TR: My feet are KILLING me... let's keep going! DLR 4-9 October 2015

[Canadian Harmony]

I'm going to start the trip report today and continue till it's done. If you're a faster reader than I am writer, please feel free to check out the PRT which is located here.

A little background on the players in this masquerade. I'm your host, Mary. I'm an ex-sailor/ex-soldier in the Canadian military. I've been out for about 4 years now and due to a business that didn't work out, I'm back working for the military as a civilian. Doing pretty much what I was doing before, but for much less money. At least I don't need to wear a uniform, heh. I'm married to...

Ben. Ben is a currently serving navy guy and has another 4 years to go (2 if he can find a job to slide into right away) before hitting his 25 years. We're both parents to...

Rachel and Margaret. Rachel celebrated her 11th birthday at the park, and Margaret celebrated her 9th. We decided to have our belated anniversary celebration there too, and I wanted to enjoy an early birthday for me on the last day of our trip as mine is the following Tuesday. I don't know if the girls were happier they were going to DLR, or that they were out of school to do it, but they had been looking forward to this since we booked in February.

Photos to follow once they're uploaded to Facebook and in order!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Day 1 - I Wish I Knew What I Didn't Know

Our day started EARLY! We were up at 2:30AM and got the girls up at 3. The limo ... ok... let me digress here for a minute. We have a friend who owns a limo company and he gave us a smokin' deal on a ride to and from the airport. It was awesome because we wouldn't have to worry about parking fees for the week. So, the limo was coming at 3:30 as we had to be at the airport for 4:30 for our 6am flight. Ben and I dozed all the way down while the girls were wound up from riding in the fancy car. We got to the airport without a problem and checked in at Alaska Air's desk easily. Our airport is creating a new baggage security area so we had to walk the checked bags down the other end of the airport and walked to the middle to finish our drinks before going through security.

Security was quick and then we were waiting for our flight to board. Hubby dozed while I made sure the kids behaved themselves. The early hour was starting to catch them up, so they mostly sat and tried not to be bored. We loaded and then 35 minutes later we were in SeaTac airport. We grabbed our bags from the carousel, went through the security kiosks electronically (had to lift Margaret up to the screen for her photo), and then through the actual person kiosk. Took the checked bags to the drop off point and as we were in the South terminal we had to make our way to the North terminal. There's a cool train system that we took from the South terminal to the C (central) terminal, and then across the hall to take the North train. We traveled with another family but didn't pay them much attention - they were going to Disney too but so were a bagillion others, so we'd probably not see them again.

At 11:30ish we were leaving Seattle and cloud for SoCal and cloud. But it was warm cloud. The girls were pretty excited, as you can see!

We touched down on time and went downstairs to get our bags from the carousel there. Once they were in hand, I called Karmel to let them know we were ready. He told us to go across the roads to the shuttle pick up points and there'd be a white van, number 92, waiting for us. Sure enough, the van pulled around the corner in a minute or two. The family we met on the SeaTac trains were the other family in our van. I pulled the sore leg card (truthfully it WAS very sore still) and sat shotgun.

Within 25-30 minutes we made it to PPH (other family was at HoJo - we didn't see them for the rest of the week!)

We checked in and received birthday balloons and buttons for me and the girls, as well as signed pictures from Belle and Ariel. Our room was ready at 12:30!! Amazing and SO appreciated. Of course, we needed the obligatory Goofy Photo in the lobby. What you see here is PURE joy on Rachel's face.

We were in room 1407.

Standard PPH room with the $65 beach ball pillows. Our view was less than stellar though...

Pool and parkade Woo. Hooo. We heard the fireworks every night though, and rode in the glass elevator as much as we could.

We went outside and grabbed a cab to Harbour and Orange for In N Out Burger. I was too chicken to figure out where the bus was. So the cab ride was $25 with tip. In retrospect - we should have tried to find that bus. Or another way because it was another $28 coming back due to traffic. We ate at In N Out and it was good but not the whole OMGIT'SSODELICIOUSIMUSTEATHEREEVERYTIME good.

Then we walked over to Walmart and spent $60 (where I only wanted to spend $20)... and still forgot the water. Ben decided he wanted t-shirts and ended up with polo shirts. We needed flipflops ($1.00 each - good score). The ponchos were WAY too expensive. I wanted ice packs for my knee. On and on, the list got longer and longer. I asked customer service to call us a cab. I was dumb enough to take their word for it. 10 minutes later I went back in and asked again. One girl tried but was put on hold and hung up. I asked for the number so I could call myself - which is really what I wanted in the first place - and within 5 minutes he pulled in. There were a couple lanes closed on the way into the park, so traffic was horrible and added to the bill. Ugh. Next time (and there WILL be a next time I'm sure), we're going to take the bus, even if it takes longer. That was $100 that didn't need to be spent at all.

We got back to the hotel and dropped our stuff off. My darling neighbour gave me her open bottle of Aleve and those dear blue pills kept me going all week. Then I grabbed my e-tickets and off we went to the gates. As we didn't know our way, we went the long way through DTD allllll the way to the security gates. We had a F! dinner reservation at 5:30 and it was about 4:45. PLENTY of time I thought. Even with these crowds.

5pm light is pretty good though.

Little did I know... my e-tickets had to be handed in at the main booth. Oh...and it was AP increase day so the lineups were ridiculously long. I caught the eye of a CM and asked her for Dining's number. I didn't realize my roaming was off and couldn't figure out why I couldn't get interwebz on my phone. She wandered off and came back and said there's nothing she could do but here's the number for Dining. Which I asked for in the first place. I called them and they assured our reservation would be held for 30 minutes. *Whew* When we got through the long, hot line, the CM at the ticket booth tried to tell me that we only got 4 days. I pointed out the words after... "and one more day free". Oh. So we got first visit buttons and our tickets and THEN went back to the turnstiles.

We showed our tickets and smiled for the camera and then... we were IN!

We had NO time to see Snow White (a recurring theme) - off we ran to RBT for our F! dinner. We only had about a 10 minute wait before our name was called and we were led in. Now, that sounds easy, right? I had NO idea where we were going. I followed the map and all and ended up at the backside of RBT. Finally got around the corner and checked in. We were seated around the centrepiece area and ordered our food. I'll add these photos to the food thread this week too.

I had the salad to start, DH had the corn chowder and said it was delicious.

Margaret had the mac & cheese for dinner. DH had the steak. Ray had the kid's chicken and I had the chicken. Our server was nice enough to allow Ray to eat off the kid's menu. I was just honest with him about her not having a huge appetite. In fact, most places either assumed she'd eat off the kid's menu or allowed her to, and it was much appreciated as whenever she had a full meal, she just couldn't eat it all.

Kid's appy - crudite and buns.

My chicken meal (sorry - I was ravenous!).

Kid's chicken breast meal.

Ben and I had the chocolate mousse and the kids had a cupcake. Well... Margaret had the icing...

We had left-overs boxed up for later. Ray didn't really touch her food, but Margaret ate her mac & cheese, but they were both beat as they'd been up a LONG time by this time.

Then we went to the photo place to get our photopass+ set up. That was another long lineup. Of course, we left our sweaters at the room, so after meeting Randy who circled all the cool photo spots (awesome!), we got a red hoody for Margaret and I bought a Malificent hoody. Trying to get in for F! was a gong show. Went to one place - nope, keep going down the street. Went to another... nope, see the girl in the beanie. The girl said no, she couldn't allow anyone in. Fine, but at least tell us WHERE we can go! Went back to the last guy who said go all the way to the fish place. We made it there and then walked alllllllll the way back to where we started in the first place! We were exhorted to squish closer and closer. One lady was yelling at us in Chinese and then as we let her through to sit with her family she was sweet as pie. Right on her heels was a CM to chased out the lady and her family who were not supposed to be in that area in the first place! Heh. There are many amazing photos of F! but I didn't take any. The best of the worst are here - Mickey on the platform and the cast on the Mark Twain.

That dragon was incredible. The whole thing was amazing. We stayed for the fireworks too and really enjoyed them. Our walk back was long and difficult as we didn't know where we were, but we made it back to a lovely surprise.

Those came in handy during the week. That was the end of day 1. Tomorrow - day 2!!

 

[adamkat]

Great review. Can't wait for tomorrow! Fellow canuck here flying from YVR to SNA. Can't wait to read more.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay. Ok, so we're now on day 2 - Monday... or as I'd like to call this instalment:
GET UP YOU LAZY LAY-ABOUTS!! WE'RE AT DISNEYLAND!! WHY are you SLEEPING?! And why do I keep screwing up?

Yes, my family were SLEEPING! I was wide awake at 0415. Everyone else was passed out. *sigh* I dozed on and off til 7 and then got them up and going. Now, no told me the dining vouchers had to go to a different building. Or, if they did, it completely escaped my remembering (sort of like how I forgot I could exchange my e-tickets at the hotel desk instead of at the ticket window). Crowds were busy at 8:30. Our meal was for 8:40.

We just loved the decorations out front. And for all those people, the lines move really quickly.

So instead of going to the Guest Services kiosk first, we went straight to the Plaza Inn

where we checked in at the cart out front then had our photos taken out on the patio

and then went inside where I found out I had to pay and get reimbursed after the fact *sigh*. We were seated to the left and then in the corner booth. The kids were wondering what to do. I was just going to suggest Ben and Ray go off for breakfast when who showed up but the Fairy Godmother!

She was incredible. Maggie asked, "Where's your wand?"
Immediately, she retorted, "In the cottage. Where's yours?"
Maggie said, "I don't have a wand."
"Then how'd you get here? Where are you from?"
"We flew from Victoria."
"In your pumpkin carriage? How did it get here from Victoria?"

Awesome interaction!!
This is her drawing a pumpkin carriage in our autograph book!

Lovely lady.

Next was Captain Hook. He signed and posed with Maggie as Dad and Ray were off getting breakfast.

Then Dale (with his e written backwards) came around.

Oh G**!! It's EEYORE!! I nearly started crying.

Our hostess came by and by this time Ray and Dad were back.

Maggie and I had time to grab some food and get back in time to meet with Suzy Mouse. We were NOT expecting her, so she didn't have a drawn page (and Maggie called her "Merry" so that was NOT good. Ugh - SO embarrasing), and her skirts were too big to fit in between the tables. We went out to meet her.

And finally, POOH BEAR!! I was so excited. All the Pooh characters are my faves. He was very good at giving out squishy hugs. It's blurry, but he has both kids squished in there.

Here's a better one.

Then Tigger came by and I HAD to get some of that action.

And I let Ray have some too.

We finally left after a great time with all the characters. One of the CMs had everyone make 'croccodile' arms and say, "Tick TOC!" to chase Capt'n Hook outside. It worked. I would totally recommend this meal if you're looking for characters and decent breakfast.

We had about a half hour before we had to meet for our tour, so we met up with Nicole, a PP+ photographer. She gave me a hard time because I'm a Canucks fan and she's a San Jose Sharks fan. She took awesome photos nonetheless, heh.

One of the girls took this photo of the trolley and the gorgeous strawberry roan Percheron who pulls it. The horses were so beautiful. We wanted to go up and give them a carrot or apple and a pat, but we knew we weren't allowed to.

We went to the front "Newstand" to get money onto our cards and I bought myself a Malificent Dragon lanyard (black with red dragons on it) and a Jack Skellington pouch. Ray bought herself a Tinkerbell lanyard with a Tinkerbell pouch and Figaro in a pumpkin stuffy (after the tour I believe). Maggie got herself a bubble gun and new hands.

She got a lot of High Four!s all day. The line up for the Guest Services Kiosk was a little too long, so I deferred my refund a little.

I took some photos of the train. My father was a locomotive engineer so my goal during the trip was to meet an engineer and give him a pin and tie pin I had chosen from Dad's stash and to talk trains for a bit. That wouldn't be today but for sure during the trip.

We checked in to the guided tour area to the left of City Hall and met out tour guide, Melhanie. She offered us our choice of Mickey and the Magical Map or Aladdin VIP seats. I told her we had plans for the afternoo, but if she was okay with tomorrow for Aladdin...? She checked and said it was fine! We chose the 4:45 show on Tuesday. We had about 20 minutes before the tour started and then we heard the band...

The decorations with Diamond and Halloween work so well together.

I was in a Sea Cadet band and did drill and played, so I know how hard the moves are while playing. These guys were amazing.

I'm at about my limit, so I'll carry on in the next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Monday morning cont'd.

The band was interactive and played tons of songs. They must have been there for a good 20-30 minute set. The trumpet/bugle player is in the Pearly Band too.

I found the two-sided Mickey, but as you can see, the line up on one side was HUGE and the PP+ photographer on the other side was busy, so we decided to wait til later.

Artsy Shot

The beautiful Melhanie. She was very knowlegeable and her assistant was Jeff. We had only 10 in the group and moved not too quickly because one person was on an ECV. We started over at DCA.

We learned all about the names that meant something to Walt and that's why building are named the way they are. As well, how DCA was to recreate the SoCal of the 20's/30's that Walt worked in. Very good theming, and as it was a new park to me, very informative.

As you can tell, Maggie was ENTHRALLED, NOT! She hates walking, but as I was dragging her along, she went with it. Spent a lot of time chatting to our guide and both girls were quite well behaved. They were the only kids on the tour.

The attention to detail just blew me away. Yes, the picture's crooked.

Our tour took us to the entrance to the lands, not inside. First up - Hollywood Land where we learned we'd see Olaf, ride Mike & Sully and dance with the Mad T Party.

Saw the backdrop with the forced perspective of the street and learned why some of the names were important.

The attention to detail and the intricasies of the designs were astounding to me.

We heard these guys' amazing music at least 3 times that day! Incredible!

I know he's probably not waving at me specifically, but I'm going to pretend he is, k?

After seeing the outside of Bugs Land, we were outside of...

Where we were hoping we'd get a ride on RSR, but no such luck, heh. Love that kid's Darth ears.

Instead, we wandered a little further up the path and saw Paradise Pier.

Our hotel! (but not our room, dangit)

How about a ride? YES!! How about Ariel?! Maggie nearly fainted she was so excited.

Other people have taken much better photos than I have. I loved the artwork. Our neighbour's kids had ridden this 7 times and challenged Maggie to do better. After the first time, I told her no. Our total - 2. Thank goodness.

It just blew me away how everything was just done perfectly.

We wandered down to GRR and saw the back entrance into GCH.

Then we wandered down to the Flats and saw the entrance to Soarin' and SJG.

We got back to the hub and had a sit and a cold drink. I wandered over to the first aid building beside the Chamber of Commerce and grabbed an ice pack for my leg.

I'm at 25 again. I'll continue in the next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Monday morning cont'd... cont'd...

While taking a rest at GRR, Melhanie got us FP for WOC that night.

The next part of our tour took us to DLR!

Same kind of thing - first up Main Street, then over to Adventureland and when we got to NOS, we got to ride Pirates!! Awesome - mostly because the line up was always so long, we never would have otherwise. Maggie loved this ride. I smiled the whole way through - it was like seeing an old friend again. We learned about the ride time board by Jolly Holiday and found some mooching ducks.

We walked over to Frontierland then Fantasyland and finally at Tomorrowland and back to the start where the tour ended. Melhanie gave us all day FP for Indy and Star Tours. Neither of which we used because we just didn't have time. I was very sad about this.

We received an envelope that had a DL pin in it for each of us and our entry for Aladdin. It had another family's name on it, so she took it to get reprinted and they still had the wrong date on it but she said they'd honour it tomorrow. Uh huh. We'll see. I knew she couldn't accept money for a tip, so I gave her a little Canadian Flag pin to keep. The pins are given to Canadian Sailors when we go to foreign ports and we hand them out to people who have made an impact on our visit. Melhanie seemed quite appreciative. Then we went back to PPH for a rest for 45-60 minutes. Naturally, we walked back the long way because we weren't sure how to get back through the hotel yet.

Monday afternoon....

We had an appointment with some Fairy God-Mothers in Training, but first we hit the Guest Services kiosk where I not only got my voucher refunded, but I also got our other character meal tickets without presenting vouchers. So awesome. The refund finally hit my card on Thursday and was lower than I had thought, but might change because of exchange. I then plonked money onto a gift card for meals.

Then we went to the BBB. Seeing the castle for the first time was awesome.

Ray's crossing her arms because she didn't want everyone to know it was her birthday.

So... BBB... what can I say? We signed in, and the girls chose their costumes. Both picked Jasmine. Maggie was going to be Ariel originally, but changed her mind. Ray was a little choked, but got over it and we were assigned a dressing room about 10-15 minutes after arriving. Again, the attention to detail was stunning to me. On the floor, they have little daisies in the pattern!

By this time, Ben has decided he's not sticking around *sigh*, so he went outside and hung around and I got to try to take pictures of two make-overs at the same time.

Ray's tall, but has no waist, so the pants were too big. We used an elastic to hold it on her. Maggie was worried about showing her belly button (don't know where that came from) but liked her costume nonetheless.

Facing foward, I got Ray.

Twisting around, I got Maggie.

Each of the FGiT received a Canada pin from me as their 'tip'.

Every inch of the place was a feast for the eyes. The dress lights up with sparkles. There's Ariel's jewelry. Just tons of stuff to see and look at.

Maybe I should try pixie dust during dance recital times to get the girls to sit still.

Ray was happy with her make over.

Maggie didn't want anyone to clap for her. She loved her final look.

There are about a zillion photos of the girls in the carriage room, but this is probably my favourite. Maggie kept making Ray laugh.

I'll continue in the next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

So I paid and then we waited for the photos before being taken to the Fantasy Faire. There were two other little princesses also waiting and as we were in a holding pattern, I talked to the parents about PP+ - they had NO idea that it existed and wanted to know about it - and I over heard the FGiT talking about how the princesses were due to go in 10 minutes. Our photos finally showed up and the reprint of Maggie's invitation - they had her down as Margarette . They reprinted it and off we went. The CM at the door was awesome and funny. Waited probably less than 10 minutes for the place to be cleared, and in we went. In the back of my mind was "The princesses are leaving in 10 minutes" and there were two little girls behind us, not to mention a huge line up of other people who wanted to see princesses too. So with that in mind, we did kind of a run-by.

I have to leave work right now, but I'll be back to finish this day tonight.

 

[Disney127]

Enjoying your trip report! Love seeing all the photos - can't wait to go back for Halloween again one of these years!

 

[aroseinwintr]

I am enjoying your trip report..I just wish they did the princess makeover on adults.... LOL

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thanks! I'm having fun re-living it. I guess I should be working, but this is more fun

Day 2 afternoon continued... or as I call it....

Why on EARTH did I think we could fit this much stuff into one afternoon and evening?!

When we last left off, our intrepid family was lined up to meet the princesses at FF. With not wanting anyone to miss out, we were the first ushered in. Our first princess was Snow White. I didn't get the autograph book out, and in retrospect I should have taken the time because we never did get her autograph. I figured we'd get it at Ariel's on Wednesday. We didn't. We DID get a photo though!

Sorry... my photobucket is acting up at work. I'll have to insert Snow White's photo here.

And then we got Belle! Maggie said to the CM, "Belle is my dad's favourite!" He said, "Oh, he likes to read books too, does he?" I giggled like mad.

Again, Photobucket is being rude, so I'll input this photo tonight.

Our final princess was Cinderella. She was awesome.

This one's blurry, but it's so cute.

The monorail was down, so we had to hoof it over to Goofy's for dinner. I was terrified we were late, but we were actually right on time. I wanted a better shot of the girls under the hat, but this was the only photo I managed the whole week.

We arrived and found the blue 'ropes' we had to stand in to register. Of course there was only 1 open and the lady in front wasn't registering. She just had a few questions. You know how every second seems like forever when you're in a hurry? It felt like that. We got motioned forward and checked in. I handed over the vouchers (yay!), reminded them about the cake delivery, and then we stood in line to wait for Goofy. We were shown in quite quickly and the PP+ photographer took pics with her camera and ours! So kind of her. She could see I was a little frazzled and said, "Just put your stuff there. No rush. It's all good."

Now, I don't know why Maggie's dancing. She did a lot of that throughout the trip (reminded me of another TR ). Ben does smile... in fact he is here... but you'd never know it. I also like how he has no fear of carrying a pink backpack and pink BBB bags for the girls. I like how the PP+ photogs got pictures of the signings too. It's a nice memory.

We ordered drinks. I got a virgin Mojito and Ben got some strawberry something. He then ordered a strawberry lemonade for Maggie. These were all $5 extra. Ray just had an iced tea. Ray and I went up for food first.

I had the lobster pasta (very nice), veg gyoza (yummy), fried chicken (SOOO yummy and moist), roast beast (nicely rare), a bun (I love me my carbs), and bbq ribs (soft and sweet).

Fake Mojito. very refreshing and nice.

We could see the characters throughout the restaurant. We were seated near the back. Every 15-20 minutes, they would all be ushered out the back and the announcement for Goofy and the gang would start and they'd dance their way through the place. Drove the kids nuts because they really wanted to see them, but they just danced right on by. There were Goofy (signatures at the front), Dale, Minnie, and Pluto in the line up. It took a good 10 minutes or more for Pluto to stop by. He was VERY funny - had the girls scratch his nose and then he'd start his leg thumping.

He also signed both autograph books, which was super sweet of him.

Then Ray and Ben went up for their meals. Throughout the evening we heard lots of birthday sing-alongs and clap-clap-clap. Ray was scared about that. She didn't want the singing or the clapping.

Ray had chicken nuggets, PB&J pizza and Mac & cheese pizza. She loved the two pizzas the best.

This was the strawberry lemonade (and my awesome lanyard! The pin is from the tour). Maggie didn't really like the drink so we returned it and got a regular lemonade. The server Marco took it off the bill which was very kind of him.

Ben's drink. He quite liked it. I can't remember the name of it but it looked yummy. I asked Marco for the cake and said, "No clapping or singing please." He seemed a little confused but was cool about it. The cake was beautiful. EVERYTHING except the candles are edible.

We were stuffed. Ray wouldn't let us eat anything - no Mickey heads, no white chocolate, no fondant - but we were pretty full anyway. We had the cake boxed up to go.

It was a white cake with custard filling and chocolate whipped cream icing. The Mickey heads are chocolate covered with gold dust.

Make a wish!

After another in-n-out of the characters, Minnie popped by and signed Maggie's book.

The girls and I needed a bathroom break, so I did a quick change into my costume. Bad lighting selfie!

What you see here is a messy lanyard with a green Mickey head held on by a Canada pin, and my DL Tour pin. The buttons are from Plaza Inn and I think a First Visit button. I took those off the next day. So, I"m supposed to be adult Merida.

We decided to head back to the hotel after dinner. We didn't want to wait around another 30 minutes for Dale, so we walked back and dropped off the cake into the fridge and left the backpack and BBB bags there too. We took a risk and walked through the GCH lobby to cut down on walking time. I really wanted to show them the Trick or Treat Tree.

I loved how they had the info on it.

We only found one Hidden Mickey.

We found our way to DL and showed our MHP vouchers at the gate where we exchanged them for tickets. Then we took three steps and got our pretty orangey-red sparkly wristbands. To the right were two CMs and a bag cart. We all received a bag and a map and then headed to our right - we usually went through on the left, so that was different for us. We were taken aback by the beautiful decorations - the lit up Mickey Ghosts and how everything shimmered. We went through the first ToT trail across from the train station. There were four winding their way through the centre. Then I insisted on a photo in front of a pumpkin.

"Look scary!"

I'm at my limit. Continued in next post.

 

[adamkat]

thanks loving reading it all!! will check back later. BTW loved your Merida outfit.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

"Now be zombies!"

"Now be all princessy"

Here's a photo of the lit up ghost.

Then we noticed the singing and the ladies. The line up snaked around the corner, so we didn't go there, but I got some fuzzy photos to remember it by

We saw the change - the ladies were singing and dancing to the song they play for the change over, and then the men arrived in the carriage.

The ladies got onto the carriage and were driven away.

Never did get Cruella's autograph or the Evil Queen's the whole week. *sigh* Next time, right?

The men were Govenor Roquefort, Jafar and Hades.

Some guy with his baby attached popped in front of Hades and took a selfie before he was quickly escorted away by a CM.

I saw Lady Tremaine and her daughters. They were hanging out with guests who were dressed as Drizella and Cruella.

We started walking around looking for more ToT Trails and characters. We ended up at Frontierland and saw the Scarecrow guys. He said, "Hey! Two Jasmines! Where's Aladdin?" I shouted back in my best Scottish brogue, "Their mother's an archer. Do you think there'd be an Aladdin?" Heh.

We ended up in line for Peter Pan and Wendy. Maggie started itching and couldn't stop. I think part of it was her being tired and part was the clothes. By the time we got to the front we saw Hook. It was supposed to be Hook and Smee, but no Smee. The CM there said, "Jasmines! Where's their boyfriend?" I said, "I'm a crack archer. Do you see Aladdin?" "No." "And that's why!" ha ha ha.

We decided to go back to the hotel because of Maggie. I did manage another fuzzy photo of Ray Bradbury's Halloween Tree.

We made it through the crowds to the hotel. We should have done the party on Wednesday instead of Monday, but I had already bought the tickets for Monday by the time Ray decided she wanted Goofy's for dinner. We probaby could have done Goofy's on a different night. At any rate - next time we do TWO parties and get there RIGHT at 5 or 6 in order to get more ToT in and more character interactions.

Next chapter will be Tuesday's adventure!

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I am enjoying your trip report..I just wish they did the princess makeover on adults.... LOL

I asked about that. The FGiT said they used to offer hairdo's for Queens but they were overtaking the princesses in bookings, so they stopped that and made it for kids only. Good choice I thought.

thanks loving reading it all!! will check back later. BTW loved your Merida outfit.

Thanks! I might wear that on Halloween or my Malificent Hoody - it has the horns on the top.

 

[belle'ssister]

Enjoying your trip report. We arrive next Monday for the MHP and a five day visit. My granddaughter did BBB a few years ago and loved it. I especially enjoyed the picture of your girls in the carriage.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it. The carriage photos were some of my favourites.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Day 3 - Tuesday. Aka:

Why do we have no time to do ANYTHING?! Are we in a time vortex or something because this is getting silly.

A little melodramatic, but it sure felt like it! I have the laziest family ever. It took over an hour to get ready and then we ended up at the Beachcomber lounge for breakfast. LOTS of carbs. There were orange or cranberry juice, 'spa water' (whatever that means) with cucumber or orange slices in it. Then there were four types of cold cereal - fruit loops, frosted flakes, raisin bran and something else with sugar on it. There were peeled hard boiled eggs, fruit and berries (the strawberries were mushy and starting to go which surprised me), instant oatmeal in packets with raisins, brown sugar or nuts to put on top once it was made. There was a big container of small danishes, muffins, and chocolate croissants at the end, as well as bagels and a toaster-oven with butter and cream cheese packets. There were also coffee and tea stations with flavoured syrups for your coffee. Smallest water bottles ever - 355ml/12oz. Better than none, so we popped 4 into our bag, once we asked the other CM who was busy cleaning up to get us some.

The CM there was a nice lady - Rachelle was the one there mostly - we all had to show our room key to her. Except, Ben forgot about this on our last day... more on that later. We didn't really know what they could do for us. I forgot to say that on the day before, we popped into the Lounge and gave her the WOC passes we received from our tour guide for that night and asked her to give them to someone else. This day I asked her if she was successful and she said she was - a family who had just arrived and it was their anniversary. YAY! What a nice way to spread some pixie dust I thought.

So the Lounge is open to the lobby below, so it's rather echoey, not really exclusive. The washrooms are outside, and down the hall. Most convention-goers are on this floor for the conference rooms. There's a tv in there that this day was showing Nightmare Before Christmas. It wasn't crowded at all. The food was good and kept us going until snack time.

We decided to let the kids lead us today. Peter Pan was completely out of the question. Maybe Thursday, we thought. I felt kinda bad we didn't get a chance to use our FP for Indy or Space yesterday.

As we came through the overpass, we saw Goofy arrive! We got in line pretty quick and were with him within 10 minutes. The photographer took off just as we got there, so some kind people behind us took photos on my phone for us. Maggie dressed up in her Jasmine outfit with her new Sully tail she'd bought the night before at the WoD store. She received a lot of comments and it looked great! I ended up re-doing the girls' hair but nowhere near as well as the ladies at the BBB had done it originally.

Goofy was awesome and signed Maggie's book for her. He loved her tail.

We went past the pumpkins and the line up for PP+ was long, so I told the family we WILL get the pictures there before we go. We did get PP+ photos at the partners centre though.

And he did some magic shots for us. There were actually two photographers there and the line ups were small and fast.

Then we went up to the castle and got some more PP+ photos there. I know the family was getting choked that I kept getting them, but after they see all these photos, I'm sure they'll be grateful. Besides, I need some photos for my scrapbook I'm going to be doing, so I considered it worth our time.

And this photographer does Magic Shots too.

She also posed the girls really cute. There was a bit of a lineup behind us, but people were pretty cool about it all.

Maggie had been dying to do the teacup ride for some reason. I made Ben ride them with the girls because I don't do spinny rides. They look a little stoned here but they're not.

Artsy shots.

Then I heard a drum! I just turned around and the Pearly Band marched by!

The guy in purple is also the bugler/trumpeter for the 60th band.

Casey's train went by and I realized I was in a good spot for a couple of photos.

Once I edit this one it'll be perfect.

They finally made it through the line (maybe 10 minutes or so) and made their way to a teacup.

He's probably thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?!"

The band came back around from the other side of the ride.

This is him saying, "Next time YOU are doing this!"

Next ride up - the Matterhorn!

The lineup wasn't all that long. We were in line for maybe 20-25 minutes. We did the ride and Maggie loved it. Ray was screaming in terror the whole time. When we were done, they pulled our car out of line and said that because of the delay, we could go around again if we wanted to. Ray was adamant - NO WAY! Maggie was just as adamant - YES WAY! So, Ray and Ben waited for Maggie and me while we went around again. I get the Best Mother of the Year Award for it. Maggie loaned me her tail as a cushion for my sore knee and it was perfect! I was having a hard time bending my knee still, so this ride was actually okay as my legs were stretched out. Getting in and out were not graceful acts, but at least I had that tail for cushion.

After we did the Matterhorn twice, I said I wanted the PP+ photos as I'd earned them!

The photographer was great. Had really good ideas for us.

Limit hit. Cont'd next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Afterward, Ben shook her hand. She said, "I really appreciate that hand shake. Give me your map." Then she drew a quick Mickey head on it! What a lovely souvenir for us to have.

On our way to Hungry Bear for lunch, we got another PP+ to take these shots.

Wanted to ride this coaster, but didn't get a chance this time around.

This backdrop was hidden behind some bushes so I did the best I could do with a line up forming behind us.

We missed Minnie and Mickey the night before here so I wanted the girls at least to have their photo done.

Then there's the pond out back on the way to Hungry Bear. There were tadpoles devouring a Mickey waffle that was thrown in the pond, and then we noticed the fish jumping! What an amazing thing to see - I really felt like this was what Walt was going for - something from his childhood, this magical moment when you see fish jumping out of the water.

Yeah, they're on sticks, but it was so cool!

Hungry Bear has a great seating area along the Rivers of America. We saw the Mark Twain come around twice while we were there - once while I was in line, and once again while we were eating.

Ben got some lovely photos on his phone. I haven't downloaded them yet, but I'm looking forward to adding them to my collection. He got one like this that's postcard perfect.

My salad at HB was very yummy. It's the most expensive thing on the menu at $10. Mixed greens, strawberries, diced chicken, raisins, jicama, and feta cheese with a vinaigrette dressing.

Ben had the turkey wrap with fries.

Maggie didn't want anything other than the mac & cheese which was toddler sized and not nearly enough to fill her up. Ray ended up with chicken nuggets and fries. I ordered two waters and an iced tea in a souvenir Halloween Time mug (added my own stevia to it). Maggie got the short end of the stick - had to share our waters and iced tea and had a couple of her sister's nuggets. The line up was ridiculous or I would have gone back there for nuggets for her. As it was we'd already spent close to 45 minutes in total at HB - most of that was me standing in the LOOOOONG line up.

We walked back to the hotel for a swim. The pool was lovely and the slide was awesome. The girls loved it, as well as the 10 minutes we spent in the hot tub. We left later than we should have because 1 - I forgot it takes 20 minutes to walk anywhere from PPH, and 2 - we were supposed to be at the Hyperion 30 minutes in advance (so at 4:15) instead of 20 minutes. Oh well. We didn't get the VIP seating (which didn't look full to me, but whatever), but we got orchestra. We were upset until we realized... we were second row up from the break in the seating and on the far left of the stage. LOTS of leg room, beautiful inside.

Other than front row seats, we couldn't have asked for any better seats!

The Genie was very funny. He did jokes on Taylor Swift, Justin Beiber, Beyonce, Frozen ("Let it go! Let it go! The carpet never bothered me anyway!"), and lots of comedy for the adults too. I'm so glad we got a chance to see this show before it left. The effects were good and the singing was lovely.

We walked across the way to have our belated anniversary dinner at the French Market. We didn't get anniversary buttons - the line up at City Hall was always too long, and I kept forgetting to ask at the gift shops because sometimes they have them there.

We stopped for a family photo in front of the flowers.

Probably one of my favourite shots if Rachel had only been looking at the camera.

Another magic shot.

This photographer was from Honolulu. I said, "Mahalo!" and he was very pleased to hear it.

We got to the French Market and while the family stood in line, I ran to get HM FP. I offered Ben his ticket but he said to hang on to it until we settle in. The line moved pretty quickly and I joined the family when they were at the front. We went through and got our food. They were out of silverware by the time we got to the front, but they had plastic outside. Not much of a help with the chicken, honestly.

I had the quarter chicken, garlic mashed, potato bun and mixed veg. SO good!

My dessert was this "HM Decked Out" cake - white chocolate on top with a lovely chocolate torte underneath.

Ray chose the chicken caesar - she didn't each much at all, dang it - and the fruit plate for dessert. She did eat the strawberries and cantaloupe from that at least.

Maggie had the the mac and cheese with the Diamond Cake. Looked delicious, and FINALLY - chocolate milks that were regular sized and not teeny-tiny!

Ben had the creole meatloaf and said it was very good. His dessert was this pumpkin tart. He was the only one to finish his whole plate. I really wanted to wrap up the left overs but it was crowded and the CMs were busy. I Ben and I each had a mint julep and they were really yummy.

The girls started to get cold - again, no sweaters - so he said he'd run back to the PPH and get them. It took him 9 minutes from NOS to PPH at a fair pace. While he was gone, the girls decided to ride the train around the park. Our FP was 8:25-9:35 anyway. We got to the front gate station and he called me and instead of telling me what he wanted, he just said, "read your text" but I didn't receive that text. By time I did receive it, we were back at NOS. I called him and told him where we'd be - it was super crowded - and then the text came in - He didn't have his ticket!! OMG! I still had it!! I texted him back - we're on our way to you! We got maybe 20 feet when he texted back - I'm on my way to YOU! So we turned around and waited. We finally saw him and got our sweaters. Turns out they allowed him in even without a hand stamp because he showed them photos on his phone from earlier in the day and they believed him. I immediately handed him his ticket back and apologized profusely. He was cool about it though and said stuff happens. We had time to kill on the FP, so we checked out some light-up things and the girls each got a hot chocolate (cocoa) and I got a vitamin water. We went through the FP into HM and it was awesome!

I knew my phone wouldn't get decent pictures, so I didn't bother. The theming for Jack was great and the girls were awesome. Again, the scarier it was, the more Maggie loved it. Rachel did pretty well all things considered - no screaming kids for the heck of it - and I held Rachel's hand the whole way. She found most of the rides really loud - louder than they needed to be, but especially loud for a kid with sensory processing problems - and said that she was glad the Jack Skellington overlay was there because she's sure the original would be too scary for her. I was glad the Hatbox Ghost was still there. I wanted to keep going, but Maggie was done so we went back to the hotel and called it a night.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

I now have some of Ben's photos! Here's what he took up to this point.

The view of the castle all decked out.

Lots of people there all week.

While waiting for the girls, he took a photo of the backside of the castle.

The girls with Snow White

The girls and Belle.

The girls and Cinderella

More of that Frozen backdrop

Hungry Bear photos with the Mark Twain

She's so cute.

I love the bunting.

We have to ride this next time for sure!

I like how the girls got to see a real paddle wheeler go by.

Ok! So Wednesday's up next time.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

Day 4: Wednesday. The
Oh Come ON! It's Disneyland and you're STILL sleeping at 7AM!? It's your birthday, dude! WAKE UP!!
day.

Yes, two little girls passed out and parents are up. What's this world coming to? It's all topsy-turvy!

We finally got the slug-abeds up and headed for breakfast with the Princesses. We had some time to kill so we took some photos.

I have no idea why she's making this face.

It'll look better with some cropping.

At any rate, we also had time for a ride or two! We went on Ariel again and then the Jumpin' Jellyfish.

At this point we were going to wander behind the Pier, but Ben said time was running short. Ray started feeling queasy to her stomach and ended up dry heaving into the bushes. Ben ran off to get her a croissant and some water. Turns out we had given her her daily pill with some of my shake, but it wasn't enough for her to take it on - needs to be taken with food - and her tummy wasn't happy. After the croissant and the water she felt much better and we signed in at Ariel's Grotto for breakfast.

We were given a pager and sent on our way. We checked out the store across the way and forced ourselves not to buy out the store. The pager went off after about 20 minutes and we returned to stand in line on the stair case. We got our autograph books out and ready. There was a CM at the top of the stairs who said for us to move to the left. We did, but apparently it was our OTHER left she meant and we all shuffled to our right instead, in order to let people back up the stair case. But that didn't happen, so whatever. At the bottom of the stair case was the same Royal CM from the FF on Monday - he's pretty funny that's why we remembered him - and he got us ready. Ray wasn't going to have anything to do with Ariel for some reason. Ariel was signing our autograph book and started talking to Maggie about her daughter, Mel, saying that Jasmine was Mel's favourite princess too and wanted a tiger! She couldn't get her a real tiger, could she? Ray overheard this and said, "Well you could get her an orange tabby cat and say it's her own tiger..." Next thing we knew, Ray was in the photo with Ariel.

We were shown to our seats and then given menus and nibbles. I mentioned that Ray wouldn't be able to eat an adult plate (even though we'd already paid for it), and she was also given a crown and stickers and crayons.

The music started and the singing CM came through and sang some song about princesses and then he introduced his first princess. He'd dance with each princess in turn and she'd go off to do her rounds.

My baby is 9!!

By this time she'd taken the Jasmine brooch off the front and replaced it (for a while) with her birthday button.

First up was Rapunzel

Then Mulan

Then Belle

And Cinderella

I mentioned to our server that I had ordered a Princess cupcake for her and this is what we got...

It wasn't what I had asked for but she seemed okay by it. Cake at breakfast?! Yes please!

Afterward, we got our photo at the backdrop and the family before us took our camera for some photos - awfully kind of them.

We had an appointment at Anna & Elsa's for some hair, so we took off toward DTD.

Maggie didn't want a bun, just the tiara. We made her a deal - get the bun with 3 pins and we'll take it out later. She wasn't too sure about it, but decided to say okay.

Then I took a bazillion photos of the process. It went about the same amount of time as the BBB. By the end of the process, the girls were very happy with their choices and looked great.

Maggie wanted pixie dust all over her arms too. Luckily it doesn't spread as much as some Costco wrapping paper we've had in the past, so it was okay.

The hair do's turned out really nice.

By this time, it was going on 11:15 and we were still full from breakfast at 9:20. I thought I'd try to change our reservation at WCT to closer to 12 or 12:30 but no such luck. Apparently they were booked solid and couldn't fit us in later. So we wandered over to DCA and stopped for a photo along the way.

I'm about at my limit. Cont'd in next post.

 

[Canadian Harmony]

We had a lot of fun with this photo op.

And then after about a 5-10 minute wait in the sweltering heat, we were seated for our WOC lunch.

By this time, Ray had bought herself a couple of pins - a Genie and a lovely pumpkin coach with 'diamonds' all over it. I gave her some 60th pins if she wanted to trade, but she didn't want to.

The lunch was lovely. We ordered a beer each and I had a glass of wine too and it popped it up to $75 before tip. We were all still full from breakfast, but we gave it our best shot.

Ben and I started off with the Italian Wedding Soup. I'd never had it before, so this was new to me. Very tasty!

I had a shrimp salad. Mixed greens, cooked shrimp (about 8-10), green beens, cherry tomatoes and chick peas in a lovely cream sauce. I couldn't eat it all so had it boxed up.

Ben had the pasta. He didn't eat it all either, but didn't bother packing it up.

The girls had cheese pizzas. They said they were yummy but again, so full still, so we boxed them up too.

Dessert was awesome. I seriously felt like the guy at the end of Meaning of Life by Monty Python where one more mint would make me blow up.

On the right, at either end we have panna cotta with rasbperry coulis at the top. The middle two are tiramisu. On the left, the two at the end are lemon puffs and the two in the middle are macarons - green is pistachio and red is raspberry. Both yummy, but I liked the rasbperry better of the two. We had the lemon puffs boxed up too. She gave us a big bag and our boxes and off we waddled with our WOC vouchers in hand. We went through Bug's Land.

Our first ride - Heimlich's Chew Chew. All these rides get you prepared for the bigger, faster versions. It was a nice wait - quick one though - through shady areas. Nice to have in the heat.

Then we hit Flik's Flyers

I loved the little details

Then over to Tuck and Roll's bumper buggies. I couldn't understand the whole line-up then holding area thing. I think I irritated someone, and I didn't mean to, but I was just asking a question - are we in line or are we watching? Apparently we were in line. It was a fun ride even though poor Ray couldn't move her car out of the middle where she started.

We then wandered over to see Anna and Elsa in the Animator's Workshop. Found out we needed a FP for this now so while the family waited inside, I went out and got our FP's. There was a CM there in case of difficulties. We only had 45 minutes to wait, so I suggested we hang out in the A/C. Agreed! First we learned to draw Tigger - so awesome! I didn't get any photos of our artwork, but the girls did really well. Ben was so proud of his, that the animator noticed and gave him HIS copy! I would have loved the guy's autograph or to show him some of my sketches but he ran off for a coffee. Then we hung out for 5-10 minutes to meet Crush. That was awesome. Lots of laughs and I got to ask him a question about where he was born. He asked me if I rode motorcycles (the lady before me did) and I said no, I ride horses. "Ohhhh, cool. What's a horse?" We left there and the A&E FP CM said that we could get in line right away, that he wasn't as much of a stickler as the CMs at the HM were.

The ladies were lovely. They realized where we come from we get snow, so made the girls pinky-swear to name their snowmen from now on.

Limit hit! To be continued.