Dec 6-9, 2014 - Magical Birthday/Holiday Trip

[tlovesdis]

This was an Auntie/Niece trip with my 8 year old niece. She has been to DL a few times but never at Christmas and since I have always wanted to spend my birthday in DL, I decided it was time for both of us to get to do something we both wanted!!

Saturday December 6th

We left Richmond at 3:45am! Yes, that is early! LOL! But I went to bed early the night before and Lexi was supposed to sleep in the car on the way down. I stopped at a 24 hour Starbucks in Livermore to get my caffeine on! We ended up stopping once for gas in Firebaugh, got some breakfast at Jack In The Box in Kettleman City, then stopped at Starbucks in Lebec, right before the Grapevine.

We made it to the Ramada Maingate at 10:30am. Our room was not ready, so Lex changed in their bathroom and we got ourselves organized. I picked up my ECV and we headed out about 11am.

Our first stop was at City Hall to pick up my birthday button and Lexi’s I’m celebrating button. The line for that was long, but went pretty fast. I could tell just from the people on Main Street that DL was going to be packed today!! We went over to the hat shop on Main Street to look for the Frozen Ears but they didn’t have them so we made our way down Main Street through the castle and into Fantasyland.

Lex chose Teacups as the first ride. But right as we came through the castle we saw Fairy Godmother so we stopped for pictures. There was no wait at Teacups, which was nice. We then found her Frozen ears at the Mad Hatter shop and we rode on Alice. We got hungry so we went over to Refreshment Corner for the mac and cheese hotdog, which was super delish!! While we were there, Alice and the Mad Hatter were playing musical chairs with lots of little kids. Lex enjoyed that a lot!

She wanted to ride Small World next so we got a return time and then went to Toontown. We waited in line for close to 45 minutes to meet Minnie! Toontown was packed!! We got a fastpass for Roger Rabbit then went back to Small World. She loved the holiday version so much! It was cute to see her reaction to it! After SW we went back to Toontown to meet Mickey. When it was time for our RR fastpass the ride was down! So we went and watched Mickey and the Magical Map. What a fantastic show! I highly recommend it!

We went back to Toontown one more time and RR was still down. So she played in TT for a while and we had ice cream. RR didn’t look to be coming back up anytime soon so we left TT.

 

[tlovesdis]

We hopped on the Monorail and went to DTD. We were lucky enough to get to ride in the front of the Monorail, which I had never done before!! Lexi had saved over $100 for this trip (chores, birthday money and change from me and my sister) and wanted an Elsa Build-A-Bear, so that was our first stop! It was packed in that place and we waited in line forever, but she finally got her Elsa!!! It was super cute and she was so proud to be paying for it with her own money!!

Lex chose Rainforest for dinner that night and we had a 7pm reservation. We got there at 6:30pm and they were able to seat us. I am so glad I made a reservation because I heard the lady tell someone the walk up wait was 2 hours! YIKES!!! We enjoyed cheese sticks and split the BBQ bacon cheeseburger, which was yummy! They gave me a birthday cupcake that was actually delicious!!!

We checked out the pin shop near the Monorail then got back on to head back to DL. Disneyland was packed!! We made our way towards Small World Plaza and found a spot to watch the fireworks. We had yummy churros while we watched. When it snowed at the end, Lex was super excited! I think this is my favorite picture from the whole trip!!!

After the fireworks Lex wanted to ride Autopia and luckily the wait was only about 20 minutes. It was almost 10pm by the time we got off the ride and we were both pretty tired so we went back to the hotel and got some sleep!!

 

[tksbaskets]

How special that you and your neice took a trip to DL together. Looks like you found the Frozen ears. Kinda wished I'd had a girl to buy Frozen stuff for when we were there last week.

 

[tlovesdis]

Sunday December 7th

I was up early, as usual and got ready to go. I let Lex sleep as long as possible and woke her at 7. We were out the door at 730am. When we got to the gate we got right in and had to wait until 8 to get into any parts of the park. So we just waited back a bit from the crowd on Buena Vista Street. Lex doesn’t do big rides, so while everyone was running for RSR we walked right on Mater! Then we rode Luigi’s Tires, which I think is dumb, but she enjoys it!

We decided to grab some breakfast at Flo’s. I love love love the breakfast tamale so I was glad Lex wanted to eat there. It was yummy! We rode Mater again, then got coffee at Starbucks and WOC fastpass.

A treat I had planned for Lex was a makeover at Elsa and Anna’s Boutique, so we made our way over to DTD and did some shopping at WOD then went to her appointment at 10:20. SHE LOVED IT! It really was a very magical experience!!

Lex had never seen the Grand so we went back through that way and got to see the gingerbread house! It was so nice. We bought a piece of gingerbread then made our way over to DCA. She hates big rides, but LOVES Grizzly! Go figure! So we got on that and were lucky enough to get to go twice without getting off! We had ponchos so we weren’t too wet!
Next up was Little Mermaid, another Lexi favorite. We were hungry, as usual, and got our favorite lunch in DCA, cheese corndogs at Corn Dog Castle! So yummy!!!

We did a little shopping on the Boardwalk, then waited about 45 minutes for Toy Story. We both just love that ride! Next up was the carousel, which I never ride, but Lex begged so I did! How fun! Felt like a little kid again. We made our way over to the wharf area and bought ourselves a Mickey sourdough bread! It’s something we do every trip. We eat a little and bring it home to share!

We went into the Animation Building next and Lex was so sad that the drawing class was closed that day  So we went to the Beasts Library and then went to see Turtle Talk with Crush! Of course, they chose to talk to Lex and then me! It was actually cute and fun.

We had a 5:20pm reservation at Wine Country Trattoria. Dinner was yummy! We shared the Shrimp Polenta appetizer, which is fantastic, the pasta with meat sauce and a salad. They gave me a Birthday mousse dessert, which was very good! We got to see parts of the Pixar Parade from where we were sitting.

We had plans to ride Monster’s Inc, Little Mermaid, Mater, Toy Story and to see WOC, but after dinner my poor boo boo said her tummy hurt bad. She was crying and everything. So I told her we would go back to the room and if she felt better we could come back (the park was open til 11). She was torn about leaving so we sat on a bench for a bit, but she finally decided she wanted to go. I grabbed a pickle for later in the room because I knew we weren’t coming back!

As soon as we got to the room, she called her mom to talk for a minute, then was out!!! Poor thing. I think she didn’t feel good and was tired from the day before!