Spring Break Trip Report

Well, I promised a trip report so here goes the first installment.
We left on Monday evening and stopped a few hours out for dinner. Then I drove (driving the motor home is still a bit of a scarey challenge to me) to the next rest stop where we spent the night. Next morning we were up early and on our way hoping to get to the RV Park before noon. With LA traffic and all we did not check in until around 2PM.

There was apparently some miscommunication as I thought Rod wanted to wait until Wednesday to go into the Parks. I said that it seemed sacrilegious not to go to the Parks. He looked at me with quite a shocked look on his face and exclaimed, “We’re not going in??!!??” So, in we went. We were more than a little taken aback by the presence of so much security and the intensity of our bag search.

Lines were long and it was very crowded so we headed to Pirates for which the line went amazingly quickly. I quickly took a picture of us to send to our daughter who was to join us Thursday stating, “We’re in Disneyland and you aren’t!” to which I got an immediate reply of, “I’m folding laundry and you aren’t" :0P We felt a little hungry so decided to take up PNWTigger’s suggestion to have a Matterhorn Macaroon. Absolutely delicious.


Fantasyland was crazy full so we went on Pinocchio. Even that had a pretty long line.We went over to DCA and did the single rider line for RSR. Boy, I love that ride! Being pretty tired and knowing we were going to have a busy week we went back to have a wholesome dinner and good night’s sleep. Of course, one has to wait until after the fireworks before sleep or risk being blasted right out of bed.

We tried to sleep in but were up by 7:30 and after breakfast headed straight over. This was to be our only day alone so we browsed kind of lazily just doing this and that and people watching. We were able to track down a couple of CM friends and had nice chats with them. Both are in different positions than before. As we were leaving we noticed Town Hall was empty so we went in to get my Birthday Button for the next day. Everyone was really excited and vying for the opportunity to serve me. Again we headed home early as we were using our Magic Morning on my birthday.

 

Thursday was the day things took off and got busy. We got up at 5:30AM to get to the Park by 6:30. We walk in when we want to be there early for sure so we don’t get held up trying to park etc. Our last Magic Morning was anything but with most FL attractions being down and Peter Pan line too long before we could get there. We almost decided not to try it again. But it was my birthday so I wanted to do it.

The family in front of us got chosen to open the Park so that put us first in line. We were all scanned through and just waiting for them to give us the go ahead. But it kept not happening!! It was 7:06 and we were all getting a bit antsy watching our extra hour tic away. Finally we were allowed in. Since we were held at the turnstiles instead of a rope drop it was really pretty empty when we got through the tunnel. Seeing a very quiet Main Street and hearing the music was too much for me and I started to cry. But I did not let that slow me down as we headed to Peter Pan to be followed by Alice and then Mr. Toad. Yes, it was working out to be a Magic Morning after all. We followed this up with Buzz and Star Tours by which time we could get FP’s for Hyper Space Mountain.
We were expecting our daughter and fam around 10:30 so we decided to go out and upgrade our tickets. That took way longer than expected, not because there were long lines but rather an excessively chatty CM. We did not mind as we are chatty too and like meeting Cast Members. We had two rewards cards to pay the difference but still ended up owing $18 to put on a credit card. Quite a bit of math but we got it all done.

We still had time and our FP’s were ready so we rode SM. WHAT A RUSH!!!!! All I could think of was how much my granddaughter was going to love it. We were hungry so decided to get an Apple Pie Apple and sit at Coke Corner to wait for the family.

The cast would now be, in addition to Rod and Myself (65 and 64 respectively) Shawnette and Troy (38 and 39) Garrett 13, Morgan 11 and Kiera 7. This was their first trip in 3 years.

It was not long before we started getting picture texts of them walking over then standing at security then standing in line. I sent them one of us sitting carving our apple. (I am not very tech savvy; but for an old Hippie I am catching on.) They were soon there and we were met with a rush of hugs and kisses. The kids had decorated a pair of light up ears with ribbons and an “I’m Celebrating” button. They also gave my the Sally/Jack reversible hoody that I have been drooling over since Christmas. What a fun start to my birthday.

Their tradition is to ride King Arthur’s Carrousel first so off we set. I know they were expecting crowds with it being spring break and all but my daughter exclaimed, “Why is there a line at the Carrousel?!?” It was that kind of day alright. Lines and crowds. But we were prepared for that and took it in stride. The heat was a little more difficult to deal with though.

That's Garrett being too cool for a Carrousel. LOL

After that we went to Snow White. They had gotten up at 4AM, flown to Orange and shuttled to Disneyland. They were hungry. I was like, we can do Mexican or pizza or Bengal; take your pick. (When my daughter gets hypoglycemic it can be a challenge. When we were in Hawaii together we ended up eating at Panda Express!) Well, as can easily happen at Disneyland, there kept being things to do like watching the band and catching a Main Street Vehicle that we kept not eating. We decided we would walk back to the RV park to fix our own lunch and since we now had our passes we could drive back and park. We also needed to meet them at their hotel to deliver some groceries we had picked up for them.

We headed back to the Park and texted them to find out where they were. They were in a “too long line at Buzz” and we were able to join them. That’s when we realized that 7 is a bad number for riding rides at Disneyland. Someone always has to ride alone. Morgan and Garrett were celebrating being old enough to do things alone and kept wanting to ride together. It was all pretty fun.

Then came Pirates! Apparently someone, possibly and older brother, had told Kiera that there were steep drops and she could fly out of the boat. She was refusing to ride even though we kept telling her that she has been riding it since she was a baby. She did not seem to want to trust us that we would not take her on anything that could actually hurt her. (She had also just ridden BTMRR.) Her parents had to resort to a bribe and she was still crying. Her father was doing a great job of talking her through it. Well, as could be expected; she absolutely loved it and wanted to go again.

Since we had all had a very long day we decided to get out early. The plan for Friday was to meet at DCA at opening and get FP’s for RSR.

 

It is an official hat with blinking ears. I think from the Year of a Million Dreams. My grandchildren added the ribbons and button. I set in on top of the red floppy had with the embroidered Mickey which is also an older hat from Disneyland.

 

WOW! 'Bekah, good to see you.