Originally Posted By LVBelle The big day! Disneyland's 54th birthday and LP Meet day! Yay! We got up early and made it to the park in time for opening! I was bound and determined to get at least one ride on Peter Pan so we headed there first. Jake put up a little bit of a fuss in line but we got him on the boat and he did OK throughout the ride, though he wasn't thrilled. We have a tradition where we take a picture by the Monkey cage on Casey Jr. so that was next. On the way there lesmisfan caught up with us and joined us on the train! He does a wonderful monkey impression! Jake was ready to see Mickey again so we headed off to Toon Town! We quickly met Minnie and Mickey and got some great pics. As we were walking away from Mickey's house Jake spotted Gadget's Go Coaster and said he wanted to ride! I was shocked! He hadn't expressed much interest in rides at all this trip so I was surprised he wanted to go on something so loud and fast! He did great on it but he did NOT want to ride again afterwards! So we headed down to Main Street Station and met the rest of the crew for the first hosted LP Meet. The wonderful retlawfan gave us all train whistles! Woo wooo! We had a fabulous time taking the Grand Circle Tour. Everyone else wanted to go grab their Splash Mountain fastpasses so they continued around to New Orleans Square. We had left the stroller at Main St. so we left a stop before everyone! I felt very special when everyone said goodbye to us! I figured it would take a while to get everyone fastpasses and get to the Jungle Cruise, our next meet so Jake and I took our time strolling down Main Street. I saw that there was no one in the silohuette shop so we stopped in really quickly and had his done, as is tradition. By the time we got to the Jungle Cruise, everyone was there and greeted us with a round of applause! Awww, I felt so loved! We had a great cruise hosted by lesmisfan! He had fun goodie bags with bubbles and plastic animals for us! Jake loved his giraffe! Our skipper was great and it was so fun! It was almost time for the lunchtime lounge so we stopped over at Bengal BBQ. Mmmm, meat on a stick! We picked up some chicken and a fruit cup then found a nice shady table at Carnation Gardens! This was a great, relaxing meet. Jake especially liked the ducks and had so much fun feeding them with DlandDug! In fact, I had trouble tearing him away from the ducks! The kid would have been completely happy not going on any rides and just watching ducks the entire trip! The only bad part of the day happened at Lunchtime Lounge. My friend C, who had been planning on driving in the next day, had taken her car in for an oil change and they found a bigger problem. She would not be able to pay for the car and the trip so she wouldn't be joining us. I felt SO bad for her! However, not long after that I got a text message from my little cousin Danielle that said "I'm in the car, guess where I'm headed?" That's right, she and her boyfriend were coming to Disneyland! Next up was the fabulous Tiki Room meet! Our lovely hostess Ursula was thoughtful enough to provide leis and fans for us! I had a yummy Dole Whip float while we waited. Jake LOVED the Tiki Room, though he insisted that I cover his ears for drums and thunder! But it quickly became his favorite and we would do it over and over and over... The Pirates meet was next and we got more fun bubbles from PirateBrittany as prizes! All of the bubbles came in handy this trip as they gave Jake something to do while we waiting in lines and for shows! I was so happy that xPPx was there with her nifty phone! See, her fancy phone can get the internet. So when Jake started freaking out about going on Pirates she pulled up a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse video on YouTube and he was distracted enough to get in the boat without freaking out. He actually really enjoyed the ride once he was on it. He liked the dogs and he decided that a few of them looked like Rowdy and Maggie, our dogs. Haunted Mansion was next and we all enjoyed our Minty Maggots provided by 999Haunts! Again, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse was a lifesaver getting the kid on the ride. And, again, he had fun on the ride. Since I wouldn't be able to do Splash later that evening, xPPx was nice enough to hang out with Jake while I did Splash in the Single Rider line. I had a great time and so did they. They rode Pooh then met some characters. Apparently Jake loved Tigger and Brer Fox but didn't want much to do with Pooh. My kid is wierd. We were tired and it was hot so we headed towards Main Street. Jake was asleep before we even got there! The rededication ceremony was about to start so we found a shady spot to watch. I was sitting on the curb next to Jake sleeping in his stroller when xPPx whispered "I think that's Margaret Kerry!" We were standing right next to her, the live action model for Tinkerbell! I had met her a few years ago at the Club 33 meet and she was so sweet. I could tell that xPPx really wanted to meet her so I introduced myself to her. She said she vaguely remembered me! We both got pictures from her then she noticed Jake sleeping in the stroller. I introduced him and she said I did "good work!" Ms. Kerry then said that she would get down and kneel next to his stroller so I could get a picture of the two of them! I was very glad that Alexbook had joined us at this point because I had told Ms. Kerry I would help her up and I almost dropped her! Thankfully Alex was able to help and we got her up without any injury. Ms. Kerry is so very sweet and generous! It was such a priveledge to see her again, it made my day! The ceremony was wonderful and I only cried a little when they played Walt's speech. (Again, what is up with all the dust on Main Street? Seems like I can't walk down the street without getting all teary eyed!) We were getting hungry and tired so we decided to hit McDonald's on the way back to the hotel. Alex joined us for our rest and he enjoyed watching Jake draw on his Magnadoodle while xPPx and I uploaded pictures onto our computers! After a while we headed back to the park for oneeyepete's Pooh meet! We had fun goodie bags at this meet and had a great time buzzing into the 100 Acre Woods. Next was the Splash Meet. xPPx was in the first boat and she called my cell as they were going up the lift so those of us on the ground could try to get pictures of the LPers as they went Splash! It was hard to get the timing right, especially with the sun going down and light being bad but I managed to get one decent shot! After that we hopped on the train (thanks to all that helped fold and carry my stroller and all of the junk that had been stored in the basket!) and headed over to small world mall for my Fireworks Meet! We had a nice, almost empty area for viewing. I passed out more bubbles to everyone and glowsticks that xPPx thoughtfully provided to the kids. It was SO fun watching all of the kids play together! Jake doesn't go to daycare and we don't have many kids his age in our family so he doesn't have many chances to play with other kids. And when other kids try to play with him, he often doesn't know what to do. But not this time! He jumped right in with the big kids and was runnning around like crazy with them! It made me so happy to see! The fireworks were wonderful from there. I did have to sit and hold my hands over Jake's ears though. We were able to see Dumbo and Tink briefly which made me SO happy! Next was Jake's Buzz Meet! We all marched (and danced through Tomorrowland Terrace!) over to the ride and got in line! Again, we had to distract Jake with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but once he saw the big Buzz in the queue, he was all excited! We had a great time and I couldn't believe the high scores we had! I believe our top winner was Hound (please correct me if I'm wrong...) with over 300,000 points with 2nd place going to oneeyepete with over 200,000 points! Wow! For our last ride I wanted to get Jake on small world. We used Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to get him into the ride again and he LOVED it once we were in. I really liked the addition of the characters, I thought it was fun! Finally, it was time to call it a night. xPPx had to leave the next morning and we had an Early Entry to use so we called it a night. I fell asleep very quickly that night and had a wonderful night's sleep!
Originally Posted By alexbook I posted this over on FB, but I'll say it again here: The best part of the weekend, for me, was watching Jake and the other kids playing. Sorry I flaked on the last couple of meets, but I was wiped out, even with the break we had between the re-dedication and Pooh. And in case you were wondering, I'd never seen a Magnadoodle before. That's a very cool toy.
Originally Posted By x Pirate_Princess x You'd never seen a Magnadoodle? Not even on Friends? It was a blast hanging out with you, Alex! I never did make it over to Compass to buy Deathly Hallows in Paperback.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Great reports! You have the patience of a saint (or a REALLY wonderful mommy), m'dear!
Originally Posted By amazedncal2 Another great trip report! Thank you LVBelle Seeing Margaret Kerry again must have been pure magic.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin It was so fun to see you when we both snuck onto Splash! Also, I'm glad my pneumonia did not ruin meets for you. Jake was adorable, Sprint was indispensable, and all the kids really added to my experience. Of course, I loved all the adults too!!!
