Welcome to Our Family Time! Lots of pics! Trip in Progress as of 4/30!!!

[DizNee Luver]

One day away now??? I hope you have a great trip!!!!!!

 

[jakoky]

Have an awesome trip, maybe we will see you there...we leave friday for seattle and fly out early saturday morning for 10 nights at the HOJO...how long are you going for??? I will be the one travelling with 5 teenagers!!!

 

[nancy drew]

Wow, 5 teenagers! Do they babysit? Just kidding!!! I'll keep an eye out. I'm hoping to attach some Lime Green Mickey Heads to my bag, if not I'll be the one with 2 kids running in circles around me.

Ok, still torn on bringing the laptop vs leaving it. Every time I think I've made up my mind, I change it.

Also haven't made transportation arrangements. Is it idiotic to not reserve that ahead of time? Hm. I cannot believe we leave tomorrow!!!!! I know I have some more last-minute packing to do but I cannot get motivated!

 

[nancy drew]

Woohoo! We are here! I am exhausted, but the Disney High is keeping me awake enough to type up a bit of our trip.

My big concerns about today were: making sure I didn't forget anything, getting to the airport on time, getting through security without too much frustration, and getting through the 4 hour flight with my sanity intact. 2 out of 3 isn't bad, right? My glasses are at home.

The flight, man, the flight couldn't have gone better. It's always a crapshoot, flying with kids. But it all just came together. I mean, yeah, my kids' feet hit the seats in front of them. But that's kind of the nature of the beast, I mean, their knees don't hit the edge of the seat, so their feet are sticking straight out, so they can't help "kicking" the seat.

About 2 hours into the flight, a Flight Attendant came back with 2 objects wrapped in napkins and discreetly asked me if my kids might like some warm chocolate chip cookies from first class. Well duh! Of course they would! And if they didn't, I'd gladly take them!

Then about 45 minutes before we landed another Flight Attendant approached our seats with a foil pan.

"Are you going home?"

That kind of caught me off-guard, but I said something like "No, we are on vacation."

She seemed disappointed, and she said "Well I have these extra cookies, they gave me too many, but they would need to be reheated..."

"We have a microwave in our hotel room..."

And she handed me a pan with 4 more cookies! Score!

Our room wasn't ready when we got here, so we headed to Disneyland! We saw Creulla as we walked in, so DD went and had a chat with her.

She was telling Cruella that she has the book about the Dalmatians, and Cruella asked where they were hiding. DD totally blabbed, telling her they were covered in dust.

We did Buzz first, then worked our way around the park from there.

We rode Autopia for the first time! I let DS drive, and he took it very seriously.

We walked up right as Jedi Training was beginning, so we watched that. My kids will NOT participate, so we just watched. This guy was great!

Darth Maul was harassing this little girl, who then ran away crying. Nice.

We did Small World, which had been closed last year.

Ok, I have a ton more pictures and we actually did more, but we need to go to sleep. DS is beside himself with exhaustion, but won't suck it up and go to sleep unless I lie down with him. He keeps telling me he wants to go home, then he wants to go to Target (now, at 10pm) then he tells me he wants to go to Disneyland... I think he needs to go to sleep.

So, to be continued...

 

[pixleyyy]

Oh, how exciting that you're doing your TR from the parks. I can't wait to see more!!!

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Sounds like you had a wonderful start to your trip. I'm in awe of you doing this trip on your own, but it seems you are so amazingly capable. You rock and I'm sure your kids are going to have an awesome time.

 

[Misskitty3]

Love the pictures!! Glad the flight went well too! 4 hours is a long time for little ones!

Did you end up taking the DL Express or the SS?

How is the hotel? Would love to see some photos of it! I found out yesterday we are in an NQQ3 room and they noted to try and put us away from the freeway.

Have a great day today! Wish we were there now!!!

 

[hurleysweety]

Its always great to hear from those who are actually at DLR when they write! Guess you did decide to take your laptop!

Can't wait to hear more and glad to know that everything is going well so far. Pictures are so cute!

Hilarious that your DS wants to go to Target, btw.

 

[nancy drew]

I'll try and get some photos of the hotel for you, MissKitty. I assume you are in building 3? That shouldn't be noisy. We face the garden pool and if there are people at the pool we can hear them, but its no biggie.

Right now the kids are supposed to be "Resting" but that just isn't happening. I guess we will head back to the parks soon.

Let's try and recap the rest of yesterday first...

We saw that Peter Pan had a short line, so we headed over. Now, my DD had decided about 2 years ago that PP is too scary. Not sure why, she rode it without incident but wouldn't go back. We have since watched the movie, she now loves Captain Hook, and was excited to ride PP. So then DS decided it was too scary. UGH! Well I decided to veto that and be THAT mom and make him ride it. He wasn't acting scared of it, just being annoying about it. I picked him up and talked to him, and said it isn't a scary ride, it is fun, and we get to ride a flying pirate ship for pete's sake! So he was fine within like 2 seconds. So both kids LOVED it! Yay! They still will not ride Snow White though. I'm working on them.

We then did the castle walkthrough. DD was apprehensive, because of the dark. Disney really likes dark stuff, and DD does not. But the castle was cool!!!

Oh, and in case anyone is silently shaking a finger at me, I don't take flash pictures on the rides or attractions. That's why they usually turn out blurry.

The Haunted Mansion had a decent wait time:

So we did that one twice in a row. DD freaked a bit the first time, which is annoying because she was fine on it last year (she freaked once last year, but that was it). On the "You used to be fine with this" rides, I am Mean Mom and make them sit through it. I mean, I talk them through it, and am somewhat sympathetic about it (having been forced on Space Mountain against my will at age 8). DD gets "triggered" by a sudden light>dark shift, so I think that's her issue with HM. Coming inside from the light, into a dark room, she doesn't adjust quickly. Anyhoo...

We did Winnie the Pooh, which means we had to stop in at Pooh's Corner for a Tigger Tail.

We did the Tiki Room, which is one of DS's favorites:

He told the birds he loves them.

And then we headed back to the hotel!

Woohoo! All caught up, and ready to report on today's adventures! But not til later, we are heading back out now I think.

 

[Misskitty3]

What a fun trip report! Sounds like you guys are having a great time!!

Thanks for the reminder about the castle walkthrough...I need to add that to my list of things to do.

 

[nancy drew]

So, we are back for the night, and we are watching "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color". This episode is about Disneyland's 10th anniversary, and there is a ton of footage of the building of Disneyland (lots of trucks to keep DS interested). This is awesome! I don't know whether the kids get why everything looks different, but I am fascinated.

 

[pixleyyy]

Sounds fabulous!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

I love the report & pics so far!!! Absolutely got a kick of your daughter with Cruella.......

Glad you all are having a great time!!!!!!

 

[prettyprincessbelle]

Wooo!! I'm glad you are all having a wonderful time!!

I watched that Disneyland thing on the Hojo TV like 20 times last time we were there, I swear I had some of the lines memorized. I like it when the birthday cake is dancing in front of the castle!!

 

[aussietravellers]

Great report so far and your photos are fantastic! It is fantastic doing the report whist you are there, thanks for sharing and enjoy the rest of your trip

 

[nancy drew]

Wooo!! I'm glad you are all having a wonderful time!!

I watched that Disneyland thing on the Hojo TV like 20 times last time we were there, I swear I had some of the lines memorized. I like it when the birthday cake is dancing in front of the castle!!

The birthday cake is the best part! I had to turn it off when they dismantled a Tiki bird . My kids didn't get that. "A ROBOT BIRD????!!!!?!?!????" "Uh... time for bath, kids!"

Ok, I have been functioning on like 3 hours of sleep per night (DS snores and kicks, and DD kicks, so I don't sleep well in either of their beds. I should let them share a bed and fight it out all night) so the TR is lagging. I'm trying to catch up now.

New post...

 

[nancy drew]

Saturday:

We spent the day at DCA. I didn't want to deal with crowds at DL and thought we would avoid them at DCA. We didn't. But we still had a blast!

We walked in to the High School Musical 3 rally:

Then we headed to Turtle Talk with Crush. After TT, we came out in the lobby and found Cinderella, Peter Pan, and Sorcerer Mickey! I hate to hate on a character, but PP walked away with the person in front of DD, and when he returned other people rushed him and I had to push DD in to get her turn. That meant by the time we got to Mickey they decided to end the line (right as we approached).

We did Bug's Land:

and ate at Farmers Market, which was good! I had the Chicken Caesar and the kids had Chicken nuggets.

After that we rushed back over and just made it into the Aladdin show! I hadn't seen it before, and I am SO GLAD we did!

That was an amazing show! Even DS, who has no patience for movies, enjoyed it!!

I took a bunch of photos of the construction going on. Well, there wasn't any actual work happening since it was Saturday, but I took "In progress" pics.

We sat on the pier and had some Catch a Flave (DD had Cotton Candy and DS had Bubblegum) and watched Screamin' launch. Goofy came out and was having some fun with the people on the ride:

We played around in Redwood Creek, which I really enjoy (so do the kids).

And we caught the last Totem Ceremony:

DD got to help light the fire, and she was delighted! Last year she was too scared to volunteer.

We had dinner at Ariel's. Oh wait, somewhere in there we rode Toy Story Midway Mania. LOVED it! The line was about 30 minutes, which was long but not TOO long. The kids want to ride it again, so hopefully we will.

Dinner at Ariel's was good, not great. I felt like the princesses flew by and didn't really interact with DD at all. It pains me to see that happen, because she really loves them so much. I might have to suck it up and wait in the eternal PFF line so she can feel like she had some decent interaction. I mean, she didn't complain, but I feel shortchanged. Especially with the price of the whole thing. I felt like the Celebration Roundup thing at DL that everyone is *****ing about was a better deal, because at least we got to watch the characters do a show, and they came around to our tables at least once. Honestly, Ariel's was a huge disappointment, at least to me. Last year it wasn't like that. I remember DD talking to the princesses a bit more last year. Bummer.

I think we were pretty much done after that. We walked past TSMM again, but the line was 40min and I didn't want to wait. I promised we would try it again another day though. Hopefully we can do it either tonight or tomorrow!

 

[nancy drew]

Sunday:

We spent the day at DL. We rode Small World before lunch, and someone offered to take a photo of the 3 of us. This is the only photo of me from the whole trip:

Lunch was at Celebration Roundup, which I was hesitant to attend based on the lukewarm reviews here. But we loved it! The show was ongoing, and had parts with Woody or Jessie and Bullseye on stage, or Miss Chris and a guitar player or piano player. As we were ushered in we got to take pictures with Jessie:

DD has seriously waited through 2 previous trips, wanting to see Jessie and only seeing heri n parades. So she was beside herself that she got to see her and get an autograph and photo with her.

We were initially seated at a table that was so far to the side that we couldn't see the stage, but I asked if we could move and we did. Our server took our drink order, and Woody and Bullseye took the stage. Drinks are served in these mugs:

And refills are offered. This is the kid's cup:

We had the full spread: ribs and chicken, coleslaw, cornbread, baked beans, and corn

Everything was delicious, and I've heard if you want more you can just ask and they will bring it to you. We did not need more of anything, as my kids are crazy picky. I cut up some chicken (removed all traces of sauce) and they ate cornbread. That was it, until dessert. But the whole show thing was worth the high price. I do wish they had a kid-friendly option, though. Hot dogs, mac and cheese, something like that which is barbecue friendly AND kid-friendly.

The show went on as we ate, and Jessie and Woody both came to our table, as did Miss Chris. They pulled some kids (including DD) up on the stage for some dancing with Woody:

Our server told us our cupcake choices for dessert: Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Cherry, or Red Velvet. DD and I chose Strawberry and DS chose Chocolate. Each one is served in a cone, with filling and frosting in the bottom of the cone:

I had heard mixed reviews of these, so I was pleasantly surprised! They were really good! Very moist and delicious.

We finally moseyed out of there and went over to the petting area, which was kind of lame (just a bunch of goats, really). But the kids thought it was cool, so that's good.

Chip and Dale were either leaving or entering their character spot, and they stopped and pulled a pinecone out of a bucket and played a quick game of catch to amuse DD.

They both kept dropping it, which she thought was hilarious.

We must have gone on Alice next, because I have this photo:

And then we were going to get a bucket of popcorn and watch the parade. However, as we approached the castle from the Fantasyland side, we saw the Wicked Queen from Snow White!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We sort of rushed her, and she asked us to follow her. So we did, naturally.

DD was not afraid AT ALL which was awesome, because that could have gone either way.

And then it was time for the parade!!!

Coming soon, in another post...

 

[nancy drew]

I thought the parade was a lot of fun! There are a few main "floats" that don't have a whole lot to them, but they do have a few characters on each one. There are dancers walking between the floats, and a few stilt walkers and some bikes that carry the characters around. The parade stops and all of the characters sort of work their way down to a few different areas. There were some we didn't see until they rode past on bicycles, and some we didn't see until their float rode by us as the parade left.

All of the participants are super energetic (Go Disney!) and they got the kids involved a couple of times, too.

This is Mickey riding by on the back of one of those bike things:

Taking kids out to dance:

They also took the kids out on a conga line, which made me nervous as they led them around where I couldn't see them. DS didn't want to go along, so I had to stay with him. Not my finest Mom moment, letting my kid go off to join a parade, but she returned to me so it all worked out.

After the parade we headed back to the hotel and hit the Castaway Cove water play area. The kids LOVED this, and I am really glad we got to spend some time there. This was taken later, as I didn't bring my camera along because I didn't want it to get wet:

The giant bucket dumps water on everything, which is thrilling to some and terrifying to others:

This is Building 3, which faces Castaway Cove:

After we played, we had some dinner in the room and headed back to the parks. I had left my memory card in the computer, and of course we saw Mickey as we headed into the parks, so I ran and got a disposable camera and new autograph book and we managed to get Mickey and Minnie to sign and pose with DD.

We rode Small World and the train, and watched the fireworks from the Main Street station. We had planned on riding Peter Pan one last time, but I forgot it was closed during the fireworks and wouldn't open until they were done, and I just didn't want to hang around the park that long. So we never had our farewell ride on PP and that kind of stinks.

 

[nancy drew]

Monday

Our last day! SO sad!!!

We started out at Princess Fantasy Faire, because I felt like DD was shortchanged on princess interaction at Ariel's. We saw Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White and DD chatted with each.

DD had already seen all 3 of them at Ariel's, and really wanted to see Jasmine, so we asked the lady who worked there and she said if we got back in line we would likely see her. So we did! But first we get a few pressed pennies. We started a collection and the kids really enjoyed them!

So we got back in line, and sure enough, there was Princess Jasmine!

Ariel was also there, and Cinderella was still there (or there again?) and she remembered DD. Now, DS has no desire to see, talk to, or otherwise interact with any character at all. That's why he isn't in any of the photos and it is why I don't ever mention him when it comes to characters. He spoke with Ariel briefly at Ariel's, mostly he tried to shoot her with his new pirate gun (and she handled it well, stating that he probably just wanted her treasure, as she gestured to the tapestry behind her). He approached her, but wouldn't pose with her. And he spoke to Cinderella too, and that surprised me. And Cinderella even commented on how last time he wouldn't even look at her and now he was talking to her. He even addressed her by name, as though he were her old friend. The Mickey "Light Chamber" (that's what he called it) was a great conversation starter:

And then as he walked away he turned back and called out to her. It was something like "Hey, Thindewella, I have a big Monsntah Twuck and it is called Ninja Tuwtle." And she took it in stride and asked how big it was, and he said "It's just a toy." And she asked if it was green, like his shirt, and he ran away. But that was the most he voluntarily interacted with a character this trip. He must have a thing for the princesses.

After that we had to rush over to the Blue Bayou for lunch. And it is very late and I need to sleep, so that will have to wait until tomorrow or Wednesday.