Character Meals and Lots of Pirates: Finished except for Photos

[skiingfast]

That is awesome. Hundreds of times better than anything at MCO.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Currently back in Calgary waiting to clear customs... Sad the vacation is over but I can't wait to start writing about it!

 

[Disney_Alli]

So I haven't started my report yet... mostly because I haven't loaded any pictures yet but I have started going through all my photopass photos (mostly because I can do that at work - where I am not) I realized looking through them that my photos with Chip and Dale from my last day aren't on my card I filled out the form but because I was at work when I was thinking about it I didn't have the photopass card number... Or I thought I didn't because I forgot I have a picture of it on my phone. So I didn't include the card number. I'm debating whether I should fill out the form again with the card # this time...

I also have some magic pictures were there characters weren't added (I look a little funny pretending to be scared in front on the Haunted Mansion without any ghosts around!) So hopefully all that can get fixed!

I promise to start on my trip report soon. I even borrowed my sister's laptop so that I can work on it wherever I want!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

There was a price for that laptop, and it was a TR!!!

Get on it!

 

[Disney_Alli]

Now with PHOTOS (oohh... ahhh...)

I got up around 5:30 and started getting ready; packing up last minute things (though sadly not my hairbrush as I discovered later) I jumped in my truck and with the help of my handy iPhone found the Park2Go lot near the airport. I happened to pull in as there were two shuttles sitting there so I left my truck and keys with them and jumped on the shuttle and off I went to the airport. I checked in at WestJet and found all the WestJet employees wearing Mickey ears to celebrate their first direct flight from YYC (Calgary, AB) to SNA – hey wait that’s my flight! I cleared security and customs and after a quick pit stop at Timmy’s (i.e. Tim Hortons) for some juice and a croissant as they were all out of muffins I headed to my gate... And quickly discovered I could have saved my money at Timmy’s as they had free snacks set out for all the guests on our flight. All the employees were still wearing ears and they were playing Disney songs at the gate to get us all in the mood. There were some presentations between the higher ups at WestJet and Disney Travel then they announced our first special guests: Mickey and Minnie Mouse!!! They came out holding hands and after some photo ops with all the top brass they invited guests up to take photos with them... With all the fanfare we were a little late boarding (speaking of boarding they handed us free sandwiches for the flight... Yay for more free stuff!) but after sitting through an uneventful flight we still managed to land ahead of schedule!

I walked off the plane to find Charlie Brown and Snoopy posing for photos and all the WestJet SNA employees wearing cowboy hats and bandanas (SO CUTE!) Harvey the Horse (The mascot for the Calgary Stampede) as well as a group of four guys dressed up as old fashioned cowboys (speaking of so cute...) They were also handing out bags of more free stuff including Mickey toys and also stuffed Snoopys (what is the plural of Snoopy anyway???) After a quick stop in the bathroom I made my way to baggage claim where I found that most of the bags were already off the plane! My bag came off seconds later and after following it around half the carousel waiting to be able to get close enough to grab it I finally managed to collect it and look around for my driver as I had arranged for a car service to pick me up. After deciphering my name on the badly written sign we were on our way! He asked if I was staying at the Grand Californian I told him no I am staying at the Sheraton Park on Harbour. I right he says... then proceeds to drive me to the Grand Californian. As he was about to pull in and I was about to speak up he remembered that was the wrong hotel so he took me to the right hotel. Then proceeded to tell me that he’d forgotten his credit card reader – oh and there’s suddenly a mandatory 20% tip or something so my $60 convenient car ride is suddenly $72 (thank goodness I’d been able to go to the bank on Sunday and get $100 American out or I would have been really screwed!) I was not really pleased and ended up cancelling the car I’d arranged to take me back to the airport. I figured even if the cabbie screwed me over it couldn’t be any more expensive that that ride had been!

I went to the front desk to check in and the girl behind the desk said they had one double queen room on the 8th floor with a theme park view and a full balcony available then if I was interested... Um yes please! I quickly collected my things and the present that my sister had arranged for me and headed up to my room. (#827 for those who desperately wanted to know) It looked great but I wasn’t really interested in the room just then. I snapped some quick photos of the room and was just about to set out all my free stuff and the gift basket for photos when the phone rang. My sister had called to ensure that the hotel had my gift basket waiting for me but had lost track of time so the front desk offered to ring my room for her. After a quick conversation I changed into shorts and sneakers, sprayed on some sunscreen, grabbed my park purse out of my suitcase, loaded it up with my wallets (don’t ask) my markers for autographs and my new autograph book and was headed to the park.

The room!

Exterior part of the bathroom

Toilet and shower area

The full balcony

View from my bed

View with lots of Zoom!

WestJet free stuff!

Birthday present from TinkLoverSam

And opened...

After a quick ten minute walk I was at the parks! It was around 1:30 by this point. I snapped some quick photos in the esplanade then headed over to California Adventure (I am aware the it’s sacrilege to visit CA before DL but I have to ride Tower of Terror first every trip if possible – it was my fist ever ride at a Disney park and I like to ride it first and last if possible). After a quick stop in “Greeting from California” to grab a birthday button – and get help with the pack of Kleenex I couldn’t seem to get open as I suddenly found that my eyes were burning and tearing like crazy (Something I would repeat a few times on this trip) I headed straight to ToT the wait was posted at 40 minutes but given the crowds I’d seen coming in I wasn’t really surprised. I jumped in line and enjoyed my stay at the Hollywood Tower Hotel as usual. I was then headed right back out of the park but I ran into Goofy in his Hawaiian shirt with only one person waiting I got in line and grabbed his autograph and a quick picture and - after pausing for some more photos in front of the Golden Gate Bridge I left. I wanted to spend some quality time in Disneyland before my 7:20 dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen.

I'm finally here!

See ya real soon!

Here we go!

My destination

Gorgeous window!

Love the details

Pop quiz: In the WDW version of this scene what game was being played?

Vacation Goofy!

I entered Disneyland grabbed a quick photopass photo in front of the Train station and then headed over to check out the lines for pirates as it’s usually a good bet for that time of the afternoon... only to find the longest line I have ever seen there and a posted wait time of 40 minutes! I wandered a little farther into the park and saw that Haunted Mansion only had a 30 minute wait – I’d also checked out Big Thunder and saw a long wait over an hour I remember but I don’t remember the actual wait time. I jumped in line for HM and took a bunch of photos throughout the line to entertain myself. Soon enough I was enjoying my visit with the 999 happy haunts. I then headed back to PotC to check out the line again. The line was shorter now with only a single line outside instead of the switch back outside I’d seen on my way past the line the first time. I decided to go for it and wait – I was getting a little tired by that point as my crazy week and early morning leading up to the trip were catching up with me. I took a few notes in line (my only ones of the trip ) and snapped some more photos and then found myself in the dark and relaxing bayou. After a trip on some rough seas I was finished with the ride and not really sure what to do with myself. I wandered through the stores in New Orleans Square and got my first look at the Dooney and Burke 55th Anniversary purses. I knew I’d be buying my sister and I each a wristlet so I stopped to check them out. When I asked the (male) cast member behind the counter for the “55th anniversary Dooney wristlet” I got back the blankest stare I have ever seen on a CM’s face – and a Happy Birthday – I laughed and pointed and said “the Dooney behind you”. Another blank stare I pointed again and said “the purse behind you, the small one on the left” He laughed and handed it to me. I loved that one but it was a display and rather dirty and the zipper didn’t work. He teased me about breaking the purse and asked how my birthday was going when I handed it back to him. I told him it was fantastic – I was in Disneyland how could it get better. He laughed too and said that some people didn’t feel that way. I responded that some people didn’t belong in Disneyland if they felt that way and he agreed. I decided that I didn’t want to carry anything around yet so I thanked him and headed on my way.

Entering!

Wow did it seem crowded

My first ride in DL!

I had to take this while in line for HM. This was my childhood nickname for TinkLoverSam because I couldn't pronounce the "Sa" part of "Samantha"

Next up!
Stopped here at some point in the afternoon... Presumably now.

I was tired and hungry and still had about four hours until my dinner reservation bit didn’t really have a plan for the rest of the afternoon. I decided to wander towards Fantasyland and see what was going on over there at that time. By the time I got to the Princess Fantasy Faire I realised that I wasn’t going to make it through to dinner without a snack so I grabbed a buttered corn on the cob at the Troubadour Tavern and after a great conversation with the cast members working there who couldn’t believe I’d travelled from Calgary (once I explained where Calgary was) by myself for my birthday. Though they did eventually agree that touring by yourself was fun as you didn’t have to listen to anyone else and could do what you wanted. I decided to jump in line for the princesses and collect some autographs as I didn’t really want to ride anything else just then or wait in anymore lines – although that was kind of ironic considering the line to see the princesses was 40 minutes long at that point. I relaxed and enjoyed the sun while I waited and in due time I met Princess Ariel, Belle and Tiana. Belle shocked me speechless for a good minute when I walked up to her and she looked at me and said “we’ve met before haven’t we?” Uhhh... yeah like two years ago here and a year ago in WDW but I’m pretty sure you don’t know that I thought to myself. I finally managed to stutter out a “yes” and collected my autograph and posed for the photos.
(These are all photopass photos)

I was getting pretty hot by this point and all the lines I’d seen in the park were really long so I decided to window shop my way out of the park and through Downtown Disney on the way to dinner. I wandered my way down the shops on main street from the Photo shop down to the main entrance looking around and collecting “Happy Birthdays” from every CM I passed. I was starting to feel like a rock star especially as most of them took the time to check my button and use my name each time they spoke to me. I saw lots of great merchandise but still was not interested in carrying anything around. I did stop at the Hat Shop right by the main entrance as I really wanted to get a grad mouse ears set for my sister who had graduated just before my trip but I never saw any. I asked later that night and was told that they were completely out of them as the last two Grad Nights had completely cleared them out. I was bummed but moved on (She was after all getting a Dooney and a shirt once I’d found one I knew she’d like). I window shopped my way right out of the park and into Downtown Disney where I checked out World of Disney (of course) stopping to look at their Dooney display. I noticed that the wristlet was conspicuously absent but couldn’t get the attention of a single cast member to ask if they had any somewhere else or in the back. I wandered through Something Silver and resisted all temptation – I LOVE silver jewellery and wear it all the time so this was a big deal! I then went through The Vault and looked at all the Disney Couture clothing. I love the designs as they are often more subtly Disney and gorgeous but I wish they weren’t so much more expensive than the regular park merchandise! I looked through their Dooneys as well and still didn’t see the wristlet so I talked to a staff member there (I actually spoke to several in there unlike at WoD where I was completely ignored every time I tried to talk to a staff member) She told me that they were out of them so I decided that I’d pick them up that night in Pieces of Eight after dinner in case they were running low on those too! I then checked out D Street – I really liked the variety of shirts in there for men, lots of interesting options I didn’t see anywhere else.

I think this will be my next Dooney!

Continued with the rest... too many photos!

 

[tksbaskets]

Sounds like an action packed first day. I enjoyed hearing about your adventures. Will look forward to the pictures. Laughing with you about plugging in the lights.

 

[Disney_Alli]

My last stop in Downtown Disney was the ESPN shop attached to the restaurant. After a quick check on the hockey score in the bar I headed into the store. I was looking for a California area university hat for a friend at work to add to his ball cap collection but they only had ESPN logo merchandise – a dead end. (I had seen a shop at the airport that at least had some Angels gear so I had a backup at least) I then headed to the Disneyland Hotel to check in for my dinner at Goofy’s Kitchen. It was still only about 6:30 but I was tired and hungry again and not really interested in walking anymore. I checked in and was told that I’d probably be seated early and waited in the lounge for my name to be called. I watched some hockey with a group of conventioneers who were all cheering for Boston (Boo!) and loving the fact that the score was 4-0 Boston (Double boo!) They headed in to Steakhouse 55 and a few minutes later I was called in to Goofy’s (I don’t know what time it was at that point other than still before my reservation time – I wasn’t really paying attention anymore. According to the time code on my camera it was 19:50 so taking the time zone difference into consideration it was about 6:50) I posed for my photo with Goofy – who reminded me just how much the furry characters love to play with my long hair – then collected his autograph and was seated. I gave my drink order to the server and headed to the buffet for my first plate. Two plates later I finally met my first character: Minnie Mouse! I then sat around and waited and waited and finally got up and grabbed a plate of dessert. Finally another character came around it was Princess Jasmine! I posed for my photo and got her autograph then laughed as a girl about my age dragged her new husband over to take her picture with Jasmine – who insisted that he pose for one too and showed him how to do the Aladdin pose (he conveniently already had the hair for the job) he pulled off the pose perfectly and Jasmine accused him of practicing. I could not stop laughing! I sat and waited and waited and the staff brought me over a birthday cupcake – with a “First Visit” button (?) on the plate. They sang to and Pluto who was a few tables away at the time came to visit... and play with my hair for a while. Dale came through about fifteen minutes later and by now I was bored and getting more tired by the minute and I was ready to leave. I had just decided to go when I saw the Fairy Godmother was entering my section I sat back down and waited for her. She wished me a Happy Birthday and scolded me when I asked for her autograph saying I should appreciate and listen while she wished me a happy birthday. She gave me my autograph anyway and I was on my way.

Goofy!

My first plate of Food!

My second plate... That pork was AMAZING!

Minnie & Me!

Jasmine... I still hadn't seen her in DL without her cape on!

Love me some Pluto!

Birthday cupcake... Oops I already at the chocolate Mickey off the top!

Dale! (I love those chipmunks!)

I re-entered Disneyland and found the Red Queen in town square I approached her for a picture and autograph. She snubbed me for a moment when I wasn’t prepared and didn’t have a marker ready for her but eventually deigned to pose with me. I snapped a couple more pictures and headed back towards Pieces of Eight to look for the Dooneys I wanted but there was going to be a Fantasmic! show that night and the whole area was packed. Eventually I decided that it was easier to get through to the shop if I just rode PotC again so I got in line and rode again! I finished the ride and headed into the shop. I had to wait while a CM ran down to get the wristlets from the storage room. I almost asked if she could bring up a couple so that I could pick the two I wanted but in the end I let it go and just took the two she brought up. My sister’s had “Gifts from Disneyland” printed right over the Dooney and Burke banner on the front and mine has some ears in a great place so overall I’m happy with them. By the time I left the store it was time for the fireworks... I must have been insane to think I could make it out of there! I happened to look up and see a clear path to the Jungle Cruise and no wait so I practically ran onto the boat... unfortunately a group of four teenage girls boarded just after I did. Our skipper Justin was great but these four sat at the back of the boat and heckled and yelled at him through the entire ride – which was made longer by the fact that they were rearranging boats at the dock and we had to back up and wait for them to finish and these girls would not shut up! I was really starting to feel bad for Justin – although it was really funny when he made the joke about the “man-eating piranhas don’t worry the women and children will be safe” then he really looked around and realised that he was the only man on the boat! There were four women at the front – one with her daughter – and the four bratty teen girls at the back.

Handing back my marker (She wasn't pleased with me!)

And now I look scared of her

By the time the ride ended the fireworks were over and everyone and their brother were headed out of the park – even though it was open until midnight. I wandered through the shops down the other side of Main Street and that’s when I found out that they were sold out of the mortarboard ear hats.

My last photo from that night... Walt's light

I made it back to the hotel around 11 and started to get ready for bed when I realised two things: 1) I couldn’t turn on the bedside lights and 2) I had apparently forgotten my hairbrush. Hoping the store was still open downstairs I headed out of my room – then headed right back in when I realised my wallet would probably help. I went downstairs and found the shop still open (yes!) and bought a crappy hairbrush and mirror set that was the only thing they had then stopped by the front desk to see about the bedside lights. They said they’d send maintenance up so I went back to my room and brushed my teeth and my hair and then the maintenance guy arrived and plugged the light in (duh!) and I was all set. I tumbled into bed around 11:30 and set my alarm for 6am as I had a breakfast planned for 7:10 am... But would I make it in time? Cue the dramatic music and I’ll leave you for now as this has been a heck of a long post!

 

[Disney_Alli]

So I haven't started my report yet... mostly because I haven't loaded any pictures yet but I have started going through all my photopass photos (mostly because I can do that at work - where I am not) I realized looking through them that my photos with Chip and Dale from my last day aren't on my card I filled out the form but because I was at work when I was thinking about it I didn't have the photopass card number... Or I thought I didn't because I forgot I have a picture of it on my phone. So I didn't include the card number. I'm debating whether I should fill out the form again with the card # this time...

I also have some magic pictures were there characters weren't added (I look a little funny pretending to be scared in front on the Haunted Mansion without any ghosts around!) So hopefully all that can get fixed!

I promise to start on my trip report soon. I even borrowed my sister's laptop so that I can work on it wherever I want!

1) The photos will soon size down and orient themselves correctly. I fixed them in Photobucket minutes before posting and they are still showing huge

2) I received the dreaded email from Photopass. My photos with Chip and Dale will never been seen or heard from again... They have disappeared into thin air (this is two trips in a row I had lost a bunch or photos, although last time was from my own camera).

3) I also called photopass as I was missing some "magic" from a couple magic shots. She said she fixed them and she managed to find a couple other missing photos but the Chip and Dale ones are truly gone. However I was looking through my photos and even though she said she'd added the ghosts to my HM shot they are still missing... GRR! I guess I have to call back again

I also need to call merchandising again as I haven't heard anything from them since I contacted them last week after realizing as I was leaving for home that I was overcharged $15 each for my Dooneys!!!

So many little headaches have cropped up since the end of my trip it's making me forget how amazing the trip actually was. Looking through my pictures and writing this report are helping me remember though!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Yay amazing! Boo irritations though.

 

[blabbermouth]

Hi! I read your report at work before the pics were added, but didn't post.

Great report!

Comments from the pics:

Cute outfit! Your hotel room looks really nice.

I can't believe all the cute stuff you got from Westjet, such a neat way to start off the trip.

Why would Jasmine wear her coat inside? Self conscious? Taking a stand for women's issues? None of the other boy characters have to show their bellies

That cupcake looks really good with the ganache type icing! Happy birthday!

Ooh, and I love the bow print clutch!

 

[Disney_Alli]

Hi! I read your report at work before the pics were added, but didn't post.

Great report!

Comments from the pics:

Cute outfit! Your hotel room looks really nice.

I can't believe all the cute stuff you got from Westjet, such a neat way to start off the trip.

Why would Jasmine wear her coat inside? Self conscious? Taking a stand for women's issues? None of the other boy characters have to show their bellies

That cupcake looks really good with the ganache type icing! Happy birthday!

Ooh, and I love the bow print clutch!

It was so neat that they made such a big deal about the first flight and everyone was having so much fun. The staff at WestJet are always so great!

Thanks for the compliment on the outfit I liked it too... Which explains why I bought the top in four colours and wore one each day (Technically one day I started in a different shirt but changed on my afternoon break lol)

It's weird that she was wearing her coat... It wasn't even cold or anything. Aladdin actually shows more skin than she does in the show because he just had the vest on but still... Strange

The cupcake was good but I was so full I think I only ate half of it.

And thanks for commenting I wasn't sure if anyone was still reading other than my sister

I'll get at least Day 2 posted tomorrow. I sit in front of three computers and 32 tv monitors every day at work so I try to stay off the computer when I'm at home on work days to try and avoid some serious eye strain.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I loved your trip report!! Conrgratulations on being on the first flight to SNA!! That's awesome!! I love seeing all the free stuff.

 

[JH87]

I am really loving your TR! Great photos as well.

 

[blabbermouth]

It was so neat that they made such a big deal about the first flight and everyone was having so much fun. The staff at WestJet are always so great!

Thanks for the compliment on the outfit I liked it too... Which explains why I bought the top in four colours and wore one each day (Technically one day I started in a different shirt but changed on my afternoon break lol)

It's weird that she was wearing her coat... It wasn't even cold or anything. Aladdin actually shows more skin than she does in the show because he just had the vest on but still... Strange

The cupcake was good but I was so full I think I only ate half of it.

And thanks for commenting I wasn't sure if anyone was still reading other than my sister

I'll get at least Day 2 posted tomorrow. I sit in front of three computers and 32 tv monitors every day at work so I try to stay off the computer when I'm at home on work days to try and avoid some serious eye strain.

Well, I figure if I read other people's trip reports and comment, I'll get good karma, and people will read mine when I write it (and comment!) Plus, I like reading reports from others who don't have children as it applies more to my (and DH's) travelling style.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Day two started bright and early at 6:00 am. I had a breakfast reservation at 7:10 am for Minnie and Friends and I was meeting Paula (Smiles4Stamps) so we could celebrate her birthday together… and so we could more easily take character meal pictures

Getting up was a challenge for me this morning as I had been up for long time the day before on about four hours of sleep… and I usually work overnights so I was still not used to getting up in the morning (On work days I typically wake up between 3-5pm depending on what I want to get done that day so this was a major change). Because of all this I ended up running a little late. I had wanted to leave my room no later than 6:30 but didn’t leave until 6:42. On a side not I was so thankful that I’d straightened my hair before I left so that I didn’t need to wash it every day! It saved me so much time every morning and made my crazy hair so much easier to deal with.

I walked to the parks in record time only to find a HUGE line at bag check… It seriously went half way down the bus stops! I texted Paula that I was just getting into the line and that I may be late. She told me if I didn’t meet her at the gate she’d be at City Hall picking up a new birthday button. Miraculously I made it through the line very quickly and got to Gate 1 to check in for my meal just moments before they allowed us in. Paula and I said hi and wished each other happy birthday then went to City Hall to pick her up a new button. We then made out way to Plaza Inn to check in for breakfast. Thankfully Paula knew exactly where we were going as I was a little unsure and way too tired to figure it out without asking for directions. We checked in and told the CM that we wanted to combine our breakfasts (I’d had a 7:10 reservation for 1 and Paula had a 7:20 reservation for 1) She quickly agreed and sent us in. We decided to bypass the picture stop as neither of us intended to buy it and we figured we’d save them the cost of printing us a pointless picture.

We sat down and decided to get our first plates of food… I was terrible and didn’t take any food pictures today so you’ll have to check out Paula’s trip report for all your food porn for this meal We were soon greeted by our first character: Guippetto! I was pretty excited as I’d never met him before.

Dale came over while Guippetto was signing our books and decided to see how Paula’s book tasted

I got some good photos with Dale (I love those crazy chipmunks)

Then it was time to see our host for the morning: None other than Minnie Mouse!

She’s such a lady!

Then Guippetto came back for a bit and kept doing this pose with both Paula and I… I know I haven’t seen the movie in a while but… Huh?!?

Max came to visit us next… Both he and Goofy loved to play with my hair; clearly it was a family thing!

Then came… This guy. I have no idea who he is and Paula couldn’t remember his name but looked it up in her book and told me – I then promptly forgot it of course so if someone else knows please leave it for me in a comment. I can’t read his siggy in my book!

Then Tigger bounced over to say ‘Hi’ he was a fan of my sunglasses

Then Chip came over to join us… Max apparently thought we were having too much fun without him so he came over to join us

And Chip also decided to play with my hair (man those fur characters loved to play with it!)
Rafiki joined us next while Tigger bounced around.

Then came Baloo (When I was afraid of the characters – ie until three years ago – Baloo once scared me to death on a front porch along Main Street at WDW by coming up behind me and putting his hands on my shoulders)

Then Guippetto came back and posed for a few more photos with us and so did Max (for the third time) and Rafiki. We teased Rafiki and told him it looked like he needed a hairbrush as his hair (mane?) was a little wild. I pulled mine out of my bag and Rafiki used it to clean up a little

Unfortunately while Rafiki was playing with us Captain Hook went passed us and into the back. Although one of the character handlers promised us when he came out he’d start with us that didn’t happen (although we did manage to track him down before we left)

Then the FGM came passed. I was still a little sore at her from the night before so we just posed for pictures

Finally Eeyore stopped by and I got my snuggle with the grumpy gus

We were now finished eating and it was almost nine o’clock so we found another character handler and asked her if we could get a picture with Captain Hook before we left. She agreed happily and brought us over to where he was. She asked if we were missing anyone else, we happily told her that Captain Hook completed our collection for the meal.

I’m not quite sure why I look so happy to have him threaten me with his hook…

We headed out quite pleased with our haul of characters. Paula had misplaced her photopass card from the beginning of her trip but had a picture of the back on her phone so we stopped in at the Photo store to retrieve her pictures and get them put onto a new card. The CMs were great and that was quickly accomplished. We were headed off with a mission – to ride Ariel’s before the park opened! Paula still had her PPH key card and they were letting anyone with a hotel card ride early (and they weren’t checking dates) so we wanted crossed over to DCA and jumped in line to ride. On the way out though I wanted to stop and get some Photopass pictures done on Main Street. We each posed separately and then the photographer told us he wanted to get some of us together. We laughed about not really knowing each other but posed for some shots (which turned out pretty good – I’ll have to post some at the end of all this when I get my CD)

We went into DCA without any trouble and headed over to ride Ariel. We waited about five minutes then joined Ariel on her undersea adventure! I really enjoyed the ride. It’s a great addition to the traditional Disney dark rides that they do so well (although I will admit that her hair looks pretty funny in the “Under the Sea” scene) We hadn’t really intended to tour together but we were having fun and my friend from work who had been supposed to text me the night before to set up a meeting that day and tour DCA with me never did and I didn’t have her phone number so I couldn’t text her… Oh well her loss we had really low waits all day.

Next we headed over and waited for TSMM rope drop. We rode through after a short wait and got decent scores. I had a really high accuracy (around 50%) but was concentrating on that too much to score more… I can’t remember my exact score but Paula has a picture on her phone so when she gets to this point in her report we’ll all know LOL)

We then rode California Screamin’ I waited in line while Paula grabbed us some fastpasses to use later in the day.

We then headed back around to Soarin’ and rode that as we had no real interest in riding anything else on the pier. Without even having to ask we were seated in the front row. I love this ride so much more when I’m up the highest!

This is where I get confused and my touring plan stops helping as I’m pretty sure we weren’t really following it any more. At some point we went over to the picnic pick-up area so that I could confirm I didn’t actually need the paper I had printed off and left either back in Calgary or at the very least back in my room. They told me I didn’t which was a huge relief! We also grabbed fastpasses for Tower of Terror at some point (my favourite ride you’ll remember) and rode that using them. Paula released her death grip on the handles for the first time ever so she made sure to grab the redneck picture of our photo! She also took my on Monster’s Inc for the first time and told me that I’d have to ride Heimlich’s Chew Chew train as it was very cute…
By this time I believe it was about 1pm and Paula wanted to head back to DL to grab a fastpass for Big Thunder to use later that night then she wanted to meet the 2:15 shuttle back to her hotel. I headed over to DL with her and not too far inside the gate we parted ways.

Next I rode Indy with no more than a five minute wait using the single rider entrance once I finally got the two cast members standing at the entrance to the line to stop chatting with each other and talk to me and give me the pass – and show me where to go as I’d never gone on as a single before.
I then headed over and did single rider on Splash Mountain – this time I waited at least half an hour to ride but that was still a lot better than the posted 70 minute wait!

By this time I was getting hungry so I headed back over to DCA to claim my World of Color picnic and have some lunch. According to the time stamp on my camera it was now about 3:30.

The lunch was quite good. One of the pieces of chicken was a little fatty but everything tasted very good and the apple tart was very nice!
Sorry there aren’t many pictures I’m not usually the photographer on trips so I was still getting used to using it and some days were better than others for remembering.

After lunch I went and used my fastpass for Screamin’ I was seated in the front row with another solo and laughed the whole way around because of his funny yelps and screams – it sounded like he had fun though! I then headed back towards the front of the park. I stopped in Bug’s Land and rode Heimlich (I think) then decided to get in line for the Aladdin show that was still about 40-50 minutes from starting but the line was still short and in the shade so I sat down and played a game on my phone for a while – I was actually nodding off sitting there! I went in and got a great seat about six or seven rows back in the front section. I knew I wouldn’t have a very good view of the flying carpet but I wanted to be able to see the rest of it. I took tons of terrible pictures and the occasional decent one…

Terrible

These are better…

I then just wandered around a bit. I was tired but it was too late to head back to the hotel for a break so I sat down in the little square where they have the TSMM rope drop on the garden thing in the middle there and relaxed, people watched and darn near napped for probably about an hour. I was getting chilly at this point so I went in search of hot chocolate. I went to a little stand just down from where they start the line for WoC as they had the souvenir mugs for the hot chocolate and I figured it would make a cute match for my Pop! Mug from last year… Unfortunately her hot chocolate machine had just broken so I wandered over to the Corn Dog Castle (or whatever it’s called now) and bought one there. Unfortunately they didn’t have the fancy mugs so I just got a regular one. I wandered through all the shops on the pier then it was about 7:40 or so and I could see some people lining up for the show. I had asked earlier where to line up and was directed to the far end which I’m pretty sure as actually the red section and I had a yellow fastpass. No one said anything when they collected them though so apparently it wasn’t really a big deal. I had a good spot right at the yellow edge of the red section (if that makes any sense) right at the railing of the second section back from the water… Now I just had another hour to wait! I sat around trying not to either freeze or fall asleep and people watched as I sat and waited. I was a little annoyed when they forced us all to stand up especially because it never got so crowed in my section that I couldn’t have continued sitting but that quickly went away when the show started. A little girl came up and asked if she could stand in front of me as she couldn’t see. She was really polite so I reassured her parents that she was fine and held her on the bottom rung of the fence until sometime near the end of the show when she headed back to look for her parents (I’m pretty sure she had to go to the bathroom and though I was perfectly willing to give her a boost and watch her during the show that was not in my job description!)

I really enjoyed the show and have absolutely no pictures or videos of any part of it to show you… I was too caught up with how good the show was and how FREEZING I was! There was also a good breeze coming off the water so we were getting quite wet even in the second section. I had a light sweater with me with a hood which I put up – partly to conserve some heat and partly to keep the water from ruining my hair. Too much “rain” and it would need to either be straightened again or washed and go back to curls or my usual braid!

After the show I headed out of the park with the hoards of others and headed right back to the hotel. I was exhausted and getting hungry as I hadn’t eaten since my picnic at 3:30. I stopped in the grab and go café at my hotel and got a bottle of pop and a bag of chips to get me through until morning and a double chocolate chip muffin and apple juice to have when I woke up…

Wow another long winded day and I still have two more full days to go! Next up rope drop at Disneyland… would I make it to an 8am opening?

 

[tksbaskets]

What an action filled day! I can't believe all the characters that visited you during breakfast. At WDW character meals I think 5 different characters is tops.

Sounds like you made the most of your day Wondering if you make the rope drop the next day

 

[Disney_Alli]

What an action filled day! I can't believe all the characters that visited you during breakfast. At WDW character meals I think 5 different characters is tops.

Sounds like you made the most of your day Wondering if you make the rope drop the next day

I know! Most character meals I went to at WDW I met 4-5 characters... I keep meaning to count officially but I think there were 11 or 12 at that breakfast. It was kinda insane every time I turned around there was another character coming out and since it was so early and there weren't very many people there we got some really great interaction with all the characters! It was so fun to play with them and not worry about what time it was because we were touring DCA and it didn't open until 10am!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Love the report!!! I love how the characters would play with your hair.

 

[Disney_Alli]

Love the report!!! I love how the characters would play with your hair.

They LOVE my hair. They always play with my hair if it's the least bit accessible. I will have to dig up a pic from my and TinkLoverSam's trip to DL in 2009. Chip (I think I can't quite remember if it was him or Dale but I'll know when I find the picture) has a hold of my Sam's braided ponytail (which came down almost to her waist at this point) while we were seated in a booth at the Critter Breakfast and he has his foot against the side of the bench and is pulling on her hair like it's a rope. Her hair is so long I could barely get the whole scene in the picture! When he left Sam looked at me and said "He was pulling REALLY hard!"

They really seem to like it everywhere as Sam and I have both also had similar experiences at WDW too. We both typically wear our hair in braided ponytails when in the parks as it's the easiest for all the rides when you have as much hair as we do - especially since we're usually travelling to WDW and we have SUPER thick curly hair that does not always react well to humidity... By which I mean we look like 80s prom queens within 2 seconds of stepping out of the shower.

 

[Disney_Alli]

I just noticed that I have moved from "earning my ears" to "Mouseketeer"... I feel special.

Yuo may now return to the rest of your normal lives I just felt special and wanted to share