That Was NOT Part of the Plan! May/June 2017 TR *NEW* 12/1 *COMPLETE*

Sounds like it wasn't the smoothest of nights, but for the most part you ended up using all your FPs and Rider Swaps. I guess it was good they had to completely shut down the train, otherwise you probably would have been riding when DH had to bring DS to you.

Bummer about landing the same sequence on Guardians of the Galaxy. Guess that's reason enough to return to Disneyland soon!

I know MSEP is a classic, but I have to wonder how DL vets felt about it after seeing Paint the Night. I imagine it had to have been a little underwhelming.

Ah, no, sorry to hear the trees obstructed your fireworks view!
 
What a bummer about RSR! The kids look so joyous on Luigi's though!

Great nighttime pics of DCA!

Smart of you and DD to head over to DL while the boys finished their night at DCA. Ya'll look too cute on the carousel!

I'm sorry you didn't have the best fireworks spot :(

Despite things not going to plan, I'm glad it was still a good day!
 
Once again, your DH's photos are fabulous! What a great way to remember your trips!

Meanwhile, DH texted that he and DS were coming back to meet me because DS had dissolved into tears on the way to Mission Breakout and he didn’t want to ride again after all.

Oh no! Poor DS! It would have been much more convenient if he'd decided that before they went over there, of course. But I remember being a kid and being indecisive and having meltdowns like this. It happens.

We were a little bit frustrated by this time, only because we had gone in with what seemed like a great plan to use FPs and rider swaps for the evening, and we had been thwarted at every turn.

That's pretty frustrating when you have things planned out for maximal park touring!

This picture coming up is exactly why towards the end of the trip, I started thinking we should have gotten DD a backpack leash. She very rarely wanted to hold hands, so to try to avoid having to do so, she ended up like this a lot of the time.


Oh my goodness!!

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This is so sweet! Your children are precious!
 
Just got caught up on a few updates. Welcome back from your trip, by the way!

Very cool about the handful of magic fast passes!

Love all the pictures, especially Cars Land at night.

Sorry things didn't go according to plan, but glad you still managed to have a pretty good time.

Thanks! We had so much fun!

It was definitely some pretty incredible pixie dust! I was totally in shock.

Cars Land really transforms completely at night. It's absolutely something we have to see during the day and at night every trip.

It ended up being a really great day, despite our plans getting disrupted at every single turn. lol

Sounds like it wasn't the smoothest of nights, but for the most part you ended up using all your FPs and Rider Swaps. I guess it was good they had to completely shut down the train, otherwise you probably would have been riding when DH had to bring DS to you.

Bummer about landing the same sequence on Guardians of the Galaxy. Guess that's reason enough to return to Disneyland soon!

I know MSEP is a classic, but I have to wonder how DL vets felt about it after seeing Paint the Night. I imagine it had to have been a little underwhelming.

Ah, no, sorry to hear the trees obstructed your fireworks view!

It was a bit frustrating to have such perfectly laid plans only to have obstacles at every turn. But overall it ended up being a great Disneyland day.

You know, with how packed Main Street would get every night HOURS before parade time with people staking out their spots, I'd say they were thrilled to have it back in DL! I haven't seen Paint the Night yet :-)sad:) but I would have thought along the same lines as you. That doesn't seem to be the case though!

Obstructed fireworks at Disneyland is still better than home with no fireworks. lol It would have been less frustrating to deal with had the nighttime stuff not been SO late and we could have planned another night to see the fireworks later in the week.

What a bummer about RSR! The kids look so joyous on Luigi's though!

Great nighttime pics of DCA!

Smart of you and DD to head over to DL while the boys finished their night at DCA. Ya'll look too cute on the carousel!

I'm sorry you didn't have the best fireworks spot :(

Despite things not going to plan, I'm glad it was still a good day!

The kids, especially DD, really LOVED Luigi's! I lost count of how many times we took her on that ride. lol

It was nice to have a little time to do something with just her that wasn't in Cars Land or Bugs Land. Haha Although the park was a little crazy, at least the carousel was doable and she enjoyed it!

Overall it was great. I mean, we were in Disneyland!! Just frustrating to have such a perfect evening plan to be thwarted at every turn. lol

Once again, your DH's photos are fabulous! What a great way to remember your trips!

Thanks!! He does an amazing job and is pretty much always editing lol

Oh no! Poor DS! It would have been much more convenient if he'd decided that before they went over there, of course. But I remember being a kid and being indecisive and having meltdowns like this. It happens.

It definitely does, and a lot with him. It made me a little worried about taking him to Universal, but he was a lot braver than I had expected.

That's pretty frustrating when you have things planned out for maximal park touring!

Exactly! Each little thing on its own wouldn't have been so bad, it just seemed like we had laid out a great plan for the evening to use swaps and FPs since we knew the parks would be busy so everything going wrong was definitely frustrating.

Oh my goodness!!

Haha! She is SUCH a handful!! Having DS first definitely did NOT prepare me for a second child! She is incredibly headstrong and stubborn and independent. She will make a fantastic leader or CEO one day, but right now at 2 years old she gives me a run for my money!!!

This is so sweet! Your children are precious!

Thank you so much!
 


I thought I scored when I saw Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train posted at a 60 minute wait but there was hardly anyone in the queue, so we got in line.
I just can't even imagine a 60 minute wait for that. How could you possibly even find enough people willing to ride it to make it a 60 minute wait???

SPOILER ALERT: MORE PHOTOS!!
Great pictures! It really looks like an amazing re-theme!

Those with a FP could come back anytime for the rest of the night to use it, but she warned us to expect it to be as long as it was right then for the rest of the night also. We were a little bit frustrated by this time, only because we had gone in with what seemed like a great plan to use FPs and rider swaps for the evening, and we had been thwarted at every turn. So we held on to our FPs and I went by myself to use my Guardians of the Galaxy rider swap while DH took the kids on Luigi’s yet again.
All we can do is plan. It was a great idea on paper!

This picture coming up is exactly why towards the end of the trip, I started thinking we should have gotten DD a backpack leash. She very rarely wanted to hold hands, so to try to avoid having to do so, she ended up like this a lot of the time.
Uh oh...

It wasn’t until I was over there that I realized…Jungle Cruise doesn’t have FP at Disneyland like it does at WDW. Yet ANOTHER hiccup in our plan that night! DS and I decided to use two of them to ride Indiana Jones since it was right there next to Jungle Cruise, but even with FP it took us awhile.
That would throw me off too. You kind of get used to it being one way in one park and forget it is different in the other. My mind was blown when I realized TSMM wasn't FP in California. They seem to have quite a few rides that could really benefit from it but don't have it.

This night in particular, with all of our FP/Rider swap mishaps down to the obstructed fireworks view, was the epitome of "That was NOT part of the plan!" But still a great day!
Well, at least you had a plan. You were probably better off than most. Sometimes plans just don't work out.
 
It definitely does, and a lot with him. It made me a little worried about taking him to Universal, but he was a lot braver than I had expected.

Good for him!! It's funny how sometimes kids can totally surprise you with what they're willing to do.

Haha! She is SUCH a handful!! Having DS first definitely did NOT prepare me for a second child! She is incredibly headstrong and stubborn and independent. She will make a fantastic leader or CEO one day, but right now at 2 years old she gives me a run for my money!!!

Oh my goodness! Strangely enough I've heard a lot of people say that about their second children. But you're right, it will definitely serve her well in the long run!
 
I just can't even imagine a 60 minute wait for that. How could you possibly even find enough people willing to ride it to make it a 60 minute wait???

HAHA Ain't that the truth?!? I peeked at the line and there were maybe 20 or 30 families, no way on earth it was 60 minutes. I think the wait time is just a dial the CMs turn on the sign so I guess someone passed by and changed it to be funny.

Great pictures! It really looks like an amazing re-theme!

It really is! I saw something new every time I rode.

All we can do is plan. It was a great idea on paper!

It was the best laid out plan, and the Disney gods just laughed in my face. lol


She's a handful, that's for sure!

That would throw me off too. You kind of get used to it being one way in one park and forget it is different in the other. My mind was blown when I realized TSMM wasn't FP in California. They seem to have quite a few rides that could really benefit from it but don't have it.

They do have TSM FPs now! But yes, I remember the trips when it didn't, and it is definitely hard to get used to it being different.

Well, at least you had a plan. You were probably better off than most. Sometimes plans just don't work out.

That's true. Even if it didn't work out it was better than going in with nothing!

Good for him!! It's funny how sometimes kids can totally surprise you with what they're willing to do.

Absolutely! Never more than with this past trip. He stoutly refused to do Big Thunder Mountain at the Halloween party, yet did Mummy, Escape from Gringotts, and Forbidden Journey at Universal.

Oh my goodness! Strangely enough I've heard a lot of people say that about their second children. But you're right, it will definitely serve her well in the long run!

Even the ladies at daycare say she is like the little mom in her class, always fussing at the other kids and bossing them around. lol It's funny yet frustrating when she uses it against us!!
 


Day 9: Thursday June 1st

This morning, we decided to try out a new strategy for getting to DCA and getting FP for Guardians of the Galaxy. Instead of us all getting ready and trying to get out the door early, DH and DS got dressed, took their breakfast to go, and walked down early while DD and I took our time getting ready and followed them a while later.

By the time she and I made it down there, DH and DS were already in the park and waiting in the FP queue.


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While they were waiting to pick up 2 FPs, DD and I entered the park, and I was juggling so many things, I stuck my ticket in my pocket instead of putting it back in my bag. The fact that I’m mentioning that little fact probably tells you this was not the best idea. DH and I had decided to meet by Paradise Pier after he had gotten FPs so that we could get onto Toy Story Mania before it got too crazy. Since the park wasn’t officially open yet, I took the Grizzly Peak walkway over to Paradise Pier at a leisurely pace with DD, stopping to use the restroom along the way. I waited over by the rope for a short while until the park officially opened, then hustled over towards TSM. As DD and I got over there, I stopped at a bench to put my ticket back in my bag, but when I stuck my hand in my pocket…there was no ticket. I was FRANTIC! I turned my bag inside out, hoping I had stuck it in there and forgotten about it, I turned out all my pockets, but NO TICKET.

DH and DS caught up to us, and I frantically shoved DD at him and let them go off to ride while I went to retrace my steps, just praying I would find the ticket laying on the sidewalk or in the restroom, but it was nowhere to be found. So I headed back to the front of the park and to guest services to see what could be done. That was NOT part of the plan!!

Turns out, I couldn’t get my ticket reissued by myself without having the barcode. The CM said she could reissue it if I had someone else in my party’s ticket because she could see the codes that were grouped together to cancel mine out and reissue. However, big Tip of the Day: Had I taken a photo of the barcode on the back of the ticket and had that to show them, they could have reissued my ticket no problem without DH having to drag the kids back up to guest services to get it straightened out. I made sure to take a picture of my new ticket, but thankfully didn’t need it.

So now we had mostly wasted the first 30 minutes in the park, or at least I did, because DH and the kids had at least been able to ride TSM. Needless to say, DH wasn’t all too excited about the events of the morning, and I was pretty annoyed with myself for having messed up our morning, but we had to move on and enjoy the rest of the day. By the time the ticket fiasco was fixed, it was time for our 8:35 am FPs for Guardians of the Galaxy. DH went first and picked up a rider swap while I took the kids over to ride Monsters Inc.


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GUARDIANS PHOTOS COMING UP! SCROLL ON IF YOU DON’T WANT TO SEE!!

END OF THE GUARDIANS PHOTOS!!!

As soon as he was done, we traded the kids so I could ride before our FP expired and get a rider swap for later. I was excited to get a different scene and song this time!! My heart would always start beating a little fast when the ride would start as I waited to see what song would start and get excited about what scenes I would see. I’m not a Star Wars fan, but I imagine this is what SW fans felt like when the updated Star Tours with the random scenes premiered.

While I was riding, DH and the kids were checking out the Cars 3 movie preview at the Tough to be a Bug theater, which was even in 3D. DS had been asking to do it, and it seemed like the perfect time to check it out. I think also he had picked up some Radiator Springs Racers FPs for us to use later.

I caught up with them as they were exiting the show so we could go ride Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree together. It took a bit to get on the ride because they were only running one side of it for awhile and the standby line was steady building up behind us. But luckily after about 10 minutes or so they started running the second side and we were able to get on shortly after.

Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters had a 20 minute wait, so we jumped in and it didn’t even end up being that long.


After that, I ran over to use my Guardians rider swap. Just as exciting as the first ride of the morning!


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Meanwhile DH and the kids headed over to Bug’s Land and onto Heimlich’s Chew Chew Train.


Continued in next post...
 
Day 9 Continued: Thursday June 1st

Once we were done, DH wanted to use his Guardians rider swap, so I decided to take the kids over to Smokejumpers Grill to get them something to eat before the lines for food started getting long.

MORE GUARDIANS PHOTOS COMING UP!


END OF THE PHOTOS!

He caught up with us at the restaurant and got himself some food so we could all eat.


Then once we were done with lunch, we were ready to head over to Cars Land. DS and I had our RSR FP’s to use, and we wanted to pick up a rider swap for later.


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While DS and I were off to the races, DD and DH were going on another spin with Luigi and Guido. DD really really loved this ride!

DS and I managed to catch them while they were still on the ride and waited for them at the exit.


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We were planning to spend the rest of the day at Disneyland, so instead of holding on to the rider swap for RSR, DH and DS went to use it right away.


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Didn’t want to lose that hat again!


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Hoping to put on that last burst of speed and win the race


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Meanwhile over in Bug’s Land, DD and I were taking a ride on Flik’s Flyers. DD was finally starting to appreciate those high flying rides!


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The boys found us in Bug’s Land and we paused to reapply sunscreen before getting DD settled in the stroller for a nap and starting the walk out of the park so we could make our way over to Disneyland.


UP NEXT: Disneyland Afternoon
 
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I am all caught up and loving your TR. So nice to hear you guys loving the guardians ride. I had to quickly scroll past the pictures, but the few I couldn't resist looked fantastic. I cannot wait to ride myself!
 
I stuck my ticket in my pocket instead of putting it back in my bag. The fact that I’m mentioning that little fact probably tells you this was not the best idea.

Uh oh! Foreshadowing!

So now we had mostly wasted the first 30 minutes in the park, or at least I did, because DH and the kids had at least been able to ride TSM. Needless to say, DH wasn’t all too excited about the events of the morning, and I was pretty annoyed with myself for having messed up our morning, but we had to move on and enjoy the rest of the day.

Shoot! Things like this happen, but it's still so frustrating! Especially when it happens in the morning when you have a efficient plan. Good tip to take pictures of bar codes!


Looks like fun!!

Also, the bugs life area is adorable.
 
Dang, a rough start to your morning! I'm sorry the ticket issue delayed you a bit but once it got settled it sounds like you guys really got into your groove! Lots of fun rides and use of rider swap!
 
That was NOT part of the plan!!
No. I can't think of a plan that would ever include "losing a ticket."

Thankfully it wasn't too terrible of a process to take care of it. A bit of walking across the park and losing some time, but it could have been worse.

Ok... is it just me or does this scene feel like a rip off from Spiderman at IOA???

As soon as he was done, we traded the kids so I could ride before our FP expired and get a rider swap for later. I was excited to get a different scene and song this time!! My heart would always start beating a little fast when the ride would start as I waited to see what song would start and get excited about what scenes I would see. I’m not a Star Wars fan, but I imagine this is what SW fans felt like when the updated Star Tours with the random scenes premiered.
::yes:: And I always get that stupid pod racer scene. I mean I think I've ridden it enough to have at least seen all the scenes once, but it seems like I get the pod racers pretty much every time.

Didn’t want to lose that hat again!
Definitely not!
 
Oh no! Losing your ticket had to be extremely stressful. Definitely not the way you wanted to start your morning.
The good news, though, was that you both got ride Guardians twice that morning as well as a bunch of other DCA attractions. DS looks so happy on RSR, I love that your husband is able to capture those moments of happiness.
 
I am all caught up and loving your TR. So nice to hear you guys loving the guardians ride. I had to quickly scroll past the pictures, but the few I couldn't resist looked fantastic. I cannot wait to ride myself!

I really think you will enjoy it when you get the chance to ride! It's so fun, and really entertaining.

Uh oh! Foreshadowing!

Dun dun dun!

Shoot! Things like this happen, but it's still so frustrating! Especially when it happens in the morning when you have a efficient plan. Good tip to take pictures of bar codes!

Frustrating for sure! Especially first thing in the morning, and when we weren't all together so it meant DH having to drag the kids back up to the front of the park to sort it all out. I guess I've gotten too used to WDW and not having an actual ticket in hand to keep track of, but I will definitely know better for next time and have pictures of those barcodes!! I think there is a way to link the ticket in the app to serve the same function.

Looks like fun!!

Also, the bugs life area is adorable.

It's such a fun ride! And I really love the Bugs Land area even though I'm not a huge fan of the Bugs Life movie. I love the feeling like you're shrunk down to the size of a bug. I think it will be really fun if they make the Toy Story land similar at WDW and make everything oversized so you're like the size of a toy!

Dang, a rough start to your morning! I'm sorry the ticket issue delayed you a bit but once it got settled it sounds like you guys really got into your groove! Lots of fun rides and use of rider swap!

It was definitely a headache first thing in the morning, but thankfully it didn't ruin the rest of the day!

No. I can't think of a plan that would ever include "losing a ticket."

Thankfully it wasn't too terrible of a process to take care of it. A bit of walking across the park and losing some time, but it could have been worse.

I'm pretty sure that has never been on my planning spreadsheet! lol

It definitely could have been worse, and a very good lesson learned for future trips to make sure we have some kind of backup for our tickets.

Ok... is it just me or does this scene feel like a rip off from Spiderman at IOA???

I didn't see it at first, but I think you're right!

::yes:: And I always get that stupid pod racer scene. I mean I think I've ridden it enough to have at least seen all the scenes once, but it seems like I get the pod racers pretty much every time.

I got the Drax scene on this one a few times. lol It is especially frustrating when you know there are more scenes and you still keep getting the same one and are missing out on the other ones!

Definitely not!

NOPE! It's a staple!!

Oh no! Losing your ticket had to be extremely stressful. Definitely not the way you wanted to start your morning.
The good news, though, was that you both got ride Guardians twice that morning as well as a bunch of other DCA attractions. DS looks so happy on RSR, I love that your husband is able to capture those moments of happiness.

Yeah, it wasn't the best way to kick off the day, but luckily it was a fairly easy fix aside from having to drag DH and the kids back up to the front of the park to sort it all out.

Those are some of my favorite pics from our trips, are the kids lighting up and full of pure joy!
 
Day 9 Continued: Thursday June 1st

When I left off, we were res-sunscreening and making our way over from DCA to Disneyland to finish off our day! DD was starting to show signs of being tired, so I was hoping the walk from one park to the other would get her to sleep in the stroller.


Sure enough, she was starting to doze off when we entered the park and DH begrudgingly agreed to keep walking her around so she could fall fully asleep while DS and I went on the Jungle Cruise.


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In his walking, DH stopped to get some Matterhorn FPs for him and DS to use.


And saw Captain Hook prowling around Fantasyland.


We all met up after that and I took over DD napping duties. I ended up taking her over to the Haunted Mansion stroller parking again and was able to get her parked in a shaded corner so she could finish sleeping and I just played around on my phone for the rest of her nap. Meanwhile, DH and DS were off having fun riding the Casey Jr. train.


Then they went to use the FPs DH had gotten to ride Matterhorn.


DH had given DS our old point & shoot camera to be able to take his own pictures, so they went on a photo-crawl around Fantasyland after that apparently.


I texted them when DD was waking up and they met us over by the stroller so we could all go ride something together. We settled on Winnie the Pooh since we were close by and hadn’t ridden it yet. Luckily the standby line wasn’t too bad over there because the rest of the park was posting decently long lines. I think it was only 15 or 20 minutes.

Continued in next post...
 
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Day 9 Continued: Thursday June 1st

When we came off of the ride, we could see over the fence Tigger out meeting, and DD got SO excited! This was a complete change of pace for the other characters we had been seeing, so although it hadn’t been on our radar, we decided to head around to the character meet entrance to see how long the wait was. As we approached, we overheard a CM telling another group that Rabbit was about to come out to join the meet & greet! We are not big rare character hunters by any stretch of the imagination, but DH and I both got pretty excited to hear them mention Rabbit. That’s a character you just don’t see in WDW! So we were sold and luckily, the wait wasn’t long anyway. It’s set up like a character trail of sorts, so you stand in one line and have individual meets with Tigger, Rabbit, and Eeyore.

This turned out to be such a great decision! As soon as we got up towards the front of the line, DD just started going nuts for Tigger. She was waving, yelling his name, and blowing kisses, all before it was our turn to meet him. She got a little shy again as we walked over for our meet, but was much more receptive to approaching Tigger than she had been for any other characters so far.


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Finally got her to willingly touch a fur character!


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Blowing kisses!


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I had to let Tigger know as we were leaving to head to the next character that he was the very first character DD had willingly touched and let touch her, and he seemed to really enjoy hearing that. It was probably the best meet of the whole trip! But we still had two more characters to go before we were done. Next up, Rabbit!


Another successful meet with Rabbit! Lots of high 5s and kisses blown. Then we headed to Eeyore.

I can’t even tell you how much it warmed this mama’s heart to see DD have such a great time with these three characters! DS has always loved meeting characters, since his very first trip at a year old. There were a handful of times over his many many trips where a character here or there would make him a little nervous, but nothing like how DD had been truly fearful both in October in WDW and this trip. It was great to see her turn the corner and decide characters weren’t so bad after all!

After lots more kisses blown to Eeyore, we headed out of the meet feeling like it had been a perfect decision.

The line at Splash Mountain was enormous! And it was pretty much that long the entire trip, so I never did end up getting to ride my beloved mountain.

We decided that since we were going to call it a night fairly early, we’d have an early dinner in the park. Time for my favorite restaurant…The Plaza Inn!

I guess dinner with two kids has pretty much eliminated the possibility of getting food pics because that’s the only one we have from our meal. Lol But The Plaza is hands down my favorite meal in either park. The food is so so good, and the portions are always so large that we leave full even after sharing.

I got the fried chicken dinner which comes with 3 pieces of chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a biscuit. DH got the penne pasta with chicken pesto alfredo sauce and a breadstick. And DS got the kids penne pasta with marinara sauce, a GoGo Squeez applesauce pouch, and carrot sticks. It was plenty of food for the three of us and DD ate a little of all of our meals.

After dinner, we talked about shopping down Main Street on our way out of the park, but we could hear the announcement for the Disneyland Band asking everyone to follow them down Main Street for the flag retreat ceremony, so we decided to do just that.


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This ceremony was so beautiful!! The Dapper Dans sang patriotic songs along with the music of the Disneyland band as each branch of the military was specifically acknowledged and any guests who served in that branch were invited to step forward and be recognized. We made it through what I assume is most of the ceremony, as they had us sing the National Anthem while the flag was lowered, but the kids started getting restless during the folding of the flag, so we cut out of the ceremony a little early to not disrupt others. We have done the flag retreat ceremony at WDW before, and I don’t remember it being as long or as in depth, so it was really nice to get to experience this one.

We headed out of the park then and got one last photo of the Summer of Heroes as we made the walk back to the resort.

Since we’d gotten back early we took advantage of the extra time in the room to throw in a load of laundry and even had a little dessert before getting the kids bathed and to bed, then getting to bed early ourselves.

UP NEXT: Another Early Morning!
 
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Hope you don't mind me sneaking in right here...


While they were waiting to pick up 2 FPs, DD and I entered the park, and I was juggling so many things, I stuck my ticket in my pocket instead of putting it back in my bag.

Ha, I feel like i'm constantly juggling anytime I enter any theme park! Everyone's tickets, the stroller, my camera, water, etc, etc. Seriously recipe for disaster.

However, big Tip of the Day: Had I taken a photo of the barcode on the back of the ticket and had that to show them, they could have reissued my ticket no problem without DH having to drag the kids back up to guest services to get it straightened out. I made sure to take a picture of my new ticket, but thankfully didn’t need it.

Fantastic idea! Sorry you had to find out the hard way, but thanks for sharing this tip.

GUARDIANS PHOTOS COMING UP!

Haven't gotten the chance to ride this yet but have heard amazing things about this ride!

Luigi’s Rollickin’ Roadsters had a 20 minute wait

Yep, haven't done this one yet either...


The queue is woah!

DH had given DS our old point & shoot camera to be able to take his own pictures, so they went on a photo-crawl around Fantasyland after that apparently.

Another great tip, thanks! About to get me a better, smaller camera and didn't know what to do with my Sony Cybershot (takes TERRIBLE video/audio!) Never thought about passing it down to Calvin.


Agh cute


Precious, and very cool that Rabbit was out.

I can’t even tell you how much it warmed this mama’s heart to see DD have such a great time with these three characters! DS has always loved meeting characters, since his very first trip at a year old. There were a handful of times over his many many trips where a character here or there would make him a little nervous, but nothing like how DD had been truly fearful both in October in WDW and this trip. It was great to see her turn the corner and decide characters weren’t so bad after all!

Calvin was just like your DD and now he loves them! I'm hoping Quentin will love them straight off. We haven't done many character meets at DLR or when we went to Aulani since having Q, so anxious to see what he'll do in January.
 
How exciting that DD finally warmed up so well to a character! Tigger must have worked some of his magic on her :) And the pictures with Rabbit are super! You never see Rabbit at WDW!

Excellent photos in this update—especially of Fantasyland. Looks like DH is training up DS to also be a photographer with his little photo crawl adventure.
 
So many great photos around Disneyland!

Oh my gosh, DD looks so adorable with the characters. I'm glad she finally warmed up to them!
 

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