All We Want Is To Spend Halloween With Mickey! w/MiniTR Oahu Makapu'u Lighthouse 9/13

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I am so blown away by your Williamsburg photos! It seems like that is a really amazing way to spend Independence Day. I keep trying to convince DH to take a trip there, but he is convinced he and DS will be bored the whole time.
Maybe your pictures will help change his mind!

Seems like even with a short trip, you are fitting in some great meals. CP in your costumes sounds like a ton of fun! I can't wait to see the pics from that.

Thanks! Our kids always seem to have a great time at Williamsburg so I'm pretty sure your DS and DH will enjoy it. There's also a Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park in Williamsburg so they could go there while you explore Colonial Williamsburg

Trying to figure out what the kids would like to dress up as for Halloween. I think it's going to be Star Wars related but they haven't made up their minds yet.

 

[khertz]

Thanks! Our kids always seem to have a great time at Williamsburg so I'm pretty sure your DS and DH will enjoy it. There's also a Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park in Williamsburg so they could go there while you explore Colonial Williamsburg

Trying to figure out what the kids would like to dress up as for Halloween. I think it's going to be Star Wars related but they haven't made up their minds yet.

Thanks for the tip about GWL!

As for the costumes, at least you have a legit idea. DS has only told me he wants to dress up as a lizard so he can crawl on the sidewalk to trick or treat...

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Thanks for the tip about GWL!

As for the costumes, at least you have a legit idea. DS has only told me he wants to dress up as a lizard so he can crawl on the sidewalk to trick or treat...

Love your DS' imagination!

 

[khaleesi]

Love the Williamsburg pictures!! Every year I watch Capitol Fourth as I happily sit in my completely uncrowded living room, wondering what time people started getting there and shuddering when I think of the exit situation!

Did you happen to record it since you weren't there? It was really good! I also taped the Macy's one, because Adele Dazeem was on... haven't watched it yet though. I'm only a little late!

I had to laugh at your thought process with the police while you were strolling around in the early morning hours. I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same way!

I like your food lineup!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love the Williamsburg pictures!! Every year I watch Capitol Fourth as I happily sit in my completely uncrowded living room, wondering what time people started getting there and shuddering when I think of the exit situation!

Did you happen to record it since you weren't there? It was really good! I also taped the Macy's one, because Adele Dazeem was on... haven't watched it yet though. I'm only a little late!

I had to laugh at your thought process with the police while you were strolling around in the early morning hours. I'm pretty sure I'd feel the same way!

I like your food lineup!

No, I totally blanked on setting up the DVR for the Capitol Fourth. I also want to watch the NYC's fireworks one of these days since my brother's place is right on the Hudson on the Jersey side.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Wow. I've been away from DIS for over a month. I don't think that's happened since I first joined DIS a few years ago. Not only have I neglected my PTR but I've obviously fallen waaaaay behind on my DIS friend's TRs and PTRs as well. Clearly I have a lot of catching up to do.

As those of you who are FB friends with me know, I've had a very full travel calendar for the month of August. During the first weekend, I had a four night visit to Las Vegas with my friends that included three side trips to Valley of Fire, Zion National Park, and Red Rock Canyon. This was followed by my family's 12 night/13 day vacation trip that included Oahu, San Diego, and one day at Disney California Adventure. We just returned home tonight from this wonderful trip. To get the days off for these trips, I had to really load up on my work schedule in July and the weeks between the trip which is why I was off the DIS grid for awhile. Ok, enough excuses!

To make it up, I'm about to unload a whole lot of photos from all of these beautiful locations in the form of some mini-TRs including our day at DCA!! Spoiler alert: Carsland and World of Color more than lived up to expectations and hype! I have most of the photos ready to go since I processed them each night while on vacation. Hoping to post the first mini-TR from DCA this weekend once I finish making my FP+ reservations for our October trip. Yes, it's only 61 days away!

 

[afwdwfan]

Welcome back! It looks like you have had a lot of fun and seen a lot of places over the past few weeks. I'm sure you'll have some excellent pictures for us!

 

[teekathepony]

Welcome back!! I've been enjoying all the photos on Facebook, what an amazing summer your family has had!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Welcome back! It looks like you have had a lot of fun and seen a lot of places over the past few weeks. I'm sure you'll have some excellent pictures for us!

Thanks! We had a blast but at the same time it feels good to be back home and not have to catch another plane for awhile

Welcome back!! I've been enjoying all the photos on Facebook, what an amazing summer your family has had!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Thank you! It's definitely been a summer to remember!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I'm running errands all day as we transition back from vacationland to the real world. But just as a teaser, here's a photo from World of Color at Disney California Adventure.

IMG_0384-2 by DaveinFallsChurch, on Flickr

 

[ElenaJane]

Yay! Glad you are back! Can't wait to see some of your pictures. I may just have to find you on FB so I don't miss out next time! Good luck with FPs!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Yay! Glad you are back! Can't wait to see some of your pictures. I may just have to find you on FB so I don't miss out next time! Good luck with FPs!

Thanks Elena! I'm keeping my expectations low and am not expecting to find a FP for Anna and Elsa since our trip is so short.

Have lots and lots of pics from DCA!

 

[saintstickets]

I'm about to unload a whole lot of photos from all of these beautiful locations in the form of some mini-TRs including our day at DCA!! Spoiler alert: Carsland and World of Color more than lived up to expectations and hype! I have most of the photos ready to go since I processed them each night while on vacation. Hoping to post the first mini-TR from DCA this weekend once I finish making my FP+ reservations for our October trip. Yes, it's only 61 days away!

I'm really looking forward to your update and mini-TRs. Too bad you're arriving in late October and we will be there about 3 weeks before you or we could have arranged a DIS meet. I'll try to save you some food from F&W!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

I'm really looking forward to your update and mini-TRs. Too bad you're arriving in late October and we will be there about 3 weeks before you or we could have arranged a DIS meet. I'll try to save you some food from F&W!

A DIS meet would have been fun - sorry that we're missing each other.

We won't be able to attend F&W or Epcot on this trip because we're staying onle for three nights and focusing on the Halloween parties for the kids, so eat away my friend!

 

[plutofan0902]

Following along! Your pictures are amazing! They make me super excited for my trip in just 48 days. We also planned two party nights and just added the Villain Soiree to our 2nd party.

Can't wait to see your pics from California Adventure.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Following along! Your pictures are amazing! They make me super excited for my trip in just 48 days. We also planned two party nights and just added the Villain Soiree to our 2nd party.

Can't wait to see your pics from California Adventure.

Thanks for following! I've been debating whether to sign up for the Villain Soiree on our second party night. Haven't made up my mind but it's on the radar.

Regardless, the parties are so much fun!

 

[teekathepony]

Ooooh! Aaaaah! Gorgeous teaser!!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Even though our short but memorable visit to Disney California Adventure happened after our week-long stay in Oahu, I’m going to kick off my series of mini-TRs with it because of my affinity for non-chronological trip reports and after all this is a Disney community board. The first part of this post is text heavy but if you scroll and read down far enough you'll be treated with 25 photos!

If you’ve followed my previous trip report you may remember how our day at DCA came to be. It actually almost didn’t happen. Our original plans were to visit Oahu for a week to celebrate my Dad’s 70th birthday then return home. But, as I was researching airfares for Oahu I found that we could save A LOT if we booked our return flight with a layover at LAX. Just how much could we save? More than enough to cover 5 nights of lodging in Southern California! So instead of having a 4-hour layover, we decided to turn that into a 5-night “layover.” Even then, our plans were to spend all of that time in San Diego. After sitting on that plan for a few weeks, I finally suggested to DW that we spend one day at Disney California Resort since my family has never been and seen Carsland which she thought would be a fun idea!

Our flight from Honolulu arrived at LAX at 8:45pm on a Saturday night. My plans and itinerary for the next 24 hours or so were tightly packed with not a whole lot of time to sleep thanks to our evening arrival time and Early Entry the next morning that began at 7am. So DW and I were very anxious to try to check into Disney’s Paradise Pier Hotel as soon as possible so that the kids could get a good night’s sleep while adjusting to the three hour difference from Oahu. Our plans hit a major snag when we arrived at Dollar’s rental car center. The place was a zoo. Even though I had our car reserved through the Express Service, we waited in line for 30 minutes because at this particular location they don’t pre-assign cars even for their Express members and there was only one agent manning the Express counter who was taking things very leisurely with one customer for more than 20 minutes. I’m happy to report that this was only one of two major snafus we ran into during our entire 13 day trip and we eventually drove out of there with a car. I think I learned my lesson as we observed very similar problems with Dollar in Honolulu with people waiting for over an hour to get a car because how busy the place was. I had been spoiled by the Dollar Express service at Orlando which has always been convenient and efficient but I understand better now that with the cheap rental rates comes a trade-off in the quality of service. As we drove out, I told DW that I would be looking at other rental companies from now on. We also decided at the end of the trip that we would be avoiding flying in and out of LAX thanks to a second incident that occurred on our return flight home which I’ll take you through later. Thankfully, we had such a great time on our trip that it was enough to quickly forget our misadventures at LAX.

Forty-five minute drive on the famous LA freeways had us arriving at Paradise Pier Hotel at 11pm. It doesn’t really matter whether it’s DLR or WDW, the familiar friendliness of CMs greeting us at the front desk always gives me a welcoming feeling and this time was no different. She went through our check in package and chuckled when she pointed out the activities calendar for the hotel as we were staying just one night and would be checking out in 7.5 hours. Nonetheless, her thoroughness was appreciated. We kept most of our luggage tucked and locked away in the trunk of our rental car parked in the garage and took a small bag into our room for the night. Trying to get the kids into bed was a struggle which I couldn’t really blame them. As soon as they stepped foot into the hotel, they knew they were in Disney. They started jumping up and down as we entered the lobby and kept telling me that Goofy was here! It was just a statue of him in his swim trunks and a surf board but they ran around it in circles with pure excitement. Once we got into the room, they were ecstatic to see all of the Disney themed decorations. And once they saw the view outside our window, they couldn’t contain themselves. Honestly when I saw the view I had to stop myself from jumping up and down. The only thing stopping me was that if I did the kids would never fall asleep.





Across the street was the beautifully illuminated Disney California Adventure. To our left we could see the dark and eerie view of Grizzly Peak and Tower of Terror and to the right was rock formations of Radiator Springs in Carsland.

The kids miraculously fell asleep by 11:30pm. I couldn’t quite join them because I had some last minute planning and adjustments to make looking at the Times Guide. World of Color was scheduled a lot later in the evening than I had anticipated which gave me concerns on whether the kids would make it that far into the night given how little sleep they were getting this night. I also had to figure out where to get some breakfast coffee, OJs and pastries for the family since we were trying to make Early Entry at 7am. Once I had a plan I finally went to bed at 1:00am.

I woke up at 5am as planned. While DW and the kids slept, I got dressed and walked over to Disneyland Hotel as I found The Coffee House opened at 6am. I loved walking through the pool area of Disneyland Hotel and passing by Trader Sam’s Lounge. Whenever we return for a longer stay, I decided that we would be staying here. The Coffee House promptly opened at 6am as advertised and I loaded my arms up with breakfast goodies and walked back to the room. The kids were up and dressed when I arrived. DW had dressed them up in their Mickey and Minnie t-shirts. We chowed down on the pastries and drinks quickly and headed out the room at 6:25am. I was beginning to feel less optimistic that we would be at the gates by 7am at this point. We checked our one luggage with the bell service and then I stood in line for 5 minutes at the front desk trying to check out. There was one group in front of me who was being checked in and I knew it was going to take them another few minutes. I decided that we should just leave and that I should just call the hotel’s express check out number later in the morning to tell them we checked out of our room to save us these precious few minutes.

By now, a lot of you may be wondering why I was so intent on making the 7am Early Entry opening time. Three words. Radiator Springs Racers. This attraction is the equivalent of TSMM or Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride. It was the whole reason I booked a room at a Disney hotel so that we could enter the park during Early Entry hours (=Extra Magic Morning Hours) and head straight for it.

We crossed the street to enter the Grand Californian Hotel, another beautifully crafted Disney resort. The hotel has a special entry gate into DCA that only Disney resort guests can access. However, the CM who checked us in the night before gave us one of the best tips a CM has ever given me. She said that for early entry hours she prefers to enter DCA through the main gates because the entry at the GC hotel gets very congested and backed up since it bottlenecks guests into a narrow corridor with very limited turnstiles. So instead, we headed to the main gate plaza by cutting through GC hotel to enter Downtown Disney and then walking over to the gates. I did get a glimpse of the line that had already formed for the GC hotel DCA entry area and immediately I knew that the CM knew what she was talking about.

We powerwalked our way through Downtown Disney and breezed through the bag checks. We didn’t bring a stroller for DS4 on this trip and he managed very well without it for Oahu and San Diego but DW and I knew there was no way he nor we would survive without a stroller at full day at DCA. There’s only one stroller rental location, yes just one, for both parks and is located to the right to the Disneyland turnstiles. So as we cleared bag check I told DW to take the kids and line up at a DCA turnstile while I scurried over to DL side of the plaza and rented a stroller. It’s a little hard for us WDW vets to imagine the proximity of DL and DCA without seeing it with our own eyes since we’re used to lengthy bus rides, ferry rides, and monorail rides to get to one park from the other. Once you’re standing in the middle of the entrance plaza, it’s an awesome feeling to see that the two parks are separated by a mere two minute walking distance (less than a minute if you’re running errr I mean fast walking like I did). Park hoppers make a lot more sense here.

I scanned the turnstiles and found DW and the kids. I had a proud Disney moment of my family right that second. After so many Disney trips with me, DW was able to breakaway from the herd of people congregated around the turnstiles closer to bag check and found a turnstile all the way on the opposite end of the gates with a CM standing by it and no one else in line. Yes, we had arrived at the gates at 6:58am with only two minutes to go and we were first in line!

The gates opened and the CM scanned the barcodes of our passes with his handheld device. No finger scans needed. It’s the little differences people

We quickly made our way down towards Buena Vista Street and the familiar sight of CMs holding back the crowds with a rope. On closer inspection, this wasn’t just any rope. The ropes were designed like gasoline hoses with nozzles at the end. The CMs holding the ropes were all wearing Racer uniforms. And who should be leading us forward towards Carsland? Lightning and Mater (remote controlled I’m assuming) themselves! It was a goose bump moment for me. The CMs slowly led us down towards Carsland. As soon as entered the town limits, the kids started jumping up and down. DW simply said “This. Is. Awesome.” And even though this was my second visit to Carsland I was once again amazed how real everything looked and felt. It’s a clichéd statement that many have uttered but there’s really no other way to describe the feeling: It feels like we’re inside the movie.



Aaaand, once the rope dropped halfway down main street of Radiator Springs all that awe inspiring scenery and yadi yadi yada were quickly forgotten and everyone started running, errr, fast-walking to the Racers entrance.

We walked on and buckled into our seats of our race car. (Excuse me while I wipe away a tear as I relive this triumphant moment after all that planning).

The ride is divided into two segments. The first part has the cars cruising through the beautiful scenery and meeting the citizens of Radiator Springs.

This scene is at the very beginning. The waterfall becomes visible as you turn the corner and is accompanied by the same dramatic music from the movie recreating the moment Lightning first sees it and begins to fall in love with the beauty of Radiator Springs.



After dodging a near collision with Mack.....



We're welcomed into the town limits by Sheriff reminding us to slow down....



Then Mater takes us to the fields for some Tractor Tipping. This is obviously after we honked our horn and they tipped over......



"That's Frank!"



After speeding away from Frank, we enter downtown Radiator Springs to meet its inhabitants. "There's a lot of love here, man"



Red, watering the flowers as he does in the movie.



Lizzie doing what she does best. Dozing off in front of her store.



Lightning and Sally helping us get ready for our big race.



This is where there's a fork in the ride path. Your car either gets shunted over to Luigi's to get an upgrade in tires or Ramone's to get a new paint job before the big race. Then everyone groups back at Doc's who gives some last minute pep talk for the race.

Doc from the path coming from Ramone's



Aaaand Doc from the path coming from Luigi's. Yes, I cover all angles!



The second part is the race itself. Two cars meet up side by side at the starting line where Luigi and Guido start the race.



The cars speed out into the outdoor tracks that includes a few rolling hills and sharp turns reminiscent of Test Track but a little longer in duration.



The ride was a big hit. The kids were bouncing down the exit ramp and replaying the race. Of course the first question they asked was if we could go again. It was only 7:30am and the posted wait time was still only 10 minutes so we got right back in the standby line. I think the kids were even more excited the second time around since they knew what to expect.

After another successful race, we exited the Racers area at 7:50am. We started exploring the rest of Radiator Springs. The kids got a kick out of the statue of Stanley, the founder of Radiator Springs. DS astutely noted that everything was exactly the same as the movie (including his shiny gold teeth) except for one detail – the fountain of water was missing which must had been turned off.

We walked over to Luigi Tires to take a ride on the floating and hovering bumper cars. I didn’t try this attraction during my solo visit a couple of years ago since I wasn’t sure if I could maneuver the tires as a single rider. Even with DS by my side, driving the tires was a little challenging at first but eventually we got the hang of it. It’s an interesting concept and we enjoyed it.

As we exited the ride we saw the rope drop crowd from the regular park hour opening enter Radiator Springs. Having gone on Racers twice already I was able to watch the crowd filter in without a shred of anxiety! We moved over to try Mater’s Jamboree. Even though the rest of the rope drop crowd was in Carsland, Mater’s ride was empty because everyone was focused on Racers. This was another ride I skipped last time as a solo visitor so I had no idea what to expect. We ended up enjoying this ride a lot more than we had anticipated. It’s a twist to the traditional teacup rides and a lot of fun.





The kids loved it and I ended up going back to back on it while DW went to fetch the stroller. I was feeling a bit woozy after the second go around and had to say no to the kids for a third trip on the tractors. As I was trying to regain my bearings, DD and DS said they had to visit Mater’s petting zoo. I thought they were once again referring to the Jamboree so I was about to shoot that idea down but then saw them walk over to a small nook by the entrance of the Jamboree indeed with a sign that said “Mater’s Petting Zoo” with a single tractor “cow” sitting for photo-ops. It was pretty cute. DD immediately struck a pose next to it while DS circled around it inspecting it from all angles.

Once DW rejoined us with the stroller, we decided it was time to finally move on to a different part of the park. Before we left, I made a Fastpass run for Racers so that we could ride it for the third and last time later in the day. Yes, Disneyland still does paper Fast Passes which provided a nice throwback and nostalgic experience.

A couple of more shots of Radiator Springs before we left.

On Route 66.....





Along the Racer's racetrack.....



Finally, before I end this update of Carsland I'll skip ahead to the end of our day when we came back to Carsland one last time at night before heading to World of Color. In my opinion this is a must because the scenery of Radiator Springs really comes to life at night in all its neon glory and somehow makes Carsland look even more real!







That caps off this post on our visit to Radiator Springs! Next up: Paradise Pier!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Ooooh! Aaaaah! Gorgeous teaser!!

Thanks! Just posted the first update!

 

[teekathepony]

I'm sitting here at work on a boring (knock on wood) morning and saying "Wow!" and "That's incredible!" out loud. Good thing there's no one here to hear me talking to myself.

Honestly when I saw the view I had to stop myself from jumping up and down.

---> Got a good chuckle out of that. What a view! I don't blame you!

Well, you may have had a late night but by the sounds of it, it was worth it. Great tip by the CM and a lot of organization, but seriously, twice on Racers by 7:50 am?? Score. Put that baby in the win column.
Thanks for the fantastic walk through of the ride too. I've seen pictures of it but never had a description of the whole thing. It sounds really, really, really amazing. (And I'm not even a Cars fan!) Fantastic pictures too, so like the movie. Cliche or not!
The whole Radiator Springs area looks really well done, just amazing. And so gorgeous at night!