Originally Posted By Lisann22 Cast Members: Sis/Mom - my mom (62) Jacob/PapaHead - my godson (5) Me/Lisa - (42) Plus, a whole bunch of guest stars! ;> For the past several years Wendebird, her daughters, SuzieQ, my godkids and I have gone to DL at the end of April. Being that Spring Break was usually happening and made for a very crowded park we decided to bump it to May this year. Very good decision as the parks were in my mind pretty empty compared to all my other trips since last May and the 50th celebration. This year was even more special as goodgirl celebrated her 50th birthday this past week, so she decided to come celebrate the 50th on her 50th. So we ended up with quite a few of us there over a 6 day span. Past experience with the kids and LP mini-meets made us decide not to do a meet of any kind. These trips are all about them. So… Cinco De Mayo morning at 8am, my mom, Jacob and I piled into my truck and met up with SuzieQ, Wendebird and her daughter at a McDonald’s in Livermore. We drove down to DL on one stop. Made it in about 5.5 hours – ok time for us. LOL! We stayed at the Embassy Suites in Garden Grove which is right down Harbor from DL. Great hotel! We unloaded all our junk and headed to the park. First stop was to get Jacob a hopper. I wasn’t sure if he was going to make this trip until the last minute. Jacob has lost my dad, his grandpa and a few other close relatives all within a short span and he’s been very clingy with his mom. He was a bit apprehensive about leaving her. Usually there is no hesitation to ever go anywhere with me. When she dropped him off on Thursday night, he was so excited. He had been calling me daily with questions and "guess what Nina" stuff for about 4 days prior. I was happy to see the little guy excited. Here’s a typical phone call between us: Jacob - Nina, can we take Sammy and Simba to DL?" Lisa - <laughing> Noooooo. Jacob - Why? Lisa - They don't allow doggies in DL. <I knew as soon as I said it> Jacob - But Pluto is there and Goofy. Lisa - I know Papa but they live there and are special doggies. If Sammy and Simba went they'd have to stay in a kennel all day and would be sad. Jacob - But I want them to play with Pluto. Lisa - Well, I'm sorry but they can't go inside. I think Pluto likes humans more than other doggies anyway. Sammy might tear his tail off. Jacob - Oh yeah, cause he's like a big doggie toy for Sammy, huh? Lisa - <whew> Yeah. Jacob - Sammy and Simba might get us kicked out of DL huh, if we take them in? Lisa - Maybe so. I just don't think they'd have that much fun. They can't ride the rides. They have to be on a leash. Jacob - They'd chase the train kitties <cats by the Zephyr in DCA> Lisa - Yeah, I think they better stay home and keep grandma company while we are gone. Jacob - Yeah, keep grandma company, bye Nina, I gotta go play outside. We were all starving so we decided to get lunch at the Plaza Inn, always consistent with the quality and quantity for the price. goodgirl called us to find out where we were. So goodgirl, mmaus1962, iceknyght and BlacksheepUncle met us at Plaza. After some eating and socializing we headed for surprise surprise Buzz. Jacob was thrilled and we all had a blast. From there it was on to Autopia. Jerk-Bump-Slam-Jerk-Twist-Slam-Bump-Jerk-Slam-Twist – that was my ride with Jacob driving. I’m putting in my Worker’s Comp claim to Nina’s Incorporated on Monday. <sigh> After Autopia, we split up some of us went on the Matterhorn, some to Alice and some to Casey Junior’s Train. We all met back up at the King and Queen bathrooms. This is where wonderingalice and I actually spoke live vs. the phone tag game we’d been playing since around 1pm. We all then rode Jungle Cruise. After Jungle Cruise, we headed for Naples to meet up with wonderingalice and then over to the Hearthstone for goodgirl’s birthday celebration. I was given a secret mission to buy her 5 TinkerBelle balloons for her birthday, one for each decade from Pixie Glitter. This woman even tortures me in her absence. I lagged behind a bit thinking this would be a 10 minute mission and I’d catch up with everyone at Naples, present Theresa her balloons, meet wonderingalice and do the birthday celebrating. WRONG! I got the geekiest, slowest most uncoordinated CM to ever work balloons. Nevermind that the wind was whipping and 10 people all wanted to buy balloons. When it was my turn and I announced I need 5 Tinkerbelle’s and 1 BuzzLightYear, you could hear the moans from the other waiting customers. This poor CM first couldn’t juggle the balloons and try to pick out five Tinks. So I did it. I told him, you just hold the balloons, and I’ll find the ones I want. Then he tried to tie a weight to each balloon, I told him no I only need 1 weight for all 5 Tinks and 1 for the Buzz. Well, that caused another delay as he first tried to figure out how to get them all on one weight. I told him just thread it like a needle, line up all the curl ribbon and shoot it through the eye of the weight – RIGHT! After I swear 10 minutes of attempts, I pleaded with him, please let me do it. He agrees I tie the balloons to the weight. In the meantime with the wind whipping, all the balloons are now tangled with his balloons – UGH! Just shoot me. After another 10 minutes of detangling we are ready to go, I still need to pay him. Takes him several minutes to times the balloon quantity and the cost. LOL! I tell him three times and he goes over it three times. Well, 30+ minutes later we are gone. We get about half way down Main Street and my mom says Lisa? I said yeah as balloons are hitting me in the face. She says they are deflating. What? I look up and sure enough I hear sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss, well $%$%$%W$! We turn around and go back, the line is long, my cell is ringing, I know, I know wonderingalice is at Naples. <sigh> We rush, c’mon Papa, c’mon Papa, walk faster. I get to Naples and only Wendebird is there. What? Ok, so we order pizzas for the party and head over to Hearthstone. On our walk to the Hearthstone, we see wonderingalice duck into the restroom but I couldn’t maneuver 6 balloons in there, so it was like Lisann22 finding Waldo-alice all day ;> One day wonderingalice, one day we’ll make it work. LOL! We had our birthday celebration for goodgirl. Always a good time and head to DCA to watch the Electric Parade. We had enough time for everyone to get on Monsters, Inc. It was the first time for my mom, Jacob, Wendebird, her girls and goodgirl. They loved it, as do I. Great ride and addition for DCA. This quickly became Jacob’s favorite ride in DCA, not all of Disney that still belonged to Buzz. LOL! We all watch the Electrical Parade. After the parade DCA was closed so we just decided to head back to our rooms and get a good night sleep. We had all been up really early. The adults minus Suzie, Wendebird, my mom and I headed back to DL. It was a good day, glad to be back at the Happiest Place on Earth. Part 2 coming up…
Originally Posted By goodgirl I love your recounting of the trip Lisa! And LOL about the balloons! I really wish I could have brought them home with me. Instead, on my last day after I checked out of the GCH and was heading to meet you guys I saw a family with several children coming in. I stopped and asked them if they would like some balloons. Their squeals of delight would rival those of the Glittery One herself.
Originally Posted By GrumpysWife I do love to hear about the times you guys spend together. It always gives me ideas for our own trips! Nice report...
Originally Posted By juicer Great trip report! Love your baloon story! - It seems I have been in the same type of situation through the years - LOL!
Originally Posted By Pixie Glitter Lisa, you are a true friend. ;-) OMG, I was just rolling reading about the balloon experience! Thanks again for being my secret agent. And great report as always. I was so disappointed to miss out on this trip. I love being able to experience it vicariously through your reports!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Oh, wow, we were there staying at the Grand 5/3- 5/7. Those weren't our original vacation dates, life got in the way and I never bothered to post when we would be there, we could have waved. YIKES maybe you saw us and ducked You write great reports Lisa Such fun! Now I need to read the rest and figure out if our paths crossed.
Originally Posted By SuzieQ Oh my gosh! It will be so funny if we passed and didn't recognize each other. We wouldn't have even known to look for you!
Originally Posted By wonderingalice *LOL* Lisa... Yep... One of these days! Maybe December if the balloons don't go on another assault...?? ;-) It was great seeeing goodgirl for her birthday and I got to meet wendebird for the first time, too. (And dinner at Naples was FAB! I hope to do a trip report, too, but if not I'll send out a smile and a wave from here to LPFan22/Denise. Not realizing she was going to be there, we just happened to find her waiting for the same train in Toontown Station - a very nice surprise!
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Yep! She'd taken the day off of work to hang out there... Wish I lived close enough to do that! It was so funny, she was a few people behind us in line at the station and we just kinda kept looking at each other (we'd only met once before) and then the 'lightbulbs' came on. *LOL* We only had a couple of seconds to talk before boarding the train. It was a really nice surprise.
