California, Here We Come! DLR, Hollywood, and San Diego *OCTOBER 15-23, 2011*

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

That really sounds great.

Thanks for the info

Also, the Disney Soda Fountain place, is that just a gift shop or is that a place you can eat?

Thanks

You are welcome!

The Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store does have an eating area. There is seating at the counter on stools or table seating. The menu includes sandwiches and several ice cream goodies. Here is a link to the menu-

http://elcapitan.go.com/soda_fountain/pdfs/soda-fountain-menu.pdf

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

At this point we started to make our way towards Ariel's Undersea Adventure. Of course we had to stop for a photo op along the way.

As we made our way towards Ariel's we noticed that the Phineas and Ferb dance party was taking place. I had hoped that the girls would be able to see it and we just happened to be in the right place at the right time!

All of the kids had a chance to do the limbo while Phineas and Ferb held on to the pole.

In the next two pictures you can see Erin dancing right in front of Phineas.

When the party finished up Phineas and Ferb rode off.

I think the kids enjoyed themselves, but they were disappointed that they didn't get to actually "meet" Phineas and Ferb. It was kind of strange how they were present, but the kids weren't really allowed to interact with them.

After the crowd cleared out we were able to head in to ride the Little Mermaid ride. I was really surprised how quickly we were on the ride with it being relatively new, but I was glad they we didn't have a wait. All of us enjoyed it and thought it was "cute."

The girls were excited that it was finally time to take Grandma Sandy on Soarin'. We all loved it as usual, but unfortunately Grandma Sandy was not a fan. She is not really a fan of flying or heights and she said she felt like she was going to throw-up. I felt bad that she didn't like it, but I am glad that she gave it a try.

We made our way to grab a FP for Tower of Terror and noticed that Aladdin was going to start in 2 minutes. I had read that there could be long waits for seats to see Aladdin, so we decided at the spur of the moment that we were meant to see Aladdin right then. We were able to grab 5 seats together without a problem and the show started immediately after we sat down. We all enjoyed it very much and I think even more so since we didn't wait at all.

Up next: Hey Big Boy

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I love the Phineas and Ferb show!! The first time I went, I did the limbo and hula hooping.

 

[Trentmom]

Thank you for posting the Disney Fountain Menu. Looks yummy

Love the Phineas and Ferb pics. Looks like your daughter had fun dancing with them

 

[mickeyplanner]

Thank you for the link to WOC, it was very helpful.
What were your viewing areas like for the show? I am contemplating doing the dinner option for better seats.

Also do you know anything about the dining plan for DLR?

 

[Lovemy3babes]

It looks like a fun dance party for the girls! Too bad you couldn't actually "meet" Phineas and Ferb though. And what a bummer than Grandma Sandy didn't enjoy Soarin'.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I love the Phineas and Ferb show!! The first time I went, I did the limbo and hula hooping.

The girls really enjoyed the show. They had a great time doing the limbo.

Thank you for posting the Disney Fountain Menu. Looks yummy

Love the Phineas and Ferb pics. Looks like your daughter had fun dancing with them

You are welcome!

Erin was having a blast dancing along. It was a nice break for the kids to blow off some steam.

Thank you for the link to WOC, it was very helpful.
What were your viewing areas like for the show? I am contemplating doing the dinner option for better seats.

Also do you know anything about the dining plan for DLR?

There is a lot of good info in the WOC thread. I am glad that you found it helpful. We ended up on the bridge and it was nice because we didn't have anyone in front of us.

From the sounds of it the DLR dining plan isn't worth it. It is nothing like WDW. You just buy prepaid vouchers for your food. Most people say it is not worth it.

It looks like a fun dance party for the girls! Too bad you couldn't actually "meet" Phineas and Ferb though. And what a bummer than Grandma Sandy didn't enjoy Soarin'.

The dance party was cute, but it would have been nice if the kids could actually get near Phineas and Ferb. They would have really liked if they could have "met" them.

I wasn't surprised that Sandy didn't like Soarin', but I was really hoping she would surprise me!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I loved our fireside girls.

 

[Kathy Jetson]

Thats so cool Erin got picked to be the rebel spy! I know my son would think he was greatest thing.

I'm sure River would love Screamin but there is no way I'm getting on that I don't like heights or stomach drops. Did the Matterhorn have stomach drops or did it just go fast? I know I want to ride that one.

Great timing with the Aladdin show and I'm sorry to hear Soarin made Grandma Sandy sick.

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your adventures.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

I loved our fireside girls.

They really did a great job. I thought it was amazing at how well they kept everyone moving and involved in the party. Erin thought that would be a good job for her if she worked for Disney.

Thats so cool Erin got picked to be the rebel spy! I know my son would think he was greatest thing.

I'm sure River would love Screamin but there is no way I'm getting on that I don't like heights or stomach drops. Did the Matterhorn have stomach drops or did it just go fast? I know I want to ride that one.

Great timing with the Aladdin show and I'm sorry to hear Soarin made Grandma Sandy sick.

I can't wait to hear about the rest of your adventures.

It was so funny because we never expected it to be one of our group that would be the rebel spy. The expression on her face that they captured was hilarious.

Screamin' was one of our favorites, but if you are not a fan of heights you would dislike it a lot. The Matterhorn doesn't have the drops, but is more jerky. It is definitely not a smooth ride like some.

We had great timing at so many things that day, but the Aladdin show was the luckiest. I had planned on showing up 30 minutes before the show that we intended on seeing. Walking up a couple of minutes before and being able to still get in was awesome.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

When we were finished at the Aladdin show we were all starving. We decided to make life easy on ourselves, so we decided to just eat at Award Weiners. We all indulged in hot dogs and I was happy that we were able to get apple slices with them.

Just as we were finishing up they were announcing that Muppets 3D would be starting shortly. We quickly finished up our meal and hurried into the theater. There was barely anyone there, so we had our choice of seats.

After Muppets we decided to ride the Monsters Inc ride. We all enjoyed the ride and one of our favorite moments happened just as we were finishing. At the end of the ride our car stopped along side Roz. I don't know if they have different things programmed for her to say or if someone is watching, but whatever it is was absolutely hilarious. Stu was seated in the back and Roz said to him, "Hey big boy in the back, I will be hiding in your closest tonight." Sandy, Stu, and I had the giggles for quite a while after that. It still makes me laugh as I am writing this.

After we excited the ride the girls spotted Sully just coming out and they wanted to meet him.

Once we finished meeting Sully we noticed that the Pixar Pals show was starting up. This was another one of those things that we hoped to see, but had no real plan to do so. We ended up being at the right place at the right time again.

Erin really enjoyed seeing the Incredibles. She thought that she would make a good Mrs. Incredible.

A couple of more shots of the area before we made our way to Grandma Sandy's nightmare.

Up next: Time to make Grandma Sandy keep a promise.

 

[Dizzy4DL]

Wonderful!

Roz always cracks us up, although we were pretty scared the first time she spoke to us....we just weren't sure what was going on. What she said to your husband.... I would pay good money for her to say the same thing to mine. Too funny.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Wonderful!

Roz always cracks us up, although we were pretty scared the first time she spoke to us....we just weren't sure what was going on. What she said to your husband.... I would pay good money for her to say the same thing to mine. Too funny.

It also took us a moment to figure out what was going on. I hadn't had a good belly laugh like I did in that moment for a long time.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

That's hilarious

 

[Trentmom]

Can't wait to try the monsters ride. Sounds cute. We only have a show of it, no ride

The parade pics are great

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

That's hilarious

It really was a funny moment. We all stopped for a second and wondered if we really heard her right and just busted out laughing when we realized that we had!

Can't wait to try the monsters ride. Sounds cute. We only have a show of it, no ride

The parade pics are great

It was a really cute ride. Be sure to listen closely to what Roz has to say!

Thanks!

 

[Kathy Jetson]

It sounds like you guys were having great timing with everything. Did roz embarrass Stu? I'd love to ride that I hope they get a Monsters Inc ride at DHS they need something else there.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

It sounds like you guys were having great timing with everything. Did roz embarrass Stu? I'd love to ride that I hope they get a Monsters Inc ride at DHS they need something else there.

I had the afternoon planned to catch the different shows and we didn't need to follow the plan at all! Things just kept falling into place for us that day.

Stu doesn't embarrass easily. He was in the Marine Corp and then the Army Guard for 10 years, so it takes a lot to make him blush. He just thought it was very witty. He jokingly said he was going to ask Roz for her number.

The Monsters Inc ride would make a nice addition to DHS.

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

It was finally time for Grandma Sandy to keep her promise! She had been telling the girls since the beginning of our planning of this trip that she would ride anything that they were willing to ride. The ride that had her possibly regretting that promise was Tower of Terror because of her fear of heights. Because of our FP we made our way quickly on the ride. It was awesome as always. What was Grandma Sandy's verdict? She loved it! It ended up being one of her favorite rides. She never ceases to amaze me.

Next up was It's Tough To Be A Bug. I always enjoy this show and everyone else has too when we went to it at Animal Kingdom. This year Ava HATED it. The part where the bugs came down from the ceiling about put her over the edge. She was pretty scared, but now she talks about it and says that she liked it.

When we came out of the show Pluto was out to meet people and the girls decided to hop in line. They gave Pluto their autograph books and he really put some time in with them. He did a drawing on both of their covers and his signature inside. I bet he was with the girls for close to 10 minutes.

We decided that Stu, Erin, and I wanted to ride Screamin' again, so we walked to the Little Mermaid ride with Sandy and Ava so they could ride that while we rode Screamin'. Round two of Screamin' was awesome! We had two FPs left for Screamin' and decided to give them to a couple that was walking away because of the long wait in standby. They seemed skeptical when we told them they could still use them even if the time had passed. We saw them get into line, so thankfully they believed us.

For our last ride of the day we rode the Grizzly River Run. I was very thankful that none of ended up soaking wet!

Somewhere along the way we decided that we would for sure view WOC this evening. We decided to take a break from the park for a while and headed to DTD for dinner. We weren't sure what we wanted, but we ended up at House of Blues. It was nice to sit down for a while and reflect on what a great day we were having.

At about six we made our way back to California Adventure. Along the way we saw a beautiful wedding dress in the window at the Grand Californian. Ava was kind of messing around and we asked her what she was doing. She had a key on her charm bracelet and she was trying to open the lock on the window because "I want that dress for my wedding." Stu is going to be in big trouble as these girls grow up!

We joined a few others that had started to gather for WOC. We started to talk with the others around us and three of us decided to look out for each other so we would all get viewing spots together. The best way I can describe the waiting to get in was madness. People were already cursing and trying to shove.

When we were let in we immediately made our way to the bridge and we were able to secure a great spot. We would not have anyone in front of us and the kids would be able to see without a problem. We hunkered down for the wait and everyone was in great spirits.

At 8:15 the show that Erin had been waiting to see for almost a year began, only to stop after less than a minute. For a little while everyone figured that it would start any second. After 10 minutes the atmosphere changed and it began to feel like it would be cancelled. Erin started to quietly sob because she thought we wouldn't get to see it. I tried to explain that I would do this all again the next night just so she could see it, but it was hard to console anyone that had been waiting over two hours that evening to see it.

I don't know how you guys are, but I seem to have one meltdown on each of my vacations and this was my moment. A CM came along to tell everyone that they were trying to fix it and hopefully the show would not be cancelled. Fine, but the CM with her started laughing and saying that he didn't think they were really doing anything to fix it and that is just what they are telling people. I think he thought he was being funny, but it so wasn't in that moment. I looked him straight in the eye and calmly said, "I have a little girl who is heartbroken right now because the one thing she wanted to see for the last year isn't working and we have all been sitting here for way too long tonight to laugh about this. It is not funny right now." To his credit he stopped laughing and walked away.

Thankfully after 20 minutes the show we had anxiously been waiting for started! I don't think I will ever wait for WOC like we did that night ever again, but we all really enjoyed the show. And it was everything Erin had hoped for.

Up next: Toontown Morning Madness

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Loved it!!