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

[m-tinkerbelle]

Originally Posted by ladylyons

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 :P) 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]

Originally Posted by m-tinkerbelle

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 :P) 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

[ladylyons]

Originally Posted by 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

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!!!)

[ladylyons]

Sorry for being MIA but I've had a few issues happening between my sick step father in law and my mother in law who is in complete denial that he is sick.

I'm also dealing with my biological father and thought I was going to have to make a quick trip up to Washington due to him taking a whole bottle of sleeping pills and we don't know how many vicodin. He some how managed to get released from the hospital the next day when all of us thought they would at least keep him a few more days just for observation. He is sick and was only given months to live but he's not calling me so I don't know everything. He was not in my life for 27 years so I'm still at odds with it all. I've never fully forgiven him for walking away from us and he's never really told me why so I just don't know what to do.

But on a happier note I've got the next update ready to go!! Enjoy!!

[ladylyons]

Sorry for the lack of pictures in the beginning of this post. But I do make up for it!!
After the parade we headed to Tomorrowland. We were near the end of the parade route so even though the parade started at 10 pm at the beginning of Main Street it takes it about 20 mins to reach the end of the parade route by It’s a Small World. So by now the time was about 10:40 pm or so and I had a big surprise for my DS. He absolutely loves anything and everything to do with Star Wars. He’s still learning but for some reason he also loves Darth Vader and Darth Maul, well earlier in the day we had looked at the schedule and saw we would be able to do a meet and greet with Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers from 11 pm – 5 am. So we got into the meet and greet line at about 10:50 pm or so and were maybe about 50 – 60 people back from the front of the line. My DS asked who we were going to be seeing and I told him it was a surprise.

Well if you know anything about 5 year olds they just keep asking and asking until you finally give them an answer. So at about 11:10 pm I had my mom show him who we were going to be seeing. He came running back to me with a big grin on his face saying “I’m going to get to meet Darth Vader!!!” Everyone around us just smiled. That is the magic of Disney when your son’s joy brings a smile to the faces of strangers. We were waiting patiently and I was very proud of my kids at this point because it was after 11 pm at night and they were being very well behaved. Yes they should have been in bed but no instead we were in line to meet Darth Vader!!



At about 11:25 pm a CM came through the line and said Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers would be leaving in about 5 minutes and the Storm Troopers would be back in a few minutes but Darth would not be returning until about 30 minutes after that. By this point we were about 15 – 20 people away from meeting him and I knew we were not going to get to make it in time. So I asked her if there was any way we could step to the side and let people go around us because my DS really wanted to meet Darth Vader. She turned to me and said very rudely “No you have to see the Strom Troopers, you have no choice” and she walked away (this was the ONLY rude CM we experienced on our whole trip). That’s when my jaw dropped and both my mom and the people around me were like what did she just say? So we just stayed in line to see what would happen. We talked about getting out of line and going back to the end and seeing if we’d get lucky but decided against that. So Darth does leave at 11:30 pm on the dot and the Storm Troopers come back about 5 minutes later (I only know the timing for sure because I was watching the clock like a hawk).

The line keeps moving. I’m praying for the line to slow way down because we don’t want to see just the Storm Troopers. We waited in the line and wanted Darth Vader!! At about 11:40 pm we’re about the 3rd family from the Storm Troopers and the line just stops. The people in front of us tell us to go ahead because they didn’t wait in that line to just see the Storm Troopers they also wanted Darth Vader. Well we told them we felt the exact same way and we refused to move, the people behind us refused to move. My first thought is oh no what’s going to happen now.

My DS started to get tears in his eyes because he was sad that he probably wasn’t going to be able to take a picture with Darth Vader. That’s when the protective Momma and Grandma came out in my mom and me. Nobody was going to make my baby cry at of all places DISNEYLAND!! Not when he still believes in the magic. Well over comes rude CM and tells the group of us that if we aren’t going to go see the Storm Troopers then we needed to leave so other people could. Well once everyone behind us realized that they also weren’t going to see Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers no one wanted to move. So she keeps telling us we need to either leave the line or go see the Storm Troopers. Well again none of us budge.

Finally she starts walking the line and tells people if they want to just see the Storm Troopers to go around us and a couple people did. Not many but a few did. By now it’s only about 11:45 pm (told you I was watching the clock, lol) and a very, very nice CM by the name of Brett comes over and talks to us. Each group had a spokesperson so to speak, my mom was ours. So her and a couple other people talk to Brett and tells him what’s going on and how in the times guide it states “Darth Vader AND Storm Troopers” from 11 am – 5 am (I think 5 am was the ending time I can’t seem to find the guide right now). Not “Darth Vader or Storm Troopers”. He explained how this was just thrown on them at the last minute and they were trying to handle it to the best of their ability and things were a lot busier than they expected. He asked us how we would like it handled some someone suggested how about 2 lines. 1 for Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers (our line) and start a new line just for the Storm Troopers and when Vader came back out take people from our line and when he left take people from the Strom Troopers line. He seemed to like that idea so he told us to wait where we were and he would be back.

While this was going on I happened to look across the way and saw Security keeping a very close eye on us while we were talking to Brett. I think they wanted to make sure nothing bad was going to happen and when they saw we were a calm bunch, they left. There was no cursing involved, no yelling, no screaming, we were all very polite through the whole entire thing. We all watched Brett like a hawk and kept seeing him talking into his radio so we figured he was trying to figure out the best way to handle this. About 5 minute later Brett comes back and tells us we are going to get to see Darth Vader and he apologized for the misunderstanding. (We did leave a very nice detailed comment card for Brett for all that he did.)

Once my DS heard that the joy returned to his face and he was ecstatic!! By now we were all watching our clocks and according to what we were originally told Darth Vader should be out in about 10 minutes and we all started getting restless because we couldn’t wait!! During all this time too my DS asked “Why is Darth Vader gone for so long?” My mom told him “It’s probably because he was hungry needed to eat something”. My DS’s response was “No it’s because he’s gotta poop!!!” The group around us that heard him started busting up laughing and he just grinned. 10 minutes later the Storm Troopers leave and 3 minutes later out comes DARTH VADER and the Storm Troopers!! We all started cheering and clapping!! We couldn’t believe that we were finally going to get to meet him!!

The group in front of us goes and then it’s our turn. I take out the camera and start videoing it. (Again I have to figure out how to upload video because this moment is priceless!!) My DS had his Star Wars cape on and his light saber out and the first thing Vader does is takes the light saber from my DS and closes it. Everyone starts cheering on my DS to activate his light saber but he was having difficulty so he hands it to me to do. It was sooo funny because when I did it I was pointing it toward one of the Storm Troopers and when the light saber came out he jumped back and pointed his gun at me. Everyone loved it!! Vader even got into the fun and gave me the stare down as I handed it back to my DS.

Here are some of the shots I got from this great experience. My other two were asleep so they aren’t in these pictures. Enjoy!!









Darth Vader giving my mom and DS the stare down!! Loved it!!!





This was such a fun interaction. I’d have to say it was one of our best character meets we’ve ever had!!

[ladylyons]

After this we realized we were a little hungry because we hadn’t had anything to eat since about 5:30 pm. So we headed over to Redd Rockett’s Pizza Port and boy were they busy and not just with people wanting food!! I couldn’t believe the amount of people we saw asleep and hanging out at wall outlets charging their phones!! I was not expecting the crowds that we saw. (Sorry forgot to take pictures!!) By this time my DD decided to wake up and was grumpy!! So we went to check out the offering for food after we found a table but no one could decide on anything so we just sat and rested our feet for a few minutes and I tried to get a Mommy and Daughter picture but as you can see she didn’t agree!!



Nope I’m not looking!!!



I’m going to play with my toy. Forget what my mommy wants me to do!!



Fine I’ll look but I’m not smiling!!



By this point we decided that we didn’t want anything from here so we’d try to go see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. They had chicken stips and fries so everyone should be happy! Yeah if I could have seen what was going to happen next I think I would have just left the park at this point in time!!! (Sorry again for the lack of pictures. We were tired and I just didn’t think to pull out the camera.)

So over to The Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland we go. We walk in and are just amazed at the crowds. We manage to get a table at the very front of the room to the far left of the stage (when you’re looking at the stage.) I ask my mom what she wants and go to head over to the counters to order our food on the far side of the room. Opposite side of the room where we were sitting. I start to walk away and my lovely DD completely flips out and runs after me. So I brave the food line with her. She just wanted to be held but unfortunately I had to put her down to carry the food and she was not happy with that but followed me so I wouldn’t leave her behind.

So as I’m walking up to the table I hear my baby DS screaming and crying like he is in pain. I just look at my mom like what’s going on and she goes he just started crying. Then I smell IT!!! I grab a diaper, wipes and the baby and tell my mom I’ll be right back. Tell my other 2 I’ll be right back and again my DD flips out and wants to come with me. Mind you I had just put food down on the table. I was hungry and tired I didn’t want to drag my 3 year old DD through the insane crowds that I knew were outside but she was not having it by staying behind so that’s exactly what I had to do.

We make it to the bathroom, pull my babies clothes off and just wanted to start crying due to the frustration!! I forgot to bring back up clothes into the parks with us and his clothes were not going to be salvageable just by rinsing them off because it was cold that night. I was not going to carry my baby from the bathroom back to the show in wet clothes. So as I’m cleaning him up a very nice janitorial CM who was cleaning the bathroom started talking to my DD but she was having nothing to do with it. So I was telling her how our day and now night was going. I made the comment about how I was going to have to go to a store and buy my baby a new outfit because he had just soiled his clothes and I didn’t have any back ups.

She told me to wait there and would be right back. I just kind of laughed to myself because I wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. It was that bad. As I stood there finishing up cleaning the baby another very nice janitorial CM came up to me and said she heard I had a baby who had soiled their clothes and I needed new ones. I told her yes and that I was just going to have to go buy him a new outfit. She asked me some questions like his name, my name, his age, what size clothes does he wear, what did he need, etc. I answered all of her questions not realizing that she was filling out a form. When she was done she handed me a slip of paper that gave me a free pair of pants and top for my son!! She also told me the closest place to go that would have clothes in his size was the shop on Main Street. Well at that exact moment I was not going to be carrying my naked baby from the restroom to a store dragging a 3 year old behind me so back to The Golden Horseshoe we went. I put his jacket back on and wrapped him in mine so he was pretty warm. I put him in the stroller in just his diaper, jacket, socks and shoes and he was happy as can be. It was pretty warm in the show.

About 10 minutes after I get back the show starts and we all sit and enjoy the show and I try to enjoy my cold food!! During the show we had a group of ladies sitting at a round table basically next to us keep looking over at my baby, then me and give me dirty looks. I was just waiting for them to say something. Luckily they didn’t.

About half way during the show my baby once again starts crying and this time it wasn’t due to a diaper issue. So I pick him up and try to calm him down. I loved it because the main Billy came to our side of the stage and started playing the lullaby song. But that didn’t even help. Then the main Billy went over to the microphone and made a joke about “How dare some people bring their kids to a place like…….Disneyland!!” The whole crowd started laughing and so did I it was pretty funny. The he goes “And into a Saloon of all places!!” Again the crowd went crazy. I was busting up and my baby decided to calm down. During that the ladies again looked over at us with a smug look on their faces like “yeah why are you here?” I just smiled and enjoyed the rest of the show. My mom even asked me if I wanted to leave and I told her No, I enjoy these guys and I’m not leaving. I also told her even if I wanted to I wouldn’t be able to get out since we had the stroller with us and the crowds were thick. The main Billy just gave me a grin and I smiled back and shrugged my shoulders so he knew it wasn’t a big deal that he made a joke due to me and my crying baby.

By now it was about 1:30 am and needed to get my little one some clothes. So off to Main Street we went. I found him some really cute overalls and a onsie that says “Future Prince Charming” with Mickey on it. They were very nice and very understanding when the redeemed the certificate for me. By this point all 3 of my kids were asleep in their strollers so my mom and I decided to say Good Night to Disneyland and left. It was about 2 am by this time. As we walked out the gates I just stopped and went “OH MY GOSH!!!” That’s when I saw these lines of people trying to get into Disneyland!!











These are pictures of the area between Disneyland and California Adventure.

That was the end of our first full day in Disneyland!!

Up next… Our own California Adventure starts when?

[Moira222]

Hi Sandra! I popped over this morning and am all read up. So nice to meet you all & your beautiful little ones. I am excited to read a DL trip report...yours is my first!

Originally Posted by ladylyons

All three of your little ones are so sweet but I am just partial to matching princesses!!

Originally Posted by 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.

sounds like you made good timing!

Does DL have resort hotels like WDW does? did you stay "on property" or is that not an option? just wondering. maybe someday we will get to CA but we are on the East Coast....

Originally Posted by ladylyons

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!!

WOW that's a line!! and you sweet kiddos look soooo sleepy. Good that they were all in strollers!

I have to say GOOD FOR YOU MOM to your mom for getting everyone ears. I have to say that I find it ridiculous that people line up for stuff like this hours and hours in advance. its rather unfair. I think that they should not allow people to line up any earlier than two hours before an event. period. and I think its only fair that if you were there at 6:15 a.m. you should get mouse ears. (now I will be flamed) I don't remember when we became a nation of camper outers for free stuff but it irritates me.

I just love all the high fours --- we made it to almost rope drop one time at MK in WDW and I LOVED LOVED LOVED all the cast members with their big Mickey hands waving everyone good morning. I get misty eyed thinking about it (I am such a sap).

Originally Posted by ladylyons

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!!

funny that they are in the same park for you and very cool for space lovin' folks like your DS. I like the Buzz Light Year ride at MK.

Originally Posted by ladylyons

Originally Posted by 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.

YAY for you for keeping with your home rules even at a park. Its so easy to give in when you are in public just for the sake of quiet, but kids need to learn that temper tantrums do nothing but get you in big trouble. so YAY mom!!!

Your DD is so cute! Is Rivers of America an island attraction like Tom Sawyer's island at MK?

Originally Posted by ladylyons

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

ooh your HM looks very different in the front, very New Orleans haunted. cool!

Wonder why DD freaked? Maybe w/o Daddy there to protect her??? Ya just can't tell with kiddos!

Originally Posted by ladylyons

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

its cool that you got to see them filming a show, though I would not have known anyone at all, we don't watch it either.

[Moira222]

Originally Posted by ladylyons

I woke up about 5:30 pm .... 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.





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!!





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.

YAY for getting up, freshened and to the park in 2 hours. I understand this challenge! LOL

I am so enjoying seeing all of the different rides! I can see that your DS is having a ball on IASM -- love that he kept singing the song!

There is something extra cool about being in Disney (land or world) in the dark. Dunno what it is. I can't wait to be at MK till 1 am in June.

YAY for front row parade seats, and for the kids being able to watch from their strollers!!

Originally Posted by ladylyons

Darth Vader giving my mom and DS the stare down!! Loved it!!!





This was such a fun interaction. I’d have to say it was one of our best character meets we’ve ever had!!

Guess its sayin' something when the whole line refuses to listen to the CM! Nice that they made adjustments so that people who were waiting for DV could wait. Sounds like it was well worth the wait!!!

Originally Posted by ladylyons

Nope I’m not looking!!!



I’m going to play with my toy. Forget what my mommy wants me to do!!



Fine I’ll look but I’m not smiling!!

how funny.... she was just tired but boy do they get stubborn! I have one of those!

Originally Posted by ladylyons

By this point we decided that we didn’t want anything from here so we’d try to go see Billy Hill and the Hillbillies. ...... I told her yes and that I was just going to have to go buy him a new outfit. She asked me some questions like his name, my name, his age, what size clothes does he wear, what did he need, etc. I answered all of her questions not realizing that she was filling out a form. When she was done she handed me a slip of paper that gave me a free pair of pants and top for my son!!

How nice of the CM to do that for you, and I can totally relate not wanting to traipse that far when you were starving and wanting to see the next show.

I am chuckling at the busybodies all judgmental about the state of of DS's clothings. How did you resist being a wise guy and saying "Well it was clothing or Disneyland so we chose Disneyland."

Sounds like the performer was understanding!

Originally Posted by ladylyons

WOW!

[ladylyons]

Originally Posted by Moira222

Hi Sandra! I popped over this morning and am all read up. So nice to meet you all & your beautiful little ones. I am excited to read a DL trip report...yours is my first!

Welcome!!! I hope you enjoy reading about our trip as much as enjoyed going. I didn’t take as many pictures this trip as I have in past trip so I may be stealing some from our other trips, like pictures of the Billy Hill show.

Originally Posted by Moira222

All three of your little ones are so sweet but I am just partial to matching princesses!!

Belle is her favorite Princess and she had just gotten that dress about 2 weeks before our trip from my sister for Christmas. When you’re waiting at The Princess Fantasy Faire to meet the princesses you don’t know who you’re going to see until you walk around the corner. The Page that was there letting us in 1 group at a time said to my DD I can just guess who your favorite princess is and she just grinned and told him I’m going to meet Belle in my Belle dress. He told her Well you’ll just have to wait and see. Sure enough when we walked around the corner her eyes lit up and she turned back to him and said I told you I was going to get to meet Belle. She then ran up to give her a hug. It was one of the sweetest moments ever!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

sounds like you made good timing!

We did make pretty good time. We left here at about 11:45 am after the kids got out of school and made it to our hotel about 8:30 am. That was with 1 gas stop, 1 dinner stop and 1 outlet stop. Oh and a missed turn somewhere so we took a little bit more of a scenic route!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

All three of your little ones are so sweet but I am just partial to matching princesses!!

Belle is her favorite Princess and she had just gotten that dress about 2 weeks before our trip from my sister for Christmas. When you’re waiting at The Princess Fantasy Faire to meet the princesses you don’t know who you’re going to see until you walk around the corner. The Page that was there letting us in 1 group at a time said to my DD I can just guess who your favorite princess is and she just grinned and told him I’m going to meet Belle in my Belle dress. He told her Well you’ll just have to wait and see. Sure enough when we walked around the corner her eyes lit up and she turned back to him and said I told you I was going to get to meet Belle. She then ran up to give her a hug. It was one of the sweetest moments ever!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

sounds like you made good timing!

We did make pretty good time. We left here at about 11:45 am after the kids got out of school and made it to our hotel about 8:30 am. That was with 1 gas stop, 1 dinner stop and 1 outlet stop. Oh and a missed turn somewhere so we took a little bit more of a scenic route!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

Does DL have resort hotels like WDW does? did you stay "on property" or is that not an option? just wondering. maybe

Yes DL does have resort hotels but they are just as far of a walk as the hotels across the street. We have the Grand Californian Hotel (comparable to Wilderness Lodge) which is the Deluxe. It also has its own entrance into California Adventure Park. It’s the closest of the three hotels maybe a 3 minute walk. Then there is the Disneyland Hotel which is our Moderate Hotel and the Paradise Pier which is our value, they are both about 10 minute walks. They don’t seem to have the best rates so we always stay on the other side of DL which is where you would have hotels like Howard Johnson, Best Western’s, Ramada Inn, etc. We always seem to get a lot better rates there than staying at the Disney hotels. Plus we’re able to stay longer if we don’t stay at the DL hotels.

Originally Posted by Moira222

someday we will get to CA but we are on the East Coast....

It is possible. I’m on the West Coast and have managed to get to WDW twice. Once when I was 15 with my grandparent’s when we did a cross country trip in a motorhome with my sister and cousin. We left the day after school got out and came back about 3 days before school started. We drove the southern states to Florida. Stayed in Florida for about 3 weeks and did everything there was to do, WDW, Universal, Gatorland, etc. Then up the East Coast to New York then back across the northern states back to California. It’s was the trip of a lifetime and I have memories of my grandparent’s that I’ll treasure forever.

The 2nd time I made it to WDW was May 2009 (the year of the rain!!) I managed to talk my DH into a 5 year anniversary trip with our kids who were DS 27 months and DD 8 months. We also dragged my parent’s with us. That was a really fun and interesting trip but I couldn’t believe the rain and everything I read after we got home said that was a fluke and it usually never rains that much in May!! I’m still working on getting a do over trip!! But since then we’ve added a 3rd child and would have to pay for seats for all of them to fly and right now that’s a little costly for us.

Originally Posted by Moira222

WOW that's a line!! and you sweet kiddos look soooo sleepy. Good that they were all in strollers!

Yep the strollers are a blessing!!! I almost didn’t bring a stroller for my 5 year old but then figured he doesn’t do a lot of walking here so he wouldn’t have the stamina to keep up with us walking all day and it was really easy to just fold it up and put it under the double stroller. Yeah there were a little tired!! They only had like 4 hours sleep since they were so excited to be going to DL the next day!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

I have to say GOOD FOR YOU MOM to your mom for getting everyone ears. I have to say that I find it ridiculous that people line up for stuff like this hours and hours in advance. its rather unfair. I think that they should not allow people to line up any earlier than two hours before an event. period. and I think its only fair that if you were there at 6:15 a.m. you should get mouse ears. (now I will be flamed) I don't remember when we became a nation of camper outers for free stuff but it irritates me.

I agree with you about the lining up hours upon hours in advance. It isn’t fair, especially to those with little kids. There was no way I was going to put my kids through that just for a free hat!! 2 hours is more than fair. I’ve been known to get to the gates of DL anywhere from 1 hour – 2 hours before park opening due to knowing what the crowds are going to be like and wanting to be able to get on everything with little to no waits!! Yeah the camping out stories of Black Friday is insane!! My DH’s cousin was actually first in line at Best Buy one year. Him and his 3 friends got in line at like noon the Saturday before. They’d rotate who would be there when but they all camped out for the first 12 hours so people would know they were all there and no one would accuse any of them of cutting.

Originally Posted by Moira222

I just love all the high fours --- we made it to almost rope drop one time at MK in WDW and I LOVED LOVED LOVED all the cast members with their big Mickey hands waving everyone good morning. I get misty eyed thinking about it (I am such a sap).

If you’re a sap so am I!! I actually had a few tears in my eyes while it was happening and just thinking about it now gets me all teary eyed again!!! We love rope drop!! We try to do it every day of every trip just because we can do so much in such a little bit of time!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

funny that they are in the same park for you and very cool for space lovin' folks like your DS. I like the Buzz Light Year ride at MK.

Well what’s even funnier is they are right across from each other!!! I’ll have to see if I can find a picture from a past trip so you can see what I mean!! We love Buzz!! We also love the fact that our guns are not attached to the cars so for me it’s easier to know where I’m aiming!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

They were pretty cool!! Especially since I had one for each of us in hand!!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

YAY for you for keeping with your home rules even at a park. Its so easy to give in when you are in public just for the sake of quiet, but kids need to learn
that temper tantrums do nothing but get you in big trouble. so YAY mom!!!

Yeah I wasn’t letting him get away with much and luckily we didn’t have to lay down the law much. If you think this moment was good just wait until you hear about our experience waiting for the Aladdin show!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

Your DD is so cute! Is Rivers of America an island attraction like Tom Sawyer's island at MK?

Thank you!! She knows it too that’s the scary part!! lol The Rivers of America surrounds our Tom Sawyer’s Island. We also have the Mark Twain and Sailing Ship Columbia that go around the island. They just weren’t running at the time of that picture.

Originally Posted by Moira222

ooh your HM looks very different in the front, very New Orleans haunted. cool!

That is one thing about Disney that I like. The same attraction can be completely different in each park. I’ll see if I can find our DL Paris pictures because their HM is very different from DL and WDW!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

Wonder why DD freaked? Maybe w/o Daddy there to protect her??? Ya just can't tell with kiddos!

I was thinking the same thing. Daddy normally holds her and since I was holding the baby and she didn’t want Grandma I think she just freaked out. She did calm down once we were on the ride because she kept asking where Jack, Sally and Zero were since our last trip had just been over Christmas and they decorate our HM as The Nightmare Before Christmas from Halloween through Christmas. So she did calm down and really enjoy the ride. She also remembered where in the ride we had gotten stopped in December due to the ghosts stopping our Doom Buggy!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

its cool that you got to see them filming a show, though I would not have known anyone at all, we don't watch it either.

Yep I had no clue who anyone was!! I don’t watch the show and I still don’t watch the show!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

YAY for getting up, freshened and to the park in 2 hours. I understand this challenge! LOL

Yeah it is a challenge but luckily I was able to get my mom motivated to help me and the kids were being very helpful by doing what I asked them to do.

Originally Posted by Moira222

I am so enjoying seeing all of the different rides! I can see that your DS is having a ball on IASM -- love that he kept singing the song!

They love IASW!! It’s the first ride my DD always asks to ride first!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

There is something extra cool about being in Disney (land or world) in the dark. Dunno what it is. I can't wait to be at MK till 1 am in June.

It seems to be a completely different park!! It just has a very different feeling to it to see everything lit up.

Originally Posted by Moira222

YAY for front row parade seats, and for the kids being able to watch from their strollers!!

I keep them in the strollers as much as possible!! It was also nice that they were able to have nice comfy seats while both waiting and watching the parade!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

Guess its sayin' something when the whole line refuses to listen to the CM! Nice that they made adjustments so that people who were waiting for DV could wait. Sounds like it was well worth the wait!!!

Yeah it was that mob mentality. I think that’s why security was there, to make sure nothing got out of hand!! To see the joy and the magic in my DS’s eyes made it worth the hassle and wait!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

how funny.... she was just tired but boy do they get stubborn! I have one of those!

She is pure drama!! The joke is she was drama from the day she was born. She was born 3 weeks early and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches long. My water never broke with her but once I started contractions they started coming every 5 – 7 mins. The hospital had us come in right away because I had what is considered a fast labor for my first DS (water broke at 2:30 am, contractions started every 5 – 7 mins at about 5:30 am he was born at 7:06 am. The hospital thought I was one of those first time mom’s who didn’t know anything so they told me to wait to come in and if I would have waited any longer he would have been born in my car!! We were only at the hospital for maybe 15 mins before he was born). I only was in labor total with her for maybe 2 -3 hours. They checked me, said I was dilated to 7 got me to a room, checked me again I was dilated to 10. Said they needed to break my water and once they did the baby was coming and to let them know when I was ready. So I did and sure enough from the time they broke my water to the time she was born was less than 5 mins and was only like 2 pushes. She was born at 7:06 pm, very healthy with no problems.
Now if only my 3rd child would have been that easy. With him my water broke at 8:30 pm Sept 9 but he decided he wanted a little help (they gave me very little Pitocin) and wasn’t born until Sept 10 at 6:56 am.

Originally Posted by Moira222

How nice of the CM to do that for you, and I can totally relate not wanting to traipse that far when you were starving and wanting to see the next show.

I was very, very surprised that she did that for us. It’s the magic of Disney!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

I am chuckling at the busybodies all judgmental about the state of of DS's clothings. How did you resist being a wise guy and saying "Well it was clothing or Disneyland so we chose Disneyland."

I was just like whatever let them say something then I will. At least I didn’t leave him there screaming and stinking up the place. lol I really wish I would have thought of that!! I’ll have to keep that in mind for the next time something like that happens!! Oh wait I don’t want there to be a next time!! What happened is what nightmares are made of!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

Sounds like the performer was understanding!

He was very, very understanding!! They do some improve during the show so of course they were going to single out the crying naked baby!! Lol He even waved to us at the end of the show too. I think that was his way of saying thanks for not taking things the wrong way and for having a great time.

WOW![/QUOTE]

That’s what I said!! lol


Yes DL does have resort hotels but they are just as far of a walk as the hotels across the street. We have the Grand Californian Hotel (comparable to Wilderness Lodge) which is the Deluxe. It also has its own entrance into California Adventure Park. It’s the closest of the three hotels maybe a 3 minute walk. Then there is the Disneyland Hotel which is our Moderate Hotel and the Paradise Pier which is our value, they are both about 10 minute walks. They don’t seem to have the best rates so we always stay on the other side of DL which is where you would have hotels like Howard Johnson, Best Western’s, Ramada Inn, etc. We always seem to get a lot better rates there than staying at the Disney hotels. Plus we’re able to stay longer if we don’t stay at the DL hotels.

Originally Posted by Moira222

someday we will get to CA but we are on the East Coast....

It is possible. I’m on the West Coast and have managed to get to WDW twice. Once when I was 15 with my grandparent’s when we did a cross country trip in a motorhome with my sister and cousin. We left the day after school got out and came back about 3 days before school started. We drove the southern states to Florida. Stayed in Florida for about 3 weeks and did everything there was to do, WDW, Universal, Gatorland, etc. Then up the East Coast to New York then back across the northern states back to California. It’s was the trip of a lifetime and I have memories of my grandparent’s that I’ll treasure forever.

The 2nd time I made it to WDW was May 2009 (the year of the rain!!) I managed to talk my DH into a 5 year anniversary trip with our kids who were DS 27 months and DD 8 months. We also dragged my parent’s with us. That was a really fun and interesting trip but I couldn’t believe the rain and everything I read after we got home said that was a fluke and it usually never rains that much in May!! I’m still working on getting a do over trip!! But since then we’ve added a 3rd child and would have to pay for seats for all of them to fly and right now that’s a little costly for us.

So never say never.

Originally Posted by Moira222

WOW that's a line!! and you sweet kiddos look soooo sleepy. Good that they were all in strollers!

Yep the strollers are a blessing!!! I almost didn’t bring a stroller for my 5 year old but then figured he doesn’t do a lot of walking here so he wouldn’t have the stamina to keep up with us walking all day and it was really easy to just fold it up and put it under the double stroller. Yeah there were a little tired!! They only had like 4 hours sleep since they were so excited to be going to DL the next day!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

I have to say GOOD FOR YOU MOM to your mom for getting everyone ears. I have to say that I find it ridiculous that people line up for stuff like this hours and hours in advance. its rather unfair. I think that they should not allow people to line up any earlier than two hours before an event. period. and I think its only fair that if you were there at 6:15 a.m. you should get mouse ears. (now I will be flamed) I don't remember when we became a nation of camper outers for free stuff but it irritates me.

I agree with you about the lining up hours upon hours in advance. It isn’t fair, especially to those with little kids. There was no way I was going to put my kids through that just for a free hat!! 2 hours is more than fair. I’ve been known to get to the gates of DL anywhere from 1 hour – 2 hours before park opening due to knowing what the crowds are going to be like and wanting to be able to get on everything with little to no waits!! Yeah the camping out stories of Black Friday is insane!! My DH’s cousin was actually first in line at Best Buy one year. Him and his 3 friends got in line at like noon the Saturday before. They’d rotate who would be there when but they all camped out for the first 12 hours so people would know they were all there and no one would accuse any of them of cutting.

Originally Posted by Moira222

I just love all the high fours --- we made it to almost rope drop one time at MK in WDW and I LOVED LOVED LOVED all the cast members with their big Mickey hands waving everyone good morning. I get misty eyed thinking about it (I am such a sap).

If you’re a sap so am I!! I actually had a few tears in my eyes while it was happening and just thinking about it now gets me all teary eyed again!!! We love rope drop!! We try to do it every day of every trip just because we can do so much in such a little bit of time!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

funny that they are in the same park for you and very cool for space lovin' folks like your DS. I like the Buzz Light Year ride at MK.

Well what’s even funnier is they are right across from each other!!! I’ll have to see if I can find a picture from a past trip so you can see what I mean!! We love Buzz!! We also love the fact that our guns are not attached to the cars so for me it’s easier to know where I’m aiming!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

They were pretty cool!! Especially since I had one for each of us in hand!!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

YAY for you for keeping with your home rules even at a park. Its so easy to give in when you are in public just for the sake of quiet, but kids need to learn that temper tantrums do nothing but get you in big trouble. so YAY mom!!!

Yeah I wasn’t letting him get away with much and luckily we didn’t have to lay down the law much. If you think this moment was good just wait until you hear about our experience waiting for the Aladdin show!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

Your DD is so cute! Is Rivers of America an island attraction like Tom Sawyer's island at MK?

Thank you!! She knows it too that’s the scary part!! lol The Rivers of America surrounds our Tom Sawyer’s Island. We also have the Mark Twain and Sailing Ship Columbia that go around the island. They just weren’t running at the time of that picture.

Originally Posted by Moira222

ooh your HM looks very different in the front, very New Orleans haunted. cool!

That is one thing about Disney that I like. The same attraction can be completely different in each park. I’ll see if I can find our DL Paris pictures because their HM is very different from DL and WDW!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

Wonder why DD freaked? Maybe w/o Daddy there to protect her??? Ya just can't tell with kiddos!

I was thinking the same thing. Daddy normally holds her and since I was holding the baby and she didn’t want Grandma I think she just freaked out. She did calm down once we were on the ride because she kept asking where Jack, Sally and Zero were since our last trip had just been over Christmas and they decorate our HM as The Nightmare Before Christmas from Halloween through Christmas. So she did calm down and really enjoy the ride. She also remembered where in the ride we had gotten stopped in December due to the ghosts stopping our Doom Buggy!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

its cool that you got to see them filming a show, though I would not have known anyone at all, we don't watch it either.

Yep I had no clue who anyone was!! I don’t watch the show and I still don’t watch the show!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

YAY for getting up, freshened and to the park in
2 hours. I understand this challenge! LOL

Yeah it is a challenge but luckily I was able to get my mom motivated to help me and the kids were being very helpful by doing what I asked them to do.

Originally Posted by Moira222

I am so enjoying seeing all of the different rides! I can see that your DS is having a ball on IASM -- love that he kept singing the song!

They love IASW!! It’s the first ride my DD always asks to ride first!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

There is something extra cool about being in Disney (land or world) in the dark. Dunno what it is. I can't wait to be at MK till 1 am in June.

It seems to be a completely different park!! It just has a very different feeling to it to see everything lit up.

Originally Posted by Moira222

YAY for front row parade seats, and for the kids being able to watch from their strollers!!

I keep them in the strollers as much as possible!! It was also nice that they were able to have nice comfy seats while both waiting and watching the parade!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

Guess its sayin' something when the whole line refuses to listen to the CM! Nice that they made adjustments so that people who were waiting for DV could wait. Sounds like it was well worth the wait!!!

Yeah it was that mob mentality. I think that’s why security was there, to make sure nothing got out of hand!! To see the joy and the magic in my DS’s eyes made it worth the hassle and wait!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

how funny.... she was just tired but boy do they get stubborn! I have one of those!

She is pure drama!! The joke is she was drama from the day she was born. She was born 3 weeks early and weighed 6 lbs 13 oz, 21 inches long. My water never broke with her but once I started contractions they started coming every 5 – 7 mins. The hospital had us come in right away because I had what is considered a fast labor for my first DS (water broke at 2:30 am, contractions started every 5 – 7 mins at about 5:30 am he was born at 7:06 am. The hospital thought I was one of those first time mom’s who didn’t know anything so they told me to wait to come in and if I would have waited any longer he would have been born in my car!! We were only at the hospital for maybe 15 mins before he was born). I only was in labor total with her for maybe 2 -3 hours. They checked me, said I was dilated to 7 got me to a room, checked me again I was dilated to 10. Said they needed to break my water and once they did the baby was coming and to let them know when I was ready. So I did and sure enough from the time they broke my water to the time she was born was less than 5 mins and was only like 2 pushes. She was born at 7:06 pm, very healthy with no problems.

Now if only my 3rd child would have been that easy. With him my water broke at 8:30 pm Sept 9 but he decided he wanted a little help (they gave me very little Pitocin) and wasn’t born until Sept 10 at 6:56 am.

Sorry it that was too much TMI!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

How nice of the CM to do that for you, and I can totally relate not wanting to traipse that far when you were starving and wanting to see the next show.

I was very, very surprised that she did that for us. It’s the magic of Disney!!

Originally Posted by Moira222

I am chuckling at the busybodies all judgmental about the state of of DS's clothings. How did you resist being a wise guy and saying "Well it was clothing or Disneyland so we chose Disneyland."

I was just like whatever let them say something then I will. At least I didn’t leave him there screaming and stinking up the place. lol I really wish I would have thought of that!! I’ll have to keep that in mind for the next time something like that happens!! Oh wait I don’t want there to be a next time!! What happened is what nightmares are made of!! lol

Originally Posted by Moira222

Sounds like the performer was understanding!

He was very, very understanding!! Now if only the crowd would have been. They do some improve during the show so of course they were going to single out the crying naked baby!! Lol He even waved to us at the end of the show too. I think that was his way of saying thanks for not taking things the wrong way and for having a great time.

Originally Posted by Moira222

WOW!

That’s what I said!! lol

[Moira222]

Our first trip to WDW was in Jan 2007 and DD was 3.5. her godmother (my bff) had given her a princesses dress up trunk from Lillian Vernon catalog and those were the dress up costumes she wore to the park. I think she didn't wear normal clothes till the end of the week when it got chilly. Anyway, we had an 8 am breafast at Norway with the Princesses, and my little princess was picked to be princess of the day and went in first. Oh my how awesome that she was dressed as Belle to meet Belle.

(sorry its huge, I just grabbed it from my snapfish album) but I completely know that joy in your child's face when they meet a special princess!

[ladylyons]

Originally Posted by Moira222

Our first trip to WDW was in Jan 2007 and DD was 3.5. her godmother (my bff) had given her a princesses dress up trunk from Lillian Vernon catalog and those were the dress up costumes she wore to the park. I think she didn't wear normal clothes till the end of the week when it got chilly. Anyway, we had an 8 am breafast at Norway with the Princesses, and my little princess was picked to be princess of the day and went in first. Oh my how awesome that she was dressed as Belle to meet Belle.

(sorry its huge, I just grabbed it from my snapfish album) but I completely know that joy in your child's face when they meet a special princess!

That is adorable and just so precious!!! It doesn't matter where the dress came from as long as she felt like the Princess she is!! My DD loves to wear her Princess dresses and tell us who she is. Some days she is Princess Sarah, other days she's Cinderella, Belle, Ariel or whoever she makes up. I love having a little girl to play dress up with!!

Next update coming right up!

[ladylyons]

After spending all day and almost all night in Disneyland we decided that today would be our California Adventure day. The plan was to sleep until either we woke up or the kids woke us up. I set us an alarm for about 10 am because I didn’t want to sleep the day away but knew we needed to get some sleep if we were going to last all day in California Adventure. They were only open until 8 pm this night but I didn’t plan on us taking a mid-day break like we normally do. So we actually woke up about 9:30 am and were out of the hotel by about 11 am. We stopped at Denny’s on our way in so we wouldn’t have to stop while we were in the park. We made it to California Adventure by about 12:30 pm and walked straight in with no wait. I can’t wait until they bring down all the walls because I feel like we are doing a lot of back tracking just to get into the park!!

First up was to get fast passes for Soarin’ Over California. After that we happened to see Minnie dressed in her flight gear so my DD had to get in line to say HI!!

Kids waiting!! Love seeing how happy they are!!







We were right across from Soarin’ Over California. I can’t believe there was no line!!!



Our turn!! Can you see whose missing from these pictures?







My lovely DD who just had to see Minnie refused to get into the pictures!!! Of course after we left she decided that she wanted to see her but by then there was a line and we weren’t going to wait again. She was fine with it all though. No crying thank goodness!!

Up next we decided it was time to go check into one my son’s favorite hotels. The Tower of Terror!! He told Grandma that he was going to ride with her first and then with me and then with her again! Lol Little did Grandma know but he only likes to ride this ride once a trip!!! Lol I must not of had the camera out because I have no pictures after Minnie until I caught this one.

That is my DS and mom in the front row on the left of the picture. Yes he has his hands up and had them up the ENTIRE ride!! He is my little dare devil!! His first time on this ride he was 4 and has loved it ever since!!



While they were in line I took my DD and baby DS over to ride Monster’s Inc. It’s a favorite of my DD’s especially at the end when Roz talks to you. She asked my DD if the baby next to her was a little monster, my DD just giggled and said YES!!! Lol Now Roz doesn’t move but she still does look pretty life like!! Really need to take a picture of her the next time we go!!

Then we headed back over to Tower of Terror to call my DH and see how he was doing, to tell him how our trip was going and of course wish him a Happy Birthday. Poor thing was left home alone on his birthday of all days!!
After Tower of Terror we decided to start making our way over toward Toy Story Midway Mania. We were on a mission to see once of my DS favorite characters from Toy Story that we had not been able to meet yet. On the way we decided to stop and see these guys!! Another family favorite.



Let’s see if we can get one of just the kids.



Grandma and the grandkids.







I guess James did not want to be in the pictures!! Lol As I was taking these pictures I was watching him out of the corner of my eye because he is fast!!

[ladylyons]

Now let’s finish that walk and go see some of our favorite Toy Story pals.

Up first……

Jessie





She was leaving but was kind enough to take pictures with people in line.

Next up….

Woody











Then the one we’ve been trying to see for the last couple trips…..

BUZZ







Now there’s a familiar site!! Me holding 2 kids when we’re trying to see the characters and one of them is crying!!! lol





My DS was soooo happy to get to finally meet Buzz but was also sad since Buzz was under strict orders from Star Command to not sign any autographs this day. So I told him we’d try to see Buzz again another time and hopefully he’d be able to sign his book then.

Now that we’ve gotten to see the Toy Story gang let’s go ride their ride!! We only had about a 30 minute wait. I love going during the off season!! Very little waits!!

We love watching this guy!! If given the opportunity I’d sit there all day and just listen to him and watch him. We’ve gotten to see him pull his ear out once and of course he dropped it when he tried to put it back in!! OOPS!!







I didn’t keep track of our scores but I do remember I was around the 170,000 range, my mom was about 100,000, DS was about 3,000 and DD was about 500. She’s still learning!!

We decided to just walk around and do a little shopping at this point in time. My mom got herself a sweater, my DS a 2012 sweater, and my DD a Minnie Mouse sweater. I’ll have to take pictures of them after they get out of the wash. They love them and wear them all the time!!

My son is getting anxious to ride a ride he hasn’t been able to ride yet due to his height. He really wants to ride Goofy’s Sky School but misses the mark by about an inch. We keep measuring him so one day (hopefully soon) he’ll reach the height. But again we saw someone we haven’t seen in his flight clothes…..GOOFY!! He’s become a favorite of my DS for some reason that I can’t explain.









The baby was asleep in the stroller so he didn’t get to meet Goofy again until later.

My DS had to keep getting into the pictures with Grandma. She didn’t mind though!!



I really was bad about taking pictures this trip. I think I was more into just taking our time and having a good time that I’d forget to pull the camera out. After meeting Goofy we went and rode the Little Mermaid TWICE!!! My DD is a princess fan so to have an Ariel ride is heaven for her so we rode it back to back for her.

After the Little Mermaid we realized that if we wanted to see the Aladdin show we better book it back across the park and get in line. By now I think it was around 5:30 pm and the show we wanted to see was at 6:20 pm. Even during non peak season you want to line up early. I’ve never had a bad seat but I like to be on the ground floor so I don’t have to climb stairs with 3 little kids. This is where I had another very funny parenting moment happen. We were in line and only had about 20 more mins before they would open the doors and let us in when my lovely DS started saying he didn’t want to see Aladdin. I told him well Grandma, your sister and I do. We enjoy the show so he was just going to have to deal with it. He kept on and on saying things like “I don’t care that you want to watch the show, I don’t!” So I started responding back to him by saying “Well I don’t care that you don’t want to watch the show and I don’t care that you like to ride BTMRR and I don’t care that you like to ride Space Mountain.” We do things for you that not everyone wants to do so you can do things for others even if you don’t want to do them. He just huffed and flopped down on to his bottom on the ground and just sat there. After I was done saying that a woman behind me in line goes “You go Mom!!” Then she said “You don’t see enough parent’s putting their foot down to their kids when in the parks.” I agreed with her on that one. I can’t count how many times I’ve seen kids out of control and the parent’s just letting them go. We had a very nice conversation with her until it was time for us to enter the theatre.

Once in we were on the right hand side of the stage on the aisle the 2nd row from the back. Still very good seats and my children were able to see everything. They ask you to not take pictures during the show so of course my camera stayed put away. One of these days though I’m going to be that rule breaker because this is just an amazing show and I’d love to have pictures to remember it if they ever got rid of it. Oh and even though my DS didn’t want to see the show – HE LOVED IT!! Like always and was singing along and just enjoying it. My baby DS even loved it. The lights and the music is always a hit with my little ones.

After that I was about 7:30 – 7:45 pm so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel and get some sleep since we had an early morning the next day as there were some things we were wanting to go back to California Adventure to do that we missed (like Soarin’, we forgot to use our fastpasses from earlier!! Yes we can still use them after the time but by this time we were all tired and just ready to go back to the room.) On the way out the kids and my mom did some pin trading and again we just took our time and enjoyed ourselves.

Here are some pictures I took that night. We got Denny’s again just because it was convenient and my mom got a discount with her AARP card.







Up next….What are we doing today?

Sorry for lack of picture I was just enjoying the moment's with my family and would forget about the camera. But when I did have the camera out we did take a lot of pictures!!