Originally Posted By hoffmaml2003 Disneyland and California Adventure March 21-25 2008 We started our trip with having to repack our bags on the sidewalk at the airport because we were 12lbs overweight on our suitcase. I am a planner to a fault but this time it worked out for us because I had packed an extra bag. We were just able to fit the 12lbs into it and not have to pay the 50 dollar overweight charge. Whew!! The flight was great and the kids were on the side to be able to see the Grand Canyon as we flew over it. The captain announced that the temperature was a comfortable 68 degrees when we landed .So much better than the 48 degree jacket weather that we left in Denver . We checked into the Park Vue Inn and headed out to catch the fireworks that night. One the way to the park we were stopped by a family leaving that gave us their fast passes for Indiana Jones ride later that night. Originally we had planned on just seeing the fireworks and turning in early because the next day was our Early Entry morning, oh well. After seeing the incredible firework show we started to make our way through the crowds to the Indy ride. My DH and I had gotten the starter pin lanyard for the kids before going and walking down Main Street they saw their first Cast Member with a teal lanyard full of pins. (The ones with teal will only trade with children). That started the fever with both of them then on the lookout for more people to trade pins with. Walking over to the Indy ride we had to go past all the crowds lining up on the Rivers of America waiting for the show Fantasmic to start. I had read that when this happens the Pirates of the Caribbean has no line at all and sure enough we walked right on. What a great first ride to start our Disneyland trip! We then made it over to use the Fastpass for Indy. We all loved the ride except our DD7 who gave the ride a “Never again†rating. As we started to make our way out of the park to try and get some sleep I noticed that the Jungle Cruise had no line. Being that our scheadule was already thrown out the window,of course we rode that one too. Finally got back to the room after stopping at IHOP and getting a to go order to eat before bed. With all the excitement we realized that our dinner had consisted of pretzels on the plane and little else. After eating we all fell into bed around 12:30 with a wake up call set for 6:30 knowing this was not going to be a restful trip at all. Woke up on Saturday and made it to the front gates by 7:15 with hopes of riding Finding Nemo .Walking down main street one of the cast members stopped the kids noticing their first time at Disney buttons on the lanyards. He gave each of the kids a pin celebrating Year of a Million Dreams. I had not expected to win anything and so did not get our hopes up so this was way cool. It also got the kids all excited about using some of their money so they could trade pins later in the day. Unfortunately by the time we got to Nemo the line was already 45mins long so we decided to make Space Mountain our first ride of the day. Talk about getting your jucies going to start the day. After that made it to Star Tours and then Buzz Lightyear all before the park opened to the general public. It was now time to start following the plan I had made using the RideMax program. We were able to ride Pinocchio, Snow White and Mr. Toad’s wild ride with an average of only a 2 min. wait for each ride. Next scheduled were the Tea Cups for my DH and DD to ride. Our son tends to get green on spinning rides like me so we opted to watch them. Standing at the fence waiting for them to board I noticed that I had left our very important schedule on Mr. Toad. Well being a planner this was enough to almost make me hypervenalate. Now how would I be able to know what rides to go on with out all the lines. My DS8 and I headed back over with our fingers crossed hoping we would be able to find it. Getting there I explained to the Cast Member what I had lost and he said he knew we would be back and had let our little piece of paper ride around by it self so I could retrieve it. Those Disney people are the greatest I thought with my plan back in hand. The planned gave us 20 mins. free time so we decided to head over to the Princess Fantasy Fair to get autographs of the princesses. Well so had most everyone else and the line was 55mins long so we made the choice to skip it and try later on during the trip. Leaving the area we ran into Fox Fellow from Pinocchio and the kids got their first autograph. We then headed back to Critter County to get our fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain according to the RideMax plan. Next was Tom Sawyers Island and we ran right into Jack Sparrow. He was great using our DD head to sign their books then stealing her tiara off of her head and giving it to one of his wenches. Our DD had to then beg it back from her. We explored for awhile before heading back to ride BTMR. It was a big hit with everyone and following the plan headed over to Splash Mountain to get the fast pass for that ride. Stopped and got a snack and then it was time to ride it. Poor Dad had to ride in the front and got soaked. Next was Indy and Jungle Ride but because we had ridden these the night before we decided to ride Haunted Mansion because the standby line was only 15mins. Of course this got a big “Never Again†rating from our DS who is scared to death of ghosts. All of us were a bit tired and still a bit wet so we decided to go back to the room. I guess we didn’t know how tired we all really were and ended up taking a 3 hour nap. Heading back to Disneyland we were able to get to the ‘Magic Spot’ that RideMax had told us about to get a great viewing area of the Parade of Dreams. While we were waiting for the parade to start we ended up making friends with a mother and daughter that were also on the RideMax program. The parade was great with both the Lion King and Beauty and the Beast making stops in front of us. Belle saw that she could make our son blush and kept smiling and winking at him. Before we left the other mom arranged to have us meet her at the Blue Bayou to get her Magic Morning passes. They were staying at the Disneyland Hotel and got them but were unable to use them because they had to leave the Monday morning that it was going on. We then headed out and got our fast passes for Autotopia and headed to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. When we got there we were informed that it was down and would most likely be out until the next day but to check back. This gave us plenty of time to checkout some of the gift stores and for the kids to buy more pins to trade. They were really getting into trading up pins with any cast member they saw with a teal lanyard. It was time for our drive thorough Autotopia with DS going with me and DD going with dad. I have to say if this was any indication of what is to come I am having dad teach the driving to the kids when it comes time. We checked back with HISTA and it was still down and I was by now craving a Dole Whip so we headed to the Tiki Room. We were able to get 2 whips just in time to here the birdies sing, I so love that show. The next day was Easter so we headed back to IHOP got a meal to go and turned in for the night. We woke up the kids the next morning to the surprise that the Easter bunny had visited during the night. Both had baskets filled with Disney toys and plastic eggs were hidden around the hotel room. Much to their enjoyment the Easter bunny had filled each egg with a Disney dollar giving each an extra 10 dollars to spend. Both agreed that it was to buy more pins to trade. We headed to Disneyland that morning being that California Adventure wasn’t scheduled to start until 12:00pm on my RideMax program. Just as we went through the turnstiles Alice and the Mad Hatter were dancing to the music of the Disneyland marching band. We stopped to watch and Alice picked our DD out to dance with her as one of the cards. We then started to make our way back to HISTA and ran into Cruella. She was great when we told her we have a coyote for a dog she asked the kids,†Ewww what do you plan on doing with it hang it on a wall, make a carpet of it, Yuck!†I love her she is so nasty for a Disney character. Finally made it to HISTA and it was working again. The kids loved it even though the mice scared DD and DS was grossed out by the dog sneezing. By this time we decided to make our way over to California Adventure even if it was a little early, figured we could get something maybe for lunch before riding more rides. Our RideMax plan had us get Fast passes for Grizzly River Run and then California Screamin’ being they are not connected together on the fast pass system. Boy talk about a lot of walking with out getting on anything. I promised the kids that once we made it to Hollywood land we would take a break and sit down to watch Turtle Talk with Crush. I think I was more ready then them by then to get out of the heat and sit for a few. Of course as we were almost there we saw two Cast Members with the teal lanyards on. We went up to trade with them and as we were talking to them I told them that we had saved and planned for a long time for this trip. I showed them the RideMax plan we were following and they laughed and said that they would like to throw us off our plan for awhile. They then told us their names were Robin and Mayra and they were part of the Year of a Million Dreams Dream Squad! We told them that we were headed to Turtle Talk and they asked if they could come along with us because they thought that maybe they could make it better. When we got there Robin took us to see the Zeroscope while Mayra stayed to arrange a special showing with Crush just for us. We went in and Crush talked to DH asking him if his beard was sea moss and to watch out because it tends to grow fast. As the show let out Mayra told us to stay because Crush wanted to talk to the kids. We were then treated to a private show with Crush with the kids getting to ask such questions of what his favorite number was and when his birthday was. After it was over we thanked Robin and Mayra for the show and gave them each a thank you card that we had made to give cast members. Mayra then asked if we had been on Monsters Inc. yet and I laughed and said it was still coming up on our RideMax plan later in the day. She then took us over to Monsters Inc and led us through the exit and got us right on the ride. The stand by line was saying 45 min. wait at the time. We loved it and when we got off she told us that she would love to take us on the California Soarin’ also. So off we headed for it and again she lead us to the exit and had us go to the front of the lines. When we met up with Mayra at the front of the ride she presented us with a certificate giving us priority seating at Fantasmic that night. I had mentioned that we had not seen it and were planning on staking out a good spot later that night. She had to leave then and we thanked her for a wonderful day. Before she left, she asked if we would mind meeting Robin at City Hall at 9:00 am the next morning. Robin had something planned in the morning and Mayra hoped to meet us there also. We left then to use the fast passes that we had collected that morning for Grizzly River. Great ride and this time I was the one to get soaked much to my DH amusement. We then headed over to California Screamin’ and because my DD7 was too short to go on the ride we gave her and my fast pass to a man and son standing in the standby line. We headed over to King Tritons and the boys left to go on CS. When we got off they were waiting for us and told us that the line was shut down for Snoop Dogg and his family but should be open in about 10mins. Got some great photos of him standing in line getting ready to board the ride. We then headed over to Tower of Terror after they rode CS with some very hesitant kids. It was much scarier to me then I let the kids know. I thought it was just one drop not one after another, after another, wasn’t prepared for that. We then headed over to the Aladdin show and got in line to wait for the show. Our DD7 wanted to know if we could use a fastpass for it. At 25mins it was the longest line we had stood in the whole time so far thanks to RideMax, Fast passes and the Dream Squad. The show was great and I loved that one of the dancers was in a wheelchair. We then headed back to Disney to see Fantasmic. All along the way the kids stopping and trading pins every chance they got. When we made it finally to the Rivers of America where we were taken to the piroty seating that was roped off just for other families like us that had Year of a Million Dream certificates for the show. It was great view right in front on the stairs but far enough not to get sprayed by the water mist. One of the Dream Squad members J.J was there before the show greeting everyone and making everyone feel so special. After the show he told us to stay where we were because we would have great view of the fireworks also. So we were able to see the terrific fireworks again. Well everyone but our DD7 she fell asleep in my lap, it had been a busy Easter. The next morning not wanting to hurry the kids through Toontown for the Magic Morning we decided to be a Dream Squad of our own. I went down to the breakfast room of the hotel early and found a man finishing breakfast with his daughter. I gave them the Magic Morning passes that we were given for his family to use. They were excited to get them and I have to envy the Dream Squad who get to do this as a regular job. We headed out to City Hall to meet up with Robin. She had left a note saying to meet her at the train station at 11:00 so that gave us some time to ride the Astro orbiters. Those seats are much smaller than I remembered them being in high school and I thought I might have to roll out on my knees to get out. Luckily my DH was there with a helping hand. We then headed to the Matterhorn but the line was already long and we didn’t want to chance missing Robin. As we walked up we saw her waving frantically from the stairs of the train station with J. J from the night before. We ran up and she quickly ushered us in front of the line to the back of the train. Her big surprise was that we got to ride on the Lilly Belle, Walt’s own personal caboose. It was so nice decorated by Walt’s wife Lilly in Victorian décor. Robin then told us some great stories of Walt Disney and the park as we rode around feeling like royalty. It still even has Walt’s smoking jacket still hanging on the wall. When we got off we were greeted by the smiling face of Mayra. Robin and J. J had to go and Mayra said that she still had a few things planned for us. Before they left we made sure to get their autographs and pictures. Mayra then took us back to the fire station to wait while she went and got paper to make a poster for our DS8 to take to the Jedi Academy. She wrote†The Force is Strong in this One†and a big arrow down. Then had the kids draw stars and I Heart Jedi’s on it. Being we had some time before the show she asked us what we still wanted to ride. My DS told her the Matterhorn but the line was too long and we were going to wait until later and check then. She said we should have enough time and again led us through the exit and we were able to board the next bobsled. What a fun ride through Disney’s original mountain. We then headed to the Jedi Academy and she said she had to go then back to California Adventure but to meet her at the Princess Fantasy at 3:00p.m. She had arranged to get our DD7 a private sitting to see one of the princesses. She also handed me another certificate this time for reserved seats for the Billy and the Hillybillys show. The previous day I had mentioned that we liked Country Western music and were thinking of trying to see their show. When the Jedi Master came out he saw our sign and immediately picked our son as one of the Padawans. Our DD7 not to be out done started jumping around and sure enough was picked also. They both had serious but smiling faces as they learned the moves to fight with a light saber against the Dark Side. When it came time to put their skills to use our DS8 got to fight Darth Maul with his two sabered staff. Then our DD7 defended herself against Darth Vader and used the force to push back two storm troupers. We left and headed to Toontown until our appointment with the princess. The kids had great fun playing and climbing in all the houses and stores except Mickey’s and Minnie’s. The wait was 45min and they had already had their autographs. We then headed to the Princess Fantasy fair but not before stopping to get chocolate covered banana for DS and sorbet for DD and ourselves. We went and sat down under the lovely forest tent and ate our treats. Big mistake chocolate and red sorbet on a hot day with kids before a meeting with the princess. Thank goodness for Tide stain stick that they looked all clean and shiny just in time to meet Mayra. She then led us to a room that both Snow White and Princess Aurora were waiting in. They so pretty and sound just like they do in the movies. It was then time for Cinderella’s story telling and the page came up right before and asked our DS if he would stand in for the prince and waltz with Cinderella during the part of the story about the ball. I think he turned a couple shades of pink during it but he didn’t take his eyes off her. What a memory for him his first dance with a girl and it happened to be Cinderella. We also stayed for the Coronation and both kids learned to dance like the knights and princesses before dancing around a May Pole. Mayra said she was going home at 6:30 but would meet us in front of the castle after the Billy show to say goodbye being she was off the next day. We were able to use the fast passes we had gotten for Roger Rabbit ride when we were at Toontown earlier and then had just enough time to make it to the Golden Horseshoe for the show. When we got there the line was out the door but a Cast Member saw we had reserved seats and let us in just as the show was starting. Our table happened to be the center table right in front. It had a white table cloth and reserved sign just for us. The show was funny and the performers’ incredible musicians. Our DS8 loves to play Devil went down to Georgia on Guitar Hero and now was able to see it performed live with a comic twist. We headed out and found Mayra already waiting for us. She said that she had time to take us on one last ride and of course we were then escorted to the front of the line for Peter Pan. She knew how much we all loved Tinkerbelle and pirates. Flying over London and then through all the stars over Neverland is something only Disney can do. It was then time to say good bye to her. It was like saying good bye to a best friend that you finally just met. Our DD7 was so sad to see her leave that she started crying. She has such a hard time saying good by to people she loves and Mayra became like one of our family during the time she spent with us. We decided that getting something to eat besides IHOP would be a good idea and we had yet to see downtown Disney so we headed over to check out some places. Being that we all have such different food taste with DS and I being vegeheads , Dad a hard core meat eater and DD being a typical kid it is hard to please all. We checked our debit card balance and decided it was worth the walk to Goofy's Kitchen to see what the buffet there cost. It ended up being just what was left on the card. We all had a great time eating until we burst while Goofy, Mulan, Minnie, Pluto, Chip and Dale stopped by our table to visit. We still had yet to ride the Sun Wheel and decided to walk over to California Adventure to ride it. It was almost close and we were able to get one of the swinging gondolas, bad mistake. I had read that someone else called it the Wheel of Death and now know why. Not a good ride if you are facing backwards and afraid of heights. I tried to control my screaming but to the laughter of the family was told I made little squeaking noises. This one now got my “Never Again†rating. We turned in for the night with sad thoughts that the next day would be our last. Our DS made the comment that he couldn’t believe that we would be leaving all this the next day. We woke up and the hotel let us leave our bags while we spent our last day in Disney. We were able to make it to Muppet 3-D. I remember watching it on T. V. when I was the kid’s age and it was just like both my DH and I had imagined it would as we would watch it. We then made our last ride Mulholland Madness using fast passes we had gotten before eating at Burger Escape which served McDonald’s. There was just enough time to stop and get an email address at city hall so we could thank the Dream Squad for making our vacation one we would never forget. As we boarded the plane that evening my DH pointed out the cockpit and the kids were asked if they wanted to see inside and meet the pilots. We had a great trip home with both kids falling asleep with smiles on their faces. -
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Oh, my gosh, hoffmam. Your story brought me to tears. I am in awe at how wonderful your trip was. All those special little happenings, especially with those two wonderful dream squad members....your dream vacation lived up to the Year of A Million Dreams beautifully, didn't it? My goodness! I can't get over it and am so happy to hear of your wonderful time! I have a question for you: when the kids aren't at DL trading pins, what do they do with them? Is it just an activity done at the park? Is it a worthwhile financial investment? (Not for the future, but more like: is it worth the bang for your buck?) Again, thanks for taking the time to report! Show us some pictures, if you can!
Originally Posted By hoffmaml2003 This was a first time for us and I just decided to get them the starter laynard on a whim. I was thinking that it might be a great diversion if we had long lines. I was surprised how much they enjoyed them kind of a trading card type feeling. As for the finaccial investment it wasn't much. They both bought them with their own money that they save and quickly figured out to buy the least expensive and then trade up for one they liked. At Dl they have mystery boxes that have two pins in them for 12.00 and most of the pins they liked for themselfs usally started at 9.00 or so. So they would buy the boxes and then make a game of it to find one they really wanted. This also worked the other way lots of times also when they would trade a limited edition for a certain character they liked. It was their money and they both came home with one of a kind mememtos that they created. Or DD7 did though come home with a Tinkerbelle one that is 1 of 500.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Awesome, thanks. We've never done it before and I'm considering getting a few online as a surprise for DH and our two DD's for our upcoming trip...just to see what happens. That's so neat about that limited edition pin, too. Congratulations on having such a marvelous experience with your family!
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo That sounds like an increadible and unforgettable vacation. How luck were you? SOunds like you had enough dreams for 5 families - lol. I couldn't help but feel a little envious ;-) As for pi trading, watch out, it's addictive. We started 8 years ago, and now have about 400 pins, when I do the math I realise we could have stayed at Disney another week for what we have spent. But trading leads to great interaction, memories and a wonderfully fun collection! Glad you enjoyed.
Originally Posted By liveforvacations Your trip report was absolutely fabulous! You obviosly had a wonderful time and the Year of A Million dreams obviously benefitted your family and I am so happy for you! I have been thinking about the lanyards and you have convinced me to get some for my children next trip, if only for the wonderful interaction they will enjoy!
Originally Posted By TXDISNEYNERD What a great trip report. It made me smile. That is so wonderful that the dream team made your trip so memorable.
Originally Posted By hoffmaml2003 Here are a few pictures of our trip. I finally figured out how to get them off my camera. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlqNxWiVjO4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v =QlqNxWiVjO4</a>
Originally Posted By Tinkeroon What a fun little video! Loved it and your trip report! How incredible to be dreamed for the whole trip!! I wonder will DS and DD expect this every trip now? LOL We,too, have succumbed to the pin trading fever. But it is a lot of fun collecting your favorite characters and there are so many "cute" ones that we just HAD to have! Hope you get the opportunity to come back for another visit before very long. Thanks for posting about your amazing experiences!
Originally Posted By MomluvsDisney Nice pictures..It really makes me look forward to the trip that is planned with my DD and my sister and her DD. Lucky you to be dreamed so much! I am sure it made the trip special. Thank you for sharing!
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Thank you for taking the time to put that together. What a lovely family you have...so glad you had the trip of your dreams!
Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes This was the best trip report I've ever read! Thanks for putting it together. I'm staying at the Park Vue for the first time this July. I picked it because of it's location and it's continental breakfast which are important since we'll have the 5 year old with us. How was it? Anything I should know ahead of time?
Originally Posted By MickeyMama Great story! We're going to be there in 56 more days. We can't wait. What is this RideMax program that was talked about. I've never heard of it before.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove We used RideMax during February 2006 and had terrible results and I was so bummed. But others have used it with great results, so follow your heart. I believe it may work best when the park is at capacity. Google RideMax and go to their website. They'll pretty much lay it out for you and you may get lucky and have terrific results. For us...it gave us one minute to get from Big Thunder to Pirates. (No way with those crowds) It had us going to rides we had picked, but were being refurbed. It didn't know it.
Originally Posted By MickeyMama Mahalo. We always follow are hearts and have a great time. I don't think I'd want to be rushing from one ride to the next. We take are time and soak up as much of the atmosphere as we can. Wish Hawaii was closer.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove There ya go, MickeyMama, hang loose and watch the wahine princesses walk on by as you soak it all up. No RideMax for you!
Originally Posted By hoffmaml2003 The Park Vue was great. It's location is great especially with children. It was so nice that we knew that if we wanted our room right across the street. When other families were getting into another line to wait for shuttles, we just had to wait for the crosswalk sign to change to be "home". It was also very clean and the maids were great. After Easter there was grass and all the swag the Easter bunny left. Instead of just making the beds and vaccuming they also took the time to put the toys back into the baskets and redisplay them. The kids thought the bunny must have come back. Also our flight was not until 8:15 and the front desk had no problem letting us leave our 3 suitcases in the locked breakfast room so we could have another unhindered day in the park. As for RideMax it worked very well for us on Saturday when the park was full. I did check to see which rides were down for refurb and made sure to put that we were slow walkers. I also tend to be a planning nut so I would make a plan with RideMax and then check how far each ride was from one another. I think I must have done at least 15 or more before I really liked the one we used. Make sure you put in the breaks that you want with a long enough time to catch the shows, this seemed to work really well with us.We were then able to use the Free Time for shopping, eating, people watching. My family never seemed rushed and enjoyed knowing which ride was next. Instead of the kids whining to ride something it was nice to be able to show them where it was on the plan.
Originally Posted By WDWdreamin I love how in-depth your report is. It sounds like it was VERY magical. Thanks for sharing. Good to hear more about ride-max too.
