Originally Posted By DyGDisney Okay, here goes!!!! We left our house Friday, at 12:30 in the afternoon, for our drive down to Disneyland. It took us 7 hours and 15 minutes, not bad considering it usually takes us about 7 1/2. Got to HoJo's and the room was nice. It was big, clean, and had a refrigerator and a safe. It was in building 2, so way in the back and the furthest from Disneyland. Saturday morning we got to Disneyland right at opening. We thought our special pass would not allow for fastpasses, but were pleasantly surprised to find out the person who gave us that info was wrong! We had 8:20 ressies for breakfast at Carnation Cafe, but decided to run over to Space Mountain for a quick ride first. Both of my dd's love this, so do we! After that we ate a yummy breakfast at CC, my favorite! While we were at CC, my dd had to go to the bathroom, and the ones behind CC were closed, so we went by City Hall. I decided to run into City Hall while we were there because DH's birthday is today, so I got him a birthday pin. The next stop was Indy fast pass distribution, then Pirate's. There weren't any lines on Pirate's at this point, so we pretty much walked on. Well, when we went down the first waterfall, I was sitting on the outside and got REALLY WET! I've never been so wet on Pirate's before. I couldn't believe it. The left side of my hair was soaked, so were my capris from my knees up. Don't know what that was all about! We rode a couple more rides and grabbed another fast pass, then went over to DCA at 10:00. First thing we did was grab a fast pass for Soarin', then we headed over to Toy Story Midway Mania. We had tickets for a special preview of the ride through my DH's work. We really liked it! We ended up riding it 3 times Saturday and learned ways to change the game. It's very interactive, which is fun. In between times riding TSMM, my dd7, who is quite small for her age, wanted to see if she was big enough for Screamin'. Last November she really wanted to ride it, but wasn't tall enough. I measured her, with shoes, 2 weeks ago and she wasn't 48", so I didn't think she'd make it. Well, she did! She was so excited! DD10 did not want to ride Screamin', so she stood on the platform while the rest of us rode. We went to the tortilla factory and got the world's YUMMIEST tortillas, and DH got a whole bag because it's his birthday. We had lunch at the mexican place, and it was very good. All the food we ate was VERY good this trip. It seemed very fresh too. Later we got FPs for GRR and went on Mulholland Madness and Soarin'. Then DH and the girls went on GRR, I had no desire to get wet again!!! We also decided to go on Monster's Inc while there, then headed back to Disneyland. At DL we went on Indy, first time ever as a whole family! Then we went to Big Thunder and used our other FP. We decided to skip the fireworks that night and go back and sleep. I'll write about Sunday and Monday later! Enjoy.
Originally Posted By tinkerbell1962 See, I promised that I'd read your report!! I'll be waiting for the next two days!! tink62
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 I, too, am anxiously awaiting to read about the rest of your trip! Glad you were able to ride TSMM!!! 3 times!!! I'm jealous! Let's hear more!!!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney All right, I have to work tomorrow, so I'll add now. Don't want to keep everyone in suspense for too long!! Sunday morning we got to DL at opening again. BTW, the park opened at 8:00 so there was no early opening for Main ST. We've often gone and stood in line for 15 minutes, waiting for the park to open so we could get to the rides. But we decided on this trip it was MUCH better to get there right at opening, or even 2 or 3 minutes after, no waiting to get in, and the lines are moving so you can see which is the fast line and which is the line to avoid! And we still got to the rides without much wait. We went straight to Peter Pan and waited about 10 minutes. To be among the first to ride, we probably would have had to wait outside the gates 15 minutes. I LOVE Peter Pan. That part where you are flying among the stars, oh, I just love it. I rode with dd7, and dh rode with dd10. When they got off they wanted to go on another dark ride because they were checking out eachothers eyes, teeth, etc. I was checking out the scenery myself. We went on Mr. Toad next, which was walk on. Then Alice (DD10 just played the Mad Hatter in her school play, so that was a must-do for us), Teacups, then we decided to do the Matterhorn. DD10 and I don't like it, and usually don't ride (too bumpy and jerky), but we all rode together this time. DD10 really liked it this time, but I told her it's because I absorbed the shock of all the bumpiness. After that we went to Snow White, Pinocchio was closed. We had breakfast at Cafe Orleans and it was very yummy too! We are big breakfast people when on vacation because we never go to breakfast otherwise and usually only have cereal. Went on Pirates next, and DD10 sat on the outside so I wouldn't get soaked again, but she barely got wet. We went on Haunted Mansion, which was fine but we MUCH prefer the Haunted Mansion Holiday. Everytime I'm in the seance room I think of the thread on LP a couple of years ago where it was, I think Jim in Merced (when he was Jim in Pasadena), said his sister felt a hand brush across her face in this room. My aunt who is a Christian says that if they seance head is constantly calling spirits, whose to say they wouldn't come?? It creeps me out, and sometimes I put my hands on my face in that room. I also don't like the heartbeat room, neither does dd10, we hate that creepy heartbeat sound. Needless to say, we only did HM once.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney continued..... Hmmm, trying to remember what came next. I think we went over to get Splash fast passes because we decided to do that right before heading back to HoJo's for a much needed afternoon break. We also rode the Jungle cruise at some point, and saw part of the Indiana Jones show which was in adventureland area. The kids really enjoyed it, but DD10 didn't want to go see the whole show in the Aladdin's Oasis theater. We rode Big Thunder again too. Oh, I forgot to mention, DD7 bought herself a small Winnie the Pooh dressed in a safari outfit on SAturday, so now all of a sudden loves Winnie the Pooh. She wrote a note to Winnie the Pooh in our hotel room that said, "I love you Winnie the Pooh" and she wanted to see Pooh and give it to him, so I told her we'd go see him before we rode Splash. First we went on the Pooh ride, which I think has some new additions (at least I've never noticed them before). More rain when you're going through and a couple more things I can't remember now. I really like this ride because, as a child, I loved that Winnie the Pooh movie where there was the rain and the flood, and Pooh floated in the pot and saved Piglet. It reminds me of that. I do miss country bears too though. After riding Winnie the Pooh, DH and dd10 went into the candy shop at Pooh's corner while dd7 and I went to go see Pooh. That line had to have been at least 45 minutes long! No way was I going to stand in line 45 minutes to see Pooh, when I hadn't even stood in a ride line that long. I asked dd7 if it was okay if we gave the note to a CM and asked them to give it to Pooh, and she said yes. We took the note to one of the character handlers and asked her to give it to Pooh. She said of course she would. Well, she was standing with another CM named Bill, and he said he could take us over to Pooh so dd could give him the note herself. I told him no, I didn't want to cut in front of all those people, but he said it was okay, and the other CM said, "And he's the man," so we did. Bill got Pooh's attention from the side, and he came over and dd gave him the note. Pooh "read" the note, then acted all shy, then saw dd's stuffed Pooh Bear and took it and hugged it, then hugged dd. It took all of 15 seconds, but I'm sure the people in line, especially the ones who were next, were wondering what made us so special! I took video and it was so sweet. We went on Splash next, then went back to the hotel. We needed the break if we were going to stay for fireworks. We swam a bit, then just rested for awhile and freshened up. I'll write more later about the rest of Sunday and Monday! Gee, I'm long winded, aren't I?!?!
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 On the contrary, I wanna hear MORE! I'm glad to hear your dd got the Pooh "special treatment"! Wish I could've been there to see the look in her eyes - priceless!
Originally Posted By TinkerbellPatten LOVING your trip report! It's not too long winded, we love the details! And I'm with you: Love the Peter Pan starlit scene, and Matterhorn makes my neck go out of whack and generally gives me a headache every time. I usually can only do it once per trip and ride it with my hunny, it's one of his favorites. More, more please. ;-)
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Lol about Haunted Mansion. My 3 and 5 y.o love it and have been going on HM/PM since they were 3 months old. The scarier the better. Then again, my goth kids love anything like that, so much we through a Halloween themed birthday party for my son in May. As for spirits, no need to call them - they are normally all around you, most people just can't see them.
Originally Posted By Tanyaj111 More, more, more...... Thanks for writing the report and I will be waiting on the rest. Reading it is making me even more excited about my upcoming trip. It has been over a year since I have been there so I read the reports because it sort of keeps me connected (I know that sound weird) to the goings on at the parks. The posts on this message board is to me the equivalent of a caffeine fix. So keep the report coming!
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Lovin' the details, girl. See? We DO care! Even Verna, I'll wager. My kids (some of whom are in their 30's now) grew up with the original Pooh movies and we knew them by heart. I got all bummed when you were hurrying poor DD7 after she had written the note, and you were just going to give it to the CM! I'm SO glad she got to meet her hero anyway! Shout-out to the awesome CM's at Disneyland! Looking forward to the rest of your family's experience. xoxo
Originally Posted By DyGDisney <<<I got all bummed when you were hurrying poor DD7 after she had written the note, and you were just going to give it to the CM! I'm SO glad she got to meet her hero anyway! >>> I know, I'm so mean. But I just couldn't bear the thought of that line (no pun intended ). We talked about it before we went and decided we wouldn't stand in lines to see the characters because we did that last November, and this would be a short, more crowded trip. DD7 was understanding about it, but I too am VERY grateful to Bill for making it possible for her to meet Pooh Bear. I'm on my lunch break, will write more later!!!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney I forgot to mention earlier in the day we went to Toon town to ride Roger Rabbits. It was walk on too. We saw Goofy there, and Mickey Mouse without having to wait in line very long, so we got family pictures with them. We also went to Tom Sawyer's Island for awhile. My kids love that. Okay, I'm trying to remember what else we did when we returned to DL. I know we went and had dinner first because we had only eaten snacks we took for lunch. We ate at Pizza Port, and shared the greek salad, the chicken fussili pasta and a piece of pizza. We all love the pasta, but I think this time was the best it's ever been. The kids absolutely loved it too. We rode autopia after that with fast passes, and went into innoventions for a few minutes because I wanted to see if the house of tomorrow was open yet. It wasn't. Then we rode Space Mountain again (had fast passes for that too which we had collected earlier in the day). We decided to go over to the Story Book Canal boats to ask about how to get on the fireworks cruise. A very nice CM named Stan gave us the info we wanted. We rode the tea cups again, then Casey Jr., which I love riding in the dark. Also the carousel. When it was almost time for the fireworks we went over to the Story book boats to wait for it, they told us it was too early but we had time to go around and get on again. There was an announcement at that point that said due to high winds they may cancel the fireworks. We were hoping they didn't, and went ahead and rode the boats. When we came back around, there was another announcement saying the fireworks would start soon. YAY!! So we got on the boats again, and the CM running the boat went really fast through the ride, fastest I'd ever been on it. We purposely went on at this point because we were told we'd stop and watch the fireworks from the boat, but he was not willing to let this happen. There were others on our boat who did the same thing. We pulled up to the dock just as the fireworks started, and he was like, "Sorry folks, we just missed it." Well, he made sure of that, didn't he!!! We were a little angry, but made the best of it and went and watched the fireworks from fantasyland area by dumbo. It wasn't a great view, but we enjoyed it none the less. After fireworks, we were really tired and went back to the hotel for another, much needed nights sleep.
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 Ohhhhh, another "secret"?? Ride the SBLC boats right before the fireworks and they stop the boat?? MAJOR FUN! No crowds around you and you get to sit! May have to try that one. See, the trip reports can be very informative!! The Pizza Port isn't bad, we ate there the last two times in the park. Never got the pasta tho. Will try that on our next trip! Keep em comin' DyGDisney!!!
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Or should I say: You haven't? You haven't? Oh, but you must. You'll be mad about it, simply mad.....
Originally Posted By DyGDisney On to Monday, our final 1/2 day . We started the day at DL a few minutes after opening this time. It was because we were packing up, then put our suitcase in the holding room at HoJo's so we didn't have to worry about being back by 12:00. Good thing too! My kids had school the next day, so I knew we couldn't stay too late (7 + hour drive ahead of us). First ride we headed to was Big Thunder. It was walk on at that point, and when we got off, we saw the dream team waiting at the exit. Now, let me tell you, this was my 4th trip to Disneyland since the year of a million dreams (2 1/2 years of a million dreams ), and I had never been dreamed. BUT, somehow I always knew that if it ever happened to me, it would be coming off Big Thunder. Not sure how I knew that! They had dream mickey ears, so our whole family got a pair! We decided to ride again, so got back in line and rode. As we were walking from BTMRR toward Pirates, we saw a family with Dream Fastpasses. I asked them where they got them, and they said by the petrified tree, and they were still there passing them out. We hurried over and sure enough, we got dreamed again with dream fastpasses! We were so excited, my dh wanted to stay late. I had to be the bad guy because I didn't want the kids up until 11:00, and didn't want to take them out of school another day, I felt bad taking them out even that one day. Plus, dd7 was being tested for GATE at school the next day (side note- she made it in!!!! YAY!). We rode Pirates, then decided to ditch our original plan of going to DCA to see the Zoetrope (have no idea if that's spelled correctly), which we had seen last trip, and decided to try to fit in some of the rides at Disneyland with the dream fastpasses. Well, we never could have predicted the MAJOR crowds at DL that Monday. THere were thousands of teens, for some school day thing. Oh my, it was hard to even walk. You couldn't go in to a restaurant to get a cup of ice water because the lines were out the doors. We used our fastpasses for Splash, then Indy (which was at least 20 minutes WITH the fastpasses, but had only been about 5 Saturday with fast passes). We then went to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz, then Space Mountain. At the end of Space when they take a picture, my whole family posed as if we were sleeping. We didn't buy that picture, but it's fun to do! We were going to do Autopia again, but that Fast Pass line is always long, I couldn't imagine the length it would have been that day. DD7 had wanted to do Pinocchio the whole trip, but it had been closed. It was finally open again Monday, so we made it our last ride. DD7 was crying when it was time to leave. She never wanted to leave, and now wants to move to Anaheim. Even though we go once or twice a year, she was really sad. DD10 was very sad too, but was excited to tell her friends about our trip the next day at school. DD7 cried for quite awhile, even on the drive home. Poor baby, she said she never wants to go anywhere else besides Disneyland for vacation. I told her she loved our trips to Colombia State Park and Lake Tahoe, which we have done in the past year also, but she said only Disneyland from now on!!! She also says when she grows up she's moving to Anaheim and is going to work at Disneyland. I told her I'd miss her if she lived so far away, but she said we could all move there! Well, the trip home took 6 hours and 58 minutes, our new record!!! We even stopped in Buttonwillow for 25 minutes for Starbucks, gas and fast food, and one more potty break later down the road. The traffic was great the whole drive home, and we were very happy to be home with our kitty who missed us. DD7 took her dream ears, dream fast pass and new Indiana Pooh (her Pooh Bear's name) to school the next day to share with her class. It was really a great trip, even though it was short. Can't wait to go back!!!!!
Originally Posted By disneylandfan8 WOW!!! Dreamed twice in the same day. Hadn't heard that one yet! Great way to end the trip! Thank you so much for the wonderful trip report!
