Awesome surprise trip w/tons o' Pics!! Completed 5/18/07
- Thread starter CrAzY4DL
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serendipity
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Thanks for the great installments. Your daughter is so cute. We're eating at the Plaza next week and I hope it isn't so crazy!
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
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Try for a really early reservation. When we ate there, it was the LAST reservation of the day, LOL, so characters were leaving and people we EVERYWHERE. Was a mad house!! When we used to eat here before, we would always come right around park opening and NEVER had a problem!!
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 648
As soon as we got in DCA, we got our pictures taken in front of the bridge (yay for PhotoPass!) and then hit the bathrooms. After potty time, we headed to Soarin’ and got FastPasses for 2:20pm. Jyl held my hand and we headed to Tower of Terror. Now, I am NOT some mean woman who would just drag my kid on all the scary rides just because she is tall enough. Especially Tower of Terror, which I can seriously take or leave. But Jyl just seemed so up for anything that I decided, what the hey! Try it once! We got in line for Tower of Terror and waited less than 30 minutes total. Actually, it was a walk on into the room with the TV and the rest of the wait was waiting for a front row in the elevator because I did not want a repeat of Space Mountain-not being able to see Jyl in the ride photo! We board our elevator to the Twilight Zone, the doors close, the lights turn off and this *voice* starts speaking. Jyl has a hold of one of my hands and covers 1 ear with her other hand and tries to cover the open ear with her shoulder/arm/elbow. Guess the *voice* is the scariest thing about this ride! We drop, we shoot into the sky, we plummet, our stomachs fall on the floor, my beloved child whimpers, ready to cry from holy terror and I lean over and whisper in her ear-WOOHOO!! Jyl is a very suggestive child. If you say something is scary, then by golly it’s scary! But if you act like it’s SUPPOSED to be doing whatever is scary and that it’s really FUN, she will calm down. So, she continues holding my hand and attempting to cover her ears (don’t know why, *voice* is gone) and when we get off the ride, I am just completely overcome with my brave girl. I ask her if she likes the ride and she says nope. I say, what didn’t you like about the ride, Jyl and she replies it was too dark and too loud. WHAT?!?!?! What about the part where they shoot 100 miles into the ground and then ram you back up to the top again? And again? And again?!?!?!? She says, hmm maybe it was a little fast but it was waaaaay to loud. OK THEN!!! My child is amazing!! Amazingly weird, that is!! HAHA We buy our ride photo
and I buy her the shirt that has the hotel on it and says I SURVIVED on the bottom, total $32.74 or some odd cents. We stop at P.T.'s fruit market and get some grapes, a plain Dasani and a raspberry Dasani for Jyl for $8 even and sit in the shade in front of a Bugs Land and enjoy our snack.
After snack, we head to Bugs Land. We ride Heimlichs Chew Chew Train, Tuck and Rolls “Bumper” cars and Francis’ Ladybug Boogie. After a Bugs Land, which I absolutely love on a normal day-the themeing is just beautifully done and you really do get the sense that you are as big as an ant under all those huge things-
but today it was just really crowded. Hmm what’s the deal? LOL We head off to Soarin’ and take a ride and Jyl absolutely LOOOOOVES this ride!! She calls it the ride where you fly like Superman. I thought MAYBE the heights would bother her but uh uh. I guess everything is tame after Tower of Terror!!! We head to EnginEars so I can check out the Potato Head pieces. The only things they have that I don’t already have is a body for the Incredibles and that just isn’t worth $18 for a stuffed Potato Head pieces box so we peruse the other items. Jyl finds a baby Pluto with a blanket and a bone and I find a Kermit antenna topper (Jyl thought he was a squid!!!) and we check out for $23.71.
After spending money, we head back to the ‘Land and put our purchases in our locker and then back to Fantasyland we go. We stop at the bathrooms by Pinocchios food court (never saw THAT in the movie HA!) We get in the incredibly looooong line for Dumbo where Jyl says she has to go to the bathroom. Ok Jyl, you JUST went potty, do you REALLY need to go again RIGHT NOW or can you hold it? If you can’t hold it, we will get out of line and go to the bathroom…No, she says she can hold it.
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We don’t get the orange one so Jyl was a little miffed (both of our fave. color) until I say wow, look at this BEAUTIFUL blue Dumbo!! Happy times!! LOL I let Jyl control the up and downs and after 10 seconds (or so it seems, after waiting 30+ minutes in the sun) we headed back to the bathroom. Jyl does her thing AGAIN and we go get in line for Storybookland Canal Boats. Neither of us have ever done this ride. My kids always say Monstro looks too scary but Jyl decided she wanted to do it. The line was HORRENDOUSLY long, waited about 45 minutes? GAA! Was cute though, don’t think I need to repeat it any time soon. Do you know how Monstro came to live in Fantasyland? After that smart Pinocchio built a fire in him and made him sneeze, Monstro sneezed so hard it blew his tail off and now he spends his time in Fantasyland. Ummm ok…. After seeing all of the teeny tiny houses and plants and castles and towns (too cute!! I love that the plants are REAL and only grow 1 inch every year!) we get in line for the Teacups. Not a bad wait here compared to the other 2 rides.
After the spinning cups, it is time for dinner (almost 7pm) so we head to Redd Rocketts Pizza Port (I still think they should change this to Pizza Planet. Fits in better with all the Buzz!) where it is REALLY crowded. I get a Countdown Chicken Fusilli, a bottled water, kids pizza meal with apple juice, a big ol thing of the bread and a chocolate cookie.
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Jyl eats the cheese off of her pizza and all of her grapes and a few carrots and then honks down on my fusilli.
Even with the both of us noshing on it for quite a while, there was still half a plate left. We tore a hunk off the bread and shared that hunk (seems like we wasted a LOT of food!) and then shared the cookie. Cookie was REALLY good!!
After finishing our meal, we decide to go back to the hotel and swim for a bit. We go to the locker to get all of our stuff and Jyl’s poor wittle hand gets smashed in the locker door, while she is holding it open for me!!! And I mean H-A-R-D!! AWWWW!!! Poor baby!! Here she is crying big ol tears and blowing on it:
I advise not letting your kids "help" by holding these doors open! LOL
We tram to the car and hit up Georgies Donuts for some lovely-fabulous-mouth-watering-artery-clogging yummies (2 ham and cheese croissants for breakfast tomorrow and 6 donut holes). As soon as we hit the hotel room, Jyl is nekkid, on the pot and in her bathing suit before I can even put the food in the fridge (oops, left the ham and cheeses out alllll night, had to toss them!) and we hit the pool. I decide to just put my feet in the hot tub tonight. It’s only lukewarm tho. Bummer!! After Jyl “swam” for a bit, we head upstairs where she takes a bath and I purchase hi-speed internet. $5 for your stay, not a bad deal but the last time I brought a laptop to this hotel, the internet was free. Hmph! After yapping with hubby for a bit and cruising my DIS sites and MySpace and checking email and looking at our PhotoPass pics, we hit the hay.
Coming up-last day in the Parks. Musical chairs with magical friends?! Nasty lunch choice. Near death experience. Or at least, near EXTREME pain experience. Wasted ice cream. Mommy loses the magic. BIG TIME. And someone gets magiced in the heart. AWWW!!!
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
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Well here we are, our last day at Disneyland. <sigh> Seems to just go sooo fast once you get here!!! We didn’t set an alarm or a wake up call today and slept in until the positively sinful time of 8:30am. I went downstairs to get Jyl some more of that free breaky (strawberry yogurt, red apple and Sunny D today) and took a shower while she honked down on it. And spilled Sunny D on the bed. GAAA! LOL Jyl decided she wanted another go at the hot tub more than she wanted to get to the park at opening so down we went:
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Jyl lasted about 10 minutes in her warm tub today because it was SUPER cold!! BRRR!!!
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After her cold adventure, I gave her a quick shower and we were dressed and then rolling on down the Blvd. Harbor Blvd. of course!! We got into the Mickey and Friends parking structure and actually parked on Mickey this time! WOOHOO Did we win something? LOL We took the tram to the park, went through security and the turnstiles and we was IN! Like Flynn!! We immediately saw these guys:
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and Jyl thought it was a parade!! HAHAHAHA Being the former band geek that I am (where I met 2 of my most bestest friends EVER and my future hubby!) we stayed for a few minutes and boogied down. As much as you can to a marching band. Which is a LOT. If you used to be a band geek. And your best friends were band geeks. And your husband of 10 years was a band geek. Moving on….We headed to the lockers and sprung the $10 for the BIG locker, figuring we would probably buy a lot of stuff today and we would need the extra room. Jyl kept far far away from the locker and refused to hold the door for me. Poor baby!! Guess she hasn’t forgotten the pain of the “mean” locker last night!
We stop in at City Hall and I tell the lady at the desk, I would like to get some information about a character and before I can say it’s about a SPECIFIC character, she pulls out one of the white paper Daily Guides you get at the turnstile and shows me all the info for princesses and whatnot. I say, no, I need the goods on Peter Pan please. So she goes to the Batphone on the back desk (ok,ok, so it’s just a regular old phone!) and she finds out that PP will be walking around FantasyLand at 1:45pm and then playing musical chairs at Coke Corner at 2:30pm. Right on!
Jyl and I book it for FrontierLand for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FastPasses and then lunch for me, as I have yet to eat. I fall upon the first place that resembles a restaurant, which just happened to be Rancho del Zocalo, of course. I ordered a chicken burrito I think? And a coke? And a kids OJ for Jyl and my total was $13.00. After looking at my receipt, I don’t think they charged me for the coke. Right on!! Cos the food was N-A-S-T-Y!!
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It was spicy and cold and hard and the line to get it was HUGE and then the line for soda and OJ was HUGE and then to pay the line was frigging ginormous!!! Grrr! Bad food makes CJ grumpy! LOL
After choking about half of the food down, we hightail it over to BTMRR to use our FPs. Jyl is JUST 40” so on we go.
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****Warning!! The following is NOT for the faint of heart! Near death experience!!!****
After getting through the line and we actually board the “train” and the handlebar goes down, I notice a small problem. Or a big problem. A big THIGH problem. Like, I have a big booty and not thin thighs and when the handlebar goes down, there is a TON of room between Jyl and the safety bar. The train was on it’s way before I could motion to the CM that Houston, we might have a problem and after we turned the first bend, I KNEW we had a problem!! Jyl went FLYING towards the opening and I grabbed her arm and squished her to me as close as possible. I put my right arm around her and grabbed the bar with that hand and then held on for ME with my left hand. Never again!! This ride was NOT worth almost losing my lil Jyli-Bean. Disney really needs to do something about this as well. Better checks from the CMs, a higher height restriction, something! Sheesh! LOL
***And this concludes are death defying experience. We now return to our regularly scheduled TR, already in progress...***
To calm our nerves (yeah, that’s it, just to calm our nerves!) we got some ice creams from a vendor and headed to the Tiki Tiki Tiki room. I was hoping we could share an ice cream cookie, as I had a bite of my SILs when we went in 2002 and I remember it being soooo fabulous but Jyl would have none of it. She wanted a Mickey ice cream so a Mick she would have! I got me the Nestle ice cream cookie sandwich thing and for Jyl the Mickey head cookie sandwich thing and the total was $7.75.
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There was a bit of a wait for the next show and Jyl amused herself with her ice cream and watching the god MALIBU (I think that was his name! Maybe it was MAUI). Whichever one where the water fills a bamboo thing and then it dunks down? Whatev!
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We enjoy the show
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(we tossed the ice creams on the way in. Definitely too big for one person!) After the show, it’s on to Coke Corner! We kill about 20 minutes just waiting and looking at pins and rocking to some music over a loud speaker
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and Jyl asks me, what are we doing here? So I told her, I am waiting for my friend to come play with us and she looks at me like I am crazy and then continues dancing.
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Right on!
Alright, that's it for today! Hope to post part 2 by next Monday. Still coming up-Mommy REALLY loses the magic! Someone gets magic-ed in the heart! And then someone cries, and it ain't the almost-4-year-old!!
Jyl lasted about 10 minutes in her warm tub today because it was SUPER cold!! BRRR!!!
After her cold adventure, I gave her a quick shower and we were dressed and then rolling on down the Blvd. Harbor Blvd. of course!! We got into the Mickey and Friends parking structure and actually parked on Mickey this time! WOOHOO Did we win something? LOL We took the tram to the park, went through security and the turnstiles and we was IN! Like Flynn!! We immediately saw these guys:
and Jyl thought it was a parade!! HAHAHAHA Being the former band geek that I am (where I met 2 of my most bestest friends EVER and my future hubby!) we stayed for a few minutes and boogied down. As much as you can to a marching band. Which is a LOT. If you used to be a band geek. And your best friends were band geeks. And your husband of 10 years was a band geek. Moving on….We headed to the lockers and sprung the $10 for the BIG locker, figuring we would probably buy a lot of stuff today and we would need the extra room. Jyl kept far far away from the locker and refused to hold the door for me. Poor baby!! Guess she hasn’t forgotten the pain of the “mean” locker last night!
We stop in at City Hall and I tell the lady at the desk, I would like to get some information about a character and before I can say it’s about a SPECIFIC character, she pulls out one of the white paper Daily Guides you get at the turnstile and shows me all the info for princesses and whatnot. I say, no, I need the goods on Peter Pan please. So she goes to the Batphone on the back desk (ok,ok, so it’s just a regular old phone!) and she finds out that PP will be walking around FantasyLand at 1:45pm and then playing musical chairs at Coke Corner at 2:30pm. Right on!
Jyl and I book it for FrontierLand for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FastPasses and then lunch for me, as I have yet to eat. I fall upon the first place that resembles a restaurant, which just happened to be Rancho del Zocalo, of course. I ordered a chicken burrito I think? And a coke? And a kids OJ for Jyl and my total was $13.00. After looking at my receipt, I don’t think they charged me for the coke. Right on!! Cos the food was N-A-S-T-Y!!
It was spicy and cold and hard and the line to get it was HUGE and then the line for soda and OJ was HUGE and then to pay the line was frigging ginormous!!! Grrr! Bad food makes CJ grumpy! LOL
After choking about half of the food down, we hightail it over to BTMRR to use our FPs. Jyl is JUST 40” so on we go.
****Warning!! The following is NOT for the faint of heart! Near death experience!!!****
After getting through the line and we actually board the “train” and the handlebar goes down, I notice a small problem. Or a big problem. A big THIGH problem. Like, I have a big booty and not thin thighs and when the handlebar goes down, there is a TON of room between Jyl and the safety bar. The train was on it’s way before I could motion to the CM that Houston, we might have a problem and after we turned the first bend, I KNEW we had a problem!! Jyl went FLYING towards the opening and I grabbed her arm and squished her to me as close as possible. I put my right arm around her and grabbed the bar with that hand and then held on for ME with my left hand. Never again!! This ride was NOT worth almost losing my lil Jyli-Bean. Disney really needs to do something about this as well. Better checks from the CMs, a higher height restriction, something! Sheesh! LOL
***And this concludes are death defying experience. We now return to our regularly scheduled TR, already in progress...***
To calm our nerves (yeah, that’s it, just to calm our nerves!) we got some ice creams from a vendor and headed to the Tiki Tiki Tiki room. I was hoping we could share an ice cream cookie, as I had a bite of my SILs when we went in 2002 and I remember it being soooo fabulous but Jyl would have none of it. She wanted a Mickey ice cream so a Mick she would have! I got me the Nestle ice cream cookie sandwich thing and for Jyl the Mickey head cookie sandwich thing and the total was $7.75.
There was a bit of a wait for the next show and Jyl amused herself with her ice cream and watching the god MALIBU (I think that was his name! Maybe it was MAUI). Whichever one where the water fills a bamboo thing and then it dunks down? Whatev!
We enjoy the show
(we tossed the ice creams on the way in. Definitely too big for one person!) After the show, it’s on to Coke Corner! We kill about 20 minutes just waiting and looking at pins and rocking to some music over a loud speaker
and Jyl asks me, what are we doing here? So I told her, I am waiting for my friend to come play with us and she looks at me like I am crazy and then continues dancing.
Right on!
Alright, that's it for today! Hope to post part 2 by next Monday. Still coming up-Mommy REALLY loses the magic! Someone gets magic-ed in the heart! And then someone cries, and it ain't the almost-4-year-old!!
momto2nenas
DIS Veteran
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- Jan 25, 2007
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- 602
Enjoying the TR! So scary about your DD and BTMRR! I will for sure remember that when we go next month!
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 648
Yeah, I think my almost-4-year-old put it best-Mama, that ride freaked me OUT! LOL
I never thought about it. Always thought, if they are tall enough then no big deal. Well, it's a big deal!! Especially since on the other side is kind of open so people can get out. Maybe it's better if there are 2 adults who can flank the teeny weeny, but I think I am done with that ride. LOL Nothing great about it making me want to go back anyways.
I never thought about it. Always thought, if they are tall enough then no big deal. Well, it's a big deal!! Especially since on the other side is kind of open so people can get out. Maybe it's better if there are 2 adults who can flank the teeny weeny, but I think I am done with that ride. LOL Nothing great about it making me want to go back anyways.
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 648
Your DD sounds like she has a lot of personality! What a little doll!
Good for her getting on TOT...I am terrified of that ride.
I look forward to your next installment.
Oh yes, she is Ms. Personality!! She just says things in such a hilarious way. A few weeks ago, I got "Mama, I think I might be hungry". Just so adult and....proper! LOL
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 648
So, we last left our heroines at Coke Corner, rocking to some music and waiting for a “friend” to appear. (***Back story: my sister-in-law, Nicole, and I took our two 2 year olds to Disneyland together in December of 2005 and the one person her 2 year old wanted to see was Cinderella and the one person Jyl wanted to see was Peter. Needless to say, they saw neither, HA! Jyl had been back to Disneyland 2 times since that trip and STILL never seen Panny and STILL asked about him every time, so THIS trip, we were on a mission. Just not from God. HA!) Now back to our regularly scheduled TR…
I see a figure in green running and skipping our way but keep quiet when all of a sudden, we hear an “I’m BORED!” hollered out and who do we see?!
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Peter!! Jyl just ogles at Peter for a few minutes when he is joined by some more friends!
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The gang (Peter, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Alice and the Fairy Godmother) quickly organizes the kids into a game of musical chairs and much fun and laughter ensues!
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After each kid was “disqualified”, Peter and Alice would take the kid aside and have them tell a joke to the crowd. Was a nice touch, to help them not feel bad I think! All the characters told jokes throughout the game as well and here’s my favorite, from Pan the Man:
What’s the difference between broccoli and boogers?
Kids don’t eat broccoli!!! LMAO EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Jyl came in third place and got to tell a very weird joke which I didn’t get at all:
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange and that’s IT! Ok….anyways….after 16 months of waiting, Jyl finally gets her picture with Peter:
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and we say our goodbyes and we head off to Critter Country. As we are walking by the Haunted Mansion, Jyl tells me we are going the wrong way, Pooh doesn’t live this way. Umm trust the Mom, kiddo, she knows where she is going! I can’t help it, when we get to the Pooh ride I say to her, “See, I told you I knew where Pooh was!” LOL I couldn’t help it, cos I always have to be right! I bought a bottle of Dasani from a street vendor along the way and promptly left it on the Pooh ride. D'oh! That was a waste of $2.75! After visiting the 100 Acre, we go to the Pooh “dump” shop and check out what’s the what at the bakery. I see Tigger Tails for the first time!! 3 marshmallows on a stick, dipped in orange colored (and flavored? I’m not sure) white chocolate and then drizzled with chocolate “stripes”. Too cute, but doesn’t sound like something I would want to eat.
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Jyl picked out a non-pareil for $2.50 (a giant chocolate dot with little sprinkly things on top) and I got a bag of semi-sweet non-pareils for $4.50 (not worth it, I STILL have a ton of these left! HA!). We rode Pooh one more time and then we bought another water. Jyl made sure to lecture me about not losing THIS one. The things we teach our children!
We moseyed on down to Pirates of the Caribbean, where the line moved rather quickly and we were soon visiting again with our favorite Pirates, Barbosa and Jack. Love love LOOOOOVE this ride!! I think it’s my all time favorite!! And I cannot say enough good things about the Davey Jones water feature either---soo awesome!! (I was lucky enough to ride the newly revamped ride with all of the new features in July, the day after we watched the midnight showing of Dead Man’s Chest and THAT was amazing!!!)
We caught the train in New Orleans Square where we ate some of our goodies and got off at Main Street so we could hit Soarin’ one or two more times. And here is where Mommy loses the Magic. BIG time!
We walk across the esplanade to DCA and Jyl decides she wants to take a picture on the letter C this time
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We hit the potties, and then head straight to Soarin’. We get FastPasses and then hop in the standby line, me thinking “hey, it’s Jyl most favorite ride ever, we can ride it TWICE before DCA closes for the night!” The line seems very long, has a wait time listed as 35 minutes. We finally get inside and out of the heat and as we are standing there, Jyl starts freaking out that she has to go to the bathroom. But Jyl, we JUST went when we got in DCA, about 20 minutes ago. Are you SUURE you have to go? Because if we get out of line we have to stand in the outside line again. Can you hold it? Jyl says yes she can hold it, she doesn’t want to get out of the line. Ok, no biggie. Jyl and another little girl play in line, a little inappropriately (the girl keeps trying to kiss Jyl. No thanks, we like our own germs best, LOL). I try moving Jyl in front of me, therefore blocking the other child and the kid just goes around. I say loudly, no thanks please don’t kiss! And her parents just stand there blissfully unaware. I finally just pick Jyl up and hold her because they aren’t going to do anything and I am much too much of a chicken to say, hey get a hold of your child please! LOL Then Jyl starts doing this little freakout thing, where she has to go potty RIGHT NOW but she doesn’t want to get out of line but she can’t hold it but she doesn’t want to leave Soarin’. So I tell her we can come RIGHT BACK after we go to the bathroom, come on, lets go to the bathroom. So I literally drag her out of the line and she is hollering the whole time making me feel like Mother of the Year into the heat, where I see the standby line is now HUGE and at 60 minutes wait time and the FastPass return line is very very long as well, and I am a little exasperated with my hollering child, so we march to the bathroom with her crying the whole time, thinking she will never get to ride Soarin’ again. We spent 10 minutes in the bathroom because she didn’t have to go as badly as she thought she did (that doesn’t bother me at all, I would rather us leave and her TRY to go than for her to have an accident because she wasn’t listening to her body. What made me lose the magic was the crazy hissy fit. Jyl is a very even tempered child and it takes a lot for her to meltdown like that so that along with the heat and the new lines, BOILING POINT! LOL) We get back in the newly long line and eventually ride the ride. Right now, I am just going through the motions because I am hot, my feet hurt and I am just tired. Soooo tired. And Jyl has yet to say she was sorry for the fit! Hmph!
Once we exit Soarin’, the FastPass line was sooo long there was no way we could have made it in before DCA closed and we would have barely any time left in DL and I just couldn’t do another long line in the heat anyways, so we left DCA and headed back to Disneyland. Right smack dab in the wait for the parade. Now, we have purchased those DVDs off of eBay from RU42video where he does a BEAUTIFUL job of getting amazing shots and then splices them all together (yes, this is a plug. You want year round magic, you buy his stuff! Check it out! HAHA) and we have his 50th Celebration DVD which includes the fireworks and the Parade of Dreams and we have the Fantasmic! DVD as well, so it really surprises me that Jyl decides she wants to see the parade. I am still in “Lost the Magic” mode so I try to talk her out of it. But Jyl, there’s no spot for us. Don’t you want to ride more rides??? Jyl is having none of it so we grab a seat at Coke Corner and hope for the best. You can KIND of see where we are at but it’s not great. I see a small hole in the roped off section on Main St. (you know, the rope divides the people waiting for the parade and the other people who are walking by) so I grab Jyl and we occupy the hole. There are a ton of people in front of us so I will have to hold Jyl but that’s ok. I know this parade, I know there are parts of it I can put her down while there are pauses in the action. The parade starts (note-I absolutely love this parade and have the music at home and it NEVER fails to make me tear up!) and once I hear the music and I have my Jyl in my arms, the grump fades. Very quickly. And standing there alone (or so it felt! We were in our own world!), listening to that song that I absolutely love, holding my wee one who was almost 4 and just had the most beautiful look of awe and wonder on her face (even tho she has seen it 100 times on the TV and once in person!) I just got the magic back. Like, instantaneously. So, to anyone reading this, if you were there standing next to the lady holding the child singing along to the music and crying, well sorry, but that was my own personal magic time and really, I’m not sorry at all! LOL
After my heart had grown about 4 sizes (like the Grinch, don’t ya know!) we went to the locker to get warmer clothes. I tossed on my favorite cardigan and put Jyl in one of her Gymboree track suits with a long sleeve shirt underneath and we headed for the potty again. This is rapidly becoming my favorite attraction!! After the bathroom (Pinnochio bathrooms, in FantasyLand) we got in line for Dumbo. About 2 rides away from our turn, Jyl does the potty thing again. I ask if she can hold it and she says yes. I tell her, really it’s no big deal to get out of line and go and then come back. She says she can hold it. So, we ride the ride (I don’t know what color we got!) and then we head BACK to Pinnochio’s Favorite Potty Ride and then get in line for It’s A Small World. The line for this is ridiculously long!! The only other times I have seen the line this long is during the Holidays. <sigh> My feet are seriously on their last leg! Jyl amuses herself during the line by buttoning the large buttons on my cardigan and then I undo them and then she does them again. And again. And again…
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After cruising with the smallest peeps in the world, we head back to the locker, gather our gear and head on out of the park. Good-bye Disneyland! It’s always sad when you have absolutely NO idea when you might come back….
We hit Varsity Burgers on Lincoln Blvd. for dinner and are sooooo pleasantly surprised!! I had the BEST burger and Jyl got a kids corn dog meal which was HUGE. It was so delicious, I seriously recommend this place to everyone. They make everything fresh----even cook the meat, while you wait!!!
We hit the hotel, eat while watching Grey’s Anatomy and then lights out for both of us.
Well, this concludes the Disney Parks portion of this TR. All that’s left is the next day at Downtown Disney, with LOTS of crazy rain and then the drive home. Will finish this TR out by Friday,
May 18th. Thanks for reading, and even more, thanks for all of the great comments!!
I see a figure in green running and skipping our way but keep quiet when all of a sudden, we hear an “I’m BORED!” hollered out and who do we see?!
Peter!! Jyl just ogles at Peter for a few minutes when he is joined by some more friends!
The gang (Peter, White Rabbit, Mad Hatter, Alice and the Fairy Godmother) quickly organizes the kids into a game of musical chairs and much fun and laughter ensues!
After each kid was “disqualified”, Peter and Alice would take the kid aside and have them tell a joke to the crowd. Was a nice touch, to help them not feel bad I think! All the characters told jokes throughout the game as well and here’s my favorite, from Pan the Man:
What’s the difference between broccoli and boogers?
Kids don’t eat broccoli!!! LMAO EWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Jyl came in third place and got to tell a very weird joke which I didn’t get at all:
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange and that’s IT! Ok….anyways….after 16 months of waiting, Jyl finally gets her picture with Peter:
and we say our goodbyes and we head off to Critter Country. As we are walking by the Haunted Mansion, Jyl tells me we are going the wrong way, Pooh doesn’t live this way. Umm trust the Mom, kiddo, she knows where she is going! I can’t help it, when we get to the Pooh ride I say to her, “See, I told you I knew where Pooh was!” LOL I couldn’t help it, cos I always have to be right! I bought a bottle of Dasani from a street vendor along the way and promptly left it on the Pooh ride. D'oh! That was a waste of $2.75! After visiting the 100 Acre, we go to the Pooh “dump” shop and check out what’s the what at the bakery. I see Tigger Tails for the first time!! 3 marshmallows on a stick, dipped in orange colored (and flavored? I’m not sure) white chocolate and then drizzled with chocolate “stripes”. Too cute, but doesn’t sound like something I would want to eat.
Jyl picked out a non-pareil for $2.50 (a giant chocolate dot with little sprinkly things on top) and I got a bag of semi-sweet non-pareils for $4.50 (not worth it, I STILL have a ton of these left! HA!). We rode Pooh one more time and then we bought another water. Jyl made sure to lecture me about not losing THIS one. The things we teach our children!
We moseyed on down to Pirates of the Caribbean, where the line moved rather quickly and we were soon visiting again with our favorite Pirates, Barbosa and Jack. Love love LOOOOOVE this ride!! I think it’s my all time favorite!! And I cannot say enough good things about the Davey Jones water feature either---soo awesome!! (I was lucky enough to ride the newly revamped ride with all of the new features in July, the day after we watched the midnight showing of Dead Man’s Chest and THAT was amazing!!!)
We caught the train in New Orleans Square where we ate some of our goodies and got off at Main Street so we could hit Soarin’ one or two more times. And here is where Mommy loses the Magic. BIG time!
We walk across the esplanade to DCA and Jyl decides she wants to take a picture on the letter C this time
We hit the potties, and then head straight to Soarin’. We get FastPasses and then hop in the standby line, me thinking “hey, it’s Jyl most favorite ride ever, we can ride it TWICE before DCA closes for the night!” The line seems very long, has a wait time listed as 35 minutes. We finally get inside and out of the heat and as we are standing there, Jyl starts freaking out that she has to go to the bathroom. But Jyl, we JUST went when we got in DCA, about 20 minutes ago. Are you SUURE you have to go? Because if we get out of line we have to stand in the outside line again. Can you hold it? Jyl says yes she can hold it, she doesn’t want to get out of the line. Ok, no biggie. Jyl and another little girl play in line, a little inappropriately (the girl keeps trying to kiss Jyl. No thanks, we like our own germs best, LOL). I try moving Jyl in front of me, therefore blocking the other child and the kid just goes around. I say loudly, no thanks please don’t kiss! And her parents just stand there blissfully unaware. I finally just pick Jyl up and hold her because they aren’t going to do anything and I am much too much of a chicken to say, hey get a hold of your child please! LOL Then Jyl starts doing this little freakout thing, where she has to go potty RIGHT NOW but she doesn’t want to get out of line but she can’t hold it but she doesn’t want to leave Soarin’. So I tell her we can come RIGHT BACK after we go to the bathroom, come on, lets go to the bathroom. So I literally drag her out of the line and she is hollering the whole time making me feel like Mother of the Year into the heat, where I see the standby line is now HUGE and at 60 minutes wait time and the FastPass return line is very very long as well, and I am a little exasperated with my hollering child, so we march to the bathroom with her crying the whole time, thinking she will never get to ride Soarin’ again. We spent 10 minutes in the bathroom because she didn’t have to go as badly as she thought she did (that doesn’t bother me at all, I would rather us leave and her TRY to go than for her to have an accident because she wasn’t listening to her body. What made me lose the magic was the crazy hissy fit. Jyl is a very even tempered child and it takes a lot for her to meltdown like that so that along with the heat and the new lines, BOILING POINT! LOL) We get back in the newly long line and eventually ride the ride. Right now, I am just going through the motions because I am hot, my feet hurt and I am just tired. Soooo tired. And Jyl has yet to say she was sorry for the fit! Hmph!
Once we exit Soarin’, the FastPass line was sooo long there was no way we could have made it in before DCA closed and we would have barely any time left in DL and I just couldn’t do another long line in the heat anyways, so we left DCA and headed back to Disneyland. Right smack dab in the wait for the parade. Now, we have purchased those DVDs off of eBay from RU42video where he does a BEAUTIFUL job of getting amazing shots and then splices them all together (yes, this is a plug. You want year round magic, you buy his stuff! Check it out! HAHA) and we have his 50th Celebration DVD which includes the fireworks and the Parade of Dreams and we have the Fantasmic! DVD as well, so it really surprises me that Jyl decides she wants to see the parade. I am still in “Lost the Magic” mode so I try to talk her out of it. But Jyl, there’s no spot for us. Don’t you want to ride more rides??? Jyl is having none of it so we grab a seat at Coke Corner and hope for the best. You can KIND of see where we are at but it’s not great. I see a small hole in the roped off section on Main St. (you know, the rope divides the people waiting for the parade and the other people who are walking by) so I grab Jyl and we occupy the hole. There are a ton of people in front of us so I will have to hold Jyl but that’s ok. I know this parade, I know there are parts of it I can put her down while there are pauses in the action. The parade starts (note-I absolutely love this parade and have the music at home and it NEVER fails to make me tear up!) and once I hear the music and I have my Jyl in my arms, the grump fades. Very quickly. And standing there alone (or so it felt! We were in our own world!), listening to that song that I absolutely love, holding my wee one who was almost 4 and just had the most beautiful look of awe and wonder on her face (even tho she has seen it 100 times on the TV and once in person!) I just got the magic back. Like, instantaneously. So, to anyone reading this, if you were there standing next to the lady holding the child singing along to the music and crying, well sorry, but that was my own personal magic time and really, I’m not sorry at all! LOL
Welcome to our family time
Welcome to our brotherly time
We’re happy giving and taking
To the friends we’re making
There’s nothing we won’t do!
Welcome to our family time
Welcome to our brotherly time
This is the festival
And best of all
We’re here to share it all!
This has to be the most beautiful
The most peaceful place I've ever been to
It's nothing like I've ever seen before!
How can you not tear up?! LOL So, anyways, I was teary and utterly happy with all in my life, with my arms and back screaming because I was carrying an extra 34 pounds and after the last float went by (the Mouses!), Jyl turns to me and puts her little arms around my neck and whispered in my ear “Mommy, that magic-ed my heart”. Umm ok, this trip was worth every penny and every ounce of frustration for that ONE moment!!! Welcome to our brotherly time
We’re happy giving and taking
To the friends we’re making
There’s nothing we won’t do!
Welcome to our family time
Welcome to our brotherly time
This is the festival
And best of all
We’re here to share it all!
This has to be the most beautiful
The most peaceful place I've ever been to
It's nothing like I've ever seen before!
After my heart had grown about 4 sizes (like the Grinch, don’t ya know!) we went to the locker to get warmer clothes. I tossed on my favorite cardigan and put Jyl in one of her Gymboree track suits with a long sleeve shirt underneath and we headed for the potty again. This is rapidly becoming my favorite attraction!! After the bathroom (Pinnochio bathrooms, in FantasyLand) we got in line for Dumbo. About 2 rides away from our turn, Jyl does the potty thing again. I ask if she can hold it and she says yes. I tell her, really it’s no big deal to get out of line and go and then come back. She says she can hold it. So, we ride the ride (I don’t know what color we got!) and then we head BACK to Pinnochio’s Favorite Potty Ride and then get in line for It’s A Small World. The line for this is ridiculously long!! The only other times I have seen the line this long is during the Holidays. <sigh> My feet are seriously on their last leg! Jyl amuses herself during the line by buttoning the large buttons on my cardigan and then I undo them and then she does them again. And again. And again…
After cruising with the smallest peeps in the world, we head back to the locker, gather our gear and head on out of the park. Good-bye Disneyland! It’s always sad when you have absolutely NO idea when you might come back….
We hit Varsity Burgers on Lincoln Blvd. for dinner and are sooooo pleasantly surprised!! I had the BEST burger and Jyl got a kids corn dog meal which was HUGE. It was so delicious, I seriously recommend this place to everyone. They make everything fresh----even cook the meat, while you wait!!!
We hit the hotel, eat while watching Grey’s Anatomy and then lights out for both of us.
Well, this concludes the Disney Parks portion of this TR. All that’s left is the next day at Downtown Disney, with LOTS of crazy rain and then the drive home. Will finish this TR out by Friday,
May 18th. Thanks for reading, and even more, thanks for all of the great comments!!
Mommy, that magic-ed my heart. That is one of the sweetest things I have ever heard.(read)
CrAzY4DL
Mommy, you magic-ed my heart!
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2007
- Messages
- 648
Well, I must say, Jyl and I were exhausted Thursday night because we waaaay overslept! I had set the alarm on my phone to 9am as checkout was at 10 and I guess we slept through it (hard to do, cos it is AC/DC singing Back in Black. LOUD!) So, we wake up at 9:55am, 35 minutes to shower, pack and checkout? AACK!! I call downstairs and ask for more time after explaining that I overslept and the employee who answered the phone snottily offers me an extra 30 minutes. I counter with an hour so I can actually shower AND pack, and then play the Im all alone with a 3 year old
card so he finally agrees and says I can check out at 11:30. (While it was nice of him to give me an extra 30 minutes in the first place especially since it was MY fault I overslept, the customer service here used to be soooo different! The former employees would have offered me an hour in the beginning of the conversation.)
I throw Jyl in a bubble bath while I pack everything up, wash her and give her clothes, cartoons and a granola bar while I shower and we are checked out by 11:15. Now, here is where all of my planning comes back to bite me in the butt. I had put off almost all of my souvenir shopping (mostly for my 7 year old at home, who desperately wanted Sleeping Beauty earrings for her newly pierced ears) for our last day, thought we would shop at World of Disney and then head to Rainforest Café for our reservations. Well, its raining outside. Warm, but raining. Ok, no big deal. We stop in one last time at Georgies where I place the granddaddy of all heart attack orders (2 jelly donuts, 1 apple fritter, 4 ham and cheese croissants and a maple bar-I dont feel bad because I know that these are all for home for sharing but I do stand there feeling quite greedy. LMAO!!) Off to DTD!
We park at Downtown Disney and the skies just open up and let go. Ok, again, no big deal. I peel off my soaking socks and roll my jeans up to my knees (I know, its a sexy look!) and do the same to Jyl. This was like monsoon weather. There were HUGE puddles (and we hit them in our Crocs with no socks! FUN!!!) and rapidly moving rivers and it was just crazy. I had a rain jacket but Jyl didnt so we jumped into Rainforest Café and I decided right there, whatever souvenirs we got, we were getting from RF!! I bought each of the girls a tshirt (Jyls is blue with a jaguar or cougar and Dels is red with a parrot), a pink Ty 11 beanie baby giraffe for Del, a necklace for Del and then a little stuffed cat for Jyl. I felt so bad about the earrings though!! Poor Delaney! We paid for our stuff and headed outside and the rain was even harder now. <sigh> I pick up Jyl and we bolt back to the car. We get in the car and drive to a gas station with an overhang where I use our newly purchased (from Kmart, on day one, remember?) beach towel to dry us off pretty well and I give Jyl new socks and shoes, wipe off my feet and legs and the inside of my Crocs and we are good to go. Now, Crocs MAY be ugly, but they ARE functional-comfy and you can wipe them cleaning after running through puddles with your almost 4 year old!!
We hit the McDs at the top of the Grapevine for some much needed food (Jyl had a granola bar earlier this morning and I had had nothing) around 1pm, where we encountered the worst service EVER! <sigh> Now, I do not like McDs. I have seen Super Size Me about 3 times too many to really like *any* fast food company, but there is something about McDs that just bothers me anyway. Anyways, rambling aside, we fuel up our bellies and make a pit stop in the bathroom and get back in the car. About 4pm, I start texting hubby my locations and he does the same, trying to see who would get home first (he works in Pleasanton) and wouldnt you know it-he actually wins! We are home before 6pm and thats the end of our tale!! Thanks for joining us and for all of your nice comments!!
One final photo-Jyl conked out on the trip home
[/IMG]
PS-Jyl turns 4 on May 20th, woohoo!!!
I throw Jyl in a bubble bath while I pack everything up, wash her and give her clothes, cartoons and a granola bar while I shower and we are checked out by 11:15. Now, here is where all of my planning comes back to bite me in the butt. I had put off almost all of my souvenir shopping (mostly for my 7 year old at home, who desperately wanted Sleeping Beauty earrings for her newly pierced ears) for our last day, thought we would shop at World of Disney and then head to Rainforest Café for our reservations. Well, its raining outside. Warm, but raining. Ok, no big deal. We stop in one last time at Georgies where I place the granddaddy of all heart attack orders (2 jelly donuts, 1 apple fritter, 4 ham and cheese croissants and a maple bar-I dont feel bad because I know that these are all for home for sharing but I do stand there feeling quite greedy. LMAO!!) Off to DTD!
We park at Downtown Disney and the skies just open up and let go. Ok, again, no big deal. I peel off my soaking socks and roll my jeans up to my knees (I know, its a sexy look!) and do the same to Jyl. This was like monsoon weather. There were HUGE puddles (and we hit them in our Crocs with no socks! FUN!!!) and rapidly moving rivers and it was just crazy. I had a rain jacket but Jyl didnt so we jumped into Rainforest Café and I decided right there, whatever souvenirs we got, we were getting from RF!! I bought each of the girls a tshirt (Jyls is blue with a jaguar or cougar and Dels is red with a parrot), a pink Ty 11 beanie baby giraffe for Del, a necklace for Del and then a little stuffed cat for Jyl. I felt so bad about the earrings though!! Poor Delaney! We paid for our stuff and headed outside and the rain was even harder now. <sigh> I pick up Jyl and we bolt back to the car. We get in the car and drive to a gas station with an overhang where I use our newly purchased (from Kmart, on day one, remember?) beach towel to dry us off pretty well and I give Jyl new socks and shoes, wipe off my feet and legs and the inside of my Crocs and we are good to go. Now, Crocs MAY be ugly, but they ARE functional-comfy and you can wipe them cleaning after running through puddles with your almost 4 year old!!
We hit the McDs at the top of the Grapevine for some much needed food (Jyl had a granola bar earlier this morning and I had had nothing) around 1pm, where we encountered the worst service EVER! <sigh> Now, I do not like McDs. I have seen Super Size Me about 3 times too many to really like *any* fast food company, but there is something about McDs that just bothers me anyway. Anyways, rambling aside, we fuel up our bellies and make a pit stop in the bathroom and get back in the car. About 4pm, I start texting hubby my locations and he does the same, trying to see who would get home first (he works in Pleasanton) and wouldnt you know it-he actually wins! We are home before 6pm and thats the end of our tale!! Thanks for joining us and for all of your nice comments!!
One final photo-Jyl conked out on the trip home
PS-Jyl turns 4 on May 20th, woohoo!!!
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