Are there bunnies at DLR at Easter? - PTR
- Thread starter Scooterbritches
- Start date
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
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- Mar 24, 2010
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The breakfast was okay. Every day there were sweet rolls, bagels, toast, cereal (both hot and cold), fruit, milk and juices. Every day they offered a couple of hot dishes that switched daily. It was eggs, bacon, sausage, french toast sticks, etc. The hot offerings weren't that palatable looking, but one morning they had a half bagel topped with egg, cheese, and bacon that was really pretty good. Even though it wasn't the best tasting stuff in the world, it saved us money and time in the morning to have that breakfast.
deejdigsdis
DIS Veteran
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- Aug 28, 2009
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Great start! I had to laugh when you said you named your GPS. When we went to DL last fall we used our GPS a lot -- named David. 
I'm pretty sure that was just his given name that he called himself when he introduced himself. (What kind of world do we live in?? That last sentence just sounds funny. 
) Anyway, there were times that we doubted David's directions, but in the end "he" was always right. 
I'm pretty sure that was just his given name that he called himself when he introduced himself. (What kind of world do we live in?? That last sentence just sounds funny. ) Anyway, there were times that we doubted David's directions, but in the end "he" was always right. 
kaoden39
<font color=peach>Prayers and pixie dust from your
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- Aug 17, 2006
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They never are the best tasting breakfasts but they do save a ton of money.
Great start! I had to laugh when you said you named your GPS. When we went to DL last fall we used our GPS a lot -- named David.
I call our GPS Rose, short for Gypsy Rose Lee.
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
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- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
After dinner we decided we didnt want to tackle the crowds and lines at the park so we decided to browse through DD and take pictures until it was time for the parade. We went to the Lego store and I was not as impressed as the Lego Store area in WDW. They didnt have any real photo opportunities. Everything they had was so huge that we couldnt possibly fit it all in the view finder. I remember WDW had several smaller scale things that we had a ball posing with pictures. The best we could do in California was to have my daughter pose on the big lego at the entrance to the store.
Love the carved bushes!
The only picture we could manage at the Lego Store
We found where you get on the monorail and rode it round trip. This was our first time on the monorail and it was fun to see a birds eye view of Disneyland. When we returned we browsed through World of Disney. I told my girls they couldnt decide on what they wanted right away because we had to see all of the offerings first. Once my daughter saw the stuffed baby Minnie that was it. She knew that was what she wanted. She loves stuffed animals and she loves anything baby so we got our first souvenir.
This one's for my brother who has nicknamed me Ursula
When we went back to the parks there was still quite a bit of time before the EP so we decided to ride Small World. It was posted a 20 minute wait, but we only waited 12 minutes. Even though this song stays annoyingly in your head forever I love this classic ride. When I rode it when I was four, my mom said I was totally mesmerized so I guess that has stayed with me my whole life. I think it is so cute and creative.
My girls riding SW
We walked back to CA (all this going back and forth between parks and through DD was taking its toll) and found a spot on the ground across from Greetings from California by where the parade first comes out. They had this Americana float that was done so well!! It had fireworks on it and it looked very real. I got video of it, but not a photograph.
Kylie waiting for the parade
One of the floats of EP
We didnt have the energy after the parade to work our way back into DL for the fireworks so we just found a spot on the esplanade to watch the fireworks. I could tell my daughters were so tired and we still had a long walk through DD to our car. Near the end of the fireworks we started walking back. We just didnt have the energy to wait any longer. Our beds were calling!
We found our way back to our car and left the parking lot. There was not an attendant at the gate so we got free parking. It took 10-15 minutes to drive back to our hotel and we fell into bed.
The plan for the next day was Sea World, which I will post under the general California boards.
The best parts of the day: Gigi, our GPS, the beach, and riding the classics HM and SW.
The worst parts of the day: The crowds and all the walking
Love the carved bushes!
The only picture we could manage at the Lego Store
We found where you get on the monorail and rode it round trip. This was our first time on the monorail and it was fun to see a birds eye view of Disneyland. When we returned we browsed through World of Disney. I told my girls they couldnt decide on what they wanted right away because we had to see all of the offerings first. Once my daughter saw the stuffed baby Minnie that was it. She knew that was what she wanted. She loves stuffed animals and she loves anything baby so we got our first souvenir.
This one's for my brother who has nicknamed me Ursula
When we went back to the parks there was still quite a bit of time before the EP so we decided to ride Small World. It was posted a 20 minute wait, but we only waited 12 minutes. Even though this song stays annoyingly in your head forever I love this classic ride. When I rode it when I was four, my mom said I was totally mesmerized so I guess that has stayed with me my whole life. I think it is so cute and creative.
My girls riding SW
We walked back to CA (all this going back and forth between parks and through DD was taking its toll) and found a spot on the ground across from Greetings from California by where the parade first comes out. They had this Americana float that was done so well!! It had fireworks on it and it looked very real. I got video of it, but not a photograph.
Kylie waiting for the parade
One of the floats of EP
We didnt have the energy after the parade to work our way back into DL for the fireworks so we just found a spot on the esplanade to watch the fireworks. I could tell my daughters were so tired and we still had a long walk through DD to our car. Near the end of the fireworks we started walking back. We just didnt have the energy to wait any longer. Our beds were calling!
We found our way back to our car and left the parking lot. There was not an attendant at the gate so we got free parking. It took 10-15 minutes to drive back to our hotel and we fell into bed.
The plan for the next day was Sea World, which I will post under the general California boards.
The best parts of the day: Gigi, our GPS, the beach, and riding the classics HM and SW.
The worst parts of the day: The crowds and all the walking
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
I was going to post this in the California section, but it's late and I'm being lazy and I don't want to navigate around the website right now. So here is Day 2 which we spent at Sea World and San Diego.
Day 2 April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday
Today we planned to go to Sea World. I chose Sunday with the hopes that no business traffic would help with the freeway situation in driving down to San Diego. I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and showered before I woke up my girls at 5:45.
We grabbed our breakfast of bagels and muffins and put them in one of the many Ziploc bags that I pack. (They come in handy for many things, from protecting cameras and phones from water rides to holding a portable breakfast!) We left at about 6:45 a.m. for San Diego. I had made a good choice because there was NO ONE on the freeway. There were many times when we looked in front of us and behind us and could not see another single car. We arrived at Sea World at about 8:15 a.m. and we were literally about the 5th car to park in the parking lot! They let us into the park at about 8:30 and even though we had taken the time to buy our tickets and use the restroom we were still the very first ones on the park!
They had rope drops at the different areas around the park and after taking a few pictures we went and waited so we could be one of the first on Journey to Atlantis. They dropped the rope at 9 and we went to the ride and noticed a sign that said the ride wouldnt open until 10. I was kind of miffed at that because they didnt have any shows even starting until 11 and the whole reason I had come this early was to ride the rides for an hour or so when the lines were short before the shows started. I was also miffed because this place is big and I didnt want to waste time and energy walking from place to place just to discover that it wasnt open yet. Okay ..so now what to do???? We decided to head to Wild Arctic and see if that was open. Yes, it was!!!
We had only ridden Small World and Haunted Mansion at DL so this was our first thrill ride of the trip. The girls were a bit nervous because they didnt know what to expect, but they liked it. After looking at the white whale and polar bear areas at the exit to the ride, we headed to the Penguin Encounter.
We knew we wanted to feed the dolphins so we walked across the park to the dolphin area to see when the feeding times were going to be. The dolphins were quite friendly and being very interactive with most everyone, but unfortunately there were too many people around the pool and my girls couldnt get to a good place to reach the dolphins. They didnt have the whole pool open, just a small section. Again, Im kind of annoyed. We rearranged our plans to accommodate the feeding time.
By this time it was close to 10 so we trekked back across the park to Journey to Atlantis. There was only a 5 minute wait. The girls thought the ride looked huge and were quite nervous. We donned our ponchos and got on. After the first hill I looked back at my girls and they were looking at each other as if to say what were we so nervous about? They loved it! We got on again with another quite short wait.
It was near 10:30 and I wanted a good seat for the Shamu show so we decided wed try to come back later and ride it again and we left for the 11:00 Shamu show. We wanted to get wet so we sat on the 9th row near the center. The show was okay. I noticed that the trainers no longer rode on the whales or in the water at all at the same time as the whales. Im sure this is a result of that trainer that died in Florida. Unfortunately, that took away a little of the magic for me as other than give hand signal commands they didnt interact with the whales like Ive seen them do in the past. Theyve got to do what theyve got to do to be safe, I suppose, but it just wasnt nearly as good as I remember it. We did not get wet! We were just a few rows too high to get the spray.
After the show, the girls were hungry so we went to Shipwreck Café and got 2 kids hot dog meals, a bacon cheeseburger, chocolate cake and drinks for a whopping $32!! Im a part time CNA and I only make $10.50 an hour. I kept thinking after every meal I bought well, that 3 hours of work!
After lunch, it was close to dolphin feeding time so we headed to the dolphin pool. When we turned the corner we saw how long the line was and about died! It was horrendous! When I took my daughter in 2005, we came in the off season and we didnt have a line at all, so it hadnt occurred to me that we needed to get there early. My girls arent ones that like to wait in line so we decided to skip it. We were so disappointed. Instead, we went to the Sesame Street Bay of Play to let the girls play around while we waited for the start of the 1:15 Sea Lion and Otter Show.
We went to go to the show and stopped at the sea lion pool. They were having a feeding and there was no line for fish. We had about 20 minutes or so before show time so we decided since we missed feeding the dolphins that we would feed the sea lions. I bought a tray of fish for each girl. Kylie loved it, but Rachel wouldnt even try it. The birds were quite aggressive and you had to be quick or they would come up and steal the fish. Between the birds and the sea lions themselves, Rachel was too freaked out to try. Kylie didnt mind it just meant more fish for her.
Kylie feeding a sea lion
Because of the stopover at the sea lion pool we were a little late getting to the show and there was not much of a selection. I noticed an area right down near the front that was still open so we headed for that. Of course, since we had to walk down in the front to get to those seats, the dude that did the pre-show for this thing took full advantage of that and made a sneezing sound at the same time as he squirt a water bottle on Rachel. The crowd enjoyed that. The seats were indeed open so I counted our lucky stars. We soon found out why they were open. Someone had spilled their pop and the entire floor area was a sticky mess. We stayed anyway as the pop had already gotten on the bottom of our shoes and there was no where else to go by this time. You definitely need to get to these shows at least 15-20 minutes early to get a good seat. The show was funny as always. They made a lot of spoofs about television shows both past and present. During the show I noticed how bright it was and my eyes started watering and I could hardly stand the brightness. I dont know what was wrong, but I could hardly open my eyes and when I did it was like I was crying. It was quite miserable for a few minutes and I could only open my eyes if I had shielded the side of my face with my hands. I decided I needed to buy me some sunglasses. I thought I had packed mine, but before I left my husband made us switch bags that wed packed and I guess they were in the other bag because I couldnt find them once we arrived.
After the show we went to the freshwater aquarium for a few minutes and then we went to the 4D show. It was Sesame Street Imagination something or other. The first part was really boring and lame and took way to long to get to the point and the good stuff.
We went through the Shark Encounter building. By this time it was very crowded at the park and we all find it difficult to enjoy ourselves when youve got to wait so long to get a good viewing spot, and then once you do have a good spot, people butt in front of you after youve waited politely. One thing I found on this trip is that I dont think people realize how rude they are to others when they are on a vacation. They have one thing in mind. Another thing is people dont watch or correct their children. I was so amazed at how many little, little kids ..I mean just barely walking kids . that I saw parents letting them wander around these huge crowded parks. Their parents faces were usually buried in a map and Id raise my eyebrows as I watched their kid wander off and wonder when they were going to notice. It was almost impossible to take a picture of my girls because Id try to have them wait their turn politely and when wed finally get to the picture taking spot somebodys unsupervised kids would be right there in the middle of the picture oblivious to everything around them. Well, I knew it was a crowded time of year so I guess it was what I should have expected. I did discover that I will not go during a crowded time ever again. Oh well, you live and learn.
More to be continued....as for now I'm going to bed!
Day 2 April 4, 2010 Easter Sunday
Today we planned to go to Sea World. I chose Sunday with the hopes that no business traffic would help with the freeway situation in driving down to San Diego. I woke up at 5:15 a.m. and showered before I woke up my girls at 5:45.
We grabbed our breakfast of bagels and muffins and put them in one of the many Ziploc bags that I pack. (They come in handy for many things, from protecting cameras and phones from water rides to holding a portable breakfast!) We left at about 6:45 a.m. for San Diego. I had made a good choice because there was NO ONE on the freeway. There were many times when we looked in front of us and behind us and could not see another single car. We arrived at Sea World at about 8:15 a.m. and we were literally about the 5th car to park in the parking lot! They let us into the park at about 8:30 and even though we had taken the time to buy our tickets and use the restroom we were still the very first ones on the park!
They had rope drops at the different areas around the park and after taking a few pictures we went and waited so we could be one of the first on Journey to Atlantis. They dropped the rope at 9 and we went to the ride and noticed a sign that said the ride wouldnt open until 10. I was kind of miffed at that because they didnt have any shows even starting until 11 and the whole reason I had come this early was to ride the rides for an hour or so when the lines were short before the shows started. I was also miffed because this place is big and I didnt want to waste time and energy walking from place to place just to discover that it wasnt open yet. Okay ..so now what to do???? We decided to head to Wild Arctic and see if that was open. Yes, it was!!!
We had only ridden Small World and Haunted Mansion at DL so this was our first thrill ride of the trip. The girls were a bit nervous because they didnt know what to expect, but they liked it. After looking at the white whale and polar bear areas at the exit to the ride, we headed to the Penguin Encounter.
We knew we wanted to feed the dolphins so we walked across the park to the dolphin area to see when the feeding times were going to be. The dolphins were quite friendly and being very interactive with most everyone, but unfortunately there were too many people around the pool and my girls couldnt get to a good place to reach the dolphins. They didnt have the whole pool open, just a small section. Again, Im kind of annoyed. We rearranged our plans to accommodate the feeding time.
By this time it was close to 10 so we trekked back across the park to Journey to Atlantis. There was only a 5 minute wait. The girls thought the ride looked huge and were quite nervous. We donned our ponchos and got on. After the first hill I looked back at my girls and they were looking at each other as if to say what were we so nervous about? They loved it! We got on again with another quite short wait.
It was near 10:30 and I wanted a good seat for the Shamu show so we decided wed try to come back later and ride it again and we left for the 11:00 Shamu show. We wanted to get wet so we sat on the 9th row near the center. The show was okay. I noticed that the trainers no longer rode on the whales or in the water at all at the same time as the whales. Im sure this is a result of that trainer that died in Florida. Unfortunately, that took away a little of the magic for me as other than give hand signal commands they didnt interact with the whales like Ive seen them do in the past. Theyve got to do what theyve got to do to be safe, I suppose, but it just wasnt nearly as good as I remember it. We did not get wet! We were just a few rows too high to get the spray.
After the show, the girls were hungry so we went to Shipwreck Café and got 2 kids hot dog meals, a bacon cheeseburger, chocolate cake and drinks for a whopping $32!! Im a part time CNA and I only make $10.50 an hour. I kept thinking after every meal I bought well, that 3 hours of work!
After lunch, it was close to dolphin feeding time so we headed to the dolphin pool. When we turned the corner we saw how long the line was and about died! It was horrendous! When I took my daughter in 2005, we came in the off season and we didnt have a line at all, so it hadnt occurred to me that we needed to get there early. My girls arent ones that like to wait in line so we decided to skip it. We were so disappointed. Instead, we went to the Sesame Street Bay of Play to let the girls play around while we waited for the start of the 1:15 Sea Lion and Otter Show.
We went to go to the show and stopped at the sea lion pool. They were having a feeding and there was no line for fish. We had about 20 minutes or so before show time so we decided since we missed feeding the dolphins that we would feed the sea lions. I bought a tray of fish for each girl. Kylie loved it, but Rachel wouldnt even try it. The birds were quite aggressive and you had to be quick or they would come up and steal the fish. Between the birds and the sea lions themselves, Rachel was too freaked out to try. Kylie didnt mind it just meant more fish for her.
Kylie feeding a sea lion
Because of the stopover at the sea lion pool we were a little late getting to the show and there was not much of a selection. I noticed an area right down near the front that was still open so we headed for that. Of course, since we had to walk down in the front to get to those seats, the dude that did the pre-show for this thing took full advantage of that and made a sneezing sound at the same time as he squirt a water bottle on Rachel. The crowd enjoyed that. The seats were indeed open so I counted our lucky stars. We soon found out why they were open. Someone had spilled their pop and the entire floor area was a sticky mess. We stayed anyway as the pop had already gotten on the bottom of our shoes and there was no where else to go by this time. You definitely need to get to these shows at least 15-20 minutes early to get a good seat. The show was funny as always. They made a lot of spoofs about television shows both past and present. During the show I noticed how bright it was and my eyes started watering and I could hardly stand the brightness. I dont know what was wrong, but I could hardly open my eyes and when I did it was like I was crying. It was quite miserable for a few minutes and I could only open my eyes if I had shielded the side of my face with my hands. I decided I needed to buy me some sunglasses. I thought I had packed mine, but before I left my husband made us switch bags that wed packed and I guess they were in the other bag because I couldnt find them once we arrived.
After the show we went to the freshwater aquarium for a few minutes and then we went to the 4D show. It was Sesame Street Imagination something or other. The first part was really boring and lame and took way to long to get to the point and the good stuff.
We went through the Shark Encounter building. By this time it was very crowded at the park and we all find it difficult to enjoy ourselves when youve got to wait so long to get a good viewing spot, and then once you do have a good spot, people butt in front of you after youve waited politely. One thing I found on this trip is that I dont think people realize how rude they are to others when they are on a vacation. They have one thing in mind. Another thing is people dont watch or correct their children. I was so amazed at how many little, little kids ..I mean just barely walking kids . that I saw parents letting them wander around these huge crowded parks. Their parents faces were usually buried in a map and Id raise my eyebrows as I watched their kid wander off and wonder when they were going to notice. It was almost impossible to take a picture of my girls because Id try to have them wait their turn politely and when wed finally get to the picture taking spot somebodys unsupervised kids would be right there in the middle of the picture oblivious to everything around them. Well, I knew it was a crowded time of year so I guess it was what I should have expected. I did discover that I will not go during a crowded time ever again. Oh well, you live and learn.
More to be continued....as for now I'm going to bed!
mermaid764
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jan 19, 2010
- Messages
- 1,020
Another great update, but it's too bad how rude some people were during your day at Sea World. Hopefully you didn't experience this as much the other days of your trip. I always find it super annoying too how the birds try and steal the food your trying to feed the sea lions or the dolphins, so I can totally sympathize with your daughter being freaked out. Looking forward to hearing more
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
After the shark encounter, the girls played for 10 minutes or so trying to kill some time before the Pets Rule show. I love animals, especially dogs, so this show was right up my alley. They had a couple of Shelties in the show and we have 3 of them at home. My heart started to miss my dogs when I saw them.
After the pets show, we went to check out how long the line was for Journey to Atlantis and it was long so we decided to go ride Shipwreck Rapids since we hadn't had time to earlier in the day. When we got there we saw that the ride was closed. When we asked the employee posted at the entrance she told us that we'd just had an earthquake and they had to close the rides to inspect them for damage. What? An earthquake? I hadn't felt a thing! When I asked what time the earthquake had happened she told me about 40 minutes ago. I thought back to what we were doing at that time and it was about the time the pets show was ending and we were gathering at the front to pet the dogs. The only thing I can figure is that it happened when the stadium was emptying after the show and that masked any movement. I found out later that it was the earthquake in Baja, California so it wasn't that strong of a one in San Diego, but that my brother had felt it in Phoenix, Arizona and my daughter's friend who was in San Diego too, had felt it.
Well, inspecting the ride was going to take quite awhile and it was about 4:30ish by this time. We had seen all the shows so we decided to go to the beach. We drove the mile and one half to Mission Beach. My girls really enjoyed the beach, but there was a lot more seaweed at this one than at Seal Beach. They played for hours in the sand.
I love the GPS. We found a Burger King using the GPS and got dinner to eat on the way home. It cost $16. The drive back to LA was not as deserted as the drive down was. I guess everyone goes to San Diego for the weekend because the freeway was terrible. I thought we'd never get back. We got back about 9 and we were in bed by 9:30.
All in all, I've formed some opinions about Sea World in California as compared to Sea World in Orlando. There are better rides in Florida and they open them all at 9. It's too much of a pain to drive down to San Diego so next time I will skip Sea World unless I have a lot more than 6 days. Sea World in Orlando is just a few miles from Disney World so it's very doable to include that in your Disney trip.
The plan for day 3 is Disneyland.
The best parts of the day: The drive down to SD in the morning, my girls finding that they weren't so scared of Journey to Atlantis, and the beach
The worst parts of the day: The drive up to LA in the evening, the earthquake shutting down the rides, and missing out on feeding the dolphins.
After the pets show, we went to check out how long the line was for Journey to Atlantis and it was long so we decided to go ride Shipwreck Rapids since we hadn't had time to earlier in the day. When we got there we saw that the ride was closed. When we asked the employee posted at the entrance she told us that we'd just had an earthquake and they had to close the rides to inspect them for damage. What? An earthquake? I hadn't felt a thing! When I asked what time the earthquake had happened she told me about 40 minutes ago. I thought back to what we were doing at that time and it was about the time the pets show was ending and we were gathering at the front to pet the dogs. The only thing I can figure is that it happened when the stadium was emptying after the show and that masked any movement. I found out later that it was the earthquake in Baja, California so it wasn't that strong of a one in San Diego, but that my brother had felt it in Phoenix, Arizona and my daughter's friend who was in San Diego too, had felt it.
Well, inspecting the ride was going to take quite awhile and it was about 4:30ish by this time. We had seen all the shows so we decided to go to the beach. We drove the mile and one half to Mission Beach. My girls really enjoyed the beach, but there was a lot more seaweed at this one than at Seal Beach. They played for hours in the sand.
I love the GPS. We found a Burger King using the GPS and got dinner to eat on the way home. It cost $16. The drive back to LA was not as deserted as the drive down was. I guess everyone goes to San Diego for the weekend because the freeway was terrible. I thought we'd never get back. We got back about 9 and we were in bed by 9:30.
All in all, I've formed some opinions about Sea World in California as compared to Sea World in Orlando. There are better rides in Florida and they open them all at 9. It's too much of a pain to drive down to San Diego so next time I will skip Sea World unless I have a lot more than 6 days. Sea World in Orlando is just a few miles from Disney World so it's very doable to include that in your Disney trip.
The plan for day 3 is Disneyland.
The best parts of the day: The drive down to SD in the morning, my girls finding that they weren't so scared of Journey to Atlantis, and the beach
The worst parts of the day: The drive up to LA in the evening, the earthquake shutting down the rides, and missing out on feeding the dolphins.
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
I'm sorry this is taking me so long to finish!!! Part time job, spring yard clean up, spring cleaning, it's just never ending and I'm finding it hard to find time to type this! Anyway, here goes Day 3...our first full day at Disneyland!
Day 3, Monday, April 5, 2010 - Disneyland
So I get up at 5:30 a.m. When the park opens at 8 it is torture getting up so early. Even though we are an hour ahead where we live, it's still 6:30 a.m. and I'm on vacation! Another reason to go in the off season.
Anyway, breakfast at the hotel again and we are on our way at 6:45 a.m. We were second in line. While we waited I sent the girls over to the CALIFORNIA letters to take pictures of each of them while it's not crowded and overrun with people. I saved our spot in line and it was funny to watch their antics. I think they enjoyed that as much as anything.
The day was overcast so we had packed our ponchos, but at this point it didn't seem as if we would need them. How quickly things change though. They let us into the park at about 7:40ish and we worked our way up to the rope drop. We were first in line at the Adventureland side of the rope drop. By about 7:50 it was pouring rain!!! We put on our ponchos and stood under a tree while we waited for rope drop.
At rope drop we headed straight for Indiana Jones to get a fast pass. We went over to Jungle Cruise and were the first ones to ride it. Then we went to Pirates of the Caribbean which was a walk on as well. A couple of days before our trip we had taken the girls to a little playhouse that puts on "spoof" productions of movies. The movie they were spoofing was Pirates of the Caribbean so whenever they made any reference in the play of the ride I pointed it out to the girls and told them to remember it for when we rode the ride. Then the night before our trip we watched the movie. So it was fun to see familiar things in the ride that were in the play or the movie when it was so fresh on their minds.
The girls decked out in their ponchos waiting to ride Jungle Cruise
We went over to Haunted Mansion and a nice CM saw me setting up a picture with the girls at their hearse and offered to take a picture of all three of us, so we have a rare picture of me.
A rare pic of me at Haunted Mansion
I'm having issues with my computer so I'm going to post this now so I don't lose it and continue on when I get the computer issues resolved.
Day 3, Monday, April 5, 2010 - Disneyland
So I get up at 5:30 a.m. When the park opens at 8 it is torture getting up so early. Even though we are an hour ahead where we live, it's still 6:30 a.m. and I'm on vacation! Another reason to go in the off season.
Anyway, breakfast at the hotel again and we are on our way at 6:45 a.m. We were second in line. While we waited I sent the girls over to the CALIFORNIA letters to take pictures of each of them while it's not crowded and overrun with people. I saved our spot in line and it was funny to watch their antics. I think they enjoyed that as much as anything.
The day was overcast so we had packed our ponchos, but at this point it didn't seem as if we would need them. How quickly things change though. They let us into the park at about 7:40ish and we worked our way up to the rope drop. We were first in line at the Adventureland side of the rope drop. By about 7:50 it was pouring rain!!! We put on our ponchos and stood under a tree while we waited for rope drop.
At rope drop we headed straight for Indiana Jones to get a fast pass. We went over to Jungle Cruise and were the first ones to ride it. Then we went to Pirates of the Caribbean which was a walk on as well. A couple of days before our trip we had taken the girls to a little playhouse that puts on "spoof" productions of movies. The movie they were spoofing was Pirates of the Caribbean so whenever they made any reference in the play of the ride I pointed it out to the girls and told them to remember it for when we rode the ride. Then the night before our trip we watched the movie. So it was fun to see familiar things in the ride that were in the play or the movie when it was so fresh on their minds.
The girls decked out in their ponchos waiting to ride Jungle Cruise
We went over to Haunted Mansion and a nice CM saw me setting up a picture with the girls at their hearse and offered to take a picture of all three of us, so we have a rare picture of me.
A rare pic of me at Haunted Mansion
I'm having issues with my computer so I'm going to post this now so I don't lose it and continue on when I get the computer issues resolved.
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
Okay, problem solved. Here are the CALIFORNIA letters pics that my girls took before park opening.
I told Rachel this was a good shot she took. A is for ***!
I told Rachel this was a good shot she took. A is for ***!
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
Oops! I forgot the second "I" on Rachel's. Oh well! Back to the report.
After HM the FP time for IJ was up so we went and got a FP to Splash Mountain and rode WTP.
We headed over to Fantasyland to see if the lines were still acceptable there. Mad Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland were closed because of the rain, so we rode Matterhorn. I couldn't remember which side of Matterhorn was the fastest, but we ended up choosing the Fantasyland side and waited about 15 minutes.
We headed towards Tomorrowland because Kylie wanted to ride Autopia. We passed Nemo on the way and saw that the line was 25 minutes long. I thought maybe we should ride that because from what I've heard 25 minutes is a very short wait for that ride, but Kylie opted for Autopia. We waited about 15 minutes for this ride. While we were waiting this lady lost track of her toddler and I saw him wander off away from her while she carried on a conversation. When she discovered he was gone it was time for her to move down the stairs toward the entrance to the ride. She just kept going then she spotted him about 30 feet away and hollered that she was going to get on the ride without him. He just kept walking. He was almost too little to understand much of anything. Maybe it's because I worked at an amusement park when I was a teenager, but it's a pet peeve of mine when parents let their little, little kids wander. I wonder how many lost kids Disneyland deals with in a day?
Anyway, while we were riding Autopia it was pouring rain!!! The cars are open so here we were driving in the downpour. The car in front of me either kept stalling or the little girl kept stopping. It was kind of funny now that I look back on it, but it was sure wet and slow!
By now, our FP time for Splash Mountain was up so we went to Space Mountain and got a FP for it. I now had FP's for three rides in my possession. We then rode Buzz Lightyear with a 10-15 minute wait.
This is a bad picture so you can't see Buzz Lightyear in the background very well.
By this time it was getting busy so we decided to start using our FPs. We went back to IJ and got right on. The CM didn't say a thing about our FP time being expired. The girls loved it and we would have gotten another FP for it, but our time for Space Mountain had not come yet. We went over to Splash Mountain and used our FP for that. The CM told us to go to rows 5 & 6 to load the boat. I went to Row 5 and my girls went to Row 6. It didn't look to me like we were going to be in the same boat (once again my experience working at an amusement park) so I went back to the CM and mentioned it to her that we weren't going to be on the same boat. She assured me that we would so I went back in line. The boat came up and my girls climbed in, but the two people in front of me didn't move. I called for them to hold the boat, but there was so much going on that no one noticed so my girls got sent without me. They were kind of sad as they looked back at me on the dock. I wasn't worried as I'd gone over with them what to do should we get separated. I got on the next boat, but it wasn't very fun without my girls to tease and watch their reactions. When I exited the ride I thought they might be waiting for me where they show the pictures that they take on the hill, but they weren't there. They were waiting by WTP.
The FP time for Space Mountain wasn't up yet, so we went to the train and rode it all the way around to Main Street. We decided to go to California Adventure and get a FP to Soarin. My plan was to eat lunch at Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, but I didn't want to walk all the way back to DL so we decided to eat at Taste Pilot's Grill. I got a salad and the girls got the kid's chicken nuggets. The cost of the food was what made me wince most of all. The salad I got was small and the girls got 4 nuggets each and small fries. The cost of that was about $25. I could never get over how much the food cost!!!
After lunch the time for our FP to Space Mountain was up so we went back to Disneyland and rode the train from Main Street to Tomorrowland. The train had become our friend and even though it didn't necessarily save us time, it was so nice to not have to walk so much. We rode Space Mountain and my girls loved it.
After that, the girls were not going to wait in long lines. No way and everything was long by this time so we rode the train again to New Orleans Square and got another FP to IJ. We rode the train again to Main Street (like I said, the train had become our friend) and walked back to CA and got a FP to Tower of Terror. It was then time to use our FP for SOC. This is one of my favorite rides! I just love SOC! It was Rachel's first time riding it and I was hoping that she would like it so she'd be interested in riding it several more times.
After SOC, we walked around and shopped a little and ended up down at Paradise Pier where we noticed the ride for California Screaming was only 20 minutes. None of us had ridden it before because when I took Kylie in 2005 she wasn't yet tall enough for it and I'd been wanting to ride this for awhile so we got in line. We all loved it!
Lines were too long of a wait for anything else and we were hungry after our meager lunch so we went to Bakersfield Bakery and got a brownie, cinnamon roll and a rice krispie treat to share. That was about $12!!! We shopped a little more until it was time for our FP to TOT. My girls were both nervous at this one because when they were little I had taken them on it and it freaked them out. But of course, a little maturity does wonders and they liked it this time.
We walked back to DL and yes, we got on the train again to NOS to use our FP for IJ. Unfortunately, IJ was closed. The nearest thing without a line was Tarzan's Treehouse so we went through that and then got a FP to Big Thunder Mountain. We kept checking back at IJ, but it was still closed. We were pretty tired of all the walking by this time so we grabbed a seat at Billy Hill. I had spent my allotment on food already so we didn't get anything to eat, but we did nab the last available table. I had heard so many good things about Billy Hill so I thought this might be a good break. Unfortunately, I wasn't all that impressed and I'm not quite sure I get why everyone on websites had made such a fuss. Oh well, it was a good rest, but both me and the girls were bored.
After Billy Hill we checked back at IJ and it was still closed!!! We decided to kill some time and go to Mickey's Toontown and take some pictures. The place was a madhouse and we struggled to get good pictures.
Chip and Dale's Treehouse
On the way back into the regular park we took pictures by the castle and the statue "Partners". I was getting really tired of all the walking and the crowds and so were my girls. The crowds made it hard to stay in one area of the park because we had to rely on FPs or wait in long lines, which my girls wanted nothing to do with. So we'd get and use FPs and walk around taking pictures in between. I had decided that I would never come during a busy time again. I thought we'd be okay with a plan of using FPs during busy times, and we were for the most part. We got a lot done, but it just required walking back and forth between parks and walking around taking pictures to kill time. It was fun, but we were tired and after you've been to DL during the off season and then you come again during a busy time, it just annoys you!
We had taken this earlier in the day at California Adventure
We took this one near Tower of Terror in Hollywood Backlot
I really loved the theming of Big Thunder. It reminds me of the landscape of Southern Utah. I believe they actually used Southern Utah to theme this ride.
It came time for our Big Thunder FP and we used it. The girls loved this ride! We crossed our fingers in hopes that IJ was open and walked over there. It was! There was a big group in front of us that got stopped because their toddler was too small to ride. The mom sat there and argued with the CM for a good 5 minutes. Annoying!!! Like the CM is going to change the rules for you!!!!
We ended the evening by riding the girls favorite (IJ was their favorite, SOC is mine). We left the park and went to KFC for dinner. This was the best dinner of our trip and it only cost us $13. We each had two pieces of chicken, mashed potatos, and biscuits back in our hotel room. We watched the tail end of Dancing with the Stars, but the girls were asleep before the show was over. I really should have called my husband, but I was so tired I just couldn't do it.
The plan for Day 4 is Universal Studios.
The best parts of the day: Riding SOC and IJ, the train (our lifesaver!) and the fun my girls had taking pics of the CALIFORNIA letters.
The worst parts of the day: The crowds, the walking, annoying parents and the boredom at Billy Hill
After HM the FP time for IJ was up so we went and got a FP to Splash Mountain and rode WTP.
We headed over to Fantasyland to see if the lines were still acceptable there. Mad Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland were closed because of the rain, so we rode Matterhorn. I couldn't remember which side of Matterhorn was the fastest, but we ended up choosing the Fantasyland side and waited about 15 minutes.
We headed towards Tomorrowland because Kylie wanted to ride Autopia. We passed Nemo on the way and saw that the line was 25 minutes long. I thought maybe we should ride that because from what I've heard 25 minutes is a very short wait for that ride, but Kylie opted for Autopia. We waited about 15 minutes for this ride. While we were waiting this lady lost track of her toddler and I saw him wander off away from her while she carried on a conversation. When she discovered he was gone it was time for her to move down the stairs toward the entrance to the ride. She just kept going then she spotted him about 30 feet away and hollered that she was going to get on the ride without him. He just kept walking. He was almost too little to understand much of anything. Maybe it's because I worked at an amusement park when I was a teenager, but it's a pet peeve of mine when parents let their little, little kids wander. I wonder how many lost kids Disneyland deals with in a day?
Anyway, while we were riding Autopia it was pouring rain!!! The cars are open so here we were driving in the downpour. The car in front of me either kept stalling or the little girl kept stopping. It was kind of funny now that I look back on it, but it was sure wet and slow!
By now, our FP time for Splash Mountain was up so we went to Space Mountain and got a FP for it. I now had FP's for three rides in my possession. We then rode Buzz Lightyear with a 10-15 minute wait.
This is a bad picture so you can't see Buzz Lightyear in the background very well.
By this time it was getting busy so we decided to start using our FPs. We went back to IJ and got right on. The CM didn't say a thing about our FP time being expired. The girls loved it and we would have gotten another FP for it, but our time for Space Mountain had not come yet. We went over to Splash Mountain and used our FP for that. The CM told us to go to rows 5 & 6 to load the boat. I went to Row 5 and my girls went to Row 6. It didn't look to me like we were going to be in the same boat (once again my experience working at an amusement park) so I went back to the CM and mentioned it to her that we weren't going to be on the same boat. She assured me that we would so I went back in line. The boat came up and my girls climbed in, but the two people in front of me didn't move. I called for them to hold the boat, but there was so much going on that no one noticed so my girls got sent without me. They were kind of sad as they looked back at me on the dock. I wasn't worried as I'd gone over with them what to do should we get separated. I got on the next boat, but it wasn't very fun without my girls to tease and watch their reactions. When I exited the ride I thought they might be waiting for me where they show the pictures that they take on the hill, but they weren't there. They were waiting by WTP.
The FP time for Space Mountain wasn't up yet, so we went to the train and rode it all the way around to Main Street. We decided to go to California Adventure and get a FP to Soarin. My plan was to eat lunch at Billy Hill and the Hillbillies, but I didn't want to walk all the way back to DL so we decided to eat at Taste Pilot's Grill. I got a salad and the girls got the kid's chicken nuggets. The cost of the food was what made me wince most of all. The salad I got was small and the girls got 4 nuggets each and small fries. The cost of that was about $25. I could never get over how much the food cost!!!
After lunch the time for our FP to Space Mountain was up so we went back to Disneyland and rode the train from Main Street to Tomorrowland. The train had become our friend and even though it didn't necessarily save us time, it was so nice to not have to walk so much. We rode Space Mountain and my girls loved it.
After that, the girls were not going to wait in long lines. No way and everything was long by this time so we rode the train again to New Orleans Square and got another FP to IJ. We rode the train again to Main Street (like I said, the train had become our friend) and walked back to CA and got a FP to Tower of Terror. It was then time to use our FP for SOC. This is one of my favorite rides! I just love SOC! It was Rachel's first time riding it and I was hoping that she would like it so she'd be interested in riding it several more times.
After SOC, we walked around and shopped a little and ended up down at Paradise Pier where we noticed the ride for California Screaming was only 20 minutes. None of us had ridden it before because when I took Kylie in 2005 she wasn't yet tall enough for it and I'd been wanting to ride this for awhile so we got in line. We all loved it!
Lines were too long of a wait for anything else and we were hungry after our meager lunch so we went to Bakersfield Bakery and got a brownie, cinnamon roll and a rice krispie treat to share. That was about $12!!! We shopped a little more until it was time for our FP to TOT. My girls were both nervous at this one because when they were little I had taken them on it and it freaked them out. But of course, a little maturity does wonders and they liked it this time.
We walked back to DL and yes, we got on the train again to NOS to use our FP for IJ. Unfortunately, IJ was closed. The nearest thing without a line was Tarzan's Treehouse so we went through that and then got a FP to Big Thunder Mountain. We kept checking back at IJ, but it was still closed. We were pretty tired of all the walking by this time so we grabbed a seat at Billy Hill. I had spent my allotment on food already so we didn't get anything to eat, but we did nab the last available table. I had heard so many good things about Billy Hill so I thought this might be a good break. Unfortunately, I wasn't all that impressed and I'm not quite sure I get why everyone on websites had made such a fuss. Oh well, it was a good rest, but both me and the girls were bored.
After Billy Hill we checked back at IJ and it was still closed!!! We decided to kill some time and go to Mickey's Toontown and take some pictures. The place was a madhouse and we struggled to get good pictures.
Chip and Dale's Treehouse
On the way back into the regular park we took pictures by the castle and the statue "Partners". I was getting really tired of all the walking and the crowds and so were my girls. The crowds made it hard to stay in one area of the park because we had to rely on FPs or wait in long lines, which my girls wanted nothing to do with. So we'd get and use FPs and walk around taking pictures in between. I had decided that I would never come during a busy time again. I thought we'd be okay with a plan of using FPs during busy times, and we were for the most part. We got a lot done, but it just required walking back and forth between parks and walking around taking pictures to kill time. It was fun, but we were tired and after you've been to DL during the off season and then you come again during a busy time, it just annoys you!
We had taken this earlier in the day at California Adventure
We took this one near Tower of Terror in Hollywood Backlot
I really loved the theming of Big Thunder. It reminds me of the landscape of Southern Utah. I believe they actually used Southern Utah to theme this ride.
It came time for our Big Thunder FP and we used it. The girls loved this ride! We crossed our fingers in hopes that IJ was open and walked over there. It was! There was a big group in front of us that got stopped because their toddler was too small to ride. The mom sat there and argued with the CM for a good 5 minutes. Annoying!!! Like the CM is going to change the rules for you!!!!
We ended the evening by riding the girls favorite (IJ was their favorite, SOC is mine). We left the park and went to KFC for dinner. This was the best dinner of our trip and it only cost us $13. We each had two pieces of chicken, mashed potatos, and biscuits back in our hotel room. We watched the tail end of Dancing with the Stars, but the girls were asleep before the show was over. I really should have called my husband, but I was so tired I just couldn't do it.
The plan for Day 4 is Universal Studios.
The best parts of the day: Riding SOC and IJ, the train (our lifesaver!) and the fun my girls had taking pics of the CALIFORNIA letters.
The worst parts of the day: The crowds, the walking, annoying parents and the boredom at Billy Hill
Scooterbritches
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2010
- Messages
- 96
Have you heard that they were going to or something? I hope not. They are awesome!
kaoden39
<font color=peach>Prayers and pixie dust from your
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2006
- Messages
- 31,538
I have heard they are going to take them out and completely redo the front of DCA. I hope not. I do know for fact that they are taking out the Golden Gate Bridge and that makes me sad.
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