The WDW Vets Head West! A DL May 2012 TR - Complete!

[khertz]

WOC looks AMAZING!! I have to get out there to see them someday.

You definitely do! One of the most incredible things I have ever seen in a Disney park.

 

[khertz]

DAY 4: Thursday May 17th

Despite a late night at DCA the night before seeing World of Color (we didn't get back to the room until about 10, so bedtime was 10:20 for Paxton and closer to 11 for us!), we were up and moving early Thursday morning. It was our last day in the parks, and we wanted to make sure we maximized our time!

We were through the gates by 8:30 am but were held at a rope on Main Street until 9 am since it was a Magic Mornings day and the park had been open to those guests since 8. While we waited, we did a little browsing and shopping and ended up buying Paxton's postcard to commemorate this trip, and a onesie for my Godchild Stryder.

Some pictures while waiting​

We had a totally different agenda than usual this morning. Instead of heading first to Fantasyland, we were going over to the right side of the park to Tomorrowland, where we had not spent much time other than lunch and riding Space Mountain. When we were finally let free at 9 am, we made our way over to our first attraction of the day, Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. We wanted to ride this early in the day before the lines got too long.

Mommy & Paxton

Daddy & Paxton

And a family shot!​

We waited less than ten minutes in line before we were loading into our submarine. We were the last two to enter the sub, and the CM had to stick her head in and tell everyone to move down because someone skipped a seat and there was only 1 left for the 2 of us when we went to board. Move all the way down, people!

​

The ride was neat, and you really feel like you are going deep underwater even though you know you aren't even completely submerged. I was surprised by how long of an attraction it was! But it seemed to keep DS's interest, so that was good. Parts of it were very similar to The Seas With Nemo & Friends at Epcot, mostly in the beginning. DH got a few decent pictures of the ride.

Going down

DARLA!

After riding the Subs, we went over to Toontown to see how long before opening. There was still 25 minutes, and we didn't feel like waiting quite that long, so we went over to nearby Fantasyland. We considered for a moment riding the Casey Jr. train, but the timing was a a little iffy for us to be able to make it back to Toontown by opening, so we went over to the stationary Dumbo to take some pictures instead. I took a picture for the family that was already there, and they returned the favor by taking our picture.

Another Fantasyland popcorn turner

By the time we finished hemming & hawing over whether or not to ride the train and taking our picture, we had wasted enough time so that we could head back over to Toontown.

At opening, Mickey, Minnie, and Pluto came out to help open the gates and welcome everyone into Toontown. It turned kind of crazy now as people began shoving their kids towards the characters in front of other kids all so they could get that cute moment or special picture. It was almost obnoxious. I know everyone wants that cute moment of their child with a Disney character, but I'm talking parents were practically shoving other kids out of the way to get theirs closer to Mickey. It was literally Toontown Morning Madness!

The characters led the way into Toontown and we followed Mickey to his house since that was our #1 Toontown must-do today. Pluto stayed outside the house, and we were able to get a few cute shots of just him before getting in line to meet Mickey.

After spending some time with Pluto, we got in a pretty short line to meet Mickey. DS had fun playing while in line!

Then finally it was our turn to meet Mickey! DS was acting a little shy at first and just stood with his hands behind his back smiling at Mickey for a minute until I jumped in and coaxed him forward.

​

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

We hadn't planned on doing it, but since we were there, we decided to head on through Mickey's House. I hadn't felt the need to check it out since we have always seen it in WDW, but it's such a different experience in DL! You could actually walk through the rooms and touch things, and it was so much bigger than the one that had been in WDW. I'm glad we did it, because DS really enjoyed it.

Sitting in Pluto's dog bed

Dancing to the washing machine

Found a cute birthday cake, so the almost birthday boy DH was forced to pose!

My little director!​

We took a few more pictures around Toontown before deciding we were done there. The line for Minnie had built up quite a bit while we were exploring Mickey's house, so we never did get a chance to get a picture with her. Goofy was also out and about taking pictures, but we decided not to wait for him either.

I guess I forgot to put in my notes that only DS and I had originally gone to check for the opening of Toontown and DH must have gone to get a FP for Space. Because next up, we went back to Tomorrowland so DH could ride using his FP and we got a Rider Switch pass for later. I decided to take DS on a roundtrip ride on the monorail while DH rode Space Mountain.

I'm used to the WDW monorail where you can leave your child in the stroller when you board, so I was hoping to be able to do that now. I asked the CM at the entrance to the boarding ramp if you can bring the stroller on, and he said, "Sure!...You just need to have it folded up when you board." Well that's too much of a pain in the butt, so I parked it right there at the entrance and took DS on with his snack and water cup to enjoy the ride.

​

The monorail ride in itself was not too exciting since it doesn't really go anywhere but DTD, but it was a nice respite out of the hot sun and a place to sit down.

It was while we were on the monorail that I got a text from my mom asking if we had the key to our car. We had left the car at their house, and since they were going to be leaving for a cruise before we came back, they were going to take the car to the airport and park it for us right before they left so that we wouldn't need a ride home from the airport, but we wouldn't have to pay for a full week of airport parking. So I thought she meant she didn't have the key we had brought and couldn't move the car. But then I remembered, my dad had driven us to the airport in our car on our departure morning, so we had to have left the key.

Then it dawned on me...she was asking if WE have a second key because otherwise, how were we going to get into the car once they left it at the airport? They would be on a cruise, how were we going to get back the key we left with them? Yikes! Of course, we had not thought all of this through and DH and I didn't have our second key. So I called my mom freaking out about it, and she said not to worry, she would figure something out. She ended up talking to my sister who would not be working that day, so she said she wouldn't mind meeting us at the airport when we landed and bringing us the car key. Talk about a lifesaver!

After meeting up with DH and filling him in on the car key drama, we decided to head over to DCA for the rest of the morning.

UP NEXT: Technical Difficulties

 

[KTgE]

I'm so glad you guys got to ride on Nemo aka what's left of 20,000 Leagues. One of my very first Disney memories is riding the WDW version when I was four. We ran out of time when we did our day trip and didn't get to do it. So I haven't done the 'Nemo' version. It's at the top of my 'To Do List' when we return.

Right there with you on the ToonTown Houses...they are all different from the WDW versions. I enjoyed that and how you can actually 'tour' the houses in DL.

Glad the key drama got sorted out...I'm sure you were relieved to have that sorted out before you got home and realized it! That would have been horrible.

 

[afwdwfan]

I miss 20,000 Leagues... I'm glad they still have the ride in some form over in DL, but it just isn't quite the same with the Nemo theming.

I miss Toontown too... This update is a little bit of a downer reminding me of things WDW used to have. I'm glad that Paxton got to experience the DL version and enjoyed Mickey's house though.

I'm glad you got the key thing figured out. I hate those moments when you realize you missed an important detail in planning and feel kind of dumb. It happens to me way too often.

 

[khertz]

I'm so glad you guys got to ride on Nemo aka what's left of 20,000 Leagues. One of my very first Disney memories is riding the WDW version when I was four. We ran out of time when we did our day trip and didn't get to do it. So I haven't done the 'Nemo' version. It's at the top of my 'To Do List' when we return.

Right there with you on the ToonTown Houses...they are all different from the WDW versions. I enjoyed that and how you can actually 'tour' the houses in DL.

Glad the key drama got sorted out...I'm sure you were relieved to have that sorted out before you got home and realized it! That would have been horrible.

It was a fun ride, but pretty long. I never rode 20,000 Leagues at MK so I didn't really know what to expect. Best to get there first thing in the morning because it's a slow loader, so the line builds up quickly.

Mickey's house was fantastic! And everyone else was breezing through it or going out through the front door after taking their picture with Mickey, so we had pretty much the entire thing to ourselves to explore too. It was so fun! I'm glad we didn't decide to skip it. DS loves things he can run through and touch everything.

So thankful my mom realized this several days early so we could straighten it out before they left. I would have been having a panic attack at the airport if not!!

 

[khertz]

I miss 20,000 Leagues... I'm glad they still have the ride in some form over in DL, but it just isn't quite the same with the Nemo theming.

I miss Toontown too... This update is a little bit of a downer reminding me of things WDW used to have. I'm glad that Paxton got to experience the DL version and enjoyed Mickey's house though.

I'm glad you got the key thing figured out. I hate those moments when you realize you missed an important detail in planning and feel kind of dumb. It happens to me way too often.

We must have been posting at the same time!

Wow, it really is like a nostalgic MK post, isn't it? I didn't even think of that! Probably because I never rode 20,000 Leagues when it was there. It was there on my very first trip but since we had only one day in MK (in the days before FP) we didn't have time to ride it. By the time I went again, it was long gone.

Unfortunately, although we got that key mess resolved easily, it wasn't the last bit of key drama! I pretty much stopped all planning after getting us to DL and then to Seattle. I apparently forgot about anything we would need once we got home!

 

[CandleontheWater]

The nemo subs look like fun! I loved 20K when it was running in WDW, so it would be really fun to experience it again at DL.

Mickey's house looks like a great time! I'm a little sorry Everett was so young when they were bulldozed at MK, because he didn't really get a chance to enjoy them. Good to know they are even more fun at DL, that's extra incentive to get out to the west coast!

 

[leshunlenese]

I cannot believe you are already on the last disney day. It seems we take almost a year to plan these trips and they are over in a second.
The nemo ride looks like the best thing ever. I think i remember those submarines at WDW. Weren't they by the race cars? I remember i never rode it because my parents said the line was always long

 

[khertz]

The nemo subs look like fun! I loved 20K when it was running in WDW, so it would be really fun to experience it again at DL.

Mickey's house looks like a great time! I'm a little sorry Everett was so young when they were bulldozed at MK, because he didn't really get a chance to enjoy them. Good to know they are even more fun at DL, that's extra incentive to get out to the west coast!

Definitely an incentive to visit DL! It cannot even compare to Mickey's House at WDW...so much bigger and interactive. I think it is usually used to guide the line to Mickey and you meet him at the end but since we were there so early in the morning, he was meeting at the front. We felt like we just kept walking and walking through, whereas in WDW you walked through in 10 seconds. Seeing how awesome Toontown is in DL made me really miss WDW's a lot less, and made me less disappointed that Paxton never got to experience the one in WDW.

I cannot believe you are already on the last disney day. It seems we take almost a year to plan these trips and they are over in a second.
The nemo ride looks like the best thing ever. I think i remember those submarines at WDW. Weren't they by the race cars? I remember i never rode it because my parents said the line was always long

I know! The DL portion of this trip went by SO fast!! However, we were pretty beat by the end of those 4 days, so I'm glad we did that first and saved the relaxation time in Washington for last.

I'm not sure where the subs were in MK...I only remember reading it was replaced with the Winnie the Pooh play spot at one point, but even that I can't remember where it was.

 

[MEK]

I gotta tell you that for some reason I think my sub to this thread dropped off. I missed a few updates and am trying to catch up without benefit of the pictures (I'm at work).

I have to say that the Toontown Madness does NOT sound fun at all. I can't stand when people start pushing and shoving. So not cool.

That submarine ride really does sound cool but I heard another DISer say it was almost claustrophic. I would love to try it, but I don't like cramped, tight spaces so I'm not sure.

I will come back tonight to catch up on all the pictures I am missing.

 

[khertz]

I gotta tell you that for some reason I think my sub to this thread dropped off. I missed a few updates and am trying to catch up without benefit of the pictures (I'm at work).

I have to say that the Toontown Madness does NOT sound fun at all. I can't stand when people start pushing and shoving. So not cool.

That submarine ride really does sound cool but I heard another DISer say it was almost claustrophic. I would love to try it, but I don't like cramped, tight spaces so I'm not sure.

I will come back tonight to catch up on all the pictures I am missing.

Oh, it wasn't fun at all. I just kept looking at DH and rolling my eyes at the lengths people were going to to get their kids next to the characters. And we got a nice moment with Pluto without having to push a single child or adult out of the way!

I guess it could be claustrophobic. It's a very narrow space, very dark, and you there is hardly any space between you and the porthole. Small spaces don't really bother me though, so I was fine with it. I don't remember DH complaining about the tight space either. If I were claustrophobic, I definitely would not have ridden this attraction though!

 

[jenny105]

I love the Nemo Submarine Voyage! I thought it was so cute and way better than the clam ride at Epcot. And I don't get why people just can't fill rows either.

Your Toontown morning sounds like craziness! We were lucky enough to snag a table when we were there so we didn't have to deal with pushing & shoving. Did you get your honorary citizen pin?

The monorail at DL scares me! I thought it was so fast and whenever it made a turn, it banked hard in that direction. I didn't enjoy it LOL.

 

[tofubeast]

Nice pics!! Love the ones with Mickey!

Glad you enjoyed the subs. Grew up with them at DL, and was so sad that they sat empty for years and years. It was fun getting to ride the Nemo version a few years ago. How bad was the line for Nemo throughout the day? THat was THE big attraction when I was last year and the lines were insane.

 

[khertz]

I love the Nemo Submarine Voyage! I thought it was so cute and way better than the clam ride at Epcot. And I don't get why people just can't fill rows either.

Your Toontown morning sounds like craziness! We were lucky enough to snag a table when we were there so we didn't have to deal with pushing & shoving. Did you get your honorary citizen pin?

The monorail at DL scares me! I thought it was so fast and whenever it made a turn, it banked hard in that direction. I didn't enjoy it LOL.

Right? Especially on something like this, it just seems like common sense that you would fill in all the seats. The CM said it happens all the time because people don't want to sit in the middle seat.

No honorary citizen pins...where would you get them?

I really didn't notice anything about the monorail ride because I spent the whole time trying to figure out my mom's text message and then slowly going into a panic when I realized we had no way to get into our car. And trying to keep Paxton from jumping down and running around the car.

Nice pics!! Love the ones with Mickey!

Glad you enjoyed the subs. Grew up with them at DL, and was so sad that they sat empty for years and years. It was fun getting to ride the Nemo version a few years ago. How bad was the line for Nemo throughout the day? THat was THE big attraction when I was last year and the lines were insane.

The one of the three of us with Mickey was probably my favorite character picture we took in all 4 days.

Through the day it stayed pretty consistently at about 30 minutes. And it was a cute ride, but I'm glad we didn't wait 30 minutes for it!

 

[jenny105]

No honorary citizen pins...where would you get them?

There are CMs standing around giving them out after the show. Stinks you didn't get one!

 

[khertz]

There are CMs standing around giving them out after the show. Stinks you didn't get one!

Bummer we missed that. Maybe we can get some on our trip next month and just pretend they were from our May trip.

 

[khertz]

DAY 4 Continued: Thursday May 17th

After spending a nice morning at Disneyland, we had just met up and decided to head on over to DCA for the remainder of the morning. We arrived in time to do the Visa Character Meet again, so we went over to the Hollywood Backlot area to see how long the line was. Surprisingly, there was no one waiting, so we only had to wait for the family that was already in there to come out before it was our turn. Today, the characters were...

Chip & Dale!

Once again, DS seemed to really enjoy his time with the chipmunks! We got our voucher for our free 5x7 print and left the Backlot area not really sure what we wanted to do until lunch. As we were walking past the Aladdin theater, we stumbled upon this guy without much wait.

DS absolutely LOVED Sulley! I was surprised, considering how hesitant he had been around other characters so far and how huge Sulley is compared to, well, everyone. But he just lit up when he saw him and wouldn't stop giggling. Best smile we got from him in a character picture, I think.

Now we were about ready to eat, so after walking around and trying to decide, we ended up back at Taste Pilots Grill. DH didn't make the same mistake as before and got himself an adult meal, and we got Paxton the mac & cheese with applesauce. I'm pretty sure this was the first time he ate his whole kids meal! We also gave him a couple of our fries, but he tried putting those in his ears instead of eating them.

Mmmm, applesauce!​

After we finished eating, we made our way over to the Paradise Pier section to check wait times, but everything was getting pretty long, so we just shopped instead. We ended up buying a couple of shirts, a DL one for DH and a World of Color one for me. Purchases made, we left the park and went back to the resort for a nap. After DS's peeing incident the day before, I really wanted to do a load of laundry while he was napping. Our room was right above the laundry room, so I went down with a basket of clothes only to find all of the machines being used except for two, which were both broken. We never ended up able to do any laundry that day. Every time I went down to check, I found the same thing. That was the one thing I didn't enjoy about this resort, not having laundry facilities in each unit. Now that we are traveling with Paxton especially, that is what I love most about staying with Wyndham!

Other than that, our break was unexciting, and we were up by 3:10 and out the door at 3:45. We were hoping to make it back in time for the Aladdin musical at DCA which was starting at 4:45. We made it in plenty of time, so we didn't have to rush.

DH took some pictures of the posters on the walls re-routing us around what is now Buena Vista St.

And one of Grizzly River Run, which we never rode...
​

We made it to the Aladdin theater in plenty of time and got in line with the second group. We had about 20 minutes or so to wait, and 10 minutes in is when we smelled it...a stinky diaper! So far I think (even including our WDW trip!) I had never had to change a dirty diaper in the parks, DS had been nice enough to time them for when we were at the resort. I was hoping I could change him inside, but I went to a CM to ask about restrooms in the theater and was told there were none.

Luckily, they gave me a pass to leave and reenter the line in the second group so we wouldn't have to join way at the end. We practically ran to the nearest restroom and I had him changed in record time so we could get back to the theater. We made it back right as they were letting our group in the doors, so we filed right on in with the group and found a seat near the middle in the rear section.

DS loved having his own seat!

The show was really great, and DS was loving it at the beginning. He loved the singing and was clapping right along with everyone else in the audience. But it was a lot longer than we had realized, and halfway through he started getting bored. He wanted to go back and forth between me and DH, climb down from the seat, and he started making a lot of noise. But we knew the end of the show was close, so we tried to wait it out. Then the technical difficulties came in. You know the end of the movie when they are tricking Jafar out of his wishes and he turns into a giant serpent, then says he wants to be an all-powerful genie and ends up in the lamp? Well, a giant serpent appeared...but then it wouldn't go away! The curtain went down, the serpent was still there, and the house lights came on. They made an announcement that the show would be resuming shortly, but we decided to book it out of there. It provided us a nice exit without having to disturb people during the show to climb out over them. It had been almost an hour since we had gotten in the theater! The show was very entertaining, especially Genie, but it was just a little too long for us.

After exiting the theater, we stopped to determine if there was anything else we wanted to do before leaving DCA for the last time, but the longer wait times made it too difficult for DH and I to rider switch anything, and there wasn't anything else we felt like we needed to do. But before exiting, we stopped to pick up our free 5x7, and I noticed on the CM's nametag that he was from Lafayette! As he was pulling up our pictures, I pointed it out to DH and said, "Look he's from Lafayette too!" The CM looked surprised and said "Louisiana?" like he was really surprised, I guess because there are cities named Lafayette lots of places. If I had been thinking on my toes, I would have told him he should have been able to tell by the way we say it...here in south Louisiana, it's pronounced Laffy-ette instead of Lah-fah-yette like everywhere else. So we had a nice moment with the CM chatting about home while he got our pictures ready to view. We ended up choosing a print of the family with Chip & Dale from earlier that day.

Picture in hand, we said farewell to Disney California Adventure for the last time that trip! I was more sad than I would have guessed to be leaving that park. Mostly because I knew it meant the end of our last DL day was rapidly approaching, and also because I really enjoyed DCA a lot more than I thought I would!

UP NEXT: Until Next Time, Disneyland...

 

[MEK]

Paxton looks like he is having a ball with the characters. Oh sweet that he fell in love with Sully!

Yeah for eating all his lunch. Boo for making mommy and daddy take an emergency dirty diaper run.

The Aladdin show looks so great. I would really love to see that some day. I have to admit, the more I see, the more intrigued I am by DL and CA. I really need to plan a trip there someday soon.

 

[khertz]

Paxton looks like he is having a ball with the characters. Oh sweet that he fell in love with Sully!

Yeah for eating all his lunch. Boo for making mommy and daddy take an emergency dirty diaper run.

The Aladdin show looks so great. I would really love to see that some day. I have to admit, the more I see, the more intrigued I am by DL and CA. I really need to plan a trip there someday soon.

I loved that he loved Sulley because Monsters Inc. is one of my favorite movies! We didn't get to see them in WDW, maybe we will have to work it into our plans to find them in October.

Yeah, the dirty diaper was a bit of stress, but at least we made it in time for the show! I would have been upset to miss it entirely. Even though it ended up being a little too much to keep him interested, I would have been disappointed since it was our last opportunity to see it.

I just couldn't believe how much we loved DLR. I think that is what pushed us to go back for our anniversary trip next month. We felt like we only scratched the surface of what they have there! And with just 2 of us going this time, I think we can get a lot more ground covered in 4 days than we did with Paxton along.