Disneyland or Bust: A Mother-Daughter Coastal Road Trip

[RGirl]

The Genie from Aladdin?! Going back to read now...

Two more points for Courtney!

Lots of beautiful princesses! My favourite? The smallest one! What a poser!

She sure does know how to pose!

Willow: THANK YOU!!!!!

First, welcome back from Disneyland!!! I hope you had a magical trip (I'm sure you did…Olaf was there, after all!) and the transition back to "reality" has been OK.

Thanks Courtney! We had a great trip - transition back not so great as by the time we arrived home, I was totally sick with the January Plague (even ended up missing two days of work last week), but on the mend now!

Skipping the line?! That is AWESOME. Total royal treatment right there.

It is a REALLY nice touch. I wonder why WDW BBB doesn't do something like that - it's a great perk!

Haha, I was like, where's Willow? Behind Dopey? Hiding in the well?!?!

Willow's got the princess skirt-holding pose down pat.

Right? The child knows how to pose!

My girl Merida!!! Love that hug picture

Oh, Merida was a in rare form this day - SO FUNNY!

 

[RGirl]

Doh! Courtney beat me.

She's really staging a bit of a come-back.

Willow looks great in her princess dress...lots of good princess meets! Merida sounds like a good one!

Yep, it was a really great princess experience over all.

Well gee Roni, I know it's not the answer you were looking for, but I was going to say the title was said by me.

Wait, what?? was exactly what I was thinking about those first two Snow and Dopey photos. Because I would pretty much die if she met in that spot.

Actually, on our first DLR trip for Willow's fifth birthday, we did meet Ariel at that spot - she was just hanging out there by herself until we stopped by to chat. I have seen other princesses meeting there too - I think Snow White included. Now that they have the Royal Hall (or whatever it's called), I wonder if they ever have the princesses over there anymore. I hope so.

That's so lovely that the package includes the princesses. And Ariel was the standout. No shock here.

It is a really great touch - I wish they would do it at WDW. Maybe they do now.

You're not going to like this, but at WDW, Ariel has always been our least-interactive princess; we've had a few that were almost snotty. But every time we've met her at DLR, she's been great.

Awww I really want to meet Merida. Her set up in MK is just way too long of a line for me. And it's still a while before another Princess movie, so I don't see anyone replacing her and moving her to a less popular spot (or something with FP) anytime soon. I love that Merida was so into it and so much fun. It makes such a difference in the experience.

We met her at her MK spot once - got there early and didn't have to wait too terribly long, but I know that line gets crazy. We were surprised to find her where we did, but we weren't going to pass her by - and glad we didn't, she was in rare form.

Great update as usual. Great pics as always too.

Thank you!

I think we are going to start saving for BBB for the granddaughter (she is still on the young side) Your post really made it look like fun. I also love those cute little cupcake tshirts. think I just may have to teach myself a new trick (leave it alone Ponzi with my sewing machine. After seeing all the cute stuff you make for miss willow inspired me to start sewing again. Thankfully I have a cute granddaughter so I have someone to sew for again. thanks again for the great update I am always happy to see "our" park get some dis love.

Awww - you are so sweet! I'm glad you are feeling inspired - I bet your granddaughter will love the things you make for her. I'm so glad that Willow is still at an age where she loves everything I make for her; I know that won't last. Luckily, I have a little niece who also loves to get something that I make, so I may have a few more years with her once Willow is sick of my creations.

What beautiful pictures of Willow with the princesses. They are perfect. And I LOVE when the PP takes more than just the pose. The interaction with Merida looks absolutely wonderful. One of these days we have to stop and meet her.

Oh, I do too! I wish more of them would take those "extra" shots - instead, so many of them just stand there looking bored during the entire meet and then snap two posed pictures. I mean, I guess I can't expect them all to go above and beyond. But I do just LOVE the more candid shots when one of them actually takes them.

 

[Dugette]

Sounds like they really do a good job at the DL BBB - great princess meets! Also nice spontaneous Merida meet - sounds fun!

 

[RGirl]

The Contest: First person to provide the movie title from which the chapter heading comes get a point; two points if the character who utters the line is also identified. If the first person doesn’t name the character, the first poster to do so will get a point.

Current Standing:
Courtney (courtneybelle): 10 points
Jill (jedijill): 20 points
pkondz: 10 points
Megan (MonsterWDWmom): 2 points
Shannon (shan23877): 6 points
Lori (STLMickeyMom): 4 points
petals: 1 point
Rob (DisneyKid4Life): 2 points

"To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land."​

(Okay - this one is not a movie quotation, but it’s a VERY apt quotation and one that I’m sure some of you can get without Googling.)

Day 10H - 3 August 2014 - Disneyland Resort

When I last left off, we had just finished a very lively meet-and-greet with Merida. It was about 1:40 now, and you may recall that our next adventure started at 2:30. We therefore headed to Main Street and the front of the park in search of the Tour Garden.

We found it and checked in for the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour - something we were both VERY excited about. We were given the opportunity to order our dinner from the Jolly Holiday Bakery and provided with our name tags. After checking in, we luckily still had a little time and went off in search of a frozen beverage of some sort. Willow, however, was complaining that her feet hurt - she had insisted on wearing these tennis shoes that I had thought were too small, but she had said were fine. Yeah, they were too small. So we stopped in a shop and picked up some flip-flops for her. No way did we want to start a 3.5-hour tour of the park with sore feet!

We headed to the Main Street Starbucks location.

​

Here, we picked up some cold frappuccino-type beverages - figuring we could use the burst of cold and the burst of sugar before the tour. We took them back to the Tour Garden area and had a seat at one of the cute little tables there in the shade.

​

At about 2:30, our tour guide, Mychal, introduced himself and gave us all our earpieces, and we were set to go!

​

This tour was just amazing. I can't possibly remember everything we learned, but I will try to tell you a bit about the tour and some of the Disney facts that were shared with us. If you would rather not know, just scroll past.

One of my absolute favorite things about the tour was that, at various points, the audio would switch over to a speech that Walt made. In fact, at the very beginning, we stopped right here and listened to Walt's opening day speech at Disneyland.

​

Mychal also told us about how when Walt was a boy, he saw a production of Peter Pan and immediately went home and built a harness so that he could fly. I loved that little anecdote because it just highlighted how imaginative Walt was and how he was kind of a go-getter from the very beginning.

We made our way down Main Street and into FL with Mychal sharing information along the way. When Mychal wasn't speaking, there was usually appropriate music playing through the earpieces.

​

When we got to FL, this was the line for Peter Pan.

​

However, PP is one of the attractions that this particular tour experiences (at least this time anyway - I think this is pretty standard). So our guide kindly took us through the exit so that we could experience this long-time favorite attraction without the wait. You can see Mychal over there talking to the CMs at the exit, working his magic to get us in.

​

I love Fantasyland.

​

Oh, sorry, we really enjoyed Peter Pan!

​

Up Next: Day 10H (cont.)

 

[RGirl]

Day 10H - 3 August 2014 - Disneyland Resort (cont.)

We headed into Frontierland next.

​

Our guide shared with us how Walt and a friend, when in the Army, had talked about one day building a raft and going down the Mississippi River like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. But when Walt got home, his girlfriend had gone off and married someone else, the friend was busy getting married, the dog they had shared had died or something along those lines; anyway, things were kind of bleak, and the Mississippi River dream looked dead. Of course, we're talking about Walt here, so the dream didn't really die - when he built Disneyland, he created his own version of the dream right there in Disneyland with the rafts and paddle boat.

​

Our guide showed us the beautiful (?) petrified tree that Walt once gave to Lillian as an anniversary present. :

​

We moved onto New Orleans Square at this point.

​

During the course of the tour, we learned that Pirates was originally going to be called Blue Bayou something (sorry - memory fading here) and was going to be a walk-through with wax figures. Similarly, the Haunted Mansion was going to be the House of Weird and was also going to be a walk-through. Later, after Walt had helped create attractions for the New York World's Fair that involved moving people instead of having them walk through, he determined that the better approach to PotC and HM - to avoid people taking too long or getting lost - would be to make those attractions ride-throughs. Okay - I'm reporting that as accurately as I can remember. I hope I didn't totally mess it up! I think he made the right decision though! (And I will note that Willow, although only 7 years old, was paying enough attention during this tour that she brought up this topic while we were in line for HM in January 2015, so that we talked about how this was originally going to be a walk-through. So I don’t think these types of tours are lost on young children at all.)

We next made our way through Adventureland and over to Tomorrowland - you can see how crowded the park was in these photos.

​

I know we learned some things about the monorail here. And Willow and I really enjoyed learning about the Matterhorn. I remember, when I was a kid, there were gondolas that went over the park and through the Matterhorn. Well, I guess the gondolas were there first, but they required this big tower in the middle of the park. Walt didn't care for that too much, so while on vacation in Switzerland, he had the idea to create the Matterhorn to cover up the tower. And then, of course, he felt that it was necessary to use that space, so they had to dream up a coaster-type ride that could go inside it. Love it!

​

We even spotted a few parade floats before we were given the go-ahead to cross the parade route.

​

We made our way back around to Adventureland at this point.

​

Up Next: Day 10I

 

[RGirl]

Sounds like they really do a good job at the DL BBB - great princess meets! Also nice spontaneous Merida meet - sounds fun!

We were completely impressed with the DLR BBB experience!

Merida was hilarious - she was just downright goofy. It was very fun.

 

[KatMark]

Sorry about Willow's feet hurting, but glad you could find her something comfy for the tour.

And who doesn't love Starbucks cold drinks.

The tour, so far, sounds awesome and something I'd really enjoy. We couldn't take pictures at the two tours we took at Disney World.

 

[Dugette]

That tour sounds really cool - something like Keys to the Kingdom at WDW. Love all the little stories about Walt and how certain attractions came to be!

 

[courtneybelle]

Walt's opening day speech at Disneyland

MMMM frappuccinos!! My favorite!!

The tour sounds awesome. I love how Walt was creating ingenious things like a Peter Pan harness all his life.

I for one am very glad HM is not a walk through-I would be sprinting through it!! And good job Willow on remembering the trivia

Can't wait to hear more!!

 

[queenbetsey]

That tour sounds great. I really like hearing background stories about the park. can't wait to hear the rest.

 

[hstrickland]

Precious, precious pictures of Willow and the princesses She looks absolutely mesmerized by them. Kinda sad now that the princesses have lost some of their magic for Faith, but guess that's what comes with age.


The tour looks fabulous!! Because I'm a total Disney nerd, I would so love to do something like that. It's always fun and interesting to learn facts about Walt Disney and his innovations. Do they have something like that at WDW


Have a great Monday!
Heather

 

[afwdwfan]

Thanks! Sorry - didn't manage to get on the DIS while we were away. I hope crowds were okay for you. We found them pretty high compared to other January trips, but we usually go later.

Well, I don't know what normal is... but it wasn't horrible. FL rides (PP, Alice, Storybookland Boats, Toad etc) seemed to be around 20 - 30 minute waits most of the time. We were able to do FL after rope drop one day so it wasn't too bad. I found Space and BTMRR to be around 30 minutes most of the time with plenty of FP availability about an hour out. But walkways did feel pretty crowded.

And Friday got a little nuts. We did see the PP line looking like it did in your picture a few times.

When I last left off, Willow had just finished her princess photo shoot as part of the BBB Castle Package. At DL, the Castle Package also includes a personal escort for the little princess over to the Royal Hall where you get to skip the line and go right in to meet the princesses!

Wow... that's a nice little perk.

Next up was a very exuberant Ariel. These two princesses chatted for a long time. And we got one of those above-and-beyond PP photographers who actually took pictures of the interactions instead of just the posed pics.

Those are sometimes better than the posed pictures!

Yep, Merida! And this Merida was NUTS! In a good way, of course. She was the highest-energy princess I have ever seen at any Disney park. She was goofing around with all the guests and having a great time. She tried to get Willow to teach her how to curtsey, but nearly fell over instead.

That is great!!!

We didn't take time to wait in lines to meet many characters, but I absolutely loved how they would just randomly be out at times. We saw Cinderella one afternoon standing along side the tunnel under the railroad tracks on the right hand side right after we came through the turnstiles.

I think he made the right decision though! (And I will note that Willow, although only 7 years old, was paying enough attention during this tour that she brought up this topic while we were in line for HM in January 2015, so that we talked about how this was originally going to be a walk-through. So I don’t think these types of tours are lost on young children at all.)

I'm glad that Willow got something out of it.

And I think the choice to make them rides was definitely the right call. We do enough walking around the parks as it is. It is nice to get off your feet for a few minutes and enjoy those rides!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

your tour sounds so fun! rich wanted to do one at WDW about the trains, but we just couldn't fit it in. also, he wanted to take Hannah, but I think there was an age limit on it of 10 so I didn't think she'd be able to go. those two are train nuts. when she can go, they're gonna be all over that. anyway, I love those tours where you get to learn new fun things!

glad willow changed shoes before the tour--nothing worse then having sore feet when you have walking to do!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Awww, so I didn't get half a point for the previous contest update... . An even bigger bummer is of course I knew this current one. But that's ok, Courtney needed the points. And what a quote it is. It gives me chills just reading it.

Hmmmm... so the tennis shoes were in fact too small. I'm sure that was in no way designed to get a new pair of flip flops.

I'm not a crazy Starbucks person, but in Disney I kind of am. And mostly because of the Mouse Ears on the cup names.

I always thought the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour was more akin to the Keys to the Kingdom at Magic Kingdom. But clearly not as they have a minimum age for the Keys tour (16 I believe). Interesting. But I guess it's because it doesn't go backstage.

OMG Roni, I think I would melt into a tiny puddle if I was standing there and Walt's opening day speech started playing.

This update came at a perfect time because my internet went out for a bit last night, so I popped in my "Real Disneyland Story" DVD to watch once again. A lot of the tour stuff is in that DVD, so this was a perfect companion piece.

And as an aside, the fact that Willow was bringing up these little bits of trivia months later makes me so happy that the next generation of Disney lovers is all set to carry the torch. The legacy is in good hands.

 

[pkondz]

Whoo boy! I'm gettin' just a tad behind here!
I might be a bit more brief than usual. It's either that or I don't comment for a few more days, and that just will not do!

Princess Willow visited with Snow White first.


Wait, what??

Oh, there she is.

Willow, your mom's silly.

And we got one of those above-and-beyond PP photographers who actually took pictures of the interactions instead of just the posed pics.

Shouldn't they all do that?
Yes. They should.

So we were going to head towards the front of the park (where we needed to be before long) and get something to drink - it was crazy-hot and very humid (again - really???? - this is SoCal, NOT Florida, people!). But almost immediately, Princess Willow spotted another princess she had to visit!

A young girl's visit to a princess shall not be denied.


That's a rule.

Yep, Merida!

Two redheads??? In one day????

And this Merida was NUTS! In a good way, of course. She was the highest-energy princess I have ever seen at any Disney park. She was goofing around with all the guests and having a great time. She tried to get Willow to teach her how to curtsey, but nearly fell over instead.

That's so great! Bet Willow had a lot of fun with her!

Willow: I wish I could be there in a few weeks! But I’m going there this summer!

Wouldn't it be fun if you guys were there at the same time as me?

Willow: I wouldn’t because I like spinning rides.

Well then, I'd wave each time you went by. How's that?
You could have fun on the ride and I could have fun not losing my cookies.

"To all who come to this happy place: Welcome. Disneyland is your land."

(Okay - this one is not a movie quotation, but it’s a VERY apt quotation and one that I’m sure some of you can get without Googling.)

Neil Armstrong!
Pat Sajak!
Miss America!


No?

We found it and checked in for the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour - something we were both VERY excited about.

As am I, to read all about it!

Willow, however, was complaining that her feet hurt - she had insisted on wearing these tennis shoes that I had thought were too small, but she had said were fine. Yeah, they were too small. So we stopped in a shop and picked up some flip-flops for her. No way did we want to start a 3.5-hour tour of the park with sore feet!

No. You definitely do not! What fun is a tour if you're too busy concentrating on your hurting feet?
Good call on taking care of that.

At about 2:30, our tour guide, Mychal, introduced himself and gave us all our earpieces, and we were set to go!

Is that pronounced like "Michael"?

If you would rather not know, just scroll past.

Are you crazy??? Of course I want to know!!!

One of my absolute favorite things about the tour was that, at various points, the audio would switch over to a speech that Walt made. In fact, at the very beginning, we stopped right here and listened to Walt's opening day speech at Disneyland.

You.


Had a speech.


From Walt....


I'm pretty sure I would've lost it, then and there.

Mychal also told us about how when Walt was a boy, he saw a production of Peter Pan and immediately went home and built a harness so that he could fly. I loved that little anecdote because it just highlighted how imaginative Walt was and how he was kind of a go-getter from the very beginning.

Wow. Can you imagine anyone from this generation of "always with smart phone in your face" kids doing that?
That just blows my mind.

And totally doesn't surprise me in the least.
(That he would do it... not that he did do it.)

We made our way down Main Street and into FL with Mychal sharing information along the way. When Mychal wasn't speaking, there was usually appropriate music playing through the earpieces.

Did you get a lot of funny looks from people since you all must've had huge grins the whole time?


Wait. What am I saying?
It's Disney!
Huge grins are the norm here, right?

However, PP is one of the attractions that this particular tour experiences (at least this time anyway - I think this is pretty standard). So our guide kindly took us through the exit so that we could experience this long-time favorite attraction without the wait.

Nice!

Oh, sorry, we really enjoyed Peter Pan!

One of my all time faves!
Very close with BTMRR and HM.

Is it any different from Florida's?

Our guide shared with us how Walt and a friend, when in the Army, had talked about one day building a raft and going down the Mississippi River like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer. But when Walt got home, his girlfriend had gone off and married someone else, the friend was busy getting married, the dog they had shared had died or something along those lines; anyway, things were kind of bleak, and the Mississippi River dream looked dead. Of course, we're talking about Walt here, so the dream didn't really die - when he built Disneyland, he created his own version of the dream right there in Disneyland with the rafts and paddle boat.

Can you imagine that?
"Well, I kinda wanted to raft down the Mississippi... guess I'll just build my own."
"What? Raft?"
"No. River."

Our guide showed us the beautiful (?) petrified tree that Walt once gave to Lillian as an anniversary present.

Yeah, but how do you put it on a ring?

we learned that Pirates was originally going to be called Blue Bayou something (sorry - memory fading here)

Interesting. Did not know that.
And nor, apparently, do you!

Similarly, the Haunted Mansion was going to be the House of Weird and was also going to be a walk-through.

That one I knew. I've seen the drawings, too.
No where near as good as it turned out, I think.

Then again, it would be nice to be able to stand in one spot and admire everything for as long as you'd like.

(And I will note that Willow, although only 7 years old, was paying enough attention during this tour that she brought up this topic while we were in line for HM in January 2015, so that we talked about how this was originally going to be a walk-through. So I don’t think these types of tours are lost on young children at all.)

A tour that interests all ages. Not easy to come by.

I remember, when I was a kid, there were gondolas that went over the park and through the Matterhorn. Well, I guess the gondolas were there first, but they required this big tower in the middle of the park. Walt didn't care for that too much, so while on vacation in Switzerland, he had the idea to create the Matterhorn to cover up the tower. And then, of course, he felt that it was necessary to use that space, so they had to dream up a coaster-type ride that could go inside it. Love it!

Cool story!
(Yes. I'm loving reading all this. "Scroll past", indeed!)

Up Next: Day 10I

Can't wait! Thanks for the updates!

 

[RGirl]

Sorry about Willow's feet hurting, but glad you could find her something comfy for the tour.

It was definitely the right thing to do - the tour was three and a half hours long!

And who doesn't love Starbucks cold drinks.

Soooo refreshing on a day like that.

The tour, so far, sounds awesome and something I'd really enjoy. We couldn't take pictures at the two tours we took at Disney World.

It was great - worth every dime and the time put into it for sure. That's too bad about no pics at the WDW tours. Is it because they spend more time backstage?

That tour sounds really cool - something like Keys to the Kingdom at WDW. Love all the little stories about Walt and how certain attractions came to be!

Oh, it was just a great experience! I am SO glad that we took the time to do it.

Walt's opening day speech at Disneyland

Two more for Miss Courtney!

MMMM frappuccinos!! My favorite!!

Definitely one of my favorite treats. YUMMY!

The tour sounds awesome. I love how Walt was creating ingenious things like a Peter Pan harness all his life.

Isn't that so cool? I really enjoyed all those little stories so much.

I for one am very glad HM is not a walk through-I would be sprinting through it!! And good job Willow on remembering the trivia

I don't think it would have worked all that well with people like you sprinting through and others pausing for hours at certain things.

Can't wait to hear more!!

Sorry for the long delay - will try to get some updates moving here soon. After all, I have another TR to start working on!

 

[RGirl]

That tour sounds great. I really like hearing background stories about the park. can't wait to hear the rest.

It was a wonderful experience! I highly recommend it.

Precious, precious pictures of Willow and the princesses She looks absolutely mesmerized by them. Kinda sad now that the princesses have lost some of their magic for Faith, but guess that's what comes with age.

You know, I'm surprised at how much Willow still enjoys the princesses and characters - very pleasantly surprised, mind you.

The tour looks fabulous!! Because I'm a total Disney nerd, I would so love to do something like that. It's always fun and interesting to learn facts about Walt Disney and his innovations. Do they have something like that at WDW

Oh yes - there are several tours at WDW, but the one that is probably the most like this one is the Keys to the Kingdom tour, I think. I haven't done it, but I have read about it. It sounds great! No kids under something like 16 allowed though - I'm assuming because it has a lot more backstage time.

Well, I don't know what normal is... but it wasn't horrible. FL rides (PP, Alice, Storybookland Boats, Toad etc) seemed to be around 20 - 30 minute waits most of the time. We were able to do FL after rope drop one day so it wasn't too bad. I found Space and BTMRR to be around 30 minutes most of the time with plenty of FP availability about an hour out. But walkways did feel pretty crowded.

Sounds pretty good! I'm glad to hear it.

And Friday got a little nuts. We did see the PP line looking like it did in your picture a few times.

Yeah - that attraction seems to get like that at some point at almost every time of year.

Those are sometimes better than the posed pictures!

They are almost always my favorites - I wish more of the photographers would do them.

We didn't take time to wait in lines to meet many characters, but I absolutely loved how they would just randomly be out at times. We saw Cinderella one afternoon standing along side the tunnel under the railroad tracks on the right hand side right after we came through the turnstiles.

It's neat, isn't it? There is often a princess or two hanging out in that spot or the other side. They used to meet on either side of the castle occasionally too - not sure whether they still do that now that they have the Royal Palace/Fantasy Faire or whatever it is called.

And I think the choice to make them rides was definitely the right call. We do enough walking around the parks as it is. It is nice to get off your feet for a few minutes and enjoy those rides!

I could not agree more!

 

[RGirl]

your tour sounds so fun! rich wanted to do one at WDW about the trains, but we just couldn't fit it in. also, he wanted to take Hannah, but I think there was an age limit on it of 10 so I didn't think she'd be able to go. those two are train nuts. when she can go, they're gonna be all over that. anyway, I love those tours where you get to learn new fun things!

Wow - I didn't know there was a tour about the trains. I would love to do that with Willow one day. How cool!

glad willow changed shoes before the tour--nothing worse then having sore feet when you have walking to do!

Yeah - it was definitely the right call.

Awww, so I didn't get half a point for the previous contest update... . An even bigger bummer is of course I knew this current one. But that's ok, Courtney needed the points. And what a quote it is. It gives me chills just reading it.

Sorry about that! I am still expecting you to wage a major contest come-back.

Hmmmm... so the tennis shoes were in fact too small. I'm sure that was in no way designed to get a new pair of flip flops.

I hadn't thought of that. I'm pretty sure it was just the usual belief that "Mom doesn't know what she's talking about, and I in my infinite wisdom gained from seven years on the planet know better."

I'm not a crazy Starbucks person, but in Disney I kind of am. And mostly because of the Mouse Ears on the cup names.

I definitely enjoyed that. I like Starbucks (I mean, I am from Washington State), but we don't go there often because the cost is ridiculous. At Disney, however, I can't pass it up - such a huge improvement over the coffee that you used to have to drink there.

I always thought the Walk in Walt's Footsteps Tour was more akin to the Keys to the Kingdom at Magic Kingdom. But clearly not as they have a minimum age for the Keys tour (16 I believe). Interesting. But I guess it's because it doesn't go backstage.

I think that must be it - there is only one backstage moment, and you don't really see anything that could destroy any magic - you're just whisked through to walk up some stairs.

OMG Roni, I think I would melt into a tiny puddle if I was standing there and Walt's opening day speech started playing.

It was VERY cool. Mychal had set the scene, telling about how Walt had been in his Main Street apartment and came down to deliver the speech, etc. And then the speech played in our ears - it was perfect.

This update came at a perfect time because my internet went out for a bit last night, so I popped in my "Real Disneyland Story" DVD to watch once again. A lot of the tour stuff is in that DVD, so this was a perfect companion piece.

Perfect! Hopefully, you can correct me if I get something wrong!

And as an aside, the fact that Willow was bringing up these little bits of trivia months later makes me so happy that the next generation of Disney lovers is all set to carry the torch. The legacy is in good hands.

I was pretty impressed by that. At the time, I wasn't sure how much she was really hearing or taking in. Clearly, she paid better attention than I realized.

 

[RGirl]

Whoo boy! I'm gettin' just a tad behind here!
I might be a bit more brief than usual. It's either that or I don't comment for a few more days, and that just will not do!

No worries! I seem to be able to keep this thing going only by doing several updates at once since it takes me so long in between.

Shouldn't they all do that?
Yes. They should.

I agree!

A young girl's visit to a princess shall not be denied.

That's a rule.

True story!

Two redheads??? In one day????

Quite a feat, eh?

That's so great! Bet Willow had a lot of fun with her!

She really did - she remembers that interaction well.

Wouldn't it be fun if you guys were there at the same time as me?

Willow: Yeah! That would be funny! And we could maybe hang out all day in the parks. We could choose which ride is the closest, and Maddie and I can switch off who chooses the ride.

Well then, I'd wave each time you went by. How's that?
You could have fun on the ride and I could have fun not losing my cookies.

Willow: Good idea! But wouldn't you feel a little bored?

As am I, to read all about it!

No. You definitely do not! What fun is a tour if you're too busy concentrating on your hurting feet?
Good call on taking care of that.

It was definitely a good decision!

Is that pronounced like "Michael"?

Are you crazy??? Of course I want to know!!!

Phew!!!

You.


Had a speech.


From Walt....


I'm pretty sure I would've lost it, then and there.

It was pretty incredible. Such a great way to start the tour.

Wow. Can you imagine anyone from this generation of "always with smart phone in your face" kids doing that?
That just blows my mind.

And totally doesn't surprise me in the least.
(That he would do it... not that he did do it.)

It really spoke a lot to Walt's personality from a very early age.

Did you get a lot of funny looks from people since you all must've had huge grins the whole time?


Wait. What am I saying?
It's Disney!
Huge grins are the norm here, right?

One of my all time faves!
Very close with BTMRR and HM.

Is it any different from Florida's?

I *believe* that it is the same as the one in Florida, although I haven't done them both enough or close enough together in time to be totally certain. Most of the bi-coastal attractions are not the same, however.

Can you imagine that?
"Well, I kinda wanted to raft down the Mississippi... guess I'll just build my own."
"What? Raft?"
"No. River."

Amazing, isn't it?

That one I knew. I've seen the drawings, too.
No where near as good as it turned out, I think.

Then again, it would be nice to be able to stand in one spot and admire everything for as long as you'd like.

I can't imagine it not being a ride-through - trying to see everything with people not moving along. Yikes.

A tour that interests all ages. Not easy to come by.

I was a little nervous about it given how young Willow was, but she did very well and really seemed to get a lot out of it.

Cool story!
(Yes. I'm loving reading all this. "Scroll past", indeed!)

Can't wait! Thanks for the updates!

Thanks for continuing to join in!

 

[RGirl]

The Contest: First person to provide the movie title from which the chapter heading comes get a point; two points if the character who utters the line is also identified. If the first person doesn’t name the character, the first poster to do so will get a point.

Current Standing:
Courtney (courtneybelle): 12 points
Jill (jedijill): 20 points
pkondz: 10 points
Megan (MonsterWDWmom): 2 points
Shannon (shan23877): 6 points
Lori (STLMickeyMom): 4 points
petals: 1 point
Rob (DisneyKid4Life): 2 points

"Come feed the little birds, show them you care.”​

Day 10I - Sunday, 3 August 2014 - Disneyland Resort

When I last left off, we were still enjoying the Walk in Walt's Footsteps tour of Disneyland. We had made our way back to Adventureland where we were going to do an attraction that Willow had never done before!

​

I think everyone enjoyed this - especially after having heard the story of how Walt was in a store and saw a little mechanical bird in a cage. From that one experience, the idea for animatronics (from the Tiki Room to Pirates and on) was born. Of course, we also really appreciated the opportunity to rest our feet!

After the Tiki Room, we headed back to Main Street.

​

We visited the gallery just off of Main Street, which featured pictures of a variety of go-getter famous types.

​

Willow just loved the picture of Walt in one of the Disneyland cars with Mickey Mouse.

​

It was at this point that our guide told us about Walt's last months. How he was working night and day on WDW and went to his doctor for an old back injury only to learn he had lung cancer. He passed away just a couple of months later with his brother Roy at his bedside rubbing his feet. I'd be lying if I said that Willow and I managed to maintain dry eyes through that story. (And this is another thing that Willow has never forgotten from this tour and has mentioned several times - especially at Disneyland - she always notes how much she wishes that Walt hadn’t smoked.)

After that incredibly sad moment, thankfully, we were off to see the highlight of this tour - Walt and Lilian's apartment over the Fire House. You aren't allowed to take pictures in here, so I will only have the one picture that the guide (we got two new guides specific to Walt's apartment for this part of the Tour) took of us. But this was such a neat thing to get to do! We were ushered backstage and up the stairs into Walt's apartment. And it is soooo tiny! The main room is a living room with two small couches that converted into Walt and Lilian's beds. There is a little kitchenette as well, and a bathroom/closet area. Walt's grandchildren used to stay here with them on occasion - how cool would that be to get to sleep in Disneyland at your grandparents' apartment? Apparently, there used to be a fireman's pole through the apartment, which Walt would use sometimes. And one day, a small child climbed up the pole and right into the apartment where Walt was sitting reading the newspaper! They took out the pole after that!

​

Of course, there is also the lamp that was lit whenever Walt was there so CMs would know. Since his passing, it always remains lit. After this tour, every time Willow and I entered DL, we would look up to the lamp and say hello to Walt.

​

After our tour of the apartment, we returned to Tour Garden where our pre-ordered dinners from the Jolly Holiday Bakery were waiting for us.

​

Willow had a PBJ, fruit cup, and flourless chocolate cake.

​

I had the Jolly Holiday Salad (blend of lettuce with spiced pecans, feta, red and yellow tomatoes, and craisins with raspberry vinaigrette) and flourless chocolate cake.

​

We really enjoyed our meal and talking about all the things we had seen and learned during the tour. We were also given these incredibly cool pins!

​

Up Next: Day 10I (cont.)