Three kids, three days at Park Vue Inn January 2015

I had heard about the Paradise Garden Grill change before we left. But I was pretty disappointed. I had heard the skewers were really good. They are bringing them back when Taste Pilot's Grill reopens. Not that it means anything to though. Ha!

My husband loves Tower of Terror. I hate it. I've done it a few times though. I just hate the feeling of falling.
 
The kids seem so happy with their pin lanyards! Glad you got on RSR so early and then got a FP for later (man, with my WDW trained brain I keep wanting to type FP+ but there is no '+' yet at DLR)

I definitely want to check out the snacks at the cozy cone - glad to hear the mac n cheese one was good as my son would eat that for every meal if he could. The Mater ride does look like fun - really hope they put in a cool replacement for the tire ride
 
Aw your poor kids! Tower of Terror scary, but at least they can say they rode it.
 
When we left off, I was just about to take Ally to see Anna and Elsa. It was about 2pm. I had gotten my FPs about two hours earlier, and silly me, I thought they would actually mean a FAST wait! Nope, not so much. Dh took the boys on a few rides, because none of them wanted to see Anna and Elsa (shocker!) I think the rides were Mater, and some bugsland rides. He took zero pictures. So we stood in line for about 40 minutes in Animation Academy to see the princess and queen. It wasn't bad though- indoors, and Ally really liked the Disney movie clips they showed in there. In fact, later on I told her how great she did waiting and she said "I liked the songs!" So she was happy. The CMs who worked this meet and greet were great, too. The lady who took us to the door where we would go in and meet them was very friendly and asked Ally a lot of questions.



They were admiring her nails- we did some jamberry nails that were Elsa inspired (I also had some on!) and her dress and her Elsa hair clip. They commented on everything, and Anna kept asking Ally if her dress needed more sparkles! Ally grinned ear to ear the entire time (but she didn't say much, she's not a big talker). It was so cute and SO worth it for little Frozen fans. This was the best character experience and I wish I had forced my boys to join us when we got near the front of the line..oh well!





I made her dress- an upcycle from a Frozen t shirt and random scrap fabric. It's getting a bit small, unfortunately.

After the Frozen sisters, we headed for Disneyland. Now remember, we had FPs for RSR later on that I really wanted to use. DH did not care about that, he was itching to get to some of his favorite rides at DL. I hoped we would get back to DCA in time for RSR...maybe...



Jude does not face the camera for pictures very often. He was just so excited the entire trip, he couldn't handle the posed pictures! This kid is ALL personality, folks. Also, after taking this picture, he had to go potty really bad. And he had an accident. This is of course a necessary part of our Disney trips. Last time Odin had an accident on the Nemo ride and this is now an infamous story that we like to retell and laugh about. And Odin does not mind, he thinks it's funny too, and we skipped the ride this trip (we didn't really like it). I cleaned up Jude in the bathroom and we moved on to Main Street, meeting Minnie along the way. She was fantastic, too! She always seems to be great with the kids. It was funny because when my kids got up to her, she grabbed Odin and Ally's hands and marched over to a different area. Odin was embarrassed for some reason but Ally loved it. Jude, who is character shy, followed along with DH. I do have a photopass picture which I can't share here because we didn't get PP+, but I plan to order it (it's of Minnie pulling my kids along and Jude and DH behind them). I do have this photo though!



Alright so we must have gone to Adventureland next, according to the order of my photos (sorry about my terrible memory!). We did Indiana Jones first, I think. Short wait and I could not wait to do this ride...it had been 10ish years!!! Ally was just tall enough (they checked her height many times) and Odin was definitely tall enough. I took them on that (no pictures) while DH took Jude on Jungle Cruise and Tarzan's treehouse. I loved IJ but the kids...not so much. Odin tolerated it and Ally burrowed into me and hated it.





After that, DH took Odin and did a rider switchpass with him. I was so proud of Odin for riding again! I think sometimes he really loves these rides but says he was scared, just because of how thrilling it was. Even as an adult, I get that. He really is growing up, riding these big rides! Well, I had an awesome idea to get dole whip floats while we waited- it really was super awesome. The line was quick and efficient, and we ate our yummy treat while waiting for the big boys. Don't worry, we bought them one too!



DH found us on a bench (that Ally located for us, she is good at finding things) and was happy to see the dole whip.

Up next...Pirates of the Caribbean!
 


Alright, let's see if we can finish up day one!

One of my favorite rides, and DH's too, is Pirates of the Caribbean. Thankfully, our kids are not really scared of dark rides, so they were excited too! We headed to New Orleans Square and got on the ride within minutes. We had actually tried this ride earlier but it broke down while we were in line so we got out of there quickly. I think right before this is when the kids first traded pins- so sorry, I did not take pictures of that!



That was DH's attempt to get all of us in the picture. I love how long this ride is- a great time to sit and rest and enjoy a fun dark ride! And we pointed out Blue Bayou to the kids, explaining that we would be eating there on day 3. After this we did Haunted Mansion (DH's favorite). When Ally was almost 3, she sat on my lap and buried her face in my neck the whole time. This time, she proclaimed it was "kinda boring". Ha! It got stuck at one point, but we were soon moving again!

After HM, I think we did Thunder Mountain Railroad. I was in the front with Jude and Ally. Odin and DH were behind us. Everyone loved it except Jude- I really need to learn to not sit by him on all the "big" rides, because it's not quite as enjoyable trying to comfort a child who doesn't like it! Poor little guy! I promise he enjoyed this trip so much though. Now, as you might have guessed, we skipped our RSR fastpass (gasp!). There just wasn't time to go back and use it. I know we did some Tomorrowland rides, too, but I have no pictures so I can't remember the order we did them in- I believe we did Star Tours and the Rocket Ships (um...astro orbiter...we don't call it that, haha!)

I really can't believe the lack of pictures on the second part of this day! Sigh. Oh well. We had dinner at Jolly Holiday...it was just okay. The kids were happy with mac and cheese and a turkey sandwich. We managed to have two of the kids split a meal (only Odin is a big eater). I had the caprese sandwich and I really wish I'd gotten something else. It was a little chilly and sprinkly at this time, too, and we were just dead tired and read to get back to our room. Again, SO thankful for the short walk!

I gave the kids baths and they were out in minutes. My head was pounding and I was getting nauseous so I took some tylenol, used my essential oils, and went to sleep. Luckily I was much better in the morning- I am sure I was dehydrated.

Day Two, Part One

We woke up feeling good after a good night's sleep. Again we had a delicious breakfast at our hotel. I believe we got going around 9am, and the park opened at 9, so we made it there by 9:30. Since we had already experience rope drop once, I was okay with this.



I bought those Minnie ears on etsy 3 years ago...still SO CUTE! Outfit was made and sent to me by someone a couple years ago...it was too big then and fits great now! I love themed outfits! Odin is wearing a star wars shirt, and Jude has on spiderman...so all Disney themed :)

First stop, as any experience Disney fan knows, is Peter Pan. We had maybe a 20 minute wait, so not bad since we were a little later that morning.



Jude, remember, had never ridden this. I think he liked it! He was so excited for the ride, anyway! The kids then posed for a sword in the stone picture.




After that we went to Dumbo. On our last trip Ally begged to ride it, and by the time we got to it, it was closed for a parade! Listen, disney parades drive me nuts. I KNOW people love them, but they cause issues for me :P. So Dumbo was like a two minute wait, lol. Awesome! (this was a friday, rated as hey, it's alright by isitpacked.com).







Next was a personal favorite, the Teacups! Again, not it's real name but who cares. It was a walk on and most teacups were empty. So we took up two and Dh took a nice picture.





That was it for fantasyland for the day (for some reason, storybook canals weren't running? They were not listed as closed so this was odd!)

Next up...A nice DTD lunch break.




 
Great pictures on the rides. We didn't really get any on anything. Just a couple dark/too close ones. Haha!

Your kids are adorable.
 
Thanks! I try to do as many ride photos as I can...even if it's just in front of the ride! I am mad at myself for not getting on thunder mountain or star tours (of course, that one is all dark inside so its harder).
 


We headed into tomorrowland next to ride Space Mountain! Ah, I love space mountain and had not ridden it in about 10 years (my first disneyland trip). I've ridden 3 versions of this ride. I think the Disneyland Paris one was my favorite, followed by this one, then WDW. We decided to let Odin ride with Ally, me with Jude in front, and DH in back. I think in hindsight we should have had Ally ride with DH and Odin by himself in the middle. Here's the ride picture, it speaks for itself:



DH and I were thrilled, but I was holding onto Jude. The whole time he kept crying and saying "I want to get off!" Behind me, Ally was also crying and being comforted by Odin who said it was scary but fun, and his legs were shaking when he got off (but I could tell he liked it!). My poor Jude. He was all smiles afterward when we had a snack of clementines.



After this we rode the monorail (much to Odin's excitement!) and met some friends at DTD and had some Earl of Sandwich. Very good, and cheap because we each had a free sandwich coupon! I had a great time with my friend and I wish I had taken some pictures around DTD but I forgot.

We walked through DTD and back into disneyland. We stopped for this photo op:


So much fun to meet Daisy! No, the boys were not interested. Dh then ran over to DCA to try to get RSR FPs. We walked through main street, and stopped in a shop to trade pins. Then we headed straight for star tours (yes!) and DH met us there after failing to get RSR FPs. This was our second star tours ride of the trip, and we had a FP so it was super quick. Our ride was almost exactly the same as the first, but so fun! I am so glad everyone loves this ride as it's one of my favorites. I think this was when Odin got his double sided light saber. And Jude got a Bamax. I got a darth vader t shirt! The kids had brought their own money- each had about $30 to spend which was perfect. And I had bought disney gift cards at target before our trip which paid for most of our food.

We hit Fantasyland next, to do all the rides we had not done the day before. I can't believe how many rides are in FL! It's such a fun, magical place and just screams Disney to me. Okay, so we did Alice first which was neat with the new ride enhancements. Then Mr. Toad's Wild ride! The kids were a little confused as to what Mr. Toad was all about. Frankly, I am too.



Next up was King Arthur's Carousel. Now, our kids would ride every carousel they can find all day long. I think it's the most boring ride in disney, but still very pleasant. We got on our horses and had a fun time.





I know after this we did all the dark rides- Pinnochio, Snow White...no pictures though! We got my favorite ever Disney treat next...Mickey beignets! They were gone in seconds. Sigh, I still miss those. We did a quick ride on the Go Coaster in toontown, just after Ally bough an Elsa animator doll. She lost one of the shoes in toontown, sadly. We decided we were done with DL for the day so DCA was next. We didn't have RSR FPs but that was okay, we would start with that ride in the morning. At this point we were very hungry, so we sat on a bunch to figure out where to eat. Pluto ran by and did something to make the kids laugh- scared them or something. We looked up Flo's on our phone and it was supposedly closing in ten minutes (it was almost 7 and the park closed at 10). So we ran over there only to find out it would be open for quite some time!

Although the menu changed, our food was still quite good. I just wish the adult meals had another side.








 
Sorry for the delay on my trip report! Busy weekend!

Anyway, I forgot one photo from our second night-

Just after eating, the kids met Mater!



I was happy that we got pics with both Lightning and Mater, but I don't know how excited they were. They were more interested in rides than anything (which is how I am, too, but I'm happy they obliged for photo ops!)

After eating, we rode the Mater ride again, then went to bugsland. There we rode the chew chew train, flik's flyers, and the ladybug which was actually a lot of fun. It spins fast and the kids were giggled so much- Jude kept sliding off his seat which he still talks about!
Back at the hotel, we all passed out very quickly! I was a little sad that it was the last night of our stay. The kids always think staying in a hotel is a novelty, and we enjoyed the Park Vue Inn very much!

Day Three- Last day :(

Our last day was a Saturday. We started out at DCA this time, and were late because the park opened at 8...I think we got there around 9 after packing up the car and eating our last hotel breakfast. It was nice to be able to stay parked at the hotel all day even after we checked out!



As you can see, our first stop was RSR. We got our FPs first (for about 11:30am) and then said "Hey, I wonder what the wait time is?" We checked our respective apps (mine was mousewait, his was...something else?). They both said 35 minutes, I think, so we ran over there. The line was short, but seriously a couple minutes after we got in line the ride broke down. Ugh! Tons of people left the line, but we waited about 20 minutes. By then we decided to leave as well...we had our FPs after all!

We went to toy story next, with a 30 minute wait time. Not bad for this ride. This time I rode with Ally, who kept asking me what her score was. I was trying to concentrate, ha! Here are our scores:



After that we did the Fun Wheel because Ally kept begging. DH wanted to do the swinging cars but none of us were brave enough. And the line for that was way longer, so we did a regular ride.



It was fun! The kids enjoyed it and I liked the views.



Screamin' had been down all morning, but at this point it reopened. I told Dh to go do the single rider line (gotta love my knowledge...he did not know such a thing existed!) while we met Buzz! The lucky kid in front of us met Woody and Buzz, because they were changing places. I was kinda happy we got Buzz because I like him better than Woody.



Odin pretty much acted embarrassed whenever he met any character. Next time I want to take him to Fantasy Faire just to see his reaction to all the princesses!!!

Alright, so then we were still waiting for DH and we had to get some churros! Yes, when he goes off on his own I get snacks :).



We probably saved some for him...maybe! I have to stop here for now because I need to pick up my kids from school. I will finish later today!
 
Really enjoying this whitneyebz and picking up loads of hints. Your kids are super cute. :goodvibes

whitneyebz said:
It was nice to be able to stay parked at the hotel all day even after we checked out!
Click to expand...

Was wondering whether Park Vue would let me check in early the day I arrive and park the car. I know the room won't be ready but would be good not to have to move the car that evening. Any idea?
 
I'm really enjoying your TR!
I've sat at that same table on the roof and gazed upon the Matterhorn while eating some delicious waffles.
Great TR's are the next best thing to being there.
 
great updates. I love your youngest DS's Baymax t-shirt
 
Anemone said:
Really enjoying this whitneyebz and picking up loads of hints. Your kids are super cute. :goodvibes



Was wondering whether Park Vue would let me check in early the day I arrive and park the car. I know the room won't be ready but would be good not to have to move the car that evening. Any idea?
Click to expand...
I think so! I think I read somewhere you can park there the day you check in even if you're early. I'd still call and ask though!
 
petals said:
great updates. I love your youngest DS's Baymax t-shirt
Click to expand...


Thanks! I got both boys' shirts at target.

Sorry, everyone, I will finish the TR maybe tomorrow! We got an offer on our rental house and we were busy dealing with that :D
 
Finally, I am going to finish my Trip Report! When I left off, we were enjoying churros. DH told me that Screamin's was awesome, and after we got home I was kicking myself for not taking the opportunity to go on it while he stayed with the kids. I have no idea why I didn't- he probably even encouraged me to! But I think I wanted to make sure the kids got on some more rides before lunch at Blue Bayou.



This was taken on the Zephyr. Odin was nervous to ride by himself right in front of us but ended up thinking it was fun. The sun was bright but it was not really hot, not to this AZ girl. The previous two days had been beautifully overcast though. I don't exactly hate the sun but I am SO used to it that clouds are nice sometimes.



There's my boy, proud of his independence!

We went on the symphony swings, and considered Goofy's flight school but Jude wasn't tall enough so we skipped it. We got to RSR right around 11:45 and were on in 10 minutes. I love fastpasses! This time we had a red car, and we went through the tire side. We lost the race but who cares- what a fun ride!





So sometimes weird happened right after this ride...We got off and wanted to do Mater's ride again, but the park was suddenly PACKED. I guess that's saturday for you. Sadly, this became kind of frustrating for us, but I was so glad I booked Blue Bayou for our last day when the ride lines were long anyway. It just made sense to avoid the crowds and do a nice, cool lunch. The line for Mater's ride was about 40 minutes or something crazy. No way. So we hightailed it to Disneyland. This is where I made a mistake. I looked longingly at star tours, wanting a fastpass, but DH was on a mission to get us to the restaurant quickly. I didn't say anything because he was walking fast and I knew he would not want to stop and go the other way.

At Blue Bayou, people were being turned away. We had reservations for 12:30 I think, and we got there about 10-20 minutes early (so yes, we had time to get those FPs, grrr!). Then we had to wait about a half hour to be seated! While we waited, one of the kids had to go potty so DH took two of them. I waited with one kid and then they called our name. I decided DH would find us later. I am pretty sure Jude was with me. Then, without me even asking, the hostess led us to a waterside table!!! It was awesome! DH and the other two joined us soon after, and DH was very excited about our location. Blue Bayou had been his dream for years and now it was coming true.





I had suggested to Dh that we split the monte cristo, but he did not think we should do that. So we got our own meals and I got a chicken dish. We both had gumbo to start. The kids got different things- salmon, chicken, and not sure what else. The kids meals are a good deal here- they get a drink, pasta and veggies on the side, and raw veggies with ranch to start. We all also got bread. My meal was delicious. DH enjoyed his, but halfway through he realized we should have split it. They give you a lot of food! Oh and the kids had these fun things to draw on, and we did a contest to draw a stormtrooper which I am pretty sure I won.'



I don't have a picture of DH's.

We decided to go on Pirates one more time. a long line this time but worth it- so fun! More dark rides should be really long like this. Tomorrowland was next, and also last, sadly. The crowds were becoming unbearable (all of you who go to disneyland during peak season are laughing at me, I'm sure!) and we were getting annoyed. We just don't like to stand in line and that's why we chose this time of year. Everything had been great crowd-wise until now. Anyway, we checked out innoventions, which was ok.



Astroblasters had a shortish line, so we did that again. And then our last ride was the rocket ships, which was our last ride on our last trip, too. I think it will have to be a tradition!



Unfortunately a parade was starting, so exiting the park was difficult. Ugh...parades. We walked fast and only stopped so the kids could each buy a pin and a lollipop with the last of my gift cards.



We walked back to our car at the hotel and said goodbye to Disneyland! It was about 4pm and we needed to get back to Phoenix and pick up our baby. The kids had a blast and we can't wait to go back when baby Eli is big enough for most of the rides!

This was my first TR. What I have learned is to take way more pictures, so I can document more of the trip, but I am thrilled with what I have. I also have a shutterfly album I made which is so much fun to look back at! Thanks for reading!

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page


GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!


New DISboards Threads

figment do the bart123
Wand Holders?
Replies
0
Views
1
figment do the bart123
figment do the bart123
DizMe
These 2 tours were mentioned as new
Replies
2
Views
3
NorCalFanatic
NorCalFanatic
B
First trip
Replies
4
Views
6
DisneyMom93
DisneyMom93
SquashBanana
Rope dropping MK, late June, no. EE
Replies
1
Views
5
MickeyMice
M
B
Deleted
Replies
0
Views
8
buzzandzurg
B
L
Add one feature/change one thing from each resort to make it perfect
Replies
0
Views
16
lowlight
L
NEWS & UPDATES
REQUEST A QUOTE
DISCOUNTS



Latest posts







facebook twitter
Top