I'm down to 4 days before we head to
Disneyland again and I WILL finish this trip report before the wheels of the plane leave the ground. Even if that means I'm taking advantage of the free wireless at the Oakland airport.
After the Jungle Cruise, we made our way to Pirates. The line was under the bridge but moved very quickly. Since there were four of us we had our own row. I'm always impressed with how immersive that first bayou scene is. Everything is so calm and quiet with just the banjo playing and maybe a few insects. Then you enter the dark tunnel and...who know what lies ahead? It's creepy and awesome.
After exiting Pirates, we hot-footed it over to Splash Mountain where we grabbed a FP and rode Winnie the Pooh. Trippy Heffalumps, I love you so.
The standby wait time for Splash was ten minutes and on a whim we decided to go for a spin. DFC was nervous about the big drop but admitted after that it looks worse than it is. Hear that all you nervous nellies? You can do it too! We all came off the ride wet in various degrees, from damp to dripping. We took a few posed couple shots at the WTP hunny pots meet and greet area. The results were fantastic, everyone looks so relaxed and happy.
Next we made our way around Splash Mountain to the Haunted Mansion. Neither DFM or DFC remembered the stretching room and it was fun to see it with fresh eyes.
An adventure with Indy was calling to us. Up until now, DFM+C had been somewhat skeptical about collecting Fastpasses as it was early in the day and lines weren't that long. They just didn't get what all the fuss is about. This ride would be our first chance to show them the magic of the fastpass. There was a significant line outside the Temple of the Forbidden Eye and as we were waltzing past, fastpasses in hand, DFC commented that she was digging the fastpass now that she saw how it worked. Our FPs only got us about halfway through the indoor queue before we encountered a line but still cut our wait time dramatically.
We were all starting to get hungry and thinking about heading back to the Grand Californian for lunch. I sent DW and DFM+C to the Fronteirland shootin' exhibition while I dashed over to the BTMRR fastpass machines. One of our favorite memories from our trip with our nephew was riding BTMRR while the fireworks were going off and we were determined to repeat the experience.
After we finished our shootin', we rolled down Mainstreet, planning to go back to the hotel. At the last minute, we decided to stop at the Ticket booth and cash in my Give A Day voucher for fastpasses. The CM checked all our ids and gave us a voucher that we needed to take to the Guest services area right next to City Hall to exchange for the actual fastpasses. Instead of getting the FPs right away, we wound our way through DTD back to the hotel. At this point, several people in our party (like me
) were super hungry.
We had all kinds of yummy food in our hotel room. Loaves of bread, fancy cheese, chocolates and a variety of drinks that we had purchased at the Hojo convenience store the night before. DFM+C brought salads and sandwiches from Trader Joes. We had a lovely meal which highlighted my only real complaint with our room at the Grand Californian. There was no place that four adults (or even two adults and two children) could sit together and eat a meal. The balcony was too small. The table inside could seat three (barely) and the space between the bed and the table was too small to let anyone get by to go to the fridge.
After lunch, we changed into swimsuits for a visit to the giant hot tub by the Mariposa pool. In yet another example of great service, we called for two additional robes for DFM+C and they were delivered within 10 minutes. I had hoped to go down the Redwood slide but that pool was closed for renovation so we had to make do with the hot tub and a quick dip in the cold pool. Then off to the room for a nap. I was too keyed up on Disney to sleep, even though I needed it. I was still taking the Dayquil/Nyquil like candy in an attempt to deny that I was sick. I occupied myself reading a magazine, then slipped out of the room to go take a look at the Redwood pool and poke around the Acorn gift shop for lack of anything better to do. I found some white chocolate covered pretzels that DW can eat (she is on a very restricted medical diet) and bought those for her with my room key. This transaction was the first and only time I was asked for my id when making a purchase with my room key. Of course, I hadn't brought my purse with me. The CM was very nice and ran the purchase anyway but heads up that you might (and probably should) be asked for your id when using your key to the magic.
Once folks had woken up from napping, showered and dressed, we headed back to DL. The CM working at the guest services booth was excited as this was her first chance to give out GAD fastpasses. We received 6 FPs each, 3 Donald and 3 Daisy.
Donald's FPs were good for any of the following rides:
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Rodger Rabbit's Car Toon Spin
Indiana Jones Adventure
Soarin' Over California
California Screamin'
The Twillight Zone Tower of Terror
Daisy's FPs were good for any of the following rides:
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Autopia
Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters
Grizzly River Run
Mulloholland Madness
At this point, DFM was in serious need of some coffee. We stopped at the Blue Ribbon Bakery to purchase a very expensive cup of mediocre coffee (DFM's opinion, not mine
) Then we dodged the Celebrate a street party thingy on our way to Toontown (DFC's requested destination). Toontown was pretty packed with wee ones but we still had fun exploring Donald's boat and Chip and Dale's treehouse. Then we toured Mickey's house. None of us realized that we were in a queue to visit Mickey until we lined up in the holding area just before you meet Mickey. The holding area is the room where they show classic Mickey cartoons. We debated ducking out since there were several parties in front of us. While we debated what to do, the parties in front of us were ushered in. Next thing we knew, we were being led into our meet and greet. Mickey was quite the gentleman although none of us really knew what to do. We sort of awkwardly got our picture taken and left.
After our very shy encounter with Mickey, we explored Goofy's house, somewhat relieved that he wasn't actually in residence. Then over to the jail for some clowning photos.
Last stop was Roger Rabbit's cartoon spin, since we had GAD FPs to use.
Ok, I'll stop there as this is turning into a mammoth update. More to come soon. Chow Disers!!
DW was excited. The countdown was the worst part and while it was scary, I wasn't absolutely terrified. I guess those rides on ToT paid off. Still, I was happy to get off and know I would never have to do that again. Especially now that Maliboomer will be decommission. 
