Mother/Daughter Spring Break Trip - March 2010 - Final Update 3/28

[momtoccc]

Day 2: Continued – Princess Lunch!

It still wasn’t time for lunch (1:45) but we headed to Ariel’s Grotto anyway. I was hoping we could get seated early. What I didn’t realize is that they sit people at specific times and the next time was 2:10. We needed something to drink so we went to the bar. Camryn got water and I got a yummy Sangria… wow.. that hit the spot!! I took it down to lunch and enjoyed the rest of it with our meal.

We didn’t get seated until closer to 2:25 but I was impressed with the meal and service. We saw Ariel first and got picture done there. (Unfortunately mine was blurry). They gave Camryn a crown, some stickers to put on it, crayons and papers, and a pin for her to wear. The waitress was right there with the appetizers and bread which were all yummy. I mostly ate the salad and Camryn munched on the fruit. I ordered the tri-tip steak and she had spaghetti and meatballs. We were sitting by the window where the announcer would come out and announce each princess. They started a new round just after we sat down. We had a nice meal visiting with all the princesses (Snow White, Aurora, Cinderella, and Belle). Here are a few pictures…

This meal is expensive but was worth it for me and my little princess! I think it is probably a must-do at least once if you have a little girl.

By this time we were tired from our long day and the heat ( I think it was getting close to 4). We decided to do our 2 FP rides (Mulholland Madness and Soarin) and then be done for the day. Camryn liked the Mulholland Madness ride just fine and then we did Soarin which is one of my absolute favorite rides at DLR!

Because we never took a mid-day break – we decided to just go back to the hotel, swim and just hang out at the hotel that night. We ended up ordering pizza to the room and crashing early. Another wonderful, Disney, day!!

 

[momtoccc]

Day 3: California Adventure!

It was a little tough getting Camryn going this morning. I knew I had been pushing her a little bit but I also knew that early morning was prime-time and we needed to take advantage of it. So.. we got going and took th 8am shuttle over to DLR. I took this picture of Camryn and then she was going to take a picture of me when we realized by camera battery was dead!! Bummer.. it is the kind you have to plug in and charge up so I have no pictures from this morning… sad…

We lined up in front of the gates early because I had read that DCA will often open 30 minutes early and Soarin will be running. Sure enough – they opened the gates at 8:30 and we were on the first Soarin ride – front row center!! We could have grabbed a FP right then but Camryn said she didn’t want to ride it again later. We walked over to the rope drop by Grizzly Rapids and the California Hotel entrance. We waited there about 10 minutes and then did the fast walk to Toy Story Mania. We got to this ride and probably only waited 5 minutes to get on. What a fun ride!! I would have loved to do this one over and over, too bad there is no FP for this ride. Maybe there will be some day…

After TSM we rode King Triton’s carousel two times in a row. Camryn wanted to do the Ferris Wheel again (ugh!) but changed her mind at the last minute (yay!) She was more interested in riding Mulholland Madness again. So we rode it twice in a row since there was no line… she was really loving it!

Next we headed over the Bugs Land and did all 4 rides there with a churro break somewhere in there..The theming is real cute here and I was sorry I didn’t have my camera working. After hanging with Flik and friends – we used the nice walk-through to Tower of Terror area. I told Camryn what this ride was and asked if she wanted to ride it. She said yes and I’m thinking to myself… no way.. We started to get in the 25 min stand-by line but decided to FP it instead. I didn’t want to waste 25 minutes if she was not going to do it.

So.. we had 40 minutes until ToT FP so we headed to Monsters Inc to see if it was running. This ride is ok.. Camryn has never seen the movie so it was lost on her. We took another rest/snack break in the shade while waiting for ToT FP. I was fully prepared to exit the ride anytime she wanted to back out but to my surprise – she did it! No crying, no nothing. In fact she really liked it and wants to do it again!! Is this the same girl that cried on Matterhorn the first day? I think she just got her confidence up after riding other rides during the week. Since we’ve been home, she has been quite proud of telling her older brothers and other people that she rode Tower of Terror.

The last item on our agenda today was the Playhouse Disney show. It was about 11:30 when we finished ToT and the next show was at 12:30. We had just enough time to get some lunch which we did at the Mexican place, Cocina Cucamonga. I picked this because I knew Camryn would like a bean burrito. Given the choice, I probably would have tried Pacific Wharf Café.
We finished our lunch and got to Playhouse Disney in time to wait in line for 20 minutes before going in. It was cute and perfect for the 7 and under crowd. I must be getting old though – it is hard to sit on the floor – lol!

It was getting hot again so we headed back to the hotel for swim and nap which we both needed!

 

[goofycathy]

What a great TR! You guys were there just after us, our last day was on the 13th, we found the crowds to be very manageble during the week but when friday and saturday came around they were horrible! Your daughter looks like she is a super-trooper! I have a hard time keeping my kids from wanting to fall asleep and our youngest is 8!! lol

 

[momtoccc]

What a great TR! You guys were there just after us, our last day was on the 13th, we found the crowds to be very manageble during the week but when friday and saturday came around they were horrible! Your daughter looks like she is a super-trooper! I have a hard time keeping my kids from wanting to fall asleep and our youngest is 8!! lol

Thanks!

I will have to finish this report when I get home. I'm traveling for work right now. I will finish this...

 

[deejdigsdis]

Another great installment! Too bad about your camera battery dying at that very inopportune time.

 

[momtoccc]

Day 3: Goofy Dinner!

After resting and feeling refreshed, it was time to head back for our last hurrah! We also had Goofy’s Kitchen planned for dinner tonight (since we missed it on our first night). Camryn had been wanting to ride the Monorail so I figured we would go over to DL, ride a few rides and then ride the Monorail over to Downtown Disney for dinner.

We got to DL and the first order of business was getting another Splash FP for one more ride. We walk over there and OMG! The standby line was 90 minutes and the FP return was 10:15pm (this was around 4pm). The parks definitely seemed more crowded today. I got the FP anyway just in case we were still going at 10:15 but I didn’t think we would make it.

I tried to talk her into going on Haunted Mansion and she just wasn’t interested… really? She did Tower of Terror but didn’t want to do HM? Ok… she wanted a strawberry fruit bar so we got one of those and shared it. We decided to ride the Train around to Tomorrowland because we had not ridden it yet. We had to wait for the 2nd train before we were able to get on. By the time we got to Tomorrowland I was thinking we should head over to Downtown Disney. FYI – it is hard to find the entrance to the monorail!! I finally had to ask someone how to get to it. We rode over there and got to DD in plenty of time so we hung out in the Lego store.

We meandered around DL hotel and looked at the pool and the gift shop before checking in for dinner. This time there was no wait. We got pictures done with Pluto and then headed to our table. We had time to go to the buffet before any characters came to see us. The food here was ok… I actually think our meal at Ariel’s was better. I did enjoy the smoked salmon though and we both liked the potato salad. Of course the desserts were all pretty yummy!

We saw Snow White, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Chip and Dale. Here are a few pics..

Camryn got up to do the twist with Goofy and all the other kids. She had a great time and enjoyed this meal very much.

 

[incruzcontrol2]

Been gone for a couple of days and I've read like four chapters!

I can't believe how much you two have accomplished in such little time. It really does pay to go early and as you said, probably helps that there was only two of you

I love all of the pictures you got. All of the princesses were all so beautiful.. Oh, when you saw Tinkerbell, did you see any other fairies or was it just her? Did you two collect any autographs of the characters?

Can't wait to read the next installment.

 

[momtoccc]

Been gone for a couple of days and I've read like four chapters!

I can't believe how much you two have accomplished in such little time. It really does pay to go early and as you said, probably helps that there was only two of you

I love all of the pictures you got. All of the princesses were all so beautiful.. Oh, when you saw Tinkerbell, did you see any other fairies or was it just her? Did you two collect any autographs of the characters?

Can't wait to read the next installment.

I'm trying to get this report done before I forget it all...

We did see SilverMist at Pixie Hollow also - I just didn't post that picture.

We did not collect autographs this time - we did that in WDW.

 

[momtoccc]

Day 3: Last Night!

We left Goofy’s quite full and ready for the parks again! We intended to ride the monorail back but it shut down right when we walked up. Luckily we hadn’t gone through the turnstiles yet. There were quite a few people who had who were stuck up on the platform waiting. We decided we would just walk back which was fine because it gave me a chance to see the rest of DD. It took great will-power to walk past World of Disney and not go in…
We got through the gates and we were trying to beat the 7:30 parade. They stopped us right at the end of Main Street and let the “VoluntEars” part of the parade go through. Once they passed they let us all walk down Main Street. Funny thing was that the street was lined with people waiting for the parade which was supposed to start in 5 minutes. It felt like we were in the parade! We waved to all the people and kinda felt silly. I wonder if the people watching thought we were more VoluntEars or what????

Once we got to the end, we decided to go to Star Tours since this was one ride we hadn’t done yet. Camryn wasn’t sure about it but I remembered that she liked it at WDW so we a small wait (10 min?) we went on it and she enjoyed it.

It was still fairly crowded and it wasn’t even close to our Splash FP time. We decided to ride Buzz again (25 min wait). The line snaked around outside so we were able to see part of the parade while we waited. After this Camryn was tired and it was obvious that we were not going to make it until 10:15pm for our Splash ride. She was ready to go.

We headed down Main Street but I was determined to find someone to give our Splash FP to. I saw a woman pushing her older daughter in a Disney stroller (the daughter seemed bigger than Camryn) and stopped and asked her if she would like them. She was pleasantly surprised – I hope they got to use them.

We headed back to our hotel – stopped and got a Candy Cane and got into our pjs. Camryn was watching a DVD and I was reading when we started to hear the fireworks. I didn’t think we would be able to see them from our window or door but sure enough –we could see them pretty well! We opened the door and watched them all – what a great way to end our trip!! It was so special!

 

[momtoccc]

Final Thoughts:

This trip was a huge success! We had so much fun and did so much! (Probably helped that I insisted on early starts in the a.m.!) The weather was gorgeous which certainly helped as well. It was great mother-daughter bonding time and I’m looking forward to making this an annual event.

We didn’t do everything – I would have liked to done Jungle Cruise, Haunted Mansion, and see both parades. Of course I also would have gone on Space Mtn, Thunder Mtn, and Scremin’ if Camryn had been old enough (and brave enough). That is ok.. we will get it next time!

Our flight home was un-eventful. We talked about ideas for next year’s Spring Break trip. At first Camryn said beach and pool for swimming. I’m not sure what beach would be warm enough in March (except maybe Mexico or Florida??). Then we talked about Sea World which would be fun. Not sure if I should consider Sea World in San Diego or Orlando??? Any other ideas? I think I would like to go back to DL or WDW when Camryn is 8 or 9 and she can do more of the bigger rides.

Thanks for reading about our journey! It has been fun to write and share it with you all!

 

[Scooterbritches]

I really enjoyed your trip report. I have taken all 4 of my kids one on one to either WDW or DLR so I could relate. My youngest are now 10 and 12 and I am taking them this Saturday. We are way excited and reading about your trip has added to the anticipation.

 

[incruzcontrol2]

What a great ending to your fabulous mother daughter trip. It is very important to keep those bonds strong and to be able to do it in Disney is even more magical.

Thank you for sharing it with us.

 

[deejdigsdis]

Thanks for sharing your trip! I would love to do a one-on-one trip with each of my boys. It sounded like a lot of fun.

 

[PrincessMommyLM]

Enjoyed it! I am super jealous of all your Princess-y time! Unfortunately, I am usually relegated to Cars and Pooh with my little guy!