Alex2kMommy's Little Quickie Trip!

[Alex2kMommy]

Disneegrl and I scooted off to the Hollywood Backlot right around 8:45, the time the parade was to start at the back of the park. Disneegrl is able to ride her scooter right on through the hotel lobby and into the elevator bay, and we waited in a shorter line. While we waited she began texting on her phone, and told me she'd just gotten a message from Albort, one of the DISer CMs. He had wanted to meet up with everyone after he got off work at 8:00, but apparently had been sending text messages “but no one answered!” Disneegrl said she’d just got his text and replied immediately, and he said he’d texted everybody else (I’m guessing Sameyeyam, FunnyGarcia, and Matterhorn?) and when he didn’t get a response, he’d gone home. Disneegrl tried to persuade him to come back to the park, but he was not in the mood.

I was a little nervous waiting for the ride to begin. There seemed to be lots of teenagers and adults waiting around with us. Was this going to be a bit too scary for me? I don’t do well with scary movies, so I was second guessing myself. Disneegrl said it wasn’t going to be spooky kind of scary, but it was going to be exciting kind of scary. I stayed, but told her if I wet my pants on the ride, I may never forgive her for talking me into it.

The elevator doors opened up, lots of people exited, and then everyone else loaded ahead of us. A CM directed Disneegrl where to park her scooter, and we boarded the ride.

A CM made some ominous sort of speech before closing the elevator doors. A large group of teens had boarded our elevator, and one of them began to scream. Not in a scared way or even a “this is gonna be cool” way, but a mock-scared scream that was more annoying than funny. But a bunch of the kids laughed anyway, and then they all began to scream. Wow. How long is this ride?

If you have been on this ride, I suppose you learn when the photo flash and picture are going to occur, but since I hadn’t been on it, I just looked at Disneegrl curiously as she struck a pose with her hands in ‘devils horns’ and her tongue hanging out. If I didn’t know better I’d have sworn she was in with that group of teenagers.

Holy crap, we began to move! I think we had a huge drop down first, then rocketed up, then down and up again, and then the elevator doors open all the way to reveal… the park outdoors, from way up high! Before the doors shut we rocket down again, and I’m sure I screamed, though no sound came out. When I laughed I sounded like a sick, braying donkey, but when I screamed there was no sound at all. I laughed (and wheezed) through the whole ride, and it was awesome! That is a wicked cool ride! And DH thought I wouldn’t like it, pffffft!

After the ride (during which I did not lose bladder control, thank you very much!), we headed back through the Hollywood Backlot entrance, but found it completely blocked by a thick crowd waiting for the parade to begin. It had just begun on the other side of the street where Matterhorn and the kids were, but we couldn’t get past the Hollywood Backlot sign to get around the loop and over to them.

Since we were stuck, we decided to go back and ride ToT again, but when we got to the hotel, it was already closed. Of course, it was past park hours! So back to the parade route, and we chatted while the parade came around through.

Finally the last float, the golden eagle, passed through, and the crowd slowly headed toward the park entrance. We cut across in front of the sun waterfall fountain, and saw Matterhorn waiting with the two strollers. And with her was Sameyeyam! I think they said Sam had come across Matterhorn waiting for the parade, and so stayed with them to watch it. I asked where her kids were, and she said she didn’t know. I asked where FunnyG was, and she said she didn’t know that, either.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

They all wanted to go into Disneyland, and I thought, “What the heck, it’s our last night! I’ll just go for a little bit.” So we followed the crowd toward the park entrance. Only the crowd stopped moving! What the heck?

The fireworks at DL had begun, so everyone stopped in Sunshine Plaza to watch it. Gosh, it took forever to get through there to exit the park, and even once we were out, there was a big crowd standing in between the two parks watching the fireworks as well.

We finally made our way through the DL gates, and I asked everyone if they’d indulge me for a Photopass photo in front of the Mickey head flower display. They said yes, so we waited for the Photopass photographer to free up. When it was our turn we all lined up, and he took three shots. I don’t know if it was by design or not, but each one shows the progression of the Tinkerbell lights lighting up.

Disneegrl insisted that she wanted to show me the Secret Bathroom. I tried to beg off, because I’d been told it’s near the queue for Small World. The Small World ride was closed for refurbishment, and there’s really nothing else out that way (ToonTown is closed by that hour), so I really didn’t want to waste the time nor my limited energy..But she insisted. And you know what? Who the heck told me it’s by Small World??? It is nowhere near it! On my last trip I wasted about 15 minutes around Small World looking for the darn thing, and I guess the joke was on me.

Disneegrl showed me the door, so I went up to take a picture. I know that sounds really weird, but I really love all the theming in the DL bathrooms, and have photos of several of them. Just as I neared the door a couple of kids ran up from behind me and ran into the bathroom. Their mother shouted at them to let the lady go first, so I turned around and told her, “Oh, I don’t need to use it, I just want to take a photo of it.”

She laughed, and apparently so did the rest of my party, as the kids slipped out and I took a shot. Then the kids went in and the door closed, so I took a shot of the closed door, too. Proof positive that I know where the Secret Bathroom is!

But don’t ask me about the Secret Bathroom, I am sworn to secrecy. And certain pint-sized people can go ballistic in the blink of an eye! You do not want to mess with them!

After that we tried to decide what to do first. The kids all clamored for BTMRR, so we headed that way, and somewhere between the bathroom and the ride, FunnyG joined the party. We all headed into the ride’s exit (due to Disneegrl’s scooter) and waited for a train. We all got to ride together (I think seven of us, since Matterhorn stayed behind with her DS2) and then met up again with Matterhorn. DS said he wanted to go to the Kissmass House (Haunted Mansion) and everyone agreed, so we walked up that way. Again, we had a bit of a fastpass with Disneegrl’s scooter, though it wasn’t that busy, and we practically walked right in. DS again clung to me in the stretching room, but enjoyed the rest of the ride, and this time noticed the little ghost hitching a ride in our coach. He kept turning his head around, looking to see the little guy in real life!

After that we had to do Pirates, and somewhere headed to that ride we were joined by Sam’s kids. Let’s see, that brought our count up to twelve, and I’m pretty sure were were all loaded into one boat. Cool!

I love that ride, I think I could live happily in that quiet, peaceful bayou scene. Especially if it meant eating at the Blue Bayou, yum!

The park was closed after that, so we headed to Main Street. I said goodbyes in front of the photo shop, because I needed to stop by there and buy my Photopass CD. I was so thrilled to have finally met all of these wonderful people I chat with so often, and was sad to be saying goodbye so soon.

The line at the shop wasn’t too long, but very slow. I think there were only one or two people in front of me, but we waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes in line. Finally I was able to approach the counter, and the CM pulled up all my Photopass photos. I was surprised to count 31 shots, but I think there were only 5 or 6 places we’d stopped at to have photos taken. Still, thinking you’d easily pay at least $12 for a print, I was pleased to pay $59 for the CD. The CD was burned fairly quickly while I paid for it, and then we were on our way.

I thought about stopping in one of the shops on our way out, but they looked awfully crowded, and I was too tired. We’d be coming again in April with the family, so we didn’t really need to buy something now.

We made a long, lingering walk back to the Paradise Pier Hotel through DTD. We stopped again for fluids at the lobby lounge (OJ and choc milk.) While DS3 sipped his milk and watched cartoons, I packed our stuff up for the trip home, then crawled into bed. It was after midnight, I think, and thank goodness we didn’t have to worry about an early flight. I was dog tired, but happy.


February 9: Anaheim Temp Hi 84F

 

[MotoXPrincess99]

Great update!

 

[staley7580]

Great job Alex!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Moto and Staley, thanks for reading along.

The only thing left to write about was our last morning at the hotel and the trip home. It's almost over.

 

[tinkermell]

Alex, what a great TR!!
It sounded like you had so much fun!
How cool to meet up with everyone!!

 

[momofdisaddict]

I have really enjoyed reading about your trip! We leave on April 1st and reading your report lets me feel like I am already there

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Tinkermell and Momofdisaddict, thanks for reading!

For a short trip, we really did cram a lot of fun in! I can't wait to go back in April!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I had thought, since we were out so late Saturday night, that DS3 and I would just crash hard and sleep in late. I was so grateful our check-out time wasn’t until 11:00.

But as it turned out I was wide awake before 7:00. I got out of bed and wandered over to peek out the curtains at the gorgeous sunshine I’d be leaving today. The view was so pretty with the early sunlight over the park that I grabbed my camera and took a photo. Then I took a couple of my sleeping babe, who had one arm thrown above his head and his mouth open in a little “o” shape. Then I showered, which apparently woke DS3, since he again peeked into the shower curtain, giggled and hopped in with me. (I don’t even remember what it’s like to have privacy in a bathroom anymore…)

So there we were, cleaned and dressed and packed, ready to head to the airport, and it wasn’t even 8:00. I didn’t have any food to eat, so we really should head out for something. But where? There was the lobby lounge, of course, but I was seriously hungry! There was the lobby restaurant, but at this time of day it’s the Lilo & Stitch character breakfast, and I was sure we wouldn’t be able to get in.

I called DH to tell him we were ready to head home, and just trying to figure out what to do for breakfast. He suggested the Lilo & Stitch breakfast, “Just call and ask, maybe you can get in!”

After ending the call, I figured we may as well go for a walk; we’d check at the character breakfast, but if they were booked up, we’d go to the lounge. Who knows, maybe they serve hot breakfast food in the lounge?

There was hardly anyone in the restaurant when I approached the check-in person. “We don’t have a PS, but is there any way we could get in for breakfast?”

She said, “Sure!” and it would be just a few minutes’ wait. Sweet!

DS3 saw a penny press machine and asked if he could press a penny, so I fumbled in the backpack for my small Ziploc bag of pennies and quarters and already-pressed coins… and couldn’t find it! Oh, man, and we’d already pressed about 9 coins, some for DS3 and some for him to give his brother. Maybe I’d already stashed it somewhere else for traveling? At least I hope so…”Sorry, buddy, I don’t have any pennies.”

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Just then we were called in to be seated. We each were greeted with a plastic lei, and brought in to a corner of the room to have our photo taken with one of the characters. It was Minnie Mouse! My boy loves his Minnie, so he eagerly hopped in to hug her, then smiled for the camera. The photographer coaxed me into a 2nd shot, a nice souvenir to show that DS wasn’t on the trip all by himself. (You knew I was going to buy those photos, didn’t you?)

Once we reached our table, Daisy Duck replaced Minnie at the door, and Minnie began to tour the room. Our waiter asked for drink orders, so I requested milk for DS3 and coffee for myself. I had been four days without coffee by that point, and even though I don’t care for the coffee at Disneyland, after four days it tasted pretty darn good!

I brought DS3 through the buffet items, grabbing a bit of whatever he wanted and anything else I thought he might eat: Watermelon, strawberries, potatoes, scrambled eggs, and a sausage. I brought him back to the table and cut up his food a bit, then let him have at it while I went back for my plate.

They have these wonderful pineapple/coconut scones I’d had before, and so I hunted those down. (I don't even like cooked coconut, but these are awesome!) Unfortunately I couldn’t find the pineapple preserves they’d also had with it before, so I missed that. I also grabbed standard breakfast fare and some fruit.

Lilo stopped by our table and played with DS a bit, but to my utter frustration, my camera would not take a photo! It was giving me an "R12" error, and since I'm a point-and-click gal and didn't have my manual with me, I was completely stuck. I thanked Lilo for being patient while I tried to figure out the problem, then during a lull at the entrance, asked the photographer if she could take a look at the camera. (I know they use close to the same model of Nikon.) Turns out she didn't know much more than I did, so I thanked her for her effort, but was no further toward getting it fixed.

I monkeyed with it some more, and discovered I could take a far-away shot, and then a close-up, but then it would lock up again and give the same error code. OK, at least that was something to work with...

As we ate I spied Stitch headed our way. I grabbed my camera and got a nice shot of him surprising DS3 from behind! They had a laugh and a nice big hug before Stitch moved on. We ate our breakfast quietly until we heard someone talking into a mike and hula music playing. I encouraged DS to join a group of kids gathered nearby with Pluto and Lilo. They all learned to dance the hula together!

I managed to get DS back to the table to finish his breakfast, and then Pluto came by our table. I got some nice photos of the two of them, and an autograph of course.

DS finished eating before I did, so he was getting a bit antsy. I tried to keep him entertained, but all of a sudden he hopped up and took a stroll around the room. I let him go for a bit because he wasn’t doing anything and the room is fairly small, but when he started to run, I went after him and hauled him back.

Lilo came by and distracted him for a few minutes, thank goodness. She put his lei on him (she’s wearing one, too) and they look so cute together!

Stitch came by again, and he and DS poked each other in the nose back and forth for awhile. It’s an odd game, I’ll admit, but they both seemed to be enjoying it.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

All the kids were called back together in the room to play an island hopping game similar to musical chairs. They lay down small versions of each of the five main islands of Hawaii, and when the music stops, you need to touch at least a foot onto one of the islands. Each time they play, they take away one of the islands, so it gets harder and harder. Lilo, Stitch and Pluto were playing as well as all the kids, and I liked how nobody was out, you just had to scramble to get a toe on an island! By the end, with only the Big Island left, Pluto body-slammed into it, and all the others stuck a toe around him. It was hilarious, and the kids had a blast!

DS3 lingered next to Stitch after the game, so Stitch gave him a sweet pat on the head before sending him my way.

Daisy, having replaced Minnie by the door, never did come around our table, which was disappointing. So we met only the 4 characters. Still, we had a lot more fun than sitting in the lobby lounge! I love the character meals, and I’m really going to miss them when DS3 decides he’s too old for that.

We returned to the room and watched a little TV, then I called the lobby to check out, get a bellman, and arrange for a cab. I'd been told by the front desk to allow about half an hour for check-out, and half an hour for the cab, and allow about an hour for the trip to the airport.

When we reached the lobby, the cabbie was there already, asking who his fare was; I told him that was us, but our luggage was coming down the service elevator. Once the bellman arrived, our luggage was quickly loaded into the cab and DS3’s carseat installed, and away we went. From my phone call to the front desk to the time we were driving away was probably about ten minutes!

So… I wondered if this cabbie was from the same company as Fred, our previous driver. You know, the one I still owed $3? I was certainly going to pay the appropriate amount this time, but… I asked if he knew of another cabbie named Fred. Fred has two young children, aged 5 and 3? He said cabbies do tend to work a particular area, but he did not know a guy named Fred at his company, Fred must work for someone else. I think he wondered why I was asking, that perhaps something bad had happened, so I confessed to my poor math abilities with Fred’s tip. Darn, that was my last hope for getting Fred his money. Ah, well. I’ll have to live with it on my conscience, I guess.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Once at the airport I was weighted down with all the bags again, but managed to get in to the airline counter and get checked in. Again, no problem with DS3’s name being on the TSA No Fly list, so we got checked in pretty quickly.

Since I wanted to check DS’s carseat, I started to bag it up with the plastic garbage bag and ziptie DH had given me, but the ticket agent said that I needed to take it over to the Security counter, and they would bag it for me. Really? Curious, they don’t do it that way at Sea-Tac…

The ticket agent actually came around the counter and helped me carry everything to the nearby Security counter, which was so nice of her! I turned the carseat over to the Security guy, and started to hand over the bag and ziptie, but he said he had that covered. So now I was free of the largest suitcase and the carseat, and we got in line for the Security check.

This line always moves so slow, but we were plenty early, so I didn’t really care. We’d again worn our Crocs to the airport for easy on/off (only this time I thought to wear socks!) I piled everything onto the conveyer belt, sent DS through the metal detector, and then myself. We reassembled everything quickly, and took off to find our gate.

Along the way DS spied a McDonald’s, and begged for “hambugga fies!” I told him we’d go there for lunch in a little bit, and continued on to our gate. We killed a little time reading books at the gate, but soon I was bored and so was he. “How about that hamburger now?”
“Yesssss!” he cheered.

I parked DS in the stroller near the exit of the McDonald’s line, and stood in line close by, hauling our bags. I ordered his Happy Meal, and a fruit plate for myself. There was a small seating area next to the restaurant, so I brought our food tray in there, then returned for ds3. (He was within 10 steps this whole time, it’s a very small space, but for me it was a little stressful not having him right next to me.)

He was happy as a clam to be eating his favorite meal, and was singing songs and making cute animal sounds. Fortunately the only other adults around seemed to also have children, so they didn’t seem to be bothered by a little background music.

We bought a couple water bottles on the way back to the gate, then sat and waited for our flight to begin loading. The plane arrived and taxied up to the gate, and DS was thrilled to notice its sky blue skin with Minnie’s face on the side. Cool, a Disney plane!

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Soon the gate agents were calling for first class to board, then folks with “children aged 2 and under, or anyone needing extra time or assistance in boarding.” This time I thought, “Darn it, that’s me!” and got in line. We parked our stroller at the end of the ramp, and boarded the plane.

DS3 kept wanting to sit at every aisle along the way, and I kept telling him, “Honey, no, keep going. We’re all the way in the back.” I think we were in row 25, which is pretty close to the back of the plane. A fellow passenger saw me struggling with DS3 and all the bags, and offered to put my large carry-on in the overhead bin.

“Oh, it’s pretty heavy,” I protested, but she grabbed it anyway, and had no trouble hoisting it to stow. “Thank you so much!” Nice! Now I could stretch my legs out instead of having them cramped up against my seat.

An older gentleman had the seat next to DS3, but luckily for us, he seemed to be familiar in the ways of small children, DS didn’t faze him a bit.

We had an uneventful flight back, reading books and DS playing a bit of peek-a-boo with the little boy seated behind us. Soon were dropping altitude and banking around to hit a southbound runway at Sea-Tac. DS perked right up at the sensation, and asked, “Wha’s happeneen, Mama?”

“Honey, we’re landing. We’re almost home!”

Instead of the big “yay!” cheer I was expecting, he blurted out loudly, “Mayday! Mayday! We’re going down! We’re going down!”

I quickly shushed him, and glanced at our seatmate, who pretended not to notice anything but had a smile on his face. DS3 was about to start in again, so I shushed him again. “Honey, you can’t say that, please stop saying that!”

He asked innocently, “But why, Mama?”

I said it was not OK to say, it might scare some people, and “where on earth did you hear that?”

He said “Me an’ my brudder watch a Yu-Gi-Oh, and dey on da plane, and dey say dat and dey layand on da ground, BOOM! Heh heh!” Uh-huh.

Thankfully we were on the ground (safely) soon enough. I called DH, who said he’d be parked nearby, to let him know to meet us at baggage claim. I grabbed our stroller at the gate, popped it open and strapped DS in, then headed down to baggage claim via the elevator.

DH wanted me to head outside to meet him first, then he’d run in and grab the heavy bags, so we walked outside and looked for him. It was dark and I was tired, but his hand sticking out the driver’s window and waving at me was a dead giveaway. He had to drive a bit before finding a curbside spot to stop, so I followed him. He ran for our bags while I unloaded DS and got him into his carseat, and loaded the carry-on bags into the back of the vehicle.

I gave DS7 a big hug and told him I missed him; he smiled and said, “I know. I missed you, too, Mama.” DH quickly returned, and we were heading for the freeway. And even though the boys’ bickering started not five minutes out of Sea-Tac, it was still good to be home again.

But I can’t wait ‘til we all go to Disneyland in April…

 

[sameyeyam]

Great TR Alex!!!! I love the MAYDAY, MAYDAY part.

Boy I sound like the mother of the year in this report...Sameyeyam without her kids, where are her kids, can't find the kids, here's the hotel key kids! I sure hope everyone realizes that two of them are teenagers and that I'm not just letting my little kids run around DL unsupervised.

Wish you would have felt better on the trip, but oh well, you get another chance in April.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Great TR Alex!!!! I love the MAYDAY, MAYDAY part.

Boy I sound like the mother of the year in this report...Sameyeyam without her kids, where are her kids, can't find the kids, here's the hotel key kids! I sure hope everyone realizes that two of them are teenagers and that I'm not just letting my little kids run around DL unsupervised.

Wish you would have felt better on the trip, but oh well, you get another chance in April.

Oh gosh no, I didn't think you sounded terrible! Really, do you think?

They are older, and I know I said DD and her friend are teenagers. Is Coop 9 or 10? I think I said 9, but I wasn't sure...

You definitely deserve the Laid Back, Go With The Flow Person of the Year award. You don't sweat the small stuff, and always have a great attitude, which I appreciate so much (and try to learn from, since apparently that is the opposite of my nature.)

BTW, my mom loved the "Mayday!" part, too, and she tells EVERYONE about it.

 

[AZMickeyfans]

Ok here is my ds's comments on your TR. I'm writing this on another screen as we read so I dont miss anything. This is great story time alex!

He laughed when your ds was on the plane and cannot wait to go on one in October. I asked him if he thought it would be like a roller coaster ride and he said "No actually it will be like a picture frame to me"

When I asked him to explain this he said "because i will be like in a picture frame (giggled) I love you mama!"

He said the Alice ride is not called "the bug ride" it is called "the funny ride"



His favorite character being Tinkerberll cracked Jake up. His favorite character is Peter Pan

Jake also said that the flying fairies are baby Toads.

Oh, I just want to cry reading ds was lost...... Glad he was safe and having fun.

He wants to see the paper crown from ariels

No words can describe the amout of laughter coming from Jake as I read hotdog octopus!

I love reading this. Right now we are up to the Rainforest Cafe part and its confusing the heck out of Jake. He doesnt understand how you could have eaten at Rainforest Cafe because its in AZ not in Disneyland! we've never eaten at the DL one because we go here so frequently and he didnt eve know there was one ove rthere. I still think he doesnt believe me.

Mayday Mayday!!! I just your ds Alex. I skipped reading that part to mine....


Jake said he liked reading the story but "now can we play checkers ever?!" So I'm off to play checkers I guess.

Great TR Alex, Next time You'll feel better I'm sure.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

He wants to see the paper crown from ariels

No words can describe the amout of laughter coming from Jake as I read hotdog octopus!

We really must get these two together sometime, mustn't we?

Ahhh, the paper crown. He didn't want to wear his crown after dinner, so I uncurled it so it wouldn't get squished. But it was quite long, what to do with it? The best I could do was lay it across the stroller's canopy, tucked into a fold. It slid out once, but I managed to notice and picked it up off the ground. I tucked it back into the canopy fold and put a sweatshirt on top of it. And yet somehow, by the time we got to the parade, it was gone.

I didn't mention it to DS, thinking he'd be terribly upset. I thought about going back to the restaurant the next day to ask for another crown and set of stickers, but thought that was silly, it's only paper. Besides, had we kept it, it wouldn't have lasted terribly long with DS anyway.

I hope some lucky kid found it and got some enjoyment out of it.

 

[Yakety76]

I am only on page 2 of your trip report, so I have a little more reading to do. I just wanted to say I am so glad your little one was found after just a short absence. How scary that must have been for you!! You seemed to have kept your wits about you and handled everything in the best possible way. My DD is also 3, so I definitely know how quickly they can disappear from sight.

Cannot wait to read the rest.

 

[Boston Tea Party]

I honestly didn’t know if this was a CM or perhaps just the child’s parent, and I didn’t see them there before us, but I felt a bit guilty just the same. I wish the CMs who help out a costumed character would be better at crowd control and forming lines so this sort of thing didn’t happen.

I'm enjoying your report and agree 100% with the above! Ugh.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

Yakety76 and Boston Tea Party,

Thanks for reading along, and thanks for the kind words.