Character Meals and Lots of Pirates: Finished except for Photos

[WDWJonasGirl]

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.

That's funny. Why do you call Eeyore the grumpy gus? I think that's hilarious.

 

[Belle Ella]

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!

I love John Worthington Foulfellow - a.k.a. Honest John from Pinocchio! I always have the darnedest time finding him and when I do I have the worst luck trying to get a photo.

I'm surprised you saw Baloo at M&F though. I've always kind of assumed he didn't venture out of Goofy's Kitchen (where he scared the heck out of me once before). That's pretty cool.

 

[skiingfast]

By which I mean we look like 80s prom queens within 2 seconds of stepping out of the shower.

 

[blabbermouth]

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

Congratulations!!

I can't believe how many characters you saw! Amazing that you ate any food at all and still made it over to DCA. I have no idea what Gepetto was doing?! Head hug? lol

Umm, your genie had a huge belly, but at least he was funny! I LOVED that show.

 

[Disney_Alli]

I love John Worthington Foulfellow - a.k.a. Honest John from Pinocchio! I always have the darnedest time finding him and when I do I have the worst luck trying to get a photo.

I'm surprised you saw Baloo at M&F though. I've always kind of assumed he didn't venture out of Goofy's Kitchen (where he scared the heck out of me once before). That's pretty cool.

Thank You! I could not remember his name for the life of me! Now I know (at least I will know when I write is down somewhere)

 

[Disney_Alli]

That's funny. Why do you call Eeyore the grumpy gus? I think that's hilarious.

I have no idea why I called him that. I think the expression is cute and it came to mind when I was writing that part so that's his new name in my mind

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I like it!! When are you going to update?

 

[Disney_Alli]

I like it!! When are you going to update?

Hopefully Monday but if work stays slow I may work on my report a little more over my next three night shifts and get it done sooner...


I mentioned Chip pulling on my sister TinkLoverSam's braid... well it turns out it was Dale and here's the picture. Right after or right before this he had it pulled tight but here there's a little slack in Dale's new "rope"

 

[TinkLoverSam]

And my fantastic sunburn!!

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

That is hilarious. Did it hurt? It probably would for me. Is she older or younger than you?

 

[TinkLoverSam]

That is hilarious. Did it hurt? It probably would for me. Is she older or younger than you?

Yes it did, he was pulling HARD! I am 3 minutes older than Disney_Alli

 

[Disney_Alli]

Day three I woke up around 6:30am and was so happy that I’d bought breakfast on the way back to my room last night… I was really hungry and I didn’t even have to walk downstairs to bite into my double chocolate chip muffin and drink my apple juice. I had a quick bath (no showers for me as there was no shower cap and I really didn’t want my hair to get wet until Thursday night – best thing about having super thick hair is that is almost never looks greasy) and threw on my makeup for the day. I wore progressively less makeup every day of my trip I think. I wanted to be early for rope drop because I planned to ride Star Tours first thing in the morning. I left my room around 7:10 (of course the day I didn’t need to be there as early was the day that I was able to get my butt in gear and leave early) and walked to the parks. It took about ten minutes to walk to the parks as usual and I got a decent place in line about 30 people back. I picked a line with the fewest strollers I could find and waited for rope drop. They kept us outside right up to about 7:50 I think then allowed us in. They were loudly announcing that the Star Tours line was on the sidewalk on the right. I jumped in line there and was about three quarters of the way up the street. Right at 8am we were walked back by cast members to the entrance of the ride. I waited less than ten minutes to board (I was unwilling to run once they dropped the rope at the entrance of the line - which was really close to Plaza Inn) I was assigned in the front row and got to enjoy the pre-show video (great throw backs to the original) I had heard a couple of tips for being selected as the “Rebel Spy” so I followed them and was picked! I really enjoyed the ride (regular 3D movies make me sick so I was a little worried about the new effects but it didn’t affect me at all) and had a lot of fun. I was following a touring plan (from the Unofficial Guide – though I was smart enough to print it off rather than drag the entire book with me to the parks) and had already decided how to modify the plan to accommodate Star Tours first thing however I made my first mistake here – I failed to grab a fast pass for Space Mountain before leaving Tomorrowland.

I then moved on to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan’s flight. I LOVE this ride! The wait was posted as 20 minutes I believe and I think it was pretty accurate. I then rode the Storybook Land Canal boats for the first time ever! It was really cute and the boat we were on was the “Aurora” my favourite princess so I was happy about that too. I got a bunch of blurry as heck pictures and a couple of decent ones.

Cinderella’s chateau

…and her castle after she meets her prince (almost)

The market place where Jasmine and Aladdin first meet

Jasmine’s Palace

Touch nothing but the lamp!

Eric’s ship

Eric’s palace

Yeah so… behind the waterfall is Ariel’s underwater world but you’ll probably have to take my word for it.

Next up was supposed to be Mr. Toad’s but I’d noticed on my way passed to get to the Storybookland Canal boats that it was closed. Conveniently it was now open with only a fifteen minute wait so I got in line and entertained myself taking some more pictures. (I will not post all of them there are about 20!)

Love these signs!

After my wild ride with Mr. Toad and quick trip to hell (which really seems less and less “Disney” to me every time I think about it) I was headed to Snow White’s Scary Adventure

(Look at me actually taking pictures today!)
After that I continued my tour of Fantasyland with a daring journey with Pinocchio

Next I was headed back to Tomorrowland for Space Mountain when I ran into a couple of crazy characters
Peter Pan

…and the Mad Hatter

And funnily enough Paula (Stamps4Smiles) too so we took each other’s pictures with the characters. Alice was there too but there was a large group keeping her occupied and I didn’t want to wait too long… and here’s where my pictures stop until I returned in the evening… Oops!
When I got to Space Mountain I realized that the line was pretty long (50 min I think) and I hadn’t grabbed a fastpass earlier in my hurry to get out of Tomorrowland and all its congestion due to Star Tours 2 so I grabbed one now for later (I think it was for 1:40) and continued on with the plan. Next up was supposed to be Buzz but with all the people waiting for Star Tours and their young needing to be kept entertained the line for that was something ridiculous like 40 minutes so I decided to try that one the next morning because I’d be in the area during MM.
So I continued on with the plan which called for Big Thunder Mountain next. It had a posted wait of 20 minutes that I didn’t quite believe but I got in line anyway… Can I just say here how much I disliked the parks being full of idiot teenagers acting like a$$es because they were visiting in large groups for Grad Night (I assume that’s why they were there anyway)! I ran into a few well behaved groups the next day but I kept running into the same group this day they were total pains! Luckily for me there was an Australian couple in front of me in line who were really nice who I talked with the whole time we waited in the (closer to 30 minute) line.

I’ll stop here for the moment as I’ve almost maxed out on pictures and lots more are coming…

 

[Belle Ella]

Aw, you saw Paula! I love seeing other DIS'ers in the Parks, what a coincidence! Great update and love the pictures from the Fantasyland rides. One day I'll remember to get on the StorybookLand Canal Boats and actually take some of my own.

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

Yes it did, he was pulling HARD! I am 3 minutes older than Disney_Alli

That must have hurt. I had no idea you guys were twins.


Anyway, I loved the update.

 

[TinkLoverSam]

Huh. Disney_Alli did you not mention that we are

identical twins?

So it was weird being separated on our birthday with her there and we in cold Calgary for the day

 

[WDWJonasGirl]

I like the two of you together. I am also a twin but we are not identical. Congratulations on the anniversary!!

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I like the two of you together. I am also a twin but we are not identical. Congratulations on the anniversary!!

Thank you! and now back to Disney_Alli and her Trip Report

 

[skiingfast]

Great timing to Star Tours, Alli or Sam, or whoever this actually on the trip.

So what tips do you hear about that helped you get selected as the rebel spy? Did you buy a "I am the rebel spy" T shirt on exit from the attraction?

 

[reyasmommy]

I love, love, love your TR! It's entertaining and you have some really great pictures.

I admire you for taking on Disneyland by yourself. I wish I had the confidence to do something like that myself. I can't even see a movie by myself and I'm not looking forward to splitting up from my husband to ride some of the rides when we go on our trip. We've always been lucky enough in the past to go with other people so we could still ride everything together while our traveling partners watched the kiddos. But reading your TR has made me feel MUCH better about it. If you can take a vacation all by yourself I surely can ride space mountain by myself.

Sheraton park was one of the hotels we were considering.... Looks like a nice place. How was the walk? I think we might actually stay at the Portofino which is right next door. ((For the extra room)) So I was hoping the walk would be okay with a 5 year old and a 1 year old?

I look forward to reading more! Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

 

[Disney_Alli]

Great timing to Star Tours, Alli or Sam, or whoever this actually on the trip.

So what tips do you hear about that helped you get selected as the rebel spy? Did you buy a "I am the rebel spy" T shirt on exit from the attraction?

Sit up straight and face front from the second you're allowed into the Star Speeder. Don't put the glasses on until the cast member tells you and keep your hands away from your face (to avoid awkward photos where it looks like you're picking your nose or something) I never even wore a Disney shirt on the trip let alone a ST2 one

I love, love, love your TR! It's entertaining and you have some really great pictures.

I admire you for taking on Disneyland by yourself. I wish I had the confidence to do something like that myself. I can't even see a movie by myself and I'm not looking forward to splitting up from my husband to ride some of the rides when we go on our trip. We've always been lucky enough in the past to go with other people so we could still ride everything together while our traveling partners watched the kiddos. But reading your TR has made me feel MUCH better about it. If you can take a vacation all by yourself I surely can ride space mountain by myself.

Sheraton park was one of the hotels we were considering.... Looks like a nice place. How was the walk? I think we might actually stay at the Portofino which is right next door. ((For the extra room)) So I was hoping the walk would be okay with a 5 year old and a 1 year old?

I look forward to reading more! Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Being single and working the strange hours that I do I end up doing a lot of things on my own... in fact the my first two days off after I came home I went to four movies solo (Two Monday and two Tuesday) so that I could see the movies that I wanted to see.

Sheraton Park is beautiful - if you get a theme park view you can usually see the fireworks if you're already back in the room. The walk is really easy (as long as you have a stroller for the 1yo - I would actually suggest a sit-and-stand so the 5yo could ride too especially at night) no hills and only two streets to cross and the second only allows Disney buses through so there isn't much traffic. I believe it generally took me about 10 minutes to walk it but I never actually remembered to confirm my start and end times. The Portofino looks nice but I've never stayed there. They have free wifi (unlike the Sheraton who charge for it - though you can usually get a half decent connection to the Potofino wifi!) Overall I think either hotel would be a decent walk but I like to use it to get excited for the parks each morning and decompress a little each night.