The One Where the Elephant Farts

[TheMaxRebo]

Very cool update - the boat looks really interesting and glad to see how much your son enjoyed it! Cool that the recorded message systems have kids entries as well as the regular option

I remember reading about David Robinson, the NBA player who went to the Navel academy and was 7'1" when he graduated which was well outside what they allow, but he grew like a foot or something while there so was within the height restriction when he started

 

[NJlauren]

The boat looks amazing! the no guard rails would totally freak me out!

WDW in 11 DAYS! YAHOO! Enjoy!

 

[Chicago Mo]

Oh my i would LOVE to see all of it!!! Like Ethan i would push every single button i could!

Sorry she had to encounter rude women behind her. So not cool to do to a kid! grrr...

I laughed very hard at the Navy Pier comment... Goof ball

 

[luulu1999]

loving the trip report so far!! We have a few free days on our trip over the summer I am considering maybe a drive to San Diego and maybe a visit to USS Midway!!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Just wanted to pop in and say that I'm caught up....thanks to you being away at Disney right now!

 

[PrncessA]

Thank you for sticking with me! It has been a little crazy with planning our WDW trip. Now that I am back I need to finish this one up and start the new one! I am working on the next installment now!

 

[PrncessA]

After spending quite a bit more time on board of the Midway than we anticipated, we weren’t sure what to do next, eat or head to Coronado for a little bit before it got too late. We had some snacks in the car, so we decided to head to Coronado since this would be our only opportunity.

My dream would be to stay at the Hotel del Coronado on the island, but it is WAY out of my price range! Coronado is an island right off of San Diego and it is connected by the Coronado Bridge.

Beautiful right? Terrifying? YES

As previously discussed I am TERRIFIED of heights and I hate bridges… and the possibility of losing control and careening into the water. I avoid bridges like this at all costs, and I would never voluntarily drive over one. But since I was the only person on the rental car agreement, guess who got to drive?

I can honestly say that driving over the bridge was one of the most terrifying things I have ever done, but I did it. I would love to say that I conquered my fear, but I didn’t. Just a few days ago we watched Wishes from the top of the Contemporary and I almost passed out when I looked down!

Regardless we made it across, cheers all around!

Coronado is a very affluent and expensive place to stay or live. The houses were beautiful!

We were very lucky to find an open street parking space a half a block from the beach and we headed down!

Here’s a look at the beach and the beautiful Hotel del Coronado.

Unfortunately the tide had already come in and the water was very murky with seaweed, so we didn’t swim much.

The kids were interested in the sand anyway…

We (I) didn’t want to drive over the bridge in the dark so we only stayed for an hour and half or so. I have to say that the beach houses were disgusting on Coronado. The ones at Mission Beach were very clean, surprisingly so, but these were VERY VERY dirty and gross and the outside showers were weak. We were all covered in sand and hungry, it was time to go!

We decided to pick up some In & Out Burger (our first) on our way back to Jen’s house. The line was crazy, but since they only have a few options it went pretty fast.

With our burgers, shakes, floats and fries in hand we headed toward home. But of course we had to stop by Jack in the Box and pick up some chicken for Lorelai, who doesn’t eat burgers.

We had a quiet dinner at Jen’s before we headed back to the hotel. Ethan was asleep instantly while reading this time! (He was so uncomfortable with the sand at Jen’s that he took his shower there.)

Lorelai was snuggling up with Duffy and her new aviator bear after her shower.

Mom and I packed up our suitcases, because tomorrow we are checking out and headed to Disneyland!!!!

 

[Chicago Mo]

FINALLY! your going to Disneyland!!!

Hi i am caught up thankfully you were away!!! LOL

 

[MissMaryQC]

All caught up, only took me a month...!

Yay a for DL! And another WDW trip I see...!!! Woohoo!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Darn those Disney trips getting in the way of trip reports about other Disney trips Glad you are sticking with it though

My mother-in-law is the same about heights and bridges - my mother lives on Long Island, NY and I know she was terrified going over the bridges to get to the island when they came to visit.

hmmm, something about the Hotel del Coronado looks familiar ......

Not sure if a grilled cheese would have satisfied Lorelai, but that (animal style) is what my wife, who doesn't eat beef, got at In-n-Out and she enjoyed it.

yeah for heading to Disneyland!!!!

 

[PrncessA]

Ok, it is time to amp up the pace, since I really want to get my WDW TR rolling, and memories are already fading of our wonderful California trip. I don’t take notes, I try but it just doesn’t work for me, so photos jog my memory as I go. Since we are officially past Christmas and New Years now, and I am out of school for a few weeks still, now is the time to go go go! I might start my WDW TR this week as well.

I woke up before dawn on Tuesday without any problem, there never is a problem with waking up when you are going to Disney. I have no issue waking up at Disney World either, but Disneyland seemed to be a bit different for me and later in the trip I wasn’t always up and ready to go in the mornings.

As I said I woke up... others were clinging to the last few moments of sleep with gusto!

I packed our bags in the car and drug everyone else out of bed to get dressed and into the car. There were a lot of groans, but with a little work everyone made it into the car. I am pretty sure the kids were back asleep within moments. Somewhere in there I did take a moment to call my sister and make sure she was up and would be ready to go.

I was not playing around, a Disney expert knows, if you aren’t at the park at opening, you are letting valuable low line times slip by! Plus this was our morning at DCA and I had plans to get Radiator Springs Racer tickets if it killed me, or if one of my blurry eyed-half asleep family members did.

We picked up my sister and added her luggage to the back and removed some of ours to store at her house while we were gone. My mom insisted that she would stay awake and talk to me on the drive…

My sister did put up a valiant effort, she kept me awake and talking for the beginning of the drive, but eventually this happened:

The drive from San Diego to Anaheim was un-eventful. The expressway runs right along the ocean at times and you get beautiful glimpses. On the other side of you most of the time are beautiful mountains. It really is a beautiful drive. We beat the worst of the rush hour traffic in San Diego, but I cannot handle how the motorcycles “cut lanes” there. TERRIFYING!! My sister says it is safer for motorcyclists (she and my BIL own one) but I don’t agree.

This was my attempt at getting a shot of the ocean…

Not my best work!

Before long, and thank goodness because I was waning, I was pulling off the expressway and seeing this!

Desert Palms was our destination and it wasn’t hard to find!

I parked the car and ran in to see about where to park. While I was in the kids and Jen ran next door to the 7-11 to grab some drinks and breakfast. My mom insisted that she wanted a donut with sprinkles. I have witnesses! After I got the instructions for parking I headed over to the 7-11 to help my sister. We did find a donut with sprinkles for my mom surprisingly.

We headed back over to park the car, where my mom swore she never ask for a donut with sprinkles and she doesn’t even like them. Oh well, I tried. Parking for the Desert Palms is under the hotel, very convenient.

Before long we were making our first walk towards the entrance and I took some horribly blurry photos.

The early morning crowds don’t seem as daunting as WDW’s to me, but my mom was AMAZED that this many people were up early to go to DL, she mentioned it every morning.

Now the walk from Desert Palm to the entrance of DL and DCA wasn’t that bad this morning, we were fresh and ready to start our trip. The walk on subsequent days felt like it was 10 miles, uphill both ways... in the scorching desert! But this morning we were skipping along and it was actually a little chilly.

We headed through bag check:

and in no time we were headed toward the wonderful gates of DCA to activate our tickets, which was a lengthy process of scanning, signing and photo taking, times 5.

For some reason my picture taking skills were off and on this trip. I think being the only parent, I spent a lot more time parenting, whereas when Erik is with me we split the job up and I have more time to take thousands of photos, to the tune of over 4,000 on our trip a couple weeks ago. It is mostly to make sure I have enough photos to jog my memory of where we went in which order!

But I digress…

 

[PrncessA]

We headed into DCA and although I wanted to dash toward RSR, we instead took a quick left into the guest services to pick up first visit buttons and take semi-blurry photos.

We had managed to get there a few minutes after opening, on a DL magic morning so the crowds at DCA were small.

I now interrupt this TR to update you on our bio break situation. ALL of the adults had the need to find the closest available restroom, but because we all knew that Lorelai would have us running restroom to restroom in a few minutes, none of us spoke up. Who knew that Disney was the cure to Lorelai’s bathroom touring? Who would give in first?

As we headed down Main Street, or whatever the DCA equivalent is I stopped to ask where to pick up our Photo Pass lanyard and was directed WAY back to the beginning of the street.

My family ignored the entire transaction and kept walking. I don’t know if they ever noticed I was missing to be honest. They don’t move very fast unless I am forcing them, so even with talking with three separate CM’s and having the Photo Pass explained to me I still caught up with them before they reached the end of the street.

We were headed here of course:

Any guesses?

I don’t quite remember if we got the FP’s for RSR before or after our first ride, but it looks like our next FP was available at 10:20am, so I am guessing before.

Now during our first trip to WDW in 2009 we went during the paper fast passes, but the kids were really small, and we went during a very uncrowded time of year so we didn't really use FP's all that much. Only a couple of times really, so this was new experience for me. My sister who has never been to a Disney park, or heard of a Fast Pass caught on right a way and was a pro by the end of the day, which made it alot easier for me.

I did have a touring plan laid out for this day, but it really ended up not working well for us (erm, some of us not named Sara, Ethan, Jen and Lorelai), so we went with the flow.

Our first stop was however planned and it was Tow Mater’s Junkyard Jamboree. And the ride is just as fun as the name! The kids were in a good mood now, especially since there was basically no wait and we were on the ride.

I drew the short stick and rode alone. The ride is short but packs in a lot of twisting and turning fun, not a great ride to take photos on. LOL

After we left Mater behind, thought about riding again, but there was already a line and it is a low capacity, slow loading ride, so we passed. Instead we took our first PP photos. I will say right now that I was not impressed with DL’s PP system. There were not a ton of photographers around most of the time, and they had a lot of “staged” photos that were kinda weird.

Not so much, let’s try that again!

After our photos we did our first official pin trading ever. The kids LOVED it! I don’t think they care what pins they get or give, they just like the trading part.

I was itching to head over to Paradise Pier before the wait for California Screamin’ got too long, so that’s what we did, but a detour had to be made. It was here that we finally gave in and headed to the closest bathroom, to which Lorelai announced that she didn’t need to go! Are you kidding me?!

Finally, we got in line and the kids ask me if the ride went upside down, which I assured them it didn’t. I don’t know what I was thinking, I knew it looped over the Mickey head, but I just didn’t think of it. They gave me a lot of grief for this omission, but luckily they loved ride so much they forgave me!

The kids wanted to get back in line but the line was getting longer so we said we would get a FP when we could and headed on down the pier to a favorite that I heard had shorter lines in DCA.

 

[PrncessA]

But first some ridiculous photopass photos…

First there the “Where is Granny going to fit?” photo.

Followed by the “Just throw her in the front!”

“Oh no Granny is going to fall out”

“Wehew, she is fine”

“Look someone else fell out!”

So glad that WDW doesn’t have these!

There was a line at TSMM, but it was manageable, we waited probably about 25 minutes (unheard of at WDW).

Mr. Potatohead was getting fresh with Granny!

Gotta pick someone’s nose!

Rockin’ the 3D glasses!

I rode by myself and I won!

I waited for the fam in the cool ending of the queue

and then we headed back out to see the ride that I would never in a million years ride, and neither would Ethan by the way.

NO THANK YOU!

Ethan and I were perfectly content will sitting and relaxing while Mom, Jen and Lorelai headed onto Mickey’s Fun Wheel of death, swinging side. I was pretty happy at this point. It was only 9:30 and we were going pretty strong!

 

[Chicago Mo]

LOVE THIS!!! When we decide to go to DL i am going to need a LOT of help!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I'm the same as you - can't take notes and use the pictures to jog my memory ... definitely why sometimes I snap a picture of a sign or something that I normally would want/need a picture of, but it helps come TR time

That drive from San Diego to Anaheim is pretty nice - I recall part of it was driving by a train tracks (and over it/under it at times) so that helped keep the kids entertained

You did get their early - the lights on the trees are still on from night time!

That ticket process the first time I was definitely not expecting ... probably really didn't take that long but it felt like it took forever when all you want to do is get into the park and get going!

That's good you got on Mater's ride with little line - we had to wait for it and it is pretty slow going

I loved California Screaming! Possibly the ride that most surpased expectations .... glad you enjoyed it!

Haha, I am the complete opposite of you in that I loved the PP pictures with the backgrounds they had set up for the 60th! I just thought the were fun and unique - we actually used one of ours from California Screaming on the back of our Christmas card

Wow, you guys are doing great for it to only be 9:30!

 

[PrncessA]

LOVE THIS!!! When we decide to go to DL i am going to need a LOT of help!

I really loved DL, not more than WDW, but it felt more intimate and had a different vibe to it. To the kids there was no comparison, they would trade 10 DL vacations for one WDW vacation. Because of that I am hoping we get back to DL again soon, and I can plan it bigger and better!

I'm the same as you - can't take notes and use the pictures to jog my memory ... definitely why sometimes I snap a picture of a sign or something that I normally would want/need a picture of, but it helps come TR time

I like this way of remembering. I take so many photos that make me say, why on earth would I take a photo of that, then it reminds me of the story behind it.

That drive from San Diego to Anaheim is pretty nice - I recall part of it was driving by a train tracks (and over it/under it at times) so that helped keep the kids entertained

The back of my kiddos eyelids entertained them, lol

You did get their early - the lights on the trees are still on from night time!

I didn't even notice!

That ticket process the first time I was definitely not expecting ... probably really didn't take that long but it felt like it took forever when all you want to do is get into the park and get going!

It is definitely different than WDW.

That's good you got on Mater's ride with little line - we had to wait for it and it is pretty slow going


I loved California Screaming! Possibly the ride that most surpased expectations .... glad you enjoyed it!

It is Ethan's favorite roller coaster for sure, although RRC is a close second.

Haha, I am the complete opposite of you in that I loved the PP pictures with the backgrounds they had set up for the 60th! I just thought the were fun and unique - we actually used one of ours from California Screaming on the back of our Christmas card

I think the big issue for me is the lack of photographers around the parks, then the abundance of the staged photos.

Wow, you guys are doing great for it to only be 9:30!

I have more update coming up!

 

[PrncessA]

I will let the pictures and video tell the tale of Mickey’s Fun Wheel!

And the video that made it all worthwhile…



So as you can see Lorelai LOVED the ride (it was her favorite ride of the trip), my mom not so much. She didn’t know that it was a swinging car, even though they stood in line for about 15 minutes watching the ride. LOL

While in line my mom saw this sign:

And said to my sister, “Why do you think they have a sign telling you to survive children?” And it became the running joke of the trip. Every ride that had this sign, which was most of them we would joke about surviving the children. It was hilarious… I promise… I guess you just had to be there. LOL

After Mickey’s “Fun” wheel we made another bio break. Where Lorelai obviously had the camera…

Before the trip we had activated Erik’s old phone for Ethan to use. My hope was that if he got separated from us, he would have it to use. But for the most part he ran the battery down by mid-day playing games and we got the stare at the top of his head.


Now that I have visited both DL and WDW I can officially say that DL beats WDW in every way possible in clean bathrooms. I never visited a bathroom at DL that wasn’t sparkling clean. My mom was blown away by how clean the bathrooms were, and so was I. When we were in WDW in November I will say that MOST of the bathrooms were clean, not perfect, but clean. The bathrooms at DL were perfect.

Mom and Jen announced they needed a DSA, which wasn’t close, and we still had a few minutes to wait before we could get our next FP for California Screamin’ so I sent them ahead and the kids and I stayed behind to ride King Triton’s carousel. Who doesn’t love a carousel ride?

Yep, I hauled myself up on what looks to be a yellow dolphin?

After our ride around in a circle on colorful ocean animals, we picked up these babies…

 

[PrncessA]

We headed back over the bridge to find Mom and Jen, but we ran into someone else who we HAD to stop to take pictures with. We could not pass by Ethan’s main duck without some photos!

While we were in line I called Jen and her and Mom found us before it was our turn.

Since we were there, and since Lorelai is an Ariel fanatic, we decided to jump on Journey Under the Sea, with basically no wait! It looks like I rode with the kiddos and Mom and Jen rode together.

These are the photos you get when you are a rule follower and don’t use flash!

This was my first real ride comparison of WDW vs. DLR, since TSMM is basically the same in both parks, and I think I preferred WDW over DL. For some reason I felt like Ariel’s hair was dreadful at DCA, and the ride seemed a lot shorter. Not to say that the WDW is a homerun, there is so much more they could have done with the ride, but IMO it is better.

After our journey under the sea, it was time to use our RSR fast passes, but with little breakfast we all were in need of a snack. So we stopped at Fillmore’s and grabbed some organic fuel man!

SUUUURRREEE the Fanta was totally organic and healthy!

I am not sure what Ethan got to eat, if anything. The amount of food my kids eat is shameful. They just are not big eaters. I do think that I force fed him some grapes and a few apple slices and he had a Sprite. I do have all my receipts, but I have no idea where I put them!

After our “taste-in” we headed down toward RSR, but Lorelai was really complaining of a headache, which never happens. Even when she is very sick at home the worst you can get from her is an “I’m okay”. So if she is complaining, she really doesn’t feel well. I had packed children’s pain reliever, but of course it was in my car. We ask at Sarge’s Surplus and all they had was adult, which was okay if she could swallow a pill, which she can’t. The only way she will take pills is if they are snuck into yogurt or applesauce, which we didn’t have. We did manage to get her to take one after having her chew up an apple slice and then putting the pill in her mouth before she swallowed, it took 4 tries!

The theming in this area is amazing, it really is as if you walked into the movie. I know everyone says it, but it is one of those things you have to see to believe.

You can see she looks a bit off in the photo pass picture, (the only one she would allow), but the pain reliever worked and she felt better pretty quickly.

The headache was a reoccurring theme and it ended up that her expander had moved and was causing the headache. I hated that stupid expander, and I am so happy that it is braces now (although those have been a headache as well), and very soon just a retainer! If I only knew when she was a toddler what the price of a beautiful toddler smile, with no extra space in between her teeth would mean later on! LOL

Onward we go to Radiator Springs Racers!

 

[PrncessA]

We were all really excited to ride RSR! And even though we had a FP, we probably waited about a half hour in the line. I felt awful for the non-fast pass riders! The line is nearly completely in the sun and it was getting hot!

Let me just say that Radiator Springs Racers is simply amazing! We loved every second of it!

After racing through Radiator Springs we headed back to Paradise Pier for a bio break and our second ride on California Screamin’.

Poor Lorelai, someday we will be able to see her in all the ride photos.

After our ride on CS we were unsure of what we wanted to do next. We were all getting a little tired and grumpy and Mom needed a DSA. So we headed toward Grizzly Peak, where Ethan flat out refused to ride Grizzly River Rapids, and the line was too long to wait anyway. The crowd control around GRR is crazy, they need to figure a way to simplify that!

What to do…. Take some photos of course…

Our small snack had did little to hold us over and the cloud cover had burned away and it was HOT out. If we had been at WDW it would have been the time we would have left and went to our resort for a break, but our check-in time wasn’t here yet and it was a LONG walk. I decided it was time for a break and where better than at the Grand Californian!

After a few photos of the gorgeous lobby, we let the kids unwind watching cartoons and we found a dark alcove and sat!

No photos, we were resting…

After a short rest we decided that it was time for lunch, and the closer the better. I looked up menus online and we headed over to the quick service restaurant at the GC, where I was inducted into the “that hot dog costs what?” Club! We use the dining plan at WDW so the food costs were a shock to me! But boy was it yummy! Both Jen and I had the chili dog:

Mom had the burger, but she regretted it and wished she had the hot dog as well.

And the kids had kids meals, PB & J I think.

For some reason I think that the photo of the hamburger is actually Ethan’s (although Mom got one) and it came with everything on it, when I had ordered it plain. So I took it back and they said keep it, and gave us a new plain burger, with more fries. We were all so stuffed that we didn’t eat everything, and it was wasted.

The kids made some pennies after eating while Mom and Jen went back into the park to find yet another DSA. After the pennies were made and the table was cleared, we headed back into the park as well. We stopped at Soarin’ to pick up a Fast Pass, before we headed across the park to the animation building.

We did have to stop for some photos though.

What a building! First of all I wanted so many pieces of art, I could spend a year’s salary in there! Secondly, the animation building is AMAZING!

It looks like I only got one photo, but the kids had a great time looking around while we waited for the next animation drawing class, where we drew Mickey!

Lorelai’s

Ethan’s

Jen the perfectionist’s

Mom’s

I think Mom’s looks like Humphrey the Bear, but I was pretty proud of mine.

 

[PrncessA]

At this point we were all pretty done for and we need a break, but not before we went Soarin’ Over California.

Quick stop for a photo:

I liked the “hanger” feel of the building. The theming is really out of this world at DCA.

Kronk instructed us to take off our Mickey ears, and then we were soarin’

I really enjoyed this ride more in California, it just felt fresher, it was really a great way to end our morning.

We headed back to the hotel to check in and I didn’t take one photo on our way there!

When we got to our room, we were all exhausted and I didn’t take one photo to show what it looked like. It was this room though:

http://www.desertpalmshotel.com/deluxe-1-bedroom-suite-w-bunk-beds/?fullsite=true

My mom decided to take the sofa bed, which I was going to take, in the room with bunk beds and the kids, while my sister and I shared the king bed in the other room. It was a tight fit with all of us in there, it would have been very comfortable if it had been just my husband, the kids and I.

After getting all of our luggage up, I laid down on the bed to put my sore feet up and relax.

For exactly one second before this appeared at the end of the bed…

They were ready for swimming obviously!

They had some fun playing with the camera and I tried not to fall asleep in the hot tub, before I moved to a chair where I tried again to not fall asleep, to which I failed, and I took a nap.

Ethan has very sensitive eyes, so he can’t open them under water, so all of the photos Lorelai took of him look like this: LOL

It’s here where I have to admit that I completely failed to keep my kids on a food schedule during this trip. I can’t for the life of me remember what they had for dinner this night, and I can’t find any photos of proof that we ate. To be honest it might have been popcorn… I know my sister was on a search to find a pretzel that night, and never found one. I really do better with laid out plans of when and where we are going to ride and eat, and I did not do well at come what may!

After some swimming, where my mom and Jen came down at some point, we decided that it was time to head over to Disneyland. My mom was really feeling the effects of all the walking, so she decided to stay behind in the hotel.