Our Leap Day Adventure with 3 kids 5 and younger!!

[ladylyons]

This trip came to be when I heard Disneyland was going to be open for 24 hours and of course since I had that season pass I had to put it go good use!! Yes call me crazy but it’s Disney people!! Who wouldn’t want to be there if they could!!

Let me tell you who we are before we start on this crazy adventure!!

First up is me, I’m Sandra. I’m a stay at home mom to my 3 kiddos, Jeremy – 5, Sarah – 3, and James - 18 months. I’m the Disney lover in our family and I’m raising my kids to love Disney just as much as I do. My favorite rides would have to be any that I can ride with my kids! I actually have 2 favorite characters and they are Mickey and Cinderella.

Next up is Jeremy. He turned 5 a few weeks before this trip so we decided to let him celebrate his birthday in the Happiest Place on Earth, and let’s just say he really enjoyed it!! He is also a huge fan of anything Disney. His favorite character Jake from the Neverland Pirates and his favorite ride is the Wildest Ride in the Wilderness aka Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

Then there is my 3 year old Princess Sarah. She is the princess lover in the family. Now don’t get me wrong both my husband and I don’t mind seeing the Princess’ but my daughter goes absolutely crazy when she gets to see them. Her favorite character of course is Princess Belle and her favorite ride is It’s a Small World.

Now there is my 18 month old baby boy James. This trip showed me how much joy a little one can have when they see the characters. He also enjoys any and all ride he can get on. This trip he showed a fondness for It’s a Small World also and a real love for Goofy.

Last but not least is my mom Teresa. She loves Disney as much as any of us do but unfortunately doesn’t get to go as often as she would like. She enjoys both Big Thunder Mountain and Space Mountain. Her favorite character is that lovable Eeyore.

Now this is the first time I’ve gone to Disneyland without my DH Jeff. He had the opportunity to stay home and work double time so instead of cancelling our trip and losing money on our nonrefundable hotel he recommended that I ask my mom to go with me. Even though he didn’t join us he favorite rides would also be Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain.

So there is my crazy group.
We stayed at the Ramada Maingate for the first time and absolutely loved it!! Our dates were 2/28 – 3/3/12.

More to come hopefully tonight after I get the kids dinner and then to bed!!

 

[ladylyons]

Saved for links. If I can figure out the correct way to do it.

 

[ladylyons]

Day One – February 28

Sorry don’t have any pictures from this day. I was the one who did ALL the driving and it’s normally my DH who does it so no pictures were taken during the drive.

Our trip started on Tuesday, Feb 28 when my mom, my 3 kids and I drove down to Disneyland!! We left at about 11:45 am when my kids got out of school. About an hour into the trip my mom and I realized that we were a little hungry so we stopped at Jack in the Box. I got a the Homestyle Ranch Chicken Sandwich meal with curly fries, my mom got the potato skins, and the kids got a a chicken strip meal with fries. I’ve found it’s cheaper to just buy a regular meal for my kids than it is to buy 3 kids meals. We arrived in Valencia (right next to Magic Mountain) at approx. 5 pm. Got gas at Chevron and then went to Red Lobster for dinner. For the life of me I can’t remember what we got. I know we all got something with shrimp. Expect the kids got a chicken strips meal with fries to share. My kids don’t eat enough food to get their own meals so for now sharing works out perfect. We left Red Lobster around 6:30 pm and headed to the Character Outlet in Fullerton around 8 pm. My mom purchased a couple things for the kids then it was off to the hotel we went. We got checked in and unloaded by about 8:45 pm. So in total it took us about 9 hours to get to Anaheim. My DH didn’t think we’d get down there until closer to 11 pm cuz he thought we’d have to make more stops than we did. So I think we impressed him. We got the kids into bed by about 11 pm. They were excited to be in Disney so of course none of us really feel asleep until about 1 am which was hard since we had to be up by 4:30 am on Feb 29 so try to last out the day for the 24 hour challenge for Disneyland.

Up next how do we do in our 24 hour challenge with 3 kids 5 and younger!!

 

[ladylyons]

We got up at approx. 4:30 am and were in line for baggage check by 5:30 am. Not to bad considering we only got about 3 ½ hours sleep. Thank goodness my older two were excited to go to the parks so they were ready to get up and go!! Now this is where the craziness begins. Disneyland had announced that they would be giving out One More Disney Day ears to the first 2,000 people. From different people I talked to who got the ears they started lining up by about 8 pm even though Disney’s Blog stated they would not let people start lining up until 10 pm for a 6 am opening and that is when they were supposed to be handing out the hats. Come to find out wrist bands were handed out and they were told they could come back ANYTIME after park opening to get their ears. Well let’s just say that didn’t happen. I'll come back to this issue.

First up let me share our pictures from Harbour Blvd. For those of you who know the entrance from Harbour at Disneyland you can probably guesstimate where we were. We were almost directly across the street from Tony Roma’s.

These were the people on the other side of the fence who were coming in from the buses from the parking lots.

My kids were actually being pretty good for it being so early. Here they are waiting for park opening or at least for the line to start moving!!

Yeah we finally made it in!!!!

Walking down Main Street giving a “High 4” to everyone lining Main Street!!

I loved the ones who would get down to my son’s level!! He was having a blast!! They lined Main Street all the way down to the end!! You could feel the positive energy as you were walking down the street!!

This group of CM’s were fun. They all had to give him a “High 4”.

Yeah we finally made it to the end!!

Now where should we head?

Star Tours!!! This is one of my son's favorite rides so my mom and DS went on it first and we got a rider swap so I could go with him later. Well unfortunatly later didn't happen until a couple days later in our trip!! Oh well at least we all got to ride it. After Star Tours where do we head?

Buzz of course!!

After we save the world from Zurg. Where should we head next?

 

[ladylyons]

But first before I continue with Day 2. We talked to numerous people who had lined up as early as 8 pm on February 28 to make sure they were one of the first 2,000 people in line to receive the special One More Disney Day Ears. From what I was told it was not very organized. People were given wristbands (sorry I don’t remember what time they started distributing them) and told they could come back anytime after park opening and get their ears. So of course some left to go get some sleep before they came back to the park to try to stay until 6 am on March 1. Well if you know Disney that did not happen. We talked to numerous people who had lined up and had the wrist band but by the time they got back to the park they were unable to get their hats due to the fact that they were all already gone.

Here’s our story of how we got hats…. We walked into the park at approx. 6:15 am and as we were walking under the right tunnel my mom saw a cart where a CM was passing out hats. She left my son in the stroller in the middle of the walkway and said I’ll be right back. I had no idea what she was doing except that she just blocked the way for a ton of people walking in behind us so I was trying to maneuver a double stroller and an umbrella stroller out of the way by the time she came back to me. She had walked over there and asked if we could get 5 of them for our group. With no questions asked the CM handed them over to my mom. Now we did not have wrist bands and my mom didn’t realize we even needed them at this point. When she came back to me I figured they had extras. Now if they would have asked my mom for her wrist band my mom would have asked how would we have gotten those because mind you I knew what was going on but had failed to mention it to my mom except that they were passing out hats to the first 2,000 guests and there was no way I was lining up the night before with little to no sleep just for a hat. So we were pretty excited to not only get the buttons they were passing out to everyone who walked in but to also get the One More Disney Day limited edition hats!!! I did not plan on us getting them but it was pretty exciting to have them in our hands!!

The button looks just like the logo on the hat. Once I’m able to get a picture of it I’ll add that too.

Up next where do we go after we defeat Zurg?

 

[blessedmom4]

Hi Sandra, I am here! Those lines look CRAZY long, but how cool to go on at dawn! WOW about the hats, I can't believe you scored FIVE! I didn't even know much about what was going on with the Leap Day activities, so I wouldn't have known about the wrist bands either...Looking forward to reading more soon. it is SO nice to put a name with a face and the children are adorable! EVEN so early in the AM!!!!

 

[ladylyons]

Hi Sandra, I am here! Those lines look CRAZY long, but how cool to go on at dawn! WOW about the hats, I can't believe you scored FIVE! I didn't even know much about what was going on with the Leap Day activities, so I wouldn't have known about the wrist bands either...Looking forward to reading more soon. it is SO nice to put a name with a face and the children are adorable! EVEN so early in the AM!!!!

Thanks Judy!! Since I'm the Disney Fanatic in our family I'm usually up to date with what's going on and don't alway share all the info. Thank goodness my mom was a little bit more observant than I was or else we wouldn't have gotten so lucky. Disneyland wasn't that crowded once you got off of Main Street and everyone was in just a very happy and excitied mood to be there. But just wait until you hear some drama that happened later that evening!!

 

[blessedmom4]

Thanks Judy!! Since I'm the Disney Fanatic in our family I'm usually up to date with what's going on and don't alway share all the info. Thank goodness my mom was a little bit more observant than I was or else we wouldn't have gotten so lucky. Disneyland wasn't that crowded once you got off of Main Street and everyone was in just a very happy and excitied mood to be there. But just wait until you hear some drama that happened later that evening!!

OH NO!!! Drama???? I do not like Drama..... I hope it worked itself our without too many problems...

 

[ladylyons]

I'll hopefully be able to post an update tonight since the kids have a birthday party that we are leaving to go to in about an hour so I'm just trying to catch up on my subscribed threads then get ready to go party. Yes the drama does work it's self out but at the time I didn't know what was going to happen!!

 

[m-tinkerbelle]

hi!!!
we were at the other side of the fence lining up on harbor boulevard and we had Tony Roma in sight! so we must have seen each other! though I didn't take pics at that point and I don't see myself in your pictures!
but we did arrive to the place at the same time, and we did do Star Tours first thing in the morning as well!

it's awesome that you got your ears! by the time we left the room at the Anabella hotel we just KNEW that getting ears was out of the question XD lots of people were walking our same way and the lines were crazy!

what bugged me is that everything was pretty bad organised, we passed the security point and a CM told us to line up at a certain spot. it turned out to actually be the BEGINNING of the line, we found out like 15 minutes later when the girls we had next to us told us very politely that we were at the wrong place. I still wonder WHY the CM gave us such wrong information ¬¬_ so we ended up lining up near where you were standing (after getting wrong directions from a SECOND CM and standing in the wrong place for a SECOND time)
I still don't know how we didn't get punched by people who had been lining up at those spots for hours! they were all so polite!

lovely family you have! I don't know if I would have had the strenght to take little kids to Leap Day, I get stressed with just myself so I can't imagine bringing little kids. I admire your motherhood strength

I love that you took pics while entering the park! we didn't and it was so special with the CMs greeting everyone

 

[ladylyons]

hi!!!
we were at the other side of the fence lining up on harbor boulevard and we had Tony Roma in sight! so we must have seen each other! though I didn't take pics at that point and I don't see myself in your pictures!
but we did arrive to the place at the same time, and we did do Star Tours first thing in the morning as well!

it's awesome that you got your ears! by the time we left the room at the Anabella hotel we just KNEW that getting ears was out of the question XD lots of people were walking our same way and the lines were crazy!

what bugged me is that everything was pretty bad organised, we passed the security point and a CM told us to line up at a certain spot. it turned out to actually be the BEGINNING of the line, we found out like 15 minutes later when the girls we had next to us told us very politely that we were at the wrong place. I still wonder WHY the CM gave us such wrong information ¬¬_ so we ended up lining up near where you were standing (after getting wrong directions from a SECOND CM and standing in the wrong place for a SECOND time)
I still don't know how we didn't get punched by people who had been lining up at those spots for hours! they were all so polite!

lovely family you have! I don't know if I would have had the strenght to take little kids to Leap Day, I get stressed with just myself so I can't imagine bringing little kids. I admire your motherhood strength

I love that you took pics while entering the park! we didn't and it was so special with the CMs greeting everyone

Hi!! Thanks for joining in!! I didn't take too many pics of the other side of the fence cuz I didn't want people to think I was a stalker!! I actually thought to take pictures for my poor DH who had to stay home this trip.

I'm not surprised that the CM's didn't know where to have you guys line up and then for the girls by you to wait 15 mins to tell you that is amazing. I noticed that the atmosphere was very upbeat and positive the whole entire time we were in line waiting to be let in. We did make one mistake when we were walking over to Disneyand from the Ramada Main Gate. We should have crossed the street at that light but we didn't. We walked up Harbour to the light by Captain Kidd's and crossed there not thinking we'd have to back track. But oh well we still got in and we didn't stress about it. We were just happy to be there.

We also weren't counting on getting the ears. The only reason why we got them is cuz my mom happened to see the CM with the cart passing them out and went and asked. So needless to say we were both pleasantly surprised and happy to get them.

My oldest DS has now been to Disneyland 10 times and 1 time to WDW when he was 27 months old, my DD has been to Disneyland 8 times and 1 time to WDW when she was 8 months old, and my youngest DS has been to Disneyland 6 times. They are old hats when it comes to the parks. My oldest DS knows exactly where everything is and he doesn't need a map to tell you where anything is or what the rides are. It's scary to see how much a 5 year old and even a 3 year old remebers from their previous trips. I guess the reason why I brave the crowds and brave going is cuz of how much I love everything to do with Disney and how much I love to spend time with my family. We were sad that DH wasn't able to join us but since he couldn't make it, Grandma was a great second choice.

I had to take pics on Main Street. My son just loved giving everyone High 4's!! The energy from everyone was just so positive. We were feeding off of it!! That is funny that we were near the same spots and even went to the same ride first!! We probably did see each other but of course there's so many people that sometimes if you don't know someone you don't know to say "HI". So here's my late "Hello, Hope you guys had a fantastic trip!!!"

Still hoping to have more up tonight now that the kids are in bed and I think finally asleep!! Off to work on that next update.

 

[ladylyons]

Well as I’m not used to doing trip reports I forgot to add one purchase I did make while waiting for my mom and DS to get off of Star Tours. As we were there for Leap Day and were hoping to make it as long as possible we HAD to get the special shirt’s they were selling. My mom and I both got the one on the right and even though DH wasn’t there in person, he was there in spirit so I picked him up the one on the left.

Here’s also the One More Disney Day pin they were passing out to everyone
entering the park for the first time.

Now where did we head after Star Tours? To Fantasyland of course. Now I don’t know why I didn’t get pictures but we rode Snow White’s Scary Adventure and my DD did a very cute little scream when we saw the witch and it got both my mom and I busting up laughing the rest of the ride!! Now so you know my DD is not very scared of anything!! I think it just surprised her. Up next was Pinocchio’s Daring Journey and again that cute little scream came out of my DD. Again my mom and I busted up laughing!! You could tell she wasn’t scared she was just having fun!! And that’s what Disney’s all about!!

Up next was another one of my DD’s favorite rides…..King Arthur Carrousel. Now anytime we ride the carrousel we try to get my DD onto Mary Poppins Horse.

This is my DD from our October 2011 trip.

But as I was heading towards it a lady jumped in front of me and got on it. My poor DD’s face dropped and she goes “Mommy that lady took my horse.” I told her in a semi loud voice so the lady would hear how upset she made my DD “It’s ok Princess maybe she felt she needed to cut us off to ride it. But we’ll try to ride again later and we’ll wait for it.” That seemed to make her happy. I know not one of my best Disney moments but hey you don't cut off my DD. No I didn't confront her it just wasn't worth it. Once the ride started she forgot all about the Lady and had a great time!!

Now after the Carrousel we normally head to Dumbo but not this trip. We didn’t even ride Dumbo!! Don’t know why, we just didn’t. So up next was the only RIDE in Disneyland…… Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. (The rest are all attractions. )

We decided to let the baby stretch his legs and to give our backs a break!! He’s a heavy little boy!!

I think our wait was less than 5 minutes. Love hitting Fantasyland early in the morning.

Look Grandma no hands!!

After Toad’s we were starting to get hungry and I wanted to try out the new Holly Jolly Bakery so we headed over. While we were in line we actually ran into a friend of my Aunt's. It was pretty funny cuz I saw her and knew I recognized her but couldn’t remember from where until she mentioned to the person with her that my mom was Cindy’s twin sister!! Then I put two and two together and we talked to her a couple of minutes before the line moved. We were a few people in front of them. It sure is a Small World!! Lol
Here’s some pics that I took inside.

After we got our goodies we headed outside to eat. The weather was gorgeous!!! Gotta love that California sunshine!!

Oh and we did get a croissant and fruit also. So not all junk!! I just didn’t take pictures of those.

Now here’s another piece of Disney magic that we got. While we were sitting there I noticed someone walking around. What I didn’t realize at first is it was Oscar from the Carnation Café!! He was very, very sweet and asked how our day was going so far. By now it was about 9:30 am. While we were talking to him a couple ducks came to our table and he asked for a piece of my croissant and fed it to them. He told us that when he was the regular chef at Carnation Café every morning a pair of ducks would come to see him cuz they knew where to get the good stuff!! I didn’t even think to get a picture with him until it was too late. It was really fun to meet someone who has been with Disneyland for a very long time.

Now that our bellies are full where should we go next?

 

[ladylyons]

The only place to go after we filled our bellies would be Winnie the Pooh of course!! We had to go see that lovable, huggable bear. Now on the way one of my worst best parenting moments happened. We walked by Big Thunder Mountain and as I mentioned before that is my DS absolute favorite ride. So we decided to check out the wait time and it was posted at 30 mins. We decided we’d just wait until later since I picked up Fastpasses for it. Well let’s just say DS did not agree with that decision. He threw a complete temper tantrum right there in the middle of Disneyland and instead of giving into him I had my DD get out of the double stroller and put my DS in the back so I wouldn’t have to be embarrassed by so many people seeing him upset. Let’s just say if I knew I could have gotten away with it I would have just left him there to throw a fit cuz I didn’t want him to ruin everyone else’s trip. He just didn’t want to understand that we would go on it later cuz he’s used to Daddy taking him straight on it every time we walk by it and I felt like that wasn’t fair to my DD to always have to wait for her big brother to get what he wants when she doesn’t. Oh well lesson learned. Don’t walk by Big Thunder Mountain unless you plan on taking the kids on it!!

Here’s a picture of my DD in front of the River’s of America on our way to Winnie the Pooh.

This is when we found out that Modern Family was filming in the parks today!! Now I don’t watch this show so please excuse the pictures of people I don’t know. So I don’t know if they are just cast or any of the actual actors. First time we saw them was in front of Splash Mountain.

We were told to keep walking so hopefully the pictures aren’t too blurry and for those of you who watch the show can tell me if I got any of the actual actors.

Wow I didn’t take any pictures from Winnie the Pooh!! After Winnie the Pooh we headed back to the Haunted Mansion.

Now I’ve never had any issues in the past with my kids on this ride (or any ride for that matter). They normally love it both the normal version and especially the Nightmare Before Christmas Version. But this trip my DD basically started flipping out the minute we got into the elevator. I got her calmed down enough to actually enjoy the ride but she didn’t want to ride it again this trip and I was not going to force her. That’s the rule in our family. You have to at least ride it once a trip after that you can say no. And so far it’s worked out pretty well cuz I can normally get them to go on the different rides numerous times.

My DS on the other hand loved it. He kept asking Grandma where did Jack Skellington go and why was Sally gone, and asking her what happened to the big snake that holds the list. I thought it was pretty cute when my mom told about it after we were all off the ride.

After making sure we weren’t the 1,000th ghost in the Haunted Mansion we headed over to one of my mom’s other favorite rides…. Pirates of the Caribbean. Ahh Johnny.....oh wait, ahhh Jack Sparrow!! Love that pirate! Again we had maybe a 10 min wait. So we didn’t have the crowds, yet.

Uh oh look who’s following us now!! Modern Family was now filming in front of Tarzan’s Treehouse and Indiana Jones.

Again maybe you can tell me if I got anyone important in the photos.

After that we decided it was time to go take a break. It was about 1:30 pm and we were all hungry and tired. We were going on about 3 ½ hours of sleep and I knew melt downs were coming so we headed out. On our way we stopped some where (sorry I can’t remember where if I do I’ll make sure to add it) and got a bite to eat, then made it back to our room and crashed.

Now how long do we sleep until? and Mom, we HAVE to get back into Disneyland before California Adventure closes at 8 PM!!! Do we make it?

 

[m-tinkerbelle]

nice report! ;D
we left the park early that morning (before 9AM) because we had to return the rental car and after that we returned to the hotel to sleep. looks like the lines were quite short during the morning! I can't complain though, we could re-enter the parks with no problems later and for what I understand it closed not too long after we got in! we got very lucky

the energy everywhere was awesome, we loved it! specially my DH, it was his first time there and he was amazed because you could feel the love everyone had for the park (from CMs to visitors). it was funny to see and hear people knowing the sound loops by heart (specially at the haunted mansion), and see that they were enjoying the park so much even if it was their 500th time there


I wanted the Leap day shirt, but the one with the colorful design, but the kids tees they had were too small for me, and the men's sizes were too large. I still got the men's size, I'm using it as a nightgown

can you believe i didn't realise it glows in the dark until last Tuesday when I got home? does the ladies' shirt glow in the dark as well?

 

[ladylyons]

nice report! ;D
we left the park early that morning (before 9AM) because we had to return the rental car and after that we returned to the hotel to sleep. looks like the lines were quite short during the morning! I can't complain though, we could re-enter the parks with no problems later and for what I understand it closed not too long after we got in! we got very lucky

the energy everywhere was awesome, we loved it! specially my DH, it was his first time there and he was amazed because you could feel the love everyone had for the park (from CMs to visitors). it was funny to see and hear people knowing the sound loops by heart (specially at the haunted mansion), and see that they were enjoying the park so much even if it was their 500th time there


I wanted the Leap day shirt, but the one with the colorful design, but the kids tees they had were too small for me, and the men's sizes were too large. I still got the men's size, I'm using it as a nightgown

can you believe i didn't realise it glows in the dark until last Tuesday when I got home? does the ladies' shirt glow in the dark as well?

I did notice that the lines were pretty manageable when we were there during the day but of course that night was a completely different story!! You'll just have to wait to see our adventure about getting back in. That's what this whole trip was for me anyways...an adventure (even though it wasn't our first trip at all!!) It was just our first trip with out my DH.

You would have loved to ride It's a Small World with my kids then. They were just singing and pointing at everything during the whole ride. I'll hopefully get up another post tomorrow. We had a long day today going to see my step father in law that is very sick and we don't think he has much time left. No one seems to know what's wrong with him expect that he's not eating, constantly in pain, constantly falls down and can't get back up with out help, and losing weight like crazy!! He's also a smoker and an alchoholic which is not helping the situation at all.

Wait a minute? The shirt glows in the dark? I guess I'll have to go check that out for the ladies' shirt and report back!! It's been in the closet so it's not glowing right now but I'll leave it out tomorrow and get back to you then.

So glad that your DH felt the love that everyone have for Disneyland. I love hearing about people's first trips. What was his favorite ride? Thing to do? Did you get to meet Mickey? (We unfortunatly missed seeing the main Mouse this trip but we have seen him numerous times on past trips so he is not lacking for love from our family!!) So when does DH want to go back or is he ready to tackle WDW? I do realize you guys are around the globe from us and a very, very long plane ride. Feel free to share some of your adventures here if you would like!! Like I said I love hearing about other's people's experiences especially from the same time that I was there.

Thanks for sticking around even though I don't seem to have too many followers. It'd be great if some of the lurkers at least stopped by to say "HI".

 

[m-tinkerbelle]

I did notice that the lines were pretty manageable when we were there during the day but of course that night was a completely different story!! You'll just have to wait to see our adventure about getting back in. That's what this whole trip was for me anyways...an adventure (even though it wasn't our first trip at all!!) It was just our first trip with out my DH.

You would have loved to ride It's a Small World with my kids then. They were just singing and pointing at everything during the whole ride. I'll hopefully get up another post tomorrow. We had a long day today going to see my step father in law that is very sick and we don't think he has much time left. No one seems to know what's wrong with him expect that he's not eating, constantly in pain, constantly falls down and can't get back up with out help, and losing weight like crazy!! He's also a smoker and an alchoholic which is not helping the situation at all.

Wait a minute? The shirt glows in the dark? I guess I'll have to go check that out for the ladies' shirt and report back!! It's been in the closet so it's not glowing right now but I'll leave it out tomorrow and get back to you then.

So glad that your DH felt the love that everyone have for Disneyland. I love hearing about people's first trips. What was his favorite ride? Thing to do? Did you get to meet Mickey? (We unfortunatly missed seeing the main Mouse this trip but we have seen him numerous times on past trips so he is not lacking for love from our family!!) So when does DH want to go back or is he ready to tackle WDW? I do realize you guys are around the globe from us and a very, very long plane ride. Feel free to share some of your adventures here if you would like!! Like I said I love hearing about other's people's experiences especially from the same time that I was there.

Thanks for sticking around even though I don't seem to have too many followers. It'd be great if some of the lurkers at least stopped by to say "HI".

lol, I was singing to IASW lyrics myself! XD
Sorry to hear about your step father in law being so ill. I hope he can manage to not to suffer pain through all of this process. And of course I do hope it's not terminal! my best wishes for the doctors to find out what he has and give him proper treatment to regain a good quality of life.

And yes DH was thrilled because we've been going to DLParis a lot, and we do see people having fun but the atmosphere is so different. According to him if we could, we would go to WDW right away but it's so expensive

8 days aren't enough for us in DL or in DLP, just imagine what WDW would take! Both the flight and the stay (plus the extended park hopper passes) are too much for our budget now. I guess it'll have to wait, we'll probably go to WDW once the expansion of Fantasyland is finished and open to the public (and still, I think we won't go at least until 2014).
If we find another awesome airfares pffer and nice hotel rates we'll go back to DL next year. We're both preferring DL over DLP now but we still love DLP dearly and this year they're celebrating the 20th anniversary. So we're a bit in doubt as where to go XD

DL LOVED Indiana Jones ride (he bought two Indiana Jones hats and got lots of compliments when he wore any of them in the ride). His favorite ride is either Indy, Star Tours, BTM, or Splash Mountain. He loves Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion as well. He says he can't decide! they were all awesome! I loved seing the updates at last!
As for me, I'm a huge thrill ride lover but in DL my favorite ride is Splash Mountain ( I don't know what they did to the ride but this year I got absolutely SOAKED!). I also LOVE The Enchanted Tiki Room, it's too funny!. And I have other favorites, too many to count XD
I hope we have our own kids one day so that we get to go to those rides we never got in Mr Toad, Snowhite, Pinocchio, Dumbo, or even the teacups.

oh and we did meet Mickey! I started a thread not long ago because DH had the weirdest experience with Mickey. We met him three times (I mentioned two in the thread though I now recall a third one). We met once in DL and once in California Adventure, and one last time we met him at his movie barn. It was incredible but my DH the first two times he met Mickey he opened his arms and said aloud "MICKEY!!!!" and went to hug him and Mickey blocked the hug with his arm! I didn't notice it happening at the moment because I was too happy with my own "Mickey moment" to notice. But we got our pics taken and later DH told me what happened XD it was absolutely hilarious that Mickey rejected his hug in the first two occasions XD. DH has a great sense of humor and he didn't mind the rejection but I was wondering if he did something wrong XD
The other characters were OK with him, specially Minnie XD

Those who replied asked if he was a big tall biker or if he got scary looks, but he's a very sweet and has a very kind looking face. So we don't know what happened but there was something about him that Mickey didn't like, it probably was his Star Tours Darth Vader's T-shirt XD. We're still laughing about those "incidents".

I'm writing a trip report as well, the title is something along the lines of "our first trip to DL together". I still haven't written much though! (and didn't get any feedback yet though ) I still don't mind, I'm writing it as a way to say "thanks" to all the forum for the bits of advice I was given before the trip.

 

[ladylyons]

lol, I was singing to IASW lyrics myself! XD
Sorry to hear about your step father in law being so ill. I hope he can manage to not to suffer pain through all of this process. And of course I do hope it's not terminal! my best wishes for the doctors to find out what he has and give him proper treatment to regain a good quality of life.

And yes DH was thrilled because we've been going to DLParis a lot, and we do see people having fun but the atmosphere is so different. According to him if we could, we would go to WDW right away but it's so expensive

8 days aren't enough for us in DL or in DLP, just imagine what WDW would take! Both the flight and the stay (plus the extended park hopper passes) are too much for our budget now. I guess it'll have to wait, we'll probably go to WDW once the expansion of Fantasyland is finished and open to the public (and still, I think we won't go at least until 2014).
If we find another awesome airfares pffer and nice hotel rates we'll go back to DL next year. We're both preferring DL over DLP now but we still love DLP dearly and this year they're celebrating the 20th anniversary. So we're a bit in doubt as where to go XD

DL LOVED Indiana Jones ride (he bought two Indiana Jones hats and got lots of compliments when he wore any of them in the ride). His favorite ride is either Indy, Star Tours, BTM, or Splash Mountain. He loves Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion as well. He says he can't decide! they were all awesome! I loved seing the updates at last!
As for me, I'm a huge thrill ride lover but in DL my favorite ride is Splash Mountain ( I don't know what they did to the ride but this year I got absolutely SOAKED!). I also LOVE The Enchanted Tiki Room, it's too funny!. And I have other favorites, too many to count XD
I hope we have our own kids one day so that we get to go to those rides we never got in Mr Toad, Snowhite, Pinocchio, Dumbo, or even the teacups.

oh and we did meet Mickey! I started a thread not long ago because DH had the weirdest experience with Mickey. We met him three times (I mentioned two in the thread though I now recall a third one). We met once in DL and once in California Adventure, and one last time we met him at his movie barn. It was incredible but my DH the first two times he met Mickey he opened his arms and said aloud "MICKEY!!!!" and went to hug him and Mickey blocked the hug with his arm! I didn't notice it happening at the moment because I was too happy with my own "Mickey moment" to notice. But we got our pics taken and later DH told me what happened XD it was absolutely hilarious that Mickey rejected his hug in the first two occasions XD. DH has a great sense of humor and he didn't mind the rejection but I was wondering if he did something wrong XD
The other characters were OK with him, specially Minnie XD

Those who replied asked if he was a big tall biker or if he got scary looks, but he's a very sweet and has a very kind looking face. So we don't know what happened but there was something about him that Mickey didn't like, it probably was his Star Tours Darth Vader's T-shirt XD. We're still laughing about those "incidents".

I'm writing a trip report as well, the title is something along the lines of "our first trip to DL together". I still haven't written much though! (and didn't get any feedback yet though ) I still don't mind, I'm writing it as a way to say "thanks" to all the forum for the bits of advice I was given before the trip.

I had a nice long talk with my mother in law today about it and basically told her if she isn't going to push the issue with the Dr's then I'm going to find someone to watch my kids for me and go to an appt with them and stress to the Dr exactly what's going on. She promised me she'd do it but we'll see what happens when he goes back in a couple of weeks. She comes over to my place about once a week to watch my baby while I work in my older two kids Preschool. It's a co-op so I tend to be there about 4 times a month. I really enjoy it because then I'm able to be a big part of their education.


Love hearing about the magic you guys got to experience. I know it is hard to pick just one or even two rides that you really love but there's always one that seems to keep drawing you to it.

I have been to DLP once for about 6 hours in Sept 2004. My DH and I had only been married for about 4 months and he decided he wanted to take a spur of the moment trip some where over our long weekend in September and Paris is where we ended up. We got awesome airfare and a really nice hotel. We saw the Eiffel Tower and went to the top (I had to considering I had been to the crown of the Statue of Liberty too), saw Notre Dame, did a few other touristy things (sorry can't remember what now) and then took a day trip to DLP. I really wish we could have been there longer and I agree the atmosphere is completely different. We still loved the rides and the atmosphere of the park but the upbeat energy just didn't seem to be there.

I agree about it being expensive to get to WDW. It's crazy for me to have to pay airfare for my family of 5 to fly cross country when we can drive about 6 - 7 hours (depending on how many stops we have to make) to get to a Disney Park. Now I love Disneyland but can't wait to bring my kids back to WDW. We are also looking at Spring/Summer 2014 because I want Fantasyland to be completed before we go back. Last time we went was in May 09 when my oldest DS was 27 months and my DD was 8 month. We can't wait to go back but until then we will always have Disneyland!!

I did read your post about Mickey and meant to comment but I think I was dealing with kids at the same time that I was reading it. Glad to hear you did end up having a great meet with him later. I think Mickey's even been a little off with my DH before. Who knows maybe he wasn't in the mood to be hugged by men that day!! lol Glad your DH had a great sense of humour!!

I'll have to stop by your trip report and see if we were in the same place at the same time during any time of that trip. Bringing kids is a completely different experience than not bringing kids. I do love watching the magic through their eyes though. Especially now that they are getting older.

Oh and yes the Women's shirt does glow in the dark!! I didn't realize it until after you made the comment about it!! Pretty cool!!!! Next update coming right up!!

 

[ladylyons]

I woke up about 5:30 pm and a little stressed because I know it can take me up to 2 hours to get by kids ready when I’m trying to do it by myself. Now my mom said she was going to help me get things ready to go but she’s been known to be a little bit of a flake at times. Yes she knows that I feel that way because I’ve told her that. So I get up and start to get ready. Once I’m done I start getting the kids and my mom up. We made it out the door by 7:20 pm and were walking up to the gates of Disneyland by 7:28 pm. I noticed all the lines to the right were pretty short so we started walking that way when a CM stopped us and told us to go all the way to the right where the wheelchairs were going through. We just had two strollers with us so I think he knew it would be easier for us to go through that line than it would have been to go through the gates. We weren’t complaining we were back in the park by 7:30 pm!!! WE MADE IT!!!

The crowds when we walked in.

We had to go take our pictures in front of the Leap Day sign. We meant to do it earlier in the day but kind of forgot and we were pretty tired when we left to go back to the hotel. For some reason that I didn’t understand my DD did not want to smile.

I love this castle!!

The only group shot we took in front of the castle. OOPS!!

Waiting for the Doll Ride as my DD affectionaly calls it!!

My Baby getting into it!! This is when I realized that he loved this ride. He would point at everything and just squeal. Now that we are home he sings the song. Now mind you he’s only 18 months old and is a little slow with talking but you can tell with the way he moves and the tones of his voice the song he’s singing. It’s soooo cute!! Now let’s see if I can catch him on video then have my DH upload it so I can share it here.

Yeah Toontown!!

The kids wanted to ride Gadget’s Go Coaster. The wait said it was about 20 mins. But in reality I think it was closer to 40 mins. We made it off the ride in time for me to take a couple of pictures through Chip and Dale’s Treehouse.

I was trying to get a shot of the moon but I was never able to get the right angle and I was kind of rushing so we could make it to see Mickey’s Soundsation Parade!! We walked out of Toontown and straight up to the rope in front of the little store across from the exit of It’s a Small World. We had front row seats!!! The kids were excited and couldn’t wait to see it again.

Snack time while waiting.

Glow toys!

Where we were siting and the crowds!!

I didn’t take pictures this time just video. If I can figure out how to upload video I will. Up next…. The Episode Where They Call Security on Us!!

 

[blessedmom4]

You KNOW I am still here and LOVING the TR! I have never been to DL, so the pics are all new for me. I am sorry to read about the not so nice lady at the carousel, it is hard for a little one to understand rude adults. Wanted to say

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[ladylyons]

You KNOW I am still here and LOVING the TR! I have never been to DL, so the pics are all new for me. I am sorry to read about the not so nice lady at the carousel, it is hard for a little one to understand rude adults. Wanted to say

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I understand your going through a lot right now so I do appreciate you still being here and reading along. Hope I can show you the magic of Walt's original park. Happy St Patrick's Day to you and yours too!!

I agree I probably shouldn't have said anything but I was just like really your going to jump in front of my kid!!! I'm just glad that my DD just let it go.

I'm hoping to have an update done tomorrow sometime. We had a busy day today between a birthday party, Costco Run and grocery shopping!! Here's to hoping I can find some time tomorrow to write up the next chapter since DH will be working tomorrow. Not to happy about it but at least he's working and the extra money will be nice!! (Still catching up from when he was off for 18 months!!!)