to squeeze one last ride in and risk not getting where we need to be for a flight. I am much too much of a nervous person and planner for all of that lol. We did not have time to ride RSR or Soarin but we had ample time to ride something smaller. Silly Swings was brought up and little Sydney said that if she could ride double with her daddy she would ride too. Yay!! This sounded like a great way to end our Disney trip and I was so happy that Sydney was going to brave a ride that she was too scared to ride earlier in the week. We got in line and first Sydney had to be measured. She was just tall enough and so we all got in line and waited a fair amount of time. At some point while waiting we noticed that adults with smaller kids were being directed to a different line and we realized that this was the line for the double seater swings. I'm guessing since Sydney measured tall enough that the CM assumed that she would be riding in her own swing and we did not tell her otherwise. That was our bad. At the point that we realized that we had Sydney and DH in the wrong line we were already substantially though the regular line and there was no way to get out of our line.
The way is seemed to work was that first they let the double seater line go and fill up the doubles and then they let the single seaters in to fill up the rest of the seats. The line for the doubles was substantially shorter and the amount of people waiting in this line usually emptied with each ride. This being said we stayed where we were and figured that the best way to go about this was to let the CM know when we reached the front of the single seater line that DH and Sydney wanted a double and we would wait until the next round so that there was a double available. Sounds like common sense right?
So we got to the front and the CM was directing us in to ride and we stopped and explained our situation. At first she seemed confused and tried to hold DH and Sydney back and wanted Cory and I to ride this time. We then explained that no we wanted to all ride together and would be more than happy to wait out this turn and all go together on the next turn thus giving our four single seats to the people behind us. She seemed to understand and the lead us to what we were thinking was a holding area for this to happen. Nope. She lead us to the end of the line for the double seater swings, which at this point, had filled up substantially and opened the gate at the back of the line.
That's when we were like, wait no why do we have to wait at the end of the line? She said that this was the line for the double seaters and we would need to wait our turn, completely forgetting the fact that we had been waiting our turn for 20+ minutes and were at the front of the line. She simply said sorry and walked away leaving us at the back of the line.
So we just left. We did not have time to wait again to make our way to the front of the line again or we would risk not getting to the airport on time, nor did we have the time to find someone else and explain what had happened. At this point it would not have mattered anyways because we still would have not had time to ride. So we just kind of walked out of the park, out of Disney, and back to our car parked at the CCI. It was really not the best ending to our trip and the kids were disappointed that they did not get to ride. I was especially sad for Sydney because she had been so brave to decide to ride and then did not end up getting to at all.
But even though it did not end the way you would want it to we tried our best to think of all of the wonderful things we experienced on this trip instead and not focus so much on the ending. Plus I reminded the kids how lucky we were to get to go back to WDW in a few months and so we would get to do more Disney stuff then….I was so glad that we had made that decision to go back too.
​

 

[thornton0511]

Now It's Time to Say Goodbye……..
This part of a TR is never fun to report but every story must have an ending

So we made our way back to our rental car and made our way down Harbor Blvd and towards LA.

By the time we got on the freeway the kids had succumb to what is known as Disney exhaustion and passed smooth out.

We made our way to Alamo to return our rental and then shuttled to LAX.

Our plane ended up being delayed a bit (this always seems to happen when we fly American) so we passed the time with electronics because it’s the American way lol.

Finally we were given the go ahead to board the plane….WOOHOO!!!!

We found our seats and settled in for our flight home to Dallas.

We realized in flight that we had forgotten to eat dinner lol and, unlike Southwest, American does not offer snacks without a charge. No worries though because I packed our left over Southwest flight snacks and our box of lemon cookies from Maggianos in my bag! So not the most ideal dinner but it worked!

Then it was time to sit back and relax. It seemed so appropriate to watch the sun set on the horizon as our California adventure was coming to an end. As I reflect back on this trip I am glad that we made it. Overall I will say that we were able to take in some once in a lifetime memories and that is what matters. Even though my heart belongs to Walt Disney World and we will probably continue to make that our family vacation location in the future I will continue to always leave a maybe return to Disneyland at some point in time. Never say never people!
I also want to say thank you to everyone who took the time out to follow along on our family's adventure! It has been an honor for me to share our story and chat with all of you along the way! Since it is now late Sept and I have finally finished this TR from June I hope to start soon on our adventure that we took to WDW earlier this month and I would be happy for anyone who wants to follow along with that too.

My Sept TR will be full of new things as well as good old family favorites. It's also full of children photo bombs and DH's discovery of character selfies. And no TR of mine would be complete without twists and turns and lots of surprises!
Thanks again to everyone and I hope y'all have a magical day!!
The End
(Hope to see ya real soon!!)

​

 

[BellaBaby]

Ha! DH and I had those same anniversary buttons!

All the CMs kept saying "Happy Anniversary!" Even tho we don't like a lot of attention, it was kinda nice to hear!!

 

[gardengirl2790]

Although I haven't posted anything yet, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your trip report! Thank you for sharing all of your memories with us.

 

[petals]

Great trip report. Sorry bout missing that one last ride though! Can't wait to read the WDW adventure

 

[darrenf67]

Just read your whole report in one go! I loved it - very entertaining and it looked like you had a lot of fun and made some great memories. I'm looking forward to your next report. Thank you for sharing.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Woof, that's a lot of updates... I hope you're comfortable, lol.

"To be honest I have been on the fence myself about doing one for our Sept trip but if you do one I will " Deal!

My goodness Jenn you are good at finding discounts and coupons.

Haha, I find it funny that little Sydney got that ginormous sundae and Cory got a cake pop.

OMG I would have been so transfixed on that CM telling his Disneyland story. I love that stuff.

I'm all for showing affection, but I absolutely HATE seeing that kind of stuff like that. There is a point when it's too much. The Grand has lovely rooms I assume. Use them! Ugh!

Magical as special as Wishes? Wrong!! lol Actually I didn't see Magical, I saw Remember Dreams Come True, but I do have a video of Magical and it is pretty darn good.

I too enjoyed the castle walk through (yes, THAT was open, lol). I'd love to see something similar at Magic Kingdom.

Glad you rode the Matterhorn one last time. So much history and I remember seeing the photos and video of Walt himself riding. If it's good enough for Walt...

Oh man that Aladdin show. Unreal right? Giving Genie that leeway just makes the show.

Awww what a mess at the end. Such a shame when you build up that courage only to have it be all for not. I don't understand the confusion either; it seemed pretty straight forward to me. But yes, focusing on the wonderful things is the best thing, and there were lots of those.

WHAT??? IT'S OVER???? Awwww man!!!! I've decided from now on to leave out the whole "leaving Disney" part. It's much easier on the heart. Incidentally, from now on you should fly Canadia. No delays!

As always, I loved reading along Jenn. You have such a lovely family and your stories are never ever boring. So glad you got to do this trip and totally looking forward to your WDW return TR!

 

[thornton0511]

Ha! DH and I had those same anniversary buttons!

All the CMs kept saying "Happy Anniversary!" Even tho we don't like a lot of attention, it was kinda nice to hear!!

lol yes I agree it was pretty cool to hear with us too!

Although I haven't posted anything yet, I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed your trip report! Thank you for sharing all of your memories with us.

I am so glad that you enjoyed it and thank you so much for taking the time to read it and also for posting!

Great trip report. Sorry bout missing that one last ride though! Can't wait to read the WDW adventure

No worries we had a great time overall! Thank you so much for reading along and I am hopefully starting the new report soon!

Just read your whole report in one go! I loved it - very entertaining and it looked like you had a lot of fun and made some great memories. I'm looking forward to your next report. Thank you for sharing.

Wow that's a whole lot of reading lol! Thank you and I am so glad you enjoyed reading it! I am about to get going on our new adventure

Woof, that's a lot of updates... I hope you're comfortable, lol.
Ha! I actually had quite a few already typed up before we left for WDW and the goal was to post a new one everyday but that did not work out and so I posted them all at one and then spent a Saturday afternoon finishing up
"To be honest I have been on the fence myself about doing one for our Sept trip but if you do one I will " Deal!
the deal has been made and I see that you have already began so now it is up to me to get off my booty and start also
My goodness Jenn you are good at finding discounts and coupons.
lol I was determined to find a way to afford to go to both DL and WDW...where there is a will there is a way
Haha, I find it funny that little Sydney got that ginormous sundae and Cory got a cake pop.
my goodness I know it was a huge serving of ice cream lol
OMG I would have been so transfixed on that CM telling his Disneyland story. I love that stuff.
yes I agree
I'm all for showing affection, but I absolutely HATE seeing that kind of stuff like that. There is a point when it's too much. The Grand has lovely rooms I assume. Use them! Ugh!
lol right on!or if you are on a tight budget there is a Candy Cane Inn just a short 10 minute walk that a way lol
Magical as special as Wishes? Wrong!! lol Actually I didn't see Magical, I saw Remember Dreams Come True, but I do have a video of Magical and it is pretty darn good.
Ha ha Rob you know you are right!
I too enjoyed the castle walk through (yes, THAT was open, lol). I'd love to see something similar at Magic Kingdom.
wow you mean to tell me that you got to do something in DL? SHOCKING
Glad you rode the Matterhorn one last time. So much history and I remember seeing the photos and video of Walt himself riding. If it's good enough for Walt...
yes I know the video you are talking about!!!! I completely agree
Oh man that Aladdin show. Unreal right? Giving Genie that leeway just makes the show.
ABSOLUTELY!!!
Awww what a mess at the end. Such a shame when you build up that courage only to have it be all for not. I don't understand the confusion either; it seemed pretty straight forward to me. But yes, focusing on the wonderful things is the best thing, and there were lots of those.
Yup. But we were so glad to have WDW planned at this point in time. We all missed our home park so much!
WHAT??? IT'S OVER???? Awwww man!!!! I've decided from now on to leave out the whole "leaving Disney" part. It's much easier on the heart. Incidentally, from now on you should fly Canadia. No delays!
I was thinking the same thing on our Sept trip lol! I hate getting to those pics at the end of the trip because we always look so depressed lol! I think I took one pic of the kids on the fake-o-rail headed into MCO and thought you know what not going to even go there this time. End on a happy note
Canadia lol Rob every time I read that it messes up my brain!
As always, I loved reading along Jenn. You have such a lovely family and your stories are never ever boring. So glad you got to do this trip and totally looking forward to your WDW return TR!

Thank you so much Rob! I am so happy that you found me here and followed along once again! I am excited to be following along once again with you new TR and planning on starting mine tonight since we made a deal I am interested to see how our trips differ from early Sept to when you went in mid Sept. Ha, I just realized that in Dec you went first and then we arrived at the end of your trip and this time we went first in Sept and you after. Craziness

 

[thornton0511]

Just wanted to say that I have officially started a TR from our Sept trip if anyone is brave enough to follow along lol! The link is in my siggie ​

 

[amandaw]

Thank you for sharing your family's trip with us. It has definitely given me lots of information in preparing for our 1st trip to DLR next year.

I'll be hopping over to check out the new TR!

 

[thornton0511]

Thank you for sharing your family's trip with us. It has definitely given me lots of information in preparing for our 1st trip to DLR next year.

I'll be hopping over to check out the new TR!

It was my pleasure! Thank you for reading along and I hope that you guys have a blast next year in Disneyland!!

 

[scottny]

That line up sounds crazy.

LOL your hair in the pic on the ride.

LOL. The Padawan becomes the Jedi. That is great.

Looks like you got quite a bit done.

Now I want an Earl sandwich. We have one here in the city but have never gone. I might need to change that.

Ask for row 1 on Soarin'. They will have you wait to the side and then let you go. At least at WDW they do.

I can go for a Mickey bar now. LOL.

The size of her sundae was incredible. That would be a meal for me. LOL.

Nice fireworks pics.

Nice pics of the Aladdin show.

Sorry she didn't get to ride but hopefully you will be back one day.

Passing time with electronics is the "world" way. Every place we went in Europe people had their heads in the phone or tablet.

Great report and pics. Thanks for sharing.

 

[thornton0511]

That line up sounds crazy.

LOL your hair in the pic on the ride.

LOL. The Padawan becomes the Jedi. That is great.

Looks like you got quite a bit done.

Now I want an Earl sandwich. We have one here in the city but have never gone. I might need to change that.

Ask for row 1 on Soarin'. They will have you wait to the side and then let you go. At least at WDW they do.

I can go for a Mickey bar now. LOL.

The size of her sundae was incredible. That would be a meal for me. LOL.

Nice fireworks pics.

Nice pics of the Aladdin show.

Sorry she didn't get to ride but hopefully you will be back one day.

Passing time with electronics is the "world" way. Every place we went in Europe people had their heads in the phone or tablet.

Great report and pics. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much Scott for following along on this zany adventure of ours. It was my pleasure to share with all of you and I really enjoyed talking with you along the way!

 

[stacy~**]

So I am bumping this up basically because I need to add it to my subscribed list! I haven't gotten past your introductions but I am thinking of a trip for nearly the exact dates this coming June and am curious to read how that time of year was.

Oh...and it looks like a fun report!

 

[thornton0511]

So I am bumping this up basically because I need to add it to my subscribed list! I haven't gotten past your introductions but I am thinking of a trip for nearly the exact dates this coming June and am curious to read how that time of year was.

Oh...and it looks like a fun report!

Thank you and I hope you find it useful for your upcoming trip how exciting!!!

 

[TheDoleWhipper]

Wow! We have planned a trip for June 15th to 19th 2015 and it is almost exactly the same as your trip! We get there on Monday and leave Friday, too, and our dates are during the third week of June. Only major difference is that we will be staying at the DL hotel and we get there later than you guys did on the first day! I really enjoyed your trip report! It is awesome!

 

[Tricia's mom]

First of all I am so tired at work today because I was up all night reading your TR. second - how could you have fed your children soda and cookies for dinner on your last night of vacation ?? What kind of parent are you ???
I enjoyed reading both your reports ! We are leaving for DL in 22 days and then will be in WDW a month later for a weekend trip. I haven't been to DL in 30 years . My husband as well . It will be my DDS first trip to DL. We are seasoned WDW travelers do this whole thing has me for a loop.
I can't believe how much $$& you saved in dining !! Wow !
Loved the report !

 

[thornton0511]

Wow! We have planned a trip for June 15th to 19th 2015 and it is almost exactly the same as your trip! We get there on Monday and leave Friday, too, and our dates are during the third week of June. Only major difference is that we will be staying at the DL hotel and we get there later than you guys did on the first day! I really enjoyed your trip report! It is awesome!

oh wow Disneyland Hotel sounds like a wonderful way to go! Hope you guys have a blast and thank you for reading

 

[thornton0511]

First of all I am so tired at work today because I was up all night reading your TR. second - how could you have fed your children soda and cookies for dinner on your last night of vacation ?? What kind of parent are you ???
I enjoyed reading both your reports ! We are leaving for DL in 22 days and then will be in WDW a month later for a weekend trip. I haven't been to DL in 30 years . My husband as well . It will be my DDS first trip to DL. We are seasoned WDW travelers do this whole thing has me for a loop.
I can't believe how much $$& you saved in dining !! Wow !
Loved the report !

Thank you so much for reading! Sounds like you guys are going to have so much fun too! I have done the same thing too before staying up way too late trying to read a complete TR when I need to be getting sleep lol!!