This will likely be slow going as I'm working on Photopass, playing with DD2, and still recovering from 9 days in SoCal (3 at the parks...wish we'd spent more time there...of course, I could live at either Disney park and never be bored, but that's a different story/thread/life).
First, I'd like to thank everyone again. HydroGuy, skiingfast (that just doesn't sound right right now, for some reason), and ArchOwl, among many others...you helped tremendously with your numerous threads and attention to minute details as well as responding quickly to all my questions. I cannot thank you enough.
On to the trip... We got off to a rocky start. Almost 9 hours of delays (weather-related) from our originating airport put us arriving into LAX at exactly midnight LA time (3 a.m. our time). DD had barely slept the entire day, and when she did, she was very restless. Needless to say, we had a bit of a cranky kid on our hands at that time. We still had to get our rental car (Avis through Priceline for a steal of a deal), which we finally did around 1:45 (in an upgrade as all full size cars were spoken for or off the lot...I definitely won't complain). We arrived at Anabella around 3 a.m. and found ourselves quickly taking our stuff up to our room. We didn't have the wood floors, and the room did seem a little smaller than we pictured, but overall I really have no complaints. The hotel was quiet, the room well-cleaned, the bed comfortable, and after growing accustomed to driving 15 minutes to park at WDW, being able to walk to the park was fantastic.
DD2 woke us at 6:30 Tuesday morning (only 3 hours after we went to bed), so we slowly got ourselves moving. We had already resigned to the fact that we would not be using Magic Morning our first morning. Instead, we ate at La Brea Bakery (one of the only places outside of the parks we found open on our way, other than the restaurants, and we didn't want to take that long). We weren't overly thrilled with the food, but it was food, and we were exhausted already.
We entered DL around 7:45 (slightly concerned that it would take our MM, but we'd deal with that Thursday when we planned to use it) and joined up with the mass of people down Main Street waiting for rope drop. The line for Star Tours was almost back to the square, but since we planned to skip that anyway, we didn't worry about it. We positioned ourselves as close to the front of the crowd on the lefthand side so that we could take a picture at the Partners' statue and then I could book it back to SM for a FP. DH planned to take DD straight to Buzz to check out the line. After an uneventful rope drop (we've only been in the parks twice at the beginning of a day...once on New Years Eve at MK/WDW and once for a character meal at AK...honestly can't remember anything about the beginning of those days...and I half expected Mickey to welcome us to the parks), we took our pics, and I headed to SM, arriving quickly (passing extremely long ST FP and standby lines that made getting into Tomorrowland rather difficult), waited in no line for the FP (return just after 9), and returned to find DH and DD in line for Astro Orbiter...
AO...what can I say...the only reason DH agreed to go on it here at DL was because DD took one look at it and said "That one!" It loses its coolness on the ground and becomes a different-shaped Dumbo. What is the contraption on top of Innoventions, anyways, that took the place of AO? Enough griping. DD loved it, and right as they were about to take off a Photopass photographer approached me and asked if we already had a PP. He had already begun taking pictures of DD on the ride and continued to do so the entire ride. DH noticed us talking early on and made sure he got the ship low enough for some good pictures. He got us some cute pics, definitely being one of the 2 PP guys who made buying the CD completely worth it (the other being on the 3rd day...I'll get to that later). DD wanted to ride AO again, but by then the line was closer to 20 minutes, so we moved on to Buzz.
We waited about 10 minutes for Buzz. DD didn't like it this year. She loved it at WDW last year, but we think she was scaring a little bit easier this year. All the high-pitched noises didn't suit her well. I'm thinking we'll be getting ear plugs for future trips to help with that.
From Buzz to Jungle Cruise, which she loved (waited only about 10 minutes for that) and then on to HM (she wasn't a fan) and Pirates (short line and DD LOVED it, much to my relief). I hadn't remembered how gorgeous New Orleans was, nor how much I loved Pirates. I do not look forward to returning to WDW and the much-abbreviated version. DH quoted the whole ride ("We wants the redhead!"), and I drooled over the bayou scene. Absolutely fantastic. We would have immediately ridden it again if we'd had about 30 minutes, as the lines were way out the door and a pretty good length by then. However, since it was getting close to our time for Breakfast with Minnie, we swung into FL for Toady, which is one of my favorites that is no more at WDW. DD wasn't a fan, but she tolerated it.
Breakfast with Minnie was FANTASTIC, other than the lack of character picture at the door. In fact, we never saw our picture for that meal at all. I don't know if we were supposed to find someone about it or what, but we never worried about it. We had way too much fun with the characters. Breakfast buffets are always yummy at Disney, and this was no exception. DH was in breakfast heaven. DD, in her cute little Minnie dress that her babysitter made for her (I'll load pics later), just enjoyed the balloon until the characters started to come around. Then her eyes really lit up. To say she loved the characters is an understatement. She kept getting out of her seat to chase down Minnie, who adored her right back. We saw Minnie at least 3 times during the 90 minutes we were there. Each time, Minnie made it a point to come give DD a hug and kiss and either play or dance with her. Chip and Dale both did the same, harassing DH along the way (I have a pic of Chip strangling my husband from behind as DD is bouncing with Tigger). We also saw Pinocchio, the Fairy Godmother, Max (DD was scared of him for some reason), Hook (my favorite!), Eeyore, and finally Tigger. Tigger kept missing us for some reason, and I finally approached the CM to tell her we really needed to see Tigger as that is one of DD's favorite characters. The second he came back out from his break, he headed in our direction, but was stopped by another family before he reached us. DD took it in stride and just started bouncing. When he saw that, he started bouncing with her, taking her hands and bouncing her really high. She just laughed and laughed. This was by far the most enjoyable character meal I have been to with DD, especially because of the characters we were able to see.
More later...including hamming it up with Tigger again...
First, I'd like to thank everyone again. HydroGuy, skiingfast (that just doesn't sound right right now, for some reason), and ArchOwl, among many others...you helped tremendously with your numerous threads and attention to minute details as well as responding quickly to all my questions. I cannot thank you enough.
On to the trip... We got off to a rocky start. Almost 9 hours of delays (weather-related) from our originating airport put us arriving into LAX at exactly midnight LA time (3 a.m. our time). DD had barely slept the entire day, and when she did, she was very restless. Needless to say, we had a bit of a cranky kid on our hands at that time. We still had to get our rental car (Avis through Priceline for a steal of a deal), which we finally did around 1:45 (in an upgrade as all full size cars were spoken for or off the lot...I definitely won't complain). We arrived at Anabella around 3 a.m. and found ourselves quickly taking our stuff up to our room. We didn't have the wood floors, and the room did seem a little smaller than we pictured, but overall I really have no complaints. The hotel was quiet, the room well-cleaned, the bed comfortable, and after growing accustomed to driving 15 minutes to park at WDW, being able to walk to the park was fantastic.
DD2 woke us at 6:30 Tuesday morning (only 3 hours after we went to bed), so we slowly got ourselves moving. We had already resigned to the fact that we would not be using Magic Morning our first morning. Instead, we ate at La Brea Bakery (one of the only places outside of the parks we found open on our way, other than the restaurants, and we didn't want to take that long). We weren't overly thrilled with the food, but it was food, and we were exhausted already.
We entered DL around 7:45 (slightly concerned that it would take our MM, but we'd deal with that Thursday when we planned to use it) and joined up with the mass of people down Main Street waiting for rope drop. The line for Star Tours was almost back to the square, but since we planned to skip that anyway, we didn't worry about it. We positioned ourselves as close to the front of the crowd on the lefthand side so that we could take a picture at the Partners' statue and then I could book it back to SM for a FP. DH planned to take DD straight to Buzz to check out the line. After an uneventful rope drop (we've only been in the parks twice at the beginning of a day...once on New Years Eve at MK/WDW and once for a character meal at AK...honestly can't remember anything about the beginning of those days...and I half expected Mickey to welcome us to the parks), we took our pics, and I headed to SM, arriving quickly (passing extremely long ST FP and standby lines that made getting into Tomorrowland rather difficult), waited in no line for the FP (return just after 9), and returned to find DH and DD in line for Astro Orbiter...
AO...what can I say...the only reason DH agreed to go on it here at DL was because DD took one look at it and said "That one!" It loses its coolness on the ground and becomes a different-shaped Dumbo. What is the contraption on top of Innoventions, anyways, that took the place of AO? Enough griping. DD loved it, and right as they were about to take off a Photopass photographer approached me and asked if we already had a PP. He had already begun taking pictures of DD on the ride and continued to do so the entire ride. DH noticed us talking early on and made sure he got the ship low enough for some good pictures. He got us some cute pics, definitely being one of the 2 PP guys who made buying the CD completely worth it (the other being on the 3rd day...I'll get to that later). DD wanted to ride AO again, but by then the line was closer to 20 minutes, so we moved on to Buzz.
We waited about 10 minutes for Buzz. DD didn't like it this year. She loved it at WDW last year, but we think she was scaring a little bit easier this year. All the high-pitched noises didn't suit her well. I'm thinking we'll be getting ear plugs for future trips to help with that.
From Buzz to Jungle Cruise, which she loved (waited only about 10 minutes for that) and then on to HM (she wasn't a fan) and Pirates (short line and DD LOVED it, much to my relief). I hadn't remembered how gorgeous New Orleans was, nor how much I loved Pirates. I do not look forward to returning to WDW and the much-abbreviated version. DH quoted the whole ride ("We wants the redhead!"), and I drooled over the bayou scene. Absolutely fantastic. We would have immediately ridden it again if we'd had about 30 minutes, as the lines were way out the door and a pretty good length by then. However, since it was getting close to our time for Breakfast with Minnie, we swung into FL for Toady, which is one of my favorites that is no more at WDW. DD wasn't a fan, but she tolerated it.
Breakfast with Minnie was FANTASTIC, other than the lack of character picture at the door. In fact, we never saw our picture for that meal at all. I don't know if we were supposed to find someone about it or what, but we never worried about it. We had way too much fun with the characters. Breakfast buffets are always yummy at Disney, and this was no exception. DH was in breakfast heaven. DD, in her cute little Minnie dress that her babysitter made for her (I'll load pics later), just enjoyed the balloon until the characters started to come around. Then her eyes really lit up. To say she loved the characters is an understatement. She kept getting out of her seat to chase down Minnie, who adored her right back. We saw Minnie at least 3 times during the 90 minutes we were there. Each time, Minnie made it a point to come give DD a hug and kiss and either play or dance with her. Chip and Dale both did the same, harassing DH along the way (I have a pic of Chip strangling my husband from behind as DD is bouncing with Tigger). We also saw Pinocchio, the Fairy Godmother, Max (DD was scared of him for some reason), Hook (my favorite!), Eeyore, and finally Tigger. Tigger kept missing us for some reason, and I finally approached the CM to tell her we really needed to see Tigger as that is one of DD's favorite characters. The second he came back out from his break, he headed in our direction, but was stopped by another family before he reached us. DD took it in stride and just started bouncing. When he saw that, he started bouncing with her, taking her hands and bouncing her really high. She just laughed and laughed. This was by far the most enjoyable character meal I have been to with DD, especially because of the characters we were able to see.
More later...including hamming it up with Tigger again...
It wasn't until she was four when she grew out of it. Im intrested on how my DS (who will be 23 months) will react when he meets the characters for the first time? Hopefully nothing like his sister.
I know how hard it is to keep up with any kind of TR when you have kids. My 18 month old keeps me on my toes every second he is awake.
