TR - Happy birthday to me! 6/19 - 6/23 COMPLETED 2/5

[Eeee-va]

Back in February or so, my mom, my friend "R", and I decided to go to Disneyland this summer, to celebrate my 30th birthday! (And to a lesser extent, R's, who we missed by a few days for the trip due to my brother's wedding and the fact that we have to work for a living. )

Originally we had thought that R would get off work in Tucson at noon so we'd be leaving Phoenix 3 PM or so. But she took the day off, so I calculated we might make it to DL in time for fireworks, or at least Fantasmic! Hooray!

6/19/09 - 1 PM:
Mom arrived at my place shortly after 1. We got me added on to the rental car (my mom and I both have old cars and we couldn't drive R's) and then drove through the adjacent KFC. (Mmm, $1.99 snack box...cheapest meal I'd eat in a while. )

We left the Phoenix area about 1:30 PM, put in the radio dramatization CD of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" (followed by part of "Prince Caspian"), and stopped at McDonalds in Indio for ice cream. We got to HoJo, room 1615, about 7:30 PM!

Here was our Disney view (taken a later afternoon). I liked the view and Mom saw fireworks from the room.

You could definitely hear the freeway noise from the balcony. It wasn't bad in the room, but as others have said, the AC was quite loud. Definitely no silence in the room! I only heard kids yelling in the halls once, but I think the AC would mask that mostly anyway. People from the country/a place where it tends to be quiet might find the rooms way too noisy.

The room only had one sink as well, but we were OK with that.

The safe did not work when we got in, so they had to send someone else up to fix it while we were in the parks that night. It was fine after that.

The Internet did not work either, and it took about 30 minutes on the phone with the help desk on Saturday to get them to say they'd send an "engineer" to swap out the boxes, hopefully within 15 minutes. It was maybe 4 hours later--while R and I were walking to the parks--before someone came by. Once he thought he fixed it he wanted to try it on my computer, but I'd shut it down, so I had to tell Mom how to log in. Nothing more fun than shouting your computer's password 4 or 5 times on the walkway to Disneyland. Once it was fixed, it was slow and a touch inconvenient (as I couldn't plug my laptop into the Ethernet and the power outlet at the same time) but did get the job done.

The phone didn't work after the Internet was plugged in--I played with the plugs and it seemed to be an either/or thing.

The outlets along the TV wall were loose and would not hold a power plug consistently. There was at least one plug on my mom's side of the room but she needed it. We ended up plugging batteries/our phones/my laptop in the bathroom. Definitely bring a power strip!

I didn't mind the walk until the very last time we did it, but I think reports that it's a very easy walk are a bit exaggerated. The distance kept my mother (who was in some pain, maybe from the humidity?) from coming back to the parks after our break on more than one occasion.

The fridge was a good touch, even if we primarily used it for water. (I brought a 24-pack of water bottles for less than the price of a single bottle of water at Disneyland!)

The beds were comfortable but didn't strike me as anything amazing. I'm not picky, so maybe that's why? The gift shop was cute but pricey. The spaces in the parking lot seemed very small.

For the Entertainment rate I reckon the $59 rooms would be a good value, but I don't understand all the stellar reviews. Maybe I need to stay in a bad hotel to appreciate HoJo more? But there were too many issues with the room for me to recommend it, and I'll look around for other hotels the next time I visit...though I'm not sure I can beat the price. If I had small children who wanted to do the water thing then I think it'd be a stronger choice.

Never mind; the room is just a place to sleep anyway. Once we threw our things down, we made our way into Disneyland! It will be more positive, I promise.

 

[Eeee-va]

Here's my blinged out LGMH!

Didn't spot any or get spotted, but it was so cute!

We arrived at the parks around 8 PM on Friday, 6/19, and waited to see the fireworks (on the left side, right at the aisle they block off at the hub to allow people to get across the park). Pretty good spot, aside from people shoving their way through the crowd to the blocked off walkway. It was closer to Frontierland than Adventureland.

(Bear with me; I forgot my camera's night settings until near the end of the night.)

Mom is very social, so she struck up a conversation with a nice couple of Athletics fans who tried to give us tips like getting to the parks early. They were fun! I had said we were going to try to do Fantasmic after fireworks and they didn't know that was possible, so they said they were coming with us.

DL played the "wind" announcement I believe three times--my last trip was in November 2005 so I was well used to it, as they only ran fireworks one of the three nights we were there. This time, Tink didn't fly (I wasn't certain she was supposed to at that point) but the fireworks started. They outright stopped the show right as Dumbo's part was starting!

As soon as the lights went up, I grabbed my friend's backpack and my mom's hand. I called our new friends 2 or 3 times to tell them to follow us, but I think they were in shock or something, or maybe expecting the fireworks to somehow start again, and they wouldn't come along. Leaving them behind, we made our way toward the Rivers of America. (R is more assertive than I am so she's better at weaving through crowds, so she was in the lead.) Traffic was blocked for a few minutes but we weaseled our way to within sight of the rope, safely. (Mom saw someone elbow a child in the face! And the show didn't even fill up, so I don't know why people needed to be aggressive. )

Once they retreated with the rope we walked with purpose, and got a spot just to the left of the rightmost water screen, right against the fence. That's obviously not the conventional choice for the best spot, but honestly, I thought it was great--since I've seen the show several times, seeing some of the backstage stuff is pretty awesome. I don't think I've ever felt so close to the characters!

(Again, sorry; forgot about night settings ).

Given that this was a "bonus" day--I didn't even have a Ridemax plan for it--we didn't feel we NEEDED to do anything, but I figured the park would be getting busier on days that weren't blocked out, so I thought we should do as much as we could anyway. We made our way over to Small World and were riding at about 11:11. I hadn't seen the new additions but I actually liked them.

Mom decided to be reasonable and go back to the room at that point.

Per the Saturday Ridemax plan we were piggybacking off of, we figured to go do Finding Nemo, but it was closed. So we literally walked on to Star Tours at 11:39 PM (the doors were open when we arrived at the theater--er--shuttle).

Mr. Toad's Wild Ride still had a bit of a wait at 11:50 PM, but we got through shortly before Disneyland closing. I'd wanted to do the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough but R stopped to take pictures of the outside of the castle so we just missed it. Oh well.

We did stop on Main Street to get some pressed coins--the WALL-E set I'd coveted ever since I found out it existed, and a happy surprise, a coin of Mittens from Bolt! (The only merchandise of her I found anywhere in the parks, so that made it even more special. I ended up getting 3 of them by the end of the trip. )

Anyway, we had a great time, and it was a day we hadn't even thought we'd be spending any time in the parks at all (hooray for the 5 for 3 admission deal). So it was all like a nice bonus!

Lessons learned:
Always try to see fireworks early, and be prepared to roll with the punches (hopefully not literally....).

 

[casiland]

More please......

 

[Eeee-va]

More please......

Sure thing! Thanks for reading.

Bucking conventional wisdom, we decided to do our MM on Sunday, 6/21, instead of Saturday, 6/20. I figured we were all tired from the drive on Friday, and two of us did stay until close that day.

Unfortunately, my mom was not feeling well--we think it might have been the humidity, but at any rate she was in a lot of pain, and painkillers didn't help. So we agreed to meet at DCA later, left her at HoJo, and made our way to Disneyland bright and early! We arrived at the gates maybe 20 minutes before opening? We moved to the shortest lines--12 and 13?--and then when the next gates shifted from Magic Morning to regular entrance, we slid over to them. We were there plenty early to get in shortly after park opening, at any rate.

Per Ridemax (no late Fastpass returns), the very first thing we did was Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters. I'm still not very good but I had fun. We left that ride at 8:08 AM and went to Space Mountain for Fastpasses. Ridemax called for a runner but we both walk fast and neither of us were tired yet, so we made good time together. We reached Indiana Jones around 8:15 AM and rode Standby. ::tents fingers:: All according to plan!

At 8:40 AM we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. Most of the Ridemax plans I put together had it later, but it was a big priority for both of us. The wait was minimal.

We did Big Thunder Mountain Railroad standby at 9 AM, just slightly ahead of Ridemax.

Our plan had said to do Pirate's Lair/Tom Sawyer Island that day--I had put together a plan for Saturday to do as much as possible of the new things that we hadn't seen since our last visits--but we decided that it would be best to wait until Sunday to do that, when the park should be more crowded (we thought, as Saturday was a blockout day for Deluxe APs but Sunday was not). So we walked to Toontown, arriving at 9:11 or so. We went to Gadget's Go-Coaster (I used to ADORE Gadget and it's still a cute coaster, so I like to ride it at least once per trip). Unfortunately, it was closed. So we did Roger Rabbit's CarToon Spin (no wait at 9:20 AM).

We even got a Fastpass just in case we wanted to do it later...of course we didn't end up using it, but I totally felt like a pro.

Then we took the train to Tomorrowland. Are they really politely asking us to sue?

Reached Space Mountain at 9:31 AM by my camera's math, though the Fastpass return said 9:25. I'm sticking with the later time for my report. As we were nearing our exit time from Disneyland until the evening, we figured we should get Fastpasses in case we wanted to use them way after the start time (per the DIS boards tricks ). But we figured to do it after the ride. Anyone who has been to Disneyland more recently than 2005 can probably figure out what is wrong with that plan, but for those of you who haven't, Space Mountain's exit is quite some distance from the Fastpass machine so getting a FP afterwards requires a lengthy backtrack to do so. Oh well.

Unfortunately, the music was NOT WORKING in our car! What was really weird was that the vocal audio, like the countdown, did work. Riding it in silence took an awesome coaster down to just "OK." Don't hate me, but I think that without music, WDW's is actually better than DL's.

We were all out of Ridemax for Disneyland, so we took the train from Tomorrowland over to New Orleans Square. We started waiting around 9:43 AM and per my photos were still waiting at 10:01 AM. Every 5-10 minutes my foot!

We arrived at Haunted Mansion at 10:15 AM, and got a trio of fritters at 10:35 AM. They actually weren't very good--way too dough-y/underdone, and I got a stomach ache for about 30 seconds--but I still like the "fruit" sauce.

Yes, I found the napkin funny, being in New Orleans Square.

Does ANYONE come to the park to celebrate ragtime? (10:46 AM)

Lessons learned: If you want to ride Space Mountain AND get a Fastpass, get the Fastpass BEFORE riding!

 

[Eeee-va]

We went over to DCA, arriving around 11 or so. R had never been there so she had to take a LOT of pictures!

Ridemax said to get a Soarin' FP immediately, but we couldn't do so until Mom arrived in the park and she was running late. We walked a bit and did Monsters Inc. early, with a maybe 5-10 minute wait at 11:05 AM. But it was so cute!!!! (I do love Monsters Inc. though.) I would've been happy hanging out in the TV area for 5 or 10 minutes, for sure!

KITTEHS!!!!!! (And I think a Lego horse in the corner. )

We met Mom a bit before 11:30 and got our Fastpasses for Soarin' (slightly behind schedule but our return time was ahead of when Ridemax predicted, so no harm done). We hung out around the theater to go to the 12:10 Aladdin show...Ridemax said to make sure you get there 20 minutes early to get a seat, but we could've gotten there around show start and gotten in, I think. We got in line at 25 or 20 minutes before the show and were placed in the lowest level--there weren't TOO many people waiting with us.

I had seen it before (and my mom had seen it before but she admits she has no memory, so she was happy that she didn't remember anything of it ). It was still great! Genie had a good line about GM (I believe it was "No wishing for more wishes. GM couldn't do it...") and we all loved the one along the lines of "Talk to my LEFT hand, because you ain't right."

Our Soarin' FP was good at 1:15 PM (45 minutes earlier than Ridemax said to use it, though that might be because we skipped Muppetvision 3-D). So we went on. I actually didn't care for it the first time I saw it--I don't like heights--but now that I know the video, I enjoy it! My mom adores it--she likes flying, likes the ocean, etc., and it was new to R, so I had made it a big priority. And yes, now I like it.

Then we went to the Taste Pilots Grill. I did not like the idea of "pushing the envelope of taste"--I mean, I like spicy/flavorful food, but "pushing the envelope of GOOD taste" means that you're saying something that's really close to being offensive. And I don't want to EAT something that's really close to being offensive. Luckily, the burger was still good anyway. So good I ate part before getting a photo. Too bad my cheese wasn't melted, as I like melted cheese. The CM who gave me the burger complimented my jumper dress (which I made myself) and asked if I lived in the area. Not a tourist--double-compliment!!!

We again kind of ditched our Ridemax plans a bit--we all went to Paradise Pier at this point and R and I "ran" to get Fastpasses for California Screamin', but at 2:28 PM, the sign SAID the line for Toy Story Mania was less than 30 minutes--shorter than Ridemax had predicted at 3:30 PM, so we went ahead and got in line. I thought it was cute enough, and of course it was great to see Jessie! but I actually liked Buzz Lightyear's Astro Blasters a bit more, as I'm a tactile person. The pull-string guns are awesome, though. The queue reminded me of something in Cedar Point, though I was surprised to see this weird/pointless (?) area? I think a CM or two was there while picking up used glasses, but I don't know that there's any other point to it, except to show the "toy" set you played with?

We actually hung out in that upstairs area for a bit, taking photos. We had to deviate from Ridemax anyway (it was windy so the Golden Zephyr wasn't running, and we decided to leave Mickey's Fun Wheel for the next day in favor of more rest.) So we did King Triton's Carousel (3:20 PM).

I thought this DID look just like a seaside park.

We rode California Screamin' (in line with Fastpass at 3:25 PM). From the video I thought it wouldn't be too bad, but I did not like the drops. And the music was cutting in and out! Darned music curse!!! I think it might have been a bit better for me with the music. R, on the other hand, hates loops. So both of us weren't quite feeling our best as we got off the ride. Too much adrenalin! I will go on it once more, at night, if and only if my good friend from Florida comes out, as she'll want to ride. But I think that's it.

Here's a nice calming image.

While we rode, Mom had gone over to get ice cream at Catch a Flave (ugh, what an awful pun!) but they were OUT! We caught a couple minutes of the High School Musical 3 show on the way out--Mom had to get a few pictures for one of her students, who loves High School Musical. Then we headed out, and were on our way back to the room by 3:48!

Lessons learned: Be flexible with Ridemax and if crowds are lower than predicted, take advantage. (But if you can manage, don't skip your break. ) And respect and fear the coaster or you too may be faced with the MUSIC CURSE!

 

[Eeee-va]

We went back to DCA for the Electrical Parade. I knew we should get supper, but I just didn't want chicken strips, thought everything else at the Farmer's Market place seemed overpriced, and so I ended up with...

The Electrical Parade right behind a stroller--whoo!

We rushed back to Disneyland and a nice CM didn't actually check our handstamps on the way in, so that we could see the fireworks. We made it in a few minutes before the point they had STOPPED the day before. Still no Dumbo though.

The line at Finding Nemo wasn't too bad, so we hopped in. There was a live band playing in Tomorrowland so that was pretty fun. (Anyone know who they were?)

Then we did the Sleeping Beauty walkthrough.

I love sewing and small things. (Store window in Fantasyland)

Then we saw the Pixie Hollow show (it started a few minutes after 11) and finally headed back to Space Mountain to use our old FPs, which worked fine.

Back at the alternate viewing area for Sleeping Beauty (I would've watched it, but since I have the DVD, I can watch the same footage at home).

It is nice that they have one of the books there though!

We walked back to It's a Small World to try to get pressed pennies, having forgotten that the ones we sought were in the Fantasy Faire area....

So we wandered back down Main Street and when we got back to the room (12:13 AM)...

Thank you, Mom! (I feel awful that she felt so bad during so much of the trip. )

Lessons learned: Er...Mom is awesome?

 

[Eeee-va]

Reminder, all these time stamps are based on when photos were taken, so don't take the times as exact, but good estimates.

The awful thing about the trip was that my mom wasn't feeling very well so she missed an awful lot of the time in the parks. But we did get to spend some time together on Sunday, at last...

For my birthday (Sunday), we made it to the bag check well before opening...in fact, well before bag check was open!

At 6:44 AM, I was amused to see this pillar collapse, to allow a truck through. Evidently it's remote-controlled!

We walked pretty fast once we were allowed in.

We hit Peter Pan's Flight at 7:06 AM (the very first people on!).
Dumbo - 7:10 AM
Matterhorn - 7:15 AM
Other side of the Matterhorn - 7:24 AM
Alice in Wonderland - 7:28 AM
Mr. Toad - 7:31 AM
Pinocchio - 7:34 AM
Carousel - 7:43 AM

Mad Tea Party - 7:49 AM
Space Mountain - 7:59 AM

There was a WORM outside of Space Mountain, but R picked it up and put it back in the dirt! (Sigh, that was the only Disneyland animal we saw all trip...)

Buzz Lightyear - 8:11 AM
Indiana Jones - in line at 8:26 AM
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad - 8:52 AM

Ridemax said to go to Splash Mountain, but that was closed! So we did Pooh (9:08 AM). Splash Mountain came back online so we got in line at 9:14 (just missing our 9:30 AM meeting time with Mom ). I got so wet!

So to try to dry off, we went to Pirate's Lair on Tom Sawyer's Island.

After spending an hour on the island, we came back to the mainland and got some popcorn in NOS.

Haunted Mansion - 11 AM (it was COLD since I was still a bit damp!)
Pirates of the Caribbean - 11:19 AM
Bengal Barbecue (maybe my favorite!) - 12:04 PM

Then we went to DCA to get my birthday gift card and button. (12:29 PM)

 

[Eeee-va]

We headed back to the room to rest a bit and take a drive to the Character Warehouse. (I was quite disappointed with the Character Warehouse; they just didn't have very much to interest me.) We did stop at Dollar Tree for glow necklaces/bracelets and we did drive through Jack in the Box too.

View from our room:

We went to the Pixar Play Parade in DCA after a quick rest. I thought Monster Boo was the cutest thing ever; I ended up buying a plushie of her. I also found it very funny--during the Incredibles segment, there was an African-American family (I assume) behind us and the man was saying (regarding Frozone), "That's got to be a brother in that costume." He just went ON about it, too! I'll trust that he's right; I wouldn't know.

If only there were a WALL-E float...

The mass of people after the parade:

We rode the Sun Wheel about 5:52 PM. We were paired with a young man, young woman, and little girl; very sweet. I liked the wheel in Coney Island better (Disney just took the design of that 1920 wheel, supposedly without permission ), but it's nice in DCA too.

The Golden Zephyr had been closed for "wind" most of the time. But it opened up and we managed to ride at 6:20 PM! (It would have been a pretty awesome ride back in the 1900s. Oh, I love old rides!)

Then we went over to the Blue Sky Cellar...I love exhibits!

We did A Bug's Land, boarding Heimlich's train at 7:07 PM. I love where they make you feel tiny (giant pencils/etc.) but that wasn't my favorite film...don't know that I'll ride that train again! We also saw "It's Tough to Be a Bug"--again, not sure I'll do it again, but R had never been on it.

We did a little shopping around 7:45 PM (R needed a keychain) and then back to Disneyland! We ate dinner at Redd Rocket's Pizza Port...my pizza was honestly cold but I wanted the pizza with those toppings anyway. Gotta love the big-sized waters!

Then we headed back to Main Street, where we hung out and shopped before fireworks, not really wanting to go out of our way to see the show that we'd already seen 1.5 times, but wanting to see Dumbo.

R even got a silhouette done. They took their sweet time on her hair, too--I'm not sure if it's because she had a complicated bun-holder in (she did) or because the artist was new (she looked young to me), or because people stopped to look as she was having her silhouette done, meaning that they attract more potential customers when someone's in the chair. Maybe all three.

After spending three evenings trying to watch fireworks (with varying degrees of effort), Dumbo just didn't seem worth it to me.

Then, I was unexpectedly alone. I went to do Pirates of the Caribbean ...half of a family kind of shoved by me in the queue with the other half behind me, so they got to the operator and said how many were in their party and filed right in, leaving me standing there. Other families came up behind me and the operator seated a few of them before he realized that I wasn't part of the family that had half-passed ahead of me. I don't honestly mind going solo, but since I had just been unexpectedly made solo, I didn't like that at all. Was still out of sorts through Big Thunder Mountain and kind of sort of seeing the ending of Fantasmic.

Then I headed to Fantasyland and rode the boats for some reason; I guess because it was one of the few things we hadn't done? The little girl in line ahead of me said she heard Ariel sing and her mom told her to sing like Ariel, so she did. Then we got the Ariel boat. That helped cheer me up.

I wandered back down Main Street, hung out in the Penny Arcade a bit, and checked out the Main Street Cinema (Traffic Trouble is very funny around midnight!). I probably would have been better off going back to the room earlier, as I got a little sick on Monday, but ah well. It was mostly a happy birthday!

 

[Eeee-va]

I guess it would be nice to try to work on finishing this one....though I don't know; I'm feeling a little too lazy to deal with times since my clock was off on my camera!

But on 6/22 the first thing we (me and "R"--Mom was tired) did was Casey Jr. (which was a bit of a wait and not so exciting, to be honest, LOL). Well, first we may have gotten Indy FPs and were fixing to use them but I got a text, and no we couldn't...because we met up with my friend "D" and her family, all the way from Washington! Wow! Her family wanted to do something right away, so we ended up in a surprisingly long line for Buzz Lightyear. How sad; I'm always happy when I break 100K!

I think we split up then, with "D" and her youngest DD with us and the others doing whatever they liked. We did offer them our Indy FPs though.

Then we went on Pirates of the Caribbean...you know, I might be getting a better camera before my next trip (this one has like 3.1 megapixels ...or maybe just 3 megapixels, as a couple pixels are dead and always come up white in the dark, LOL).

"D" said she was terrified of all rides that go fast at all so I was afraid that Pirates of the Caribbean might be too much for her, but she was OK on it.

I had thought "D" said she wasn't taking her daughter on Haunted Mansion, but they ended up going and I think they enjoyed it very much.

Then we went on the Sailing Ship Columbia! I love ships. Though it's odd that it runs in a perfect circle with no sails out at all. Do you think it is haunted?

I don't think I'd been below deck before. It's not quite as nice as the San Diego Maritime Museum but it's pretty cool. "D"'s DD was loving running around the ship.

It couldn't have been much past noon (if any)...the park was pretty darned busy!

Blast--it's been so long, I don't remember when we met up with Mom. But it was sometime before I fetched cream cheese pretzels for her and me. It was much better for breakfast at WDW around 6/19/08...for a late morning snack in DL in summer (even if it was just a year later), it was not very good. Though honestly, I think I was a little ill, so that may have had something to do with it.

Main Street window...like others, I totally miss when they changed the displays for the current movies.

Then we hopped over to DCA, which wasn't nearly as busy. Particularly at MuppetVision 3-D.

Then we ate at Wine Country Trattoria. I had pretty high expectations after all the rave reviews here but I wasn't impressed. In fairness, we were outside on a day well over 70 and I was hot/probably had a slight fever.

The food didn't impress me at all that day; I got the Caprese Sandwich and only ate half.

But in fairness, I had the rest for breakfast (!) I believe it was on 6/23 and it was pretty good then...so it's possible the sandwich just needed a bit of "aging" but more likely I just wasn't feeling well.

Service was definitely leisurely; it doesn't appear they had turning over tables high on their list of priorities, and we waited for ages to get simple things like a cup of ice. And since I was not feeling well it wasn't too pleasant to be waiting in the sun. Since my birthday was the day before, Mom told them this was my birthday meal and they were supposed to bring out ice cream for me, which was fine, whatever...except they took a really long time to bring it out and I wanted to go use the restroom. I waited as long as I could but then as soon as I was finally on my way to the restroom the waiters/etc. came out. Argh! Anyway, the food was a good value but the service wasn't very good (the others agreed on that point) and at best it certainly wasn't a quick way to eat!

I think my ice cream may have been waiting a while. (To be fair, though, I LIKE it mushy!)

We must have done Soarin' after that. Then I headed back to the room with Mom; "R" went on to do the Orange Stinger because we knew it would be gone by the time we came back again. I would have liked to do it (well, I would have liked to do it more when the seats made you look like a bee! ) but I just wasn't feeling well.

 

[Eeee-va]

After a stint in the room me, Mom, and "R" came back sometime in the afternoon. Space Mountain:

Best popcorn person ever!

I really wanted to take the monorail, so we did....the line was quite long, though. We figured we could eat in Downtown Disney.

DROOOOOOOOOL

Dinner at Tortilla Jo's. Normally I prefer beef/steak, to be honest, but I thought something nice and plain might be better since I was still a bit under the weather. I couldn't finish the tacos.

We went through World of Disney and I spent about 2/3 of my birthday gift card.

You can't see it, but that Sleeping Beauty dress is pink on one side, and blue on the other. Someone on DISboards had a story about her sister making one (for her daughter?) just like that--pink on one side and blue on the other, which sounded like the most brilliant thing ever to me!

We had decided to meet up with "D" and some of her family before Fantasmic!...we said we'd meet before the first show ended/before fireworks. I was wondering how we'd find them but we almost ran into "D" and her daughter (also "R") by Haunted Mansion, LOL!

We edged into the lower center tier during fireworks and got a place front and almost center after the fireworks ended.

I'm sure the people around us were a bit miffed at us, because there were like 5 of us waiting for Fantasmic and then I think 3 other family members of hers slowly filtered down and made their way to be seated with us not too long before the show started. If I would have known they were all coming I would've saved more space for them! Her husband stayed back, though, so it was just her kids.

Columbia! What have they done to you???

We went back to the room right after Fantasmic! because we were tired. The gift shop was still open, even!

 

[Eeee-va]

Our last day! ::SNIFF::

"R" and I arrived before opening, of course. We started the day at Space Mountain--I believe we got FPs and then rode.

Then came Indy, which was already starting to get up there in wait time.

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!

We headed back to Toontown to ride Gadget's Go-Coaster (which had been down the last time we were in the area):

Then we went to the Princess Fantasy Faire area, I believe to pick up some pressed pennies.

Funniest ATM ever!

I think we stopped by Space Mountain to get FPs just in case Mom wanted to ride too.

Then we finally went over to upgrade to APs, back when they were in the Bank of Main Street.

Back to DCA...we waited for Mom and then got FPs for Soarin' at 10:03 AM:

Then perhaps we went to Monsters Inc.? We went to the Animation Building at last (I'd already been once; "R" had not).

I wonder if this is true. (Last time I got Jane, from Tarzan.)

We hopped back to Soarin' and rode it, then went back to DL. We took the train to New Orleans Square, hoping to ride PotC...but it was down, and the resultant line for Haunted Mansion was very long.

So "R" and I went back to Space Mountain--I THINK my mom sat it out--and then we finally went back to Main Street for lunch...

...ice cream!

This was a Tuesday shortly after lunch and the park was already packed...right before AP blockouts, though, so hopefully that was the issue.

Goodbye, Disneyland! ::SNIFF::

Gas station on the way back.

The drive back always feels a LOT longer than the drive there, but we made it home safe, with Mom driving in town and me driving some of the middle stretch.

And best of all, we were already thinking of our next trip, December 2009!

Thanks for reading, whoever did.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Sounds like your trip had a lot of ups & downs.......it bums me out to read about people getting sick while on their vacations. Hopefully you still had a good birthday & some great memories.

So you never got to see Dumbo in the fireworks?? I've only seen it on youtube......but it looked so darn cute!!

Thanx for sharing your trip & pics!!!

 

[Eeee-va]

Sounds like your trip had a lot of ups & downs.......it bums me out to read about people getting sick while on their vacations. Hopefully you still had a good birthday & some great memories.

So you never got to see Dumbo in the fireworks?? I've only seen it on youtube......but it looked so darn cute!!

Thanx for sharing your trip & pics!!!

Thank you! I was still well enough to go to the parks, just kind of under the weather (may have been better off sleeping in until noon (gasp) one day but I didn't feel that was an option ). And I think going to celebrate your birthday and expecting everyone to think your birthday is as special as you do just sets you up for disappointment. Though CMs and some guests did wish me happy birthday, yes.

We DID finally see Dumbo on my birthday, but from quite a bit of a distance, as we were coming from the Electrical Parade. It was pretty cute but after going to the trouble to see fireworks three days in a row and only managing to see him from afar on the third day, I think you can understand why I found Dumbo slightly underwhelming by that point.

See that gray speck?

I did have a very nearly perfect trip in December 2009 though. (MY only disappointment was not seeing the Christmas parade; I can't speak for my travel buddies, particularly my mom who just wanted to see the sun! )

 

[SaeSawanoguchi]

Man I'm sorry you got sick. But I hope you had fun. I'll have to pray that the food has improved from your experience.

 

[Eeee-va]

Man I'm sorry you got sick. But I hope you had fun. I'll have to pray that the food has improved from your experience.

Thank you! Yes, I had fun. Are you eating at Wine Country Trattoria? I'm sure it's fine; my expectations were just too high. Or Redd Rocket's...well, just make sure you don't get pizza that obviously isn't hot.