Sorry for neglecting this TR for a few days, work has been crazy busy but I will do my best to crack on and get this finished
Saturday April 13th
Today was an early entry day for hotel guests at
Disneyland Park so after coffee in the room, I headed off through DTD to bag check
Again not too many people in line as bag check was yet to open, probably only two families were waiting
Once through bag check it was still nearly 30 minutes to park opening but they started letting people in around 10 minutes early and then held everyone at the rope in front of the castle.
Once the park had officially opened I headed straight to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan, quickly followed by Mr Toad (love this ride!) next up was Alice and I seem to remember that the Matterhorn was out of action this morning so I headed over to Tommorowland
Next up was Star Tours which I really enjoyed. We always ride this in WDW but I didnt ride on my last trip to CA.
After Star Tours I headed to Space Mountain which was sadly closed, and remained so for my whole trip
I think its still closed even now??
There was still a little time before official park opening so I rode Buzz before heading back out onto Main St where I grabbed a coffee.
Pretty much as soon as I had started to enjoy my drink, I remembered that I hadnt had breakfast yet.
I was right next to Fantasy Faire and had remembered reading about Maurices Treats so I headed there to pick up a snack
This was yummy, and a perfect breakfast treat. It was warm and fresh with just the right amount of strawberry filling
Now that the park was fully open I walked over to ride the Haunted Mansion and Pirates
The park was certainly quiet first thing and it was lovely to just explore for a while
Right, slight shopping diversion if you'll allow me
As many of you are probably aware there is often a coupon printed at the bottom of counter service receipts for a 20% discount off merchandise at certain locations, and only in the morning.
Id had my eye on a Dooney & Bourke bag before I had left for this trip and 20% off was certainly a decent saving, plus my wonderful TA at
Dreams Unlimited had sent me a lovely surprise email not long before I left the UK, telling me that she had managed to apply a new Spring discount offer to my booking
so the two things combined actually covered the whole purchase (Disney maths I know!
)
Long story short, I popped into the Disney Clothiers on Main Street and treated myself to this
Happy with my purchase, I headed back to the Disneyland Hotel to drop everything off and freshen up for my DIS meet
Id first come into contact with the lovely Brenda (emmysmommy) over on the dinning boards and when I was planning my CA October trip we decided to try and hook up for a spot of lunch as she lives super close to the parks (lucky thing!)
Well we had a wonderful time and I really enjoyed her company so when I knew that I would be visiting again, I dropped her a PM and we arranged to meet
It actually turned out that it was Brendas birthday on the 13th so that made it extra special and I was so pleased that she took the time to spend part of her very special day with little ol me
What was also super exciting was that Brendas beautiful daughter Emmy would be joining us
We had arranged to meet at the Fire House at 12 and after hugs were exchanged, Brendas friend Don who was also visiting the parks that day took our photo
Photo courtesy of Brenda (emmysmommy)
Brenda has already done a fab little write up about our meet within her current WDW TR so Ill put a link to that here in case you are interested and you should be because the rest of her WDW trip report is awesome!
http://disboards.com/showpost.php?p=48106871&postcount=306
It was an absolute pleasure to spend time with these wonderful people. Im so grateful they took the time to meet with me
We had a lovely lunch at Zocalo Del Ranchero, exchanged gifts and rode Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Star Tours (thanks Don for being our FP runner!) plus Snow White as well as exploring Tarzans Tree House and Toontown.
It was such a lovely afternoon and I cant wait to catch up with them again in WDW this December
All too soon it was time so say goodbye (for now) so we headed out of the park and parted ways in DTD
Back at the hotel, I rested for a while, took a shower and munched on the delicious Mickey Cookie that Brenda treated me to from the Jolly Holiday Bakery
Note: I ate it without taking a photo EEK so I literally went back to the bakery to get a snap especially for my TR or Brenda would never forgive me
My plans for this evening were to head back to the park to hop on rides with short lines or single rider and to (hopefully to see the fireworks)
Before I left DLH I decided to get a bite to eat at Trader Sams (nothing to do with the drinks of course
)
Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Rum*- Welcome to our tropical hideaway, you lucky people you! If you have one of these starting right away you may be ordering two!
-- Reserve Rum, Cream of Coconut, and Pineapple and Orange Juices dusted with Cinnamon and Nutmeg
Oh my word this was good. I had always avoided ordering it in the past as I thought it might be a little too rich with the cream of coconut but it was actually a really refreshing drink
I also ordered some of the Ahi Tuna Poke from the bar menu and it was absolutely delicious
Once I had eaten I stopped in DTD to watch some of the Swing Dancing; I had stumbled across this by accident in December and loved it, so I made a point to spend some time enjoying the music and looking on in awe at how good some of these guys are!
I rode the monorail to get back to the park and managed to get a ride upfront! such fun
Back in the park I checked to see if Space was up and running (you know the answer to that
) but the Matterhorn was back so I used SR again and just walked on
Next I rode the Teacups. I never ride these at WDW but they just looked so pretty all lit up at night so I couldnt resist.
The Matterhorn was back up and running so I squeezed in another ride before I headed back to the hub. It was only about 15 minutes before the fireworks were due to start and actually got a pretty decent spot
Sadly they were cancelled, as they were in October due to the wind conditions
I did get to see the special Halloween fireworks last year but I really wanted to see the regular show
Tomorrow was my last chance to see them so I had everything crossed that they would take place as I had heard so many great things about them
Most people seemed to leave the park once they knew that the fireworks were cancelled so I headed round to Indiana Jones to squeeze in one last ride. The wait was posted as 50 minutes and the CM at the entrance said that the SR passes hadnt been sent back up from the boarding area so he handed me a FP instead
I even managed to fit in a visit to the Tiki Room and a dole whip before it was kicking out time
After exciting the park, I indulged in a little more shopping in DTD where the Swing Dancers were still strutting their stuff
It had been a really lovely day and I collapsed into bed at the hotel and fell quickly asleep - after playing a dream is a wish your heart makes on the headboard about 20 times!
Next Up Cultivating The Magic Tour & Fantasmic!