"Do Over!" Avalon and LizKitty Meet the Mouse! FINAL DAY POSTED: Update page 6

[avalon451]

Welcome to my trip report! Many of you were there for me last March, when my family took our very first trip to Disneyland. That's right, none of us, including DH and I, both in our 40's, had ever been to any of the Disney properties. Needless to say, we were so excited to finally go, and to share the wonder with our three darling daughters-- aged 12, 10 and 5 at that time. However, while waiting for our flight at the airport, DD12 said, "Mom, I don't feel so good."
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And it only got worse from there. Tuesday, our first full day at the parks, when I woke everybody up for Magic Morning, DD12 got out of bed, ran for the bathroom, and threw up. She perked up later in the morning and came to the parks with Dad. Then wilted again in the afternoon. Every day, she woke up a little worse, perked up, and wilted faster. By the time we got home on Friday, she was quite ill, and narrowly missed being hospitalized for dehydration due to some random virus.

DD12 was miserable. She thought she's "ruined" the vacation for everybody. She felt bad for holding us back, she felt bad for "wasted money" and she was sad to have missed so much of the parks. We made the best of it that we could, but when we got home I posted miserably on the boards that I was so disappointed and upset. You all were so supportive, and the thing I heard over and over was, "Well, you can just start planning another trip!" I hadn't even thought it possible. This trip was so long in making, and I have never thought in terms of DL being a frequent destination for us. I figured this would be our once-in-a-lifetime trip. But you all got me thinking. I had my own little cache of personal mad-money that I earned working part-time last year. I had enough left over that I could finance a trip for two, if I budgeted carefully. DH was extraordinarily supportive. "You tell me when, I'll take that week off." So, the "Mom-Daughter Do Over" trip was born! With all the tips I've learned on these boards, we've put together 5 days of a fabulous trip in which BOTH of us are intending to see and do all those things we missed the first time-- DD because she was curled up in a bunkbed in GCH with a fever and nausea; me because I was sitting in the hotel room with her, worrying my head off.

So, the CAST:

Me, Gail, age 44.
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I've been a stay-at-home mom since my oldest was born in 1995. Before children I was a secondary school English teacher, having substitute-taught for a year in our local district, then taught 6-8th grades at our church's Christian day school. Last year and again this year, I've been teaching morning Kindergarten at the same school, where my own three kids are all now attending. I have a master's degree in Medieval literature, which really helps out with those Kindergarten lesson plans, let me tell you. :rotfl:

DD13, Liz.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/Lizbw.jpg
She is the typical eldest child in so many ways. She is very responsible and conscientious. She is beautiful, and at the same time, all elbows and knees and adolescent acne. She is hypercritical of herself and sensitive. Part of this is due to the ravages of adolescence. 13 is a tough age for everybody, including those living with the 13-y.o. Liz is very smart, technically minded (if the computer is down, we send her to fix it), and also artistically gifted. She loves to draw and spends time daily in her drawing. She's especially good at Anime and Manga styles. She is adventurous and very independent-minded; not one to go along with the crowd. While she is currently going through periods of extreme "too-cool-for-you"-ness, she frequently reverts to her true sweet and perky nature, and has been known to throw her arms around me and say, "I'm so lucky to have you for a mom!" :lovestruc

Supporting cast: DH, 47 and my real-life knight in shining armor.
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He is an engineering supervisor for Boeing and has worked there for 24 years. We've been together for 23 years, and married for 19. DH has never been the Romeo-type, with sweet words and sentimental gestures, but he shows his devotion in the way that he SPOILS us rotten. Me, and his three daughters. He works hard and slays the corporate dragons for us daily. He is taking an entire week of work off during our Fall break from school, so that while Liz and I go on our little jaunt, he can hang with our younger two....

DD10, crazy/beautiful/graceful/girl/woman.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/000_0007_00.jpg
She matured early and just passed me in height (I'm 5'4"). She has a wickedly funny sense of humor and is the butterfly, constantly flitting and pirouetting, acting weird, hugging randomly. While DD13 is awkward and coltish, and tends to clomp rather than walk, DD10 has this scarily innate grace of movement and gesture, making her always seem older than her years.

...and DD6.
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Youngest, diva, sweet and mischievous with an impish gleam in her eye. Pesters her big sisters to distraction. Her favorite color is still purple, she still loves to dress up. The look of wonder in her eyes while we were at DL in March was one of my favorite memories from that trip.

Tellingly, the two younger daughters were absolutely cool with this whole thing. I was amazed and gratified as both of them have diffidently stated, separately and together, "Oh, yeah, you should totally take Liz again. She missed so much while we had fun. We will have a blast doing fun stuff with Dad while you're gone." :love: Makes me cry! They are so unselfish! DD6 added, "Just bring me back one of those Stitch hats that look like he's eating your head!" :rotfl:

I will miss DH and younger DDs very much, and wish they could be there, too. That said, I'm so looking forward to this special time with my teenager. I'm so blessed to have a kid that still talks to me, seems to enjoy being around me, and is as enthusiastic as I am about this trip! We like the same kinds of things, and we will be able to do the "big stuff" without worrying about wearing out the littler ones. We can go, go, go from morning to night if we want!

THE PLAN:

Sunday, October 12th-Thursday October 16th. We fly in to SNA via Alaska Airlines around 1-ish. We are taking Super Shuttle to Howard Johnsons, where Lorealle has us booked into a top floor NQQ1 room at the fabulous Entertainment rate of $74 a night.

We have 5-day parkhoppers, acquired through GetAwayToday, which come with 2 Magic Mornings. We got them back when the "podcast" discount code still worked, so for the same price as DL travel, we have 2 MMs instead of just one. :banana:

We will hang in the parks on Sunday afternoon and do some things we missed, like see the parade, ride the DL railroad, and take pictures by the Mickey Floral. We have PSs at Cafe Orleans for dinner. Then fireworks and at least one ride on Liz's favorite, Space Mountain!

Three full days in the parks, Mon-Wed. Thursday morning we will hit MM, and ride all our favorites again, before an early lunch at BB. Super Shuttle picks us up about 3:30 from HoJo, and our flight leaves around 6 p.m., putting us back in Seattle about 8:45.

That's the general plan! Now that I've put you all to sleep, I will go away for awhile, and gather some pictures of us and our preparations. We are ready for an adventure! :cool1:

[kingshockey04]

We were there in March and my little DSis got some weird stomach bug. Luckily, it didn't last that long but it was terrible watching her go through it. We're taking sort of a redo trip too in four days. I hope you and DD have an awesome time!

And that's cool that your other DDs were okay with you only taking older DD. They sound like really good kids!

[Daisybelle]

You are going to have a fabulous time! My 13-year-old daughter and I went in July, just the two of us, and we had so much fun. We have always enjoyed one another's company, but I was still worried she'd get tired of hangin' with her 40 year old Mom at some point during our trip. Happily that never happened! We giggled non-stop for 5 days. :hug: We're going to try and go next summer too!
Have a wonderful wonderful time. I can't wait to read about it! :yay:

[mommaU4]

You guys totally deserve a do over! I'm glad you are able to do this. Our trips overlap, so who knows, maybe we'll run into each other. Can't wait to read more!!

[Sleepless Knight]

I hope you have a great trip. It's wonderful that your family is fully supportive of this. I think it speaks volumes not only of the kind of people they are, but also of how you and your husband have raised them.

[avalon451]

We were there in March and my little DSis got some weird stomach bug. Luckily, it didn't last that long but it was terrible watching her go through it. We're taking sort of a redo trip too in four days. I hope you and DD have an awesome time!

And that's cool that your other DDs were okay with you only taking older DD. They sound like really good kids!

Isn't that the worst? You feel so bad for them-- it's supposed to be the happiest place on earth, and they are missing all the fun. It's like, you'd put yourself in their place in an instant if you could. So you're doing a re-do, too! Hope you have a fabulous time! :goodvibes

You are going to have a fabulous time! My 13-year-old daughter and I went in July, just the two of us, and we had so much fun. We have always enjoyed one another's company, but I was still worried she'd get tired of hangin' with her 40 year old Mom at some point during our trip. Happily that never happened! We giggled non-stop for 5 days. :hug: We're going to try and go next summer too!
Have a wonderful wonderful time. I can't wait to read about it! :yay:

Thank you so much! I love that, 'giggled nonstop' :rotfl: -- I think we will, too! I'm so looking forward to it.


You guys totally deserve a do over! I'm glad you are able to do this. Our trips overlap, so who knows, maybe we'll run into each other. Can't wait to read more!!

I'd love to run into you! If you see a beanpole daughter and a pooh-shaped mom wearing a periwinkle Baggallini with LGMMHs on it, say "HI"!

I hope you have a great trip. It's wonderful that your family is fully supportive of this. I think it speaks volumes not only of the kind of people they are, but also of how you and your husband have raised them.

Thank you so much. I hope we've done okay with our kids; as any parent can tell you, there's long periods of time when you really second guess your child raising techniques. Before having children, you figure you'll be the perfect parents :lmao: That delusion lasts all of about 10 minutes. Sometimes I'm pretty sure that we have awesome kids IN SPITE of ourselves. ;) Other times they do something pretty obnoxious and you think fleetingly of disowning them. :rotfl:

[avalon451]

When I was a kid, Disneyland was, literally, an unreachable dream. Only rich kids went there. It would never have occurred to me that we could ever take a vacation to DL.

Disneyland was that place you saw fleeting clips of, when you watched "Wonderful World of Disney" on Sunday nights. You saw the Monorail, the teacups. Then you watched something from those rather bad interim years when all they did was live-action movies... 'Charlie the Lonesome Cougar"... "The Parent Trap"..."Wilderness Family"... "Grizzly Adams".

I came from a family of 8 kids; my dad was a minister in a Lutheran Church with a salary that was pretty minimal. My mom worked part time as a med tech, sometimes full time. We always qualified for free lunch at school. We all worked our own ways through college. So yeah, Disneyland was not an attainable dream.

My brother and his wife went there for their honeymoon and we all thought they were a little nuts. ;) It's for kids, right? We didn't really feel like we'd want to visit until our kids made us. And we wanted them to be "old enough to enjoy it." (i.e. potty trained!)

They did start pestering us about it as they got older. There was always something to put it off, though. The baby was too young. Finances are too tight this year. Finally, just after Christmas, this year, I said to DH, "Well, are we ever going to do this Disneyland thing?" DD5 was nearly 6 and the older two don't even like to play at a playground any more, so we'd better get it in.

He said, "If you want to research it and book it, I'll work out my vacation days." So with my usual over-enthusiasm for research and planning, I bought the Unofficial Guide, read it cover to cover, and in the process, discovered the DIS boards.

And that's how the addiction began! :cool1:

[BC Disney Lover]

Great pre-trip report, can't wait for your full trip report. Your descriptions of your daughters are so sweet. Getting to spent all that time with your oldest will be awesome, I'm thinking about taking my kids separately at some point.

Have a great trip!

[mommaU4]

I'd love to run into you! If you see a beanpole daughter and a pooh-shaped mom wearing a periwinkle Baggallini with LGMMHs on it, say "HI"!


LOL Will do! And if you see an also Pooh sized, tired mom of four ready to pull her hair out, yet still smiling cause she's at Disney, that's me! Say hi back. :)


I'm so glad you guys were able to finally take a trip after it being "unattainable" for so long.
For me growing up, it was the opposite. Not to say we were rich, very far from it. But somehow since we lived in CA we always managed to go at least once a year, so I grew up going there.
I have great memories of being at DL as a kid, then with friends as a teen, with my boyfriend in HS who became my DH, and finally taking each one of my kids.

Sadly though with things going the way they are these days, money is becoming tighter and since our APs are expiring, our October trip will be it for us for awhile. I'm ok with that though. I know we are lucky to have been as often as we have and I know we'll be back.

Anyway, is it time to go yet?!?!?!?!!? :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :yay: :rotfl:

[avalon451]

LizKitty *thinks* she loves roller coasters; she did go on Space Mountain last time and love love loved it! Rode it three times in quick succession (on the one night she wasn't feeling cruddy) and the last time, we waited for the front car. Now she's really jonesin' to go on Matterhorn and BTMRR, which she missed. Screamin', however, she's not so sure about. And she says definitely not to ToT. I personally KNOW she would love Screamin' and I think she would even like ToT, but I'm not that parent that shames their kids into riding stuff. Whatever makes them happy, yanno?

However, LizKitty tells me we must ride the teacups. Puuhhhleeze! :sick: :crazy2: "But, Mom, they're like, a classic!"

"But, Liz, I promise you I will barf!"

"But, Mom, you liked Screamin, and it goes upside down!"

"But, Liz, that's one loop, compared to a spinny, whirly death trap!"

So we made a deal. She will try Screamin', if I will do the teacups. She made me pinky swear.

I just better do it before a planned break, and have NOTHING in my stomach before hand. Also I told her that if she so much as touches that center wheel, let alone tries to spin us faster, I will personally aim at her lap when my stomach rebels.

[davidsprincess]

I am so happy for you!! What an awesome time for the two of you to be going. This will for sure help to bond your relationship with your daughter especially now in her teen years. I look forward to reading more!!
You may have to make this a tradition with your other 2 wonderful girls. :idea:

I know that when I was a teen my mom and I had mother/daughter time every Monday. We would go have lunch together. I treasure those memories so much and to this day I am still very close with my mom. We don't live anywhere near each other, but I talk to her everyday. So as you can see I am all for special one-on-one time with a child and I know that this is something your daughter will treasure all her life.:hug:

[mAlien13]

avalon451, I have seen you posting, but I just now caught up on your story from the Spring. Honestly, I think this is going to be so special for you! Not quite the same, but when we took our trip this last May, DH and DM flew in after I drove with my boys. I was alone with the kids for a day and a half in DLR, and I have to tell you, it was so great!!! I still get a little teary thinking about how special it was, just hanging out with them, no worries about the speed of their lives or the stresses of my own, just me focusing on them and them enjoying every minute!

My oldest is about to turn 14. :eek: I don't know where the time has gone, but what I do understand is the challenges we face entering the teen-age years with our kids. To maintain the closeness we have built, to firmly keep them on a safe and productive path, to support their budding dreams (which of course, we cannot possibly understand! Jeez, Mom!), and to keep a sense of balance and discipline, all the while dispersing sympathy and compassion for the awkward and trying time they are going through without it turning into World War III...:scared1: It's amazing, truly. And I, like you, have really good kids! It is still tough.

I think that is what makes this trip you are taking so great. Any chance we have to spend that one on one time is valuable. I wish you luck, and look forward to hearing all about it! :goodvibes

[travelmel]

Hi,

I just found your TR and I am so excited for you! I'm glad you get the opportunity for a do-over and I agree with the other posters: You have great kids AND you describe them so lovingly! :lovestruc

I'm really looking forward to the rest of your PTR and, of course, your TR.

Your writing is really nice. (OMG that sounds bad.. NICE.. what a boring word). LOL *sigh* :rolleyes: I like it

[luvmyboys]

I have to agree with you, I love roller coasters, but the teacups? Not on your life!:eek:

It sounds like you've planned carefully and have a wonderful trip laid out. All that's left is to overdose on vitamins and put your daughter in a plastic bubble until it's time to leave.:laughing:

[kkmcan]

Hi Gail! My family will be at Hojos the 13th and 14th on the wonderful ent. rate. Then we check out and head to Dolphin Cove (inlaws timeshare= free!!) I have an 11 year old dd so I can relate to everything you wrote about having a young teen. I'll keep my eyes open for you and your dd and I"ll even say hi if I'm feeling brave enough :goodvibes

Kelly

[avalon451]

I am so happy for you!! What an awesome time for the two of you to be going. This will for sure help to bond your relationship with your daughter especially now in her teen years. I look forward to reading more!!
You may have to make this a tradition with your other 2 wonderful girls. :idea:

I am totally thinking I need to do this with the other two when they are each in 8th grade! :lovestruc

I know that when I was a teen my mom and I had mother/daughter time every Monday. We would go have lunch together. I treasure those memories so much and to this day I am still very close with my mom. We don't live anywhere near each other, but I talk to her everyday. So as you can see I am all for special one-on-one time with a child and I know that this is something your daughter will treasure all her life.:hug:

Thank you so much! I'm really hoping to build some of those kinds of memories.


My oldest is about to turn 14. :eek: I don't know where the time has gone, but what I do understand is the challenges we face entering the teen-age years with our kids. To maintain the closeness we have built, to firmly keep them on a safe and productive path, to support their budding dreams (which of course, we cannot possibly understand! Jeez, Mom!), and to keep a sense of balance and discipline, all the while dispersing sympathy and compassion for the awkward and trying time they are going through without it turning into World War III...:scared1: It's amazing, truly. And I, like you, have really good kids! It is still tough.

You hit the nail precisely on the head! What a challenge! and yet, it's so cool to see them turning into their own person. Thank you for your good wishes!

Hi,

I just found your TR and I am so excited for you! I'm glad you get the opportunity for a do-over and I agree with the other posters: You have great kids AND you describe them so lovingly! :lovestruc

I'm really looking forward to the rest of your PTR and, of course, your TR.

Your writing is really nice. (OMG that sounds bad.. NICE.. what a boring word). LOL *sigh* :rolleyes: I like it

Thank you! Oh my gosh, please do NOT do that "oh, you're an English teacher, I better watch my words!" thing... where people seem to think they have to speak with a British accent and stick their pinky finger out when they drink tea, because you have taught English. :rotfl: I don't know about you, but since I've been online, posting and e-mailing a lot in the last 10 years, my grammar has really taken a nosedive. I know very well what a run-on sentence is, but I commit them all the time now.

I have to agree with you, I love roller coasters, but the teacups? Not on your life!:eek:

THIS... is what I'm talkin' bout.

It sounds like you've planned carefully and have a wonderful trip laid out. All that's left is to overdose on vitamins and put your daughter in a plastic bubble until it's time to leave.:laughing:

:lmao: I laughed out loud and showed this to Liz. I am totally taking Airborne daily and trying to get her to take it, too. We are going to be healthy for this trip, by golly! We're walking 2 miles a night to tone up our muscles, and I keep pestering Liz to drink more water and get to bed early so she's rested.

Hi Gail! My family will be at Hojos the 13th and 14th on the wonderful ent. rate. Then we check out and head to Dolphin Cove (inlaws timeshare= free!!) I have an 11 year old dd so I can relate to everything you wrote about having a young teen. I'll keep my eyes open for you and your dd and I"ll even say hi if I'm feeling brave enough

Please say hi if you see us! We're hopefully going to be on the top floor of Building 1! I expect to be hanging out in the jacuzzi most afternoons. :thumbsup2

[Disney Princess]

I'm enjoying reading about your family and your trip so much. I hope you have a wonderful time with your DD. My mom took me to WDW right after I graduated high school. Granted I was older than your daughter, but those memories are priceless. I was the second in a family of three kids. One-on-one time with Mom is the best for a daughter. I hope it is all fantastic!

Thanks for sharing with us. Enjoy that trip.

P.S. I LOVED your line about your Master's degree helping in kindergarten. :rotfl:

[danabalana]

Have a wonderful wonderful time!!! Some of my happiest memories with my son (now 17) are with just the two of us at the Dis parks.
My husband travels alot for work and we go with him every time he lands in LA or Orlando(every year or two) We have spent amazing quality time together there.
They grow up so fast and want to spend more and more time away from us (normal and healthy I guess:sad1: ) but when we go there he's my boy again, even since he's been 17.
I'm running out of kids, even my neices and nephews from my younger sisters are getting older. Oh well, maybe gradkids someday in the future (way in the future:scared: ):woohoo:

[travelmel]

Thanks for letting me out of my grammar OCD! I was about ready to break out my School House Rock :rolleyes1 -Conjunction junction what's your FUNCtion?? -:rolleyes1

:lmao:

[avalon451]

Here's a video of Liz and her sister, 10 years, doing a little dance today. I'd call it the single-digit dance, but really I asked them to do this dance they'd practiced together that copies an anime video called Hare Hare Yukai. Silly but fun! Liz starts out on the right but is on the left for most of the video. They are nearly the same height, Liz is only about a half inch taller although she's 3 years older!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkOG_DSqVEM

[avalon451]

We leave one week from tomorrow! I am starting to panic a little over things left undone.

One thing I did accomplish-- I sat down with my piles of notes and figured out our tentative schedule for each day. I worked out a touring plan with approximate times to pick up FPs, etc. and spread out everything over our 5 days. Hopefully this way, we will just know what's next instead of our conversation deteriorating into "Whaddayou wanna do?" "I dunno, whaddayou wanna do?" etc. I am determined to remain flexible, though. If we just don't feel like doing something, so be it. We are going to relax and enjoy!

I had a dream last night-- it's a recurring one I get before trips, in which I can't get back to the airport on time for a return flight after a vacation. Something is always slowing me down, preventing me, and I end up in odd situations, knowing for sure that I don't have enough time to get to the airport and make my flight! Last night's dream was full of twists and weird and unrelated people showing up in the wrong places. For example, I knew we were coming back from our DL trip, and in my dream I even had the time of the flight right-- 6 p.m.-- but it was in the wrong town (in Wisconsin!) and with the wrong people (friends from Texas!) featuring. At the end of it, I was scooting along the parking lot in back of a strange high school on a toddler's wheeled scooting toy... :lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl: and thinking, "It's 5:30, there's no way I can make it 80 miles to the airport by 6:15!"

[travelmel]

That's a commando's worst nightmare dream! LOL I nightmares are, unfortunately, too scary to even post but suffice to say night mares stink no matter what as they feel SO REAL at the time. Blech!

That video was really cute! My DD's have taken (community, not professional but STILL) dance for 3 yrs and couldn't do that. LOL

That was cool!

P.S. If you want to post your touring schedule I'd be happy to talk about it with you if ya want. I used Ridemax and what it came down to was pretty much common sense and some knowledge of the way crowds move. Reading the posts on here were extremely helpful. Especially Hydroguy, if that's right... it's been awhile since I actually researched touring.

[avalon451]

That's a commando's worst nightmare dream! LOL I nightmares are, unfortunately, too scary to even post but suffice to say night mares stink no matter what as they feel SO REAL at the time. Blech!

That video was really cute! My DD's have taken (community, not professional but STILL) dance for 3 yrs and couldn't do that. LOL

That was cool!

P.S. If you want to post your touring schedule I'd be happy to talk about it with you if ya want. I used Ridemax and what it came down to was pretty much common sense and some knowledge of the way crowds move. Reading the posts on here were extremely helpful. Especially Hydroguy, if that's right... it's been awhile since I actually researched touring.


LOL I got my sister-in-law guffawing when I described that dream to her today at church. Especially the part where I imitated myself scooting along on the ride-on toy, checking my watch.

All 3 of my kids have done dance since they were little-- 4 years old for Liz, and the younger two girls both started at age 2. They're not dance fanatics, though; they've always wanted to take just one class a week and they enjoy being on stage for the recital every year. Liz has been in Jazz or Hip Hop the last 4 years; DD10 has been in Jazz, and DD6 is still taking the combo classes for little ones that are half ballet, half tap. I sort of wish DD10 had been more into it; she's really pretty good and could be wonderful if she wanted to put some effort into it. But I'm no stage mom, so if she's happy with once a week, that's fine. Certainly much less expensive than if she were taking 5-6 classes a week, like some of the girls in their studio.

Oh, that itinerary. Well, I tell ya, I put a lot of effort into it, and I think I've got it pretty well figured out. With Hydroguy's tips practically memorized, as well as tips off Ridemax and the Unofficial Guide, I couldn't just take a premade plan that Ridemax spit out for me.... oooohhhh, nooooo... gotta create my own, cause I'm special like that. :rotfl: Anyway, as much as I like playing with Ridemax, I got frustrated with stuff it spit out that made little sense to me. Like, it really didn't maximize FP collection and useage. I was fooling with the order for Fantasyland rides, planning to do it on a MM day, so I put the rides in on a non-MM day so Ridemax would show me the most efficient order, and I could compare it to one of the MM superthread itineraries. But every time I ran it, it had me doing Dumbo last with a 25 minute wait! Makes no sense. Everybody knows you do Dumbo right after PP. Or close, anyway-- PP, then maybe Matterhorn, teacups, Dumbo, Alice... or teacups, Dumbo, Matterhorn, Alice... something like that. Anyway, I know if you do it right you can do everything in FL easily during MM. Cause we did it before. Ridemax was telling me that the first hour wasn't enough time.

Thanks for your encouragement, Mel! It's so fun and addicting to talk "shop" with everybody here. :woohoo:

[mommaU4]

You know, I bought that RideMax and I have yet to use it. :rolleyes: I've played around with it, but I think it was a waste of money for me. I just don't see myself following it. :confused3

So how are your nerves?? Besides the crazy dreams that is. LOL We leave in a week from today and I am in constant panic mode over what needs to be done, will our old minivan make it, and trying like mad to keep everyone well!!! LOL

[travelmel]

Yup,
I agree about the ridemax having some issues and I, too, made my own way in the end but I had fun with it for something to fill my dis-needs before I found the boards. LOL

I understand, too, about the dance and I can totally relate. We cannot afford 5-6 days a week at the studio and my girls also did the once a week with a recital thing... They're in soccer now and because the reason I want them in exercise stuff is for exercise then the soccer fits the bill nicely with more aerobics for less money!

You guys are gonna have a great time!

[avalon451]

You know, I bought that RideMax and I have yet to use it. :rolleyes: I've played around with it, but I think it was a waste of money for me. I just don't see myself following it. :confused3

So how are your nerves?? Besides the crazy dreams that is. LOL We leave in a week from today and I am in constant panic mode over what needs to be done, will our old minivan make it, and trying like mad to keep everyone well!!! LOL

I know, I've enjoyed playing around with Ridemax, but when I've printed out itineraries there's always so much editing I'd have to do for our particular situation that I just end up writing my own. What I really liked best about it was the tips, and that it was an instant source for refurbs, park hours, etc.

My nerves, surprisingly, are good, at least today. I'm starting to write lists, though. :eek: You know-- backs of envelopes in my purse, random lists everywhere of things I'm trying to remember I need to do.

Meanwhile, I'm pretty calm, and trying to get things in place for my Kindergarten class this week (Teddy Bear picnic on Friday) so that I don't seem so Disney obsessed that I ignore my students! :rotfl:

Can't believe I'll be there this time next week. :cool1:

[BillyFan]

I'm so happy for you that your do-over trip is finally coming up, and I can't wait to hear more.

[avalon451]

We leave in 36 hours. My dining table is a mess. I have not ordered groceries. I packed some clothes, but that's it.

Ok, this was NOT the time to get addicted to the Twilight series. My daughter got the first book from a friend, and I picked it up to make sure it was all right for her to read. (I think it's a little much for age 13, especially books 3 and 4). I ripped through the entire thing this week, and I am currently halfway through the last book. I'm hardly able to put it down. On the one hand, it's quite juvenile fiction; on the other hand, it's like brain candy. I will have to finish it before we get on the plane, because I refuse to take a hardback with me in my already heavy carry on. :lmao:

On the other hand, it's distracted me from feeling anxious about the trip. I'm pretty much calm and like, "This will be cool and fun." :hippie:

That's all for now. I have to go find out what happens to Bella.

[travelmel]

:sad2: We leave in 36 hours. My dining table is a mess. I have not ordered groceries. I packed some clothes, but that's it.

Ok, this was NOT the time to get addicted to the Twilight series. My daughter got the first book from a friend, and I picked it up to make sure it was all right for her to read. (I think it's a little much for age 13, especially books 3 and 4). I ripped through the entire thing this week, and I am currently halfway through the last book. I'm hardly able to put it down. On the one hand, it's quite juvenile fiction; on the other hand, it's like brain candy. I will have to finish it before we get on the plane, because I refuse to take a hardback with me in my already heavy carry on. :lmao:

On the other hand, it's distracted me from feeling anxious about the trip. I'm pretty much calm and like, "This will be cool and fun." :hippie:

That's all for now. I have to go find out what happens to Bella.


OMG That is SO funny!!! :lmao:

You hit it on the head there... I don't think it's appropriate for teens at ALL, especially the first book. But yep... ridiculously tasty brain candy. Mmm.. melty chocolate (said like Home Simpson)

Those books are the only thing that has kept me of the dis for any length of time since I got home from my trip! :rolleyes1

:sad2:

Enjoy!

BTW... it's only deadlines that get me motivated to do anything (packing in the next 36 hrs for instance).. lol I love it when somebody is coming over and they're due in like 2 hours. OMG I can get this house cleaned up like a bat outta hell when I have to! :rotfl2:

Deadlines...gotta love 'em. Hey, are you going to meet up with Beth and Wendylady??

[avalon451]

LOL well, I swore I was going to be well rested for this trip, but I've been staying up to read. At least last night it was only 11 when I quit. I thought the first book was ok, it was when things started getting rather steamy by the third book I got a little anxious. I spent some time already talking to Liz about the nature of real love, difference between fantasy/reality, etc.

I just ordered groceries. Albertsons was fine last time, but this time I was so frustrated with their website. Where the heck is the cereal? I can't find any cereal or breakfast items on their shopping categories at all, and the search function turns up nothing. So I went with Safeway, which requires a $50 minimum. I ended up with $15 of expensive chocolate which will come home with me in the suitcase! (well, some of it, anyway;)) And Safeway had a free delivery code for first orders, so I used that.

Today it's Target for last minute stuff, Liz has a haircut scheduled, I think I'll ask DH to take DD6 to her soccer game, and I should try to get my nails done at some point. I have acrylics since my own nails are splintery and lame, and I'm in need of a fill. I need to check off my various lists and finish packing, all except my makeup and stuff which I'll have to pack last minute.

I would love to meet up with Beth and everybody, but their mini meet is the evening of the day we fly out. I'm hoping to run into random people with LGMMHs. There are 6 DISers staying at HoJo during the time I'm there!

Busy, busy, busy. But still relatively relaxed about it all. Now if I can make myself sleep tonight!

[mommaU4]

I would love to meet up with Beth and everybody, but their mini meet is the evening of the day we fly out. I'm hoping to run into random people with LGMMHs. There are 6 DISers staying at HoJo during the time I'm there!

Busy, busy, busy. But still relatively relaxed about it all. Now if I can make myself sleep tonight!
I would have loved for you to have joined us for the mini meet! :) Maybe we'll still bump into each other. I hope so!!
In any case, have a wonderful time!!! :wizard:

[travelmel]

I see what you're saying about the steamy but as far as I was concerned I had already decided that my DDs weren't reading it so I wasn't thinking about appropriate for kids anymore. What I don't understand is why teachers and other think it's appropriate... :confused3

To me, part of the message in the first book was, "I love and need you more than life or anything else in the world" which I think is unhealthy. Also, "My boyfriend could kill me at any minute but I still love him.. it gives him that 'dangerous' feel that I so think is cool/sexy"

No way.

I know it's all debatable but that's how I felt. I am not popular with my views on Beauty and The Beast either (Basically, if you love a grumpy man with a hot temper who is mean to everybody.. if you love him GOOD ENOUGH he will change.) Not so much.

There are so many girls out there (myself included at that age) who do not have access to a healthy situation at home that they can look to when comparing reality to fantasy. All they have are the books that they and their friends are reading to guide them as to how to behave..I think messages like those above are irresponsible ESPECIALLY for "young adults"

And since when is an 11 year old a young adult? LOL I realize kids mature at different times but ELEVEN? The teacher had that book for her class to read and I just think that's pushing it. Sure it's a fine book and nobody should censor and all that but I think there are SO many books that are great for an 11/12 or "tween" range .. doesn't seem all that necessary (for schools) to push them into teen reading too soon. But.... that's just me.

I also realize it's a parents decision/responsibility to read and monitor books but not all do. You know what I mean? I dunno.

I had a harsh time when I was "maturing" because i had no guidance. I'm touchy about it.

Enough of that stuff!! Sorry for my long windedness!!!!

P.S. I also hope you get to meet up with some LGMH folks! There are so many of my "friends" -DISERS that are going to be there this month!

[avalon451]

Can definitely see what you're saying, Mel! I like to see girls portrayed as strong, not weak and helpless. We need to be so careful not to sexualize our kids too early. Bratz dolls were never allowed at my house.

[avalon451]

I *think* I'm packed. Except for the makeup and stuff I'll need to get ready in the morning.

Liz got a haircut, I got my nails done, we went to Target for some last minute stuff, and I even got a new blouse to wear for our dinner at Napa Rose.

Now I have to drink some warm milk and try to sleep!:lmao: Yeah, right. Well, a girl can hope.

Thank you all for listening to me; I will try to do updates from the park. This crazy DIS boards place has been a lifesaver and an obsession; now all the help and support I've received from you guys will go toward making this a fabulous trip!

BTW, we are both feeling fit as a fiddle! :banana: :woohoo: :cool1:

We're off to see the Wizard! Well, ok, the Sorcerer's Apprentice!

*skippity skippity skip* :dance3:

[travelmel]

I Hope You

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc55/TravelMiss/aristocatsmom.jpg

And Your Little One

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/cc55/TravelMiss/aristocatsmarie2.gif

Have a VERY Magical Trip ! ! !


:goodvibes
-Melissa

[MickeyNikiNaka]

Ok, this was NOT the time to get addicted to the Twilight series. My daughter got the first book from a friend, and I picked it up to make sure it was all right for her to read. (I think it's a little much for age 13, especially books 3 and 4). I ripped through the entire thing this week, and I am currently halfway through the last book. I'm hardly able to put it down. On the one hand, it's quite juvenile fiction; on the other hand, it's like brain candy. I will have to finish it before we get on the plane, because I refuse to take a hardback with me in my already heavy carry on. :lmao:

On the other hand, it's distracted me from feeling anxious about the trip. I'm pretty much calm and like, "This will be cool and fun." :hippie:

That's all for now. I have to go find out what happens to Bella.

HAHA When IS a good time to get addicted to Twilight?

Twilight definitely ruined my life for a good three weeks! I locked myself in my room and read non stop. Stephanie Myers definitely has a way of drawing your into her story and making you forget everything else!!

I can completely understand where you are coming from with the "appropriateness" of the books, however being a Jr High teacher I can't control what students take out and what they read. I don't think that I would let my tween read the last two books, but in the same sense Edward if very strict with his I want to wait till I'm married deal. And yes, they do sleep together before but to be fair, Vampire's don't sleep so to me it was more of a "I'm here to protect you because I love you." I could go on and on about the books, but that's not what this forum is for! LOL

That's my two cents.

I have loved reading your Pre TR and can't wait to hear about the fun adventures you and LizKitty had!!!

[avalon451]

Twas the night before the big trip, and I couldn't sleep.
What did I expect, I could just count sheep?

It didn't work. I was awake at 1:30, and at 3 I got up to have some milk and read for a bit. I dozed for another hour or two before getting in the shower at 5:30 a.m. We woke Liz up at 6 and forced some breakfast down. The last minute toiletries were packed away. DH and DDs 6 and 10 got ready for church-- they were going to drop us off at the airport and head to church in Tacoma, where my parents live. We managed to get out the door at 8 a.m., which was just right-- that's the time we usually leave for school, anyway.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2484.jpg

At the airport, Liz was cautiously optimistic. I think she really thought that it was her destiny to get sick on big trips. The last one had been such a big disappointment. But she was upbeat and happy as we settled in for our flight and cracked open our Stephanie Meyer books.

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The flight, amazingly, was about 1/3 empty! I haven't been on a less-than-full flight for years. We had the row to ourselves. As a further bonus, everybody checked in early and boarded right away, so we were actually able to take off 15 minutes early! Again, a first. With that, and with favorable winds, we landed at SNA a half-hour ahead of schedule. And the magic held. Our bags were one of the first off. We grabbed them, trundled out to the Super Shuttle island, and the shuttle was there and ready to go within 5 minutes. We were the last dropped off of about 5 groups, but still, we were at HoJo an hour before I'd expected to be there.:banana: It was only 2 p.m. and our room wasn't ready. BUT, we'd gotten the 7th floor room we requested, so I was happy! We had them hold our luggage and we headed for the parks, basically doing a two-step all the way.

The weather was perfect. Not too hot, light breeze. We walked down Harbor and turned into the shuttle entrance, and there were the security tables:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2489.jpg

Liz was practically skipping by now, so we headed through security and started looking for a short line at the ticket booths. Unfortunately, they were all LONG! I dragged her all over the Esplanade, first checking one line, then another. Then I looked over at Guest Services and remembered reading here (thanks, DISboards!) that you could also pick up your GAT tickets at GS. So I ambled over there and only had to wait for one person ahead of me. The first glitch: they couldn't find record of my tickets. :scared1: I kept calm while she called the supervisor. The supervisor looked too, and then calmly told me, "Hang on, we'll call." Liz was starting to look panicky and I was staying calm for her sake. A few moments later, she came back and said that they'd found them; the dates for our vacation had mistakenly been entered as last May, when I bought the tickets, and that's why they hadn't been showing up. Disaster averted. Our tickets were printed out and we were on our way!

We stopped at the Floral Mickey and snagged the Photopass photographer straight away. She obligingly took our picture (not yet available ;) ) and we headed through the right-hand tunnel. The very first thing to greet our eyes was this:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2491.jpg

Micky, Minnie, Pluto and the band came out just in time to welcome us! It was like a good omen.

It was good to have that first afternoon to look around, explore. We strolled up Main street, pointing and enjoying. Liz said that an ice-cream cone sounded really good right now, so we ducked into Gibson Girls and got a chocolate-dipped waffle cone apiece. Then we plopped down on the curb in the shade outside. It was 2:45, and people were already starting to claim curb spots for the 3:30 parade. That was definitely on our agenda, as we both missed the parade last time, so we just enjoyed our ice-cream and people-watched, and waited.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2493-1.jpg

Before long, all the curb spots were gone, and when the parade finally started and got around to us, we realized what a good spot we had!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2497-1.jpg

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After that wonderful experience, we hopped to our feet and proceeded on through Adventureland, enjoying the sights and sounds, and dodging the strollers. The crowds were pretty busy, as you can see by the wait times board:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2507-1.jpg

We cruised on over to Haunted Mansion Holiday, which was surrounded. Wow, the decorations are incredible! We picked up FPs for later. On the way there, we saw Jack and Sally out by ROA! There was a huge line, so we just admired from afar. They looked great and seemed to be really enjoying their interaction with the NBC fans lined up!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2508.jpg

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Then we went back to Town Square to see the Flag retreat ceremony. I didn't take any pictures, but it was nice. We enjoyed the band. I got another opportunity to embarress my daughter ;) When they ask you to join them in the National Anthem and God Bless America, I sang along fairly audibly and clearly, although not many others were doing so. I'm a born and raised German Lutheran, and we sing in public-- not spectacularly, but reasonably on-tune and without embarressment; but Liz is half her father's English/Scottish reticent child, and she crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. :rotfl:

After that, we went on the Disneyland Railroad, which we enjoyed very much. Great way to get a relaxed overview of the parks, while enjoying the sun.

While strolling back towards the castle, we angled right to take a picture:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2511-1.jpg

Then as I looked over toward Snow White's wishing well, I saw a tall, stand up collar. It was the evil Queen! She was restraining herself from mauling a small child (actually she was trying to not scare the cute little girl while still remaining in character- that toddler definitely looked suspicious!) then she commanded Liz, "Follow me," and strode through the side door into the castle. She paused and we got a picture:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2512.jpg
Liz thought that was pretty cool.

By this time it was nearly 6 p.m., so we went over to Cafe Orleans and checked in for our 6 p.m. PS's. We asked for an outside table, and they were pretty busy, but still we were seated within 5 minutes. They gave us a table just outside the patio doors, and our server was with us 3 minutes later.

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We had great service. We ordered and had our food by 6:20. I decided I had to try the Monte Cristo (Crisco), and Liz wanted to try it too. So we shared that plus a basket of the delicious Pommes Frites (fries with garlic, parmesan and herbs on them):

(WARNING: THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF FOOD PORN ON THIS THREAD-- IF YOU ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DROOLING, BEST SKIP IT!)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2516.jpg

So, my take on the Monte Crisco? I liked it, and so did Liz. However, we got it while it was still quite hot and fresh, and we both dug in immediately. Hot, with the cheese melting slightly, it was really good and tasty. As has been noted before though, it is very rich. Liz ate one triangle, I ate most of two, and that was enough. My philosophy is you should only eat enough to enjoy it, not to stuff yourselves because you don't want to "waste" it. I can see, however, that it would not be very good if it was not very hot and fresh. It kind of congeals after awhile, and while it still tasted good, I had had enough. The fries were delicious, too! And we enjoyed the sweet red grapes that came with the sandwich.

As we sat there eating, the sun set and the sky got pink and dusky pretty quickly. The overhead lanterns came on, and it was really beautiful where we sat, overlooking the ROA in the warm and fragrant air. We could hear the hoot of the riverboat. Liz looked blissfull.

Afterward, we saw that Pirates was basically walk-on. That is my favorite ride, so it was great that it was our first one, not counting the DLRR. It was wonderful!

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It was actually starting to get chilly, and Liz was getting goosebumps. We still had the fireworks, and the park was open until midnight. So we decided to go back to HoJo for a minute to check in and get our sweatshirts.

They wangled us a fabulous 7th floor room, 1713. It had a great view! Also, our groceries had been delivered, and they had very kindly delivered them to our room for us, and put the cold stuff in the refrigerator! Those fridges are small. They are the 2 cubic foot, square kind, whereas GCH were bigger, dorm sized. I could not have fit a gallon of milk in there. As it was, we had a half gallon each of milk and juice, lying on their sides. Plus cheese sticks, yogurt and however much bottled water could be crammed in, too.

We went back to the parks nestled snugly in our sweatshirts, against the cool evening breeze. Then we hit some more rides!

A friend of mine went in August and won dream fastpasses on their very last day. She only used a couple of tabs on them, and she gave them to Liz and I to use up-- 4 sets of almost complete dream FPs! So we were able to use those occasionally throughout the trip. If you're trying to figure out where I got FPs from when I didn't mention collecting them, that's where. So we were able to ride Space and Indy that first night with no wait! :thumbsup2

First we rode Space. That is Liz's favorite ride, with the possible exception of Screamin'. We rode Space at least 11 times that I know for sure during this trip-- sometimes twice in a row, sometimes 3 times a day. Never got tired of it! Then the Matterhorn had only a 10 minute wait, so we did that for the first time for both of us. It was ok, but bumpy. As we were pulling back in, Liz was a little too far forward when it jerked suddenly and she bumped her lip on the restraint bar. It swelled up pretty quickly, but not enough to be really obvious, and it didn't bother her much. (ah, the differences between a toddler and a 13 y.o.! One requires 10 minutes of cuddling and soothing... the other one shakes off your concerned hands and says, "I'm FINE, Mom, geez." :rotfl: )

Then Liz wanted popcorn, and it was a little after 9 p.m. We bought some popcorn and headed over to find a spot for fireworks, on an increasingly crammed Main Street. We were pretty hemmed in, but we had a good view. We had to stand on tiptoes to see the castle and Matterhorn effects. The winds were obviously up a little, because the fireworks were drifting slightly to the west, and Tink didn't fly. Too bad, I love Tink! But I'm glad we saw the fireworks that night, because they were scheduled for Monday but were canceled because of the high winds.

We headed over to Indy and used our FPs to bypass the 40 minute wait. Oh, I love Indy! The attention to detail is sooo incredible! Really fun.

It was nearing 10:30 and we were getting pretty tired, after a long day. So we went and used our HMH FPs and rode for the first time. Liz was entranced. She loved the movie (I found it disturbing) and she loved the HM. She didn't get to see the original when we were there before, so she had no comparison, but that didn't matter-- she's Jack Skellington's biggest fan, so of course she dragged me on it whenever possible. I have to say, that I kind of got to like it after awhile.

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Liz was very quickly enamored of all the Jack paraphernalia at Le Bat en Rouge in NOS. She got a huge hat (pictures later) fingerless gloves with bones on them that many kids looked at enviously-- and she wore them the entire rest of the trip, despite the heat! And also a Jack bandana that she also wore constantly, pirate-style, during the day when her head got too hot.

Whew! What a first day! Liz was practically skipping. She kept saying, "Wow, we got really lucky, everything has been just perfect!" We were so tired after HMH, so we strolled slowly back to the hotel. HoJo has such comfortable beds! I usually have a tough time sleeping in different places, but I just conked right out.

All in all, a perfect first day. :thumbsup2

That's all for now, I think I'll have to do this a bit at a time!

[BillyFan]

Sounds like a perfect first day!

[davidsprincess]

It all sounds so wonderful!! Thanks for sharing. Love the pictures. Looking forward to more.

[travelmel]

What a great start!! (cept for the ticket thing.. if that's as bad as it ever gets you guys are GOLDEN!)

I so love the idea of "roaming" on your first night. What a great feeling that must have been. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!

Fantastic pic of Liz and the Wicked Queen! I remember a few years ago being at DL and thinking "ohh brother, character pictures" but then when Hook came up to me I reverted back to an 8 yr old like... INSTANTLY... that DL can really do weird things to a person ;-)

I'm so jealous of your Pomme Frites and monte cristo meal. THat is a DEFINITE must for us next time. Looked great!

[Crazy4Disney72]

Wonderful trip report, can't wait to read more! I love to take trips with my kids one on one!

[mariezp]

What a fantastic trip report! Can't wait for more!

[bumbershoot]

I just noticed your TR! That line about your degree in medieval literature (history? something...I had it copied but then was looking for some homeschool stuff and copied that to paste into google, and, well, your sentence was lost from my "clipboard") was hilarious.


At the end of it, I was scooting along the parking lot in back of a strange high school on a toddler's wheeled scooting toy... :lmao: :rotfl2: :rotfl: and thinking, "It's 5:30, there's no way I can make it 80 miles to the airport by 6:15!"

:rotfl2:

I am not popular with my views on Beauty and The Beast either (Basically, if you love a grumpy man with a hot temper who is mean to everybody.. if you love him GOOD ENOUGH he will change.) Not so much.

Take that concept and change it a bit, and you can see why I despise "It's a Wonderful Life", aka, child and spousal abuse with an extra taste of alcoholism!


I have no place to talk about inappropriate books, though; I was reading Forever (Judy Blume) in 5th grade, Stephen King in high school and probably delved into Anne Rice's naughtiness before I went off to college. And I was one of the biggest prudes you ever met until I was 21! :upsidedow




OK so Gail, you're an inch taller than me, and Liz isn't THAT much taller than you (if she'd only stand straight! now I know why my mom was ALWAYS getting on me to stop slouching, LOL), and I really do NOT think it's fair that her legs look so LONG! And in case it helps her preteen being, you can tell her that the pants in the pictures so far fit the EXACT way me and my friends tried to look at that age. Especially the dark denim ones, they look just like the jeans we wanted (and those jeans were to us like Disneyland was to your family growing up...just unattainable) but more importantly, she fits them like we all wanted to. Long legs, perfectly fitting jeans, gadzooks! Next you'll be telling me she's kind to stray puppies and gets straight As! :upsidedow



I'm so glad you had such a good time! Now it's time for more more more!

[Rainforest_Elf]

I just started reading your trip report and I have to say, you're family is adorable!!

[staley7580]

Sounds like a great first day! How fun!! I was reading it thinking how much I would love to take my oldest.. Just the 2 of us. :love:

[avalon451]

Take that concept and change it a bit, and you can see why I despise "It's a Wonderful Life", aka, child and spousal abuse with an extra taste of alcoholism!

Have you ever seen "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers?" :scared1:


I have no place to talk about inappropriate books, though; I was reading Forever (Judy Blume) in 5th grade, Stephen King in high school and probably delved into Anne Rice's naughtiness before I went off to college. And I was one of the biggest prudes you ever met until I was 21! :upsidedow

I, too, was reading inappropriately mature stuff at age 12 and up, and I believe I was none the worse for it. I'm pretty biased toward non-interference as far as books are concerned, because I'm just so dang happy they are reading. But I do talk, talk, talk about them. Content, concepts, what do you think the author is saying with this, how do you think this relates to reality, why do you like this book, etc. Just to make them conscious that not everything they read is accurate, true to life-- and there is a difference between fantasy and reality. I figure, as active as we are in our faith and in communicating our values to our kids, and in trying to be good examples of responsibility, tolerance and kindness toward everybody, I have to trust that the values we've taught them so far will guide their perceptions and decisions in life. So yeah, I let Liz read the third Twilight book "Eclipse" :confused: Right decision? Not sure. She really enjoyed it, though. Kept her busy on the airplane both to and from DL.



OK so Gail, you're an inch taller than me, and Liz isn't THAT much taller than you (if she'd only stand straight! now I know why my mom was ALWAYS getting on me to stop slouching, LOL), and I really do NOT think it's fair that her legs look so LONG! And in case it helps her preteen being, you can tell her that the pants in the pictures so far fit the EXACT way me and my friends tried to look at that age. Especially the dark denim ones, they look just like the jeans we wanted (and those jeans were to us like Disneyland was to your family growing up...just unattainable) but more importantly, she fits them like we all wanted to. Long legs, perfectly fitting jeans, gadzooks! Next you'll be telling me she's kind to stray puppies and gets straight As! :upsidedow

I know right??? I only WISHED I looked like that in junior high! Oh my gosh, she's got Daddy's legs, from here to there and happily back again. DH is one of those tall, sinewy, long-legged builds-- can eat whatever he wants (of course, he also runs daily). I, on the other hand, inherited short, stout, thunder thighs from my dad. But Liz is at that age when nothing can convince her that she's in any way attractive!

I'm so glad you had such a good time! Now it's time for more more more!

Thanks, we had such a good time, but my pictures are all out of order, so it's taking me a while to get my thoughts and notes organized! Right now I gotta go watch DD6's soccer game!

[avalon451]

Monday morning, our first full day, dawned bright and early. I lay there in my comfy bed and enjoyed the soft light coming in through the skylight. I can see how it would be too bright, too early in midsummer, but at 7 a.m. in October, it was a really nice way to wake up. I even took a picture the next morning, but it didn’t turn out the way it really looked:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2539.jpg

Now, I’d checked out the park hours since the first day they were posted on the DL website. I knew that for Columbus Day, the Disney powers-that-be had decreed nearly full holiday hours of 8-11, with fireworks scheduled. Therefore I wanted to be at the gates by 7:30. I woke up Liz (“Hey, sweetie… we’re going to DISNELAAAAAAANNNNNDDD…..” ) and we got ready and scarfed some muffins, milk, juice and fruit. We were still a little late getting out of the hotel, so we got to the security tables at about 7:45. I saw fleetingly, as we waited briefly to get our bags checked, that the sign in front said the hours were 9-11. I thought confidently, “That’s wrong, it’s 8. They must have put up the wrong sign.” But I was surprised to get to the gates and there were only about 6-8 people in each line. Nope, I was wrong, I’m fairly sure they must have changed the hours since the last time I checked, since all my notes show posted hours as 8-11, but I hadn’t double checked it in the last few weeks. Sooooo, we were over an hour early. We didn’t tumble to it until it was 8:05 and there was STILL no sign of much CM activity on the other side of the gate. Finally I realized that I had the time wrong.

Ah, well… we stood around patiently, enjoying the early morning sunshine…
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2519.jpg

More CMS were showing up, they picked a “family of the day” to help open the park, a couple of lines down from us, and prepared to open the gates at 8:30 so we could shop, take pictures with Mickey, and wait for rope drop at 9 a.m. at the top of Main Street. So Liz and I were at the front of the rope.

Here’s how the park looks when you’re one of the first ones under the tunnels:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2522.jpg

First thing we saw was Mickey and Pluto. About 6 families immediately detoured straight for Mickey, but Pluto was all alone, so we ran to give him a hug and take a picture:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2521.jpg

Liz plopped right down next to the rope, dug out her ipod, and contentedly zoned out to her favorite tunes:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2524.jpg

Here’s DL across the rope, before the hordes are released:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2523.jpg

Well, soon enough 9 a.m. rolled around, and of course we headed for Liz’s favorite ride—Space Mountain! We grabbed a FP and then walked right onto it. Then we took the back path around BTMRR (never know when the Dream Team might appear) and rode BTMRR, a new experience for Liz. She loved it! Then we did PotC, my favorite. We stopped by the Court of Angels, in NOS, one of my favorite little hideaways. They had just decked it out for Christmas, and it was very pretty. They had several shelves of Christmas decorations for sale in there, but it wasn’t obnoxious.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2525.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2526-1.jpg

We stopped into Le Bat en Rouge, where Liz had seen a Jack Skellington bandana, and we bought it. Then she proceeded to wear it the entire remainder of our time there!

Then Splash. We didn’t get too wet on Splash, and we both enjoyed it very much. Next we stopped by the Hunny Pot to look at all the goodies. Oh, MY. I got an apple pie caramel apple, and Liz had a huge chunk of cookies and cream fudge. Warning: more food porn:

Apple Pie caramel apple, which they kindly cut up for us:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2527.jpg

It was quite good, but I wouldn’t say it was fabulous. The caramel was very very chewy, and tended to peel away from the apple when you bit it.

Liz enjoying her fudge:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2529.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2528.jpg

Liz had forgotten to put on sunscreen, and it was starting to get quite bright. So I shelled out big bucks for a small bottle of sunscreen there in the Pooh’s Corner store, and made Liz apply it to her unprotected face. Then, guess what? I put it down somewhere and forgot the bottle. That was the single most expensive application of sunscreen ever. Oh, well. We walked over to Hungry Bear to sit at the tables downstairs, by the river, and look for Disney kitties. Unfortunately we didn’t see any. Liz’s screen name is Lizkitty (both here and elsewhere) for a good reason: she’s a big cat fan. She loves cats and we call her the “kitty whisperer” because she can frequently coax even the shyest kitties to come say hello to her. We just lost our family cat August 1st—Caleb, our first baby, who was 16 years old when we had to have him put down. It was really hard on Liz, and on all of us. So we are all kitty deprived lately, but Liz especially.

Anyway, we finished our delicious snack and saved leftovers for later, and went to ride Winnie the Pooh. Liz said, “Cute, but cheesy.” Then we went on Jungle Cruise. We had each only been once before on our last trip, and not together, and we had a great skipper, so it was fun.

My favorite part the skipper did… absolutely perfect timing and expression:

*cheerfully* “Well, that’s something you don’t see every day!”

*pause—face sort of going thoughtful* “…I do…”

*looking pained* “…every seven and a half minutes.”

*look of quiet despair* “…. Stay in school, kids….”

After that we did the Tiki Room. We went in and Liz had a Dole whip (another new experience) and I had a Dole whip float while we waited in the courtyard. Yum. As Liz said, they are good, but not, like, the best thing ever—but we enjoyed them.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2530-1.jpg

I just love embarrassing my daughter. “In the Tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki, tiki room…” I started singing and swaying. She’s hissing, “Mom. Stop.” Then when it came to “Let’s all sing like the birdies sing, Tweet, tweet tweet, tweet tweet….” I put my arm around her, sang loudly and made her sway with me, and she was furiously pinching me and saying, “Mom! No! Stop. Mom! Mooooo-oooommmm!” till I was giggling so hard I couldn’t sing any more. By that time she was giggling, too.

Well, who would have believed it. It was already 12:30, and we were ready for a break. Out on the Esplanade, we took a couple of pictures by the California letters:

“L” is for Liz!
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2532.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2531.jpg

Then we headed back to the hotel and collapsed. We both read for awhile, and napped, and I got online very briefly to check e-mail.

We had PS’s for Ralph Brennan’s Jazz kitchen for 6 p.m. So we showered and freshened up, and headed over there about 5:30. Walking through DTD made Liz remember sharply all those times when she just couldn’t handle it any more the last trip, and was too sick to go on, and had to do the walk of shame back to the GCH to go back to bed and try to recover. She was appreciating how much better she felt this time. We were also remembering just how FAR down DTD that “convenient” private entrance to GCH is. It’s way the heck down there! You come out of the gates at night and look waayyyyy down there, and Sephora , where you come out, looks about a mile away. Of course, DLH is even farther.

Ralph Brennan’s looked very inviting in the dusk, with the wrought iron balconies, and the waiters just starting to set the outside tables. We were surprised to go to the podium and look around the apparently deserted restaurant, and be told that our table wasn’t quite ready. Hmmm? I don’t see anybody, inside or outside! A few minutes later, they led us upstairs, and into the PACKED inside dining room. I really couldn’t understand it. It was a lovely evening, perfect for sitting out on the verandah or the inside courtyard, and yet they were only seating in the stuffy inside dining room, decorated very formally, with heavy curtains at the windows, tables so close together you could hardly move… seemed stupid to me. Why in the world couldn’t they spread out their servers’ sections a bit more, or at least give you a choice for inside or outside dining? Oh, well. The service was pretty good, and the food was excellent.

Liz had the beef tournados:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2533.jpg Which were cooked to perfection, and she loved them.

I had the lobster ravioli, also delicious:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2534.jpg

Liz was a little anxious at first. Although Al and I have always enjoyed fine dining and are comfortable in relatively formal restaurants, as a family we tend to do a lot more of the Red Robin type thing. But she behaved beautifully and eventually relaxed and enjoyed herself. I wanted to give her a little taste of adventurous dining, so I ordered the Bananas Foster for two. When she understood that our waiter was going to flambé bananas for us tableside, Liz was pretty amazed. Our waiter had just finished with a couple of big tables, and had the leisure to take his time and chat with us as he caramelized the bananas with rum. He told us he enjoys doing it when he’s not rushed, and he hadn’t had a chance to make it for awhile, so he was enjoying doing the dessert for us. The bananas flamed up impressively and were served with a flourish over vanilla bean ice cream. It was truly delicious, and Liz thought it was the coolest!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2535.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2536.jpg

Full and happy, we wandered over to the monorail and got on within 5 minutes. We had a pleasant ride over to Tomorrowland, where we made good use of the Space FPs we’d picked up first thing that morning. Then we walked to the other side of the park and did Indy with a FP, and then HMH. It was pretty windy. We walked over to the hub about 9 p.m. and found a great spot, but we were both thinking that it was a pretty good bet the fireworks would be canceled. But I went over to the Plaza Inn anyway, and picked up a couple cups of hot chocolate to enjoy while we waited.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2538.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2537.jpg

Sure enough, after several warning announcements and delays, the fireworks were canceled at 9:35 p.m. We weren’t terribly disappointed; we’d seen them the night before.

We decided to go on the Storybookland Canal boats, which we’d missed last time. We got on pretty quickly, maybe a 10 minute wait. Our captain was very funny and nice. “When you were a little girl, did you want to live in a pretty pink castle like that, with a handsome prince?.... Me neither. I just wanted the pretty pink castle.” It was cute. 10:15, we were tired… we headed back to the hotel.

Another great day.

[mommaU4]

Hi there!! I'm back and caught up on your TR. :cool1: I love your pics! They came out great. Love the food porn too. LOL

We took at pic on the stairway of NOS too and it was so funny because my kids all had on Halloween tees with Christmas decorations! :rotfl2: Truly a Nightmare Before Christmas scene.

Can't wait to read more!!

[travelmel]

Great update!

Sorry you showed up too early and also that the fireworks were canceled. :( Both days we were there there was no rope drop. We were just let in at the gates. :confused3

More snacking... love the snacking. I am a BIG pineapple fan so the dole whip is yummy for me. Pineapple is my favorite ingredient in Cake, Burgers, and Alcoholic drinks: I love pineapple upsidown cake, teriaki hamburgers with grilled pineapple, and pina colada's! So dole whip was a natural addition.

Love the Tiki embarrassment. :rotfl2: sometimes you just gotta enjoy yourself.

Thanks for taking the time to post and share :goodvibes

[Tasscrapper]

It sounds like you guys had a blast. What an awsome opportunity for you and your daughter. I have a 13 year old too and it has been great to see all the pics of your dd just being happy. Sometimes that is just so hard at that age.

[mariezp]

I would love to do just a mother-daughter trip to DL. Oh well, we spend the majority of our time split from DH and DS when were are there anyway so they can ride the "big rides" while we ride everything else. Close enough for now!

Anyway, I have really been enjoying your report. Looks like your error getting to the gate early wasn't too bad. You got to beat the crowd to Pluto and ended up with a great picture of your DD. Tell dear Liz she is beautiful. She just needs to smile more often! (Why do teens think they don't look good smiling? I go through that with my DS-17. I think he prefers the tough look rather than looking like a happy child. He is getting better.) She also looks really cute in the Pirate bandana. Not everyone can pull that off!

I can't believe you would embarrass her like that in the Tiki Room! Good for you! Even mom's ought to get to have fun! Sounds like something I would do.
Maybe someday she can do that to her own daughter.

OMG! You are killing me with the food pics! And here I am trying to diet before we hit the park in 3 weeks. That Bananas Foster looks so YUMMY! Of course, I would like the dessert best! Just what is beef tournados? It looks good too.

Looks like ya'll had a great time and came up with lots of nice photos. Thanks for sharing. Can't wait for more.

[pixleyyy]

I'm loving your trip report. Lots of wonderful pictures and I love reading about your adventures.

[Hound 109]

....... but I'm not that parent that shames their kids into riding stuff. Whatever makes them happy, yanno?

HEY...IF SHAMING WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR US....THEN IT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR OUR KIDS. ;) :rotfl:


......However, LizKitty tells me we must ride the teacups. Puuhhhleeze! :sick: :crazy2: "But, Mom, they're like, a classic!"

"But, Liz, I promise you I will barf!"

"But, Mom, you liked Screamin, and it goes upside down!"

"But, Liz, that's one loop, compared to a spinny, whirly death trap!"

So we made a deal. She will try Screamin', if I will do the teacups. She made me pinky swear.

I just better do it before a planned break, and have NOTHING in my stomach before hand. Also I told her that if she so much as touches that center wheel, let alone tries to spin us faster, I will personally aim at her lap when my stomach rebels.

Should have held out for 2 rides on Screamin.... for 1 Tea Cup ride.

& she has to keep one hand behind her back for the first 30 seconds of that evil tea cup ride. :thumbsup2


Love the report & the pics, Avalon....especially the B&W pic of DD. Still on page 1, but i'm gonna catch up.

:)

[disney-inspired]

http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/9887/101252150900915096239rq8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

When I saw this I thought "finally, a smile!"

I'm aboard and waiting for your next update.

[avalon451]

Anyway, I have really been enjoying your report. Looks like your error getting to the gate early wasn't too bad. You got to beat the crowd to Pluto and ended up with a great picture of your DD. Tell dear Liz she is beautiful. She just needs to smile more often! (Why do teens think they don't look good smiling? I go through that with my DS-17. I think he prefers the tough look rather than looking like a happy child. He is getting better.) She also looks really cute in the Pirate bandana. Not everyone can pull that off!

Just what is beef tournados? It looks good too.

Thanks, Marie! I LOVE Liz's smile, but since she hit that adolescence thing, it's like you said-- you can't convince her that it looks good in pictures. She even commented a few times after I took a picture, "I was scowling again, wasn't I?" :rotfl2: She doesn't really scowl, but she doesn't let loose with that 1,000 watt smile she used to flash around so much when she was littler.

The beef tournados are medallions of steak, they are cuts of filet mignon. Soooo tender and good, if you do that carnivore thing! :thumbsup2

Should have held out for 2 rides on Screamin.... for 1 Tea Cup ride.

& she has to keep one hand behind her back for the first 30 seconds of that evil tea cup ride. :thumbsup2

Just hold on for days 3 and 4... she outdid all my expectations for thrill rides!


Love the report & the pics, Avalon....especially the B&W pic of DD. Still on page 1, but i'm gonna catch up.

:)

Thanks, Hound! I took that picture at the ocean in July and DH put it into black and white. It's now a framed 8x10 on the desk here.

[QUOTE=disney-inspired;28275778When I saw this I thought "finally, a smile!"

I'm aboard and waiting for your next update.[/QUOTE]

I know, right??!! She has a pretty smile, but she is 13 and there is nothing you can say that will convince her! She smiled and laughed plenty while we were there, but get a camera out, and she gets that teenaged bored look going on. :rotfl:

Glad so many of you are on board and enjoying! I'm working on day 3.

[IDreamfDisney]

Loving your TR - great details, great pix! About the food porn: Oy- looks so delicious, I figure if I look at it enough I can enjoy all that yummy food without all the calories! Looking forward to more TR. You're right, Liz has a great smile!

[Hound 109]

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2491.jpg

Micky, Minnie, Pluto and the band came out just in time to welcome us! It was like a good omen.



NOW THAT IS VERY COOL! :thumbsup2



......We had great service. We ordered and had our food by 6:20. I decided I had to try the Monte Cristo (Crisco), and Liz wanted to try it too. So we shared that plus a basket of the delicious Pommes Frites (fries with garlic, parmesan and herbs on them):

(WARNING: THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF FOOD PORN ON THIS THREAD-- IF YOU ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO DROOLING, BEST SKIP IT!)

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2516.jpg




THAT SEEMS LIKE A GOOD ITEM TO "SPLIT". (I HATE GETTING STUFFED IN THE PARK). SO NO PROBLEMS WITH ORDERING JUST ONE ITEM?



So, my take on the Monte Crisco? I liked it, and so did Liz. However, we got it while it was still quite hot and fresh, and we both dug in immediately. Hot, with the cheese melting slightly, it was really good and tasty. As has been noted before though, it is very rich. Liz ate one triangle, I ate most of two, and that was enough. My philosophy is you should only eat enough to enjoy it, not to stuff yourselves because you don't want to "waste" it. I can see, however, that it would not be very good if it was not very hot and fresh. It kind of congeals......I LOVE THAT WORD. :thumbsup2

...after awhile, and while it still tasted good, I had had enough. The fries were delicious, too! And we enjoyed the sweet red grapes that came with the sandwich.


....Afterward, we saw that Pirates was basically walk-on. That is my favorite ride, so it was great that it was our first one, not counting the DLRR. It was wonderful!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2562.jpg



A GREAT RIDE TO START WITH.





What a fun first day......great report Avalon. :yay:

[curiouser]

Ohmigosh, she smiled!! :lmao:

I love your TR! It's so great that you got to do a "do over trip". Liz definitely has the "too cool" thing going on -- she even looks like the girl on Camp Rock that sings that "Too Cool" song ;)

I can't wait to read more!

[bumbershoot]

Very fun!

:) Along with the teen can't smile around parents thing that is normal and perhaps timeless, I blame the "my space avatar pic" thing on the camera-scowl. When the camera is only an arm away you're going to be distorted, so a smile can look funny, and that stony face works well for it. Well, not for me, b/c my neutral face looks angry, and my stony face looks like Medusa! :rotfl:



So who was taking all the pictures of you two?

[disney-inspired]

Very fun!

:) Along with the teen can't smile around parents thing that is normal and perhaps timeless, I blame the "my space avatar pic" thing on the camera-scowl. When the camera is only an arm away you're going to be distorted, so a smile can look funny, and that stony face works well for it. Well, not for me, b/c my neutral face looks angry, and my stony face looks like Medusa! :rotfl:



So who was taking all the pictures of you two?

So that's why Eamon is so well-behaved :lmao: jk!;)

[bonita_babe232]

Love ur trip report and all the good pics!!!! looks like u guys had a great time!!!!!!!!!

[bumbershoot]

So that's why Eamon is so well-behaved :lmao: jk!;)

:rotfl:

Actually he's immune to the face! Very very annoying. :)

But if hubby frowns at him, he snaps back into shape immediately. And then I complain about it.

[avalon451]

Day three got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but nothing us Disney chicks couldn’t deal with. We got up in plenty of time, but somehow we just weren’t moving our butts fast enough, and we didn’t get out of the hotel until 7:55. Big no-no for those fans of the Magic Morning Super thread. However, we weren’t very worried, since Nemo was not on our priority list, and we had another MM on Thursday if we missed out on anything on this one.

I was diddling around and taking pictures from our balcony:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2540-1.jpg

I took a video, too; I don’t think the video will work here, but I’ll try to just post the link. The audio is nearly drowned out by the rumble of the freeway.

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view&current=101_2541.flv

So, we finally got going and were just about 100 feet from the security tables. Liz starts feeling around in her pockets for her ticket, which I’d handed to her in the hotel room. “Uh, Mom? I can’t find my ticket.” Pat, pat, unzip the fanny pack, check all pockets again… “You know, I think I put it down on the dresser to comb my hair and forgot to pick it up again.” ARrrggghhh! But if you know my perfectionist eldest child, you know she is already going to be beating herself up about it and feeling bad, so no need for me to do so. Ah, well, I said cheerfully, turning around, we’ll just have to head back and get it. No big deal. All the way back to HoJo, she was apologizing and saying, “I feel so stupid!” and all the way I was saying, “Naw, no biggie, it’s fine.”

So… back to HoJo where the ticket is lying innocently on the dresser, and I dumped my sweatshirt, which was already a burden. The day promised to be hot and sunny. So we finally got through the gates about 8:25 a.m. Over in Fantasyland, the rides had already picked up pretty good lines. Of course Peter Pan looked to be around a half hour already, as did Alice. So we hopped on Snow White, which we’d both missed last time. That is the weirdest ending!

And then it was time… for the dreaded Teacups. *tones of doom* Dum dum duuuuummmmm…. :scared1:

They were walk-on. So I gritted my teeth and said, “Let’s get this over with.” Liz is saying, “Oh, come ON, Mom, they won’t be that bad!”
These pictures are actually from Thursday. Yes, she eventually talked me into them again… because they really weren’t that bad!

First, I was dreading it.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2587.jpg

Then, I was philosophical about it:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2588.jpg

Then, Liz was laughing at my fussing over it so much I had to take a self portrait of the two of us before the whirling yuckiness began.
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2589.jpg

All in all, it was smoother than I’d hoped, since Liz did not spin the deadly chalice of dizziness. And it was over pretty quickly. I found if I focused on distant things, or on just one thing like Liz’s smirking teenaged grin, I did ok. I guess I will spoil the suspense by telling you now, that when she talked me into it again on Thursday, I got bamboozled, because they accidentally ran it twice as long! Liz wanted to spin it so bad, so I said, “Ok, just ONCE.” But then, they just kept going as we heard the whole safety spiel again, and after that I really was pretty dizzy. Luckily, the dizziness wore off quickly.
Ok, so that was my Teacups adventure. But I got my own back on Liz with Screamin’. More on that, later.

Next we went on Pinocchio. Cute. I was going to say that the Pleasure Island section is creepy, but compared to Haunted Mansion Holiday, it’s a picnic. Then it was 8:55, so we headed over to Space Mountain and got FPs. The FP machines were up and running, and my FP was time stamped at 8:57! So we actually got a little jump. Here’s an interesting thing, though. All week, whenever I was able to get a FP right at opening, usually within 5 minutes, the return time was always at least 55 minutes later. It used to be you could count on a return time of 35-45 minutes, but for the first one, I was never able to get that short of a return time. The second FP, however, DID have the short return time. Twice, when I was able to grab my second FP, right at the next window, it had a return time of 35 minutes. Odd.

So anyway, we grabbed the Space FP and of course, rode it. When in Rome, and all that jazz. If it had a 10 minute or less standby, we rode it, every time.

Here’s Liz in line for her favorite ride:
http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2542-1.jpg

Next we did Star Tours, which was new for both of us. I was worried about this one, because it was the only one my sister had done at DL that had made her nauseated. It didn’t bother me, though. A couple of times I squinched my eyes a bit, to reduce the sensation of swooping around in a stomach-churning manner, but other than that, it was fine. It’s a fun ride, but kind of dated.

Then we did Buzz. I like Buzz, but Liz got kind of tired of it on our last trip, and she’s so dang competitive that she feels like she sucks at it. So we only went this one time. Since they have construction walls up in the Tomorrowland walkway, the FP return line for Buzz is closed off, and FP is turned off. Despite that, the standby time was almost always 5-10 minutes the whole time we were there. I never saw much of a line at all, even on Thursday.

We headed over to the left side to get a FP for HMH, of course. That was getting to be a prerequisite for every day’s plan. On the way, I just couldn’t resist that neat drum music coming from Tarzan’s Tree house. I really love that music when you’re walking around that area! We just took a stroll through, and I loved the sensation of being in a jungle way up there.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2543.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2544.jpg

So, we went on our way and got HMH FPs. HMH was always pretty busy while we were there. Then we strolled back through NOS. We stopped by the Court of Angels to sit on the steps for just a minute. Some of those tiny brown birds, that like to hang around looking for crumbs, landed quite close to us, and then hung out on the balustrade just above our heads. I was cracking up Liz by singing to them like Gisele in Enchanted, when she wanted something done. Surprisingly, they didn’t seem to mind, although they didn’t come and help me fix my hair or anything, either. I scrambled to get my camera out, but they took off before I could.

We walked over to BTMRR and rode with a 15 minute wait. Liz really loved that ride. Then, it was time for our character breakfast at the Plaza Inn.

You may remember my posting about this. I really wanted to try a character breakfast, but with a cool 13 y.o.? I posted, “Eye-rolling adolescent + character breakfast = bad idea?” I got a lot of positive feedback from people saying that their teenagers had warmed right up to it. So I went ahead and booked PS’s. Liz was sort of like “Ooooooh-kay, whatever.” But once we got in there and got our food, she was much more enthusiastic, because she really loved the big breakfast. When we first sat down, Minnie was over by in the room next to our table, and Liz was cowering a bit in embarrassment. Minnie might have seen that, because she didn’t stop at our table, and that was fine with Liz. However, pretty soon Captain Hook came sauntering by. He just looked at Liz’s bowed head as she was pretending to be busy with her scrambled eggs, raised his hook, and slowly dragged it over the top of her Jack Skellington bandana. Well, that did it. She was laughing and giggling, and she posed willingly with him:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2545.jpg

We saw lots of characters, but Liz wanted to scarf her delicious breakfast and go ride more rides, so we didn’t linger, and only 3 actually stopped at our table. That was fine with Liz, she said she actually enjoyed it better that way—some characters, but not too much. Winnie the Pooh waved at us but didn’t stop. Our favorite, though, was Fairy Godmother. She walked right over, plopped herself down opposite Liz and said, “You’ve got Jack Skellington all over your head, dear!” She went on for awhile about how Jack wanted to change Christmas, and wasn’t that frightful, and then asked her name. “Liz… would that be short for Elisabeth? Oh, and what’s your middle name, dear? Ann? Oh, lovely, and do you only hear that when you are in trouble, dear?” And she raised her perfect little English accent so the entire restaurant turns to look, and she shrieks, “ELISABETH ANN! GET OFF THE PHONE!”……”ELISABETH ANN! PICK UP YOUR ROOM!” By this time Liz was practically in stitches! It was so funny. And thus we got one more of those amazing smiles she’s capable of , but so rarely see:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2546.jpg

So we toodled on out of there, full of Mickey waffles, eggs, sausage, and chocolate croissants (yum) and decided to hit DCA and fulfill Liz’s side of the horrible rides bargain: California Screamin’.

First though, she said, “Mom, I think these shorts are rubbing. I feel like the inside of my thigh is all blistered.” Well, that was no good. It was only going to get worse. But I didn’t want to walk all the way back to the hotel again, and by that time the chafed spot would probably be bleeding. So, what to do, what to do… :idea: oh, I know! SHOP! We stopped on Main Street and found a really cute pair of cream-colored, light weight sweatpants, very soft, and she swapped them out in the changing room for her denim shorts. Yep, they were expensive, but it could have been worse, and she can wear them for her dance class, too. She rolled up the cuffs to below the knee, and was comfy and ready to go again.

Next, we got our hand stamp and strolled over to CA for the first time on this trip. We went straight to Screamin’ with our dream FPs. “Might as well get it over with,” I told Liz. “Really, you’re going to love it.” She was pretty apprehensive. Guess what. She LOVED it. She got off whooping and grinning. “That was the BEST! That was SO AWESOME!” …. “And DON’T say ‘I told you so,’ Mom!” However, she agreed with me that it kind of bangs up your head a bit, and we were both a bit woozy when we got off. Shaken baby syndrome, like someone has been rattling your brain around in your head. So, no twice-in-a-row runs on that one, although we did pick up a FP since we would be back later.

Next, we went over to Soarin’ over California. We asked if we could ride front row center, and we got on the next “flight”. It was fun to do it without the feet dangling above you! I really sniffed for the scents this time and got them clearly. I love the scene over the river best. Woods and rivers are my favorite—I loved Redwood National Forest when we went 2 years ago.

Then, we were getting pretty tired, so we headed back for our break. When we got to the hotel, I went to get online, but the modem wasn’t working. One call to the front desk. Within 10 minutes, a maintenance guy showed up, checked it out, disappeared for another couple of minutes, and returned with a new modem … with a longer Ethernet cord, yay! The first one was like, 2 feet long. It is very odd that the Ethernet connection is on the nightstand between the beds (convenient to the phone jack, I guess) so unless you bring your own extension cord, you have to use your laptop balanced on your knees, sort of shifting it around awkwardly with the power cord and the Ethernet cable trying to tangle. Ok, well, duh, that’s why it’s called a LAPtop, right, but I kind of prefer to have it on a tabletop or desk. I’m surprised HoJo has not figured out a way to get a phone jack put in over by the DESK instead of the just the bed. But, anyway, we had a new modem and were back online within a half hour of calling, so that was pretty good service!

We napped and read again, and then we headed over to DCA again. I wanted to see the Pixar Play Parade at 5:15. We found a great spot right over where it comes out next to Hollywood Backlot. We stood on the side of the walkway going into the center (currently billed as Candy Corn Acres), and when it started, we were allowed to go sit on the ground right at the edge of the main street.

That is a very cute parade! Liz didn’t appreciated getting squirted. You can get pretty wet; most of the floats have some kind of water action going on. I started out taking pictures of the amazing floats, but I got kind of worried about getting my camera wet, so I eventually put it away and just enjoyed:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2547.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2548.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2549.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2550.jpg

Anyway, Liz looked annoyed at the water spots but seemed to enjoy the rest of it. I loved the intricate choreography!

After that we ran and got on California Screamin’ once more, Liz’s NEW favorite ride, with the FPs we’d picked up earlier. We then wandered over past TSMM, but the wait time was 45 minutes and the standby line was not open. We thought about doing Maliboomer, but it just didn’t look appealing to us. We never did do it, and I don’t really mind. For drops, I’d rather do ToT, with all the cool theming. We thought about doing Mulholland Madness, but it was closed for some reason.

I was getting kind of hungry, although Liz was not, so when I saw Corn Dog Castle, I thought immediately of Hound 109, and went to get one. Ok, YUM!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2551.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2552.jpg

The thing about these are, they are not only really big, so that they are hard to hold cause they’re so top-heavy. They are also really really yummy. I noticed right away that the corn bread coating tastes much more like a really good corn muffin, not just like some thin gritty coating on a hot dog like most corn dogs are. And I like corn dogs. This was by far the tastiest I’ve ever had!

So while I was sitting there eating my corny dog, the park closed at 6 p.m. We wandered over to DL to spend the last couple of hours before the 8 p.m. closing there. Time to use our FPs. So we did Space, of course, and then HMH (by this time Liz was chanting along with the narration). I think I posted this picture before, but this was when I really took it. You can see Liz’s new comfy sweatpants. The HMH decorations were fabulous:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2553.jpg

We did Splash Mountain. Liz said, “Mom, don’t bother getting out the ponchos, I don’t mind getting wet and anyway, we’re almost done.” So I didn’t. BwaHaHah. Guess who got the first seat in the log? That’s right. And guess who just happened to hit all those little dips just right? Bingo. I was completely DRENCHED this time! We got off and Liz was a little wet on one leg, and she was very inclined to guffaw at my drowned-rat appearance. “Mom, you’re so old and creaky. What’s the matter, can’t take a little wetting? Huh?” So by this point we’re stumbling along the bridge over Pirates, shoving each other and laughing, and she slings her arm over my neck and says, “I love you, Mom.” :love:

I thought she must be hungry by now. It was 7:45, the park was closing in 15 minutes. We were right by the French Market, so I remembered my DISboards recommendations and asked her if clam chowder sounded good. She said that sounded really good all of a sudden. So we went into the deserted restaurant and got clam chowder in a bread bowl, with salad on the side, and we couldn’t resist a slice of brownie-bottom chocolate dreams cake. We took it outside and found a table right next to the railing. The place was mostly deserted. There were a couple of big families in the middle, lingering over their meal while their toddlers chased each other around the tables. It was dark, but the lamps overhead were dim and glowing. The air was still warm and fragrant, and we sat there and shared the food while watching the reflected lights off the Rivers of America. Liz was suddenly ravenous and found everything delicious.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2554.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2555.jpg

It was a very good end to a very good day. :cloud9:

On our way out, we walked down the quiet side of the shuttle driveway. I couldn’t resist taking a few snapshots of the OTHER side, and of the HORDES of people waiting for the shuttles and ART. Unfortunately it came out really blurry, but you can still sort of see the masses of people waiting:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2557.jpg

I said to Liz, “…and THIS is why you stay at a hotel within walking distance!”

[mommaU4]

Love the update! That pic of Liz with Captain Hook is a real keeper. :thumbsup2

[pixleyyy]

We got off and Liz was a little wet on one leg, and she was very inclined to guffaw at my drowned-rat appearance. “Mom, you’re so old and creaky. What’s the matter, can’t take a little wetting? Huh?” So by this point we’re stumbling along the bridge over Pirates, shoving each other and laughing, and she slings her arm over my neck and says, “I love you, Mom.” :love:


OK, that one moment makes the entire trip so special. :lovestruc

[10stime]

What a fun trip update, I kept thinking liz reminded me of someone. Do you remember the movie My Girl (one of my faves), she reminds me of the main character in the movie. :)

[davidsprincess]

AWWWWWWWWW! I love it! And what is more important than a stranger loving it, is you and your DD loved every moment too.!

[travelmel]

Great update!

You guys are just hitting ALL The magic moments! Good for Fairy Godmother! I am also a HUGE hook fan and he is the one who always makes me feel like a kid again when I get the opportunity to stand next to him or chat with him at DL. :hippie:

Man it sounds like you two are really having a great time. And that's an understatement. Thank you for sharing, again. :goodvibes

[SeattleTink]

Avalon, such a great report!

That picture of the corn dog is downright evil! That is my FAVORITE thing at Disneyland. I am not a "junk food" kind of girl, but I tell you what, that corn dog is worth every calorie and gram of fat!

This trip with your daughter will forever be a highlight of her childhood for her and you!

Can't wait to see what is next!
:goodvibes

[Yakety76]

Love the pics of your daughter with Hook and the Fairy Godmother. Sounds like a wonderful trip. :goodvibes

[bumbershoot]

The fact that you left your *room*, got all the way almost to the tables, went back, to the room, found something, left something, and all the way back inside of a half an hour shows how close hojo's is.

Leaving from a room in GCH, going out the pathways to get to the DTD entrance, through the half of DTD you have to traverse, back, and back again, would probably take the same amount of time, now that I think about it. And PPH, forget about it.

(of course Desert Inn, Tropicana, and the other *right there* hotels would be shorter than hojo, but some people seem afraid of the distance of HJ and it's just not THAT far)


"So we hopped on Snow White, which we’d both missed last time. That is the weirdest ending! "

Doom, gloom, fear, eek, happy ending, bye!



What a fun trip update, I kept thinking liz reminded me of someone. Do you remember the movie My Girl (one of my faves), she reminds me of the main character in the movie. :)

Ooh, good call.

Actually with the huge Hook smile I finally realized the no-smile/smile thing reminds me of the Royal Caribbean commercials about how cruising can bring the elusive, rarely seen, pre/young teen smile out of hiding. :)

[Hound 109]

Day three got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but nothing us Disney chicks couldn’t deal with. We got up in plenty of time, but somehow we just weren’t moving our butts fast enough, and we didn’t get out of the hotel until 7:55.

:faint:

:lmao:


Big no-no for those fans of the Magic Morning Super thread. However, we weren’t very worried, since Nemo was not on our priority list, and we had another MM on Thursday if we missed out on anything on this one.

.......So, we finally got going and were just about 100 feet from the security tables. Liz starts feeling around in her pockets for her ticket, which I’d handed to her in the hotel room. “Uh, Mom? I can’t find my ticket.” Pat, pat, unzip the fanny pack, check all pockets again… “You know, I think I put it down on the dresser to comb my hair and forgot to pick it up again.” ARrrggghhh!



:faint:

:faint:

:laughing:



.....And then it was time… for the dreaded Teacups. *tones of doom* Dum dum duuuuummmmm…. :scared1:



:sick:



They were walk-on. So I gritted my teeth and said, “Let’s get this over with.” Liz is saying, “Oh, come ON, Mom, they won’t be that bad!”
These pictures are actually from Thursday. Yes, she eventually talked me into them again… because they really weren’t that bad!



Yeah right. :rolleyes1 :)



......Ok, so that was my Teacups adventure. But I got my own back on Liz with Screamin’. More on that, later.



That'll teach them. With age we become more sneaky. :cool2:




.........Then, it was time for our character breakfast at the Plaza Inn.

You may remember my posting about this. I really wanted to try a character breakfast, but with a cool 13 y.o.? I posted, “Eye-rolling adolescent + character breakfast = bad idea?” I got a lot of positive feedback from people saying that their teenagers had warmed right up to it. So I went ahead and booked PS’s. Liz was sort of like “Ooooooh-kay, whatever.” But once we got in there and got our food, she was much more enthusiastic, because she really loved the big breakfast. When we first sat down, Minnie was over by in the room next to our table, and Liz was cowering a bit in embarrassment. Minnie might have seen that, because she didn’t stop at our table, and that was fine with Liz. However, pretty soon Captain Hook came sauntering by. He just looked at Liz’s bowed head as she was pretending to be busy with her scrambled eggs, raised his hook, and slowly dragged it over the top of her Jack Skellington bandana. Well, that did it. She was laughing and giggling, and she posed willingly with him:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2545.jpg



Great Story & Great Pic.






Great stuff Avalon!

But did you say Disney Chicks!!!!???? Is that allowed??? Should we change the name of the crazy long thread on the first page of the DL board to the Disney Chick Trip Report Thread??? ;)



:)

[hurleysweety]

I've really enjoyed reading your trip report and seeing all the pictures! Because of reading through this I'm really look forward to one day spending some quality mother-daughter time in such a magical place as DL. (Oh yeah, p.s. I don't even have kids yet... :confused3 :rotfl: )

[avalon451]

Wednesday morning, again, we were running just a tad late, but not too late. It was our more leisurely day, since the park opened at 9 and there was no MM. We left the hotel about 8:35, and got onto Main Street about 8:45. We saw Goofy posing in his Halloween skeleton costume:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2559.jpg

It was pretty packed up to rope drop. Here’s the crowd behind us just before rope drop:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2561-2.jpg

Since we’d missed Peter Pan the day before, and I was wondering just how early we’d manage to be up, packed, checked out and ready to hit the parks for MM at 8 a.m. the next morning, I decided to hit PP first (always first!). :thumbsup2 We headed straight through the castle and walked onto Peter Pan. I love that ride; it is so cute! I love floating above London and through the stars.

Then we had to go do our usual Space FP and ride it. Next we hit BTMRR again; Liz really liked that one. She ended up calling it a nearly three-way tie between BTMRR, Space and Screamin’. But I think Screamin’ won out.

After BTMRR we walked the back path (again, always looking for the Dream Team!) and went on HMH. By the time we were done we were able to snag a FP for it, too, so we could come back to it later. Next we hit my favorite, PotC. I know you’re not supposed to ride it early in the day, but the fact is, with our FP supply and our priorities, we just didn’t need to save it till later. We had 5 days and enough time to do everything when we felt like it. It was a good feeling! :hippie:

After PotC we were starting to meander toward DCA to spend the majority of our day, really exploring it thoroughly today. We were passing under Tarzan’s treehouse, when I spied several people gazing in wonder at DREAM FASTPASSES AROUND THEIR NECKS!!! My head snapped to the right, and I saw them, the elusive DREAM TEAM in their white vests, standing in the exit area of Tarzan and happily handing out dream fastpasses! :cool1: I gasped, and yanked Liz the couple of steps to the entrance of the treehouse. We were not the only ones. The solid line ahead of us did not pause, but moved steadily through, just trying to get to the exit. Alas -- we were too late! :headache: When we rounded the corner to the exit, the dream team had just left. Liz was so excited on the trek through the treehouse, and she was trying not to show her disappointment when we missed them. But the arms came up folded, the shoulders slumped, and the walk became a trudge as we made our way disappointedly through Adventureland.

The funny thing was, we didn’t need them. As I mentioned earlier, we actually had 4 sets of almost complete dream FPs that a friend had given us, and we didn’t even end up using them all up. And it hadn’t been busy enough to even need them for the most part—we used up Screamin’, Space, Soarin’ and BTMRR, but that was about it. But, it was just the idea of being dreamed, really dreamed, our ownselves, that was so thrilling, and a disappointment when we missed out.

Anyway, I pointed out that since the next day was our last, we’d never have used them all up anyway; and that it was pretty cool just to have seen them. Liz agreed, and the arms unfolded, and she cheered up by the time we hit the Esplanade again.

Here’s a couple of shots I took of Main Street on our way out: pretty quiet for around 11 a.m.!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2563.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2564.jpg

The first thing we did at CA was to go get a FP for Screamin’. Then we walked over to check out the Mania at TSMM. The line was 40 minutes, but the standby was open, so we tried standby. Boy, that’s the way to go! We were on in less than 10 minutes, just a car or two apart from each other. Liz went first and waited at the exit for me. That is a fun ride! Very cool and much easier to see your results than Buzz. Liz was in with a kid who looked to be about 6 years old, and he scored much higher than she did, so she was all disgruntled. However, when we rode it again the next day, we got on together, and she beat me by a mile, so that made her decide it was ok!

Coming back up off the Pier area, I saw the sign for Avalon Cove (Ariel’s restaurant) and had to get a pic. Because… well, I’m Avalon!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2565.jpg

Next, we walked over to the Wharf and grabbed a frozen treat. Liz had a frozen lemonade, and I had a frozen banana. They were really rock hard, so we sat down in the shade at a table and waited for them to soften enough to gnaw on. The banana wasn’t great. I might have liked it better if I’d had the patience to let it soften more.

While we sat there in the relatively deserted area, I said I’d like to go do ToT. Now, Liz has maintained for months that she would never do this ride. I don’t force any of my kids to do anything, but today, I looked that kid in the eye and said quietly, “You know, Liz, so far you have loved every thrill ride. There’s been nothing that you hated or was too scary. If you go home without trying Tower of Terror, you’re always going to wonder if you missed a really great ride.” Well, that got her thinking; I could see in her eyes that she was wavering, so I pushed it a little: “I really didn’t think it was as scary as Screamin’. It’s not that bad, and the drops only last maybe 60 seconds.”

Finally she said, “Well… . ok. But I’m telling you, Mom, if I like it, you absolutely have to promise NOT to say “I told you so.’ “

So I jumped up happily and towed her over there. “No time like the present!”
We stopped first at the tortilla factory and looked around, and tried a fresh tortilla. Then it was on to face our fears!

We didn’t have to use our FPs. There was no wait. Liz was impressed by all the elaborate theming, but she looked preeeeeettty scared. This picture had too much flash, so her face is washed out.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2570.jpg

I’ll give you one guess. :cool2:

Yup. She hung on like grim death, shrieked along with the rest of us, and when the elevator started jolting back toward the exit doors, turned in amazement to me and said, “That was IT?? Aw, that wasn’t bad at all! That was kind of fun!”

“… but I still like Screamin’ better.”

An aside: when we got home, she was describing the ride happily at the dinner table. Her father looked at her sideways, grimaced and muttered “You LIKED it?? It didn’t bother you at all? Huh.” Because, let’s face it, people, he was sweating bullets when we got off it the first time. :rotfl:

As we did the triumphant walk back down through Hollywood backlot, we saw Governor Williams out near the false street front across from the Hyperion. (from Pocohontas, and boy, I couldn’t remember his name till after we got home!) Then on the other side of the street, whom should we see but that divinely nasty Cruella DeVille! She looked great, and was really hamming it up. There were only a couple people in line, so I dashed over there. There was a CM nearby who offered to take a picture of us, so when it was our turn and she turned to us, I decided to ham it up myself. I threw out my arms and swept toward her, trilling, “Cruella, daaaaahhhhling!” Liz looked at me like I was insane, but Cruella was great; she jumped right in. “Daahhling, how ARE you? How MARVELOUS to see you!“ I replied in my best snotty English accent, “Dahling, you look simply FABULOUS! However do you do it?” and she gushed, “Oh, stop, dahling, stop. I’m blushing.” She told us to pose with our hand on our hips. I’m afraid I just can’t compete in my khaki shorts and Tinkerbell t-shirt, but I tried, dahling, I really did.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2569.jpg

Afterward Liz was going, “Mom, you were great! I couldn’t believe you did that, it sounded like you really knew her! All the other people in line were laughing, too!” She forgets that I used to do a lot of acting in high school. Hard to imagine your ol’ mom on a stage hamming it up.

Next I wanted to do Animation Studios. Liz is an artist, as I’ve stated before. She took a blue ribbon at the State fair this year for her pencil sketching. (not that I'm proud of her, or anything! ;) ) She goes through professional artists’ pencils and quality drawing paper faster than we like to really supply her, but hey… it’s a good pasttime for her age. So we hopped in there, and Turtle Talk with Crush was just about to start. Liz thought it would be lame, but she was laughing her head off by the time we got out of there. Our favorite part was when somebody’s phone went off. Instead of looking annoyed, Crush said, “Shell phone! Answer it, dudette!” So they made her answer her phone and put it on speaker while she told her caller that she was talking live with Crush. It was pretty funny.

Then we wandered through the rest of the building while waiting for the next Animation Academy to start. We were in the Beast’s Library:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2572.jpg

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2571-1.jpg

We went to Ursula’s Lair and sang and talked a few scenes (rather badly) but we really enjoyed a group of young teenaged guys behind us who were singing “Hi Ho!” Funny! They were bellowing it.

Liz loved Animation academy but she was hoping for something a bit more challenging than Dopey to draw. Still, hers came out looking like she oughta be working there, in my opinion:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/hpqscan0001.jpg

If you can see the signature, that’s R.N-Z, which stands for her pseudo-Japanese signature, Rizu Neku-chan, which translates roughly to Liz Kitty. She’s a fan of all things Japanese, largely because of her Manga and Anime obsession. She’s picked up quite a bit of the language just from watching videos.

Mine was ok, but definitely not as professional looking as hers:

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/hpqscan0002.jpg

Now our Screamin’ FPs were valid, so we went and put them to good use. Liz liked it better every time we rode it!

When we had been on the pier the day before, Liz was watching the face painting and thinking she’d like to do that. Not butterflies or fairies, mind you. Maybe a dragon or something. So we walked over there, and there was no wait. Looking at the pictures, she immediately picked out the half-face design in red and black that looked like a tribal/aboriginal design. Sissy, she’s not. What the heck, I can’t deny her, so onto the stool she went, and on went the face paint. Here’s a video link of the artistry in action:

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view&current=101_2573.flv

She was inordinately pleased. It really looked pretty cool, and was a bit of a show-stopper. Lots of kids staring and saying, “Mom, I want that!”

Then it was getting a little late, and I was thinking about starting back to the hotel for our break. Our big special meal was this evening, at Napa Rose, chef’s counter. When I mentioned the break, Liz seemed kind of disappointed to lose some of her face display time in the parks. I wanted to do GRR before we left, but she said, “Aw, no, Mom, my face will get wet and it will ruin my makeup!” So we ditched that idea. She said, “But even if we go back, I can’t nap, because my face will smear on the pillow.”

I said, “You do remember we’re going to Napa Rose tonight? Did you want to wear your face paint into the restaurant?”

She gasped in horror and was all like, “Oh, no, no way, I can’t do that, it’s too fancy, but why did I get this done now—I just got it done and I’ll have to wash it off!” I told her I thought she could get away with it just fine, but she was too worried about looking nice for the nicest restaurant she’d ever been to.

Dejected now, and loath to leave and wash her face off, even though it was getting late and we were tired, we wandered over to Redwood Challenge Trail, which I’d always wanted to see. But she wasn’t into it now, so we didn’t go far inside. I talked her into Soarin’ again, and she was still pretty glum.

Well, time for super mom to fix things. It was our second-to-last day, we were capable of going till our legs gave out, so why rest? I told her, “Ok, come on, let’s just go back over to DL and do more stuff. We’ll only go back to the hotel in enough time to change for dinner.” She seemed ok with that. So we headed back over to DL.

I wanted to do Toontown, which she’d missed last time. So, slowly, slowly, we walked all the way back there and did Roger Rabbit. Cute, but not our favorite. I don’t like wrestling with that heavy wheel, trying to keep it from spinning crazily! Then we took a walk through Mickey’s house. I didn’t tell her my object—to meet the Mouse himself—because I suspected she was in no mood for it. However, she enjoyed leaning on the railings in the studio barn and watching old cartoons, and when she figured out we were waiting for our private audience with Mickey, she was like, “Ok, whatever.” It only took about 15 minutes' wait.

It’s pretty magical, though, to be in the presence of the Big Cheese himself. I really loved meeting him. Liz warmed up, also. And Mickey blew me a kiss!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/101_2577.jpg

On our way back down toward Main Street, we came through Tomorrowland, intending to pick up another Space FP. Well, here it was, 4 p.m., and Space was a walk on! So we rode it, of course, in addition to getting our FP!

Now it was time to head back to HoJo and get out our nicer clothes for our special dinner. I told Liz, “I really think you ought to keep your face paint on. It will look great, and they are used to all kinds of little kids and face paint and whatever, there. C’mon, it’s Disneyland! You can have a nice dinner in face paint if you want to!” Eventually she was convinced.
I was wearing sandals with heels, and I know better (thanks, Bumbershoot!) than to walk from HoJo through DTD in “cute shoes.” Besides, we’d been going straight through since 8:30 a.m., and our legs and feet were really feeling it. So, we called down to the front desk and they called us a cab. It cost about $10 with the tip to hop over to the front entrance of the GCH. Well worth it.

Ok, so you're asking, “You’re taking a 13 year old to the most expensive restaurant in the resort? How does she get any worth out of the fact that every server is a master sommelier, when she doesn’t drink?” The story with Napa Rose is this. When we went last time, DH Al and I planned to go downstairs and enjoy a romantic dinner for two while the three daughters stayed in our room upstairs with a pizza and a video, and our built-in babysitter, Liz. (who has taking a babysitting course with first aid/CPR, and was experienced by this time). However, Liz was sick, so we canceled and ordered room service instead. Well, I still wanted to experience it. I knew that Liz would enjoy the atmosphere, and that it would add one more special time for us to remember this trip by. When she heard we were sitting at the chef’s counter, she was excited: “It’ll be like our own personal Iron Chef!” Well, I was right—it went really, really well. She loved it, and the staff were SO nice to her. The head chef came over and introduced himself, shook our hands, and told her all about who did what in the kitchen, and he told her all about the ingredients in what she was eating. She was fascinated. It was so interesting to watch how well they synchronized in their work, like an intricate dance.

Everybody commented positively on her face painting, till she was practically glowing. The host, the waiter, a couple of other random waiters, and two different chefs all commented on how cool she looked. When she told them she had been nervous to keep in on, they assured her that it was great and they loved to see stuff like that.

This was the one place I didn’t have the nerve to get out my camera and take food porn. Oh, boy, was it GOOD! I had a lovely glass of Syrah to go along with my heirloom beet salad, and crispy duck, which was perfectly grilled and presented. Liz had mushroom bisque (called a “cappuccino” and served in a large coffee cup and saucer!) to start and then the beef short ribs. She was simply amazed and said it was the best thing she’d ever tasted.

So that was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

Now we wandered out back through the gorgeous lobby, remembering how nice it had been to stay here in March, even though Liz had spent so much time in the room! We had brought a bag with our tennies and Liz’s enormous Jack Skellington hat, and left it with the bell desk. So we retrieved that, and changed our shoes, and were ready for more fun. We walked back down DTD and into Disneyland, and went over to Indy to use one of our dream FP tabs there.

Liz and I in the Indy line:

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Throughout the trip, I had a lot of luck by just asking nice-looking people ahead of us, if they would mind taking a picture. Everybody was more than happy to do so, and I often stopped myself, and asked if I could take pictures for people. You know, like when the dad is obviously the one taking the picture and being left out?

Just Liz:

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After our exciting ride on Indy we used our HMH fastpass. By this time, when we were in the stretching room and the first faint strains of the NBC music were sounding, during the beginning narration, Liz and I were singing along... “La la LA LA la….” And up a half-note: “La la LA LA la…”
Then it was time to do Space for our final ride of the night. Hmmm. That made 3 times today.

It was 8 p.m. and we stopped in Star Traders and picked up a couple of souvenirs we knew we would want to pack in the morning. DD6 had asked for a Stitch hat, and DD10 wanted a light sabre (I will happily buy my daughters light sabres over anything Hanna Montana, any day. They hate MIley Cyrus and also High School Musical, and I have to say I’m glad!). I also saw a Mickey Pirate antenna head, and picked it up for myself. It turns out that was my only souvenir I got for myself on this trip, but that was all I wanted! The memories were more than enough!

One more nice moment on the way out. I wanted to get a night picture of Liz outside the gate, with the decorations overhead. Unfortunately (as I’m sure you’ve noticed) I’m camera challenged, and I don’t know what half the buttons do on my camera. Ok, maybe more like 80% of the buttons. I did know how to put it on “night time pictures” but it still was blurry. Well, while I was posing Liz and trying some pics of her:

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A nice looking lady came up to me and said, “Hi, I’m (can’t remember), I’m from Canada. Would you like me to take a picture of the two of you?” I introduced myself as Gail from Seattle and thanked her. She took several pics for us (which also didn’t turn out great, but you get the idea):

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After that, she said, “So, you’re from Seattle? And, you’re a mom… so can you tell me, what would you think about this?” She went on to explain that her oldest son, who had just turned 21, wanted to take a trip to meet some friends in Seattle, by himself, for a visit. She wanted to ask what some possible transportation might be from Seattle back up to BC, where they live, and also, as a mom, how I would feel about how safe Seattle is for a young adult. She said he’s a good kid, not a partier, and she trusts him, but was worried about the city, since he’s from a more sheltered rural area up there. So we talked for awhile and I assured her that the areas he was likely to hang out as a tourist were pretty safe. I said, “Judging by your concern as a parent, I’m guessing he’s a good kid and not a troublemaker, and not likely to hit the wild scenes downtown in the middle of the night. I think he’ll be fine.” She thanked me sincerely and shook my hand.

Funny how you meet these nice people and can feel an instant kinship with them.

That was our last full day. It, like the others, turned out very good, despite a few minor flaws. Evidence of this can be seen on this video back at the hotel, when Liz just HAD to jump on the bed, just a *little* bit. She was pretty jazzed!

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view&current=100_2585.flv

(If this shows up sideways, I apologize—I tried to rotate it, but I don’t think it took!)

Tomorrow—Disneyland Swan Song!

[travelmel]

another magical day :thumbsup2

[mariezp]

More fun stuff!

Shame on you for taking food pics while someone is eating! I've been caught like that myself! Not one's most flattering pose. On the bright side, the food does look yummy!

I got a visual picture of you holding Liz's arm and the two of you racing through Tarzan's Treehouse! Gotta get faster shoes next time!

Love Liz with Hook and Fairy Godmother and love you in the teacup! The shot with both of you and Cruella is a good one too. Great mom and daughter one on the teacups.

Wow! Liz is a fantastic artist! I hope she sticks with it! Dopey looks great!

[Hound 109]

“Liz… would that be short for Elisabeth? Oh, and what’s your middle name, dear? Ann? Oh, lovely, and do you only hear that when you are in trouble, dear?” And she raised her perfect little English accent so the entire restaurant turns to look, and she shrieks, “ELISABETH ANN! GET OFF THE PHONE!”……”ELISABETH ANN! PICK UP YOUR ROOM!” By this time Liz was practically in stitches! It was so funny.

That's funny! :rotfl:




However, she agreed with me that it kind of bangs up your head a bit, and we were both a bit woozy when we got off. Shaken baby syndrome, like someone has been rattling your brain around in your head. So, no twice-in-a-row runs on that one, although we did pick up a FP since we would be back later

Yep....you gotta keep the head back against the head rest.....especially when it takes off. :thumbsup2




I was getting kind of hungry, although Liz was not, so when I saw Corn Dog Castle, I thought immediately of Hound 109, and went to get one. Ok, YUM!

The thing about these are, they are not only really big, so that they are hard to hold cause they’re so top-heavy. They are also really really yummy. I noticed right away that the corn bread coating tastes much more like a really good corn muffin, not just like some thin gritty coating on a hot dog like most corn dogs are. And I like corn dogs. This was by far the tastiest I’ve ever had!

So while I was sitting there eating my corny dog, the park closed at 6 p.m. We wandered over to DL to spend the last couple of hours before the 8 p.m. closing there

That's what I'm talking about....3 paragraphs extolling the virtues of the woundrous "top heavy" Corny Dog!! :banana:

& you're right....the batter is more of a sweet corn muffiny consistency....but most importantly, it gets the hound easy to grab n go seal of approval.....perfect for Diser Commandos. :thumbsup2





I said to Liz, “…and THIS is why you stay at a hotel within walking distance!”

Definitely a Disboard Commandment. ::yes::


Great trip & pictures Avalon....next time I go, i'm all over those tornadoes of beef & that bananas foster desert at Brennans. :tongue:

[bumbershoot]

"But, it was just the idea of being dreamed, really dreamed, our ownselves, that was so thrilling, and a disappointment when we missed out. "

I so know what you're talking about.



Yay, you got a cab! If I had known what was going to happen to my feet, and if I had known it would have been about 10 bucks....augh, I'm just angry with myself! But glad that MY experience with shredded tootsies helped YOUR trip. :goodvibes I'm all warm and fuzzy now.


I also got all melty when you said how nice the Napa Rose people were about her face paint. They are just so darnit nice there! Not that people in our part of the world are cruel or anything (just a little clueless while driving, I've noticed the last few months...make people stop texting while driving and SEE the mess it causes?), but how many places would the staff come around to see face paint and tell you how much they like seeing things like that?


I agree with Hound...gotta keep the head all the way back for Screamin'. I can't see a thing while on that ride, but that's OK.

[Hound 109]

The funny thing was, we didn’t need them. As I mentioned earlier, we actually had 4 sets of almost complete dream FPs that a friend had given us, and we didn’t even end up using them all up. And it hadn’t been busy enough to even need them for the most part—we used up Screamin’, Space, Soarin’ and BTMRR, but that was about it. But, it was just the idea of being dreamed, really dreamed, our ownselves, that was so thrilling, and a disappointment when we missed out.

THAT'S KIND OF MY OPINION/EXPERIENCE....IF YOU TOUR & PROPERLY COLLECT FPs FOR LATER....YOU REALLY DON'T NEED THEM. :thumbsup2



...... Then on the other side of the street, whom should we see but that divinely nasty Cruella DeVille! She looked great, and was really hamming it up. There were only a couple people in line, so I dashed over there. There was a CM nearby who offered to take a picture of us, so when it was our turn and she turned to us, I decided to ham it up myself. I threw out my arms and swept toward her, trilling, “Cruella, daaaaahhhhling!” Liz looked at me like I was insane, but Cruella was great; she jumped right in. “Daahhling, how ARE you? How MARVELOUS to see you!“ I replied in my best snotty English accent, “Dahling, you look simply FABULOUS! However do you do it?” and she gushed, “Oh, stop, dahling, stop. I’m blushing.” She told us to pose with our hand on our hips. I’m afraid I just can’t compete in my khaki shorts and Tinkerbell t-shirt, but I tried, dahling, I really did.

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THREE VERY COOL DIS CHICKS!!! (I like Cruella & her very close friends above better than those girly girl princesses ;). :thumbsup2

(& Avalon.....you & Cruella really were hamming it up. Look at the shocked faces on the walkers in the window behind you. :))




So we hopped in there, and Turtle Talk with Crush was just about to start. Liz thought it would be lame, but she was laughing her head off by the time we got out of there. Our favorite part was when somebody’s phone went off. Instead of looking annoyed, Crush said, “Shell phone! Answer it, dudette!” So they made her answer her phone and put it on speaker while she told her caller that she was talking live with Crush. It was pretty funny.

CRUSH IS GREAT. TO ME IT'S LIKE THE JUNGLE RIDE....A DIFFERENT FUNNY PERFORMANCE EVERY TIME. I'LL ALWAYS DO CRUSH. :)



....When she heard we were sitting at the chef’s counter, she was excited: “It’ll be like our own personal Iron Chef!” Well, I was right—it went really, really well. She loved it, and the staff were SO nice to her. The head chef came over and introduced himself, shook our hands, and told her all about who did what in the kitchen, and he told her all about the ingredients in what she was eating. She was fascinated. It was so interesting to watch how well they synchronized in their work, like an intricate dance.


ALEC IS AN IRON CHEF (& ALTON BROWN) FAN TOO. HE'D LOVE THAT. ONE OF THESE DAYS I'VE GOT TO DO THE CHEF'S COUNTER AT NAPA. :cool2:





Yeah!!! I'm caught up.

I hope Alec & I will continue doing DLR as he gets older. I know Haley (26 y/o) still loves it.

Great Report Avalon! :cool1:

[Sleepless Knight]

My parents first took me when I was 2 in '78, and again in 82, 86, 88, 90-92, WDW in 94, Disneyland again in 95, 98, 03-05, WDW in 06, and I bought an AP in 06. I think you can only choose to be too old to enjoy Disneyland.

Avalon, I loved your story about meeting Cruella. I think that the greatest key to having fun with characters is to treat them like the character. They've studied the character to get mannerisms, et all down. I think they have a lot of fun when they get to show off their acting skills too. I think most guests just pose for the picture and move along, so character CMs enjoy it when they get to actually be the character instead of the person inside the costume.

[avalon451]

Thursday, October 16th. It was our last morning. I woke up on my own at 5 a.m., like I usually do when my internal body clock is screaming at me that I don’t want to be late for whatever. Otherwise it would be like my dream I had before we left—unable to get back to the airport in time for our return flight. But, today we had plenty of time to play in the parks before we had to leave, provided we got ourselves packed up and checked out before MM started at 8 a.m. So I hopped up, showered, and got ready. We had ordered quite a few groceries and only eaten maybe ½ of them, so I was eating the last muffin, a cup of yogurt, a banana, and drinking a glass of milk and of juice, trying to use up some of those things that wouldn’t travel back home with us. I woke Liz at 6. We had a big job ahead of us, trying to get packed up. We didn’t have a whole lot of extra room in our suitcases when we came—the extenders on the rollaway suiters were already out—but we didn’t have that much extra to come back, either. I had to take DD10’s light sabre out of the box, and Liz’s hat got squished flat, but amazingly, we managed to pack everything in, although I had to nearly sit on my suitcase.

Imagine my pride when we strolled downstairs to check out at 7:10 a.m. I really didn’t think we could make MM on our LAST day, but since we didn’t make it on our first MM, I was really pleased to be out in lots of time. The staffer at the desk checked us out promptly (and I was quietly rejoicing at the relatively low bill for 4 nights at the Ent rate!) and very kindly told us to skedaddle, he’d put our bags in the holding room for us.

We strolled over to the security tables, which weren’t open yet. It was about 7:25. We were probably 4th in line. One of the CMs, the one who was on the walkie talkie waiting for the “go” to open security, started chatting with us. He was so sweet! We were just joking around about the weather and I mentioned that I loved it, since I’d just come from the cold and wet in Seattle. “Seattle!” he moaned, “Don’t mention that, my daughter just moved there. I miss her.” Turns out she’s 25 and had a really nice house in Laguna Beach or some equally nice place, and she was in a condo on Queen Anne Hill till she finds a house. I was all impressed, and he was asking me if that was a nice neighborhood. (heck yeah, I WISH I could afford a condo on Queen Anne with a view of downtown!) He was telling us how she had just broken up with her boyfriend, and that’s partly why she moved, etc. And he was telling us about his wife of 43 years, the love of his life… and he gets out this picture of them when they were first married (they started out in Puerto Rico) and no kidding, they looked like movie stars straight out of some 50’s movie! It was so cute. Then he says, “Of course, I’m one to talk about boyfriend troubles. I first met my wife at a party at her fiance’s house.” I was shouting with laughter along with him, and just then his walkie-talkie crackled, and he declared security open, and off we went with a wave. It was a great start to a perfect day.

We were first at our gate!

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Liz was so happy she started doing her Hare Hare Yukai dance, to the bemusement of the family behind us (to see the Hare Hare Yukai, see post # 20).

The gates opened promptly at 8 a.m., and we headed around through the right hand tunnels and walked briskly down Main Street. We’d decided we wanted to do Peter Pan again, and the rest of Fantasyland that we’d missed when we got there late on Tuesday.

We danced around opposite sides of the Partners statue. Most everyone else peeled off toward Tomorrowland and Nemo. So we were the first ones through the castle! For some reason, this just felt awesome. Like we owned the place. We walked through and the lady at the souvenir cart smiled at our smiling faces and said, “Welcome! You’re the first!”

We hopped into Peter Pan and were the first ones on. Yay! Liz was just bubbling. “This is awesome, we’re first! This is so cool!”

Then we went over to Dumbo; we figured we’d do it once to say we had. It was fun. Liz enjoyed making us go up and down. Next was Alice, and again, we walked straight on. Liz really liked this one; she’s currently reading the Alice books and is intrigued by the weirdnesses of it.

Next we checked the Matterhorn, wanting to ride the Tomorrowland side of it; but it was not yet running for some reason. Sooo, Liz said “How about the teacups once more, Mom? They weren’t bad!” Well, they weren’t the first time, but this time, just about when I was expecting the “teaparty is coming to an end” announcement, instead I heard the “safety rules” announcement—apparently they’d hit the wrong button or something, so we kept going for another round! Yikes! That was too much! I was pretty dizzy by the time we got off, but thankfully it wore off pretty quickly.

So we stumbled off teacups and I dizzily wove my way over to Toady. Surprisingly, it already had a bit of a line out into the small courtyard. We had to wait about 15 minutes for it. But I love Toad and we’d missed it on Tuesday, so we waited and were rewarded with Mr Toad’s car, himself. Liz was laughing as we ended up in a far warmer place than she’d been led to expect, after all the catechism classes she’s attended!

We went to Space and rode, of course. Then it was nearly 9 a.m., so we walked across the hub and headed over to get our HMH FPs, and we rode while we were there, too. Then we did PotC, the last time for my favorite ride. Every time we rode, I noticed something new.

Now it was 9:40, so we headed over to DCA for opening there. We went to rope drop and waited for a few minutes. When it dropped, a huge wave of people rolled over the main walkway and across the bridge at the Pier. We figured we’d be a ways back on Screamin’, which was our objective. Nope! Nearly everybody was headed for TSMM! So we walked right onto Screamin’ and asked for the front, and we got on the front of the second run! It. Was. Awesome! If I ever go back, I am ALWAYS going to ask for the front of Screamin’. It was soooo great to stare down that clifflike drop and scream our lungs out! Liz and I were bouncing and high-fiving each other as we exited. Liz kept saying, “That ride is the BEST!”

Next we went over and did TSMM, in the single rider line. Liz and I were in lines next to each other, and I asked the guy next to me, who was also a single rider, if he’d mind switching with her so we could ride together. No problem, so this time we got to ride together and compete. She annihilated me, so of course that pleased her! Then we went to do ToT again. Liz enjoyed it even more this time, since she knew what to expect and wasn’t scared!

Now we said goodbye to California Adventure. We strolled back over to DL, and went to pick up Space FPs. Then we went over to Blue Bayou for our lunch. We had PS’s for the first seating at 11:30. Per DISboards recommendations, I got us there at 11:15. There was already a crowd jostling around, trying to plead their way in for a table without PS’s. It was nice to walk up, give our name and our waterside table request, and be invited inside, “Come on in, Gail, we’ll seat you in a just a couple of minutes.” The waiting room area was already standing room only, so I was surprised when we were the first ones called! We were lead to a fabulous table right at the railing, overlooking a boat on our side, and the guy on the porch on the other side. We did get a little tired of the “plink plink” of the banjo by the end of our meal, like a newbie musician trying to pick out “Oh Susannah,” but the atmosphere was indisputably cool. Our waiter, Lonnie, was very prompt and courteous. Because we were first seated, and we decided very quickly what we wanted, everything happened smoothly and fast. Our drinks, rolls, Liz’s salad and my gumbo appeared very quickly.

That gumbo was GOoooooOOD!

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Liz liked her wedge salad, too:

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Lonnie took our picture:

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And then we took pictures of each other:

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Liz was enchanted. It was such a different experience, again, from the last time. Back then, she was feeling rotten. She shared a plate with her sister and hardly touched it. We were seated far back in the room, with several noisy families around us. DD6 spent the whole time whining that she didn’t like it in there, it was too “dark and creepy.” Now we were truly enjoying our experience and the bayou ambiance!

Liz was just tickled to watch all the PotC riders float by. A few of them waved at us, and before you know it, she was waving at EVERY SINGLE BOAT. She’d take a bite, wait till they got in range, and then wave with a cheerful smile. She started predicting which boatloads looked like wavers, and which looked like “non-wavers.” She saluted some, waved especially at little kids (who usually enthusiastically waved back) and even got a few people to call out things like “What’s for lunch?” and “How is the food?” Since we were just before the big drop, a couple of times she called, “Say your prayers!” Till, finally, I hushed her (the tables were starting to get crowded around us), and told her she didn’t have to wave at EVERY boat, for pete’s sake. She grinned and said unrepentantly, “Sorry, Mom,” but when another boatload came by a few minutes later that waved at us first, and I waved back, she said, “Hey! How come you get to wave and I don’t?” So then she went back to waving at every boat, again.

I had Tesoro Island Chicken. It was good. Not fabulous, but good.

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Liz had the beef ribs. She hesitated, because she’d had ribs the night before at Napa, but these were really tasty, too, so she was glad she ordered them. If I’d known how good they were, I’d have had them, too.

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I told her to save room because I wanted to get the cookie boat. So we didn’t finish everything on our plates. The potatoes were ok but not wonderful, although I did scarf all the white asparagus, yum! So we had a little room left for….

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Mmm, this was yummy. The cookie part tasted warm and melty, like it was fresh from the oven. Again, we couldn’t finish it, but that was ok—it was all about tasting it and enjoying it, not stuffing ourselves.

The only problem with it, was that Lonnie got slammed by the hostesses with like 4 tables in a row, so he kind of disappeared on us for around 20 minutes. The couple of times I did see him, I couldn’t catch his eye. I flagged down a hostess and asked her to pass on our dessert order, and still didn’t see him for awhile… when I saw her again, she said, “Oh, Lonnie hasn’t been by yet?” and looked worried. A couple minutes later he dashed up to our table and apologized, and told us our dessert was already ordered and on the way. So that was fine. I made sure to ask for the bill and get it ready to go while we ate dessert, so we didn’t have to spend more time waiting for that. We didn’t really mind, though. We had such a nice table. So that was a great experience for our last Disneyland meal.

When we emerged, blinking into the hot midday sun in NOS, I intended to find a pressed penny machine I’d seen around the corner the day before. As I walked down the alley, who should appear but that consummate pirate himself, Jack Sparrow!

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Ok, let’s just be honest here. I love my husband, and wouldn’t trade him for the world.

But Jack is HOT. :faint:

So I was standing to one side taking the above picture. There was the usual crowd of admirers around, though not too thick yet. Imagine my surprise when he wheeled around, saw me, and grabbed my elbow, and commanded in that delicious English accent, “Walk with me, love.”

Oh. My. Gosh. Sure, Jack, yes, anything you say! :love:

We strolled a few yards down the alley together, and he paused while Liz started shooting pictures. She was laughing and loving it, since I was so obviously star struck!

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Ok, people, somebody tell me how good of an actor you have to be, to shoot a molten leer like this at me sideways! Oh, he was GOOD. And I look like the biggest star-struck mom-ish frump! :rotfl2: It just cracks me up every time to see this goofy grin on my goofy face, while Jack shoots me this look that could melt kryptonite.

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I thanked him sincerely, if somewhat breathlessly, and walked away muttering, “YEeeesssss!” Liz was laughing hysterically at me. :lmao: It really made my day! Maybe even my trip…? :cloud9:

After I came down from cloud 9, we had some unfinished business in Adventureland. I was bound and determined to see the Billy Hill show. I’d intended to see it on Monday, but it got shuffled aside repeatedly during the week. Liz was less than enthusiastic, because she hates country music, although I tried to explain to her that it was more comedy. So, we walked into the Golden Horseshoe with just a couple of minutes to spare before the 1 p.m. show. There were no seats left. We went up to the balcony and stood behind and between a table, looking over the railing. Once the show started, I didn’t care! The Billies were so good! Liz started out with her arms crossed and her eyes rolling, but by the time it was halfway through she was laughing and clapping, too. I loved their “Dancing with the Stars” choreography! :lmao:

Then we went to Haunted Mansion Holiday and said goodbye to Jack Skellington on our last trip through. We knew it all by heart by this time. Liz was saying the dialogue all the way through.

We went up to the Hunny Pot and I got a couple of treats to take home, including a tigger tail or two. Yummy. Then we took the raft over to Pirates’ Lair. We wandered about for a bit, but we weren’t all that excited about it. When we came back, we went on BTMRR.

Now it was 2:15. We had to leave the park by 3 p.m. We knew what our swan song had to be, and we had 2 FPs apiece, so we ran for Space Mountain to do it twice in a row! It was getting very busy by this time, the Utah crowd must have been in full force. The wait was around 30 minutes. But we walked right on.

During our trip, we rode this ride at least 11 times for sure, maybe more. Liz had the safety spiel memorized and was chanting it. So when we were on the ramp down to the loading area, I pulled her aside into one of the alcoves and had her do it. So you can hear the noise of the ride loading in the background:

http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view&current=100_2603.flv

On every ride that had pictures, we started planning our picture poses. By the third day, we’d just say to each other, “What are you doing?” and we’d either coordinate it, or go “freestyle.” On our last trip through Space, we both put our fists up to our eyes like we were crying, “Waaaahhhh! Last ride!”

So, we ended our incredible DL adventure with Space Mountain times two. Quite appropriate.

As we walked through Tomorrowland, Liz commented to me, “This is just right. I had a great time, and now I’m ready to go home.” Really, we both felt that way. We’d done Disney to our heart’s content, and we were content. Even after we got home, neither of us seemed to feel that all-too-common “post trip letdown”. We just had a great time and then we were done!

We hadn’t got Dad’s souvenir yet, so we stopped briefly on Main Street and picked out a hoodie for him. It was brown and black, with a skull and crossbones and “Dead Men Tell No Tales” on it. Perfect, because he needed a new sweatshirt. His old Mickey one was older than DD10—I remember because he was wearing it in the hospital when she was born!

On our way out from Main Street, I snapped some goodbye pictures.

Main Street, appreciably busier today than the last few days!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2604.jpg

The firemen’s band had just finished jamming in front of the firehouse…

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2606.jpg

And there was my BFF Cruella, hanging with her fire boys!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2605.jpg

Bye, Churros cart!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2608.jpg

Bye, Railroad!

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2609.jpg

Bye, Town Square…

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2610.jpg

And then my dear daughter walked under the tunnel for the last time, looking over her shoulder and waving good bye to our magical trip to Disneyland…

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/100_2611.jpg

Goodbye, Disneyland. Thanks for everything.

[Mycutekitties]

Such a great TR!!! Thanks so much!

[WA Kay]

True Magic. Thanks for sharing and making me cry. Loved your Jack experience.

[davidsprincess]

That was so wonderful!! Thank you for sharing with all of us. It was so wonderful that you were able to do this with Liz. It will be a memory you will both cherish. :)

[dizneekrazee]

Great TR. I really enjoyed it. I am now more excited for my trip that starts in 1.5 days!!!! (Actually a little less than that).

Thanks again.:wizard:

[dizneekrazee]

P.S. Jack is HOT!!!!!:lovestruc

[heatherleigh]

Thanks so much, I enjoyed it!

[8gr8mouseketeers]

I loved reading your trip report! Thank you so much for sharing. :wizard:

[bumbershoot]

Yay!!!!!


Love the Jack thing, yummy. :)

[pixleyyy]

Oh wow... what a great ending! Makes me want to do 1-on-1 trips with each of my kids. How wonderful!!!

[merrrydeath]

I read the whole thing and loved it! I'm going on a trip with just my mom in March and it was great reading about your mother/daughter experience.

[dawnrose]

very sweet and inspiring...what a great time...neither of you will ever forget this wonderful time together...thanx for doing such a great job of sharing!

[MickeyNikiNaka]

That was an awesome TR!
I loved reading every minute of it! I'm so happy that Liz finally got the trip she deserved!

And I have to say every time I read your TR I get really hungry!!!

[Tasscrapper]

Loved it! I am so glad that you had such an awsome trip with your dd. Have you printed out your trip report? It would be a great thing to keep for the coming years. :)

[mommaU4]

That was GREAT! I loved the whole thing. I am so happy it all turned out so well and you both were able to share that special time together. I would love to do that with my DD and in fact, I think I'm going to look into it.
Thank you for letting us all share in your fun time.

[avalon451]

Ahhhh, found that other short video that gives a much better shot of Liz's face painting, right after she had it done.

Wonder if it'll post directly: I'm gonna try it.

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/th_101_2574.jpg (http://s296.photobucket.com/albums/mm193/avalon451/?action=view&current=101_2574.flv)

Ok, that works, you just click on the picture to go to the video.

[BillyFan]

Gail, i loved yor TR! I'm so glad the two of you had such a great bonding time together!

[prettyprincessbelle]

I just read your whole TR and I love it!!

Your DD Liz reminds me of myself when I was that age. Even tall and skinny like her too. I'm glad you guys had a great time, I'm bugging my Mom for a daughter trip soon too.

We were there the same Sunday and Monday as you two. I was sad Tink didn't fly during the fireworks either.

Thank you for sharing your trip! I loved reading it!!!

[avalon451]

Hey, thank you so much to ALL of you who read and commented so positively! I really appreciate all the kind and enthusiastic notes! You guys are the BEST.

It seems to me that it really sort of enhanced our trip, having this forum as a source of information, support and addiction enabling! :rotfl: Just because I was very focused on noting things like where we went, what we did... special moments... because I knew I'd want to report it back here. I kept a small notebook with our touring plan in it, and noted what we actually did, and when we deviated. Sometimes I jotted down a few phrases about the atmosphere, how I was feeling at the time. The result is that I was able to re-live it as I wrote this TR, get some perspective on it, and realize how truly blessed I am to be able to do such a trip with my sweet girl.

When I go back and read my own report again, it's like I am there again. I'll treasure these memories always. :lovestruc

Thanks again for all your support and kind words! :grouphug:

[Disney Princess]

Okay -

I just finished reading through the whole TR, and it was wonderful!! Thanks for sharing it. It seems like you and your daughter have a very special, close relationship, which is awesome. I appreciate you letting us be a part of your trip.

Enjoy those memories - they are truly a precious blessing!

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I just finished your TR, and I really enjoyed reading it! Thanks so much for posting it. It sounds like you and your DD had a wonderful time, and I'm sure you'll cherish those memories forever.

[ArvisoCa6]

:thumbsup2I have started reading your pre trip/trip report and have now decided to start my own. First off, your report was great!!! I plan to borrow certain aspects of it for mine, specifically the Cast list. I hope to be able to have my DW have a similar experience with each of my 4 DD when they reach 13. So you may have helped to create a new family tradition! :goodvibes

Secondly, i sense long nights in front of my PC as i update and feed my addiction to DL!!! (shakes fist) LOL!!!

I'm currently on page 4 but i am reading it like a Harry Potter Novel. Can't wait to see what happens next!!

popcorn::

[Monica D]

Loved your TR!! What a great mommy you are. :lovestruc The pictures and writing were great...thanks for sharing!