5, 4, 3, 2, FUN! 02/28 - 03/04 Disneyland Trip Report *Completed 4/18*

[TheMaxRebo]

I saw the Skipper Skool come up in another TR and I felt like I might enjoy that more than the actual ride and your reporting of it confirms that - I just love the puns and this is like just the puns and you get to participate - super cool, er, kool!

That HM photo op is really great!

I am so glad you enjoyed the veggie skewer at Bengal Bar-b-q ... I know that was one item I had suggested and I was very worried it would disappoint!

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Sorry you are having a rough week.

Loved the Skipper Skool. Sounds like a ton of fun. We aren't big fans of the ride. We only go on for the puns, so this would be an improvement to me.

I am trying to picture where Bengal BBQ is located. We have never tried it. Also good to know about the bread bowls. My daughter always wants to try one (but when it is 90 degrees out, not so much) but she has jaw issues and I don't think she would like it if she couldn't eat the bowl.

Nice that you got to see the elusive bounty hunter. I am not sure how elusive he is, but he seems to be hit and miss on the trip reports.

Hope you have a good weekend and the talk with your brother helps both of you towards some peace.

 

[mindylee847]

I saw the Skipper Skool come up in another TR and I felt like I might enjoy that more than the actual ride and your reporting of it confirms that - I just love the puns and this is like just the puns and you get to participate - super cool, er, kool!

That HM photo op is really great!

I am so glad you enjoyed the veggie skewer at Bengal Bar-b-q ... I know that was one item I had suggested and I was very worried it would disappoint!

I still keep telling people how cool this Skool was! It was definitely a huge highlight of the trip. These CMs were so engaging and it was hilarious. And YES! Thank you for recommending this! I remember that you said you had tried it, and I could see how they could mess it up. I've had some poorly skewed and grilled veggies before but these were absolutely perfect!

Sorry you are having a rough week.

Loved the Skipper Skool. Sounds like a ton of fun. We aren't big fans of the ride. We only go on for the puns, so this would be an improvement to me.

I am trying to picture where Bengal BBQ is located. We have never tried it. Also good to know about the bread bowls. My daughter always wants to try one (but when it is 90 degrees out, not so much) but she has jaw issues and I don't think she would like it if she couldn't eat the bowl.

Nice that you got to see the elusive bounty hunter. I am not sure how elusive he is, but he seems to be hit and miss on the trip reports.

Hope you have a good weekend and the talk with your brother helps both of you towards some peace.

Thanks, Shannon. I'm working on it and struggling with if I want to make another post or not this weekend. I'll probably wait til after the holiday. I'm pretty worn out, and I do need to make my FastPass selections tonight for WDW. The talk with my brother actually did help quite a bit. I expressed to him where I was at and the made him more comfortable to tell me a few things I knew he was holding in. It was definitely good... hopefully tomorrow with him and my mom we can make some more progress or just have fun celebrating Easter. I'm going to go in, hopefully, happy. I'm just nervous as it is the 5 month mark.

On to happier things though - Skipper Skool was perfect. I'm a little bit over the ride... I love it... but this definitely brought me back to why exactly I love this ride.

Bengal BBQ is right across from the entrance to Indiana Jones. We actually sat on the rocks right near the entrance eating! Near the shop with the Indiana Jones things. You should definitely try it! Good prices and delicious food. And yes, definitely pass on the bread bowl if she has jaw issues. I had a few bites but I really couldn't have much of it.

 

[cheshiregoofy22]

Hope your weekend and Holiday were as good as could be! You're in this family's thoughts for sure.

 

[missangelalexis]

I'm sorry things have been tough for you. Sending hugs your way

 

[mindylee847]

Hey everyone. Sorry I didn't get to an update this weekend. I've been really overwhelmed with the holiday. It landed at the five month mark and I've been having a lot of anxiety and panic attacks... not really sleeping. I hope you all had a great holiday/Easter/weekend - whatever it is you celebrate! And thank you all for being so supportive. I feel like it kind of brings my report down sometimes, but it's what I've been going through.

Day 4 - Part 3: Roaming Pixie Dust

I last left you off with our great snack from Bengal BBQ. I can't wait til it's nice enough outside for us to bring out the grill! C'mon, Wisconsin weather!

We headed towards Pirates, I believe we rode it again. We were walking by Haunted Mansion and it was listed as only a ten minute wait. Mike looked at me and asked if I wanted to give it a go since the wait wasn't too long to see the hat box ghost again. I of course declined but told him to get on it. I didn't want to stop him from getting another chance to check him out!

I sat myself down on some stones across from a popcorn stand - and almost bought some in the adorable purple balloon container.

I kept telling myself it was just the smell that was really good and not the actual popcorn.

I was pretty comfy there for a good five minutes in the sun until other people decided to start sitting with me and then a couple decided to basically take over my spot by putting their kid almost on my lap... even though they had plenty of space on the other side. So I got up and decided to check out the train station since it really was the perfect opportunity to do that.

I love pickles!

Mike was done on Haunted Mansion and came to join me at the station. There was a Photopass photographer standing near the front of the train so I asked if she could take our picture.

Apparently, she was a "roamer" photographer. This meant that she was supposed to stay in a certain area, but could take pictures all over the place!! I was trying to find a souvenir that would remind me of my dad and I was thinking about getting the train book, but what happened with the photographer was perfect! She took us all over the station taking great and fun pictures of us.

They had engineers over here too. We learned a bit about the different signals that trains give when they are on the tracks. It was really just a great experience. Afterwards, we walked with the Photopass photographer as the station was closed and we were headed in the same direction. I told her how amazing this experience was because I was looking for something to do to honor my dad while we were at the parks and she made that happen. I found out that she also recently lost her step dad so she was so happy that she was able to make my day... or even make such a big part of my trip. I'm going to cherish this experience forever.

After that, it was time for some grub so we went to Rancho del Zocalo. I got a veggie burrito and Mike got some enchiladas. We split a water and a Coke Life (my favorite kind of Coke!).

This was good and definitely very filling.

I put on my Yoda hat for the night since my ears tend to get too cold. Mike's mom had gotten it for him at Christmas, but I stole it.

After that, we walked up towards the castle. I was telling Mike how we should find someone to take our pictures near the castle since we really hadn't gotten any yet.

As if my dad heard my wish, POOF! There was ANOTHER roaming Photopass photographer who apparently had a wish that someone would come by to take photos! With the area being closed off for the parade, there was no one around so we got some really great shots!

Perhaps I should have taken off the Yoda hat for our photo shoot...

Ah well, shows my personality!

Coming up, I'll tell you what we did with the rest of the night in Disneyland and about a specific tropical experience available at the Disneyland Hotel!

​

 

[missangelalexis]

WOW! What awesome photoshoots at both the train station and near the wishing well/castle! The pictures came out so nice!

 

[buttercup3]

I'm loving all the pictures of the little details! I'm not a Disney vet- I've only been 6 times in my life, and only one of those times for more than one day so I am loving seeing these things that I usually miss in the blur of running to get rides in!! I'll have to stop to take in the atmosphere on this next trip!

 

[disneyguy4life]

Take the hat off, you must not...powerful the force you are with it. Those pics are fantastic. What a lucky evening at the happiest place on earth. You are having a lot of magical moments on this trip. LUCKY!! I love a happy thoughts. I hope when you look at those pics and that yoda hat you are filled with happiness. I can't wait to hear more. Keep the good times rolling.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

Loved the photo shoots. You both are so dang cute! I am sure there will be lots of opportunity of having pictures without a yoda hat. The pictures are great with the yoda hat!

I have had the same thing happen with the sitting. Families must think that a single person doesn't need to sit as much as they do. We are a family most times and we would never crowd someone out of their spot.

Our Easter was ok. We went to my parents and Easter dinner (lunch) was supposed to be lasagna (Stouffers). Well, my dad forgot to put it in before leaving for church. So, after church we discovered a still frozen lasagna. It finally got put in. Sometime, soon after, my mom decided to heat up a cup of tea in microwave. She couldn't figure out how to stop the timer on the microwave so tried to set the oven timer for the lasagna so she could use the microwave. Couldn't figure that out, so ended up cancelling the timer on the microwave and heating her cup of tea and resetting the timer on microwave. Close to 2 hours later, she checked on the lasagna. The oven was cold. She had turned off the oven in her attempt to heat a cup of tea. No dinner. We went to the Chinese restaurant. Ha ha. What a day!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I love how you explored the train station - just so much detail! How amazing that the photopass opportunity presenting itself and what a great way to honor your dad! I especially love the one with the two of you on the train tracks. Sometimes thing just work out in a way you could never imagine - and I think that, especially when you found out she had just lost her step-dad, etc. - seems to be one of them

I like your castle photo shoot as well - and like you say, the Yoda hat shows off your personality!

 

[mindylee847]

WOW! What awesome photoshoots at both the train station and near the wishing well/castle! The pictures came out so nice!

Thank you!

I'm loving all the pictures of the little details! I'm not a Disney vet- I've only been 6 times in my life, and only one of those times for more than one day so I am loving seeing these things that I usually miss in the blur of running to get rides in!! I'll have to stop to take in the atmosphere on this next trip!

I really didn't want to rush my trip and take some time to be able to walk and just go with the flow which is why we booked such a "long" Disneyland only trip. I know people say you can get it all done in 2/2.5 days, but there's so much more to Disney than just the rides! I hope you get the time to explore on your next trip. So glad you're enjoying my pics.

Take the hat off, you must not...powerful the force you are with it. Those pics are fantastic. What a lucky evening at the happiest place on earth. You are having a lot of magical moments on this trip. LUCKY!! I love a happy thoughts. I hope when you look at those pics and that yoda hat you are filled with happiness. I can't wait to hear more. Keep the good times rolling.

I do really love that I forgot to take off the hat. I can just hearing my mom's voice in my head though telling me that it would have been better without!! It's like my senior pictures all over again where I forgot that I painted my nails pink and blue, every other nail. My mom didn't notice til after it was done and definitely made some comments about it.

Loved the photo shoots. You both are so dang cute! I am sure there will be lots of opportunity of having pictures without a yoda hat. The pictures are great with the yoda hat!

I have had the same thing happen with the sitting. Families must think that a single person doesn't need to sit as much as they do. We are a family most times and we would never crowd someone out of their spot.

Our Easter was ok. We went to my parents and Easter dinner (lunch) was supposed to be lasagna (Stouffers). Well, my dad forgot to put it in before leaving for church. So, after church we discovered a still frozen lasagna. It finally got put in. Sometime, soon after, my mom decided to heat up a cup of tea in microwave. She couldn't figure out how to stop the timer on the microwave so tried to set the oven timer for the lasagna so she could use the microwave. Couldn't figure that out, so ended up cancelling the timer on the microwave and heating her cup of tea and resetting the timer on microwave. Close to 2 hours later, she checked on the lasagna. The oven was cold. She had turned off the oven in her attempt to heat a cup of tea. No dinner. We went to the Chinese restaurant. Ha ha. What a day!

Thank you!

So glad you notice other people around you, haha! I really though it was pretty obvious that I was a person and not a stone, but ya know... no big deal! It led me to the train station.

Ohmygoodness, your Easter story has me trying to not laugh too loud here at work! I'm sure it'll be something to talk about for years to come - so funny!

I love how you explored the train station - just so much detail! How amazing that the photopass opportunity presenting itself and what a great way to honor your dad! I especially love the one with the two of you on the train tracks. Sometimes thing just work out in a way you could never imagine - and I think that, especially when you found out she had just lost her step-dad, etc. - seems to be one of them

I like your castle photo shoot as well - and like you say, the Yoda hat shows off your personality!

Thank you!! I really feel like my dad was there helping this be the best vacation ever - so many wonderful coincidences!

 

[mindylee847]

Day 4 - Part 4: Is it too loud or am I just too old?

After that photo shoot, we decided to walk through Pixie Hollow. No fairies were out at this point.. We had seen through the grass that Silvermist was out earlier, but the queue is out in the sun and it looked like a good 30 minute wait earlier. We still wanted to check out the area though and were able to sneak some peeks where the fairies live! Tink is one of Mike's favorite characters. (Silvermist and Periwinkle are where it's at though in my opinion.)

This area was actually pretty crowded with adorable little girls having their own photoshoots so we didn't interrupt them. We made our way to a ride I was really looking forward to!

it's a small world!

This was practically a walk on! A lot of people were busy lining up for the parade.

For some reason, a lot of these photos came out blurry - so I won't post all of them. It's probably because I was so excited to spot as many Disney characters as I could!

Then we ended up getting pretty backed up at this point.

After we got off our happy cruise, we headed over to Tomorrowland for a fastpass we had picked up earlier!

Another great ride through space!! Then we went over to Astro Blasters - I can't remember if this was our first time riding it this trip, but I believe it had to be.

They had some Star Wars images up while we waited in the 15 minute queue.

LOVE Astro Blasters! I love Space Ranger Spin in WDW, but I love Astro Blasters SOOOO much more! The WDW ride has the guns attached to the front and you can't pick them up and shoot them wherever. It's a challenge, for sure. #obsessed

After that, we headed out of the park back to the Disneyland Hotel for our next destination! On the way out of Disneyland, we wanted to hit the shops but we were told to stay in the streets rather than being able to go into the shops? It was kind of frustrating actually... we eventually got through, checked out the shops again, exited and went through Downtown Disney, up to our room to drop off our bags and then....

TRADER SAM'S!!

This place was packed inside and out. There was a convention going on... definitely people around my age or younger were filling up this lounge. Luckily, we snagged the high top right inside the building. I really wanted to get a spot in there to see all the effects.

I noticed a family in there... they must have snuck in right before the 8:00 kick out time as we had gotten there just around 8. The kids were clearly uncomfortable and everything was really loud. I felt kind of bad for them... but I don't think they were expecting the crazy crowds either.

This was another place where our server wasn't actually our server because they were off on break or something... we did manage to actually get our drinks in a timely fashion though, here.

We decided that our goal was to get all the single souvenir glass drinks this night and then go back for the bowl the next night.

We ordered the Shipwreck on the Rocks and the Shrunken Zombie Head to start. These were both enjoyable. I won't spoil the effects for you, but I definitely loved what they did for the shipwreck!

Next we tried to order the Hippopotomai-tai but they didn't have any glasses left, so we only got the Krakatoa Punch.

This was INSANELY sweet. I feel like if I was 21 again I could have enjoyed this as that was when I was into really fruity, sugary drinks... but I just couldn't really handle it this time. I'm sure it's good for those that like that kind of drink, but for me...

While we were drinking this, the server brought us all the souvenir glasses nicely boxed up and NEW! That was really fantastic. I was worried about how we would be taking all of these home.

When we were just about done with this drink, one of the "kids" there for the conference came in and yelled "SHOTS!!!" and that's when Mike and I decided we didn't want to come back for a second night since the conference was through Friday.

I know I'm only 28, but I'm way over that period of my life and I didn't want to struggle finding another table the next night... and with all the packing we were going to have to figure out, it just made sense to order the bowl now! So we got some waters and put in an order.

The Uh-Oa was REALLY cool because they came out and started it on FIRE!! Then they sang and you got to throw some spices in the fire to make it crackle. It was really awesome.

Mike was feelin' it.

After we closed out one of the biggest tabs I've had in a long time at a bar (probably the biggest I've ever had in a bar actually), we made our way up to our room. Luckily Trader Sam's is literally right at the doors of Adventure Tower.

Overall, I enjoyed Trader Sam's, but I think I would have liked it even more had we not been there during a conference. Maybe it's like that all the time? And if it is, maybe we were just there during the wrong conference or we are getting too old!

Coming up, our last full day in the parks! ​

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Ha ha - I definitely did the same thing with trying to find all the characters in It's a Small World - I think I was more into that than my kids

Fully agree that astro blasters is much better than Space Ranger spin ... just seems to work better and the detachable guns makes a big difference

I think Trader Sam's is always pretty crowded, but probably more amped up with that convention there. I too was very glad when they brought out clean souvenir glasses in boxes, etc.

 

[missangelalexis]

Pixie Hollow is such a cute area! I'm sorry you weren't able to meet any fairies.

That's good that you got to check out Trader Sam's and snagged a table! The drinks sound yummy and the souvenir glasses are pretty cool!

 

[disneyguy4life]

All those souvenir cups are really peaking my interest. I love it. I don't know if they have any non-alcoholic versions of the drinks... BUT I MUST HAVE THOSE CUPS!! How did you like Hyperspace Mountain? That is another thing I heard a few mixed reviews on, the effects weren't that good.

 

[meltom214]

Love your trip report and all the pictures! Neither of us have been there in years and we're excited we'll be there in a few weeks. We can't wait to try out those fun drinks.

 

[OregonMomToWDW]

First off, you are not old. Thankfully, you are just at a different stage than the "shot" guy. I don't really drink, so unless I want my kids carrying me back to the hotel, I guess the souvenir cups are a no for me. I would get one for my son maybe, since he will be 21, but he has decided he will never drink alcohol.

That same almost 21 year old loves Tink. She is his favorite. He collects every cup / mug / whatever of Tinkerbelle. We had to wait in that 30+ minute queue last time so that he could meet her. She kept trying to take pictures with my 10 year old daughter. Finally, I had to ask (because he wouldn't), if she could do a photo of just him and her. That made his day. I don't think the rest of us would have waited in the heat of July otherwise.

I haven't been on IASW in ages. I told the kids I wanted to go on this time. Looks like I might be going on it alone. They were not having it.

 

[mindylee847]

Sorry I've been MIA from my every day updates, guys! I found that not all of my photos transferred from Facebook to Photobucket so I need to take the time to get the rest on there to continue my posts! I will hopefully have that completed over the weekend since I've been really busy here at work. It's "rate update" time for our systems so I'm going through a lot of local updates and manually adjusting them - can't wait til we get the new system they've been promising for a few years now so that I don't have to do this anymore!! I know, my job sounds so thrilling.

Thanks for sticking it out with me! I have one more full day in the parks to share with you and then the very sad departure morning.

All those souvenir cups are really peaking my interest. I love it. I don't know if they have any non-alcoholic versions of the drinks... BUT I MUST HAVE THOSE CUPS!! How did you like Hyperspace Mountain? That is another thing I heard a few mixed reviews on, the effects weren't that good.

There is one souvenir glass that is a non-alcoholic drink. We didn't get that one, but I suppose we should have!

I really loved Hyperspace Mountain. I thought the effects were really amazing, and the music!!! And the story line!!!

Love your trip report and all the pictures! Neither of us have been there in years and we're excited we'll be there in a few weeks. We can't wait to try out those fun drinks.

So glad you're enjoying my report! Have a blast!

First off, you are not old. Thankfully, you are just at a different stage than the "shot" guy. I don't really drink, so unless I want my kids carrying me back to the hotel, I guess the souvenir cups are a no for me. I would get one for my son maybe, since he will be 21, but he has decided he will never drink alcohol.

That same almost 21 year old loves Tink. She is his favorite. He collects every cup / mug / whatever of Tinkerbelle. We had to wait in that 30+ minute queue last time so that he could meet her. She kept trying to take pictures with my 10 year old daughter. Finally, I had to ask (because he wouldn't), if she could do a photo of just him and her. That made his day. I don't think the rest of us would have waited in the heat of July otherwise.

I haven't been on IASW in ages. I told the kids I wanted to go on this time. Looks like I might be going on it alone. They were not having it.

We are going to try to meet up with Tink again in WDW when we go since she's in an air conditioned building there. We met her back in February of 2015 there and were really disappointed with the interaction. So glad you're son got his picture though!!

Definitely take the time to go on iasw. I love it! It's so classic.

 

[disneyguy4life]

I really loved Hyperspace Mountain. I thought the effects were really amazing, and the music!!! And the story line!!!

That is good to know. I do love Star Wars and Space Mountain. I really look forward to riding it.