We were up and ready to go for an 8 am Extra Magic Hour this morning. I got up early (5:30 am on vacation!), had my trusty Starbucks Doubleshot (I am very picky about coffee...so, yes, I travel with those little canned Starbucks Doubleshots in my checked luggage, wrapped in several ziplocs for safety...call me crazy but this way I'm guaranteed a familiar shot of caffeine to start my day which is really the best for everyone!), a granola bar, and got myself ready.
After I was ready I ran downstairs to the Surfside Lounge and bought a bottle of water to start our day and a bottle of chocolate milk. They only had large bottles but luckily I'd brought a sippy cup so I put some of it in there and had the rest in our handy fridge for tomorrow. Michael really enjoyed the Disneyland highlights channel on the TV as well as the Princess Bedtime Story channel. It was a nice relaxing start to an early morning.
This morning as we left the room we remembered to put out the "Housekeeping please" sign on our door. I love it when hotels give you those.. .and I can't emphasize enough how awesome it was to just walk to the gates at Disneyland. We arrived around 7:30 and were about 4 or 5 groups back from our gate. It was also great to just let Michael eat an applesauce pouch and a bar as we strolled in. He's an extremely slow eater so having him contained in the stroller with nothing else to do ensured he got some breakfast in him.
At rope drop we headed right for Peter Pan. We misjudged the stroller parking situation and that slowed us down a little (we decided our next DL rope drop, Dean would carry Michael on his shoulders so they could jump in line while I parked the stroller), but we were still on the ride within about 10 minutes or so. After that we went to Dumbo, where I think I was more excited than Michael was! When we got on the ride, he very sweetly made sure his stuffed Minnie Mouse was buckled in first. My good heavens, I love this boy.
We explored the rest of Fantasyland then-Snow White, Pinocchio, Mr. Toad, Alice was down, but we finished up It's a Small World just as EMH ended. We got in line for Storybookland Canal Boats then-the line for this is always so darn long. We felt it slowed down our morning. We headed over to Jungle Cruise and also experienced Pirates and the Casey Jr. Railroad for our train crazy little guy. I'd hoped to do Haunted Mansion but the line was of course very long. We also never seem to find time for Tom Sawyer Island or the Riverboat on any of our trips. I think if Michael hadn't fallen asleep so early the day before we'd have gotten to them, but it was definitely more important to let the little one sleep than to fit in more attractions. I've learned that lesson!
We checked in for our 11:30 Blue Bayou reservation and were pleased to have a waterside table. We traded picture taking duties with the couple at the table next door to us.
Our waitress came over to compliment Michael's good behavior right after I was reprimanding him for some behavior related issue...I think he was annoyed that his plate with carrots, celery, and ranch were on top of his placemat that he was trying to color on. Oh, the horror! I just remember having all my plates pushed all over the place and about to land in my lap while feeling slightly annoyed. We recovered with a delicious lunch-the famous Monte Cristos for me and my husband and a kid's macaroni meal for Michael. This was, as always, a great relaxing break in the middle of the day, especially with the waterside table. We missed the delicious potatoes that used to be served with the sandwich, the fruit was fine but I think I may have liked the potatoes more than the monte cristo (blasphemy!). I meant to order one of the light up drinks for Michael but I felt a little hurried when we got here (not the restaurant's fault-just the need to feed a hungry boy on the edge of crankiness) and forgot. A great meal as always and one we will certainly return to in the future.
After lunch we had time for Winnie the Pooh and the Tiki Room. We discovered a very short line for Dole Whips on the inside of the waiting area and couldn't resist splitting a float between the 3 of us. Michael enjoyed the Tiki birds so much he danced through the entire show...to the point where a woman sitting next to Dean got up and moved halfway through the show. Oh dear. Michael is very enthusiastic, happy, excited, exuberant even. It is extremely important to me that he doesn't disturb or bother people around him. So I was happy he was enjoying the show and dancing, but sorry if he disturbed others. He wasn't making noise, we'd never allow that, but it's hard to tell him not to dance! Maybe the other gal just wanted a different view. Sure, let's go with that! I did have one woman in the airport security line tell me, as I apologized for his singing, "Those are happy sounds! Anyone who complains about those needs to think again. Would they prefer a tantrum?" I hope to always travel near people with this positive outlook!
This afternoon Dean was on his own while I went back for nap time. I had a hard time getting him down but did eventually succeed. Dean rode Indy, the Matterhorn, and hopped over to DCA for his first ride on Racers, which he couldn't stop raving about. When Michael woke up I took him to the pool where he did the slide some more, and we enjoyed more warm sunshine.
Every afternoon there was a pool party. Michael was too young to really understand the rules of the games they were playing but he was an enthusiastic participant, especially in the dancing. The recreation staff was absolutely spot on with redirecting him gently and kindly when necessary, without getting in the way of his, or anyone else's, fun. This was a great experience for him. Dean met us down here when he was done with the parks and we traded off.
I headed back to Disneyland to try for a single rider chance at Splash Mountain, and to use the FastPass I'd pulled for Indy earlier. I got there within 1 minute of the end of my return time-success! I had forgotten how much I enjoy this ride. When I got to the Splash single rider line I found 23 people in front of me. In the 20 minutes I waited there they took 1 person from single rider. So, I gave up. We had had high hopes that using the single rider lines would be the way to go for us on this trip but we quickly discovered that we preferred the certainty of getting on in a reasonable time frame with a Fast Pass. It required a little more careful planning but it ended up working best for us.
I grabbed a Lobster Roll from Harbor Galley (I was disappointed, I so wanted to like this...) and got in line for the Fantasmic seating. It got more and more crowded...the area reminded me of our trip in 2009 the weekend before Christmas when the waterfront area was downright scary crowded. Dean brought Michael back and I urged him not to come anywhere near where I was. They ended up riding the railroad full circle for a while-which made Michael very happy. I was wishing my own feet were getting the nice break theirs were, but oh well.
Finally it was time to get to our seats. We had 1 first row and 2 in the second, so when the show started Michael sat in Dean's lap and had a great view. As much of a pain as tracking down our tickets and waiting in line for them was (why can't they assign seats when you make the reservations?) I think we'd do this again in the future. I don't relish staking out a spot on hard, cold pavement for hours ahead of time, and it was nice to have a seat for the show and the fireworks, and to have food and drinks brought to us. Spendy, but a nice treat.
Michael loved the show-we were afraid he'd think parts were too scary but he really ended up liking it all. It was a late night to bed afterwards, with an early morning to follow (7AM Extra Magic Hour on a Sunday!) but it would be well worth it.
Disneyland was the location of my very first childhood Disney trip and it has always held a very, very special place in my heart.
In 2011 all that was in DCA that was even remotely Halloween-ish was Duffy's photo spot. Last year there were a couple of "Frankenweenie" things specifically tied into promoting that movie, but that was it. You will see Halloween goodies in the DCA candy and bake shops, though, and Halloween merchandise in some of the DCA shops.
