25th Ann.-2 TR w/over 1500 pics!!!!

[pmama]

Ariel's Grotto does look nice. How many people do you think fit in those circular booths? Do you think 6 would fit?

That is a bummer about your video running out of batteries. I've wondered, are still able to sit on the bench during the fireworks or do people crowd in front of you and you have to stand up?

 

[kaoden39]

What a pretty princess you have. Too bad Snow White wasn't there. All in all the food at Ariel's looks good. We have had lunch there before and it was good. But it was served in individual portions. Which character breakfast do you like better? Ariel's or Goofy's?

 

[DizNee Luver]

Ariel's Grotto does look nice. How many people do you think fit in those circular booths? Do you think 6 would fit?

That is a bummer about your video running out of batteries. I've wondered, are still able to sit on the bench during the fireworks or do people crowd in front of you and you have to stand up?

The booth usually had 5-6 in it, so as long as it's not all adults...it should be fine....but you are assigned a table prior to being seated. Not sure you can request a booth or not.

As for the fireworks....... everyone sat on the sidewalk in front of us & people in the street were standing. As soon as the show started, people on the sidewalk stood up & started crowding forward which left a bit of a hole where we were sitting. When the group that sat down right before the show stood up & blocked my daughter's view...I sad, she can't see & we've been here for over 2 hours, please get down. And they did!!!!!

What a pretty princess you have. Too bad Snow White wasn't there. All in all the food at Ariel's looks good. We have had lunch there before and it was good. But it was served in individual portions. Which character breakfast do you like better? Ariel's or Goofy's?

Thank you, we find her to be quite cute too!!! Last year she went as Cinderella & the first princess out was Cinderella....I thought she was going to wet herself!!

As for the character breakfasts.....I like all of them.....Goofy's is always a special one for our family (because everyone likes that one), the princess one is special for Addy & even Anthony. We like the classic characters you find at Minnie & Friends....but could care less for the food & new this year was the Lilo-n-Stitch brkfst, small & only the 2 main characters roaming around but they came back over & over again & all my kids (big ones included) were cracking up thru-out the meal. If I only could chose one? Definately Goofy's!!

 

[kaoden39]

What about food wise? Can you tell it's all about the food to me? Our kids will all be teenagers by the time we go in December.

 

[DizNee Luver]

What about food wise? Can you tell it's all about the food to me? Our kids will all be teenagers by the time we go in December.

Food wise I've never been disappointed at Goofy's. There are a ton of choices....salads, pizza, carved meat, hot sides, chicken, desserts. If you go home hungry from this one..... you didn't eat!!
Ariel's food was good....I've never had a complaint about it. They bring it to you...no buffet.
Lilo-n-Stitch is a smaller buffet, but as picky an eater as I am, I found plenty to chose from.
Minnie & Friends has an okay buffet. We've had problems in the past with the hot food being.....not hot. If you're an omelet eater, then definately get a made-to-order omelet.
Storytellers, I have read has a small buffet or you can order off the menu. We've had a lunch there & the food was very good.

So tell your teens, we're eating here for the food.....& surprise, oh yea & they have characters.....lol

 

[DizNee Luver]

Alrighty, we're on to Day 5, March 11:

We had an early wake up call this morning....I have to say, we're starting to drag a bit. We picked up the boys at their motel & made our way to Paradise Pier Hotel for our 7:50am breakfast with Lilo-n-Stitch. We've never done this character meal & wanted to give it a try. Anthony & Addy are huge Lilo & Stitch fans, & we've never seen them at the park.

We were greeted by Daisy Duck (another character we'd never seen)!!

Since I don't have our PhotoPass CD yet, I don't have the family pic with her.

You're seated & then allowed to go get your food at the buffet. It's a small buffet but there was still lots of items to chose from. Pastries, fruit, waffles, pancakes, scones, eggs, meats, salmon, omelets...etc.

The kids headed off the play "Island Hopping", which is kinda like musical chairs but nobody gets eliminated....they just remove Hawaiian Islands until they all end up on one island. Then big group hug with Lilo & Stitch, who of course plays along.

We only had Lilo & Stitch roaming around but they interacted soooo much, you really don't notice that there aren't any more characters. They hit our table probably 5 different times & played with all the kids (even the big ones).

Minnie Mouse came out to take Daisy's place, so we got the kids up to see her as well.

Back to more Lilo & Stitch. They also taught the kids to do the hula....I missed most of this because Addy just had to use the restroom in the middle of breakfast!!

They brought Anthony a birthday Mickey cake/brownie?? They sang (horribly bad....not one singer in the group....lol) Zip-a-dee-do-dah instead of the standard happy birthday song. Then we said Aloha to the PCH Grill!

whew......that was just breakfast, more to come in a bit!!

 

[TinkSassy]

This is great! I love the little photo album idea - going to use that at WDW in the fall - so many dining confirmations to keep track of!

Definitely going to try the Lilo & Stitch breakfast too. That looked great!

It's great that you have enough of an age difference in the kids that the boys can take the little ones for awhile - Disney can be so great for couples!

Can't wait to read more.

 

[DizNee Luver]

After breakfast we drove back to the "Trop" & dropped off the car & headed over to Disneyland. First stop today has to be Pixie Hollow. The lines have been 60 min waits & I knew we needed to do this for Addy. Ty & Derek weren't interested.....funny a 19 & 22yr old wouldn't want to do this....lol so they went off & rode Star Tours & Buzz. We lined up to find only a 30 min. wait!!! We actually got all the way thru the wait, seeing Fawn & Tinkerbell in less than 30 minutes.

The boys met back up with us to ride Small World. Some of these pics came out pretty good for a moving boat, some not as great but I think you'll get the point. ***these are from 2 cameras & might not be in order***

We had Alice, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Jasmine & Abu.
Next set had Mulan, Simba, Ariel, Lilo-n-Stitch, Woody & Jessie & the 3 Cabaleros.

I really don't know if we caught all the new ones or not. We only did the ride once & I think you'd have to do it multiple times to catch everything. We weren't sure if this was a tribute to the Tiki Room or not.

And the rest:

Oh, we did see Peter Pan & Tink but the photo didn't come out. So that pretty much took care of the morning time....more to come as we head into the afternoon.

 

[DizNee Luver]

This is great! I love the little photo album idea - going to use that at WDW in the fall - so many dining confirmations to keep track of!

Definitely going to try the Lilo & Stitch breakfast too. That looked great!

It's great that you have enough of an age difference in the kids that the boys can take the little ones for awhile - Disney can be so great for couples!

Can't wait to read more.

Thank you, I loved having the compact version of info in my backpack. Always worry about losing small tickets & such they we needed during the week.

The breakfast at Lilo-n-Stitch was just plain fun!! We'll definately do this one again.

The boys were great & of course, that was part of the deal with them all coming. So I'm very grateful they held up their end of the bargain.

 

[DizNee Luver]

So after getting off IASW, we decided to check the line for Nemo. We never made it to this ride last March...mostly because the lines were always 2 hrs plus. Today it was a 30 min wait. Everyone but me got in line...I don't do small compact spaces....get claustophobic!! So I got myself a coke & relaxed. They got off & everyone pretty much hated it. They all agreed they wouldn't wait 5 mins to ride it. Even Anthony & Addy seemed bored by it. From the sounds of it (and the video my hubby took for me) I didn't miss anything. My family now refers to it as Lame-O.

It was time to meet up with a gal I met online on Pogo. (it's a game site) & we struck up quite the friendship after I learned she was a huge Disney fan. In fact she has a website for people traveling with toddlers to Disney parks & a forum. I got to meet her at Disneyland in 2005 & was giving her a bad time that she wasn't going to be there this trip. About 2 weeks before we were going, she emails me to tell me they decided to move up their trip (scheduled in May) & she would in fact be there during our trip!!! I was very excited to be seeing her & her hubby & son!!! We planned to meet at the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country. They have very good food up there, so if you haven't been....I would recommend it!!

After lunch, Mike, Anthony & Leanne's family rode Splash Mtn. I HATE this ride, so I took a few random shots as I waited.

Leanne's family was off & running so we went back into Frontierland & lined up to see Woody. I always am amazed by the people who pass right by an obvious line & then try to crowd right up to the front. An oriental lady, dragging her small child followed Woody to the meet-n-greet area & tried to go first.....we all (I mean tons of us) told her to get in line. She looks at us & says but my kid really wants to see him.......ummmmm....so does ours....otherwise we wouldn't be in line!!! The character escort pointed her to the back of the line.

Our next stop was the Jungle Cruise. Is it just me, or does this ride seem to be faster now? I used to be able to get photos on this ride & now it's almost impossible....everything's a blur. Here's my one good pic:

Ok, break time I'll be back to finish our day with random shots & the Blue Bayou.

 

[DizNee Luver]

Ok back at it.....what's next??? Oh, I remember (thanx to my notes), we rode Star Tours & BTMRR....when we exited that ride, there were the boys, so we got right back in line & rode it again!! (we had a special pass, since it broke down while we were on the platform earlier in the day)

After our ride, we walked the back path thru Fantasyland, got a picture of the kiddos in the Dumbo, snapped a pic of the golden spike at the castle, drooled on the candy & goodies at the candy shoppe on Main Street, then took a couple pics of the beautiful flowers on the street lamps. At this time the boys took the kids so Mike & I could head back to NOS for our anniversary dinner at the Blue Bayou.

The boys took the kids to ride Autopia, have dinner at the Tomorrowland Terrace, & ride Space Mtn. Mike & I checked in & were seated in about 10mins. We got a table waterside, which I loved. It didn't bother me if someone yelled something from the boats of POTC or waved....I just interacted back with them. One guy yelled "throw food!"....so I yelled back "throw money!!"....lol While we were starting with our rolls, I hear these voices going "Mike, Laurie, Mike"....it was our kids!!! I included the pic I took, but you can't really see them....but you get the point.

Mike & I had the crabcakes w/mango salsa for our appetizer....it was so good. Sorry the picture didn't come out. We split the main course of cajun-spiced salmon. We both got the gumbo that comes with the meal (choice of soup/gumbo or salad). It wasn't a full cup, but plenty for us. The salmon was delicious!!! Best salmon I've had in a long time. The picture is what we both got on a split plate. I couldn't imagine having the full serving. I couldn't finish what I got. We then of course (thanks to these boards) ordered the cookie boat. Yummy & more than enough for 3-4 people to share.

I loved eating here, it was spendy (not sure we could do this with the whole family) but very, very good. I loved the ambiance & had no problems with the waitress & staff.....they were all very friendly!

When we left the restaurant, we walked right on the POTC to continue the theme of the evening.

We walked back up Main Street to locate the kids who were to wait at the flagpole & enjoy the fireworks (if we weren't there before they started). The fireworks were going & we found them pretty easily. I stopped at the little gift shop at the tunnel before exiting to purchase a Mickey & Minnie plush in St Patty's Day attire...since our official anniversary is on St. Patrick's Day....seemed fitting that these came home with us!!

We were able to get out before the conclusion of the fireworks & went back to the motel & laid out stuff for the morning. Get to sleep in till 7:30am....pretty excited about that!

Tomorrow, Day 6 includes: the tour, critter ctry, Billy Hill & PCH Grill

 

[Michelle2]

Thanks for posting! You are getting me so excited as we are leaving tomorrow and being at Disneyland on Monday!

Love the pictures

 

[DizNee Luver]

Thanks for posting! You are getting me so excited as we are leaving tomorrow and being at Disneyland on Monday!

Love the pictures

Have fun!!! I know you're going to be fighting more crowds then we did, but if you kinda have a plan before going in, you'll do fine!! Get there before opening & take advantage of lighter crowds & load up on FP's. Remember you don't have to use them at the hour time on the ticket...anytime after that (same day). Take in entertainment during the busier times & try catching the fireworks up by the castle once during your trip!!!

Will be looking forward to your report!!!

 

[pmama]

Wow you are one fast Trip Reporter. Well, sorry to hear your family wasn't too impressed w/ Nemo. We are really looking forward to this ride as the kids love the clam version in WDW. Definitely will not wait 2 hours for it though.

Food at BB does look fabulous.

 

[mnmrmustard]

WOW! You are a TR Machine!!!!!

Day Four, March 10
Today is our main DCA day & finishing off in Disneyland. We had a 10am breakfast at Ariel's Grotto, so first thing we had to do was get our princess ready to go.

We go into the park before the "rope drop" & are allowed thru because of our PS. We check in & go right downstairs to be greeted by Ariel.

Right after your seated they bring out a 3-tiered stand with fruit, cheeses & pastries. They bring you the drinks & then bring out the large dish with the hot food. We found the food to be very good & plentiful.

After about 15 mins, a ?Squire? comes out & sings to us & then announces the first princess. Belle....see my daughter's excitement!!

Followed by Jasmine, Aurora (her first time seeing her) & Cinderella......wouldn't you know it....no Snow White & Addy dressed like her..figures!!

The ??Squire?? stopped by & spoke with the kids & complimented Anthony on his fine dancing (which they do a bit on bowing, curtsying & dance). We finished up & took the kids picture on the way out.

We took a walk around the pier & snapped a couple construction shots & the fencing around the lagoon. We met up with the boys at GRR. Mike, Derek, Tyler & Anthony rode it....then Derek, Tyler & I rode. There was only a 5 min. stand-by on it....Never had that happen before.

Our next stop was getting FP for Soarin'. We had a 40 min wait, so Tyler & Derek took off to get some lunch & we got in line for the kids to have their picture with Mater & Lightning McQueen.

Ty & Derek came back & we rode Soarin'.....Addy was measured three times before loading... she was getting very good about just going up to the measuring stick & standing there. After our ride, Ty & Derek went off again & we headed towards "Off the Page" to get the skinny on the "Are You 23" campaign. You get a button, a paper on it & a brief description. It's basically a fan-based club which you'll receive a beautiful magazine quarterly, club-only collectibles (and I've been told that they have items starting as low as $20), invites to member only events all for $75/yr. You can't join at the parks, but must do so on-line. I'm really hoping to do this....at least the first year to be a charter-member. We saw Minnie Mouse & then had lunch at Award Weiners.

Next section: Playhouse Disney, Bugs Land, Parade & Fireworks!!

Ariel's Grotto looked very fun - some good character interaction and good food.

I had no idea they were working on the lagoon at CA, or that they were so completely re-theming large portions of the park. For those who are curious, I found a pretty cool site that shows pics of what they are going to have: http://disneyetc.blogspot.com/2009/01/exciting-new-things-at-disneyland-and.html

Not a bad wait for Soarin' and cute pics with Mater and Lightning McQueen

Thank you for the head-s up on D23. I had heard about it last fall and had been waiting for it to go live. Just paid for my charter membership

So after lunch we headed straight over to get in line for Playhouse Disney.....that line seemed to go forever!!! It was also pretty warm today & I burned the top of my head....ouchie! When we entered the theater, we were pointed to the middle in about the middle....I don't do big crowds & get anxiety....so I asked the host to wait to be seated towards the side. She had us wait & when they started to seat people towards the side area, she had us come up & we got front row (that way the crowd was behind me). It was a great place to be to get pictures (kinda, the puppets are kinda low on the stage as you'll notice in the pic I've included).

Addy loves this show & Anthony doesn't seem to mind it. I find it cute! After Playhouse Disney, we went over to Monsters Inc. It was about a 10 min wait. We then met up with the boys by BugsLand & rode the Ladybug Boogie & Bumper Cars. We also enjoyed an ice cream treat. I did find the 4-leaf clover so I snapped a shot of it.

We decided it was time to find a place to sit for the Pixar Play Parade. We sat over by the Condor Flatts area so we could get our dinner at the Taste Pilot's Grill. I've seen this parade twice now & have yet to see the entire parade at once. Last year the parade was missing Bug's Life & a few smaller items that supported the main float & this year Ratatoulle & the Incredibles were missing. When we've watched, this parade lasts about 10 mins. They also started this years parade with a moving/dancing Bolt advertisement.

When the parade ends we leave DCA (which would be closing anyways) & Tyler, the 2 little ones & myself head back to DL. Mike & Derek ran back to the motel to get everyones sweatshirts. Once that sun started going down, it gets cold.

Tyler & I decided to find a bench to hold for the fireworks. We got the 3rd bench from the middle, facing the castle & decided we would all take turns at holding it. Did we waste our time, no riding rides??? I don't think so, I think it's a must to do once every trip. There is no other feeling than being right up by the castle & feeling every boom, having the fireworks totally surrounding you, feeling the heat coming off the flame throwers & just experiencing it with a clear view of the castle. We had even set up our videocamera on a tripod to tape the show but wouldn't you know it.....right when you hear "Good evening, this is Julie Andrews....." the battery dies on the camera.....NOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I just waited 2 1/2 hrs for these seats & we're not getting it taped????? Oh well, it would have been nice to watch again at home, but I have DVD's of the show & will have to be happy with those. I'll end today's report with a picture of Anthony & Addy in front of the castle after it is roped off for the fireworks.

Tomorrow's Report of Day 5: Lilo-n-Stitch, Nemo, meeting up with friends & Blue Bayou!!

Playhouse Disney is cute, but I'm kind of glad my girls have outgrown it. Of course it means riding ToT more - lol. Very cool shots from the parade - it is one we haven't seen and are looking forward to.

I think you did the right thing in taking the time to save good seats for the fireworks. We've never done it and always end up way back in the crowd. But this year we'll have more time so I think we'll do the same thing.

What a pretty princess you have. Too bad Snow White wasn't there. All in all the food at Ariel's looks good. We have had lunch there before and it was good. But it was served in individual portions. Which character breakfast do you like better? Ariel's or Goofy's?

I don't know, with as scary as she looked on the Divas thread it might have been a good thing that she wasn't there

Alrighty, we're on to Day 5, March 11:

We had an early wake up call this morning....I have to say, we're starting to drag a bit. We picked up the boys at their motel & made our way to Paradise Pier Hotel for our 7:50am breakfast with Lilo-n-Stitch. We've never done this character meal & wanted to give it a try. Anthony & Addy are huge Lilo & Stitch fans, & we've never seen them at the park.

We were greeted by Daisy Duck (another character we'd never seen)!!

Since I don't have our PhotoPass CD yet, I don't have the family pic with her.

You're seated & then allowed to go get your food at the buffet. It's a small buffet but there was still lots of items to chose from. Pastries, fruit, waffles, pancakes, scones, eggs, meats, salmon, omelets...etc.

The kids headed off the play "Island Hopping", which is kinda like musical chairs but nobody gets eliminated....they just remove Hawaiian Islands until they all end up on one island. Then big group hug with Lilo & Stitch, who of course plays along.

We only had Lilo & Stitch roaming around but they interacted soooo much, you really don't notice that there aren't any more characters. They hit our table probably 5 different times & played with all the kids (even the big ones).

Minnie Mouse came out to take Daisy's place, so we got the kids up to see her as well.

Back to more Lilo & Stitch. They also taught the kids to do the hula....I missed most of this because Addy just had to use the restroom in the middle of breakfast!!

They brought Anthony a birthday Mickey cake/brownie?? They sang (horribly bad....not one singer in the group....lol) Zip-a-dee-do-dah instead of the standard happy birthday song. Then we said Aloha to the PCH Grill!

whew......that was just breakfast, more to come in a bit!!

The Lilo and Stitch breakfast looked like a lot of fun, very cool that the characters that were there interacted so much to make up for the fact that they were the only ones. The food looked good, how did it taste?

After breakfast we drove back to the "Trop" & dropped off the car & headed over to Disneyland. First stop today has to be Pixie Hollow. The lines have been 60 min waits & I knew we needed to do this for Addy. Ty & Derek weren't interested.....funny a 19 & 22yr old wouldn't want to do this....lol so they went off & rode Star Tours & Buzz. We lined up to find only a 30 min. wait!!! We actually got all the way thru the wait, seeing Fawn & Tinkerbell in less than 30 minutes.

The boys met back up with us to ride Small World. Some of these pics came out pretty good for a moving boat, some not as great but I think you'll get the point.

We had Alice, Cinderella, Pinocchio, Aladdin, Jasmine & Abu.
Next set had Mulan, Simba, Ariel, Lilo-n-Stitch, Woody & Jessie & the 3 Cabaleros.

I really don't know if we caught all the new ones or not. We only did the ride once & I think you'd have to do it multiple times to catch everything. We weren't sure if this was a tribute to the Tiki Room or not.

Oh, we did see Peter Pan & Tink but the photo didn't come out. So that pretty much took care of the morning time....more to come as we head into the afternoon.

I hadn't realized the lines to Pixie Hollow would be so long - thanks for the head's up on it. Interestingly enough, many of the characters including the Tinkerbell you got pictures with have MySpace pages. I am actually friends with 3 different Tinks, plus a host of other characters

Great pictures again - especially the ones you took from the ride. Bummer about the Peter and Tink shots not coming out.

So after getting off IASW, we decided to check the line for Nemo. We never made it to this ride last March...mostly because the lines were always 2 hrs plus. Today it was a 30 min wait. Everyone but me got in line...I don't do small compact spaces....get claustophobic!! So I got myself a coke & relaxed. They got off & everyone pretty much hated it. They all agreed they wouldn't wait 5 mins to ride it. Even Anthony & Addy seemed bored by it. From the sounds of it (and the video my hubby took for me) I didn't miss anything. My family now refers to it as Lame-O.

It was time to meet up with a gal I met online on Pogo. (it's a game site) & we struck up quite the friendship after I learned she was a huge Disney fan. In fact she has a website for people traveling with toddlers to Disney parks & a forum. I got to meet her at Disneyland in 2005 & was giving her a bad time that she wasn't going to be there this trip. About 2 weeks before we were going, she emails me to tell me they decided to move up their trip (scheduled in May) & she would in fact be there during our trip!!! I was very excited to be seeing her & her hubby & son!!! We planned to meet at the Hungry Bear Restaurant in Critter Country. They have very good food up there, so if you haven't been....I would recommend it!!

After lunch, Mike, Anthony & Leanne's family rode Splash Mtn. I HATE this ride, so I took a few random shots as I waited.

Leanne's family was off & running so we went back into Frontierland & lined up to see Woody. I always am amazed by the people who pass right by an obvious line & then try to crowd right up to the front. An oriental lady, dragging her small child followed Woody to the meet-n-greet area & tried to go first.....we all (I mean tons of us) told her to get in line. She looks at us & says but my kid really wants to see him.......ummmmm....so does ours....otherwise we wouldn't be in line!!! The character escort pointed her to the back of the line.

Our next stop was the Jungle Cruise. Is it just me, or does this ride seem to be faster now? I used to be able to get photos on this ride & now it's almost impossible....everything's a blur. Here's my one good pic:

Ok, break time I'll be back to finish our day with random shots & the Blue Bayou.

I had heard about the lameness of Nemo, but we'll still ride it simply because the last time we were there it was under construction and we want to see the end result.

You do pogo? So does DW and the girls. They play scrabble and backgammon. Cool that your friend changed her travel dates and you were able to meet up with her.

Character meet line jumpers! Argghhh - when will they get a clue??? Jungle cruise did seem a bit quicker, I remember more time looking at the attraction and more bad monologuing from the tour guides ...hehehe.

Ok back at it.....what's next??? Oh, I remember (thanx to my notes), we rode Star Tours & BTMRR....when we exited that ride, there were the boys, so we got right back in line & rode it again!! (we had a special pass, since it broke down while we were on the platform earlier in the day)

After our ride, we walked the back path thru Fantasyland, got a picture of the kiddos in the Dumbo, snapped a pic of the golden spike at the castle, drooled on the candy & goodies at the candy shoppe on Main Street, then took a couple pics of the beautiful flowers on the street lamps. At this time the boys took the kids so Mike & I could head back to NOS for our anniversary dinner at the Blue Bayou.

The boys took the kids to ride Autopia, have dinner at the Tomorrowland Terrace, & ride Space Mtn. Mike & I checked in & were seated in about 10mins. We got a table waterside, which I loved. It didn't bother me if someone yelled something from the boats of POTC or waved....I just interacted back with them. One guy yelled "throw food!"....so I yelled back "throw money!!"....lol While we were starting with our rolls, I hear these voices going "Mike, Laurie, Mike"....it was our kids!!! I included the pic I took, but you can't really see them....but you get the point.

Mike & I had the crabcakes w/mango salsa for our appetizer....it was so good. Sorry the picture didn't come out. We split the main course of cajun-spiced salmon. We both got the gumbo that comes with the meal (choice of soup/gumbo or salad). It wasn't a full cup, but plenty for us. The salmon was delicious!!! Best salmon I've had in a long time. The picture is what we both got on a split plate. I couldn't imagine having the full serving. I couldn't finish what I got. We then of course (thanks to these boards) ordered the cookie boat. Yummy & more than enough for 3-4 people to share.

I loved eating here, it was spendy (not sure we could do this with the whole family) but very, very good. I loved the ambiance & had no problems with the waitress & staff.....they were all very friendly!

When we left the restaurant, we walked right on the POTC to continue the theme of the evening.

We walked back up Main Street to locate the kids who were to wait at the flagpole & enjoy the fireworks (if we weren't there before they started). The fireworks were going & we found them pretty easily. I stopped at the little gift shop at the tunnel before exiting to purchase a Mickey & Minnie plush in St Patty's Day attire...since our official anniversary is on St. Patrick's Day....seemed fitting that these came home with us!!

We were able to get out before the conclusion of the fireworks & went back to the motel & laid out stuff for the morning. Get to sleep in till 7:30am....pretty excited about that!

Tomorrow, Day 6 includes: the tour, critter ctry, Billy Hill & PCH Grill

More trips on BTMRR, you really do like that ride doncha? Nice treck through Fantasyland and great shots of the grub at Blue Bayou. I have never eaten there and we've decided that this time will be the time that we do. And we're going to wait for good seats "outside".

Bean went nuts when she saw you picture of the cookie boat btw Gotta have one of those! Nice that you were able to walk right onto the ride after your meal.

Your annivesary is on St Patty's - very cool. Did you get to go to a party or anything wearing your Disney gear? It being on a Tuesday put a damper on my usual plans.

We're up to day 6 already??? Well bring it on

 

[DizNee Luver]

WOW! You are a TR Machine!!!!!



Ariel's Grotto looked very fun - some good character interaction and good food.

I had no idea they were working on the lagoon at CA, or that they were so completely re-theming large portions of the park. For those who are curious, I found a pretty cool site that shows pics of what they are going to have: http://disneyetc.blogspot.com/2009/01/exciting-new-things-at-disneyland-and.html

****DCA is pretty torn up, but I'll have some pics coming up that shows a lot of the plans to be occuring over the next couple years****

Not a bad wait for Soarin' and cute pics with Mater and Lightning McQueen

****I'm really glad they added the Car's in....my kids love em****

Thank you for the head-s up on D23. I had heard about it last fall and had been waiting for it to go live. Just paid for my charter membership

****You're ahead of me then....have to wait till I have the money to do so****


Playhouse Disney is cute, but I'm kind of glad my girls have outgrown it. Of course it means riding ToT more - lol. Very cool shots from the parade - it is one we haven't seen and are looking forward to.

****We looked forward to it too, both trips, but I would love to see the WHOLE thing start to finish..just once****

I think you did the right thing in taking the time to save good seats for the fireworks. We've never done it and always end up way back in the crowd. But this year we'll have more time so I think we'll do the same thing.

****Definately worth it to give up some park time to do this. Your wife can take your girls to do a ride or two & then come back & switch with you. I actually went & got snacks at the Blue Ribbon Bakery to eat while we waited****


I don't know, with as scary as she looked on the Divas thread it might have been a good thing that she wasn't there

****I saw that picture.....I like the one we saw there last year

****

The Lilo and Stitch breakfast looked like a lot of fun, very cool that the characters that were there interacted so much to make up for the fact that they were the only ones. The food looked good, how did it taste?

****It was good....especially the made to order omelets. The boys liked the scrambled eggs with sausage in it & I liked the salmon...yup I ate salmon for breakfast & I loved it! The banana's foster french toast had good flavor, but it would have been much better fresh. Other posters rave about the pineapple coconut scones....but can't help you on that one since I'm allergic to coconut****

I hadn't realized the lines to Pixie Hollow would be so long - thanks for the head's up on it. Interestingly enough, many of the characters including the Tinkerbell you got pictures with have MySpace pages. I am actually friends with 3 different Tinks, plus a host of other characters

****The line can be quite long...slow moving because they only let one family in at a time****

Great pictures again - especially the ones you took from the ride. Bummer about the Peter and Tink shots not coming out.

****I may be able to "enhance" the photo...but haven't had time to play with it yet...so may still get a decent enough photo of it****



I had heard about the lameness of Nemo, but we'll still ride it simply because the last time we were there it was under construction and we want to see the end result.

****Mike videotaped it for me & yawnnnnnnnnn I found nothing there worth waiting in line for****

You do pogo? So does DW and the girls. They play scrabble and backgammon. Cool that your friend changed her travel dates and you were able to meet up with her.

****on Pogo...... laemee1 when I play I play bingo, turbo21, quick quack & weekly challenges..but I haven't been on lately!!
I'm thrilled I got to see Leanne again!!! We had a great visit & what better place to reconnect with an old friend....then at Disneyland****

Character meet line jumpers! Argghhh - when will they get a clue??? Jungle cruise did seem a bit quicker, I remember more time looking at the attraction and more bad monologuing from the tour guides ...hehehe.

****I get a kick out of the skippers, but I miss them actually stopping for photos before we take off****

More trips on BTMRR, you really do like that ride doncha? Nice treck through Fantasyland and great shots of the grub at Blue Bayou. I have never eaten there and we've decided that this time will be the time that we do. And we're going to wait for good seats "outside".

****BTMRR is definately a family favorite....when I'm done with the TR I will break down how many times we rode things****

Bean went nuts when she saw you picture of the cookie boat btw Gotta have one of those! Nice that you were able to walk right onto the ride after your meal.

****POTC was a great way to finish our meal from the Blue Bayou! Crowds on Wednesday while we were there, we're the lowest of the trip. Short wait times for everything. And Bean should be excited about the cookie boat....it was soooooooo good****

Your annivesary is on St Patty's - very cool. Did you get to go to a party or anything wearing your Disney gear? It being on a Tuesday put a damper on my usual plans.

****We pretty much celebrated our entire trip & our Anniversary came & went with out any fanfare on Tuesday. Not much into the partying thing anymore....much rather watch Disney folk vs drunk people that will use any excuse to party hard!! lol****
We're up to day 6 already??? Well bring it on

Lots to comment on & answer....look inside the quote for **** for my responses!!! And I think I'll wait till tomorrow......

 

[DizNee Luver]

Wow you are one fast Trip Reporter. Well, sorry to hear your family wasn't too impressed w/ Nemo. We are really looking forward to this ride as the kids love the clam version in WDW. Definitely will not wait 2 hours for it though.

Food at BB does look fabulous.

I figured I could handle one day, everyday....till done. I also will have a post on ride counts, list of all the restaurants, PhotoPass pics (when I get them in), pics of misc, pics of portraits taken at character meals & rides (as soon as I can get our new scanner to cooperate...etc) So this could end up being the neverending trip report....lol

My suggestion with Nemo for your family....go when the wait time is 30 mins. It really was not worth waiting longer than that for. (maybe first thing...not on a MM, or late in the evening during parades/fireworks or near closing)

The food at BB was the bomb!!! Very good!

 

[Teki]

Your trip seems like it was amazing so far! Its getting me super pumped for our trip because your eating at some of the resturants we are gonna eat in and the food looks amazing!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Your trip seems like it was amazing so far! Its getting me super pumped for our trip because your eating at some of the resturants we are gonna eat in and the food looks amazing!

I'd have to say it was a delicious trip!!!

 

[DizNee Luver]

Day 6, March 12:
We met the boys at the park entrance before opening & headed straight to the Guided Tours to check-in. Mike & I were doing the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour. We had about 30 mins before we needed to be back there, so we ran the kids down to the Blue Ribbon Bakery to get a quick breakfast.

The kids were going to go to DCA while we were in the tour. First stop was Toy Story Mania....we've never done this ride so I knew Anthony & Addy would be dying to do it!! After riding TSM they decided to come back over to Disneyland & do some rides. They did Snow White's Scary Adventure, Autopia, & Pinocchio. Tyler took a pic of the "Mickey" cactus as he calls it. They got lunch in the NOS area. Ty chosing to try the gumbo in a bread bowl at the Royal Street Veranda & Derek & kiddos getting lunch at the River Belle Terrace. I have to say Derek's BBQ Pork Sandwich looked very good! After their lunch they headed back up Main Street to the flag pole to wait for us.

When the kids took off for their morning, Mike & I went back for our tour. We had a very knowledgable tour guide...Albert. He told us after the tour he had only been giving this tour for 2 weeks, but I was very impressed & thought he did an excellent job!!

Everyone is given a headset/portable pack to wear thru-out the tour. You get music....Disney of course, as you're walking & then during different parts of the tour, you get to hear Walt's voice. I think the one that gets me everytime, is hearing him give the dedication speech. Which is actually where we started. The dedication plaque at the base of the flag pole.

We then walk slowly up Main Street, stopping to look at the names in the windows. Each name represented a person involved in getting Disneyland up & running. One window is dedicated to Walt's father.

We then stop at the Partner's Statue.....I tried my hardest to get a shot of the "Mouse" ring on Walt's hand, but the sun was in my face & I just couldn't get it.

Next stop was at the Jungle Cruise. I noticed this crate above the gift shop at the exit.

Can you make out the name on it?? "Henry Jones" aka Indiana Jones.....lol

We found out how Walt got all those exotic trees & plants to make the Jungle look authentic.....you couldn't bring those in due to regulations, so Walt snuck seeds in to the country by placing them in his pants leg & hemming them into the cuff!!!! Very sneaky but well worth it for the authenticity!!We took a ride on the Jungle Cruise....the skippers on these crack me up. They had our group load at the exit & then we got to ride an extra 90 ft of dock before they finished loading our boat......no private rides for us!!

After our "Cruise" we walked into Frontierland & another window was pointed out to us (it's between the gift store & the Golden Horseshoe) a window dedicated to Fess Parker....Davy Crockett. Funny, that was a window I hadn't noticed before!!

Ok, that's the first part of the tour......next part includes Club 33, the castle & 50th display.